the/diseased/republik

From the Washington Post: 'Attention, all aliens. Come on down. Because, seriously, this is your crowd. About 50,000 of your closest admirers are expected this weekend for the Roswell UFO Festival , celebrating the 60th anniversary of the nearby crash landing of a flying saucer — and, naturally, the ensuing government cover-up." Discuss at slashdot .

chinmay7 writes "There is an excellent selection of articles (and quite a few related scientific papers) in [1]a special edition of Nature magazine on interpretations of the multiverse theory. 'Fifty years ago this month Hugh Everett III published his paper proposing a "relative-state formulation of quantum mechanics" — the idea subsequently described as the 'many worlds' or 'multiverse' interpretation. Its impact on science and culture continues. In celebration, a science fiction special edition of Nature on 5 July 2007 explores the symbiosis of science and sf, as exemplified by Everett's hypothesis, its birth, evolution, champions and opponents, in biology, physics, literature and beyond.' Discuss this story at: http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=07/07/06/2323214 Links: 0. http://people.vanderbilt.edu/~chinmay.soman/ 1. http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/arts/sciencefiction/index.html

"A unique creature that's been dubbed an ' octosquid ' with eight arms and a squid-like mantle, was discovered off Hawaii. The creature, of a previously unknown species, was trapped in the net covering a 3,000 foot-deep intake tube for the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority. From the article: 'The octosquid was pulled to the surface, along with three rattail fish and half a dozen satellite jellyfish, and stayed alive for three days. According to War, the lab usually checks its filters once a month, but this time, it put a plankton net in one of the filters and checked it two weeks later. The pitch-black conditions at 3,000 feet below sea level are unfamiliar to most but riveting to scientists who have had the opportunity to submerge. The sea floor is full of loose sediment, big boulders and rocks, and a lot of mucuslike things floating in the water, which are usually specimens that died at the surface and drifted to the bottom.'"

A US appeals court has dismissed a case challenging President George W Bush's domestic surveillance programme. The judges in Cincinnati ruled 2-1 that the groups which brought the lawsuit, including the American Civil Liberties Union, had no legal right to sue. The ruling strikes down a lower court's order that found the programme, adopted after 9/11, to be unconstitutional. It allowed the government to monitor contacts between US citizens and terror suspects abroad, without a warrant. While President Bush says his wartime powers allowed him to authorise surveillance without the need for a warrant, critics say he violated Americans' civil liberties. Mr Bush decided not to renew the domestic spying programme in January this year. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the government would instead seek approval from a special court for wiretaps. FULL STORY AT THE BBC ...

"The BBC is carrying a story on new tightened New York anti-piracy legislation : A man has been been arrested, after smuggling video recording equipment into a theatre showing the new Transformers movie. 'Kalidou Diallo, 48, has been charged with unauthorized use of a video camera in a cinema. Under upgraded legislation, he could face six months in jail and fines of up to $5,000 (£2,487) if found guilty,' the BBC reports." --source: slashdot --

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — Routed in the Gaza Strip, the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is fractured and adrift at a moment when it is viewed by the outside world as the best hope for blunting the militant Hamas movement in the West Bank. Once dominant in Palestinian affairs, the organization long led by the late Yasser Arafat is beset by a weak and aging leadership, internal schisms and a widespread reputation among Palestinians as corrupt, ineffectual and out of touch. Those troubles have some Palestinians wondering whether Fatah is more likely to lose the West Bank than to recapture the Gaza Strip from Hamas. The crisis facing Fatah has deepened since Hamas crushed its forces in Gaza last month, leaving Fatah's authority limited to the West Bank. The United States, Israel and European allies have promised to bolster Abbas, a relative moderate, and his party as a way to isolate Hamas. Fatah ruled unchallenged under Arafat, but was sent reeling after his d

iamlucky13 writes "In January of 2004, the NASA's Stardust mission made a flyby of comet Wild-2, taking images and collecting samples from its tail that have since been returned to earth in a detachable capsule. On July 4, 2005, Deep Impact smashed a 350 kg projectile traveling 37,000 km/h into comet Tempel 1 as part of its studies of that object. With both craft in good shape at the end of their missions, NASA has been considering additional tasks for the probes. These plans have now been confirmed with a variety of tasks costing an estimated 15% what a new mission would. Among the new duties will be a revisit of Tempel 1, a flyby of comet Boethin, and transit studies of known extra-solar planets. --s ource-slashdot --

ESET, a global provider of antivirus software, today announced a release of its new online scanning service. Powered by award-winning ESET NOD32 Antivirus software, ESET Online Scanner is a free Web-based service that enables computer users to perform a comprehensive system scan to check for and clean viruses, spyware, and other malware—without uninstalling their existing antivirus solution.