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Comment Re:An Odd Bird (Score 4, Informative) 110

by WTFmonkey (#49470621) Attached to: First 26 Pages of Neal Stephenson's New Novel "Seveneves" Online

Most people I know who finished it enjoyed it, but I also know plenty of people who couldn't finish it (which I understand-- the pages describing the broken tooth on Turing's bicycle as a metaphor for a substitution cypher were torturous. And tortuous.).

I mean, it's not high literature that scholars will be analyzing to death two hundred years from now, but Stephenson's books are generally creative and fun, and I enjoy them. OP's mom was probably at least half troll.

Comment No training?! (Score 5, Funny) 235

by WTFmonkey (#39344915) Attached to: Companies More Likely To Outsource Than Train IT Employees
But I've received online security training by IT, ethics training by legal, harassment training by HR, business development training by BD, health training by our new insurance provider, all delivered by automated Flash apps voiced by a kindly sounding lady, after which *I had to get 80% on a 5-question multiple-choice test* to get my printable Certificate of Compliance! I have a hard time remembering which side of this keybored thingy to bang on sometimes, but by God I know company policies!
Government

SSN Overlap With Micronesia Causes Trouble For Woman 494

Posted by samzenpus from the not-my-problem dept.
stevel writes "Holly Ramer, who lives in Concord, NH, has never been to the Federated States of Micronesia, but debt collectors dun her mercilessly for unpaid loans taken out by a small business owner in that Pacific island nation. Why? Micronesia and other countries in the region have their own Social Security Administrations which gave out numbers to residents applying for US disaster relief loans. The catch is that the Micronesian SSNs have fewer digits than the nine-digit US version, and when credit bureaus entered these into their database, they padded them out with zeros on the front. These numbers then matched innocent US citizens with SSNs beginning with zeroes, as many in northern New England do. The credit bureaus say to call the Social Security Administration, the SSA says call the credit bureaus, the FTC says they can't help, and nobody is taking responsibility for the confusion."
Games

Ubisoft CEO Says Next Gen Consoles Closer Than We Think 326

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the better-faster-stronger dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot tells CNBC that he believes the next generation of video game systems isn't as far away as the public has been led to believe. Guillemot noted that public demand for the best machine possible, as well as coming competition from companies such as OnLive could spur Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo to roll out new systems sooner than they want. That's not good news for publishers, though, as he says games in the next generation will likely cost $60 million to create."
Medicine

Asthma Risk Linked To Early TV Viewing 266

Posted by kdawson from the near-the-carpet dept.
Ponca City, We love you writes "The number of children with asthma has been rising for many years. About 1 in 10 children in the UK develop asthma, compared with about 1 in 25 in the 1960s. The reason for this isn't clear, although several theories have been put forward such as keeping our homes cleaner, and having central heating and more soft furnishings where house dust mites can multiply. Now based on more than 3,000 children whose respiratory health was tracked from birth to 11.5 years of age, researchers have found a new correlation with young children who spend more than two hours glued to the TV every day doubling their subsequent risk of developing asthma. 'This study has shown for the first time a positive association between increased duration of reported TV viewing in early childhood and the development of asthma by 11.5 years of age in children with no symptoms of asthma in early childhood,' said the researchers, led by A. Sherriff, from the University of Glasgow. It's not clear exactly how sedentary behaviors like television watching are tied to asthma, but there is some evidence to suggest exercise and deep breaths that come with it stretch the smooth muscles in the airways, while lack of exercise may make the lungs overly sensitive. The results add asthma to a catalog of undesirable outcomes, including obesity, diabetes, smoking, and promiscuity, tied to TV viewing."
Image

World of Warcraft, the Restaurant 73

Posted by samzenpus from the who's-gonna-tank-the-appetizers dept.
An Anonymous Coward writes "China's online gaming themed service industry appears to be booming, riding China's fascination with online gaming all the way to the top is a Chinese restaurateur with his World of Warcraft inspired eatery." I would recommend the Critter Bites and the Haunted Herring, but would warn against the Carrion Surprise.

Comment Regulations are often made in this manner (Score 1) 238

by d80god (#22381620) Attached to: Next Year's Laws, Now Out In Beta!
Many jurisdictions utilize some form of agency regulations to expound upon statutes that are passed by legislatures. Therefore, ambiguity in the statutory text can be resolved when an agency makes a decision one way or the other. Additionally, a large number of regulations, at least in the federal arena, are written using a "notice and comment" procedure, which allows an agency to issue a draft and receive public feedback regarding, among other things, these types of interpretive problems. The agency can then choose to address these comments before issuing a final regulation.

 

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