bob_calder - Slashdot User

Comment Obvious (Score 1) 2

by bob_calder on Wednesday December 30, 2009 @03:05PM (#30597826) Attached to: Why do so many Terrorists have Engineering Degrees

So now we know they were recruiting engineers, the argument falls flat. Why? They were selected for and because the over-representation of engineering degrees was small to begin with. Sorry, can't remember who did the study.

Comment ZD does journalism? In what universe? (Score 0, Troll) 133

by bob_calder on Sunday October 11, 2009 @02:26PM (#29712267) Attached to: Misadventures In Online Journalism

What idiot reads ZD FUD and thinks it's real? You may as well believe Fox News.

Submission + - No change in global warming - Y2k wink wink, nudge

Submitted by

bob_calder

on Saturday August 11, 2007 @09:13AM

bob_calder writes: "Yes folks, that's what we get for getting our news third-hand. Should we buy the VHS tape of "Bloggers Gone Wild" to put on the shelf with our collection of Leonars Nimoy's "Strange and Stupid Mysteries: How the Builders of the Pyramids Caused the Ice Age"? Herewith, the final graf of the RealClimate article recounting the incident:

However, there is clearly a latent and deeply felt wish in some sectors for the whole problem of global warming to be reduced to a statistical quirk or a mistake. This lead to some truly death-defying leaping to conclusions when this issue hit the blogosphere. One of the worst examples (but there are others) was the 'Opinionator' at the New York Times (oh dear). He managed to confuse the global means with the continental US numbers, he made up a story about McIntyre having 'always puzzled about some gaps' (what?) , declared the the error had 'played havoc' with the numbers, and quoted another blogger saying that the 'astounding' numbers had been 'silently released'. None of these statements are true. Among other incorrect stories going around are that the mistake was due to a Y2K bug or that this had something to do with photographing weather stations. Again, simply false.
But what the hell. It was fun while it lasted. The rest of the article is recommended reading for those of us who are still convinced that there is a vast conspiracy of researchers who will *somehow* profit from it."

Submission + - Mini DNA replicator could benefit world's poor

Submitted by

bob_calder

on Thursday May 03, 2007 @09:39PM

bob_calder writes: "From New Scientist: A pocket-sized device that runs on two AA batteries and copies DNA as accurately as expensive lab equipment has been developed by researchers in the US. The device has no moving parts and costs just $10 to make. It runs polymerase chain reactions (PCRs), to generate billions of identical copies of a DNA strand, in as little as 20 minutes. This is much faster than the machines currently in use, which take several hours. Victor Ugaz of Texas A&M University Journal reference: Angewandte Chemie International Edition (DOI: 10.1002/anie.200700306)"

Feed Nanotechnology May Be Used To Regenerate Tissues, Organs (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed on Thursday May 03, 2007 @09:12PM

Research at Northwestern University has shown that a combination of nanotechnology and biology may enable damaged tissues and organs to heal themselves. In a dramatic demonstration of what nanotechnology might achieve in regenerative medicine, paralyzed lab mice with spinal cord injuries have regained the ability to use their hind legs six weeks after a simple injection of a purpose-designed nanomaterial.

Submission + - Harvard Law Prof Urges University to Fight RIAA

Submitted by

NewYorkCountryLawyer

on Thursday May 03, 2007 @09:04PM

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Distinguished Harvard University Law School Professor Charles Nesson has called upon Harvard University to fight back against the RIAA and stand up for its students: "Students and faculty use the Internet to gather and share knowledge now more than ever....Yet "new deterrence and education initiatives" from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) threaten access to this vibrant resource. The RIAA has already requested that universities serve as conduits for more than 1,200 "pre-litigation letters." Seeking to outsource its enforcement costs, the RIAA asks universities to point fingers at their students, to filter their Internet access, and to pass along notices of claimed copyright infringement. But these responses distort the University's educational mission....... One can easily understand why the RIAA wants help from universities in facilitating its enforcement actions against students who download copyrighted music without paying for it. It is easier to litigate against change than to change with it. If the RIAA saw a better way to protect its existing business, it would not be threatening our students, forcing our librarians and administrators to be copyright police, and flooding our courts with lawsuits against relatively defenseless families without lawyers or ready means to pay. We can even understand the attraction of using lawsuits to shore up an aging business model rather than engaging with disruptive technologies and the risks that new business models entail...... But mere understanding is no reason for a university to voluntarily assist the RIAA with its threatening and abusive tactics. Instead, we should be assisting our students both by explaining the law and by resisting the subpoenas that the RIAA serves upon us. We should be deploying our clinical legal student training programs to defend our targeted students......""

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