Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
The Almighty Buck

Committee Lowers Nobel Prize Award 178

Posted by samzenpus from the economics-of-the-prize dept.
Snirt writes "The Nobel Committee has chosen to lower this year's Nobel prize winnings by two million kronor ($283,030) due to turbulence in the current economic climate. The prize now stands at 8 million kronor, down from the 10 million of 2011. 'The reason behind this decision is that the financial markets are really unstable and there are reasons to suspect that this turbulence will continue for a while still,' said Lars Heikensten, head of the Nobel Committee, to the TT news agency. 'Long term, we aim to raise the figure, even though we think that the Nobel Prize's value should lie in the prize itself and not the prize money,' he said. While Heikensten admits that it was a 'tough decision' to cut the prize money, he told the news agency that it's not the first time the prize sum has been altered, adding that it has been lowered and raised several times over the past few years."
Image

4chan Declares War On Snow 201

Posted by samzenpus from the common-enemy dept.
With all the recent hacktivism in the news, Anonymous has decided to take on a new and powerful enemy: snow. On Sunday the group announced that it will "do everything in its power to shut snow down by attacking the Weather Channel and North Face websites, boycotting outerwear, and voting for the sun as Time’s 2010 Person Of The Year." I'm sure there are a lot of people in Minneapolis right now that would wish them luck.
Oracle

RIP, SunSolve 100

Posted by timothy from the to-the-moon-instead dept.
Kymermosst writes "Today marks the last day that SunSolve will be available. Oracle sent the final pre-deployment details today for the retirement of SunSolve and the transition to its replacement, My Oracle Support Release 5.2, which begins tomorrow. People who work with Sun's hardware and software have long used SunSolve as a central location for specifications, patches, and documentation."
Medicine

One Night Stands May Be Genetic 240

Posted by samzenpus from the getting-in-your-genes dept.
An anonymous reader writes "So, he or she has cheated on you for the umpteenth time and their only excuse is: 'I just can't help it.' According to researchers at Binghamton University, they may be right. The propensity for infidelity could very well be in their DNA. In a first of its kind study, a team of investigators led by Justin Garcia, a SUNY Doctoral Diversity Fellow in the laboratory of evolutionary anthropology and health at Binghamton University, State University of New York, has taken a broad look at sexual behavior, matching choices with genes and has come up with a new theory on what makes humans 'tick' when it comes to sexual activity. The biggest culprit seems to be the dopamine receptor D4 polymorphism, or DRD4 gene. Already linked to sensation-seeking behavior such as alcohol use and gambling, DRD4 is known to influence the brain's chemistry and subsequently, an individual's behavior."
Patents

8-Year-Old Receives Patent 142

Posted by samzenpus from the young-inventor-society dept.
Knile writes "While not the youngest patent recipient ever (that would be a four year old in Texas), Bryce Gunderman has received a patent at age 8 for a space-saver that combines an outlet cover plate with a shelf. From the article: '"I thought how I was going to make a lot of money," Bryce said about what raced through his brain when he received the patent.'"

Comment Re:I'm sitting this one out (Score 1) 836

by bark76 (#34128784) Attached to: 'Cellphone Effect' Could Skew Polling Predictions

I don't think you can blame the high unemployment and and lower tax receipts on them when they inherited a broken economy.

In October 2007, the unemployment rate was less than 4.5%. That's not what I'd call inheriting a broken economy.

Things may have looked good on the outside, but under the hood was a different story. Just because unemployment was below %4.5, doesn't mean the economy was healthy and sustainable.

So it's the 2007 Democrat Congress' fault that an unsustainable housing bubble burst...

Actually, it was Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. See, they blocked the billS. 190:
Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005 from ever leaving committee. Here is what John McCain said about it on May 26, 2006:

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190,to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

So, um.. it wasn't Republicans.

There have been other bills that have been introduced and subsequently killed by the Republicans too. Really, you can blame both parties. Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae issues go all the way back to the 60s; this wasn't something that happened overnight. I don't think this situation deserves to be simplified into "The Democrats did this in 2007" just like it shouldn't be simplified into being Bush's fault.

several companies "too big to fail" failed causing the worst recession since the Depression (and arguably almost another Depression if nothing had been done about it)?

I guess you don't remember the late 70's. I don't care what Obama says, Carter's recession was much worse that we have today.

The recession of the 70s may have felt worse to the public because of the gas shortages, but that doesn't mean it was a worse recession. You're entitled to your opinion though.

Comment Re:I'm sitting this one out (Score 1) 836

by bark76 (#34105324) Attached to: 'Cellphone Effect' Could Skew Polling Predictions

So it's the 2007 Democrat Congress' fault that an unsustainable housing bubble burst and several companies "too big to fail" failed causing the worst recession since the Depression (and arguably almost another Depression if nothing had been done about it)?

I don't think you can blame the high unemployment and and lower tax receipts on them when they inherited a broken economy. Yes, they haven't fixed the high unemployment, but they didn't cause it either. Yes, the economy seemed to be doing well under GWB and the Republican congress, but in hindsight it seems that economy caused more harm than good. 2 years isn't enough time to fix something of this magnitude.

People need to stop being so short sighted and demanding of quick solutions. There's nothing wrong with demanding accountability, but show a little patience.
Government

California's Santa Clara County Bans Happy Meal Toys 756

Posted by timothy from the when-self-righteousness-attacks dept.
WrongSizeGlass writes "The L.A. Times is reporting that Santa Clara County officials have voted to ban toys and other promotions that restaurants offer with high-calorie children's meals. 'This ordinance prevents restaurants from preying on children's love of toys' to sell high-calorie, unhealthful food, said Supervisor Ken Yeager, who sponsored the measure. 'This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes.' Supervisor Donald Gage, who voted against the measure, said, 'If you can't control a 3-year-old child for a toy, God save you when they get to be teenagers.' The vote was 3 - 2 in favor of the ban."
Programming

Simpler "Hello World" Demonstrated In C 582

Posted by kdawson from the non-obfuscated dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Wondering where all that bloat comes from, causing even the classic 'Hello world' to weigh in at 11 KB? An MIT programmer decided to make a Linux C program so simple, she could explain every byte of the assembly. She found that gcc was including libc even when you don't ask for it. The blog shows how to compile a much simpler 'Hello world,' using no libraries at all. This takes me back to the days of programming bare-metal on DOS!"

Slashdot Top Deals

C makes it easy for you to shoot yourself in the foot. C++ makes that harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg. -- Bjarne Stroustrup

Close