Slashdot Mirror


User: The_mad_linguist

The_mad_linguist's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
1,108
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 1,108

  1. Re:Amazing, but these are even more amazing. on Scribblenauts Impresses Critics · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's not actually that difficult a problem once you have the database. And they built the database partially with crowdsourcing on their online site - 20q.net.

  2. Re:In related news.. on Judge Rules That Reasonable Consumer Should Know "Crunchberries" Are Not Fruit · · Score: 1
  3. Re:I wonder if my great^8 grandkids on Research Vehicle Reaches the Bottom of the Ocean · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's why I'd do it at night.

  4. Re:I wonder if my great^8 grandkids on Research Vehicle Reaches the Bottom of the Ocean · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh yeah? Well, I'm going to be the first man to set foot on the surface of the sun!

  5. The real question is quality on Aussie Government Offers $40M To Build a Bionic Eye · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's already possible to do really low quality artificial sight.

    http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Seeing+Tongue-a078681631

    As I see it, the main hurdle is just getting a eye hooked up with a decent amount of bandwidth (there are issues with power supply, nonrejection, et cetera, but those seem less difficult). The human brain is really good at creating interpreters for new inputs.

  6. Re:Cowards on The Perils of Pop Philosophy · · Score: 1

    And when you're a little confused about what's the good or the right or the wrong, you can always drown your sorrows at the bar, eh?

  7. Re:Why not.... on Time Warner ToS Changes Could Mean Tiered Pricing, Throttling · · Score: 1

    Actually, the government has already made mandates about railroad pricing schemes.

  8. Woah on PSP Go With 16GB Memory and Bluetooth Leaked · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I've heard of memory leaks, but never Bluetooth leaks.

  9. Perfectly understandable on Cancer Patient Held At Airport For Missing Fingerprints · · Score: 1

    All I'm saying is, if somebody had stolen *my* fingerprints, I'd want them to be held at an airport, cancer patient or no.

  10. Re:I dunno. on How Comic Fans & Shops Are Stereotyped · · Score: 1

    You have the SuPopGaMas three-in-one limited holo combo pack? I've been looking everywhere for it! How much do you want for it?

  11. Re:The path less traveled on Fluorescent Monkeys Cast Light On Human Disease · · Score: 1

    Haven't there been trials of gene therapy in humans already

  12. Just a matter of time on Fluorescent Monkeys Cast Light On Human Disease · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So, how long do you think it'll be before decedents of these 'somehow' hit the exotic pet trade.

  13. I would be pedantic, but... on Pulsar Signals Could Provide Galactic GPS · · Score: 5, Funny

    At this point, I'd normally be ranting about how the G in GPS stands for "Global", and that the summary is making an awful analogy, but then I realized that "Galactic" also begins with a G.

    And then I realized that that still doesn't make "Galactic Global Positioning System" any better.

  14. Re:Excellent on Church of Scientology On Trial In France · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow, apparently I can double up on karma by putting vital information in a reply to my post.

    Who knew?

  15. Re:Excellent on Church of Scientology On Trial In France · · Score: 5, Informative
  16. Excellent on Church of Scientology On Trial In France · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, let's see. Germany declared Scientology unconstitutional in '07... are we seeing a domino effect starting?

  17. Re:Sometimes "piracy" is only option! on Sony CEO Proposes "Guardrails For the Internet" · · Score: 1

    Apparently they've started to get the hint about anime, at least. For example, TV Tokyo is now doing internet streaming with English subtitles for popular series. And they release within an hour of the original broadcast.

  18. Re:They're called digital cameras on Polaroid Lovers Try To Revive Its Instant Film · · Score: 1

    Do you know the thermal efficiency of a horse?

    It's not that good. And you have to keep the engine idling for a full 24 hours each day.

  19. Re:Noticeable lag, even if framerates are OK on What Made Those Old, 2D Platformers So Great? · · Score: 1

    Full of bugs? Idiotic copy protections? Ridiculously high prices? Needing much more CPU/GPU power than my high-end PC offers?

    Of course, sometimes they actually produce a brilliant, excellent game, the critics love it, and nobody buys it.

    What, you didn't play that last level? Stupid @!#$!@#$ inconsistent controls on the stupid !#$!@#$ cheese grater jumping section. I started counting restarts - I gave up when I reached seventy-five and watched the ending on youtube.

  20. A few more reasons on What Made Those Old, 2D Platformers So Great? · · Score: 1

    Well, first there's the time filter previously mentioned on /. - how many members of the general public can remember a playwright other than Shakespeare?

    Second, the game designer has a better grasp of how the player will approach things due to a smaller number of states the player can be in - for example, just about everyone who plays Cave Story for the first time will die on the fourth spike.

    Third, situational awareness. If something hits you, you know what it is, and if you die you know exactly the reason why. I believe Valve commented on this during the Sniper update.

  21. Re:The babe from Firefly? on Sarah Connor Chronicles — Why It Died · · Score: 1

    Hey, you have to respect what they did in Heroes season 3. It took a lot of guts to create their plots with a Markov generator, and even more to decide upon plot twists with a coin flip.

    Heads, a character switches sides (since there isn't much difference between them, let's call them Team A and Team 1)
    Tails, a character turns out to be related to the Petrellis.

    Edge: Both happen.

    Based on this theory, the coin is more of a cylinder.

  22. Re:Go figure on Cola Consumption Can Lead To Muscle Problems · · Score: 1

    I tried that.

    They don't.

  23. Re:Bananas on Cola Consumption Can Lead To Muscle Problems · · Score: 1

    Well, like them while they last. Just like there was back in the Great Depression (inspiring the song "Yes, we have no bananas"), and again in the 1960s, there's a banana blight starting up, and the genetically identical Cavendish variety will probably be extinct within a few decades from Panama disease Race 4.

  24. Re:Cola specific? on Cola Consumption Can Lead To Muscle Problems · · Score: 1

    Maybe he's a geologist?

  25. Re:what is needed? on Spy Satellite Photos Used To Fight Drug Smugglers · · Score: 1

    What, like the ones that say that people have to fill out paperwork to become citizens?