Free Republic

DeepMind has helped put researchers hundreds of years ahead of schedule compared to the pace of traditional materials discovery methods. Inorganic crystals are a critical component of modern technologies. Their highly-ordered atomic structures provide them with unique chemical, electronic, magnetic, or optical properties that can be used in everything from batteries to solar panels, microchips to superconductors. Crafting novel inorganic crystals in a lab — whether to enhance an existing technology or power a new one — is fairly straightforward, in theory. A researcher sets up the conditions, runs the procedure, and lets their failures inform how to tweak the...

Are you a newcomer to Linux? Not sure which Linux distribution to choose to begin your Linux journey? This article is for you!For the average PC user who has been using the established desktop operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and macOS, Linux can be somewhat confusing. Furthermore, the perception that Linux is mainly used by “pro” users and is “very complex” plays against it.Of course, neither of the preceding two statements is true. Linux is a complex operating system, just like any other. And, as always, it all depends on the individual.We’re all accustomed to working in our comfort...

Dr. Anthony Fauci criticized Fox Nation host Lara Logan Thursday for her comments comparing him to an infamous Nazi war criminal earlier this week, calling the conservative journalist's comparison 'slanderous' and 'disgusting.' Speaking to MSNBC host Chris Haye Thursday night, Fauci called on Fox to take disciplinary action against the journalist - who faced backlash Monday after she compared the chief White House medical adviser to Josef Mengele, a Nazi doctor whose hideous experiments on Jewish concentration camp victims during World War II earned him the chilling moniker 'Angel of Death.' ‘It’s an insult to all of the people who...

Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Friday that the US may soon be hit with a spike in COVID-19 cases — even though the country has administered more vaccine shots than any other nation. The recent plateau in cases from record-high post-holiday rates is actually a sign that Americans should mask up and brace for another potential boom in infections, Fauci said while citing past coronavirus data trends at a White House press briefing. “We’ve just now recently experienced the worst surge,” Fauci said. “The issue is that we are starting to plateau. That plateau is about 60,000 to 70,000 cases a...

We're please to announce our newest and most exciting garden gnome to date -- The Trump Gnome. Standing at an impressive 10" -- this gnome is sure to make your garden greater than it has ever been before.

Linus Torvalds The Linux community often recognizes two anniversaries for Linux: August 25th is the day Linus Torvalds first posted that he was working on Linux and said “Hello, everybody out there…” and October 5th is the day he released the first kernel.To mark the anniversary of the first kernel release in 1991, we look at some facts and consider the progress that has been made since that early version. Version 0.01 of the Linux kernel had 10,239 lines of code (source: Wikipedia). Version 4.1, released in July 2015, has more than 19 million lines of code (source: Phoronix). ...

Gnome project cofounder and current Xamarin CTO Miguel de Icaza says he's done wrestling with Linux on the desktop, and that he now uses Apple kit exclusively for all of his workstation needs. De Icaza is well known in the open source community for developing a number of client-side technologies for Linux, including the Midnight Commander file shell, the Gnome desktop environment, and the Mono project. But in a blog post on Tuesday, de Icaza wrote that not only does he no longer use Linux for his day-to-day computing needs, but he hasn't actually booted his Linux workstation since October...

We've taken you through a tour of Window Managers in Linux, and now it's time to show you the Window Manager's bigger brother: the desktop environment, or DE for short. With a sea of choices out there, we can see where Linux newbies might feel a bit overwhelmed. Catch us after the break and we'll show you some of our favorites, along with a few honorable mentions. First things first: a desktop environment is an implementation of a graphical user interface commonly mimicking a physical desktop. Think about your grade school desktop on your computer screen, with folders, binders...

Long before the leading Linux desktop environment GNOME arrived in a 3.0 version in April, long-time GNOME users have been grumbling about the radical changes. The dissatisfaction only increased since GNOME 3.0's debut in the beta of Fedora 15 and continued with the Fedora 15 final. We mention Fedora because no other major Linux distro has yet to make the switch. To avoid it, Canonical gambled on its own controversial Unity UI layer in Ubuntu 11.04, and the Ubuntu-flavored Linux Mint 11 opted for the earlier GNOME 2.32.1. Now Linux creator and kernel overseer Linus Torvalds (pictured), has stepped in...

A priceless ancient Roman statue has been discovered being used to decorate a flower bed in a housing estate. The headless sculpture of an emperor is believed to have been stolen some time in the 1930s and then used during the construction of a posh private square in Naples, Italy. It is thought to date back to the 2nd century BC and may once have stood in the grand gardens of a local palace. Police have now restored the statue to the city's archaeological museum after a race against time to beat the Mafia to the treasure. "We knew...

A Romanian entrepreneur has come under fire for putting plastic prostitutes on the street to advertise his garden gnome business.

The court heard a long-running dispute between neighbours erupted in violence in November last year, with the two sides throwing objects at each other over a common fence. ...Justice Tennent said Shepherd and his male neighbour had been equally stupid, but Shepherd's reckless act had caused injury to Ms Bryce. "You must have foreseen that your actions could result in the injury but you continued to throw the gnome nevertheless," she said.

Man's lost gnome attends Steelers game Thu Sep 21, 4:34 PM ET MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Allen Snyder's garden gnome is apparently out of jail and now traveling the country. The 14-inch tall red-and-white statue disappeared from Snyder's Morgantown yard in the spring, and Snyder has since received three letters claiming to have been written by "Gnomey." The latest letter, which Snyder received this week, included photos of the gnome in the company of Steelers fans attending Pittsburgh's football home opener. "You never took me to any games," the note said. The letter ended: "Have to go now. Boarding a plane....

Let me address the inevitable "Ubuntu vs. OS X" comparison. The thing that surprised me most about using the PowerMac was not that OS X's UI was better than Ubuntu's, which I have known for quite some time having used both regularly, but how small that difference really was. As I said, OS X's UI is a step up from GNOME's. However, I wouldn't say it is in a completely different league. In terms of the fundamental UI elements, GNOME is extremely competitive.

LONDON (AP) -- A grandmother stopped an intruder from entering her home by lobbing a heavy garden gnome at him, police said Friday. Jean Collop was woken early on Tuesday morning by the sound of an intruder on the roof of her home in Wadebridge, southwest England. "I grabbed the first thing that came to hand - one of my garden gnomes - and hurled it at him, and hit him," she recalled. "He lay there and I began to scream. I went back into the kitchen and found a rolling pin in case he came down. I didn't want...

LONDON (AP) -- A grandmother stopped an intruder from entering her home by lobbing a heavy garden gnome at him, police said Friday. Jean Collop was woken early on Tuesday morning by the sound of an intruder on the roof of her home in Wadebridge, southwest England. "I grabbed the first thing that came to hand - one of my garden gnomes - and hurled it at him, and hit him," she recalled. "He lay there and I began to scream. I went back into the kitchen and found a rolling pin in case he came down. I didn't want...

A grandmother knocked out a burglar by hitting him with a garden gnome. Jean Collop, 69, woke at 5am to find an intruder clambering on her roof. She yelled at the man, then picked up a gnome and hurled it at him, reports The Sun. It bounced off his head, leaving him lying dazed on the roof in Wadebridge, Cornwall. Jean dashed to fetch her rolling pin and a camera, and then took photos of the burglar as neighbours called the police. Officers arrived to find the man still on the roof and half a dozen locals standing guard. Jean...

Gnomes abandoned by their owners in Birmingham are being saved from oblivion by caring rubbish tip workers. Without the sentimental staff the garden ornaments would otherwise be propping up a bridge on the M6 Toll road. But staff at Lifford Lane Civic Amenity Site are rescuing the garden statues, cleaning them up and giving them a new home. The gnomes, along with concrete rabbits, frogs and other garden sculptures, have been put on display on the grass and in bushes at the entrance to the Kings Norton site. Worker Ron Gladwin said they felt sorry for the little creatures so...