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Communications

Submission + - 5 Hotspots Where Languages Are Becoming Extinct (anthropology.net)

Submitted by
Ant
Ant writes: "Anthropology.net shares an alarming report on the rate of extinction of languages . It says, "Every 14 days a language dies. By 2100, more than half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken on Earth — many of them never yet recorded — will likely disappear, taking with them a wealth of knowledge about history, culture, the natural environment, and how the human brain works." Seen on Neatorama."
Education

Submission + - College Fires Teacher Who Says Bible Isn't Literal (desmoinesregister.com) 1

Submitted by Stanislav_J
Stanislav_J writes: A community college instructor in Iowa claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve should not be literally interpreted.

Steve Bitterman, 60, said officials at Southwestern Community College sided with a handful of students who threatened legal action over his remarks in a western civilization class Tuesday. He said he was fired Thursday.

"I'm just a little bit shocked myself that a college in good standing would back up students who insist that people who have been through college and have a master's degree, a couple actually, have to teach that there were such things as talking snakes or lose their job," Bitterman said.

One expects to read about this sort of thing at church-affiliated schools, but at a state-run community college? Are we really reaching a point in this country where everything said and taught in an academic setting must be weighed against the possibility of offending Christian fundamentalists? Are supposedly secular educational institutions more and more downplaying or even censoring truth and reality at the behest of a group of people who believe that ancient mythology negates and supercedes the disciplines of science, history, and reason?
Education

Submission + - Euro vaults to record high

Submitted by traveller604
traveller604 writes: The euro jumped to $1.4018. It's also a 15-year low for the dollar.
Communications

Submission + - European iPhone specs leaked?

Submitted by traveller604
traveller604 writes: Basically it's the same as the US version, but it's not for it comes with 16GB and UTMS with HSDPA. Comes at a price too thou, 499 euros! Or is it fake?
Announcements

Submission + - Northwest Passage Now Open

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Guardian is reporting that the Northwest Passage is now navigable due to arctic sea ice melting much faster than previously. This will only continue to get worse next year as the additional open water absorbs more heat and delays the refreezing of the water this winter.
First Person Shooters (Games)

Submission + - Sony caught editing Halo 3 Wikipedia entry (vnunet.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Sony has been caught out editing the Wikipedia entry for Microsoft's highly anticipated shooter Halo 3.

The original entry stated: 'Halo 3, the third game in the best-selling Xbox game franchise Halo, is a highly anticipated first-person shooter video game under development by Bungie Studios for the Xbox 360 and is expected to "set a new high water mark" for next-generation games.'

However, a sentence had been added which reads: 'Although it won't look any better than Halo 2.
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - Nokia's iPhone

Submitted by
traveller604
traveller604 writes: "Nokia announced 4 the new phones (N95 8GB, N81, 5610, 5310) earlier today at the Nokia GoPlay event in London. However by far the most interesting and controversial thing that was shown at the event was the Nokia's iPhone lookalike demo video. When pressed during the Q&A about the striking similarity to the little Cupertino device, Anssi Vanajoki — Nokia's Executive VP & General Manager of Multimedia — said, "If there is something good in the world then we copy with pride." Apple fanboys, before you start crying out your anger watch this."
User Journal

Journal Journal: Nokia N95 8GB - review, price, specification

Journal by phone_review
Nokia N95 8GB review - The Nokia N95, the world's greatest multimedia computer, just got greater - including a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, built-in A-GPS, WLAN, HSDPA and an innovative 2-way slide, the Nokia N95 8GB now offers up to eight gigabytes of built-in memory.
Businesses

Submission + - Nokia announces new phones

Submitted by
traveller604
traveller604 writes: "After months of speculation Nokia has finally announced new high end smartphones. Among them is the successor to the no doubt most advanced cellphone in the world right now, the N95. The successor, N95 8gb is Nokia's answer to the criticism that the original model has received. It comes with a larger screen and many upgraded components. Other announcements were the new ngage platform called Ovi (a door in Finnish) and music orientated phones N81, 5610 and 5310. What wasn't announced (but flashed discretely) at Nokia GoPlay event in London was the Nokia's iPhone lookalike."
Handhelds

Submission + - Nokie threatens to blow iPhone away (peterjudge.com)

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes: "Nokia didn't mention Apple at its Go Play launch in London — it didn't have to. The new Ovi service is, as predicted, a revived version of N-Gage, but it's also a combined music, games and location service, designed to let users get content and interact through both PCs and mobiles. The company also has some new phones that seem to address all the criticisms of the iPhone — they have 3G and they are open to developers, and they'll also do the touch-screen, 3D menu thing. Given Nokia is the largest consumer durable maker in the world, with a 900 million-strong truly global user base, I'd say Apple better watch out!"
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Carlos Slim is richest man alive (cnn.com)

Submitted by
UnHolier than ever
UnHolier than ever writes: "According to Fortune Magazine, Carlos Slim as overtaken Bill Gates as the richest man alive. "The 67-year-old Slim has amassed a $59 billion fortune, based on the value of his public holdings at the end of July. This number puts him just ahead of perennial No. 1, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whose net worth is estimated to be at least $58 billion. But Gates is selling off his single greatest source of wealth, Microsoft stock, to fund his foundation, while Slim's fortune is growing at a stunning clip. His net worth jumped $12 billion this year alone.""

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