kilroy_hau - Slashdot User

Submission + - Dislike a Relative? Turn Them in as a Terrorist! 9

Submitted by Stanislav_J on Friday November 02, 2007 @04:23PM

Stanislav_J writes: A Swedish man who had less than fond feelings for his daughter's hubby, took advantage of the son-in-law's trip to America by reporting him to the FBI as a terrorist. The e-mail, which the father-in-law admits to sending, earned him a libel charge after his poor son-in-law was arrested on his arrival in Florida, handcuffed, interrogated, and placed in a cell for 11 hours before being released.

It's a brief article, but dovetails nicely with the recent Slashdot story about "The War on the Unexpected." That article touched on many examples of well-meaning, but misguided and paranoid citizens reporting innocent activities to the authorities. In the current climate, the potential also exists for maliciously false and far from well-meaning reports made to the Feds about people one simply doesn't care for, or those made merely as a sick prank.

While the man admitted to sending the e-mail to the FBI, he claims he thought no harm would come from it because "he did not think the US authorities would be stupid enough to believe him." To quote the great philosopher Bugs Bunny, 'Nyahh....he don't know us very well, do he?'

Submission + - Top 10 most evil computers of all time (cnet.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02, 2007 @04:00PM

An anonymous reader writes: Computers seem to have a history of being evil, and an amusing article on C|net has collected the 10 most evil of all time. HAL9000 features of course, along with Queeg from Red Dwarf! You might spot two or three that should be on the list, but overall it's a great collection of evil silicon bastards.

Submission + - Netflix confirms it, Blockbuster is dying (cnet.com)

Submitted by Mattintosh on Friday November 02, 2007 @02:41PM

Mattintosh writes: So maybe it's not Netflix, just some blogger from C|Net, but it's still an external pundit's assessment that Blockbuster is failing as a company. Some notable highlights include heavy losses ($35 million), job cuts ($45 million worth), store closings (526 of them), a stock price in freefall ($5.06 at the end of Thursday), and an executive with his head in the sand.

Submission + - Genetically Modification produces Super Mouse (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by Identity Missing on Friday November 02, 2007 @10:42AM

Identity Missing writes: An Ohio laboratory has produced genetically modified mice which "can run five to six kilometres at a speed of 20 meters per minute on a treadmill, for up to six hours before stopping," as well as a number of other remarkable feats. An enzyme called phosphoenolypyruvate carboxykinases (PEPCK-C) is apparently responsible, and we should hope that the scientists are correct in saying that athletes won't be modifying their genes any time soon to get it, because it apparently makes the mice more aggressive. If anyone feels a super villain coming on, at least we can rely on these Mighty Mice. A video demonstrates just how much these little guys beat the competition.

Submission + - Online Petition: Aliens, Contact Us Now! (alienpetition.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30, 2007 @05:39PM

An anonymous reader writes: This non profit project tries to convince extraterrestrial life to contact now officially human mankind. It is widely accepted by many scientists that extraterrestrial life exists. Also an increasing number of people made observations of extraterrestrial activities. But an official message from this form of life is still pending. This petition asks for participation worldwide and creates a nice map with the comments of its visitors from all over the world. The project seems to end on December 15th, 2007. On that day everybody is invited to report every unexplainable activity in their forum.

Submission + - Wolfram awards $25,000 for flawed proof

Submitted by on Monday October 29, 2007 @04:29PM

An anonymous reader writes: Slashdot readers will have seen an announcement by Stephen Wolfram offering a $25,000 prize for a proof or a disproof that a certain 2-state, 3-color Turing machine is universal. The prize was awarded on October 24th, 2007 to Alex Smith of Birmingham, UK.

However, according to discussion in the Foundation of Mathematics e-mail list, archives of which are available here, the members of the prize committee were "informed but not polled" as to the validity of the proof. The prize committee members were Lenore Blum, Greg Chaitin, Martin Davis, Ron Graham, Yuri Matiyasevich, Marvin Minsky, Dana Scott and Stephen Wolfram. On October 26, Martin Davis wrote to the FOM list that "The determination that Smith's proof is correct seems to have been made entirely by the Wolfram organization. My understanding is that the I/O involves complex encodings."

On October 29th, Stanford computer scientist Vaughan Pratt wrote to the Foundations of Mathematics list that the universality proof of the (2,3) Turing machine was flawed, asking "How did an argument containing such an elementary fallacy get through the filter?" Pratt points out that the fallacy of the proof could be used to "prove" the erroneous statement that a linear bounded automaton is universal. The text of Pratt's email is available here.

Submission + - GP2X F-200 Released With Touchscreen

Submitted by Croakyvoice on Monday October 29, 2007 @02:03PM

Croakyvoice writes: Gamepark have today released what they hope will get homebrew and amateur developers buzzing and entice many gamers from the Nintendo DS over to the Linux Based GP2X with the release of the GP2X F-200 with the main new selling feature being the Touchscreen and its availability in white. Games included with the console are Blocked, GhostPix, Cavestory, Phishy, Ruck-Man, SQdef. Already available are many hundreds of Games, Emulators and Applications for the console.

Submission + - Scientists make worms gay (thechronicleherald.ca)

Submitted by

mlauzon

on Monday October 29, 2007 @01:16PM

mlauzon writes: "TORONTO — Using genetic manipulation, U.S. scientists altered the brains of nematode worms, causing them to become attracted to wrigglers of the same sex.

While the scientists can't say what this means for sexual orientation in humans, it does raise the possibility that sexual preference is wired in an organism's brain.

Biologist Erik Jorgensen and his research team at the University of Utah took female nematodes with normal reproductive organs and activated genes that determine "maleness," thereby converting female brains to male brains.

"So we did that and now the females are attracted to other females," Jorgensen said from Salt Lake City. "That told us that the brain was sufficient for all of the sex-specific behaviours, for sexual attraction."

In other words, co-author Jamie White, a postdoctoral researcher in Jorgensen's lab, said in a statement: "They look like girls, but act and think like boys. The (same-sex behaviour) is part of the nervous system."

Nematodes, or C. elegans, are millimetre-long worms that live in soil and eat bacteria. Many of the genes found in nematodes are also found in other animals — including people — making them a good model for human research.

Because the worms have no eyes, sexual attraction is based only on their sense of smell. Male nematodes are drawn to sex-attractant odours, called pheromones, produced by the females.

The researchers, whose work is published in the most recent issue of Current Biology, first tested pheromones on male nematodes.

"We put a spot of that beautiful odour on a plate and we put the males down on the plate," said Jorgensen. "They went straight . . . for the source of that pheromone."

"And when we make these transgendered females, they do the same thing. As soon as she detects that there are other females on the plate from the odours, she zips right up there," he said. "Normally a female would avoid that spot. They actually have an active repulsion."

But scientists found there is more to the mating ritual than just sexual attraction.

"The females that are now attracted to other females, they get there and they don't know what to do," said Jorgensen, pointing out that there are other brain cells involved in the actual mechanics of sex.

Under certain adverse conditions — what Jorgensen calls "life on the prairie . . . when there are no boys around" — female nematodes can become hermaphrodites, producing both sperm and eggs to ensure propagation. Those used in this experiment were "absolutely female," he said.

Still, Jorgensen said he's reluctant to make strong inferences about human behaviour from studies of worms.

"Our brains are very complex. And because our brains are so large, an emergent property has arisen, which is consciousness and will. We can make choices. So to say that personal choice or free will doesn't play a role in human sexuality is a simplification.""

Submission + - Stripping for captchas (heise-security.co.uk)

Submitted by

juct

on Monday October 29, 2007 @01:14PM

juct writes: "Social Engeneering at it's best: heise Security reports about a trojan, with a new approach to break captchas (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart). To camouflage their malicious activities, the programmers of Captcha Breaker lead users to believe they are accessing a striptease programme where each piece of clothing to be taken off requires entering a particular captcha — which was actually provided by Yahoo."

Submission + - Microsoft privacy guru's site hacked and defaced (zdnet.com)

Submitted by

mytrip

on Monday October 29, 2007 @12:43PM

mytrip writes: "IdentityBlog.com, a Web site run by Microsoft's chief architect of identity and access, has been hacked and defaced.

The site, which is used by Microsoft's Kim Cameron to promote discussion around privacy, access and security issues, now contains an "owned by me" message and a link to a third-party site (see screenshot)."

Submission + - Aliens caused Sicily fires, say officials (telegraph.co.uk) 1

Submitted by tippe on Monday October 29, 2007 @11:07AM

tippe writes: The Telegraph reports that "aliens testing secret weapons" is the likely conclusion of a £1million, two-year official italian investigation into the cause of the numerous cases of spontaneous appliance combustion, originally reported in the Sicilian town of Canneto di Caronia back in 2004. Also covered here and here

Submission + - Obscene Losses

Submitted by BoredStiff on Friday October 26, 2007 @03:46PM

BoredStiff writes: The online magazine Portfolio.com has an article about the pornographic knockoff of YouTube called YouPorn, and how amateurs sites like it are taking over the porn industry and sending porn DVD sales into a free fall. What's happening to the adult-entertainment industry is exactly what's happening to its Hollywood counterpart — only worse. Just nine months after going live, in September 2006, YouPorn was on pace to log about 15 million unique visitors in May, and its audience was growing at a rate of 37.5 percent a month.

Submission + - Scientists design glow-in-the-dark clothes (wor.ldne.ws)

Submitted by

amigoro

on Friday October 26, 2007 @02:53PM

amigoro writes: "British Researchers have developed textile yarns that can be used to make glow-in-the-dark garmentswhich would replace current high visibility products such as those used by emergency services, cyclists and highway maintenance workers. The traditional high visibility garments, which depend on external light sources to make them visible, can be ineffective in low light situations and require a light source from something like vehicle headlights to make them visible leading to the wearer being seen too late. esearchers at the William Lee Innovation Centre (WLIC) at the University of Manchester announced that they have successfully designed clothes from electroluminescent (EL) yarns, allowing the wearer to be permanently visible and therefore improving personal safety."

Submission + - How Do I Secure Windows XP for my Mom?

Submitted by cant_get_a_good_nick on Friday October 26, 2007 @02:02PM

cant_get_a_good_nick writes: As the family tech geek, everyone asks me how to get rid of viruses. As I explain malware and the difference between the infection vectors of worms, trojans, and viruses, their eyes (understandably) glaze over. And I can't even tell them what's the best freeware anti-virus + anti-spyware + anti-malware-of-the-day for Windows (I'm a Linux geek myself). I moved my sister from a public IP to a private IP, and saw her eyes wander the room when I tried to explain why it's better for her.

Faced with the choices of getting a family that just understands tech (not gonna happen) getting them to move off Windows (not gonna happen) or letting them get infected (I don't want to happen), what are the best resources for getting a Windows machine relatively safe, and keeping it so? The more i look at this, the more I need to explain malware, DHCP, firewalls, rootkit, Windows update (but avoid WGA), the more I hear them ask for a magic bullet to make it all go away. How can I make Windows security as simple as possible?

Submission + - I do! I do! I do believe in ghosts! (yahoo.com)

Submitted by Chemisor on Friday October 26, 2007 @09:50AM

Chemisor writes: According to the latest survey by AP, 34% of the US population believes in ghosts. Among other interesting results are 19% who believe in spells and witchcraft, 48% who believe in ESP, and 5% (including at least one computer programmer!) who have seen a monster in their closet. Something tells me that the decline in the US science education levels has a ways to go yet...

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