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.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
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'
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 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." 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.
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.
CUTE STUFF
International Children’s Day
May 30th, 2007A group of Chinese kindergarten children perform at a show as part of the week-long celebrations leading up to the International Children’s Day on 01 June, in Shenyang, northeast China’s Liaoning province on 29 May 2007.
People release balloons during the 5th International Missing Children’s Day on 25 May 2007 at the Champs de Mars in Paris. “The main purpose of the International Missing Children’s Day is to encourage the population” and “to spread a message of hope and solidarity on an international scale to parents without any news of their children”.
Microsoft Surface - multi-touch table
Microsoft is showing off their multi-touch table "Surface" complete with RFID, wireless, sensors and a whole lot of other things (watch the Popular Mechanics video on how it works)... You can't buy one, but they will be appearing in a couple casinos and some stores to demo... Link.
More:
Microsoft unveils table computer
Microsoft has unveiled a new touch-sensitive coffee table-shaped computer called "Surface".
Designed to do away with the need for a traditional mouse and keyboard, users can instead use their fingers to operate the computer.
Also designed to interact with mobile phones placed on the surface, Microsoft says it will initially sell the unit to corporate customers.
These will include hotels, casinos, phone stores and restaurants.
'Multi-touch'
So-called "multi-touch" interfaces - which allow the user to move several fingers on a screen to manipulate data, rather than relying on a mouse and menus - have been making waves in tech circles for some time.
We envision a time when surface computing technologies will be pervasive, from tabletops and counters to the hallway mirror 
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer
One of the most hotly-awaited examples is Apple's iPhone, which is scheduled to be released in June.
Hewlett-Packard has also been looking at expanding multi-touch technology, in addition to leading research scientists such as Jeff Han of New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.
With a 30-inch screen, Surface will initially sell for between $5,000 and $10,000 (£2,525-£5,050).
However, Microsoft said it aimed to produce cheaper versions for homes within three to five years.
'Multi-billion dollar'
"We see this as a multi-billion dollar category, and we envision a time when surface computing technologies will be pervasive, from tabletops and counters to the hallway mirror," said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.
Microsoft says small groups of people will be able to use each Surface machine simultaneously.
They will be first deployed in November in Sheraton hotels, Harrah's casinos, T-Mobile stores, and numerous restaurants.
The computer giant has had a mixed record recently with new consumer products.
While its Xbox games console has been a success, its Zune music player continues to lag far behind Apple's iPod.
'Living' cyborg chip stores rudimentary memories
The journey to pack more (proverbial) internal storage into the human brain has been going on for years, but a recent development at Tel-Aviv University could actually bring us one step closer to storing rudimentary memories on a manmade device. Reportedly, a new experiment has shown that it is indeed possible to store said memories "in an artificial culture of live neurons," which is a fairly significant step towards the "cyborg-like integration of living material into memory chips." Essentially, Itay Baruchi and Eshel Ben-Jacob carefully examined the firing patterns of a sea of electrodes and found that they could "deliberately create additional firing patterns that coexist with the spontaneous patterns." These forced patterns could theoretically represent simple memories stored in the neuron network, and after giving it a go on their own, they were able to see "memory patterns" persist for over forty hours in a homegrown concoction. Of course, the duo isn't likely to stop before producing "the first chemically operated neuro-memory chip," and while we could all use a longer train of thought every now and then, the studies could also "help neurologists to understand how our brains learn and store information."
Turning off gene makes mice smarter
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Turning off a gene that has been associated with Alzheimer's disease made mice smarter in the lab, researchers said on Sunday in a finding that lends new insight on learning and may lead to new drugs for memory problems.
They said these mice were far more adept at sensing changes in their environment than their mouse brethren.
"It's pretty rare when you can make an animal smarter," said Dr. James Bibb, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who led the study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Bibb and colleagues used genetic engineering techniques to breed mice that could be manipulated to switch off Cdk5, a gene that controls production of a brain enzyme linked to diseases marked by the death of neurons in the brain, such as Alzheimer's.
"Any time we're losing neurons, Cdk5 may be contributing to that process. That has made it an area of great interest," Bibb said in a telephone interview.
"We have shown that we can turn off a gene in an adult animal. That has never been done before," he added. When they had tried to breed mice that completely lacked the gene, the pups died at birth.
Bibb said they put the mice though a series of tests and found the altered mice did better than normal mice.
"Everything is more meaningful to these mice," he said. "The increase in sensitivity to their surroundings seems to have made them smarter."
Bibb said the mice were better at tasks based on associated learning, Bibb said.
"It's the most important kind of learning in the animal kingdom. It's how we know where our car is and that is our wife or our husband and that's our kids. It's how we connect things," he added.
The smart mice were better at learning to navigate a water maze and remembering that they got a shock when they were in a certain cage.
"It was very clear right off the bat that the loss of Cdk5 made them have a much stronger associative memory," Bibb said.
"What was really interesting is they not only remembered better, but the next day, if you put them back in those same circumstances, they noticed they were not getting shocked."
Bibb said his work was inspired by the 1999 discovery of "Doogie" mice, a smarter breed of mice developed at Princeton University that were named after the TV program "Doogie Houser," a show that featured a child prodigy.
Those mice were bred by manipulating NR2B, a gene that also plays a role in associative memory.
"It turns out Cdk5 was controlling the regulation of NR2B," Bibb said.
"Maybe by finding these new mechanisms we can find new drugs that improve the cognitive performance of people who have deficits."
He and colleagues are working on developing drugs that could create the same effect without the need for genetic alteration.
"There are other cases -- in post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and depression -- where we may want to modulate memory not so much to improve it, but to selectively modify it to remove the negative memories that are causing the problems. I think that has a lot of potential," Bibb said.
However, he said the long-term effects are not yet clear.
"If all of your (brain) synapses were magically strengthened all the time, that might be good for the short term, but I'm not sure if it would be good all the time," he said.
One Laptop Project:
I’ve kept an eye on the One Laptop Per Child project since its inception, and I’ve been tempted to comment on its virtues since Nicholas Negroponte began the push to create sub-$100 laptops to distribute to children in Third World economies.
The latest news on the project — that Negroponte is irked with Intel for launching a $200 system to compete with his own AMD-based machine, which now carries a $170 price tag — really shouldn’t surprise anyone. Certainly, as Negroponte contends, Intel is not going to let AMD do anything without answering. Government contracts, even for sub-$200 mobile devices, are just too enticing to pass up for a big vendor.
I don’t know whether to think Negroponte’s reaction is based purely on ego, as blogger Om Malik suggests:
…since this seems to be a mission of charity (and not a play for Nobel Peace Prize), Negroponte should be happy that others are willing to follow his lead, and get more of these frankendevices into the hands of more and more kids.
I’m more inclined to believe that any incursion of the free market into what has been essentially a Socialist test-bed project from the start would just gall the guy who started it, on an intellectual level if nothing else.
That’s understandable, I suppose, but it’s also pretty much how the free market works. People grow on your ideas. Unless you want to go to the dark side and get something as loathsome as a patent — not that you could patent the idea of a really cheap laptop — folks are going to compete with you using stuff that looks pretty much like your own stuff.
I’ve wondered from the start why Negroponte and others interested in bringing technology to kids who can’t otherwise afford it haven’t launched a program by which they sell their sub-$200 devices to schools in the U.S., Britain and other G8 economies for, say, $325, and apply the excess — I won’t say “profit” — toward getting the devices into the hands of Third World kids. Lord knows all schools, including those in the richest countries, would jump at the chance to put a capable computing device into the hands of students at that price point. And educators would embrace the social upside of such a program.
The free market doesn’t always have to be evil. Toyota actually does charge money for the hybrid Prius.
This could ultimately extend to the consumer market, as well — that crank-powered battery sounds pretty cool.
Negroponte finally said last month that he would consider selling the machines to U.S. schools at a higher price point, but his statement didn’t make it clear whether this shift would specifically benefit Third World kids. It could offset the cost to those governments (good), it could simply help OLPC make its initial order volume to move into production this September (OK), or it could just just make AMD and other providers a little happier (not so bad, but not noble).
In reading up on the latest OLPC spat — fueled by a 60 Minutes report this weekend — I am increasingly disenchanted by the basic assumption that the biggest problem faced by kids in the Third World is poor access to the Internet. It’s fashionable — and admittedly hopeful — to think that knowledge is the key to changing the world. History shows that clean water and food are probably a little more critical, at least in setting a baseline where learning can take place.
Even in the richest countries, including the U.S., educators will tell you that nutrition programs are more critical than technology access in educating the poorest kids.
Stan Beer at ITWire notes today that OLPC laptops will be given to kids in economies where it’s likely they will be stolen or sold on the black market for food and other essentials. It’s not evil — it’s just desperate.
It seems to me that instead of griping about Intel, Negroponte could put market pressure on the giant — and his own initiative — to use the free market to not only provide kids with laptops, but also secure learning centers at their schools where they can share the machines without fear of theft, by others or their own families.
Dell PCs with Ubuntu Are A Little Less Expensive
Contrary to many earlier reports, it turns out that Dell's prices for its Ubuntu PCs are cheaper than similar Windows Vista PCs for all three Models. Ars Technica reports: 'So it turns out that not including Windows saves the consumer $50 from the regular list price. This amount is not too far off from what a large OEM like Dell would pay for a volume discount for Windows Vista Home Basic (the regular OEM price is about $95). Many value PC sellers try to make up for the cost of a Windows license by bundling demo and trial versions of software such as AOL (affectionately known as "crapware"), for which they receive money from software companies looking to increase their distribution levels. Dell is no exception to this practice, although on their web site it allows customers to select the option of not including various applications.' For direct comparisons, Nat Tuck of Umass-Lowell has put together a simple page showing prices for Ubuntu and Windows-based PCs."
YemuZip
To be fair here is a mac download
Mac OS X only: Freeware app YemuZip is a graphical interface for creating zip files on the fly.
Mac OS X only: Freeware app YemuZip is a graphical interface for creating zip files on the fly.
Create zip files using a drag and drop with YemuZip. Before creating the zip archive, YemuZip forces you to choose whether to create the file in "PC compatible" or "Mac specific" modes. (The Mac format will maintain the integrity of your metadata.) But don't worry, the files created using PC compatibility mode are totally compatible with your Mac, too. If YemuZip isn't for you, you can always create zip folders using a single keystroke. Yemuzip is a free download for Mac only. — Kyle Pott
YemuZip [Yellow Mug]
NirCmd
dows only: Freeware command-line app NirCmd extends the functionality of the Command Prompt.
NirCmd is a small command-line utility that allows you to accomplish tasks using the Command Prompt that would normally require a user interface. NirCmd has no "formal" installation process. All you need to do is copy "NirCmd.exe" to "C:\Windows" and then begin using it with Command Prompt. You can grab a list of the uses of NirCmd at the project homepage.
NirCmd is a small command-line utility that allows you to do some useful tasks without displaying any user interface. By running NirCmd with simple command-line options, you can write and delete values and keys in the Registry, write values into INI files, dial to your internet account or connect to a VPN network, restart Windows or shut down the computer, create shortcuts to a file, change the created/modified date of a file, change your display settings, turn off your monitor, open the door of your CD-ROM drive, and more...
NirCmd is a free download and works on Windows XP and Vista. — Kyle Pott
iPhone Data Plan at $30
Today, much of the tech press is interested in speculating on the iPhone's data plan. Here's something new to add to the conversation.
Last week, when a Cingular business sales rep told me that the date for release was June 11th, she also told me that the data plan would be $30 bucks. I have less reason to believe the date, but the pricing seems like something she knew as a fact. $30. Such an exact number.
I told her that I thought it was a bit high, since the phone doesn't have 3G. She said that they had the best data network in the country, so the phone would download fast, so again, take this with a grain of salt. This is a sales person, not an engineer. Maybe it includes Wi-Fi. Maybe you can't just get the EDGE access. That would make me a bit upset if you couldn't split the two up.
Because I can stomach the monthly fee for minutes and txt, and I can stomach the iPhone's $599 price tag, but I'm not sure I want to pay another $30 for EDGE data plus Wi-Fi. That's maybe more than I can swallow.
This is all speculation, of course.
Being a nurse means no sex life
More than half of the nurses in Great Britain feel under stress that ruins their sex life, Nursing Times research suggests.
The study conducted by Nursing Times magazine revealed that among 2,000 nurses, 70% were claiming of the emotional stress and other health problems and 44% think that these problems are negatively influencing their sex life.
Among the major factors that interfere with their intimate life are: constant pressure, lack of sleep, work burden and low salary, abuse from the families and friends of the patients. Besides, they also have to spend a lot of time watching naked bodies in far from intimate atmosphere plays its role.
Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing commented the results of the study emphasizing that nurses work in stressful situations, they are often underestimated and underpaid.
The problems uncovered by Nursing Times magazine are known not only to British nurses but to most nurses around the world.
In the study many participants told about difficulties of their work and it‛s impact on their physical and emotional health. More than 70 % of women said they do not have time for their children and families as they got overly exhausted after work. 24 % of nurses started drinking alcohol, smoking and taking drugs.
Last year survey revealed that more than a quarter of all women were harassed by managers at work.
LOLCODE
I like cats so i like this one.
Programming the LOL way. All LOLCats, LOL, ALL CAPS.
HAI! This site provides community documentation of the emergent LOLCODE language. It is our hope that the examples can grow in a way that is both internally consistent and suggest a real, feasible computing language.
The best way to start the site is with some examples to give the flavor of the language.
I’m a bit too tired to continue any more server transitioning. The wiki still has editing disabled (it really helps the responsiveness under load), but user registrations are re-enabled. Please be patient. I’ve been blown away by the positive response so far, so please don’t go away!
Examples
Linux car" first to crash at Indianapolis 500
Linux fans didn't exactly get the publicity they were hoping for at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, when the so-called "Linux car" they had sponsored proved to be the first in the race to crash, ultimately causing it to finish dead last. The car was the result of the Tux 500 campaign, which raised enough money to put the familiar Tux mascot front and center on Chastain Motorsports' #77 car in the hope that it'd raise the profile of the OS. Faring considerably better in the publicity department was Joost, which sponsored the car that wound up finishing a respectable seventh. Maybe next time the Linux folks should work on making the whole car open source.
Hacking My Kid's Brain: How a Child's Neurons Were Rewired
Here's an article yall may enjoy
Three months ago I took my 7-year-old son through a neurological treatment designed to hack his brain. It's been 90 days since his treatment ended, and I am happy to report the hack has made a huge difference.
Friends and family inevitably ask, "Dd it work?" While a simple "yes" might suffice, the specifics of Caleb's results show just how effectively a brain can recalibrate itself. Caleb is experiencing the world in a whole new way.
As a child diagnosed with sensory processing disorder, or SPD, Caleb doesn't experience senses the way other people do. Stimuli from his environment and body are sometimes misinterpreted or ignored altogether. In addition to the obvious physical difficulties manifested with this neurological disorder, it also diminishes the ability to learn, think and even socialize. Behaviors we take for granted, like eye contact and maintaining a polite distance, are often huge challenges for people with SPD.
The month-long Sensory Learning Program in Boulder, Colorado, was designed to recalibrate Caleb's reception of sensory input, reorganizing the neural pathways that process information. Read my mid-treatment report here. Caleb's visual and auditory perception is now within normal ranges and his visual-motor skills have significantly improved. The only area where Caleb still shows appreciable deficits is in proprioceptive awareness -- the sense of one's own body -- so we have turned to occupational therapy to help in this regard.
The Sensory Learning Program focuses on three modalities: vision, hearing and balance. The effectiveness of this "sensory intervention" is measured by a series of tests administered before the treatment, directly after the treatment, and once more at the end of three months.
The Auditory
Prior to the treatment, the program's creator, Mary Bolles, tested Caleb's hearing acuity. We discovered he was particularly sensitive to certain frequencies, making it difficult or even painful to hear certain sounds or voices. In addition, his hearing was not balanced; one ear was more sensitive than the other in some ranges. We were advised that due to his struggle with SPD, Caleb's hearing irregularities were probably neurological in origin.
One of the remarkable aspects of the program is that a patient's brain will continue to rewire itself even after the treatment has stopped. One month after the treatment, tests showed that some of Caleb's hearing irregularities had balanced out. The improvements were subtle, but encouraging. Three months after the treatment, his hearing test showed a nearly ideal profile of balance and sensitivity. His hearing is now quite normal.
Now that he can perceive sound correctly, Caleb is learning to listen in a whole new way. He is learning how to cope with noisy environments like his classroom, and his own speech has become more nuanced. He's even trying new phrases and turns of speech, much to our amusement. At dinner he recently remarked, "I'm tired of that. I hope it goes out of fashion soon."
The Visual
The next part of the testing involved measuring Caleb's field of vision. Although his eyes are physically healthy, his brain has been effectively ignoring his peripheral vision. This virtual tunnel vision has caused problems with everything from detecting social cues to navigating the aisle of a grocery store.
His vision has also shown steady improvement since the program ended. After one month, Caleb's perception range was nearly normal in both eyes. At three months, his visual field has expanded outward even more, and he now has usable peripheral vision. Already, I have seen signs of better situational awareness. I used to constantly pull him out of harm's way on sidewalks and in store aisles. Now he can walk with me with barely any guidance or redirection needed.
Our society is filled with visual social cues, and Caleb can now see some of them for the first time. He has started to read people's expressions to understand their emotions, and has also become much more aware of his own emotions. As a kid who also has Aspeger’s Syndrome, this is still a tough area for him; we have to coach him in picking up on cues that most kids learned by instinct years ago.
Another interesting "side-effect" is that Caleb has begun to guess peoples' motives by observing their behavior. For example, he and I like to play a computer game where the setup involves naming several robots. One night I picked names like "Chocolate Chip Cookie" and "Ice Cream." He chuckled at me and said, "You're just naming desserts because you're on a diet and can't eat any of that stuff." A few months earlier he would have never made such a connection.
The Visual-Motor
Visual-motor skills help us translate what we see into appropriate motor responses. This covers everything from copying a sentence out of a book to kicking a soccer ball. Because sensory integration is the key problem for those with SPD, a visual-motor test can provide tremendous insight into the severity of the disorder.
Before the treatment began, we tested Caleb's visual-motor skills using the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration. This well-regarded test comes up with a score by comparing the performance of thousands of people in the same age range. It's fairly straightforward: You copy various shapes drawn for you in a booklet, and your score depends on how accurate you are. Your score depends on the shape to be copied, your ability to reproduce shape intersections, angles and symmetry.
Although Caleb is very bright, his pre-treatment Beery VMI score put him in the 32nd percentile in visual-motor skills. The interesting thing about the test is that it provides a very tangible, practical metric to see how well the Sensory Learning Program is working for an individual. Seeing more is good, better hearing is good. But a measurable improvement in visual-motor acuity means the brain is really rewiring itself to integrate the senses more efficiently.
Three months after the treatment, the Beery VMI tests have revealed dramatic changes in Caleb. His VMI score increased from the 32nd to the 47th percentile, his is visual perception climbed from the 58th to the 82nd percentile and his motor coordination started in the 70th and is now in the 94th percentile. In all, his "functional age" has gone from six months behind his chronological age to several years ahead of it.
One notable effect has been on Caleb's penmanship and writing abilities. A month ago it took him 45 minutes to write four sentences on lined paper in his best penmanship. Recently he wrote a thank-you card to his teacher in less than five minutes. The card had no lines on it, and he wrote more neatly than he did on those sentences last month. His progress in this area has been astonishing.
The Unknown
Despite the encouraging results, the program isn't a quick fix for sensory processing disorder. Proprioceptive awareness is still pretty tough for Caleb. His brain may be getting the right information now, but he still has to learn how to use it for the first time. We hope that he now has the neurological wiring needed to eventually catch up with his peers in social areas. The intriguing aspect of this whole experiment is to see evidence that my son's brain continues to reorganize itself around the sensory information. Caleb is experiencing the world in new ways, and only time will tell what comes of it.
Several clinics across the United States administer the Sensory Learning Program, and thousands of people have had similarly dramatic results. Many of the people who go through the program are in the autistic spectrum, since SPD is a common issue for autistic people. A study published in February by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the prevalence of autism has increased to one in 150 people. Because of this trend, sensory interventions like this program may become mainstream through sheer necessity.
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