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Places Where the World's Tech Pools, Despite the Internet

Posted by timothy on from the pretty-people-pool-in-airports dept.

Slatterz writes "A decade ago people were talking about the death of distance, and how the internet would make physical geography irrelevant. This has not come to pass; there are still places around the world that are hubs of technology just as there are for air travel, product manufacturing or natural resource exploitation. This list of the ten best IT centres of excellence includes some interesting trivia about Station X during the Second World War, why Romania is teeming with software developers, Silicon Valley, Fort Meade Maryland, and Zhongguancun in China, where Microsoft is building its Chinese headquarters."

14 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Hackers. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Was the best movie of all time.

    1. Re:Hackers. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      sort of a weird first post.

      Each morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure - that of being Salvador Dali.

    2. Re:Hackers. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Anal Vapors Part 1

      by Drunken Bastard i.e. Brian Shanor

      Dr. Jurkov, the world renowned gynecologist sat in his office examining the patient file he agreed to examine because he owed a nonsexual favor (for once) to his brother. This case interested him as they sat discussing it one day, and he decided to take the case just because he thought his brother was full of shit and misinterpreted the results of the tests. That was 6 weeks ago. Today, he believed the outrageous test results which were in front of him as he waited for the patient to show up for her appointment.

      A few moments later, he was interrupted from his daydreams of young boy scouts by a knock on the door. His receptionist poked her head in.

      " Doctor, your next appointment is in the waiting room."

      "Yeah, the nasty bitch with the constipation problem. She's here for her test results. Send her in." As the receptionist went to get the patient, he reached into his pants and pulled a worm out of a festering sore on his penis. "Here comes your mother, you little bastard," he said and ate it with a flourish. He turned around as the nasty woman was shown in. "Good afternoon," he said and held out his hand to shake hers, but thought better of it when he saw her slick pus coated fingers. "Have you been scratching your herpes sores again? I thought we discussed that earlier."

      "I'm sorry, doctor, but it felt so good. Uh, do you have my test results?" she asked as she started to lick her fingers. The doctor fought back the urge to help lick her fingers and her crotch, remembering that he actually gave her the disease during a previous appointment.

      "Yes... And they are very interesting. Tell me, do you engage in anal intercourse?"

      "Yes, especially with this itch."

      "Hmmm. I see. Are you, by any chance, bisexual?"

      "Yes I like to carpet munch."

      "Were you engaging in cunnilingus and ingested menses?"

      "Cunni.....what?"

      "Carpet munching."

      "Yes, and I pulled out a couple of bloody tampons before I started, but I ended up getting a mouthful of tomato paste."

      "And you swallowed it?"

      "Yes."

      "And you took it in the rear and ate bloody fish within 48 hours of each other?"

      "Yes. Does this have anything to do with this killer constipation?"

      "Oh I think it explains your condition quite nicely. You see, you are pregnant. More precisely, you have a rectal pregnancy. You were impregnated up the anus. I've seen this in porno movies and medical journals before. That is why I had to ask you those questions. This will be the first bowel movement birth I have ever seen. You are going to have a bunghole baby."

      "When?"

      "Well, you're about 2 months along now. At 8 months, we can give you a laxative to induce labor. The constipation will get worse, but it will feel good to take a birth shit."

      "Alright, doctor, I guess I'll see you in 2 weeks."

      Six months passed. During this time, the woman came in regularly for examinations. The doctor stopped using his penis and started fisting her on his desk. When he examined her anus, he would trim back her hemorrhoidal tissue and take it home to cook and serve as ravioli. Gradually, his penile worm problem cleared up, but the festering sore remained, so he found a woman who would give him head and suck out all the rancid pus.

      When the time to give birth approached, he met the woman as she was wheeled into the hospital. "Ah. So good to see you. How are you feeling?" he asked as he looked over her shit-bloated body.

      "It hurts!!! Oh God, IT HUUURRRRTTSSSS!!!!!"

      "There. There....There. There.... Nurse! Wheel her into the delivery room."

      She was taken to a room, stripped, and bent over a table and strapped into that position. A nurse came and began feeding her bars of Ex Lax and started a Milk of Magnesia I.V. A bit later, the doctor came in to examine her. "Well, let's have a look and see wha....." He was horrified by what he saw. In front of him were two of the foulest bodily openings he had ever seen.

  2. Make physical geography irrelevant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    But people still need to live in buildings.

    I say follow the buildings.

  3. Fix the "comments" system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Seriously Slashdot, can you please replace the fscking ridiculous comment "slider" on the left side of the screen? It totally sucks. Hire a proper UI designer.

    1. Re:Fix the "comments" system by techno-vampire · · Score: 1, Offtopic
      This removes the slider functionality.

      You mean it's supposed to have some sort of functionality? I thought it was just intended to uglify the page like the rest of the "improvements" and turned them off as quickly as I could.

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    2. Re:Fix the "comments" system by saiha · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I can't imagine it would be that difficult to write your own filter to customize your slashdot experience. So either do that and stop whining or propose a solution. "X SUCKS" isn't a solution.

    3. Re:Fix the "comments" system by techno-vampire · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Why tell me this? I thought I'd made it clear that I'd turned them off, along with all the other crud. I'm using Slashdot classic, so I don't see all those stupid ideas.

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    4. Re:Fix the "comments" system by coaxial · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      The thing with the new /. ui is that it's so confusing and awkward. Checkboxes that don't toggle when you put the point of the mouse on them, but only when you put the shaft of the mouse on it. (It's a standard UI element people! You don't have to do anything to it!)

      I can't figure out what the colors on articles mean. It's something about scoring, but only the cylon god only knows for sure. Red and green, sure. Even yellow. Purple? What is that? And scoring articles? Isn't that what editors are for? Voting just leads to digg levels of crap and group think.

      The sliders layout the page with tons of collapsed comments, regardless to how you slide them.

      Modal "dialogs" that have too much text in them you have to scroll. WTF? (Can that lameass web2.0 ui fad please go die in a gutter?)

      Switching from the main page to a user's page is completely different in layout. The preferences all have snarky names like "daddypants" I have no idea what any of this means. (FYI: don't do a public beta with codenames on your main site)

      I wouldn't feel so bad about it if it wasn't just so damn confusing. I have no idea what any of this means, nor how it works, and I've been on this site for 10 years.

    5. Re:Fix the "comments" system by techno-vampire · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      The thing with the new /. ui is that it's so confusing and awkward.

      So turn it off, like I did. I'd love to see a Slashdot poll about what people think of the new design. I bet that "I hate it" would win by a landslide, which is why we'll never see it.

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    6. Re:Fix the "comments" system by coaxial · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      It was off. I turned it back on just for that comment. ;)

      "Hate it" would probably win even if the UI was perfect, but don't underestimate the "They provide this for FREE!!!!! You should be GREATFUL!!!! You can't criticize!" crowd.

  4. Yo mumma by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I hear yo' mumma's* house is also teeming with software developers, on account of her being easy and not worried by little things like body odour.

    * British English for "yo' momma". For when one is drinkin' tea with one's homies, all of you.+
    + We can't say "y'all" in Britain, since we say "all of you" instead of "you all".

    1. Re:Yo mumma by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      I find that British humor really went downhill after Andy Capp stopped smoking and beating his wife.

      Andy Capp!

      Andy is a working class figure, living in Hartlepool, North-East England. His hobbies include pigeon racing, snooker, football (which always involves fights with the other players, and frequently ends with Andy being sent off), occasionally cricket and rugby, betting on horses, getting drunk (often falling in the canal and, always, seven nights a week, arriving home late as a result), fishing (and not catching anything bigger than a goldfish), womanizing, lying on the sofa and fighting with his long-suffering wife, Flo.

      British humor is a somewhat general term applied to certain comedic motifs that are often prevalent in comedic acts originating in the United Kingdom and its current or former colonies. Comedy acts and television programs typical of British humor include Monty Python, Benny Hill, and Keeping Up Appearances to name a few that have become quite popular outside of the United Kingdom. At times, however, such humor can seem puzzling to non-British speakers of English (references to English slang terms or people, who are unknown internationally for example) while certain Commonwealth nations (such as Australia, Canada and South Africa) tend to find it more familiar. Many UK comedy TV shows typical of British humor have been internationally popular, and have been a strong avenue for the export and representation of British culture to an international audience.

    2. Re:Yo mumma by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      I find that British humor really went downhill after Andy Capp stopped smoking and beating his wife.

      No way: Mighty Boosh, Absolute Power, Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, Shooting Stars, Have I Got News For You, Little Britain (well the radio show and first two series' anyway), Bo Selecta, The Office, Extras, Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, League of Gentlemen, Big Train, Brass Eye, Monkey Dust, Modern Toss

      Those are just the more recent examples of excellent British comedy I can remember off the top of my head. Going downhill? I think not. :)