Dekortage - Slashdot User

Submission + - U.S. Government Halts All Solar Energy Projects (nytimes.com)

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Dekortage

on Friday June 27, 2008 @08:09AM

Dekortage writes: "The U.S. Government's Bureau of Land Management, overwhelmed by applications for large-scale solar energy plants, has declared a two-year freeze on all new projects until it completes an extensive environmental impact study. The study will also produce "a single set of environmental criteria to weigh future solar proposals, which will ultimately speed the application process." The freeze means that current applications will continue to be processed — plants producing enough electricity for 20 million average American homes — but no new applications will be accepted until the study is complete. Solar power companies are worried that this will harm the industry just as it is poised for growth, while others see the temporary hold as a necessary step before the industry gets too big."

Submission + - Cosmetic Surgeons Ask Patients to Post to YouTube (nytimes.com)

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Dekortage

on Thursday June 26, 2008 @07:40AM

Dekortage writes: "If you had cosmetic or eye surgery, would you post a video of it to YouTube? How about if the surgeon offered you an $800 discount on future treatments? Apparently, this is exactly what many surgeons are doing, and as many as 10% of patients are complying. Many doctors believe there is no conflict of interest; however, others are not so sure. "It's disappointing to see commercialism creeping into what should be a very altruistic profession," says a bioethics professor at Columbia, while the Better Business Bureau laments that "you're running the risk that the consumer's opinion was skewed by dollar signs, and isn't necessarily telling the truth." In any case, YouTube has thousands of videos on Botox, Lasik, and breast augmentation."

Submission + - IBM to Help Sequence the Chocolate Genome (nytimes.com) 1

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Dekortage

on Thursday June 26, 2008 @06:07AM

Dekortage writes: "The New York Times reports this morning that IBM will work with Mars — the candy company who makes M&Ms and Snickers, among other things — on a five year project to sequence the cocoa genome. According to Howard-Yana Shapiro, global director of plant science at Mars, the goal is to "discover the genetic building blocks of traits like disease and pest resistance, drought tolerance and perhaps flavor." Additionally, the project's results will be available for free from the Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture."

Submission + - First U.S. Offshore Wind Power Park in Delaware (cnn.com)

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Dekortage

on Tuesday June 24, 2008 @07:22AM

Dekortage writes: "Offshore wind power company Bluewater Wind has announced an agreement to build America's first offshore wind turbine park off the coast of Delaware. "Each turbine [will sit on] a pole about 250 feet above the waterline... the units are to be constructed to withstand hurricane-force winds. From the shore, the park will be visible only on clear winter days, and the turbines will be nearly invisible during summer months when Rehoboth Beach fills with vacationers. Each blade on the three-blade rotor is to be 150 feet long.""

Submission + - Deutsche Telekom Secretely Tracked Phone Calls (nytimes.com)

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Dekortage

on Tuesday May 27, 2008 @09:20AM

Dekortage writes: "German telephone giant Deutsche Telekom has admitted to secretly tracking the phone calls between board members and journalists, in an effort to identify media leaks about internal affairs. As noted by the German Journalists' Association, "This company has special access to the records of its customers.... That means it has a special obligation to be trustworthy." DT denies having eavesdropped; it merely tracked the calls dialed."

Submission + - Johnson & Johnson Loses Major Trademark Lawsui

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Dekortage

on Saturday May 24, 2008 @07:32PM

Dekortage writes: "As previously discussed on Slashdot, the health-products giant Johnson & Johnson sued the American Red Cross over use of the ubiquitous "red cross" logo. J&J has lost. The presiding judge said Johnson & Johnson's claim against the organization was doubtful because the manufacterer entered into a brand-sharing promotional agreement with the American Red Cross in 1986 — not to mention that the two organizations agreed to share the logo way back in 1895. Sounds like J&J may need to crack open some Tylenol and Band-Aids."

Submission + - Video Game Actors Don't Get Their Due (nytimes.com)

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Dekortage

on Wednesday May 21, 2008 @07:16AM

Dekortage writes: "The New York Times reports today about Michael Hollick, the actor who provided the voice of Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV. Although the game has made more than $600 million in sales for Rockstar Games, Hollick earns nothing beyond the original $100K he was paid. If this was television, film, or radio, Hollick and the other GTA actors could have made millions by now. Hollick says, "I don't blame Rockstar. I blame our union for not having the agreements in place to protect the creative people who drive the sales of these games. Yes, the technology is important, but it's the human performances within them that people really connect to, and I hope actors will get more respect for the work they do within those technologies." Is it time for video game actors to be treated as well as those in other mediums?"

Submission + - Johnson & Johnson Loses Suit Against Red Cross (nytimes.com)

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Dekortage

on Friday May 16, 2008 @09:41AM

Dekortage writes: "As mentioned last year on Slashdot, the health-products giant Johnson & Johnson had sued the American Red Cross over its use of the ubiquitous "red cross" emblem. They have lost, thankfully. From the article: "Judge Rakoff said the doubtfulness of Johnson & Johnson's claim against the organization was 'well illustrated by the ironic fact' that in 1986 the company itself entered into a [brand-sharing promotional agreement] with the Red Cross... [in which it agreed] to donate 5 cents to the Red Cross for coupons redeemed to buy company products." Sounds like J&J has some egg on its face."

Submission + - On DVRs, Youngsters Skip Ads Less Than Seniors (adage.com)

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Dekortage

on Tuesday May 13, 2008 @12:18PM

Dekortage writes: "In analyzing DVR viewing research, Ad Age has noted something unexpected: older DVR users are more likely to skip ads than younger DVR users. The skew is particularly apparent among men: 50% of seniors skipping all the ads, but only 20% of teens do so. Women of any age group tend to be around 35%. Ad Age hypothesizes that younger viewers "just pay attention to other media when the ads are on TV or, worse yet, perhaps the TV is just 'background music'...." I always thought that ad skipping was a major benefit of DVRs. Do you skip all the ads?"

Submission + - Make Your Own Fonts, In a Web Browser (fontshop.com)

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Dekortage

on Thursday May 08, 2008 @02:54PM

Dekortage writes: "Although it's been up for a few weeks, today is the official launch of FontStruct, a web-based font creation tool. That's right: in your web browser, you can build your own typeface, and download it as a TrueType font. The site's user agreement requires you to release your creations online under one of the Creative Commons licenses. The typefaces tend to be a little blocky, but it's still impressive (and a great way to pass time)."

Submission + - Sometimes, Being Smarter Isn't Better (nytimes.com)

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Dekortage

on Tuesday May 06, 2008 @05:47AM

Dekortage writes: ""If it's so great to be smart, why have most animals remained dumb?" That's the question posed by evolutionary biologists in an NY Times article about why some animals have evolved to be better at learning than others. Although the article cites studies on bacteria, fruit flies, and other lifeforms with low neuron counts, there are implications for humans as well. "Each species evolves until it reaches an equilibrium between the costs and benefits of learning.... [The] experiments demonstrate that flies have the genetic potential to become significantly smarter in the wild. But only under lab conditions does evolution actually move in that direction. In nature, any improvement in learning would cost too much." (Insert your own jokes about 'lifeforms with low neuron counts.')"

Submission + - Drug Studies Written by Merck, Not Doctors (nytimes.com)

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Dekortage

on Wednesday April 16, 2008 @06:03AM

Dekortage writes: "New research asserts that Merck, the drug maker behind Vioxx, ghost-wrote research articles, then hired top doctors to put their names on the research and publish the articles in medical journals such as JAMA.In one example, early drafts of an article simply listed "External author?" as the lead writer. However, both Merck and several of the listed authors say they were very involved in the research, with little or no ghostwriting involved."

Submission + - A City Where You Can't Hear Yourself Scream (nytimes.com) 1

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Dekortage

on Monday April 14, 2008 @06:33AM

Dekortage writes: "The New York Times is reporting on noise levels in Cairo, which averages 85 decibels during the day — "like living day in and day out with a lawn mower running next to your head." While outrageous, other sources indicate this a problem in Madrid, New York City, and elsewhere. Apparently, such levels of sound can cause hearing loss or even tumors. How loud is it where you live, and what affect does it have on you?"

Submission + - Purdue Students Win Rube Golberg Contest (cnn.com)

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Dekortage

on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @02:54PM

Dekortage writes: "How long does it take to make a burger? Students from Purdue University's Society of Professional Engineers won the 2008 Rube Goldberg contest with a device that requires 153 steps to assemble a burger. According to the team captain, "We put 4,000 to 5,000 man-hours into this machine since September, and all the hard work has been well worth it." That's a long time to wait for dinner."

Submission + - IT Staffing for Nonprofits: Budgets and Salaries (nten.org)

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Dekortage

on Friday February 29, 2008 @08:35AM

Dekortage writes: "The Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) and the NonProfit Times have released their joint report, "Nonprofit IT Staffing: Budgets, Salaries, Training, and Planning." Key findings: 63% of nonprofits do not have a formal technology plan for their organization, while 76% of organizations said they did not evaluate technology projects, primarily because of a lack of time. Among small nonprofits, 25% reported having no IT salary budget. How different is this from for-profit businesses?"

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