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======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* PS3-Compatible Phone Coming in October
* Mount Wilson Observatory In Danger From L.A. Fire
* UK Plans To Link Criminal Records To ID Cards
* Has the Rate of Technical Progress Slowed?
* Web Hosts Hit With $32 Million Judgment For Content
* Serious Design Failure At USAspending.gov?
* Build Your Own $2.8M Petabyte Disk Array For $117k
* Firefox 4.0 Goes Chrome, New UI In Q4 2010
* Astronomers Find the Calmest Place On Earth
* Running Over Virtual Pedestrians Helps In-Game Ad Recall
* Major ISPs Seek To Lower Broadband Definition
* Game Over For Sony and Open Source?
* Coders At Work
* Will You Stream Or Download Your Mobile Music?
* All Humans Are Mutants, Say Scientists
* Microsoft Pushes For Single Global Patent System
* First Hot-Ice Computer Created
* Sending Astronauts On a One-Way Trip To Mars
* Happy Birthday, Internet!
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| PS3-Compatible Phone Coming in October |
| from the wonder-if-you-can-use-home-away-from-home dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Tuesday September 01, @22:19 (Cellphones) |
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/012251/PS3-Compatible-Phone-Coming-in-October |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
SpuriousLogic sends along this quote from CVG: 'You may remember reports
of Sony's flashy Aino phone earlier this year which can, among other
things, [0]connect to a PS3 via Remote Play, giving you full access to
your XMB through its tiny screen. Well, Sony's revealed that the Aino is
now just weeks away from release in October, and spewed all the details
prospective buyers need to know about the device. ... Remote Play with
Aino lets you turn your PS3 on and off, browse and control the XMB and
access the internet browser from anywhere in the world. Remote Play also
lets you control and access the hard drive's media content on the PS3
using the built-in WiFi or 3G connections via Aino. You can also access
the PlayStation Store via Remote Play or chat with friends via the
PlayStation Network. It is also possible to buy and download a new game
from the Store via Aino so it is ready and waiting for you when you get
home.'
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/012251
Links:
0. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=222342
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Mount Wilson Observatory In Danger From L.A. Fire |
| from the not-the-whole-mountain-but-the-observatory dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday September 02, @01:33 (Earth) |
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/0223244/Mount-Wilson-Observatory-In-Danger-From|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "[0]Mount Wilson is in danger from the Station
fire burning near L.A. Their servers have gone offline, but there's a
temporary [1]mirror cam. It doesn't look good. Picture twenty-four on the
[2] L.A. Times photo gallery shows the observatory from the air. If
anyone has any inside news on the condition of the facility, I'm sure
there are lots of people on Slashdot that would love to hear it."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/0223244
Links:
0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Wilson_Observatory
1. http://avtanski.com/towercam/
2. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-0826-morris-fire-pictures,0,2039975.photogallery
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| UK Plans To Link Criminal Records To ID Cards |
| from the oh-sure-blame-the-children-again dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday September 02, @04:41 (Government) |
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/0535218/UK-Plans-To-Link-Criminal-Records-To-ID-Car|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Death Metal writes with this excerpt from ComputerWeekly.com about the
UK's national ID card scheme: "Privacy advocates have reacted angrily to
reports that the government [1]plans to link national identity records to
criminal records for background checks on people who work with children
and vulnerable people. Up to 11 million such workers could be affected
immediately if the plan goes ahead. Phil Booth, national co-ordinator of
privacy advocates NO2ID, said the move was consistent with the various
forms of coercion strategy to create so-called volunteers for national ID
cards. 'Biometrics are part of the search for clean, unique identifiers,'
Phil Booth said. He said the idea was patently ridiculous when the Home
Office was planning to allow high street shops and the Post Office to
take fingerprints for the ID card."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/0535218
Links:
0. http://www.anus.com/metal
1. http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/08/28/237485/government-plans-to-link-criminal-records-to-id-cards.htm
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Has the Rate of Technical Progress Slowed? |
| from the now-we're-just-building-better-coffins dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday September 02, @07:53 (Upgrades) |
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/0518231/Has-the-Rate-of-Technical-Progress-Slowed |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Amiga Trombone writes "An article in the IEEE Spectrum argues that
[1]the rate of technological progress has slowed in the last 50 years.
While there have been advances in areas such as computers, communications
and medicine, etc., the author points out that these advances have
largely been incremental rather than revolutionary. He contrasts the
progress made within the life-span of his grandmother (1880-1960) with
that in his own (1956-present). Having been born the year after the
author, I've noticed this, too. While certainly we've produced some
useful refinements, little of the technology available today would have
surprised me much had I been able to encounter it in 1969. While some of
it has been implemented in surprising ways, the technology itself had
largely been anticipated."
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/0518231
Links:
0. http://slashdot.org/~Amiga+Trombone/
1. http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/robotics-software/singular-simplicity
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Web Hosts Hit With $32 Million Judgment For Content |
| from the time-to-pay-the-piper dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 02, @08:40 (The Courts) |
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/1152212/Web-Hosts-Hit-With-32-Million-Judgment-For-|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]mikesd81 tips news that a California jury has found two web hosting
companies [1]liable for "contributing to trademark and copyright
infringement" after hosting web sites that sold counterfeit Louis Vuitton
items. Both companies are owned by the same man, Steven Chen, and are
being ordered to pay $32 million in fines. A similar judgment for $61
million [2]went against eBay last year for facilitating the sale of
counterfeit Louis Vuitton merchandise. "The US District Court for the
Northern District of California is expected to issue a permanent
injunction banning the internet service providers from hosting Web sites
that selling fake Louis Vuitton goods in the future, the company said.
Attorneys for the luxury goods maker said in a statement that the case is
the first successful application on the internet of the theory of
contributory liability for trademark infringement. Under this theory,
companies that know, or should know, that they are enabling illegal
activities have an obligation to remedy the situation. Entities that fail
to do so, as Louis Vuitton alleged in this case, can be held legally
responsible for contributing to the illegal activities."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/1152212
Links:
0. mailto:mikesd1@verizo%5B%5Det%5B'n.n'ingap%5D
1. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137385/Web_hosters_ordered_to_pay_32M_for_contributing_to_trademark_infringement?taxonomyId=144&pageNumber=1
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/01/154231&tid=61
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Serious Design Failure At USAspending.gov? |
| from the your-tax-dollars-at-work dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 02, @09:24 (Government) |
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/1236243/Serious-Design-Failure-At-USAspendinggov |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]theodp writes "Over at Intelligent Enterprise, Seth Grimes [1]declares
the Federal Government's USAspending.gov website a travesty, calling it
'almost a parody of a government-transparency site.' Among the faults
cited by Grimes is a [2]botched 'Federal Spending FY 2009 YTD' pie chart
that graced [3]USAspending.gov's home page. Not only were the sizes of
pie segments not in proportion to the percentage labels (due to a Google
Chart API error), the colors in the pie chart didn't even match the
colors and values in the table immediately below the chart. Lucky for the
Feds, Grimes didn't get a chance to look behind the curtain at the
Federal IT Dashboard, where they forgot to remove a (commented) reference
to a Google spreadsheet that states '[4]These totals are pretty poor
numbers' (Google [5]workbook). Oops!"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/1236243
Links:
0. mailto:theodp@aol.com
1. http://www.intelligententerprise.com/blog/archives/2009/09/serious_design.html
2. http://altaplana.com/USAspending.png
3. http://www.usaspending.gov/
4. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2608/3879956815_0d7b5d459a_o.jpg
5. http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rMR57xcsaOUoZO0MaAPpo-w&gid=12
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Build Your Own $2.8M Petabyte Disk Array For $117k |
| from the we-know-exactly-what-you'd-do-with-that-much-storage dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 02, @10:09 (Data Storage) |
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/138209/Build-Your-Own-28M-Petabyte-Disk-Array-|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Chris Pirazzi writes "Online backup startup BackBlaze, disgusted with
the outrageously overpriced offerings from EMC, NetApp and the like, has
released an open-source hardware design showing you how to build a 4U,
RAID-capable, rack-mounted, Linux-based server using commodity parts that
[1]contains 67 terabytes of storage at a material cost of $7,867. This
works out to roughly $117,000 per petabyte, which would cost you around
$2.8 million from Amazon or EMC. They have a full parts list and diagrams
showing how they put everything together. Their blog states: 'Our hope is
that by sharing, others can benefit and, ultimately, refine this concept
and send improvements back to us.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/138209
Links:
0. http://lurkertech.com/
1. http://blog.backblaze.com/2009/09/01/petabytes-on-a-budget-how-to-build-cheap-cloud-storage/
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Firefox 4.0 Goes Chrome, New UI In Q4 2010 |
| from the new-and-shiny dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 02, @10:53 (Mozilla) |
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/1440214/Firefox-40-Goes-Chrome-New-UI-In-Q4-2010 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
sv_libertarian writes "Mozilla recently updated its product roadmap
through 2010. According to the first draft, the current browser will see
a minor update in Q4 2009 and another in Q2 2010. Version 4.0 is headed
for an October or November 2010 release and will bring [0]a new user
interface and browser sync integration. 'There is not much information on
how this new user interface will look like, but the first [1]mockups that
have been posted on Mozilla's website suggest that the Mozilla team
favors a Google Chrome-like design that integrates Windows 7 graphics
features. Overall, window elements seem to be floating over the
background.' The mockup page emphatically notes that the design is not
final."
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/1440214
Links:
0. http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/43810/135/
1. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4.0_Windows_Theme_Mockups
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Astronomers Find the Calmest Place On Earth |
| from the i-can-see-clearly-now dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 02, @11:39 (Space) |
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/155256/Astronomers-Find-the-Calmest-Place-On-Ea|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]The Narrative Fallacy writes "Live Science reports that astronomers in
search of the perfect site to take pictures of the heavens have combined
data from satellites, ground stations and climate models in a study to
assess the many factors that affect image quality ��� cloud cover,
temperature, sky-brightness, water vapor, wind speeds and atmospheric
turbulence. They have [1]pinpointed the coldest, driest, calmest place on
earth, known simply as Ridge A, 13,297 feet high on the Antarctic
Plateau. 'It's so calm that there's almost no wind or weather there at
all,' says study leader Will Saunders, of the Anglo-Australian
Observatory. 'The astronomical images taken at Ridge A should be at least
three times sharper than at the best sites currently used by
astronomers.' Located within the Australian Antarctic Territory, the site
is 89 miles from the [2]PLATO (PLATeau Observatory) international robotic
observatory. The new site would be superior to the best existing
observatories on high mountain tops in Hawaii and Chile, Saunders says.
'Because the sky there is so much darker and drier, it means that a
modestly-sized telescope would be as powerful as the largest telescopes
anywhere else on earth.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/155256
Links:
0. http://narrativefallacy.com/
1. http://www.livescience.com/environment/090831-coldest-driest.html
2. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/06/1827220&tid=2248
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Running Over Virtual Pedestrians Helps In-Game Ad Recall |
| from the i-find-this-true-in-real-life-as-well dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 02, @12:22 (The Almighty Buck) |
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/1559216/Running-Over-Virtual-Pedestrians-Helps-In|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]neuroworld writes to point out a study which found [1]a correlation
between in-game violence and a player's ability to recall advertisements
seen while playing. The test subjects were given two versions of a
driving game, which included "unobtrusive" billboard ads, and their eye
movements were recorded by a camera. One version had players hitting
targets for points, and the other version had them running down
pedestrians. "[The researchers] found ads displayed along with violent
scenes to be more memorable to players than those shown with nonviolent
content, even though players spent less time looking at them. The results
are contrary to expectations stemming from research on television, where
violence has been shown to decrease attention to advertisements."
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/1559216
Links:
0. http://trueslant.com/ryansager/2009/09/02/oddfile-running-over-pedestrians-good/
1. http://www.technologyreview.com/business/23336/
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Major ISPs Seek To Lower Broadband Definition |
| from the much-easier-than-providing-quality-service dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 02, @13:08 (Networking) |
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/1634232/Major-ISPs-Seek-To-Lower-Broadband-Definit|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
denobug sends word that major internet service providers in the US are
seeking to [0]redefine the term 'Broadband' to mean a much lower speed
than in other developed nations. In recent filings with the FCC, Comcast
and AT&T both came out in support of a reduced minimum speed. 'AT&T said
regulators should keep in mind that not all applications like voice over
internet protocol (VoIP) or streaming video, that require faster speeds,
are necessarily needed by unserved Americans.' On the other hand, Verizon
argued to maintain the status quo, saying that 'It would be disruptive
and introduce confusion if the commission were to now create a new and
different definition.' A public interest group called Free Press also
filed comments with the FCC, recommending that [1]the bar should be set
significantly higher, and evolve in a way that corresponds with
technological improvements.
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/1634232
Links:
0. http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE5806LY20090902
1. http://www.freepress.net/node/72325
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Game Over For Sony and Open Source? |
| from the forsaken-beards dept. |
| posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 02, @13:30 (Sony) |
| https://games.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/1645213/Game-Over-For-Sony-and-Open-Source |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Glyn Moody writes "Sony has never been much of a friend to hackers,
and its [1]infamous rootkit showed what it thought of users. But by
[2]omitting the option to install GNU/Linux on its new PS3, it has
[3]removed the final reason for the open source world to care about Sony.
Unless, of course, you find Google's new distribution alliance with Sony
to [4]pre-install Chrome on its PCs exciting in some way."
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/1645213
Links:
0. http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/
1. http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2005/11/69601
2. http://ldn.linuxfoundation.org/blog-entry/ps3-slim-roadmap-leaves-linux-cluster-users-lost
3. http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2475&blogid=14
4. http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/09/01/1427225/Sony-to-put-Chrome-on-Laptops?from=rss
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Coders At Work |
| from the read-all-about-it dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday September 02, @14:00 (Book Reviews) |
| https://books.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/1331233/Coders-At-Work |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Vladimir Sedach writes "Aside from authoring narrowly focused
technical books, teaching university courses, or mentoring others in the
workplace, programmers don't often get a chance to pass on the knowledge
of the practise of programming as a profession. Peter Seibel's Coders at
Work takes fifteen world-class programmers and distills their wisdom into
a book of interviews with each of them." Keep reading for Vladimir's
review.
This story continues at:
https://books.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/1331233/Coders-At-Work
Discuss this story at:
http://books.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/1331233
Links:
0. mailto:vsedach@gmail.com
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Will You Stream Or Download Your Mobile Music? |
| from the because-streaming-is-perfectlly-reliable dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday September 02, @14:48 (Cellphones) |
| https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/1823214/Will-You-Stream-Or-Download-Your-Mobile-|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
mikp writes "In a David-and-Goliath style fight, small music companies
are battling it out with established behemoths to see who can own the
future of mobile music. [0]Spotify, the Europe-based music streaming
company, is about to launch its [1]iPhone app and has plans to develop it
for other mobile platforms soon. In a preview, Spotify shows how you can
[2]cache songs to your iPhone so that you don't always need a connection
but the songs don't remain on your iPhone permanently. Nokia, on the
other hand, has just announced [3]two more music phones that will feature
[4]Comes With Music, an unlimited music-download service that involves a
one time fee, which is part of the price of the CWM phone, and lets you
download music for free (and you get to keep it) for a year. The question
remains, are people more likely to stream or download music on their
mobile phones?"
Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/1823214
Links:
0. http://www.spotify.com/
1. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f729fd76-9360-11de-b146-00144feabdc0.html
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ALGPknOsiU
3. http://recombu.com/news/nokia-x6-and-x3-hands-on_M11068-1.html
4. http://www.comeswithmusic.com/
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| All Humans Are Mutants, Say Scientists |
| from the must-scramble-some-eggs dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday September 02, @15:40 (Biotech) |
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/1939237/All-Humans-Are-Mutants-Say-Scientists |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Hugh Pickens writes "In 1935, JBS Haldane, one of the founders of
modern genetics, studied a group of men with the blood disease hemophilia
and speculated that there would be about 150 new mutations in each human
being. Now BBC reports that scientists have used [1]next generation
sequencing technology to produce a far more direct and reliable estimate
of the number of mutations by looking at thousands of genes belonging to
two Chinese men who are distantly related, having shared a common
ancestor who was born in 1805. To establish the rate of mutation, the
team examined an area of the Y chromosome which is unique because, apart
from rare mutations, the Y chromosome is passed unchanged from father to
son so mutations accumulate slowly over the generations. Despite many
generations of separation, researchers found only 12 differences among
all the DNA letters examined. The [2]two Y chromosomes were still
identical at 10,149,073 of the 10,149,085 letters examined."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/1939237
Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8227442.stm
2. http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Info/Press/2009/090827.shtml
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Pushes For Single Global Patent System |
| from the what-about-ecosystems dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday September 02, @16:38 (Microsoft) |
| https://politics.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/2036227/Microsoft-Pushes-For-Single-Global-Pat|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Xerolooper writes "What would the world be like [0]if everyone could
enjoy the same patent system we use in the USA? From the article: 'A
senior lawyer at Microsoft is calling for the creation of a global patent
system to make it easier and faster for corporations to enforce their
intellectual property rights around the world.' They have already
attracted opposition from the open-source community and the Pirate Party.
According to the article, the World Intellectual Property Organization ([1]WIPO)
will be meeting in Geneva on the 17th and 18th of September."
Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/2036227
Links:
0. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10334285-92.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
1. http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| First Hot-Ice Computer Created |
| from the can-we-run-a-vm-on-it? dept. |
| posted by timothy on Wednesday September 02, @17:31 (Programming) |
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/2120240/First-Hot-Ice-Computer-Created |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]KentuckyFC writes "Sodium acetate is the stuff inside chemical
handwarmers that emits heat when it crystalizes after you press that
little metal widget. That's why it is known as hot ice. Now a computer
scientist in the UK has created [1]a computer made entirely out of hot
ice. The device processes information by exploiting the movement and
interaction of wavefronts of crystallisation as they move through the
material. The data input is in the form of metal wires that trigger
crystal nucleation. The output works by reading off the direction of the
moving wavefronts and the edges of the resulting crystals. The researcher
has created AND and OR gates and solved a few problems such as finding
the shortest path through mazes. There are even a few [2]videos of the
computer in action. The resulting computer is far from perfect, however.
The data readout sometimes gives no solution and at other times gives
circular results, the hot ice equivalent of a BSOD."
Discuss this story at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/2120240
Links:
0. http://arxivblog.technologyreview.com/
1. http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24072/
2. http://uncomp.uwe.ac.uk/adamatzky/hot-ice/
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Sending Astronauts On a One-Way Trip To Mars |
| from the and-don't-come-back dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday September 02, @18:45 (NASA) |
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/2219250/Sending-Astronauts-On-a-One-Way-Trip-To|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]The Narrative Fallacy writes "Cosmologist Lawrence M. Krauss, director
of the [1]Origins Initiative at Arizona State University, writes in the
NY Times that with the investment needed to return to the moon likely to
run in excess of $150 billion and the cost of a round trip to Mars easily
two to four times that, there is a way to reduce the cost and technical
requirements of a manned mission to Mars: [2]send the astronauts on a one
way trip. 'While the idea of sending astronauts aloft never to return is
jarring upon first hearing, the rationale for one-way trips into space
has both historical and practical roots,' writes Krauss. 'Colonists and
pilgrims seldom set off for the New World with the expectation of a
return trip.' There are more immediate and pragmatic reasons to consider
one-way human space exploration missions including money. 'If the fuel
for the return is carried on the ship, this greatly increases the mass of
the ship, which in turn requires even more fuel.' But would anyone
volunteer to go on such a trip? Krauss says that informal surveys show
that many scientists would be willing to go on a one-way mission into
space and that we might want to restrict the voyage to older astronauts,
whose longevity is limited in any case. "
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/2219250
Links:
0. http://narrativefallacy.com/
1. http://asunews.asu.edu/20080520_krauss
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/opinion/01krauss.html
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Happy Birthday, Internet! |
| from the not-a-kid-anymore dept. |
| posted by samzenpus on Wednesday September 02, @19:59 (The Internet) |
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/09/02/2223247/Happy-Birthday-Internet |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
NobodyExpects writes "I'd like to wish a happy birthday to the Internet!
Today marks its 40th birthday! In fall 1969, computers sending data
between two California universities set the stage for the Internet, which
became a household word in the 1990s. On September 2nd 1969, in a lab at
the University of California, Los Angeles, two computers passed test data
through a 15-foot gray cable. Stanford Research Institute joined the
fledgling ARPANET network a month later; UC Santa Barbara and the
University of Utah joined by years end, and the [0]internet was born."
Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/09/02/2223247
Links:
0. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090831-internet-40th-video-ap.html
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