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+ - Microsoft's Attempt To Convert Users From Windows XP Backfires->

Submitted by MojoKid
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+ - The DIY Engineer Who Built a Nuclear Reactor in His Basement->

Submitted by Daniel_Stuckey

But Doug's most exciting creation is his guerilla-engineered nuclear fusion reactor. His pursuit of a limitless source of clean and self-sufficient energy takes place in what he calls his "den of creative chaos," which is essentially a cluttered workshop in the entrance of his home, directly underneath his bedroom.

Nuclear fusion, which produces energy by fusing atoms, rather than splitting them, has been a dream of physicists and clean energy fans for years. But while there have recently been major strides to in fusion generation, a full-time reactor that produces more energy than it takes in remains a long ways off."

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Comment: Amazing technical incompetence (Score 1) 60

by mabu (#45202041) Attached to: Simple Bug Exposed Verizon Users' SMS Histories

This really is security 101. Actually it's not even security 101, it's programming 101. You always assume the information fed to you is potentially invalid and qualify it.

How in their right mind could anyone at Verizon not check to see if the account id was legit? This is not a simple oversight. This is gross incompetence, or else it was intentionally left this way.

Don't these companies do security audits?

Comment: Re:will machines be more common? (Score 1) 107

by mabu (#43632489) Attached to: Pinball: a Resurgence In Retro Gaming From an Unlikely Place

The form we know as "pinball" is uniquely American. Bagatelle games are different. Bagatelle is more like gambling and based on chance.

In 1947, when Gottlieb, a Chicago-based company, introduced the first pinball machine with flippers, Humpty Dumpty. Things changed. Thereafter all games soon became flipper-pinball-machines.


by mabu (#43632481) Attached to: Pinball: a Resurgence In Retro Gaming From an Unlikely Place

>I'm glad you think you're informed, but you're wrong in this case.

Reality shows otherwise. If pinballs were popular they'd still be in every bar. There'd still be arcades all over the place. There isn't.

Yea, there are a few retro-arcades and "bar-cades" popping up now, but they're just pandering to a retro audience at a moment when they have disposable income. The same still holds true for the new manufacturers. They're not really breaking into new markets except tapping into an existing market. It may be appearing to grow, but that's because it really doesn't have anywhere else to go. Pinball all but disappeared 10 years ago.

Comment: Re:will machines be more common? (Score 4, Interesting) 107

by mabu (#43591385) Attached to: Pinball: a Resurgence In Retro Gaming From an Unlikely Place

Games now cost in excess of $6500. It's no longer profitable to operate them. They are much higher maintenance than video games and neither bring in the coin-op money they used to. It is unfortunate since pinball really is a uniquely American form, a great combination of technology + mechanical design + art + culture.


Florida Man Sues WikiLeaks For Scaring Him 340

Posted by samzenpus
from the don't-watch-the-news dept.

Comment: Re:In what Scientific Discipline is Religion relev (Score 1) 1123

by mabu (#32398524) Attached to: What Scientists Really Think About Religion

You are confusing history with religion.

The bible also describes pi as being 3.0 - does that make it a math book? It also gives instruction on how to beat slaves. Does that mean it's a medical text? It provides details on what the fine one must pay if they kick a pregnant woman and cause her to lose her fetus. Does that make it helpful to economics?
