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Comment Re:Remember when hiring MORE workers was a good si (Score 1) 138

I believe that this is largely an unintended side-effect of the democratization of the capital markets and specifically the stock markets. Before companies like Schwab opened the stock market to household investors, the ownership profile for publicly-traded companies typically included a handful of investors who as a group owned a large share of the company. Those investors could collaborate to chart a long-term course for the company. Compare that to Cisco, where no single investor owns more than 1% of the company (or thereabouts). In essence, "the market" owns Cisco. And the market has a very short-term perspective.

Comment Re:Predictable (Score 1) 663

One of the parents was quoted as saying "[school district officials] are culpable and they have the gall to go on the record and say they haven't had any doctor's notes. Well what doctor has been schooled about the rate of microwave infections?"

A few weeks ago, a bunch of my neighbors got together to discuss a proposed T-Mobile base station on our street. The host invited someone to talk about the dangers of dirty electricity, whatever that is. Might as well have been ectoplasm.

The irony is that RF exposure may very well cause physiological effects at the exposure levels we're talking about here. Most of the studies I've read about seemed pretty lousy (small sample size, self-reporting bias, etc) but there do seem to be a handful that at least suggest possible harm. Unfortunately, most of the people who are most vocal about this issue don't bother to inform themselves and end up sounding like complete idiots. Which makes the skeptics dig their heels in even more... witness the majority of the comments posted here.

Unfortunately, fear always trumps fact. And many skeptics would do well to be more skeptical about their own assumptions.

Comment Re:Interpret it correctly (Score 1) 676

What part of SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED do people not understand?!?!?!

"Infringed". If taken literally, that would mean that the people could keep and bear RPGs, tanks, mustard gas, sarin, cruise missiles, radiological weapons, nukes, EMPs, weaponized anthrax, etc. The framers could not have imagined the immense destruction that a single individual could wreak with modern weaponry. Most people seem to agree that the right to keep and bear arms can be infringed just a little. The question of where to draw that line is a perfectly valid one.

I'd argue that the keeping and bearing of arms can sometimes contribute to erosion of freedoms, due to the level of surveillance and control needed to prevent the crazies from misusing said arms. When people feel unsafe, they tend to grant their government wide latitude to abridge their freedoms in order to protect them. Those of you over, say, 35 or so will remember a time when you didn't have to undergo a pat-down on your way to your locker. Administrators didn't spy on kids, kids didn't get expelled for taking Tylenol, kids didn't get charged with child pornography for taking nudie pictures of themselves. I think those things are indirect results of the heightened atmosphere of fear and increased surveillance that were the popular response to school shootings.

Experts Fear Future Will be Like Sci-Fi Movies 374

segphault writes "In the year 2020, Luddite terrorists attack technology infrastructure and artificial intelligences dominate earth! Or at least that's what 700 experts predict in the latest poll conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project (pdf). Is the future really going to be like a science fiction movie? Ars Technica provides a humorous overview of the survey results. From the article: 'Are these scenarios really indicative of future trends? Given the prevalence of many of these concepts in science fiction content, it is obvious that the ideas themselves are at least relevant enough to warrant consideration. That said, the nature of the survey and the way that the scenarios are presented makes the entire thing seem less plausible. In looking at classic science fiction films of the past, from Blade Runner to Soylent Green, one realizes that few of them really predict with any accuracy the world we live in today. Culture and technology can change in radically unpredictable ways, and today's experts may lack the foresight to perceive the future with the clarity of Hari Seldon.'"

Immaturity Level Rising in Adults 862

Ant writes to tell us that a Discovery News article is exploring the old adage, "like a kid at heart", which may be closer to the truth than we would like to admit. New research is showing that grown-ups are more immature than ever. From the article: "Specifically, it seems a growing number of people are retaining the behaviors and attitudes associated with youth. As a consequence, many older people simply never achieve mental adulthood, according to a leading expert on evolutionary psychiatry."

SCO to Unix developers, We want you back 427

NoGuffCheck writes "CRN is reporting that Darl McBride is looking to get Unix developers back onboard with cash incentives for completing training in SCO's new mobile application kit; EdgeBuilder. It doesn't stop there; there's a 12-cylinder BMW or $100,000 dollars for the development of the best wireless application."

Verizon to Launch Mobile 'Chaperone' Service 427

Billosaur writes "CNET is reporting that Verizon will soon be offering a service (branded "Chaperone") which will allow parents to keep track of their cell phone-carrying children. Following on the heels of a similar service started by Sprint in April, the system will allow parents 'to set up geographic limits and receive text alerts if their children, who also carry phones, go too far from home. The service also lets parents check where their offspring are via a map on their cell phone or computer.' Disney will purportedly be offering a similar service when it begins selling mobile phones sometime this summer. It's 10pm -- do you know where you child's cell phone is?"

The Time Has Come to Ditch Email? 398

Krishna Dagli writes to mention an article at The Register claiming that it's time we stop using email to communicate. From the article: "The problem is, email is now integral to the lives of perhaps a billion people, businesses, and critical applications around the world. It's a victim of its own success. It's a giant ship on a dangerous collision course. All sorts of brilliant, talented people today put far more work into fixing SMTP in various ways (with anti-virus, anti-phishing technologies, anti-spam, anti-spoofing cumbersome encryption technologies, and much more) than could have ever been foreseen in 1981. But it's all for naught."

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