Discussion of the rise in diagnosed autism is a controversial topic, and I applaud one company that is sidestepping the entire 'why' and 'who is at fault' issue and tackling it like good capitalists. MSNBC writes about Aspiritech's program for training autistics in comp sci -- specifically the area of software testing, bug discovery, and data accuracy.  They write:

Virgin Galactic officially debuts SpaceShipTwo, named the VSS Enterprise, fast on the heels of their earlier ready for liftoff announcement in Wired.  From the Wired article, they noted

As a freelance scientist, I find my Friday to-do lists are particularly eclectic.  A little backstory: I work as a freelance a) science writer and b) programmer in order to support A) my family and B) my hobbies.

As long as, from a cash perspective,
     $a+$b > $A+$B
and, from a time perspective,
   dt(a)+dt(b)< dt(A)+dt(B)
... then I'm happy.

EMBARGOED until: 24 November 2009 00:01 GMT

‘COSMIC SLOT MACHINE’ MATCHES GALAXY COLLISIONS

A new website will give everyone the chance to contribute to science by playing a ‘cosmic slot machine’ and compare images of colliding galaxies with millions of simulated images of galactic pile-ups.

These collisions, which astronomers call ‘galactic mergers’, could be the key to finding out why the Universe contains the mix of galaxies it does -- some with trailing spiral arms, others more like compact ‘balls’ of stars.