Comment Re:Good. (Score 1) 414
I do what I can. It occurred to me too that maybe people were just really tired of that line.
Comment Re:Good. (Score 0, Offtopic) 414
"Nucular". It's pronounced "nucular".
Which received the following rating:
(Score:-1, Troll)
Hard to believe the mod missed the Simpsons reference.
Submission + - Women avoid "abnormal" babies more often t (u-bend.com)
u-bend writes: "Discovery is running a story about the surprising results of a study in which men and women were presented with pictures of "cute" and "abnormal" (i.e. babies with cleft palate Down's Syndrome, etc.), it was the women who clicked through the "abnormal" pictures faster. Interesting summary bits from the article:
Psychiatrists from the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, who were studying perceptions of beauty, had expected women to spend more time than men cooing over pictures of extra-cute babies. Nope.
and
This time 13 men and 14 women were shown 80 photos of babies, 30 of whom had abnormal facial features such as a cleft palate, Down syndrome or crossed eyes. Participants rated each baby's attractiveness on a scale of zero to 100, and used keystrokes to make the photo stay on the screen longer or disappear faster.
I keep using quoty fingers around "cute" and "abnormal" because I think that there needs to be much further controlled research and because these definitions are arbitrary. Glaringly subjective material aside, it's an interesting finding."
Good Open Source, Multi-Platform, Secure IM Client? 308
Phil O. writes "I work for a company with 30+ locations across North America. Some offices have hundreds of employees; some only a dozen. We're looking for a secure, multi-platform IM client we could implement across the organization. One group is pushing for Microsoft's solution, but it has a number of drawbacks (including cost). What other options are out there, and what has worked well in similar situations? Security is a big concern for the company."
Journal Journal: Re-imagined Insight to challenge Prius' ascendancy
In what probably amounts to good news for consumers eying a hybrid for their next vehicle purchase, Honda is resurrecting the "Insight" name, this time in the form of a five-seat, Prius-like hatchback. The automaker's announcement included the tantalizing statement that the cost would be "significantly below [that of] hybrids available today," but provided no further details on pricing. Although Honda may have so
Journal Journal: Popcuts music service aims to split the market difference.
Today on a work break, I read a CNN article about a new online music retailer that rewards its members by giving them a cut of future sales of a song they initially buy. The earlier a song is purchased, the more the person gets paid when it is subsequently purchased. The company is called Popcuts. Although even the CNN article expresses doubt over the long-term effica
Comment Adoption of this tech in the Pacific NW (Score 1) 279
hehe. I bet Seattle will think twice before investing in this.
Journal Journal: Near Extinction for Human Race 70k Years Ago
In recent news from a subject that has always casually interested me, it seems that some now believe that the human race nearly became extinct about 70,000 years ago. We've heard human population fluctuation stories before, but this is the first I can recall that involves such a dramatic reduction, which, according to the article, had the population down to as low as 2000 individuals before the species' comeback. Interesti
Submission + - Humans nearly went extinct 70000 years ago (cnn.com)
Josh Fink writes: "From CNN "The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age.
"This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history," Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence, said in a statement. ""
"This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history," Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence, said in a statement. ""
Submission + - MS Office Live Workspace Baits Testers with Cash (nytimes.com)
eldavojohn writes: "Microsoft is offering a $100k grand prize to its beta testers in the U.S. and an additional 30,000 prizes between now and May 11. Unfortunately, reviews of the online office tool have been fairly negative. It also turns out that you need to be using a PC with fully installed and updated Office on it to use the Office Live Workspace at all. In related news, Microsoft is demanding a UK firm stop streaming MS Office from their website in a software as a service business model."
Submission + - Cancer Breathalizer May Help in Early Diagnoses (yahoo.com)
u-bend writes: "Blow into a specially designed tube outfitted with mirrors and bombarded by a laser which examines "every molecule a patient exhales in a single breath," and your doctor may be able to detect the early symptoms of cancer, diabetes, asthma, and other illnesses.
Such is the claim of University of Colorado researcher Jun Ye:
Such is the claim of University of Colorado researcher Jun Ye:
"This technique can give a broad picture of many different molecules in the breath all at once," Jun Ye, who led the research at the University of Colorado, said in a statement.
Ye's team at a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the university developed a new technique, called cavity-enhanced direct optical frequency comb spectroscopy.
When animals and people breathe out, they exhale not only gases that are not needed, such as carbon dioxide, but also compounds that result from the metabolism of cells.
A link to the abstract for the original submission by Ye's team, as well as a PDF of the study, can be found here."Ye's team at a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the university developed a new technique, called cavity-enhanced direct optical frequency comb spectroscopy.
When animals and people breathe out, they exhale not only gases that are not needed, such as carbon dioxide, but also compounds that result from the metabolism of cells.
Submission + - Apple updates iPhone and iPod Touch (u-bend.com) 1
u-bend writes: "Apple has released new, higher capacity models of the iPhone and iPod Touch. The new iPhone boasts 16 GB of storage and is priced at $499.00 (the 8 GB model remains at #399.00), and the new iPod Touch has 32 GB, also priced at $499.00. Although the price is still pretty hefty, it indicates that the capacity/price ratio on these wireless flash-based players is starting to move in the right direction."
Submission + - Meteorite hits Peru, causes mystery illness (guardian.co.uk)
u-bend writes: "The Guardian and many others are reporting about a meteorite that struck a remote area of Peru on Saturday. Although details are scant as yet, it now appears that fumes from the impact zone are making locals ill enough to require hospitalization."
Journal Journal: 'Sunshine' is a must-miss... at least for Slashdot crowd. 3
Well, being a cautious Danny Boyle fan, I went ahead against my best judgment and saw Sunshine this weekend. The premise, about our Sun burning out roughly 50 years from now, and our noble attempts to rekindle it, was suspect from the start, but I thought that Boyle and writer Alex Garland would be coming up with a plot that would make certain tramplings upon
Submission + - Magnetic Brain Stimulator to replace ECG
u-bend writes: "There's a story at Wired about a new magnetic brain stimulation technology that's expected to soon gain FDA approval. Much less invasive than electroconvulsive therapy, the device stimulates the cortex and associated blood vessels by being placed on the patient's head, in a procedure so mild that patients can get in their cars afterward and drive back to work: 'TMS works by creating an electromagnetic pulse that doesn't disturb the skull or scalp, but can reach two to three centimeters into the brain to stimulate the prefrontal cortex and paralimbic blood flow, increasing the serotonin output and the dopamine and norepinephrine functions.'
The question is, does it work through tinfoil hats as well?"
The question is, does it work through tinfoil hats as well?"
