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Earth

'Sea Nomads' Are First Known Humans Genetically Adapted To Diving (nationalgeographic.com) 111

Posted by BeauHD from the years-in-the-making dept.
schwit1 shares a report from National Geographic: Most people can hold their breath underwater for a few seconds, some for a few minutes. But a group of people called the Bajau takes free diving to the extreme, staying underwater for as long as 13 minutes at depths of around 200 feet. These nomadic people live in waters winding through the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, where they dive to hunt for fish or search for natural elements that can be used in crafts. Now, a study in the journal Cell offers the first clues that a DNA mutation for larger spleens gives the Bajau a genetic advantage for life in the deep.
Businesses

Samsung Billionaire Gets Off Easy (gizmodo.com) 93

Posted by BeauHD from the scot-free dept.
Lee Jae-yong, the Samsung chief found guilty of bribery and embezzlement, was freed from prison after an appeals court reduced and suspended his five-year prison sentence. Gizmodo reports: Lee had pleaded not guilty to all charges and spent nearly a year in jail, CNN reported, before the appeals court reduced his sentence to two and a half years and suspended it for four. The court reportedly found him guilty of one bribery charge, but not of hiding money offshore. It also overturned another bribery charge. It's important to understand that Samsung has a tight grip on the country's economy. Known as a "chaebol," or a (usually family-owned) business conglomerate, Samsung contributes to a little over one-fifth of the country's exports. Its businesses make up about 15 percent of the country's total economy. It is extremely rare for leaders of the country's chaebols to be justly punished for their crimes -- most convicted are ultimately pardoned or granted a commutation. Lee's father, Lee Kun-hee, has been pardoned twice for similar charges.

Comment Re:Gee, so only a year of screaming (Score 0) 387

Nothing I mentioned is a "workaround." Most of it has been the expected way to get to settings and programs since Windows Vista (and even more so in Windows 7, which many people love), so I don't know why you claim it's a "workaround." It's not any less usable or functional than Windows 7. It's certainly not "less stable" - I don't even know why you'd make that claim. The core OS is far more stable and MUCH faster than any of its predecessors.

The "nightmarishly bad UI" is barely even there when you're working from the desktop, so I don't really get all of the animosity. Some people just hate change, regardless of the value of the changes.

Comment Re:Gee, so only a year of screaming (Score 0) 387

"Things that used to be two clicks or even one in XP and still are in Linux now take 8-10 clicks in and out of Metro to do the same thing."

Then you're doing it wrong. Press Windows key (or Windows+S), type, click or press enter on the one you want. For example, mouse settings - Windows key, type mouse, click one. You can do this with any program or setting. You could do pretty much the same in Win7's start menu, but it's faster in Win8. Even with Windows 7, I've never understand why people think navigating through folders in the Start menu or going through Control panel is faster or easier.

Even better, try Win+X for the "expert menu." When I work on Win7 VMs now, the UI feels slow and awkward to navigate because I can get to a lot of things much faster in Win8.1. And I use it on a quad-monitor development box with no touch.

As for "Metro" - it's not that bad. Stop whining about change. You never have to use it if you don't want to. I use the start screen for pinned tiles that show me stock quotes, weather, calendar, and news. It's handy for that. I snap Xbox Music to the side of one monitor. Otherwise, I don't use modern apps on my dev box. I do use them on my Surface for touch. Either way, I'm not forced to use it and the OS works quite well.
Businesses

Should Gaming Worlds Join the Workplace? 68

Posted by Soulskill from the gotta-farm-those-tps-reports dept.
destinyland writes "A Stanford professor argues that gaming worlds can keep workers engaged, and advocates elements of World of Warcraft or Second Life to hone workplace skills like teamwork, leadership, and data analysis. An IBM report also argues games like World of Warcraft teach leadership and that 'there is no reason to think the same cannot be done in corporate settings of various sizes.' The professor even suggests putting online gaming experiences into your resume. ('There's just so much that gets done [in a virtual world] that's just right on target with what happens in real business.') And Google's CEO also claims that multiplayer gaming also provides good career training, especially for technology careers. 'Everything in the future online is going to look like a multiplayer game. If I were 15 years old, that's what I would be doing right now... It teaches players to build a network, to use interactive skills and thinking.'"

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