Hmm. They have PDA devices with phone capabilities (Pocket PC based, I've seen one demonstrated) and these will usually throw in a digital camera. With a little bit of memory expansion, they can be used as MP3 player (no multiple-gigabyte models, sorry). Oh, and you can get Gameboy emultors to run on it as well...
Remember, our military isn't *all* about foreign oil. It's nice to have a big enough military to boss the world around in general, oil just happens to be the primary thing we feel like bossing about.
"Maybe if more musicians created DVDs or CDs with their music, some live performances or interviews, or at least a couple of music videos -- more people would want to buy instead of downloading songs for free."
GAH! I don't know about you, but if they started putting those things on every CD they sold, then a whole bunch of legacy CD players would probably throw a fit. I had a hard enough time getting Wield Al's _Running with Scissors_ to play on my PC, with its extra video clip, and ended up just ripping it to better get at the music.
Orson Scott Card wrote the modern sci-fi classic _Ender's Game_ and its sequels/parallell novels. It's *really* good stuff. There are supposedly plans for a movie, I think... there was never anything concrete, and it might have changed, however. Never heard anything about an action game for the Xbox... if it's based on Ender's Game, however, a real-time strategy game would be more appropriate. (The interface might get ugly, though, since the stuff would have to take place in a full 3-D space...) Anyway, the main post links to his site (http://www.hatrack.com, the name comes from his other big series, a fantasy series). He also has some quasi-"historical fiction" books based on women of the Old Testament, and a number of other random books.
I'm fortunate enough to live about an hour away from his hometown, so I can attend the occasional speaking engagement/book signing...
"While you're online, visit a blog with links to published movie gossip and use your pirated e-mail program to send tidbits to your hundred closest friends."
Who uses a pirated email program? Web novices use a preinstalled Outlook Distress or equivalent, while experts use Mozilla or derivitaves. And corporate users use whatever the corporation installed.
Maybe some of the other allegations are true, but this one is just silly.
Err, I don't know what's up with your DNS... but the links work just fine to me. It appears to be a mostly-German site, though the article linked to was translated into English.
I hang out on #angband (WorldIRC network). While I can't say that there are 400+ users the channel has a simple solution. Nearly everyone is an operator. Of those 41 users who are on as I write this, 33 are ops. There are also about 5 bots and 2 services. There are a large number of regulars- impossible to count exactly, of course, but over 100 who are at least quasi-regular.
If some random jerk comes in and immediately starts advertising (and I quote from earlier today: "just go here.. really fun free game! join up!! http:// its like fantasy sports! except an RPG!") or something else truly idiotic and annoying, they get kicked. Boof.
People pulling mass de-ops are not an issue, since channel services can let many people back on to kick+ban the idiot who did it.
True, we still have occasional issues, policy conflicts and an ongoing conflict with a certain person who shall not be named (yes, person occasionally suffixing name with Dharma, you!)... but that is to be expected in any community this size, and people mostly deal with him farily well. Morons are (mostly) disposed of swiftly.
I don't know that I could stand being on a channel with 400+ people anyway, even if they are all completely legitimate people. If even a fraction of these people were actively chatting, it would be as loud as all get-out...
I am very glad that I do not have to manage a community... and I'm amazed, overall, at the kind of patience that many community leaders are able to show in the face of idiocy, trolling, and flaming.
Perhaps more communitites could implement a Slashdot-like system with karma, moderation points, et cetera. On the other hand, it might be hard to structure moderdation around miniature communities such as these. Still, for the midsize to large community, it might provide at least a partial solution.
Now, to find a good bulletin board service with Slashdotty moderation... =S
Hmm. Is the software running thse forums is available as open source? that would be great =D
With regards to the 'die and restart completely' Nethack is not alone, but is certainly in a minority. I play Angband myself (another game in the Roguelike genre, which is noted for its permanent deaths) and, although I used to scum (briefly) I found a permanent death more exciting. On the other hand, roguelike games usually have random dungeons, while most commercial games have fixed plots. Once you've been through it once, the second and third and ninth time are just boring and a waste of time...
"There's also a massive problem with illegaly-owned, uninsured cars and people driving them without the proper license."
That's because UK driver's license laws are antiquated, stupid, and insanely stringent. It can cost around $1000 or so (or was that 1000 pounds?) to get enough training to pass the insane driver's license tests.
I remember an article on it in the Wall Street Journal... something about a lady who failed because she a) grazed the painted shoulder line at a roundabout and b) turned on turn signal *before* tapping the horn to pass.
Why is it so hard for people to see that public-key cryptography can be used for ill and will be very hard to stop? Why is it so hard for people to see that atomic energy can be used for ill and will be very hard to stop?
Just because something can be used for Bad Things does not mean it should be instantaneously squashed. Just about any technology you want can be used for ill, and many of those would be very hard to stop. What about it?
"The trend is towards customized boxes we build ourselves anyways, right?"
mmm. trends. Perhaps for Slashdot readers, but not for the rest of the world. There are some people you really can't trust to custom-build (or even custom-order) PCs (hey, you can't trust them to type on the darned things...)
And, of course, the institutions that order hundreds of PCs for employees. Besides, there are only so many used radiator parts which can fit in a cubicle.
"Can you trust Microsoft to have tested the patch against software you use?"
"You don't fix a hole in a dam by adding more holes."
Mmm. It's not just whether you can trust Microsoft, it's whether the next big security hole will be a hole in the Microsoft updater that lets random people send you stuff masquerading as an update? Just think about all the fun THAT would cause.
Indeed. People make enough panic about burying the nuclear waste, let alone sending (three grams of) uranium up into space. Perish the thought!
... in related news, the lasest in nuclear waste disposal...
Slashdot Mirror
No, more along the lines of the stuff from the 1930s describing the future moon bases.
Mmm, Arthur C Clarke...
Mmm, 2001: A Space Oddity...
Or maybe, perhaps, not-so-smart sensor overloads...
mmm, information overload.
I used to have miserable handwriting, because I typed so much. This is beginning to change- my PDA has handwriting recognition... ;D
Hmm.
They have PDA devices with phone capabilities (Pocket PC based, I've seen one demonstrated) and these will usually throw in a digital camera. With a little bit of memory expansion, they can be used as MP3 player (no multiple-gigabyte models, sorry).
Oh, and you can get Gameboy emultors to run on it as well...
Of course it's expensive!
Remember, our military isn't *all* about foreign oil. It's nice to have a big enough military to boss the world around in general, oil just happens to be the primary thing we feel like bossing about.
Hmm. Or, on a non-obescene note, we could try Lipsticks in Piccadily Circuis (by Claes Oldenburg)... Bah. Modern art.
No, in this case you would end up swimming in lithium ions. Except lithium is not a liquid.
"Maybe if more musicians created DVDs or CDs with their music, some live performances or interviews, or at least a couple of music videos -- more people would want to buy instead of downloading songs for free."
GAH! I don't know about you, but if they started putting those things on every CD they sold, then a whole bunch of legacy CD players would probably throw a fit. I had a hard enough time getting Wield Al's _Running with Scissors_ to play on my PC, with its extra video clip, and ended up just ripping it to better get at the music.
Orson Scott Card wrote the modern sci-fi classic _Ender's Game_ and its sequels/parallell novels. It's *really* good stuff. There are supposedly plans for a movie, I think... there was never anything concrete, and it might have changed, however. Never heard anything about an action game for the Xbox... if it's based on Ender's Game, however, a real-time strategy game would be more appropriate. (The interface might get ugly, though, since the stuff would have to take place in a full 3-D space...)
Anyway, the main post links to his site (http://www.hatrack.com, the name comes from his other big series, a fantasy series). He also has some quasi-"historical fiction" books based on women of the Old Testament, and a number of other random books.
I'm fortunate enough to live about an hour away from his hometown, so I can attend the occasional speaking engagement/book signing...
They already are. There's Earth Station 5 based in Palestine that apparently decided to "declare war" on the entertainment industry.
"While you're online, visit a blog with links to published movie gossip and use your pirated e-mail program to send tidbits to your hundred closest friends."
Who uses a pirated email program? Web novices use a preinstalled Outlook Distress or equivalent, while experts use Mozilla or derivitaves. And corporate users use whatever the corporation installed.
Maybe some of the other allegations are true, but this one is just silly.
Err, I don't know what's up with your DNS... but the links work just fine to me. It appears to be a mostly-German site, though the article linked to was translated into English.
"Perhaps the biggest disappointments were the ones you expected anyway." -- cute slashdotty quote found on the bottom of this story.
I hang out on #angband (WorldIRC network). While I can't say that there are 400+ users the channel has a simple solution. Nearly everyone is an operator.
Of those 41 users who are on as I write this, 33 are ops. There are also about 5 bots and 2 services. There are a large number of regulars- impossible to count exactly, of course, but over 100 who are at least quasi-regular.
If some random jerk comes in and immediately starts advertising (and I quote from earlier today: "just go here.. really fun free game! join up!! http:// its like fantasy sports! except an RPG!") or something else truly idiotic and annoying, they get kicked. Boof.
People pulling mass de-ops are not an issue, since channel services can let many people back on to kick+ban the idiot who did it.
True, we still have occasional issues, policy conflicts and an ongoing conflict with a certain person who shall not be named (yes, person occasionally suffixing name with Dharma, you!)... but that is to be expected in any community this size, and people mostly deal with him farily well. Morons are (mostly) disposed of swiftly.
I don't know that I could stand being on a channel with 400+ people anyway, even if they are all completely legitimate people. If even a fraction of these people were actively chatting, it would be as loud as all get-out...
I am very glad that I do not have to manage a community... and I'm amazed, overall, at the kind of patience that many community leaders are able to show in the face of idiocy, trolling, and flaming.
Perhaps more communitites could implement a Slashdot-like system with karma, moderation points, et cetera. On the other hand, it might be hard to structure moderdation around miniature communities such as these. Still, for the midsize to large community, it might provide at least a partial solution.
Now, to find a good bulletin board service with Slashdotty moderation... =S
Hmm. Is the software running thse forums is available as open source? that would be great =D
> the Spammers will easily have enough resources to learn how to generate false reports. Can RSS be digitally signed?
With regards to the 'die and restart completely' Nethack is not alone, but is certainly in a minority. I play Angband myself (another game in the Roguelike genre, which is noted for its permanent deaths) and, although I used to scum (briefly) I found a permanent death more exciting.
On the other hand, roguelike games usually have random dungeons, while most commercial games have fixed plots. Once you've been through it once, the second and third and ninth time are just boring and a waste of time...
Imagine running a Beowulf cluster on these things! ...
;)
(I don't even know what a Beowulf cluster is, but it seemed to figure prominently in jokes for the Spray-On Computers story
"There's also a massive problem with illegaly-owned, uninsured cars and people driving them without the proper license."
That's because UK driver's license laws are antiquated, stupid, and insanely stringent. It can cost around $1000 or so (or was that 1000 pounds?) to get enough training to pass the insane driver's license tests.
I remember an article on it in the Wall Street Journal... something about a lady who failed because she a) grazed the painted shoulder line at a roundabout and b) turned on turn signal *before* tapping the horn to pass.
Mmm... I'm glad I don't live in the UK.
Why is it so hard for people to see that public-key cryptography can be used for ill and will be very hard to stop?
Why is it so hard for people to see that atomic energy can be used for ill and will be very hard to stop?
Just because something can be used for Bad Things does not mean it should be instantaneously squashed. Just about any technology you want can be used for ill, and many of those would be very hard to stop. What about it?
Mmm. After all, sleep is just a poor substitute for caffeine.
"The trend is towards customized boxes we build ourselves anyways, right?"
mmm. trends.
Perhaps for Slashdot readers, but not for the rest of the world. There are some people you really can't trust to custom-build (or even custom-order) PCs (hey, you can't trust them to type on the darned things...)
And, of course, the institutions that order hundreds of PCs for employees. Besides, there are only so many used radiator parts which can fit in a cubicle.
"Can you trust Microsoft to have tested the patch against software you use?" "You don't fix a hole in a dam by adding more holes." Mmm. It's not just whether you can trust Microsoft, it's whether the next big security hole will be a hole in the Microsoft updater that lets random people send you stuff masquerading as an update? Just think about all the fun THAT would cause.
Mmm. Pine.
;)
While we're at it, I think I have an old 486 with a boot sector virus sitting around in my basement somewhere... want me to send it to you?
(man, boot sector viruses! That was quite some while ago...)
Indeed. People make enough panic about burying the nuclear waste, let alone sending (three grams of) uranium up into space. Perish the thought!
... in related news, the lasest in nuclear waste disposal...