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Science

Video Dr. Richard Dawkins On Education, 'Innocence of Muslims,' and Rep. Paul Broun Screenshot-sm 862

Posted by Roblimo from the choosing-between-science-and-some-hairy-guy-in-the-sky dept.
In this video interview (with transcript), Dr. Richard Dawkins discusses religious exceptionalism with regard to the teaching of evolution, and the chilling effect of fundamentalism on the production of scientists and engineers. He says, "I can think of no other reason why, of all the scientific facts that people might disagree with or disbelieve, [evolution] is the one they pick on. Physics gets through OK. Chemistry gets through Ok. But not biology/geology, and I think it's got to be because of religion." He also addresses the recent comments from Rep. Paul Broun, who denounced evolution and the Big Bang theory as "lies straight from the pit of hell," and the recent Innocence of Muslims video that led to unrest in various parts of the world. "Freedom of speech is something that Islamic theocracies simply do not understand. They don't get it. They're so used to living in a theocracy, that they presume that if a film is released in the United States, the United States Government must be behind it! How could it be otherwise? So, they need to be educated that, actually, some countries do have freedom of speech and government is not responsible for what any idiot may do in the way of making a video." He also has some very insightful comments about religion as one of the most arbitrary labels by which people divide themselves when involved in conflict. Hit the link below for the video.
DRM

Amazon Blocks Arch Linux Handbook Author From Releasing Kindle Version 242

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the sharing-isn't-an-amazon-value dept.
An anonymous reader writes "We've all heard the horror stories of Amazon swindling the user out of their content on the Kindle, but this time they've managed to do it preemptively: by blocking the GFDL licensed Arch Linux Handbook from the Kindle Store." Reasons include: "We’ve reviewed the information you provided and have decided to block these books from being sold in the Kindle Store. The books closely match content that is freely available on the web and we are not confident that you hold exclusive publishing rights. This type of content can create a poor customer experience, and is not accepted. As a result, we have blocked the books listed below from being sold in the Kindle Store." The workaround: he uploaded a mobi copy to the Arch website.

Comment Re:Romney waived a red flag (Score 0) 836

by konohitowa (#41247489) Attached to: Secret Service Investigating Romney Tax Hack Claim

Name on [sic] Presidential candidate that has ever released college transcripts...

G.W. Bush

Whereas every Presidential candidate going back to at least FDR has released those tax records.

Not true. Carter was the first. He released two years worth. That's the same as Romney has released (sort of - his 2011 is still in process).
Privacy

How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led To Mat Honan's Identity Theft 222

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the quick-turnaround dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The story behind the hacking of Mat Honan's multiple accounts has been revealed and points to massive failures in how Amazon and Apple handle password recovery. Accounts for both sites can be easily accessed with simple to find publicly available information. If you ask me, both companies should be liable for violating privacy laws."
United States

The Nation Is Losing Its Toolbox 525

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the 3d-printers-for-freedom dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Louis Uchitelle writes that in Aisle 34 of Home Depot is precut vinyl flooring, the glue already in place. In Aisle 26 are prefab windows, and if you don't want to be your own handyman, head to Aisle 23 or Aisle 35, where a help desk will arrange for an installer, as mastering tools and working with one's hands recede as American cultural values. 'At a time when the American factory seems to be a shrinking presence, and when good manufacturing jobs have vanished, perhaps never to return, there is something deeply troubling about this dilution of American craftsmanship,' writes Uchitelle. 'Craftsmanship is, if not a birthright, then a vital ingredient of the American self-image as a can-do, inventive, we-can-make-anything people.' Mass layoffs and plant closings have drawn plenty of headlines and public debate over the years, and they still occasionally do. But the damage to skill and craftsmanship — what's needed to build a complex airliner or a tractor, or for a worker to move up from assembler to machinist to supervisor — has gone largely unnoticed. 'In an earlier generation, we lost our connection to the land, and now we are losing our connection to the machinery we depend on,' says Michael Hout. 'People who work with their hands are doing things today that we call service jobs, in restaurants and laundries, or in medical technology and the like.' The damage to American craftsmanship seems to parallel the precipitous slide in manufacturing employment. And manufacturing's shrinking presence helps explain the decline in craftsmanship, if only because many of the nation's assembly line workers were skilled in craft work. 'Young people grow up without developing the skills to fix things around the house,' says Richard T. Curtin. 'They know about computers, of course, but they don't know how to build them.'"

Comment Re:First support your phones (Score 1) 124

by konohitowa (#40385125) Attached to: Samsung Focusing On Phone Software

Exactly. I'm still running 3.2 on my 10.1 tablet with only vague generalizations as to when I *might* get ICS. Instead of futzing around with their own O/S, maybe they could make Android better? For example, I have to manually set my timezone when I travel with the 10.1 even though it has GPS; no option to have it automatically update. Yes, it's a minor nit, but it's that level of quality that I'm wanting and that they're currently not delivering with Android. If they can't manage that with someone else's O/S, then I really don't want to see what they would deliver via 100% of their own sweat.

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