Swiss men with weak hearts don't have to worry about visiting brothels anymore. Prostitutes in Switzerland are being trained to use defibrillators in case their clients give out while they're giving it up. There have been so many heart attacks at brothels in the Lugano area recently that owners say defibrillators, and people trained in their use, are needed. The owner of one sex club said: "Having customers die on us isn't exactly good publicity."

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has revealed that it RickRolled users that were killing its TechEd conference Wi-Fi network last year by torrenting large files. Network administrators at the event quickly built a list of all of the top torrent trackers around and got the nod to add them all to the local DNS resolver and point them at a local Web server containing some Rick Roll scripts. According to the admin: 'It killed me that I didn't see anyone getting done by this first hand, but there were hundreds of impressions in the server logs containing the Rick Roll scripts so I did get a fair amount of satisfaction at least. It was the most evil of evil Rick Roll scripts too — worse than any that anyone has used to get me in the past.' Fun and games aside, it looks like the leechers will force quotas and traffic shaping for the first time in the event's history."

Jonathan Springston, a longtime writer for Atlanta Progressive News was recently fired because his vision of fact-based reporting didn't match his boss's. A statement released by his editor, Matthew Cardinale, said Springston was asked to leave, “because he held on to the notion that there was an objective reality that could be reported objectively, despite the fact that that was not our editorial policy at Atlanta Progressive News.” While I appreciate the editor's honesty, I have to wonder about the wisdom of guiding your news organization into the philosophical position that objective reality does not exist. Talk amongst yourselves.

State Sen. Chris Buttars has a great idea to cut Utah's $700 million deficit, make senior year optional. The senator told the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee that many students just waste time during their senior year and that getting rid of it would save $102 million. "You're spending a whole lot of money for a whole bunch of kids who aren't getting anything out of that grade," he said. "It comes down to the best use of money."

kkleiner writes "Terri Carlson is willing to marry you for your healthcare. This 45-year-old woman suffers from a genetic condition, C4 Complement Deficiency, which causes her body to attack itself (similar to Lupus). Faced with skyrocketing health costs, and unable to get insurance (she's currently on COBRA), Terri did the only thing she could do: she built a website and got on YouTube. Carlson's situation challenges the courts under a statute already on the books: GINA. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 keeps insurance companies from using genetic data to deny you coverage."

Cytotoxic writes "What to do with all of those leftover Valentine's Day chocolates? — a common problem for the Slashdot crowd. The folks over at Wired magazine have an answer for you in a nice article showing how to measure the speed of light with a microwave and some chocolate. A simple yet surprisingly accurate method that can be used to introduce the scientific method to children and others in need of a scientific education."

Alton Towers theme park has officially banned a squirrel from riding one of its roller coasters. In addition to loving the rides, the thrill-seeking rodent, nicknamed "Sonic," is also accused of stealing food from workers. Morwenna Angove, sales and marketing director at the Alton Towers resort, said: ''Unfortunately Sonic's behavior is a danger both to our guests and himself and so we're doing all we can to ensure that he stays away from the ride." The company is also considering a ban on crocodiles riding the log flume, and ending its popular porcupine bumper car night.

Have you heard the one about the airport security screener who made a handicapped and developmentally delayed 4-year-old take off his leg braces and lurch through the metal detector? It's hilarious! The kid has malformed ankles and very low muscle tone in his legs due to being born 16 weeks prematurely. His parents thought he would like to visit Disney World for his birthday, but the kid's custom-made leg braces made the metal detector go off at the airport. The TSA agent refused to let the kid pass until he took off the braces and walked through the machine unaided. This is a joke, right?

California has once again been blessed with another steampunk convention, this time to be held in Emeryville, CA on March 12-14 as the "Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition." This year's event promises to mix in much more of the DIY/maker flavor for a greater hands-on feel. Steampunk has been gaining much broader appeal in recent months with the continued growth of maker communities, and the many delightful varieties of music and literature. The con will feature, among other things, a 2 day track of 2-hour how-to, hands-on, and interactive workshops gear towards makers, DIY-ers, mad scientists, and evil geniuses. Of course, if you are an evil genius you probably don't need a workshop except as a gathering for potential test subjects.

Fortunately for us, the FAA has imposed the honor system as our next best defense against terrorism. Hopefully this will allow them to increase the volume of non-bladder liquid I'm allowed to take on planes.

SLbigE writes "A Facebook Ad for auto insurance includes a drivers license containing a photo of 9/11 Terrorist Mohammad Atta! From the article: 'WJR engineer Paul Roy saw this ad on his Facebook page today. The ad mentions that he was eligible for savings on auto insurance and includes a photo of a Michigan Drivers License. No big deal right? WRONG! If you look closer at the ad, you’ll see the Driver’s License includes a headshot of 9/11 terrorist Mohammad Atta!'"

davidwr writes "When 73-year-old man Alexander Skopintsev says 'Get off my lawn,' he means it. The farmer in far eastern Russia, was convicted of planting mines to 'ward off trespassers' and protect his potatoes. Kids, the next time the old man down the street says 'get off my lawn' I suggest you listen!"

Weemz writes "This is the best use of a sausage and technology I have seen today. From the article: 'Too cold to take your gloves off? No problem, try a frozen, individually wrapped Hot Dog. Seoul, Korea; CJ Corporation's "Max Rod" sales are soaring as Koreans have discovered that they are quite effective for operating iPhones in cold weather. Max Rods are individually wrapped, frozen sausages that have replaced the need for an iPhone stylus or iPhone gloves. Once back indoors, this handy stylus becomes a not so light snack! Funnier than watching a subway car of people tapping their iPhones with frozen meat-sticks is reading the Google translation of the original news article.'"

ideonexus writes "At the New York Toy fair, Mattel has announced Computer Engineer Barbie, the doll's 126th career chosen by popular vote. The official announcement (PDF) shows her accessorizing with nerdy glasses, a Bluetooth earpiece, pink laptop, and tee covered in binary digits. The girls-only vote choose 'News Anchor Barbie,' which became Barbie's 125th career, but Mattel decided to add the Computer Engineer version after a viral outpouring of support from female IT professionals."

theodp writes "Kevin Smith is not a happy Southwest customer. The director was thrown off a flight from Oakland to Burbank, after being deemed too fat to fly. He later wound up on another Southwest flight, but has declared It's On and taken his rants to Twitter. 'Dear @SouthwestAir — I know I'm fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?' he began. He also let the airline know he'd made it to his destination. 'Hey @SouthwestAir! I've landed in Burbank. Don't worry: wall of the plane was opened & I was airlifted out while Richard Simmons supervised.'"

wisebabo writes "Nathan Myhrvol demonstrated at TED a laser, built from parts scrounged from eBay, capable of shooting down not one but 50 to 100 mosquitos a second. The system is 'so precise that it can specify the species, and even the gender, of the mosquito being targeted.' Currently, for the sake of efficiency, it leaves the males alone because only females are bloodsuckers. Best of all the system could cost as little as $50. Maybe that's too expensive for use in preventing malaria in Africa but I'd buy one in a second!" We ran a story about this last year. It looks like the company has added a bit more polish, and burning mosquito footage to their marketing.

harrymcc writes "For more than 20 years, Sunnyvale's cavernous, aptly-named Weird Stuff Warehouse has sold an amazing array of salvage and surplus computer products. It's like a tech museum where everything's for sale at bargain-basement prices — from shrinkwrapped Atari 1040ST software to used BetaMAX tapes to 1GB hard drives to mysterious printed circuit boards to Selectric typewriters. I paid a visit to this legendary geek temple and snapped photos of some of the fascinating stuff I came across."

Every great romance starts with a great plan.

The South Australian Environment Department has told farmers that they should use poison gas or even explosives to deal with the out-of-control rabbit population. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization Invasive Animals chief Professor Tony Peacock, owner of the largest business card ever, says that blowing up rabbits isn't as inhuman as people might think, and has been ranked by the RSPCA as one of the best ways to destroy warrens.

Aryabhata writes "According to scientists, climate change and human activity have allowed bark beetle populations to soar. They decided to fight the beetles by using the 'nastiest, most offensive sounds' that they could think of. These sounds included recordings of Guns & Roses, Queen, Rush Limbaugh and manipulated versions of the insects' own sounds. The research project titled 'Beetle Mania' has concluded that acoustic stress can disrupt their feeding and even cause the beetles to kill each other."