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Comment Re:Of course we don't need running shoes (Score 5, Insightful) 776

by zaxus (#27658525) Attached to: Do We Need Running Shoes To Run?

Earlier the female chose her mate by his fitness. Today, she chooses him by the size of his wallet. Evolution 2.0, if you will.

I would argue that she's still choosing her mate by fitness. A "large wallet" is indicative of societal fitness. In civilization, physical fitness has decreased in reproductive importance as it no longer has a significant bearing on our ability to survive and protect the family. The size of the wallet, however, is a very good indication of how well a mate can provide for the family.
Security

Submission + - Chinese Net police helped firm kill competitor (stdaily.com) 1

Submitted by
hackingbear
hackingbear writes: "China's Science & Technology Daily reports (here is the poor google translation) that Yu Bing, the head of Net security of Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, has been arrested for taking a bribe of 40 million yuan (~US $5 million) to help China's leading anti-virus provider Comet Technologies, Ltd. to kill its new competitor Beijing Oriental Micro Ltd. Yu first accused Oriental Micro of lacking necessary permit to develop anti-virus software. Later, he arrested executives from Oriental Micro and made up and spread news accusing the company spreading computer virus. The news was carried by all major news outlets in China and angered millions of users. Eventually, Oriental Micro found its way to report the case to China's top prosecutor and the Ministry of Public Security which launched an investigation and arresting Yu."
Power

Tapping the Earth For Home Heating and Cooling 215

Posted by kdawson from the geo-exchange dept.
suraj.sun recommends a CNet post giving details of a still little-known energy technology: the ground source heat pump or geo-exchange system. This is distinct from so-called geothermal energy, which taps the heat in the earth to provide energy. Geo-exchange is suitable in scale for small industry — the article describes one commercial re-development of an old mill into apartment and commercial space that put in a geo-exchange at about half the cost of traditional fossil fuel-based alternatives. Even some individual homeowners are opting for this green method of heating and cooling, at a premium in price of about 50 percent (but costs are very much per-project, largely because drilling is involved). "Rather than use underground heat, geothermal heat pumps attached to buildings capitalize on the steady temperature of the ground or deep water wells. In effect, they treat the Earth like a giant energy savings bank, depositing or withdrawing heat depending on the time of year. "
Space

Black Hole At Center of Milky Way Confirmed 392

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-can-see-it-from-here dept.
Smivs writes "The BBC are reporting that a German team has confirmed the existence of a Black Hole at the center of the Milky Way. Astronomers tracked the movement of 28 stars circling the center of the Milky Way, using the 3.5m New Technology Telescope and the 8.2m Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. Both are operated by the European Southern Observatory (Eso). The black hole is four million times heavier than our Sun, according to the paper in The Astrophysical Journal. According to Dr Robert Massey, of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the results suggest that galaxies form around giant black holes in the way that a pearl forms around grit."

Comment Re:selective history deletion (Score 1) 216

by zaxus (#26049695) Attached to: Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 Adds Private Browsing

Better couple that with a loopback filesystem, to defeat random "find" and "locate" commands. Mount your loopback when you need access to your porn, make sure you unmount it when you're done. The worst thing your may have to do is migrate to a bigger loopback file if you run out of room. Has worked for me like a champ. :-)
The Courts

Groklaw Summarizes the Lori Drew Verdict 457

Posted by kdawson from the unpredictable-and-retroactve dept.
Bootsy Collins writes "Last Wednesday, the Lori Drew 'cyberbullying' case ended in three misdemeanor convictions under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a 1986 US Federal law intended to address illegally accessing computer systems. The interpretation of the act by the Court to cover violations of website terms of service, a circumstance obviously not considered in the law's formulation and passage, may have profound effects on the intersection of the Internet and US law. Referring to an amicus curiae brief filed by online rights organizations and law professors, PJ at Groklaw breaks down the implications of the decision to support her assertion that 'unless this case is overturned, it is time to get off the Internet completely, because it will have become too risky to use a computer.'"

Comment Re:It's a Job (Score 2, Insightful) 254

by zaxus (#25887101) Attached to: Breaking Into Games Writing?

>I've been playing computer games since about 1977. When does it stop being a young industry?

Prostitution: Thousands of years old
Printing books: Hundreds of years old
Film: ~150 years old (~400 years old if you count camera obscura)
Radio: ~100 years old
Television: ~80 years old (commercially)
Computer games: ~30 years old

Computer gaming is still a young industry.

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