Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:In defense of the BATF? (Score 2, Informative) 546

How hard would it be to synthesize ammonium perchlorate from APCP?

Makes about as much sense as buying 4 cases of soda because you need 2 cups of sugar for a recipe.

All kinds of chemicals you can make explosives out of are mostly unregulated, why goof around trying separate AP out of commercial rocket propellent.

Comment Re:Congrats! (Score 1) 546

The ATF were given a chance to argue the science, their answer went something like "we're right and you're wrong, so there" - the judge didn't go for it.

The task set for them was very simple, establish standard burn rates for materials that a) just burn b) deflagrate c) explode and compare APCP to those rates. When their own tests determined that APCP burned slower than paper they decided just declare that paper wasn't an explosive and APCP was. They also exaggerated the burn rate of APCP massively by using obviously incorrect measurements.

Experts for the hobbyists produced a wealth of data that contradicted ATF's claims and ATF just basically said that it didn't matter because they were right.

I don't see them issuing new regulations as the science is against them.

Comment Re:Spreadsheet (Score 1) 437

Pixar ... formerly steve job's other company don't run macs ? You might want to check that again.

I've seen movie companies use clusters of Linux boxes to handle rendering, because there's no per computer license hassles presumably, but Mac's are used a lot where actual hands-on design work is being done.

Star Wars Prequels

Submission + - Boy defends mother with Jedi weapon

terrymr writes: "An 11-year-old boy has used a toy lightsabre to chase off a man who abused his mother in an English village.

The man, believed to be in his 30s, verbally abused and punched the boy's mother, provoking the Star Wars-style attack, British newspaper The Sun reported."
The Courts

Submission + - Ohio University finds key to getting RIAA to stop 7

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio, has found the key to getting the RIAA to stop inundating it and its students with "settlement" letters. According to the university's student online publication, the university paid $60,000, plus $16,000 per year "maintenance", to Audible Magic, the business partner of the RIAA's all-purpose expert witness Dr. Doug Jacobson, for its "CopySense" filtering software. Once it made the payments, the letters stopped. This of course raises a lot of questions as to the 'disinterestedness' of Dr. Jacobson, whose deposition in the UMG v. Lindor case was the subject of interesting Slashdot commentary."
Announcements

Submission + - Newton Predicts World Will End No Sooner than 2060 (cnn.com)

Sean H writes: Writings of Isaac Newton recently made public include a prediction that the earth will end no sooner than 2060 — among other observations made from interpretations of the Old Testament.
Movies

Submission + - Jack Valenti Dead at 85

NeuroManson writes: Long time nemesis to nerds everywhere, Jack Valenti, passed away today following a stroke. Not sure whether to dance a merry jig yet, but "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" springs to mind.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18339220/

LOS ANGELES — Jack Valenti, the former White House aide and film industry lobbyist who instituted the modern movie ratings system and guided Hollywood from the censorship era to the digital age, died Thursday. He was 85.

Valenti had a stroke in March and was hospitalized for several weeks at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore.

He died of complications from the stroke at his Washington, D.C., home, said Seth Oster of the Motion Picture Association of America.

Slashdot Top Deals

That does not compute.

Working...