the-amazing-blob - Slashdot User

Comment Re:When the regenerations are over (Score 1) 245

by the-amazing-blob on Thursday October 30, 2008 @10:22PM (#25578709) Attached to: David Tennant Stands Down From "Doctor Who"

By this point, the Time Lords will have returned (through some highly confusing and mildly self-contradictory explanation of Time-Locks), and they'll grant the Doctor more regenerations.

MS Awarded "Best Campaigner Against OOXML" 190

Posted by kdawson on Monday October 01, 2007 @09:06PM from the pull-gun-aim-at-foot-pull-trigger dept.

HansF writes "Microsoft itself is the surprise winner of the FFII's Kayak Prize 2007, offered by the FFII in its call for rejection of Microsoft's OOXML standards proposal. The software monopolist is honored as 'Best Campaigner against OOXML Standardization.' FFII president Pieter Hintjens explains, 'We could never have done this by ourselves. By pushing so hard to get OOXML endorsed, even to the point of loading the standards boards in Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy, and beyond, Microsoft showed to the world how poor their format is. Good standards just don't need that kind of pressure. All together, countries made over ten thousands technical comments, a new world record for an ISO vote. Microsoft made a heroic — and costly — effort to discredit their own proposal, and we're sincerely grateful to them.'" If Microsoft doesn't send a representative to claim their 2500-Euro prize at the FFII General Assembly in November, FFII will give the money to Peruvian earthquake relief.

Journal Journal: [food] Oatmeal & Whole Wheat Waffles 2

Journal by GeckoFood on Sunday January 21, 2007 @11:49PM

Ok, this is a little different than a lot of the stuff I post. I usually only put up the recipes for loaf bread. This time you get waffles.

Submission + - OSDL and the Free Standards Group to Merge

Submitted by

Andy Updegrove

on Sunday January 21, 2007 @10:18PM

Andy Updegrove writes: "On Sunday afternoon, the Free Standards Group (FSG) signed an agreement to combine forces with Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) to form a new organization — The Linux Foundation. The result of this consolidation will be to dedicate the resources of the combined membership to "accelerate the growth of Linux by providing a comprehensive set of services to compete effectively with closed platforms." Jim Zemlin, currently the head of FSG, will lead the new organization as its Executive Director. The new organization will continue to support Linux in a variety of ways, including by providing economic support to Linus Torvalds and other key kernel developers, managing the Linux trademark, and providing legal protection to developers through such initiatives as the Open Source as Prior Art project, the Patent Commons, and the Linux Legal Defense Fund. It will also continue FSG's standardization efforts by maintaining the Linux Standard Base (LSB) and the Linux Developer Network (all major Linux distributions comply with the LSB today). Finally, it will "respond with authority" to disinformation and other attacks, and foster innovation by hosting collaboration in areas such as desktop interfaces, accessibility, printing, and application packaging, among many others. All in all, a tall order, but eminently possible given its membership: The Linux Foundation's founding members will include every major company in the Linux industry, including Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC, Novell, Oracle and Red Hat, as well as many community groups, universities and industry end users. http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/articl e.php?story=2007012113540789"

Two Snowflakes May Be Alike After All 180

Posted by Zonk on Sunday January 21, 2007 @08:52PM from the everything-you-know-is-wrong dept.

An anonymous reader writes "LiveScience is reporting that it may be possible for two snowflakes to be alike after all. For anyone who studies probability, this seems reasonable, given that the article mentions that 10^24 snowflakes fall in any given year. The article contains links to fascinating snowflake pictures. From the article: 'A typical snow crystal weighs roughly one millionth of a gram. This means a cubic foot of snow can contain roughly one billion crystals ... "It is probably safe to say that the possible number of snow crystal shapes exceeds the estimated number of atoms in the known universe," Nelson said. Still, while "no two snowflakes are alike" might hold true for larger snowflakes, Nelson figures it might ring false for smaller crystals that sometimes fall before they have a chance to fully develop. "How likely is it that two snowflakes are alike? Very likely if we define alike to mean that we would have trouble distinguishing them under a microscope and if we include the crystals that hardly develop beyond the prism stage--that is, the smallest snow crystals," Nelson said.'"

Submission + - The birth of a FOSS application

Submitted by

Joe Barr

on Sunday January 21, 2007 @08:48PM

Joe Barr writes: "Brice Burges explains why and how he created a new free software application, as well as what he learned from the birthing process, in a story on Linux.com. The story provides first-hand insights into the frustrations and satisfactions of developers working on free/open source projects."

Submission + - Google, Microsoft Escalate Data Center Battle

Submitted by

miller60

on Sunday January 21, 2007 @05:18PM

miller60 writes: "The race by Microsoft and Google to build next-generation data centers is intensifying. On Thursday Microsoft announced a $550 million San Antonio project, only to have Google confirm plans for a $600 million site in North Carolina. It appears Google may just be getting started, as it is apparently planning two more enormous data centers in South Carolina, which may cost another $950 million. These "Death Star" data centers are emerging as a key assets in the competitive struggle between Microsoft and Google, which have both scaled up their spending (as previously discussed on Slashdot). Some pundits, like PBS' Robert X. Cringley, say the scope and cost of these projects reflect the immense scale of Google's ambitions."

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