gambolt - Slashdot User

Comment Re:It'll take a lot to wipe us out (Score 1) 262

by gambolt on Saturday March 28, 2009 @03:11PM (#27372053) Attached to: I expect the last human on Earth to be born ...

Once the warming-induced carbon feedback cycle kicks in and the methane is released from the seabeds, that's all she wrote unless we can figure out how to live in domes in time. We've got less than 1000 years.

Submission + - Sun refuses LGPL code for Openoffice; Novell forks (gnome.org) 1

Submitted by TRS-80 on Wednesday October 03, 2007 @02:55AM

TRS-80 writes: Kohei Yoshida wrote a long post on the history of Calc Solver, an optimization solver module for the Calc component of OpenOffice.org. After three years of jumping through Sun's hoops on his own time, Sun says it will duplicate the work because Kohei doesn't want to sign over ownership of the code. Adding insult to injury, Sun then invites him join this duplication. Because of Sun's refusal to accept LPGL extensions in the upstream code, Michael Meeks (who recently talked about Sun's OO.o community failings, and ODF and OOXML) has announced ooo-build (previously just for build fixes) is now a formal fork of OpenOffice to be located at http://go-oo.org/. Will Sun admit it's being a control freak or continue with pointless duplication?

Journal SPAM: Breaking: Jeremy Hall threatened with "fragging" in Iraq 1

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius on Saturday September 22, 2007 @02:52PM

Atheist whistle blower Army Specialist Jeremy Hall has become the target of despicable threats by Dominionist Christians in his own unit.

Telecom Companies Seek Retroactive Immunity 177

Posted by Zonk on Saturday September 22, 2007 @02:22PM from the covering-their-butts-while-they-still-can dept.

kidcharles writes "Newsweek reports that a secretive lobbying campaign has been launched by telecommunications companies who are seeking retroactive immunity from private lawsuits over their cooperation with the NSA in the so-called 'terrorist surveillance program.' Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell has claimed that lawsuits could 'bankrupt these companies.' The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a lawsuit against AT&T over their cooperation in the domestic spying program. EFF legal director Cindy Cohen said of the lobbying campaign, 'They are trying to completely immunize this [the surveillance program] from any kind of judicial review. I find it a little shocking that Congress would participate in the covering up of what has been going on.'"

Journal SPAM: When Net Neutrality Goes Away: The Internet as Cable TV

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius on Saturday September 22, 2007 @02:17PM

"Picture-worth-a-thousand-words Dept."
This informative InfoGraphic suggests the very real possibility of how tiered Internet pricing would work for residential customers, in the near future. Cory Doctrow, commenting on BoingBoing says: "I think that this is what it's really all about... where access to anything except

Submission + - student arrested wearing hoax device at airport 1

Submitted by SuperBanana on Friday September 21, 2007 @02:39PM

SuperBanana writes: According to a report by the Boston Globe, Star Simpson was nearly shot by Logan Airport police who thought she was armed with a bomb. She approached an airline employee wearing a prototyping board with electronic components, crudely attached to the front of her sweatshirt and holding "putty" in her hand. She asked about an incoming flight, and did not respond when asked about the device. Armed police responded. Her actions seem purposefully designed to elicit a reaction from airport security- or this is further proof of the poor judgment of Boston area college students.

Submission + - Do You Need a Permit to Land on the Moon? (slate.com) 4

Submitted by

Billosaur

on Friday September 21, 2007 @01:28PM

Billosaur writes: "With the recent announcement of Google's X-prize for a successful private landing of a robot on the Moon, someone has asked the Explainer at Slate.com if permission is required to land something on the Moon? Turns out that while there is no authority that regulates landing objects on another world, getting there does require the permission of the national government from where the launch takes place. This is in accordance with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, signed by 91 nations, which regulates the uses of outer space by the nations of Earth. Specifically, Article VI enjoins: "The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty." Start your paperwork!"

Submission + - Creative Commons Sued (techdirt.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21, 2007 @12:57PM

An anonymous reader writes: A Texas family has sued Creative Commons after their teenaged daughter's photo was used in an ad campaign for Virgin Mobile Australia. The photo had been taken by the girl's youth counselor, who put it on Flickr, and chose a CC Attribution license, which allows for commercial use. Virgin did, in fact, attribute the photo to the photographer, fulfilling the terms of the license, but the family is still suing Virgin Mobile Australia and Creative Commons. Since the guy chose the CC license, it's difficult to see how they can now sue CC.

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