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Earth

Submission + - Wind Map of US Will Blow You Away

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Talk about visualizations. Ever wondered what the wind would look like if you could see it in action from above? A new project posted online by a pair of Google computer scientists, called simply Wind Map, has to be seen to be believed. "It can be quite hypnotizing to watch the gusty trails blast across the American continent, skitter over the Sierras, get roughed up by the Rockies, and whoosh over the great plains on its way to Canada," writes Chris Taylor. Wind Map is the brainchild of Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg, the co-leaders of Google’s “Big Picture” visualization research group in Cambridge, Mass. Wind patterns are constantly changing, of course, which is why the Wind Map designers have also given us a moving-image gallery of previous blustery days."

Submission + - City of Boston pays $170,000 to settle landmark case involving man arrested for (aclum.org) 1

Submitted by
Ian Lamont
Ian Lamont writes: "The City of Boston has reached a $170,000 settlement with Simon Glik who was arrested by Boston Police in 2007 after using his mobile phone to record police arresting another man on Boston Common. Police claimed that Glik had violated state wiretapping laws, but later dropped the charges and admitted the officers were wrong to arrest him. Glik had brought a lawsuit against the city (aided by the ACLU) because he claimed his civil rights were violated. According to today's ACLU statement:

As part of the settlement, Glik agreed to withdraw his appeal to the Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel. He had complained about the Internal Affairs Division's investigation of his complaint and the way they treated him. IAD officers made fun of Glik for filing the complaint, telling him his only remedy was filing a civil lawsuit. After the City spent years in court defending the officers' arrest of Glik as constitutional and reasonable, IAD reversed course after the First Circuit ruling and disciplined two of the officers for using "unreasonable judgment" in arresting Glik.

"
Spam

Now Even Photo CAPTCHAs Have Been Cracked 340

Posted by timothy from the given-enough-eyeballs dept.
MoonUnit writes "Technology Review has an interesting article about the way CAPTCHAS are fueling AI research. Following recent news about various textual CAPTCHAs being cracked, the article notes that a researcher at Palo Alto Research Center has now found a way crack photo-based CAPTCHAs too. Most approaches are based on statistical learning, however, so Luis von Ahn (one of the inventors of the CAPTCHA) says it is usually possible to make a CAPTCHA more difficult to break by making a few simple changes."
Power

Submission + - Hobbyist renewable energy 2

Submitted by
vossman77
vossman77 writes: "I was looking into renewable energy from a hobbyist perspective, maybe generating a few watts of solar or wind power, just to reduce my electric bill. But upon further review, I found out that I need a special grid tie AC inverter that shuts off when the grid turns off (for worker safety reasons) and makes the current in-phase with the grid. These two additional features over the cheap inverters sold at department store, makes the cost upwards of $2000, but support more watts than I need. While this is fine for large scale projects, it is out of range for a small scale hobbyist. A Google search came with some home brew hacks at best. So, are there any slashdotters out doing small scale renewable energy projects with grid tie systems? What are other options for the hobbyist to play around with renewable energy, other than charging a cell phone?"
Privacy

Submission + - FBI renews push for ISP data retention laws (news.com)

Submitted by
mytrip
mytrip writes: "The FBI and multiple members of Congress said on Wednesday that Internet service providers must be legally required to keep records of their users' activities for later review by police.

Their suggestions for mandatory data retention revives a push for potentially sweeping federal laws — which civil libertarians oppose — that flagged last year after the resignation of Attorney General Gonzales, the idea's most prominent proponent.

Based on the statements at Wednesday's hearing and previous calls for new laws in this area, the scope of a mandatory data retention law remains fuzzy. It could mean forcing companies to store data for two years about what Internet addresses are assigned to which customers (Comcast said in 2006 that it would be retaining those records for six months).

Or it could be far more intrusive. It could mean keeping track of e-mail and instant messaging correspondents and what Web pages users visit. Some Democratic politicians have called for data retention laws to extend to domain name registries and Web hosting companies and even social networking sites. During private meetings with industry officials, FBI and Justice Department representatives have said it would be desirable to force search engines to keep logs — a proposal that could gain additional law enforcement support, but raise additional privacy concerns and potentially conflict with European laws."
The Courts

Submission + - Marshall University challenges RIAA (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Marshall University, in Huntington, West Virginia, has become just the second known college or university in the United States to show "the moxy to stand up for its students instead of instantly caving in to RIAA extortion". In February, Marshall, represented by the Attorney General of the State of West Virginia, made a motion to quash the RIAA's subpoena for student identities, pointing out in exquisite detail in its long-time IT guy's affidavit (pdf), the impossibility of identifying copyright "infringers" based on the RIAA's meager evidence. Unfortunately, the Magistrate — under the mistaken impression that the RIAA isn't going to sue the identified students, but merely wants to talk to them — recommended that the subpoena be okayed by the District Judge (pdf). It is not yet known whether Marshall will be filing objections. The first U.S. college or university known to have dared to attack the RIAA's subpoena was the University of Oregon, which — also represented by its state's Attorney General — made a motion to quash last November, and even questioned the legality of the RIAA's methods. The Oregon motion is still pending."
The Military

Submission + - Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon's Hidden Hand (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
gollum123
gollum123 writes: "From the NyTimes, Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity of military analysts on the major networks, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration's wartime performance. ( http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin ) The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air. several dozen of the military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks. Analysts have been wooed in hundreds of private briefings with senior military leaders, including officials with significant influence over contracting and budget matters, records show. They have been taken on tours of Iraq and given access to classified intelligence. In turn, members of this group have echoed administration talking points, sometimes even when they suspected the information was false or inflated. Some analysts acknowledge they suppressed doubts because they feared jeopardizing their access. So much for objectivity in the media."
Google

Journal Journal: Scientology Abuses YouTube to Silence Critics 5

Journal by Anti-Trend
The story was carried by major news outlets globally when actor and high-ranking Scientologist Jason Beghe sat down with outspoken Scientology critic Mark Bunker (XenuTV.com) and gave an interview regarding his former membership in the organization last week. A 3-minute teaser video graced YouTube, and met with fierce hostility from Scientology advocates. When Mark promised to upload the complete version of the interview on Thursday the 18
Earth

Submission + - Nuked coral reef bounces back

Submitted by
sm62704
sm62704 writes: "I found this New Scientest article interesting, as I was actually alive (albeit very small) when Bikini Atol was atom-bombed.

What does a coral reef look like 50 years after being nuked? Not so bad, it seems. Coconuts growing on Bikini Atoll haven't fared so well, however.
The article says that the reason the reefs are flourishing is because they are mostly undisturbed by humans, who are afraid of the radiation. Background levels there are now "similar to that at any Australian city", while nearby islands haven't been so lucky. "When I put the Geiger counter near a coconut, which accumulates radioactive material from the soil, it went berserk," says Maria Beger of the University of Queensland in Australia."
Medicine

Submission + - Alligator blood may be source of new antiobiotics (physorg.com)

Submitted by esocid
esocid writes: Again from the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, biochemists from McNeese State University described how proteins in gator blood may provide a source of powerful new antibiotics to help fight infections associated with diabetic ulcers, severe burns, and "superbugs" that are resistant to conventional medication. Previous studies by Merchant showed that alligators have an unusually strong immune system that is very different from that of humans. Unlike people, alligators can fight microorganisms such as fungi, viruses, and bacteria without having prior exposure to them. Scientists believe that this is an evolutionary adaptation to promote quick wound healing, as alligators are often injured during fierce territorial battles. Their study, described as the first to explore the antimicrobial activity of alligator blood in detail, found a range of other promising uses for the gator's antibiotic proteins. Among them: combating Candida albicans yeast infections, which are a serious problem in AIDS patients and transplant recipients, who have weakened immune systems, the scientists say.
Biotech

Submission + - Green Light for Human/Animal Hybrids

Submitted by Henneshoe
Henneshoe writes: BBC News is reporting 2 research facilities have been given the green light to create part human, part animal embryos. According the the report, "Scientists want to create hybrid embryos by merging human cells with animal eggs in a bid to extract stem cells. The embryos would then be destroyed within 14 days." The decision to allow the embryos was made after research showed that people in large are OK with the idea.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft to stream ads to Grocery Carts

Submitted by dptalia
dptalia writes: Microsoft will be rolling out later this year at ShopRite supermarkets computerized shopping carts. Thesse carts will allow people with a ShopRite card to enter their lists on the ShopRite site at home and then get the list pulled up on their grocery cart when they swipe their card. The new carts will also use RFID technology to send you advertisements depending on where in the supermarket you are.
Censorship

Submission + - Ford Claims Ownership Of Your Pictures (bmcforums.com)

Submitted by
Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers writes: "In a move that can only be described as "Copyright Insanity", Form Motor Company now claims that they hold the rights to ANY image of a Ford vehicle, even if it's a picture you took of your own car. The Black Mustang Club wanted to put together a calendar featuring member's cars and print it through CafePress, but an attorney from Ford nixed the project, stating that the calendar pics and "anything with one of (member's) cars in it infringes on Ford's trademarks which include the use of images of THEIR vehicles." Does Ford have the right to prevent you from printing images of a car you own?"

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