Submission + - Album giveaway could ignite music revolution
Denyer writes: A couple of years ago, Seattle group Harvey Danger released their album Little By Little online, free, forever. Now press elsewhere are increasingly giving coverage to the idea that music serves better as the advertising for live shows and merchandise, and UK band The Crimea have thrown themselves into the ring with their second album, Secrets of the Witching Hour. What do Slashdot readers think: is there value in recordings themselves any more, or are they mostly something to be shared and attract attention to a band's other endeavours?
Submission + - e-gold response to false criminal charges
e-gold writes: "I'm Jim Ray. I do not speak for e-gold despite my nick here. My boss is Dr. Jackson, the "accused". I would like to direct your readers to his response www.e-gold.com/letter3.html , in particular the hyperlinks. We're especially interested in independent legal views of the transcript from the emergency hearing before Magistrate Judge Facciola on 12/29/05 and the emails between myself and the USSS circa 11/04 — 1/05, which are linked to the document. Journalists who care about these issues should contact me if they wish to contact Dr. Jackson.
I do not submit many stories to Slashdot, but this is truly an injustice. I'll point out that not one G&SR employee has left. We're all here, despite the lurid allegations financed by our taxes, because we all know we're 100% innocent, not just "not guilty." Thanks for considering this, and as usual, if any readers dare to create an account, I'll click them a bit to try if they send me an account#.
JMR"
Submission + - IPRED2 Slips Through in Europe :-(
egnop writes: "April 25, 2007
The European Parliament has just voted to pass the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED2) without substantive amendment, despite growing public opposition from across the European Union. The final vote of 374 to 278 with 17 abstentions points to a margin of Parliamentary support that has been narrowing ever since the Directive left subcommittee. While we are disappointed that IPRED2 was not defeated at this stage, we can see clearly the impact of the efforts of the over 8,000 Europeans who've taken action against the Directive. We were told by the two largest political parties that they felt that the Directive had not been given enough time to be properly discussed, and that our campaign had definitely contributed to the discussion.
The fight now moves to the Council of the European Union, where it will be considered by representatives of the national governments of all EU Member States. Several states have started to mount resistance to IPRED2 in recent weeks, with the UK and Holland leading the charge. Europeans worried about their right to innovate, and their ability to live under clear, fair criminal laws must now turn to their own national governments to ensure that IPRED2 doesn't set a terrible precedent for copyright law, and the EU legal process. If the Council disagrees with EuroParl's action — which we believe is in reach — IPRED2 would be returned for a second reading. We will be tracking these developments and providing opportunities to act at CopyCrime.eu.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005219.php"
The European Parliament has just voted to pass the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED2) without substantive amendment, despite growing public opposition from across the European Union. The final vote of 374 to 278 with 17 abstentions points to a margin of Parliamentary support that has been narrowing ever since the Directive left subcommittee. While we are disappointed that IPRED2 was not defeated at this stage, we can see clearly the impact of the efforts of the over 8,000 Europeans who've taken action against the Directive. We were told by the two largest political parties that they felt that the Directive had not been given enough time to be properly discussed, and that our campaign had definitely contributed to the discussion.
The fight now moves to the Council of the European Union, where it will be considered by representatives of the national governments of all EU Member States. Several states have started to mount resistance to IPRED2 in recent weeks, with the UK and Holland leading the charge. Europeans worried about their right to innovate, and their ability to live under clear, fair criminal laws must now turn to their own national governments to ensure that IPRED2 doesn't set a terrible precedent for copyright law, and the EU legal process. If the Council disagrees with EuroParl's action — which we believe is in reach — IPRED2 would be returned for a second reading. We will be tracking these developments and providing opportunities to act at CopyCrime.eu.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005219.php"
Submission + - Wikipedia nofollow benefits it's founder
joeszilagyi writes: "TechCrunch has an interesting story here, which exposes possible financial and ethical conflicts of interest for Wikipedia. Wikipedia put 'nofollow' tags on all outbound links previously. It turns out, however, that certain approved domains on a map page are excluded from nofollow. Coincidentally, all pages at Wikia.com, the private for-profit company that Jimmy Wales founded, are exempt from nofollow restrictions. Wikia is also a financial benefactor of Wikipeda. Wikipedia's power to benefit SEO page ranking is what led people to link spam them. By allowing some financial backers to benefit, is Wikipedia putting committing ethical breaches?"
Submission + - Tropical trees will not offset emissions as hoped
Damien1972 writes: A new study, published in Ecology Letters, finds that growth rates of tropical trees are slowing due to global warming and may not offset rising carbon dioixde emissions as hoped. Lead author Kenneth Feeley of Harvard University says that the results contradict the hypothesis that higher levels of carbon dioxide would boost growth rates of trees in the tropics. Overall, the researchers measured a significant drop in growth rate for 24 — 71% of species in Panama, and 58 — 95% of species in Malaysia. Since higher temperatures may lead trees to absorb carbon at lower rates, the research suggests that sequestration initiatives would need to conserve and plant larger areas of tropical forest than previously expected to offset rising emissions.
Feed Obesity Increases Workers' Compensation Costs (sciencedaily.com)
Gaining too much weight can be as bad for an employer's bottom line as it is for a person's waistline.
Feed WSJ Notices That The NAB Has An Agenda (techdirt.com)
It's been pretty clear for some time that the National Association of Broadcasters' opposition to the merger of XM and Sirius isn't based on any concern for the public, as it would like you to believe, but rather is an attempt to get the government to bolster its struggling business because it doesn't want to compete in the marketplace. We've pointed out before that it's that behavior that rankles us in this case, rather than any real desire to see a merged XM-Sirius. What the NAB is doing -- the astroturfing, the paid shills, the conflicts of interest, the not-so-independent research, and most of all, the utter hypocrisy -- is representative of so many other entrenched industries that will do anything and everything they can to avoid having to actually compete in the marketplace. With all that in mind, it's nice to see people starting to catch on that the NAB's self-serving agenda means it really shouldn't have any part in the debate about the XM-Sirius merger, as The Wall Street Journal did over the weekend. As an editorial in the paper put it:
"No one knows whether the public will ever really take to the pay model, but it's not the role of the government to help the NAB smother a fledgling competitor in the crib... Telecom policy should not be about picking winners and losers but about encouraging investment and innovation. For that to happen, what's most important is competition among technological platforms: cable, telephone, wireless and satellite (for now). Policy makers and regulators would do better to focus less on static models of market share within one platform and more on making sure rival platforms continue to exist. Consumers will happily take care of the rest."That cuts to the heart of the issue: the NAB wants the government to give it, in essence, a subsidy to protect its business -- just as it's tried to do so many times before, with so many other technologies. Blocking this merger won't block anticompetitive behavior from XM and Sirius, it will empower anticompetitive behavior from the NAB's terrestrial radio membership.
Feed Drug Company Sales Visits Influenced Doctors, Study Finds (sciencedaily.com)
Almost half of sales visits by pharmaceutical company representatives advocating the use of the drug gabapentin led to doctors stating that they intended to increase their prescription of the drug or recommend it to colleagues, according to an analysis of a survey completed by the doctors shortly after the visits.
Feed SWsoft dangles server slicing taster at MS and Linux types (theregister.com)
'I'm a fire starter'
Virtualization specialist SWsoft has crafted a cut-rate version of its flagship software, hoping to get new users to try out its technology.
Feed Lethal injection drugs 'unreliable' (pheedo.com)
The three-drug cocktail used to execute prisoners in the US is flawed and may allow "inhumane" suffering, new research suggests
Submission + - Coffee has more soluble fiber than orange juice
drmirkin writes: "Coffee contains more soluble fiber than orange juice, according to a study from the Instituto del Frío in Spain (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, February 2007). Many people start the day with a glass of orange juice because they believe it is a health food, but it contains the same amount of sugar as a glass of Coca Cola.
Soluble fiber is beneficial because it is not absorbed in the upper intestinal tract. It goes to your colon where bacteria ferment it to form short chain fatty acids that are absorbed through your colon into your bloodstream. The short chain fatty acids travel to the liver to block the formation of cholesterol, and also lower high blood pressure by widening arteries. Better dietary sources of soluble fiber include oatmeal, barley, beans, and many whole fruits and vegetables. More on soluble fiber at http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/N233.html
Since fruit juices contain as much sugar and calories as soft drinks, it makes no sense to substitute juices for soft drinks. It's far better to learn to drink water to quench thirst, and get calories, vitamins and other nutrients from solid foods. Researchers at the University of Houston reviewed scientific studies to explain why sugared drinks make people fat (Nutrition Review, April 2006). They concluded that sugared drinks do not fill people up as much as solid food does, so calories in drinks do not suppress appetite as effectively as calories in food."
Soluble fiber is beneficial because it is not absorbed in the upper intestinal tract. It goes to your colon where bacteria ferment it to form short chain fatty acids that are absorbed through your colon into your bloodstream. The short chain fatty acids travel to the liver to block the formation of cholesterol, and also lower high blood pressure by widening arteries. Better dietary sources of soluble fiber include oatmeal, barley, beans, and many whole fruits and vegetables. More on soluble fiber at http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/N233.html
Since fruit juices contain as much sugar and calories as soft drinks, it makes no sense to substitute juices for soft drinks. It's far better to learn to drink water to quench thirst, and get calories, vitamins and other nutrients from solid foods. Researchers at the University of Houston reviewed scientific studies to explain why sugared drinks make people fat (Nutrition Review, April 2006). They concluded that sugared drinks do not fill people up as much as solid food does, so calories in drinks do not suppress appetite as effectively as calories in food."
Submission + - Microsoft Holding .NET Back?
Annie Hutchinson writes: As dedicated developers, end-users, and champions of Microsofts .NET Framework, were making a final plea to Microsoft and the .NET Framework team to save .NET and make it a real multi-platform framework. Please!
Sun could (and did) do it with Java, so why cant Microsoft just swallow the pill already, and provide real support for the .NET Framework on all operating systems? Yes, that includes Linux and Mac too! Its ironic, because the .NET Framework has so much potential as a platform with its unique multi-language structure, nifty features, excellent libraries, (relatively) well-performing output, and darn-good innovative technologies like LINQ coming-up and XAML already here. Yet Microsoft just doesnt realize that if they truly want .NET to succeed, theyll have to bite the bullet and stop pretending that only officially supporting Windows wont make users leave Linux/Mac/BSD/Whatever and buy licenses for Windows instead.
Sun could (and did) do it with Java, so why cant Microsoft just swallow the pill already, and provide real support for the
Submission + - I want my own enterprise dynamic DNS server!
Biff98 writes: We manage thousands of hostnames for field gear with DynDNS.org. It's always been our intention of configuring our own DDNS server and bring it in-house. Given the recent DynDNS outage due to a DDOS attack, resulting in the inability to resolve names for multiple days, there has been "encouragement" from management to move forward on bringing DDNS in-house. The problem is I can't find any easy-to-use, scalable software to accomplish this task! BIND doesn't scale well, and I don't consider MintDNS an option due to the required platform (Windows Server w/ AD & IIS). Has anyone out there solved this problem before?
