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Earth

Endangered Species Condoms 61

The Center for Biological Diversity wants to help put a polar bear in your pants with their endangered species condom campaign. They hope that giving away 100,000 free Endangered Species Condoms across the country will highlight how unsustainable human population growth is driving species to extinction, and instill the sexual prowess of the coquí guajón rock frog, nature's most passionate lover, in the condom users. From the article: "To help people understand the impact of overpopulation on other species, and to give them a chance to take action in their own lives, the Center is distributing free packets of Endangered Species Condoms depicting six separate species: the polar bear, snail darter, spotted owl, American burying beetle, jaguar, and coquí guajón rock frog."
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Could UK Tax Breaks Pave the Way For GTA London? 137

BanjoTed writes "An interesting — if tongue-in-cheek — bit of speculation is up at MCV about the possibility of a Grand Theft Auto title across the pond. 'Chancellor Alistair Darling's pledge to support the video games development industry with tax breaks could do more than simply protect the future of the UK dev sector,' the site claims. 'It could also have dictated the setting of the next Grand Theft Auto.' Its reasoning? That developers will only be eligible for new UK tax breaks if their games can be proven to be 'culturally British.' Being based in the UK alone is not sufficient for this — instead, the games in question must promote Britishness. Hence MCV's conclusion that Grand Theft Auto V may well be set in London — saving Rockstar an estimated $16m in the process."

Feed Stephen Hawking holds it together in zero-g vomit comet (engadget.com)

Filed under: Transportation

We tip our hats to you, Sir Hawking. You said you were gonna do it, and you surely did, hopping in a tricked out 727 to experience the weightlessness of space. During his eight successive 30 second stints of zero gravity, Hawking did a coupla spins and was even photographed with an apple of Newtonian symbolism. Not surprisingly, Stephen was totally stoked about his trip, saying afterward, "space, here I come." before totally popping a rocking wheelie in his robo wheelchair. Ok, maybe we made up that last bit, but we'd just like to say to Stephen: way to go, broham. We're looking forward to all the rad theoretical phsyics you'll come up with after this inspiring trip to pseudo-space.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!


Mars

Submission + - Scientist: Sun is Warming Both Earth and Mars

MCraigW writes: "Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural — and not a human-induced — cause. Earth is currently experiencing warming, which climate scientists say is due to humans pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Mars, too, appears to be enjoying more mild and balmy temperatures.

In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.

Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of the St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun."
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Journal Journal: Al "Green" Gores Shocking Electric Bill 1

Some interested person called the Nashville (TN) Electrical Service and under the Freedom of Information Act asked for the Academy Award Winning Ex-VP's energy bill. Apparently the publicly dull persona has quite the party life going at home. His usage last year? 221,000 kWh, that's a $30,000 bill, more than 20 times the national average. Last August alone he used 22,619 kWh, more than you or me (even with those massive 1000W PS' ru
Sci-Fi

Submission + - World's first tricorder created by Purdue

aeoneal writes: According to Science Daily, mass spectrometry is no longer limited to what can be taken to the lab. Purdue researchers have created a handy 20 lb. device that combines mass spectrometry with DESI (desorption electrospray ionization), allowing chemical composition to be determined outside of a vacuum chamber. Purdue suggests this could be useful for everything from detecting explosive substances or cancer to predicting disease. Researcher R. Graham Cooks says, "We like to compare it to the tricorder because it is truly a hand-held instrument that yields information about the precise chemical composition of samples in a matter of minutes without harming the samples."
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Star Trek To Return Christmas 2008

Tycoon Guy writes: "Paramount today announced the new 'Star Trek' film is scheduled for release on Christmas Day 2008. The studio also confirmed the film will be directed by J.J. Abrams, who said the film will "embrace and respect" Trek canon, but will also "chart its own course." Also today, rumors are out claiming Matt Damon, Adrien Brody and Gary Sinise will play Kirk, Spock and Scotty, respectively."
Biotech

Submission + - Chinese develop remote controlled pigeons

KDan writes: As seen on CNN and other places, "Scientists in eastern China say they have succeeded in controlling the flight of pigeons with micro electrodes planted in their brains". Whilst everyone focuses on the weird and fun aspects of remote-controlled pigeons and points out that "The report did not specify what practical uses the scientists saw for the remote-controlled pigeons", a number of obvious uses jump out to me. Flocks of remote controlled pigeons could be used in warfare as very effective weapons delivery systems. They can take out low-flying planes and helicopters by being flown into their way. In fact they can probably be used to take out any target. Electronically controlled pigeons could lead to a new expansion of the concept of self-healing minefields... How about a patrolling flock of payloaded pigeons that target anyone identified as an "enemy"? The important factor is that whereas building a mechanical equivalent of a pigeon would be expensive, growing a pigeon and implanting some electrodes is comparatively cheap so that large numbers of RC pigeons could be "manufactured" and used for any purpose imaginable. A missile costs tens of thousands of dollars — why bother when you can raise a flock of pigeons and "upgrade" them for a fraction of that price, and proceed to send them to the target?

Perhaps most importantly, however, the remote-controlled pigeons will finally allow us to create an efficient implementation of RFC 1149 and RFC 2549.

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