Rotundus.com

Got a message from Audible today:

We'd like to update you on a change to the Audible application that affects the way that you access the Audible mobile store. In order to comply with recent policy changes by Apple, we've removed the "Shop" link from within the app that opened your web browser and took you to the Audible mobile store.

I received a similar message regarding the Kindle software before. Getting annoyed at Apple's iron-fisted and anti-competitive behaviour over it's platforms.

Computer Virus Hits U.S. Drone Fleet

Not the best thing to have happen to your computers when they're already used to drop bombs and kill people.

Chopping down trees to save forests

Huge fires as a result of current forest management practices increasing forest density from historical norms. I wonder if this also applies to forests elsewhere rather than just Arizona / New Mexico.

What I Wish My Pastor Knew About ... The Life of a Scientist

Definitely worth a read. There's a lot of good stuff to stay - I'm perhaps a bit more cynical than most about biases from things like funding sources as well as groupthink. (Via RA)

Help Wanted in South Korea: Busybodies With Cameras

I'm a bit annoyed by the privacy implications of this. One thing I found particularly interesting are the amounts people are making off this "I’m making three times what I made as an English tutor," said Mr. Im, 39, who began his new line of work around seven years ago and says he makes about $85,000 a year.

Mexico seems to be debating introducing temporary marriage contracts that expire after a few years. It seems to me to not be that far off from the way a marriage with prenups currently is possible given no fault divorce. (It's also somewhat different than another approach used in certain parts of the Muslim world in which temporary marriage is more or less a cover for prostitution with the minimum marriage length there being a half hour versus 2 years in the Mexican case).

I'm not quite sure that this really changes much of anything - just playing with the verbage the state uses rather than really changing anything. The question I'm wondering about is, given that judges can already void prenups, is whether something similar might happen in these cases.

Nature walks jolt hungry predators, study says

The study conducted in the Banff area and partially funded by Parks Canada concluded that "just one hiker an hour caused the elk and wolves to avoid going within 50 metres of a trail. Anything over two hikers an hour kept them farther away, up to 400 metres for wolves." Even light usage can significantly impact wildlife.

Soaring childcare costs and crippling tax cuts force women to stay at home

The economics of stay-at-home parents: "Figures Aviva has compiled for Money Mail show the cost of childcare is already so high that a mother of two children earning £25,000 a year — and with a husband earning £43,000, just over the higher tax threshold — would have just £300 left a month once childcare and the commuting costs have been taken into account. And after child benefit is stripped away next year for families with a higher-rate earner she will have just £153 a month left from a month of full-time work — a figure which will drop further if childcare costs and fuel prices keep rising." This analysis seems to take into account only childcare and commuting, not other additional expenses (more restaurant/ready-meals [which have their own health costs] or perhaps an extended wardrobe)

Rugby World Cup 2011: Devout Euan Murray questions Sunday matches

"The Glasgow-born prop, 31, has chosen to prioritise his faith this weekend, meaning he will miss Scotland's Pool B clash with Argentina on Sunday." (What I remember from my time in the Middle East is that a lot of churches there meet on Friday or Saturday, depending on what time is most readily available).

On the evils of wheat: Dr. William Davis on why it is so addictive, and how shunning it will make you skinny

What's being argued here seems to be that wheat today isn't wheat yesterday - not even if you're talking about organic wheat. Not quite the caveman diet argument, but more an argument against the past century or so's changes.