CERN claims to have measured particle that travels faster than light

Big and controversial science news breaking today, via AP: "A pillar of physics — that nothing can go faster than the speed of light — appears to be smashed by an oddball subatomic particle that has apparently made a giant end run around Albert Einstein's theories. Scientists at the world's largest physics lab said Thursday they have clocked neutrinos traveling faster than light. That's something that according to Einstein's 1905 special theory of relativity — the famous E (equals) mc2 equation — just doesn't happen."

BBC News has a somewhat less breathless take here. More at Ars Technica, and Wired News.

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1937: AP claims blondes are “much more dangerous” drivers

Scott Edelman sez, "In a statement which I assume has all the scientific accuracy of phrenology, optometrist Irving Strauss was quoted in a May 1937 Associated Press article as stating that blonde drivers are 'much more dangerous' than brunettes because: 'When the lights of an oncoming car hit a drivers eyes he drives blind for a certain number of feet. It takes from one-fifth to one and one-fifth seconds to recover natural night-driving vision. Blondes with light eyes take far longer than brunettes with dark eyes and should drive much slower." But don't worry -- it's not a slam against women driver -- the forward-thinking doctor stated that his theory applied equally to both males and females. (I'd research this claim further, but Googling the words 'night vision blondes' only delivers links to XXX sites!)"

Optometrist says blonde drivers “much more dangerous” than brunettes (Thanks, Scott!)

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Troll who harassed woman through 8,000 hate-tweets claims free speech defense

William Lawrence Cassidy is accused of posting some 8,000 tweets to harass Alyce Zeoli, who is described in this NYT article as "a Buddhist leader based in Maryland."

Using an ever-changing series of pseudonyms, the authorities say, Mr. Cassidy published thousands of Twitter posts about Ms. Zeoli. Some were weird horror-movie descriptions of what would befall her; others were more along these lines: “Do the world a favor and go kill yourself. P.S. Have a nice day.”

Here is one of them, as redacted in the criminal complaint: “A thousand voices call out to (Victim 1) and she cannot shut off the silent scream.” Another: “Ya like haiku? Here’s one for ya. Long limb, sharp saw, hard drop.”

Cassidy has been jailed on charges of online stalking and is now the subject of a federal case that suggests the question...

Is posting a public message on Twitter akin to speaking from an old-fashioned soapbox, or can it also be regarded as a means of direct personal communication, like a letter or phone call?

Read Somini Sengupta's piece in the NYT here: Man Accused of Stalking via Twitter Claims Free Speech

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Ex-WikiLeaker Domscheit-Berg disputes claims of deleted files; Wikileaks dumps thousands of new leaks

Kim Zetter at Wired News spoke to Daniel Domscheit-Berg, the former WikiLeaks spokesman reported to have recently destroyed thousands of unpublished documents submitted to Wikileaks last year.

"[He] says WikiLeaks is publicly exaggerating the contents of the deleted files, in an increasingly ugly dispute playing out over Twitter and in the press."

More: Former WikiLeaks Spokesman Disputes Claims About Destroyed Files

And related today, Wikileaks published thousands of new releases on Wikileaks.org.

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