Comment Re:Not Homeopathic (Score 4, Insightful) 452
This is loophole that needs to be filled. a detailed discussion why is here
Online Vigilantes, Or "Crowdsourced Justice" 339
destinyland writes "The Chinese credit the 'human flesh search engine' for successfully locating 'the kitten killer of Hangzhou' from clues in her online video. But in February, the same force identified a teenage cat-abuser in Oklahoma — within 24 hours of his video's appearance on YouTube. 'Netizens are the new Jack Bauer,' argues one science writer, and with three billion potential detectives, 'attempts to hide will only add thrill to the chase.' But China's vigilantes ultimately turned their attention to China's Internet Propaganda Office, bypassing censorship of a director's personal information using
social networks, including Twitter. The author suggests there's a new principle emerging in the online world: 'The Internet does not forget, does not forgive and cannot be stopped. Ever.'"
Comment Re:Question for the geneticists (Score 1) 126
The number of people that must be sequenced to interpolate data on a disease depends on what the prevalence of that disease is in the population. A disease like xeroderma pigmentosum is quite rare and would require hundreds of thousands of genomes, while something more common like the BRCA1 gene mutation that leads to a susceptibility to some breast cancers would take 10 to 100 times fewer.
In reality however, each individual has unique mutations that may or may not effect their susceptibility to disease or ability to live a long life, and each new genome we sequence adds to our ability to correlate genes to disease. Indeed, individual actions of persons today could have far-reaching consequences for generations of people to come, particularly for their own progeny.
To have coverage so that 50% of criminals could be identified would require two components, a genome database and a relative database that distinguishes individuals related by blood rather than by marriage. The completeness of each database would determine the exact numbers needed. That being said I don't think I would submit my personal genome to the database with the current uncertainty of personal protection and the state of the health care industry.
In reality however, each individual has unique mutations that may or may not effect their susceptibility to disease or ability to live a long life, and each new genome we sequence adds to our ability to correlate genes to disease. Indeed, individual actions of persons today could have far-reaching consequences for generations of people to come, particularly for their own progeny.
To have coverage so that 50% of criminals could be identified would require two components, a genome database and a relative database that distinguishes individuals related by blood rather than by marriage. The completeness of each database would determine the exact numbers needed. That being said I don't think I would submit my personal genome to the database with the current uncertainty of personal protection and the state of the health care industry.
Comment Re:That's "dilithium" (Score 1) 355
actually, plants do contain fat soluble vitamins, particularly leafy green ones, hence the reason vegans don't (all) suffer from theses deficiencies
Coders, Your Days Are Numbered 305
snydeq writes "Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister argues that communication skills, not coding skills, are a developer's greatest asset in a bear economy. 'Too many software development teams are still staffed like secretarial pools. Ideas are generated at the top and then passed downward through general managers, product managers, technical leads, and team leads. Objectives are carved up into deliverables, which are parceled off to coders, often overseas,' McAllister writes. 'The idea that this structure can be sustainable, when the US private sector shed three-quarters of a million jobs in March 2009 alone, is simple foolishness.' Instead, companies should emulate the open source model of development, shifting decision-making power to the few developers with the deepest architectural understanding of, and closest interaction with, the code. And this shift will require managers to look beyond résumés 'choked with acronyms and lists of technologies' to find those who 'can understand, influence, and guide development efforts, rather than simply taking dictation.'" Update: 04/04 19:52 GMT by T : InfoWorld's link to the archived version of the story on open source development no longer works; updated with Google's cached version.
Comment Bad science (Score 1) 684
There are several flaws in the articles reasoning:
1. Retracted papers are retracted for many reasons...a small fraction of which is because the fundamental principal of the paper is wrong. Most often it has to do with smaller things.
2. Prediction is not a zero sum game. Just because someones theory about the risk is incorrect does not mean the worst case scenario will happen.
3. The risk assessment of the LHC is not based on one persons theory, but a collection of scientists theories. As with most scientists, they disagree on a multitude of minor points and some major ones. Despite this the consensus from the vast majority of physicists is that there is little or no danger in smashing particles at the energys used in the LHC. For this to be incorrect the hypotheses of not one but all of the scientists would have to be in error, bringing us back to a very small probability of death by black hole.
1. Retracted papers are retracted for many reasons...a small fraction of which is because the fundamental principal of the paper is wrong. Most often it has to do with smaller things.
2. Prediction is not a zero sum game. Just because someones theory about the risk is incorrect does not mean the worst case scenario will happen.
3. The risk assessment of the LHC is not based on one persons theory, but a collection of scientists theories. As with most scientists, they disagree on a multitude of minor points and some major ones. Despite this the consensus from the vast majority of physicists is that there is little or no danger in smashing particles at the energys used in the LHC. For this to be incorrect the hypotheses of not one but all of the scientists would have to be in error, bringing us back to a very small probability of death by black hole.
Comment Just Type.... (Score 1) 180
It seems like the Norberg's comments fall in a rather blurry area between libel and opinion. Rather than taking this to court, generating more bad publicity and awarding only the lawyers, why does the chiropractor simply publish a rebuttal to the review, explaining his side of the story?
Yes, I know, one bad review is worth ten good ones etc. etc., but I personally prefer to make a decision based on reading many points of view. Just like you and the other slashdotters that have made it this far down the forum.
