saison - Slashdot User

Comment Not quite there yet (Score 1) 271

by saison on Friday September 24, 2010 @10:42AM (#33687164) Attached to: Researcher Builds Machines That Daydream

From TFA - "His algorithm was based on Plutchick's Wheel of Emotions, which illustrated emotions as a colour wheel and disallowed mutually exclusive states - like joy and sadness - from being experienced simultaneously."

Yeah, nobody ever feels joy and sadness at the same time.

Comment Just like saving the forests (Score 1) 403

by saison on Tuesday May 11, 2010 @12:49PM (#32171160) Attached to: Bill Gates Funds Seawater-Spraying Cloud Machines

Save the forest by preventing all forest fires. Then, deal with unbelievable wild fires after interrupting the balance of regular smaller fires that nature has to clean up old timber. Why must they phuc with everything.

Submission + - Biggest Detector Ever to Find Gravitational Waves

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Monday May 10, 2010 @06:27PM

Hugh Pickens writes: "Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that when large objects such as black holes collide, ripples in space and time flow outwards called gravitational waves. Now the Telegraph reports that the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) consisting of a fleet of three spacecraft flying in formation three million miles apart, will be able to detect gravitational waves of very low frequencies due to the huge distance between the three spacecraft in the largest scientific instrument ever built. "Gravitational waves are the last piece of Einstein's theory of general relativity that has still to be proved correct," says Professor Jim Hough, an expert on gravitational waves at Glasgow University and a member of the committee that drew up the plans. "Unfortunately we haven't been able to detect them yet because they are very weak. However, the new experiments we are working on have great potential to allow detection." A small test mission will be launched next year to demonstrate the technology to be used to detect the waves paving the way for the more ambitious mission to be launched after 2020. Each spacecraft will house floating cubes of gold platinum and laser beams fired between the spacecraft will measure minute changes in the distance between each of the cubes caused by the weak waves of gravity that ripple out from catastrophic events in deep space. "Black holes are so dense that no light or radiation escapes from inside them. Gravitational waves from the warped spacetime around black holes could give us new ways of looking at them," says Professor Sheila Rowan. "We could also learn about the state of matter inside collapsed stars.""

Fine Print Says Game Store Owns Your Soul 262

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday April 15, 2010 @10:15AM from the anything-to-beat-this-level dept.

mr_sifter writes "UK games retailer GameStation revealed that it legally owns the souls of thousands of customers, thanks to a clause it secretly added to the online terms and conditions for its website. The 'Immortal Soul Clause' was added as part of an attempt to highlight how few customers read the terms and conditions of an online sale. GameStation claims that 88 percent of customers did not read the clause, which gives legal ownership of the customer's soul over to the UK-based games retailer. The remaining 12 percent of customers however did notice the clause and clicked the relevant opt-out box, netting themselves a £5 GBP gift voucher in the process."

Study Finds That Video Games Hinder Learning In Young Boys 278

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday March 17, 2010 @03:35AM from the fun-activities-distract-from-studies,-film-at-11 dept.

dcollins writes "Researchers at Denison University in Ohio have shown that giving PlayStations to young boys leads to slower progress in reading and writing skills. Quoting: 'The study is the first controlled trial to look at the effects of playing video games on learning in young boys. That is to say, the findings aren't based on survey data of kids' game habits, but instead on a specific group of children that were randomly assigned to receive a PlayStation or not ... Those with PlayStations also spent less time engaged in educational activities after school and showed less advancement in their reading and writing skills over time than the control group, according to tests taken by the kids. While the game-system owners didn't show significant behavioral problems, their teachers did report delays in learning academic skills, including writing and spelling.'"

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