The article is bombed, but if it is anything like the US program it is common sense.
If a government is prohibited from tapping phone calls originating from their country, then once a terrorist gets into the country, they have carte blanche. It's beyond stupid.
This is not to mention that it is really difficult to know exactly who placed a call, who answered the call, what they are talking about. Believe me folks, they don't care about your petty crimes. They are looking for a well disguised needle in a hay stack. Besides, anything they had on you would be thrown out of court if they ever tried to use it.
Grow up or shut up, but please stop trying to tie our hands.
Take a look at the surface of the moon and you will see a wonderful mechanism for clearing out dust from an area of the moon. Seriously, dust busters, metal grates, giant lint rollers are the best ideas we can generate? Who is sponsoring this nonsense, black & decker?
This really angers me on so many levels. This reminds me of when our new top scientist, then vp, gave the shuttle replacement to the project which didn't under go any flight tests and didn't have a feasible technological basis. 15 years later, we still don't have a replacement. Burt Rutan did it on his own in less time and with less money.
This is a non-problem. Why don't we focus on developing a junk yard in space and start cleaning up our orbit? Why not focus on mining asteroids and find one between us and Mars or us and the asteroid belt? Why not focus on living in space, which we will need to do if we are ever to fulfill our potential? My greatest fear is that in the year 3000 we will still be stuck on this rock.
Of course, I'll be long dead by then, but what about my red-headed, blue eyed half mexican/half chinese muslim decendants?
One of my biggest gripes against *nix
on
Define - /etc?
·
· Score: -1, Flamebait
I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but I have no clue about where things go or why. I know this is soooo lame, but I've just never been bothered to figure it out. I know it's not that complicated, but on the *nix boxes I work on (and I've worked on plenty), there is always some secret location for the good stuff (whatever I'm working on), so it's not like cracking the code is that important.
One place everything was in/usr and then some attempt to use the root tree. So you end up with stuff in/usr/local/bin/etc or/usr/bin/local/etc and who cares. It's just pretty much arbitrary and was writ in stone back in the dark ages.
This may smack of heresy, but wouldn't it be nice to have a directory tree that means something to people who have never seen it? Something like.../SYSTEM../kernel../gui../config/APPLICATIONs../kernel../games../allusers../user1../user2/DATA../sound../photos../pron
It's a small gripe, but could lead to demystifying things, which is open although it wouldn't be free (as in someone has to do it).
It's such a joke that every one claims to be more secure then the next guy. But really they mean if you turn everything off and patch your system every day. That's what a 0 day exploit means. You have to patch every day or you could be at risk. Assuming there is a patch.
Having a patch isn't even that great of a deal. The patch usually provides the problem and then it's off to the races. How long to patch X number of systems versus how long to write an exploit. Even if you are 1% of the market, it's a losing race for the patchers.
Then there are all of the poor orphaned systems out there that don't have any one to maintain them. Who will patch these poor unfortunates? No one. The maintainers got laid off or found a better job and those systems will always be vulnerable.
The only time a computer is secure these days is when the network cable is unplugged and/or the on/off switch is off.
And don't even get me started on the Web of Lies...
Good luck with that home. Unfortunately, some one else's sweet little girl, all grown up, will be taking care of you. If she's ready to smack grandma around, she'll probably do worse to you.
More examples of bass-ackwards, state approved, lawyer welfare:
Suing McDonalds because people are fat... Suing Tobaco companies because people smoke... Suing gun makers because people shoot other people... etc...
With the way our system of precedence skews things, the lawyers only have to win once to open a flood gate of copycat lawsuits. With 50 states to shop their politically correct brand of justice, the odds are they'll win one eventually. I'm not saying that people who incur damages from negligence shouldn't be allowed to sue, but in these large class action suits, the people who suffer get next to nothing and the lawyers get a huge payday.
Mod me way off topic, but it's wednesday and I felt like ranting...
Seriously dude, why would you want to make money for the lawyers by suggesting something so bass-ackwards? I've got to ask, R U A LAWYER? IANAL and pretty much hate all these class action/anti-monopoly crap that just seems to enrich some fat cat lawyer. I remember the coupons that I got for being in California as part of the MS settlement. What a joke.
If you were in the US of A, I would suggest going to Big Lots, Ross, Burlington, etc and buying any cheap (less then $5) piece of licensed computer kid products (dora, mickey, clifford, etc) you can find. Sometimes you can find a 4 game combo for $5 that will have a mix.
My daughter is 2 yrs, 4 months old and knows the alphabet, numbers, some words, some math, speaks in full sentences, is polite and has already started potty training. Not all of that is because of her computer use, but my wife and I are amazed at what she knows cause it's not like we push it on her. We limit her computer time and use it as a reward (gotta love reverse psychology).
As an aside...
When she was just a baby, I used to hold her in my lap while playing Battlefield. I would drive around in a jeep and she would hit the space bar to honk the horn. I used to love tellling people I just ran over that my baby was honking at them to get out of the way.
Sorry Mike, but since you challenged the Global Warming Apocalypse you will have to be strung up on the rack and anything you say will be considered heresy. After all, how can 90% of climatologists ever be wrong about anything?
I think we should practice terraforming here on terra. Specifically, we should start with transforming the mojave desert.
My idea is simple, drop a pipeline into the pacific and start pumping salt water into death valley (below sea level). Once the water actually starts flowing, you can turn the pumps into electricity generators (think of a huge siphon). Using glass pipes, you can desalinate the water either on the way or after it gets to the desert (lots of sunlight to do the job). Use the electricity to pump the fresh water east.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
California is one of the few places something like this could work and they have the resources and environmental guilt to do it. After all, there are few environments as radically changed as California. The SF bay used to be fresh water until they damned all the rivers.
Tor annonymizes content. So, from my university account I can now annonymously:
control a botnet
setup a hidden tor server with kiddie porn
access an email account used to scam senior citizens
etc...
I'm sure most universities have user agreements which frown on this sort of behavior. Additionally, Tor increases bandwidth. It takes a lot more bandwidth to setup all those hops and also to encrypt all of the content.
Basically, this is free internet access for the students and faculty so I have zero sympathy. For all we know, he really was using Tor for something nefarious.
Well, gnu/linux is not a given. Someone with enough resources could replace gnu with something better. I'm not sure who would have the resources to do this, but that in and of itself could be dangerous.
But then maybe that would make Linus rethink his stand. I think the guy is a genius and I'm not really much of a linux zealot.
I'm sure HP doesn't make every part that is in a computer. They don't make the CPU. But that's essential, right? What about the hard drive, is that essential? How about the mouse or the keyboard? Those could be considered essential, but there are lots of computers without them. Is a sound card essential?
What other areas can this stupidity be applied to? How about third party console developers? Doesn't the purchase of their products require the purchase of a console. Microwave popcorn usually requires a microwave.
This is a retarded law from a retarded country and only the retards on slashdot could possibly find joy in this.
20 years ago, when Redmond was still a hick town, IBM was the Man and everybody hated IBM. They killed technology, stiffled competitors, set their own price, produced crappy consumer products like the PCjr and they owned the market. Decision makers chose IBM because no one ever got fired for choosing IBM.
Then things changed. Many slashdotters attribute Apple for this change. However, I disagree.
Microsoft allowed anyone to build hardware, assemble hardware, write drivers, write software and make money selling windows boxes. Companies like Compaq, HP, Dell, Sony, Toshiba and thousands of others sold these machines at half the price of a similar Apple machine and a tenth of a Sun workstation. Microsoft provided suites of business applications and also provided development tools. Most importantly, Microsoft supported and rewarded game companies.
You will read a litany of complaints against Microsoft on slashdot that stretch back for years. Everyone has a gripe. The common opinion is that Microsoft is full of retarded programmers who win by sheer force of monopoly and marketing. Yet, almost as many will express fear that the long arm of Microsoft will reach out for their lively hood and destroy their future. A few years ago it was routine to include Intel in the hating, but their cool now cause they run Mac OS.
Any discussion of Microsoft would not be complete without mentioning closed source software. Microsoft is and everyone else isn't, unless you're a die hard communist then GPLv5 is the only true open source license. A few years ago it was v2 but someone made some money by selling software that had some closed source meant to stop pirating, that's three stikes.
Another source for the hate is on the server side, where Linux is a better choice, hands down, no question. I even agree on this point. It is painful to hear of a company that chooses Microsoft for their server software, but some companies do. Why? Because no one ever got fired for buying MS.
Finally, and this is the worst part for the haters, it's about to happen all over again with Vista. The first game that will only run on Windows Vista will begin the long and steep road to adoption. I'm guessing Battlefield3. Lots of people will choose that time to buy a new PC, which really irks alot of the haters. That is what makes this situation so ironic. The competition really isn't Microsoft, the competion is Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc and those guys aren't going anywhere.
There's nothing to see here really. MS is competing with something similar from Cisco, Symantec, McAfee, etc.
There are bound to be lots of problems. They escalate like so...
...the traveling salesman who hasn't updated in 6 months.
...the vp who restored his system with a 6 month old backup.
...the founder who just wants to surf the web during a board meeting.
Eventually they get poked with holes and become nothing more then background noise
I guess linux doesn't have this problem because everyone keeps their boxen up to date. But then there aren't any security problems with linux anyways, so really you don't even need to do that. If it's true for linux then it must be doubly true for mac. Har dee har har... I crack myself up.
From the web "The number of children diagnosed as having autistic spectrum disorders is increasing. Studies investigating this phenomenon have concluded that several factors account for the increase--for example, changing conceptualisation to a spectrum rather than a core categorical condition; changes in diagnostic methods; and the inclusion of children with disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette's syndrome, or tuberous sclerosis as also having autistic spectrum disorder."
I have a 23 1/2 month old, definately not autistic, but this article still scared the flying spaghetti monster outta me. I ran across this and wonder if these idiots even considered this into their study. Also, since autism is a social-neurological disorder, wouldn't it be just as likely that the parents are the ones watching TV and not interacting with their kids.
I wonder what other statistics would correlate with an increase in autism.
I would take a hard look at who is going to be managing you at your new place of employment. I've been lucky to have good managers. If you don't know who your manager is going to be, I'd be more then a little worried.
The first week of my first job after graduation, my new manager decides to leave the company. For 6 months I had no manager and no responsibility. I could feel the rust sinking in. Luckily I ended up doing the 3 year development project that I was initially hired to do.
who don't want to wait for the movie versions, here they are...
Tron -- Required viewing. Matrix -- Required viewing after Tron. Dungeons and Dragons -- Required viewing. LotR -- Required viewing after Dungeons and Dragons. Star Wars 1-3 -- Required viewing (sorry). Star Wars 4-6 -- Required viewing after SW 1-3. Star Trek: the Movie -- Required viewing. Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan -- Required veiwing after Star Trek: the Movie.
I could keep going, but what's the point...
Required gaming would be a better subject and I could probably come up with 50 games in a heartbeat.
Scary Stuff: Rising sea levels... I don't live on the coast. Hotter summers... I have a swimming pool. Disruption of the thermal currents... If temperatures keep rising it won't be needed, will it. Change in weather patterns... Those happen already. Disruption of animal habitats... Why should polar bears get a pass?
Not Scary Stuff: Alaska, Canada and Russia emerge from permafrost... All those who lived on the coast can move there. Hotter springs and falls... I'm grabbing my clubs and hitting the links.
Honestly folks, you may be right and stupid at the same time. Making dire prediction after dire prediction is not helping your cause. Calling people stupid and unqualified is not helping your cause. Making this political is not helping your cause. Blaming Katrina and a bad hurricane cycle on GW is not helping your cause, cause it should have gotten worse this year, right? Asking people to make sacrifices while begging to spend more of thier tax money is not helping your cause. The fact that your cause is made up of people who can't even agree with each other, is not really helping your cause.
Personally, I worry more about paying my mortgage every month...
I played the X-Com demo that came on a 3.5 inch floppy with CGW. It was hard, really hard. It took us a day just to figure out how to survive getting out of the landing vehicle. It took another day to figure out you could go up stairs and throw grenades. We never won once.
When the game came out and we shot down a UFO, we kept hearing a whooshing sound. I remember saying that there must be a door into the UFO and everyone was like, yeah right. When I found the door, just about everyone's jaw dropped. It was obvious to us then that this game was deep.
Awesome game, awesome demo and they just don't make 'em like that anymore.
I got the riddle about filling up water bottles that was directly from Die Hard With A Vengence. I didn't say anything about it, I just answered the question, but after I was hired, I totally ragged on the guy who asked it at a department meeting. He was pretty embarassed.
I've also had two interviews with different groups at the same place *cough* symantec *cough* and was asked the same question: "How many gas pumps are there in the U.S.". The first time I went through the process of guesstimating but the second time I knew the answer and just told the guy. He was incredulous that I would know until I told him why I looked it up in the first place.
I've had worse interviews. I had one where the VP of Engineering called me a liar and told me I didn't know what I was talking about. I had just spent 6 months doing the thing he said was impossible, so I could care less. Same place, I turn the corner from the receptionist, the whole work space was half-height cubicles and the entire staff was Indian. I honest to god couldn't stop from laughing. My windowless office never looked so good.
I figure it like this, I'm interviewing them as much as they are interviewing me. Chances are, if they don't have a clue about who to hire, they're not gonna have a clue about much else.
Slashdot Mirror
The article is bombed, but if it is anything like the US program it is common sense.
If a government is prohibited from tapping phone calls originating from their country, then once a terrorist gets into the country, they have carte blanche. It's beyond stupid.
This is not to mention that it is really difficult to know exactly who placed a call, who answered the call, what they are talking about. Believe me folks, they don't care about your petty crimes. They are looking for a well disguised needle in a hay stack. Besides, anything they had on you would be thrown out of court if they ever tried to use it.
Grow up or shut up, but please stop trying to tie our hands.
Take a look at the surface of the moon and you will see a wonderful mechanism for clearing out dust from an area of the moon. Seriously, dust busters, metal grates, giant lint rollers are the best ideas we can generate? Who is sponsoring this nonsense, black & decker?
This really angers me on so many levels. This reminds me of when our new top scientist, then vp, gave the shuttle replacement to the project which didn't under go any flight tests and didn't have a feasible technological basis. 15 years later, we still don't have a replacement. Burt Rutan did it on his own in less time and with less money.
This is a non-problem. Why don't we focus on developing a junk yard in space and start cleaning up our orbit? Why not focus on mining asteroids and find one between us and Mars or us and the asteroid belt? Why not focus on living in space, which we will need to do if we are ever to fulfill our potential? My greatest fear is that in the year 3000 we will still be stuck on this rock.
Of course, I'll be long dead by then, but what about my red-headed, blue eyed half mexican/half chinese muslim decendants?
I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but I have no clue about where things go or why. I know this is soooo lame, but I've just never been bothered to figure it out. I know it's not that complicated, but on the *nix boxes I work on (and I've worked on plenty), there is always some secret location for the good stuff (whatever I'm working on), so it's not like cracking the code is that important.
/usr and then some attempt to use the root tree. So you end up with stuff in /usr/local/bin/etc or /usr/bin/local/etc and who cares. It's just pretty much arbitrary and was writ in stone back in the dark ages.
/SYSTEM ../kernel ../gui ../config /APPLICATIONs ../kernel ../games ../allusers ../user1 ../user2 /DATA ../sound ../photos ../pron
One place everything was in
This may smack of heresy, but wouldn't it be nice to have a directory tree that means something to people who have never seen it? Something like...
It's a small gripe, but could lead to demystifying things, which is open although it wouldn't be free (as in someone has to do it).
...once again proves to be an oxymoron.
It's such a joke that every one claims to be more secure then the next guy. But really they mean if you turn everything off and patch your system every day. That's what a 0 day exploit means. You have to patch every day or you could be at risk. Assuming there is a patch.
Having a patch isn't even that great of a deal. The patch usually provides the problem and then it's off to the races. How long to patch X number of systems versus how long to write an exploit. Even if you are 1% of the market, it's a losing race for the patchers.
Then there are all of the poor orphaned systems out there that don't have any one to maintain them. Who will patch these poor unfortunates? No one. The maintainers got laid off or found a better job and those systems will always be vulnerable.
The only time a computer is secure these days is when the network cable is unplugged and/or the on/off switch is off.
And don't even get me started on the Web of Lies...
Couldn't agree more... My Mom used to beat me with a hot-wheel track and because of that I love her even more...
Good luck with that home. Unfortunately, some one else's sweet little girl, all grown up, will be taking care of you. If she's ready to smack grandma around, she'll probably do worse to you.
More examples of bass-ackwards, state approved, lawyer welfare:
Suing McDonalds because people are fat...
Suing Tobaco companies because people smoke...
Suing gun makers because people shoot other people...
etc...
With the way our system of precedence skews things, the lawyers only have to win once to open a flood gate of copycat lawsuits. With 50 states to shop their politically correct brand of justice, the odds are they'll win one eventually. I'm not saying that people who incur damages from negligence shouldn't be allowed to sue, but in these large class action suits, the people who suffer get next to nothing and the lawyers get a huge payday.
Mod me way off topic, but it's wednesday and I felt like ranting...
Seriously dude, why would you want to make money for the lawyers by suggesting something so bass-ackwards? I've got to ask, R U A LAWYER? IANAL and pretty much hate all these class action/anti-monopoly crap that just seems to enrich some fat cat lawyer. I remember the coupons that I got for being in California as part of the MS settlement. What a joke.
That is a sad collection of software...
If you were in the US of A, I would suggest going to Big Lots, Ross, Burlington, etc and buying any cheap (less then $5) piece of licensed computer kid products (dora, mickey, clifford, etc) you can find. Sometimes you can find a 4 game combo for $5 that will have a mix.
My daughter is 2 yrs, 4 months old and knows the alphabet, numbers, some words, some math, speaks in full sentences, is polite and has already started potty training. Not all of that is because of her computer use, but my wife and I are amazed at what she knows cause it's not like we push it on her. We limit her computer time and use it as a reward (gotta love reverse psychology).
As an aside...
When she was just a baby, I used to hold her in my lap while playing Battlefield. I would drive around in a jeep and she would hit the space bar to honk the horn. I used to love tellling people I just ran over that my baby was honking at them to get out of the way.
Sorry Mike, but since you challenged the Global Warming Apocalypse you will have to be strung up on the rack and anything you say will be considered heresy. After all, how can 90% of climatologists ever be wrong about anything?
I think we should practice terraforming here on terra. Specifically, we should start with transforming the mojave desert.
My idea is simple, drop a pipeline into the pacific and start pumping salt water into death valley (below sea level). Once the water actually starts flowing, you can turn the pumps into electricity generators (think of a huge siphon). Using glass pipes, you can desalinate the water either on the way or after it gets to the desert (lots of sunlight to do the job). Use the electricity to pump the fresh water east.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
California is one of the few places something like this could work and they have the resources and environmental guilt to do it. After all, there are few environments as radically changed as California. The SF bay used to be fresh water until they damned all the rivers.
Tor annonymizes content. So, from my university account I can now annonymously: control a botnet setup a hidden tor server with kiddie porn access an email account used to scam senior citizens etc... I'm sure most universities have user agreements which frown on this sort of behavior. Additionally, Tor increases bandwidth. It takes a lot more bandwidth to setup all those hops and also to encrypt all of the content. Basically, this is free internet access for the students and faculty so I have zero sympathy. For all we know, he really was using Tor for something nefarious.
Well, gnu/linux is not a given. Someone with enough resources could replace gnu with something better. I'm not sure who would have the resources to do this, but that in and of itself could be dangerous. But then maybe that would make Linus rethink his stand. I think the guy is a genius and I'm not really much of a linux zealot.
I'm sure HP doesn't make every part that is in a computer. They don't make the CPU. But that's essential, right? What about the hard drive, is that essential? How about the mouse or the keyboard? Those could be considered essential, but there are lots of computers without them. Is a sound card essential? What other areas can this stupidity be applied to? How about third party console developers? Doesn't the purchase of their products require the purchase of a console. Microwave popcorn usually requires a microwave. This is a retarded law from a retarded country and only the retards on slashdot could possibly find joy in this.
Then things changed. Many slashdotters attribute Apple for this change. However, I disagree.
Microsoft allowed anyone to build hardware, assemble hardware, write drivers, write software and make money selling windows boxes. Companies like Compaq, HP, Dell, Sony, Toshiba and thousands of others sold these machines at half the price of a similar Apple machine and a tenth of a Sun workstation. Microsoft provided suites of business applications and also provided development tools. Most importantly, Microsoft supported and rewarded game companies.
You will read a litany of complaints against Microsoft on slashdot that stretch back for years. Everyone has a gripe. The common opinion is that Microsoft is full of retarded programmers who win by sheer force of monopoly and marketing. Yet, almost as many will express fear that the long arm of Microsoft will reach out for their lively hood and destroy their future. A few years ago it was routine to include Intel in the hating, but their cool now cause they run Mac OS.
Any discussion of Microsoft would not be complete without mentioning closed source software. Microsoft is and everyone else isn't, unless you're a die hard communist then GPLv5 is the only true open source license. A few years ago it was v2 but someone made some money by selling software that had some closed source meant to stop pirating, that's three stikes.
Another source for the hate is on the server side, where Linux is a better choice, hands down, no question. I even agree on this point. It is painful to hear of a company that chooses Microsoft for their server software, but some companies do. Why? Because no one ever got fired for buying MS.
Finally, and this is the worst part for the haters, it's about to happen all over again with Vista. The first game that will only run on Windows Vista will begin the long and steep road to adoption. I'm guessing Battlefield3. Lots of people will choose that time to buy a new PC, which really irks alot of the haters. That is what makes this situation so ironic. The competition really isn't Microsoft, the competion is Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc and those guys aren't going anywhere.
There are bound to be lots of problems. They escalate like so...
Eventually they get poked with holes and become nothing more then background noise
I guess linux doesn't have this problem because everyone keeps their boxen up to date. But then there aren't any security problems with linux anyways, so really you don't even need to do that. If it's true for linux then it must be doubly true for mac. Har dee har har... I crack myself up.
The victims of 9/11 were murdered.
More money has been spent researching virally infectious diseases then anthrax.
I didn't read the article, but jeez, what a moron...
"The number of children diagnosed as having autistic spectrum disorders is increasing. Studies investigating this phenomenon have concluded that several factors account for the increase--for example, changing conceptualisation to a spectrum rather than a core categorical condition; changes in diagnostic methods; and the inclusion of children with disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette's syndrome, or tuberous sclerosis as also having autistic spectrum disorder."
I have a 23 1/2 month old, definately not autistic, but this article still scared the flying spaghetti monster outta me. I ran across this and wonder if these idiots even considered this into their study. Also, since autism is a social-neurological disorder, wouldn't it be just as likely that the parents are the ones watching TV and not interacting with their kids.
I wonder what other statistics would correlate with an increase in autism.
Somehow I doubt this will ever make it onto the nightly news. Lawyers everywhere are seeing dollar signs.
I would take a hard look at who is going to be managing you at your new place of employment. I've been lucky to have good managers. If you don't know who your manager is going to be, I'd be more then a little worried. The first week of my first job after graduation, my new manager decides to leave the company. For 6 months I had no manager and no responsibility. I could feel the rust sinking in. Luckily I ended up doing the 3 year development project that I was initially hired to do.
who don't want to wait for the movie versions, here they are...
Tron -- Required viewing.
Matrix -- Required viewing after Tron.
Dungeons and Dragons -- Required viewing.
LotR -- Required viewing after Dungeons and Dragons.
Star Wars 1-3 -- Required viewing (sorry).
Star Wars 4-6 -- Required viewing after SW 1-3.
Star Trek: the Movie -- Required viewing.
Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan -- Required veiwing after Star Trek: the Movie.
I could keep going, but what's the point...
Required gaming would be a better subject and I could probably come up with 50 games in a heartbeat.
Scary Stuff:
Rising sea levels... I don't live on the coast.
Hotter summers... I have a swimming pool.
Disruption of the thermal currents... If temperatures keep rising it won't be needed, will it.
Change in weather patterns... Those happen already.
Disruption of animal habitats... Why should polar bears get a pass?
Not Scary Stuff:
Alaska, Canada and Russia emerge from permafrost... All those who lived on the coast can move there.
Hotter springs and falls... I'm grabbing my clubs and hitting the links.
Honestly folks, you may be right and stupid at the same time. Making dire prediction after dire prediction is not helping your cause. Calling people stupid and unqualified is not helping your cause. Making this political is not helping your cause. Blaming Katrina and a bad hurricane cycle on GW is not helping your cause, cause it should have gotten worse this year, right? Asking people to make sacrifices while begging to spend more of thier tax money is not helping your cause. The fact that your cause is made up of people who can't even agree with each other, is not really helping your cause.
Personally, I worry more about paying my mortgage every month...
...is give Wii a chance...
I played the X-Com demo that came on a 3.5 inch floppy with CGW. It was hard, really hard. It took us a day just to figure out how to survive getting out of the landing vehicle. It took another day to figure out you could go up stairs and throw grenades. We never won once.
When the game came out and we shot down a UFO, we kept hearing a whooshing sound. I remember saying that there must be a door into the UFO and everyone was like, yeah right. When I found the door, just about everyone's jaw dropped. It was obvious to us then that this game was deep.
Awesome game, awesome demo and they just don't make 'em like that anymore.
I got the riddle about filling up water bottles that was directly from Die Hard With A Vengence. I didn't say anything about it, I just answered the question, but after I was hired, I totally ragged on the guy who asked it at a department meeting. He was pretty embarassed.
I've also had two interviews with different groups at the same place *cough* symantec *cough* and was asked the same question: "How many gas pumps are there in the U.S.". The first time I went through the process of guesstimating but the second time I knew the answer and just told the guy. He was incredulous that I would know until I told him why I looked it up in the first place.
I've had worse interviews. I had one where the VP of Engineering called me a liar and told me I didn't know what I was talking about. I had just spent 6 months doing the thing he said was impossible, so I could care less. Same place, I turn the corner from the receptionist, the whole work space was half-height cubicles and the entire staff was Indian. I honest to god couldn't stop from laughing. My windowless office never looked so good.
I figure it like this, I'm interviewing them as much as they are interviewing me. Chances are, if they don't have a clue about who to hire, they're not gonna have a clue about much else.