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Cub Scouts To Offer Merit Pin For Video Gaming Screenshot-sm 366

Posted by samzenpus from the be-prepared-to-play dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Fox News reports that the Boy Scouts of America — a group founded on the principles of building character and improving physical fitness — have introduced merit pins for academic achievement in video gaming, a move that has child health experts atwitter. 'It could be quite visionary and exciting or it could be a complete sellout,' says Dr. Vic Strasburger. 'I don't see anything wrong with that as long as they're not playing first-person shooter games, violent games, games with a lot of sexual or drug content. The question is, who's going to supervise the scouts?' Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts, and Webelos Scouts can earn their pins by spending an hour a day playing games, teaching others how to play better, and researching the best price for games they'd like to buy."

Comment Eaten by Dinosaurs (Score 1) 793

by Discoflamingo13 (#31247482) Attached to: When I die, I want my body to be ...
I want my body to be eaten by velociraptors or a T-rex - I'm not picky as to how. In the event that the human race totally fails to achieve its technological destiny and we haven't figured out to create raptors from the dinosaur blood in amber-trapped mosquitos, I guess I will settle for having my corpse cleaned with dermestid beetles, and the skeleton used in some sort of elaborate prank.
Slashback

Submission + - No Slashdot April Fools Jokes in 2008 8

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Slashdot will not be participating in the April Fools jokes this year due to a lawsuit that was settled out of court with undisclosed terms stemming from the 2007 April 1st stunts. The false stories were determined to be too egregious by a yet to be named individual. Slashdot's parent company SourceForge, Inc. found it wiser to settle out of court then a lengthy battle that was obviously going to span several months.

The ponies will be missed.
The Courts

Daylight Savings Time Puts Kid in Jail for 12 Days 881

Posted by Zonk from the yeah-that's-a-woops dept.
Jherek Carnelian writes "Cody Webb was jailed for calling in a bomb threat to his Hempstead Area high school (near Pittsburgh). He spent 12 days in lockup until the authorities realized that their caller-id log was off an hour because of the new Daylight Savings Time rules and that Cody had only called one hour prior to the actual bomb threat. Perhaps it took so long because of the principal's Catch-22 attitude about Cody's guilt — she said, 'Well, why should we believe you? You're a criminal. Criminals lie all the time.'"
The Internet

Submission + - Presidential Candidate Uses YouTube

Submitted by
Aaron Wilson
Aaron Wilson writes: "U.S. Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney kicks off YouTube's "You Choose Spotlight" by posting an informal video of himself. In the clip he calls for feedback videos from the YouTube community. "What do you believe is America's single greatest challenge?" Mitt says, "And what would you do to address it?" While the YouTube community shoots back with mixed responses regarding political issues, there is general enthusiasm about a presidential candidate embracing the Internet community at large."
The Internet

Submission + - Google Buys DoubleClick

Submitted by Thib
Thib writes: As previously discussed, Google beat Microsoft and Yahoo to it and snapped up DoubleClick for 3.1 billion dollars in cash. The current owners of DoubleClick bought it in 2005 for 1.1 billion dollars. From the article: "During a conference call with analysts on Friday afternoon, Schmidt said Google had been thinking about making this acquisition for a 'very, very long time.' Schmidt added that the addition of DoubleClick to Google's business would strengthen Google's position with large brand-name advertisers, who tend to rely more on display ads than the search ads that are Google's bread and butter business."
Education

Should Schools Block Sites Like Wikipedia? 545

Posted by Cliff from the concerned-about-its-accuracy dept.
Londovir asks: "Recently, our school board made the decision to block Wikipedia from our school district's WAN system. This was a complete block — there aren't even provisions in place for teachers or administrators to input a password to bypass the restriction. The reason given was that Wikipedia (being user created and edited) did not represent a credible or reliable source of information for schools. Should we block sites such as Wikipedia because students may be exposed to misinformation, or should we encourage sites such as Wikipedia as an outlet for students to investigate and determine the validity of the information?"
The Internet

New Law Lets Data Centers Hide Power Usage 208

Posted by Zonk from the users-and-abusers dept.
1sockchuck writes "Just days after Google announced that it may build a huge data center in the state, Oklahoma's governor has signed a bill into law that will effectively exempt the largest customers of municipal power companies from public disclosure of how much power they are using. Officials of the state's power industry say the measure is not a 'Google Law' but was sought 'on behalf of large-volume electric users that might be considering a move to Oklahoma.' Others acknowledge that data center operators were among those seeking the law, apparently arguing that the details of their enormous power usage are a trade secret. Google recently acquired 800 acres in Pryor, Oklahoma for possible development as a data center, and is reportedly seeking up to 15 megawatts of power for the facility."
Space

Deep Impact Mission May Be Extended 50

Posted by Zonk from the that-was-a-crappy-movie dept.
SeaDour writes "The famous Deep Impact mission, which in 2005 launched a projectile in the path of comet Tempel 1, may be extended by NASA. The proposal is to slingshot the probe around the Earth as it passes by at the end of this year, putting it on a trajectory to reach comet Boethin in December 2008. Scientists want to see if the strange composition and behavior of Tempel 1 is more common than they had previously assumed. (The probe only had one projectile though, so we will not see another brilliant man-made explosion on this comet.) Additionally, while the probe is en route to the comet, researchers will point its on-board telescope at known exosolar planets to determine the compositions of their atmospheres."
Movies

Samsung to Launch Dual Blu-ray HD DVD Player 156

Posted by Zonk from the best-of-both-worlds dept.
narramissic writes "File this one under 'if you can't beat em, join em.' Samsung, one of the main backers of the Blu-ray Disc format, Friday said it plans to release an optical disc player this year that will play both Blu-ray Disc and the rival HD DVD format. With the announcement, Samsung becomes the second company to shift from a single-format stance (LG launched a dual player in North America earlier this year.) 'Our main concern is with the consumer and not a particular technology,' said Samsung spokesman Kwak Bumjoon."

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