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Facebook Leads To Increase In STDs in Britain 270

Posted by samzenpus from the friends-and-really-good-friends dept.
ectotherm writes "According to Professor Peter Kelly, a director of Public Health in Great Britain: 'There has been a four-fold increase in the number of syphilis cases detected, with more young women being affected.' Why the increase? People meeting up for casual sex through Facebook. According to the article, 'Social networking sites are making it easier for people to meet up for casual sex. There is a rise in syphilis because people are having more sexual partners than 20 years ago and often do not use condoms.'"
Education

Study Finds That Video Games Hinder Learning In Young Boys 278

Posted by Soulskill from the fun-activities-distract-from-studies,-film-at-11 dept.
dcollins writes "Researchers at Denison University in Ohio have shown that giving PlayStations to young boys leads to slower progress in reading and writing skills. Quoting: 'The study is the first controlled trial to look at the effects of playing video games on learning in young boys. That is to say, the findings aren't based on survey data of kids' game habits, but instead on a specific group of children that were randomly assigned to receive a PlayStation or not ... Those with PlayStations also spent less time engaged in educational activities after school and showed less advancement in their reading and writing skills over time than the control group, according to tests taken by the kids. While the game-system owners didn't show significant behavioral problems, their teachers did report delays in learning academic skills, including writing and spelling.'"

Comment Re:No mention of HTML5? (Score 1) 628

by RecessionCone (#31499204) Attached to: XML Co-Founder Joins Google, Blasts iPhone
Sorry, I should have been more clear in my post. I don't understand why Bray didn't discuss HTML5 when criticizing Apple for its walled-garden app store & control over apps on the iPhone, since web apps completely circumvent all the restrictions that Bray ranted on and on about. When he does bring up HTML5, it's only to acknowledge that he doesn't know much about it, and he never manages to connect the dots.

From the article: "The big thing about the Web isn’t the technology, it’s that it’s the first-ever platform without a vendor" . Somehow he misses that the Web is a big platform on the iPhone, and then goes on to whine about native applications not being as open and free as the web! It's like he totally missed the point of his own tirade: if you don't like vendor controlled platforms, use the Web, it's the first-ever platform without a vendor!

For someone who supposedly thinks deep thoughts about these subjects, he's frighteningly short-sighted.

Comment No mention of HTML5? (Score 2, Interesting) 628

by RecessionCone (#31491404) Attached to: XML Co-Founder Joins Google, Blasts iPhone
It's funny - Google is the biggest proponent of using the web to deploy applications of any company that I'm aware of. And Apple doesn't manage, censor, or exert a scintilla of control over web applications. In fact, they support them by ensuring the iPhone remains one of the best deployment targets for HTML applications, keeping their browser up-to-date. Accordingly, I would expect Tim Bray to hold the opinion that developing native apps is a relic of the 20th century, destined to die out soon from natural selection, and persuade people to write web apps rather than rant about Apple's outdated and relictual "walled-garden" app store.

I think Tim Bray's rant on the iPhone is rather ill-considered & rather short-sighted.

Comment Power factor? (Score 2, Insightful) 400

by RecessionCone (#30280070) Attached to: Lifecycle Energy Costs of LED, CFL Bulbs Calculated
I wonder if this analysis took into account CFL's poor power factor. Cheap CFLs usually have a power factor of around 0.5, which causes substantial electrical losses compared to Incandescent bulbs, which are purely resistive (and therefore have a power factor of 1.0). LEDs, on the other hand, have a pretty good power factor. http://www.theengineer.co.uk/opinion/led-is-the-answer/299821.article
Power

Harnessing Slow Water Currents For Renewable Energy 113

Posted by Soulskill from the hydroelectric-for-those-who-won't-give-a-dam dept.
Julie188 writes "Slow-moving ocean and river currents could be a new, reliable and affordable alternative energy source. A University of Michigan engineer, Michael Bernitsas, has made a machine that works like a fish to turn potentially destructive vibrations in fluid flows into clean, renewable power. This is is the first known device that could harness energy from most of the water currents around the globe because it works in flows moving slower than 2 knots (about 2.3 miles per hour). Most of the Earth's currents are slower than 3 knots. Turbines and water mills need an average of 5 or 6 knots to operate efficiently. Further details and a few brief movies of the technology are available, as well as a video explanation by Professor Bernitsas himself."

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