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However, some scientists who examined the remains, contest the study's conclusions and argue that the Hobbit belongs to the Homo sapiens species.

Professor Maciej Henneberg, head of anatomy at Adelaide University, said he thought the bones were simply those of a normal human stunted by microcephaly.

Henneberg spent several days in Jakarta last month helping to document the bones.

Harry Widianto, a paleoanthropologist at Yogyakarta's Archeology Agency, said that the Hobbit was best regarded as a sub-species of Homo sapiens in its evolutionary stage between 18,000 to 30,000 years ago.

Harry said that the debates over the Hobbit's species were a consequence of theoretical differences over human evolution

Dr. Dean Falk of Florida State University came to those conclusions by analyzing virtual endocasts of a variety of skulls, including a microcephalic, Homo erectus, modern human and Flores.
...

First, and most important, it is radically different from the microcephalic specimen she compared it to. This isn't a conclusive denial of Jacob's claim that Flores is nothing new -- one skull isn't enough -- but Flores and the microcephalic are so different it's hard to imagine how they could be one and the same.

Infants with microcephaly are born with either a normal or reduced head size. Subsequently the head fails to grow while the face continues to develop at a normal rate, producing a child with a small head, a large face, a receding forehead, and a loose, often wrinkled scalp. As the child grows older, the smallness of the skull becomes more obvious, although the entire body also is often underweight and dwarfed. Development of motor functions and speech may be delayed. Hyperactivity and mental retardation are common occurrences, although the degree of each varies. Convulsions may also occur. Motor ability varies, ranging from clumsiness in some to spastic quadriplegia in others.

This is great news! Go Canada! Another reason I am proud to be a Canadian citizen.

BTW, this story is over 2 months old:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pag ename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1 102373418098&call_pageid=968350072197&col=96904886 3851&DPL=IvsNDS%2F7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes

Sale of `blog' service raises privacy concerns A small bit, continued on page 4, but interesting that they're tracking the story that quickly rather than saving it for Monday's weekly @ section. (P.4 also has a picture of Hitachi's domino-sized "Mikey" 500GB drive. Cool!)

I'm wondering what it would take to lobby the city to start switching

What would it take? How about a $25,000 cash bribe?

In a related item, law professor Michael Geist, in his weekly column discusses he financial impact of peer-to-peer music downloading on the Canadian music industry. He says that Canadian artists have not suffered financially, noting that lost royalties from diminished sales have been more than offset by the collection of nearly $120 million in private copying levies. Professor Geist is Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa.

The Toronto Star did a front page write up in their @Biz section.

A skilled trade is a good career choice. They are in very high demand these days. Check out this article in the Toronto Star.

If enough Canadians can convince their government to stand up to U.S. pressure to implement the broadcast flag, you may be able to import them from there. It can't hurt that ATI is a Canadian company.

There's an article about it in the Toronto Star: Mr. Minister, please protect the public interest.

Here are a few interesting parts:

[Industry Minister David] Emerson's strong backbone will be tested in the months ahead as he faces unrelenting U.S. pressure on two initiatives that would, if adopted, provide broadcasters with unprecedented control over television signals and severely curtail consumers' expectations with regard to their rights and personal privacy. ...

Given the controversy associated with the broadcast flag in the U.S., one would think that Canada would be wary about embarking on the same route. Accordingly, it came as a shock to many when an Industry Canada official recently indicated that Canada was likely to follow the U.S. lead by quickly implementing a similar system by July 2005. The official suggested that there was broadcaster support for the measure and that since the U.S. had adopted it, Canadians had little alternative but to follow suit.

While Canadian broadcasters may or may not support the broadcast flag (they have in fact been rather publicly silent on the matter), it is essential Canada craft its own policy by considering the privacy and copyright policies associated with the proposal.

Pre-judging the issue, as some in Minister Emerson's department appear to have done, is a dangerous course of action, that should be replaced immediately by a working group of all stakeholders, including the broader public interest, intent on studying the Canadian options. The suggestion Canada faces a Y2K-like deadline with respect to the broadcast flag appears as overblown as was the Y2K threat itself.

In light of the importance of the issues raised by the broadcast flag, it is heartening that Canada's new Industry Minister is a veteran of supporting Canadian interests in the face of U.S. pressure. When David Emerson salutes the flag on Canada Day 2005, one hopes that it is one with a maple leaf, not a broadcast flag emblazoned with red, white, and blue.

The Honourable David Emerson, Minister of Industry, can be contacted by email or by regular mail.

We Understand Your Pain

- A very interesting read, article at the TorontoStar. Let me know if you cannot access it and I'll post the text.

Suspicions were raised a month ago when the school noticed unusually high levels of traffic on the computer network. Security specialists from Sun Microsystems were called in to investigate the problem and found spying software, known as a keystroke logger, had been running on the machine since March 25.

I think the biggest security hole is this common sense that you speak of.

...you would restrict the progress of humanity by shoving a policy of decreased energy use down its throat.

Decreased compared to what, the maximum possible consumption? And since when has improving energy efficiency not counted as progress?

Shame on you! And this is all for nothing, as fusion can provide all the energy needed a million times over...

Nobody makes working fusion power plants. So, in view of today's energy needs, rather than building windmills you'd prefer not building a fusion reactor that doesn't exist?

Meanwhile, there's a $1.9 billion project to build a gigawatt's worth of windmills in Quebec. Shame on Hydro Quebec for shoving increased generating capacity down our throats.

link should have been
In an article Greenhouse Gas Jump Spurs Global Warming Fears

(Use the Preview Button! Check those URLs!)
Uh Yeah....

The Toronto Star took part in the Energy Challenge Rally and wrote about it. The concept was to do several rally stages in different cars and try to get the best mileage. This was done in city traffic.

Read about it here

As well as the Fortwo, the drivers tried out a hybrid Civic, a Prius and a Mercedes E320 CDI.

Ok. Following that logic, I'm sre that you agree that it's high time that America unilaterally invade:

- Sudan: to stop the Genocide in Darfur and the civil war in the South (FYI the UN Charter *mandates* military action in cases of Genocide, how come the US isn't pushing this harder?)

- North Korea: Kim Jong-Il is a nucular-armed (sic) madman who oppresses and starves his subjects while maintaining a massive military complex and threatening his neigbors

- Iran: A major sponsor of global terrorism, has its own nuclear program, and has been working covertly to undermine US efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan

- Myanmar: A brutal, bloody and tyrannical regime by any standard

- Syria: Fellow Baathists, also tyrannical, also supporters of terrorism (Hamas, hezbollah, Islamic Jihad). Somehow our friends in the War on Terror (?!). Oh yeah, they're the US torture outsourcer of choice!

- Pick any one of at least a dozen regimes in Africa that are as Brutal as the Iraqi Baathist regime. Or more so.

Y'know what I find funny? Many of the same people who are now saying that it was good for America to invade Iraq to liberate its people would have said the exact opposite a few years earlier. I remember much grouching about the 'new world order' and America's role as 'Global Cop'. I remember a presidential candidate who said he would not be a nation builder. I guess it's ok to change your philosophy ('flip-flop') once your guy's in power, though, right?

Don't get me wrong. Even though I knew, in March 2003 (it was well-knowneven then) that the rationale for going to war (WMD's *NOT* liberation) was a sack of BS and that the war had been predicided by mid '02, I thought the war was a good thing: Saddam was a monster and his kids were even worse. If the American's are even halfways competent the Iraqis would be free and it would all be worth it. But they weren't. And it wasn't. And now Iraq is a far more dangerous place than it was before 03/03.

Mel Brooks doesn't seem to like our bagels.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pag ename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1 096452771745&call_pageid=968867495754&col=96870592 5735

Indeed, arguing about where Linux users live is unproductive
Who's arguing about it? I just don't think that Iranians or anyone else is going to abandon a technology just because a few Americans worked on it. That would be foolish.

**This is merely speculation** ... a Microsoft-U.S. government cooperation could insert some code into future updates, service packs, and versions of Windows that would allow the government or whoever to monitor systems and gather intelligence data

I also highly doubt that has anything to do with the motivation. Windows' record speaks for itself when it comes to security. There is no way for Iran to audit it's code, or close holes when problems come up. These issues are the same from Iran to Europe to North America.

considering world events, citing Iran as an ally to Linux would not be much of a boost (if anything, a negative) as to promoting Linux

That is what I take issue with. Considering world events, I would be equally less enthusiastic about citing the USA as an ally to Linux, maybe less so. Iran is not the worlds largest supplier of weapons, and Iran isn't the ones telling the government of my sovereign country how it should be conducting its business.

Case in point, an inmate at a privately run prison in Canada died recently after a small cut on his finger got infected.

National Post

Toronto Star

and others

here's the email i sent to the harvard guy:

i read an article about your conclusions on revenge in the toronto star ( http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pag ename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1 093558209949&call_pageid=968867505381&col=96904887 2038 ), and frankly, i think it is ridiculous. i have never been so outraged by an article that i have sent an email to a journalist before. which i did a few hours ago, and now i am sending an email to you. i would like to preface this with saying that i think science is an important field, and that i in no way doubt your validity as a researcher, or your expertise, and in no way claim to know more than you. of course, revenge feels good. we all know that. but your research is being used to portray a biological rather than mental derivation of this pleasure. a large part of the fields of psychology, genetics, and other such related disciplines fall into the trap of "if i see the body doing it, its biological". the body and the mind are interconnected, and can not be seperated. for example, psychiatry claims that "ADD" is a lack of dopamine in the brain, which they take to mean that "ADD" is hereditary, because it is "biological". there is one thing that they overlook all too often (besides the fact that they cannot measure this), and that is that your body makes things it uses, and doesnt make things it doesnt use: when it makes things it doesnt need, that is called an illness. if a child is brought up in a stimulant rich environment, or have emotional issues they want to avoid, they will not concentrate on one thing for a long time (either because they are not used to it because of mediums such as tv and internet, or because if they think of something too long, they will not be distracted, and will start to mentally drift toward unpleasant or troubling thoughts, which is just a type of coping), which then means they are not using dopamine as often as a "normal" person, so their brain would not be making it. this type of flawed logic is what makes me not take science seriously. in genetics, they say that if a behavior runs in a family, it is genetic, never minding the fact that people are highly influenced by their families, and that they have no genetic proof that these "behavior" genes that refer to very specific thing exist; a fundamental fact of human nature is that people act like the people they love, and people try to act more like the people they love (the broadest definition of the term, and again, act like doesnt mean in obvious ways, in subtle ways, speach patterns, movements, hair, clothes, interests, hates, hobbies, dreams, fears, and any combination thereof), so needless to say people will act like their families. that is not to say that no behaviors have a genetic component, but it is brash and unscientific to come to the conclusion that because people are associated genetically, that the social component is completely irrelevant. the social component would be much harder to study, so they ignore it. how can you study the environment of a child? because a single minute, seemingly unimportant, can influence someone's entire life? and it is impossible to observe at such a depth without changing the subject (as of course you know, observing and studying changes all subjects, from photons to plants, to animals to people). which brings me to the problem of your conclusions on revenge. if you have not made these conclusions, then i apologize, i have not read your original article, but even so, if you have not, other people i have read discussing your paper are coming to these conclusions. which is largely your responsibility. your conclusions as i see them (and in the least as others see them) is that love for revenge is natural. it is built into us. "Eye-for

Can you say, "Puppet Sex?"

So that you can recall them
So that the pilot, upon seeing the target is not quite as imagined, can abort the mission
So that you can have an accurate, in person, assessment of the actual scene. There are quite a few videos floating around from Iraq that show last minute targeting changes only possible by an onscene human.

So that you can prosecute the pilots who are under the full influence of the amphetamine pills when they bomb friendly troops.

One hell of a long link, showing terrorists blowing up roads to stop shipments of food into Katmundu

This comment is so rich. I can only spend a little time on it, but here's a shot:

First, let's talk about references. When I say something like x is due to y, I like to back it up with something like according to z(www.z.com), you get the picture.

Now the "Germany KNOWS that Saddam did have WMD" statement sounds a little overstated - I would assume you are referring to international findings of that nature and not the Germans in particular?

On that note, almost every country has WMD right now. I think that makes the WMD case for war a bit daft, but that's just a personal opinion.

I'm at a bit of a loss on this statement:
"Are we to believe that in the interim period, Iraq secretly destroyed all of its remaining weapons, on its own, with no supervision or involvement of outside monitors, all with no proof or records"
Let's try CNN on this one. Looks like they were destroying them right up to the war.

Here's another idea I take issue with:
"it's not just about bombing people into oblivion; it's about encouraging free government with a free flow of information"
The question I have here is why, after over a year, have we still seen none of this come to fruition? Sure, we handed over power, but to an unelected government that we selected. Also, how did we contribute to the free flow of information by banning newspapers?

You go on to insist that this was somehow was positive for "most of the civilized world", but offer no rational for that logic. I think it's much safer to assume that the real winners here are defence contractors tied to the Whitehouse

"People think that the US just wants to arrogantly steamroll people..." Please don't talk about the actions of the state as the actions of the US. I'm a part of this great country, and like many others, I consider this war a shameful crime against humanity.

The Toronto Star's coverage has more info about Alec Baldwin's participation in the launch of the Deep Lake Water Cooling system:

Hollywood heavyweight Alec Baldwin heaped praise on Canada's "forward-thinking" approach to energy today at the launch of a new system that uses the frigid waters of Lake Ontario to cool downtown office buildings.

The system is nothing short of a "miracle," gushed Baldwin, 46, the square-jawed star of blockbuster films like The Hunt for Red October and Ghosts of Mississippi who moonlights as an environmental activist.

"This is an important signal you are sending not only to your fellow countrymen but to the world," Baldwin told the gathered crowd.

"There's no project on a municipal level this size that's been attempted or has been executed before like this."

Unconventional thinking seemed to be at the heart of today's event, which looked like a Hollywood premiere, complete with a blasting techno soundtrack, fog machine, and bizarre floor show of twirling gymnasts contorting themselves around a large ring suspended from the ceiling.

Oh yeah, if you can't reach the Globe and mail article, the Toronto Star article doesn't require registration yet:

You're right. 1984 has nothing to do with increased government surveillance. Nor does it have anything to do with keeping the people in a state of terror allows the government to steal our liberties. Nor does 1984 have anything to do with the government rewriting history. Finally, 1984 has nothing to do with the world being in a constant state of war to assist in keeping the population in fear.

According to a recent U.N. report Canada is the 4th best place to live, above the USA.

Much lower standard of living then the US? Do you have anything to back that up? Canada was ranked 4th in the UN's best place to live ranking.

Canada's MOST aka Humble space telescope discovers that Procyon isn't shaking. CBC Toronto Star Okay, it's not as fancy as a hundred planets, but it's still interesting stuff.

They're even moving in to Canada. Lately buying the New Yorker Theatre in Toronto. (Maybe they got confused by the name?) A branch of the Blue Man Group will be moving in, right across from Scientology's Martian Embassy. (Sometimes that's funny.)

Another article reports that the power output is only 100 milliwatts for the 8.5 gm device. This suggests that a 1/2 kg version of the thing would only put out 5.9 watts - not enough to power a laptop. It looks like an interesting powersource for low-power devices, but anything with a backlit display or modern mobile processor is probably not feasible with this tiny unit.

An incident in Kakabeka Falls last month has apparently caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I.

ABC News reports that the arrest of two people driving a van loaded 12 drums of red phosphorous has caused concern because of fears of a new terror attack in the U.S. The chemical is highly incendiary, and ABC says American authorities have reports a spectacular attack may be planned for sometime before the Presidential election this fall.

Thunder Bay Police charged a man and a woman only for violations of the Dangerous Goods Act. Police spokesperson Chris Adams says it's an ongoing drug investigation, since red phosphorous can be used to make Speed. He says U.S. officials have not contacted Thunder Bay, but may have picked up on the case through Interpol.

ABC reports the two people arrested here were Muslims, and that they claimed they were paid $4500 to drive the phosphorous to the U.S. Adams says that in fact, they said they were paid to drive the van to Toronto. They were released with a court appearance set for July.

Now, I'm not saying that we should turn our Western world into a police state. At the same time, though, there are those among us who are determined to destroy our civilazation - and discussions like this we're having here on /. help us weigh the pros and cons to make informed opinions, and keep our rights, yet not at the cost of safety.

Recently (May 12) the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage issued a report on proposed changes to the Copyright Act, whose relevant recommendation is as follows:

RECOMMENDATION 3

The Committee recommends that the Copyright Act be amended to provide that Internet service providers (ISPs) can be subject to liability for copyrighted material on their facilities. The Committee notes, however, that ISPs should be exempt from liability if they act as true "intermediaries," without actual or constructive knowledge of the transmitted content, and where they meet certain prescribed conditions. ISPs should be required to comply with a "notice and takedown" scheme that is compliant with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with additional prescribed procedures to address other infringements.

The Act would force ISPs to cut off access for uploaders after they have been identified by the CIRA. But the report does not specifically address the disclosure of customers' information (to the CIRA), nor does it address the download v.s. upload meme.

The EFC has not, AFAIK, commented on the report and the Toronto member of Parliament who chaired the committee, hasn't yet responded to my inquiries (will P2P or anti-circumvention be left legal?).

I think you just supplied your own answer. Seeing how well Shrek 2 did ( shreds box office record Top weekend ever for animated film Earns $125.3 million in 5 days ), they'll turn this into a trilogy. Think Sound of Thunder Reloaded.

In what way is this "News for Nerds"?

I should point out for everyone who is wondering how accurate this is that the Globe and Mail is a really right-leaning, conservative paper that regularly suckles upon the Republican Party's collective wang. Anything to appeal to the fanatical right, they can be alarmists in the strictest sense.

They're heavily eclipsed, circulation wise, by the Toronto Star and are prone to sensationalism to try to get people to buy their paper. They rarely notice real news, and you'd get better information watching CNN then reading the Globe.

Of course, CNN has all the journalistic integrity of a drunken puppet show at a thai whore house.... but that's another story that I'd rather not explain. :)

Yes he did. Here is a quote from this
article from the toronto star, I found this simply searching google news for bill gates 640k :)

-----Quoted-----
In 1943, the chief of IBM said he figured there was a world market for "maybe five computers."

"But what is it good for?" an IBM engineer said in 1968 when commenting on the microchip.

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home," Digital Equipment Corp. founder Ken Olson said in 1977.

"640K ought to be enough for anybody," Bill Gates (you might have heard of him) opined in 1981.

A scientist working on the A-bomb told Harry Truman it would never explode. A Western Union executive said the telephone had too many shortcomings to be a serious communications tool. Wilbur Wright told his brother Orville in 1901 that "man won't fly for 1,000 years."

All good Canadians must download the Official Hockey Night in Canada Theme Song!

The writer of that Toronto Star story did say that it was a one-sided story, and that due to deadlines/time zones, he didn't have time to check Ballmer's tales of woe. (He also asks for Linux Slashdotters to chill out a little.)

Exactly; also, networks like Al Quaeda depend on a large number of radicalised supporters; Bush hands this to them on a plate. His attitude of people being either with the USA or against it couldn't be better for Al-Quaeda. Try these:

link 1

link 2 - 1/2 way down

Do a Google News search for bush al-Masri for more information.

-Chris

Ha! Sure, you like what Tyler Hamilton says this week, but Slashdot hasn't always received his stories gracefully. :^)

The Toronto Star's @Biz section stories were all-but-one about Linux yesterday. (The Tux with sling was big across the front.)

Tyler Hamilton has things to say about Linux zealots. Ahem.

Tyler Hamilton has things to say about Linux zealots. Ahem.

Hmmm, i wonder what kind of targetted adds would terrorists be receiving....

Just a little heads-up... your post is quoted in the Toronto Star.

Have a look

(and no, I don't work for them)

Danhm, I don't know if you've seen this yet, but you're quoted in the Toronto Star.

Thestar.com - Court rejects music lawsuit

Enjoy your 15 minutes!

He compared the action to a photocopy machine in a library. "I cannot see a real difference between a library that places a photocopy machine in a room full of copyrighted material and a computer user that places a personal copy on a shared directory linked to a P2P service," he said.

Besides, the IP changes, and the ISPs *don't* have to divulge who had the IP at any given time. Kind of hard to sue in that case...

Two other newsfeeds are carrying the story as well -- both say essentially the same thing, but CBC has some related stories that may be worth reading: The Toronto Star and CBC

IANAL, but I believe this comes from the quirk in Canadian law that you may make copies of something for yourself quite legally, just not for others. Since the people sharing aren't making the copies, it's legal.