plasmacutter writes "The Video Lan dev team has recently come forward with a notice that the number of active developers for the project's MacOS X releases has dropped to zero, prompting a halt in the release schedule. There is now a disturbing possibility that support for Mac will be dropped as of 1.1.0. As the most versatile and user-friendly solution for bridging the video compatibility gap between OS X and windows, this will be a terrible loss for the Mac community. There is still hope, however, if the right volunteers come forward."

Be careful just how you vent online is the lesson from this story pointed out by reader kungfugleek, from which he excerpts: "A University of Minnesota student has been banned from the Twin Cities campus after three of her instructors felt threatened by some of her Facebook postings. Amanda Tatro was patted down and questioned by campus police when she got to class Monday. The 29-year-old mortuary science student had posted comments on her Facebook page after breaking up with her boyfriend. She told her Facebook friends she wanted to stab a 'certain someone in the throat' with an embalming instrument. Tatro said she was 'looking forward to Monday's embalming therapy.' When the instructors learned of the postings, they contacted police." The Star-Tribune's account offers more detail.

Elizabeth Poblete, a Chilean Olympic weightlifter, got a big surprise when she gave birth to a boy while she was training in a Brazilian gym. Poblete didn't know she was 6 months pregnant and had even consulted a doctor a week previous. Head weight trainer in the gym, Horacio Reis, said: "It was a surprise for me. A week ago I acted as a judge in a competition in Chile and this girl was competing. All went well and she won the competition. I could see she was a big girl, round and strong. That's all I noticed." Both mother and child were brought to the hospital after the surprise delivery. The boy remains in intensive care and it is reported that he can already clean and jerk a full 10oz bottle.

garg0yle writes "Scientists are repurposing Wiimotes as scientific sensors to help measure wind speed or evaporation from lakes, among other things. At about $40 per unit, the controller is much cheaper than specialized sensors. The scientists are still considering how to add storage and extend the battery life."

An anonymous reader writes "We are able to be the first to report that the practice of “bed jumping” has been banned by most major US hotel chains. From the article: 'The new internet sensation of bed jumping has cost the hospitality industry almost $52,000,000.00 in the last quarter alone. Most customers are not aware of the high cost of commercial mattresses. While manufactures are prepared for children to “bed jump,” the mattresses are not designed for jumpers over ~100lbs. Preliminary tests show that a mattress needs to be replaced after only 10-15 adult jumpers. In the current economic market, it is not feasible for our members to absorb this high cost. The ban is meant to prevent hotels from adding a “jumping charge” to every room they book, which would increase the rate an average of $4 for every night.'"