Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Math

Man Uses Drake Equation To Explain Girlfriend Woes 538

Posted by samzenpus from the less-math-more-social-science dept.
artemis67 writes "A man studying in London has taken a mathematical equation that predicts the possibility of alien life in the universe to explain why he can't find a girlfriend. Peter Backus, a native of Seattle and PhD candidate and Teaching Fellow in the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick, near London, in his paper, 'Why I don't have a girlfriend: An application of the Drake Equation to love in the UK,' used math to estimate the number of potential girlfriends in the UK. In describing the paper on the university Web site he wrote 'the results are not encouraging. The probability of finding love in the UK is only about 100 times better than the probability of finding intelligent life in our galaxy.'"
Image

Scientists Say a Dirty Child Is a Healthy Child 331

Posted by samzenpus from the snack-is-going-to-be-on-the-floor-today dept.
Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California have shown that the more germs a child is exposed to, the better their immune system in later life. Their study found that keeping a child's skin too clean impaired the skin's ability to heal itself. From the article: "'These germs are actually good for us,' said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research. Common bacterial species, known as staphylococci, which can cause inflammation when under the skin, are 'good bacteria' when on the surface, where they can reduce inflammation."

Comment Re:Needs internet connection (Score 1) 439

by woodchip (#29924755) Attached to: Will Google and Android Kill Standalone GPS?
As an iPhone user, this is one of the reasons I give the iPhone four out of five stars. You can't run multiple aps at once, and if you accidentally exit out of your GPS application while driving (which include inbound calls) you lose the cache, and you are now lost unless you have enough cell phone service to download the map again.

Comment Re:slip your hand? (Score 1) 123

by woodchip (#29215815) Attached to: Nintendo Working On Football Controller
Rather than modding you Troll for calling American football a pussy sport I am going to try to defend American Football. (I will be using the term Football to refer to American Football for the rest of this post) First of all I have to say that in my humble opinion Football is the most exciting/interesting sport to watch as a spectator. The goal off football, unlike soccer, and rugby isn't only about endorse and brute strength, but also relies heavily on strategy and skill. The stoppages between plays is not because the players are wimpy and require a break, they are there so that each side can play their strategy for the next play based upon the current situation. Yes they wear pads and rugby don't. They ware pads is because when a 350lb linemen hits you it hurts. In football different players are different shapes and sizes, and have different abilities depending on their potion. If they all had the same abilities, it would be boring, and less strategy. Pads allow the 145lb running back to go up against a 350lb linebacker with out being killed. As far as game play goes. I think what makes football so great is the first down. You have an ultimate goal of scoring a touch down, but you also have intermediate goals, You need to advance the ball 10 yards in 4 plays or you lose possession. Soccer and rugby lacks this intermediate objective, and makes it more boring to watch. Calling American football a wussy sport is a bit of a disservice. Yes, I am sure American football players would not be very good at rugby. But I also would bet rugby players wouldn't be equally as bad at American football, because, they are different sports, with different objectives and focuses with different rules.
Medicine

Drug Vending Machines 97

Posted by samzenpus from the correct-change-only dept.
An anonymous reader writes "If you guessed San Bernardino County prisons as the ideal place to put drug vending machines, come claim your prize. From the article, 'Corrections departments are responsible for so many burdensome tasks that many of their everyday functions, like administering prescription drugs to inmates, are afterthoughts for the public. However, dispensing medication was so laborious and wasteful for the San Bernardino County (Calif.) Sheriff-Coroner Department that officials sought a way to streamline the process. The end product was essentially a vending machine that links to correctional facility databases and dispenses prescription medications.'"
Input Devices

Nintendo Working On Football Controller 123

Posted by Soulskill from the super-madden-brothers-'11 dept.
Siliconera found patent filings from Nintendo for a football controller addon that will work with the Wii. After tucking the Wii Remote into a lateral slot on the football, you slip your hand through a strap so that your fingers touch the Remote's buttons. Then you mimic running and throwing, which is interpreted by the accelerometer. 'The pitch angle and force of the throw determines the trajectory arc of the throw. Side to side motion determines the yaw angle. Pressing buttons on the Wii remote can adjust other options.' The device is described as 'squishy,' so your TV is probably safe, but I'd try it at a friend's house first.
The Internet

Pirate Bay Archive Goes Online 94

Posted by timothy from the action-reaction-counterreaction dept.
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "With the main Pirate Bay website experiencing DNS issues, downtime and uncertainty about both the lawsuits and potential sale to GGF, a Pirate Bay clone has already gone online. True to their principles, someone at TPB put up a torrent with a 21.3 GB copy of the site as it exists today. And now that archive is alive, at BTArena.net. Linus' old adage about backing up everything by putting it on FTP and letting the world mirror it may need to be updated. Torrents are much more efficient." "Downtime" may be a nice word for it; reader Underholdning writes "The Register has a story about a Swedish court ordering ISPs to disconnect The Pirate Bay or face a massive daily fine. The reason for the shutdown was an upcoming civil lawsuit by copyright holders. As usual, Torrentfreak has an updated story. It seems like the takedown until now has been successful." Believe what you will; the site itself says they'll be back up "in a few hours."
Input Devices

The Mice That Didn't Make It 202

Posted by timothy from the does-anything-beat-a-logitech-marble-mouse? dept.
Harry writes "For every blockbuster of the mouse world (such as Microsoft and Logitech's big sellers) there have been countless mice that flopped, or never made it to market. Mice shaped like pyramids; mice shaped like Mickey; mice that doubled as numeric keypads or phones. Even one that sat on your steering wheel. I've rounded up some evocative patent drawings on twenty notable examples."

Slashdot Top Deals

With your bare hands?!?

Close