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Comment Re: Before the libertarians start preaching... (Score 1) 330

by Andux (#42769651) Attached to: Online Narcotics Store 'Silk Road' Is Showing Cracks

I've spent time in socialist countries and it was miserable. And the closer a country gets to socialism, the more miserable and poor people end up being, the more their liberties end up being restricted, and the more corrupt government becomes.

The same could be said of capitalism.

Most libertarians would be happy to turn back the clock on government regulations and government taxes to more traditionally American levels, for the simple reason that the current situation is not sustainable. Progressives are so much into sustainability, why don't you start with finances?

Define "traditionally American levels" - taxes today are lower than at any point from 1933 to the mid-eighties, yet median income, as a percentage of GDP per capita, has been trending downwards since the '80s; meanwhile, CEO pay has skyrocketed. Do you call that sustainable?
Biotech

Submission + - New Nerve Gas Antidotes (wired.com) 1

Submitted by SoyChemist
SoyChemist writes: Scientists from Korea and the Czech Republic have discovered new drugs that can counteract the chemical overload caused by nerve gas. All of the experimental medications belong to a family of chemicals called oximes. Those molecules reactivate the enzyme that is damaged by the chemical weapons. Last year, the FDA approved the first combined atropine and oxime auto-injector for use by emergency personnel. Israel has been providing them to their citizens since the first Gulf War.
Space

Submission + - Rocket-Powered 21-Foot Long X-Wing Actually Flies (gizmodo.com) 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Andy Woerner and his crazy rocketeer friends have built a 21-foot long X-Wing model that can actually fly. Yes, this is a real X-Wing powered by four solid-fuel rocket engines complete with radio-controlled moving wings. It blasts off in California next week, and we talked with Andy about the project, and how they expect it will do. Look at the pictures of the construction. It even has an R2-D2. I can't wait for this fly and/or blown-up.
Security

Submission + - German police arrest admin of Tor anonymity server (cnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In a recent blog posting, a German operator of a Tor anonymous proxy server revealed that he was arrested by German police officers at the end of July. Showing up at his house at midnight on a Sunday night, police cuffed and arrested him in front of his wife and seized his equipment. In a display of both bitter irony and incompetence, the police did not take or shut-down the Tor server responsible for the traffic they were interested in, which was located in a data center, over 500km away. In the last year, Germany has passed a draconian new anti-security research law and raided seven different data centers to seize Tor servers. While back in 2003, A German court ordered the developers of a different anonymity network to build a back-door into their system. CNET's article has the full details.
Biotech

Submission + - Scientists Expose Weak DNA in HIV

Submitted by
Ace905
Ace905 writes: "The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced Thursday that they had discovered a very promising, "weak spot" in the HIV Virus. The HIV virus, a progenitor to full blown "Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome" or AIDS has eluded all attempts at a vaccine since it was discovered sometime in the 1970's. The major problem with developing a vaccine initially was isolating the virus. Conventional viruses are often defeated with existing drugs, or after being tested against new compounds. HIV has been unique, and staggering in it's ability to resist all attempts at treatment by mutating its' own genetic code. HIV is able to resist, with great effectiveness, any drug or combination drug-therapy that is used against it.

So far, our best efforts have been slowing down progression of the disease — but the number of people infected every year is rising and victims are estimated at 1.4 Million in North American alone, last year. Discovering a chain of vulnerable DNA on the HIV virus gives researchers a very exact target that can not resist damage."
The Courts

Submission + - Blizzard officially files against WoW Glider

Submitted by
Marcus Eikenberry
Marcus Eikenberry writes: "Blizzard and Vivendi ( www.blizzard.com ) today filed against MDY Industries ( www.wowglider.com ) and Michael Donnelly in the state of Arizona USA. Blizzard is seeking injunctive relief and money damages against MDY. What that means is they want him to stop the production of WoW Glider and they want him to pay them damages. Blizzard believes that Glider infringes on their intellectual property. They believe Glider allows players to cheat, giving them an unfair advantage and that they believe Glider encourages Blizzard customers to breach their contracts for playing the game. Last they claim that Glider is designed to circumvent copyright protections. Blizzard officially files against WoW Glider (Previous Story):WoW Glider vs. World of Warcraft in United States District Court"
Music

Submission + - Yahoo Music, chiefs urge labels to 'ditch DRM'

Submitted by
waired
waired writes: "It seem that a trend has begun in the musics industry after Steve Jobs essay. Now a senior Yahoo chief has spoken out in favor of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' call for major labels to abandon digital rights technology (DRM). It points out that consumers are getting confused and that the Microsoft DRM "doesn't work half the time". http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&newsI D=17184"
Google

Submission + - Google News Found Guilty of Copyright Violation

Submitted by
schmiddy
schmiddy writes: "A court in Brussels, Belgium, has just found Google guilty of violating copyright law with its Google News aggregator. According to the ruling, Google News' links and brief summaries of news sources violates copyright law. Google will be forced to be $32,600 for each day it displayed the links of the plaintiffs. Although Google plans to appeal, this ruling could have chilling effects on fair use rights on the web in the rest of Europe as well if other countries follow suit."

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