Cognitive Dissident - Slashdot User

Submission + - Two-headed reptile fossil found in China

Submitted by [TheBORG] on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @03:22PM

[TheBORG] writes: A tiny skeleton from the Early Cretaceous shows an embryonic or newborn reptile with two heads and two necks, called axial bifurcation ('two-headedness') (a well-known developmental flaw among reptile species today such as turtles and snakes) was found in China by French and Chinese paleontologists recovered from the Yixian Formation, which is nearly 150 million years old.

Submission + - Gates Criticises DRM

Submitted by AArmadillo on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @03:12PM

AArmadillo writes: BBC reports that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates believes current DRM to be too complex for consumers.

From the article:
"DRM is not where it should be," said Mr Gates, reported blogger Steve Rubel. "In the end of the day incentive systems (for artists) make a difference," said Mr Gates. "But we don't have the right thing here in terms of simplicity or interoperability," he added.
...
Blogger Michael Arrington, of Techcrunch.com, said Bill Gates' short-term advice for people wanting to transfer songs from one system to another was to "buy a CD and rip it".

Submission + - 65nm Athlons debut with lower power consumption

Submitted by

TheRaindog

on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @02:40PM

TheRaindog writes: "AMD has finally rolled out Athlon 64 X2 processors based on 65nm process technology, and The Tech Report has an interesting look at their energy usage and overclocking potential compares to current 90nm models. The new 65nm chips consume less power at idle and under load than their 90nm counterparts, and appear to have loads of headroom for overclocking. An Athlon 64 X2 5000+ that normally runs at 2.4GHz was taken all the way up to 2.9GHz with standard air cooling and only a marginal voltage boost, suggesting that we may see faster chips from AMD soon."

Submission + - The Auto Efficiency Wedge

Submitted by

Prof. Goose

on Tuesday December 19, 2006 @08:10PM

Prof. Goose writes: "In this piece, I wanted to take up a more precise consideration of how much auto efficiency improvements might contribute to solving what I called the terrible trio of energy dependence on unstable regimes, global warming, and the peaking or plateauing of liquid fuel supply. My examples are all US, but I think the lessons mostly carry over (if a little less urgently) to other developed countries.

I'll be reasoning mainly by looking at what we did in the 1970s, which was the last time we faced severe energy constraints that bled through into requiring a demand side response.

To begin with, let's refresh our memories about the history of oil prices, which tells the story of the oil shocks quite well.

http://www.theoildrum.com/story/2006/12/17/1377/01 32"

Submission + - Online petition against New Zealand DMCA

Submitted by einhaender on Tuesday December 19, 2006 @06:56PM

einhaender writes: There is an online petition against the Copyright (New Technologies and Performers' Rights) Amendment Bill, the proposed New Zealand equivalent to the DMCA in the United States. If you live in New Zealand or are a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident. You may sign the petition if you agree with it.

Submission + - RIAA Drops Patti Santangelo case

Submitted by

NewYorkCountryLawyer

on Tuesday December 19, 2006 @06:19PM

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The RIAA is seeking to drop its case against Patti Santangelo, Elektra v. Santangelo, in White Plains, New York. This is the case against a single mom, and mother of five, which received a great deal of press attention in 2005. The case was discussed on Slashdot here, here, and here, was on national television here and here, and received a lot of other press coverage as well. See sampling of articles collected here and see Associated Press coverage here. The RIAA's motion seeks dismissal "without prejudice", which means that they could sue her again for the same thing. Their reason is no doubt to try to insulate themselves from liability for attorney's fees, since a dismissal "with prejudice" would make Ms. Santangelo a "prevailing party" under the Copyright Act, hence eligible for an attorneys fees award. See Capitol v. Foster July 13, 2006, Order Dismissing Case and Finding Defendant to be Eligible for Attorneys Fees. "ACLU, EFF, & Others Fight RIAA for Debbie Foster"."

Submission + - Sony, BMG offer refund for infected CDs

Submitted by

prostoalex

on Tuesday December 19, 2006 @05:09PM

prostoalex writes: "If you're a proud owner of 'Never Gone' by The Backstreet Boys, 'On Ne Change Pas' by Celine Dion, or a few dozen other CDs infected by MediaMax or XCP rootkits, SonyBMGCDTechSettlement.com is now allowing the consumers to file a refund claim. The deadline is December 31st of this year. Sony and BMG will also pay California and Texas a $750,000 fine."

Submission + - Global Strike: ICBMs to Carry Conventional Warhead

Submitted by FloatsomNJetsom on Tuesday December 19, 2006 @05:02PM

FloatsomNJetsom writes: When cruise missiles just aren't fast enough... Popular Mechanics has an interesting look at the Pentagon's proposed solutions to a problem of late: Striking anywhere in the world with precision, and less than an hour lead time. One practical solution: Re-arming Trident II ICBMs with conventional (yet much more precise) warheads. The only problem is that you can't launch one of these without running the risk of starting a nuclear war (on a radar screen, all ICBMs look alike). Another solution: The scramjet-powered, hypersonic X-51. Problem: It doesn't exist outside of experimental models. Bigger problem: Making sure you're hitting the right target.

Submission + - Security Updates for Firefox and Thunderbird

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 19, 2006 @05:01PM

An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla Foundation has issued new versions of Firefox, ThunderBird, and SeaMonkey. The new versions are released as a result of 9 different vulnerabilities affecting the three products.

Submission + - Cancer Correlates with Mass not Longevity?

Submitted by vandurme on Tuesday December 19, 2006 @03:35PM

vandurme writes: Scientists at the University of Rochester report findings that suggest a species' typical mass may be a strong determiner of its expression of telemorase, an enzyme linked to cancer that regulates cell longevity. This as compared to a species' longevity. Previous opinion held that nature cuts back telomorase in order to give long life, whereas it instead may be that nature cuts back in order to allow for extra belt notches.

From the article:

"To her surprise, [Gorbunova] found no correlation between telomerase and longevity. The great monkey wrench in that theory was the common gray squirrel, which lives an amazing two decades, yet also expresses telomerase in great quantity. Evolution clearly didn't see long life in a squirrel to be an increased risk for cancer."

Submission + - The United States is Insolvent

Submitted by

boingo82

on Tuesday December 19, 2006 @03:07PM

boingo82 writes: "According to an article over at goldseek.com, the United States is now insolvent.
The US Treasury's "Financial Report of the United States" shows our combined federal deficits now total more than 400% of GDP.

Despite improvement in both the fiscal year 2006 reported net operating cost and the cash-based budget deficit, the U.S. government's total reported liabilities, net social insurance commitments, and other fiscal exposures continue to grow and now total approximately $50 trillion, representing approximately four times the Nation's total output (GDP) in fiscal year 2006, up from about $20 trillion, or two times GDP in fiscal year 2000.
"

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