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Submission + - Shift Work Dulls Brain Performance

Submitted by davidshenba
davidshenba writes: Scientists warn that working in unusual shifts can prematurely age the brain and dull intellectual ability. Three thousand people in France were given tests of memory, speed of thought and wider cognitive ability. People with more than 10 years of shift work history had the same results as someone six and a half years older. The brain naturally dulls as we age, but the researchers said working antisocial shifts accelerated the process.

Submission + - New Clock May End Time As We Know It (npr.org) 1

Submitted by SonicSpike
SonicSpike writes: At the heart of this new clock is the element strontium. Inside a small chamber, the strontium atoms are suspended in a lattice of crisscrossing laser beams. Researchers then give them a little ping, like ringing a bell. The strontium vibrates at an incredibly fast frequency. It's a natural atomic metronome ticking out teeny, teeny fractions of a second.

This new clock can keep perfect time for 5 billion years.

"It's about the whole, entire age of the earth," says Jun Ye, the scientist here at JILA who built this clock. "Our aim is that we'll have a clock that, during the entire age of the universe, would not have lost a second."

But this new clock has run into a big problem: This thing we call time doesn't tick at the same rate everywhere in the universe. Or even on our planet.

Right now, on the top of Mount Everest, time is passing just a little bit faster than it is in Death Valley. That's because speed at which time passes depends on the strength of gravity. Einstein himself discovered this dependence as part of his theory of relativity, and it is a very real effect.

The relative nature of time isn't just something seen in the extreme. If you take a clock off the floor, and hang it on the wall, Ye says, "the time will speed up by about one part in 1016."

That is a sliver of a second. But this isn't some effect of gravity on the clock's machinery. Time itself is flowing more quickly on the wall than on the floor. These differences didn't really matter until now. But this new clock is so sensitive, little changes in height throw it way off. Lift it just a couple of centimeters, Ye says, "and you will start to see that difference."

This new clock can sense the pace of time speeding up as it moves inch by inch away from the earth's core.

Comment Re: No Faith (Score 1) 160

by Karna99 (#45858253) Attached to: Development To Begin Soon On New <em>Star Control</em> Game
To be honest I am so bitter about the whole Element thing that Stardock could cure cancer, AIDS, and world hunger and I would still not play that game.

It was the whole Gamers’ Bill of Rights hypocrisy that burned me good. Previous to that point, I would buy most of their games and generally be ok with the value of the purchase.

At the time Element was announced, I wanted to support Stardock and paid upfront (pre-order) based on the things Brad Wardell was saying. The Gamers’ Bill of Rights was in stark contrast to where things were going with the industry and I wanted to support a company that would state that.

And I loved MoM, so how bad could they possibly screw it up given that they had that as model to follow.

Pretty much Stardock took a dump on the game and even worse the hypocrisy of the Gamers’ Bill of Rights.

So yeah F-you Brad Wardell.

Comment No Faith (Score 1) 160

by Karna99 (#45857503) Attached to: Development To Begin Soon On New <em>Star Control</em> Game
I wish I could believe Stardock would do it some justice, but likely it will be a colossal cluster F like their attempt to redo Master of Magic as Elemental.

I think I will just go back and play the original. Still amazing what Fred & Paul did given the constrains they had. The music was the best part of SC2.

Comment Desktop wins when it comes to real work... (Score 1) 251

by Karna99 (#40260565) Attached to: Odd Laptop-Tablet Hybrids Show PC Makers' Panic
There is no substitute for a powerful desk top with multiple monitors when real work needs to be done.

Having used hundreds of computers, laptops, tablets, cell phones and all the strange beasts in between, I keep going back to the desktop when I need to actually get some real work done.

For Techno-masturbation each to their own, but I don’t see the desktop going away anytime soon for the real work.

Hell I have gone back to using paper and pencil for most of my design/draft work as I find the interface easy to use. On the second draft I use the desktop tools to finish off what I need.

Frankly dealing with all the touch interfaces, pinching, swiping, licking, whatever is a hindrance to productivity and puts them in the “play” category for the time being.

Comment Jokes Aside...Its pretty good if you own a BB (Score 3) 141

by Karna99 (#38572476) Attached to: RIM's Playbook On Clearance
I bought one with the intention of trying it out and returning it. Its actually pretty good for what I need. Great display, get all my BB functions on it. Ebook and PDF reading is decent. Uses my BB mobile internet access for web browsing. The OS feels solid and polished. The 7" size is perfect, I find at 10" I may as well have a netbook or laptop. The media loves to dog pile on both losers and winner. Don't be an isheep, try it and make your own mind.
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Underwear Invention Protects Privacy At Airport 325

Posted by samzenpus from the protecting-the-goods dept.
Thanks to Jeff Buske you don't have to be embarrassed while going through the full body scanners at the airport. Buske has invented radiation shielding underwear for the shy traveler. From the article: "Jeff Buske says his invention uses a powdered metal that protects people's privacy when undergoing medical or security screenings. Buske of Las Vegas, Nev.-Rocky Flats Gear says the underwear's inserts are thin and conform to the body's contours, making it difficult to hide anything beneath them. The mix of tungsten and other metals do not set off metal detectors."
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Inmates Escape As Guard Plays Plants Vs. Zombies 87

Posted by samzenpus from the prioritizing-priorities dept.
dotarray writes "Everybody knows that there's a certain risk one takes when playing addictive, engrossing games can be trouble when you're meant to be doing something else. The prevalence of awesome games on the iPhone hasn't helped that risk. A Plants Vs. Zombies loving police officer has learned this the hard way after an escape."
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Girl Quits On Dry Erase Board a Hoax 147

Posted by samzenpus from the take-this-job-and-shove-it dept.
suraj.sun writes "It's the same old story: young woman quits, uses dry erase board and series of pictures to let entire office know the boss is a sexist pig, exposes his love of playing FarmVille during work hours." Story seem too good to be true? It probably is, at least according to writer Peter Kafka. Even so, Jay Leno and Good Morning America have already reached out to "Jenny."
First Person Shooters (Games)

Gamer Plays Doom For the First Time 362

Posted by Soulskill from the new-is-relative dept.
sfraggle writes "Kotaku has an interesting review of Doom (the original!) by Stephen Totilo, a gamer and FPS player who, until a few days ago, had gone through the game's 17-year history without playing it. He describes some of his first impressions, the surprises that he encountered, and how the game compares to modern FPSes. Quoting: 'Virtual shotgun armed, I was finally going to play Doom for real. A second later, I understood the allure the video game weapon has had. In Doom the shotgun feels mighty, at least partially I believe because they make first-timers like me wait for it. The creators make us sweat until we have it in hand. But once we have the shotgun, its big shots and its slow, fetishized reload are the floored-accelerator-pedal stuff of macho fantasy. The shotgun is, in all senses, instant puberty, which is to say, delicately, that to obtain it is to have the assumed added potency that a boy believes a man possesses vis a vis a world on which he'd like to have some impact. The shotgun is the punch in the face the once-scrawny boy on the beach gives the bully when he returns a muscled linebacker.'"
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Doctors Seeing a Rise In "Google-itis" 368

Posted by samzenpus from the sounds-like-rickets-to-me dept.
It's one of the fastest-growing health issues that doctors now face: "Google-itis." Everyone from concerned mothers to businessmen on their lunch break are typing in symptoms and coming up with rare diseases or just plain wrong information. Many doctors are bringing computers into examination rooms now so they can search along with patients to alleviate their fears. "I'm not looking for a relationship where the patient accepts my word as the gospel truth," says Dr. James Valek. "I just feel the Internet brings so much misinformation to the (exam) room that we have to fight through all that before we can get to the problem at hand."

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