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Comment Re:not surprised at racism and naive WASPs (Score 2) 1737

Perhaps when you finish high school you will have learned some basic probability so you won't be amazed at such events.

Well, the problem with your figures is that you are assuming a randomly selected jury. That is not how it works, although your figures are perhaps representative of the pool of potential jurors. The defense and state lawyers have some flexibility to reject potential jurors that they feel would be biased. The state in this case would have wanted to reject white or hispanic men while the defense would probably want to reject blacks. Given those strategies, the likelihood of eliminating all blacks from sample of Florida's population if fairly high. I bet you could eliminate blacks form the jury in 90% or more of that state's trials if a lawyer was so inclined. Perhaps you should finish university and get some real life experience applying statistics in real life circumstances before you shoot off about your mastery of a subject.

Comment Re:Yes. (Score 1) 660

Wrong. Apple may have the biggest single device, but that's only because they refuse to give their own fans choice. They're #1 with 32% of the market, which means everyone else is choosing the larger alternatives.

Comment Death of $60 games is greatly exaggerated (Score 4, Insightful) 435

Are you kidding? There are men out there who will pay $200 if a woman will just get naked and call him daddy for an hour. Anyone who thinks gamers won't pay $1.50/hour for a game is crazy. Hell, I pumped more than 6 quarters an hour into arcade games once a week when I was a kid, and that's back when you'd actually pick up a quarter in the street if you found one.
Space

Herschel Spectroscopy of Future Supernova 21

davecl writes "ESA's Herschel Space Telescope has released its first spectroscopic results. These include observations of VYCMa, a star 50 times as massive as the sun and soon to become a supernova, as well as a nearby galaxy, more distant colliding starburst galaxies and a comet in our own solar system. The spectra show more lines than have ever been seen in these objects in the far-infrared and will allow astronomers to work out the detailed chemistry and physics behind star and planet formation as well as the last stages of stellar evolution before VYCMa's eventual collapse into a supernova. More coverage is available at the Herschel Mission Blog, which I run."

Comment Back to school for you, son (Score 5, Informative) 294

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_network A computer network is a group of interconnected computers. Networks may be classified according to a wide variety of characteristics. This article provides a general overview of some types and categories and also presents the basic components of a network. ... Functional relationship (network architecture) Computer networks may be classified according to the functional relationships which exist among the elements of the network, e.g., Active Networking, Client-server and Peer-to-peer (workgroup) architecture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - The Legality of Income Taxes... Freedom of Facism?

earlgrae writes: "As tax season rolls around, and I painfully rub my ass once again, I find myself asking the same questions i do every year. How am I going to come up with this money? Where is it going? Why do I have to do this again? Yet this year, I actually have some food for thought, provided by Director Aaron Russo in his documentary America: Freedom to Fascism, which has been made available for free viewing on Google Video. This film addresses facts that the average American is generally unaware of, and probably should not file income taxes this year without at least considering. Before watching this movie, i never reaized that 16th Amendment was never legally ratified, the Federal Reserve is maintained by an independant non-govenrmental institution, according to law the income tax is purely voluntary, and that our income taxes only go towards paying off interest on the national debt. I'd like to know what other Slashdotters think, and whether or not anyone is actually prepared to stand up to the IRS. I urge everyone to watch this film before coming to any conclusions, and then if so inclinded, spread the word."
Privacy

Submission + - Walmart Employee Eavesdrops on Cell Communications

Gr8Apes writes: CNN is reporting that Walmart "fired a systems technician for intercepting text messages of non-Wal-Mart employees and recording telephone conversations with a New York Times reporter without authorization". The story further goes on to state that the recordings were in violation of their policy since they did not have authorization from their legal dept. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't wiretapping illegal without court authorization as shown by the HP scandal?

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