paulzeye - Slashdot User

14-Year-Old Boy Smote By Meteorite 435

Posted by samzenpus on Friday June 12, 2009 @02:39PM from the a-grounding-doesn't-seem-that-bad-now dept.

eldavojohn writes "Winning the lottery requires incredible luck and one in a million odds. So does getting hit by a falling space rock. A 14-year-old German boy was granted a three-inch scar by the gods. A pea-sized meteorite smote young Gerrit Blank's hand before leaving a foot-sized crater on the road. The boy's account: 'At first I just saw a large ball of light, and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand. Then a split second after that there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder. The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards. When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road.' Curiously, the rock was magnetic, and tests were done to verify it is extraterrestrial. The Telegraph notes the only other recorded event of a meteorite striking a person was 'in November 1954 when a grapefruit-sized fragment crashed through the roof of a house, bounced off furniture and landed on a sleeping woman.' Space.com lists a few more anomalies and we discussed the probability of these things downing aircraft recently."

Solar Machine Spins Sunlight-Shaped Furniture 71

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday June 11, 2009 @04:27PM from the just-because-you-can-do-something dept.

Mike writes "Austrian designers mischer'traxler have created a solar powered machine that makes an incredible array of furnishings that vary based on how much sunlight it receives over the course of a day. Titled 'The Idea of a Tree,' the machine spins spools of thread into stools, benches, containers, and lamp shades that wax and wane as the available sunlight shifts. Furniture created during cloudy winter days will be wrapped more slowly, causing it to be darker in color, thicker, and smaller than pieces created during the sun-soaked summer months."

NY Court Says Police Can't Track Suspect With GPS 414

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday May 12, 2009 @01:48PM from the when-a-cop-slaps-you-on-the-back-check-your-back dept.

SoundGuyNoise sends in a story that brings into relief just how unsettled is the question of whether police can use GPS to track suspects without a warrant. Just a couple of days ago a Wisconsin appeals court ruled that such tracking is OK; and today an appeals court in New York reached the opposite conclusion. "It was wrong for a police investigator to slap a GPS tracking device under a defendant's van to track his movements, the state's top court ruled today. A sharply divided NY Court of Appeals, in a 4-3 decision, reversed the burglary conviction of defendant Scott Weaver, 41, of Watervliet. Four years ago, State Police tracked Weaver over 65 days in connection with the burglary investigation."

Comment Re:Where is the crossing line for lowering tax rat (Score 1) 1505

by paulzeye on Tuesday May 05, 2009 @11:51AM (#27831921) Attached to: Battle Lines Being Drawn As Obama Plans To Curb Tax Avoidance

"However, in Canada, the cost-per-person of providing that health care is barely half in Canada...

So they have 5% higher taxes to pay for it, but are able to avoid spending 8-10% of their income to provide health care for their family."

So they pay 5% more of their income and their health care costs are reduced by 4-5% of the income? Sounds like they just about break even

Google Mows With Goats 466

Posted by samzenpus on Monday May 04, 2009 @02:30PM from the google-goats-gruff dept.

Kelson writes "Google's Mountain View headquarters has fields that need to be kept clear of fire hazards. This year instead of mowing them, they took a low-carbon approach: they hired a herd of goats to eat the grass for a week. 'It costs us about the same as mowing, and goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers,' wrote Dan Hoffman."

Comment Re:Kudos goes to my bank then (Score 1) 269

by paulzeye on Thursday July 24, 2008 @12:37PM (#24320477) Attached to: Most Bank Websites Are Insecure

I ran into something like this with verizon wireless account a few years ago. Every month when I would try and log in my account would be locked out. I don't remember the procedure to get it unlocked but it was annoying. Eventually I tried to get somebody to tell my why my account was being locked or how I could change my user name or anything to make the problem go away. They did nothing and it went away after about 6 months.

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