Comment Natural Selection! (Score 1) 273
..the cause of - and reason for - everything that's interesting in this world.
Thank you, Evolutionary Biology.
Thank you, Evolutionary Biology.
SixApart Sells LiveJournal to Russian Media Company 172
molrak writes "SixApart tonight announced the sale of journal/blogging service Livejournal to Russia-based SUP. Original LJ founder Brad Fitzpatrick has chimed in on the situation: 'This is pretty cool because - They're ridiculously excited about LiveJournal, and have been for awhile (they previous purchased advertising rights in Russia, but ended up doing a bunch of Russia-specific LJ development as well). They want to throw a lot of resources at LiveJournal in terms of product development and engineers. "LiveJournal.com, Inc." now stands alone again, focusing on nothing but LJ. Sounds like I'll have more LJ influence (via new role as advisory board member) than I've had recently.'"
All US Border Crossings Now Require A 'Terrorist Risk Profile' 710
conlaw writes with a somewhat intimidating Washington Post article. "The federal government disclosed details yesterday of a border-security program to screen all people who enter and leave the United States, create a terrorism risk profile of each individual and retain that information for up to 40 years ... The risk assessment is created by analysts at the National Targeting Center, a high-tech facility opened in November 2001 and now run by Customs and Border Protection. In a round-the-clock operation, targeters match names against terrorist watch lists and a host of other data to determine whether a person's background or behavior indicates a terrorist threat, a risk to border security or the potential for illegal activity. They also assess cargo."
Submission + - False DMCA Claims by Creationists Stifle Critics
Bueller_007 writes: Creation Science Evangelism, an creationist organization owned by convicted felon Kent Hovind has been filing false DMCA claims to stifle their rivals on YouTube. Although CSE's videos are not copyrighted (according to their official website and the videos themselves), within the past 72 hours, they have had approximately 20 videos removed at their request, and at least two popular users have had their accounts disabled.
All of the videos that have been removed were critical remixes of Hovind's original videos, interspersed with rebuttals and likely to have fallen under fair use. Exact duplicates of Hovind's videos — seen as supportive — were not removed. Further, CSE has also filed false DMCA claims to have others' completely original content removed, as well as public-domain phone calls Hovind made from prison.
All of the videos that have been removed were critical remixes of Hovind's original videos, interspersed with rebuttals and likely to have fallen under fair use. Exact duplicates of Hovind's videos — seen as supportive — were not removed. Further, CSE has also filed false DMCA claims to have others' completely original content removed, as well as public-domain phone calls Hovind made from prison.
Submission + - The Wrong Way to Dispose of Server Boxes (blogspot.com)
kunk28 writes: I work for a large Internet co-location and hosting company. One of our customers installed a bunch of servers the other night at one of our Salt Lake City data centers. Instead of taking and disposing of all the empty server boxes themselves they decided to try to fit them all in our dumpster. In the morning when we came into work we were welcomed by the following sight. Obviously they think they are funny or something.
Submission + - Fair use in scientific blogging?
GrumpySimon writes: "Recently, a well-read science blog, Retrospectacle posted an article on a scientific paper. This blog post reproduced a chart and a table from the original article and everything was fully attributed. When the publishers, the mega-science publishing house Wiley found out, they subsequently threatened legal action unless the chart and table were removed.
Understandably, this whole mess has stirred up quite a storm of protest, with many people seeing this as falling under fair use, and calling for a boycott of Wiley & Wiley's journals."
Journal Journal: Resolution to impeach VP Cheney submitted 1202
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH, 10th district) has submitted a resolution to impeach VP Dick Cheney (HR 333) on charges of "high crimes and misdemeanors". The charges were submitted on 24 April 2007. Congressman Kucinich has posted his supporting documents online, including a brief summary of the impeachment procedure.
Submission + - 'Major' Anti-Spam Lawsuit to Be Filed in Virginia
Rick Zeman writes: "According to the Washington Post, a John Doe suit will be filed in U.S. District Court Thursday in spam-unfriendly Alexandria, Virginia on behalf of Project Honey Pot seeking the identity of individuals responsible for harvesting millions of e-mail addresses on behalf of spammers.
From the article: 'The company is filing the suit on behalf of some 20,000 people who use its anti-spam tool. Web site owners use the project's free software to generate pages that feature unique "spam trap" e-mail addresses each time those pages are visited. The software then records the Internet address of the visitor and the date and time of the visit. Because those addresses are never used to sign up for e-mail lists, the software can help investigators draw connections between harvesters and spammers if an address generated by a spam trap or "honey pot" later receives junk e-mail.'"
From the article: 'The company is filing the suit on behalf of some 20,000 people who use its anti-spam tool. Web site owners use the project's free software to generate pages that feature unique "spam trap" e-mail addresses each time those pages are visited. The software then records the Internet address of the visitor and the date and time of the visit. Because those addresses are never used to sign up for e-mail lists, the software can help investigators draw connections between harvesters and spammers if an address generated by a spam trap or "honey pot" later receives junk e-mail.'"
Submission + - Amiga Inc. Announces New Hardware
boarder8925 writes: "Ars Technica just recently posted an article announcing the return of Amiga hardware. "Amiga Inc. ...[has announced] a new line of PowerPC-based computers that will run Amiga OS. The first machine will be a 'consumer-level' system that will run at around $500, to be followed up with a more powerful system for $1,500.""
Can Outing an Anonymous Blogger be Justified? 197
netbuzz writes "Absolutely, depending on the circumstances, yet a Florida newspaper's attempt to unmask 'a political group hiding behind the name of a fictitious person' has sparked outrage in some circles. Part of the reason for that outrage is that the paper posted to its Web site a surveillance video of the blogger visiting its advertising department, a tactic the editor says he now regrets. What's really at issue here is the right to publish anonymously vs. the right to remain anonymous. The former exists, the latter does not."
British Military Deploys Skynet 172
rowleyrw writes "The BBC are reporting, 'The British military is set to take one of its most significant steps into the digital age with the launch of the first Skynet 5 satellite. The spacecraft will deliver secure, high-bandwidth communications for UK and "friendly" forces across the globe.' It's not yet the Skynet of Terminator, but how long before it becomes self aware?"
Submission + - 1000 to 10000 e-books with help from /.
seeit writes: On November 8, 2002 slashdot mentioned Distributed Proofreaders. A few months later, DP completed its 1000th e-book.
Today, with the help of many volunteers who work on books and software, DP completed its 10,000th title.
Distributed Proofreaders, a wholly volunteer organization, was established for the purpose of producing quality transcriptions of machine-readable texts from public domain sources. Once a unique title has been completed the result is made freely available in widely used text and graphic formats via the Internet. The complete library of "DP texts" accessible from file servers throughout the world under the governance of Project Gutenberg, the founding ancestor of online archives.
True to its international nature, Distributed Proofreaders, while respecting U.S. copyright laws, does not limit itself to preserving solely English language content. Nearly 15% of completed titles, to date, represent over 20 languages beyond English. A look to DPs 10,000th title set reveals the diversity of world cultural content in the public domain. Among this commemorative collection are a French translation of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice; the chronicle of Portuguese explorer Serpa Pinto's African expeditions; a pair of illustrated children stories from Germany; the first part of 'Species Plantarum', a 17th century Latin botanical reference work and a translation of a 17th century Guatemalan Maya manuscript.
The fifteen titles released today are not a cheer towards the past accomplishments of Distributed Proofreaders, nor are they pat on the back for deeds fulfilled on this day. What these titles so clearly represent, of their own merits, is the future and what awaits within the world's public domain yet to be rescued from obscurity and re-presented to an audience hungry to rediscover the cultural treasures of previous ages.
Today, with the help of many volunteers who work on books and software, DP completed its 10,000th title.
Distributed Proofreaders, a wholly volunteer organization, was established for the purpose of producing quality transcriptions of machine-readable texts from public domain sources. Once a unique title has been completed the result is made freely available in widely used text and graphic formats via the Internet. The complete library of "DP texts" accessible from file servers throughout the world under the governance of Project Gutenberg, the founding ancestor of online archives.
True to its international nature, Distributed Proofreaders, while respecting U.S. copyright laws, does not limit itself to preserving solely English language content. Nearly 15% of completed titles, to date, represent over 20 languages beyond English. A look to DPs 10,000th title set reveals the diversity of world cultural content in the public domain. Among this commemorative collection are a French translation of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice; the chronicle of Portuguese explorer Serpa Pinto's African expeditions; a pair of illustrated children stories from Germany; the first part of 'Species Plantarum', a 17th century Latin botanical reference work and a translation of a 17th century Guatemalan Maya manuscript.
The fifteen titles released today are not a cheer towards the past accomplishments of Distributed Proofreaders, nor are they pat on the back for deeds fulfilled on this day. What these titles so clearly represent, of their own merits, is the future and what awaits within the world's public domain yet to be rescued from obscurity and re-presented to an audience hungry to rediscover the cultural treasures of previous ages.
Five Things You Can't Discuss about Linux 662
gondwannabe writes "Here are Five Things You Aren't Allowed to Discuss About Linux. With considerable chutzpa, an insightful Rob Enderle takes on what he considers five dogmas in the OSS community and explains why they're wrong. Examples: Linux is secure, "communes" actually work in the long haul, and that Linux is "pro-developer."
Microsoft Takes a 'Patch Tuesday' Break 151
Phill0 submitted a ZD story about
Microsoft's week off which says
"Microsoft has no new security updates planned for Tuesday, despite at least five zero-day vulnerabilities that are waiting to be fixed.
The patch break could be a welcome respite for IT managers still busy testing the dozen fixes Microsoft released last month. Also, many IT pros may be occupied with the switch to daylight saving time, which at the behest of Congress, is happening three weeks earlier this year. "
Submission + - Hotmail to start charging for use
KindredHyperion writes: "The BBC has an article on Microsoft's apparent intent to start charging it's users for the use of the service. From the article: " Microsoft's UK managing director told the Independent on Sunday that fees could be introduced within 12 months. Any move by MSN to start fee-charging would pave the way for its competitors yahoo.com and aol.com to follow suit.""
