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The Military

United States Begins Flying Stealth Bombers Over South Korea 567

Posted by samzenpus from the nice-day-for-a-flight dept.
skade88 writes "The New York Times is reporting that the United States has started flying B-2 stealth bomber runs over South Korea as a show of force to North Korea. The bombers flew 6,500 miles to bomb a South Korean island with mock explosives. Earlier this month the U.S. Military ran mock B-52 bombing runs over the same South Korean island. The U.S. military says it shows that it can execute precision bombing runs at will with little notice needed. The U.S. also reaffirmed their commitment to protecting its allies in the region. The North Koreans have been making threats to turn South Korea into a sea of fire. North Korea has also made threats claiming they will nuke the United States' mainland."
Science

Submission + - Caffeine Improves Memory in Bees (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: After a long day buzzing between flowers, even the most industrious worker bee could use a little help remembering which ones she wants to return to the next day. Some plants have a trick to ensure they end up at the top of the list: caffeinated nectar. A team of researchers bombarded honey bees with floral smells paired with sugary rewards, some of which contained the same levels of caffeine found in the nectar of coffee and citrus flowers. Three times as many bees remembered the odors associated with caffeine after 24 hours, when compared with the scents associated with sugar alone. When the researchers applied the stimulant directly to honey bee brains, it had a positive effect on the neurons associated with the formation of long term memories. Now, they want to see if bees go out of their way to feed on caffeinated nectar, perhaps even ignoring predators to do so—behavior that, if observed, could shed light on the neurological processes behind addiction.

Comment Great idea! And... (Score 1) 1388

by bbsguru (#42535563) Attached to: Smart Guns To Stop Mass Killings
How about we take the even more useful step of applying artificial intelligence to determine when an idiot like this is expressing an opinion, and automatically disabling any electronic transmission or amplification of same?

---------------
Of course, that's just my opinion, but it comes with a money-back guarantee!

Comment Works for me (Score 1) 288

by bbsguru (#41010897) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: A Cheap US Cellphone Plan With an Unlocked Phone?
About 6 months ago I switched one of my phones over to the "StraightTalk" plan from Good Old Wal*Mart. Yes, it's a repackaging of the TracFone service, and runs on the AT&T network. I get 30 days of 'unlimited' voice-text-data for $45 (or less), and the service has been predictably the same as the AT&T I moved from.

I now pay 40% less for the same service I had before on this phone, given that there is no iPhone Tax this way. You can get the SIM card at you local WallyWorld, or online.

I plan to switch my other phones over, after I see if this year's crop of new "smartphone deals" makes it worth sticking to the Old Way for a while.

Comment DEFENSE subpoena? (Score 1) 191

by bbsguru (#35034398) Attached to: Facebook Posts Mined For Courtroom Evidence
OK, I can see how the prosecution might want to use this kind of information in a criminal case. Makes sense, and all that. But the Defense?

"Oh, your honor, my client was playing Angry Birds at the time, and could not possibly have been at the scene of the crime. Yes, it was on a cell phone, but you can see he had already UnFriended the co-defendant at the time of the robbery..."

Comment More options? (Score 1) 238

by bbsguru (#34755624) Attached to: Google's Next Challenge, Spam Results
OK, so this is surely an obvious fix.

How about giving the searcher two more controls in 'Preferences'. First, a "radius" control, to set the discrimination for a tighter or looser match the the search criteria. That is, if I loosen the controls, I'll get more matches, but less accuracy. Conversely, I could eliminate anything that doesn't match, exactly, all terms.

Then, for some real fun, the Second control sets the "start page" to show results on, from 1 to 50, for example, or 'Random'. You may find yourself seeing some much less travelled sites, that still meet your criteria. Most important, it meets the "user option" test. Don't like it? don't use it!

Hey Google! This one's on me. You could probably have it all coded up by morning, right?
Novell

Attachmate To Acquire Novell For $2.2B Cash 221

Posted by kdawson from the old-order-passeth dept.
wiredmikey and a few others wrote in to let us know that Novell has agreed to be acquired by Attachmate Corporation for $6.10 per share in cash, in a transaction valued at approximately $2.2 billion. The Boston Globe reports that the deal also includes the sale of some intellectual assets to a consortium organized by Microsoft. Attachmate plans to operate Novell and SUSE as separate business units. Here is the press release.
Transportation

Jeep Wrangler Call of Duty Black Ops Edition 102

Posted by samzenpus from the put-down-the-controller dept.
gadgetking writes "When I first saw this I thought it was a joke — the Jeep Wrangler Call of Duty: Black Ops Edition. Seriously? I mean I like my COD first person shooter game as much as the next nerd but this really shows how mainstream video games have become. From the article: 'The Jeep brand today announced it has been named exclusive automotive partner by Activision for Call of Duty: Black Ops, and that they're making a COD Jeep. Hitting show floors next month, this limited-edition Jeep Wrangler will be available for a MSRP of $30,625 for the two-door model and $33,500 for the four-door. The 2011 Jeep Wrangler Call of Duty: Black Ops Edition comes standard with "aggressive 32-inch tires, unique military style and Call of Duty graphics."'"
The Military

Submission + - Would 1,000 space lasers deter a missile attack? (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: Here's an idea: The government puts 1,000 lasers in space over the US to shoot down any missiles fired at us, oh, and the system will cost $20 billion. It might be an interesting start for a movie, but not so much in real life...well maybe. John Raese, West Virginia's Republican nominee for Senate actually wants to deploy such a system.

Submission + - Will Social Media Enable Humanity's Next Evolution (socialmedia.net)

Submitted by Dublino
Dublino writes: The topic of evolution has sparked controversy since Charles Darwin proposed it in 1858. Even in the twenty-first century, some education boards are seeking to replace textbooks describing evolution with those positing Intelligent Design. But regardless of whether you believe in evolution by natural selection or not, most people believe that human beings exist in their final form, and that we are not subject to evolving or changing in a significant way. However, a number of thought leaders are challenging that idea, and social media may have a role in taking humanity to the next level.

Submission + - DNA Mis-use case settled: Researchers 'Banished' 3

Submitted by bbsguru
bbsguru writes: A court settlement has ended a controversial case of medical privacy abuse. From the NYTimes: "SUPAI, Ariz. — Seven years ago, the Havasupai Indians, who live in the deepest part of the Grand Canyon, issued a "banishment order" to keep Arizona State University employees from setting foot on their reservation, an ancient punishment for what they regarded as a genetic-era betrayal.

Members of the tiny tribe had given DNA samples to university researchers starting in 1990, hoping they might provide genetic clues to the tribe's high rate of diabetes.

But members learned their blood samples also had been used to study many other things, including mental illness and theories of the tribe's geographical origins that contradict their traditional stories.
Bug

Saboteur Launch Plagued By Problems With ATI Cards 230

Posted by Soulskill from the more-or-less-finished dept.
An anonymous reader writes "So far, there are over 35 pages of people posting about why EA released Pandemic Studios' final game, Saboteur, to first the EU on December 4th and then, after knowing full well it did not work properly, to the Americas on December 8th. They have been promising to work on a patch that is apparently now in the QA stage of testing. It is not a small bug; rather, if you have an ATI video card and either Windows 7 or Windows Vista, the majority (90%) of users have the game crash after the title screen. Since the marketshare for ATI is nearly equal to that of Nvidia, and the ATI logo is adorning the front page of the Saboteur website, it seems like quite a large mistake to release the game in its current state."

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