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User: BigBadaboom

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Comments · 46

  1. Rutherford and Franklin on Scientists Biographies for 5th and 6th Graders? · · Score: 1

    Two personal heroes of mine:

    Ernest Rutherford - A great scientist with several ground breaking discoveries, a national hero, and the mentor to numerous other Nobel Prize winners, such as Bohr, Geiger and Chadwick. Admired by Einstein.

    Rosalind Franklin A heartbreaking and inspiring story about a scientist that eschewed fame (and was cheated of it) but was instead dedicated to science for science sake and not the politics.

  2. A girl's best friend on Getting Off NetHack? · · Score: 1

    You tried bribing her with Angband? There's your problem, mate. Try bribing her with diamonds.

  3. Re:Original DOOM w/Alient wad on What Scares Game Developers? · · Score: 1

    I second that... I was going to mention Alien TC as well. The whole first level you were expecting them to come - but they never did...

  4. Some other great British shows missing on Top 50 Science Fiction TV Shows · · Score: 1

    eg.
    The Tomorrow People
    Sapphire and Steel

  5. Re:Haast's Eagle has been known for some time on Ancient DNA Helps Solve the Legend of Giant Eagles · · Score: 1

    And another correction: kiwis don't get as large as two feet - a foot is closer to the mark.

  6. Re:Damned interesting science on Ancient DNA Helps Solve the Legend of Giant Eagles · · Score: 1

    I wonder if the number of flightless species in the area were caused by the presence of this predator in the air?

    Not the primary reason. The lack of land-based predators is the primary reason. Why bother flying when you can walk around grazing for insects without being in any danger?

  7. Re:A few more ideas of 2004 on The Year In Ideas · · Score: 1

    Slate has a series of articles criticising that NYT sex-slavery story.

  8. Fun with LM3909 on Electronics Projects for 12-Year-Olds? · · Score: 1

    A simple project that I remember fondly from my electronics class at high school was a fun little LED flasher project using a LM3909 LED flasher IC, a LED, a capacitor and a AA battery.

    An example circuit is on this page.

    Mount it in a matchbox, and you have your first electronics project! I think I still have that thing 20 years later. :)

  9. Re:And the Carribean votes... Parker?!?!? on Mock World Vote · · Score: 1

    Err... go back to the site and have another look at the pictures of the candidates. Notice anything different about Parker?

  10. Zack Brown on Unsung Heroes of Open Source Software? · · Score: 1

    Who since Jan 1999 has produced a weekly summary of the discussions on the linux-kernel mailing list. Thank you Zack!

  11. Re:The prints are NOT run against the FBI database on Biometrics at the Statue of Liberty · · Score: 1

    Yes... it seems to me that 'the authorities' would be very tempted by the idea of being able to know within a few minutes that a known criminal or terrorist was currently trapped on an island...

  12. Halo on On The Most Boring Videogames Of All Time · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Maybe not as boring as some of the games listed here, but am I the only one who thought Halo was completely over-rated? Seemingly endless sequences of room after room that looked the same?

    Am I crazy?

  13. Re:"The article does not link to Harrington's webs on Woman Ticketed For Nude Pics On Internet · · Score: 1
    The owner of the bar, Jerry Luth, told Omaha television station KETV he is extremely upset by the pictures and did not give Harrington permission to shoot the pictures at the bar.


    Mr Luth went on to say "At Marz Intergalactic Shrimp and Martini Bar, 1140 O St Lincoln (happy hour 6-7pm), we definitely do not encourage our patrons to disrobe."


    Heh, on this page it's described as a "martini bar with an interesting decorative theme". I'll say.

  14. Re:Let's see... on Movie Landmarks for CGI Effects? · · Score: 1

    When you talk about morphing, you would also have to mention the video for Michael Jackson's 'Black and White'. It was largely responsible for kicking off the big morphing craze.

  15. Suggestions on Movie Landmarks for CGI Effects? · · Score: 1

    The early ILM and Pixar stuff is a good start.

    Just off the top of my heard (most of these have already been mentioned):

    Star Wars (the Death Star hologram was a landmark - pretty bleeding edge for 1977)
    Tron (firt movie with amajor CG component)
    The Last Starfighter (I believe it was the first film with computer generated spaceships)
    Luxo Jr (first CG to win an Academy Award)
    T2 (significant step forward - caused a bit of a sensation at the 1991 Siggraph conference).
    Jurassic Park (obviously)

    Also don't forget the Max Headroom TV series. It wasn't CG, but everyone thought it was.

  16. lyx, graphviz, sodipodi? on Electronic Publishing Using Free Software? · · Score: 4, Informative

    Around here even the experienced latex-ers use Lyx for editing their tex documents.
    Xfig sounds a scary and rather masochistic way to go... how about Graphviz for flow charts and other similar graphics, and Sodipodi for your vector graphics?

  17. Re:About the project. on How to Become a Supervillain · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I would hate to know that I was involved in making a terrorist not be stopped, possibly causing people to be killed

    You are assuming that the best way to locate terrorist cells is to troll millions of emails looking for keywords.

    I doubt very much that many terrorists are located that way. Which is why (to me at least) that systems like Echelon are really intended for this purpose. Real time trolling for emails seems to have a more nefarious purpose.

    In this instance they are talking about Swiss ISPs being required to keep all emails for six months. This data would presumably only be searched in response to a subpoena relating to specific emails.

    Therefore I doubt this project is going to affect the ability of Swiss law enforcement to track terrorists. All it's going to do is increase the size of ISPs email archives.

  18. Re:The answer is "no" on Are PTR Records Important? · · Score: 1
    Now, in my opinion the correct way to deal with spam is to filter it on the receiving end.

    Spoken like someone who doesn't get much spam, and doesn't pay for traffic.

  19. Re:No it wouldnt be better on Are PTR Records Important? · · Score: 1

    Then your solution would be to send your outgoing mail through your ISPs mail server.

    I suspect more and more ISPs are going to follow what AOL did and reject mail from DSL addresses, so you are going to face problems in the future with this sort of setup.

  20. Try British sites on Interesting and Educational Web Pages for Children? · · Score: 1
    You might try looking for some British sites. IMO they are a little more creative with their use of IT in education there.

    For instance, here are a couple of sites created by a friend of mine who has had 20 years of (award winning) experience with using computers in education.

    Star Tower
    QED

  21. Re:So why on Digital Domesday Rescued By Emulation · · Score: 1
    (probably not the same machines mind...)

    Don't be too sure... my BBC Master must be 16-17 years old, and it still runs.

    Mind you, it hasn't had much use for the last 10 years... :)

  22. Re:Latest spammer trick on Paul Graham on Fighting Spam · · Score: 1

    Yes, but does he parse the HTML and discard the comments?

  23. Latest spammer trick on Paul Graham on Fighting Spam · · Score: 1

    One recent trick that I've just started seeing in spams is a simple tactic that might do quite well w.r.t. defeating content filters.

    What this spammer does is insert html comments in the middle of every word with a random word inserted the comment. ie:

    MA<!-- fish -->KE MO<!-- now -->NEY FA<!-- account -->ST!

    Content filters may need to get a bit trickier (eg by parsing HTML).

  24. Shot down? on Big Black Delta Mystery Solved? · · Score: 1

    Assume these were DoD or military ships, what would happen if a 'UFO hunter' went up in a
    plane or helicopter and by some means brought one of these ships down?

    Would it be covered up? Would you be charged with homocide?

  25. Across state lines... on FBI Arrests 4 College Interns For Stealing Lunar Materials · · Score: 1

    Hmmm...

    Did the FBI make them travel from Houston to Tampa just so they could add 'crossing state lines' to the charges? :(

    If so, does that qualify as entrapment?