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Enlightenment

Submission + - Creation Museum opening in KY

Submitted by
Noel Linback
Noel Linback writes: "A new "Creation" museum is opening in Kentucky. According to a New York time article the museum depicts humans and dinosaurs living together in natural history museum styled dioramas, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/arts/24crea.html ?hp
The museum is being put on by the organization Answers in Genesis, a group devoted to helping Christians defend their faith, specifically the book of Genesis, http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/about.as p. The museum site is here http://www.creationmuseum.org/"
Announcements

Submission + - The Truth About Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Submitted by
Global Justice Allia
Global Justice Allia writes: "In the summer of 2004 with the growing death toll in Iraq, the increasing cost of the war and the now public incompetence of the British Ministry of Defence, four lads with no media experience posed as film makers and set out on a self funded road journey to discovery the truth about weapons of mass destruction.

Despite having no budget and a only basic knowledge of history they soon found themselves amongst stockpiles of chemical weapons (with the full co-operation of one of Europe's ministers of defence). It turns out that Europe has a chemical weapons problem and the lads spend a few days filming the clean up process with the dedicated soldiers charged with this dangerous but gallant task.

With discoveries of chemical weapons which only Hans Blix could have dreamed of this film shows how easy it is for any one to find chemical weapons and explores the possibility that one could be easily be brought back to London. A truly explosive critique of the Ministry of Defence, the weapons 'dossier' and any minister who voted for the war in Iraq.

Dear Friends,

Fourman Films is an unfunded and not for profit group of friends who have completed the feature length anti war documentary, 'The Truth About Weapons Of Mass Destruction'. Prior to this film we had no previous media experience. To view the film for free during June and see more about our grassroots campaign to support the troops, bring them home and demand a full enquiry into the war in Iraq see:-

  www.thetruthaboutweaponsofmassdestruction.com

Now that Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced his resignation from the office of Prime Minister, it is even more important to keep up the pressure to call for a full enquiry into the actions of both politicians and civil servants during the lead up to the Iraq War. The bloodshed continues in Iraq unabated, and there is a growing call from the majority who want the troops home safely and out of harms way. Even the troops are calling for it. We want you to join our grass roots campaign to bring the troops home and demand a full enquiry by grabbing a cup of tea and perhaps some biscuits and watching the latest antiwar documentary for free between June 1st and 30th. You will need 106 minutes to watch it. No Marching Required.

With the mainstream media giving little coverage to the growing protest movement, the Police greatly underestimating crowd numbers at protest rallies and the notable absence of news helicopters at rallies (which would show the true size of crowds), it is becoming ever more difficult for people to have their say and have it heard. The British government has no problems in ignoring the many petitions and George bush has recently Vetoed (dictator Style) Congress's decision to withdraw American troops from Iraq.

There is much talk in the media about Tony Blair's impending retirement and his intention to use his so called 'Skills' in the private sector which will earn him a far greater wage than he is currently on. It was reported that he was in discussions with the Carlyle Group about a lucrative directorship. The Carlyle Group is a major company which has profited from the war in Iraq. George Bush Senior is also a Director of the Carlyle Group.

As Tony Blair personally involved himself in gate keeping the now discredited dossier on Iraq and also promoted and then knighted its author John Scarlet, it is obscene to think that he would seek to personally profit from any company which profited from the war in Iraq. To ensure this does not happen the full enquiry must go ahead and further pressure must be made on the government to hold a full and open legal process.

It is also important to look at what the Ministry of Defence and the Security Services knew about weapons of mass destruction prior to the Iraq War. They told us that we were in immediate (45 min) danger from Saddam's WMD's. The government were also in receipt of another report from the security services prior to the Iraq War, stating that the biggest threat to Britain would only occur if Britain Invaded Iraq. Our film displays Europe's Chemical Weapons Problem and how thousands of these are being found in Europe every year.

In order to see what the Ministry Of Defence knew about weapons of mass destruction before putting us all (and our troops) in harms way I am offering you this opportunity to view our antiwar film 'The Truth About Weapons Of Mass Destruction' for free over the internet in June. It is part of an online film festival which, if enough people watch the film it will be shown at a celebrity studded event at the Famous Tribeca Cinemas in New York late July. If successful we are hoping to give the British Anti War Movement a greater platform where it matters the most to Tony Blair. In the United States.

If you could pass this email on to as many friends as possible then there will be a greater chance of us being able spoil Tony Blair's 'Legacy' and demand a full enquiry that is so sorely needed. We hope that you enjoy our film and be sure to rate it highly after you have watched it as that will give us extra points.

www.thetruthaboutweaponsofmassdestruction.com

Yours Sincerely

Paul Hanes
Richard Smyth
Patrick Smyth
Michael Smyth
Fourman Films

PS other ways you can support us are:-

1. Pass this email onto as many friends as possible

2. Watch and rate our Youtube trailer at:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=244Dm3pUwgk

3. Come to support the film at the Swansea Bay Film Festival Friday June 8th at 9:30am. Details about Tickets here:

http://thetruthaboutweaponsofmassdestruction.com/b log/index.php?/archives/1-Join-us-in-Swansea-for-t he-World-Premiere.html

4. Support us on the Red Carpet at the Swansea Bay film Festival Friday 8th June between 6pm and 7pm.

5. See the film also at the Glastonbury Music Festival and the Everglades film festival. Details to be announced.

6. Link your web page or blog to our website:- www.thetruthaboutweaponsofmassdestruction.com"
User Journal

Journal Journal: The Truth About Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Journal by Global Justice Allia

In the summer of 2004 with the growing death toll in Iraq, the increasing cost of the war and the now public incompetence of the British Ministry of Defence, four lads with no media experience posed as film makers and set out on a self funded road journey to discovery the truth about weapons of mass destruction.
Republicans

Submission + - Conservatives buy VT Professor's domain name

Submitted by
overlook77
overlook77 writes: "I wanted to make a website honoring the life and bravery of Liviu Librescu, the Engineering professor slain at Virginia Tech this week. However, a WHOIS reveals that LIVIULIBRESCU.COM was purchased on April 17th by Politech Consulting, a conservative fundraising organization. This raises the ethical question: should a political group buy this man's own name for what could easily be interpreted as a strategic move to deflect a website advocating gun control laws? I am very curious to know what the rest of the Slashdot community thinks of this. http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp? domain=LiviuLibrescu.com"
Patents

Submission + - New Patent Reform - A Good Thing?

Submitted by
Patent-Monkey
Patent-Monkey writes: "BetaNews reports that new legislation is being proposed by Congress today that promises to "change the very fabric of patent law" by limiting damages to lost economic profit by a company and define an invention on its novel merits without taking credit for prior art. The article also notes that "Open source advocates may appreciate the amplified language that would prohibit any organization from claiming patentability over a concept that was "in public use or sale" (note the distinction) prior to the claim." Something the Peer to Patent project also hopes to help with.

This bill clearly limits the impact of future NTP v RIM style cases, but could also have the potential to allow large companies (e.g. IBM, Microsoft and Google) to copy a number of smaller company's ideas since the damages would be limited to that small company's lost earnings.

Are patent damage limits a good solution? For all of you to answer..."
First Person Shooters (Games)

Submission + - Jack Thompson's lies dissected

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Anti-violence crusader Jack Thompson appeared before the cameras of Fox News in the wake of the incident at Virginia Tech. Brian Crecente of Kotaku has written an editorial busting no less than seven lies told by Mr Thompson to the camera about the links between violent video games and school shooters.
Biotech

Submission + - Stem-cell bill faces veto -- again

Submitted by
gollum123
gollum123 writes: "cnn reports The Senate approved a measure that would roll back President Bush's 2001 limits on embryonic stem-cell research Wednesday afternoon, but the margin was short of the two-thirds needed to override a promised veto ( http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/11/stem.cells/ index.html ). In a statement issued after Wednesday's 63-34 vote, he said he would veto the new bill as well, saying it "crosses a moral line that I and many others find troubling." Fourteen Republicans supported the bill, while two Democrats voted against it. One of the best statements was by Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, a staunch opponent of abortion rights — "I'm hopeful that the president won't veto this, because I think he can see — anybody can see — that it's just a matter of time until we get this through""
Republicans

Submission + - Florida University forced To Idolize Jeb Bush

Submitted by Ariastis
Ariastis writes: Two weeks ago, the University of Florida voted to deny Jeb Bush an honorary degree. By a 38-28 vote, the faculty Senate rejected the former governor's nomination, citing concerns about some of Bush's education initiatives, including his dismantling of affirmative action programs in the state. Upset by this lack of Jeb Bush adoration, the conservative-controlled House Schools & Learning Council voted yesterday to force the university to rename its education school the Jeb Bush College of Education.
The Internet

Submission + - Court Reverses Penalty Over MySpace Post

Submitted by PDone
PDone writes: A judge violated a juvenile's free-speech rights when he placed her on probation for posting an expletive-laden entry on MySpace criticizing a school principal, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled. The three-judge panel on Monday ordered the Putnam Circuit Court to set aside its penalty against the girl, referred to only as A.B. in court records.
Media

Submission + - The Best VHS Capture System using Free Software?

Submitted by
mrcgran
mrcgran writes: "I have been trying to find the best solution to transfer VHS tapes to a digital format using Free Software only. I would like to lose as little as possible in the conversion, sampling optimally, minimizing noise and being in control of every step of the process. Storage is not a problem. I'm expecting to use around 5GB+ for each hour of raw captured footage.

The software part seems promising: VLC and mencoder for conversion of raw footage, Cinelerra and many others for video editing.

However, the hardware is being tricky. Most try to bloat the device adding functions like TV/compression/edition instead of focusing on the raw A/D conversion. Chipsets are hidden, and parameters like signal-to-noise, sampling rate etc are unavailable for comparison. Information is scattered and very difficult to find.

Which chipsets/products should I look for, specially for use with Linux and BSD? Which ones allow oversampling of pixel resolution and number of frames (in order to average the values and reduce the noise)? Which setup should I use: S-Video/Composite, sampling rate/oversampling, suggestions on high-quality VHS players/heads/tape cleaning processes, etc? Has anyone tried to use scaling algorithms such as hq/scalenx to upscale video and sound resolution? Pitfalls?"
Security

Submission + - Hackers offer subscription, support for malware

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: Organised gangs are taking a page out of security vendors' books and setting up their own websites that offer support and subscriptions for malware and spyware.

From the article: "For subscriptions starting as low as $20 per month, enterprises can sell "fully managed exploit engines" that spyware distributors and spammers can use to infiltrate systems worldwide, said Gunter Ollmann, director of security strategies at IBM's ISS X-Force team.

Many exploit providers simply wait for Microsoft's monthly patches, which they then reverse engineer to develop new exploit code against the disclosed vulnerabilities, Ollmann said. "Then all you've got to do is just subscribe to them on a monthly basis."

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So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of money? -- Ayn Rand

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