Comment Re:Of course... (Score 1) 997
And did you get some significant chunk of the cash you made them?...as if.
Comment Re:Do this: (Score 2) 997
Indeed.
"canceling all non-stand-up meetings for the foreseeable future.
Ah, yes...the standup meetings. Somebody at my old job heard that buzzword a few years ago. Nothing like standing up for 3 hours listening to report after report that has to do with you only in the 3rd degree of separation.
Comment Re:Is Facebook a viable long term business model ? (Score 1) 295
the source, who did not want to be identified because he had signed a non-disclosure agreement
Perhaps a better wording is "the source, who did not want everybody to find out he can't be trusted."
Perhaps a better wording is "the source, who did not want everybody to find out he can't be trusted."
Why BioWare's Star Wars MMO May Already Be Too Late 328
Since the announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic, many gamers have been hopeful that its high budget, respected development team and rich universe will be enough to provide a real challenge to the WoW juggernaut. An opinion piece at 1Up makes the case that BioWare's opportunity to do so may have already passed. Quoting:
"While EA and BioWare Austin have the horsepower needed to at least draw even with World of Warcraft though, what we've seen so far has been worryingly conventional — even generic — given the millions being poured into development. Take the opening areas around Tython, which Mike Nelson describes in his most recent preview as being 'rudimentary,' owing to their somewhat generic, grind-driven quest design. Running around killing a set number of 'Flesh Raiders' in a relatively quiet village doesn't seem particularly epic, but that's the route BioWare Austin seems to be taking with the opening areas for the Jedi — what will surely be the most popular classes when The Old Republic is released. ... the real concern, though, is not so much in the quest design as in BioWare Austin's apparent willingness to play follow the leader. Whenever something becomes a big hit — be it a movie, game or book — there's always a mad scramble to replicate the formula; in World of Warcraft's case, that mad scramble has been going for six years now. "
Periodic Table Etched Onto a Single Hair 59
adeelarshad82 writes "The University of Nottingham's Nanotechnology Center decided to help Professor of chemistry, Martyn Poliakoff celebrate his special day by 'etching' a copy of a Periodic Table of Elements onto a single strand of the scientist's hair using a 'very sophisticated' electron ion beam microscope. The microscope creates a very fine etching of the periodic table only a few microns across by shooting a 'focused ion beam' of gallium ions at the hair. The technology here is nothing revolutionary, but it is inspiring to see a grown man get so giddy with the prospect of seeing science in action."
Comment Re:Future government agency. (Score 1) 291
Shirley you mean raids.. For a couple of downloaded songs, expect a visit that makes the BATF effort at the Branch Davidians in Waco look like a Sunday school outing...
Don't call me Surely.
Comment I hope they're not allowed to back down (Score 1) 291
That's a way to make sure your songs are forgotten by future generations, and they deserve oblivion.
Comment Why is this an issue? (Score 1) 498
Yeah, the stuff from the '60s, if it wasn't migrated and kept up - that's a challenge, but any competent (and competently-managed) solution has at least one extra copy of everything it's got backed up, and keeps up with moving the data from the least-recently-accessed volumes so they never get a chance to rot - independently of media. I'm sure lots of the lesser solutions, like backup exec, commvault, legato, etc. can do it by now, in case you can't drive TSM.
Swiss Bank Has 43-Page Dress Code 212
Tasha26 writes "The HR of Swiss bank UBS AG came up with an innovative 43-page document (French) to establish fashion 'dos' and 'don'ts' in their retail branches. Among the rules are such things as: 'neither sex should allow their underwear to appear,' perhaps Dilbert was a bit ahead of them on that. The document also mentions smells and 'avoid garlic and onion-based dishes.'"
Thief Posts His Photo To Facebook Victim's Account 222
An anonymous reader writes "Washington Post reporter Marc Fisher discovered his house had been burgled; money, a winter coat, an iPod and his son's laptop were stolen. Imagine his surprise when Facebook friends of his 15-year-old son reported that a photo of the apparent thief, wearing Fisher's coat and holding a wad of notes, had been uploaded to his son's Facebook account. How addicted do you have to be to a social network to post a status update and upload your photo *while* you're burgling someone's house?"
Comment Re:Dell has cubes that are... (Score 1) 484
7x3x4 feet... you do the math... you won't - its 80 something sq feet... =/
But if you do, it's only 12 square feet.
Or 21, or 28. He didn't label the dimensions. I'm personally in a 6X8(imprecisely measured in fathoms) cube that's only 3 feet floor-to-ceiling... but I've got 144 cubic feet! Sometimes they open the grating and put in a dish of coffee if I'm far back enough in the corner and don't snarl too much.
Comment Not fooled, and not surprised (Score 1) 188
I bought a windows 7 netbooktablet. Really nice concept, and I was excited to try win7. But I do more than display wallpaper with my systems, and having all applications spend most of their time in "not responding" status wasn't tolerable. I sure wish ubuntu would use the touchscreen(or I had time to write and integrate my own drivers). Seems such a waste, but at least I can use it now.
Comment Re:Sinkhole sounds plausible; impact crater not. (Score 2, Informative) 250
Yes. It looks like a sinkhole. One google earth picture doesn't tell much. The fact is it COULD be something else, within the confines of the information presented. If the geologist "laughed you out of his office" on just that image, he's a fool...unless you talked about spaceships, aliens, etc., in which case it's difficult to afford you even polite dismissal. It probably is a sinkhole, and doesn't require the "mother of all caves" to do it. Could be a deposit of soft rock gouged away by a glacier. Could be a very old impact crater torn up by glaciers. Probably a sinkhole, though.
"new-metal" looks like a blob of zinc. Perhaps an outbuilding was in that location and burnt down? I've seen a lot of zinc-head nails, and a haymow burning would melt all the zinc on top of a corrugated roof sending it down in rivulets to solidify on the ground.
It's really hard to take you seriously when you talk about the "vibe" of the place. That says you've already decided to believe things not in evidence. That greatly reduces your usefulness as a source of information.
"new-metal" looks like a blob of zinc. Perhaps an outbuilding was in that location and burnt down? I've seen a lot of zinc-head nails, and a haymow burning would melt all the zinc on top of a corrugated roof sending it down in rivulets to solidify on the ground.
It's really hard to take you seriously when you talk about the "vibe" of the place. That says you've already decided to believe things not in evidence. That greatly reduces your usefulness as a source of information.
The Story of My As-Yet-Unverified Impact Crater 250
tetrahedrassface writes "When I was very young, my dad took me on a trip to his parents' farm. He wanted to show me 'The Crater.' We walked a long way through second generation hardwoods and finally stood on the rim of a hole that has no equal in this area. As I grew up, I became more interested in The Crater, and would always tell friends about it. It is roughly 1,200 feet across and 120 feet deep, and has a strange vibe about it. When you walk up to it, you feel like something really big happened here. Either the mother of all caves is down there, or a large object smashed into this place a long, long time ago. I bought aerial photos when I was twelve and later sent images from GIS to a geologist at a local university. He pretty much laughed me out of his office, saying that it was a sinkhole. He did wish me luck, however. It may be sinkhole. Who knows? Last week I borrowed a metal detector and went poking around, and have found the strangest shrapnel pieces I have ever seen. They are composed of a metal that reacts strongly to acids. The largest piece so far reacted with tap water and dish-washing detergent. My second trip today yielded lots of strange new pieces of metal, and hopefully, one day the truth will be known. Backyard science is so much fun. And who knows; if it is indeed a cave, maybe Cerberus resides there."
Comment Re:Write to the manufacturer (Score 2, Insightful) 510
Let me translate:
pull your panties out of your slit and use what works. Sure, Oracle's going to start making nonsensical tie-ins with their main products. They haven't done it yet, and even when they do, it'll just be irrelevant wasted efforts, not harming the functionality you need.
My old boss had a hissy fit and decided there would be no more IBM products in the company, ever. The existing products got starved (TSM shall have no more tapes when we're keeping everything forever and doubling the data under management every 6 month) and their failure under that pressure was used to justify the irrational personal decision. Are you that guy?
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