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Scientists Say a Dirty Child Is a Healthy Child Screenshot-sm 331

Posted by samzenpus from the snack-is-going-to-be-on-the-floor-today dept.
Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California have shown that the more germs a child is exposed to, the better their immune system in later life. Their study found that keeping a child's skin too clean impaired the skin's ability to heal itself. From the article: "'These germs are actually good for us,' said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research. Common bacterial species, known as staphylococci, which can cause inflammation when under the skin, are 'good bacteria' when on the surface, where they can reduce inflammation."
Games

Avataritis — On the Abundance of Customizable Game Characters 78

Posted by Soulskill from the forty-nine-precisely-placed-freckles dept.
Martyn Zachary writes "The Slowdown has posted a new critique, 'Avataritis,' that attempts to portray the utilization of character customization as a pandemic, emotional response on behalf of publishers and developers to finding the easiest, most efficient solution to the very unique dilemma presented by the enlarging, widening player base of video games. 'No mechanisms are in place stopping developers from writing and designing heterogeneous yet fully structured, narrative-based computer games with carefully constructed and immutable, unchangeable characters.' The article discusses the emergence and role of gender criticism and research in relation to the recent proliferation of the customizable avatar. The story also dissects the very act of character creation, subsequently aiming to clarify several semantic distortions related to the terminology utilized in character creation, and in turn breaking apart the concepts of relatability and understandability, wholly differentiating the two. The overarching analysis is finally related to examples from the gaming marketplace, where many continue to corroborate apparent falsehoods and misunderstandings in relation to the utilization of the avatar. Ultimately, the writer hopes to dissuade readers, developers and players from believing that written narratives are going away as customization and emergent content are entering video games with full force."
Google

Submission + - Google fails to win any spectrum bids (komotv.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. and British telecom giant Vodaphone Group, won nearly every license in the consumer-friendly "C block." Google Inc. was not among the winners, meaning the search engine giant will not be entering the cellular telephone business. The auction, overseen by the FCC, attracted a record $19.6 billion in bids.

Feed Techdirt: Verizon: Bandwidth Hogs Are A Tech Issue, Not A Legal Or Business Model Problem (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
While ATT has been siding with Hollywood in saying that file sharing is bad (so bad!) and that it needs to filter file sharing to deal with it, Verizon very clearly stated a few months ago that it didn't think that was appropriate. However, now it appears that Verizon has gone even further, in working with a P2P software maker to improve the efficiency of P2P to make it less of a bandwidth hog.

Now, there are a few points worth making on this announcement. First, part of it is clearly just hyping up one startup that is offering a "legal" P2P file sharing offering. Second, part of this is Verizon using the opportunity to tweak ATT and make itself look much more consumer friendly (something that doesn't often happen with Verizon, to be honest). Third, this hardly means (as some have been suggesting) that Verizon is "file sharing friendly." It only works with the one app that worked on this test with Verizon. However, what it does show is that Verizon recognizes that "bandwidth hogs" really are a technology issue that can be dealt with via technology solutions on the backend, rather than legal or business model methods that make life worse for consumers. That, alone, is a lesson that hopefully other companies in the space (and politicians) will learn.

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Feed Science Daily: Royal Corruption Is Rife In The Ant World (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
Far from being a model of social cooperation, the ant world is riddled with cheating and corruption -- and it goes all the way to the top. Ants have always been thought to work together for the benefit of the colony rather than for individual gain. But new research has shattered this illusion.


NASA

Submission + - SPAM: NASA to test emergency ability of new spacecraft 2

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "NASA this week will show off the first mock up of its Orion space capsule ahead of the capsule's first emergency astronaut escape system test. NASA in late 2008, says it will jettison the full-size structural model off a simulated launch pad at the US Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The launch escape vehicle sits atop the Orion capsule which is slated to be bolted on an Ares rocket. The escape vehicle is made up of three solid rocket motors as well as separation mechanisms and canards, and should offer the crew an escape capability in the event of an emergency during launch, according to NASA. [spam URL stripped]"
Link to Original Source
Privacy

Submission + - Penn State Issues Laptop Scanning Edict

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In response to a recent laptop theft potentially placing social security numbers at risk, Penn State University has initiated a policy requiring the mandatory registration of all personal and university owned laptops used for any university related business, making them subject to periodic scanning by the university. Not only does this procedure severely infringe on the privacy of students, faculty, and staff, it does little if anything to solve the problem and in all likelihood makes the security problem worse. An anonymized copy of a recent email concerning this topic follows.



As some of you may have already heard, a PSU laptop was recently stolen. The theft potentially placed sensitive data (such as social security numbers) at risk. Understandably, data security measures have since become a top priority within Old Main and the Office of Risk Assessment. A coordinated, University-wide response is being developed within the framework of existing University policies AD19 (Use of Penn State Identification Number and Social Security Number), AD20 (Computer and Network Security) and AD35 (University Archives and Records Management).

What is clear at this point in time is that the response will require centralized tracking and periodic scanning of all laptops that have been, or are being used for any University related business. This includes all laptops purchased with any sort of University funding, and personally purchased/owned laptops. Laptops you have purchased and assigned to your research assistants are included in this inventory collection.

The first step has commenced. The step requires registration of all laptops meeting the above description. The immediate goal is to assess the scope (and potential risk). There is an aggressive time line for laptop data collection, so an email reply to me with the following information would be greatly appreciated.
  1. User/owner's name, office address, telephone number and email address
  2. Primary use of the system
  3. Laptop manufacturer, serial number, and approximate date of purchase


Please understand that the urgency of this initiative is being driven by Old Main's justified desire to protect identity information from accidental or intentional misuse. A response with your laptop information is needed no later than 5:00PM Friday March 7th. If there is some reason that this is not possible, please let me know.
Music

Submission + - RIAA Not Sharing Settlement Money With Artists

Submitted by
Klatoo55
Klatoo55 writes: "Various artists are considering lawsuits in order to press for their share of the estimated hundreds of millions of dollars the RIAA has obtained from settlements with services such as Bolt, KaZaA and Napster. According to TorrentFreak's report on the potential action, there may not even be much left to pay out after monstrous legal fees are taken care of. The comments from the labels all claim that the money is on its way, and is simply taking longer due to difficulties dividing it all up."
Movies

Submission + - Star Wars Fans to Boycott Weinstein Company (myspace.com)

Submitted by
Jek Porkins
Jek Porkins writes: "We're a group of Star Wars fans and 501st Legion members who donated our time, costumes, props, and support to help make the movie FANBOYS, a movie about some Star Wars fans who decide to break in to Skywalker Ranch and steal a print of Episode I so that their friend can see it before he dies of cancer. We agreed to be involved with the movie because it has heart, and because it's about friendship and what it means to be a fan.

Now, after delaying the release of the movie for over a year, the Weinstein Company (the studio who owns it) has decided to recut the entire film so that it mocks Star Wars fans. They're planning to remove the cancer plotline and have the fans break into Skywalker Ranch for no reason at all — just because they're "Death Star Dorks" (from the Weinstein Co. website). They plan to rip the heart out of the movie and turn it into a mindless comedy that ridicules Star Wars fans, instead of celebrating them.

We (a group of fans and 501st Legion members) have decided to organize an international boycott by Star Wars fans of all Weinstein Company films, unless they release the original version of FANBOYS.

This past weekend, we launched these two websites to announce our intended boycott:

beam.to/stopdarthweinstein

myspace.com/stopdarthweinstein

We're going to attack the Weinstein Company death star, even if it is a suicide mission.

A link bump from Slashdot would really help spread the word of our cause, and maybe draw the attention of the national media.

Help us, Slashdot. You're our only hope!

Thanks for your time.
And May the Force Be With You!


Jek Porkins
and the Stop Darth Weinstein Squadron"

Haiku OS Resurrects BeOS as Open Source 269

Posted by Zonk from the going-back-in-time dept.
Technical Writing Geek writes "The Haiku project, which began shortly after the death of BeOS in 2001, aims to bring together the technical advantages of BeOS and the freedom of open source. 'The project has drawn dozens of contributors who have written over seven million lines of code. Although Haiku is nearly feature-complete, there are still numerous bugs that must be fixed before it is ready for day-to-day use. The design principles behind Haiku are very closely aligned with those of BeOS. The central goal of the Haiku project is to create an operating system that is ideally suited for use on the desktop--this differs significantly from Linux and other open-source operating systems which are intended for use in a diverse range of settings including server and embedded environments.'"
Censorship

Submission + - Muslims Attempt to Censor Wikipedia

Submitted by Nom du Keyboard
Nom du Keyboard writes: As reported on Fox News and The New York Times, some Muslims are attempting to censor Wikipedia because of images of Muhammad contained in the article about him. So does one religion get to tell the rest of the world how they must behave because they'll be offended otherwise, or does the Internet represent all views, even when that view may be offensive to some particular minority?
Security

Submission + - iPhone's Secret Application SDK Key Leaked (austinheap.com)

Submitted by
NewWaveNet
NewWaveNet writes: "Rejoice! TUAW's Erica Sadun is reporting that "last night, an anonymous tipster pointed us to this ... webpage that purportedly reveals the iPhone's secret Application SDK key. Another tipster, also anonymous, then tipped me to iPhone "Elite" developer Zibri's blog, that shows the same key." The story continues to explain that "since all iPhone applications must be properly signed for iTunes to process them and for the iPhone to load them, this key suggests that hackers are closer to creating compliant IPA application bundles for home-brew iTunes distribution. With the proper key, developers can create and distribute applications that load through iTunes without Apple's blessing."
Software

Submission + - when good software goes bad .

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Jan 22 2008

"BA Flight 38, a twin-engined Boeing 777-236ER arriving from Beijing with 136 passengers and 16 crewmembers aboard, landed short of Runway 27 at Heathrow International on Jan. 17, suffering extensive damage as it skidded hundreds of meters on grass. Six passengers suffered minor injuries in the first serious accident involving the 777 since the plane first went into production in 1996"

"The Boeing 777-236ER crash comes ten days after a Qantas Boeing 747-400 lost main power on its descent into Bangkok, Thailand on Jan. 7 and was forced to land on battery backup. There were no injuries and no damage to the jumbo jet"

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1014279/

April 23 2007
"An emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) issued September 30 stems from two occurrences of engine thrust rollback during takeoff on Boeing 777-300ERs"

"Trouble-shooting technicians have found that the two cases in which there were single-engine thrust reductions during takeoff were the result of a flawed software algorithm in the Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC)"

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_39_20/ai_n16766814

"Diamond Aircraft Industries and Thielert Aircraft Engines are at loggerheads over the cause of a double engine failure involving a DA42 Twinstar during take-off in Germany last month"

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/04/23/213371/accident-ignites-da42-engine-row.html

"On August 1, 2005, a Boeing 777-200, which had departed from Perth, received an EICAS (Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System) warning of low airspeed"

"The PFD speed tape also displayed contradictory information: that the plane was approaching both the high speed limit and the low speed (stall) limit"

'The aircraft, still connected to the autopilot, pitched up and climbed .. The stall warning devices also activated'

'The PIC (pilot in command) "disconnected the autopilot and lowered the nose of the aircraft. The autothrottle commanded an increase in thrust which the PIC countered by manually moving the thrust levers to the idle position'

http://www.airlinesafety.com/faq/777DataFailure.htm
Businesses

Submission + - Dreamhost erroneously bills $7.5 million

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Dreamhost, a huge web host in California known for its cut-rate hosting with lots of space and features, accidentally billed every one of its customers through 12/08. Customers with automatic payment selected were debited hundreds or, in some cases, thousands of dollars — his billing records this morning showed that they had billed $7,500,000 (that may have gone up by now). The guy who did it posted a long blog entry about it, inappropriately cheeky to the end. While this is not fraud (signing up for automatic payment basically authorizes any payment to be collected by Dreamhost), this may end in some legal action anyway — there are a lot of people reporting overdraft charges.

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