http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7966770.stm
Watching how a toddler responds to animations could help diagnose autism, research has suggested. Babies usually start paying attention to movement soon after birth, and pick up information from the cues they see but children with autism often do not. A study, published in Nature, where two-year-olds were shown manipulated animations found those with autism focussed on movement linked to sound.
Look past Jesse's unctuous self-promotion (I know Deebs and Nart too!) and read GhostNet, Conficker, and the New Arms Race. If you don't know the citizen lab, Catsy worked there after she worked for me, and before she went to google. She's one of the developers of Psiphon. Good to know what you world governments are up to.
Canadian research uncovers cyber espionage network
Canadian researchers have uncovered an internet spy network, based mostly in China, that has hacked into computers owned by governments and private organizations in 103 countries.
The findings released Sunday follow a 10-month investigation by researchers from the Ottawa-based think tank SecDev Group and the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto.
Sorry. I'm not shocked that some nation-state is doing something. I'm only shocked that someone got around to noticing. When catsy move on from working with me to working with the citizen lab it was clear that this sort of information was not only around, but available. The chinese state can deny it. And they may be innocent. It could be another country's initiative working via china, and china is the victim. Any state that denies that it is happening at all is lying, imho. Victim or perp.
How Microsoft put Apple owners on the defensive - Apple 2.0 is very interesting. It agrees with the microsoft ads that Macs suck because they don't suck. That is... a quality machine is bad, and a POS (piece of silliness) is good... because it is cheap. It also suggests that there is something wise about buying cheap garbage over reasonably priced garbage. Read the whole thing. It suggests that because people are pointing out inaccuracies in the commercial, it was a good commercial. So, we have an actress, pretending to be a non-actress, who doesn't actually go into an apple store, only pretending to, buying a computer running Vista (a moribund operating system) with out of date hardware and a 3rd rate CPU. And this is better than a real person buying a good operating system on good hardware.
To be honest, I will buy any computer that's better than an Apple. In a minute. I've just never found one. As I say with apple products... "They just suck the least." And whenever someone says that their puter is better, I run to it, only find out that they've forgotten to mention, or more likely aren't power users enough to notice, that it has a multitude of impairments and impediments that they either live with or are oblivious to. Like saying your car is better, and cheaper... but it doesn't go on the highway or work when it is wet. Some people take pride in strange things. They prefer to make due with less. I am impressed with someone who still uses DOS3.2.1 on a 386. That's cool. Woodburning stoves are cool. Commuting by bicycle is cool. Home-made wine is cool. Buying dead tech and pretending it isn't is just silliness.
THanks for the URL rochelle!
The Food Section: French Balk at Changing How Rosé Is Made
Winegrowers in Provence are angered over European Union plans to allow vintners to make rosé wine by mixing together red and white wines. Rosé is traditionally made by leaving the skins of red wine grapes to macerate with the juice for a short time, which tints the wine pink. The solids are then removed.
Buridan knows I like good proper rosé. Preferably Tavels, Bandols and some others. He has also at various times denied that rosé wines exist, and that all wines are blush or something. Blush wines are fake blends of red and white. Rosé wines, when made properly, are dry, big wines... with all the energy and complexity of a Rhone red, but with a lighter back end. Good drinking. Blush wines are fruity things that should be sold along side wine coolers and sugar drinks. If the EU can't tell the difference, what hope is there for cultural diversity in the world. EU will perhaps be to europe what MacD is to america. The great leveler.
Buridan just sent me this link. I'm really interested in the role of informal learning about science. I'm not so interested in Informal Science Education, however. One, IMHO, leads to engagement and internal motivation, and the other is a more temporary and passive external motivational experience. But that's just my opinion, and I look forward to being proven wrong. Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE)
What can informal science education contribute to efforts to engage publics with science-related issues? That's the main focus of a report now available on the CAISE website, Many Experts, Many Audiences: Public Engagement with Science and Informal Science Education (PDF, 3MB). The report sums up work over the last year by a CAISE Inquiry Group led by Larry Bell of the Museum of Science, Boston, and Tiffany Lohwater of AAAS. Also contributing were Jane Lehr of TWIST (Theatre Workshop in Science, Technology, & Society, California Polytechnic), Bruce Lewenstein of Cornell University, Cynthia Needham of ICAN Productions, and Ben Wiehe of WGBH, as well as CAISE Co-PI John Falk and CAISE's former director, Ellen McCallie (now of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh).
The group offers this report as food for thought and discussion. To that end, they will be leading a one-week online discussion starting March 23 in ASTC Connect, the online learning center, cohosted by ASTC and the New York Hall of Science's TryScience project. The asynchronous discussion will take place in the forum called "Working with Scientists and Volunteers." To enroll, set up an account on ASTC Connect, at connect.astc.org, and use the keycode "volts" to enroll yourself.
Brazil President Blames 'White People' for Crisis
Brazil's president blamed "white people with blue eyes" for the world economic crisis and said it was wrong that developing countries should pay for mistakes made in richer countries, sparking accusations of racism.
"This crisis was caused by the irrational behavior of white people with blue eyes, who thought they knew everything and now show they know nothing," Lula da Silva said...
When challenged about his claims, Lula said: "I only record what I see in the press. I am not acquainted with a single black banker," according the Guardian newspaper.
I can't say anything about banking. The only banking officials I've dealt with over the past 20 years were Zelia, and she is Portuguese (Azorian I think), and Munisa, and she's of Indian extraction. Perhaps it is a Toronto thing, but I don't remember seeing blond/blues in my banking experience. Perhaps Lula da Silva should come and hang in my neck of the woods. To be fair, everyone who has bought into the model that economists can tell anything of value from their models with any certainty or that they would be responsible for their thoughts and actions should look in the mirror first. I never understood why countries didn't bypass the G8 and do their own thing... but no... greed is universal, and Brazil like everyone else wanted to play with the big boys, and got bit along with them. Nothing to do cept look in the mirror and ask "why did I buy in to the system?"
Brazil President Blames 'White People' for Crisis
Brazil's president blamed "white people with blue eyes" for the world economic crisis and said it was wrong that developing countries should pay for mistakes made in richer countries, sparking accusations of racism.
"This crisis was caused by the irrational behavior of white people with blue eyes, who thought they knew everything and now show they know nothing," Lula da Silva said...
When challenged about his claims, Lula said: "I only record what I see in the press. I am not acquainted with a single black banker," according the Guardian newspaper.
I can't say anything about banking. The only banking officials I've dealt with over the past 20 years were Zelia, and she is Portuguese (Azorian I think), and Munisa, and she's of Indian extraction. Perhaps it is a Toronto thing, but I don't remember seeing blond/blues in my banking experience. Perhaps Lula da Silva should come and hang in my neck of the woods. To be fair, everyone who has bought into the model that economists can tell anything of value from their models with any certainty or that they would be responsible for their thoughts and actions should look in the mirror first. I never understood why countries didn't bypass the G8 and do their own thing... but no... greed is universal, and Brazil like everyone else wanted to play with the big boys, and got bit along with them. Nothing to do cept look in the mirror and ask "why did I buy in to the system?"
