Comment Re:What a Tragedy and No Charges? (Score 1) 1343
No, you didn't.
Astronomers Discover the Coolest Known Sub-Stellar Body 60
Hugh Pickens writes "Science Daily reports that using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii, astronomers have discovered what may be the coolest sub-stellar body ever found outside our own solar system. Too small to be stars and with insufficient mass to maintain hydrogen-burning nuclear fusion reactions in their cores, 'brown dwarfs' have masses smaller than stars but larger than gas giant planets like Jupiter, with an upper limit in between 75 and 80 Jupiter masses. 'This looks like the fourth time in three years that the UKIRT has made a record breaking discovery of the coolest known brown dwarf, with an estimated temperature not far above 200 degrees Celsius,' says Dr. Philip Lucas at the University of Hertfordshire. Due to their low temperature these objects are very faint in visible light, and are detected by their glow at infrared wavelengths. The object known as SDSS1416+13B is in a wide orbit around a somewhat brighter and warmer brown dwarf, SDSS1416+13A, and the pair is located between 15 and 50 light years from the solar system, which is quite close in astronomical terms."
Comment Re:I understand these modern times and all... (Score 0, Flamebait) 875
Because clearly, public welfare has been working for centuries.
Whoever modded this up is retarded too.
I hate this fucking website.
Comment Re:Not a right (Score 1) 875
It is clear you don't understand what rights are. Why don't you define rights for us?
(Once you realize you're having trouble clearly defining what rights are and why you have them, because you don't actually understand them, go do some homework and come back when you have something intelligent to say.)
Comment Re:Meanwhile in America (Score 1) 875
Why does nobody offer the suggestion of ASKING FOR HELP? ASKING FOR HELP is an option. No one has a right to live off of someone else's efforts though, so if someone hits shit luck he can't just impose on someone.
Comment Re:Ban Handguns. Period. (Score 1) 2221
Wow you have a terrible view of rights..
"That is what it is, taking rights from one to conform to the whole."
Laws do not exist to take rights away from someone for the good of the whole, they exist to protect the rights of people (or at least should). We don't have Intellectual Property Rights to prevent you from owning the latest movies for free we have them to protect someone else's right to produce product and be compensated for it. We don't have laws against murder to take away your right to kill (which is not in the constitution) we have them to protect my right to live ( is implied in the constitution).
The right to own the tools of your own defense if in the constitution, period and the belief is that the government does not *give* us rights, everything in the bill of rights is not a gift to the people but a restriction on the government protecting what people have by right of existence.
"I expect a law to be made because most people agree with me."
Thats called the tyranny of the majority and that is *specifically* why the bill of rights exist! and why its so damn hard to change (75% of the states, so today that would be what, 38). Its because your rights are not given by people the contract by which our government exist specifically restricts them from stepping on rights which are 'endowed by our creator' which could be God, Allah, Yawae, or the flying spaghetti monster, it matters not. Man can not give and should not take away these rights.
"My expressing of opinion is a way for others to assess if they feel the same way. If they do, and enough others agree, and they feel it is important enough, then a law should be made."
Thats how slavery happened, enough people wanted it and enough people were content to let it slide.
Comment Math-querade parties, math-cookies, & puzzle-g (Score 1) 529
Back when I was an undergrad in the math department...we had great math parties that were a lot of fun. You don't have to do much to carry a math-ish theme, and math folks tend to carry conversations well-enough that you don't have to babysit them (unlike so many CS parties I've been to).
We used to have Math-querade parties, just to make use of a good pun. Costumes were optional, but plenty of us dressed up anyway.
Sometimes we'd mak math-shaped sugar-cookies -- just make a batch of sugar-cookie dough and cut it in the shape of various operators and greek letters (then have fun decorating with icing). It's a fair amount of work, but you could even turn it into a party-community activity (have the dough ready ahead of time, then get everyone to roll out a bit of dough and start cutting out math shapes).
It was always good to have games around. Encourage people to bring their own -- they're likely to have many. If you know any math profs well, see if they'll loan you their games, or suggest some (about 1/3 of math profs I know *loved* puzzle-games). Any game with deduction is usually a sure-fire hit, including various card games or round-the-table games like "Mafia", e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(game) [yes, those parens are part of the url, it seems).
Alcohol is fine, but recognize that not all geeks like drinking, and that is fine. I'd suggest accommodating moderate drinking, but skip the hard alcohol.
Unless the math students/geeks you know are assholes, any effort you make with the intention of having fun will be warmly-received.
We used to have Math-querade parties, just to make use of a good pun. Costumes were optional, but plenty of us dressed up anyway.
Sometimes we'd mak math-shaped sugar-cookies -- just make a batch of sugar-cookie dough and cut it in the shape of various operators and greek letters (then have fun decorating with icing). It's a fair amount of work, but you could even turn it into a party-community activity (have the dough ready ahead of time, then get everyone to roll out a bit of dough and start cutting out math shapes).
It was always good to have games around. Encourage people to bring their own -- they're likely to have many. If you know any math profs well, see if they'll loan you their games, or suggest some (about 1/3 of math profs I know *loved* puzzle-games). Any game with deduction is usually a sure-fire hit, including various card games or round-the-table games like "Mafia", e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(game) [yes, those parens are part of the url, it seems).
Alcohol is fine, but recognize that not all geeks like drinking, and that is fine. I'd suggest accommodating moderate drinking, but skip the hard alcohol.
Unless the math students/geeks you know are assholes, any effort you make with the intention of having fun will be warmly-received.
Comment Re:To be expected (Score 0, Offtopic) 603
I have little tolerance for anything.
Especially you. Get off my Slashdot!
Especially you. Get off my Slashdot!
Submission + - Bizarre self-destructing palm tree found
Smivs writes: "A
giant self-destructing palm tree
has been discovered in Madagascar, that is so big it can be seen on Google Earth. The palm is 20m (60ft) high with leaves 5m (16ft) long, the tallest tree of its type in the country, but for most of its life — around 100 years — it appears fairly unremarkable apart from its size. However, when it flowers, it puts so much energy into an impressive flower-spike, that it eventually collapses and dies.
Dr John Dransfield, who announced the tree in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, is baffled as to how the it came to be in the country.
It bears a resemblance to a species of palm found in regions of Asia; 6,000km away.It is thought that the palm has gone through a remarkable evolution since Madagascar split with India some 80m years ago."
YouTube to Host Presidential Debate 180
skotte writes "Wired is reporting that July 23 at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, Anderson Cooper will host presidential debates in which debaters are asked 20-30 questions culled from a specially designated section of YouTube, where the voting populace can post questions directly. You and I (assuming you're American, probably) can ask questions ourselves, not just a reporter in a crowd. Candidates won't know which questions they are being asked, and the video selection process will remain a complete secret. Interesting, but also the slightest bit scary."
Comment Surfing on a beach (Score 5, Informative) 198
In Brighton (UK) you can surf on the beach with the free PierToPier wifi connection.
Comment **No Title** (Score 1) 269
IMHO,though it's not very effective right now(and less so in the face of increasing performance:cost ratios, free-resources (eg. open source)) at some high level money places a cap on this effect. The same holds true in biology. If I culture organisms in an Eden of sorts (I attempt to remove all limitations) SOME limiting resource always shows up.
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