We're being hit by tennis ball sized meteors/meteorites(not sure which one is valid syntax in this case:/) all the time. They don't really do much unless they hit someone.
This meteorite in particular was probably 30cm wide or so, that's quite a lot, actually.
Yet another beta lacking the UMSDOS module rewrite... does anyone know when it will be finished, I can't even remember who maintains it.
I guess I'll have to stick with 2.4.23-pre5 for the time being - I don't really feel like hacking away trying to repartition my 8 Gb HD... buying a new one would be a good idea though... *adds to TODO*
I don't really like this... X is mature and popular, replacing it will take a *lot* of time, and most people will not switch unless the major distributions do.
And anyway, alpha blending and an official toolkit? No. The unofficial X toolkits work well enough, and alpha blending is not very hard to hack in - it's also quite useless for anything other than eyecandy.
I doubt this project will get much highlight after this initial slashdotting.
Europe's first mission to the Moon is set for blast off from Kourou in French Guiana just after midnight, local time, on Sunday.
SMART 1 will be launched from the European spaceport between 2302 and 2321 GMT. It will be taken into space by European's Ariane 5 rocket, along with an Indian science probe and a commercial satellite.
It will take 15 months for SMART 1 to reach the Moon. On arrival it will enter into polar orbit enabling it to view the Moon's surface from every angle.
The probe will then spend six months combing the lunar landscape for signs of frozen water and will map the distribution of surface minerals and chemicals.
"Despite decades of research, we have never fully discovered what the Moon is made of," says Manuel Grande at UK's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, who built the spacecraft's X-ray spectrometer.
Complete picture
The Apollo missions provided an opportunity to analyse only limited areas of the Moon near its equator. More recently, NASA's Lunar Prospector probe used a gamma ray spectrometer to create a global map of heavy metals such as iron on the Moon's surface.
SMART 1 should complete the picture. Its X-ray instrument will determine the distribution of metals such as magnesium, aluminium and silicon. These will produce different X-rays after absorbing the Sun's rays.
Apostolis Christou, research astronomer at Armagh Observatory in Northern Island, says this is the most important aspect of the mission.
"We need the global picture to test the theory that Moon was once covered with a molten ocean," Christou told New Scientist.
X-ray observations could also provide the first glimpse of a type of Moon rock - the lunar mantle - which may be exposed at the Moon's surface in what is the largest crater in the Solar System.
A more complete picture of the Moon's mineral composition could help confirm the theory that the Moon broke off from the Earth due to a huge collision with a Mars-sized object in the past.
Blue jet
Another spectrometer will be used to search for the infrared signature of frozen water hidden in the shadows of lunar craters. This instrument may also detect frozen carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide on the surface of the Moon.
Crucially, surface water ice could eventually provide supplies for permanent bases on the Moon.
Even while the probe is travelling towards its target it will not lie idle. Its X-ray spectrometer will be pointed towards bright comets in order to test the theory that solar wind can excite the gas surrounding these mysterious bodies causing them to emit X-rays.
On its long trek through space the cube-shaped probe will test a revolutionary solar electric propulsion system. Electrical power generated by the craft's solar panels will be used to excite xenon, which will generate thrust by emitting a blue jet of ions.
Smaller engine
Ion propulsion systems are less powerful than conventional chemical rockets but can run for ten times as long using the same mass of propellant. This makes it possible to reach a target with a much smaller engine, reducing overall launch costs dramatically.
SMART 1 is miniscule compared to many spacecraft. It weighs 367 kilograms and measures one metre on all sides, although its solar panels will unfurl to measure 14 metres across.
The mission is part of a European Space Agency drive to reduce the cost and complexity of its space projects. These missions will all be identified by the title SMART, meaning Small Mission for Advanced Research in Technology.
Yeah, a serial port is pretty much needed if you have some old computer without a network card.
Of course, an old computer will most likely have a serial port. This will however change in the future when the computers released 'today' without ports(a network card though, there's still hope...) become old, and people want to leech the data stored on them. Or maybe rebuild them or whatever.
It would be more interesting if the ISPs would start experimenting with uncapping speeds for especially law-abedient users(this group does not include me, unfortunately).
Slashdot Mirror
I heard they got it from Valv^E's CVS, nice, eh :)
I think most of the talk is going on at #halflife2@irc.efnet.org
We're being hit by tennis ball sized meteors/meteorites(not sure which one is valid syntax in this case :/) all the time. They don't really do much unless they hit someone.
This meteorite in particular was probably 30cm wide or so, that's quite a lot, actually.
They have to, where could they otherwise have gotten the idea from?
Yet another beta lacking the UMSDOS module rewrite... does anyone know when it will be finished, I can't even remember who maintains it.
I guess I'll have to stick with 2.4.23-pre5 for the time being - I don't really feel like hacking away trying to repartition my 8 Gb HD... buying a new one would be a good idea though... *adds to TODO*
./configure --without-x
I don't really like this... X is mature and popular, replacing it will take a *lot* of time, and most people will not switch unless the major distributions do.
And anyway, alpha blending and an official toolkit? No. The unofficial X toolkits work well enough, and alpha blending is not very hard to hack in - it's also quite useless for anything other than eyecandy.
I doubt this project will get much highlight after this initial slashdotting.
Wouldn't that give you Slackware-current instead(9.1 for the momeny) ;)?
Anyway, that tool looks really cool - I'm going to give it a try.
Swaret
Slackware is more BSD-like... or that's what I've heard.
:)
I use it myself, so I should know
Dell was the only speaker to mention Linux
:(
That was nice too.
But actually pretty disappointing if you give it some time... only one company
Europe's first mission to the Moon is set for blast off from Kourou in French Guiana just after midnight, local time, on Sunday.
SMART 1 will be launched from the European spaceport between 2302 and 2321 GMT. It will be taken into space by European's Ariane 5 rocket, along with an Indian science probe and a commercial satellite.
It will take 15 months for SMART 1 to reach the Moon. On arrival it will enter into polar orbit enabling it to view the Moon's surface from every angle.
The probe will then spend six months combing the lunar landscape for signs of frozen water and will map the distribution of surface minerals and chemicals.
"Despite decades of research, we have never fully discovered what the Moon is made of," says Manuel Grande at UK's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, who built the spacecraft's X-ray spectrometer.
Complete picture
The Apollo missions provided an opportunity to analyse only limited areas of the Moon near its equator. More recently, NASA's Lunar Prospector probe used a gamma ray spectrometer to create a global map of heavy metals such as iron on the Moon's surface.
SMART 1 should complete the picture. Its X-ray instrument will determine the distribution of metals such as magnesium, aluminium and silicon. These will produce different X-rays after absorbing the Sun's rays.
Apostolis Christou, research astronomer at Armagh Observatory in Northern Island, says this is the most important aspect of the mission.
"We need the global picture to test the theory that Moon was once covered with a molten ocean," Christou told New Scientist.
X-ray observations could also provide the first glimpse of a type of Moon rock - the lunar mantle - which may be exposed at the Moon's surface in what is the largest crater in the Solar System.
A more complete picture of the Moon's mineral composition could help confirm the theory that the Moon broke off from the Earth due to a huge collision with a Mars-sized object in the past.
Blue jet
Another spectrometer will be used to search for the infrared signature of frozen water hidden in the shadows of lunar craters. This instrument may also detect frozen carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide on the surface of the Moon.
Crucially, surface water ice could eventually provide supplies for permanent bases on the Moon.
Even while the probe is travelling towards its target it will not lie idle. Its X-ray spectrometer will be pointed towards bright comets in order to test the theory that solar wind can excite the gas surrounding these mysterious bodies causing them to emit X-rays.
On its long trek through space the cube-shaped probe will test a revolutionary solar electric propulsion system. Electrical power generated by the craft's solar panels will be used to excite xenon, which will generate thrust by emitting a blue jet of ions.
Smaller engine
Ion propulsion systems are less powerful than conventional chemical rockets but can run for ten times as long using the same mass of propellant. This makes it possible to reach a target with a much smaller engine, reducing overall launch costs dramatically.
SMART 1 is miniscule compared to many spacecraft. It weighs 367 kilograms and measures one metre on all sides, although its solar panels will unfurl to measure 14 metres across.
The mission is part of a European Space Agency drive to reduce the cost and complexity of its space projects. These missions will all be identified by the title SMART, meaning Small Mission for Advanced Research in Technology.
Or better: The babelfish effect.
Having a fish swim up your ear can not be a very pleasant experience.
Here's the babelfish translation:
No wait, it's here.
Or Romancing Sa-Ga 3... OK, there's not much story, but the game rocks.
Yeah, a serial port is pretty much needed if you have some old computer without a network card.
Of course, an old computer will most likely have a serial port. This will however change in the future when the computers released 'today' without ports(a network card though, there's still hope...) become old, and people want to leech the data stored on them. Or maybe rebuild them or whatever.
Not allowing remote logins to something this important might be a good idea ^_^
2.) Patch Windows often
Should be:
2.) Use Linux.
The amended proposal, that's why they postponed the voting.
I wonder if they all finished reading it though...
...a GameBoy that injects glucose when you do well in the game?
This idea is not bad though, rewards are what keeps the soceity going.
In Japan they call them Simulation RPGs, it's crazy I'm telling ya!
Ok, thanks.
Hmm... I should take some CS too...
110 Kms at 2.4 GHz
:)
Exactly what does this mean? It doesn't make much sense to a non-techie like me
In Plain English: using the spin on individual electrons as a way of storing data.
.
Incredible, really. I could store the Library of Congress in the LCD pixels represented by this:
Several times, I suspect.
Step 1. Computers will operate at the speed of light in the future.
Step 2. Humans will not have to use computers any more.
Step 3. ????
Step 4. Computers will build robots moving at the speed of light.
Step 5. Robots will enslave the world.
Step 6. Robots will enslave the universe.
Step 7. Profit!
You used to compare against CD quality.
Oh well, times change, I guess it's time to throw all my CDs away and instead store all music in this new exciting digital format.
And seriously, does anyone listen to music encoded at 64 kbps? 128 is the bare minumum.
Well... mine is already capped at 640KiBit/s.
It would be more interesting if the ISPs would start experimenting with uncapping speeds for especially law-abedient users(this group does not include me, unfortunately).