Slashdot Mirror

HughPickens.com writes Jennifer Abel writes at the LA Times that according to a recent survey (PDF), over 80% of Americans says they support "mandatory labels on foods containing DNA," roughly the same number that support the mandatory labeling of GMO foods "produced with genetic engineering." Ilya Somin, writing about the survey at the Washington Post, suggested that a mandatory label for foods containing DNA might sound like this: "WARNING: This product contains deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The Surgeon General has determined that DNA is linked to a variety of diseases in both animals and humans. In some configurations, it is a risk factor for cancer and heart disease. Pregnant women are at very high risk of passing on DNA to their children."

The report echoes a well-known joke/prank wherein people discuss the dangers of the chemical "dihydrogen monoxide" also known as hydrogen oxide and hydrogen hydroxide. Search online for information about dihydrogen monoxide, and you'll find a long list of scary-sounding and absolutely true warnings about it: the nuclear power industry uses enormous quantities of it every year. Dihydrogen monoxide is used in the production of many highly toxic pesticides, and chemical weapons banned by the Geneva Conventions. Dihydrogen monoxide is found in all tumors removed from cancer patients, and is guaranteed fatal to humans in large quantities and even small quantities can kill you, if it enters your respiratory system. In 2006, in Louisville, Kentucky, David Karem, executive director of the Waterfront Development Corporation, a public body that operates Waterfront Park, wished to deter bathers from using a large public fountain. "Counting on a lack of understanding about water's chemical makeup," he arranged for signs reading: "DANGER! – WATER CONTAINS HIGH LEVELS OF HYDROGEN – KEEP OUT" to be posted on the fountain at public expense.

JohnMadison asks: "As a engineering student, I have a lot of projects, but not much test equipment at home. I was wondering if anybody has advice on using my PC as an oscilloscope. I've downloaded a couple of shareware programs that use the sound card for input, but they weren't really useful. I am looking for a good way to make a cheap, yet decent scope. Any sugestions?" While something like this would be an interesting hack, I'm at a loss as to what you would use for probes. The submitter mentions using the sound card as an input, but would that be the best solution? If you were going to make a custom add-on to the PC to do this, what would it need? Does such an add-on already exist? Interestingly enough, this fits in well with an earlier article we did.

GuidoDEV writes "In a case exhibiting an incredible lack of sanity, or at least an incredible amount of overreaction, four [Oklahoma State University] students are facing charges for 'Internet theft,' which apparently consisted of their using a 300 ft. cable to connect to an ethernet port downstairs from them in their residence hall as opposed to using a 20 ft. cable. The student newspaper at OSU, The Daily O'Collegian, has a couple of stories on the situation, which are located here ['OSU students arrested for Internet theft'] and here [ 'Students await arraignment in Internet theft case' ]."

This raises some of the same questions that Napster, alt.sex.stories and (not long ago) IRC have -- if a university is the ISP, how closely can they control the way customers (students) use the resources it makes available? Legal technicalities aside, it sounds like the students are actually saving OSU money by attaching their own masqueraded computers to unused ports on the network they're already paying for.

Maybe universities should concentrate on providing a 'target-rich' infrastructure (ports, access points, shared servers and newsfeeds), and not spend much money on PCs. Workable, word-processing-and-Internet PCs can be had for a few hundred dollars. (And high-powered workstations or servers aren't really at issue in this case.) PCs -- at least those that need to run MS operating systems -- grow obsolete at a pretty amazing clip; networking standards and equipment have a more punctuated evolution, even if it's just as exciting to look at in the long term.

GuidoDEV writes "In a case exhibiting an incredible lack of sanity, or at least an incredible amount of overreaction, four [Oklahoma State University] students are facing charges for 'Internet theft,' which apparently consisted of their using a 300 ft. cable to connect to an ethernet port downstairs from them in their residence hall as opposed to using a 20 ft. cable. The student newspaper at OSU, The Daily O'Collegian, has a couple of stories on the situation, which are located here ['OSU students arrested for Internet theft'] and here [ 'Students await arraignment in Internet theft case' ]."

This raises some of the same questions that Napster, alt.sex.stories and (not long ago) IRC have -- if a university is the ISP, how closely can they control the way customers (students) use the resources it makes available? Legal technicalities aside, it sounds like the students are actually saving OSU money by attaching their own masqueraded computers to unused ports on the network they're already paying for.

Maybe universities should concentrate on providing a 'target-rich' infrastructure (ports, access points, shared servers and newsfeeds), and not spend much money on PCs. Workable, word-processing-and-Internet PCs can be had for a few hundred dollars. (And high-powered workstations or servers aren't really at issue in this case.) PCs -- at least those that need to run MS operating systems -- grow obsolete at a pretty amazing clip; networking standards and equipment have a more punctuated evolution, even if it's just as exciting to look at in the long term.

Rob Kaper sent us a link to something you might have missed on Freshmeat. It's a nifty site that is tracking Server uptimes. El wrote in to send us a link to "Penguin Lust" which I found silly enough to post. Josh Baugher sent us a link to the so called Christmas Document that you might find amusing. Quazi sent us a link to a ZDNet IE5 Review that normally wouldn't deserve a glance. But apparently a Slashdot fan was involved. Or just as likely, they wanted some hits and figured that this publicity might send some clicks their way *grin*. iota wrote in to send us a link about Mexico using Linux in schools and saving themselves over a hundred million bucks in the process. Mark Woon sent us a link to a funny BMW ad poking fun of MS. Lastly, worth noting (and based on the submissions box, and my msglog, a lot of you did) Red Hat has updated their website with a cleaner, and frameless design. Joy!