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Transportation

Federal Judge Rules US No-fly List Violates Constitution 276

Posted by Soulskill from the no-wasp-list-and-no-mosquito-list-remain-unchallenged dept.
New submitter dmitrygr sends this news from Reuters: The U.S. government's no-fly list banning people accused of links to terrorism from commercial flights violates their constitutional rights because it gives them no meaningful way to contest that decision, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. ... "The court concludes international travel is not a mere convenience or luxury in this modern world. Indeed, for many international travel is a necessary aspect of liberties sacred to members of a free society," [U.S. District Judge Anna Brown] wrote in her 65-page ruling (PDF). "Accordingly, on this record the court concludes plaintiff's inclusion on the no-fly list constitutes a significant deprivation of their liberty interests in international travel," Brown said.
Classic Games (Games)

M.U.L.E. Is Back 110

Posted by Soulskill from the not-for-the-red-wings dept.
jmp_nyc writes "The developers at Turborilla have remade the 1983 classic game M.U.L.E. The game is free, and has slightly updated graphics, but more or less the same gameplay as the original version. As with the original game, up to four players can play against each other (or fewer than four with AI players taking the other spots). Unlike the original version, the four players can play against each other online. For those of you not familiar with M.U.L.E., it was one of the earliest economic simulation games, revolving around the colonization of the fictitious planet Irata (Atari spelled backwards). I have fond memories of spending what seemed like days at a time playing the game, as it's quite addictive, with the gameplay seeming simpler than it turns out to be. I'm sure I'm not the only Slashdotter who had a nasty M.U.L.E. addiction back in the day and would like a dose of nostalgia every now and then."

Comment Broke this patent two weeks ago (Score 1) 186

by thred (#20834295) Attached to: IBM Patents Checking a Box
I have implemented this two weeks ago in an application for the company i work for.....on the 19th Sept...just checked the repository. Heres the code

<script type="text/javascript">
var CheckBoxMultiSelect = {
        mouseIsDown: false,
        checkBoxIsChecked: false,
        initialCheckBox: null,

        setMouseIsDown: function(elem, event, value) {
                this.mouseIsDown = value;

                if ('INPUT' == elem.nodeName) {
                        this.initialCheckBox = elem;
                        this.checkBoxIsChecked = !elem.checked;
                }
                else
                        this.initialCheckBox = false;
        },

        onCheckboxMouseOver: function(elem, event) {
                if (this.mouseIsDown) {
                        if ((this.initialCheckBox) && (elem != this.initialCheckBox)) {
                                this.initialCheckBox.checked = this.checkBoxIsChecked;
                                this.initialCheckBox = null;
                        }

                        elem.checked = this.checkBoxIsChecked;
                }
        }
}
</script>

<body onmouseup="CheckBoxMultiSelect.setMouseIsDown(this, event, false)"> ....

<input .... onmouseover="CheckBoxMultiSelect.onCheckboxMouseOver(this, event)" onmousedown="CheckBoxMultiSelect.setMouseIsDown(this, event, true)"/> ....
</body>

Do I have to remove this code now?
Wii

Submission + - Wii outsells Xbox 360 worldwide (videogamesblogger.com)

Submitted by
Wowzer
Wowzer writes: "Despite confusing consoles produced, shipped or sold reports, the Nintendo Wii is now the best-selling system worldwide. Its sales exceed that of the Xbox 360 despite Microsoft's console having a year-long head start. And it's way ahead of the PS3. From the article: 'Approximately 9 million Wiis were purchased across the world as of July 31st, which is barely more than the Xbox 360's total worldwide figure of 8.9 million unit sales. The PS3 is dead last with only an estimated 3.7 million units internationally.'"
Biotech

Submission + - Salmon sperm points the way to green electronics (nanowerk.com)

Submitted by hakaii
hakaii writes: Electrons move constantly — think of tiny particles with a negative charge and attention deficit disorder. It is through the movement of these electrons that electric current flows and light is created. If the electrons' mobility could be manipulated, then new properties could be revealed. In considering materials to introduce to affect the movement of the electrons, scientists evaluated the source of materials with an eye to supply, especially materials that do not harm the environment. Like salmon sperm...
Bug

Submission + - When Is A Kilogram Not A Kilogram? (yahoo.com)

Submitted by
Billosaur
Billosaur writes: "In what can only be a boon for those fighting weight gain, Yahoo! News is reporting that the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sevres, France (southwest of Paris) has discovered that the 118-year-old platinum-iridium cylinder used as the international standard for the kilogram is losing weight. So far, only about 50 micrograms, but physicists are baffled as to why. It is used to verify the weight of other standard kilogram weights used by other countries, and this could mean problems if kilogram has actually gotten lighter, but mainly for scientists and engineers. This is spurring discussions of replacing the current weight with something new which might be more stable, like a sphere made out of a Silicon-28 isotope crystal."
The Internet

Submission + - Are people addicted to piracy? (cnet.co.uk) 8

Submitted by InterjectoryIan
InterjectoryIan writes: CNet is running a piece that questions whether people are technically addicted to downloading music illegally. With people having become so used to getting as much music as they want for no cost, are they failing to pry themselves from piracy and start spending their limited money again?

"The days of Kazaa were the first few hits of the download drug that the virtual dealer gave us for free. Now, BitTorrent is the heroin of data hoarders, and try as they might, it's a hard needle for addicts to dispose of.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Finally a detergentless washing machine

Submitted by
Deepa
Deepa writes: "There is a new way of washing clothes (if that's what you call it), washing it without soap! Haier's WasH20 washing machine does not need soap. As if added fragrance, germfree, odor free and stain free washing were not enough; now we got to cope with soap free as well! The WasH20 washing machine works by breaking down water molecules into OH- and H+ ions; the stains on the linens are "attracted and retained by ions of OH-, while the clothes are sterilized by the H+ ions.""
Supercomputing

Supercomputer On the Cheap 133

Posted by kdawson from the mere-six-teraflops dept.
jbrodkin writes "You don't need Ivy League-type cash to get a supercomputer anymore. Organizations with limited financial resources are snatching up IBM supercomputers now that Big Blue has lowered the price of Blue Gene/L. Alabama-Birmingham and other universities that previously couldn't afford such advanced technology are using supercomputers to cure diseases at the protein level and to solve equally challenging problems. IBM dropped the price of the Blue Gene/L to $800K late last year before releasing a more powerful model, Blue Gene/P, last month. Sales of Blue Gene/L have more than doubled since then, bringing supercomputing into more corners of the academic and research worlds."
Biotech

Submission + - Building Artificial Bone From Mineralised Collagen

Submitted by
Late-Eight
Late-Eight writes: "Researchers from the National University of Singapore, have recently developed a new way to make artificial bone from mineralised collagen.

For some time scientists have tried to make nanosized artificial bone materials using various methods, And have recently turned their attention to mineralised collagen, a nanoapatite/collagen composite. This material is highly biocompatible and has the nanostructure of artificial bone. It could be used in bone grafts and bone-tissue engineering, among other applications."
Quickies

Submission + - Study shows smart people more likely to be virgins (gnxp.com)

Submitted by
Jack M.
Jack M. writes: "'Each additional point of IQ increased the odds of virginity by 2.7% for males and 1.7% for females', Jason Malloy writes in a coherent(!) blog-posted discussion of research previously done by institutions such as the University of North Carolina and MiT's college magazine (PDF warning); the results reiterate what every slashdotter has known for quite some time and prove to be an interesting piece of statistics. "Only 65% of MIT graduate students have had sex", writes Jason before breaking down the results by major: "[The chart shows] that 0% of studio art majors were virgins, but 72% of biology majors [...] and 83% of biochem and math majors were virgins!".

Ironically, or perhaps encouragingly, Computer Science majors were further down the bell curve than I personally expected, with roughly 40% of CS Majors declaring virginity. The majors most likely to have virginal scholars are Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Mathematics (physics does not appear on the chart), and the major with the least number of virgins, at 0%, was Studio Art."
Programming

Submission + - Interested in artificial intelligence? (otoom.net) 1

Submitted by
otoom
otoom writes: "Interested in artificial intelligence? In an artificial mind prototype? In its scaled-up development?

Check it out: the program (3 variations), the code, the manual (definitely!), the tests -

also: the model itself (how the mind works), the papers, articles, and confirmations -

- all at http://www.otoom.net/

Yes, the programs do run as of now and exhibit cognitive behaviour.

What I can't do is to get anywhere near the scale of the wetware and move it into a distributive mode.

What's needed therefore is a Unix platform or such, someone who knows about distributed systems, and can access hardware with adequate memory.

PS: in case you're wondering why you haven't heard of it anyway, the answer is on that website too ...

PPS: ... and it is not a 'latest hypothesis'."

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