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Comment What really scares me... (Score 1) 438

Is the possibility that scientists will discover a genetic link to this brain disorder.

It scares me because:

1). It would be another way for juries to deny justice be cause "that poor person can't help the way (s)he was born."

2). It may mean the serious beginnings of research into removal of that gene in people which

3). may mean the disappearance of unique forms of intellect/creativity that might actually benefit from the person's brain not being wired just like everyone else's.
Medicine

Psychopaths Have Brain Structure Abnormality 438

mmmscience writes "A group of scientists has identified a structure in the brain of psychopaths that is abnormal when compared with controls. The change is found in the uncinate fasciculus, a bridge of white matter that connects the amygdala (emotion/aggression brain region) and the orbitofrontal cortex (decision making region). Interestingly, the greater the abnormality in the region, the more severe the levels of sociopathy in a subject. The results were published as 'Altered connections on the road to psychopathy' in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. A researcher on the team suggests the finding could have considerable implications in the world of criminal justice, where such scans could one day be presented as evidence in a trial." The study's results have not yet been replicated by other researchers.
Microsoft

Microsoft Acknowledges Linux Threat To Windows 348

angry tapir sends along coverage from Good Gear Guide of a recent Microsoft !0-K SEC filing: "Microsoft for the first time has named Linux distributors Red Hat and Canonical as competitors to its Windows client business in its annual filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The move is an acknowledgment of the first viable competition from Linux to Microsoft's Windows client business, due mainly to the use of Linux on netbooks, which are rising in prominence as alternatives to full-sized notebooks. ... 'Client faces strong competition from well-established companies with differing approaches to the PC market,' Microsoft said in the filing. 'Competing commercial software products, including variants of Unix, are supplied by competitors such as Apple, Canonical, and Red Hat.'"
Privacy

Can We Abandon Confidentiality For Google Apps? 480

An anonymous reader writes "I provide IT services for medium-sized medical and law practices. Lately I have been getting a lot of feedback from doctors and lawyers who use gmail at home and believe that they can run a significant portion of their practice IT on Google Apps. From a support standpoint, I'd be happy to chuck mail/calendar service management into the bin and let them run with gmail, but for these businesses, there is significant legal liability associated with the confidentiality of their communications and records (e.g., HIPAA). For those with high-profile celebrity clients, simply telling them 'Google employees can read your stuff' will usually end the conversation right there. But for smaller practices, I often get a lot of push-back in the form of 'What's wrong with trusting Google?' and 'Google's not interested in our email/calendar.' Weighing what they see as a tiny legal risk against the promise of Free IT Stuff(TM) becomes increasingly lopsided given the clear functionality / usability / ubiquity that they experience when using Google at home. So my question to the Slashdot community is: Are they right? Is it time for me to remove the Tin Foil Hat on the subject of confidentiality and stop resisting the juggernaut that is Google? If not, what is the best way to clarify the confidentiality issues for these clients?"
Medicine

Submission + - Psychopaths have brain structure abnormality (examiner.com) 4

mmmscience writes: http://www.examiner.com/x-1242-Science-News-Examiner~y2009m8d4-Psychopaths-have-brain-structure-abnormality A group of scientists have identified a structure in the brain of psychopaths that is abnormal when compared to controls. The change is found in the uncinate fasciculus, a bridge of white matter that connects the amygdale (emotion/aggression brain region) and the orbitofrontal cortex (decision making region). Interestingly, the greater the abnormality in the region, the more severe the levels of sociopathy in a subject. A researcher on the team suggests the finding could have considerable implications in the world of criminal justice, where such scans could presumably be presented as evidence in a trial.

Comment Intelligence vs. Intellect vs. Instinct... (Score 1) 234

Interestingly, survival in the most successful living organisms is attributed to neither intellect nor intelligence, but rather instinct.

...Intellect being the possession of lots of knowledge and intelligence being the proper or creative application of said knowledge.

Perhaps what this researcher should have said was "We as students of AI focus on intelligence, but this is only really an afterthought to developing an autonomous being the way we understand them. We should really be studying instinct."

Comment What's needed are the 3 laws... (Score 1) 652

...Of Robotics:
  1. 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  2. 2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  3. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Comment Re:Or how about... (Score 1) 171

Any web technology needs to be used as efficiently as possible to solve the needs of the visitors.

"Simple, efficient web design" does not necessarily mean web design devoid of Javascript libraries or rich graphics and media. Even Faster Websites is written with the intent to help developers with those sites that benefit from large Javascript libraries, large amounts of images, etc.

I offer this page as an example of a large Javascript library enhancing the performance of a site: http://insigniaproducts.com/products/televisions/NS-P501Q-10A.html

I worked on the team that developed this site.

All the data contained in the tabs on this page is loaded immediately on the page, and JS hides all but the essential information. It's a win for accessibility, because all of the information is visible when JS is disabled. It's also a win for server performance, as there are no additional HTTP requests needed.
Handhelds

Submission + - How Apple's App Review Is Sabotaging The iPhone (infoworld.com)

snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Peter Wayner provides an inside look at the frustration iPhone developers face from Apple when attempting to distribute their apps through the iPhone App Store. Determined to simply dump an HTML version of his book into UIWebView and offer two versions through the App Store, Wayner endures four months of inexplicable silences, mixed messages, and almost whimsical rejections from Apple — the kind of frustration and uncertainty Wayner believes is fast transforming Apple's regulated marketplace into a hotbed of bottom-feeding mediocrity. 'Developers are afraid to risk serious development time on the platform as long as anonymous gatekeepers are able to delay projects by weeks and months with some seemingly random flick of a finger,' Wayner writes of his experience. 'It's one thing to delay a homebrew project like mine, but it's another thing to shut down a team of developers burning real cash. Apple should be worried when real programmers shrug off the rejections by saying, "It's just a hobby."'"

Comment It was reported... (Score 1) 3

That the EOC (Easily Offended Cow-olition) was "aghast at this obscenely intrusive human imitation" of their "sacred sexual practices."

Also, it was reported that there was heard wailing, and gnashing of cud. Also, flailing udders.

And seriously, have you ever seen udders flailing?

Didn't think so. You don't wanna, either.

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