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Submission + - BP permitted by Indiana to pollute Lake Michigan (chicagotribune.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Indiana regulators exempted BP from state environmental laws to clear the way for a $3.8 billion expansion that will allow the company to refine heavier Canadian crude oil. They justified the move in part by noting the project will create 80 new jobs. ...
The company will now be allowed to dump an average of 1,584 pounds of ammonia and 4,925 pounds of sludge into Lake Michigan every day.
United States

Submission + - Only in USA-Owner Ticketed For 'Excessive Mooing' (kare11.com)

Submitted by prashc
prashc writes: You can accuse Wally the steer of a lot of things.

His kisses are a little sloppy and his nudges might be a little too much.

But these days Wally's crazy ways are going beyond the pasture because Wally is apparently a nuisance. Why? Because Wally, shockingly, is mooing and apparently he's mooing loudly.

"I'm being charged with a criminal complaint," Wally's owner Karyl Hylle said.

That's right the Washington County Sheriff's Department cited Hylle, who owns the 33 acre farm where Wally resides, with a misdemeanor. The ticket specifically cites her for ongoing nuisance cow mooing.

"I honestly am speechless," Hylle said.

It seems Hylle's next door neighbor has called authorities more than 20 times claiming Wally is a moo-maniac. But in the more than an hour we were on the farm, we couldn't get Wally to make a peep.

"I mean he does moo, he's a cow, but it's rare and it's few and far between," Hylle said.

Karyl says Wally lets out a moo about twice a day. Hardly enough, she thinks, to warrant 21 complaints that have been filed with Washington County by the neighbor.

It's important to note too that Karyl's land is a zoned farm. She could have 50 head of cattle if she wanted to.

The beef on the complaints is the mooing but when officers showed up to the farm, the complaint says the cow didn't moo for them either.

So after one court appearance Karyl faces a $1,000 fine and or 90 days in jail for Wally daring to do what all steer have done before. Moo.

The Hugo city attorney says in his 15 years of prosecuting for the city he has never seen a case like this. He says the next step is to find out if this really is an enforceable citation. He says his hunch is, that it isn't.
Announcements

Submission + - New Dell-Ubuntu Systems

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Dell is now offering Ubuntu preloaded on two new systems: the Inspiron 1420N notebook, and the Inspiron 530N desktop. Could this be a sign that Ubuntu sales have gone quite well? Also, news that Dell will be offering Ubuntu systems outside the US, with further details later this summer.
Security

Submission + - Hero Rats Employed in Land Mine Disposal (herorat.org)

Submitted by Nethemas the Great
Nethemas the Great writes: Every 20 minutes someone somewhere is hurt or killed by a landmine. In Africa Hero Rats are being trained up to tackle the task of detection. Traditional methods using metal detectors can hit on anything from sardine cans to nails and still miss the plastic cased mines. In each case though they have to be treated as if they're the real deal. The hero rats however, sniff out the explosives with a sense of smell roughly 1 million times stronger than a human and can clear a 100 square meter area in just 30 minutes. What's more unlike their human counter part these guys are so light they don't accidentally set off the mines.
Businesses

Submission + - FDA Considering Allowing Fake Chocolate

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "First, they replaced our cane sugar with icky, fattening high-fructose corn syrup. Now, the "great American chocolate bar" may soon be made of fake fillers so big candy companies can shave more profit off the cocoa bean.

This New York Times Op-Ed (registration maybe required) describes how "Industrial confectioners have petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to be able to replace cocoa butter with cheaper fats and still call the resulting product 'chocolate.' The reason: the substitution would allow them to use fewer beans and to sell off the butter for cosmetics and such."

The issue is not whether it would be legal for them to make it this way... this is America — they can do what they want. The issue is whether it would be legal for them to package the fake chocolate AS chocolate (and not something like "diluted chocolate substitute — contains 10% actual chocolate") so that consumers wouldn't know the difference (before tasting it). Kids would ultimately be eating this stuff. Could Corporate America really go so far just to squeeze more out of a buck?"
Businesses

Submission + - Anheuser Busch has USDA changing 'Organic' (organicconsumers.org)

Submitted by
paulevans
paulevans writes: "Anheuser Busch, Wal-Mart and other for-profit corporations have seeked and are getting a definition change on '95% Organic'. Such a change would allow for Anheuser Busch to "sell its 'Organic Wild Hops Beer' without using any organic hops at all".

Other changes would allow "sausages, brats, and breakfast links labeled as "USDA Organic" '..' to contain intestines from factory farmed animals raised on chemically grown feed, synthetic hormones, and antibiotics."

It is amazing how powerful the almighty dollar really is."
Software

Submission + - Banking on a Structured Wiki

Submitted by jessiej
jessiej writes: It seems the developers at WikyBlog.com are banking their success on a need for structured wikis. They describe a system that moves away from a single textarea for editing wiki files to configurable multi field files that can be browsed directory style. Unfortunately, these features are only available to administrators so testing them out requires downloading and installing their software.
Biotech

Submission + - Scientists Re-grow Dental Enamel

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Dental enamel is the hardest tissue produced by the body. It cannot regenerate itself, because it is formed by a layer of cells that is lost by the time the tooth appears in the mouth. The enamel spends the remainder of its lifetime vulnerable to wear, damage, and decay. In hopes of eventually replacing teeth, scientists from Japan have developed a new method for growing dental enamel."

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