infiniter - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Not in the USA (Score 1) 604

by infiniter on Sunday November 19, 2006 @07:25PM (#16907964) Attached to: Life Without Traffic Signs

it is a pretty valid point that countries whose wars don't reach their soil tend to prosper - look at japan. in ww2 they created a vast military production system that remained mostly intact (except for some bombing, but compared to europe, japan made out nicely). now look at the level of economic dominance they've achieved.

French Scientists Link Higher BMI with Lower IQ 728

Posted by timothy on Sunday October 15, 2006 @05:21PM from the hey-I-resemble-that-remark dept.

Xemu writes "French scientists have linked obesity to lower IQ reports the Telegraph. In a new five-year study of more than 2,200 adults, people with a low body mass index (BMI) could recall 30% more words in a vocabulary test than those who were obese. The fatter subjects also showed a higher rate of cognitive decline when they were retested five years later. In the United States, 30% of the population is obese according to OECD. That's the highest rate of obesity anywhere. Do these high obesity rates affect the average IQ of the population?" (Of course, this sidesteps discussion of whether IQ tests measure anything significant at all.)

Vista Speech Recognition Goes Awry 418

Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday July 29, 2006 @09:25AM from the egg-on-face dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It seems even MSNBC is willing to take a jab on those rare occasions when Microsoft products don't work. During a demo of Vista's speech recognition technology, Vista couldn't differentiate between mom and aunt, and all attempts to rectify the problem just made it worse. Wait until you see what it spat out, I think we have a new 'All your base.' Don't you just love Microsoft's live demonstrations?"

Kazaa Agrees to Pay $100m to the Record Industry 288

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday July 27, 2006 @09:30AM from the pay-up dept.

siddesu writes "BBC has the following breaking story: File-sharing site Kazaa will become a legal music download service following a series of high-profile legal battles. The peer-to-peer network has also agreed to pay $100m (£53m) in damages to the record industry. The announcement follows the release of a music industry report that says more than 20 billion music tracks have been downloaded illegally in the last year. Hungry artists across the globe rejoice."

UK Hackers Face Antisocial Behaviour Orders 444

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday July 18, 2006 @11:29AM from the we-have-everything-but-the-orders-here dept.

ukhackster writes "The UK government has proposed that suspected cybercriminals could be banned from the Internet or have their PCs seized, even if they've not been convicted. These so-called Asbos have typically been used against teenage hoodlums or small-time crooks, but now they're gunning for organised criminals." From the article: "Asbos give the courts almost unlimited powers when imposing conditions on the person receiving the order. Under the Home Office proposals, the courts would have almost unlimited discretion to impose the order if they believe it probable that a suspect had 'acted in a way which facilitated or was likely to facilitate the commissioning of serious crime.' In a civil court, hearsay is admissible evidence, and the burden of proof is lighter than criminal courts."

Virtual Reality Gaming System Tests for Telepathy 649

Posted by timothy on Monday July 17, 2006 @07:22PM from the grumbling-from-the-cynic's-corner dept.

Big Ben writes "UK scientists have built a virtual computer world designed to test telepathic ability. Approximately 100 participants will take part in the group gaming experiment at the University of Manchester which aims to test whether telepathy exists between individuals using the system. The project will also look at how telepathic abilities may vary depending on the relationships which exist between participants." Note: for their sakes, I hope they succeed in proving anything paranormal's going on — if they can reproduce such a result, it could earn them the $1 million prize long offered by the James Randi Educational Foundation.

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