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Education

Submission + - Bill Nye, The *Atheist* Guy? (functionalisminaction.com)

Submitted by
IConrad01
IConrad01 writes: "Functionalism In Action: Bill Nye The Atheist Guy? is a remix of news that might not have gotten the play it should have: Apparently, Bill Nye made the unforgivable cardinal sin — in Waco, TX no less — of correcting the Bible's Genesis story — specifically, Genesis 1:16, which reads "God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars." Turns out, as a guest speaker at a community college, he pointed out that the moon is actually a reflector, not a light.

What's next? Shall we challenge the idea that the sun goes 'round the earth?"
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - Can apple make cell phone companies user friendly?

Submitted by spring(boing-boing)monkey
spring(boing-boing)monkey writes: Ok so I have an iPhone, I go over to vacation in Canada for a wedding, need to sync up with relatives and stuff, find my way around using maps. What do I pay? 80 cents a minute. I didn't know, what I knew is that Rogers wireless is owned by AT&T. How ridiculous is this? I can call around the globe for 10 cents a minute, but Canada, whoa that is different, especially if you stay on AT&T's network. The customer service asked me first if I was going to leave feedback, very interesting way, maybe then they didn't care to be helpful. I certainly don't expect to add a $130 bill to my weekend vacation in Canada. Ok, this is legally correct, but why does my cellphone have to be so expensive? Does roaming cost that much? Am I supposed to buy a new phone for the weekend? American cell phone companies are way behind global standards and way too expensive and just not convenient. I just hope involvement of new age companies like Apple and Google can change how older firms like Telecoms and Music Labels work.
Spam

Submission + - The spamhouse saga continues (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by fava
fava writes: Last year, Spamhaus found itself on the wrong end of a $11.7 million default judgment awarded to online marketing firm e360insight after it decided not to fight the case due to its belief that US courts had no jurisdiction over the group because of its location in the UK. Yesterday, an appeals court overturned the award, sending the case back down to a lower court.
Software

Submission + - Open source != W O W (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
gngulrajani
gngulrajani writes: "Ari Jaaksi Nokia open source champion and n800 boss has posted a blog entry describing his impressions of open source software concerning venture capital monies , quality of open source UI's and the distinction between free software and open source software."
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - PC Gaming to meet it's Steamy Demise. (ethocybin.com)

Submitted by
Ethocybin
Ethocybin writes: "I bought Lost Planet recently and I was informed by Steam that my CD-Key was already in use, so I contacted the seller for a replacement and he ignored me, I then contacted Steam so that they could "release" or "transfer" my CD-Key to my account (which it says on the steam powered website, that they can do) and it's been four days without any reply from Steam. I even provided pictures of the Game Manual with the CD-Key on the back as requested. I also tried phoning Capcom's technical support AND product support yet no answer from both their lines within working hours for four days. It just rings forever... So, what am I to do with this game? It's quickly become about as worthless as an AOL CD but my wallet still feels the burn of twenty pounds. My question is that, if they are to enforce such drastic and ridiculous measures of security, should they not also provide better customer support? It's a surprise to me Steam still have no Phone Support after their big global expansion marketing many third-party games."
IBM

Submission + - At I.B.M., a Vacation Anytime, or Maybe None (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
djabbour
djabbour writes: "From the story, "It's every worker's dream: take as much vacation time as you want, on short notice, and don't worry about your boss calling you on it. Cut out early, make it a long weekend, string two weeks together — as you like. No need to call in sick on a Friday so you can disappear for a fishing trip. Just go; nobody's keeping track."

What is your experience in the IT industry- are companies giving more or less flexibility for hours and vacation? Are startups generally more or less lenient? What about public vs. private companies?"
Enlightenment

Submission + - Lies, damn lies and metrics (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: "Within the realm of IT operations, determining the right combination of metrics to effectively assess a particular level of service presents problems analogous to determining the most powerful car through horsepower, measuring watts per channel of stereo equipment, and, more recently, megapixels for digital cameras. These metrics are used to imply some level of performance but aren't by themselves sufficient to judge performance capabilities. The weighting and prioritization an evaluator places on various elements in a test is not always discernible. While metrics themselves may be objective, any such combination and ranking is by definition subjective, according to a column by Computerworld's Jim Damoulakis"
Education

Submission + - Failing Our Geniuses [Link Corrected]

Submitted by saintlupus
saintlupus writes: Time has an interesting article about the failure of the US educational system to properly deal with gifted students. For example, up to ten times as much money is spent nationwide on educating "developmentally disabled" students as gifted ones. Does No Child Left Behind mean that nobody can get ahead, either?
Education

Submission + - Failing Our Geniuses.

Submitted by saintlupus
saintlupus writes: Time has an interesting article about the failure of the US educational system to properly deal with gifted students. For example, up to ten times as much money is spent nationwide on educating "developmentally disabled" students as gifted ones. Does No Child Left Behind mean that nobody can get ahead, either?
Media

Submission + - Journalist attempts to hack, gets caught (valleywag.com)

Submitted by
wawannem
wawannem writes: "I know that fark is not likely considered the serious news institution that slashdot is... In fact, I've heard of it referred to as slashdot's immature, mentally handicapped, younger stepbrother. Whatever it is, it appears that it drew some attention from a Fox news affiliate. Enough attention that it seems a reporter may have tried to hack into their servers.
FTA — Curtis believes that Phillips, or someone working with Phillips, sent him and several other Fark employees deceptive emails in an attempt to get them to download a trojan, a form of computer virus. The Trojan was designed to capture their passwords and give the author access to Fark's servers. In one case, it succeeded, giving a hacker passwords to a file server and one Fark employee's email account; he tried, but failed, to break into Fark's Web servers and email.
The article goes into some other speculation about the reporter's intentions, but I would imagine that the title of journalist should not exempt him from punishment in this case."
Announcements

Submission + - Speed of Light "Exceeded"

Submitted by konohitowa
konohitowa writes: Two German scientists claim to have performed an experiment in which microwave photons exceeded the speed of light. From the story: "The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons — energetic packets of light — travelled "instantaneously" between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart." Having seen claims such as these in the past, it will be interesting to see what mistake this particular pair made. And yes, I'm definitely assuming they're misinterpreting their results.
Announcements

Submission + - Watermarking to replace DRM? 3

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: News.com has an article on the announcement of Microsoft and Universal to introduce watermarking technology into audio files. The technology could serve several purposes including tracking file sharing statistics and insertion of advertisements into audio tracks. The article goes on to suggest that watermarking could possibly replace DRM in the near future.
The Courts

Submission + - Foster Demands RIAA Post $210k Security for Fees

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "A few days ago it was reported that, in view of the RIAA's one-month delay in paying the $68,685.00 attorneys fee award in Capitol v. Foster, and its lawyers' failure to respond to Ms. Foster's lawyer's email, Ms. Foster filed a motion for entry of judgment so that she could go ahead with judgment enforcement proceedings. In response to that motion the RIAA submitted a statement that it had no objection to entry of judgment, and intimated that it thought there would be an automatic stay on enforcement of the judgment, and that it would ultimately file an appeal. After seeing that, Ms. Foster's lawyer has filed a motion for the Court to require the RIAA to post $210,000 in security to cover the past and future attorneys fees and costs which are expected to be incurred."
Biotech

Submission + - Physicists Discover Interstellar Dust 'Alive' (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by reezle
reezle writes: An international team has discovered that under the right conditions, particles of inorganic dust can become organised into helical structures. These structures can then interact with each other in ways that are usually associated with organic compounds and life itself.
Quite bizarrely, not only do these helical strands interact in a counterintuitive way in which like can attract like, but they also undergo changes that are normally associated with biological molecules, such as DNA and proteins, say the researchers. They can, for instance, divide, or bifurcate, to form two copies of the original structure. These new structures can also interact to induce changes in their neighbours and they can even evolve into yet more structures as less stable ones break down, leaving behind only the fittest structures in the plasma.
"These complex, self-organized plasma structures exhibit all the necessary properties to qualify them as candidates for inorganic living matter," says Tsytovich, "they are autonomous, they reproduce and they evolve."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Ref admits in court NBA is fixed (cnn.com) 1

Submitted by LoveMe2Times
LoveMe2Times writes: Former NBA referee Tim Donoughy pleaded guilty to charges related to his gambling on NBA games, including those he officiated. While many suspected him of fixing games or altering the outcome of games he officiated, the real story — that the mainstream media only mentions in passing — is that he didn't need to fix games. As a ref, he had access to "non-public" information about the games, including the real nature of injuries, who would ref the game, and the extent to which those refs favored the players. This inside information was enough for him — and presumably any NBA insider — to pick winners with enough accuracy to get paid $5000 for correct picks. In other words, referee bias is statistically significant enough for those in the know to make lots of money betting on it. In essence, the referees decide the game more than the players in a known, predictable way; hence, the game is fixed by choice of refs for a game.

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