A black hole with a mass of more than 2 million suns has been pinpointed at the center of the Milky Way.
.. but if something is the size of more then two million suns, then how exactly is it 'pinpointed?' Wouldn't it make more sense if it was 'two million suns pointed'? Just how big of a pin are you guys using here?!
Um... this plan of theirs will work for all of 10 minutes, then be completely messed. Why? I'll tell you -- part of the idea behind napster is that, after you download a mp3, you turn around and share it for the world. (In my opinion, at least.. I'm talking out of my ass here.)
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you download an mp3, and find out that it's not the song, but just an advertisement, are YOU going to keep it around? Well, I would -- but not before renaming it, so that users knew what the content of the mp3 was.
Besides that, I'm sure that once everybody figured out where the trojan (I'm using that term with regret here) mp3s were coming from, then that user would be bannished from everybody's electronic kingdom for ever.
.. there is always Napigator, the napster server browser. Hell, I haven't used the regular Napster network in close to 3 months.. way to much teenie bopper crap. =)
Check out the OpenNAP network in particular -- the service is fast, and the audio is good.
I know that I still miss playing the Zork series, and other classic text games like that. One of my favourites, however, was The HitchHiker's Guide To The Galaxy, based on the novel by the same name. It was a great game that followed the story faithfully, while leaving some new things to do for people who weren't familiar with the story.
Unfortunately, this caused a lot of problems. Why? H2G gave birth to what is referred to as the most difficult puzzle ever: the babel fish.
Imagine that you had never heard of a babel fish, or what it does -- how the hell are you supposed to know that, in order to advance in the game, you have to enter the command 'PUT FISH IN EAR'?
That's the problem with text-based games -- unline games such as Monkey Island, there aren't any visual clues as to what you do next. You have to rely on your wit to get you through to the next puzzle.
--
CitizenC
I like the idea of one-use credit card numbers -- eliminating fraud should have been the #1 priority of credit-card companies since the e-commerce boom, and I'm glad to see that AMEX has been thinking about this problem. However, I am curious about a few things.
First, how will the numbers be issued? My first thought would be instantly, over the 'net. But then I realized that would just be stupid -- the fraud would just be transferred over to getting the #s in the first place.
Second, how will AMEX ensure that you will pay your bill? Will they require that you have an alternate AMEX card, and bill THAT one monthly? (Not that bad an idea, actually..) I don't have a credit card myself (I'm only 18, and I don't think I could handle the responsibility.) but I know of a few items that are a royal pain in the ass to find in stores. (My Razer BoomSlang 2000 is one such item..)
Third, will PEOPLE be able to handle such convenience? I know that impulse buying is a big part of business (why else do stores have all that candy sitting next to the register?) and, if the numbers are instantly available online, you might buy a $900 computer system on a whim, and not have the cash to cover it.
After reading the article, I thought that it (PayPal) would be a fantastic way to accept donations for my work on various websites, technical support assistance, and things of the like. Unfortunately, their service is available only to Americans; as a Canadian, I am completely out of luck. Does anybody know of any similar services that they would recommend?
I am currently doing voices for Quake: The Movie, a machimania by Tritin Films. Now, the difference between regular films and Q:TM is that Quake: The movie is completely computer generated -- no demo camming to be found.
QTM will not be specifically Quake 3, but rather a combination of all of the games -- I've seen a bunch of it already, and it looks quite impressive.
In addition to QTM, Tritin Films is going to me making the intro movie for Quake 3 Fortress.. I can hardly wait!
.. but I have a question. I know that most companies require NDAs when they are having people beta test their software, (I know I had to while I was beta testing Windows Milennium) so I'm wondering why a company would agree to not say anything about Sun's faulty memory.
Are the companies getting anything out of this at all? I know that if I was in their position, and some corporate goon (tm) from Sun came along and said:
'Yeah, we know you're having crashes and frequent reboots for no reason due to our memory, so we want you to sign this saying that you won't mention the problem to anybody. We won't offer anything in exchange, not even to replace the RAM, but rest assured, we're trying to fix it as fast as possible.'
I'd enter into my Matrix-esque quote, 'That sounds like a good deal, but I have a better one. I give you the finger, and you give me my phone call.'
Zero-Knowledge Systems, the company that developed freed0m, has a fantastic work enviroment -- it is an open loft, huge desks, computers, toys, food -- apparently, it is quite good at encouraging good work =) (You can see more pictures and details here.)
However, I believe that I have a pretty good job myself -- I'm an admin on GameSpy Arcade, and I work from my house! =)
I find that the PC is a much more versitle system. It allows, and, in may respects, encourages, people to customize the hell out of it. Different video cards, memory, operating systems -- it all blends together in a nice, personalized machine.
Consoles, on the other hand, are a set thing. You plunk down your 200 bux, and you know that you are getting exactly what your buddy got. You can do some VERY basic customizing (mod chips, etc) but it is discouraged by the manufacturer.
HOWEVER, there are some positive points for consoles.. for one, if you buy a console game, you are POSITIVE that it will work. No 'do I have enough ram?' questions, video card drivers, or hard disk space. It's a very efficient system in that respect.
I'm curious as to how the X-BOX will turn out.. will MS let us plunk our own hardware inside it? Install a different OS? Well, probably not.. I'll wait and see though.
But, for now, just give me my PC -- posting to Slashdot using a PSX2 would be pretty weird =)
Control is definately an issue. As I look over my mp3 directory, I am seeing more and more independant artists. I discovered t r a n c e [] c o n t r o l from Mp3.com -- I had never heard of them before, and now I have all of their songs.
.. I am personally baffeled by the RIAA's insistance that Napster causes people to not purchase as many CDs. Personally, I have downloaded quite a few songs from Napster (Bloodhound Gang, MI2 Soundtrack songs, eminem, etc) and in EACH AND EVERY case, I have gone out and bought the CD because I thought it was good.
The RIAA can't claim to not know that people do this. There have been a bunch of studies, such as this one. Many of my friends do the same thing -- they use napster to sample music, the same way the people use the radio to listen to new music. Based on what I hear, I may go out and buy the cd, but if I don't, I'll erase the mp3 and never listen to it again.
Microsoft's latest version of Windows, Windows Millenium Edition, includes IE5.5 final. I know this because they sent me a complementary copy for beta testing. (Heh.. doesn't seem very Microsoft to me.. a company that charges for patches (Win98 -> Win98SE = $130) gave me a copy of their newest OS? *Shrug*)
I'm not looking to troll here, but, honestly, what possible reason, (besides being able to bring a chick over to your house and say 'hey baby, wanna see my source code?') would anybody have to download 1500 megs? I dug around the site, and I found a sample of what is contained in those mammoth files; you can check out what's contained within the zips here.
Again, I'm not looking to troll here -- I'm just curious, that's all. =)
Don't forget, this isn't the only PlayStation emulator out there -- bleem! has been around for a while.. wasn't Sony suing them as well? Or was that just to prevent it's release?
I mean.. driving along, and downloading pr0n and mp3s at 150k/sec at the same time?
I can see the news report now: "In other news, a local man was killed in a one-car accident, when he apparently lost control of his vechicle, and crashed it into a tree. Sources at the scene report that the man's body had only one hand on the steering wheel.."
Los Angeles, CA - Insiders at Warner Brother Studios have reported that The Matrix Parts 2 and 3 will actually be the same movie and just retitled. The technique known in the industry as 'retitling' was pioneered on television sitcoms, and first used on film in the 'Friday the 13th' series of movies.
"What did you think we meant when we said we were filming the two sequels at the same time?" said the Wachowski brothers, directors of the first film. "We don't think most people will notice. The average moviegoer saw the first film 11 times. They can't be that bright. The great thing is the actors don't even know. We only used them for about 15 minutes. The rest is all computers. I don't think Keanu will ever figure it out."
The producers of the movie said, "We toyed with the idea of just releasing the first movie as the sequels, but we figured that would be too obvious to the clever American public." They continued, "Usually the third movie in a sequel sees quite a bit of drop off in quality. This way we can guarantee it will be as good as the second!"
A Warner Brothers official denied the report, "They aren't exactly the same. I mean one is called 'The Matrix: Part II', and the other is called 'The Matrix: Part 3 - Part 2 Revisited', isn't that enough of a difference?"
Congrats Hemos! Now, names for SlashBaby v1.0? =)
on
Hemos Gets Hitched
·
· Score: 4
First, I'd like to express my congraduations! I'm sure you and Adrienne will be very happy together! (Especially her.. you know what they say about guys with big webserver.. 'pipes';)
However, it is important to put some effort into the most important thing yet: baby names! Here are some suggestions:
SlashKid
'dot'
Linus (Yeah, I know)
'JP'
How about you other slashdotters.. any ideas for baby names for the happy couple?
Hurry up though.. I'm eagerally awaiting SlashBaby v1.0.. but will it be open sourced?
Actually, don't open source your kid. That's just icky. EWWW! =)
void main(void) { clrscr(); m.cout << "I Have to use Microsoft's COUT Statement, because my other statements won't work.\n"; __MS.NOCRASH();// Please Don't Crash. getch(); }
Determining Canadian citizenship would be easy. 90% of Canadian ISPs have their user's dynamically-assigened hosts end with.CA, or contain the 2 or 3 letter code specific to the Canadian provience they are connecting from. The codes are:
AB - Alberta
BC - British Columbia
MB - Manitoba
NB - New Brunswick
NF - Newfoundland
NS - Nova Scotia
ON - Ontario
PE - Prince Edward Island
QC - Quebec
SK - Saskatchewan
All the site would have to do is make sure the domain ends with.CA.. if it doesn't, they can check for the existance of these characters.
Or they could, by working with the Canadian Government, make a list of ALL of the ISPs that operate out of Canada, and filter for their domains exclusively.
Slashdot Mirror
------------
CitizenC
The mp3 with the commentary is 5:35 in length, while the regular song is 4:44. Sounds like the BNL aren't as innovative as some people claim ;)
(Ironic point of note: I'm listening to Yoko Ono, on cd, as I type this =)
------------
CitizenC
Um... this plan of theirs will work for all of 10 minutes, then be completely messed. Why? I'll tell you -- part of the idea behind napster is that, after you download a mp3, you turn around and share it for the world. (In my opinion, at least.. I'm talking out of my ass here.)
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you download an mp3, and find out that it's not the song, but just an advertisement, are YOU going to keep it around? Well, I would -- but not before renaming it, so that users knew what the content of the mp3 was.
Besides that, I'm sure that once everybody figured out where the trojan (I'm using that term with regret here) mp3s were coming from, then that user would be bannished from everybody's electronic kingdom for ever.
------------
CitizenC
.. there is always Napigator, the napster server browser. Hell, I haven't used the regular Napster network in close to 3 months.. way to much teenie bopper crap. =)
Check out the OpenNAP network in particular -- the service is fast, and the audio is good.
------------
CitizenC
I know that I still miss playing the Zork series, and other classic text games like that. One of my favourites, however, was The HitchHiker's Guide To The Galaxy, based on the novel by the same name. It was a great game that followed the story faithfully, while leaving some new things to do for people who weren't familiar with the story.
Unfortunately, this caused a lot of problems. Why? H2G gave birth to what is referred to as the most difficult puzzle ever: the babel fish.
Imagine that you had never heard of a babel fish, or what it does -- how the hell are you supposed to know that, in order to advance in the game, you have to enter the command 'PUT FISH IN EAR'?
That's the problem with text-based games -- unline games such as Monkey Island, there aren't any visual clues as to what you do next. You have to rely on your wit to get you through to the next puzzle.
--
CitizenC
I like the idea of one-use credit card numbers -- eliminating fraud should have been the #1 priority of credit-card companies since the e-commerce boom, and I'm glad to see that AMEX has been thinking about this problem. However, I am curious about a few things.
First, how will the numbers be issued? My first thought would be instantly, over the 'net. But then I realized that would just be stupid -- the fraud would just be transferred over to getting the #s in the first place.
Second, how will AMEX ensure that you will pay your bill? Will they require that you have an alternate AMEX card, and bill THAT one monthly? (Not that bad an idea, actually..) I don't have a credit card myself (I'm only 18, and I don't think I could handle the responsibility.) but I know of a few items that are a royal pain in the ass to find in stores. (My Razer BoomSlang 2000 is one such item..)
Third, will PEOPLE be able to handle such convenience? I know that impulse buying is a big part of business (why else do stores have all that candy sitting next to the register?) and, if the numbers are instantly available online, you might buy a $900 computer system on a whim, and not have the cash to cover it.
Thoughts?
--
CitizenC
After reading the article, I thought that it (PayPal) would be a fantastic way to accept donations for my work on various websites, technical support assistance, and things of the like. Unfortunately, their service is available only to Americans; as a Canadian, I am completely out of luck. Does anybody know of any similar services that they would recommend?
--
CitizenC
I am currently doing voices for Quake: The Movie, a machimania by Tritin Films. Now, the difference between regular films and Q:TM is that Quake: The movie is completely computer generated -- no demo camming to be found.
QTM will not be specifically Quake 3, but rather a combination of all of the games -- I've seen a bunch of it already, and it looks quite impressive.
In addition to QTM, Tritin Films is going to me making the intro movie for Quake 3 Fortress.. I can hardly wait!
--
CitizenC
Are the companies getting anything out of this at all? I know that if I was in their position, and some corporate goon (tm) from Sun came along and said:I'd enter into my Matrix-esque quote, 'That sounds like a good deal, but I have a better one. I give you the finger, and you give me my phone call.'
--
CitizenC
Zero-Knowledge Systems, the company that developed freed0m, has a fantastic work enviroment -- it is an open loft, huge desks, computers, toys, food -- apparently, it is quite good at encouraging good work =) (You can see more pictures and details here.)
However, I believe that I have a pretty good job myself -- I'm an admin on GameSpy Arcade, and I work from my house! =)
--
CitizenC
I find that the PC is a much more versitle system. It allows, and, in may respects, encourages, people to customize the hell out of it. Different video cards, memory, operating systems -- it all blends together in a nice, personalized machine.
Consoles, on the other hand, are a set thing. You plunk down your 200 bux, and you know that you are getting exactly what your buddy got. You can do some VERY basic customizing (mod chips, etc) but it is discouraged by the manufacturer.
HOWEVER, there are some positive points for consoles.. for one, if you buy a console game, you are POSITIVE that it will work. No 'do I have enough ram?' questions, video card drivers, or hard disk space. It's a very efficient system in that respect.
I'm curious as to how the X-BOX will turn out.. will MS let us plunk our own hardware inside it? Install a different OS? Well, probably not.. I'll wait and see though.
But, for now, just give me my PC -- posting to Slashdot using a PSX2 would be pretty weird =)
.. is available here.
Control is definately an issue. As I look over my mp3 directory, I am seeing more and more independant artists. I discovered t r a n c e [] c o n t r o l from Mp3.com -- I had never heard of them before, and now I have all of their songs.
The RIAA is just out to make money. Bah. =)
.. I am personally baffeled by the RIAA's insistance that Napster causes people to not purchase as many CDs. Personally, I have downloaded quite a few songs from Napster (Bloodhound Gang, MI2 Soundtrack songs, eminem, etc) and in EACH AND EVERY case, I have gone out and bought the CD because I thought it was good.
The RIAA can't claim to not know that people do this. There have been a bunch of studies, such as this one. Many of my friends do the same thing -- they use napster to sample music, the same way the people use the radio to listen to new music. Based on what I hear, I may go out and buy the cd, but if I don't, I'll erase the mp3 and never listen to it again.
Does anybody else out there do stuff like this?
It's worth noting that I run a website called PlanetQ3F, which is a resource site for Q3F. Maps, scripts, etc.. yada yada yada =)
Microsoft's latest version of Windows, Windows Millenium Edition, includes IE5.5 final. I know this because they sent me a complementary copy for beta testing. (Heh.. doesn't seem very Microsoft to me.. a company that charges for patches (Win98 -> Win98SE = $130) gave me a copy of their newest OS? *Shrug*)
I'm not looking to troll here, but, honestly, what possible reason, (besides being able to bring a chick over to your house and say 'hey baby, wanna see my source code?') would anybody have to download 1500 megs? I dug around the site, and I found a sample of what is contained in those mammoth files; you can check out what's contained within the zips here .
Again, I'm not looking to troll here -- I'm just curious, that's all. =)
Don't forget, this isn't the only PlayStation emulator out there -- bleem! has been around for a while.. wasn't Sony suing them as well? Or was that just to prevent it's release?
I mean.. driving along, and downloading pr0n and mp3s at 150k/sec at the same time?
I can see the news report now: "In other news, a local man was killed in a one-car accident, when he apparently lost control of his vechicle, and crashed it into a tree. Sources at the scene report that the man's body had only one hand on the steering wheel.."
Los Angeles, CA - Insiders at Warner Brother Studios have reported that The Matrix Parts 2 and 3 will actually be the same movie and just retitled. The technique known in the industry as 'retitling' was pioneered on television sitcoms, and first used on film in the 'Friday the 13th' series of movies.
"What did you think we meant when we said we were filming the two sequels at the same time?" said the Wachowski brothers, directors of the first film. "We don't think most people will notice. The average moviegoer saw the first film 11 times. They can't be that bright. The great thing is the actors don't even know. We only used them for about 15 minutes. The rest is all computers. I don't think Keanu will ever figure it out."
The producers of the movie said, "We toyed with the idea of just releasing the first movie as the sequels, but we figured that would be too obvious to the clever American public." They continued, "Usually the third movie in a sequel sees quite a bit of drop off in quality. This way we can guarantee it will be as good as the second!"
A Warner Brothers official denied the report, "They aren't exactly the same. I mean one is called 'The Matrix: Part II', and the other is called 'The Matrix: Part 3 - Part 2 Revisited', isn't that enough of a difference?"
However, it is important to put some effort into the most important thing yet: baby names! Here are some suggestions:
- SlashKid
- 'dot'
- Linus (Yeah, I know)
- 'JP'
How about you other slashdotters.. any ideas for baby names for the happy couple?Hurry up though.. I'm eagerally awaiting SlashBaby v1.0.. but will it be open sourced?
Actually, don't open source your kid. That's just icky. EWWW! =)
.- CitizenC (User Info)
The United States Patent + TradeMark office has a copy of the patent -- check it out here.
.- CitizenC (User Info)
Quebec is both PQ AND QC, according to Canada Post anyway..
.CA and/or had "MB" in them..
And, for the record, the majority of MY isps have ended with
.- CitizenC (User Info)
- AB - Alberta
- BC - British Columbia
- MB - Manitoba
- NB - New Brunswick
- NF - Newfoundland
- NS - Nova Scotia
- ON - Ontario
- PE - Prince Edward Island
- QC - Quebec
- SK - Saskatchewan
All the site would have to do is make sure the domain ends withOr they could, by working with the Canadian Government, make a list of ALL of the ISPs that operate out of Canada, and filter for their domains exclusively.
.- CitizenC (User Info)