Facebook opposes the practice of prospective employers asking for your password. “As a user,…

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/03/23/1623255/facebook-legal-action-against-employers-asking-for-your-password

Facebook opposes the practice of prospective employers asking for your password.

“As a user, you shouldn’t be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job. And as the friend of a user, you shouldn’t have to worry that your private information or communications will be revealed to someone you don’t know and didn’t intend to share with just because that user is looking for a job.”

On Facebook

Remember the faster-than-light neutrinos reported last year? It may have just been a bad fiberoptic connection…

Unconfirmed rumor: FTL neutrinos may be due to a faulty GPS connection

Remember the faster-than-light neutrinos reported last year? It may have just been a bad fiberoptic connection on the system doing the timing.

The scientists who reported the results in the first place were 99% certain there was *something* wrong with them (though it would have been revolutionary if the results had held up), but they couldn't find the error, and made the announcement mainly to ask for help tracking it down.

On Facebook

Some incredible photos of last week’s major aurora display.

In case you missed it, Monday night in the northern latitudes

Some incredible photos of last week's major aurora display. I hear there were sightings as far south as Arizona, and I wonder: If I had driven up into the mountains above the cloud layer covering the LA basin, would I have seen flickering lights off in the north? (Presumably not. I'm sure if someone had seen the aurora from Mt. Wilson, it would have been mentioned in one of the articles I'd read.)

On Facebook

Words mean things. Unfortunately, when you’re dealing with jargon…

Words mean things. Unfortunately, when you’re dealing with jargon, they don’t always mean the same things to different people.

Phil Plait: Scientists are from Mars, the public is from Earth | Bad Astronomy

A couple of days ago here on G+ I linked to a table that shows words scientists use, and how the public hears them – and it’s not the way the scientists think. I had more to say, so I wrote a whole post about it.

Bottom line: if scientists want to sway public opinion, they need to make sure what they say can be understood.

–GP

What scientists say, and what people hear, isn’t always the same thing. That’s a problem with any kind of jargon, but when you get into things that have been politicized, it’s important to be clear.

–FB