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Submission + - Creationist Bets $10k Against Challengers To Literal Interpretation of Genesis (yahoo.com)

HungWeiLo writes: A California man who believes the literal interpretation of the Bible is real is offering $10,000 to anyone who can successfully debunk claims made in the book of Genesis in front of a judge.

Joseph Mastropaolo, the man behind this challenge, is to put $10,000 of his own money into an escrow account. His debate opponent would be asked to do the same. They would then jointly agree on a judge based on a list of possible candidates. Mastropaolo said that any evidence presented in the trial must be “scientific, objective, valid, reliable and calibrated."

For his part, Mastropaolo has a Ph.D. in kinesiology and writes for the Creation Hall of Fame website, which is helping to organize the minitrial. It’s also not the first such trial he’s tried to arrange. A previous effort, known as the “Life Science Prize,” proposed a similar scenario. Mastropaolo includes a list of possible circuit court judges to oversee the trial and a list of those he challenged to take part on the evolutionary side of the debate.

Anyone up for winning $20,000?

Cellphones

Submission + - North Korea Halts Internet Access After One Month (ibtimes.com)

redletterdave writes: "After just one month online, North Korea has pulled the plug on its only 3G data network, which was previously made available for tourists to access the Internet starting on Feb. 22. The North Korean government did not explain why its 3G network has been shut off, but given the raised level of international interest in the country’s activities (the country is facing UN sanctions after its third nuclear test last month) and how it severed its final communication line with South Korea on Wednesday, the government likely had a change of heart about its loosening communication restrictions. That said, as with most things in North Korea, we may never know the real answer."

Submission + - USPS discriminates against "Athiest" merchandise (atheistberlin.com) 3

fish waffle writes: Suspecting that their strongly branded "Athiest" products may be treated differently by more religiously-oriented postal regions, Kickstarter success Athiest Shoes conducted an experiment. They sent 178 envelopes to 89 people in different parts of the US, each person receiving one envelope prominently branded as "Athiest" merchandise, and one not. The results: packages with the athiest label were nearly 10 times more likely to never be received, and took on average 3 days longer to show up when they did. Control experiments were also done in Europe and Germany---it's definitely a USPS problem.
Google

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Are We in a Tech Bubble? (slashdot.org)

Nerval's Lobster writes: "When a major IT company pays a reported $30 million—roughly 90 percent of it in cash—for an iOS app with no monetization strategy and a million downloads since launch, is that a sign that the tech industry as a whole is riding a massive, overinflated bubble? That’s the amount of filthy lucre that Yahoo paid for 17-year-old Nick D’Aloisio’s Summly app, according to AllThingsD. The app offers “algorithmically generated summaries” (in its Website’s words) from hundreds of news sources across the Web, presented in an easy-to-read format; users can cherry-pick their topics and news sources of choice, save summaries for offline viewing, and share content with others. Yahoo isn't alone, by a long shot: over the past couple years, a few apps have been snatched up for enormous sums—think Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram in 2012, or Google buying Sparrow for a reported $25 million. Nor has the money train stopped there: in a pattern that recalls the late-90s market frothiness for anyone over the age of 28, a handful of tech companies have either launched much-hyped IPOs or witnessed their share price skyrocket into the stratosphere. But does all this IPO activity and app-acquiring actually mean "bubble"?"
China

Submission + - South Korea Backtracked Chinese IP Address in Cyberattack (cnn.com) 1

hackingbear writes: The suspected cyberattack that struck South Korean banks and media companies this week didn't originate from a Chinese IP address, South Korean officials said Friday, contradicting their previous claim. The Korea Communications Commission said that after "detailed analysis," the IP address used in the attack is the bank's internal IP address which is coincidentally identical a Chinese ISP's address, among the 2^32 address space available.

Comment Re:I'm sorry but.. (Score 1) 770

You shouldn't take pictures if you are unsure of the legality of doing so.

If one can lawfully see the acts taking place, then one should be able to lawfully take a photograph. Or, is the logic such that "most people don't have a photographic memory, therefore it is not illegal to see as long as you'll have no permanent record of the events taking place"?

Comment Re:0xB16B00B5 (Score 1) 897

I, for one, have no issues with a programmer of either gender using "TINY_DICK_LOSER" as a constant name, aside from the old belief that capital "i" or "o" is generally bad form (ambiguous with "l" or "0" when using crappy fonts).

In fact, I might actually begin to socially respect said programmer for their sophomoric humor. I see have no animosity towards a joke here and there.

It's not like he created an obviously sexist constant such as "WOMEN_CANT_DRIVE" or "MAKE_ME_SAMMICH" or "GO_BACK2KITCHEN" or "DONT_BLEED_ON_MY_CODE".

Comment Re:0xB16B00B5 (Score 1) 897

But... your "tiny female brains" cannot cope with a comment about breasts? It seems to me that you're being a little too sensitive, maybe I'm obese and I have large breasts... it certainly doesn't offend me. Even if they're using some weird base that would allow for WE3G0V32N025316B00B5. Still, who cares?

Comment Re:Natural Selection is compatible with ID (Score 2) 176

While ruling out the possibility that some alien species created us may be a bit hasty... the lack of evidence of these aliens, and the evidence suggesting spontaneous creation of organic enzymes being much stronger, I find it difficult to put any faith into the alien "theory."

...unless you meant that the Flying Spaghetti Monster created life. That's just, well, even less probable than aliens.

I guess I'm trying to say that for something to be seriously considered scientifically, there must be at least one plausible theory that correlates with the way we understand things currently, or abstract data — at the very least — to support further investigation. I do not see aliens or Santa Claus matching this description.

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