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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

9,500-year-old figurines found in Israel

Archaeologists have uncovered two 9,500-year-old cultic figurines in excavations just outside of Jerusalem, the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) reported Wednesday, Aug. 29.

Found at the Tel Moza archaeological site, one of the Neolithic figures is a limestone ram with precisely carved spiral horns. "The sculpting is extraordinary and precisely depicts details of the anima's image," the IAA excavators said in a statement about the ram, adding that "the head and the horns protrude in front of the body and their proportions are extremely accurate." The other is a more abstract sculpture of a wild bovine fashioned from dolomite, according to the IAA. Both are about 6 inches (15 centimeters) long.

Archaeologists believe these objects might have had cultic importance for the people who created them.

The animal figurines were found near the remains of an ancient round building, dating back to a dynamic time in the region's history when humans were transitioning from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of farming and settling in villages. [Photos of the Figurines]

'Presumably, the figurines served as good-luck statues for ensuring the success of the hunt.'

- Archaeologist Hamoudi Khalaily

"It is known that hunting was the major activity in this period," Hamoudi Khalaily, co-excavator of the site for the IAA, said in a statement. "Presumably, the figurines served as good-luck statues for ensuring the success of the hunt and might have been the focus of a traditional ceremony the hunters performed before going out into the field to pursue their prey."

Khalaily added that the archaeological evidence from this time period, called the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, including these animal figurines, "teaches us about the religious life, the worship and the beliefs of Neolithic society.

However, archaeologist and excavator Anna Eirikh thinks the artifacts may have been associated with the process of animal domestication; the process of plant and animal domestication occurred during this time period.

Excavations at Tel Moza are taking place ahead of the expansion of Highway 1, the main road connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Windows 7 dethrones XP for desktop crown

It's now official: Windows 7 is the most popular desktop operating system in the world, finally surpassing the old warhorse, Windows XP. And given that Windows 8 was built more for tablets than traditional PCs, Windows 7 will likely reign for many years to come.

Net Applications reports that in August, for the first time, Windows 7 beat the 11-year-old Windows XP in market share, 42.76 percent to 45.3 percent. Less than a year previously, in October 2011, XP was ahead of Windows 7 by 48.03 percent to 34.62 percent.

As Computerworld points out, StatCounter, Net Applications' rival, reported back in October 2011 that Windows 7 was well ahead of Windows XP, by a 51 percent to 29 percent margin. Now, with both big analytics companies reporting Windows 7 is the leader, it's clear that it's there to stay.

Don't expect Windows 8 to ever beat out Windows 7 for desktop market share. It will remain and also-ran, just as the ill-fated Windows Vista never managed to become the most popular desktop operating system.

Windows 7 dethrones XP for desktop crown Enterprises will likely stay away from Windows 8 because of the immense amount of retraining and help desk work it would require. As for consumers, anyone buying a new computer will get Windows 8, but it's not likely that many people with existing PCs will upgrade to it, because there's not much there for them. And they'll give up some features of Windows 7, such as the Start menu.

A recently released IDC report also warns that Windows 8 is "a dramatic departure from existing PC paradigms" and so is not likely to spur a buying spree of new computers. The report says about Windows 8:

"Buyers must acclimate themselves to an operating system that is a dramatic departure from existing PC paradigms. The PC ecosystem faces some work to properly educate the market."

Windows has been around for decades. A version of it that requires vendors to teach people how to use it will likely never become exceedingly popular.

Preston Gralla is a contributing editor for Computerworld, and the author of more than 40 books, including "How the Internet Works," "Windows XP Hacks," and "Windows Vista in a Nutshell" and "NOOK Tablet: The Missing Manual." You can follow him on Twitter or Google+.

New Jersey mom, grandmother tackle man after he attempts to toss boys in front of train, police say

The mother and grandmother of two boys intervened Monday to stop a New Jersey man from grabbing the children and throwing them in front of an oncoming train, MyFoxNY.com reported.

The mother of the boys, ages 7 and 9, said her sons were near the edge of the platform at New Jersey Transit's Main Street station when David Howard, 49, grabbed one boy in a headlock and the other by the shoulder and started to move them to the tracks as a train entered the station, according to police.

That is when the boys' mom and grandmother grabbed Howard and stopped him while the boys broke free, police said. Then the two women tackled Howard and held him until cops arrived, police said.

Two officers responded to a 911 call and arrested Howard, who spit in one cop's face, authorities said.

Police charged Howard with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count of aggravated assault on a police officer, according to Ramsey Police.

Authorities said Howard appeared to be intoxicated or high on drugs at the time of the incident and arrest.

A judge ordered Howard held in the Bergen County Jail on $500,000 bail.

Survey: Mobile Users Care About Data Privacy

Fifty-four percent of U.S. mobile app users surveyed have decided not to install an app when they discovered how much personal information it would collect, according to the survey. Thirty percent of app users have uninstalled an app after learning about the personal information it collected. With significant crossover between the two groups, 57 percent have either refused to download an app or deleted one over privacy concerns, the survey said.

The survey has implications for the mobile industry, said Mary Madden, coauthor of a report that accompanies the survey and a senior research specialist at Pew.

"At a time when the use of mobile applications is steadily growing, we find that many app users are taking privacy considerations into account," she said in an email. "This data suggests that the way personal information is shared or collected by an app can make or break a user's decision to download or otherwise engage with that application."

Mobile phones have accelerated the pace at which users collect and generate data, the report said. "Users' cell phones are now rich repositories of memories and content that chronicle their lives," the report said. "A staggering archive of personally identifiable information exists about cell users -- a reality that is both the consequence of and driving force of the networked age."

About 17 percent of mobile phone owners surveyed said they use their device for most of their online browsing. Forty-three percent of mobile phone owners now download apps, up from 31 percent in 2011, the Pew survey said.

"Consumers are amassing apps on their cell phones in record numbers," the report said. "At the same time, some app developers are quietly amassing sensitive and personal data from their users."

The survey, of 2,254 U.S. adults in March and April, found that 88 percent of the respondents use mobile phones. Thirty-two percent of mobile owners have cleared the browser or search history on their devices, and 19 percent have turned off the location-tracking feature on their phones because of privacy concerns, the survey said.

Nearly a third of mobile phone users surveyed said they have lost a device or had one stolen, and 12 percent said they've had another person access data on their device in a way that raised privacy concerns.

The survey shows that mobile consumers are becoming better informed, said Morgan Reed, executive director of the Association for Competitive Technology, a trade group representing a number of mobile app developers.

"Consumers are making individually appropriate decisions about what they want to share," he said in an email. "As developers, we look to build apps that provide cool features in a way that keeps the customer happy."

Separately, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday released a guide to help app developers protect user privacy.

Mobile app developers should "tell the truth" about the functionality of their apps, disclose important information clearly and conspicuously, and honor their privacy promises, the FTC's guide said.

"Chances are you make assurances to users about the security standards you apply or what you do with their personal information," the guide said. "App developers -- like all other marketers--- have to live up to those promises."

Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.

Florida A&M Bans Student Group for Hazing

Florida A&M University has booted another student group from campus amid the latest hazing allegations that continue to plague the school.

Larry Robinson, FAMU interim president, announced Tuesday the suspension of an all-female Torque Dance Team after he says the school received a tip from a parent that the group was reportedly forcing some members to drink heavy amounts of alcohol and run up hills.

"We have zero tolerance for hazing," said Robinson. "It's deplorable and will not be tolerated. It is unconscionable that a student organization would participate in any hazing activity considering what has transpired in the past year."

Oracle Emergency Java Patch Opens Fresh Trouble

Oracle's emergency patch fixes flaws being used in active attacks, but opens the door to a previously undisclosed vulnerability.

Ayn Rand's appeal

Paul Ryan is Romney’s pick for Vice President and now Ayn Rand’s name is on everyone’s lips.

Many on the left are pillorying Ryan as an unrealistic “ideologue” because of his Rand connection. Many on the right accede, quickly trying to set aside Ryan’s admiration for "Atlas Shrugged" as youthful indiscretion. “Every young conservative has a fascination with Ayn Rand at some point,” Romney’s strategist Eric Fehrnstrom says dismissively.

But hold on. If we actually consider the essence of what Rand advocates, the idea that her philosophy is childish over-simplification stands as condemnation not of her position but of the many adults from whom this accusation stems.

The key to Rand’s enduring popularity is that she appeals not to the immaturity but to the idealism of youth. This is why more than 29,000 students submitted entries this year to essay contests on her novels and, in the past five years alone, high school teachers have requested over 1.5 million copies of "The Fountainhead," "We the Living," "Anthem" and "Atlas Shrugged" to use in their classrooms. They know that students respond to her stories and heroes as to few other books.

“There is a fundamental conviction which some people never acquire,” Rand wrote in 1969, “some hold only in their youth, and a few hold to the end of their days—the conviction that ideas matter.” The nature of this conviction? “That ideas matter means that knowledge matters, that truth matters, that one’s mind matters. And the radiance of that certainty, in the process of growing up, is the best aspect of youth.”

If Ryan is a man who takes ideas seriously, as numerous supporters and detractors claim, this is an attitude he would have encountered on every page of Rand’s writings.

But how as an adult do you sustain the conviction that the truth matters, in the face of constant calls to compromise your views and give in?

You need to achieve, Rand argues, a radical independence of mind. Independence does not mean doing whatever you feel like doing but rather forging principles and using them to choose your actions rationally, carefully, scientifically. Independence means refusal to subordinate your ideas or values to the “public interest,” as too many secularists demand, or to the “glory of God,” as too many religionists demand. It means refusal to grant obedience to any authority.

The independent mind instead embraces reason as an absolute. “The noblest act you have ever performed,” declares the hero of Atlas Shrugged, “is the act of your mind in the process of grasping that two and two make four.” Rand meant it.

On Rand’s view, to take the truth of your own ideas seriously is a remarkable achievement: it represents a profound dedication to self. Crucially, this dedication requires that you not passively absorb your society’s moral views, however well-entrenched, but instead question and study the entire field of good and evil. This is precisely what "Atlas Shrugged"—with its critique of the regulatory-welfare state and the moral ideas that spawned it, alongside its presentation of a new moral code of rational self-interest—challenges us to do.

Most of us are passionate about morality only when young. As we grow older and discover the impractical, even self-destructive nature of the moral slogans we were taught to bandy about, we abandon the field. After all, we tell ourselves, “we’ve got to live.”

But this split between the moral and the practical poisons the soul. “To take ideas seriously,” Rand writes, “means that you intend to live by, to practice, any idea you accept as true,” that you recognize “that truth and knowledge are of crucial, personal, selfish importance to you and to your own life.”

Her approach here is the opposite of the view that ideals transcend this world, one’s interests and human comprehension—that idealism is, according to a former president whose words are echoed by virtually every leader today, “to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself.”

In a world that equates idealism with otherworldliness and denial of self, while simultaneously reminding us that, as one conservative commentator puts it, “perfection in the life of man on earth” is impossible—Rand stands alone. She argues that perfection on earth is possible, if only we’re ready to work for it.

Hold your own life as your highest value, follow reason, bow to no authority, pursue unwaveringly the true and the good, create a life of productive achievement and personal joy—enact these demanding values and virtues, Rand argues in Atlas Shrugged, preserve “the hero in your soul,” and an ideal world, here on earth, is “real, it’s possible—it’s yours.”

Does an adult world that decries this philosophy as “simplistic” not convict itself?

Instead of criticizing Ryan’s Rand connection, perhaps the question we should be asking is why her ideas have not had a much greater impact on his worldview.

Onkar Ghate is a senior fellow at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. The Ayn Rand Center is a division of the Ayn Rand Institute and promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.”