Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Largest Collection of WW-II Buckminster Fuller Domes 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Who'd have thought an abandoned Army research laboratory, now operating as a science museum, would have the world's largest (and perhaps only) collection of World War II Buckminster Fuller domes? These "Dymaxion Deployment Units" were meant as temporary metal shelters that could be difficult for enemy pilots to see. The museum also hosts exhibits about radio, shipwrecks, a hackerspace, and the previously Slashdotted computer museum.

Submission + - Increased Ski Helmet Use Isn't Reducing Brain Injuries

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: The NYT reports that the life-threatening head injury that Formula One driver Michael Schumacher recently sustained while skiing in the French Alps has focused attention on an unsettling trend — although skiers and snowboarders in the United States are wearing helmets more than ever — 70 percent of all participants, nearly triple the number from 2003 — there has been no reduction in the number of snow-sports-related fatalities or brain injuries in the country. Experts ascribe that seemingly implausible correlation to the inability of helmets to prevent serious head injuries like Schumacher’s and to the fact that more skiers and snowboarders are engaging in risky behaviors: skiing faster, jumping higher and going out of bounds. “The equipment we have now allows us to do things we really couldn’t do before," says Chris Davenport, "and people’s pushing limits has sort of surpassed people’s ability to control themselves." The population most susceptible are men in their late teens to late 30s, the same population that most often engages in high-risk behaviors like driving fast. “There’s this energy drink culture now, a high-level, high-risk culture, that’s being marketed and impacting the way people ski,” says Robb Gaffney. “That’s what people see, and that’s what people think skiing is, but really, that’s the highest level of skiers doing the highest level of tricks.”

Submission + - When Slashdot Beta goes mainstream, where will you go? 5

Submitted by EzInKy
EzInKy writes: I'm sure most of you have checked it out, and am just as sure most of you don't like what they are plan to force upon us. So my question is, where do you plan on getting your Slashdot fix once the beta becomes the default? I know I'm trying to learn CSS so I can undo the damage they are inflicting.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Will You Start Your Kids on Classic Games or Newer Games? (theverge.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An article at The Verge got me thinking. Parents and those of you who plan to become parents: will you introduce your kids to the games you played when you were younger? Those of us who grew up playing Pong, Space Invaders, and Pac-Man have had a chance to see gaming software evolve into the enormously complex and graphically realistic beast it is today. I've begun to understand why my grandparents tried to get me to watch old movies. I'm also curious how you folks plan to teach your kids about computers and software in general. When teaching them Linux, do you just download the latest stable Mint or Ubuntu release and let them take it from there? Do you track down a 20-year-old version of Slackware and show them how things used to be? I can see how there would be value in that.. the UIs we use every day have been abstracted so far away from their roots that we can't always expect new users to intuitively grasp the chain of logic. How do you think this should be handled?

Submission + - Wikipedia's Lamest Edit Wars 1

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Who says Wikipedians don't have a sense of humor? While perusing Wikipedia I recently came across an article documenting the lamest examples of wikipedia edit wars over the most trivial things. As one wikipedian says: "Some discussions are born lame; some achieve lameness; some have lameness thrust upon them." A few of the most amusing examples include: Was Chopin Polish, French, Polish–French, or French–Polish? Can you emigrate from a country of which you are not a citizen? Can you receive citizenship if you already have it? The possibilities for intensive study are endless. Next up, Are U2 an "Irish band" or simply a band that happen to be from Ireland, since two of their members were born in the UK? A heated discussion took place for over two-and-a-half weeks that resulted in at least one editor getting blocked and many more getting warnings. Next, should members of the Beatles be listed in the "traditional" order or in alphabetical order? Another edit war which flares up continuously in The Beatles involves whether to identify the band as "The Beatles" with a capital T or "the Beatles" with a lower case t. The issue became so contentious it merited an article in the Wall Street Journal. One such installment of this saga was brought before the arbitration committee (by an administrator, no less) where it was quickly declared "silly." Next, Is J. K. Rowling's name pronounced like "rolling" or to rhyme with "howling"? Rowling is on record claiming she pronounces her name like "rolling". An irate editor argues that this is a "British" pronunciation and the "American" pronunciation of her name should also be noted. "This is slightly ridiculous as she is English, and therefore of course will pronounce it in an English manner. Perhaps it rhymes with "Trolling"?" Finally did Jimmy Wales found Wikipedia or co-found it? "Not surprisingly, those who actually were around at the time and know the answer stayed far away from this one. The casualty list has yet to be compiled, but no doubt editor egos will be among the worst hit."

Submission + - California Man Arrested For Running 'Revenge Porn' Website (yahoo.com)

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: Yahoo reports, "A California man was arrested on Tuesday on accusations he ran a "revenge porn" website, one that featured nude pictures of women often posted by jilted or angry ex-lovers ... The San Diego arrest, the latest action by the state to crack down on such websites, comes after California Governor Jerry Brown signed a first-in-the-nation law in October specifically targeting revenge porn. The law defines revenge porn as the posting of private, explicit photos of other people on the Internet to humiliate them. But authorities did not charge 27-year-old Kevin Bollaert under that law, because it is geared to those who post the incriminating pictures and not those who run websites that feature them .... Bollaert's site, which is no longer operational, had featured over 10,000 sexually explicit photos, and he charged women up to $350 each to remove their photos, officials said. ... Bollaert was charged under a California identity theft law that prohibits using identifying information of a person without their permission, and under anti-extortion legislation, according to court documents. Unlike many other revenge porn websites, Bollaert's site had required users post the photo subject's full name, location, age and a link to the person's Facebook profile, the Attorney General's Office said in a statement." — Previous Slashdot story on the new law.

Submission + - Uruguay becomes first country to legalize marijuana trade (reuters.com)

Submitted by danieloch
danieloch writes: (Reuters) — Uruguay became the first country to legalize the growing, sale and smoking of marijuana on Tuesday, a pioneering social experiment that will be closely watched by other nations debating drug liberalization.
Other countries have decriminalized marijuana possession and the Netherlands allows its sale in coffee shops, but Uruguay will be the first nation to legalize the whole chain from growing the plant to buying and selling its leaves.
Registered drug users should be able to start buying marijuana over the counter from licensed pharmacies in April.

Slashdot Top Deals

If the aborigine drafted an IQ test, all of Western civilization would presumably flunk it. -- Stanley Garn

Close