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Comment Why debate on facts and legitimize their position? (Score 1) 611

It's like the history revisionists that deny the Holocaust ever happened trying to debate actual bona-fide historians, trying to present an "alternate" view of events. Mind you, we still have people around that lived or were eyewitnesses to it. What will happen in 100 years? Anyone can challenge anyone else's assertions regardless of the historical record. Creationists, and I would guess more than a few people still confuse the scientific theory term with the normal definition of the word theory - stating often times that "it's just a theory." Given this belief in the Bible, which is claimed to be the absolute truth (thus, there really is no debate for believers. It is because God says it is, it says so in the Bible), I don't see what good is there in this event. Faith, according to some, has no need for science. Why legitimize their position with a debate? It will just make people think that there's actually is another side to the story, when there isn't. It baffles me to meet very well educated technologists who nonetheless believe (or claim to do so) that the Earth (nay, the Universe) is less than 10,000 years old, that dinosaurs walked alongside men, or that the fossil record was planted by "the devil." I think it's fine for people to believe in a higher power, but why force that on everyone else, why make children at school "learn" about alternate theories ("Intelligent" design.) I hear a lot of these folks lecture on how oppressive some Muslim non-secular governments can be, how there's no freedom of, well, anything, how they impose their beliefs on their poor people. What about this? The government (in the form of school boards, representatives, even governors) dictating what is taught in school, regardless of fact, but based purely on belief. Not sure if I can post links, as this is about my fifth time commenting ANYWHERE in 20 years, but here goes: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/02/2013-was-a-terrible-year-for-evolution.html

Submission + - Windows 8 And Windows 8.1 Pass 10% Market Share, Windows XP Falls Below 30%

An anonymous reader writes: With the release of Windows 8.1 to the world in October, Microsoft ended 2013 with two full months of availability for its latest operating system version. While Windows 8.1 is certainly growing quickly and eating into Windows 8s share, the duo has only now been able to pass 10 percent market share, while Windows 7 seems to be plowing forward unaffected. The latest market share data from Net Applications shows that Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 made steady progression in December 2013, gaining a combined 1.19 percentage points (from 9.30 percent to 10.49 percent). More specifically, Windows 8 gained 0.23 percentage points (from 6.66 percent to 6.89 percent), while Windows 8.1 jumped 0.96 percentage points (from 2.64 percent to 3.60 percent).

Submission + - Dogs Poop in Alignment with Earth's Magnetic Field (vice.com)

Daniel_Stuckey writes: But for whatever its worth, all that spinning is far from arbitrary. What dog owners witness is a small and furry version of the aurora borealis and a link between species and environment that’s as holistic and beautiful as a dog pooping can be. A team of Czech and German researchers found that dogs actually align themselves with the Earth’s magnetic field when they poop. Proving at least that they’re really devoted to their work, the researchers measured the direction of the body axis of 70 dogs from 37 breeds during 1,893 defecations and 5,582 urinations over the course of two years, and found that dogs “prefer to excrete with the body being aligned along the North-south axis under calm magnetic field conditions.” They fittingly published their results in the journal Frontiers in Zoology .

Submission + - Ford Builds Solar-Powered Car (computerworld.com)

Lucas123 writes: Ford plans to demonstrate its first solar-powered hybrid vehicle at CES next week. The Ford CMAX Solar Energi Concept car will have 1.5 square meters of solar photovoltaic cells on its roof to generate power to charge its battery. By themselves, the PV solar panels generate only 300W of power — not enough to charge the vehicle's battery in one day. Ford, however, said the car will be coupled with a carport that has solar concentrating lens atop it. The magnifying lens, called a Fresnel lens, will concentrate about 10 times the solar energy so the vehicle can be recharged in a single day — the same speed with which is standard hybrid charges using a plug.

Submission + - Do non-technical managers add value? (arstechnica.com)

Kimomaru writes: ARS Technica asks, "How does a non-technical manager add value to a team of self-motivated software developers?" IT Managers have come some way in the past decade (for some). Often derided as being, at best, unnecessary and, at worst, a complete waste of budgetary resources, managers in technology today can add significant value by shielding developers and systems engineers from political nonsense and red tape. From the article;

"Don't underestimate the amount of interaction your manager does with other departments. They handle budgets, training plans, HR paperwork. They protect the developers from getting sucked into meetings with other departments and provide a unified front for your group."

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