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Education

Submission + - Tennessee legislature boldly sets the science clocks back 150 years (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: The Tennessee legislature — apparently jealous that the people running Louisiana are hogging all the laughing stock — is possibly about to pass an antiscience bill designed specifically to make it easier for teachers to allow creationism in their classroom(http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/03/22/tennessee-legislature-boldly-sets-the-science-clocks-back-150-years/). The bill passed the House last year, but then a similar bill was put on hold in the Senate. Unfortunately, it was put to the Senate floor earlier this week and passed. It will have to be reconciled with the House bill, but it’s expected to pass.

Basically, the bill will make sure teachers can discuss creationism in the classroom, as well as global warming denialism. The House version states,

        "This bill prohibits the state board of education and any public elementary or secondary school governing authority, director of schools, school system administrator, or principal or administrator from prohibiting any teacher in a public school system of this state from helping students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught, such as evolution and global warming."

Comment Re:Agreed (Score 2) 241

by cyachallenge (#39331077) Attached to: Pi Day Is Coming — But Tau Day Is Better
As a novice in Loci, I could probably do tau to 100 in an hour and thirty. I agree this isn't something worth bothering by itself. Primarily it's just a short benchmark. I plan to use Loci to memorize important books in rote memorization then go back over them mentally for deeper learning. At the moment I'm in the process of creating an imagined memory palace. The places in my apartment are fairly boring as individual locus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci

Comment Re:Agreed (Score 2) 241

by cyachallenge (#39330981) Attached to: Pi Day Is Coming — But Tau Day Is Better
Actually it was interesting I had no problem with 50 digits. It feels like a brief stroll rather than a rigorous rote memorization. At some point I'll try a benchmark to find the upper limit if there is one. For now I don't really see the practical use of remembering Pi to that extent.

Comment Re:I Believe It (Score 2) 277

by cyachallenge (#39140979) Attached to: Interrupted Sleep Might Be the Best Kind
I lucid dream quite often. I've found that a combination of reality checks and using "second sleep" as a method of wakefully induced lucid dreaming or "WILD". It's far easier to go into a lucid dream if you wake up before your sleep cycle is completed. When you go back to sleep you can do whatever you want, it's pretty damn fun.

Comment Re:slashdot title also written by a moron (Score 1) 377

by cyachallenge (#39066269) Attached to: Antibiotics Are Useless In Treating Most Sinus Infections

I'm allergic to every single antibiotic I've had, and I've had quite a few. I can name the ABCs of the antibiotics that give me full body hives for weeks.

Do any other people have this issue with antibiotics? I wonder why some people can be allergic to such a wide range of drugs. It's my trouble also.
Australia

Submission + - Legislation for 18+ games hits Australian parliament (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "Legislation to pave the way for an R18+ (adults only) classification of video games has just been introduced into the Australian parliament by the minister for home affairs. The state and territories will still have to pass complementary legislation, however. Currently the highest rating for a game in Australia is MA15+, with games that didn't meet the criteria being refused classification, leading to content being gutted prior to release or games just not being released. The legislation marks a victory for a long campaign by gamers (notably lobby group Grow Up Australia). The current legislation, which will take effect on January 1 next year providing it makes it through the lower and upper houses, merely introduces an R18+ classification, falling short of the complete classification overhaul proposed by the Australian Law Reform Commission)."
Businesses

Submission + - Why Love Stinks on the Internet

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "In olden times, the ability to find someone compatible in the world was assisted by natural filters (friends of friends of friends) or time-specific filters (you can't stay in college forever). But Connor Clarke writes that the market for mates on the internet is structured to fail due to "asymmetrical information" — daters know more about themselves than their prospective mate. creating "quality uncertainty" as all suppliers can present their wares as first-rate, and this has negative consequences: The bad tend to drive out the good. This "lemon market" phenomenon was first studied by George Akerlof in the used-car market where there are good cars and there are lemons, and the prospect of getting a lemon drives down the price of used cars and pushes good cars out of the market. In online dating everyone is presenting themselves as a good type and some of them are probably lying. But you don't know which ones, so you'll value every potential date a little bit less than as good as they look. On the other hand, non-lemons will think they're much better than the tepid replies they get from other singles, and they'll respond by leaving the dating market. "The need for some sort of quality control is one reason why people join curated dating sites like eHarmony rather than OkCupid. In some industries, you have solutions in the form of licensing and regulation, or quality "guarantees" like brand names and warranties," writes Clarke. "In the real world, however, dating is a dangerously free market.""
Privacy

Submission + - Female Passengers Say They Were Targeted for TSA Body Scanners (wired.com)

Submitted by wiedzmin
wiedzmin writes: TSA agents in Dallas singled out female passengers to undergo screening in a body scanner, according to complaints filed by several women who said they felt the screeners intentionally targeted them to view their bodies. Allegedly, women with "cute bodies" were directed through the body scanners up to three times over by female agents, who appeared to be acting on a request from male agents viewing the scans in a separate room. Apparently this was done because the scans were "blurry", possibly due to autofocus problems with agents' smartphone cameras.
Earth

Submission + - Rare Moon Mineral Found on Earth (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: A mineral previously known only from moon rocks and lunar meteorites has now been found on Earth. Researchers discovered the substance—dubbed tranquillityite after the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the Moon in July 1969— at six sites in Western Australia. The mineral occurs only in minuscule amounts and has no economic value, but scientists say it could be used for age-dating the rocks in which it occurs.

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