Comment Facebook? (Score 3, Insightful) 262
What's Facebook?
Submission + - Fermi Lab May Have Not Discovered New Particle (newscientist.com)
Dainutehvs writes: Do You remember article in slashdot "Fermi Lab May Have Discovered New Particle or Force" and quite a few slashdotters being skeptical aout it. They might be right. Another team has analysed data from the collider and come to the exact opposite conclusion about whether it hints at a new particle. Read more in NewScientist's website http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20564
Submission + - How journalists data-mined the Wikileaks docs (wordpress.com)
meckdevil writes: Associated Press developer-journalist extraordinaire Jonathan Stray gives a brilliant explanation of the use of data-mining strategies to winnow and wring journalistic sense out of massive numbers of documents, using the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs released by Wikileaks as a case in point. The concepts for focusing on certain groups of documents and ignoring others are hardly new; they underlie the algorithms used by the major Web search engines. Their use in a journalistic context is on a cutting edge, though, and it raises a fascinating quandary: By choosing the parameters under which documents will be considered similar enough to pay attention to, journalist-programmers actually choose the frame in which a story will be told. This type of data mining holds great potential for investigative revelation — and great potential for journalistic abuse.
Submission + - Apple Store Employee Attempts To Form Union (theglobeandmail.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Cory Moll, a part-time employee at an Apple store in San Francisco, is attempting unionize Apple store employees. The Apple Retail Workers Union is an attempt to fight for better wages and benefits and to address what he says are unfair practices in the company's glass-and-steel retail showrooms. "The core issues are definitely involve compensation, pay, benefits," said Mr. Moll, who has received little public support from employees so far, though he said he has emails expressing support. An Apple representative confirmed Mr. Moll is an employee, but declined to comment on the union effort.
Submission + - researchers find wood-digesting enzyme in bacteria (physorg.com)
AffidavitDonda writes: University of Warwick researchers have identified an enzyme in bacteria which could be used to make biofuel production more efficient by making sustainable sources of biofuels, such as woody plants and the inedible parts of crops, more economically viable.
The researchers identified the gene for breaking down lignin in a soil-living bacterium called Rhodococcus jostii. Although such enzymes have been found before in fungi, this is the first time that they have been identified in bacteria. The bacterium’s genome has already been sequenced which means that it could be modified more easily to produce large amounts of the required enzyme. In addition, bacteria are quick and easy to grow, so this research raises the prospect of producing enzymes which can break down lignin on an industrial scale.
By making woody plants and the inedible by-products of crops economically viable the eventual hope is to be able to produce biofuels that don’t compete with food production.
The researchers identified the gene for breaking down lignin in a soil-living bacterium called Rhodococcus jostii. Although such enzymes have been found before in fungi, this is the first time that they have been identified in bacteria. The bacterium’s genome has already been sequenced which means that it could be modified more easily to produce large amounts of the required enzyme. In addition, bacteria are quick and easy to grow, so this research raises the prospect of producing enzymes which can break down lignin on an industrial scale.
By making woody plants and the inedible by-products of crops economically viable the eventual hope is to be able to produce biofuels that don’t compete with food production.
Submission + - IBM builds first graphene integrated circuit (ieee.org)
AffidavitDonda writes: IBM researchers have built the first integrated circuit (IC) based on a graphene transistor.
The circuit, built on a wafer of silicon carbide, consists of field-effect transistors (FETs) made of graphene. The IC also includes metallic structures, such as on-chip inductors and the transistors' sources and drains.
The circuit the team built is a broadband radio-frequency mixer, a fundamental component of radios that processes signals by finding the difference between two high-frequency wavelengths.
The circuit, built on a wafer of silicon carbide, consists of field-effect transistors (FETs) made of graphene. The IC also includes metallic structures, such as on-chip inductors and the transistors' sources and drains.
The circuit the team built is a broadband radio-frequency mixer, a fundamental component of radios that processes signals by finding the difference between two high-frequency wavelengths.
Comment Re:So slashdotters (Score 1) 293
Maybe that's right. But police, once they have the address, has more option than blindly raiding the house. They could scan the network and see from where it's used and maybe even intercept the packages.
That would mean one more step for the police. And anyway, the main question was, if it's making police work impossible, what it doesn't, since police with evidence that a certain IP was clearly used for criminal activity would get the address and other data necessary to carry on their work.
Comment Re:So slashdotters (Score 1) 293
I don't think this ruling applies to normal police work.
from the order:
"the imprimatur of this court will not be used toadvance a “fishing expedition by means of a perversion of the purpose and intent” of classactions."
The police can still get the address of the suspect and than do some their job by observation to collect evidence. I think if they can proof, that the suspect is at home every time the IP was used for some criminal activity, this would be enough.
Comment Re:Sorry, voted down (Score 1) 3
Thanks for the correction. I took this from the article, while in fact it doesn't appear in the judges text. Resubmitted with corrections and a few quotes from the judge.
Submission + - Judge rules: ISP does not point to person (torrentfreak.com)
AffidavitDonda writes: A possible landmark ruling in one of the mass-BitTorrent lawsuits in the U.S. may spell the end of the “pay-up-or-else-schemes” that have targeted over 100,000 Internet users in the last year. District Court Judge Harold Baker has denied a copyright holder the right to subpoena the ISPs of alleged copyright infringers.
Among other things Judge Baker cited a recent child porn case where the U.S. authorities raided the wrong people, because the real offenders were piggybacking on their Wi-Fi connections. Using this example, the judge claims that several of the defendants in VPR’s case may have nothing to do with the alleged offense either.
From the judges order:
"IP subscribers are not necessarily copyright infringers."
"Where an IP address might actually identify an individual subscriber and address the correlation is still far from perfect, as illustrated in the MSNBC article. The infringer might be the subscriber, someone in the subscriber’s household, a visitorwith her laptop, a neighbor, or someone parked on the street at any given moment."
"The imprimatur of this court will not be used to advance a “fishing expedition" by means of a perversion of the purpose and intent” of class actions."
Among other things Judge Baker cited a recent child porn case where the U.S. authorities raided the wrong people, because the real offenders were piggybacking on their Wi-Fi connections. Using this example, the judge claims that several of the defendants in VPR’s case may have nothing to do with the alleged offense either.
From the judges order:
"IP subscribers are not necessarily copyright infringers."
"Where an IP address might actually identify an individual subscriber and address the correlation is still far from perfect, as illustrated in the MSNBC article. The infringer might be the subscriber, someone in the subscriber’s household, a visitorwith her laptop, a neighbor, or someone parked on the street at any given moment."
"The imprimatur of this court will not be used to advance a “fishing expedition" by means of a perversion of the purpose and intent” of class actions."
Submission + - Judge rules: ISP is not a person (torrentfreak.com) 3
AffidavitDonda writes: A possible landmark ruling in one of the mass-BitTorrent lawsuits in the U.S. may spell the end of the “pay-up-or-else-schemes” that have targeted over 100,000 Internet users in the last year. District Court Judge Harold Baker has denied a copyright holder the right to subpoena the ISPs of alleged copyright infringers, because an IP-address does not equal a person.
Among other things Judge Baker cited a recent child porn case where the U.S. authorities raided the wrong people, because the real offenders were piggybacking on their Wi-Fi connections. Using this example, the judge claims that several of the defendants in VPR’s case may have nothing to do with the alleged offense either.
Among other things Judge Baker cited a recent child porn case where the U.S. authorities raided the wrong people, because the real offenders were piggybacking on their Wi-Fi connections. Using this example, the judge claims that several of the defendants in VPR’s case may have nothing to do with the alleged offense either.
Comment Re:kind of like religion (Score 3, Insightful) 869
While "explaining the unexplained" may be a reason for some people to believe in god, in my opinion that is a minority. Most deeply religious people don't care about the "unexplained" and wouldn't even come up with any of the questions that where driving science and modern society for centuries.
Most religious people simply seek a omnipotent protecting father figure that shields them against plain everyday peril and distress. Something where they can take refuge in cases of illness or poverty. And something that gives them the hope, that they may see again those who they have lost in some "paradise" after death.
Comment Re:Desktop, can't see the bloody thing! (Score 1) 210
We Linux users have multiple desktops :P
Comment Re:mpm (Score 1) 254
erad ot kaerb siht ythgim rehpyc ytrid tsilairepmi
Comment Re:Considering ..... (Score 1) 769
I mostly agree with you and I'm not opposed to nuclear energy. And if things in the Arab world spread from Northern Africa, oil will become even more of a problem anyway.
But there are a few more problems about the highly toxic waste produced in nuclear plants. First of all it's by far not everywhere easy to find a storage place. Here in the more densely populated Europe and especially in Germany it's near impossible to find such a place that's not within a few kilometres of a city.
Then there are questions of security. For a very long time to come. We have seen this problem in Russia and other countries. Governments change, borders change. Can we be sure, that such storage facilities will only be accessed by nice guys? There is always the risk of somebody taking even small amounts of this waste to built a dirty bomb.
My main hope here is, that scientists in near future will find a better way to handle all or at least the most dangerous of those substances. Maybe if fusion energy would be available, we could bash the stuff with some extra accelerated neurons to make something harmless out of it. Maybe even something useful. (I know that this is most likely nonsense from a scientific view. Just meant as a kind of abstract picture)
