Cyclump - Slashdot User

Pirate Party Coming To Canada 394

Posted by timothy on Sunday July 05, 2009 @05:08AM from the but-the-vikings-hit-canada-hundreds-of-years-ago dept.

An anonymous reader writes "After scoring a surprise electoral win in Sweden and getting high-profile support in Germany, The Pirate Party is coming to Canada. The party's goals are fairly simple. People should have the right to share and copy music, movies and virtually any material, as long as it is for personal use, not for profit. It opposes government and corporate monitoring of Internet activities, unless as part of a criminal investigation. It also wants to phase out patents."

Optical Fiber With a Silicon Core 60

Posted by timothy on Wednesday October 29, 2008 @03:43PM from the now-that-ain't-in-leviticus dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "According to the Optical Society of America, U.S. researchers have been able to create a practical optical fiber with a silicon core. As they were able to use the same commercial methods that are used to develop all-glass fibers, this might pave the way for future silicon fibers as viable alternatives to glass fibers. The scientists note that this should help increase efficiency and decrease power consumption in computers and other systems that integrate photonic and electronic devices. Here is a good summary by the lead researcher: 'In the past, we've needed one structure to process light and another to carry it. With a silicon fiber, for the first time, we have the ability to greatly enhance the functionality in one fiber.'"

Comment Re:Not buying this (Score 2, Insightful) 208

by Cyclump on Friday July 25, 2008 @03:17PM (#24339801) Attached to: "Last Lecture" CMU Professor Randy Pausch Dies

Death does not have to be a time to be sad. He was given a great gift. He was given time. The reaper's hand was stayed long enough for him to do great things. He was given time to be with his family and to ensure they will know their father even though they may not remember him. He was given time to create something that has touched more people than he could have ever known. As someone who has survived cancer I choose to celebrate his life rather than to mourn his death. When I get home tonight I will raise a glass to Randy Pausch and bid him farewell into the great unknown.

Aussie Cops Want Powers To Search Any Computer 262

Posted by kdawson on Thursday March 06, 2008 @11:05AM from the cold-dead-fingers dept.

goatherder23 writes in with news that the New South Wales cabinet has proposed new powers for police to search computers anywhere under a search warrant, and adds: "The Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse are invoked to explain why police need the new laws, which have yet to be introduced into Parliament. Would someone please explain to them before this happens that all computers on the Internet are "networked" and that some computers may be found outside NSW (or even Australia)?" "Police Minister David Campbell says police are currently only able to search computer hardware found on a premises named in a search warrant. He says with the changes, they will be able to go a step further and search other networked computers, regardless of where they are located. 'What we know is that there are organized crime gangs who use the Internet and other forms of technology to hide their crimes,' he said."

70% of P2P Users Would Stop if Warned by ISP 318

Posted by Zonk on Monday March 03, 2008 @04:52PM from the oh-hai-there dept.

Umpire writes "As the UK considers a three strikes policy to fight copyright infringement, a new survey reports that 70% of UK broadband users would stop using P2P if they received a warning from their ISP. 'Wiggin commissioned the 2008 Digital Entertainment Survey, which found that 70 percent of all people polled said they would stop illegally sharing files if their ISP notified them in some way that it had detected the practice. When broken down by age group, an unexpected trend emerges: teenagers are generally more likely to change their behavior than older Internet users.'"

Time To Abolish Software Patents? 259

Posted by Soulskill on Friday February 29, 2008 @09:15AM from the reply-hazy-try-again dept.

gnujoshua writes "Has the time come to abolish software patents? Fortune columnist Roger Parloff reports on a new campaign called End Software Patents, which he views as 'attempting to ride a wave of corporate and judicial disenchantment with aspects of the current patent system.' Ryan Paul of Ars Technica writes that the purpose of the campaign is to 'educate the public and encourage grass-roots patent reform activism in order to promote effective legislative solutions to the software patent problem.' The campaign site is informative and targets many types of readers, and it includes a scholarship contest with a top prize of $10,000.00. We've recently discussed the potential legal re-examination of software patents."

Chimps Found Making Own Weapons to Hunt for Food 410

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday February 22, 2007 @08:47PM from the boards-with-nails dept.

Pojut writes "The Washington Post has an article involving chimps and weapons. Apparently, there have been direct observations of chimps in the west African savannah modifying sticks to create spears. They then use these spears to kill small mammals and eat them. It is the first time that an animal other than a human has been directly observed in crafting a weapon for the purpose of hunting or killing."

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