I'm memeing the /. story b/c it's a more compact way to get to the real info.

Looks like a pile of crap to me, but maybe not. To what extent ought a blogger be responsible for the comments made on his blog by other people? i imagine legally speaking, he probably is liable, but should he? all assuming, of course, that the statements made were, in fact, libelous to begin with, which i'm not qualified to determine.

thoughts?

Slashdot | Columnist Threatens to Sue Blogger

] One of four boys who were allegedly starved for years by
] their adoptive parents may have resorted to chewing on a
] window sill in a desperate bid for nourishment.

seriously, what the fuck. for the record, a stone is 14 pounds, so this 19 year old was 4 feet tall and weighed somewhere in the vicinity of 45 pounds.

these "parents" should be sent to the deepest, darkest hole available for the rest of their natural (hopefully painful) lives.

Ananova - 'Boy chewed window sill as parents starved youngsters'

] The new virus kills all mice even if they have been given
] antiviral drugs as well as a vaccine that would normally
] protect them.
]
]
] The work has not stopped there. The cowpox virus, which
] infects a range of animals including humans, has been
] genetically altered in a similar way

this doesn't make me feel particularly good. GM viruses w/ 100% kill rate == bad in my book. i don't care if they are noncontagious right now... shit mutates man.

New Scientist - US develops lethal new viruses

a variant of this story gets run pretty often, but still, usually some interesting things come out of it...

Ideas Unlimited, Built to Order

] "Cockroaches are robust -- they can go into environments
] that humans can't withstand," Brinker said. "You could
] attach a sensing device onto the back of a cockroach and
] send it into a place where you suspect they're making
] chemical weapons.

not sure how you'd get the roach back, but, still, pretty cool stuff...

The yeast and the cockroach -- a spy tale

]] The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke
]] diesel engine is the most powerful and most efficient
]] prime-mover in the world today.
]
]wow... 5,608,312 foot pounds of torque!!! Someone needs to build a ]muscle car with this engine...

holy crap that's cool. i can't believe the normal internal combustion mechanics scale up that well... i would think that when you've got a cylinder that's 3 feet across, the characteristics of the explosion stage would be massively different. man, this fucker must be loud, even at only 100 rpm.

The Most Powerful Diesel Engine in the World

] She stated that the existing law only covers analog, not
] digital cable theft--giving the impression that, without
] this new bill, digital cable theft is legal.

Read about the obvious lies that various lobbying organizations told the Tennessee legislature yesterday.

U: If you really want to get your blood boiling wait until you get to the place where these mother fuckers tell the legislature that having wifi access points in your home helps terrorists!

10/28/2003 Joint Committee Hearing Notes - Tennessee Digital Freedom Network

] A leading Internet standards-setting organization took the
] unusual step yesterday of urging the director of the
] United States Patent and Trademark Office to invalidate a
] software patent that the group says threatens the
] development of the World Wide Web.

i wouldn't say they're backing MS, but they are acknowledging that this patent would do great damage to the operation of the modern world wide web if Eolas started going after all the other browser makers (though they've said they won't).

Web Group Backs Microsoft in Patent Suit

House Science Committee wants to put the space plane on hold.

IF we're going to keep up manned spaceflight, the shuttle needs to be retired. I'm not sure what I think about arguments that we give up on manned spaceflight -- if we don't keep at it, how will it ever get faster/cheaper/safer?

Not So Fast, Lawmakers Say of Plans for a Space Plane

Answer, not you...

] Nonetheless, from 1979 to 1999, 69 percent of the people
] who lost jobs as a result of cheap imports in sectors
] other than manufacturing were reemployed. The mean wage
] of those reemployed was 96.2 percent of their previous
] wage.

And this article is pro offshoring. They spend paragraphs spinning the hell out of it like a high school cheer leader. Look to your left, look to your right, one of you isn't going to work again.

Who wins when jobs move offshore? | CNET News.com