Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Power

Submission + - not enough lithium available in the Earth's crust

Submitted by pH7.0
pH7.0 writes: From this Toronto Star story: http://www.thestar.com/article/175800 "there's simply not enough lithium available in the Earth's crust to stick a lithium-ion battery in the world's 900 million cars, and at the same time expect the auto market to grow. It's just not sustainable." Is this true? AFAIK there are more Lithium in the earth's crust than Tin or Lead. May it's still not enough? OTOH, that story try to plug "Zebra Battery" but fail to mention "Molten salt"...
Privacy

Submission + - UK police given power to search without cause

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Tony Blair announced today that UK police are to be given new powers to enter and search the homes of convicted sex offenders, with or without "suspicion of a crime".

The powers, which come into effect later this year, allow police to enter a property to look for evidence that a paedophile might be planning an offence.

Officers will search computers as well as looking for evidence of magazines, or the presence of children's toys or clothes.

However, unlike now when they can enter a property only if they have a reasonable belief a crime may be committed, the new power allows searches even where no such evidence exists.


What if they find virus tools on the computer? Does their unlimited search power restrict the scope of their search to children's clothing or photos?

The law essentially gives the police the power to "search whenever we want for whatever reason". Seeing how this is already common practice in the case of those on parole or probation, the new law clearly applies to those offenders who have completed all aspects of their sentence and are "free men" (as it were).

That is likely to raise some civil liberties concerns, but ministers believe the public will support the move.


Is the "pedophile panic" just a convienant tool on which to pass this legislation or is this new law justified to bring further reductions to child abuse?
Biotech

Submission + - For women nothing's like the smell of men's sweat

Submitted by
gollum123
gollum123 writes: "From CNN, Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley said women who sniffed a chemical found in male sweat experienced elevated levels of an important hormone, along with higher sexual arousal, faster heart rate and other effects ( http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/08/men.sweat.reu t/index.html ). They said the study, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, represents the first direct evidence that people secrete a scent that influences the hormones of the opposite sex. The researchers measured levels of the hormone cortisol in the saliva of 48 female undergraduates at Berkeley, average age of about 21, after the women took 20 sniffs from a jar of androstadienone. Cortisol levels in the women who smelled androstadienone shot up within roughly 15 minutes and stayed elevated for up to an hour. Consistent with previous research, the women also reported improved mood, higher sexual arousal, and had increased blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. The study did not determine whether the increase in cortisol levels triggered mood or arousal changes or whether those changes themselves caused the cortisol elevation."
Censorship

Submission + - Woman wins right to criticize surgeon on website

Submitted by
Scoopy
Scoopy writes: "The website (www.mysurgerynightmare.com) of a cosmetic surgery patient critical of her Sacramento surgeon's work is protected free speech, an appeals court said in an opinion that could have statewide implications.

The website contains before and after photographs of 33-year-old Georgette Gilbert, who said the surgery left her with one eyebrow higher than the other and a surprised look permanently affixed to her face.

The website was challenged in a defamation suit filed by surgeon Jonathan Sykes, a prominent professor and television commentator on the subject of cosmetic surgery.

Although the Sacramento-based 3rd District Court of Appeal only mentions Sykes, the opinion suggests that others who use "hot topics" of public interest in their advertisements and promotions may shed protections against defamation afforded to ordinary citizens."
Announcements

Submission + - Case Western R.A. Fired Over Facebook Remarks

Submitted by
inexion
inexion writes: "You can now add up Facebook remarks to the list of things that can apparently get you fired without warning, thanks to the administrative staff of residential services at Case Western Reserve University. A fourth floor residential assistant was fired this weekend for making personal remarks regarding a supervising staff member. After the supervisor had become aware of the remarks the staff took swift action against the assistant and forced a resignation without making any prior disciplinary action. While no exact details are publicly known of the remarks, many of the students of the same floor and building reported that the action taken was extremely harsh and no explanation was given."
The Courts

Submission + - Big Win for Innocent Defendant in RIAA Case

Submitted by
EatingSteak
EatingSteak writes: "The EFF Reports that a woman from Oklahoma got a big win today in the RIAA's case against her in 2004. FTA:

"The decision today is one of the first in the country to award attorneys fees to a defendant in an RIAA case over music sharing on the Internet."
"In his ruling, Judge West found that the RIAA had asserted an untested and marginal theory that veered toward "frivolous and unreasonable" by suing Foster for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement when the only evidence against her was her name on the household Internet account. Much like the judge in Elektra v. Santangelo, West expressed skepticism that "an Internet-illiterate parent, who does not know Kazaa from a kazoo" could be held liable for children in her home downloading music illegally unless the parent had knowledge of the conduct or had giver her permission to do so."

This case was thrown out in July, but Foster's lawyer fees were finally awarded formally to her. Could this be a godo precedent for future cases that (1) IP Address != Infringing Person, and (2) RIAA getting slammed for attorney's fees in the future?"
Biotech

Submission + - Cheap, safe, patentless cancer drug discovered

Submitted by
PyroMosh
PyroMosh writes: "The New Scientist is reporting that researchers working at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada have discovered that an existing drug called dichloroacetate (DCA) is effective in killing cancer cells, while leaving the host's healthy cells unharmed. DCA has already been used for years to treat metabolic disorders, and is known to be fairly safe. Sounds like great news, is it too good to be true? Why is the mainstream news media failing to report on this potential breakthrough? The University of Alberta and the Alberta Cancer Board have set up a site with more info, where you can also donate to support future clinical trials."
Privacy

Journal Journal: 15 year old charged with sexual abuse of herself. 1

Journal by twitter

A teenager has been charged with sexual abuse of children, possession of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography after taking and posting pictures of herself to chat rooms. While investigation may have been justified, the continued possesion and presentation of evidence required by prosecution reeks of hypocrisy. How can they justify further abuse of the victim? How can they s
Data Storage

Submission + - Database file system - do any useful ones exist?

Submitted by
sammyp42
sammyp42 writes: "I did a very basic and preliminary search for database file systems. I saw a lot of articles and postings about the benefits and advantages of DBFS's, but I couldn't find any projects that were trying to implement a DBFS. I am very interested in either: a) starting my own open source project to implement a DBFS, or b) get invovled with some existing project. My goal here is to create something that will ultimately have an advanced file explorer view on top that will help people sort, store and archive their files and data (data including RAW data, not just application data) more easily; basic application support (Office, Media apps, etc...) is essential, but not the primary focus for initial deployment. Making my parents, relatives and friends computing lives easier is my primary goal. WinFS seems to be headed in this direction, but it's too proprietary for my taste, plus I don't work for MS (or any other corporate entities developing such FS's). I think the OSI model is the way to go here. Anyone here can point me to anything worthwhile? If you have similar interests, let me know and maybe we can organize something together."
Media

Submission + - Scientific Journals Say Access Equals Censorship

Submitted by
bcrowell
bcrowell writes: "Nature is reporting on e-mails leaked from the Association of American Publishers, which considers itself "under siege" because of NIH and congressional efforts to get all NIH-funded scientific papers posted for free on PubMed Central. The AAP has hired a PR firm, which is advising them to spread the message that "Public access equals government censorship," and that traditional for-profit print publishing is the same thing as peer peer review."
User Journal

Journal SPAM: Unlimited War Wallet at the Expense of the People 5

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius

So, we pay taxes to advance the interest of a handful of corporations - and get nothing in return, but the opportunity to sit on an IED.

An administration official has said the president will request a total of $245 billion to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through late 2008. That will include a $100 billion request for the wars for the rest of the current fiscal year that ends on September 30 and $145 billion for next year. ...

Music

Submission + - Indie Record Label Closes Doors Due To Piracy

Submitted by
NiTr|c
NiTr|c writes: "Dependent Records, a German independent label home to some wonderful electro / industrial artists, is closing its doors in the summer of 2007. Their reason, as stated by one of the founding members, is music piracy. From his essay... "In the end, we are not closing our doors because of the existence of pirate websites, but because there are simply too many people who enjoy our bands and their songs who do not wish to pay for them, despite the fact that we reduced the sale price of our albums considerably two years ago. Consider this example: if 60% of the audience at a concert gained entry with forged tickets, the promoter, the band, the concert agency, and the venue would all be broke in a matter of weeks. We have lived for years now with the reality that much of our music is stolen, not purchased, and we have frankly had enough of it."
So long Dependent, you'll be missed."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Dance Copyright enforced by DMCA

Submitted by goombah99
goombah99 writes: The "creator" of the Dance move known as the electric slide has filed a DMCA based takedown notice for videos he deems to infringe and because they show "bad dancing". He is also seeking compensation from the use of the dance move at a wedding celebration shown on the Ellen Degeneres Show. Next up, the Funky Chicken, the moonwalk, and the Hustle? More seriously, does the DMCA have any limit on it's scope?

Slashdot Top Deals

"By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began to suspect "Hungry." -- a Larson cartoon

Close