...exceptionally large room-temperature electrical conductivity...
Ok, that's not the same as identically zero resistance. Regarding their measurements, from TFA:
...measured using a home-built instrumentation amplifier...
A more accurate way of doing this would probably be to see if can it support persistent currents for large timescales. This isn't rocket science -- make a loop of this stuff (shouldn't be hard, since it's a "very simply-fabricated system"), drop a magnet through it, go grab a bite, come back and measure the field strength. (Obviously, take into account any ferromagnetic behavior, and verify that the field strength is due to a current loop.)
Re:And of course, the 3rd (almost) secret mission
on
The Titanic In 3-D
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· Score: 1
...James Cameron needs a new private island
No, see, he's the King of the World(TM), which means all islands are actually his private islands.
As someone who grew up in Northern California proper (and now lives in Silicon Valley), I must protest. We already have our "Silicon Valley" of maryjane -- it's called the Emerald Triangle. Not to mention, my county has already decriminalized cultivation of the good herb (grep for "Measure G"), at least for personal use.
Although, it would be illegal to grow GMO weed there (search for "Measure H").
*) Standard missiles can engage targets 50-100 miles away. Power on the laser is diminished the farther you go, making it practical for close in targets.
Not to mention the line-of-sight problem as introduced by the curvature of the earth -- if laser defense gets to be a big thing, someone will start making missiles which hug the ocean/ground.
to make a witty comment about quantum computers and speed/# cores not commuting (thus leading to "core-speed uncertainty"), but I think it sounded wittier in my head.
What language do pirates code in?
on
R In a Nutshell
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· Score: 4, Funny
(143,000, photons/second) x (h, Planck's constant in j-s) x (c, speed of light (in m/s)) / (avg wavelength of x-ray) = (6.63E-32)(3E8)(143,000)/(5E-9) = ~5.68E-10 J/S
Amirite?
Technically you may be right, but this is Slashdot, so we need a car analogy:
5.68E-10 J/S = 5.68E-10 W. The Corvette ZR-1* puts out 476 kW = 476E3W (638 hp). 476E3/5.68E-10 = 8.38028169E14 ~= 838E12
Moral of this is, one top-of-the-line, stock Corvette could "temporarily blind" over eight hundred trillion NASA satellites. I don't want to know how many sats a Romulan Bird-of-Prey could blind...
*NASA's from the U.S.A., so we naturally need an car from the same country. An Enzo Ferrari puts out roughly the same power, if you favor a more European analogy.
If you read TFA while watching an old Judy Garland flick on groovy couches with a bunch of your friends from college, you'll see that the naive interpretation of Jenner's sentiment given in the summary is way off.
"Nemesis" is the codename for the next MySQL release, to which Oracle is giving the ax. After the 5.1 debacle, I'm not surprised the database is being touted as a "Sun's Dark Companion."
Odd, I just got this weird feeling that I'm being offtopic.
Slashdot Mirror
Tangentially related, what does the following do:
doItRecursively(doWhatIWant()) { return doItRecursively(doItFaster(doWhatIWant()); }
I'm guessing it does it instantaneously...or never.
If the light is red, you must stop. It's not a hard concept to grasp.
I don't think you have to stop at a red; you merely can't pass through the intersection / across the magic "Stop Here" line.
Apparently it is a hard concept to grasp...
...exceptionally large room-temperature electrical conductivity...
Ok, that's not the same as identically zero resistance. Regarding their measurements, from TFA:
...measured using a home-built instrumentation amplifier...
A more accurate way of doing this would probably be to see if can it support persistent currents for large timescales. This isn't rocket science -- make a loop of this stuff (shouldn't be hard, since it's a "very simply-fabricated system"), drop a magnet through it, go grab a bite, come back and measure the field strength. (Obviously, take into account any ferromagnetic behavior, and verify that the field strength is due to a current loop.)
...James Cameron needs a new private island
No, see, he's the King of the World(TM), which means all islands are actually his private islands.
I was literally beside myself when I read that. It was an out-of-body experience.
This is a more plausible explanation for...everything.
Eat your heart out, nihilists!
How many of these could you fit in the space of a standard HD case?
I know, someone's gonna lecture me on how this isn't at all a fair comparison...
Speaking of which, check out this awesome All Your Base Flash video!
Things they have in common: I've seen them both before Slashdot enlightened me...
doItRecursive(doWhatIWant) return doItRecursive(doItFaster(doWhatIWant));
Because it's pretty hard to embed lead in code?
Note how I removed the last vowel -- pretty hip, right?
...a revenue source that has thus been untapped.
Wrong word; prostitution is a revenue source that is untapped (in the U.S.A., except for Nevada).
Marijuana, on the other hand, is a revenue source that hasn't been hit.
As someone who grew up in Northern California proper (and now lives in Silicon Valley), I must protest. We already have our "Silicon Valley" of maryjane -- it's called the Emerald Triangle. Not to mention, my county has already decriminalized cultivation of the good herb (grep for "Measure G"), at least for personal use.
Although, it would be illegal to grow GMO weed there (search for "Measure H").
*) Standard missiles can engage targets 50-100 miles away. Power on the laser is diminished the farther you go, making it practical for close in targets.
Not to mention the line-of-sight problem as introduced by the curvature of the earth -- if laser defense gets to be a big thing, someone will start making missiles which hug the ocean/ground.
And what if it's a cloudy day?
Lots of steam?
...shows the 32-megawatt solid-state laser...
From TFA:
...which is made up of six solid-state lasers with an output of 32 kilowatts that simultaneously focus on a target.
As my stat mech professor once said, "but hey, what's a few orders of magnitude between friends?"
to make a witty comment about quantum computers and speed/# cores not commuting (thus leading to "core-speed uncertainty"), but I think it sounded wittier in my head.
R!
<drops pin...>
(143,000, photons /second) x (h, Planck's constant in j-s) x (c, speed of light (in m/s)) / (avg wavelength of x-ray) = (6.63E-32)(3E8)(143,000)/(5E-9) = ~5.68E-10 J/S
Amirite?
Technically you may be right, but this is Slashdot, so we need a car analogy:
5.68E-10 J/S = 5.68E-10 W. The Corvette ZR-1* puts out 476 kW = 476E3W (638 hp). 476E3/5.68E-10 = 8.38028169E14 ~= 838E12
Moral of this is, one top-of-the-line, stock Corvette could "temporarily blind" over eight hundred trillion NASA satellites. I don't want to know how many sats a Romulan Bird-of-Prey could blind...
*NASA's from the U.S.A., so we naturally need an car from the same country. An Enzo Ferrari puts out roughly the same power, if you favor a more European analogy.
Something that can determine Pat's gender.
If you read TFA while watching an old Judy Garland flick on groovy couches with a bunch of your friends from college, you'll see that the naive interpretation of Jenner's sentiment given in the summary is way off.
Get it right next time, man.
It's the dihydrogen monoxide that's killing us.
Sun's Dark Companion 'Nemesis' Not So Likely
"Nemesis" is the codename for the next MySQL release, to which Oracle is giving the ax. After the 5.1 debacle, I'm not surprised the database is being touted as a "Sun's Dark Companion."
Odd, I just got this weird feeling that I'm being offtopic.
Network Time Protocol sues NTP for maligning their good name.
...and have a look at female aggression and it's[sic] consequences...
Consequences? Domain registrars with names like "Go Daddy", and urine-colored (to say nothing of the flavor...) beer.
Not sure if misuse of the apostrophe is a consequence of female aggression, though.