angry tapir writes "Many people dislike sitting through a meeting being driven with presentation software. Microsoft's PowerPoint is perhaps the best known and most hated of the slide presentation programs out there, but few would take a political stand over it. However, that's exactly what Switzerland's Anti-PowerPoint Party (APPP) seeks to do. From the article: 'According to the APPP, the use of presentation software costs the Swiss economy 2.1 billion Swiss francs (US$2.5 billion) annually, while across the whole of Europe, presentation software causes an economic loss of €110 billion (US$160 billion). APPP bases its calculations on unverified assumptions about the number of employees attending presentations each week, and supposes that 85 percent of those employees see no purpose in the presentations.'"

An anonymous reader writes "A vast treasure trove of gold coins and precious stones has been unearthed at a Hindu temple in India. Estimates of its value, unofficially $20 billion already, were expected to grow as officials opened the last two secret vaults sealed for nearly 150 years. From the article: 'Meanwhile, security has been stepped up at the temple but police have refused to divulge exact details because they say it would make the treasure more "vulnerable." The Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple was built in the 16th century by the kings who ruled over the then kingdom of Travancore. Local legends say the Travancore kings sealed immense riches within the thick stone walls and vaults of the temple.'"

sciencehabit writes "The world's loudest animal relative to its size has been revealed to be a tiny bug with a big organ. The water boatman, Micronecta scholtzi, rattles its penis along grooves in its abdomen to produce a chattering song—that registers at 99.2 decibels—about the volume of a loud orchestra heard from the front row. Even though the water boatman does its 'singing' from the bottom of rivers to attract mates, humans walking along the riverbank can clearly hear it. The area along its abdomen that the bug uses to make the noise is only about the width of a human hair, and researchers aren't sure exactly how it produces so loud a song."

A clearly photoshopped picture of three Chinese officials inspecting a newly laid road is becoming an internet sensation. The picture posted on a local council's website, shows the men hovering a few inches off the ground with the edges of their bodies blurred. Government officials offer the following explanation: "...a professional photographer had been employed to photograph the three men inspecting the road surface. But after taking a set of real shots of the officials, the unnamed photographer decided that the pictures were just not good enough. With true artistic temperament he set about 'Photoshopping' the three men onto the empty road to create something better." Plenty of parody pictures have popped up already, and I look forward to seeing where the trio end up over the weekend.

rbrausse writes "Some time ago Slashdot covered the German police vulture training scheme; now it is time for a follow-up. BBC reports that the project has failed to take off. The trained vulture hasn't shown interest in working as a detective and confuses human with animal remains. Additionally the bird is shy and prefers to travel by foot."

An anonymous reader writes "By harnessing a new sphere of science called 'lovotics', Hooman Samani, an artificial intelligence researcher at the Social Robotics Lab at the National University of Singapore, believes it is possible to engineer love between humans and robots. Samani's robots have artificial psychological and biological systems that mimic the human brain and endocrine systems, and use movements, sounds, and lights to show their mood and level of affection for a human."

Tony Isaac writes "A funny take on how all the biggest tech companies are organized from designer Manu Cornet, via Foursquare product chief Alex Rainert. Rainert noted, 'These are really great though I imagine there’s a bit more centralized gravitational pull at Facebook than this one suggests.'"

Bob the Super Hamste writes "Fortune has an interesting piece about a federal class action law suit against LegalZoom claiming that its software is illegally practicing law without a license. The law suit seeks to recover money from LegalZoom for every resident in Missouri who has used LegalZoom regardless of how satisfied the users were of the service. Currently Missouri law states that an individual who paid money to a non lawyer for legal services is entitled to sue the provider for 3 times the amount paid."

An anonymous reader writes "In Belfast a High Court judge has ordered a 13 year old to surrender his Xbox to the authorities. The boy was charged with a series of robberies and in the bail application the judge asked the boy what he owned that meant a lot to him. The teenager said it was his Xbox games system. The judge told the youth that the surrender of the Xbox would show him what it was like to have something he really valued taken from him."

gregg writes "Monty Python members have reunited to voice a 3D animated film based on the memoirs of the late Graham Chapman. A Liar's Autobiography will feature recordings that Chapman made of his book before his death in 1989. From the article: '[Terry] Jones joked he had "no idea" until recently that Chapman was dead and "thought he was just being lazy". "However, I am now delighted to find myself working with him again on this exciting project," he added.'"

nonprofiteer writes "Soon bars will be using facial recognition technology to tell you who's there and their gender breakdown. A start-up called SceneTap is rolling out a new service next month for bars and the patrons who love them: facial detection cameras that will keep track of the number of people in a bar, including a running tally of ladies and gents. Smartphone users will be able to download a free app to 'tap the bar scene' before deciding where to go."

syngularyx writes "Pope Benedict XVI has tweeted for the first time, announcing the launch of a Vatican news information portal. Benedict's tweet on Tuesday read: 'Dear Friends, I just launched News.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI'. The portal for the first time aggregates information from the Vatican's various print, online, radio and television media."

dutchwhizzman writes "A team of scientists has submitted a formal request to test the remains of William Shakespeare for drugs. Notably, for marijuana, since remains of clay pipes found in his garden have been tested positive for pot."

An anonymous reader writes "It's frustrating when you explore the web and encounter the famous message: 404 Error – Page Not Found. What could make it a little better is a customized 404 message. Here are some really good ones that should inspire other web designers."

Hugh Pickens writes "The LA Times reports that the Humane Pet Acquisition Proposal is on its way to the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco. It would ban the sale of any animal that walks, flies, swims, crawls or slithers — unless you plan to eat it. Representatives of the $45-billion to $50-billion-a-year pet industry call the San Francisco proposal 'by far the most radical ban we've seen' nationwide and argue that it would force small operators to close. Animal activists say it will save small but important lives, along with taxpayer money, and end needless suffering. 'From Descartes on up, in the Western mindset, fish and other nonhuman animals don't have feelings, they don't have emotions, we can do whatever we want to them,' says Philip Gerrie, coauthor of the proposal. 'If we considered them living beings, we would deal with them differently.'"

Forget about Pi Day, today we celebrate something twice as good: Tau Day. For far too long, Pi has been the bride and Tau has been the bridesmaid. As Michael Hartl points out in The Tau Manifesto, "Pi is a confusing and unnatural choice for the circle constant." He is giving a talk at the California Institute of Technology based on the Manifesto, with pie served at the end. "Twice as many as you might expect," he says.

TaeKwonDood writes "Does sex sell for monkeys the way it does humans? Apparently so. And researchers are now hoping sexy billboards can cause monkeys to prefer a flavor of Jell-O they otherwise do not."

wjcofkc writes "The Transportation Security Administration stood by its security officers Sunday after a Florida woman complained that her cancer-stricken, 95-year-old mother was patted down and forced to remove her adult diaper while going through security. 'While every person and item must be screened before entering the secure boarding area, TSA works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner,' the federal agency said. 'We have reviewed the circumstances involving this screening and determined that our officers acted professionally and according to proper procedure.'"

mikejuk writes "Wikipedia has a cunning plan to make wikipedians nicer to each other — its all about WikiLove. They can click on the Love button to make each other feel good about contributing anything from an article to an edit. The idea is that this will encourage newbie editors to stay and contribute rather than slink away into the rest of the web because their contributions get deleted and derided. Perhaps all we need for world peace is a big enough love button."

jfruhlinger writes "You'd think that people would know electronic equipment isn't for eating, but apparently you'd be wrong. Find out what dumb things companies felt compelled to warn their customers not to do in this list compiled by JR Raphael. Some of the best include: Don't throw your mouse at a co-worker, do not attempt to stop with hands or genitals, and do not put lit candles on phone."