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Submission + - Russian "Father of All Bombs" = Fake? (wired.com) 1

Submitted by

mytrip

on Thursday October 04, 2007 @04:07PM

mytrip writes: "Remember Russia's "Father of All Bombs," reportedly the most powerful thermobaric weapon in the world? Turns out it's at least partially a fraud. I've got the scoop over at Wired News:

Father of All Bombs "has no match in the world," a military officer boasts in the official video. ... But close analysis of the video reveals inconsistencies that have led some U.S. experts to question the veracity of the Russian claims, and to downgrade assessments of the weapon. It's possible, they say, that the video was partially faked, and that the test was hyped for political reasons.

The Father of All Bombs, as shown, would not fit in a Tu-160's bomb bay, as it features a horizontally deploying drogue parachute that would be fouled by the aircraft if released vertically."

Submission + - Student Attacked After Dropping Cake (infowars.net) 17

Submitted by on Sunday September 30, 2007 @01:49AM

An anonymous reader writes: "School security guards in Palmdale, CA have been caught on camera assaulting a 16-year-old girl and breaking her arm after she spilled some cake during lunch and left some crumbs on the floor after cleaning it up. The girl, Pleajhai Mervin, told Fox News LA that she was bumped while queuing for lunch and dropped the cake. After being ordered to clean it up and then re-clean the spot three times, she attempted to leave the area out of embarrassment but was jumped on by security who forced her onto a table, breaking her wrist in the process."

Submission + - Fed up of working for The Man? Stick with it. (businessofsoftware.org)

Submitted by

neilgd

on Monday September 17, 2007 @12:35PM

neilgd writes: "The Micro ISV dream is that of quitting your day job and setting up your own one-man business. Instead of slaving away to make other people rich you can leave your cubicle behind, spend a few hours a day with some light coding and relax while the money rolls in. But is this possible? Can you afford to leave your job? Or should you get a job in a bar instead to get that extra income? A survey of 96 Micro ISVs revealed that most one-man band software companies make under $25 / hour. No downloads and no sales is common. But there are some insanely profitable Micro ISVs out there."

Submission + - Scientology to be prosecuted in Belgium (ap.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 04, 2007 @12:25PM

An anonymous reader writes: Scientology will be prosecuted as a criminal enterprise in Belgium as a result of a 10 year investigation into their behavior and finances.

Submission + - First Look at a New Space Terminal (space.com)

Submitted by

Raver32

on Tuesday September 04, 2007 @11:57AM

Raver32 writes: "Architectural and engineering teams have begun shaping the look and feel of New Mexico's Spaceport America, taking the wraps off new images today that showcase the curb appeal of the sprawling main terminal and hangar at the futuristic facility. Last month, a team of U.S. and British architects and designers had been recommended for award to design the primary terminal and hangar facility at Spaceport America — structures that symbolize the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport. Selected from an international field of eleven firms, the winning design is the work of URS Corporation — a large design and engineering enterprise — teamed with Foster + Partners of the United Kingdom, a group with extensive experience in crafting airport buildings. When the 100,000 square-foot (9,260 square-meter) facility is completed — the centerpiece of the world's first, purpose-built, commercial spaceport — the structures will serve as the primary operating base for Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceliner, and also as the headquarters for the New Mexico Spaceport Authority."

Submission + - Belgium prosecutes the church of Scientology

Submitted by

sheean.nl

on Tuesday September 04, 2007 @06:59AM

sheean.nl writes: "The Belgian Federal Judicial Authorities plans to prosecute the church of Scientology. The church is accused of being a criminal organisation which involves itself with extortion, fraud, unfair trading, violation of privacy laws and unlawfully practicing medicine. Both the Belgian and the European departement should be brought to court, according to the authorities. An investigation has been started in 1999 after former Scientologists complained about extortion by the church, this investigation has now been completed and the authorities want the case to be put through. The Belgians call this case a world's first. In some countries, including the US, the church of Scientology is officially recognised as a religion, with high-profile followers such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta."

Submission + - More damaging compounds found in HFCS drinks (newswise.com)

Submitted by on Tuesday September 04, 2007 @06:00AM

An anonymous reader writes: Chi-Tang Ho, Ph.D., conducted chemical tests among 11 different carbonated soft drinks containing HFCS. He found 'astonishingly high' levels of reactive carbonyls in those beverages. These undesirable and highly-reactive compounds associated with "unbound" fructose and glucose molecules are believed to cause tissue damage, says Ho, a professor of food science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. By contrast, reactive carbonyls are not present in table sugar, whose fructose and glucose components are "bound" and chemically stable, the researcher notes.

More here: http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/532433/

Submission + - NBC wanted $5 per TV show, more restrictive DRM 1

Submitted by Slaine on Friday August 31, 2007 @02:15PM

Slaine writes: More information has come to light about why Apple and NBC aren't seeing eye-to-eye on selling TV shows through iTunes (previous /.). NBC wants far more restrictive DRM, and demanded $4.99 pricing for TV shows, more than doubling the price. Apple has retaliated by refusing to sell NBC's new fall shows, even though they have a contract through the end of the year. Something tells me NBC will be regretting this decision once the new season of shows starts.

Submission + - DIRECTV freaks out and blocks everything (typepad.com) 1

Submitted by eagl on Thursday August 30, 2007 @11:32PM

eagl writes: It seems as if DIRECTV has jumped on the DRM bandwagon in a big way. Wil Wheaton finds himself with 57 channels (plus or minus a few hundred) and nothing on, quite literally. Is the inevitable result of forcing restrictive standards that do not benefit consumers?

Submission + - Giant spider web spurs sticky debate (www.cbc.ca) 1

Submitted by

Raver32

on Thursday August 30, 2007 @02:30PM

Raver32 writes: "Entomologists are debating the origins of a massive spider web, which runs more than 180 metres and covers several trees and shrubs, found in Texas. Officials at Lake Tawakoni State Park, near Willis Point, find the web both amazing and somewhat creepy. "At first, it was so white it looked like fairyland," park superintendent Donna Garde said. "Now it's filled with so many mosquitoes that it's turned a little brown. There are times you can literally hear the screech of millions of mosquitoes caught in those webs." Experts are debating whether the web is the work of social cobweb spiders working together, or a mass dispersal where the arachnids spin webs to move away from one another."

Submission + - What makes mars magnetic? (spaceflightnow.com)

Submitted by

lecithin

on Thursday August 23, 2007 @01:15PM

lecithin writes: "Spaceflightnow has a story regarding a puzzle to astronomers and geologists. What makes mars magnetic? If you could pick up a rock from the surface of Mars, then the chances are it would be magnetic. And yet, Mars doesn't have a magnetic field coming from its core. These rocks are clinging to the signal of an ancient magnetic field, dating back billions of years, to the times when Mars had a magnetic field like Earth's."

Submission + - Mars and Earth Converge (space.com)

Submitted by

Raver32

on Thursday August 23, 2007 @08:17AM

Raver32 writes: "By the time you finish reading this sentence, you'll be about 25 miles closer to Mars, according to NASA calculations. Earth and Mars are converging, setting up a great skywatching opportunity for later this year. Here's what's going on: Earth has the inside track as the two worlds orbit the sun. Inner planets orbit more quickly than outer planets because of the laws of gravity. Earth requires 365 days to go around the sun once, whereas a year on Mars is 687 Earth-days. So every 26 months, Earth passes Mars on this orbital trek. When the pass occurs, Earth and Mars are on the same side of the sun, as seen from above, with all three objects lined up in a row, and astronomers say Mars is at opposition. As our planet catches the red planet, the distance between them shrinks dramatically. (It's an opportune time for sending missions to Mars, such as the recently launched Phoenix Lander.)"

Submission + - Universal PSP Unbricker Released

Submitted by wamerocity on Thursday August 23, 2007 @02:11AM

wamerocity writes: "One of the biggest if not THE BIGGEST development in the PSP hacking scene has just unfolded."

A new homebrew app, lovingly referred to as "Pandora's Battery" has surfaced as a joint effort between the most noted PSP Homebrew devs, team Noobz, C + D, and homebrew god Dark_Alex. This app, allows ANY homebrew enabled PSP to turn any regular PSP battery into the famed "jigkick" battery, (the method Sony uses to unbrick warrantied PSP) and in conjunction with a small program on the memory stick, it can restore it to the celestial homebrew-friendly 1.5 firmware.

As a sidenote, the newly-created jigkick battery can no longer be used as a normal battery, so a new one should be purchased first.

Submission + - Wii caught the xbox 360

Submitted by LucidLion on Wednesday August 22, 2007 @07:15PM

LucidLion writes: As reported here and according to the vgchartz, in less than a year the Wii has overtaken the XBox 360 and has become the fasted selling console ever. From the article:

The news marks the first time that Nintendo has been the leader in both the home console and handheld markets since 1994 when the company's Super NES and Game Boy lines reigned supreme. Currently, the DS and Wii are the top two selling system's in the industry.

With the way it's selling, any drought in Wii games probably won't last long.

Submission + - US Home Confinement Program is Windows Only (torrentfreak.com) 2

Submitted by

Ernesto

on Wednesday August 22, 2007 @02:09PM

Ernesto writes: "Sk0t, an ex-administrator of the EliteTorrents BitTorrent tracker is to have his internet connection forcibly monitored by the US Government. If that wasn't bad enough, the monitoring software is Windows based — which means he is being forced to ditch Linux — or face being barred from the internet."

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