Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Submission Summary: 0 pending, 20 declined, 7 accepted (27 total, 25.93% accepted)

Space

Submission + - Rocket Hobbyists prevail over Feds in court case

Submitted by
Ellis D. Tripp
Ellis D. Tripp writes: "DC District Court judge Reggie Walton has finally ruled in the 9-year old court case pitting the model rocketry community against the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). The ruling is a "slam dunk" for the rocketry community, stating that the BATFE ignored scientific evidence and overstepped their bounds by classifying ammonium perchlorate composite propellant (APCP) as an "explosive". Effective immediately, the BATFE has no legal jurisdiction over hobby rocket motors, and a federal Low Explosives User's Permit (LEUP) will no longer be needed in order to purchase APCP motors.

Full text of the Judge's decision here:

http://www.rocketryplanet.com/images/pdf/ATFE-03-16-09.pdf"
Security

Submission + - NYC seeks to ban Geiger counters and Air monitors (villagevoice.com)

Submitted by
Ellis D. Tripp
Ellis D. Tripp writes: "The city of New York is pushing legislation that would ban private ownership of certain scientific instruments that could give warning of excessive pollution or radioactive contamination. The proposed law would specifically target Geiger counters and air particulate sampling equipment. The alleged rationale behind the law is to prevent false alarms that might panio the public, but after the coverup surrounding the air quality in lower Manhattan immediately after the (/11 attacks, perhaps the REAL goal is to prevent independent scientific study that might contradict the official party line?

From the article:

[quote]"There are currently no guidelines regulating the private acquisition of biological, chemical, and radiological detectors," warned Falkenrath, adding that this law was suggested by officials within the Department of Homeland Security. "There are no consistent standards for the type of detectors used, no requirement that they be reported to the police department — or anyone else, for that matter — and no mechanism for coordinating these devices. . . . Our mutual goal is to prevent false alarms . . . by making sure we know where these detectors are located, and that they conform to standards of quality and reliability."[/quote]

This is not the first law that would restrict the sales of scientific apparatus to the general public. The state of Texas already bans a large list of glassware and laboratory equipment without a permit from (and periodic inspections by) law enforcement."
The Courts

Submission + - Drug testing entire cities at once

Submitted by
Ellis D. Tripp
Ellis D. Tripp writes: "Researchers have developed a technique for determining what illicit drugs people might be consuming in a given area, by testing a sample from the local sewage treatment plant. As little as a teaspoonful of untreated wastewater can reveal drug use patterns in a given community. From the article:

"one fairly affluent community scored low for illicit drugs except for cocaine. Cocaine and ecstasy tended to peak on weekends and drop on weekdays, she said, while methamphetamine and prescription drugs were steady throughout the week."

Obviously, any drugs found can't be tied to any specific user, but how much longer until the drug warriors want to deploy automatic sampling units farther upstream of the sewage treatment plant, sampling sewage output from selected neighborhoods, blocks, or even individual houses?

http://www.townhall.com/news/sci-tech/2007/08/21/s cientists_drug-test_whole_cities"
NASA

Submission + - Computer analysis sets NASA history straight

Submitted by Ellis D. Tripp
Ellis D. Tripp writes: Computer analysis has upheld Neil Armstrong's version of the first words spoken on the lunar surface. The word "a" was dropped due to a communications glitch, and Armstrong has been accused of flubbing his words since the historic 1969 landing. The corrected statement was "That's one small step for *A* man, One giant leap for mankind."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4225505. html

Slashdot Top Deals

Use the Force, Luke.

Close