I'm still using my PS3 as a BD player, primarily, so the hard drive space hasn't become an issue for me, yet. I've still got PS2 games that I haven't finished. Anyway, the last thing Sony needs to do is raise the unit price.

60GB PS3s No Longer In Sony Inventory

The debate continues...

Survey: Less Than Half of all Published Scientists Endorse Global Warming Theory

Sony's David Reeves said there was a trend among publishers to subcontract the development of PlayStation 2 versions of a next-generation game.

While producing a game for the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360 was initially difficult, there are already many experienced programmers for the PlayStation 2, Reeves said.

"You can set up your external company now, and in the next five years you can become a billionaire just developing for PS2."

PlayStation 2 Still Dominates Game-Console World

I got 100% in just under a minute, but I can't move the mouse much faster than that.

How quickly can you identify these chess players?

Physics and finance are only superficially similar. While theoretical physics captures the essence of the material world to an accuracy of 10 significant figures, theoretical finance is at best an untrustworthy, limited representation of the mysterious way in which financial value is determined. Yet Thomas Wilson, the chief insurance risk officer of the ING Group, wisely remarks: "A model is always wrong, but not useless." Despite the inadequacies of quantitative finance, we have nothing better. And, on the practical side, Andrew Sterge, the chief executive of AJ Sterge Investment Strategies, writes: "The greatest research in the world does no good if it cannot be implemented."

Finance by the Numbers

The central figure, J. Michael Bailey, a psychologist at Northwestern University, has promoted a theory that his critics think is inaccurate, insulting, and potentially damaging to transgender women. In the past few years, several prominent academics who are transgender have made a series of accusations against the psychologist, including that he committed ethics violations. A transgender woman he wrote about has accused him of a sexual impropriety, and Dr. Bailey has become a reviled figure for some in the gay and transgender communities.

The hostilities began in the spring of 2003, when Dr. Bailey published a book, “The Man Who Would Be Queen,” intended to explain the biology of sexual orientation and gender to a general audience.

“The next two years,” Dr. Bailey said in an interview, “were the hardest of my life.”

Many sex researchers who have worked with Dr. Bailey say that he is a solid scientist and collaborator, who by his own admission enjoys violating intellectual taboos.

In his book, he argued that some people born male who want to cross genders are driven primarily by an erotic fascination with themselves as women. This idea runs counter to the belief, held by many men who decide to live as women, that they are the victims of a biological mistake — in essence, women trapped in men’s bodies. Dr. Bailey described the alternate theory, which is based on Canadian studies done in the 1980s and 1990s, in part by telling the stories of several transgender women he met through a mutual acquaintance. In the book, he gave them pseudonyms, like “Alma” and “Juanita.”

“I think for me, for the work I do, honestly, I don’t really care what his theories are,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, of Dr. Bailey. “But I do want to feel like any theories that affect the lives of so many people are based in good science, and that they’re presented responsibly.”

But that, say supporters of Dr. Bailey, is precisely the problem: Who defines responsible? And at what cost is that definition violated?

(Some of my comments below were previously posted on my own website.)

Autogynephilia is described as an attraction to the image of oneself as a woman (referring to M-to-F transsexuals). It is a controversial theory intended to explain transsexualism, originated by Ray Blanchard and advanced by Anne A. Lawrence and J. Michael Bailey, in which transsexualism is caused either by homosexuality taken to an extreme (in androphilic males), or by paraphilia in the form of a misdirected sex drive (in non-androphilic males), rather than being a matter of intrinsic identity, as indicated by traditional conventional wisdom.

I do think that the theory of autogynephilia could possibly explain why some M-to-F transsexuals are the way they are, but I don't believe that autogynephilia and/or homosexuality are the o... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

Criticism of a Gender Theory, and a Scientist Under Siege

Aerogel is nicknamed “frozen smoke” and is made by extracting water from a silica gel, then replacing it with gas such as carbon dioxide. The result is a substance that is capable of insulating against extreme temperatures and of absorbing pollutants such as crude oil.

It was invented by an American chemist for a bet in 1931, but early versions were so brittle and costly that it was largely consigned to laboratories. It was not until a decade ago that NASA started taking an interest in the substance and putting it to a more practical use.

I read something about this a few years ago, but it seems to be making headlines again.

Scientists hail ‘frozen smoke’ as material that will change world.

A service offering a complete "revenge package" in which people can destroy the financial status and relationships of their enemies at the click of a mouse is being offered over the Internet. For as little as $20 a month, customers of the confidentialaccess.com Web site can make the credit ratings of people they dislike plummet, and even have them suspected of fraud. Victims' bank accounts can be shut down remotely and all their essential utilities cut off.

Website Offers to Ruin People's Lives for $20 a Month

The Rook.
Ahhh… the safety and security of bricks and mortar are the lesson to be learned here. How solid and dependable are the rooks? They occupy and guard the outer edges of the world, keeping the other players safe from invading paws, curious kittens, and insurgencies of spilt beverages. But how high is the price of such security?

I’ll tell you – it’s a terrible toll. Severely restricted movement, and a mindset programmed to think in unbending lines. Compare this to the United States, where the price of freedom is restrictions beyond their wildest nightmares – a government hellbent on tying down its own people to protect them from themselves, and others.

Thus, the Rooks are the US Government of the chess world. Bulky, cumbersome, and programmed to defend and destroy, or die trying.

The Politics of Chess

Hoping to break a political impasse, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has submitted a ballot measure asking voters whether they support blanketing the city with a wireless Wi-Fi system that would enable free Web surfing subsidized by ads from Google Inc.

The project, one of hundreds of municipal Wi-Fi systems being built or proposed across the country, has bogged down amid concerns about privacy protection, surfing speeds, and the terms of the proposed contract.

San Francisco Wi-Fi Issue Goes to Ballot