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Comment Re:Burden of proof. (Score 1) 810

by caffeine_high (#34786064) Attached to: Running Your Own Ghost Investigation?
I agree that you will never prove that they do not exist but that is not always the main goal. If you take the people who believe in ghosts along and approach it from a perspective of searching for evidence, you may get them to think a bit more about what they recall seeing in the past. I had a similar opportunity to investigate in the Cemetery on Norfolk Island, it was a great deal of fun and I think a few of my friends really changed the way they view skeptics and weigh evidence.

Comment Re:Not new. (Score 2) 509

by caffeine_high (#34696154) Attached to: Paris To Test Banning SUVs In the City
It may be more feasible than you think. I've been thinking about the same solution for a while. I've polled a few friends with SUVs and most of them seem to think it is a good idea. (1 did not think it was required). Of the friends without SUVs, they all thought it was a good idea.
Censorship

Submission + - wikileaks.org shut down

Submitted by w00tz
w00tz writes: wikileaks.org announced through a tweet that it is unreachable after EveryDNS.net terminated its account. EveryDNS's main reason seems to be that it is trying to avoid massive DDOS attacks.

Comment Re:I wish I saw it! (Score 2, Informative) 143

by caffeine_high (#32471904) Attached to: SpaceX's Falcon 9 Appears As UFO In Australia
You did not miss much from what I saw. I'm in Newcastle and was out for an early ride and say it at 5.50 EST. To me it looked more like a unusual cloud formation near the moon. It was interesting enough for me to mention it to my friends when I met them at 6 but they did not even notice it. I did not think about it again until I saw it on the evening news with a few ufo nuts.
Earth

Dinosaur Feather Color Discovered 219

Posted by timothy from the horsefeathers-still-a-mystery dept.
anzha writes "Do you remember being a kid and told we'd never know what colors the dinosaurs were? For at least some, that's no longer true. Scientists working in the UK and China have closely examined the fossils of multiple theropods and actually found the colors and patterns that were present in the fossilized proto-feathers. So far, the answer is orange, black and white in banded and other patterns. The work also thoroughly thrashes the idea that fossils might not be feathers, but collagen fibers instead. If this holds up, Birds Are Dinosaurs. Period. And colorful!"

Comment Re:Japanese Science and Pseudo (Score 1) 219

by caffeine_high (#30295256) Attached to: Canadian Blood Services Promotes Pseudoscience
I had a quick look at the PubMed search and did not see any results that seemed to support the blood group personality thing. If I search PubMad for "star signs" I get almost twice as many results. Can you post the links to any of these articles that show any evidence to support a relationship between blood group and personality?

Submission + - Contributors Leaving Wikipedia in Record Numbers

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "CNET reports that the volunteers who create Wikipedia's pages, check facts and adapt the site are abandoning Wikipedia in unprecedented numbers with tens of thousands of editors going “dead” — no longer actively contributing and updating the site — a trend many experts believe could threaten Wikipedia’s future. In the first three months of 2009 the English-language version of Wikipedia suffered a net loss of 49,000 contributors, compared with a loss of about 4,900 during the same period in 2008. “If you don’t have enough people to take care of the project it could vanish quickly," says Felipe Ortega at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid who created a computer system to analyze the editing history of more than three million active Wikipedia contributors in ten different languages. "We’re not in that situation yet. But eventually, if the negative trends follow, we could be in that situation.” Contributors are becoming disenchanted with the process of adding to the site which is becoming increasingly difficult says Andrew Dalby, author of The World and Wikipedia: How We are Editing Reality and a regular editor of the site. “There is an increase of bureaucracy and rules. Wikipedia grew because of the lack of rules. That has been forgotten. The rules are regarded as irritating and useless by many contributors.” Arguments over various articles have also taken their toll. "Many people are getting burnt out when they have to debate about the contents of certain articles again and again," adds Ortega."

Comment Re:Performance fees are also going up (Score 5, Interesting) 239

by caffeine_high (#22949356) Attached to: ARIA Sells a Licence for DJs to Format Shift Music
About 15 years ago one of my first dance coaches in Australia was approached by APRA to pay a fee to play music. He was about 70 at the time and was not happy with paying them a fee. He asked if they only represent Australian music. It seems that they did not really have the right to collect 'royalties' on behalf of overseas artists. He told them he only plays German dance music and they just left him alone. I'm not sure if this is still correct or even if it was the full story. However, it would be sad if Australian clubs could avoid apra fees by not playing Australian music.
Education

Submission + - UK Professor argues for teaching of creationism 4

Submitted by jez9999
jez9999 writes: Head of science at London's Institute of Education Professor Michael Reiss argues that there is an educational value in comparing creationist ideas with scientific theories like Darwin's theory of evolution because they demonstrate how science, unlike religious beliefs, can be tested. He said: "The number of Muslim students has grown considerably in the last 10 to 20 years and a higher proportion of Muslim families do not accept evolutionary theory compared with Christian families. "That's one reason why it's more of an issue in [UK] schools." "By not dismissing their beliefs, we can ensure that these students learn what evolutionary theory really says — and give everyone the understanding to respect the views of others," he added.

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