Comment Re:Penny wise, dollar foolish. (Score 1) 322
It's a spin on a Yogi Berra quote.
"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
Comment Re:Sickening (Score 1) 593
Great post, wish I had mod points. I agree that we need to find a well-defined event, one that is measurable and scientifically derived. However, I fear that it will be a very long time until there is consensus. In my mind this problem is reminiscent of, in AI, defining consciousness in scientific or mathematical terms. It may be that we simply don't have the understanding yet to answer it one way or another, and so are left with the blind leading the blind.
Additionally, thank you for pointing out the obvious. In all my thought regarding other key events such as development of beating heart, brain structure, and birth, etc, I never realized that there was another that occurred so early. Probably because I do not consider an embryo a human, and I was mentally lazy. I like undermining my own prejudices with new information and logic. But opinions aside, formation of unique DNA has a lot going for it, logically.
Comment Re:This guy probably actually believes his own BS (Score 1) 651
I believe this is known as Cognitive Dissonance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
Comment Re:I Recall That Acquisition Ceremony (Score 1) 438
Thank you for this truly entertaining post.
Comment Re:Just give us a name (Score 1) 1204
It just occurred to me what he should have done - emailed Jobs. Cut out the middle man and talk to somebody who would definitely know about the phone's existence. As we all know Jobs does in fact read his email and respond. Did the guy find it in the bar back in March? That is a lot of time with it sitting around (accounting for when the story broke this month, and say, a week or two to settle the deal with Gizmodo) - I wonder how long he really had the phone is his possession before he decided to make some cash off of it.
Comment Re:Heh, simple. Don't update. (Score 1) 351
I would argue that original software from 2003 is Security Through Obscurity. Malware will be targeting bugs in current versions of software.
Comment Re:Heh, simple. Don't update. (Score 1) 351
I'm with you. I don't ever update, run anti-virus, or do realtime anything. My box always runs as fast as the day I installed it. All of my anecdotal evidence tells me that 100's of layers of patched windows dll's slows the system down, even without antivirus/firewall running. The registry and file system themselves are permanently thrashed, no way around it.
If I'm behind 3 layers of hardware firewalls, know better than to click FreePorn.jpg.exe, then I consider it a license to administer my systems however I please.
I liken running realtime antivirus and installing constant hotfixes to getting a daily colonoscopy "just in case".
Submission + - STIX Fonts Released for Beta Test
tbspit writes: "The STIX Fonts Project has announced the release of a beta test of the STIX fonts. This comprehensive font set includes mathematical symbols and alphabets, and is intended to serve the scientific and engineering community for electronic and print publication. The fonts can be distributed using a free license."
Submission + - The 10 Worst PC Keyboards of All Time (pcworld.com)
Harry McCracken writes: "We've posted a slideshow on the 10 Worst PC Keyboards of all time — most of which date from the early 1980s, and all of which are just terrible, with missing keys, keys whee they shouldn't be, and some truly strange design decisions. (I'd forgotten that the IBM PCjr didn't even have characters printed on the keycaps.) If you ever owned any of these, browsing through our picks may make your fingers numb all over again. — Harry McCracken, editor in chief, PC World"
Submission + - Monkeys and humans learn the same way (sciencedaily.com)
Lucas123 writes: "A new study from UCLA showed that monkeys, like humans, learn faster by being actively involved in the learning process rather than just having information placed before them, according to a story in ScienceDaily. In the study, two rhesus macaque monkeys learned to put up to 18 photos on an ATM-like touch screen in a row. 'The monkeys did much better on the first three days when they had the help than when they didn't, but on the test day, it completely reversed.'"
Submission + - Should We Rebuild America with Minneapolis Bridge? (popularmechanics.com) 2
mattnyc99 writes: The tragic collapse last night in Minneapolis of a truss bridge—one that the U.S. Dept. of Transportation found "structurally deficient" two years ago—raises an important issue beyond just the engineering of one single span. As national security expert Stephen Flynn pleads in an op-ed on American infrastructure in the wake of yesterday's disaster, "The blind eye that taxpayers and our elected officials have been turning to the imperative of maintaining and upgrading the critical foundations that underpin our lives is irrational and reckless." Do we need to start spending to rebuild America?
Submission + - Drop 'kiss of life', urge medics
gollum123 writes: "from the BBC Advising first-aiders to give the "kiss of life" is off-putting and unnecessary, say medics ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6454013.stm ). Not only are bystanders less likely to help someone who has collapsed if they have to do mouth-to-mouth ventilation, many are unable to perform it properly. Chest compressions alone are just as good if not better in most cases, a Japanese study in The Lancet shows. Studies show less than a third of people who collapse in public are helped by a bystander. Surveys reveal many would-be first-aiders are put off by the idea of giving the kiss of life — for fear of catching an infectious disease, for example. And when bystanders do assist, giving mouth-to-mouth can steal time from giving essential chest compressions. Dr Ken Nagao and colleagues at the Surugadai Nihon University Hospital in Tokyo say in these circumstances it would be better for all parties to stick to giving chest compressions alone, which they called cardiac-only resuscitation."
Submission + - Summer Gasoline and Why Gas Prices Go Up
Prof. Goose writes: "Just what is summer gasoline? Twice a year, in the fall and in the spring, you hear about the seasonal gasoline transition. However, most people probably don't understand what this actually means. Here's a technical discussion of why.
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2374"
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2374"
Submission + - Can a Rootkit Be Certified for Vista?
winetoo writes: "Forget what Microsoft says about Vista being the most secure version of Windows yet. More to the point, what do the hackers think of it? In a nutshell, they think it's an improvement, but at the end of the day, it's just like everything else they dissect — that is, breakable. "Not all bugs are being detected by Vista," pointed out famed hacker H.D. Moore. "Look at how a hacker gets access to the driver: Right now I'm working on Microsoft's automated process to get Metasploit-certified. It [only] costs $500." Moore is the founder of the Metasploit Project and a core developer of the Metasploit Framework — the leading open-source exploit development platform — and is also director of security research at BreakingPoint Systems. The irony of his statement lies in the idea that Vista trusts Microsoft-certified programs — programs that can include a hacker exploit platform that walks through the front door for a mere $500 and a conveyor-belt approval process.
Full details at source."
Full details at source."
Submission + - Where Digg Failed
legoburner writes: "An interesting op-ed piece has appeared detailing the author's belief that Digg is so fundamentally flawed that it is only a matter of time before it completely collapses. Why Digg Failed has some choice quotes and analysis of why Digg's popularity has caused it to become too similar to tabloids in gaining attention and how quality has fallen drastically as usage has increased. Take note slashdot/firehose!"
