Toandeaf - Slashdot User

Submission + - Mysterious Sound Waves Can Destroy Rockets

Submitted by

Ponca City, We love you

on Thursday April 10, 2008 @04:09PM

Ponca City, We love you writes: "Scientists believe that powerful and unstable sound waves, created by energy supplied by the combustion process, were the cause of rocket failures in several US and Russian rockets and have also observed these mysterious oscillations in other propulsion and power-generating systems such as missiles and gas turbines. Now, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a liquid rocket engine simulator and imaging techniques to help demystify the cause of these explosive sound waves and bring scientists a little closer to being able to understand and prevent them. The team was able to clearly demonstrate that the phenomenon manifests itself in the form of spinning acoustic waves that gain destructive power as they rotate around the rocket's combustion chamber at a rate of 5,000 revolutions per second. Researchers developed a low-pressure combustor to simulate larger rocket engines then used a very-high-speed camera with fiber optic probes to observe the formation and behavior of excited spinning sound waves within the engine. "This is a very troublesome phenomenon in rockets," said Professor Ben Zinn. "These spinning acoustic oscillations destroy engines without anyone fully understanding how these waves are formed. Visualizing this phenomenon brings us a step closer to understanding it.""

Submission + - Red scientology tomato rotting in Firehose? (slashdot.org) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @04:56PM

An anonymous reader writes: A posting to the Slashdot Firehose related to a Wikinews story on Wikileaks and legal threats from Scientology, seems to be stuck in the Slashdot firehose red as a ripe tomato for more than 24 hours.
The story that covers a recent press release on Wikileaks relating to copyright claims made by the Church's legal representatives towards the published "Operating Thetan" cult manual, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in scam money, already spawned a hot discussion on the Wikinews portal. With critics of cult-critics trying to shut the story down for hours, it finally went online. And now seems stuck in the Firehose. One can only hope not for the wrong reasons.

Submission + - SPAM: Get a big buzz from royal jelly and become a Queen

Submitted by

WirePosted

on Saturday March 15, 2008 @11:11AM

WirePosted writes: "The fact that royal jelly is the magic ingredient honeybee larvae need to become queens instead of workers is well known, but new ANU research finally sheds light on the reasons why."
Link to Original Source

Submission + - SPAM: Encryption Could Make You More Vulnerable

Submitted by

narramissic

on Monday February 11, 2008 @12:43PM

narramissic writes: "It sounds like a headline straight out of The Onion , but security researchers from IBM Internet Security Systems, Juniper, nCipher and elsewhere are warning that the use of data encryption could make organizations vulnerable to new risks and threats. There is potential for 'A new class of DoS attack,' says Richard Moulds, nCipher's product strategy EVP. 'If you can go in and revoke a key and then demand a ransom, it's a fantastic way of attacking a business.'"
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Congress considers bill to make radio "pay to (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by

devjj

on Thursday December 20, 2007 @12:38AM

devjj writes: "Ars Technica is reporting that Congress is considering two bills that will remove the exemption terrestrial radio broadcasters currently enjoy that allows them to broadcast music without compensating the artists or labels for it. Songwriters are paid, but that is it. The National Association of Broadcasters is furious at the RIAA, a vocal supporter of repealing the exemptions, and has responded by agreeing that artists need better compensation. As a result, it is pointing its collective finger at the labels, asking Congress to investigate modern recording contracts.

What do you think? With the NAB up against the RIAA, what do consumers stand to gain or lose?"

Submission + - A Master's Degree in Intelligent Design (chron.com)

Submitted by

ParanoidDrunkard

on Wednesday December 19, 2007 @11:24PM

ParanoidDrunkard writes: "The Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research is seeking state approval to grant an online master's degree in science education to prepare teachers to "understand the universe within the integrating framework of Biblical creationism," according to the school's mission statement. Last week, an advisory council made up of university educators voted to recommend the program for approval by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, sparking an outcry among science advocates who have fended off attempts by religious groups to insert creationism into Texas classrooms. But students and faculty must profess faith in a literal translation of Biblical creation — that God created the world in six days and made humans and animals in their current life forms; that the Earth is only thousands of years old; and the fossil record is the result of a global flood described in the Bible, according to the Web site. Is this another attempt to validate intelligent design as a science?"

Submission + - New York judge grabs all Brooklyn RIAA cases

Submitted by

newtley

on Wednesday December 19, 2007 @06:15PM

newtley writes: ""I wonder how many of the defendants think the settlements were 'equitable'?" That's Recording Industry vs The People on news that a New York judge has decided only he and another judge should preside over Brooklyn cases. Judge J. Trager, "has denied the motions by the defendants in two Brooklyn cases, Maverick v Chowdhury and Elektra v Torres, for random judicial assignment of RIAA cases," it says. Trager holds, "the cases should all continue to be assigned just to himself and Magistrate Judge Levy". In this decision denying the defendants' motion, "Judge Trager said that (a) many of the defendants have retained the same attorneys, (b) there have been approximately 350 RIAA cases in the Eastern District of New York, and (c) Magistrate Levy has brought about 'equitable settlements'," says RIvTP's Ray Beckerman."

Submission + - Time Names Vladimir Putin Person of the Year 2007 (techluver.com)

Submitted by

Tech.Luver

on Wednesday December 19, 2007 @11:52AM

Tech.Luver writes: "In a year when Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize and green became the new red, white and blue; when the combat in Iraq showed signs of cooling but Baghdad's politicians showed no signs of statesmanship; when China, the rising superpower, juggled its pride in hosting next summer's Olympic Games with its embarrassment at shipping toxic toys around the world; and when J.K. Rowling set millions of minds and hearts on fire with the final volume of her 17-year saga — one nation that had fallen off our mental map, led by one steely and determined man, emerged as a critical linchpin of the 21st century. Says Time Magazine, about its Person of the Year 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin. ( http://techluver.com/2007/12/19/time-names-russian-president-vladimir-putin-person-of-the-year/ )"

Submission + - Budget Threat to High Energy Physics Research in U (wired.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 19, 2007 @11:44AM

An anonymous reader writes: The current FY08 Federal Budget is seriously damaging to fundamental physics research in the US. Not only does this threaten the International Linear Collider's future, and the future of particle physics as a whole, this also impacts existing experiments both in the US and coming online at CERN in Europe, since the US is (was?) a major contributor.

Submission + - Senate Approves Immunity for Illegal Wiretapping (yahoo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 17, 2007 @10:37PM

An anonymous reader writes: Senate just passed a bill with an overwhelming majority that will grant immunity to all the telephone companies that participated in the illegal wiretapping. Senate contends that "(Telephone) companies should be thanked, not punished, for helping defend the United States (by helping with illegal wiretapping)". From the article "The Senate bill would provide new protections of civil liberties, such as requiring tougher congressional and judicial oversight." With a congress and judiciary like this say goodbye to our liberties.

Submission + - Why the coming exaflood won't drown the Internet (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by High Waters on Monday December 17, 2007 @02:18PM

High Waters writes: Ars Technica examines predictions of an exaflood of data that some alarmists believe will overwhelm the Internet. 'Doomsday predictions about the collapse of the Internet have never been hard to come by. Most recently, concern has focused on the rise of Internet video, one of the key drivers of traffic growth over the last couple of years. Should Internet traffic surge more quickly than networks can keep up, the entire system could clog up like a bad plumbing job.' But a closer look reveals that many of those raising the alarm about an exaflood are generally doing so to make the case against 'Net neutrality regulation. 'There's a reason that "exaflood" sounds scary. It's supposed to. Though Brett Swanson's Wall Street Journal piece tried to avoid alarmism, it did have an explicitly political point in mind: net neutrality is bad, and it could turn the coming exaflood into a real disaster'

Submission + - Enceladus "sea" mystery deepens

Submitted by

Smivs

on Monday December 17, 2007 @01:40PM

Smivs writes: "The BBC reports that an ocean may not be the source of the jets emanating from Saturn's moon Enceladus . Research questions the moon's promise as a target in the search for life beyond Earth and has stirred controversy.
A chemical analysis of Enceladus, led by University of Colorado planetary scientist Nick Schneider, failed to detect sodium, an element scientists say should be in a body of water that has had billions of years of contact with rock. Spectral analysis with the Keck Telescope found no sodium in the plumes or in the vapour that's in orbit around the moon.
At stake is whether Saturn's moon could support alien life and is a worthy target for a US space agency (Nasa) exploratory mission to detect it. Such a mission to Enceladus is one of four currently under review for further development."

Submission + - Wikipedia Bans Whistleblower (wikipedia.org)

Submitted by Retired Wikipedia Editor on Monday December 17, 2007 @01:34PM

Retired Wikipedia Editor writes: When a user of Wikipedia complained about a former administrator named Betacommand calling another user a "fucktard", he was banned over it by a power-tripping admin who goes by Moreschi. Why? Because it was the user's first edit to Wikipedia. This user could have been an alternate account of a regular editor, who was afraid of blowing the whistle in fear of retaliation. He was right; the Wikipedia cabal banned him for it. Or maybe he was a lurker who was concerned over such a strong use of language. The discussion about it is still ongoing, but there's a shocking amount of support for the banning of the whistleblower. I used to edit Wikipedia pretty regularly, until I finally gave up on it due to the politics and the need of administrators to pull garbage like this.

Submission + - Synthetic DNA on the Brink of Yielding New Life Fo (washingtonpost.com) 1

Submitted by mlimber on Monday December 17, 2007 @01:24PM

mlimber writes: The Washington Post has a story about the future of biotech: "The cobbling together of life from synthetic DNA, scientists and philosophers agree, will be a watershed event, blurring the line between biological and artificial — and forcing a rethinking of what it means for a thing to be alive.... Some experts are worried that a few maverick companies are already gaining monopoly control over the core 'operating system' for artificial life and are poised to become the Microsofts of synthetic biology. That could stifle competition, they say, and place enormous power in a few people's hands."

Submission + - Guantanamo deleted detainee IDs from Wikipedia (ljsf.org) 1

Submitted by James Hardine on Sunday December 16, 2007 @01:15AM

James Hardine writes: The New York Times and The Inquirer are reporting that Wikileaks, the transparency group that published two manuals leaked from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba earlier this month has now caught US armed forces personnel there conducting propaganda attacks over the Internet. The activities uncovered by Wikileaks include deleting Guantanamo detainees' ID numbers from Wikipedia, posting of self-praising comments on news websites in response to negative articles, promoting pro-Guantanamo stories on the Internet news focus website Digg, and even altering Wikipedia's entry on Cuban President Fidel Castro to describe him as "an admitted transexual". Guantanamo spokesman Lt. Col. Bush blasted Wikileaks for identifying one "mass communications officer" by name, who has since received death threats for "simply doing his job — posting positive comments on the Internet about Gitmo". In response Wikileaks has posted independent confirmation of their analysis by security expert Bruce Schneier.

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