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"Bomb Threat" Tweet Conviction Overturned By UK Appeals Court 103

Posted by timothy from the hope-he-sends-some-celebratory-tweets dept.
New submitter Kupfernigk writes "Paul Chambers was the man who was convicted (in England) of a terrorist offense based on a tweet threatening to 'blow up' Robin Hood Airport because they couldn't get snow cleared. Despite the fact that it was obviously a (feeble) joke, the Crown Prosecution Service actually went ahead with a prosecution and were able to convince a junior judge sitting with magistrates. The senior judges, including the Lord Chief Justice, said 'We have concluded that, on an objective assessment, the decision of the Crown Court that this 'tweet' constituted or included a message of a menacing character was not open to it. On this basis, the appeal against conviction must be allowed.' In effect, they have said that the original decision was not made objectively, which can be considered a severe slap for the Crown Prosecutor."
Role Playing (Games)

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Launches On September 25 247

Posted by Soulskill from the getting-in-touch-with-your-fuzzy dept.
New submitter JestersGrind writes "Blizzard has announced that Mists of Pandaria, the latest expansion of the popular World of Warcraft MMO, will be launched on September 25, 2012 and can be pre-ordered now." The game page has a good deal of information about the new expansion. The level cap is increased to 90, there is a new race (Pandaren) and a new class (Monk), and the talent system has been completely redesigned. They've added Challenge Modes for dungeons, which normalizes player gear and lets them compete to see who can clear it the fastest. The MMO-Champion website keeps track of all the minor details, if you're interested.

Comment Bullshit (Score 5, Insightful) 253

Yeah, so suddenly the guys who did a lot of work to be undetected will use Metasploit code and disclose their owning of the computers with an AC/DC song .... Methinks someone is not reaching his objectives and found a good scapegoat as an excuse... The alternative of course would be that script kiddies are owning Iran's nuclear researchs lab infrastructure ...
Crime

12 Dead, 50 Injured at The Dark Knight Rises Showing In Colorado 1706

Posted by Soulskill from the rest-in-peace dept.
beaverdownunder sends the sad news that a gunman opened fire on an audience watching the new Batman movie early this morning, killing 12 and wounding 50 others. The shooting took place in Aurora, Colorado, and the suspect was arrested by police. "Witnesses told KUSA that the gunman kicked in an emergency exit door and threw a smoke bomb into the darkened theater before opening fire. One movie-goer, who was not identified, told KUSA the gunman was wearing a gas mask. Some people in the audience thought the thick smoke and gunfire was a special effect accompanying the movie, police and witnesses said."

Comment Quantum indeterminacy ?! (Score 3, Informative) 210

by slb (#40539271) Attached to: Headlights That See Through Rain and Snow
Big misunderstanding about Quantum Physics: It is not because our interpretation of quantum states is probabilistic that quantum physics are NOT deterministic. There may perfectly well be a deterministic behavior of quantum physics, it's just that so far we can only describe is with non-deterministic mathematics. See the Copenhagen Interpretation

Comment Re:midnight (Score 2) 568

by slb (#40126713) Attached to: Germany Sets New Solar Power Record
Even if we take at face value your Greenpeace studies, these subsidies are ridiculous compared to those of solar energy. 200G € sound like a lot, but in 2010, nuclear accounted for 22.5% of electric power while solar only 4%. Now the subsidies for solar amounted to more than 50G € in ten years and the comitments for the lifetime of these obsolete and inneficient solar pannels are more than 50G €. Of course if you had been honest you could have compared the ratio of subsidies per kWh which (according the Greenpeace study) is averaged at 4.3c for nuclear, compared with the actual 25c of solar which was a wopping 50c in the early 2000. We could also speak about the utter failure of this solar subsidies to reduce CO2 emissions and spur innovation. Germany as failed producing cost effective solar pannels and is now importing from China. Add to that the intrinsec unreliability of solar power which to be accounted for would need tremendous investments in storage and grid infrastructure.
Science

MIT Creates Superhydrophobic Condiment Bottles 292

Posted by samzenpus from the that's-some-fast-mustard dept.
An anonymous reader writes "First we had a superhydrophobic spray that meant no dirt or sweat could stick to your clothes. Then a hydrophobic nanocoating was created for circuit boards to make them water resistant. Now MIT has gone a step further and solved one of the ongoing problems of using condiments: they've figured out how to make a food-safe superhydrophobic coating for food packaging. It means ketchup and mayonnaise will no longer be stuck to the insides of the bottle, and therefore there will no longer be any waste. What's amusing is this seems to be a happy accident. The MIT team was actually investigating slippery coatings to stop gas and oil lines clogging as well as how to stop a surface from having ice form on it. Now their lab is filled with condiments for continued testing of their food-safe version."
XBox (Games)

ITC Judge Calls For US Xbox Import Ban 255

Posted by Soulskill from the can't-you-boys-just-play-nice dept.
symbolset writes "In the long running dispute between Motorola and Microsoft, Judge David Shaw of the ITC recommended Monday an import ban on Xbox 360 S consoles, as they are found to infringe Motorola's patents (PDF). The judge also ordered Microsoft post a bond of 7 percent of the retail price of all unsold U.S. Xbox inventory. The decision will go to the ITC's board of commissioners, who will either uphold the recommendation or overturn it. 'Microsoft argued that Shaw's exclusion order does not serve the public interest because it would leave consumers of video game consoles with only two options to satisfy their needs: the Sony Playstation and the Nintendo Wii. Shaw rejected that argument, finding that the public interest in enforcing intellectual property rights outweighs any potential economic impact on video game console buyers.'" This follows news last week of Microsoft winning an import ban on Motorola's Android devices.
Biotech

EU Blocks France's Ban of Monsanto's GM Maize 285

Posted by Soulskill from the renamed-to-freedom-corn dept.
redletterdave writes with an update to news from a few months ago that France had banned the growing of Monsanto's genetically modified corn. After reviewing the evidence France submitted in support of the ban, the European Food Safety Authority has now rejected it. An official opinion (PDF) stated that they "could not identify any new science-based evidence indicating that maize MON 810 cultivation in the EU poses a significant and imminent risk to the human and animal health or the environment."
Apple

Wozniak Calls For Open Apple 330

Posted by samzenpus from the open-up dept.
aesoteric writes "Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has voiced a renewed desire to see the company open its architecture to the masses, allowing savvy users to expand and add to their products at will. However, Wozniak qualified his desire for a more open Apple by arguing that openness should not impinge on the quality of the products themselves. He also sees any change of heart on openness as a challenge when Apple continues to rake in huge cash with its current model."
Censorship

Submission + - Swedish researchers uncover key to Great Firewall of China's Tor-blocking tricks (v3.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A pair of researchers at Karlstad University have been able to establish how the Great Firewall of China sets about blocking unpublished Tor bridges.

The GFC inspects web traffic looking for potential bridges and then attempts "to speak Tor" to the hosts. If they reply, they're deemed to Tor bridges and blocked.

While this looks like another example of the cat and mouse game between those wishing to surf the net anonymously and a government intent on curtailing online freedoms, the researchers suggest ways that the latest blocking techniques may be defeated.
Earth

NOAA Study: Radiation From Fukushima Very Dilluted, Seafood Safe 267

Posted by timothy from the actually-the-seafood-is-now-even-more-delicious dept.
JSBiff writes "Ars Technica is reporting on a study by NOAA scientists who surveyed the ocean near Fukushima, which concludes that while a lot of radioactivity was released into the water, as would be expected, it diluted out to levels that pose little risk to wildlife or humans, and that the seafood is safe to eat. Perhaps we needn't worry so much about "millions of gallons of radioactive water" being released into the ocean, like it's a major environmental disaster, as it's really not — the ocean is many orders of magnitude larger than any accidental release of radiation which might happen from a nuclear plant."
Science

Submission + - Did dinosaurs really rule the earth? Or the water? (labnews.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: According to Cambridge scientist Brian Ford, dinosaurs just don't work. They are simply too big to support their own weight, too big to consume enough food to maintain their size and too big to move around with any agility. In an article published in Laboratory News, he argues the best explanation is that dinosaurs lived in water. According to Ford: "When you think of it like that, it all makes sense. The bulky muscular tail would have been impracticable as depicted in the conventional images and the abundant fossil footprints do not show tail dragging. They used the water to support their mass, buoy up their tails, regulate their temperature and provide a habitat for their food. All the research, all the Hollywood films, the artwork, everything need to be revised."

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