Comment Statistics for All (Score 1) 246
It is more useful in more fields, and would be good for the democracy.
Sound As the New Illegal Narcotic? 561
ehrichweiss writes "The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics is warning parents and teachers of a new threat to our children: sounds. Apparently kids are now discovering binaural beats and using them to get 'physiological effects.' The report goes on with everyone suggesting that such aural experiences will act as a gateway to drug usage and even has one student claiming there are 'demons' involved. Anyone who has used one of those light/sound machines knows all about the effects that these sounds will give and to state that they will lead kids to do drugs is nonsense at best. It seems the trend in scaring the citizens with a made-up problem has gone to the next level."
Comment Re:Further perspective (Score 2, Interesting) 560
Last year, I spent a couple of hours googling to be able to calculate the average amount of mercury (the mercury content of coal varies a lot) emitted by electric power plants. I came up with CFLs containing a third of the mercury that would be released to generate the extra power needed for incandescent lights. And mercury that escapes out a smokestack seems to me to be more immediately dangerous than mercury in a modern landfill.
Feed U.S. Balks at Climate Talks (wired.com)
Buy PC Without an OS... Get a Visit From MSFT? 639
sebFlyte writes "'Don't sell PCs without operating systems or we'll send the boys round.' That seems to be the general message coming out of microsoft's antipiracy unit, according to ZDNet. While MS seems to accept that people might want to get hold of PCs without Windows so they can put Linux on them, they don't think that's a good enough excuse. "We want to urge all system builders -- indeed, all Partners -- not to supply naked PCs. It is a risk to your customers and a risk to your business," says Microsoft. The FSF has given this policy short shrift, saying: "It looks like a private sniffing service which is supposed to spy on these who do not want to pay the Microsoft tax anymore. It is an incredible piece of impudence.""
