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Government

Ireland's Blasphemy Law Goes Into Effect 845

Posted by Soulskill from the joe-pesci-is-angry dept.
stereoroid writes "As of January 1, it is a crime in Ireland to commit Blasphemy. The law was changed in July 2009 to fill a gap in the Irish Constitution, which states that it is a crime but does not define what it is, an omission highlighted in a Supreme Court decision in 1999. To mark the occasion, Atheist Ireland published a list of 25 blasphemous quotations on the blasphemy.ie website, from such controversial figures as Bjork, Frank Zappa, Richard Dawkins, Randy Newman, and Pope Benedict XVI. (The last-mentioned was quoting a 14th Century Byzantine Emperor, but that's no excuse.)"

Comment Re:Totota problems..... (Score 1) 1146

by stfvon007 (#30025056) Attached to: Toyotas Suddenly Accelerate; Owners Up In Arms

It was out of warrenty, but was a major design flaw. (Toyota issued a recall due to this issue about a week after it happened to her car.) Currently there is class action lawsuit about the flaw. She had just checked the oil levels a few days before, but because the flaw was in an oil line that burst during driving, the oil all leaked out before she knew what had happened.

Comment Totota problems..... (Score 2, Interesting) 1146

by stfvon007 (#29974958) Attached to: Toyotas Suddenly Accelerate; Owners Up In Arms

A friend of mine just had her toyotas engine die because a cheap $20 hose was prone to failure, When it failed, the oil all leaked out WITHOUT the oil light coming on. This issue has occured for quite a few people with the Toyota Avalons (though almost all the ones with this issue were made in the same year)

Comment Re:See ya! (Score 2, Funny) 458

by stfvon007 (#29798541) Attached to: SCO Terminates Darl McBride

Id hire him in a second if i was a major software company in a big building. He could be the window washer on the side of the building where people throw pennies off the roof. Of course the elevator control system will run linux and the $699 license fee will come out of his (minimum wage) pay. Also the pennies thrown off the side count as tips! :D
Privacy

Kaspersky CEO Wants End To Online Anonymity 537

Posted by Soulskill from the but-my-computer-is-already-broadcasting-an-ip-address dept.
Andorin writes "Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of well-known computer security company Kaspersky Labs, is calling for an end to the anonymity of the Internet, and for the creation of mandatory 'Internet passports' for anyone who wishes to browse the Web. Says Kaspersky, 'Everyone should and must have an identification, or internet passport ... the internet was designed not for public use, but for American scientists and the US military. Then it was introduced to the public, and it was wrong ... to introduce it in the same way.' He calls anonymity 'the Internet's biggest security vulnerability' and thinks any country that doesn't follow this regime should be 'cut off.' The EFF objects, and it's likely that they won't be the only ones."
Biotech

Scientists Write Memories Directly Into Fly Brains 137

Posted by Soulskill from the hellllllp-me dept.
TheClockworkSoul writes "Researchers at the University of Oxford have devised a way to write memories onto the brains of flies, revealing which brain cells are involved in making bad memories. The researchers said that in flies, just 12 brain cells were responsible for what is known as 'associative learning.' They modified these neurons by adding receptors for ATP, so that the cells activate in the presence of the chemical, but since ATP isn't usually found floating around a fly's brain, the flies generally behave just like any other fly. Most interestingly, however, is that the scientists then injected ATP into the flies' brains, in a form that was locked inside a light-sensitive chemical cage. When they shined a laser on the fly brains, the ATP was released, and the 'associative learning' cells were activated. The laser flash was paired with an odor, effectively giving the fly a memory of a bad experience with the odor that it never actually had, such that it then avoided the odor in later experiments. The researchers describe their findings in the journal Cell."

Author Encourages Users to Pirate His Book 237

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the listen-to-the-content-creator dept.
mariushm writes "Peter Cooper, the author of Beginning Ruby, breaks down how he gets paid for the book, including the advance and royalties, giving a nice clean explanation of how authors get paid for their books. He also describes the negotiations over the second edition of the book, in which he begged his publisher, Apress, to offer the ebook version for free, believing (strongly) that it would promote sales of the paper book. He even notes that the original version's ebook barely had noteworthy sales, so it seemed reasonable to offer up the ebook for free to drive more attention. No dice. Even though Apress has done that with other similar titles, it wouldn't agree. As he retains the copyright for the actual text, he encourages people to buy the book and create an online version of it without covers, contents table and indexes, promising not to enforce his copyright over the new work."

Comment Re:What's the Difference Between a Computer Salesm (Score 1) 650

by stfvon007 (#29571905) Attached to: Bad PC Sales Staff Exposed

Yea I saw that too. I went to a hardware store and bought a spool of 1000ft of plenum rated cable (required by the fire code for the house i was wiring, only way to run cable from the attic was through cold air returns, and runs 2-3x more than normal cable) for the same price BestBuy wanted for 100ft of regular cable

Comment Re:Why televisions, though? (Score 2, Informative) 265

by stfvon007 (#29477867) Attached to: California Publishes Television Efficiency Standards For 2011

The water heater dosnt consume the most energy, If thats the case, why does the apartment building I live in use 30 therms of gas/month in may-october (water heaters for all apartments and cooking for 2 of the 3, and the shared clothes dryer) and ~150/month therms average in nov-apr when the heat is on. I wouldnt call that most of the energy.

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