Uglor - Slashdot User

US Grants Home Schooling German Family Political Asylum 1324

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 28 2010, @12:33PM
from the come-get-you-some-learnin dept.

A US judge has granted political asylum to a family who said they fled Germany to avoid persecution for home schooling their children. Uwe Romeike and his wife, Hannelore, moved to Tennessee after German authorities fined them for keeping their children out of school and sent police to escort them to classes. Mike Connelly, attorney for the Home School Legal Defence Association, argued the case. He says, "Home schoolers in Germany are a particular social group, which is one of the protected grounds under the asylum law. This judge looked at the evidence, he heard their testimony, and he felt that the way Germany is treating home schoolers is wrong. The rights being violated here are basic human rights."

What's the best chair for a geek? 2

Submitted by Uglor on Saturday November 03 2007, @05:21PM

Uglor writes "My latest in a long line of cheap office chairs broke, spilling me to the floor in a less than dignified manner. I need to buy a new chair for my desk at home. For the last several years I have been buying the same generic $50 black executive office chair. They usually last a year or two, then break. I spend 8 hours at work in a pretty decent office chair, then usually come home and spend several hours more in front of my computer. I'd like to buy a decent new one that will actually last. Does anyone have suggestions?

My criteria are:

1. Tough: I spend 12 hours a day in a chair. I'm hefty, so the chair needs to support me.
2. Comfortable: I want to be able to stand up from a 6 hour gaming session without my ass being numb.
3. Affordable: The less the better. More than the $50 cheapies I normally buy is ok, but no $1000 Aerons."

Microsoft wants both HD-DVD and Blu-ray to go away

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 12 2007, @09:42PM

An anonymous reader writes "At the Digital Hollywood conference, Richard Doherty of Microsoft stated that Redmond wants both HD DVD and Blu-ray to go away, saying "I don't know that [HD] will be delivered on an optical disc in five to 10 years. At Microsoft, we'd rather it wasn't [on a disc]." Does this mean that Microsoft's backing of the underdog HD DVD format is intended to delay HD DVD and Blu-ray from gaining traction to create a market for Windows Media Player/DRM? Microsoft's leading role in AACS also didn't help either format — the highly-publicized security collapse of AACS has been a massive embarassment for both HD DVD and Blu-ray."

Top PC Games Heading to Mac Finally

Submitted by egNuKe on Tuesday June 12 2007, @07:04PM

egNuKe writes "It has been argued that the main reason preventing most home users from switching to Mac OS and/or Linux is their lack of good games. But this may be changing finally. id's latest 3d engine will run on Mac OS and EA has decided to release its major titles to OSX . Rumors that Steve Ballmer was heard screaming "I'll f*ckin kill Apple" are still yet unconfirmed."

Yahoo says Beijing likely blocking photo site->

Submitted by

slashthedot

on Tuesday June 12 2007, @03:52PM

slashthedot writes "In another instance of censorship against websites about anything anti-establishement in China, Flickr, popular among a growing class of digital photo enthusiasts in the world's second-largest Internet market, has not shown photos to users in mainland China since last week, amid rumors Beijing took action after images of the Tiananmen massacre in early June 1989 were posted.
"It is our understanding that Flickr users in China are not able to see images on Flickr, and we have confirmed that this is not a technical issue on our end," a spokeswoman for Yahoo Hong Kong said in an email in response to a Reuters inquiry."
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After Amero case, group sees more fights ahead

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 12 2007, @02:13PM

An anonymous reader writes "Infoworld reports that a volunteer effort led by lawyers, security researchers and educators wants to stop the next Julie Amero from becoming a spyware casualty. Some of those involved in Amero's case (where the substitute teacher faced up to 40 years in jail because of pornographic popups on a school PC) want to help others who may be in a similar position. On Saturday, they started a new project, called The Julie Group, to help others who may be falsely accused of crimes because of spyware. "Many cases don't ever receive any publicity because the lawyers advise their clients to plead guilty and avoid getting into the public eye as much as possible," said Chris Boyd of FaceTime Communications Inc. "I do what I can, but something more is needed," he added. "That's one of the ideas behind this group.""

Did Apple Lie to Mac Gamers?->

Submitted by

ThinSkin

on Tuesday June 12 2007, @01:15PM

ThinSkin writes "In the wake of the WWDC 2007 keynote, Jim Lynch over at ExtremeTech is scratching his head wondering if EA's return to the Mac gaming platform is all it's cracked up to be. With EA's allegations as a sweatshop to its employees and Apple's mid-range graphics hardware, are Mac owners really going to embrace EA and Mac games? Jim doesn't think so."
Link to Original Source