MCTFB - Slashdot User

Autistic Traits Linked To Testosterone In Womb-> 0

Submitted by

MCTFB

on Wednesday September 12 2007, @01:12AM

MCTFB writes "According to recent research as reported in The Guardian, evidence suggests that autism can now be described as having the characteristics of an "extreme male brain".

It is well known that men are are generally more likely to be systematisers while women are generally more likely to be empathisers, while it is also well known that there are far more males diagnosed with autism than females. While the test subjects in this research were not autistic, this research looks into the Autism Quotient (AQ) of the test subjects and correlated their AQ score with the fetal testosterone levels they had in utero from the amniocentesis samples collected from them.

The results suggest that testosterone is a causal factor in the development of autistic behaviours such as not being very sociable while at the same time being very adept at manipulating and understanding mechanical objects. Perhaps with the recent rise in diagnosed autism over the last 20 years, this research may also suggest that there has also been a likely rise in the geek population as well."
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Fortune's 20 Great Employers For New Grads

Submitted by

MCTFB

on Tuesday May 15 2007, @09:28PM

MCTFB writes "Fortune Magazine has just released its "20 Great Employers For New Grads list. Notable technology companies among the list are Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Intel, and Qualcomm. The criteria for making the top 20 list as well as the name of the company who compiled the list is mentioned HERE.

Even more notable than the list itself was Fortune's claim about what they believe to be true about new college grads:

But Gen Y grads tend to be more finicky about the employers they want to work for than previous classes were. Rather than just seek a solid paycheck and a good chance at a promotion down the road, they hope to join a deep-pocketed company, where they can work for a hip boss in an office that has free food, flexible hours, and video game consoles. Hey, who wouldn't?

Obviously, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Intel are deep-pocketed companies, however, some might question whether a company such as Microsoft has "hip bosses" or a company such as Electronic Arts has "flexible hours". Even more disconcerting is the assertion that Generation Y doesn't care about a "solid paycheck" or "a good chance at promotion", but instead they just want to be babied with cool (undemanding) bosses, free food, flexible hours, and video games.

So is Fortune magazine correct in proclaiming that Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Intel are the best tech companies a freshly minted college grad can hope to work for and are Generation Y'ers really as lackadaisical as Fortune Magazine seems to portray them?"

Are TelecommunicationsTying Arrangments Back?

Submitted by

MCTFB

on Tuesday March 20 2007, @11:08PM

MCTFB writes "With the merger of AT&T (formerly SBC) and Bell South, many of the features of the Ma Bell Monopoly seem to be in full force. Nevertheless, telecommunications consumers now at least have the option of internet phone companies like Skype and Vonage, or do they?

According to an entry on the Technorabble Blog, the blog author claims that he was the victim of a tying arrangment from AT&T where in order to get DSL service, he had to effectively get voice service as well. AT&T of course does not officially claim that one must purchase voice service, in order to get DSL service (because this would be overtly illegal), but the pain the blog author went through just to get his voice service removed, suggests that there may indeed be a covert attempt by AT&T to make it so difficult for DSL consumers to get DSL service without voice service, that DSL consumers will think twice about even bothering with internet phone service from a company such as Skype or Vonage.

What if anything can be done about this other than have telecommunications consumers spend many, many hours on the phone just to get someone at the home office to change a few settings in their customer database entry that will painlessly give them the services that they actually want?"

Flying Cars Just Around The Corner?

Submitted by

MCTFB

on Thursday February 01 2007, @02:46PM

MCTFB writes "According to Fox News, an Israeli company may have a marketable flying car in production as soon as 2010. Though the price tag for this vehicle is a bit pricey (1.5 million to 6 million USD depending on size), it is not too far-fetched for this kind of vehicle to literally become the new Porsche for high-flying executives."

Did Humans Get Their Big Brains From Neanderthals?

Submitted by

MCTFB

on Wednesday November 08 2006, @02:34PM

MCTFB writes "According to CNN, human beings may have acquired a gene for developing bigger brains from neanderthal man.

Apparently, 70% of the world's population has a variant of a gene regulating brain size, with the variant of this gene being most common in people of European descent (where Neanderthal man lived alongside ancient humans), and least common in people of African descent (where Neanderthal man was non-existent). While modern day eugenicists might all too eagerly read into these findings to draw their own politically biased conclusions, people such as myself, who happen to be of northern European ancestry, may find it fascinating that somewhere in our lineage ancient humans and neanderthals decided to make love and not war on the ancient plains of Eurasia."

Does College Make Americans Civically Stupider?

Submitted by MCTFB on Thursday September 28 2006, @09:56PM

MCTFB writes "According to Pete Dupont of OpinionJournal.com, he claims that at many of the elite colleges in the United States, the knowledge of freshman in American history actually decreases by the time they are a senior.

Now there is plenty of discussion going around about keeping America competitive with the rest of the world in math and science, but should improving American competiveness in math and science be at the expense of other subjects such as history and english? Is it more important for the average citizen to know the Pythagorean theorem than for a nation's citizenry to be able to communicate effectively in its official language of government? Is it more important for the average American citizen to know whether or not Pluto should be classified as a planet, than for them to know their national history and the principles America was founded upon?

As a software engineer involved in science and technology in a day to day basis, I certainly value the achievements of science and technology in making America a great place to live, but it sometimes scares me when politicians make a big deal about math and science competitiveness, yet seem to act like it is OK for the mass majority of Americans to be insanely ignorant about the history of their own country, let alone be able to find their own state on a map of America.

Interestingly enough, I was watching a series on the History channel a few weeks ago about "The Revolution" in the United States, and it saddened me in reminding myself quite clearly how the many strategic mistakes the British made against the Patriots in fighting an insurgency are eerily similiar to those mistakes made in the war in Iraq. Perhaps if more Americans knew more about their own history, American politicians would not be so eager to keep repeating the past mistakes made by America and America's formidable enemies when our government chooses to go to war in other places around the world."