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Submission + - Another project goes private: Amara stops being developed as Open Source

Submitted by northar
northar writes: Subtitling project Amara closes its repository as focus is shifting. Blog post. https://blog.amara.org/2020/01... . We have seen a few examples of projects that were Open Source changing their license to something else than an OSI approved license. Amara was AGPL up until going private. While future improvements to the code base from PCF will not be public, a copy of the last public code base has been preserved at Gitlab, should anyone be interested in the work done up until now. https://gitlab.com/hanklank/am... Note that no support is given from PCF for this code.

Comment First handheld tools, now programmed tools (Score 1) 155

by vanOorschot (#47296343) Attached to: Computational Thinking: AP Computer Science Vs AP Statistics?
We, as humans, got the lead on the other monkeys in the tree by using (handheld) tools. This does not scale to well since we only have two hands. So now we make tools that we can tell what to do and then walk away. However, like learning how to use a tool, we also need to learn how to tell tools what to do. Enter Computational Thinking. The best way to teach children Computational Thinking is to present them with an inspirational simulated world where they can pester toys until they get the hang of it. I guess Statistics is a simulated world, but i myself have never found it inspirational. Worlds like Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) and Robomind (www.robomind.com) are more to my liking (disclaimer, i am one of the culprits who made the latter).
Movies

Why Video Game Movie Adaptations Need New Respect 283

Posted by Soulskill from the no-more-fighting-game-movies-please dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Hollywood has yet to find any video game property it is willing to treat with the same respect as J.R.R. Tolkien or J.K.Rowling, arguably still following the principles that led to the appalling Super Mario Bros. movie in 1992: 'A game lacks the complexity that a movie requires.' Yet a modern gaming masterpiece such as Mass Effect has the depth and breadth to deserve better treatment in the proposed trilogy. Is Hollywood again going to disrespect fans who, in this case, have as much right to see a good plot respected as the readers of Lord Of The Rings? This article discusses why and how Hollywood should grow up regarding these adaptations."

Comment Speed of Development (Score 1) 177

by vanOorschot (#34442108) Attached to: Google Quashes 13 Chrome Bugs, Adds PDF Viewer
Looking at the speed of new developments by Google and Apple, i can not help but wonder how far we would have come since the Alto/Lisa had it not been for the stifling influence of first IBM and then Microsoft. OK, maybe the newbies stand on the shoulders of giants, but damn aren't they a couple of feisty dwarfs.
Earth

Oil-Spotting Blimp Arrives In the Gulf 109

Posted by samzenpus from the lazy-eye-in-the-sky dept.
GAMP writes "A Navy blimp to assist oil skimming operations will be arriving to the Gulf Coast Wednesday evening, according to the Unified Command Joint Information Center. 'The airship will operate relatively close to shore, primarily supporting skimmers to maximize their effectiveness,' said US Coast Guard Capt. Kevin Sareault."
Security

A Flood of Stable Linux Kernels Released 105

Posted by timothy from the five-is-better-than-one dept.
Julie188 writes "Greg Kroah-Hartman has released five new stable Linux kernels, correcting minor errors of their predecessors and including improvements which are unlikely to generate new errors. As so often with kernel versions in the stable series, it remains undisclosed if the new versions contain changes which fix security vulnerabilities, although the number of changes and some of the descriptions of those changes certainly suggest that all the new versions contain security fixes."
Linux Business

Is LGP Going the Way of Loki Software? 124

Posted by Soulskill from the bad-news-bears dept.
An anonymous reader writes "After the demise of Loki Software, Linux Game Publishing sprouted up in its place, and for the past nine years has ported a number of games to Linux. But LGP may now be sharing the same fate as Loki. Linux Game Publishing hasn't updated its blog or news pages in months, has stopped responding to e-mails, and its only active ports are games they began work on in 2002/2003."
Books

Puzzle In xkcd Book Finally Cracked 90

Posted by kdawson from the be-there-or-be-somewhere-else dept.
An anonymous reader writes "After a little over five months of pondering, xkcd fans have cracked a puzzle hidden inside Randall Munroe's recent book xkcd: volume 0. Here is the start of the thread on the xkcd forums; and here is the post revealing the final message (a latitude and longitude plus a date and time)."
Earth

Officials Sue Couple Who Removed Their Lawn 819

Posted by kdawson from the revenge-of-the-lawn dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The LA Times reports that Orange County officials are locked in a legal battle with a couple accused of violating city ordinances for replacing the grass on their lawn with wood chips and drought-tolerant plants, reducing their water usage from 299,221 gallons in 2007 to 58,348 gallons in 2009. The dispute began two years ago, when Quan and Angelina Ha tore out the grass in their front yard. In drought-plagued Southern California, the couple said, the lush grass had been soaking up tens of thousands of gallons of water — and hundreds of dollars — each year. 'We've got a newborn, so we want to start worrying about her future,' said Quan Ha, an information technology manager for Kelley Blue Book. But city officials told the Has they were violating several city laws that require that 40% of residential yards to be landscaped predominantly with live plants. Last summer, the couple tried to appease the city by building a fence around the yard and planting drought-tolerant greenery — lavender, rosemary, horsetail, and pittosporum, among others. But according to the city, their landscaping still did not comply with city standards. At the end of January, the Has received a letter saying they had been charged with a misdemeanor violation and must appear in court. The couple could face a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for their grass-free, eco-friendly landscaping scheme. 'It's just funny that we pay our taxes to the city and the city is now prosecuting us with our own money,' says Quan Ha."

Submission + - Web heritage could be lost (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Squiff
Squiff writes: It was founded in 1753. Karl Marx prepared some of his most influential works there (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Kapital#Influences). Today it hosts "arguably the most comprehensive collection of business and intellectual property (IP) in the United Kingdom and is the official library of the UK Intellectual Property Office." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_British_Library#Business_and_IP_Centre). Now the British Library warns us that "The UK's online heritage could be lost forever if the government does not grant a "right to archive"" in the UK (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8535384.stm). Never mind the Wayback Machine, The British Library declares that "the average life expectancy of a website was just 44 to 75 days, and suggested that at least 10% of all UK websites were either lost or replaced by new material every six months."with the material within them being amongst the most revealing regarding the state of contemporary culture.

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