Richard Dawkins on the Chilling Effect of Fundamentalism; Are Windows XP/7 Users Smarter Than a 3-Year-Old?

Don't miss a single issue of Slashback. Add slashdot@newsletters.slashdot.org to your address book. Richard Dawkins on the Chilling Effect of Fundamentalism Are Windows XP/7 Users Smarter Than a 3-Year-Old? Judge Rules Defense Can Use Trayvon Martin Tweets $50,000 Bounty to Block Robocalls Why Does Wireless Gear Degrade Over Time? Hot Comment: The lesson for peons From the Vault: Why Do People Switch to Linux? Watch It: ARM Code for Raspberry Pi Goes Open Source Voting Booth: Best Trek Captain? Richard Dawkins on the Chilling Effect of Fundamentalism Dr. Richard Dawkins discusses religious exceptionalism with regard to the teaching of evolution, and the chilling effect of fundamentalism on the production of scientists and engineers. He also addresses Rep. Paul Broun's recent comments about evolution and the Big Bang theory, and the "Innocence of Muslims" video that led to unrest in various parts of the world. Sound Off>> Are Windows XP/7 Users Smarter Than a 3-Year-Old? Those sounding the alarm about the difficulty in making the transition to Windows 8, especially on traditional computers, should check out Adam Desrosiers' son Julian, a 3-year-old kid who uses Windows 8 like a champ. "If my 3 years old son can learn Windows 8 through very moderate usage, anybody with half a brain can do so too," Desrosiers says. With Windows 8 launching today, we'll find out soon enough. Sound Off>> Judge Rules Defense Can Use Trayvon Martin Tweets A judge in the second-degree murder case against George Zimmerman, who said he shot an unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin, in self-defense, ruled that Martin's Twitter, Facebook and school records should provided to the defense. The judge said that those files were relevant because they could show whether Martin "had an alleged propensity to violence" or aggression. Sound Off>> $50,000 Bounty to Block Robocalls The Federal Trade Commission is now offering $50,000 to anyone who can create what it calls an innovative way to block illegal commercial robocalls on landlines and mobile phones. Entries will be accepted until January 17, 2013. The winner or winners will be revealed next April. Sound Off>> Why Does Wireless Gear Degrade Over Time? Signal strength of home wireless routers tends to decreases after time. Although routers are cheap and easy to replace, acer123 is curious what actually causes the degradation and reached out to fellow Slashdotters to ask, "Can someone explain how a transmitter can slowly go bad?" Sound Off>> The lesson for peons "When you lie for your bosses, save the evidence to make sure they fall with you, because bosses have no loyalty and they LOVE to send you to face the music..." --by SmallFurryCreature Read More>> Why Do People Switch to Linux? Seven years ago, Lxer.com conducted a survey of readers who use Linux. They asked readers why they switched to Linux and received a plethora of answers. Surprisingly, anti-Microsoft sentiment had less to do with the choice than one might imagine. Read More>> ARM Code for Raspberry Pi Goes Open Source The Raspberry Pi project relies heavily on Open Source and Free Software, but some of the hardware stack that makes up the Pi itself needs closed-source code to run. But now, the system-on-a-chip at the Raspberry Pi's heart is about to get a lot more open. Alex Bradbury, who runs the Linux software work for the project, talks about licensing and what the new code means not only for Raspberry Pi but for users and other OS projects. Watch the Video>> Best Trek Captain? Kirk Picard Sisko Janeway Archer Pike? Why not Log (the one they're always talking to) I have no soul and don't like Trek Cast Your Vote>> Follow Slashdot on Twitter and Facebook. To unsubscribe, click here or send an email to: unsubscribe-213087@elabs10.com To ensure delivery of this newsletter to your inbox and to enable images, please add slashdot@newsletters.slashdot.org to your e-mail address book or safe senders list. Slashdot | 594 Howard Street, Suite 300 | San Francisco, CA 94105 To view our Privacy Policy click here.