30516923
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
USA Today and many others are reporting that male fruit flies turn to alcohol when sexually frustrated. Of course /.'rs never have this problem, either because they are such sex machines or do not know what sex is outside the Internet. Either way, on the heals of another article about vasectomy rates rising 50% during March Madness (see http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/healthyperspective/post/2012-03-15/vasectomy-madness-promoted-by-urologists-during-ncca-tournament/649151/1), how many of you are sucking on a beer or other alcoholic drink while reading this?
28083256
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
Over the past twenty years, car theft has declined as new models incorporated electronic security methods that thwarted simple hot-wiring. The tide may now be turning, as cars become the next Windows PC. The Center for Automobile Embedded Systems Security has posted an interesting paper from UCSD and UW that describes how modern cars can be cracked. Unlike the old days of window jimmies, these exploits range from attacks through the CD or iPod port to cellular attacks that take inventory of thousands of cars and offer roaming thieves Yelp-like choices ("our favorite is mint green with leather") with unlocked doors and running engines.
26146752
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
This pair of finger bands make it hard to see (without using a magnifying glass) just how far camera miniaturization will go. Yeon Su Kim has created a camera that you operate like a handheld camera without the handheld camera. What's next? Probably the elimination of the hand. But wait, there's more! It also does video, plus the camera uses Bluetooth!
25962848
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
The Journal of American Medical Association reports that stress cardiomyopathy or, more specifically, takot subo cardiomyopathy can cause real damage to human hearts. It seems to affect female hearts almost eight times as much as males'. This extrapolates to saying a metaphorically "broken heart" is actual physical damage to the human organ. Warning: slash-dotters should not be such heart breakers.
25625106
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
Terry Chay (http://terrychay.com/), 'PHP Terrorist' and renown PHP architect/programmer gave a talk last night at IGN on how the cloud is transforming development programmers into DevOps. One of his most notable points (and there were many) was that 'the datacenter is the new box' (taken from Jason Hoffman at Joyent). He goes onto show how setting up a fully integrated LAMP implementation in the cloud is now easier that bringing it up in your rack. Terry points to an entire ecosystem of companies such as Orchestra,io, dotCloud, Pagodabox, ZippyKid, and others that allow you to program the cloud like you once programmed your server but with out the SysOp. BTW, if you take the 'terrorist' thing seriously, you should consider working for the TSA.
25117420
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
Halloween is near. However, that is purely a coincidence. The Center for Disease Control as issued a warning, so pay attention. They left out some important tips, like the double-tap, but still have some valuable insights to share.
25067682
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
Congresswoman and Silicon Valley defender Zoe Lofgren predicts that House Resolution 3261, entitled, "To promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes." or, in short, "Stop Online Piracy Act" will effectively kill the Internet. See http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20126590-281/rep-lofgren-copyright-bill-is-the-end-of-the-internet/ for a simple-minded summary. This bill, which looks like it would give America the opportunity to build a national Internet wall that might rival China's, covers everything from the sale of military weapons to illegal drugs to, you guessed it, pirated movies and songs. Fines go as high as $30 million, and violations can be as small as two songs in six months. There are very generous immunity claims for ISPs that act as Stasi to enforce these rules. Zoe, the best Internet wonk in Congress (and the best first name), vows to fight it. Of course, these are enough holes for any large multinational corporation to pilot a supertanker of copyright, trademark, and patent protected goods and services through without a snag. However, if you cannot afford the legal cover, the penalties will put you into debtors' prison and more. Minor issues such as "how do we really enforce this on other countries?" are glossed over. So, is Congress about to kill the Internet or just make the term "a Congress of baboons" seem indistinguishable from a congress of baboons? P.S. I dare you to RTFB. It is 78 pages.
24982578
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
The NYT reports on a book by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew P. McAfee (MIT director-level staffers), Race Against the Machine, stating that the true threat to jobs is not Indian or Chinese outsourcing — it's the machine! Imagine the Terminator flipping burgers, cleaning your house, approving your loan, handling your IT questions, and doing your job faster, better, longer, and cheaper. Now that is apocalypse with a twist — The Job Terminator.
24859678
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
The guys from Ubermedia have launched a new social network, chime.in, that pays users to post. This has been tried before with search and failed. Will it set a new standard? Will /. start paying us for this crap?
23784892
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
Gigacom reports that the new Adobe Flash server will treat iOS users special, supporting HTTP Live Streaming. Is this total capitulation to Apple or just a marketing tactic?
23752828
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
Many reports have shown that you are safer on America's road than in their hospitals (based on reported accidents due to errors). Now the SF Chronicle reports that Stanford University hospital "accidentally left its emergency patient records open on the web for a year." Is your medical history at risk as much as you are? Uh, well. Of course, Stanford had nothing to do with it, one of their contractors is to blame (according to the article). That makes it okay, right?
23627144
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
Kelly Phillips Erb, a.k.a. the Tax Gal, is an attorney who publishes a blog on Forbes. She usually publishes mainstream articles about income taxes and other such pains in our asses, but this month she is gone and letting the inmates run the asylum. This week, one of her readers has proposed eliminating the federal income tax and replacing it by issuing money that shrinks in value over time. It sounds like what they do with gift cards, but he makes the point that the world has been freeloading on the greenback, and this is a way to get payback. What he doesn't say is how everyone is going to keep track of money that shrinks. I suppose they do it with debit and credit cards, deducting value just like they do by adding fees and interest, and they could put a default on current money, like many countries devalue their currencies. But what kind of national or international network would be required to track every transaction to ensure that shrinking money would be properly valued?
23290182
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
As fast as you can say "$99 blowout sale" PC World reports an Android port to the now defunct HP TouchPad. "Of course, it will turn out to be the best Android pad ever, making the iPad stink by comparison," reports Muphy's Law Reports.
23271746
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
ABC reports that hydrocodone, that magic ingredient of Vicodin and other famous brands of pain killers, is now the 2nd most abused medicine but is still only a Schedule III drug, like LSA (found in morning glory seeds and a precursor to LSD). The FDA won't budge on moving it to Schedule II. Why is a drug that is nearly as strong as oxycodone, a Schedule I drug, being sold like codeine? Hundreds of tons of hydrocodone are legally sold worldwide every year by major pharmaceuticals. A lot of it goes to pill mills, who illegally sell it just like heroin and cocaine dealers. So, who needs cut heroin when you can get pharma grade hydrocodone? Perhaps this is the way that the Feds plan to eliminate the illegal drug producers.
22805924
submission
NicknamesAreStupid writes:
This is a personal story, and I thought this group may have some insights that could help someone. I have a close friend in the Midwest who was a very good programmer back in the mainframe days. Her skills were in COBOL, CICS, and related applications such as Easytrieve. Of course, those days are gone, and her hunt for full time work has long passed. Now she is trying to survive on social security and what money she saved. It would help her a lot to find some work she could do from home over the Internet (TN3270/TSO, etc) that might pay her one to two hundred dollars a week. She has looked for such opportunities on Dice, Monster and other sites that claim specialization (justcoboljobs.com) to no avail. It looks like a hundred a week is too small for these sites. Any suggestions?
