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Medicine

A Robotic Cyberknife To Fight Cancer 80

Posted by samzenpus from the how-is-it-at-starting-a-fire dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "The Cyberknife is not a real knife. This is a robot radiotherapy machine which works with great accuracy during treatment, thanks to its robotic arm which moves around a patient when he breathes. According to BBC News, the first Cyberknife will be operational in February 2009 in London, UK. But other machines have been installed in more than 15 countries, and have permitted doctors to treat 50,000 patients in the first semester of 2008. And the Cyberknife is more efficient than conventional radiotherapy devices. The current systems require twenty or more short sessions with low-dose radiation. On the contrary, and because it's extremely precise, a Cyberknife can deliver powerful radiation in just three sessions."
Space

Ultra-Sensitive Camera To Measure Exoplanet Sizes 62

Posted by timothy from the ignoring-global-poverty dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "US astronomers and engineers have built a new camera to precisely measure the size of planets moving around distant stars. This camera has been dubbed OPTIC — short for 'Orthogonal Parallel Transfer Imaging Camera.' According to the research team, it is 'so sensitive that it could detect the passage of a moth in front of a lit window from a distance of 1,000 miles.' I'm not sure if this analogy is right, but the team said it was able to precisely define the size of a planet called WASP-10b which is orbiting around the star WASP-10, about 300 light-years from Earth."
Government

Time To Discuss Drug Prohibition? 1367

Posted by kdawson from the with-your-remaining-brain-cells dept.
gplus writes "December 5th was the 75th anniversary of the end of alcohol prohibition in the US. The Wall Street Journal has an op-ed which argues that now may be the time to discuss our war on drugs and the drug prohibition currently in place. The article argues that the harm caused by the banned substance must be balanced against the harms caused by the prohibition. As to why Americans in 1933 finally voted to end prohibition, while we barely even discuss it: 'Most Americans in 1933 could recall a time before prohibition, which tempered their fears. But few Americans now can recall the decades when the illicit drugs of today were sold and consumed legally. If they could, a post-prohibition future might prove less alarming.'"
Portables

Sub-$100 Laptops Have Finally Arrived 437

Posted by timothy from the near-enough-at-least dept.
Roman Phalanx writes "OLPC had promised that it would be possible to mass produce a sub-$100 laptop. The folks at OLPC tried to realize that dream by re-imagining what a laptop looks like. How large of screen and keyboard it has. What OS runs on the laptop. Now that OLPC has decided to super size their systems to run Windows XP, the $100 price point has slipped beyond their reach. A Chinese firm has realized that dream. Taking the best from both the OLPC and EeePC. They ditched x86 compatibility and switched to a MIPS architecture to further reduce production costs. HiVision has managed to create a UMPC that sells right now for $120.00. They say they have refined the manufacturing process and have learned from building this laptop how to mass produce a laptop that will sell for $98.00." (More below, including a link to a video of the device.)
Programming

Submission + - Eclipse Ganymede at a glance

Submitted by Paul
Paul writes: Ganymede is about improving the productivity of developers working on top of Eclipse projects by providing a more transparent and predictable development cycle. See how the Eclipse Ganymede release of 24 projects showcases the diversity and innovation going on inside the Eclipse ecosystem.
Republicans

Submission + - What Don't You Like About Ron Paul?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Hello. I've been a longtime reader of Slashdot who never posted. Recently with the increased discussion of potential presidential candidates, it was surprising to see that many readers on Slashdot are against Ron Paul; no, I'm not another "rabid Paulist" and in fact have never cared much about politics. To me, Ron Paul seems to be spot on on many of the important issues Slashdot readers care about: free Internet, privacy, big government, foreign policy, federal budget, tax, etc., and, more importantly, the consistency he demonstrated in his votes and belief in limited government (domestic and foreign). I'm genuinely interested to find out your perspective on this man, whether you are for or against him, and please back up your statements. Thank you.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Feds Raid LibertyDollar.org

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: (Disclaimer: This reporter is affiliated in no other way than empathy with any of the named parties. Surely people should learn from this?)

US citizens' rights to property and free enterprise are under attack again. From TFA:

"For approximately six hours they took all the gold, all the silver, all the
platinum and almost two tons of Ron Paul Dollars that where just delivered last
Friday. They also took all the files, all the computers and froze our bank
accounts. ...all the gold and silver that backs up the paper
certificates and digital currency held in the vault at Sunshine Mint has also
been confiscated. Even the dies for mint the Gold and Silver Libertys have been
taken.

This in spite of the fact that Edmond C. Moy, the Director of the Mint,
acknowledged in a letter to a US Senator that the paper certificates did not
violate Section 486 and were not illegal. But the FBI and Services took all the
paper currency too."

http://libertydollar.org/ld/legal/raid.htm

This story, in various forms, has been covered today and yesterday by the Evansville Courier & Press and appears in several places on Digg.
Republicans

Submission + - Ron Paul raises 2 million in 12 hours.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Ron Paul's supporters have been organizing an online fund raiser for November 5'th. Halfway through the day, the total funds raised are about 2 million dollars. To put this into perspective Giuliani, who is the presumed Republican front runner, only raised 11 million for the entire last quarter. Real time information (updated every minute) showing Ron Paul's current fund raising can be found at http://www.ronpaul2008.com./
Republicans

Submission + - This November 5th Ron Paul Money Bomb

Submitted by Ron Paul supporter
Ron Paul supporter writes: This November 5th (www.thisnovember5th.com) is a huge mass donation day organized by the grassroot people who support Dr. Ron Paul in the 2008 election. It is currently 12 noon, central time. We have already raised over $1 million. The contributing donations are still coming in strong! Pretty hard for "spammers" to organize this one, eh? Hopefully the media starts giving Dr. Ron Paul the deserved credit that he is owed!!!
Privacy

Submission + - Biggest Online Grassroots Fundraiser in History

Submitted by
maxmerkel
maxmerkel writes: "(better version of previous submission — please remove this) Today an online grassroots effort for presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul's tries to raise as much cash in 24h as possible — at the time of this writing already a huge $1,398,812 since midnight — this might already be the largest amount of money ever raised online in a single day for a presidential campaign.
You can watch the donation spree here or even jump in if you happen to support Dr. Pauls platform — the end of war, return to limited constitutional government, lower taxes and the protection of your civil liberties and the privacy of the internet.
A big success today will certainly give Dr. Paul the platform to change something in Washington. You can find a short clip introducing you to Dr. Paul on youtube.com.

apparently Dr. Paul also is a big hit at the MIT"
Republicans

Submission + - The Ron Paul e-Bomb

Submitted by rrt82
rrt82 writes: Ron Paul has been the subject of an electronic revolution today, organized entirely online. The goal of the revolution was to set off the money "bomb" that showered the campaign with over $1,000,000 in just a few hours. The revolution got the November 5th date idea from Guy Fawkes. Is this the first revolution organized and carried out online? You know you live in the 21st century when you can take part in a revolution without leaving your oh so comfortable computer chair.

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