CheeseyDJ - Slashdot User

Comment: Re:Awesome Jedi Mind Trick (Score 2) 1258

by CheeseyDJ on Friday April 27, @09:32AM (#39819947) Attached to: Analytic Thinking Can Decrease Religious Belief

I challenge you find out what's wrong about the content of the bible and find an convincing argument why people who believe in Christ are doing it in vein. If you want to show that the bible is made up, or its text is corrupt, I'm going to put you through scientific method process and axiomatic logic reasoning to establish your case.

Have you read The God Delusion?. It does a pretty good job of explaining why religion, in general, doesn't make any sense, and it does so via a clear logical thought process. When I read Dawkins' book, I suddenly understood this quote from 1984:

The best books... are those that tell you what you know already

Comment: Re:The Brits will royally screw this one up methin (Score 1) 394

by CheeseyDJ on Friday April 20, @07:47AM (#39744353) Attached to: Posting Photos of Olympics Could Land You In Court

I think the Olympics will go ahead very well - they simply have to.

It's the ever increasing amount of public money required to make that happen that worries me.

Comment: Re:Another (Score 3, Insightful) 394

by CheeseyDJ on Friday April 20, @07:40AM (#39744323) Attached to: Posting Photos of Olympics Could Land You In Court

want to see how Capitalism can destroy something? Look at the Olympics.

Couldn't agree more. If any more evidence was required, just consider the "official Olympic restaurant"...

You guessed it: McDonald's.

I can't actually think of a less suitable sponsor for the Olympics.

Comment: Re:Uhh, goats? (Score 1) 274

by CheeseyDJ on Thursday February 02, @11:26AM (#38902635) Attached to: Aussies Could Use Elephants To Fight Invasive Species

Been there, done that they went feral : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_goats_in_Australia. Though some farmers to make a fair living off mustering the ferals and then selling them for pelts and meat.

If the Aussies' reaction to the feral goats is anything to go by, the sight of children racing on elephant chariots would be a suitable consolation.

Comment: O2 (Score 4, Interesting) 243

by CheeseyDJ on Wednesday January 25, @11:58AM (#38818735) Attached to: New EU Legal Privacy Framework: We're Not Kidding

O2 must be glad they made their massive screw up before this came into effect...

Comment: Re:Thinking through the uses... (Score 5, Interesting) 50

by CheeseyDJ on Wednesday December 07, @07:39AM (#38289440) Attached to: 'Merging Tsunami' Amplified Destruction In Japan

What might be practical, however, is to think about how to site critical pieces of infrastructure (such as... say... nuclear power plants...

Honest question - does anyone know why the Fukushima plant was built on the east coast of Japan, facing the bomb-waiting-to-go-off that is the massive subduction zone a few miles off shore?

Why wasn't it built on the west coast, so it was sheltered by the island itself? I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but looking at the map this seems like a schoolboy error to me.

Comment: MOD PARENT UP (Score 1) 196

by CheeseyDJ on Thursday October 21 2010, @05:07AM (#33971294) Attached to: Record-Breaking Galaxy Found In Deep Hubble Image

Excellent answer.

Comment: Re:Streisand effect? (Score 1) 783

by CheeseyDJ on Thursday November 26 2009, @06:33AM (#30235436) Attached to: Google Apologizes For "Michelle Obama" Results

I wonder if the level of searches for Michelle Obama has increased since this story was released?

Yes, it has

Comment: Re:Why? (Score 1) 315

by CheeseyDJ on Thursday May 28 2009, @07:47AM (#28121625) Attached to: EU Sues Sweden, Demands ISP Data Retention

I just finished reading an excellent book on this subject by Dan Gardner. Highly recommended.

Magpies Are Self-Aware 591

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday August 20 2008, @06:08AM
from the who-you-callin'-birdbrain dept.

FireStormZ writes "Magpies can recognize themselves in a mirror, confounding the notion that self-awareness is the exclusive preserve of humans and a few higher mammals. It had been thought only four species of apes, bottlenose dolphins, and Asian elephants shared the human ability to recognize their own bodies in a mirror. But German scientists reported on Tuesday that magpies, a species with a brain structure very different from mammals, could also identify themselves. It had been thought that the neocortex brain area found in mammals was crucial to self-recognition. Yet birds, which last shared a common ancestor with mammals 300 million years ago, don't have a neocortex, suggesting that higher cognitive skills can develop in other ways."