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kristian writes:

I'm currently attempting to wean myself off of all Google services. This is mainly because I would prefer not to have all of my eggs in one basket. Replacing Gmail and Google Calendar was easy enough, but now I've hit a wall trying to replace Google Voice. I've been on Google Voice practically since its inception, and I use it to take all of my calls and to send and receive all of my SMS. I can't seem to locate any information on how to set up a similar service that is self-hosted. I would be willing to pay a reasonable amount for the phone bridge portion of the service, but I would like, if possible, to store the data on my own server (open source is a plus, of course). Suggestions?

AnonTechie writes:

High blood pressure can be a very serious condition, and is usually controlled via medication along with lifestyle changes. For approximately 35 percent of patients, however, that medication doesn't work in the long run. That's why a team of researchers from Germany's University of Freiburg are developing an implantable electronic cuff, that may one day control peoples' blood pressure via electrical pulses within the neck. In tests on rats, the cuff has been implanted in the vagus nerve. In both rats and humans, the vagus nerve extends from the brain stem into the thorax and abdomen, running through the neck along the way. It relays signals that control unconscious body procedures such as heart rate, digestion and breathing. Using a technique known as BaroLoopTM, the cuff is able to determine which of its 24 electrodes is closest to the nerve fibers responsible for transmitting the blood pressure signal from the brain to the heart. It then activates that electrode, to selectively stimulate only those fibers. As a result, it is able to "overwrite" the brain's faulty signal, lowering the blood pressure to a safe level.

Papas Fritas writes:

Joan Lowy writes for AP that the Department of Transportation has issued an emergency order requiring that railroads inform state emergency management officials about the movement of large shipments of crude oil through their states and urged shippers not to use older model tanks cars that are easily ruptured in accidents, even at slow speeds. The emergency order follows a warning two weeks ago from outgoing National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman that the department risks a "higher body count" as the result of fiery oil train accidents if it waits for new safety regulations to become final.

There have been nine oil train derailments in the U.S. and Canada since March of last year, many of them resulting in intense fires and sometimes the evacuation of nearby residents, according to the NTSB. The latest was last week, when a CSX train carrying Bakken crude derailed in downtown Lynchburg, Va., sending three tank cars into the James River and shooting flames and black smoke into the air. Concern about the safe transport of crude oil was heightened after a runaway oil train derailed and then exploded last July in the small town of Lac-Megantic in Canada, just across the border from Maine. More than 60 tank cars spilled more than 1.3 million gallons of oil. Forty-seven people were killed and 30 buildings destroyed in resulting inferno.

Hersman says that over her 10 years on the board she has "seen a lot of difficulty when it comes to safety rules being implemented if we don't have a high enough body count. That is a tombstone mentality. We know the steps that will prevent or mitigate these accidents. What is missing is the will to require people to do so."

Anonymous Coward writes:

The German federal government will -in future- exclude IT companies from projects unless those companies can give a guarantee they are not obliged to pass on data to foreign agencies.

From the article at heise.de (Google translation):

This was prompted by an investigation into the role of US military bases in Germany in the US drone war during which the German arm of US-based company Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and its alleged spying operations came into focus. Projects for CSC Germany total EUR300 million since the 1990s, including the federal firearms register and the new (digitally signed) personal ID card. "Only in special cases there can be exceptions" a spokesman said.

Several states of Germany look to follow this move, excluding companies from public projects that "directly or indirectly work for foreign intelligence agencies."

lhsi writes:

https://peerj.com/articles/372/

Interactive virtual human (IVH) simulations offer a novel method for training skills involving person-to-person interactions. This study trialled IVH simulations for both individual use and use within a small group. Even though the interface had to be shared in the small group, there was little difference in learning compared to individual use.

The participants noted that working alone was beneficial due to being able to work at their own pace, some felt mentally challenged by working independently, and that the absence of others to fall back on when challenged promoted critical thinking.

Most of the participants in the group felt that having the multiple viewpoints was of great benefit, although some noted the lack of control over the pacing and thought it slowed down the process.

Results suggested the IVH activity was an equally effective and engaging instructional tool in both learning structures, despite learners in the group learning contexts having to share hands-on access to the simulation interface. Participants in both conditions demonstrated a significant increase in declarative knowledge post-training. Operation of the IVH simulation technology imposed moderate cognitive demand but did not exceed the demands of the task content or appear to impede learning.

mrcoolbp writes:

Phew, we are almost there, we've reached the last phase of voting. The final list of names is:

• apt-get-news
• crosslog
• dailybacon
• forkdot
• grepnews OR newsgrep
• salientnews OR salientnoise
• soylentnews
• sudonews
• techmatter

All of the above names we have confirmed in at least *.net and *.org, and we even have a few *.com (where possible). There are some new names because the staff held a round to submit and vote also. The above list was created by using the top 5 from both staff and the community, and two extras due to possible copyright issues with two of the names (soylent and apt-get-news).

There were a few names that were nearly identical, the two pairs are listed as one entry (with the variation that got the most points listed first). Should one of these win there will be a runoff to determine which variation gets used. (This is done to keep from splitting the vote for very close names).

The final round of voting will go out within 24 hours after this post and last for one week. We would like to provide an opportunity to discuss the finalists, so here is your chance, discuss below. If you change your mind after seeing an insightful comment, remember you can always change your vote by sending it in again (only most recent will count). We collected a quick writeup from as many submissions as possible to allow for discussion. Some names have more than one advocate due to multiple submitters; conversely, some submitters didn't reply.

Subsentient writes:

On 2014-05-15, version 1.1 of the Epoch Init System was released. Epoch is an init system that aims to be small, provide good service management, have no extraneous dependencies, and most of all, to be very unintrusive, and is targeted at desktop, server, and minimalist distros.
Version 1.0 was released in January and 1.1 is a follow-up to that release, adding some requested features, bugfixes, and good-ideas.

The biggest feature in 1.1 is multiple configuration file support, which was not present in previous releases because it was deemed a good way to bomb your drive with extra config files, but for the sake of maintainers and by popular demand, it is present in this release.

A changelog exists.

(Epoch is my software, but since we've discussed it as a competitor to systemd on IRC, I made this submission to take the discussion further.)

lhsi writes:

Consumption of Green Tea was associated with a Reduced Risk of Cognitive Decline in elderly Japanese residents, however coffee and black tea consumption did not have a similar effect.

This prospective longitudinal study demonstrated that daily green tea consumption is significantly associated with a decreased risk of cognitive decline (dementia or MCI), even after controlling for potential confounding factors. In addition, higher green tea consumption was inversely associated with dementia in both age- and sex-adjusted models. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study that examined the association between green tea and the incidence of dementia and cognitive decline.

No association was found between coffee or black tea consumption and the incidence of dementia or MCI. Our results indicate that green tea consumption is significantly associated with reduced risk of cognitive decline, even after adjustment for possible confounding factors.

Leebert writes:

Adobe's Creative Cloud suffered an outage of about 24 hours, denying users access to the software that they had licensed. Adobe faced a significant outcry when it forced all users of the Creative Suite to go to the "cloud" version earlier this year. Rarely do people get to say "I told you so" quite so quickly.

AnonTechie writes:

New data show how states are doing in science:

The newly updated, online, interactive state data tool allows policymakers, educators and other users to discern trends in education, science and research in each of the 50 states. This free resource supplements the state data in the 2014 Science and Engineering Indicators report, the premier source of information and analysis of the nation's position in science and engineering education and research. The biennial report is published by the National Science Board, the policy making body of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The tool features 59 state indicators of state performance in education, the scientific workforce, research and development (R&D) investments and activities, and high-tech business. It offers tables, charts and graphs, and permits users to view and customize data in multiple ways, such as making comparisons with other states, looking at 20 year trends, and translating financial information from current into constant dollars.

"R&D and human capital are major drivers of innovation and the economy," said Dan Arvizu, chairman of the National Science Board. "This is a valuable resource for those who wish to see how their state is doing. Whether it's educational achievement, your state's workforce, or R&D investments, it's an excellent tool to see how your state stacks up. And it will inform debates over state policies and programs."

lhsi writes:

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27432471

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27432791

Debates between UK political party leaders could take place online instead of TV debates in the next general election. (Note: the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian are both UK newspapers)

YouTube, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian have announced they are making a joint bid to host a leaders' debate before next year's General Election.

Such a debate, broadcast online, would be free of the rules on balance which broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV and Sky have to follow,

This would mean there would be more freedom over which leaders took part.

Papas Fritas writes:

Time Magazine reports that Wyoming, the nation's top coal-producing state, has become the first state to reject new K-12 science standards proposed by national education groups mainly because of global warming components. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are a set of science standards developed by leading scientists and science educators from 26 states and built on a framework developed by the National Academy of Sciences. The Wyoming science standards revision committee made up entirely of Wyoming educators unanimously recommended adoption of these standards to the state Board of Education not once but twice and twelve states have already adopted the standards since they were released in April 2013. But opponents argue the standards incorrectly assert that man-made emissions are the main cause of global warming and shouldn't be taught in a state that ranks first among all states in coal production, fifth in natural gas production and eighth in crude oil production deriving much of its school funding from the energy industry. Amy Edmonds, of the Wyoming Liberty Group, says teaching "one view of what is not settled science about global warming" is just one of a number of problems with the standards. "I think Wyoming can do far better." Wyoming Governor Matt Mead has called federal efforts to curtail greenhouse emissions a "war on coal" and has said that he's skeptical about man-made climate change.

Supporters of the NGSS say science standards for Wyoming schools haven't been updated since 2003 and are six years overdue. "If you want the best science education for your children and grandchildren and you don't want any group to speak for you, then make yourselves heard loud and clear," says Cate Cabot. "Otherwise you will watch the best interests of Wyoming students get washed away in the hysteria of a small anti-science minority driven by a national right wing group "and political manipulation."

AnonTechie writes:

Google is planning to release statistics documenting the diversity of its workforce for the first time, amid escalating pressure on the technology industry to hire more minorities and women. The numbers are compiled as part of a report that major U.S. employers must file with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Employers, though, aren't required to make the information publicly available. Google Inc. had resisted previous calls for it to share the diversity data. David Drummond, an African-American executive who oversees Google's public policies, announced the about-face Wednesday during the company's annual shareholders' meeting at its headquarters in Mountain View. "Many companies in (Silicon Valley) have been reluctant to divulge that data, including Google, and, quite frankly, we are wrong about that," Drummond said. He said the information will be released next month.

McGruber sends in an article from the Washington Post:

"IT Specialist Mathew Goldstein was driving his gray Honda Civic along 17th Street NW in Washington, DC when he made a wrong turn and inadvertently followed the motorcade carrying President Obama's daughters into the secure perimeter for the presidential compound.

Goldstein's mistaken left turn raised serious questions about how an unauthorized vehicle was able to travel within five feet of the Obama girls' motorcade and get through two rows of metal security bollards at the checkpoint at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

LowID writes:

In the beginning, pop culture wiki TV Tropes licensed its content with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license for free content.

When Google pulled out its AdSense revenue because of... let's call it NSFW fan fiction, TV Tropes changed its guidelines to forbid tropes about mature content. In response to this move, two forks were eventually created. The admins disliked this move so much that they changed its license notice to the Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike version, despite their site not having requested copyright rights from their users. Only later they added a clause to their Terms of use page requiring all contributors to grant the site irrevocable, exclusive ownership of their edits.

I suppose the morale of the story is, if you contributed to TV Tropes before summer 2012, you should know they're distributing your content under a license that you didn't give them permission to use.