As an evolutionary biologist, how do you explain homosexuality?

Note that I am not some homophobic hate-monger. I'm genuinely interested in the scientific explanation (or theory) of why homosexuality occurs

Great idea that seems simple enough on the surface. Until reality sets in.

The unemployed are rarely already located where the job openings can be found. Due to the financial / housing debacle, they really cannot afford to move. Done - end of story. They already have very little money (if not a mountain of debt), so they certainly cannot afford to sell their house for less than they owe on the mortgage. And we haven't started on the other variables: Family in town? Kids in school? Spouse working locally? Moving for a job is rarely as easy as people think it is.

Then, there's the location itself. I've seen numerous postings for IT jobs in Detroit. Even if I was unemployed, I would not move there. (Apologies if you live in Detroit or think it's a fine city.)

... not because of government.

There is a nagging feeling of nihilism today. That nothing we do as an individual matters - including voting. That is a HUGE problem. People, in general, are busy going about their lives. When we do vote, we try to make good decisions. But it doesn't seem to make any difference. Time and time again, politicians have shown that any trust the public puts in them is horribly misplaced.

Like the old adage says: Anyone who actually wants to be President, should not be elected.

I work for a company big enough that my CEO could get the ear of Steve Jobs. Mr. Jobs told him that he did not care about our corporate purchases. That was nearly 2 years ago. The market and the strategy have proved him correct.

Businesses of almost any decent size always seem to think that their "buying power" entitles them to discounts. As Apple has proven, if you make a product that everyone wants, it will find its way into the corporate world. Not only did Apple not give any discounts, they charge a premium for their products and got one of the largest corporate quarterly profits in history as a result. Kudos.

Everyone wants their iGadgets to be usable in the corporate world. But allowing corporate data onto those devices is a nightmare in the making. Because they are owned by the individual, not the company, pushing policy to them is not acceptable. Allowing unfettered, unencrypted access to the corporate network is just not possible. How many unencrypted lost devices with GBs of customer data have to be lost/stolen before everyone accepts that as fact?!

Along comes portable device virtualization. This is coming soon for Android devices. I don't know about iOS. When robust enough, users can opt to allow a virtual corporate "machine" to be created on their own device. That virtual device within the physical device is then given the necessary access. Pushing policy (like forced encryption, 30-second screen-lock timeouts, etc.) can be done. If the device is lost, then that virtual portion can be remotely wiped. No harm.

That's the future of personal portable devices. I don't want corporate control over my personal devices, so I have both a company phone and a personal phone. Clunky because I carry them both around. Once I can go corporate-virtual, I will ditch the company physical device and be that much happier. Consumers will be that much happier too since they can get a new personal device whenever they want, rather than being limited by company policy (or politics) as to when they can upgrade.

So MS (and any other company) will be forced to compete with Apple at the same level. There is no providing the functionality that Apple doesn't. The market does NOT want another device. They want ONE device - And one device only - that gives me corporate and personal capabilities, but also keeps them separate. And companies want to know that their data is secure.

I installed on my Android tablet (Acer Iconia, btw). I have not played games since Quake II - yeah, I'm old(er). But I thought I'd try it out just to see what all the hype was about.

Here's why I keep playing it: Learning the game was fast and the controls are intuitive. I can fire it up in seconds, play a few levels and be done. I don't feel like I need to invest hours in it just to get good at it. But the game itself is actually enjoyable and satisfying to play. Look, after a day of stress at work, I don't really want to "work" at playing a game. I want to relax and have some fun. The graphics are well done and the sounds made by the birds and pigs are humorous. Even after playing it for weeks, I still giggle a little at the sound effects.

But really, the biggest thing is that the game is good for time-fill rather than time-suck. Also, let's face it: There are millions (billions?) more people who are not "gamers" than there are "gamers". (Too many quotes? Possibly.)

Uh ... That's my point exactly.

This is not surprising given that the U.S. military spends more annually on air-conditioning than the entirety of NASA's budget.

When talking trillions of $ in government spending, it's thoroughly and completely embarrassing that an accomplished org like NASA has to scrap for a few billion

The problem is that the vast majority of users have no idea the BIOS even exists, let alone how to change a setting within the BIOS.

Meaning that if that if "Secure Boot" is enabled by default, then it will never be changed by the end user. Linux users and computer enthusiasts in general will not have a problem with it. But, honestly, MS doesn't care about that 0.5%.

Perhaps Netflix, whose price hikes were the subject of another Slashdot story; about three stories ago; could be in a position to buy Cisco out and then use them as their in-house infrastructure provider?

Netflix did not raise their prices that much.

No. But you can get a "nifty" bluetooth keyboard, docking station and protective cover that doubles as a stand.

It's a touchscreen, why would you need a trackball for navigation?

Why wait? Just today, I finally broke down and joined the tablet craze by ordering an Acer Iconia 32GB tablet. Nvidia Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 32GB flash storage, USB, HDMI, micro-SD slot, bluetooth, WiFi, 1280x800 10.1" display, Capacitive Ten-point Touchscreen, 2MP front camera, 5MP rear camera with flash Android Honeycomb.

BONUS? Available now for $450

Better late than never? Not so sure in this case. Lenovo has a lot of catching up to do to play in the same market as Asus, Motorola, Acer ...

Borders and B&N are the same big-box stores that pushed your locally-owned stores out of business. Everyone hated them at one time, so why shed a tear at their demise now?

All hail the long tail!

Now, if there was some way that technology could kill off SBUX ...