Comment Already fixed (Score 1) 2
This complaint is already old- Google defaults back to white now, with the option of adding an image if you want.
I did notice the slow-loading image though (although I usually use iGoogle now...).
Submission + - Methane Eaters at Lost Hammer (astrobio.net)
asukasoryu writes: Researchers have discovered that methane-eating bacteria survive in a highly unique spring located on Axel Heiberg Island in Canada's extreme North. The subzero water is so salty that it doesn't freeze despite the cold, and it has no consumable oxygen in it. There are, however, big bubbles of methane that come to the surface. Lyle Whyte, McGill University microbiologist, explains that the Lost Hammer spring supports microbial life, that the spring is similar to possible past or present springs on Mars, and that therefore they too could support life.
This in the wake of Friday's article about possible methane-based life on Titan!
This in the wake of Friday's article about possible methane-based life on Titan!
Submission + - Body’s Own Stem Cells Used To Grow Teeth In (singularityhub.com) 1
kkleiner writes: Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have found a way to replace missing teeth by having them regrown by stem cells in your mouth. Jeremy Mao, director of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Lab (TERML), used tooth shaped scaffolds augmented with growth factors and proteins to attract stem cells from the body and grow the appropriate bone in place in just 9 weeks. The work was performed in rats using both rat and human-based scaffolds and was reported in the Journal of Dental Research.
Submission + - Politically Correct Zoology (huffingtonpost.com)
flynny51 writes: Dr Dylan Evans of the School of Medicine, University College Cork Ireland has had a two-year period of intensive monitoring and counselling imposed upon him and as a result his application for tenure is likely to be denied for sharing an article from a peer reviewed journal on fellatio in fruit bats. (available here — http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007595 )
Fine Print Says Game Store Owns Your Soul 262
mr_sifter writes "UK games retailer GameStation revealed that it legally owns the souls of thousands of customers, thanks to a clause it secretly added to the online terms and conditions for its website. The 'Immortal Soul Clause' was added as part of an attempt to highlight how few customers read the terms and conditions of an online sale. GameStation claims that 88 percent of customers did not read the clause, which gives legal ownership of the customer's soul over to the UK-based games retailer. The remaining 12 percent of customers however did notice the clause and clicked the relevant opt-out box, netting themselves a £5 GBP gift voucher in the process."
Submission + - Obama Unveils New Nuclear Doctrine
Hugh Pickens writes: "The Washington Post reports that under Obama's new "Nuclear Posture Review," released today the US will foreswear the use of the nuclear weapons against nonnuclear countries, in contrast to previous administrations, which indicated they might use nuclear arms against nonnuclear states in retaliation for a biological or chemical attack. But the new policy included a major caveat: The countries must be in compliance with their nonproliferation obligations under international treaties. The problem for Iran and North Korea is that the pledge does not cover them because the US regards them as in non-compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The new policy will also describe the purpose of US weapons as being fundamentally for deterrence. Some Democratic legislators had urged Obama to go further and declare that the United States would not use nuclear weapons first in a conflict but officials worried that such a change could unnerve allies protected by the US nuclear "umbrella." Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, describes the new policy as a big, positive step forward. "It could go further, faster, but it is the best we can hope for under the circumstances. It is a solid, pragmatic document that strives to be transformational. It is transformation in two aspects: It re-orients the US nuclear forces away from massive retaliations and towards today's threats of nuclear terrorism and new nuclear states. It orients US policy towards dramatically fewer weapons and greatly reduced roles.""
Submission + - Thanks readers for not expressing yourself (newenglishreview.org) 1
santosh maharshi writes: "Richard Dawkins has recently learned that he should thank his readers for not expressing themselves.
"He ran a website for people of like mind, but noticed that many of the comments that appeared on it were beside the point, either mere gossip or insult. So he announced that he was going to exercise a little control over what appeared on it — as was his right since it was, after all, his site. Censorship is not failing to publish something, it is forbidding something to be published, which is not at all the same thing, though the difference is sometimes ill-appreciated.
The torrent of vile abuse that he received after his announcement took him aback. Its vehemence was shocking; someone called him ‘a suppurating rat’s rectum.’ He replied to this abuse with admirable restraint:
"Surely there has to be something wrong with people who can resort to such over-the-top language, overreacting so spectacularly to something so trivial".
Submission + - Mythbusters "Peeing on 3rd Rail" Busted! (msn.com) 3
n0tWorthy writes: Mythbusters stated that the myth that you could be electrocuted by peeing on the 3rd rail was "busted" as the stream would be broken up due to distance and there wouldn't be a continuous path for the electrical current to follow. This seems to be refuted by a Monsanto Washington man that was found electrocuted after urinating into a ditch that had a downed power line.
"...there will be an autopsy but burn marks indicated the way the electricity traveled through Messenger's body." Ouch!
"...there will be an autopsy but burn marks indicated the way the electricity traveled through Messenger's body." Ouch!
Submission + - Free Netbook From Microsoft, Then Things Got Weird (wordpress.com) 2
paiute writes: Matt Karolian, a Marketing Communications major at Emerson College in Boston "won" a netbook in a Microsoft re-tweet competition (whatever that is). Then the prize arrived, and it was not exactly the high-quality major award he had expected from a Microsoft:
"A few months back I entered a re-tweet contest that Microsoft was holding. I know, I know, as a marketer I should cringe at the thought of a re-tweet contest but one of the prizes for this re-tweet contest was an xbox 360, so I caved and took part. Time passed and I heard nothing about anyone winning, and I eventually forgot about it..."
"A few months back I entered a re-tweet contest that Microsoft was holding. I know, I know, as a marketer I should cringe at the thought of a re-tweet contest but one of the prizes for this re-tweet contest was an xbox 360, so I caved and took part. Time passed and I heard nothing about anyone winning, and I eventually forgot about it..."
64-Bit Flash Player For Linux Finally In Alpha 172
Luchio writes "Finally, a little bit of respect from Adobe with this alpha release of the Adobe Flash Player 10 that was made available for all Linux 64-bit enthusiasts! As noted, 'this is a prerelease version,' so handle with care. Just remove any existing Flash player and extract the new .so file in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins (or /usr/lib/opera/plugins)."
Submission + - Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Released 2
Shining Celebi writes: Mozilla has released Firefox 3.6 today, which adds support for Personas, lightweight themes that can be installed without restarting the browser, and adds further performance improvements to the new Tracemonkey Javascript engine. One of the major goals of the release was to improve startup time and general UI responsiveness, especially the Awesomebar. You can read the full set of release notes here.
Submission + - DVD-by-Mail Services Cleared in Patent Troll Case (homemediamagazine.com)
eldavojohn writes: Media Queue holds the rights to patent 7389243 which is simply a patent on the notification system (like e-mail) to users of changes in the status of their DVD rental queues. Of course, they filed suit in a random place against Netflix, Blockbuster and everyone else sending e-mail updates about DVD-by-Mail services. It was later moved to California and was dismissed last week. In related news on the ailing patent system, the USPTO unveiled a new plan to reduce backlog in its system by offering pending patents special examiner status if the holder abandons another co-pending unexamined application.
Submission + - Nice Summary of Climate Change Disputes (bbc.co.uk)
Submission + - Iranian Crackdown Goes Global (wsj.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Tehran's leadership faces its biggest crisis since it first came to power in 1979, as Iranians at home and abroad attack its legitimacy in the wake of June's allegedly rigged presidential vote. An opposition effort, the "Green Movement," is gaining a global following of regular Iranians who say they never previously considered themselves activists. The regime has been cracking down hard at home. And now, a Wall Street Journal investigation shows, it is extending that crackdown to Iranians abroad as well. Part of the effort involves tracking the Facebook, Twitter and YouTube activity of Iranians around the world, and identifying them at opposition protests abroad. People who criticize Iran's regime online or in public demonstrations are facing threats intended to silence them.
Submission + - Flash carts deemed legal by French court (maxconsole.net)
Hatta writes: From MaxConsole: Nintendo has today lost a major court case against the Divineo group in the main court of Paris. Nintendo originally took the group to court over DS flash carts, however the judge today has ruled against Nintendo and suggested that they are purposely locking out developers from their consoles and things should be more like Windows where ANYONE can develop any application if they wish to.
