Court Orders Non-anonymous Possible Anonymous To Stop Using Real Name

It's the headline of the zeitgeisty moment: "A guy accused of being Anonymous, but who used his real name online, can now no longer use his real name... because he may have been a part of Anonymous." The law, she is a strange and capricious mistress. (Thanks, Sulka!)

Court orders Non-anonymous possible Anonymous to stop using real name

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/_Dv6nC3DXoI/court-orders-non-anonymous-possible-anonymous-to-stop-using-real-name.html

Why Is "John Doe" Used as a Name for an Anonymous Person?

The use of "John Doe" as a name for anonymous or unidentified people dates to 13th century England, when the name was first used in legal documents to protect the identity of witnesses. The concept of a false alias in legal documents is actually quite old; the Romans, for example, had their own version of "John Doe" for use in legal proceedings. This name was probably originally chosen because...


Why Is "John Doe" Used as a Name for an Anonymous Person?

Why Is "John Doe" Used as a Name for an Anonymous Person?

Backlink: http://feeds.wisegeek.com/~r/learn-something-new-every-day-rss/~3/EUrigIHYWdk/why-is-john-doe-used-as-a-name-for-an-anonymous-person.htm

How to: Name a dinosaur

David Orr knows how to come up with a good name, as his blog, Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs, demonstrates. Now, in a guest blog at Scientific American, he turns his attention to the naming of dinosaurs. What inspires all those italicized monikers? How do you properly convert non-Latin words to (at least, vaguely) Latin-ish ones? Orr has the answers. In this excerpt, he talks about the name of a new theropod—a suborder of dinos that includes the T. rex and its bipedal, tiny-armed cousins ...

How to: Name a dinosaur

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/v640pnq8WsM/how-to-name-a-dinosa.html

What's in a (species) name?

Meet Lepidocephalichthys zeppelini, a newly identified species of fish, named after Led Zeppelin. Why? An Auburn University graduate student thought the fish's pectoral fin looked like Jimmy Page's double neck guitar. It's a quirky way to name a species, but Lepidocephalichthys zeppelini is certainly not the most flippant or goofy Latin name to come along. There are fungus beetles known as Gelae belae and Gelae donut. Adonnadonna primadonna is an extinct fossil algae named for a 1963 pop song by Dion and The Belmonts. And Volva volva volva probably gives you some clue as to how insistent Linnaeus was that a certain sea snail had a shell shaped like a part of a lady's anatomy. Institutions have even auctioned off naming rights to the highest bidder, using the funds to pay for conservation efforts and further research. That's how we ended up with a monkey named after the Golden Palace online casino. Has science no shame? Are there no rules to this naming system? Quite the contrary. There is, in fact, an entire book of binding codes and an international organization to enforce them. But here's the thing—those rules are mostly related to working out who gets naming rights, and making sure that everybody is using a standard style. At the same time, there are lots and lots of species that need unique names. Thus, a certain level of creative silliness gets through. That said, there are limits. Really obvious jokes are frowned upon these days. As are rude gestures. Back in the day, Linnaeus used species names to construct elaborate insults against his enemies (and, presumably, the species being named). You can't do that anymore. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature will also send you back to the drawing board if your proposed name is deemed too unpronounceable. Thanks to cantaconbravura for Submitterating!...

What's in a (species) name?

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/9eqCTWlm8po/whats-in-a-species-n.html

Name a new math theorem after yourself or a loved one

TheoryMine runs a computerized mathematical theorem prover that turns out new mathematical theories all day long. For a mere $15, they'll name the theorem after you or someone you love: "Theorems are discovered by our robot mathematicians, we make every effort to ensure that the discovered theorems have never been published before, and we guarantee that every theorem we discover has not been previously recorded in our database of theorems. In the unlikely event that that there is a mathematics article publishing the theorem prior to our discovery, then we will give two additional new theorems to the owner of the old theorem." (via MeFi)

Name a new math theorem after yourself or a loved one

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/yqtqL8HzLXU/name-a-new-math-theo.html