Persistent meditative state

Passito di Pantelleria, the wine that won Apollo's heart, faces extinction

Seeded on Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:08 AM EDT (Telegraph)

One of Italy's oldest and most prized wines is on the verge of extinction because of the back-breaking labour involved in producing it.

history, italy, agriculture, wine, greece, extinction, muscat-grape, passito-di-pantelleria

Vitter shifts $100,000 from anti-evolution religious group

Seeded on Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:05 AM EDT (NOLA.com)

Bowing to pressure, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has backed off an attempt to steer $100,000 in taxpayer money to a Louisiana Christian group that supports teaching religious and alternative theories of creation alongside evolution in science classrooms.

education, taxes, creationism, david-vitter, louisiana-family-forum

Evolution and Wisdom of Crowds: Does fundamentalist religion cause the rejection of evolution, or is it the other way around?

Seeded on Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:57 AM EDT (karmatics.com)

Conventional wisdom says that the primary reason why so many people do not accept Darwin's theory of evolution is that they find it threatening to their religious beliefs.

science, evolution, fundamentalism, darwin, wisdom-of-crowds, wkikipedia, prediction-markets, recommendation-systems

Screenshot Tour: First Look at Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac

Seeded on Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:46 AM EDT (Lifehacker)

Mac users have been waiting since 2004 for an update to Microsoft's ubiquitous office suite, and especially eagerly since Apple switched to Intel processors. Now that the 2008 release is quickly approaching, it's time to take a look at what Office 2008 for Mac has in store.

technology, software, microsoft-office, macintosh, office-2008

Nigerian Space Program Isn't a 419 Scam

Seeded on Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:38 AM EDT (Wired News)

Robert Boroffice, leader of Nigeria's National Space Research and Development Agency, or NASRDA, looks to the sky to solve his country's earthly problems of hunger and disease.

science, space, aerospace, nigeria, nasrda, robert-boroffice, hunger, satellites, international-space-station, resources

Battle brewing between Pirate Bay, recording industry over IFPI domain coup

Seeded on Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:23 AM EDT (Ars Technica)

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has taken up a new battle against pirates, but this one is different than previous legal pursuits.

technology, internet, website, the-pirate-bay, coup, ifpi

Clinton Takes Stand on Drivers License Issue (Sort Of)

Seeded on Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:16 PM EDT (The New York Times)

I think it's important to bring everybody out of the shadows. To do the background checks.

politics, immigration, hillary-clinton, drivers-license

What do 16,000 people do at Google?

Seeded on Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:13 PM EDT (news.com)

I'm beginning to think that besides search advertising, hiring is the thing Google does best.

business, google, employment, jobs

On Robot Companions: Can reliance on technology make us vulnerable?

Seeded on Thu Oct 18, 2007 6:54 PM EDT (eugeneweekly.com)

Technology, such as cell phones and the Internet, has created unprecedented efficiency by keeping people accessible to their friends and colleagues at all times.

technology, philosophy, robots, singularity, sherry-turkle, superficiality, efficiency, children

Viacom to offer ALL of 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' online free - no, really

Seeded on Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:30 PM EDT (The L.A. Times)

Media giant Viacom Inc. is suing YouTube Inc., but it's also taking lessons from the online video service.

entertainment, daily-show, jon-stewart, television, internet, video, viacom, youtube

Harnessing the wind to charge your gadgets

Seeded on Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:00 AM EDT (Crave)

The "HYmini" is a small charger that can power equally small gadgets, such as mobile phones and MP3 players, by using the energy of wind it absorbs while attached to a car, bicycle or even a jogger.

technology, energy, hymini, charging, power, wind

Single gender academics fail the test

Seeded on Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:20 AM EDT (BBC News)

A groundbreaking experiment splitting pupils into single sex classes has failed to deliver any real improvement. The Pembrokeshire head teacher behind the trial said in some cases single sex classes led to behaviour problems.

education, gender, uk, behaviorism

Robot Surgeon Revolutionises Cancer Surgery

Seeded on Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:13 AM EDT (wimbledonguardian.co.uk)

He has the steadiest of hands, is immune from human error and never drinks while on call. Say hello to da Vinci S, a pioneering surgeon proving to be a cut above the rest at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

health, cancer, da-vinci-s, surgery, robots

Are universities protecting students from the RIAA?

Seeded on Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:45 AM EDT (news.com)

As I wrote earlier this week, the Recording Industry Association of America has now expanded its campaign against illicit file-sharing to students at George Washington University.

entertainment, riaa, filesharing, george-washington-university, ip-address, educause

Identity theft bill would allow consumers to seek restitution

Seeded on Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:29 AM EDT (Ars Technica)

Combine all of the stolen laptops and lost hard drives in the news lately with companies being downright negligent with consumer data, and you've got a growing sense of unease among US residents about the sanctity of their personal data and the possibility of identity theft.

politics, identity-theft, data

Comp sci researchers use economic theory to disrupt malware black markets

Seeded on Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:25 AM EDT (Ars Technica)

As we've come to learn, the Internet is a great way to buy and sell various products.

business, internet, black-market, fraud, computer-science, economics

The Absolute Poker Cheating Scandal Blown Wide Open

Seeded on Wed Oct 17, 2007 5:21 PM EDT (The New York Times)

A few weeks back I blogged about allegations of cheating at an online poker site called Absolute Poker. While things looked awfully suspicious, there wasn't quite a smoking gun, and it was unclear exactly how the cheater might have cheated.

business, poker, absolute-poker, cheating, whistleblower

Roomba-Maker Unveils Kill-Bot

Seeded on Wed Oct 17, 2007 4:50 PM EDT (Wired News)

The makers of the cuter-than-cute robotic vacuum cleaner are rolling out a new machine: A big, fast-moving, semi-autonomous 'bot capable of killing a whole bunch of people at once.

technology, robotics, warfare, autonomy, weapons

Catholics bemoan pressure to provide health services that clash with their beliefs

Seeded on Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:03 PM EDT (themonitor.com)

McALLEN — The government should allow health-care providers to refuse to provide services on the basis of their religious beliefs, a nurse and Catholic medical ethicist said following a Mass honoring health-care professionals Tuesday.

health, medicine, ethics, catholicism

Oldest Embracing Lovers Found in Turkey?

Seeded on Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:22 PM EDT (National Geographic)

Two ancient skeletons found in each other's arms in a grave in Turkey might be the oldest known embracing couple, archaeologists say.

science, archeology, love, turkey

6 Police Officers Being Investigated in Steroid Case

Seeded on Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:20 PM EDT (The New York Times)

Six New York City police officers are under scrutiny in an investigation of illegal steroid use after a raid on a Brooklyn pharmacy turned up evidence that the officers may have obtained bogus prescriptions, the police said.

us-news, police, steroids, bodybuilding, pharmacy, prescriptions

Baseball strikes out again in battle over fantasy league's use of stats

Seeded on Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:18 PM EDT (Ars Technica)

While the Colorado Rockies were making headlines with their march to the World Series, Major League Baseball was striking out in a St. Louis courtroom.

business, mlb, law, baseball, st-louis, fantasy-baseball

Apple to open iPhone, iPod touch to third-party developers in early 2008

Seeded on Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:15 PM EDT (Ars Technica)

Steve Jobs today announced that Apple is working on a software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone and iPod touch so that third-party developers can build native applications for the devices.

technology, apple, applications, third-party, steve-jobs, sdk, ipod, macworld

Watch Your Language: What our words reveal about our minds, but not about the world

Seeded on Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:23 PM EDT (Slate)

Under Chomsky's sway for four decades, most of linguistics and related sciences focused on the structure and rules of language, at the expense of meaning.

philosophy, linguistics, noam-chomsky, steven-pinker, language, psychology