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User: jmrives

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  1. Re: gene linked to intelligence? on Small Genetic Change Responsible For Blond Hair · · Score: 1

    Based on your system, all we have to do is look at Greece to conclude that Western Europeans are much more intelligent than the Greeks.

  2. Re:gene linked to intelligence? on Small Genetic Change Responsible For Blond Hair · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is unfortunate that most people -- even modern Africans -- are unaware of the ancient achievements that came out of Africa.

    Many of the modern high-school level concepts in mathematics were first developed in Africa -- as was the first method of counting. These concepts include division and multiplication of fractions and geometric formulas to calculate the area and volume of shapes. They also invented mathematical methods for measuring distances and the use of angles -- including dividing a circle into 360 degrees and an early estimate of pi.

    Eight thousand years ago, people in present-day Zaire developed their own numeration system, as did Yoruba people in what is now Nigeria. The Yoruba system was based on units of 20 (instead of 10) and required an impressive amount of subtraction to identify different numbers. Scholars have lauded this system, as it required much abstract reasoning.

    This is just in the area of mathematics. Several ancient African cultures birthed discoveries in astronomy. Many of these are foundations on which we still rely, and some were so advanced that their mode of discovery still cannot be understood. Egyptians charted the movement of the sun and constellations and the cycles of the moon. They divided the year into 12 parts and developed a yearlong calendar system containing 365 ¼ days. Clocks were made with moving water and sundial-like clocks were used.

    Many advances in metallurgy and tool making were made across the entirety of ancient Africa. These include steam engines, metal chisels and saws, copper and iron tools and weapons, nails, glue, carbon steel and bronze weapons and art.

    Advances in Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago surpassed those of Europeans then and were astonishing to Europeans when they learned of them. Ancient Tanzanian furnaces could reach 1,800C — 200 to 400C warmer than those of the Romans.

    There are plenty of other examples in areas such as architecture, engineering, medicine and navigation.

    Here are some references for your perusal:

    • 1. Kresge, N. “A history of black scientists.” ASBMB Today. February 2011.
    • 2. Van Sertima, I. “The Lost Sciences of Africa: An Overview.” Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern. 7 – 26 (1983).
  3. Re:Yea, I'm sure he gives a rat's ass. on Iran Court Summons Mark Zuckerberg For Facebook Privacy Violations · · Score: 1

    Unless something has changed recently, there is no such as Catholic divorce. In order to separate as a couple, the marriage has to be annulled, which is usually accomplished by establishing the one or the other or both parties were unfit to enter into such an agreement at the time of the marriage.

  4. So its okay for employees to have unions ... but not for businesses?

    Hypocrisy at its greatest.

    Ignorance at its greatest

  5. Re:what you need them for? on Ask Slashdot: Can an Old Programmer Learn New Tricks? · · Score: 1

    I, for one, completely agree with you. There are good, useful frameworks out there -- at least in the Java world.

    I use Hibernate because it is very flexible and does the heavy lifting with regards to ORM and caching. Do I use it because I am lazy? No, I have written database access code in C, C++ as well as early Java. I use it because it frees me up to focus on the business logic of the application

    I also, highly recommend using Spring. The power and flexibility of dependency injection alone is worth it.

    Again, Maven is an invaluable framework.

  6. Re:Why? on Samsung Creates Phone With Curved Display · · Score: 1

    I agree with you. There is no one mobile form factor that is suitable for all. For instance, this mobile is probably not suitable for me because I do use my device while sitting on a flat surface (table, bar, etc...) quite often.

  7. Re:Why? on Samsung Creates Phone With Curved Display · · Score: 1

    I wonder. The human chest is not flat. In fact, I think flat phones look a bit out of place in a shirt pocket.

  8. Re:Why? on Samsung Creates Phone With Curved Display · · Score: 1

    Yes, it will be easier to hold but will be more awkward when placed on a flat surface screen-side up.

  9. Re:Typical high-tech over-engineered solution ... on New App Aims To Track Your Dreams · · Score: 1

    Back when I used to record my dreams, I found that if I recalled them in reverse chronological order, I was able to go further back into my dream. By this, I mean you start by what happened last, then try to remember what happened before that and so forth.

  10. Re:Windows is an option today - not an requirement on German Government Warns Windows 8 Is an Unacceptable Security Risk · · Score: 1

    Perhaps, you need a lesson in history. The earliest Unix that came out of Bell Labs -- thanks to people like Richie and Thompson -- was essentially given away to Universities for free.

  11. Re:I HAVE RISEN !! on First Observations of Short-lived Pear-shaped Atomic Nuclei · · Score: 1

    Co-ed..., now there is an archaic sexist term.

  12. Re:Not smart Enough? on Scientists Say People Aren't Smart Enough For Democracy To Flourish · · Score: 2

    Voting is tougher. In the early days of the USA, only a small minority could vote. You had to be white, male, and you had to own land at a time when most people didn't. Obviously the requirement that voters be white was plain racism, though at the time the same racism meant only whites would be educated. The exclusion of women meant that what we now call "big government" proposals had less support automatically (this has been proven and I don't care how anyone feels about facts - women tend to look for security from an external source and the government is only too happy to offer it). The exclusion of anyone who didn't own land tended to mean the voters were educated and prosperous enough that they could devote time to being active in politics.

    Are you advocating that we return to some version of our initial voting rights? It is hard to tell from your statement. Are you suggesting that we take voting rights away from women? You make a reference to facts. Yet, you make no effort to provide these facts nor the evidence that supports them. That makes your analysis of these supposed facts a bit suspect. As for the landowner limitation, well..., that no longer guarantees education, nor prosperity, nor lots of free time.

    What I'd like to see is some kind of very tough civics test as a requirement for voting. It should be as openly and transparently administered as possible, so that anyone who wants to study and learn could pass it but very few who didn't care to study would stand a chance. In addition, anyone currently receiving some form of "entitlement" should not get to vote because what they're going to vote for is not difficult to guess and this situation is too exploitable and too dangerous for our long-term survival. The last thing I would change is that all campaigns be publically funded, each candidate gets a very generous amount, and any other "contributions" are treasonous bribery resulting in a death penalty for the candidate and 20 years in prison for the one "contributing" the money.

    I seriously doubt that you could develop such a test. If it is simple enough that anyone could pass if they study, it will make little difference with regards to the actual election process. Most voters will still lack the education to understand the complexities of our economy. Even professional economists disagree about various aspects.

    I am not sure what to say about your "entitlement" statement. It occurs to me that this would include the vast majority of retired people who are taking Social Security and possibly Medicare. This means, at some point, this would include you -- unless, of course, you intend to refuse to accept your Social Security benefits.

    Now, the publicly funded campaign idea is one I could get behind wholeheartedly. Of, course, we could quibble over the exact amount that candidates would receive but that is a side issue. I completely agree that outside contributions should be treated as a severe breach of our system and treated accordingly. In addition, I think all spending by the candidates must be accounted for. That will ensure that they do not spend more than the government allotment. Now, some thought must go into how or if this would apply to party primaries. Thoughts anyone?

    With something like that, we could have a nation again.

  13. Re:Sorry folks... on NASA To Drastically Cut Mars Mission Funding · · Score: 1

    Perhaps, you have a different definition of "running deep into the red". Currently, the Social Security trust fund is more than paying for itself. The latest report estimates that the fund will be depleted in 2037. By this, it means that the trust fund will only be able to cover 78% of the costs. That is up 2% over last year -- even with our current economic situation. There are even optimistic scenarios that show the fund will never reach depletion.

  14. Re:No reason to celebrate now. on IE6 Almost Dead In the US · · Score: 1

    Bad Apple!!!

  15. Re:No reason to celebrate now. on IE6 Almost Dead In the US · · Score: 1

    You just need to use a shim like Parallels or Fusion, then add some other drivers like Windows 7.

    Not much of a problem...

    I see. So in order to use IE9 on my MacBook Pro, I need to spend $79.99 for Parallels and $119.99 for Windows 7. Whereas, I can use Safari, Firefox and Chrome for free. Hmmm....

  16. Re:No reason to celebrate now. on IE6 Almost Dead In the US · · Score: 1

    Like I said, I am having problems finding the Mac OSX installer. A serious browser is cross platform.

  17. Re:No reason to celebrate now. on IE6 Almost Dead In the US · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I seem to be having problems finding the Mac OSX DMG for it.

  18. Re:Really Has Nothing to Do with Development on Why Developers Still Prefer iOS To Android · · Score: 1

    Why Developers Still Prefer iOS To Android

    Is there something inherently better with iOS development?

    Yes. iOS has an integrated development environment including debugging tools that allow on the fly changes to the code while debugging.

    I am not sure what you mean by integrated. Integrated with what? Android has a sophisticated development environment which includes a debugger that allows on the fly changes to the code while debugging. So, no advantage there to iOS.

    Is the API better written?

    Yes. The iOS API is more feature rich and provides things like low latency audio.

    The claim is that the iOS API is more feature rich and we are given one -- just one -- example. Yes, it is true. iOS supports better low latency audio. In return, the Android API provides a MUCH richer background task capability. It also provides a tighter integration with various Google services such as Google Maps.

    Is there some technological inferiority to Android? Is it cheaper to buy the development tools for iOS?

    Yes, as mentioned above, there is no low latency audio support and the interface has a normal priority instead of high priority which is one of the major reasons why the UI on android phones feels sluggish at times.

    Android did not even have a native SDK until recently and you were forced to write everything against the Dalvik JVM.

    Well, lets see. The Android SDK was originally released in February of 2009, which coincided with their release of Android version 1.1. I guess it depends on your definition of "recently". The SDK, which is FREE, also comes with a FREE plugin for Eclipse. Eclipse is also a FREE, open source IDE. So, basically, you can have a feature rich Android development environment for FREE! The priority of the interface on Android is up to the developer.

  19. Re:What an appalling title on Apple Loses Tablet Battle In Australia · · Score: 1

    Opinions are just that..., opinions. In your opinion, you make three very strong assertions. Yet, you provide no evidence to back them up. That is hardly convincing now, is it?

  20. Re:Next up. on Mexican Gov't Shuts Down Zetas' Secret Cell Network · · Score: 3, Informative

    Very true. I do not smoke pot and I think the prohibition against it is both stupid and very harmful to people on this planet. There are a LOT of people in prison for non-violent, drug related crimes. If you have not encountered this organization LEAP, you should.

  21. Still in the game... on Half Life of a Tech Worker: 15 Years · · Score: 1

    Last month, I turned 55. I am still working as a software developer. Granted, I was a bit later to the game than the typical college graduate. I spent my late teens and early 20s traveling instead of going straight to college. I did eventually get an undergraduate degree in Computer Science and went on to graduate school in the same field when I was 29. I made the choice early on to work as an independent contractor and not take an employee position in a corporation. I have worked in a variety of different domains. Some of my contracts have been long 4+ years. Some have been very short. The constant interviewing with clients and moving from one project to another has kept me on my toes. I am generally able to keep my skill set up to the latest, emerging technologies.

  22. Long Term Contracts on A Job Fair For Jobs In India — In California · · Score: 1

    Perhaps, this is off topic. For that, I apologize. I see no reason that long term, multi-year contracts should not be normal. I am an independent software development contractor and have been for many years. I prefer to work for myself. I also prefer long-term contracts. I have had several. One lasted for 4.5 years. I was there longer than some of their employees.

  23. Re:So cool... on Oracle To Pay US Almost $200M To Resolve False Claims Lawsuit · · Score: 1

    If they failed to meet the obligation to you, then you should use them.

    You're post is nonsense. Probably do to you trying to be clever about something you are ignorant of.

    I guess we will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that English is not even your second language.

  24. Re:Markets do not work on Neal Stephenson On 'Innovation Starvation' · · Score: 2

    Deregulation is the war cry of the conservative corporatist -- not the liberals. Of course, the terms conservative and liberal are used in such general ways as to be mostly useless. Someone who is in favor of more EPA regulation can rightly be considered to be an environmental conservative (as in conservation). It is quite possible for someone to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal at the same time -- those are not mutually exclusive concepts or stances.

  25. Re:Java still there on To Stop BEAST, Mozilla Developer Proposes Blocking Java Framework · · Score: 2

    Just so that there is no confusion..., Google does support Java in a big way. Java is the development language for Android. They also provide Google Web Toolkit, which allows one to write browser side code in Java which then gets translated into HTML and Javascript. There are Eclipse plug-ins for both Android and GWT SDKs. I use them daily and I am very pleased with Googles support of Java and these software development kits.