The Google Lunar X Prize

Here is a competition that is bringing out some amazing people, that all want the same thing. To be one of the first groups to be able to get a working data transmitting Rover to the moon. To 'simplify' the process, the groups need to buy a commercial launch that can cost around $6-10 million. Then they need to build a 'lunar bus' that will need to carry the Rover spacecraft from Earth's Orbit into the Moon's Orbit. After the Rover gets to the moon, they need to create a way for the Rover to land onto the Moon softly enough to not do any damage to the unit, then finally, have the Rover be able to transmit data back to them here on earth from the moon's surface by streaming real-time video. Now, the prize for this is $30 million, and will be given to the first group to complete the requirements. But this is a competition where, the prize money is a lot, but, the amount of time, energy, and money that will be put into completing the tasks by each group, will exceed the prize. This is a competition to complete a dream, and to be the first group to watch a dream come true.

Now this doesn't just happen without a lot of hard work, commitment, and money. Team Frednet, is a group of engineers and scientists who have gotten together to share their talents to make this dream come true. They are trying to do this, not with 'corporate sponsors', but with open participation and open source of the public. So if you are someone who can help financially, or someone, who has a dream of one day landing on the moon, you can visit http://www.teamfrednet.com/ to be a part of the team, and help them make a dream come true.

How the Linux Kernels are numbered

It seems that the Kernel numbers of software is updated basically by the author. Which number, and how much or little the number increases, depends on how much or little updates happens to the software. The release dates don't seem to effect the numbers, for example Linux released 2.2.0 was released on 1/25/99, then 2.2.13 patch on 12/18/99, then they came out with 2.4.0 on 1/4/01 and 2.6.0 on 12/17/03. It looks like the numbers are more set up to represent how significant the change is to the software. If there is significant change, the major number is updated. for example 0.9.1 might change to 1.1. If the change is only minor, then only the minor numbers will change. for example 1.1 might change to 1.1.2.