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Submission + - In Norway, drones hinder firefighting helicopters (www.vgtv.no)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: On the night before sunday, the town of Laerdal in western Norway fought against the flames. More than 30 houses burned and the firefighters called in helicopters to aid in protecting the town. But this time, the firefighters met a new adversary: Drones, small remote controlled helicopters with cameras vied with firefighting helicopters for the airspace over Laerdal. The norwegian newspaper VG published a video taken by one of the drones (see link), allegedly before any firefighting helicopters had arrived on the scene. In the morning hours, Nils Erik Eggen of the local police force called for people to pull their UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) out of the area, as they were in imminent danger of colliding with the manned helicopters of the norwegian 720-squadron, with potentially fatal results.

Submission + - Alleging 'Malpractice' With Climate Skeptic Papers, Publisher Kills Journal (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: A European publisher today terminated a journal edited by climate change skeptics. The journal, Pattern Recognition in Physics, was started less than a year ago. Problems cropped up soon afterward. In July, Jeffrey Beall, a librarian at the University of Colorado, Denver, noted “serious concerns” with Pattern Recognition in Physics. As he wrote on his blog about open-access publishing, Beall found self-plagiarism in the first paper published by the journal. “In addition," says another critic, "the editors selected the referees on a nepotistic basis, which we regard as malpractice in scientific publishing.”

Comment Re:ENOUGH. OF. THE. BITCOIN. (Score 2) 396

by Artifex (#45904573) Attached to: A Rebuttal To Charles Stross About Bitcoin

http://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=bitcoin

Over the last few months, we've been averaging a little more than 1 Bitcoin story every 2 days. Please - please, stop accepting every submission that has the word Bitcoin in it. At this point, I'd almost like them to start covering the 2016 Presidential Election. Enough.

Agreed. There should be an algorithm to make it progressively more difficult to create each Bitcoin story, with reviewers getting paid a small amount of karma for each submission they proc-- aarrgggh, doing it again!

Submission + - Homeland Security Director used handgun targeting laser as presentation pointer (timesunion.com)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: The Albany, NY Times Union newspaper reports (http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Ready-aim-point-talk-5116592.php) that Jerome M. Hauer, the New York State Director of Homeland Security, took out his handgun and used its laser sighting device attached to the barrel as a pointer during a presentation given in the "highly secure" state emergency operations center below NY State Police headquarters.

Three Swedish emergency managers in the audience were rattled when the gun's laser tracked across one of their heads before Hauer found the map of New York at which he wanted to point. Hauer was disabled by a stroke a few years ago and can be unsteady.

Although Hauer is not a law enforcement official, he carries his loaded 9-millimeter Glock in a holster into state buildings, which is an apparent violation of NY State's Public Facilities Law prohibiting employees from entering state buildings with weapons.

Submission + - The Internet's Network Efficiencies Are Destroying the Middle Class

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Joe Nocera says in op-ed piece in the NYT that the same network efficiencies that has given companies their great advantages are becoming the instrument of our ruin. In the financial services industry, it led to the financial crisis. In the case of a company like Wal-Mart, the adoption of technology to manage its supply chain at first reaped great benefits, but over time it cost competitors and suppliers hundreds of thousands of jobs, thus gradually impoverishing its own customer base. Jaron Lanier says that the digital economy has done as much as any single thing to hollow out the middle class. Take Kodak and Instagram. At its height, “Kodak employed more than 140,000 people.” Kodak made plenty of mistakes, but look at what is replacing it: “When Instagram was sold to Facebook for a billion dollars in 2012, it employed only 13 people.” Networks need a great number of people to participate in them to generate significant value says Lanier but when they have them, only a small number of people get paid. This has the net effect of centralizing wealth and limiting overall economic growth. It is Lanier’s radical idea that people should get paid whenever their information is used. He envisions a different kind of digital economy, in which creators of content — whether a blog post or a Facebook photograph — would receive micropayments whenever that content was used. “If Google and Facebook were smart,” says Lanier, “they would want to enrich their own customers.” So far, he adds, Silicon Valley has made “the stupid choice” — to grow their businesses at the expense of their own customers. Lanier’s message is that it can’t last. And it won’t.

Submission + - US Issues 30-Year Eagle-Killing Permits To Wind Industry

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Lindsay Abrams reports at Salon that in an attempt to encourage the growth of wind power, the Obama administration has announced that it is offering wind farms 30 years of leeway to kill and harm bald and golden eagles. The new regulations, which were requested by the wind industry, will provide companies that seek a permit with legal protection, preventing them from having to pay penalties for eagle deaths. An investigation by the Associated Press earlier this year documented the illegal killing of eagles around wind farms, the Obama administration's reluctance to prosecute such cases and its willingness to help keep the scope of the eagle deaths secret. President Obama has championed the pollution-free energy, nearly doubling America's wind power in his first term as a way to tackle global warming. Scientists say wind farms in 10 states have killed at least 85 eagles since 1997, with most deaths occurring between 2008 and 2012, as the industry was greatly expanding. Most deaths — 79 — were golden eagles that struck wind turbines. However the scientists said their figure is likely to be "substantially" underestimated, since companies report eagle deaths voluntarily and only a fraction of those included in their total were discovered during searches for dead birds by wind-energy companies. The National Audubon Society said it would challenge the decision. ”Instead of balancing the need for conservation and renewable energy, Interior wrote the wind industry a blank check,” says Audubon President and CEO David Yarnold. "It’s outrageous that the government is sanctioning the killing of America’s symbol, the Bald Eagle."

Submission + - Lice Stick Around On Your Head Much Longer than Thought (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Lice eggs can take 2 weeks to hatch in human hair, making standard 7-day delousing treatments ineffective in some cases. New research shows that if conditions are right, the eggs, called nits, can sit dormant during treatment, only to pop later and reinfest the scalp. A third application may be necessary after 14 days to eliminate any slow-hatching nits, they say. Location and hairstyle matters, too: Lice develop faster at warmer temperatures, so they will hatch more quickly when laid on the warm, thick hair at the nape of the neck than on the thinner hair on top and in front of the scalp.

Submission + - Ikea France Executives Arrested Over Claims They Spied On Customers And Staff (indiatimes.com)

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: The Economic Times reports, "Two executives at IKEA France were being questioned by police Monday as part of a probe into allegations the company illegally used police files to spy on staff and customers ... IKEA France's CEO, and CFO ... were formally detained for questioning by police in Versailles ... prosecutors launched a criminal probe in April 2012 following allegations that IKEA paid for illegal access to secret police files to gain information about employees and clients. ... IKEA France subsequently fired four employees, launched an internal inquiry and established a code of conduct ... Four civilian police employees have also been charged and are suspected of having been paid by IKEA in exchange for confidential police files."

Submission + - Give Your Child the Gift of an Alzheimer's Diagnosis 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "There's a lot you can do for your child with 99 dollars," explains Fast Company's Elizabeth Murphy, who opted to get her adopted 5-year-old daughter's genes tested by 23andMe, a startup founded by Anne Wojcicki that's been funded to the tune of $126 million by Google, Sergey Brin (Wojcicki's now-separated spouse), Yuri Milner, and others. So, how'd that work out? "My daughter," writes Murphy, "who is learning to read and tie her shoes, has two copies of the APOE-4 variant, the strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's. According to her 23andMe results, she has a 55% chance of contracting the disease between the ages of 65 and 79." So, what is 23andMe's advice for the worried Mom? "You have this potential now to engage her in all kinds of activities," said Wojcicki. "Do you get her focused on her exercise and what she's eating, and doing brain games and more math?" Duke associate professor of public policy Don Taylor had more comforting advice for Murphy. "It's possible the best thing you can do is burn that damn report and never think of it again," he said. "I'm just talking now as a parent. Do not wreck yourself about your 5-year-old getting Alzheimer's. Worry more about the fact that when she's a teenager she might be driving around in cars with drunk boys."

Comment Re:Turning in my Eagle Scout badge (Score 1) 289

by Artifex (#44955399) Attached to: Boy Scouts Bully Hacker Scouts Into Submission

I can remember a day when Boy Scouts of America would have been approving of something like hackerscouts.org because they would have shared a central theme; curiosity, experimentation, education, science -- all good things to interest young people. It's disappointing to see the BSA stooping to such douchenozzly levels. The have apparently lost enough positive virutue I would not want to be associated with them today.

So you held onto your badge while they were actively booting kids and scoutmasters for being gay and/or atheist, and during the child abuse scandals. But them trying to enforce their trademark gets you mad enough to do something?

Comment fact check? (Score 5, Informative) 668

by Artifex (#43705077) Attached to: How Colleges Are Pushing Out the Poor To Court the Rich

The study notes that, according to the Department of Education's most recent study, 19 percent of undergrads at four-year colleges received merit aid despite scoring under 700 on the SAT. Their only merit, in some cases, might well have been mom and dad's bank account.

The study doesn't actually say that, at least not according to the chart on page 4. It says that 18.8% of the students in college who had scores of 0-699 got merit aid. Not that 18.8% of all the students in college received aid with such low scores.

Comment Personal page or not, it was published (Score 1) 2

I don't have a problem with this ruling. If you publish such a declaration on your page for your friends, enemies, and/or other family members to see, I think you've intended and made a real threat, and as such, should be subject to the consequences.

Clam666, please explain why you disagree. Am I wrong to think people should be held accountable for this?
Also, what sorts of other rulings are you worried might follow from this?

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