conlaw - Slashdot User

Submission + - Keybindings beta

Submitted by

conlaw

on Sunday December 16, 2007 @08:26PM

conlaw writes: "Please let us in on the new "keybindings beta" that has been showing up under the listing of comments on an article. Trying to figure out the significance of the Q W E A S D is driving me crazy (and let me tell you, that's not a very long drive most days). I even read through ALL of the FAQs last night in an attempt to find out what's happening. Thanks"

Submission + - Scanning All Travelers Crossing US Borders Now in (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by conlaw on Sunday December 02, 2007 @06:52PM

conlaw writes: Just the first paragraph of this Washington Post article is scary as all getout:

The federal government disclosed details yesterday of a border-security program to screen all people who enter and leave the United States, create a terrorism risk profile of each individual and retain that information for up to 40 years.
Note that this includes "all people," including US citizens.

Submission + - Nerds for Sale (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by conlaw on Tuesday September 25, 2007 @07:44PM

conlaw writes: As reported in today's Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/25/AR2007092501136.html), the members of the LUG group at Washington State University hopes to hold a "nerd auction." The idea is to trade their computer skills to sorority girls in exchange for a makeover and, possibly, a date.

The president of the LUG, Ben Ford, stated that "The problem is that we're all still nerds. Let's face it, guys. If anyone's going to bid on us, we'll need some spicing up," he wrote. "And who better to help with that than sorority girls who like nothing better than a makeover?"

Submission + - Coral Reefs' Symbiotic Partner Uncovered (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by conlaw on Thursday August 30, 2007 @07:58PM

conlaw writes: The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies has announced that they have discovered an algae that feeds coral reefs by converting CO2 into carbohydrates upon which the coral feed. These algae, which they have named Symiodinium, are apparently unique. One of the researchers is quoted as saying:

These microscopic algae are quite weird and unlike any other lifeform. They have different photosynthetic machinery from all other light harvesting organisms. They have 100 times more DNA than we do and we have no idea why such a small organism needs so much. They really are like no other living creature we know.

Submission + - For next April 1? (pinktentacle.com)

Submitted by conlaw on Wednesday July 25, 2007 @09:45AM

conlaw writes: Amazing the things one serendipitously finds online. It may be too late for next April 1 but, OTH, some politicians are now urging that we build more nuclear plants to reduce the amounts of fossil fuels burned.

Submission + - SCOTUS gets it right.

Submitted by conlaw on Tuesday May 01, 2007 @08:53AM

conlaw writes: As reported in this morning's Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti cle/2007/04/30/AR2007043001668.html?hpid=topnews),
the Supreme Court may be as fed up with recent patent decisions as most /.'ers are.

From the article:

The Supreme Court concluded a series of cases yesterday that weaken the protection given to patent holders, making it more difficult to get a patent and easier to challenge existing ones. ...

"Granting patent protection to advances that would occur in the ordinary course without real innovation retards progress and may, in the case of patents combining previously known elements, deprive prior inventions of their value or utility," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for a unanimous court.

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