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North Korea: Male University Students Required To Get Kim Jong-un Haircuts 110

An anonymous reader writes in with one more reason not to accept that full-ride scholarship to a North Korea University. "Male university students in North Korea are now required to get the same haircut as their leader Kim Jong-un, it is reported. The state-sanctioned guideline was introduced in the capital Pyongyang about two weeks ago, Radio Free Asia reports. It is now being rolled out across the country - although some people have expressed reservations about getting the look. 'Our leader's haircut is very particular, if you will,' one source tells Radio Free Asia. 'It doesn't always go with everyone since everyone has different face and head shapes.' Meanwhile, a North Korean now living in China says the look is actually unpopular at home because people think it resembles Chinese smugglers. 'Until the mid-2000s, we called it the "Chinese smuggler haircut",' the Korea Times reports."

Submission + - California anti violence in video games legislator arrested on bribery charges (arstechnica.com)

ganjadude writes: California State Senator Leland Yee (D), a driving force behind California's legislative efforts to restrict minors' access to violent video games, has been arrested on charges of bribery and corruption. If you recall in 2005 Yee spearheaded legislation that would bar video game sales of a violent nature to children. (it was finally put to rest in 2011 by SCOTUS) When will these people learn???

Submission + - First Asteroid Discovered Sporting a Ring System (discovery.com)

astroengine writes: When you think of a celestial ring system, the beautiful ringed planet Saturn will likely jump to mind. But for the first time astronomers have discovered that ring systems aren’t exclusive to planetary bodies — asteroids can have them too. Announced on Wednesday, astronomers using several observatories in South America, including the ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, have discovered that distant asteroid Chariklo possesses two distinct rings. Chariklo, which is approximately 250 kilometers (155 miles) wide, is the largest space rock in a class of asteroids known as Centaurs that orbit between Saturn and Uranus in the outer solar system. “We weren’t looking for a ring and didn’t think small bodies like Chariklo had them at all, so the discovery — and the amazing amount of detail we saw in the system — came as a complete surprise!” said lead researcher Felipe Braga-Ribas, of the Observatório Nacional and MCTI, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Submission + - Adam Carolla Joins Fight Against Patent Troll 1

tor528 writes: Patent troll Personal Audio has sued top podcasters including Adam Carolla and HowStuffWorks, claiming that they own the patent for delivery of episodic content over the Internet. Adam Carolla is fighting back and has started a Fund Anything campaign to cover legal fees. From the Fund Anything campaign page: "If Adam Carolla loses this battle, then every other Podcast will be quickly shut down. Why? Because Patent Trolls like Personal Audio would use a victory over Carolla as leverage to extort money from every other Podcast.. As you probably know, Podcasts are inherently small, owner-operated businesses that do not have the financial resources to fight off this type of an assault. Therefore, Podcasts as we know them today would cease to exist."

James Logan of Personal Audio answered Slashdotters' questions in June 2013.
Links to the patent in question can be found on Personal Audio's website.
The EFF filed a challenge against Personal Audio's podcasting patent in October 2013.

Submission + - Woman confirmed able to trigger 'out of body' experiences at will (ottawacitizen.com) 1

wassomeyob writes: A University of Ottawa Professor of Psychology has been studying a woman able to elicit extra corporeal activities at will. Though he acknowledges that this is an hallucination on her part, study of her brain activity confirms that this is more than wild imaginings. She reportedly came to be adept at the practice at an early age in her efforts to fall asleep.
Facebook

Facebook Shuts Down @Facebook Email System 149

First time accepted submitter beaker_72 writes "The BBC are reporting that Facebook will end their email system which provided users an @Facebook.com email address in March. The official line from Facebook is that not many people have been using the service. Is that really the case or have they found it too challenging to monetize that part of their service? Did users stay away from this 'service' because they've become more savvy and recognized it for what it was — another way to harvest their data? Or is it the case that the market is currently saturated with free webmail services and there wasn't room for another one?"

Submission + - Thinking With Your Gut: Can Bacteria Make You Smarter? 1

Rambo Tribble writes: John Cryan, a researcher at the University College Cork, explains the relationship between the bacteria in your gut and your intelligence. It seems the flora in your intestines can influence brain development as well as aspects of health and nutrition which affect such things as hormones and neurotransmitters.

Note: Please hold the George W. Bush jokes until after the break.

Submission + - An open letter to the management of Slashdot. 14

onyxruby writes: I have been watch for some time now as Slashdot has started beta testing a new version of the website. As you are well aware the new site would constitute a complete change to the look, interface and functionality of Slashdot.org.

Change happens, and for those of us who work with technology for a living it is the only constant. Change is a process and in and of itself is not a bad thing when it offers improvement. Unfortunately the change that has been offered negatively impacts the look, interface and most importantly the functionality of Slashdot.
Many people have had trouble reverting back to the classic interface. The new interface simply does not offer the functionality of the old. Things like statistics, comments and layout are very difficult to find. You have a community that lives and breathes data and want to know their data. How is my comment ranked, how many people responded – it’s really all about the dialogue. Can I get the information that I want in a readily digestible format?

As you’re well aware the new site does not offer the very thing that people come here for. This in and of itself is not why your community has organized a boycott of Beta. The boycott was originated because the new version will be implemented whether the community wants it or not.

I want to explain why this change has gone down people’s throats about as well as Windows 8’s Metro interface. The reason has absolutely nothing to do with the interface and everything to do with the perception that the editors and management of Slashdot appear to have.

The message that has been consistently handed down is that we are “your audience”. We are not your “your audience” we are your product. People do not come to Slashdot for the news stories, there are untold other sites that provide those as well as professional and original writing about them. People come here for the community of insiders from across the industry.

Please respect the community and stop what you’re doing. You have commented that you don’t want to maintain two code bases. Your community works in the industry and understands this, which leads many to suggest you abandon the new code base entirely so that you are only maintaining once code base. Tell us what your trying to accomplish and I would imagine that a wide range of experts would be more than willing to help you meet your goals.

Submission + - /. Beta comments don't work, users upset. (slashdot.org) 4

magic maverick writes: Since the new /. Beta came to light, many /. users and commentators have tried it out. However, they are almost universally condemning the new commenting system. It simply isn't as good as the so called Classic system. Some users, however, haven't a bad thing to say. Mainly because they haven't had a chance to even use the new system. It simply doesn't load. One user, Magic Maverick , who lives in a third-world country with crappy Internet, had this to say:

I come to /. for the comments, but with the new Beta, I can't even see anything! It just says:

''Shazbot! We ran into some trouble getting the comments. Try again... na-nu, na-nu!

It seems like the "developers" need to take some advice from people who actually know what they are doing. I'm happy to help explain what graceful degradation means if they like...


Submission + - Dice Holdings, Inc, deleting unflattering stories from Slashdot firehose 4

An anonymous reader writes: Stories submitted to the Slashdot firehose that take a negative view on the site's redesign are being deleted. 4 hours ago, it was full of anti-beta posts. Now they are gone. That's right. A forum that usually leaves V14GRA spam in place for posterity is deleting user content.

Submission + - Slashdot goes kerplunk 4

An anonymous reader writes: dice abandons slashdot classic look forcing long-time users to abandon slashdot.

Submission + - New Slashdot Beta Sucks 3

tekpagan writes: New design Beta sucks.
Boycott the site Feb 10-17th
If the beat is still here on 18th Feb do not return.
Do not fix that which is not broken.

Submission + - New slashdot beta setting records for suckage 1

Ellis D. Tripp writes: FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA FUCK BETA

Oh, BTW, FUCK BETA

Submission + - Human Beings May Not Be Cut Out for Space

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: The human body did not evolve to live in space and the longest any human has been off Earth is 437 days. Some problems, like the brittling of bone, may have been overcome already. Others have been identified — for example, astronauts have trouble eating and sleeping enough — and NASA is working to understand and solve them. But Kenneth Chang reports in the NYT that there are some health problems that still elude doctors more than 50 years after the first spaceflight. The biggest hurdle remains radiation. Without the protective cocoon of Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere, astronauts receive substantially higher doses of radiation, heightening the chances that they will die of cancer. Another problem identified just five years ago is that the eyeballs of at least some astronauts became somewhat squashed. “It is now a recognized occupational hazard of spaceflight,” says Dr. Barratt. “We uncovered something that has been right under our noses forever.” NASA officials often talk about the “unknown unknowns”, the unforeseen problems that catch them by surprise. The eye issue caught them by surprise, and they are happy it did not happen in the middle of a mission to Mars. Another problem is the lack of gravity jumbles the body’s neurovestibular system (PDF) that tells people which way is up. When returning to the pull of gravity, astronauts can become dizzy, something that Mark Kelly took note of as he piloted the space shuttle to a landing. “If you tilt your head a little left or right, it feels like you’re going end over end.” Beyond the body, there is also the mind. The first six months of Scott Kelly’s one-year mission are expected to be no different from his first trip to the space station. Dr. Gary E. Beven, a NASA psychiatrist, says he is interested in whether anything changes in the next six months. “We’re going to be looking for any significant changes in mood, in sleep, in irritability, in cognition." In a Russian experiment in 2010 and 2011, six men agreed to be sealed up in a mock spaceship simulating a 17-month Mars mission. Four of the six developed disorders, and the crew became less active as the experiment progressed. “I think that’s just an example of what could potentially happen during a Mars mission, but with much greater consequence,” says Dr. Beven. “Those subtle changes in group cohesion could cause major problems.”

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