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Comment: Because it's easy (Score 4, Interesting) 1003

by Audent (#38387466) Attached to: Why the NTSB Is Wrong About Cellphones

It's easier to say "ZOUNDS, we must BAN this THING" than it is to say "Our driver training is not up to scratch, we don't review our training at regular intervals and we don't have mandatory retests for the people we entrust our children to" because that would sound like they've not done their job.

Sadly this isn't restricted to driving buses either.

The Internet

New Zealand copyright law gets blacked out

Submitted by
Audent
Audent writes "New Zealanders protesting against the introduction of a new copyright law have blacked out Twitter... the likes of @stephenfry have joined in. Basically they're calling for a suspension of section 92 of the act which makes ISPs responsible for policing any copyright breaches that may be drawn to their attention in the form of take down notices. Worse, there's no safe harbour provision for ISPs. Worse still, the definition of ISP has been tweaked to include anyone who offers internet access to another person so businesses, schools, libraries, you name it — you're all ISPs. The law also applies to anyone who hosts content — so that means if you have a blog or run a forum, you're an ISP. The Twitter blackout is designed to draw attention to it and as Slashdot's covered this in the past, it would be great if /. could support the cause."
Microsoft

Ballmer "Interested" In Open Source Browser Engine 410

Posted by timothy
from the ted-bundy-was-interested-in-women dept.
Da Massive writes "'Why is IE still relevant and why is it worth spending money on rendering engines when there are open source ones available that can respond to changes in Web standards faster?,' asked a young developer to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Sydney yesterday. 'That's cheeky, but a good question, but cheeky,' Ballmer said. Then came the startling revelation that Microsoft may also adopt an open source browser engine. 'Open source is interesting,' he said. 'Apple has embraced Webkit and we may look at that, but we will continue to build extensions for IE 8.'"
Biotech

Ham Radio Operator Finds Cure For Cancer-> 5

Submitted by
CirReal
CirReal writes "John Kanzius, K3TUP, himself suffering from cancer with nine months to live, used nanotechnology and a radio transmitter to kill cancer cells. "Kanzius did not have a medical background, not even a bachelor's degree, but he knew radios. He had built and fixed them since he was a child, collecting transmitters, transceivers, antennas and amplifiers, earning an amateur radio operator license. Kanzius knew how to send radio wave signals around the world. If he could transmit them into cancer cells, he wondered, could he then direct the radio waves to destroy tumors, while leaving healthy cells intact?" Reseachers "recently killed 100% of cancer cells grown in the livers of rabbits, using Kanzius' method.""
Link to Original Source
The Gimp

Name your disability!

Submitted by
Audent
Audent writes "Slashdot poll: What's your disability? 1: Glasses/contacts/surgery 2: Arrrr yer kiddin' me? 3: missing digit 4: what did you say? 5: the glasses! Zey do nussink! 6: Cowboy Neal is all the disability I need"

OSS Not Ready for Prime Time in Education? 252

Posted by Zonk
from the prime-time-drive-time dept.
cel4145 writes "Inside Higher Ed reports that the Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness has released a new study, The State of Open Source Software. Is it true that open source is 'not quite ready for prime time' in education? Or, as I suspect, is the study just another proprietary software vendor funded report for discouraging the adoption of open source software?" From the article: "Lack of vendor support is one of the largest hurdles limiting the adoption of open source in higher education, Abel said. 'The biggest thing is it takes more physical labor to implement open source because it isn't pre-packaged,' Abel said. "You have to have software developers that can make this stuff work.'" Are the staffing issues associated with OSS enough to outweigh the benefits?

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods." -- Albert Einstein