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Submission + - Geron shutttered embryonic stem cell clinical tria (nytimes.com)

Zecheus writes: Geron had won the first clinical trial of embryonic stem cell therapy in the United States, as previously reported in slashdot: http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/01/23/1647211/first-human-embryonic-stem-cell-study-approved, but is now ending that trial and divesting entirely from any research in the technology. This is an stunning turnaround for the company that holds pioneering patents and had developed more experimental drugs from the stem cell of human embryos than any other company in the world. “I deeply believe in the promise of stem cells,” John A. Scarlett, the chief executive of Geron said. However the move is widely seen as a major setback for the technology. (Maybe he meant the 'promise of adult stem cells' in which many therapies are already approved and in use.) Perhaps Geron bailed out because the clinical trial has only demonstrated a certain level of safety, but no improvement in the small number of patients; or to meet strategic/tactical business goals (i.e., to stay in business), In any case, it looks like the promise of embyronic stem cell therapies are overhyped and false.
Unix

Submission + - Copyright suit forces shut down unix timezone data (joda.org)

Zecheus writes: The founder and maintainer of The timezone database writes:

A civil suit was filed on September 30 in federal court in Boston; I'm a defendant; the case involves the time zone database. The ftp server at elsie.nci.nih.gov has been shut down. The mailing list will be shut down after this message. Electronic mail can be sent to me at arthurdavidolson gmail.com. I hope there will be better news shortly.


Privacy

Submission + - Foursquare data published by WSJ (wsj.com)

Zecheus writes: WSJ says: 'We collected every check-in on location-sharing service Foursquare for a week starting at noon Eastern on Friday, Jan. 21 until noon on Friday Jan. 28. Foursquare, which provided the data, removed all material that could identify an individual user.'

The pages have different presentations and breakdowns of the data. A comparison between NYC and SanFrancisco interests is presented.

Comment Re:Nudity would be ok if not for Satan (Score 1) 585

I looked it up in my copy of the New Jerome's Biblical Commentary. The first association between the serpent and Satan was made by hellenist-jewish tradition, see Wisdom 2:24. Scholars date the writing of Wisdom to the last half of the 1st century BCE. So, no, its not "an assumption that Christians started to make because it made sense".

Comment Nudity would be ok if not for Satan (Score 2) 585

Nerds should care about the spread of Satanism. Its Satan's fault we wear clothes, have to work hard, and women have pain in childbirth, according to the Christian tradition.

He appeared as a snake in the beginning and fooled Eve and Adam into rebellion against God. The consequences of the rebellion are 1) shame from nudity, 2) hard work for sustenance, and 3) painful childbirth. See Genesis 3.

Those who support Satanism implicitly support these consequences. Only nihilists won't care about the spread of Satanism, but then do nihilists care about anything?

Comment yawn (Score 1) 641

There has always been a free and premium jdk from oracle.

We don't have enough information in this announcement about the difference between free and premium in technology, performance or price.

This announcement is much less important to java enterprises than it is to java detractors.

Comment be an active user (Score 1) 283

help specify requirements. discuss feature with project members. document existing features. teach your peers how to use it. evaluate multiple packages and blog. blog about these type of tools in general. show in your blog how to resolve common problems in the math knowledge domain with these tools.

I still haven't even had my coffee this morning.

Comment Silly and a waste of time (Score 1) 390

All employment is at the favor of the employer. If you check your employment contract, you'll likely find that the employer can discharge you for no reason at any time. You're gone.

Lets say you can prove you did not register the domain. You're still gone.

Lets say you can get your lawyer to convince your lawyer that it is the employer's burden to prove you did it. You're still gone.

Lets say your employer gets proof you did not do it. You're still gone.

Later.

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