Top Ten Signs You're a Fundamentalist Christian

I found this on digg and it is true for about 2/3 of the people who go to church around me (With people like this I am ashaned.)

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."

3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.

Children 'meet net friends often'

Many children are meeting up with people they first encountered on the internet - and their parents know nothing about it, a study claims.

Web security firm Garlik surveyed hundreds of eight to 15-year-olds and found 20% have met an online friend in person - and one-in-20 do so regularly.

Just 7% of parents were aware of their child's behaviour, the study suggested.

Garlik, which advises people about data protection on the web, said youngsters were putting themselves in danger.

'Wake-up call'

The firm polled 500 young people about their online habits - and 500 parents were asked about their attitudes.

It found that 40% of children regularly visit websites that are specifically prohibited by their parents and many give out sensitive information without parental consent.

Details divulged include full name (30%), home address (12%), school details (46%) and family photos (9%).

One in 10 admitted to being cyber-bullied - but only half said they had spoken to their parents about the ordeal.

Despite 90% of parents saying they monitored their offspring's internet usage, more than half of the youngsters admitted to surfing the internet when their parents did not know.

Garlik boss Tom Ilube labelled the research a "shocking wake-up call" to British parents.

"The web is a wonderful place to explore - but young people continue to make themselves vulnerable by not applying the same caution online as they would in person."

Women warned on iron 'overdose'

Many woman take multivitamins in pregnancy Healthy pregnant women should think twice before taking iron supplements, say researchers who have linked high doses to blood pressure problems. Iron is often given to combat anaemia in pregnancy, but many women take extra iron, on its own or in a multivitamin. The Iranian university study, published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, gave some women a 30mg daily dose as part of its research. UK experts say that this amount should only be taken on GP advice. The UK Food Standards Agency says that lower doses in UK multivitamins are unlikely to harm women. Anaemia is often associated with low birth weight and preterm births, but this does not mean that women should be popping iron pills, or any vitamin pills indiscriminately Professor Philip Steer, editor, British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Anaemia is a common condition in pregnant women, which, if left unchecked, can contribute to premature births and low birthweight babies. It is caused by a lack of red blood cells, and taking iron on prescription helps the body produce more. The researchers from Tarbiat Modarres University wanted to check the effect of iron supplements on women whose red blood cell level was normal. They gave 370 women a 150mg dose of ferrous sulphate, which equates to approximately 30mg of actual iron, every day throughout their pregnancy. A similar number of women were given a "placebo" dummy pill containing no iron. Routine pills The number of women with diagnosed high blood pressure - a disorder which can also cause problems for mother and baby - was higher in the women given the iron pills than in the other group. Many countries still offer iron pills as a routine measure for all pregnant women, and lead researcher Professor Saedeh Ziaei said: "Our trial suggests that administering it even may have some disadvantages in non-anaemic women." Professor Philip Steer, the editor of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said: "Anaemia is often associated with low birth weight and preterm births, but this does not mean that women should be popping iron pills, or any vitamin pills indiscriminately, to prevent poor pregnancy outcomes." We consider that the supplements available in this country are safe, and it is up to the individual woman to choose Spokesman, Tommy's A spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said that women should avoid taking extra iron unless recommended by their doctor or midwife. Routine iron supplementation is not practised in the UK, but blood is tested for signs of anaemia more than once during pregnancy as a matter of course. However, many healthy pregnant women take once-a-day multivitamin pills that contain smaller doses of iron - normally around 100% of the recommended dose of 15mg. Official bodies such as the Food Standards Agency recommend that pregnant women take extra vitamins such as folic acid and vitamin D, but don't encourage any other vitamin supplementation, saying that a balanced healthy diet provides all the vitamins needed. However, they said that taking 17mg or less a day - the amount UK multivitamin brands contain - was 'unlikely to be harmful'. A spokesman for the baby charity Tommy's also stressed the importance of a healthy diet, but added that women were free to take supplements if they chose. "We consider that the supplements available in this country are safe, and it is up to the individual woman to choose."

As Carriers Drag Heels, Nokia Pushes Cisco-Cell Combo

A partnership between Nokia and Cisco Systems(CSCO) promises the kind of simple-yet-comprehensive enterprise telephone products that IT managers love. Unfortunately, the new setup, while technically available now, isn't supported by the major U.S. carriers, and there's no telling when that will happen.

Nokia's Intellisync Call Connect for Cisco delivers on the long-talked-about notion of fixed-mobile convergence--the melding of landline phone service with wireless connectivity--by joining PBXs and cellular devices. The system combines Cisco's wireless LANs and Unified Communications Manager with Nokia's E-series mobile devices, including the recently released E61i smartphone, which has an expanded screen and a QWERTY keyboard.

Nokia will sell through enterprise channels to businesses, bypassing the Big Four U.S. wireless carriers and underscoring once again the telecom industry's grudging position on fixed-mobile convergence. Device vendors such as Nokia and wireless LAN providers like Cisco envision productivity gains from, and strong demand for, fixed-mobile convergence, while the wireless carriers, fearing an erosion of their core voice business, have resisted it.

Cingular last year introduced a product called OfficeReach that uses a VPN to connect wireless devices to PBXs. And T-Mobile has launched a HotSpot at Home service in Seattle, allowing residential customers to use home Wi-Fi networks to make voice-over-IP calls using cell phones. At last week's Interop conference in Las Vegas, Steve Shaw, director of marketing with Kineto Wireless, said he expects T-Mobile's service to be rolled out nationwide this summer.

URGE TO CONVERGE

To date, no U.S. carrier has announced a dual-mode service--one that combines Wi-Fi and cellular--for businesses. On the contrary, some carriers have discouraged the spread of converged services by disabling or barring Wi-Fi functions on the phones they sell. Device vendors, meanwhile, are aggressively pushing converged devices into the market, particularly outside the United States. Japan has emerged as the leader in fixed-mobile convergence deployments. Using devices from NTT DoCoMo and a voice-over-wireless-LAN system from Meru Networks, Osaka Gas two years ago launched a fixed-mobile convergence initiative that now comprises more than 1,000 handsets.

ABI Research predicts that shipments of dual-mode phones will exceed 300 million by 2011. If cell carriers continue to resist, they'll be pushing back against customer demand. "If history holds, the U.S. carriers will generally need a little bit of nudging from competitors to really move on this," says Steve Troyer, VP for product marketing at Meru Networks.

Research In Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie last week declared his intention to embrace Wi-Fi in upcoming BlackBerrys. RIM may release a Wi-Fi-enabled device in the second half of this year, Balsillie said at a JPMorgan technology conference in Boston.

"Most of the carriers are supportive" of fixed-mobile convergence, Balsillie said, an assertion echoed by some of the speakers at Interop. "The dialogue has really changed," said Craig Gosselin, chief marketing officer at NewStep Networks, a Bell Canada spin-off that sells converged-services software to service providers. "Twenty-four or even 12 months ago when we talked to mobile operators, they really had a problem with the idea of cannibalizing minutes from their networks. It's been many quarters since I've heard that objection."

If enterprises and converged-services providers find that the path to fixed-mobile convergence remains blocked, there's another option. "This is America," said Vivek Khuller, co-founder of DiVitas Networks, at Interop. "We always have the option of litigation."

Novell won't be punished for Microsoft deal: source

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON (Reuters) - A foundation that owns rights to much of the code behind Linux software has decided not to carry out threats to punish Novell Inc. (NOVL.O: Quote, Profile, Research over a deal with Microsoft Corp, a person familiar with the matter said.

The nonprofit Free Software Foundation had threatened to take punitive action against Novell for entering into a patent agreement with Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, whose Windows operating system is a rival to Linux and is seen as a foe by the open source community.

Some saw the deal as endorsing Microsoft's claims that it holds patents to intellectual property behind some open source software.

The foundation was reviewing whether to block Novell from getting access to the foundation-controlled components of Linux that will be distributed under the terms of a new licensing agreement that is being finalized.

One of the pioneering forces behind the open source software movement, the foundation has decided not to include any language in the final draft of the agreement that will punish Novell, according to the person familiar with the foundation's deliberations.

"This is good news for Novell," said Katherine Egbert, an analyst with Jefferies & Co."

The foundation controls rights to a group of programs known as the GNU operating system, an important part of Linux.

The group does not control the software's namesake, the Linux kernel, which is owned by another nonprofit, the Linux Foundation.

Free Software Foundation Executive Director Peter Brown would not discuss the foundation's decision, but confirmed that it had finalized its proceedings.

Novell and its main rival Red Hat Inc. (RHT.N: Quote, Profile, Research sell standardized versions of Linux with custom features, maintenance plans and technical support.

The two companies also sell other types of open source software, including OpenOffice, which competes with Microsoft Word; Excel and PowerPoint programs; and XenSource, a rival to EMC Corp.'s (EMC.N: Quote, Profile, Research VMware software that boosts the efficiency of server computers.

Sales of Novell's SUSE Linux products accounted for 5 percent of the $967 million in revenue that the company reported last year. The deal with Microsoft has turned into a far bigger cash generator, bringing in two upfront payments totaling $348 million.

The two companies agreed to sell their products jointly, develop technologies that make it easier for businesses to use Linux alongside Windows software, and not sue each other's customers for any patent violations when using their software.

Some members of the open source community said that deal would undermine the patent security of Linux software and give Microsoft an edge in persuading businesses to use Microsoft products over Linux and other types of open source software.

The foundation is scheduled to disclose its decision on the Novell matter by June 4 on its Web site, www.fsf.org, when it will post the final draft of the new license, which is known as the General Public License version 3, or GPLv3.

Novell Chief Financial Officer Dana Russell declined comment on the matter.

WHAT KIND OF EMPLOYEE ARE YOU?

me



Cancer Employee Profile (june 22 - july 21)

The Cancer employee isn't at work to feed their ego -- their job is just a job and a means to get paid.They work steadily and are usually very reliable. You'll be able to depend on them to show up on time and do what is necessary.
They won't get involved in power struggles or get upset when someone advances before them.They are able to accept the situation because they see it simply as a rung on the ladder up.Their motivation is security. They'll want more money the longer they've stayed at a job.They don't want to have to worry about how they'll make ends meet tomorrow so they'll need a stable position without much risk. Cancerian workers can slip into some dark moods on occasion. During these periods productivity tends to drop-as well as everyone else's in the office. Their moods can be so strong everyone becomes affected. To avoid the frequency of these occurrences,managers and co-workers should try to make the work environment as homey as possible-keep it well heated, cozy, and friendly.Don't press them to reveal their true inner thoughts-their tendency is to be secretive and protective,and they could see prying as an attempt to disturb their security.

Universities respond to decline in computer science students

It's no secret that there are fewer undergraduate students majoring in computer science today than there were in the late '90s. The Computing Research Association's statistics show that the number of freshman who list computer science as a probable major has fallen by 70 percent since 2000. According to the Associated Press, universities are responding to this trend by attempting to spice up computer science education and make it more appealing to incoming students.

One example is Georgia Tech's new robotics program, which uses an inexpensive programmable robot called the Scribbler to encourage hands-on learning. The Scribbler, which can be programmed to draw shapes and navigate through obstacle courses, is relatively compact and costs only $75.

In addition to formulating curricula that are more colorful and engaging, universities are also offering new programs that focus on multimedia or web development, topics that are becoming increasingly relevant for many contemporary computer programmers. These are also the skills that students are most likely to have developed before heading off to college, and so it forms a natural bridge into the computing sciences.

I have less than fond memories of my own experiences with computer science education. I was frustrated with the emphasis on niche commercial development tools that I had never used before and have rarely used since. I also got frustrated with the emphasis on technical minutiae that aren't particularly relevant to general application development. Assembly programming and compiler design skills acquired in college aren't going to be very useful for software developers who enter the workforce and get paid to write web applications with ASP.NET or Ruby on Rails. That particular problem could largely be resolved by the emergence of new academic programs that differentiate between computer science and web application development. Few schools do this, however.

Improvements to computer science education are being touted as a way to prevent the United States from continuing to lose relevance in the technology industry, a problem that is also becoming pervasive across the board in other fields relating to math and science. Although increasing the number of computer science students could make the United States more competitive in the tech industry, there are other factors that should be included as well. Encouraging students to become technology entrepreneurs isn't going to do much good if abusive patent litigation, for instance, prevents them from innovating and developing products. Refactoring computer science education is a step in the right direction, but other reforms are needed as well.