Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Government Transparency (Score 1) 233

We need more than just the ones on the list. All minutes of all government meetings (including cabinet meetings) should be published except parts which have security implications. Just like opensource code allows for scrutiny, opening up government will make representatives think twice before screwing us over...

Comment The flip side of the coin (Score 4, Insightful) 60

Propublica is pretty awesome, and their recent piece about Magnetar, and the market crash is a great example of that. http://www.propublica.org/feature/the-magnetar-trade-how-one-hedge-fund-helped-keep-the-housing-bubble-going And with the recent videos released by wikileaks of the US military mowing down civilians, it seems more and more, it is alternative media which is doing real journalism. Newspapers claim they are loosing money because of internet news and thus can't afford to do investigative reporting. Propublica and wikileaks are the other side of that coin.

Comment Re:The Original Report - inaccurate headline! (Score 1) 316

Yeah, I think it better to read the original sources rather than the shit journalism on this. There's a non-technical section of the report and to my mind, it is saying the opposite of the headline: "Stop emitting CO2 or geoengineering could be our only hope The future of the Earth could rest on potentially dangerous and unproven geoengineering technologies unless emissions of carbon dioxide can be greatly reduced, the latest Royal Society report has found.

I also love the variation of headlines for this story. Slashdot and the BBC report it as "UK Royal Society Claims Geo-engineering Feasible," while the Financial Times reports it as "Hopes dashed for geo-engineering solutions". The Nature blog has an interesting entry about the variation in headlines.

Earth

UK Royal Society Claims Geo-Engineering Feasible 316

krou writes "The BBC is reporting that a UK Royal Society report claims that geo-engineering proposals to combat the effects of climate change are 'technically possible.' Three of the plans considered showed the most promise: 'CO2 capture from ambient air'; enhancing 'natural reactions of CO2 from the air with rocks and minerals'; and 'Land use and afforestation'. They also noted that solar radiation management, while some climate models showed them to be ineffective, should not be ignored. Possible suggestions included: 'a giant mirror on the Moon; a space parasol made of superfine aluminum mesh; and a swarm of 10 trillion small mirrors launched into space one million at a time every minute for the next 30 years.'"

Comment They call this a success? (Score 4, Insightful) 278

I love how the Pentagon are hailing this as a success even though the part that they were supposedly trying to test, (i.e. whether the system can be fooled by a balloon), completely failed to deploy.

By all accounts, these tests are completely rigged, and the system can be fooled by the simplest of tactics. The only way to really test it, is to set up a game, where you allow a completely independent team to try to fool the system and another team to try to shoot it down. It is really dangerous to kick off another cold war in order to deploy a system which is a complete fraud. This is yet another way to funnel money to defense contractors...

Censorship

Physics Journal May Reconsider Wikipedia Ban 155

I don't believe in imaginary property writes "The flagship physics journal Physical Review Letters doesn't allow authors to submit material to Wikipedia, or blogs, that is derived from their published work. Recently, the journal withdrew their acceptance of two articles by Jonathan Oppenheim and co-authors because the authors had asked for a rights agreement compatible with Wikipedia and the Quantum Wikipedia. Currently, many scientists 'routinely do things which violate the transfer of copyright agreement of the journal.' Thirty-eight physicists have written to the journal requesting changes in their copyright policies, saying 'It is unreasonable and completely at odds with the practice in the field. Scientists want as broad an audience for their papers as possible.' The protest may be having an effect. The editor-in-chief of the APS journals says the society plans to review its copyright policy at a meeting in May. 'A group of excellent scientists has asked us to consider revising our copyright, and we take them seriously,' he says."
The Internet

Submission + - Physics journal bans Quantum Wikipedia (newscientist.com)

I don't believe in imaginary property writes: "New Scientist is reporting that the flagship journal Physical Review Letters, has banned their authors from submitting material derived from their published work to Wikipedia and related forums. Recently, the journal withdrew their acceptance of two articles by Jonathan Oppenheim and co-authors because the authors had asked for a license which would allow them to use parts of their work on the Quantum Wikipedia. Physicist Bill Unruh, is lobbying against the ban, saying "It is unreasonable and completely at odds with the practice in the field. Scientists want as broad an audience for their papers as possible." It looks like Physical Review Letters is having second thoughts about their decision. "Gene Sprouse, editor-in-chief of the APS journals, says the society plans to review its copyright policy at a meeting in May. 'A group of excellent scientists has asked us to consider revising our copyright, and we take them seriously,'""
GNU is Not Unix

Submission + - Physics Journal Bans Wikipedia 3

You believe in imaginary property writes: "Physicists who submit their papers to online archives now have a tough choice ahead of them. If they submit under a license which would allow them to contribute parts of their work to specialised forums such as the Quantum Wikipedia, then they may run into trouble with traditional physics journals. Recently, the flagship publication Physical Review Letters withdrew their acceptance of two articles by Jonathan Oppenheim and co-authors because the physicists "had asked for a rights agreement compatible with Wikipedia." Physicist Bill Unruh, has weighed in, saying "It is unreasonable and completely at odds with the practice in the field. Scientists want as broad an audience for their papers as possible." It looks like Physical Review Letters is having second thoughts about their decision. "Gene Sprouse, editor-in-chief of the APS journals, says the society plans to review its copyright policy at a meeting in May. 'A group of excellent scientists has asked us to consider revising our copyright, and we take them seriously,' he says." New Scientist has the scoop."
Privacy

Submission + - Germany Seeks Expansion of Computer Spying

gooman writes: The LA Times reports on a proposal to secretly scan suspects' hard drives which is causing unease in a nation with a history of official surveillance. Along with several other European countries, Germany is seeking authority to plant secret Trojan viruses into the computers of suspects that could scan files, photos, diagrams and voice recordings, record every keystroke typed and possibly even turn on webcams and microphones in an attempt to gain knowledge of attacks before they happen.
Google

A Coveted Landing Strip for Google's Founders 427

An anonymous reader writes "The NYT reports, "In the annals of perks enjoyed by America's corporate executives, the founders of Google may have set a new standard: an uncrowded, federally managed runway for their private jet that is only a few minutes' drive from their offices. For $1.3 million a year, Larry Page and Sergey Brin get to park their customized wide-body Boeing 767-200, as well as two other jets used by top Google executives, on Moffett Field, an airport run by NASA that is generally closed to private aircraft."
Books

Bookstore Owner Burns Books 371

Several readers sent us links to an AP story about a pair of Kansas City booksellers who staged a book bonfire, claiming to protest declining literacy. The story doesn't convey a sure sense of the booksellers' motives for what could, in fact, be a PR stunt or a subtle act of extortion against book lovers — it does mention that people were buying books out of the piles awaiting immolation. The bookstore's own site tries to sound sincere, but it offers visitors a chance to save books from the flames for $1 each plus postage.
Security

Simple Comm Technique Beats Quantum Crypto 164

Atario wrote us with a link to a New Scientist article about an innovative new way of encrypting communications. An engineer at Texas A&M may have a way to exploit the thermal properties of a wire to create a secure channel. The result could be an effectively impenetrable way of securing communications, possibly outperforming quantum cryptography keys. "In their device, both the sender Alice and the receiver Bob have an identical pair of resistors, one producing high resistance, the other low resistance. The higher the total resistance on the line, the greater the thermal noise. Both Alice and Bob randomly choose which resistor to use ... Half the time ... they will choose different [resistances], producing an intermediate level of thermal noise, and it is now that a message can be sent. If Bob turns on his high resistor, and records an intermediate level of noise, he instantly knows that Alice has chosen her low resistor, in essence sending a bit of information such as 1 or 0. Kish's cipher does this many times, sending a random series of 1s and 0s that can form the basis of an encryption key, the researchers say."
Privacy

Submission + - Last Day to STOP REAL ID

groschke writes: "I'm a lawyer at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. There are just about 24 hours left for the public to submit comments against REAL ID. A coalition is urging individuals to speak up. They have links to portals that accept comments online, and sample comments like:

"The plan will create a massive national identification system without adequate privacy and security safeguards. It will also make it more difficult for people to get driver's licenses. And it will make it too easy for identity thieves, stalkers, and corrupt government officials to get access to such personal information as a home address, age, and Social Security number."

Slashdotters should offer their perspective. REAL ID was approved without Congressional Hearings, and this is the last 24 hours for the public to comment on this proposal!"
Patents

Submission + - Not just software patents are obvious

little1973 writes: I think the /. crowd heard about Roger Federer and Raffael Nadal. These two great tennis players played a match on May 2 on a hybrid tennis court. One half of the court was grass and the other was clay. Now, it turns out the idea is already patented. The patent owner Renata Marcinkowska is suing the organizers.
Slashdot.org

Submission + - What should I ask Slashdot?

TodMinuit writes: "Dearest Slashdot: Recently, I've wanted to ask Slashdot something. Unable to come up with a question myself, I thought who better to ask what I should ask Slashdot than Slashdot itself? Surely the very people answering the question are quite capable of coming up with one. So, Slashdot, what should I ask Slashdot?"

Slashdot Top Deals

Suggest you just sit there and wait till life gets easier.

Working...