jarom - Slashdot User

Vote To Name Two Newly Discovered Moons of Pluto 144

Posted by samzenpus on Monday February 11, 2013 @02:30PM from the a-moon-by-any-other-name dept.

astroengine writes "The SETI Institute has launched a new website called 'Pluto Rocks!' intended to gather a public vote on the names of Pluto's smallest, and most recently discovered, moons P4 and P5. Discovered in 2011 and 2012 by Hubble, the two dinky satellites have concerned scientists managing the NASA New Horizons probe that will flyby the Plutonian system in 2015 — the presence of small rocky bodies in Pluto orbit might mean there is a significant collision risk to the high velocity spacecraft. This sinister back story will surely influence the naming outcome of the two new moons, where all the suggestions on Pluto Rocks! are related to Greek and Roman mythological characters from the underworld (but you can also make your own suggestions). If you want to get involved, there's also a special SETI Institute G+ Hangout planned for 11 a.m. PT Monday where two of the P4/P5 discovery scientists will hold a Q&A session."

Comment Username, FCFS aliases (Score 1) 383

by jarom on Thursday January 31, 2013 @12:35PM (#42751709) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Name Conflicts In Automatically Generated Email Addresses?

Use the username as the primary email address, and allow the users to grab aliases on a first come, first server basis.

Bittorrent To Cause Internet Meltdown 872

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday December 01, 2008 @11:14AM from the packet-schmacket dept.

Gimble writes "Richard Bennett has an article at the Register claiming that a recent uTorrent decision to use UDP for file transfers to avoid ISP 'traffic management' restrictions will cause a meltdown of the internet reducing everybody's bandwidth to a quarter of their current value. Other folks have also expressed concern that this may not be the best thing for the internet."

Comment Re:SCOTUS reference anybody? (Score 1) 756

by jarom on Friday September 26, 2008 @07:56PM (#25173193) Attached to: Review of Discovery Institute's Evolution Textbook

As far as I read it, the Supreme Court declared that you can't pass a law forcing people to teach creationism.
That is different from declaring it is unconstitutional to teach creationism, which is what the great-grandparent says.

Gmail Reveals the Names of All Users 438

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @07:05PM from the not-so-anonymous-now dept.

ihatespam writes "Have you ever wanted to know the name of admin@gmail.com? Now you can. Through a bug in Google calendars the names of all registered Gmail accounts are now readily available. All you need to find out the names of any gmail address is a Google calendar account yourself. Depending on your view this ranges from a harmless "feature" to a rather serious privacy violation. According to some reports, spammers are already exploiting this "feature"/bug to send personalized spam messages."

'Death Star' Aimed at Earth 400

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday March 04, 2008 @03:41PM from the don't-destroy-earth-that's-where-i-keep-my-stuff dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A spectacular, rotating binary star system is a ticking time bomb, ready to throw out a searing beam of high-energy gamma rays that could lead to a major extinction event — and Earth may be right in the line of fire. Australian science magazine Cosmos Magazine reports: 'Though the risk may be remote, there is evidence that gamma ray bursts have swept over the planet at various points in Earth's history with a devastating effect on life. A 2005 study showed that a gamma-ray burst originating within 6,500 light years of Earth could be enough to strip away the ozone layer and cause a mass extinction. Researchers led by Adrian Melott at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, U.S., suggest that such an event may have been responsible for a mass extinction 443 million years ago, in the late Ordovician period, which wiped out 60 per cent of life and cooled the planet.'"

Utah Wants To Give ISPs That Filter a "G-Rating" 328

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 26, 2008 @03:11PM from the there-goes-sundance dept.

An anonymous reader writes "HB407 in Utah would create a child-friendly designation for ISPs that block out a range of prohibited materials. Google, Yahoo, and others are fighting the bill, but Rep. Michael Morley says, 'I think it's a positive thing for those who are looking for a site that is dedicated to fighting pornography.'"

Cocaine Vaccine In the Works 724

Posted by kdawson on Thursday January 03, 2008 @01:15PM from the runnin-round-my-brain dept.

martyros writes "Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine are performing clinical trials of a vaccine that teaches the immune system to attack cocaine, preventing it from giving a high. The vaccine is made by attaching inactivated cocaine molecules to the outside of inactivated cholera proteins. When the immune system attacks the cholera proteins, it also 'learns' the cocaine molecules as well. The result is that the immune system 'recognizes the potent naked drug when it's ingested. The antibodies bind to the cocaine and prevent it from reaching the brain, where it normally would generate the highs that are so addictive.'" An earlier story from The Star notes that human trials for vaccines against both cocaine and nicotine are well under way.

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