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Rocket scientists, long considered the gold standard in intelligence among all professionals, are not nearly as smart as originally thought, according to a controversial new study published today by the American Association of Brain Surgeons. The study, which appears in the organization's monthly publication, Popular Brain Surgery, is entitled "The Intelligence of Rocket Scientists: Myth Versus Reality," and suggests that rocket scientists' reputation for smartness is largely undeserved. "It does require a superior intellect to function as a rocket scientist," the article concedes. "Having said that, though, rocket science is not brain surgery." The article drew an immediate rebuke from...

this New York Times photograph of a crowd of Lebanese refugees: This is probably nothing. If it’s photo manipulation, it’s certainly an incredibly mundane example, and I can’t think of a reason why anyone would do it. I’m tossing this to the lizardoid community for comment from the other photoshop geeks out there, without rendering any judgment yet. In other words, I am not saying this is a definite fake; I know we’ve got quite a few experts at digital manipulation among our readers, and I’m sincerely asking for their opinions. But look at the image of the man in...

MENLO PARK, California (AP) -- They may sport love handles and Ivy League degrees, but every two weeks, some Silicon Valley techies turn into vicious street brawlers in a real-life, underground fight club. Kicking, punching and swinging every household object imaginable -- from frying pans and tennis rackets to pillowcases stuffed with soda cans -- they beat each other mercilessly in a garage in this bedroom community south of San Francisco.

So why is illegal immigration sucha problem? This cartoon breaks it down for you in four simple panels.

We Support Our Troops!  For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.Part 1 Today we'll look at some gadgets that changed the way we lived  in the 1950's, 60's and 70's.  Next week, we'll look at the 80's  and 90's.  I'm sure you can think of MANY more gadgets in these eras.  Please share them with us!*All single starred items below indicate that I had one of these. (If prior to 1973, my parents had one and I got to use it. I started young, folks!)  **All double-starred items indicate...

New thread for this week. Congrats to all new members who joined this week! We've made excellent progress so far and have smoked the DUmmies and Kossacks. Let's keep folding!

A continuation of the Freeper Folder Thread

Today is one of the worst days for Technical Support people in the computer industry. People around the globe, unwrapping their new computers, iPods, cell phones, and other technological marvels will be popping in the batteries or plugging in various connectors only to find out they have absolutely no idea what they're doing. It gives me chills down my spine. There's no telethon for chills down the spine, is there? I'd be the poster child, standing up on stage with... um... Christopher Lloyd or...um... Rob Schneider. Yeah, any time a movie of his is out, I've got Spine Chill Syndrome....

Aliens landed in Palmdale last week. At least that's what it looked like from the Antelope Valley Freeway. An eerie green glow emanated from hangar 703, near Plant 42, shining across miles of sleepy houses. From the Vista Point, it looked like Venus had descended from the night sky and taken up residence on Avenue P. I followed the light. Because that's what you do with ominous and unexplained lights, right? You follow them. Besides, it was only 2:30 in the morning. OK, full disclosure, I had directions to the source of the green light. I didn't need them, but...

Chalk another one up for the Conservative war room. The gang that brought you the "Paul Martin Supports Child Porn" news release in the 2004 campaign made another embarrassing error on the second day of the election campaign. Early on Wednesday, Press Gallery reporters were informed about a press conference with Conservative MP Jason Kenney shortly after noon regarding an offensive item on the Liberal party Web site. The press conference was to be held at the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill as the temperature hovered around zero. About five minutes later, reporters were told the press conference would be...

Go into almost any nightclub across the country and you'll see great-looking women and hungry men on the prowl, craving chemistry, connection — and a phone number. They're all looking for love. But the oldest game in the world can be brutal. "Either you have it or you don't. Some guys are smooth, some guys aren't. That's it," said an attractive clubgoer in South Beach, Miami, named Kristi. "There's the losers and the winners." Maybe that's right, but there's also a movement afoot that says the art of seduction can be learned. One of its students is Joel, a successful...

Hewlett-Packard employees in Palo Alto are working to save the house and one-car garage — dubbed the birthplace of Silicon Valley — where William "Bill" Hewlett and David Packard began manufacturing their first product in 1939. "We took the whole thing apart and are rebuilding it using the original frame and original 52 boards," said archivist Anna Mancini, who's overseeing the restoration. "We want to do it right. We want to do everything right." After dismantling the 12-foot-by-18-foot garage, sanding down the boards to eliminate termites and reinforcing the frame to withstand earthquakes, workers nailed the original Douglas-fir planks back...

Where are all the women who forsake social outings to stay up all night writing computer code and read science fiction? Most of those computer "geeks" (as the stereotype goes) live in countries that mandate math and science courses through the teenage years. That's one of the conclusions of a new study exploring the gender gap in computer science, a profession dominated by men. Professors of sociology at the University of California at San Diego and Western Washington released a study Friday that showed that women are vastly underrepresented in computer science in 21 nations--Germany, Czech Republic and Belgium being...

Everyone has gotten at least one of these. Someone in Nigeria has died and left 879 billion dollars to them, but it is a) in a foreign bank b)being held from the poor recipient unjustly c) waiting on someone to pay some fees or any number of other reasons why the recipient can't get the money. Some of the situations change to ruthless industrial tycoons who face death and are now repentant and want to disburse their riches to widows in refugee camps.

It is arguable that the most famous line in “Revenge of the Sith” comes from Padme Amidala. When Palpatine announces to a rapturous Senate that the Republic is to be re-organised as the first Galactic Empire, she says: "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause”. We are supposed to infer from this statement that freedom has been traded for security, and democracy traded for a dictatorship. As such, it is supposed to be a dark day, a tragedy, one which will take 20 years and the original three films to remedy. However the question that no one asks...

For some in the tech industry, the chance to see Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in its opening couple of days is just not something they're willing to pass up—at any cost. And while that early viewing may be a badge of honor for geeks around the world, the "Star Wars flu" may pull down productivity figures, analysts warned. "There's nothing like being here for the first showing," said an IT manager for a financial brokerage firm on Wednesday, while standing in line in front of the Metreon theater complex in San Francisco. He had called in...

My computer crashed today. Again. The third time in a year. The news of a computer problem comes as a shock to absolutely no one because every one of us has experienced a major computer crisis within the last year. Like death and taxes, computer crashes are as common as Paris Hilton home videos — if you don't already have one, you will soon. The problem is — I'm a writer. If my computer doesn't work, I don't get paid. This is difficult to explain to the geeks who "fix" my unruly laptop. They have all the time in the...

If a movie isn't playing at a theater, will its fans sill line up outside? For "Star Wars" fans, the answer is a resounding yes.Saturday, 46 days before "Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith" opens on May 19, the trilogy's enthusiats began their vigil outside Grauman's Chinese Theater.Problem is 20th Century Fox doesn't plan to open the film at the Chinese, opting instead for the ArcLight a few blocks east."Star Wars" or no, the diehards are resolute about keeping their line on Hollywood Boulevard.

Stress kills 6 IT geeks The Asianage (3/29/2005 12:15:05 AM) Chennai, March 28: Six software professionals under the age of 33 have died and two top executives from renowned software companies have become paralysed because of stress-related heart ailments in the last six months in Chennai, says a study by Mitran Foundation, a Bangalore-based voluntary association of practising doctors. "All the six who died, and the two who became invalid, had no family history of heart attacks or any pre-history of heart ailments or paralysis. They were all in their prime, between 27 and 33 years, and handled challenging projects...

It seems like just about every day some group, organization or individual gets the word out through the media pipeline that they are not happy with W. A few days ago it was the farmers, and now the geeks have voiced their disapproval of Bush. Members of the American Association for Advancement of Science had a meeting yesterday at which they talked about lots of things I don't understand, and managed to get in a few digs at the President. W. is, silencing the voice of science because money for research and advanced training are being cut. Even worse, according...