16623186
submission
x_IamSpartacus_x writes:
Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions. On average, Americans correctly answer 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions on the survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers.
It is worth noting, however, that some questions may be open for debate. For example, one question about the Catholic teaching of communion actually becoming the body/blood of Christ is not a consistent teaching across the Catholic church, nor is the Christian teaching that salvation comes from faith alone an exclusively Protestant one as many Catholics teach the same.
14605750
submission
x_IamSpartacus_x writes:
I have been administering Windows machines for more than 10 years and am extremely comfortable in a Windows environment. I went to school as came out with a Windows Network Administration degree, my CCNA and a Cisco Network Admin degree and have worked in the corporate world administering mid-level scale Windows environments. Unfortunately, I took only 1 (basic) Linux administration class and promptly forgot it because it had no bearing on my degree plan(s). I know the slashdot community will hate me for this but I would really consider myself quite technical and yet I know virtually nothing about administering Linux. I am hoping that the slashdot community can (after forgiving me for my obvious lack of geeky Linux knowledge) help me get started on my quest to be as familiar with Linux as I am with Windows. I have no CS background so I am not a programmer but I hope that I can learn to write drivers for hardware (never needed in Windows) and get a deeper understanding of the Linux environment and it's strengths. Where should I start and what path should I follow to do this?
12618550
submission
x_IamSpartacus_x writes:
Business week has a story about Toyota putting $50 million into Tesla and Tesla buying a Toyota factory in California to make electric cars in the USA. Toyota had to close the factory because of its struggling business in the States but Tesla will be reopening the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont, California, known as NUMMI. “This seems like a good deal for both parties, especially Toyota, from being able to avoid the political fallout from shutting NUMMI down to being able to offer a new electric vehicle with just a low initial investment cost,” said Jeremy Anwyl, Chief Executive Officer at auto industry researcher Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, California. The tie-up brings Toyota, the world’s biggest seller of hybrid autos, together with Tesla, the only company now selling U.S. highway-legal battery-powered cars. Electric-car technology has been supported by U.S. policy makers including President Barack Obama as a way to reduce the nation’s oil use and dependence on foreign energy sources.
4484267
submission
x_IamSpartacus_x writes:
I know this question is asked often, but I looked back through the Slashdot stories and there hasn't been one for over a year. I will be traveling to Portugal and then into the bush of Angola this year and will need a laptop that I can travel with. I don't intend to thrash it but I don't want to have to worry about it being knocked around in typical overseas travel. Good battery life would be nice coupled with a readable screen. I intend to blog and write often so a 10" netbook is not ideal. This is not a gaming computer or desktop replacement, though good photo-editing times are essential. Most of the time the answers to these questions are Thinkpad T-Series laptops. Is that still the case for most Slashdot readers? Are there other durable-hardworking-reasonably-priced laptops out there for consideration?
4150925
submission
x_IamSpartacus_x writes:
PC World is reporting that Visa has launched its first commercial mobile payments service for point-of-sale transactions using NFC (Near Field Communications) technology.
The service is available in Malaysia, and allows users to pay for goods by waving their NFC-enabled Nokia 6212 classic handset in front of a contactless reader.
While this is just in Malaysia, Wells Fargo is testing a related pay-by-phone system with Visa for the USA. Is this the rise of faster and more convenient transactions, or a new way to lose your phone and money all in one fell swoop?
3304385
submission
x_IamSpartacus_x writes:
According to CNN MySpace has identified and removed
90,000 convicted sex offenders from its popular online social-networking site, according to one of the dozens of state attorneys general who pressured the site to beef up its safety standards.
The story doesn't say how they decided which accounts were the accounts of sex offenders, but I can't imagine it's failproof. Wouldn't it be a simple matter to create a myspace account from a registered sex offenders IP just to get him/her in trouble?
3051533
submission
x_IamSpartacus_x writes:
Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs said Wednesday he will take a leave of absence from the computer and music player maker because of health issues.
Jobs, who announced last week that he suffered from a hormone imbalance that caused him to lose weight, said he will be away from the job until the end of June.
"In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June," Jobs said in a statement.
