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Space

Carbon Dioxide and Water Found On Exoplanet 151

Posted by timothy from the don't-drink-the-water-and-don't-breathe-the-air dept.
Off the Rails writes "The BBC reports that evidence has been found for both water vapour and carbon dioxide on a planet 63 light years away. The planet is a 'hot Jupiter' with a surface temperature of 1173K and an orbital period of just 53 hours. The gases were found spectroscopically once its orbit had been deduced from observation. NASA hailed the news as proof that Kepler will be able to do its job of finding planets capable of supporting life." Wikipedia also has an entry on the planet, dubbed HD 189733b.
Medicine

Submission + - For the Brain, Status may be Better than Cash

Submitted by
Pickens
Pickens writes: "New research that may pave the way to new stress-reduction therapies, indicates that the brain can encode a value for social status and that it can compare the reward from being socially important with winning money. "Our study shows that both behaviorally and in the brain, people place an importance on social status," says Caroline Zink. "It's hugely influential even [when we're not] in direct competition with someone else." Zink's team scanned the brains of 72 volunteers as they attempted to earn money in a computer game while during play, the researchers occasionally revealed how supposed competitors (who, unbeknownst to them, were fake) were faring. "We found that the brain reacts very strongly to the other players and specifically the status of the other players," Zink says. "We weren't expecting that profound a response," she adds, noting that the subjects seemed to be concerned with the hierarchy within the game even when it was of no consequence to how much money they could make. According to Zink, the striatum, which had previously been tapped as our brain's monetary reward center, became just as animated when players were given a shot at improving their social standing as it did when they won a buck."
Robotics

Submission + - SPAM: Carl Hayden Wins International Robotics Title

Submitted by
stoolpigeon
stoolpigeon writes: "Carl Hayden High School's Falcon Robotics team won the top prize in the international robotics championship over the weekend in Atlanta. The 42-member high school team includes students from some of the lowest income neighborhoods in Phoenix. The teens have competed this school year with a robot they built and named "Virginia's Dream." It was named for a girl that team members knew before she was deported after it was discovered her family was in Arizona illegally."
Link to Original Source
Government

Submission + - Church of Scientology violates Federal Law (rapidshare.com) 5

Submitted by
FreedomToThink
FreedomToThink writes: "This is a very long story I'm sure the editors will have fun with, but I couldn't see how to cut it down at all.

On the eve of the Ides of March protest, from the source of the recent 'Anonymous' submitted CCHR leak on wikileaks, comes this message

"Dear $cientology,You attempt injunctions.I respond.Shall we continue the game? Much Love, DEEP CLAM"

Included was yet another PDF this time including yet more emails leaked from a Church of Scientology front group.

Vote Rigging?

From: "Mike Kaplan" <mkaplan@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
Subject: Fw: RE-ELECT FRANK HIBBARD, MAYOR OF CLEARWATER
Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 11:53:07 -0400

See below. Everyone in Clearwater MUST vote. Every vote will be needed to be
sure Hibbard gets re-elected. The alternative is Rita Garvey who is an SP.

— Original Message —
From: Shelly <mailto:shelly.bauer@Earthlink.net> Bauer
To: Shelly Bauer <mailto:shelly.bauer@earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2008 8:09 AM
Subject: RE-ELECT FRANK HIBBARD, MAYOR OF CLEARWATER

DO YOUR PART
RE-ELECT FRANK HIBBARD
MAYOR OF CLEARWATER
VOTE!!!
JANUARY 29TH
TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED!

Lunch with your preferred Presidential candidates for a high price?

ONE SEAT LEFT

I have arranged a private one-hour luncheon with Ron Paul on 11/28 in St.
Pete when he will be in town for the CNN/YouTube Republican debate.

This luncheon is reserved for $1000+ donors to Ron Paul's presidential
campaign. 19 people so far have paid and confirmed and will have the honor
and pleasure of having lunch and communicating with Ron Paul directly.


From the head of the "Non Proffit" CCHR Bruce Wiseman

Go the the HELP committee website. The link is here.
http://help.senate.gov/About.html
Here you will see the names of the Committee members on the left hand
side
of the page. Please go to the individual websites of the Republican =
members
(this will take just a bit of leg work on your part by putting their =
name
into Google) and calling their office or sending a fax to them (email is =
the
least effective) stating your opposition to S. 1375 The Mother's Act.


Currently, the law prohibits political campaign activity by charities and churches by defining a 501(c)(3) organization as one "which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."

An OCMB (Operation Clambake Message Board)regular adds :

I downloaded myself a copy and started looking through them. I found an interesting one on pages 47-48.
http://rapidshare.com/files/99292051/CCHRLeak3.pdf.html

Karin Pouw of OSA of CofS writes a message.
It's forwarded by Michael Genung. He's the guy who runs ACSR, Association for Citizens Sociel Reform. http://www.citizensforsocialreform.org/ ["CSR Background and Philosopy: CSR was founded in 2001 by a group of Scientologists and other like-minded individuals concerned with the escalating social ills in society. CSR's purpose is to work with in the field of public policy to bring about more effective and humane solutions to these social ills of illiteracy, criminality substance abuse and general decay of character."]

Then it's forwarded by Doyle Mills, of LEAF fame (Letters to the Editor Attack Force).
Then it's forwarded by Mary C. (possibly one of two Mary C's I'm thinking of, but unsure).
Then it's forwarded by Mike Kaplan, another person who runs an email list and forwards CCHR type stuff to CofS members.

If that ain't stringing a line from the CofS to CCHR and the CofS front group ("grassroots") movements, then I don't know what is!


Apologies in advance as the Enturbulation servers will not be up to a slashdotting so the Coral Cache link is here Enturbulation Discussion (already cached for you)

ANYONE CAN REPORT TAX FRAUD DIRECTLY TO THE IRS : http://www.irs.gov/compliance/enforcement/article/0,,id=106778,00.html It does require that you print out and mail in an actual hardcopy, but it does not require you to identify yourself.

Just a casual user passing on a message from the Enturbulation forum, this is already out there, there's no reason to attack the messenger."
Security

Submission + - Dreamlab cracks wireless keyboard encryption (heise-security.co.uk)

Submitted by
Felix
Felix writes: "Wireless keyboards and mice are becoming an increasingly common sight on desks. However, wireless hardware carries large hidden risks. Dreamlab Technologies has shown that it is possible to capture and decrypt keystrokes, meaning that user names, passwords, bank details or confidential correspondence can be very easily eavesdropped. Checkout http://www.dreamlab.net/ for further information."
The Courts

Submission + - Daylight Savings Time Puts Kid in Jail for 12 Days

Submitted by Jherek Carnelian
Jherek Carnelian writes: Cody Webb was jailed for calling in a bomb threat to his Hempstead Area high school (near Pittsburgh). He spent 12 days in lockup until the authorities realized that their caller-id log was off an hour because of the new Daylight Savings Time rules and that Cody had only called one hour prior to the actual bomb threat. Perhaps it took so long because of the principal's Catch-22 attitude about Cody's guilt — she said, 'Well, why should we believe you? You're a criminal. Criminals lie all the time.'
Announcements

Submission + - At Least 20 Dead in Virginia Tech Shooting

Submitted by StarvingSE
StarvingSE writes: Virginia Tech police state that at least 20 are dead in a campus shooting school officials are describing as a "monumental tragedy." From the article:

"Today the university was struck with a tragedy that we consider of monumental proportions," said university President Charles Steger. "The university is shocked and indeed horrified."

The attacks mark the worst school shooting incident since 1999 when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado

This story is a little off-topic on a technology-related site, but I'm sure quite a few readers attend or are alumni of Virginia Tech.
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - With Chip Factories, China's Gain is India's Loss

Submitted by
narramissic
narramissic writes: "According to a recent Gartner report, India's 'poor infrastructure' will likely prevent it from winning any chip factory projects from major companies this year. 'Intel's decision to move to China was driven mainly by China's superior infrastructure facilities, compared with those in India, and Intel's need to be closer to its customers in China and Japan, even though China's supply of semiconductor talent is considered to be weaker than India's,' said Gartner analyst Ramamoorthy in the report. From the article:

With the world's second largest population, India is battling to gain a foothold in manufacturing, which China dominates. In the semiconductor business, factory investments represent multi-billion dollar projects and thousands of technical jobs. Although there is no shortage of labor talent in the nation, chip production has not caught on as investors remain focused on the Pacific Rim.
"
Security

Submission + - Can an iPod bring your company down?

Submitted by
BobB
BobB writes: "The recent buzz about security threats posed by iPods to corporations has reinforced the need for IT managers to treat these devices like any other removable media that employees with malicious intent can use to extract sensitive data. Following the suggestion recently made by a security company that iPods be banned from the workplace until proper protection is in place, and the emergence of a proof-of-concept iPod virus, it would seem that iPods pose a particularly high risk to corporations that let employees wander into work with these devices strung to their ears. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/040907-ipod- company-security.html"

Feed Laptop thefts expose 40,000 Chicago teachers (theregister.com)

From feed by registerfeed
Identity crisis

A thief walked into the headquarters of Chicage Public Schools (CPS) on Friday, April 6 and grabbed two laptops containing the names and social security numbers of 40,000 teachers. The CPS has released an image of the suspect captured by CCTV and is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the thief or recovery of the data.

Feed Male Births: Decline In The US And Japan (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
During the past 30 years, the number of male births has decreased each year in the US and Japan. The decline in births is equivalent to 135,000 fewer white males in the US and 127,000 fewer males in Japan over the past three decades and suggest that environmental factors are one explanation for these trends.

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