jfruhlinger writes "VLC Media Player is a popular, useful, and free-as-in-beer piece of software. Unfortunately, its open source nature makes it easier for people with bad intentions to repackage it in nefarious ways. Not only do some of these folks claim that they're the originator of the software (a violation of trademark law and the license), but they often bundle it up with crapware and malware, which is a real dilemma for open source developers who play by the rules."

eldavojohn writes "Researchers are now suggesting that a newly-discovered arm of the Milky Way Galaxy gives it a warped structure. Accumulated evidence leads them to claim that an 18-kpc-long arm exists on the other side of the galaxy and this arm traverses some 50 degrees across our sky as an extension of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm (which is one of the two major arms of our galaxy, the other being the Perseus Arm that we can see much more clearly). The researchers conclude that this extension of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm is partially obscured behind the middle of our galaxy because our galaxy is warped 'like the cap from a freshly-opened beer bottle.'"

In celebration of the upcoming royal wedding, a British brewer has crafted Royal Virility Performance beer. Just three of these stiff brews is equal to taking a Viagra pill. From the article: "Just 40 bottles of the £10 tipple will be produced initially, and will go on sale on April 29 at BrewDog.com. All the proceeds go to the charity Centrepoint, which Wills supports. But buyers will be limited to one bottle each due to the powerful effects."

erfnet writes "The Technical University of Munich, along with a German beer-maker, have kindly published a 'Comprehensive Sensomics Analysis of Hop-Derived Bitter Compounds During Storage of Beer' They determined 56 hop-derived sensometabolites which contribute to bitter taste during storage, increasing with time and temperature. If we had only had this information during our College days, we could have been even geekier! 'Duuuuude, it's not skunked, it's suffering from proton-catalyzed cyclization of trans-iso-a-acids.'"

Max Littlemore writes "I have been breeding thorium cattle children gremlins at home using lots of old smoke detectors with a view toward generating my own electricity radiation plutonium wormhole and getting off the grid. The only thing stopping me is a reliable neutron beam. Given that all the equipment I'm using is re-purposed kitchen equipment, concerns about safety mean I'm reluctant hesitant exuberant defiant to build a uranium reactor to supply neutrons to the thorium one. So I'm putting the question out there: do any Slashdotters know of a hazardous good safe legal way to make a powerful neutron beam out of things I might find around the house?" It would be helpful to include images and diagrams of your own personal neutron beam generators rifles casseroles beer .

Have you ever thought of going on a cruise, but decided your booze bill would be too high after being trapped on a boat with a group of seasick senior citizens for a week? If so, Royal Caribbean has just the packages for you. $49 extra a day will now buy you: unlimited beer and wine that normally sell for up to $10, cocktails, premium liquor brands and a 25% discount on all bottles of wine, glasses of wine over $10 and specialty liquors.

tetrahedrassface writes "An Iowanian is living on nothing but beer for the 46 days of Lent. J.Wilson, a blogger, and editor of the weekly Adams County Free Press modeled this Lent exercise on 17'th century German Monks who practiced liquid fasts. Using a custom made grog that has high caloric values is key as Wilson says because ordinary light beer just doesn't have enough nutritional value. He has already lost 11 pounds while following his weekday four a day and weekend 5 a day beer scheme."

An AC writes "Mathematicians invented a new method to can and bottle stout beers like Guinness while still getting that satisfying head. From the article: '... a crack group of mathematicians from the University of Limerick, led by William Lee, has modeled bubble formation in stout beers in detail. Their work suggests that lining the rims of cans and bottles with a material similar to an ordinary coffee filter would be a simpler, cheaper alternative to the widget. The team’s calculations show that a copious number of bubbles would form from air trapped inside the hollow fibers making up this lining. They have just submitted their work for publication in Physical Review E and are hoping that industry will soon begin testing their proposal.'"

astroengine writes "An Australian brewing company has created the world's first beer that can be consumed in space. 4-Pines Brewing Company teamed up with Saber Astronautics Australia, tirelessly testing different brews on zero-G flights last year. They have now finalized the winning formula, calling the beer 'Vostok' — after the spacecraft flown by Yuri Gagarin in 1961. The beverage is a strong-tasting stout with reduced carbonation to avoid the dreaded microgravity 'wet burp.'"

While some airlines are charging you for carry-on bags and others are reducing beverage service, ANA would like to offer a cold draft beer. Starting July 20, passengers on All Nippon Airway will be able to purchase a tall cold one for $11.30. Until now draft beer and fluctuating cabin pressure would result in a foamy mess, but new keg technology has solved the problem.

cylonlover writes "Portland, Oregon-based Metrofiets Cargo Bikes has combined a hand-built bicycle, draught beer, pizza and music all four in an ingenious little vehicle unofficially known as the Beer Bike. The custom-built bicycle, inspired by Dutch cargo bikes, has space for two full-sized pressurized beer kegs, and features 50 feet (15 meters) of cooling coils per keg, an ice tray, an inlaid wooden bar with two beer taps, a rear rack designed for carrying pizza boxes, and a solar-powered custom wooden boom box that mounts like a pannier."

CWmike writes "Yahoo confirmed on Tuesday that it has laid off 600 people, following news reports often based on Twitter messages from employees who had been let go. The layoffs amount to about 4 percent of the company's global workforce, Yahoo said. The company said affected workers are receiving severance packages and outplacement services. Laid-off workers may find some comfort on Twitter, where they are receiving an outpouring of goodwill. One San Francisco brewery is offering a free beer to people from Yahoo who show their termination letters. People with companies including Aprendi Learning, Tucows.com, DirecTV, Combine Couture, OMGPOP.com, and Uptake.com all posted Twitter messages expressing interest in hiring former Yahoo employees. The site Quora is hosting a thread for companies in the San Francisco area interested in hiring laid-off Yahoo workers. So far, there are 14 posts about jobs with companies including Yammer, Mozilla, and Cloudera."

Every dog owner knows there is nothing more pathetic than watching your dog beg for a sip of your delicious beer. Now, thanks to some forward thinking brewers, you can finally drink with your dog. Australian pet deli and boutique Paws Point, and American brewer Dog Star Brewing Company, have designed beers especially for dogs. Both beers are non-alcoholic, non-carbonated, and infused with meat flavor, making them less than ideal for all but the most troubling family Christmas.

With space tourism becoming a real possibility in the near future, brewers are trying to figure out how to provide a good beer in space. To this end, a non-profit space research corporation Astronauts4Hire will begin testing an Australian brew created to be enjoyed in microgravity. From the article: "In the past, NASA has also sponsored studies on space beer, and whether or not the popular beverage can be brewed in space. Under current policies, however, alcohol remains forbidden on the International Space Station."

wenaway writes "Mark Zable, creator of Fried Beer, brought his creation to the State Fair in Texas. He walked away from the fair with the most creative award and is now gearing up for larger production. The Fried Beer is actually a pretzel dough ravioli injected with beer and then deep fried to perfection. What's next? Fried booze."

eldavojohn writes "A new analysis of millennia old mummy bones (abstract; full article is paywalled) shows high concentrations of tetracycline, which indicates empirical knowledge and use of antibiotics — most likely consumed in beer. The researchers traced the source of the antibiotics to the soil bacteria streptomyces present in the grain used to ferment the beer. Astonishingly enough, 'Even the tibia and skull belonging to a 4-year-old were full of tetracycline, suggesting that they were giving high doses to the child to try and cure him of illness.' The extent of saturation in the bones leads the scientists to assert that the population regularly consumed tetracycline antibiotics knowing that it would cure certain sicknesses."

theodp writes "At some schools, a teaching load of five courses every academic year is considered excessive. But Sal Khan, as an earlier Slashdot post noted, manages to deliver his mini-lectures an average of 70,000 times a day. BusinessWeek reports that Khan Academy has a new fan in Bill Gates, who's been singing and tweeting the praises of the free-as-in-beer website. 'This guy is amazing,' Gates wrote. 'It is awesome how much he has done with very little in the way of resources.' Gates and his 11-year-old son have been soaking up videos, from algebra to biology. And at the Aspen Ideas Festival in front of 2,000 people, Gates gave Khan a shout-out, touting the 'unbelievable' Khan Academy tutorials that 'I've been using with my kids.'"

An anonymous reader writes "Some specific bacteria colonies from Beer (the place, not the beverage) left for several days outside the ISS actually survived extreme temperatures, UV and other radiations, lack of water and all the like. They were later brought back to Earth for examination: such resistant bacteria may be the base of life support systems or bio-mining on colonies off Earth, and of course for terraforming, eventually. No clue in the article about how dangerous those bacteria might have become after the exposure or when they'll start eating their examiners."

BuzzSkyline writes "It's better to pour Champagne the way a good bartender draws a beer, by running it down the inside surface of the glass. The revelation, which appears in July 2010 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, flies in the face of age-old French traditions, which require the bubbly to be poured in a stream that free-falls straight down the center of a champagne flute. By using infrared thermography to image the carbon dioxide that escapes over the rim of a Champagne glass for various style pours, the researchers proved that the gentler, beer-like technique allows the wine to retain more of the dissolved gas that is critical to the whole Champagne experience."

Peter and Joe Hill, John Drew, and Karl Bradley have spent the last 26 years drinking themselves into the Guinness World Records. The beer guzzling team have had a drink in 15,000 different pubs covering every county in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England. "We have so many stories to tell I can't remember them all," said Hill, a 54-year-old engineer. "We have slept in fields, barns, stables and even graveyards and still do occasionally."