Slashdot Mirror
Domain: charlotteobserver.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to charlotteobserver.com.
Stories · 4
-
Heinlein's 'All You Zombies' Now a Sci-Fi Movie Head Trip
HughPickens.com writes: Sara Stewart reports at the NY Post that the new sci-fi movie Predestination, opening January 9, is "loopier than Spielberg's [Minority Report]; its plot twists and turns 'like a snake eating its tail,' one character remarks, until you're not sure whether its developments are even plausible in a fictional universe." It's based on Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction classic All You Zombies, first published in 1959. The story involves a number of paradoxes caused by time travel, further developing themes explored by Heinlein in a previous work, By His Bootstraps, published some 18 years earlier. Predestination's plot concerns the intersection of a time-traveling assassin and an androgynous young writer -
Judge Unseals 500+ Stingray Records
An anonymous reader sends this excerpt from Ars Technica: A judge in Charlotte, North Carolina, has unsealed a set of 529 court documents in hundreds of criminal cases detailing the use of a stingray, or cell-site simulator, by local police. This move, which took place earlier this week, marks a rare example of a court opening up a vast trove of applications made by police to a judge, who authorized each use of the powerful and potentially invasive device
According to the Charlotte Observer, the records seem to suggest that judges likely did not fully understand what they were authorizing. Law enforcement agencies nationwide have taken extraordinary steps to preserve stingray secrecy. As recently as this week, prosecutors in a Baltimore robbery case dropped key evidence that stemmed from stingray use rather than fully disclose how the device was used. -
Human Sexuality Class Includes Live Demo
Hugh Pickens writes writes "The Charlotte Observer reports that students at Northwestern University observed a naked woman being penetrated by a sex toy performed in front of about 100 students in psychology professor John Michael Bailey's human sexuality class to demonstrate use of a sex toy and female orgasm. 'Both Professor Bailey and myself gave them five or six warnings about what was about to happen and it would be graphic,' says Ken Melvoin-Berg, co-owner of Weird Chicago Tours. The woman undressed and got on stage with her male partner, who used a device that looks like a machine-powered saw with a phallic object instead of a blade. An Evanston police spokesman said Northwestern police would be responsible for determining whether the demonstration violated any local ordinances as a University spokesman said the issue has not been raised. 'It is probably something I will remember for the rest of my life,' says senior Justin Smith. 'I can't say that about my Econ 202 class.' Bailey says it is too early to say whether he regretted the demonstration, for which attendance was optional but, 'I certainly have no regrets concerning Northwestern students, who have demonstrated that they are open-minded grownups rather than fragile children.'" -
Clemson Staffer Outlines College Rankings Manipulation
xzvf writes "A disgruntled Clemson University staffer shows how US News and World Report college rankings are manipulated. Techniques include bad-mouthing other schools, filling out applications from highly qualified students that never intended to apply, and lying about class size and professor salaries." The school, naturally, denies that anything unethical went on. The New York Times has a more detailed article, which links to this first-person account of the presentation.