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Comment Re: illogical captain (Score 1) 937

by flieghund (#47902637) Attached to: Why Atheists Need Captain Kirk

"and on slashdot I have seen an amazing number of posts stating that patents shouldn't be allowed to teach religion to their kids."

OMG. *blinks* Patents are having kids now?! I suppose we'll be hearing about patent marriage rights soon, and then SCOTUS will rule that patents have free speech rights. Where will the insanity end? The US needs real patent reform more than ever. (j/k)

Comment Re: illogical captain (Score 1) 937

by flieghund (#47902593) Attached to: Why Atheists Need Captain Kirk

Oh, I dunno about most folks, but my morality stems from basic ideas like peace on earth, goodwill towards my fellow man, and a strong desire not to be seen as a self-righteous asshat by the same. (But I'm also not athiest, rather mostly agnostic, with leanings towards Deism, and can count the number of times I've been in a non-wedding religious service on the fingers of one hand.) As has been pointed out elsewhere, there is a fundamental non-sequitur in most organized religions where they insist that only their "One True God" can establish morality in we poor weak humans, despite the long history of facts to the contrary, and that we are all doomed to commit atrocities without some "supernatural father figure" watching over us with threats of punishment. What happened to free will? What happened to basic human dignity?

Comment Re: When one thinks of an African (Score 1) 46

Many, many years ago, my Egyptian co-worker chastised me for lamenting the lack of "African-Americans" (I was young and foolish*) at my office. He rather pointedly noted that Egypt is located in Africa, and that as a Copt his ancestors had been Africans for a very long time.

*Now married to a lovely Jamaican lady who rightly points out that she does not identify as "African-American" despite being Black. Apparently that's a Caribbean thing.
Medicine

Creating "Homo Minutus" — a Benchtop Human To Test Drugs 49

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the man-is-obsolete dept.
Science_afficionado (932920) writes "Vanderbilt University scientists reported significant progress toward creating 'homo minutus' — a benchtop human — at the Society of Toxicology meeting on Mar. 26 in Phoenix. The advance is the successful development and analysis of a human liver construct//organ-on-a-chip that responds to exposure to a toxic chemical much like a real liver. The achievement is the first result from a five-year, $19 million multi-institutional effort led by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), to develop four interconnected human organ constructs — liver, heart, lung and kidney — that are based on a highly miniaturized platform nicknamed ATHENA (Advanced Tissue-engineered Human Ectypal Network Analyzer). The project is supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Similar programs to create smaller-scale organs-on-chips are underway at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Institutes of Health."

Submission + - The Earth is a gravitational wave detector (aps.org)

Submitted by b30w0lf
b30w0lf writes: Gravitational wave detection—i.e. the detection of propagating ripples in spacetime—is a hot subject these days with ground-based interferometer experiments like LIGO active, and hopes for a space interferometer like LISA. But, physicist Freeman Dyson proposed back in 1969 that the earth itself could be used as a gravitational wave detector. The idea is behind the approach is that gravitational waves impact the earth’s crust, causing potentially detectable seismic waves. Using Dyson’s approach, Physicists at Harvard and NINP, Florence were able to put an upper limit on the intensity of gravitational background radiation based on a year of observational seismic data. The upper limit they found improved currently laboratory upper limits by 9 orders of magnitude.

Comment Re:Why can't I turn off the ads? Otherwise...OK (Score 1) 384

by Ptolemarch (#42822153) Attached to: Experience the New Slashdot Mobile Site

Normal Slashdot has a "disable ads" button if you have good karma. I believe that is what they are rederring to.

Indeed. That's Maker mode, as I mentioned, though Maker mode doesn't get offered for merely good karma.

I've implemented ad hiding for Maker mode, but if I can reproduce a bug with it, I'll fix it.

Transportation

Video Solowheel is for People Who Think a Segway is Boring (Video) 94

Posted by timothy from the merrily-we-roll-along dept.
Shane Chen is an inventor who likes to make all kinds of things. For instance, he designed the frame and invented a special reflective surface for the screen you see in the background of the video below. But many of his inventions have to do with transportation, especially the kind of transportation that doubles as personal thrill ride, like a sail for paddleboats and an electric surfboard. At this year's CES, I spoke with Chen's daughter Ywanne about his latest rideable invention, which is for obvious reasons called the Solowheel. Her father's the one you can see demonstrating the device in the background; you can see trickier riding in this YouTube video. She says that of all her father's inventions, this is the one that came together most easily: his first stab at a powered unicycle just worked, and since then it's been polishing the experience and getting it to market. And "to market" isn't a dream; for about $1800, you can have an experience that's a bit more intense than a Segway. The Solowheel can climb hills of surprising steepness, as long as the rider is up for it. Coming down looks more challenging, though.

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