GBC - Slashdot User

Submission + - 3 Mobile launches new Skype mobile phone (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by

jnaghdi

on Monday October 29, 2007 @02:40PM

jnaghdi writes: "Mobile phone provider 3 has launched a new handset that will allow users to make free calls over the internet via telephony service Skype. Users will also be able to use Skype's instant messaging service, 3 said.But while people using Skype on their computers are able to make cheap global calls to any phone number, this will not be possible via the new 3 handset.Skype has about 246 million registered users worldwide and is one of the firms reshaping the global phone industry."

Submission + - Low Slashdot UID account sells for US$3,050 (ebay.com)

Submitted by

GBC

on Thursday October 25, 2007 @01:06PM

GBC writes: "After a bidding war involving 24 bidders and 40 bids, the low Slashdot UID was sold for US$3,050 to "Netelder". In case you missed it, the UID was offered as part of Slashdot's Ten-Year Anniversary Charity Auction for the EFF."

Submission + - DNA Pioneers says Blacks make poor employees (yahoo.com)

Submitted by on Thursday October 18, 2007 @04:04PM

An anonymous reader writes: London's Science Museum canceled a Friday talk by Nobel Prize-winning geneticist James Watson after the co-discoverer of DNA's structure told a newspaper that Africans and Europeans had different levels of intelligence.

James Watson provoked widespread outrage with his comments to The Sunday Times, which quoted the 79-year-old American as saying he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really."

He told the paper he hoped that everyone was equal, but added: "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true."

Submission + - Lucas To Make New Live Action Star Wars films

Submitted by DrNASA on Wednesday May 09, 2007 @11:56AM

DrNASA writes: An article that quoted George Lucas as saying that SpiderMan 3 is a 'silly movie' also had this interesting bit of King Geek speak: "And here's a little news: Lucas tells me he will make two more live-action films based in the "Star Wars" era. "But they won't have members of the Skywalker family as characters," he said. "They will be other people of that milieu." " TFA — http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270874,00.html

Submission + - Alcohol and tobacco more dangerous than ecstasy

Submitted by GBC on Friday March 23, 2007 @09:49AM

GBC writes: The Lancet [lancet.com — free registration required] has published an article about a rational system for drug classification in the UK.

The article claims that "In the UK, the total burden of drug misuse, in terms of health, social, and crime-related costs, has been estimated to be between £10 billion and £16 billion per year."

It proposes that drugs should be classified by the amount of harm they do, rather than "A", "B", and "C" divisions in the UK Misuse of Drugs Act. The three main factors that determine the harm associated with any drug of potential abuse are: physical harm to the individual user caused by the drug; tendency of the drug to induce dependence and addiction; and effect of drug use on families, communities, and society. Each of these factors is further broken down into three sections.

Based on assessments from independent experts and specialist addiction psychiatrists, drugs were then ranked according to these nine parameters. Alcohol and tobacco are considered alongside other drugs in the rankings.

Of the twenty substances examined, alcohol was ranked fifth most harmful (behind heroin, cocaine, barbiturates and street methodone) and tobacco came in ninth (behind ketamine, benzodiazepines and amphetamine).

4-MTA, LSD and Ecstasy (all considered "Class A" drugs under the Act) all ranked lower than alcohol and tobacco. From the article: "Overall there was a surprisingly poor correlation between drugs' class according to the Misuse of Drugs Act and harm score."

As someone who supports an end to the "War on Drugs", it would be nice if this article leads to a more rational examination of drug policy both here in the UK and abroad; I am not holding my breath though.

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