Comment The USS Gerald R. Ford was sunk today (Score 1) 314
The aircraft carrier Gerald Ford was sunk today, and eaten by a pack of senseless sea-wolves. It was delicious.
Scientists Attach Bar Codes To Embryos 69
Zothecula writes "Fans of the film Blade Runner may remember a scene in which the maker of an artificial snake is identified by a microscopic serial number on one of its scales. Well, in a rare case of present-day technology actually surpassing that predicted in a movie, we've now gone one better — bar codes on embryos. Scientists from Spain's Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), along with colleagues from the Spanish National Research Council, have successfully developed an identification system in which mouse embryos and oocytes (egg cells) are physically tagged with microscopic silicon bar code labels. They expect to try it out on human embryos and oocytes soon."
Comment Re:Thank God. (Score 1) 559
Shoulder-fire guided missiles do not just cost "thousands." They cost tens of thousands of dollars, and you can't just buy them anywhere. You would have to buy one from a government, and that government would face retaliation if the missile was identified.
Comment Re:Who cares? (Score 1) 538
Indeed, the metric system is thriving among inner-city youth: http://www.theonion.com/articles/metric-system-thriving-in-nations-inner-cities,458/
Comment Sounds like somebody's got the Black Shakes. (Score 1) 201
Nerve Attenuation Syndrome. Information overload! All the electronics around you poisoning the airwaves. Technological fucking civilization. But we still have all this shit, because we can't live without it.
Man Served Restraining Order Via Facebook 29
schliz writes "An Australian man has been served a restraining order via Facebook, after unsuccessful attempts by police to reach him by phone and in person. The man was a 'prolific Facebook user' who had allegedly threatened, bullied and harassed a former partner online. He was served both interim and final intervention orders by Facebook, after a local magistrate upheld the interim order indefinitely."
Building Prisons Without Walls Using GPS Devices 545
Hugh Pickens writes "Graeme Wood writes in the Atlantic that increasingly GPS devices are looking like an appealing alternative to conventional incarceration, as it becomes ever clearer that traditional prison has become more or less synonymous with failed prison. 'By almost any metric, our practice of locking large numbers of people behind bars has proved at best ineffective and at worst a national disgrace,' writes Wood. But new devices such as ExacuTrack suggest a revolutionary possibility: that we might do away with the current, expensive array of guards and cells and fences, in favor of a regimen of close, constant surveillance on the outside and swift, certain punishment for any deviations from an established, legally unobjectionable routine. 'The potential upside is enormous. Not only might such a system save billions of dollars annually, it could theoretically produce far better outcomes, training convicts to become law-abiders rather than more-ruthless lawbreakers,' adds Wood. 'The ultimate result could be lower crime rates, at a reduced cost, and with considerably less inhumanity in the bargain.'"
Comment Obvious consequence (Score 1) 774
This guy should get the same sentence that the guy he framed would have gotten. However, this is the obvious consequence of severe punishments for simple possession of something that is easy to obtain, and a commodity as opposed to things like guns which can be identified, traced etc. I'm sure people do this with drugs.
Comment Re:Celibacy and creativity (Score 1) 251
Right, and we all know how well that worked out for Tesla. He spent his last days fantasizing about building death rays.
Comment Wrong (Score 2, Informative) 253
The NSA, NRO and DARPA don't investigate child porn.
David X. Cohen Talks About Futurama's New Season 246
joelkeller writes "I spoke to David X. Cohen, executive producer of Futurama, about the upcoming season, which premieres on June 24 on Comedy Central. He talks about the season finale (!) and how the show is always on the precipice of cancellation."
Comment I am highly offended (Score 1) 198
Am I the only one who read this headline as a racist slur?
Comment Really? (Score 1) 556
That sounds like a bunch of horseshit to me. Do you have any credible source?
Comment Re:This is great. (Score 1) 1217
Don't forget that the poor kids will learn how to steal a laptop or hustle their way into one.
Comment Only $100? (Score -1, Offtopic) 595
An iPhone doesn't cost $100. That's just the downpayment. You cannot buy an iPhone without signing a contract that obligates you to pay several thousand dollars.
