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Biotech

Scientists Create Bacteria With Expanded DNA Code 85

Posted by samzenpus from the what-could-go-wrong? dept.
perryizgr8 (1370173) writes "Biologists have managed to create a bacteria with DNA made of the usual A-T, C-G plus an artificial third base pair, thus encoding more data in DNA. From the article: 'The scientists behind the work at the Scripps Research Institute have already formed a company to try to use the technique to develop new antibiotics, vaccines and other products, though a lot more work needs to be done before this is practical. The work also gives some support to the concept that life can exist elsewhere in the universe using genetics different from those on Earth. “This is the first time that you have had a living cell manage an alien genetic alphabet,” said Steven A. Benner, a researcher in the field at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Fla., who was not involved in the new work.'"
Businesses

USPTO Approves Amazon Patent For Taking Pictures 152

Posted by timothy from the not-even-on-the-internet-will-save-you dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The U.S. Patent Office granted Amazon a patent in March that basically describes taking a picture with a white background. Amazon claims that their method is unique to current photography methods because they can achieve the effect of a true white background without retouching the photo or using any sort of post-processing technique. Some professional photographers disagree, claiming that plenty of prior art exists embodying Amazon's described method and furthermore that this pre-existing method is what the photography industry calls 'shooting against a seamless white backdrop.'"

Comment Re:Perfect Solution Fallacy (Score 1) 107

by EmagGeek (#46949055) Attached to: ACLU and EFF Endorse Weaker USA Freedom Act Passed By Committee

Indeed, nothing any terrorist could do could cause the United States to cease to exist. Mr. Trollheim here is only correct about that point, but is overblowing the threat by several orders of magnitude.

In the face of an existential threat to the United States, her citizens have a proven track record of rising to the cause (WW1, WW2). Of course, there has been no existential threat to the United States since World War 2, except for maybe the Cold War, but that was an existential threat to all of humanity. So, who knows what Americans would do today? If what I see on TV is any indicator how what Americans think about America, it would not surprise me if American Citizens just laid down and allowed an oppressive regime to march right in and take over, for free stuff..

Comment Perfect Solution Fallacy (Score 2) 107

by EmagGeek (#46948341) Attached to: ACLU and EFF Endorse Weaker USA Freedom Act Passed By Committee

The perfect solution fallacy is an informal fallacy that occurs when an argument assumes that a perfect solution exists and/or that a solution should be rejected because some part of the problem would still exist after it were implemented. This is an example of black and white thinking, in which a person fails to see the complex interplay between multiple component elements of a situation or problem, and as a result, reduces complex problems to a pair of binary extremes.

It is common for arguments which commit this fallacy to omit any specifics about exactly how, or how badly, a proposed solution is claimed to fall short of acceptability, expressing the rejection in vague terms only. Alternatively, it may be combined with the fallacy of misleading vividness, when a specific example of a solution's failure is described in emotionally powerful detail but base rates are ignored (see availability heuristic).

The fallacy is a type of false dilemma.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N...

Comment Empire? BLASPHEMY! (Score 1) 457

by EmagGeek (#46943847) Attached to: Favorite Star Wars Movie?

RANDAL
                Which did you like better: Jedi or
                The Empire Strikes Back.

                                DANTE
                        (exasperated)
                Empire.

                                RANDAL
                Blasphemy.

                                DANTE
                Empire had the better ending: Luke
                gets his hand cut off, and finds
                out Vader's his father; Han gets
                frozen and taken away by Boba Fett.
                It ends on such a down note. And
                that's life-a series of down
                endings. All Jedi had was a bunch
                of Muppets.

                                RANDAL
                There was something else going on
                in Jedi. I never noticed it until
                today.

        RANDAL follows DANTE as he cleans up around the store.

                                DANTE
                What's that?

                                RANDAL
                All right, Vader's boss...

                                DANTE
                The Emperor.

                                RANDAL
                Right, the Emperor. Now the Emperor
                is kind of a spiritual figure, yes?

                                DANTE
                How do you mean?

                                RANDAL
                Well, he's like the pope for the
                dark side of the Force. He's a holy
                man; a shaman, kind of, albeit an
                evil one.

                                                                        47.

                                DANTE
                I guess.

                                RANDAL
                Now, he's in charge of the Empire.
                The Imperial government is under
                his control. And the entire galaxy
                is under Imperial rule.

                                DANTE
                Yeah.

                                RANDAL
                Then wouldn't that logically mean
                that it's a theocracy? If the head
                of the Empire is a priest of some
                sort, then it stands to reason that
                the government is therefore one
                based on religion.

                                DANTE
                It would stand to reason, yes.

                                RANDAL
                Hence, the Empire was a fascist
                theocracy, and the rebel forces
                were therefore battling religious
                persecution.

                                DANTE
                More or less.

                                RANDAL
                The only problem is that at no
                point in the series did I ever hear
                Leia or any of the rebels declare a
                particular religious belief.

                                DANTE
                I think they were Catholics.

        A BLUE-COLLAR MAN half enters the door.

                                BLUE-COLLAR MAN
                Are you open?

                                DANTE
                Yeah. Come in.

        He goes to the coffee machine and makes a cup of joe.

                                RANDAL
                You know what else I noticed in Jedi?

                                                                        48.

                                DANTE
                There's more?

                                RANDAL
                So they build another Death Star,
                right?

                                DANTE
                Yeah.

                                RANDAL
                Now the first one they built was
                completed and fully operational
                before the Rebels destroyed it.

                                DANTE
                Luke blew it up. Give credit where
                it's due.

                                RANDAL
                And the second one was still being
                built when they blew it up.

                                DANTE
                Compliments of Lando Calrissian.

                                RANDAL
                Something just never sat right with
                me the second time they destroyed
                it. I could never put my finger on
                it-something just wasn't right.

                                DANTE
                And you figured it out?

                                RANDAL
                Well, the thing is, the first Death
                Star was manned by the Imperial
                army-storm troopers, dignitaries-
                the only people onboard were
                Imperials.

                                DANTE
                Basically.

                                RANDAL
                So when they blew it up, no prob.
                Evil is punished.

                                DANTE
                And the second time around...?

                                                                        49.

                                RANDAL
                The second time around, it wasn't
                even finished yet. They were still
                under construction.

                                DANTE
                So?

                                RANDAL
                A construction job of that magnitude
                would require a helluva lot more
                manpower than the Imperial army had
                to offer. I'll bet there were
                independent contractors working on
                that thing: plumbers, aluminum
                siders, roofers.

                                DANTE
                Not just Imperials, is what you're
                getting at.

                                RANDAL
                Exactly. In order to get it built
                quickly and quietly they'd hire
                anybody who could do the job. Do
                you think the average storm trooper
                knows how to install a toilet main?
                All they know is killing and white
                uniforms.

                                DANTE
                All right, so even if independent
                contractors are working on the
                Death Star, why are you uneasy with
                its destruction?

                                RANDAL
                All those innocent contractors
                hired to do a job were killed-
                casualties of a war they had
                nothing to do with.
                        (notices Dante's confusion)
                All right, look-you're a roofer,
                and some juicy government contract
                comes your way; you got the wife
                and kids and the two-story in
                suburbia-this is a government
                contract, which means all sorts of
                benefits. All of a sudden these
                left-wing militants blast you with
                lasers and wipe out everyone within
                a three-mile radius.
                                (MORE)

                                                                        50.

                                RANDAL (CONT'D)
                You didn't ask for that. You have
                no personal politics. You're just
                trying to scrape out a living.

        The BLUE-COLLAR MAN joins them.

                                BLUE-COLLAR MAN
                Excuse me. I don't mean to
                interrupt, but what were you
                talking about?

                                RANDAL
                The ending of Return of the Jedi.

                                DANTE
                My friend is trying to convince me
                that any contractors working on the
                uncompleted Death Star were innocent
                victims when the space station was
                destroyed by the rebels.

                                BLUE-COLLAR MAN
                Well, I'm a contractor myself. I'm
                a roofer...
                        (digs into pocket and
                        produces business card)
                Dunn and Reddy Home Improvements.
                And speaking as a roofer, I can say
                that a roofer's personal politics
                come heavily into play when choosing
                jobs.

                                RANDAL
                Like when?

                                BLUE-COLLAR MAN
                Three months ago I was offered a
                job up in the hills. A beautiful
                house with tons of property. It was
                a simple reshingling job, but I was
                told that if it was finished within
                a day, my price would be doubled.
                Then I realized whose house it was.

                                DANTE
                Whose house was it?

                                BLUE-COLLAR MAN
                Dominick Bambino's.

                                RANDAL
                "Babyface" Bambino? The gangster?

                                                                        51.

                                BLUE-COLLAR MAN
                The same. The money was right, but
                the risk was too big. I knew who he
                was, and based on that, I passed
                the job on to a friend of mine.

                                DANTE
                Based on personal politics.

                                BLUE-COLLAR MAN
                Right. And that week, the Foresci
                family put a hit on Babyface's
                house. My friend was shot and
                killed. He wasn't even finished
                shingling.

                                RANDAL
                No way!

                                BLUE-COLLAR MAN
                        (paying for coffee)
                I'm alive because I knew there were
                risks involved taking on that
                particular client. My friend wasn't
                so lucky.
                        (pauses to reflect)
                You know, any contractor willing to
                work on that Death Star knew the
                risks. If they were killed, it was
                their own fault. A roofer listens
                to this...
                        (taps his heart)
                not his wallet.
Education

Stanford Getting Rid of $18 Billion Endowment of Coal Stock 208

Posted by Soulskill from the unconflicting-itself-of-interests dept.
mdsolar sends this report from the NY Times: "Stanford University announced Tuesday that it would divest its $18.7 billion endowment of stock in coal-mining companies, becoming the first major university to lend support to a nationwide campaign to purge endowments and pension funds of fossil fuel investments. The university said it acted in accordance with internal guidelines that allow its trustees to consider whether 'corporate policies or practices create substantial social injury' when choosing investments. Coal's status as a major source of carbon pollution linked to climate change persuaded the trustees to remove companies 'whose principal business is coal' from their investment portfolio, the university said."
Earth

US Climate Report Says Global Warming Impact Already Severe 627

Posted by Soulskill from the but-it-was-cold-yesterday dept.
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: "Darryl Fears reports in the Washington Post on the U.S. government's newest national assessment of climate change. It says Americans are already feeling the effects of global warming. The assessment carves the nation into sections and examines the impacts: More sea-level rise, flooding, storm surge, precipitation and heat waves in the Northeast; frequent water shortages and hurricanes in the Southeast and Caribbean; more drought and wildfires in the Southwest. 'Residents of some coastal cities see their streets flood more regularly during storms and high tides. Inland cities near large rivers also experience more flooding, especially in the Midwest and Northeast. Insurance rates are rising in some vulnerable locations, and insurance is no longer available in others. Hotter and drier weather and earlier snow melt mean that wildfires in the West start earlier in the spring, last later into the fall, and burn more acreage. In Arctic Alaska, the summer sea ice that once protected the coasts has receded, and autumn storms now cause more erosion, threatening many communities with relocation.' The report concludes that over recent decades, climate science has advanced significantly and that increased scrutiny has led to increased certainty that we are now seeing impacts associated with human-induced climate change. 'What is new over the last decade is that we know with increasing certainty that climate change is happening now. While scientists continue to refine projections of the future, observations unequivocally show that climate is changing and that the warming of the past 50 years is primarily due to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases.'"
Programming

Ask Slashdot: Joining a Startup As an Older Programmer? 274

Posted by timothy from the ask-slashtot dept.
First time accepted submitter bdrasin (17319) writes "I've had a series of interviews with a late-term startup (approx. 300 employees) and I think there is a good chance they will make me an offer. The technology is great, my skills and interests are a good fit for the position, I think the company has a promising future, and I like they team. Frankly I'm damn excited about it, more so than for any job in my career. However, I'm worried about what could euphemistically be called 'cultural' issues. I'm a few years over 40, with a wife and kids, and all of the engineers at the company seem to be at least 10 years younger than I am. Being at the company's office gives me a distinct old guy at the club feeling. I don't think the overall number of hours the team works is more than I could handle, but the team does a lot of young-single-guy-at-a-startup group activities (rent-a-limo-and-go-clubbing night, weekends in Tahoe, Burning Man, in-office happy hour) that I wouldn't want or be able to participate in; I need to be home with my family for dinner most nights and weekends and so on. I'm wondering if anyone else has had the experience of working at a startup with, or as, an older programmer, and how it worked out?"

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