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Earth

Dinosaur Feather Color Discovered 219

Posted by timothy from the horsefeathers-still-a-mystery dept.
anzha writes "Do you remember being a kid and told we'd never know what colors the dinosaurs were? For at least some, that's no longer true. Scientists working in the UK and China have closely examined the fossils of multiple theropods and actually found the colors and patterns that were present in the fossilized proto-feathers. So far, the answer is orange, black and white in banded and other patterns. The work also thoroughly thrashes the idea that fossils might not be feathers, but collagen fibers instead. If this holds up, Birds Are Dinosaurs. Period. And colorful!"
Education

Ocean-Crossing Dragonflies Discovered 95

Posted by samzenpus from the incredible-journey dept.
grrlscientist writes "While living and working as a marine biologist in Maldives, Charles Anderson noticed sudden explosions of dragonflies at certain times of year. He explains how he carefully tracked the path of a plain, little dragonfly called the Globe Skimmer, Pantala flavescens, only to discover that it had the longest migratory journey of any insect in the world."
Input Devices

Brain-Control Gaming Headset Launching Dec. 21 112

Posted by Soulskill from the oh-hey-it's-real dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Controlling computers with our minds may sound like science fiction, but one Australian company claims to be able to let you do just that. The Emotiv device has been garnering attention at trade shows and conferences for several years, and now the company says it is set to launch the Emotiv EPOC headset on December 21. PC Authority spoke to co-founder Nam Do about the Emotiv technology and its potential as a mainstream gaming interface." One wonders what kind of adoption they expect with a $299 price tag.

Comment It's a matter of perspective. (Score 2, Informative) 863

by TrebleMaker (#29169995) Attached to: "Smart" Parking Meters Considered Dumb

Or maybe the Chicago ones are too sparse and the Portland ones are placed frequently enough?

Portland has twenty blocks per mile compared to the more typical ten blocks per mile in most other big cities. So if there is a meter on every block it's going to be much closer to you in Portland than elsewhere.

Comment Re:No license necessary (Score 1) 246

by TrebleMaker (#26865071) Attached to: A Software License That's Libre But Not Gratis?

A Circuit Court in the US once held that buying a copyrighted work, affixing it to another copyrighted work, and reselling them was copyright infringement.

Uh... didn't they say the exact opposite, that it was not infringing? Or did I misunderstand your point?

Annie Lee creates works of art,...
One Deck the Walls store sold some of Lee's notecards mounted...
Lee contends that these tiles are derivative works...
Her position has the support of two cases holding that A.R.T.'s business violates the copyright laws. Muoz v. Albuquerque A.R.T. Co., 38 F.3d 1218 (9th Cir. 1994), affirming without published opinion 829 F. Supp. 309 (D. Alaska 1993); Mirage Editions, Inc. v. Albuquerque A.R.T. Co., 856 F.2d 1341 (9th Cir. 1988). Mirage Editions, the only full appellate discussion, dealt with pages cut from books and mounted on tiles; the court of appeals' brief order in Muoz concludes that the reasoning of Mirage Editions is equally applicable to works of art that were sold loose. Our district court disagreed with these decisions and entered summary judgment for the defendant. 925 F. Supp. 576 (N.D. Ill. 1996). ...
Affirmed
PC Games (Games)

Crayon Physics Combines Science and Puzzles 78

Posted by Soulskill from the and-nobody-can-tell-how-bad-you-are-at-drawing dept.
IamAHack writes "NPR covered a new game that seems like it would have great appeal to Slashdot readers: Crayon Physics. Quoting: 'A new computer game went on sale this week. It's not a blockbuster like Halo or World of Warcraft. There's no first-person shooting, no sports, no guitar, no microphone. Instead, there's a crayon. The game is Crayon Physics Deluxe. It's a simple, mesmerizing game created by a 25-year-old independent games designer from Finland named Petri Purho. "It's a game where your crayon drawings come to life,' Purho tells NPR's Melissa Block. 'You draw stuff and your drawings behave physically correctly. As soon as you release the last button, the laws of physics are applied to your drawing."' A demo is available, and Opposable Thumbs has a review of the game."

Comment Re:Contacted the Gov about this (Score 1) 713

by TrebleMaker (#26272029) Attached to: Oregon Governor Proposes Vehicle Mileage Tax

SMacD wrote:

We will no longer tax the out-of-staters (both people traveling from CA to WA & vice versa, as well as all of the people who choose to live in Vancouver and work in Portland)

Ummmm.... no.

TFA says:

A GPS-based system kept track of the in-state mileage driven by the volunteers. When they bought fuel, a device in their vehicles was read, and they paid 1.2 cents a mile and got a refund of the state gas tax of 24 cents a gallon.

So if you're from out of state, or if you drive out of state, or if you drive an older car that doesn't have the GPS device, or if you sacrifice your tinfoil hat to cover the GPS antenna, or if any of the other myriad "it won't work if the state can't track my mileage" falling-sky scenarios come to pass, then you simply continue to pay the 24+ cents/gallon fuel tax. What's so hard to understand about that?

That being said, I still don't think it's necessary.

Comment Tell me again, Mr. K, why you need to do this? (Score 1) 713

by TrebleMaker (#26271703) Attached to: Oregon Governor Proposes Vehicle Mileage Tax

The bulk of the Department's revenues originate from motor fuel taxes, licenses, and fees that are constitutionally dedicated and bond revenue that is supported by increases in licenses and fees. The State Highway Fund is shared among ODOT, counties, and cities. Out of $4.5 billion to be collected for 2007-09, $680 million is projected to accrue to other state agencies and local governments, leaving $3.8 billion available for expenditure on transportation programs. The most recent revenue forecast projects gross highway fund collections to increase by about 6.3% from the 2005-07 estimates. Total state motor fuel tax receipts are forecast to increase 3.7%, as the slow, but steady, recovery in Oregons economy is expected to continue.

Source: Oregon Legislative Fiscal Office budget analysis for 2007-2009 budget cycle (emphasis mine)
http://preview.tinyurl.com/8rgj6k (www.leg.state.or.us)

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