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Comment Re:Sounds fine to me (Score 0) 1246

by winterphoenix (#26912349) Attached to: Student Arrested For Classroom Texting
As a taxpayer who is (in a very small part) subsidizing her education since she is still in grade school, I would much rather have her learn. For the same reason that minors aren't supposed to skip school, they shouldn't be openly allowed to ignore their education. Now calm down, I'm not being a commie bastard and say that she shouldn't have ever been texting in the first place. She may have had a legitimate reason for originally doing it, but once she started refusing to stop or offer a valid reason, she can DIAF
The Internet

False Fact On Wikipedia Proves Itself 513

Posted by kdawson from the round-and-round-it-goes dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Germany has a new minister of economic affairs. Mr. von und zu Guttenberg is descended from an old and noble lineage, so his official name is very long: Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. When first there were rumors that he would be appointed to the post, someone changed his Wikipedia entry and added the name 'Wilhelm,' so Wikipedia stated his full name as: Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Wilhelm Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. What resulted from this edit points up a big problem for our information society (in German; Google translation). The German and international press picked up the wrong name from Wikipedia — including well-known newspapers, Internet sites, and TV news such as spiegel.de, Bild, heute.de, TAZ, or Süddeutsche Zeitung. In the meantime, the change on Wikipedia was reverted, with a request for proof of the name. The proof was quickly found. On spiegel.de an article cites Mr. von und zu Guttenberg using his 'full name'; however, while the quote might have been real, the full name seems to have been looked up on Wikipedia while the false edit was in place. So the circle was closed: Wikipedia states a false fact, a reputable media outlet copies the false fact, and this outlet is then used as the source to prove the false fact to Wikipedia."
Earth

O'Reilly Interview Digs Into the Tech of Storm Chasing 64

Posted by timothy from the started-with-just-a-bicycle-and-some-crayons dept.
blackbearnh writes "If you've watched the Discovery Channel series 'Storm Chasers,' you'll be familiar with Dr. Joshua Wurman and his Doppler on Wheels radar, which he uses to study tornadoes up close and personal every spring. O'Reilly Media spent some time last week speaking to Dr. Wurman about what it takes, technologically, to operate a weather radar in 100-mile-per-hour winds in the middle of a lightning storm. They also talked about the value of this kind of research to both tornado and hurricane research, and how having a film crew around during missions affects the science."
Image

Oklahoma Ambulances Debut Sirens That You Can Feel 128

Posted by samzenpus from the do-you-hear-something dept.
djupedal writes "Booming like a 1980s video game, the Howler can even make liquids ripple — Oklahoma's largest ambulance company will become the first ambulance service in the nation to outfit its entire fleet with new Howler sirens, designed to emit low-frequency tones that penetrate objects within 200 feet — such as cars — to alert drivers." This is all well and fine, but I wonder what they plan to do when their sirens call up one of the big worms from deep below?
The Courts

NYCL Responds to RIAA Accusations 231

Posted by timothy from the bob-dole-and-nycl-never-seen-in-same-room dept.
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "You may recall that when the RIAA decided to run away with its tail between its legs in the long running Brooklyn case against a home health aide who has never used a computer, UMG v. Lindor, it decided to take some parting shots at the defendant and NewYorkCountryLawyer, asking for 'discovery sanctions,' and blaming them for its inability to prove its case. Today NYCL gave them his response, accusing the RIAA lawyers of persistent misstatements of fact (PDF) throughout their motion papers, and of flouting the rules and misstating the law (PDF). Although the RIAA's motion papers took a number of shots at NYCL's copyright law blog, 'Recording Industry vs. The People,' NYCL confined his response on that subject to a single footnote."
Government

Obama & McCain Conflicting On Net Neutrality 427

Posted by CmdrTaco from the of-course-they-do dept.
longacre writes "For all their incessant bickering in the first two presidential debates over conflicts of interest and government regulation, PopMech columnist Glenn Derene is puzzled that the candidates have yet to be challenged on a vital issue directly related to both those topics: Net neutrality. John McCain and Barack Obama have stated elsewhere their opposing views on the issue, with McCain being opposed to Net neutrality and favoring light regulation of the Internet, while Obama is in favor of neutrality and seeks Government involvement. In any case, since there is no standard accepted definition of 'network neutrality,' until the candidates elaborate on their positions (which they both declined to do for this piece, nor anywhere else so far, for that matter), 'both sides can make a credible case that they're the ones defending freedom of innovation and open communication.'"
Government

US House Adopts New Third-Party Web Site Rules 49

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the more-information-not-a-bad-thing dept.
GovIT Geek writes to tell us that third-party websites will no longer be off limits for members of the US House, provided that they use it for "official purposes" and not personal, commercial, or campaign purposes. "The rules are seen by House Administration Chairman Robert Brady as a compromise between several proposals under consideration in recent months and are closely aligned with those circulated by the Senate Rules Committee last week. [...] 'These new guidelines are a step in the right direction for a Congress that has been behind the technological curve for too long,' Boehner said. 'By encouraging the use of emerging and established new media tools, Congress is sending the message that we want to speak to citizens, and receive feedback, in the most open and accessible manner possible.'"
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - AOL releases Mac 1.0 beta. First update in 4 years (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
winterphoenix
winterphoenix writes: "AOL has released the beta of their new AIM for Mac. The last release of AOL's client for the Mac came all the way back in 2004. Ars Technica approaches the release critically claiming that 'AOL hasn't really been a household name on the Mac for quite a while.' Either way, the beta is available for download now"
Toys

Submission + - Man crosses English Channel with jet wing (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by winterphoenix
winterphoenix writes: A Swiss man has become the first person to fly solo across the English Channel using a single jet-propelled wing. Yves Rossy landed safely after the 22-mile (35.4 km) flight from Calais to Dover, which had been twice postponed this week because of bad weather. The former military pilot took less than 10 minutes to complete the crossing and parachute to the ground.
Mozilla

Submission + - Firefox 2 and 3 Updates Now Available (mozilla.org)

Submitted by winterphoenix
winterphoenix writes: As part of Mozilla Corporation's ongoing stability and security update process, Firefox 3.0.2 and Firefox 2.0.0.17 are now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux as free downloads: * Firefox 3.0.2 is available at http://getfirefox.com/ * Firefox 2.0.0.17 is available at http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/all-older.html We strongly recommend that all Firefox users upgrade to this latest release. If you already have Firefox 3 or Firefox 2, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting "Check for Updates..." from the Help menu. For a list of changes and more information, please review the Firefox 3.0.2 Release Notes and the Firefox 2.0.0.17 Release Notes. Note: All Firefox 2.0.0.x users are encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 3.0.2 by downloading it from http://getfirefox.com/.

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