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Comment Re:Evolution.. (Score 1) 588

Truth. Fact is, humans need to be proficient at a lot of things in order to live properly. A few autist people is great, because they have a hyper-focus that is useful in certain situations, but even they require others in order to function on a day-to-day basis. It is extremely inefficient and very evolutionarily undesirable. Autists are unable to handle situations outside of their specialization. That's unsustainable for a large number of people. "Specialization is for insects." -Heinlein

Comment Re:seriously (Score 1) 655

What value is gained for reading a book, watching a movie, listening to music or mounting a pretty painting on the wall? It's all entertainment. If he enjoyed doing it, that's all the gain *he* needs. Entertainment is an end unto itself. Fun and beauty ARE utility.

i'd rather do the other things i listed above than play WoW, but in the end, it's all fun and games.

When you do those others, you are culturing yourself and learning about the world and other people. All of those things (I would argue that this is a lot less true of movies than the others, though all the film majors out there would disagree) are highly educational and help you better yourself as a person. This is not true of video games, ESPECIALLY MMO time sinks. Saying playing WoW is comparable to reading is sad and says a lot about our society.

How Bezos Messed With Texas 87

theodp writes "The WSJ has the behind-the-spaceport story on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Texas land grab for his Blue Origin space tourism venture. Bezos deputized an attorney (who once handled Amazon SEC filings) to make ranchers offers they couldn't refuse (and can't talk about), acquiring property through corporate entities with monikers including 'James Cook L.P.,' 'Jolliet Holdings,' 'Coronado Ventures,' and 'Cabot Enterprises' — all named for famous explorers and all using the same address, c/o [Star Trek-monikered] Zefram LLC. BTW, FAA temporary flight restrictions are in effect for Blue Origin until Monday ('DUE TO ROCKET LAUNCH ACTIVITY'). Let's hope it's more successful than Blue Origin's maiden flight."

Microsoft Interested In More Linux Deals 256

eldavojohn writes "Microsoft has announced that it would be open to more deals similar to the one it just made with Novell. 'We will love to put that kind of agreement in place with anyone who distributes Linux software, Red Hat, whoever else,' Steve Ballmer told India's Economic Times. Considering the recent reactions to the Microsoft Novell deal, it would be interesting to see who else takes them up on the offer. Novell is due to receive USD $348 million in up-front payments. Will Red Hat cash out on this offer if it feels the impending pressure from Oracle's Linux? Will non-profit Linux distributions attempt to make deals with Microsoft?"

Yahoo's Time Capsule Project 167

eldavojohn writes, "Yahoo is compiling a time capsule (Flash required). This massive project, which accepts donations from anyone, is no ordinary time capsule, though. This time capsule will be digitized and beamed into space from the ancient pyramid of Teotihuacan in Mexico. From the article: 'Starting on Tuesday, enthusiasts from around the world will have a chance to submit text, images, video and sounds that reflect human nature to be included in the message.' I highly doubt this 'time capsule' will reach anyone, but it is a neat idea. After browsing through some of the pictures posted, I would hope extraterrestrial life would be more hesitant to exterminate us — if not for anything else than curiosity. We constantly strive to have our legacy live on in the galaxy." Yahoo worked with Internet artist Jonathan Harris on this project.

Will Vista Overload the DNS? 221

Jamie Northern writes, "Thanks to new directory software, Windows Vista could put a greater load on Internet DNS servers. But experts disagree over whether we're headed for a prime-time traffic jam or an insignificant slowdown. Paul Mockapetris,inventor of DNS, believes Vista's introduction will cause a surge in DNS traffic because the operating system supports two versions of the Internet Protocol (IPv4 and IPv6). David Ulevitch, chief executive at OpenDNS, a provider of free DNS services, said Vista's use of IPv6 will not disrupt the Internet at large. 'DNS can be improved, but predicting its collapse is just spreading FUD.'"

Sun Cancels UltraSPARC IIIi+ 97

Doctor Memory writes "El Reg is reporting that Sun has finally come clean and admitted that they have killed the UltraSPARC IIIi+ chip. According to John Fowler, Sun's server chief, 'We canceled it last fiscal year to focus on the ramp (up) of UltraSPARC IV+, Niagara and Niagara 2.' Sun has had great success with its new Niagara line, and with it's line of AMD-based systems."

Microsoft Admonished by U.S. District Court Judge 178

An anonymous reader writes "The Seattle Times reports that the judge in the z4 'product activation' patent infringement case has increased the jury's original $115 million verdict against Microsoft by $25 million. Both Microsoft and Autodesk (another defendant) were admonished by the judge for misconduct. The judge wrote 'The Court concludes that Defendants attempted to bury the relevant 107 exhibits ... in a massive pile of decoys' and called one failure to disclose evidence 'an intentional attempt by Defendants to mislead z4 and this Court.'"

Ever-Happy Mouse Sheds Light on Depression 452

An anonymous reader writes "Scientists have bred a strain of mouse that's permanently cheerful, in hopes of better understanding and treating depression in people. By breeding mice lacking the TREK-1 gene, which is involved in serotonin transmission, researchers were able create a depression-resistant strain. They say it's the first time depression has been eliminated through genetic alteration of an organism."

Microsoft License Goes to OSI But Not From Redmond 142

An anonymous reader writes "eWeek is reporting that a Microsoft Shared Source license, the Microsoft Community License, was submitted to the Open Source Initiative for official approval, but it wasn't Microsoft who submitted it. The license it appears was submitted by John Cowan, who is a programmer and blogger and who also volunteers for the Chester County InterLink, a non-profit founded in 1993 by former OSI president Eric Raymond and Jordan Seidel. Needless to say, the OSI contacted Microsoft to see if it should evaluate the license anyway, and was told to drop it."

Mozilla Developers Invited to Redmond 294

savio13 writes "Sam Ramji, Microsoft's director of its Open Source Software Lab has invited 4 Mozilla developers to spend 4 days with Microsoft's Vista Readiness ISV team. The invite can be found on mozilla.dev.planning and was posted on Saturday (Aug. 19). Schroepfer replied by indicating that Microsoft and the Moz guys are already in contact via email and will follow up on the offer there. This is interesting because Sam posted the offer in a public forum (and indicated that he'd sent a PM, but was posting in case they had an @microsoft.com email filter). Sam also made a point of stating that the Vista ISV Readiness offer is typically only for commercial ISVs."

Windows Vista and the Future of Hardware 300

NSIM writes to mention an article on ExtremeTech looking at the impact that Windows Vista will have on the future of computer hardware. In addition to obvious elements like CPUs, GPUs, and display interfaces, the article also touches on things like DRM (which Vista heavily supports) and audio formats. From the article: "Currently, only a few shipping products actually support the crypto-ROM needed to ensure compliance with Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, and CableCard. It's looking like next-generation cards will all implement the needed firmware. Continued... The impact on future displays is a bit more subtle, but we're starting to see the impact already. Widescreen displays offering very high resolutions, such as the Dell 2407WFP are starting to become more affordable. But a 1920x1200 resolution often creates legibility problems for some users resulting from the tiny size of the default Windows font."

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