Dr_Ken - Slashdot User

Submission + - Microbes that keep us healthy starting to die off (scientificamerican.com)

Submitted by Dr_Ken on Saturday December 26, 2009 @12:07PM

Dr_Ken writes: "The human body has more microbial than human cells, but this rich diversity of micro-helpers that has evolved along with us is undergoing a rapid shift--one that may have very macro health consequences." Oh oh.

Submission + - Should Copyright Of Academic Works Be Abolished? (harvard.edu)

Submitted by

Dr_Ken

on Sunday July 26, 2009 @11:22AM

Dr_Ken writes: "From the Tech Dirt summary of this Harvard Cyber-Law Center study: "I've even heard of academics who had to redo pretty much the identical experiment because they couldn't even cite their own earlier results for fear of a copyright claim. It leads to wacky situations where academics either ignore the fact that the journals they published in hold the copyright on their work, or they're forced to jump through hoops to retain certain rights. That's bad for everyone." Indeed it is and especially so given the huge amounts of tax dollars spent doing research that then gets published in proprietary journals where it can't be accessed without payment."

Submission + - William Gibson's Neuromancer After 25 Years (macworld.com)

Submitted by

Dr_Ken

on Saturday July 04, 2009 @08:57PM

Dr_Ken writes: ""Neuromancer is important because of its astounding predictive power. Gibson's core idea in the novel is the direct integration of man and computer, with all the possibilities (and horrors) that such a union entails. The book eventually sold more than 160 million copies, but bringing the book to popular attention took a long time and a lot of word-of-mouth. The sci-fi, community, however, was acutely aware of the novel's importance when it came out: Neuromancer ran the table on sci-fi's big three awards in 1984, winning the Hugo Award, the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award, and the Nebula Award.""

Submission + - Indian military to use hot chili pepper grenades (ananova.com) 1

Submitted by

Dr_Ken

on Sunday June 28, 2009 @11:21AM

Dr_Ken writes: "According to this news story in Ananova The Indian Defence Ministry is looking into a cheaper and simpler form of tear gas agent for riot dispersal and crowd control.
Defence researchers say the idea is to replace explosives in small hand grenades with a certain variety of red chilli to immobilise people without killing them, reports the BBC.The chilli, known as Bhut Jolokia, is said to be 1,000 times hotter than commonly used kitchen chilli.

Probably much cheaper to fabricate than conventional CN or CS gases and way less toxic too."

Submission + - Tatical Leather Corsets? Hot, Kinky & Bullet P (boingboing.net)

Submitted by

Dr_Ken

on Sunday June 14, 2009 @01:46PM

Dr_Ken writes: "The Tactical Corset- It's leather for that post-apocalyptic fashion style that all pop culture hipsters love, it lifts and separates, has garters, and includes a pistol holster and an attached equipment pouch for "interrogation gear" too. Practical, tactical, stylish and kinky. What more could a geek like you ask for?"

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