Comment Re:MAD? Direct Attack? (Score 1) 416
I think he means "Stable Deterrent Balance." MAD would imply that both MS and Google no longer exist.
Comment Re:Serious Question: Why do Germans outperform? (Score 1) 461
Careful, your ignorance is showing.
The Enlightenment was in the 18th Century. The Renaissance (literally, rebirth) was immediately after the Dark Ages, and indeed did include the incorporation of Arab knowledge, which was quite substantial at that time, into European Cultures. Subsequently, the Middle East stagnated (prior to the rise of European Colonialism, mind you, so you can't really blame whitey for this one), while Europe dominated.
Pick up a copy of What Went Wrong . It'll explain why you are wrong better than I can.
Comment Re:Serious Question: Why do Germans outperform? (Score 1) 461
RTFB, then bloviate. You sound somewhat uninformed otherwise. I understand how a book review by Newt Gingrich could be off-putting.
I've read both. IANAC (I Am Not A Classicist), but Neither Diamond nor Hanson should be taken too seriously. They're polemicists at worst, and pop historians at best, and darlings of the Left and Right, respectively.
Anyway, in defense of Hanson, the thesis of his book is quite competently defended, and is a bit more nuanced than "Europe is better and always has been." He uses historical battles as illustrative examples of aspects of Western Culture that have led to our Post-Renaissance dominance, which even you, in your haste to condemn the book you haven't read, concede. Things like private land ownership, the ability of a market economy to rapidly switch to war-time production (cf. Venice and the battle of Lepanto, US Pacific Fleet in WWII), civic militarism (i.e. direct participation of soldiers in the government they're fighting for).
Finally, read some Bernard Lewis (who is actually a respected historian) to cure you of your fascination with Arab Culture. If you're too lazy to read that, the short version is: "we had an enlightenment; they didn't."
Submission + - Publishers want a slice of used game market (sfgate.com) 3
grigory writes: GameStop's business model depends on a healthy flow of used games: incredibly "[GameStop] enjoys a 48 percent profit margin on used games". Game publishers do not see a cut of the secondary sale because it falls under the first sale doctrine.
Now, some publishers and manufacturers want a piece of the pie. "One marketing executive, who did not want to be identified for fear of angering GameStop and other retailers, said the used game sale market is still depriving publishers of money because it gives consumers an all-too-easy alternative to buying a new game."
Interesting picture of companies fighting for your business, and (suprise!) complaining about being left out of the money stream.
Submission + - Hulu To Begin Charging For Video Content 1
An anonymous reader writes: All great free things can't last forever, especially when the entertainment industry is involved. What I'm referring to is Hulu.com, the most popular content streaming service online and where millions of users watch full TV episodes of their favorite shows. According to Jonathan Miller, News Corp's CDO, Hulu may soon begin charging subscription fees for some of their online content. News Corp is the parent company of Fox which owns a huge portion of Hulu. When Miller of Newscorp was asked if Hulu would begin charging for online content during an Interview with Daily Finance, he said that "the answer could be yes." He went on to say that he doesn't "see why over time that shouldn't happen."
Submission + - The Verizon MiFi is a Great Friend for the iPhone (ofb.biz)
uninet writes: "Over the course of a few days last week, I was able to spend a good deal of time with Verizon's amazing little MiFi 3G router. It performed its task of providing speedy Wi-Fi internet to other devices via a EvDO Rev. A connection very well. Ironically, the red V network's device even improved the experience of using my iPhone, making it usable for surfing where its native network (AT&T) doesn't even connect. Check out my findings at Open for Business."
Submission + - Tetris turns 25 (guardian.co.uk)
teh.f4ll3n writes: This week can be marked as The Tetris Week. 25 years ago a russian (soviet) researcher thought of one of the world's most popular games. It is now that we celebrate it's 25th anniversary.
Twenty-five years ago, inside the bowels of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow, a young artificial intelligence researcher received his first desktop computer — the Soviet-built Elektronika 60, a copy of an American minicomputer called a PDP-11 — and began writing programs for it.
Comment Re:Glowing is cool, but the novelty is elsewhere (Score 1) 174
I posted these when the article was on the firehose for the benefit of the non-technical audience, but I guess they don't carry over when the story gets promoted:
Summary:
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090527/full/459492a.html
Editorial:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v459/n7246/full/459483a.html
Summary for Scientists:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v459/n7246/full/459515a.html
Comment Links to Primary Source(s) (Score 1) 2
Summary:
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090527/full/459492a.html
Editorial:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v459/n7246/full/459483a.html
Summary for Scientists:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v459/n7246/full/459515a.html
Actual Article:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v459/n7246/full/nature08090.html
Submission + - Fluorescent Monkeys Cast Light on Human Disease 2
Hugh Pickens writes: "BBC reports that a team of Japanese scientists has integrated a new gene for green fluorescent protein into the common marmoset, causing them to glow green under ultraviolet light, creating second-generation, glow-in-the-dark monkeys in what could be a powerful new tool in human disease research. Though primates modified to generate a glowing protein have been created before, these are the first to keep the change in their bloodlines. If a fluorescent protein gene can be introduced into the monkey genome and passed onto future generations, other genes could be too opening up a world of possibilities for medical research, such as the generation of specific monkey colonies containing genetic defects that mirror human diseases aiding efforts to cure such diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. However many people are likely to find the routine use of monkeys in medical research far less acceptable than that of rodents, drawing action from animal rights activists. "I'm worried that these steps are being taken without any overall public discussion about whether we want to go down that road. We may find ourselves gradually drifting towards the genetic engineering of human beings," says Dr David King, from the group Human Genetics Alert. "'Slippery slope' is a quite inadequate description of the process, because it doesn't happen passively. People push it forward.""
Comment Science reporting at its best! (Score 2, Informative) 188
The article reports the ground-breaking/unprecedented/whatever direct conversion of cellulose to HMF. Here's an earlier article from a different research group that the editors of "Gizmag" seem to be unaware of. It was published earlier and actually describes the same process from either cellulose or untreated biomass:
Comment Re:Identify Issues then candidates (Score 1) 1481
Surely you meant "bona fide." None of these candidates are arousing enough to get me bonified.
China Treats Internet Addiction Very Seriously 249
eldavojohn writes "China has taken new extremes in preventing internet addiction in youths and is even offering boot camps to parents who want their child weaned from the electric teat. The article notes that 'no country has gone quite as far as China in embracing the theory that heavy Internet use should be defined as a mental disorder and mounting a public crusade against Internet addiction.' The article mentions the story of Sun Jiting who 'spends his days locked behind metal bars in this military-run installation, put there by his parents. The 17-year-old high school student is not allowed to communicate with friends back home, and his only companions are psychologists, nurses and other patients. Each morning at 6:30, he is jolted awake by a soldier in fatigues shouting, "This is for your own good!"' Sun found himself spending 15 hours or straight on the internet. Thanks to his parents' intervention and the treatment, he now has life mapped out until he's 84. "
iPods Becoming Entrenched In Major League Baseball 115
DreadfulGrape writes "ESPN.com reports on how video iPods are being used increasingly by baseball players to study opponents' game footage. In fact, Houston Astros' pitcher Jason Jennings credits the device with improving his game last summer." Jennings says,
"Eventually, more than two-thirds of the roster had piled on and turned this team into baseball's official iSquad. Every player gets his own custom set of videos loaded onto his personal iPod, sorted by date, hitter, pitcher and opponent — and updated every week or so."
Journal Journal: Its now M.S.Science Vs.M.B.A
I am completing my Engineering Degree on Electronics and Instrumentation from one of the leading Engineering colleges.I am now confused about my future course of action.Many of my friends advise me to go for GRE to take up M.S.Science in any of the US Universities.Others stress that I should take up M.B.A as this will lead me to better career prospects.
Dear Market stalwarts,can you please advise which course of action will be ideal in the present scenario to persue.
Thanks
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