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POPSMicrosoft goes for the open source jugular Microsoft was starting to look like they'd changed their ways, like they were going to compete on the merits of their software, not on the premise of litigating everyone else out of business. The large majority of these patents have prior art and never should have been granted, others are common sense. This is a very offensive move from MS against a HUGE community of open source users, including you. Check out William Hurley's article about what the world would be like without open source software if you don't believe me. MS is grasping at straws here, and It's certainly not going to win them any PR.
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POPSRussian professor predicts disintigration of United States I strongly recommend reading the entire article. While it's hard to imagine his prediction coming true; given that our banks have become dependent on the government for survival and the government seems dependent on China for survival, it doesn't seem impossible. Further, this idea can't be taken lightly given the tense, extremely divisive nature of U.S. politics (look at the uproar between the different factions in the auto bailout as an example).
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POPSIrony on decline ? An interesting read. I believe that irony is a fair measure of an healthy and active intelligence. A steady decline in irony may carry consequences as serious as global warming. It might mean we become rigid thinkers imprisoned within our own conceptions and less inclined towards this highly intelligent mix of critical thinking and humor.
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POPS52 AMAZING Shots of Classic Cars Merging between both the art of photography and auto design can produce wonderful photography artwork that tell about the great classic cars design story through the history, no matter if these classic cars are shown in a gallery in a big city or parked on a far away deserted farm, but the beauty of the effect is the same and will never change.
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POPSDo You Want to Believe? New research indicates that in situations in which a person is not in control, they're more likely to spot patterns where none exist, see illusions, and believe in conspiracy theories
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POPSAmerica's "BRUTAL Approach to Punishment. "
Inextricably linked to the long history of racial inequality, with blacks put away in numbers vastly disproportionate to their overall population. The states with the highest ratio of prisoners per population are all former slave states with long traditions of jailhouse brutality, chain gangs and other barbaric practices: Louisiana (816 prisoners per 100,000 people), Texas (694) and Mississippi (669). In many states, blacks are up to 15 times as likely as whites to find themselves behind bars. In Florida, one in three adult black men has a criminal record. Some trends are more recent - tied, in particular, to the mania for tough-on-crime legislation that has swept state after state in the past 25 years. The national prison population up 400% since 1980, the increase fuelled in particular by the "war on drugs" and incarceration of petty drug offenders. Exacerbated a host of problems from overcrowding to prison rape to the formation of ultra-violent prison gangs, many racial
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POPS86 Percent Of Americans Could Be Overweight Or Obese By 2030 “The health care costs attributable to obesity and overweight are expected to more than double every decade. This would account for 15 to 17 percent of total health care costs spent,” Wang says. “Due to the assumptions we made and the limitations of the available data, these figures are likely an underestimation of the true financial impact.”
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POPSTrading Algorithms Profit from Mood Swings If other traders are being aggressive – for example, by attempting to undercut others – it raises its game to trade even more aggressively. If trading is less competitive, the software acts less aggressively and calmly aims for the biggest profits available. Secondly, the software can also use past market trends to try to forecast future conditions. If a period of volatility seems likely, the software changes its behaviour more frequently, meaning it is more likely to be ready to exploit any sudden switches in conditions. "The majority of share trading in Europe is now handled by algorithms," says Richard Balarkas, CEO of Instinet Europe a leading algorithmic trading firm. Trading software that is able to read and respond to market behaviour like a human is very desirable, he says
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POPS2057: The World, The City, The Body 2057 is a Discovery Channel television program hosted by theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. It premiered on January 28, 2007 and attempts to predict what the world will be like in 50 years based on current trends. The show takes the form of a docu-drama with three separate episodes, each having informative stories ingrained into the plot. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2057_%28TV_series%29 Via {{thefoxalmighty}}'s clip