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Submission + - HIV Tracking Technology Could Pinpoint Who's Infecting Who (vice.com)

Daniel_Stuckey writes: No man is an island, but evolutionarily, each person functions like one for the HIV virus. That's according to Thomas Leitner, a researcher working on a project aimed at creating technology for tracking HIV through a population. The technology, which is being studied at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, may allow people to identify who infected them with the virus, a development that could have major implications in criminal proceedings. “If you’re familiar with Darwin’s finches, you have a population of birds on one island and they keep moving and evolving as they spread to other islands so that each population is a little different,” Leitner said. “With HIV, it’s the same. Every person infected with HIV has a slightly different form the the virus. It’s the ultimate chameleon because it evolves this way.”

Submission + - Can Even Apple Make a Watch Insanely Smart?

theodp writes: Throwing some cold water on the buzz surrounding the Galaxy Gear Smartwatch launch, The New Yorker's Matt Buchanan questions how smart a watch can really be. Calling offerings like the Galaxy Gear useful but not the stuff of dreams and revolutions, Buchanan writes, 'So there remains a strange undercurrent of hope that somebody-Apple-will figure out, soon, some grander vision for wearable technology, transforming it from something that people have vaguely imagined into something people intensely desire. It did it for smartphones, once, and again, for tablets. The question that Apple has been charged with, since nobody has definitively answered it yet, is whether the lack of an invention that truly carries us beyond the last five hundred years of wrist-mounted technology is the result of a failure of imagination or simply a fact of nature-that a watch will always just be a watch, no matter how smart it might think it is.' So, will you be an early adopter and drink Samsung's or Sony's smartwatch Kool-Aid, wait to see what Apple comes up with, or hold out for a Windows Forearm Pad 8?

Comment Re:Sacking... (Score 4, Insightful) 151

If you have different political views you could undermine the government / elected officials through what you pick up behind closed doors and then expose.

You can't possibly expect a civil servants political views to always align with those of the government unless you assume they change them every time a different political party comes into power. Would you overturn the civil service every time an election is held?
And unless you civil service is composed entirely of apolitical workers, you can't expect them all to be 'neutral' outside of the office.

Comment Re:Security and Market Dominance by Obscurity (Score 2) 118

Contrast that with the products of Microsoft, Oracle

Apples to apples, I don't believe either of those companies provide an 'Express' version of the ERP software (Oracle/JDE/PeopleSoft/Dynamics AX/NAV). As an independent, it's always been frustrating to try to evaluate new releases from those vendors.

Comment Re:Two sides to a coin (Score 4, Informative) 279

He committed no violence. And as a veteran, I'm sure he had a belly full of violence in his life and is more than likely sick of it. I'm inclined to believe that a veteran - especially one that has saw combat - would be much less inclined towards violence than the general population.

Statistics disagree

While overall the armed forces are less likely than civilians to offend, they are three times more likely to be convicted of violent offences; 20% of younger males (under 30) have been convicted of violence compared with 6.7% of civilians. Those who served in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan were 53% more likely to offend violently than those not on the frontline. Those with multiple experiences of combat had a 70%-80% greater risk of being convicted for acts of violence.

That doesn't mean that I agree with 'profiling' veterans, just that your assumption may be off.

Comment Re:not a fan (Score 4, Interesting) 514

You may want to listen to the content of that 'endless discussion' sometime. There's very few significant topics that weren't addressed somewhere in the Star Trek franchise. And it had a somewhat novel way of addressing them - often from the point of view on non-humans. Sure, that had been done before - but not on that scale.

Very few entertainment franchises, and certainly none as successful as Star Trek, have addressed the breadth of topics that it has.

Comment Re:not a fan (Score 5, Insightful) 514

Can you tell me what's wrong with pretty colors and snappy writing?

Because it's Star Trek, and we expect some depth. The franchise that provided thought provoking (though occasionally asinine) entertainment. That's the core of the franchise, not snappy-but-shallow dialogue and big action. The only thing retained are the characters, or at least a one-dimensional simulation of them.

Change the characters and the name and it's a fine popcorn movie.

Comment Re:I'd be excited about this movie, except... (Score 1) 470

The analogy, therefore, is not between OSC and a bartender who hangs dehumanizing flags in his bar, but between OSC and a bartender who treats gay patrons as decently as straight patrons, but went to Liberty University and gives money to Focus on the Family.

*Of course, I do not mean to imply that the moral and ethical question is one of popularity. Only to indicate that OSC's views are not so far outside the the mainstream as to merit the kind of abusive comparisons to fringe groups as have been made here. OSC wants to keep the status quo on marriage. The KKK wants to lynch homosexuals. There is a difference.

OSC isn't simply opposed to SSM.... he believes they are 'abnormal', belong in prison, prone to paraphilia and a product of rape and incest. In several jurisdictions it's considered hate speech - though I don't subscribe to the idea of criminalizing speech. And your comparison was entirely fair - the KKK doesn't actually publicly endorse lynching homosexuals any longer but do state that it should be a crime. Just like OSC.

His opposition to SSM is irrelevant. I don't give a hoot if he's for or against it, to be honest. That's a difference of opinion. I do care, however, if he denigrates a segment of the population based on how or with whom they choose to pair up. And I state my objection with my wallet.

Comment Re:I'd be excited about this movie, except... (Score 1) 470

The analogy, therefore, is not between OSC and a bartender who hangs dehumanizing flags in his bar, but between OSC and a bartender who treats gay patrons as decently as straight patrons, but went to Liberty University and gives money to Focus on the Family.

I believe you're splitting hairs. Both the bartender and the artist are using forums which leverage their respective professions and positions (the bar and the blog) to garner an audience. The bartender may attend to the homosexual in a polite and appropriate manner, but he's still engaging in what, in a few jurisdictions, would be labelled hate speech. And my comparison is not at all off the mark with OSC as he has stated that homosexuals are a product of rape and incest, are prone to paraphilia, belong in prison and are abnormal. There's actually quite a bit more but I'll only reiterate what's only been said here since I'd rather not expend further energy echoing his thoughts.

Suffice to say, this isn't simply a matter of OSC wanting to keep the status quo on marriage. In fact, for many (myself included) his opposition to SSM is irrelevant - it's the denigration of a specific group for how and with whom they choose to pair off. I'd suggest if you think that's the sole reason OSC has people riled up you may want to do a little more research.

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