09 Mar 2009
Saudis order 40 lashes for woman who 'mingled'

Ah, our wonderful, oily "allies"! The sooner we get rid of our dependence on Middle Eastern oil, the sooner we can cease associating with these barbarians.

A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

(link) [CNN.com]

20:36 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

US Forgets How To Make Trident Missiles

This is going in the Humor category, for all my conspiracy theory friends who're convinced the government is orchestrating various nefarious plots. In real life, the government couldn't orchestrate a kazoo band ...

The US and the UK are trying to refurbish the aging W76 warheads that tip Trident missiles to prolong their life and ensure they are safe and reliable but plans have been put on hold because US scientists have forgotten how to manufacture a mysterious but very hazardous component of the warhead codenamed Fogbank. 'NNSA had lost knowledge of how to manufacture the material because it had kept few records of the process when the material was made in the 1980s, and almost all staff with expertise on production had retired or left the agency,' says the report by a US congressional committee. Fogbank is thought by some weapons experts to be a foam used between the fission and fusion stages of the thermonuclear bomb on the Trident Missile and US officials say that manufacturing Fogbank requires a solvent cleaning agent which is 'extremely flammable' and 'explosive,' and that the process involves dealing with 'toxic materials' hazardous to workers. 'This is like James Bond destroying his instructions as soon as he has read them,' says John Ainslie, the co-ordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, adding that 'perhaps the plans for making Fogbank were so secret that no copies were kept.' Thomas D'Agostino, administrator or the US National Nuclear Security Administration, told a congressional committee that the administration was spending 'a lot of money' trying to make 'Fogbank' at Y-12, but 'we're not out of the woods yet.'

(link) [Slashdot]

17:31 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

IBM Wants Patent For Lotus Notes-Free Meetings

Who wants to use Lotus Notes anytime? Ridiculous.

tOver at IBM, the Lotus Notes team has 'invented' preventing the use of their own product during meetings. Self-described patent reformer Big Blue has asked the USPTO for a patent covering Suppressing De-Focusing Activities During Selective Scheduled Meetings by forcing meeting attendees to 'submit to the computing system suspension requirements.' What's next — a patent for Verizon for blocking cellphone usage during movies?"

(link) [Slashdot]

07:19 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link