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Space

Pope's Astronomer Would Love To Baptize an Alien 308

Ponca City, We Love You writes "The Guardian reports that Guy Consolmagno, curator of the pope's meteorite collection and a trained astronomer and planetary scientist, says he would be 'delighted' if intelligent life was found among the stars. 'But the odds of us finding it, of it being intelligent and us being able to communicate with it — when you add them up it's probably not a practical question.' Consolmagno adds that the traditional definition of a soul was to have intelligence, free will, freedom to love and freedom to make decisions. 'Any entity — no matter how many tentacles it has — has a soul.' Would he baptize an alien? 'Only if they asked.' Consolmagno dismisses the ideas of intelligent design as a pseudo-scientific version of creationism. 'The word has been hijacked by a narrow group of creationist fundamentalists in America to mean something it didn't originally mean at all. It's another form of the God of the gaps. It's bad theology in that it turns God once again into the pagan god of thunder and lightning.'"

Comment A few suggestions... (Score 1) 467

Good books can really help. I suggest _How to Ace Calculus: the Streetwise Guide_ and it's sequel if you are taking more than a first course in calculus. One really good thing you can do once classes start is to work with a classmate or start a small study group. It can be hard to stay motivated when you are working on your own - I recommend using CLEP exams to obtain credit and work at your own pace. Set a deadline for each test, and a definitive one for starting school again too. Good luck!
Movies

Netflix Streaming Arrives For the Wii 171

Grant,thompson writes "As announced in January and mentioned here on Slashdot, Netflix is sending out discs today to enable streaming on the Nintendo Wii. 'Netflix has sent out emails to customers who pre-ordered the Wii's instant streaming disc, indicating that the disc will arrive in mailboxes tomorrow, and that the service will likely start within the next day.'"
Space

A Hyper-Velocity Impact In the Asteroid Belt? 114

astroengine writes "Astronomers have spotted something rather odd in the asteroid belt. It looks like a comet, but it's got a circular orbit, similar to an asteroid. Whether it's an asteroid or a comet, it has a long, comet-like tail, suggesting something is being vented into space. Some experts think it could be a very rare comet/asteroid hybrid being heated by the sun, but there's an even more exciting possibility: It could be the first ever observation of two asteroids colliding in the asteroid belt."

Comment Re:Knows as much about ethics as he does mathemati (Score 1) 241

You're incorrect. "Earning money" can be grossly unethical. Do you not understand that we live on a planet with finite resources, and that it is those resources that underwrite money? If someone is getting wealthy, he's doing it at the expense of a certain number of others: he's hoarding resources and depriving others of the use of those resources. In getting wealthy, that person is disadvantaging others. The wealthier the person is, the more people he had to disadvantage to achieve it. Warren Buffet understands and acknowledges this dynamic... why don't you?

You're incorrect. Certainly we live on a planet with finite resources, but you seem to be under the mistaken impression that economics is zero-sum. Since I'm not an expert in the field, the below is an excerpt from the linked wikipedia article.

Many economic situations are not zero-sum, since valuable goods and services can be created, destroyed, or badly allocated, and any of these will create a net gain or loss. Assuming the counterparties are acting rationally, any commercial exchange is a non-zero-sum activity, because each party must consider the goods it is receiving as being at least fractionally more valuable than the goods it is delivering. Economic exchanges must benefit both parties enough above the zero-sum such that each party can overcome its transaction costs.

Your other points about unethical behavior in business are valid and in my opinion probably occur all to often, but are certainly not universal. You seem to have a have a problem with capitalism but living in a capitalist society I can attest to an overall high standard of living for most residents. Not that I dislike the concept of socialism, I'm just saying capitalism isn't innately evil (and as I'm sure you would agree not a grand utopia).

Comment Re:free conversion van + tech (Score 1) 215

Wow. The wii in the back for your kids to play on seems a bit unnecessary though. When they hit their teens, they probably wont want to be seen with their parents anyway and I can't imagine the geek mobile will help. Who knows why you got modded offtopic when your comment is directly related the article. For bonus geek points you should paint your five digit /. user id on the side of the van - instant street cred.

Comment Re:Justification! (Score 2, Funny) 215

People like this are why ham radio should be banned and all ham radio owners forbidden from owning electronics. Please tell me what benefit this man provides to anyone in public. There's so much distraction there. This is a pileup waiting to happen.

People like this are why Anonymous Coward posts should be banned and all Anonymous Cowards should be banned from owning computers. Please tell me what benefit this Anonymous Coward provides to anyone in public. There's so much distraction there. This is a Troll that has already happened.

Comment Re:This won't work (Score 1) 553

I think people who choose to play this kind of game would do so because of the limitation. Clearly the market for such a product would be smaller, but I don't think that it would be nonexistent. I personally believe that the avatar part of the patent is nothing more than a novelty, but being able to earn health or fitness credits is a pretty good idea.

Comment Re:Hope you have permission for that photo -- poor (Score 1) 553

Maybe the guy has a good sense of humor about it. Think of how famous the Star Wars kid could have been. Probably not very, but he might have gotten some good interviews and an extra 15 minutes. Sometimes the only difference between having people laugh with you and at you is whether or not you decide to join in. Having said that, I'm not sure why you got modded flamebait, you have a valid point, maybe it was the anonymouscoward part. Personally, I wish I knew that guy. What a bad ass.

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