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Submission + - Good Citizen's Alphabet by Bertrand Russell

Submitted by

William Drenttel

on Tuesday February 13, 2007 @11:04PM

William Drenttel writes: "In 1953, the British philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote an alphabet book for children called The Good Citizen's Alphabet.

It's quirky and philosophical, but easy to read and surprisingly relevant today. In these political times, so polarized with heated rhetoric, Russell had the wisdom to realize that certain words require proper definition to be used correctly in political and social discourse; words such as, "asinine," "erroneous," even "nincompoop."

The complete book as slideshow with Bertrand Russell text is online at Design Observer: http://www.designobserver.com/archives/021820.html "

Submission + - Nature Inspires Aviation Innovation

Submitted by

syguy

on Tuesday February 13, 2007 @10:39PM

syguy writes: "If imitation is the greatest form of flattery, then surely it's time nature headed to the patent office. From the earliest days of aviation, and well before that, we have looked to birds for inspiration in the design of flying machines. Continuing this eternal trend, USA Today reports on a new batch of bird and flying bug subtleties inspiring recent and new aviation innovations such as:

Winglets – from outstretched eagle wing tips

Rudderless aircraft – birds are rudderless yet stable and highly maneuverable

Morphing wings – birds constantly change their wing shapes during flight to optimize lift and drag

Noise reduction – owls have special fringe feathers on the trailing edges of their wings that help them silently stalk prey

As Terry Weisshaar, an aeronautics professor at Purdue University says, "Nature doesn't have a copyright," thankfully."

Submission + - Shawn Carpenter vs. Sandia Corporation

Submitted by wvpoochi on Tuesday February 13, 2007 @08:29PM

wvpoochi writes: A jury awarded Shawn Carpenter, a former cyber security specialist at Sandia National Laboratories, approximately $4.6 million in damages today. Sandia management maintains that when employees step beyond clear boundaries in a national security setting there should be consequences. Sandia is considering whether or not to appeal. Here is some background info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Carpenter

Submission + - South African scientists in solar breakthrough

Submitted by

shadey2

on Tuesday February 13, 2007 @08:21PM

shadey2 writes: "http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_ id=143&art_id=vn20060211110132138C184427 South African solar researches have developed highly efficient solar panels that are set to change the way the world uses energy."

Submission + - Teacher Framed by Porn Pop-Ups

Submitted by

Stanistani

on Tuesday February 13, 2007 @06:34PM

Stanistani writes: "A Connecticut middle-school substitute teacher was convicted last month of exposing her seventh-grade students to pornography on a classroom computer, and faces up to 40 years in state prison. She claimed that spyware generated the obscene pop-ups. The investigating detectives never checked the system for spyware. MSNBC has the story"

"Very Severe Hole" In Vista UAC Design 813

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 13, 2007 @05:07PM from the she-said-he-said dept.

Cuts and bruises writes "Hacker Joanna Rutkowska has flagged a "very severe hole" in the design of Windows Vista's User Account Controls (UAC) feature. The issue is that Vista automatically assumes that all setup programs (application installers) should be run with administrator privileges — and gives the user no option to let them run without elevated privileges. This means that a freeware Tetris installer would be allowed to load kernel drivers. Microsoft's Mark Russinovich acknowledges the risk factor but says it was a 'design choice' to balance security with ease of use."

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