Slashdot Mirror


User: Goobergunch

Goobergunch's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
41
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 41

  1. Article is wrong on House Votes To Overturn FCC On Net Neutrality · · Score: 5, Informative

    Today, the House voted to adopt the resolution (H. Res. 200) that will allow it to consider the actual resolution to overturn the regulation tomorrow. Note the words "Providing for consideration" in the title of the actual vote.

    Granted, the House is still likely going to vote for the measure, but saying it's already passed is inaccurate.

  2. Re:Beginning not an option on Ask Slashdot: How/Where To Start Watching Dr. Who? · · Score: 1

    Actually, the Second Doctor got hit hardest by the BBC throwing out episodes. (Algeria bought most of the first two seasons and didn't return its copies until after the junkings stopped.) That being said, 108 missing episodes is a bit of a hurdle to jump through... at least we have audio!

  3. I read the (slashdotted) article on Ask Slashdot: How/Where To Start Watching Dr. Who? · · Score: 1

    I generally agree with the article that starting with the 2005 series is the easiest way to get into Doctor Who. There are a few references to old stuff that you won't get, but they're subtle and not important to understanding what's going on.

    If you want to start with the classic series, the more accessible places to start are either with Season 7's Spearhead from Space (the Third Doctor) or Season 12's Robot (the Fourth Doctor). Many episodes in the first six seasons were thrown out by the BBC, so they can only now be watched through audios and slide-show like reconstructions which can a bit challenging to watch. There are some restoration issues with the Third Doctor's stories, but at least all of the episodes are there.

    Note that not all of classic Who has been released on DVD, so some of it may be a bit hard to find (at least legally).

  4. Re:There is a bill to prevent this abuse. on Leave a Message, Go To Jail · · Score: 1

    That's a concurrent resolution, so it wouldn't be binding law even if it passed. Only bills and joint resolutions (when passed) have the force of law.

  5. House vote: 264-158 on US Digital TV Switchover Delayed Until June · · Score: 4, Informative

    The House vote on this, for those interested, was 264-158. The details of which representative voted which way is on the House website.

  6. From the Harvey Mudd student list on David Foster Wallace an Apparent Suicide · · Score: 3, Informative

    Professor David Foster Wallace of Pomona College's English Department died tragically on Friday. Professor Wallace was a well-known writer and gifted creative writing instructor. Pomona College has planned two events to remember Professor Wallace's life. The first will be tomorrow (Monday) evening at 6:45 - a candlelight memorial in the Peter Stanley academic quad. The second - an informal opportunity to share thoughts - will be Wednesday, September 17 at 4pm in Smith Campus Center 201.

  7. Re:This is Stupid on Social Networking Sites Becoming Useful For Lawyers · · Score: 2, Informative

    He'll only have the capacity to pardon non-violent drug offenders in federal prison -- not those imprisoned under state laws.

  8. Final vote in the House on FISA Bill Vote Today, With Telco Immunity · · Score: 5, Informative

    YEA 293
    NAY 129

    The full breakdown, showing which way each representative voted, will be available at Roll No. 437 in roughly an hour, when the Clerk of the House posts it.

  9. grr, forgot link on McCain Supports Warrantless Domestic Surveillance · · Score: 3, Informative
  10. Re:Parity on McCain Supports Warrantless Domestic Surveillance · · Score: 5, Informative
    From Obama's site:

    Obama supports updating surveillance laws and ensuring that law enforcement investigations and intelligence-gathering relating to U.S. citizens are done only under the rule of law.
    Not particularly useful. However, I did find this reference to a January speech:

    For one thing, under an Obama presidency, Americans will be able to leave behind the era of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and "wiretaps without warrants," he said. (He was referring to the lingering legal fallout over reports that the National Security Agency scooped up Americans' phone and Internet activities without court orders, ostensibly to monitor terrorist plots, in the years after the September 11 attacks.)

    It's hardly a new stance for Obama, who has made similar statements in previous campaign speeches, but mention of the issue in a stump speech, alongside more frequently discussed topics like Iraq and education, may give some clue to his priorities.
  11. Re:What the heck on Cyberconnect2's Matsuyama on Naruto Plans · · Score: 1

    Especially when there are filler episodes for no apparent reason. I mean, the current filler is occurring when the anime story is nearly a hundred chapters behind the manga. It's rather frustrating - I want my Hidan and Kakuzu already.

  12. Re:One Pair of Glasses on Windows XP Lives, Thanks to Linux · · Score: 2, Informative

    The fact that there is only a very minute chance that you managed to post your message without relying on some version of Linux sort of technically means that Linux *IS* related and germane to a whole lot of things in the world today.
    In fact, given that Slashdot runs on Linux, I'd say that it's impossible to post a message here without relying on Linux.
  13. Re:Probably Not Stupid. on Sci-Fi Channel Merging TV Show with MMO · · Score: 1

    Do the later quests get scripted results at all?
    The Burning Crusade quests, generally, have more quests with some kind of scripted result at the end (like the one where if you fail, a big robot beats up a town). Of course, there's still a good number that are "kill ten mobs.
  14. Demographic reasons? on College Board Kills AP Computer Science AB · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I found this in another article on the subject and thought it deserved mentioning:

    Mr. Packer said the decision was made principally because of demographic considerations.

    Only a tiny fraction of the members of underrepresented minority groups who take AP exams take the tests in one of those four affected subject areas, he said.

    The College Board has made it a priority to reach such students, including those who are African- American and Hispanic.
    I can understand the College Board wanting to concentrate their resources a bit more, but I still don't think that slashing the curriculum is the way to do it. Of course, maybe I'm biased -- my high school APCS courses were great and I don't think we got much of anything from the College Board in the way of support.
  15. HS Computer Science on College Board Kills AP Computer Science AB · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I suspect that this decision won't help the current paucity of valid Computer Science courses in high schools. I'm still annoyed by the number of Microsoft Office or HTML courses that get passed off as CS. On the other hand, I guess it's possible that this could encourage more people to take APCS A (as there would be no real two-year commitment as there can be now), which would be a good thing. Hopefully some of the AB material can be folded into the new A course, as it would be a pity to lose AP-level high school instruction on big-O algorithmic analysis and data structures.

  16. As a college student.... on One in Ten Americans Are Chronically Sleep Deprived · · Score: 1

    I find my sleep schedule rather varied, to say the least. For instance, I'm planning on going to sleep after I post this comment (3:43 PST) and waking up at 10:20 PST, for a bit under 7 hours of sleep. However, since my first class is significantly earlier on Tuesday than on Monday, I'll be getting much less sleep tomorrow night, even though I'll probably get to bed earlier. Having variable wake-up times makes holding a regular sleep schedule far more difficult.

    And then there are the glorious weekends when I sleep from 5 AM to 3 PM. 10 hours of sleep when most people in the "real world" are awake can be fun.

  17. Re:That would be me on Gen Y Hits the Library the Most -- But Not For Books · · Score: 3, Informative

    Even as a college student, I frequently find that the primary value in my college library is through its online databases. For one of my major term papers, I didn't visit the library at all, simply using my in-dorm access to journals provided through my library as sources. Although I did visit the library for the other term paper, I only used it to collect books that I had identified through Google and then did the rest of my research via Google Scholar and JSTOR. In both cases, I had full-text access to articles through my dorm's internet connection.

  18. Re:Summary for the impatient on The Register Exposes More Wikipedia Abuse · · Score: 1

    Note that parent is a Wikipedia arbitrator, bureaucrat, and administrator. Whether you consider this to be positive or negative depends on your perspective.

  19. Guilt on MTV Takes on P2P by Making South Park Free · · Score: 1

    So does this mean I no longer have to feel guilty about all the South Park I've acquired through...alternative means? >_<

  20. Re:Ahh, but they're actually changing the GFDL on Wikipedia to be Licensed Under Creative Commons · · Score: 3, Informative

    If the GFDL license in use had the usual "or any future version" clause in use, then the content was initially given with permission for relicensing under this new version -- so no problem at all. Yup. Wikipedia edits are licensed under "GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts."

  21. Correction on Wikipedia to be Licensed Under Creative Commons · · Score: 1

    Correction: Apparently there is a CC-by-sa 3.0 template as well that I didn't see when I wrote that post. The current Wikipedia multilicensing policy is available at Wikipedia:Multilicensing.

  22. Re:Good luck with that.... on Wikipedia to be Licensed Under Creative Commons · · Score: 1

    Meh, all of my contributions have been multi-licensed under CC-by-sa 1.0, 2.0, and 2.5. Of course, I'm not exactly sure which version of CC-by-sa the FSF plans on making the GFDL compatible with, as version 3.0 hasn't been that widely adopted (i.e. it doesn't even have a Wikipedia multi-licensing template).

  23. Re:abuse on Stanford To Charge Reconnect Fee For DMCA Notices · · Score: 1

    Does anyone know the IP address range for Stanford?

    171.64.0.0/21, although I don't know how much of that is residential.

  24. In related news..... on Horde Paladins and Alliance Shaman in WoW Expansion · · Score: 2, Informative

    WoW forums explode. Incidentally, Blizzard information page containing lore about the announcement.

  25. Re:Prediction: on MySpace #1 US Destination Last Week · · Score: 1

    I believe I'm too cool for MySpace.