Slashdot Mirror

According to the top meetup list, more than 200 meetings are with 5 or less people. I wonder how many of them will actually take place. The 70 meetups with only one member will be really cool... at least there's no risk the other guests are boring.

It's also about food!
Don't you forget to visit
Slashdot meeting which will take place this thirsday around the world ?

If you live near Albuquerque NM USA, please visit my journal.

well, this is fine indeed. I can finally realize my dream of melting basalt at my house. But now what to do with all those old CDs I was keeping to make a solar oven with?

Info on the elements, OT but close (no bronze or basalt, but iron: http://www.speclab.com/elements/ Has melting points and a lot of other data apparently cribbed from CRC.

P.S. don't forget this

From the article: Dr Jose Morales, the head of the White Udder cloning project at the Havana Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, is confident a breakthrough is imminent. "We're very close," he said. "We have big things coming. This project is very important to Commandante Castro."

I bet some appropriate technology measures would fit the situation better than this. Or even just the old cure-all: training and education. Cuba overcame illiteracy. Surely they could also provide county agent-like services to their farmers to overcome the described decline in cattle health and performance. Here's a description of county agents from 1925. This sounds like exactly the kind of thing that Communists would be good at--government paternalism. Paternalistic or not, extension agents vastly improved the practices and lifestyle of rural Americans for the better during the mid-20th century.

On the question of whether milk is good for you, it's got a lot of protein, calcium, and fat that you need when you're very young. And fortunately children aren't generally lactose-intolerant. That sets in, when it does, after puberty usually.

P.S. Slashdot meetup URL

• Change the size of keys to your own specs. I want that!
  
• Modify their relative positions--not the alphabet keys but the others.
  
• Have the arrow keys an inch in the air above the rest.
  
• Have certain keys play a note when I get near them because they're the ones I always hit by accident when trying to do something else, or make them three inches off to the side or...
  
• ...in a vertical invisible panel perpendicular to the "keyboard." This starts to merge with the finger-pointing idea.
  

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/dec97/moth12 97.htm Popular-style article
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/factsh eets/fs-generic_lep.htm very technical, EPA-oriented
http://www.wcrl.ars.usda.gov/cec/papers/jce93-9.ht m Article about an insect population simulation program.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2174.html Using bt instead
http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/rhgiles/Trevey/Gypsy.htm Vermont, long piece, "gyplure"
http://www.orst.edu/instruction/bi301/chemcont.htm Dr. Pat Muir's notes for a college class, short, readable. Excerpt:
"The advantages of pheromone use include the facts that they:

* are nontoxic
* are biodegradable
* can be used at low concentrations
* are highly species specific

Hazards or difficulties associated with their use include the facts that:

* resistance to pheromones could potentially evolve (although it would then be difficult for insects to find mates!)
* it is expensive and takes a long time to achieve commercial production."
More than you wanted to know about gypsy moths

In reading up about this I found that some of the same people who don't like pesticides also don't like Bt and pheromones. You wonder how they're going to like a deforested Pacific Northwest if those moths get loose up there.

P.S. URL for the meetup

This is just a Snapshot of the Privacy Agreement at the Meetup service this /. event is being managed on... just in case.
Oh, and don't miss their TOS either.

From the MEETUP Privacy Policy Statement

Protecting your privacy is a serious matter and doing so is very important to us. Please read this privacy policy statement (the "Policy") to learn more about our privacy policy. This Policy describes the information we collect from you and what may happen to that information. This Policy applies to all sites under the MEETUP.com domain. This Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that MEETUP does not own or control, or to people that we do not employ or manage.

1. Information Collection

We collect information about you and your use of our service in order to create a better, more personalized experience for you.

You must register with our web site in order for you to be able to fully access our service. During registration, you must provide us with your e-mail address and password and, if you are located within the United States, your zip code. In addition, in order to use any topic group that is available on our site, you must register for that topic group. >During registration for a topic group, you may choose a nickname by which you will be known to other members of that topic group. If you do not assign yourself a nickname during registration for a topic group, we will automatically assign you one. In addition, with respect to each topic group that you join, we permit you to create and store a short description or statement which will be viewed by anyone who is accessing that topic group. Once you register with MEETUP and sign in to use our service, you are no longer anonymous to MEETUP to the extent you have provided us with this information.

We automatically track certain basic information about our users. We use this information to do internal research on your usage patterns, demographics, interests and general behavior to better understand and serve you and our community. This information may include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track usersÕ movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. We do not directly link these types of information (e.g., IP addresses) with your personally identifiable information. For our users convenience, we use "cookies" to allow you to enter your password less frequently during a session and to provide for an easier registration process. A "cookie" is a piece of data stored on your computer that is tied to information about you. We do not use cookies for any other purpose (for example, we do not use cookies to monitor your activities or otherwise track information about you). If you configure your browser or otherwise choose to reject the cookies, you may still use our site. However, to best experience our web site and most easily use our service you must have cookies enabled.

Also, if you post messages in message areas (including the personal introduction section of each topic group) on our web site, send us personal correspondence, or if other users or third parties send us correspondence about your activities or postings on our web site, we may collect such information and include it in your profile. Your profile is not accessible to other users or third parties other than MEETUP personnel.

2. Use of Information

We use (and you agree that we may so use) the information we collect about you (including your personally identifiable information) to create a better, more personalized experience for you based on your individual usage habits, improve our marketing and promotional efforts, analyze site usage, improve our content and product offerings, and customize our siteÕs content, layout and services. These uses improve our site and allow us to better customize it to meet your needs. We also use (and you agree that we may so use) the information we collect about you to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, and enforce our Terms of Service Agreement.

You also agree that we may compile the information we collect about you and use it, in an aggregate form only, in the negotiation and establishment of service agreements with public and/or private enterprises under which such enterprises will serve as venues for meetings between our users ("meetups").

You also agree that we may use your information to contact you and deliver information to you that, in some cases, are targeted to your interests, such as topic group newsletters or meetup announcements (which also may include promotional communications), administrative notices, product or service offerings, and other communications relevant to your use of our service.

3. Disclosure of Your Information

EXCEPT AS MAY BE SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION 3, WE DO NOT SELL, RENT OR OTHERWISE SHARE YOUR PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION WITH OTHER THIRD PARTIES. INSTEAD, TO THE EXTENT WE SHARE INFORMATION WITH OUR PARTNERS AND ADVERTISERS, WE SHARE ONLY AGGREGATED INFORMATION THAT IS NOT LINKED TO YOUR PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION. Aggregated information that we may share with our marketing partners includes, but is not limited to, information showing the relative popularity of one meetup venue over another (for example, the number of individuals present at a meetup).

Required disclosures. Though we make every effort to preserve user privacy, we may need to disclose your personal information when required by law or if we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on our web site, (b) enforce this Statement or the Terms of Service Agreement, (c) respond to claims that your Personal Information violates the rights of third parties; or (d) protect the rights, property or personal safety of MEETUP, its users and the public. You authorize us to disclose any information about you to law enforcement or other government officials as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate, in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringements, or other activity that is illegal or may expose us or you to legal liability.

Venue providers; Advertisers. We aggregate personally identifiable information and disclose such information in a non-personally identifiable manner to (1) public and/or private enterprises who may or do serve as venues for meetups in order to enable us to negotiate and establish service agreements with such enterprises under which the enterprises will serve as venues for meetups, and (2) to other third parties, including advertisers, for marketing and promotional purposes. However, in these situations we do not disclose to these third parties any information that could be used to identify you personally (for example, we never disclose your e-mail address to such third parties). Business transitions. In the event that MEETUP goes through a business transition, such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets, usersÕ personal information will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred. Users will be notified via e-mail and/or prominent notice on our web site for at least fifteen (15) days prior to a change of ownership or control of their personal information. If as a result of the business transition, the usersÕ personally identifiable information will be used in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection they will be given choices consistent with Section 8 ("Notification of Changes").

4. Communications from Us

We will send you a welcoming e-mail to verify your e-mail address. You will occasionally receive other information from us (see below).

Topic group newsletters and meetup notifications. If you are a member of a topic group, you will receive periodic notifications from us of upcoming meetups and other information relevant to topic group members. >These notifications may include promotional communications. You may not opt-out of these communications while you are a member of that topic group, but you may end your membership in that group at any time.

Service announcements. On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send you an e-mail. You may not opt-out of these communications, though you can deactivate your account. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer service. We communicate with you on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regards to issues relating to your account we reply via e-mail or phone, in accordance with your wishes. >You may not opt-out of these communications, though you can deactivate your account. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

5.Other Parties; Links

Except as otherwise expressly included in this Policy, this Policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. To the extent that you disclose your information to other parties, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them.

Our web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that MEETUP is not responsible for the privacy practices of any other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by our web site.

6. Security

MEETUP uses industry standard network security practices to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal information. We treat our data (including your personally identifiable information) as an asset that must be protected against loss and unauthorized access. However, it is impossible for us to provide our service using the internet and simultaneously ensure perfect security of our data.

7. Reviewing, Updating, Deleting and Deactivating Personal Information

After registration for our service and for specific topic groups, we provide a way to correct, update, or delete/deactivate your personally identifiable information, for example:
-to change your nickname or password;
-to change your e-mail or zip code;
-to join or leave particular topic groups;
-to change your personal introduction for particular topic groups;
-to otherwise update your personal information; or
-to deactivate your account.
Upon your request, we will deactivate your account and remove your personally identifiable information from our active databases. To make this request, e-mail privacy@meetup.com. Such information will be deactivated as soon as reasonably possible in accordance with our deactivation policy and applicable law.

Nonetheless, we will retain in our files information you may have requested us to remove if, in our discretion, retention of the information is necessary to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems or to enforce the Terms of Service Agreement. Furthermore, your information is never completely removed from our databases due to technical and legal constraints (for example, we will not remove your information from our back up storage).

8. Notification of Changes

If we decide to change this Policy, we will post those changes on http://www.meetup.com/privacy or post a notice of the changes to this Policy on the homepage (http://www.meetup.com) and other places we deem appropriate, so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy statement under which the information was collected.

If we make any material changes in our privacy practices, we will post a prominent notice on our web site notifying you and our other users of the change. In some cases where we post a notice we will also e-mail you and other users who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices.

>However, if you have deleted/deactivated your account, then you will not be contacted, nor will your previously collected personal information be used in this new manner.

All changes to this Policy are effective after we provide you with at least thirty (30) days notice of the changes and provide notice of the changes as described above. You must notify us within this 30 day period if you do not agree to the changes to the Policy and wish to deactivate your account as provided under Section 7.

9. Dispute Resolution

Any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to this Policy or previous privacy policy statements shall be resolved through negotiation, mediation and arbitration as provided under our Terms of Service Agreement.

10. Contact Information

If users have any questions or suggestions regarding this Policy, please contact the Secretary of MEETUP using postal mail or e-mail, as follows:
Postal Address:
MEETUP LLC
225 Lafayette Street, Suite 500
New York, NY 10012
E-mail: privacy@meetup.com

This is just a Snapshot of the Privacy Agreement at the Meetup service this /. event is being managed on... just in case.
Oh, and don't miss their TOS either.

From the MEETUP Privacy Policy Statement

Protecting your privacy is a serious matter and doing so is very important to us. Please read this privacy policy statement (the "Policy") to learn more about our privacy policy. This Policy describes the information we collect from you and what may happen to that information. This Policy applies to all sites under the MEETUP.com domain. This Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that MEETUP does not own or control, or to people that we do not employ or manage.

1. Information Collection

We collect information about you and your use of our service in order to create a better, more personalized experience for you.

You must register with our web site in order for you to be able to fully access our service. During registration, you must provide us with your e-mail address and password and, if you are located within the United States, your zip code. In addition, in order to use any topic group that is available on our site, you must register for that topic group. >During registration for a topic group, you may choose a nickname by which you will be known to other members of that topic group. If you do not assign yourself a nickname during registration for a topic group, we will automatically assign you one. In addition, with respect to each topic group that you join, we permit you to create and store a short description or statement which will be viewed by anyone who is accessing that topic group. Once you register with MEETUP and sign in to use our service, you are no longer anonymous to MEETUP to the extent you have provided us with this information.

We automatically track certain basic information about our users. We use this information to do internal research on your usage patterns, demographics, interests and general behavior to better understand and serve you and our community. This information may include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track usersÕ movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. We do not directly link these types of information (e.g., IP addresses) with your personally identifiable information. For our users convenience, we use "cookies" to allow you to enter your password less frequently during a session and to provide for an easier registration process. A "cookie" is a piece of data stored on your computer that is tied to information about you. We do not use cookies for any other purpose (for example, we do not use cookies to monitor your activities or otherwise track information about you). If you configure your browser or otherwise choose to reject the cookies, you may still use our site. However, to best experience our web site and most easily use our service you must have cookies enabled.

Also, if you post messages in message areas (including the personal introduction section of each topic group) on our web site, send us personal correspondence, or if other users or third parties send us correspondence about your activities or postings on our web site, we may collect such information and include it in your profile. Your profile is not accessible to other users or third parties other than MEETUP personnel.

2. Use of Information

We use (and you agree that we may so use) the information we collect about you (including your personally identifiable information) to create a better, more personalized experience for you based on your individual usage habits, improve our marketing and promotional efforts, analyze site usage, improve our content and product offerings, and customize our siteÕs content, layout and services. These uses improve our site and allow us to better customize it to meet your needs. We also use (and you agree that we may so use) the information we collect about you to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, and enforce our Terms of Service Agreement.

You also agree that we may compile the information we collect about you and use it, in an aggregate form only, in the negotiation and establishment of service agreements with public and/or private enterprises under which such enterprises will serve as venues for meetings between our users ("meetups").

You also agree that we may use your information to contact you and deliver information to you that, in some cases, are targeted to your interests, such as topic group newsletters or meetup announcements (which also may include promotional communications), administrative notices, product or service offerings, and other communications relevant to your use of our service.

3. Disclosure of Your Information

EXCEPT AS MAY BE SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION 3, WE DO NOT SELL, RENT OR OTHERWISE SHARE YOUR PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION WITH OTHER THIRD PARTIES. INSTEAD, TO THE EXTENT WE SHARE INFORMATION WITH OUR PARTNERS AND ADVERTISERS, WE SHARE ONLY AGGREGATED INFORMATION THAT IS NOT LINKED TO YOUR PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION. Aggregated information that we may share with our marketing partners includes, but is not limited to, information showing the relative popularity of one meetup venue over another (for example, the number of individuals present at a meetup).

Required disclosures. Though we make every effort to preserve user privacy, we may need to disclose your personal information when required by law or if we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on our web site, (b) enforce this Statement or the Terms of Service Agreement, (c) respond to claims that your Personal Information violates the rights of third parties; or (d) protect the rights, property or personal safety of MEETUP, its users and the public. You authorize us to disclose any information about you to law enforcement or other government officials as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate, in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringements, or other activity that is illegal or may expose us or you to legal liability.

Venue providers; Advertisers. We aggregate personally identifiable information and disclose such information in a non-personally identifiable manner to (1) public and/or private enterprises who may or do serve as venues for meetups in order to enable us to negotiate and establish service agreements with such enterprises under which the enterprises will serve as venues for meetups, and (2) to other third parties, including advertisers, for marketing and promotional purposes. However, in these situations we do not disclose to these third parties any information that could be used to identify you personally (for example, we never disclose your e-mail address to such third parties). Business transitions. In the event that MEETUP goes through a business transition, such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets, usersÕ personal information will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred. Users will be notified via e-mail and/or prominent notice on our web site for at least fifteen (15) days prior to a change of ownership or control of their personal information. If as a result of the business transition, the usersÕ personally identifiable information will be used in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection they will be given choices consistent with Section 8 ("Notification of Changes").

4. Communications from Us

We will send you a welcoming e-mail to verify your e-mail address. You will occasionally receive other information from us (see below).

Topic group newsletters and meetup notifications. If you are a member of a topic group, you will receive periodic notifications from us of upcoming meetups and other information relevant to topic group members. >These notifications may include promotional communications. You may not opt-out of these communications while you are a member of that topic group, but you may end your membership in that group at any time.

Service announcements. On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send you an e-mail. You may not opt-out of these communications, though you can deactivate your account. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer service. We communicate with you on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regards to issues relating to your account we reply via e-mail or phone, in accordance with your wishes. >You may not opt-out of these communications, though you can deactivate your account. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

5.Other Parties; Links

Except as otherwise expressly included in this Policy, this Policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. To the extent that you disclose your information to other parties, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them.

Our web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that MEETUP is not responsible for the privacy practices of any other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by our web site.

6. Security

MEETUP uses industry standard network security practices to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal information. We treat our data (including your personally identifiable information) as an asset that must be protected against loss and unauthorized access. However, it is impossible for us to provide our service using the internet and simultaneously ensure perfect security of our data.

7. Reviewing, Updating, Deleting and Deactivating Personal Information

After registration for our service and for specific topic groups, we provide a way to correct, update, or delete/deactivate your personally identifiable information, for example:
-to change your nickname or password;
-to change your e-mail or zip code;
-to join or leave particular topic groups;
-to change your personal introduction for particular topic groups;
-to otherwise update your personal information; or
-to deactivate your account.
Upon your request, we will deactivate your account and remove your personally identifiable information from our active databases. To make this request, e-mail privacy@meetup.com. Such information will be deactivated as soon as reasonably possible in accordance with our deactivation policy and applicable law.

Nonetheless, we will retain in our files information you may have requested us to remove if, in our discretion, retention of the information is necessary to resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems or to enforce the Terms of Service Agreement. Furthermore, your information is never completely removed from our databases due to technical and legal constraints (for example, we will not remove your information from our back up storage).

8. Notification of Changes

If we decide to change this Policy, we will post those changes on http://www.meetup.com/privacy or post a notice of the changes to this Policy on the homepage (http://www.meetup.com) and other places we deem appropriate, so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy statement under which the information was collected.

If we make any material changes in our privacy practices, we will post a prominent notice on our web site notifying you and our other users of the change. In some cases where we post a notice we will also e-mail you and other users who have opted to receive communications from us, notifying them of the changes in our privacy practices.

>However, if you have deleted/deactivated your account, then you will not be contacted, nor will your previously collected personal information be used in this new manner.

All changes to this Policy are effective after we provide you with at least thirty (30) days notice of the changes and provide notice of the changes as described above. You must notify us within this 30 day period if you do not agree to the changes to the Policy and wish to deactivate your account as provided under Section 7.

9. Dispute Resolution

Any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to this Policy or previous privacy policy statements shall be resolved through negotiation, mediation and arbitration as provided under our Terms of Service Agreement.

10. Contact Information

If users have any questions or suggestions regarding this Policy, please contact the Secretary of MEETUP using postal mail or e-mail, as follows:
Postal Address:
MEETUP LLC
225 Lafayette Street, Suite 500
New York, NY 10012
E-mail: privacy@meetup.com

warning : this is a corporate entity sponsoring th organisation of this meetup

knowing this, it might be useful to browse their privacy agreement before giving them an email address that you like to keep spam free

particularly this section of text :

You also agree that we may use your information to contact you and deliver information to you that, in some cases, are targeted to your interests, such as topic group newsletters or meetup announcements (which also may include promotional communications), administrative notices, product or service offerings, and other communications relevant to your use of our service.

warning : this is a corporate entity sponsoring th organisation of this meetup

knowing this, it might be useful to browse their privacy agreement before giving them an email address that you like to keep spam free

particularly this section of text :

You also agree that we may use your information to contact you and deliver information to you that, in some cases, are targeted to your interests, such as topic group newsletters or meetup announcements (which also may include promotional communications), administrative notices, product or service offerings, and other communications relevant to your use of our service.

I was going to make a slick joke about the mysterious lack of interest for a meetup in Redmond, Washington...

BUT...

I was wrong.

as i write australia holds 3 places in th top 10 locales of sign-ups

pos 2 - brisbane :: 23 signups
pos 5 - melbourne :: 22 signups
pos 9 - sydney :: 18 signups

these are th three top australian cities by population,but in th reverse order -

sydney ~= 4M melbourne ~= 3.5M brisbane ~= 1.5M

but mainly i'm surprised there seems to be so many slashdot readers in australia

Just in case you didn't look any further than the links, there are plenty of other topics too. Computer and non. Not to mention you can add your own topics/dates/etc.

Just in case you didn't look any further than the links, there are plenty of other topics too. Computer and non. Not to mention you can add your own topics/dates/etc.

Just in case you didn't look any further than the links, there are plenty of other topics too. Computer and non. Not to mention you can add your own topics/dates/etc.

Just in case you didn't look any further than the links, there are plenty of other topics too. Computer and non. Not to mention you can add your own topics/dates/etc.

Well, it's actually meetup.com's terms, but seems that sites are supposed to adhere. I'm not even sure what this means:

3.3 License. We do not claim ownership of Your Information. We will use Your Information only in accordance with our privacy policy. However, to enable us to use your Public Information and to ensure we do not violate any rights you may have in your Public Information, you agree to grant MEETUP a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to exercise the copyright, publicity, and database rights (but no other rights) you have in your Public Information, in any media now known or not currently known, with respect to your Public Information.