Comment Re: It's about time! (Score 1) 1431
Of course his 3 year old can't read. He was probably texting the baby-sitter a message for them to relay to his kid on his kid's phone.
Lots of parents get a phone to go with their kid wherever they go.
Comment Re:Only in America (Score 1) 1431
It's the media war-machine pop-culture. As noted by at least of TFA commenters, just look at the content of the movie they were going to see.
We got war on the news almost every day, war on the latest music videos, non-stop war 'documentary' reality channels. The networks are saturated with increasingly gory crime dramas. Oh and don't forget the awesome war / gore games for the latest gaming consoles. Call of Duty 4 and Left For Dead, baby! Come to the USA and get your violence, blood and guts!
More than a culture of fear, the USA is a culture of war. Tupac said it, and paid for it with his life.
Lasers Unearth Lost 'Agropolis' of New England 105
sciencehabit writes "Hidden ruins are customary in the wild jungles of South America or on the white shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Now, researchers have uncovered a long-lost culture closer to Western civilization — in New England. Using aerial surveys created by LiDAR, a laser-guided mapping technique, the team detected the barely perceptible remnants of a former 'agropolis' around three rural New England towns (abstract). Near Ashford, Connecticut, a vast network of roads offset by stone walls came to light underneath a canopy of oak and spruce trees. More than half of the town has become reforested since 1870, according to historical documents, exemplifying the extent of the rural flight that marked the late 1800s. Some structures were less than 2 feet high and buried in inaccessible portions of the forest, making them essentially invisible to on-the-ground cartography."
Submission + - Man Jailed for Gmail Invite to Ex-Girlfriend
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: ABC News reports that a Massachusetts man has been jailed for sending his ex-girlfriend an email invitation to join Google+. But Thomas Gagnon, who has a restraining order against him, contends he didn't send it; Google did, without his knowledge or consent. When his ex-girlfriend received the invitation, according to the Salem News, she went to the police, complaining Gagnon had violated the restraining order by sending her the email. Police agreed and arrested him, the News reported. He was jailed then released on $500 bail. Gagnon’s attorney says his client has no idea how the woman he once planned to marry — popping the question with a $4,000 ring earlier this month — got such an invitation, suggesting that it's entirely possible Gagnon is telling the truth — that he did not intentionally or knowingly send the invitation. "If he didn't send it — if Google sent it without his permission and he was jailed for it — Google could be facing major liability." Shear pointed out a Google product forum from 2011 and 2012 titled "Prevent automatic email invitations to Google+?" that contains a number of angry complaints by Google+ users about the automatic invitation feature. In response these complaints, a Google Community Manager calling herself "Natalie" responded: "Thanks for your feedback. Right now the emails that go out alert people of your activity on Google+, and more importantly the sharing of content with them. We send them an email when they aren't yet on Google+ so they know that you are out there in the world [of] G+. They should only incur this email once." Shear noted: "Google is going through every one of your contacts and sending them an invitation, whether it's your doctor, your lawyer, your mistress, or your ex-fiancee who's got a restraining order against you." He called this, "a perfect example of what happens when a company oversteps its bounds."
Comment Re:Hard to believe (Score 1) 804
Bahhahhaha
Sorry, was LOL before I got to your Score:5 Funny..
Researchers Claim Facebook Is 'Dead and Buried' To Many Young Users 457
JoeyRox writes "The recent decline in Facebook's popularity with teenagers appears to be worsening. A Global Social Media Impact study of 16 to 18 year olds found that many considered the site 'uncool' and keep their profiles alive only to keep in touch with older relatives, for whom the site remains popular. Researches say teens have switched to using WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Twitter in place of Facebook."
Antarctic Climate Research Expedition Trapped In Sea Ice 209
First time accepted submitter Stinky Cheese Man writes "An Antarctic climate research expedition, led by climate researcher Chris Turney of the University of New South Wales, has become trapped in heavy ice near the coast of Antarctica. The captain has issued a distress call and three nearby icebreaker ships are on their way to the rescue. According to Turney's web site, the purpose of the expedition is 'to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.'"
The Power of the Hoodie-Wearing C.E.O. 75
New submitter silverjacket writes "New research (JSTOR sub required / paywalled) shows that we see nonconformity as a sign of both status and competence — under the right conditions. From the article: 'Next, the researchers asked students at American universities to imagine a professor who is clean-shaven and wears a tie, or one who is bearded and wears T-shirts. Students were slightly more inclined to judge the dapper professor as a better teacher and researcher. But some students were given another piece of information: that the professor works at a top-tier school, where the dress code is presumably more formal. For them, the slouchy scholar earned more points. Deviance can signal status, but only when there are clear norms from which to deviate.'"
Submission + - Canadian Spy Agencies Deliberately Misled Courts (www.cbc.ca)
Walking The Walk writes: Canada's spy agency deliberately withheld information from the courts in an effort to do an end-run around the law when it applied for top-secret warrants to intercept the communications of Canadians abroad, a Federal Court judge said Friday. CSIS assured Judge Richard Mosley the intercepts would be carried out from inside Canada, and controlled by Canadian government personnel, court records show. However, Canadian officials then asked for intercept help from foreign intelligence allies without telling the court. 'It is clear that the exercise of the court's warrant issuing has been used as protective cover for activities that it has not authorized,' Mosley wrote in redacted reasons.
How Astronauts Took the Most Important Photo In Space History 108
The Bad Astronomer writes "On December 24, 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts saw the Earth rising over the limb of the Moon. The photo they took of this moment — dubbed Earthrise — has become an icon of our need to explore, and to protect our home world. NASA has just released a video explaining how the astronauts were able to capture this unique moment, which included a dash of both coincidence and fast teamwork."
Submission + - Homeland Security Remains Worst Fed Agency to Work For. (federalnewsradio.com) 1
DaTrueDave writes: The agency rankings from the now annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey were released Wednesday and the most powerful and controversial department is still the department with the lowest morale.
Given the fact that so many DHS leadership positions are filled with temporary or "acting" leaders, it's not surprising that their ranking on "Effective Leadership" dropped over three points.
Out of 300 subcomponents (individual agencies) ranked, DHS has three agencies in the bottom ten, including the agency responsible for enforcing US immigration laws inside the border and the second largest investigative law enforcement agency, ICE.
The Washington Post blogs that American Federation of Government Employees president J. David Cox blames the problems on staffing and equipment shortages, reliance on contractors, and the dangers involved with much of the work Homeland Security performs.
Contrast this with an agency like NASA, which actually increased its ratings despite having to work around a tight budget due to Congressional sequestration, and furloughed employees.
What impact does this have on the US? Surely it can't be good to have such an important and powerful agency filled with employees with such low morale. It's understandable that federal employees morale decreased in a year where they were such a target, but why does DHS seem to have so many more problems than other federal agencies?
Given the fact that so many DHS leadership positions are filled with temporary or "acting" leaders, it's not surprising that their ranking on "Effective Leadership" dropped over three points.
Out of 300 subcomponents (individual agencies) ranked, DHS has three agencies in the bottom ten, including the agency responsible for enforcing US immigration laws inside the border and the second largest investigative law enforcement agency, ICE.
The Washington Post blogs that American Federation of Government Employees president J. David Cox blames the problems on staffing and equipment shortages, reliance on contractors, and the dangers involved with much of the work Homeland Security performs.
Contrast this with an agency like NASA, which actually increased its ratings despite having to work around a tight budget due to Congressional sequestration, and furloughed employees.
What impact does this have on the US? Surely it can't be good to have such an important and powerful agency filled with employees with such low morale. It's understandable that federal employees morale decreased in a year where they were such a target, but why does DHS seem to have so many more problems than other federal agencies?
Submission + - DHS Turns to Unpaid Interns for Nation's Cyber Security
theodp writes: A week after President Obama stressed the importance of computer science to America, the Department of Homeland Security put out a call for 100+ of the nations' best-and-brightest college students to work for nothing on the nation's cyber security. The unpaid internship program, DHS notes, is the realization of recommendations from the Homeland Security Advisory Council's Task Force on CyberSkills, which included execs from Facebook, Lockheed Martin, and Sony, and was advised by representatives from Cisco, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Northrop Grumman, the NSF, and the NSA. "Do you desire to protect American interests and secure our Nation while building a meaningful and rewarding career?" reads the job posting for Secretary's Honors Program Cyber Student Volunteers (salary: $0.00-$0.00). "If so, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is calling." Student volunteers, DHS adds, will begin in spring 2014 and participate throughout the summer. Get your applications in by January 3, kids!
Study: People Are Biased Against Creative Thinking 377
An anonymous reader writes "Despite how much people might say they like creative thinking, they don't, at least according to studies. 'We think of creative people in a heroic manner, and we celebrate them, but the thing we celebrate is the after-effect,' says Barry Staw, a researcher at the University of California–Berkeley business school who specializes in creativity. 'As much as we celebrate independence in Western cultures, there is an awful lot of pressure to conform,' he says."
Submission + - How Much is Oracle to Blame for Healthcare IT Woes? (slashdot.org)
Nerval's Lobster writes: The state of Oregon blames Oracle for the failures of its online health exchange. The health-insurance site still doesn’t fully work as intended, with many customers forced to download and fill out paper applications rather than sign up online; Oracle has reportedly informed the state that it will sort out the bulk of technical issues by December 16, a day after those paper applications are due. “It is the most maddening and frustrating position to be in, absolutely,” Liz Baxter, chairwoman of the board for the online exchange, told NPR. “We have spent a lot of money to get something done—to get it done well—to serve the people in our state, and it is maddening that we can’t seem to get over this last hump.” Oregon state officials insist that, despite payments of $43 million, Oracle missed multiple deadlines in the months leading up to the health exchange’s bungled launch. This isn’t the first time Oracle’s name has circulated in conjunction with the Affordable Care Act’s digital drama. In November, USA Today published a piece suggesting that “communication breakdowns” with Oracle Identity Manager had led to “bottlenecks” in the registration process for Healthcare.gov, the federal online health exchange, which in turn prevented some users from signing up for healthcare. But a single contractor doesn’t lie at the root of the federal Healthcare.gov’s spectacular debacle: despite months of preparations, large sections of the site remained unfinished on launch day, and the completed parts crashed as soon as users began entering the site. According to multiple sources, the Medicare agency tasked with overseeing the project failed to adequately test, much less integrate, the site’s complex elements ahead of launch day. Even if it didn't hold that much responsibility for the federal Website's issues, though, Oracle could find itself the target of much more blame in the Oregon case, where it was reportedly the sole contractor and overseer.
Submission + - Three new exoplanets seen in direct photographs
The Bad Astronomer writes: Planets orbiting other stars are usually found indirectly (by blocking their stars' light or inducing a Doppler shift in the light as they orbit, for example), but direct images of exoplanets are extremely rare. However, using the 10-meter Keck telescope in Hawaii, astronomers have taken photographs of three nearby exoplanets, all young, massive, and hot. One may be massive enough to count as a brown dwarf, but the other two are more likely in the planet-mass range. All three are very far from their stars, which means they may have formed differently than the planets in our solar system.
