mpk23 - Slashdot User

Comment Feynman. (Score 1) 434

by mpk23 on Sunday September 09, 2007 @10:49AM (#20528391) Attached to: Bringing Science and Math Into Writing?

I teach 8th grade science, and I wouldn't pass up a chance to plug _Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman_ to the kids. It may be a little higher level for some, but many kids will grasp and love stories about the physicist who also played bongos, played with a Samba band in Brazil, worked on the A-bomb, picked locks, cracked safes, drew nudes, nearly got into fights in bars, rode in a car with a spy, and the list goes on. _The Beak of the Finch_ was great for high schoolers, but the advanced eighth grader with interest in the subject might enjoy it. Books about glacier hikers and mountain climbers (_Into Thin Air_, I think) almost (or actually) losing their lives are a big draw for kids, and heavy on the earth science. I don't know that any Volcanologists have written any quality work, but if they have, my students would read it.

Don't hesitate to stretch their reading level a bit, and look for material OUTSIDE of the middle school library - Some kids rightly view the available selection as 'Lame'. You'll get points for keeping a selection of cool books in your in-class library.

--Matt

Ohio Recount Rigging Case Goes to Court 224

Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday January 20, 2007 @11:15AM from the counting-down-the-hits dept.

The Akron Beacon Journal is reporting that the trial of the three election workers accused of rigging the 2004 presidential election recount in Cuyahoga County is finally underway. As you may recall, this was the case where poll workers 'randomly' selected the precincts to recount by first eliminating from consideration precincts where the number of ballots handed out on Election Day failed to match the number of ballots cast and, then opening the ballot boxes in private and pre-counting until they found cases which would match up. What is interesting here is that they have already admitted doing this and that it was clearly counter to the letter and the spirit of the law, but still insist it wasn't really 'wrong,' presumably since they only did it to avoid having to go to the bother of a full recount as required by law.

Submission + - Provision to Regulate Political Blogging Defeated

Submitted by udderly on Saturday January 20, 2007 @10:17AM

udderly writes: CNet News is reporting that the Senate approved an amendment to the S1 bill removing a controversial section (Slashdot, 1/17/07) that required certain paid bloggers to register as lobbyists or face fines and/or jail time. The vote broke down mostly along party lines, with all 48 Republicans and 7 Democrats approving the amendment.

While the vote was mostly partisan, opposition to the provision cut across the political spectrum, including the bill's sponsor. FTA: "...a politically diverse set of advocacy groups, ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to Gun Owners of America, argued that the proposal could actually sweep up a potentially broad swath of bloggers and nonprofit groups. Requiring them to register as lobbyists would violate core freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, they said."

Submission + - Raise a glass to anti-smoking milestone

Submitted by

netbuzz

on Saturday January 20, 2007 @09:12AM

netbuzz writes: "Half of Americans now live and work in places where anti-smoking laws curtail lighting up in offices, restaurants or watering holes. For anyone of a certain age, the evolutionary change — Berkeley started all of this 30 years ago — can only be described as life-altering.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1060 3"

Submission + - 192 kbit/s listening test finished at SoundExpert

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 20, 2007 @08:04AM

An anonymous reader writes: 192 kbit/s listening test finished with the following results:

1. Ogg Vorbis, AAC+, AAC LC and WMA 9.1 showed the best audio quality
2. MP3 and MPC are second
3. AAC LC from iTunes is last due to the bug

See SoundExpert 192 kbit/s page for details — http://www.soundexpert.info/coders192.jsp

Submission + - Ultra-Dense Optical Storage on One Photon

Submitted by

Andreaskem

on Saturday January 20, 2007 @07:20AM

Andreaskem writes: "Physorg.com is running a story about Researchers being able to encode an image into a photon and to later retrieve it intact. From the article: 'It's analogous to the difference between snapping a picture with a single pixel and doing it with a camera — this is like a 6-megapixel camera... You can have a tremendous amount of information in a pulse of light, but normally if you try to buffer it, you can lose much of that information... We're showing it's possible to pull out an enormous amount of information with an extremely high signal-to-noise ratio even with very low light levels.'"

Submission + - The Microwave Vase - A Decotaion To Home

Submitted by

Anmol

on Saturday January 20, 2007 @07:20AM

Anmol writes: "The Microwave vase is not a vase that you can place in the microwave oven. It is a microwave oven shaped like a vase competes with a small green leaf indicator at the top...
Read more at gadgets.in "

Submission + - Thai government accuses mobile operator of bugging

Submitted by

patiwat

on Saturday January 20, 2007 @05:23AM

patiwat writes: "Many Slashdot readers are aware of the controversy surrounding a government's right to tap telephone calls. But the Thai government has a different dilemma: it has accused a Singapore-owned mobile operator of tapping the calls of senior junta officials, and relaying them to Singapore. The operator has denied all accusations. The IT Minister (the subject of a previous Slashdot article) has thrown his hands into the air and said that mobile phone bugging can't be prevented. The junta's solution: using walkie-talkies. If a government can't even prevent tapping, how safe are your mobile phone conversations?"

Submission + - Passwords Not Secure in Firefox

Submitted by I'm the Slime on Saturday January 20, 2007 @01:02AM

I'm the Slime writes: Passwords saved by Firefox are not safe if you do not create a master password.
If you use Firefox and you want to see for yourself how to view your Passwords in plain text: Open Firefox, Open the Preferences or Options Window, Go to the Security tab, and press the show Passwords buttons.

It shows all your passwords in plain text for anyone to see!!! You can enable a password to protect this but you will have to use the password once per session to unlock all the other passwords being stored. This affects PC and Mac versions of Firefox. Why this matters: If you leave your PC unlocked anyone can see all your passwords. If you brought your PC in for repair the guys working there can see all your passwords. Your password may be your Social Security Number at some sites. Your financial information would available to anyone who wanted it. This is really serious.

Submission + - Police say man held after UPS pot pickup

Submitted by

Tortilla

on Saturday January 20, 2007 @12:04AM

Tortilla writes: "KISSIMMEE — A Jamaican national was arrestedtoday on drug-trafficking charges after investigators said he attempted to pick up about 100 pounds of marijuana sent via UPS, according to a report by FLORIDA TODAY news partner WKMG Local 6 News. Reuel Kamar Brown, 24, was arrested by Osceola County Investigative Bureau agents and charged with trafficking in cannabis after he tried to pick up four packages last week at a UPS center in Orlando. The boxes were addressed to two residences in Kissimmee, and the return addresses on the packages were for a location in Louisville, Ky, according to investigators. Agents said the street value of the confiscated drugs totaled more than $83,000. Brown was booked into the Osceola County Jail. FLORIDA TODAY — http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20070117/BREAKINGNEWS/70117036"

Submission + - 5 Minutes to Midnight

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 19, 2007 @11:55PM

An anonymous reader writes: We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age. Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices. North Korea's recent test of a nuclear weapon, Iran's nuclear ambitions, a renewed U.S. emphasis on the military utility of nuclear weapons, the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials, and the continued presence of some 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia are symptomatic of a larger failure to solve the problems posed by the most destructive technology on Earth. As in past deliberations, we have examined other human-made threats to civilization. We have concluded that the dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons. The effects may be less dramatic in the short term than the destruction that could be wrought by nuclear explosions, but over the next three to four decades climate change could cause drastic harm to the habitats upon which human societies depend for survival. This deteriorating state of global affairs leads the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists — in consultation with a Board of Sponsors that includes 18 Nobel laureates — to move the minute hand of the "Doomsday Clock" from seven to five minutes to midnight.

Submission + - Australian likely to escape death for cannabis

Submitted by

tortilla

on Friday January 19, 2007 @11:53PM

tortilla writes: "AN Adelaide man is likely to escape execution after being arrested in Singapore allegedly in possession of 495g of cannabis, just 5g under the death penalty limit. Michael Karras, 38, was alleged to have had four slabs of a greenish matter in his flat when it was searched by officers of Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau late last week. If found guilty, he faces between five and 20 years in jail and between five and 15 strokes of the cane. Under the city-state's tough drug laws, trafficking 500g of cannabis would be punishable by death. A Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said Mr Karras and his family in Australia were being provided consular assistance. Mr Karras's mother, Irene, said she could not discuss the charges levelled against her son. "You need to respect my wishes as a mother," she said from her Adelaide home. "It's a small community and I have to live here." Australian Van Tuong Nguyen was hanged in 2005 after his conviction for trafficking heroin, despite pleas for his life from John Howard and international human rights groups. Nguyen was caught three years earlier at Changi Airport carrying nearly 400g of the drug while in transit from Cambodia to his home in Melbourne. Singapore has regularly refused to buckle to international pressure on its legal system, not only turning down repeated requests for clemency in the Nguyen case, but also rejecting international appeals on other cases. The appropriateness of the death penalty is a taboo subject in Singapore, where executions receive little media attention. In 1994, the island nation caned American teenager Michael Fay, accused of vandalising cars, while in 1997 it sentenced a New Zealander to jail and caning for overstaying his visa and taking drugs. Probably the most controversial case was the 1994 execution of Filipina maid Flor Contemplacion, convicted of murder. Her death caused a diplomatic row between Singapore and The Philippines, but Singapore refused to budge. Amnesty International says Singapore has the highest rate of executions per capita in the world, hanging eight people last year. By Simon Hayes and Pia Akerman @ The Australian January 17, 2007 01:00am http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,21071250-2,00 .html?from=public_rss"

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