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Submission + - Squid Beaks May Revolutionize Engineering

Submitted by
Ace905
Ace905 writes: "For years the razor sharp beak Squid use to eat their prey have posed a puzzle to scientists. Squid are incredibly soft and fragile, but have a beak as dense as rock and sharp enough to break through hard shells. Scientists have long wondered why the beak doesn't hurt the Squid itself as they use it. New research has just been published in the Friday Edition of "Journal Science" that appears to explain the phenomenon. A detailed article is available online at the CBC web site.

One of the teams researchers described the squid beak as, "like placing an X-Acto blade in a block of fairly firm Jell-O and then trying to use it to chop celery." — illustrating just how bizarre this appendage appears to be. Careful examination shows the beak itself is actually formed in a gradient of density, becoming harder out towards the tip of the beak.

Understanding this gradient relationship may revolutionize Engineering, anywhere "interfaces between soft and hard materials [are required]." One of the first applications researchers imagine would be in Prosthetic Limbs."
Earth

Submission + - Google Raises Awareness of "Earth Hour"

Submitted by
Ace905
Ace905 writes: "If you're a regular Google Search Engine user, you may notice the site appears drastically different today. Google has changed their home page background to black and now displays the notice, "We've turned the lights out. Now it's your turn". Google is trying to raise awareness of Earth Hour — an annual event where citizens all over the globe turn out their lights for one hour to raise awareness of environmental change.

Google is careful to explain that by darkening their web site, they're not actually saving any electricity — which is an interesting answer to a question I never considered. When I saw the page all dark and black, I thought some sort of cataclysmic event had just occured and this was Googles version of a flag at half-mast. Maybe in a way that's exactly what this is. A better explanation can be found at Google and on the site they ultimately link to."
The Almighty Buck

Piracy Economics 347

Posted by kdawson from the lawsuits-make-a-poor-marketing-strategy dept.
Reader Anonymous Coward the younger sends in a link to an article up at Mises.org on the market functions of piracy. The argument is that turning a blind eye to piracy can be a cheap way for a company to give away samples — one of the most time-proven tactics in marketing. The article also suggests that pirates creating knock-offs might just be offering companies market feedback that they ought to attend to. (Microsoft, are you listening?)
The Internet

Submission + - The Goat's Birthday

Submitted by
Ace905
Ace905 writes: "The infamous goat-see web site turns 10 years old today (Tuesday May 22, 2007). While links to the 'notorious shock site' have been the bane of slashdot's existence — it none the less has become an iconic folk-hero of the web in the last 10 years its been online. Its history is long and diverse, with numerous hidden references and tributes in games and G-rated copycats paying tribute to the site the world over. So while we can censor a link to the actual site, let us toast its success in shocking us repeatedly for the past 10 years."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft will not sue over Linux patents

Submitted by Nero Nimbus
Nero Nimbus writes: In an official statement emailed to ZDNet UK, Microsoft confirmed that it would not litigate for now.

"If we wanted to go down that road we could have done that three years ago," said a Microsoft spokesperson. "Rather than litigate, Microsoft has spent the last three years building an intellectual property bridge that works for all parties — including open source — and the customer response has been tremendously positive. Our focus is on continuing to build bridges."
The Internet

Submission + - Vimeo Admits Falling Short Of Competition

Submitted by
Ace905
Ace905 writes: "Prettybored blogger Wes Clark recently wrote a scathing review of Vimeo — the Video Clip Sharing Community Site made famous by the talents of 'Streeter Seidell and Amir Blumenfeld'. Vimeo's own Jakob Lodwick was quick to respond, admitting that Vimeo falls short of its competitors and is suffering from a lack of staff.

The entire article with Jakob's response is available by clicking here."
The Internet

Submission + - Vimeo Responds to Harsh Criticism

Submitted by
Ace905
Ace905 writes: "Jakob Lodwick of Vimeo responds to a private bloggers article on the flaws of Vimeo for sharing video clips. The article is very critical of Vimeo's ability to stand out from the competition, and points out that their most popular producers have chosen Vimeo only because they work for them, or are being promoted by the company. The article is available by clicking here."
United States

Submission + - Scientists Change Belief in Global Warming

Submitted by
Rommel
Rommel writes: "If you are going to post links to "pro" Global Warming Sites such as the Top Myths dispelled you should present the counter-points as well... Prominent Scientists Reverse Belief in Man-made Global Warming ....Geophysicist Dr. Claude Allegre, a top geophysicist and French Socialist who has authored more than 100 scientific articles and written 11 books and received numerous scientific awards including the Goldschmidt Medal from the Geochemical Society of the United States, converted from climate alarmist to skeptic in 2006. Allegre, who was one of the first scientists to sound global warming fears 20 years ago, now says the cause of climate change is "unknown" and accused the "prophets of doom of global warming" of being motivated by money, noting that "the ecology of helpless protesting has become a very lucrative business for some people!" ".... http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction= Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=927b9303-802a-23ad -494b-dccb00b51a12&Region_id=&Issue_id="
The Internet

Submission + - Vimeo Gets Harsh Scrutiny

Submitted by
Ace905
Ace905 writes: "A small time blog has recently scrutinized Vimeo's entire structure and future as a video-sharing site. While this wouldn't normally be newsworthy, Vimeo's own Jakob Lodwick responds — admitting that Vimeo has been understaffed and falls short of established sites like YouTube and Break.com. The article criticizes that Vimeo's best spokespeople are attracted to the site solely due to Vimeo's aggressive promotion of their clips, not because it has anything better to offer the general members."
United States

Submission + - How would you reorient the direction of America?

Submitted by
BradySama
BradySama writes: "There are all kinds of stories being reported now-a-days about how very small numbers of Americans are happy with the direction the nation has been going in. The problem, though, is identifying the root causes behind the direction the United States has taken, and then figuring out what we should do about and and where we would want to head instead. In this article, Chalmers Johnson lays out one explanation and some possible courses of action. But I would pose to you, SlashDotters, this same question: what do you see as the fundamental root causes of what ails you today, and what do you think should be done to address and or correct those ailments? If we are the nerds, and we pay attention to the stuff that matters, I think we may come up with a really interesting discussion here. And please, feel free to expand the discussion beyond the United States to include all of our home countries and the world as a whole."
Democrats

Submission + - Obama Campaign Spams Away

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: In addition to all the other disreputable things Barack Hussein Obama's campaign is doing (lying about his positions, hiding his past, stealing myspace pages and trying to demonize former supporters they abused) they've sunk to an all-time new low; they're spamming.

The past couple weeks, I noticed "announcements" from Hussein Obama's campaign flowing into my spam traps. One titled "Taking it to the Streets" showed up both in my inbox, and in three of my spam traps. Sender was "Barack Obama <info@barackobama.com", mailer was MTA2.Bluestatedigital.com — definitely the work of the Hussein Obama campaign. I offered him the benefit of the doubt; followed the unsubscribe links, made sure each relevant address was removed, called the campaign to warn them about this kind of behavior. End result? NONE of the addresses are removed from Hussein Obama's email lists. I got their "Not playing by the rules" spam yesterday, with the header indicating it's from David Plouffe (but again at info@barackobama.com and the same mailer) this time.

What do you do when a political asshole spams you and won't stop? And why do they think they can get away with it?
Censorship

Submission + - Critic of Scientology, Keith Henson, In Jail

Submitted by
AmberH
AmberH writes: "My name is Amber Henson. My father, Keith Henson, was arrested May 8th, in Arizona. He is currently being held in jail without proper medical care and without contact with his lawyer. He has been charged with a seven-year-old misdemeanor of "Interfering with a religion." He is to be extradited to California this Friday, May 18th, although this is almost unheard of for a misdemeanor. The California governor signed an extradition warrant after feeling pressure from the Riverside County DA. He has been receiving death threats since 2000. Please help me save my father's life. How to help: Sign this petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/freekeithhenson And/or: Call or fax Governor and request either pardon, withdrawal of the extradition warrant, or commutation of Keith Henson's sentence. 1.916.445.2841 fax: 916-445-4633 More info: www.operatingthetan.net"
Announcements

Submission + - Australia banning light bulbs by 2010?

Submitted by Pascal7z
Pascal7z writes: Thomas Edison's 125 years invention will be banned in Australia. (here is the : http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2007/0 2/20/1537_news.html)
In order to reduce power consumption, the australian environment minister recommend to switch from the classical light bulb to power saving fluorescent bulb.
In the epoch of power hungry appliance, this is a first step to reduce our energy consumption, and indirectly the global warming.
When will other nations follow? What will other governments do?

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