jrmann1999 - Slashdot User

Submission + - SPAM: Cooking at the South Pole

Submitted by

Roland Piquepaille

on Monday March 17, 2008 @03:00AM

Roland Piquepaille writes: "In a freely available article, The Wall Street Journal reveals how chefs cook at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. You might find surprising to find such a post here, but cooking at the South Pole needs lots of innovation and creativity. Let's look at some of the challenges. First, the South Pole Station stands at an elevation of 2,835 meters and temperatures varied between -13.6 C and -82.8 C. Then, all the food for the 250 scientists based there comes by plane and is obviously frozen. And it can take up to two weeks to defrost meat or poultry. Finally, because of the moisture-free air, cooking must be exclusively done with electric equipment, which can take a very long time. But read more for additional references and pictures showing how food arrives to the South Pole and Thanksgiving 2007 pies."

Submission + - Software Screens for Sex Offenders in Schools

Submitted by

Carol Measom

on Thursday May 17, 2007 @03:24PM

Carol Measom writes: "Thanks to Houston based Raptor Technologies, schools across the country are becoming a little safer. Raptor's V-soft (stands for Visitor, Student or Faculty Tracking) is being used in more than 2,500 schools across the U.S. to screen their Visitors and Volunteers against sex offenders nationally.

When a visitor enters the school they are asked to present a state issued ID. The ID is then scanned and a visitor badge is printed with the visitor's picture, the date and time, and where they are going in the building.

"Our technology has flagged hundreds of sex offenders entering schools all across the country," says Allan Measom, President of Raptor Technologies. "One of the most important issues that schools currently face is knowing who is coming and going from their building."

If a sex offender is identified, an instant message is sent to cell phones or pagers of school administrators and or law enforcement authorized to get the alerts. The system can also alert them of people with restraining orders and custody issues.

Mr. Measom says that many sex offenders that enter schools are parents. And they visit the school on a regular basis. "Many parents are unaware that a sex offender may be a regular visitor in the lunchroom or library, and they may be spending time with that parent's child. Our software makes school officials aware, so they can take precautionary measures."

"Should there be a disaster at the school, our system can help them pull a quick report to see what visitors are there that they need to locate to evacuate. The report can even be generated from another location," Measom says. "No one system will prevent all the bad things that can happen at a school. Our product is meant to be proactive, and help give the school an extra layer of security."

Raptor has logged more than 15,000,000 school visitors with their software to date. The system has a low cost of about $1,500 and an annual fee of $432 per year.

Raptor was recently awarded a grant by the U.S. Department of Justice to install the system in 40-50 schools across the country.

For information about V-soft or Raptor Technologies, contact:

Carol L. Measom
713-880-8902 (in the Houston area)
877-7-RAPTOR (outside of Houston)
www.raptorware.com
sales@raptorware.com"

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