Eugene - Slashdot User

Submission + - US Falls to 25th in Broadband Penetration

Submitted by

Andy King

on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @12:10PM

Andy King writes: "The US fell from 23rd to 25th place in worldwide broadband penetration in the last half of 2006, according to a recent survey by Point Topic. An OECD study confirms the slowdown, with US broadband growth falling below the OECD average for the first time. http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0704/"

Submission + - How an Email Rant Jolted a Big HMO

Submitted by Radon360 on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @12:00PM

Radon360 writes: From the WSJ Article:

On a Friday morning last November, Justen Deal, a Kaiser Permanente employee, blasted an email throughout the giant health maintenance organization. His message charged that HealthConnect — the company's ambitious $4 billion project to convert paper files into electronic medical records — was a mess.

Mr. Deal signed the email. Before sending it, he says, he printed out a copy and handed it to his boss. Soon afterward, his office phone was ringing off the hook. IT staffers later arrived to seize his computers, and Mr. Deal was placed on paid leave from his $56,000-a-year job.

Despite Kaiser's efforts to squelch and downplay the incident, the email episode shows that, in the digital age, flicking away whistle-blowers isn't as easy as it once was.

Feed Mystery prehistoric fossil verified as giant fungus (pheedo.com)

From feed by nsfeed on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @11:52AM

Scientists have identified the Godzilla of fungi â" a giant, prehistoric fossil that evaded classification for more than a century

Submission + - The 2007 Underhanded C Contest is Online

Submitted by

Xcott Craver

on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @11:38AM

Xcott Craver writes: "The Third Annual Underhanded C Contest is underway. This is a contest to write innocent-looking C code that conceals malicious behavior — behavior that is not obvious under casual inspection of the source. This year's challenge is to write an encryption program that unnoticeably fails on about 1 percent of all files, suitable for an eavesdropper. The prize is a gift certificate to ThinkGeek.com."

Submission + - Jack Thompson rushed to judgement

Submitted by

Jamil Karim

on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @11:29AM

Jamil Karim writes: "MSNBC has an interesting article criticizing Jack Thompson not only for blaming video games for the Virginia Tech massacre when "police hadn't even identified the gunman", but also attacking his argument:

"And for all of Thompson's claims that violent video games are the cause of school shootings, Sternheimer points out that before this week's Virginia Tech massacre, the most deadly school shooting in history took place at the University of Texas in Austin... in 1966. Not even "Pong" had been invented at that time.""

Submission + - Sturdy Communist Hardware part 1: The Jet Engine

Submitted by

ferglitz

on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @11:57PM

ferglitz writes: "Before you board that flight to the PRC, take a glance at the rotating bits under each wing: "For anybody who is not familiar with a jet engine, a jet fan blade should be perfectly smooth. You might want to think twice the next time you fly on a Chinese Airline."
http://iagblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/chinese-aircra ft-maintenance.html"

Submission + - US Military Tests out Non-Lethal Heat Ray

Submitted by

URSpider

on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @11:54PM

URSpider writes: "CNN.com is reporting on a US military test of a new antipersonnel heat ray. The weapon focuses non-lethal millimeter-wave radiation onto humans, raising their skin surface temperature to an uncomfortable 130 F. The goal is to make the targets drop any weapons and flee the scene. The device was apparently tested on two soldiers and a group of ten reporters, which makes me wonder how thoroughly this thing has been safety tested ..."

Submission + - The Insanely Great Songs Apple Won't Let you Hear

Submitted by

FunkeyMonk

on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @11:38PM

FunkeyMonk writes: "Slate.com has an article by Paul Collins explaining that the iTunes music store has thousands of tracks that you can't buy in the U.S. From the article:
The iTunes Music Store has a secret hiding in plain sight: Log out of your home account in the page's upper-right corner, switch the country setting at the bottom of the page to Japan, and you're dropped down a rabbit hole into a wonderland of great Japanese bands that you've never even heard of. And they're nowhere to be found on iTunes U.S.

The article goes on to mention a few workarounds if you want to purchase foreign tunes. But this brings up a good point — why shouldn't iTunes be the great mythical omniscient music repository where all the world's music is available instantly? Is this a case of **AA greed, or simply a marketing decision?"

Submission + - Treasure trove of fossils found Down Under

Submitted by

clintonclinton

on Wednesday January 24, 2007 @11:17PM

clintonclinton writes: ""Treasure trove of fossils found Down Under
Australian bones could shed light on prehistoric extinction mystery.

In three caves, researchers unearthed the remains of 69 vertebrate species, plus a mollusc, that lived between 800,000 and 200,000 years ago1. The rare find sheds light on an intensely debated topic: what wiped out the large prehistoric animals, or megafauna, that roamed ancient Australia?"

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070122/full/070122 -7.html"

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