Interesting, maybe Catherine Kousmine WAS onto something. Following trials on mice she was convinced that (some) cancer is related to diet, via the complicated relationships between the immune system and gut bacteria.
Posts by Benjol
200 publicly visible posts • joined 29 Nov 2012
The next big thing in medical science: POO TRANSPLANTS
Renewable energy 'simply won't work': Top Google engineers
This 125mph train is fitted with LASERS. Sadly no sharks, though
I'M SO SORRY, sobs Rosetta Brit boffin in 'sexist' sexy shirt storm
WATCH: Rosetta astroboffin TATTOOED with PHILAE from the FUTURE!
SEX BEAST SEALS may be egging each other on to ATTACK PENGUINS
This is the kind of story which explains why this kind of story drives me up the wall...
Are MPs smarter than 5-year-olds? We'll soon find out at coding school – Berners-Lee
Microsoft fitness bands slapped on wrists: All YOUR HEALTH DATA are BELONG TO US
Men who sleep with lots of women lessen risk of prostate cancer
Swedish 'Future minister' doesn't do social media
Voyager 1 now EIGHTEEN LIGHT HOURS from home
Why weasel words might not work for Whisper
Meet Mr Gamification: He's got a NUDGE or two for you
Maybe I don't understand what everyone else means by gamification, but Stack Exchange seems to be working ok. And the Google image labeller thing worked quite well (I believe)
Oh, and my kids have to solve maths problems to gain extra time on the computer, otherwise it logs them out, though I guess that could count more as child abuse than gamification :)
World govts elect Swiss big cheese as their new ICANN point man
Swissland is definitely a cheesy paradise, but http://www.distancefromto.net/between/Switzerland/Brie
NSA spying will shatter the internet, Silicon Valley bosses warn
UPGRADE your CHILDREN with KANO: All you need in one box
But did you have any exposure to computers before that?
Kids these days are accustomed to touch screens, full-graphics games, lots of swishy stuff.
I suspect there are very few who have the patience to hang around while you try to explain the subtleties of goto and line numbers. By the time you've remembered it for yourself, they'll already have wandered off to do something else.
Back in the day, 10 Print 'I am the greatest' 20; goto 10 was the height of cool, because it was pretty much the first time I actually got to touch a computer and get it to 'do' something.
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Actually, the main added value is that the Kano comes with instructions and a step-by-step guide to putting the hardware and the 'software' together.
So, for example, the first 'step' after setting up the OS is to play the classic snake game, but the instructions guide you through running it via the command line, progressively adding parameters to modify the game play.
At each step you get 'points' and 'badges', which can help to motivate the kids to continue.
I think they've pitched it about right. I bought a Pi a couple of years ago, but couldn't really figure out what to do with it (see the 'wandered off to do something else' above). With the Kano we were up and running in a short space of time. Early days yet, so I can't give a definitive conclusion.
LTE's backers vow to KILL OFF WI-FI and BLUETOOTH
Uni boffins: 'Accurate' Android AV app outperforms most rivals
Linux systemd dev says open source is 'SICK', kernel community 'awful'
"I'd like to be a nice person and curse less and encourage people to grow rather than telling them they are idiots," Torvalds said during an online chat with Finland's Aalto University in April. "I'm sorry – I tried, it's just not in me."".
I hope for his kids' sake that he tried a bit harder with them...
Want to see the back of fossil fuels? Calm down, hippies. CAPITALISM has an answer
US team claims PARIS paper plane launch crown
Spies would need superpowers to tap undersea cables
Found inside ISIS terror chap's laptop: CELINE DION tunes
Snowden shouldn't be extradited to US if he testifies about NSA spying, says Swiss gov
Jony Ive: Apple iWatch will SCREW UP Switzerland's economy
Try looking up "Nick Hayek iwatch". Big boss of Swatch group. Has some interesting things to say: the 'no competition' argument that Tim lays out here. Also that it could even open up new markets in the "don't need nuffin on my wrist I got a Smartphone" generation. And also that quite a lot of the technology that goes into these smart watches is supplied/invented by watch makers.
And that he doesn't wear a watch at night.
Experimental hypersonic SUPERMISSILE destroyed 4 SECONDS after US launched it
China building SUPERSONIC SUBMARINE that travels in a BUBBLE
This is how I set about making a fortune with my own startup
Cutting cancer rates: Data, models and a happy ending?
Hello, police, El Reg here. Are we a bunch of terrorists now?
Chrome update to raise alarms over deceptive download bundles
Microsoft: We're making ONE TRUE WINDOWS to rule us all
Uber and Lyft sitting in a tree, 'c-a-n-c-e-l-l-i-n-g each other's rides'
Nuts to your poncey hipster coffees, I want a TESLA ELECTRO-CAFE
Coffee 'goes off' in a way that can be difficult for a nation of tea-drinkers to realise. There's no point having 'freshly ground' beans if those beans have been oxidising for weeks.
I once worked for a few months in a coffee factory. The bog-standard automated coffee dispenser was stocked directly with freshly roasted beans. The coffee was delicious, full-bodied and 'round': closer to hot chocolate than the acrid stuff that we are supposed to delight in.
Totally spoiled me.