User: delstar dotstar

Re:Wow

On: System Shock 2 Retrospect...and Possible Followup?

And don't even get me started on the groves.

Jettisoning Beta Grove was the most satisfying game experience of my life.

I don't see a problem

On: Open Source Life?

Fortunately, I eat a low-carb diet.

Units of measurement

On: Building A Modern Stonehenge In New Zealand

Before building it, remember that ' is feet and " is inches.

Re:Is this really a GOOD idea?

On: A New Type Of Realtime Blocklist: The SURBL

Words that can be more than one part of speech are used fairly infrequently. Ten in a row is a pretty good giveaway.

• that:
  1. adj (Not this one, that one)
  2. dem. pron. (Look at that )
  3. rel. pron. (birds that sing)
• can:
  1. noun (a can of whoopass)
  2. verb (The boss is gonna can your ass)
  3. modal (I can swim)
• one
  1. adj ( one fine morning)
  2. pron (the one that got away)
• part
  1. noun ( part of speech)
  2. verb ( part the Red Sea)
  3. adj ( part man, part machine)
• used:
  1. verb (I used a hammer on the kitten)
  2. adj (a used car)
• ten
  1. adj ( ten fingers)
  2. pron ( ten in a row)
• row
  1. noun (ten in a row )
  2. verb ( row your boat)
• pretty
  1. adj (a pretty girl)
  2. adv (a pretty good giveaway)

OK, that was a little snarky. Anyhoo, spammers can just extend the stream-of-random-words technique and create "sentences" that are syntactically kosher but semantically empty: Colorless green dreams sleep furiously. Hell, they don't even need to create sentences -- they can just pinch real, human-generated text from any old web site.

Re:You're a Troll

On: A Babe in Tuxland

...a command prompt that won't auto-complete! Why is it 2004 and DOS won't auto-complete?!

You can edit the registry to get tab completion.

Unfunky UFO

On: Meet the Nasalnaut

a man whose colleagues call "Most Smella Fella"

NASA better get with the times and bust out the rhymes and call him "Hella Smella Fella" -- M.C. Stephen Hawking

Re:Impossible to detect Earthlike planets?

On: Planetary Formation Sim Suggests Many Water Worlds

A problem with the phase inducers has knocked long range sensors off-line.

You, sir, owe me a new monitor.

Re:KDE is not to be ignored

On: UserLinux May Go Without KDE

Actually vi *is* the standard UNIX text editor.

ED! ED! ED IS THE STANDARD!!!

Re:50c is reasonable -- for their target audience

On: Return of the Space Invaders

As for Qix, I'm simply direct you to my earlier post. That game really rocked. Big time.

Well then, I've got a little surprise for you.

Re:Calling in rich

On: Microsoft in the Mirror

Why not hyperlink your cross-references?

Re:I only have one question

On: Open Sourcing a Vertical Market Application?

but having a day job precludes me from being familiar with the language of "the streets" and as such I am not "down" with it.

The original is much funnier and less recherche than yours.

Re: What they remove

On: Memory Hole Un-Redacts Redacted DOJ Memo

What is the use of having WMDs if you are not going to use them?

Deterrence.

Re:With all due respect to our military leaders...

On: Next Major War in Space?

China will rattle it's sabre at Tibet, and a Prime Minister will get re-elected on the back of negotiating China's recognition of Tibet's autonomy

Tibet's been a fait accompli for over 50 years now. To be perfectly frank, it's as much a part of China now as the South is a part of the Union.

Re:I met Dr. Teller...

On: Edward Teller Passes Away At 95

Nice story. Also: nice bait-and-switch.

Re:Funny

On: Highway Shooters Claim To Emulate GTA

I suspect the game engine can't display flexible vehicles as a trailer would require.

You're forgetting that GTA3 had an elevated train w/ articulated cars.

Re:Carter was an officer

On: Taiwan Under Cyber Attack from China

GWB had some military service in the Texas Air National Guard.

A bit less than "some," evidently.

Re:Why the change and Internationalization

On: More on Statistical Language Translation

All of my databases are unicode

...and they are belong to us. :D

Re:good!

On: Youth Spend More Time on Web Than TV

all my nephew does is play flash games like "spank the monkey"

His nephew plays "spank the monkey" -- now you can too!

Re:kids and spam..

On: Reviving the Finger Protocol to Fight Spam?

How about a ".kids" domain for email, to which sending such 'explicit' spam is strictly FORBIDDEN?

I think a .* domain to which sending such explicit spam is forbidden would be even better.

Re:Just in case...

On: How to Make a Starship Enterprise out of a 3.5" Floppy

For an idea of the Slashdot effect, check out these stats for a site linked to by this article last December. Scroll down to Week 49.

The stats probably aren't overly accurate because they're generated by a web-based tracker, but you get the idea.

Re:Looks suspicious

On: Jupiter's Great Dark Spot

Finally having RTFA and learning that the black spot in the center is at J's North Pole, look south of it, not north. Hee.

Re:Looks suspicious

On: Jupiter's Great Dark Spot

OK I'll bite. The dark spot in question's not at the center of the animation. Look north(?) of it, at the top of the blue loop.

Re:This study only concerns drafting tracks.

On: Game Theory at 190mph

Truckers see more efficiency with a trailer than a cab, and do better with tandem trailers. They like to draft each other, saves fuel.

Not just truckers, but regular cars as well. When I'm on the freeway, I get right behind another car so we both can save a little gas. To let them know I'm there, I beep my horn and flash my high beams.

For some reason, though, everyone I do this to gives me the finger. Some people, I swear.

MOD PARENT REDUNDANT

On: Recording Industry Extinction Predicted RSN

Didn't you just say the same thing nine minutes ago?

Re:favorite part

On: Detailed Preview of Masters of Orion 3

Turn based strategy is fine, but after playing a few RTS's I realized that there are just some really cool things you cant pull off in turn-based.

Indeed -- it's tough to pull off the Busted-Left-Mouse-Button Maneuver in a turn-based game.