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--Pat

Holy cow - this demonstrates why you shouldn't believe what your told during elections! (And demonstrates why you can't hide from hackers)

If this is accurate, the page was 18 when this stuff went down, but straight! So, it still isn't consenting adults, but it is at least adults...

So, if he was 18, what does that mean? Is this something that really shouldn't have been aired? Some kind of harrasment? (Or is he just trying to stay in the closet on this?)

I wish gay politicians could just run as gay politicians. I think the double life thing must be killing them.

Am I the only one who's never been bothered by the uncanny valley effect? Having grown up on video games I can't say I've ever experianced this supposedly common phenomenon, or had any friends say "gee, that's creepy". Actually, I always sort of assumed only older folk felt it. :-)

I would say that so far there simply havn't been all that many games that suffered from it. The effect isn't something that just magically pops up due to advances in graphics, I would say it has far more to do with an imbalance in the presentation, i.e. when you have an almost photorealistic graphic, you'd better also have almost realistic animation, else the result will look like a walking zombie, not like a pretty girl. If the graphics on the other side are far from photorealistic, a bunch of glitches in the animation won't be that much of an issue.

Another thing that plays a heavy role is fine tuing of the animations, raw motion caputuring data gives horrible results (Polar Express), since it simply only captures a subset of the total motion and thus leads to noticable errors. Classic keyframe animation by a good animator however can easily fix these problems, since an animator knows what to look for and how to fix it (Golum), just applying the raw data to the model doesn't do that.

Speaking in terms of gaming, one demo that demonstrated the Uncanny Valley rather well was Heavy Rain, in some moments it just looked horrible, however in others it also looked great. Its the lack of fine-tuning (was all motion captured) that was lacking here and some bugs in the rendering (inner of the mouth to bright) that causes the throuble. Another example is the latest FIFA game, the characters look rather awefull, the polycount is high, but finetuning is again largly lacking, no suprise by how many players they have to model, so the result looks far more creepy than it should. A last generation example would be Riddick, the shading on the human skin was just all wrong and so was the hair, which lead to unpleasent results. The Tiger Woods shown on the PS3 press conference was another example of being deep down in uncanny valley.

We will for sure see some more uncanny valley on PS3 and XBox360, but luckily it is something that can be avoided with some extra effort.

Dunno if this has been posted, but Rev. Stang of the Church of the Subgenius has a writeup about this story: http://revstang.blogspot.com/

Try Google. The submitter got it really wrong.

Perhaps all of the GMail developers transferred off of the team?

So then, you always take whatever non-bills you obtain when purchasing something with cash and put it in the tip jar? As a coin collector, and I imagine there is a fair percentage of /.ers that are as well, I find the occasion need to keep coins on one's person, if not for purchasing items.

I don't think Apple was all that "pro DRM" at all.


Perhaps you need to review the evidence that your Apple juice is spiked.

There's more to their embrace of DRM than whatever is happening in ITunes. The TCPA shit is on the Intel chips too.

Little correction, it is http://geemodo.blogspot.com/. Picture says a lot

This is to be taken with a grain of salt and not as a proof of anything until further inquiries, but since it's going to be posted anyway it may as well be posted with some warnings:

A blog called Geemondo also reports that Mischa Spiegelmock seemed to have had dinner with Microsoft guys.

(PS: mods, if you want this post to be seen without me karma whoring, just mod it funny)

The thing that people constantly are forgetting is that Internet Behaviour is PUBLIC BEHAVIOUR - that is, the Internet is a public place - and your activities are watched. The thing that really gets me is where kids think that their MySpace account is private. That's RIDICULOUS! Where does it say that everyone EXECPT YOUR PARENTS is allowed to access your MySpace account? Where does it say that everyone in a chat room can see what you are saying except for those who care for you?

I agree - that there are some legitimate cases where privacy is an issue - when it comes to email addresses, bank accounts, etc. That's what SSL was invented for.

HOWEVER - if you are using a non-encrypted protocol (such as HTTP, or most chat applications), you have NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY. If you parents aren't monitoring you, who's to say your ISP isn't? Or the ISP of the person/site you are visiting/chatting with? Or the person/site themselves? Or ANYONE WHO MAY SNIFF YOUR DATA ALONG THE WAY???

And even with encrypted communications (chat, for example), you have no guarantee of privacy that the person on the other end *isn't* logging your conversation, and *won't* post it later.

The argument of "Don't monitor or filter your kids - educate them instead" is flawed. The *REAL* education that needs to happen is that *nothing* (with very few exceptions) is private on the Internet. We need to teach our children to be careful on the Internet. Monitoring and filtering alone do nothing. Education alone does nothing. You need both.

Yes - there are ways around it. Ways to get anonymized. Ways to "hide your tracks". But looking at it cynically, if you don't filter or monitor your kids, they will never learn how to do those things, or how to be careful - and someone else will be monitoring them instead. :) Isn't it better to be the one doing the filtering and monitoring, and thus have the opportunity to actually *DO* some educating - rather than let them educate themselves?

A filter or monitor without education is worthless. But at the same time, education without some sort of reinforcement is just as worthless.

As you mentioned, take a child who grows up with too many restrictions and you will see what happens when they "move out from under your thumb." Read Lord of the Flies for the flipside - and see what happens to a child who grows up with no restrictions.

And, as you put it so wonderfully, "Yes, it will be your fault."

Is there any new information here? It is common knowledge that the WiFi will only be utilized for those things when the Zune ships. Not sure where anybody ever got the idea that it would connect to the internet as per posts on /. weeks ago it seemed pretty obvious. However, the one point of value that I suppose Engadget and the poster have in going into this again is that those that were not quick enough to put 2 and 2 together now know the facts straight from the horses mouth.

Justin
http://hatchedeggs.blogspot.com/

What a surprise, most blogs aren't "well-written" I also don't read most blogs. Coincidence? No.

Of course the definition of "well-written" for an English teacher includes writing that most people don't like and excludes some very enjoyable writing.

For that matter, it's no surprise that neither students nor bloggers are very good at writing about something they neither care about, have good information, have the amout of time they'd like, nor the conditions they'd like. I doubt there's a single formal SAT session conducted at 2AM after a few glasses of wine.

by John in DC - 10/01/2006 08:41:00 PM

Shimkus is toast. There's even video of Shimkus letting Foley talk to the pages AFTER the GOP knew Foley had page-issues.

You'll recall that he is the Republican member of Congress who runs the Page Board, the group in charge of the pages. You'll also recall that tonight we learned on ABC News that GOP House staff warned the page class of 2001-2002 to stay away from ex-Rep. Mark Foley.

Then why is it that on June 6, 2002, well after the kids were warned to stay away from Foley, Shimkus notes approvingly that Foley has spent a lot of time with the Page Class of 2001-2002? This is Shimkus speaking at the page's goodbye ceremony,

MR. SHIMKUS: I thank my colleague. Now someone who spends a lot of time with you also, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley), would like to say a thank you.

(Note: We've confirmed in the Congressional Record that this is the exact transcript of the proceedings that day.)

The GOP staff knew Foley was a problem the year before, they warned the pages in 2001. Yet Shimkus, the next year is acknowledging that Foley was still permitted to spend "a lot of time" with the pages. In the name of God, why?

Oh, but it gets worse.

Foley then gets up in front of Shimkus and tells a special little story of how he took one male page to a private dinner in downtown Washington, DC. Put the page in his BMW and "cruised" - Foley's word - to dinner.

And now for the kicker.

Foley told the kid he had to get permission from his mom and he had to notify the Clerk of the House, Jeff Trandahl, the Republican staffer who works for Republican Speaker of the House Denny Hastert (R-IL). You'll also recall that Trandahl is the Clerk who joined Shimkus in 2005 to talk to Foley about the creepy email exchange with the first child who got this scandal started.

Why did Shimkus let Foley spend so much time with the pages after GOP staff already knew Foley had a "page problem"? Did the Clerk of the House approve of this dinner? Did Shimkus? Clearly Foley had no fear in the kid going to Clerk and asking for permission - so Foley seemed to think the Clerk wouldn't mind. And clearly Foley had no fear in telling the story in front of Shimkus, so he obviously didn't think Shimkus would mind either.

Shimkus then introduces Foley. Read what Foley has to say to the pages of the 2001-2002 class in his speech wishing them goodbye.

FOLEY: John [one of the pages] was the highest bidder on lunch with Mark Foley. Maybe you all do not know this story, but John had paid considerable sums to dine with me. I had offered to take the winning bidder to lunch in the Members' dining room. Then I heard how much John Eunice paid. And I said, ``John, there is no way in the world after you committed so much money to have lunch with me that I would dare take you downstairs to eat in the Members' dining room.'' I said, ``Where do you want to go?'' He says, without reservation, ``Morton's.'' I said, ``Morton's? Like in Morton's Steakhouse?'' He said, ``Oh, would that be too much?'' I said, ``Oh, no, we'll go.'' I said, ``Call your mother, get permission, make sure she notifies the Clerk and we will go to Morton's.'' And so we proceeded to cruise down in my BMW to Morton's.

Putting aside the creepy notion of children bidding on dinner with an already-suspected child sex predator, what in God's name were Shimkus and the Clerk doing approving of Foley taking a kid in his BMW to a private dinner in downtown Washington? The GOP staff already knew that Foley was trouble. They had already warned the kids. Yet Shimkus let Foley spend lots of time with the kids, by Shimkus

I'd have to take anything that security solution companies say with a grain of salt. I am sure that most of these companies are a bit pertubed with MS getting into an area that they consider to be traditionally theirs.

The new steps in Vista will make the product more secure. In that, it might also make it harder for these third party programs to be as integrated with it.

Justin
http://hatchedeggs.blogspot.com/

http://www.opie812.blogspot.com/

"WTC 9-11 security concerns of Scott Forbes, a seniordatabase administrator for Fiduciary Trust, Inc., with offices in the former WTC. His company wasnotified three weeks in advance that New York's Port Authority would take out power in the South Tower from the 48th floor up on the weekend prior to 9-11, ostensibly to implement a computer cabling upgrade. Forbes noted that Fiduciary Trust was one of the WTC's first occupants after it was erected,and that a --power-down" had never been initiated prior to this occasion. Forbes recalled the power wasout approximately 30 hours between early Saturday morning (September 8th) and mid-Sunday afternoon (September 9th) As a result of the power outage, the WTC's security cameras, ID systems, andelevators to the upper floors were rendered inoperative. Forbes noted that many --engineers" going in-and-out of the WTC had free access throughout the building due to its inoperative security system.Forbes also noted other security related anomalies: Video cameras positioned atop the World TradeCenter which were used to feed daily images to local television stations were inexplicably inoperativethat morning. Also, a Fiduciary employee who was on one of the lower floors and escaped immediatelyafter the first (North) tower was struck, reported that he was amazed by the large number of FBI agentsthat were already on the streets surrounding the WTC complex only minutes after the initial strike.Forbes says that even though these disclosures could jeopardize his current employment, he has stepped forward because, --I have mailed this information to many people, including the 9/11 Commission, butno one seems to be registering these facts." More at http://killtown.blogspot.com/2005/12/scott-forbes- interview.html

"And strangely, the meeting was never mentioned during all the 9/11 commission reports" The 9/11 Commission was a joke. Underfunded, it didn't even get underway until over a year after the attacks. The crime of the century happened, a crime which changed America and the world forever and the administration resisted every attempt to get to the bottom of it. WTF? And further, all that time I was growing up during the cold war are you telling me the Soviets could have just used a similar tactic and wiped us out? WTF? This time the kooky conspiracy nuts might just have it right. Research: http://tsoldrin.blogspot.com/2006/09/911-multimedi a-extravaganza.html

1) The Allen Brain Atlas will contain over 1 PetaByte of data.

False. The orders-of-magnitude calculation was done by multiplying 20,000 genes by a trillion neurons, but this is a gross overestimate. A more realistic computation involves multiplying the number of datasets they have, which is around 20,000, with the average size of each dataset. The average size of each dataset is about 10 slices, times the size per slice. The size per slice is about 10,000 pixels wide, which works out to 100 megapixels per slice. Without image compression, each megapixel is 3 megabytes (one byte for each color channel), which means that each slice is 300 megabytes, uncompressed.

Thus, a more realistic calculation of the size of the Allen Brain Atlas is
(20,000 datasets)*(10 slices per dataset)*(300 megabytes per slice) = 6 TeraBytes.

So, the real size of the Allen Brain Atlas is around 6 TeraBytes, which is a far cry from a PetaByte.

2) Since mice and humans share more than 90 percent of genes, the Allen Brain Atlas has enormous potential for understanding human neurological diseases and disorders.

False. We share over 70% with insects and over 50% with plants, so according to the logic of the Allen Brain Atlas people, dissecting the genetic maps of oranges he can help us fight heart diseases and schizophrenia.

3) The Allen Brain Atlas will provide the most detailed map of the most complex organ.

False. http://brainmaps.org/ provides the highest resolution whole brain maps, and not just for mice, but for primates and other species. The resolution of BrainMaps.org data is over twice as good as that of the Allen Brain Atlas.

4) The Allen Brain Atlas has already led to several significant new findings about the brain.

False. There are absolutely no peer-reviewed publications over any significant new findings from the Allen Brain Atlas. I do believe that significant findings can be made, but there is nothing published about it in peer-reviewed articles as yet.

5) The Allen Brain Atlas provides a complete genetic map of the mouse brain.

False. It says nothing about silent DNA or junk DNA, not to mention splice variants.

http://braintechsci.blogspot.com/2006/10/paul-alle n-brain-atlas-misconceptions.html

Panoramic views - Preliminary results

The is room for improvement I think, but on the bright side I really like the aspect that you don't have to purchase a new Dell to get the service.

That allows people to move away from their Dell product without penalizing the environment for it. Now, it would be great if they offered to pick up non-Dell computers too when you make a purhase and want to get rid of the old stuff. Hopefully more companies will take initiative in this.

Justin
http://hatchedeggs.blogspot.com/

by one of string theory's own:

http://motls.blogspot.com/2006/09/richard-hamilton -behind-shing-tung-yau.html

what was that again, about a lady, and too much protesting?

Also see http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/2 3/2226257 And in particular the comment by Ian Bicking which points to this article on the views of Carver Mead http://laputan.blogspot.com/2003_09_21_laputan_arc hive.html#106446538310636532 I found his views quit interesting.
Fred

I read an op/ed piece about the leak, saying the CEO wasn't the one at fault, it was the leaker who is responsible for the whole mess by forcing the CEO to spy on the board.

So two wrongs make a right, now? It's kind of like saying that Hitler wasn't the real problem, the problem was that the Jewish people weren't kind enough to disappear for him, which really, now that I think about it, would have saved everyone a bunch of grief.

Disclaimer: Before anyone flies off the handle, I don't really think that about the Jewish. I was illustrating a point. Thank you.

Cool links.

I think the reason that AM2 failed to impress is lame marketing. I have to tell you that I am in the IT industry and none of the people I polled nearby (including myself) knows AM2. But we all know Core 2 Duo and we were used to be AMD fans...

---
Best Freeware Reviews

That's what I thought when I saw this headline on Geeks Are Sexy yesterday.

For people that like the rovers and hadn't stumbled upon it before:

http://midnightmarsbrowser.blogspot.com/

"the Midnight Mars Browser software, which allows home users to download images and view slideshows and "virtual reality" panoramas from the Mars Exploration Rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity"."

it is really awesome, try it out, you get the latest pics from Mars virtually real time (before they're up @ jpl's site.)

Pannable and zoomable panorama's, false colour and true colour movies etc etc.

Hey everyone, as you know Microsoft has just announced their pricing of not only the player but also the Subscription services available through the Zune Marketplace...

Unfortunately the pricing is incredibly high, and will no doubt hurt the Zune. Think about it...$14.99 a month = $179.88 a year!!! How does Microsoft expect the average user to accept such high prices???

I have a much more in depth look at the issue at my blog, the link is below.

http://zunelicious.blogspot.com/2006/09/okay-every one-big-news-day-today-for.html

Thanx,

-Charlie
www.zunelicious.blogspot.com

It uses software to attract viewers in the same way television networks use programming and magazines use articles. Under this model, it makes sense to give developers a large amount of freedom to develop whatever they want.

All that is to say this - when you have tons of cash, then you can afford> to create a fairyland for your workers. Everybody is getting paid, everybody is happy. Most assholes become assholes due to fear, which happens when the money starts going away. There is nothing magical about Google in this regard. I'm not trying to bash Google here, but I'm just saying that there's nothing so special about it that it wouldn't collapse if that oversupply of cash disappered overnight. That is to say, MONEY is what makes life at Google possible, not methodologies, lack of timelines or anything like that. When that money goes away, then say goodbye to the locker room towel service.

Here, Peter Norvig (director of research) explains how they keep workforce quality high. It refers to Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, "where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." The Google hiring strategy is to hire children that are above average.

http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2006/03/hiring- lake-wobegon-strategy.html

Here's his blog entry (how jetblue made him take off his shirt cuz he had Arabic script on it).

An Iraqi man was denied the right to board an airplane because he was wearing a t-shirt with the words "We Will Not Be Silent." http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2006/08/back-f rom-mideast.html

> You give them the lock, you give them the key, and you hope that
> they can never figure out how to use them together.

IANADE (I Am Not A DRM Expert), but...
A more accurate analogy would be:
(1) You give them something in a box. The box is the DRM mechanism.
(2) The box is secured with a lock.
(3) You give them a key so that they can use what's inside.

Step (3) is where the problem starts.
The DRMer has to do one of the following.
a) the lock has to be openable with multiple keys. (Otherwise people would duplicate the key)
b) Make different locks for each boxed product. (Production problems?)
c) Make the box really difficult to open. Use hard material, make the lid heavy... (But who would use the product then?)

(4) They use the product.

The real flaw in the reasoning is that the DRMer thinks that they can use the product only after using the key.

DRM-cracking is more like using a totally different mechanism for using it. Think of it as viewing what's inside an opaque box with X-rays or something!

If necessity is the mother, laziness is the father of invention.
http://oozone.blogspot.com/

You think he's a FAG!!! check out this FAG!!!. He's a SELF hating NIGGER jew.

Check out this FAG!!! NIGGER jewish OPEN source GARBAGE.

So, to recap: 1) oil companies have to pay their fair share to improve the environment; 2) the tax cannot be passed on to cunsumers; 3) This will benefit researchers and universities Do not be fooled by the anti-prop 87 propoganda.

http://opie812.blogspot.com/

http://opie812.blogspot.com/

Turning off Javascripting is no longer a valid mitigation.
A valid mitigation is unregistering the VML dll.
Read this
Not having VML support is not a big deal as not many websites use it.

Typical download size: 250 KB , less than 1 minute
A security issue has been identified in the way Vector Markup Language (VML) is handled that could allow an attacker to compromise a computer running Microsoft Windows and gain control over it.
You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft.
After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Check Windowsupdate

The initiative is being bankrolled by Vinod Khosla, and the proceeds will be directed primarily toward alternative energy, including Mr. Khosla's ethanol interests. Mr. Khosla has said "just because I might benefit, doesn't mean this isn't a good idea." True, but it creates a bit of a conflict of interest and gives rise to the potential that the funds raised will not be optimally deployed.

When the issue is a California proposition, the best article we could find to link to was from the "Northwest Florida Daily News"??? Huh?

Here are some more local sources that might be useful in the debate... and yes, the critical sites do raise the same point... from within California.

(Neutral)
Secretary of State's Analysis

(Critical)
Local Blogger
Official "No" Site

(Favorable)
Official "Yes" Site

I reviewed this weeks ago and included a video that clearly demonstrates how unstable and unreliable the software is. Hope you enjoy it. Forgive the quality of the video. I had a flu.

The post in the offical Google blog explains a bit more and links to the paper you mention.

... global world-ending nuclear war.

After reading Google's blog entry on the subject, I'm left puzzled by their call for a new standard with no further details, especially since it seems they're already using the technology. A power supply is simple enough, but I'd like to see what sort of strategy they're using for voltage conversion on their motherboards. What connectors are they using for power?

The funny thing is, this idea is relatively old, though AC was used instead of DC. Remember the Imsai 8080? The S-100 bus used an 18V AC supply, and each card had its own DC conversion and voltage regulator(s).

The Pickler strikes again!

Some of this kind of pro-Bush spin is to be expected from the ever-reliable Pickler, but this article overdoes it a bit. If I were a cynical man, I'd suggest that the fact that the actual sponsors of the bill are not mentioned by name (it's attributed only to "Senate leaders"), while the opponents of the bill are named, says all you need to know about how much the "conservative" movement (the big business interests pulling the strings of the conservative media; contrast real conservatives) likes this bill.

It's politically impossible not to support this bill, but hell if they're going to let the people (Obama, Coburn, etc.) who put them in that position get any credit for it.

It's obvious that Burger King is the next target.
Take a look at this. I'm surprised the lawyers aren't aready dancing around.

try take a look @ http://tehpost.blogspot.com/2006/09/myspace-phishi ng-scam.html/ p/s: Make sure you truly logout after logon to myspace..peace..

30 seconds on Google. Anecdotal, sure, but here it is:

http://strategize.blogspot.com/2005/10/my-car-was- stolen-this-weekend-onstar.html

It turns out that OnStar did shut down my truck at some point in time during the sequence of events. What is unclear is whether the thief left the vehicle because it was shut down or if he decided just to loot my truck and leave.