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Comment Link to the manuscript at Current Biology (Score 4, Informative) 264

http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(12)00329-6 in which the authors thank Lynn Margulis and say that she would 'savoured" fart jokes. "We thank the late Lynn Margulis for infecting us with her microbial enthusiasm — she would have savoured the notion of sauropods as walking methanogen vats.
Democrats

White House Petition To Investigate Dodd For Bribery 596

Walkingshark writes "Chris Dodd's recent statements complaining that congressmen who receive donations from the RIAA and MPAA should toe the line has spawned a firestorm of anger on the internet. Among the bits of fallout: a petition on the White Houses "We the People" site to investigate him, the RIAA, and the MPAA for bribery! This petition gained more than 5000 signatures in 24 hours and is still growing. When the petition reaches 25,000 signatures the White House is obligated to respond to it in an official capacity."

Comment Re:Fuck's Great Comeback (Score 1) 127

"But if your cock has received any hurt in his eye, then take a leaf or two of right ground-ivy, that is, fuch as is found in little tufts at the bottom of hedges; chew this in your mouth very well, and fuck out the juice, and fquirt it into his eye two or three times" The Sportsman's Dictionary by Henry James Pye It is the use of f for s ... which leads to some pretty funny text http://books.google.com/books?id=xpQXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA82&dq=%22fuck%22&hl=en&ei=i70LTfDPAoeglAfGtLjUDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22fuck%22&f=false --
Oracle

RIP, SunSolve 100

Kymermosst writes "Today marks the last day that SunSolve will be available. Oracle sent the final pre-deployment details today for the retirement of SunSolve and the transition to its replacement, My Oracle Support Release 5.2, which begins tomorrow. People who work with Sun's hardware and software have long used SunSolve as a central location for specifications, patches, and documentation."

Comment Re:I think you meant COPYRIGHT, not COOL. (Score 5, Informative) 84

It is really strange that you would think that Monsanto had IP rights to the corn genome. You are quite wrong. The corn genome project was funded by public dollars.
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04614/nsf04614.pdf
You can browse the maize genome or even download the data yourself:
http://www.maizesequence.org/index.html
I have multiple copies of this data on my hard drive now.
You can also check out the Idiot's guide to corn at
http://weedtowonder.org/
Much of what we know about plant genetics and breeding is due to what we learned from corn. The corn genome is not just cool, but a fundamental model system. It provides insights into the genomes for the cereal plants that contribute most of the calories you eat every day.
Science

Songbird Fossil Virus May Help Predict Pandemics 42

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers announced they found a fossil virus hiding in the most unexpected place: the chromosomes of several songbird species. This ancient virus resembles human hepatitis B virus. Finding this ancient virus will catalyze new lines of inquiry that may help scientists predict and prevent future human viral pandemics that originate in birds."
Image

Doctors Save Premature Baby Using Sandwich Bag Screenshot-sm 246

Born 14 weeks early, Lexi Lacey owes her life to some MacGyver inspired doctors and a sandwich bag. Lexi was so small at birth that even the tiniest insulating jacket was too big, but she fit into a plastic sandwich bag nicely. ''The doctors told us they had never known a baby born as prematurely as Lexi survive. She was so tiny the only thing they had to keep her body temperature warm was a sandwich bag from the hospital canteen — it's incredible to think that saved her life," says her mom.
Image

The Real 'Stuff White People Like' Screenshot-sm 286

Here's an interesting and funny look at 526,000 OkCupid users, divided into groups by race and gender and all the the things each groups says it likes or is interested in. While it is far from being definitive, the groupings give a glimpse of what makes each culture unique. According to the results, white men like nothing better than Tom Clancy, Van Halen, and golfing.
Image

University Offers Class In Zombie Studies Screenshot-sm 118

Young people at The University of Baltimore will be able to study the zombie condition thanks to the newly available English 333. Students in the class will watch 16 classic zombie films and read zombie comics. Instead of writing a final research paper they may write a script or draw storyboards for their own zombie movie. Unfortunately the class doesn't seems to cover brain appreciation.
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Town Gets Patent On Being the Center of Europe Screenshot-sm 169

An anonymous reader writes "And you thought software patents were going to far? How about geography patents? Apparently, as a part of the weird fight over what place in Europe represents the 'geophysical center of Europe,' the Austrian town of Frauenkirchen has received a patent (Austrian patent AM 7738/2003) declaring it the center of Europe. Not clear how one 'infringes' on such a patent, but then again, it's not clear why anyone's patenting this either."
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Geek Squad Sends Cease-and-Desist Letter To God Squad Screenshot-sm 357

An anonymous reader writes "A Wisconsin priest has God on his car but Best Buy's lawyers on his back. Father Luke Strand at the Holy Family Parish in Fond Du Lac says he has received a cease-and-desist letter from the electronics retailer. From the article: 'At issue is Strand's black Volkswagen Beetle with door stickers bearing the name "God Squad" in a logo similar to that of Best Buy's Geek Squad, a group of electronics troubleshooters. Strand told the Fond du Lac Reporter that the car is a creative way to spur discussion and bring his faith to others. Best Buy Co. tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it appreciates what Strand is trying to do, but it's bad precedent to let groups violate its trademarks.'"

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