I feel a great disturbance in the Web, as if millions of dupes suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced....Or I would, if Slashdot would stop posting dupes...
But how can you ensure that it remains resellers only? I don't trust politicians with this, they always take it too far. I for one do not welcome our blundering politician overlords...
How can you patent genes? This is idiotic! It's like claiming stars... China gets Betelgeuse and we get Alpha Centauri...
Write your congressmen. Tell them to support getting rid of gene patents. What's the worst that could happen? Properly document your gene and everyone wins. How long until scientists consider themselves mercenaries, not researchers for the good of humanity? Has it already happened??
This has a lot to do with the previous article about videogame aesthetics, in that a lot of independent developers have their own visual style. Once everything is made by the same guys, everything starts to look bad, and play worse. With indie developers, you don't have as much pressure, and a lot of games like Marathon and Katamari have a sort of quirkiness that I find appealing.
Personally I don't think I have enough indie games. Stubbs the Zombie is looking good, though. I might get it when it comes out.
If you want to frame the debate as style vs. realism (which is incorrect), give me style any day. If I wanted realism, I'd get a life.
Seriously though, the point of videogames is as escapist fare, like movies. Sure there are movies about ordinary people doing ordinary things, but they are only critically acclaimed, not popular. Some of the most fun video games are unrealistic or just flat out absurd. (see Katamari Damacy)
Besides, a good style is a form of visual branding. People don't forget the earliest Mario games, partly because everyone remembers what they looked like.
Dino: Good morning, Colonel.
Colonel: Good morning gentlemen. Now what can I do for you.
Luigi: (looking round office casually) You've... you've got a nice DDoS army here, Colonel.
Colonel: Yes.
Luigi: We wouldn't want anything to happen to it.
Colonel: What?
Dino: No, what my brother means is it would be a shame if... (he knocks something off mantel)
Colonel: Oh.
Dino: Oh sorry, Colonel.
Colonel: Well don't worry about that. But please do sit down.
Luigi: No, we prefer to stand, thank you, Colonel.
Colonel: All right. All right. But what do you want?
Dino: What do we want, ha ha ha.
Luigi: Ha ha ha, very good, Colonel.
Dino: The Colonel's a joker, Luigi.
Luigi: Explain it to the Colonel, Dino.
Dino: How many bots you got, Colonel?
Colonel: About 10000 altogether.
Luigi: Five hundred! Hey!
Dino: You ought to be careful, colonel.
Colonel: We arc careful, extremely careful.
Dino: 'Cos things break, don't they?
Colonel: Break?
Luigi: Well everything breaks, don't it colonel. (he breaks something on desk) Oh dear.
I'm happy these guys were arrested. Things like this scare companies and people away from technology. Not to imply that modern companies will survive without computers, but will your boss think long and hard before approving tech budgets? You bet. I've never heard of a bunch of crackers extorting a company.
This will also give them pause when hiring former hackers. They might think "Is this guy going to give extortionists inside info?"
On the other hand, security folks may have a budget windfall thrown their way. Considering '"Each time the Trojan was stopped by anti-virus defenses, they made a new version," he said. "This was not just a one-off. The sheer number of variants shows this wasn't a crime they committed just once."' Those security people better get to it.
I have to assume it's building up to that. If you haven't built robots before, maybe you don't want to start fiddling with sensors until you've got motors down.
I have to say, this is one of the most useful things I've seen on Slashdot in a while. For getting kids interested: my old middle school used to participate in a robotics league, which really got me interested in the whole idea of AI and computer programmming. There was too much demand: we could only send 16 people (8 per team) and every year 50 kids would show up. Let's get some schools to join...
Slashdot Mirror
How is that a *contest*? Many have shown that it is quite easy to accomplish...
ahh... the horror... *goes crazy* *writes a shell script to delete all .doc*
I would have thought Windows XP would be on there...
Wait, that was SOFTWARE? I thought it was a bug...
I feel a great disturbance in the Web, as if millions of dupes suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. ...Or I would, if Slashdot would stop posting dupes...
SPAMTACULAR!
(sorry, I'm |\|3\/\/ 5[]-[]00|_)
But how can you ensure that it remains resellers only? I don't trust politicians with this, they always take it too far. I for one do not welcome our blundering politician overlords...
How can you patent genes? This is idiotic! It's like claiming stars... China gets Betelgeuse and we get Alpha Centauri... Write your congressmen. Tell them to support getting rid of gene patents. What's the worst that could happen? Properly document your gene and everyone wins. How long until scientists consider themselves mercenaries, not researchers for the good of humanity? Has it already happened??
No wonder Microsoft has such bad security if they believe scams like this...
Then again, maybe they're finally running out of FUD and need more money to buy some from the GOP...
This has a lot to do with the previous article about videogame aesthetics, in that a lot of independent developers have their own visual style. Once everything is made by the same guys, everything starts to look bad, and play worse. With indie developers, you don't have as much pressure, and a lot of games like Marathon and Katamari have a sort of quirkiness that I find appealing.
Personally I don't think I have enough indie games. Stubbs the Zombie is looking good, though. I might get it when it comes out.
Wait, we hate ESR? Meme... parser... malfunction... *BOOM*
I always preferred "The Wizard of ID Transition Act", or TWIT act for short.
Wait, the FBI's going to track me, better click Post AnonEOF
So all the evils in the world *are* connected! Microsoft + Bush + Fox News + Dumpers + Giant Squid = EEEEVVIIIILLLLL!!!
Thank you, I'll be here all night.
What a horrible comment!
But it's my only line!
Yep. Shit goes in the toilet.
If you want to frame the debate as style vs. realism (which is incorrect), give me style any day. If I wanted realism, I'd get a life.
Seriously though, the point of videogames is as escapist fare, like movies. Sure there are movies about ordinary people doing ordinary things, but they are only critically acclaimed, not popular. Some of the most fun video games are unrealistic or just flat out absurd. (see Katamari Damacy)
Besides, a good style is a form of visual branding. People don't forget the earliest Mario games, partly because everyone remembers what they looked like.
Speaking of which...
What is the religious answer to this? Do they contend that these were a failed first protoype of later man? Someone give me an argument to go on...
Dino: Good morning, Colonel. Colonel: Good morning gentlemen. Now what can I do for you. Luigi: (looking round office casually) You've ... you've got a nice DDoS army here, Colonel.
Colonel: Yes.
Luigi: We wouldn't want anything to happen to it.
Colonel: What?
Dino: No, what my brother means is it would be a shame if... (he knocks something off mantel)
Colonel: Oh.
Dino: Oh sorry, Colonel.
Colonel: Well don't worry about that. But please do sit down.
Luigi: No, we prefer to stand, thank you, Colonel.
Colonel: All right. All right. But what do you want?
Dino: What do we want, ha ha ha.
Luigi: Ha ha ha, very good, Colonel.
Dino: The Colonel's a joker, Luigi.
Luigi: Explain it to the Colonel, Dino.
Dino: How many bots you got, Colonel?
Colonel: About 10000 altogether.
Luigi: Five hundred! Hey!
Dino: You ought to be careful, colonel.
Colonel: We arc careful, extremely careful.
Dino: 'Cos things break, don't they?
Colonel: Break?
Luigi: Well everything breaks, don't it colonel. (he breaks something on desk) Oh dear.
This will also give them pause when hiring former hackers. They might think "Is this guy going to give extortionists inside info?"
On the other hand, security folks may have a budget windfall thrown their way. Considering '"Each time the Trojan was stopped by anti-virus defenses, they made a new version," he said. "This was not just a one-off. The sheer number of variants shows this wasn't a crime they committed just once."' Those security people better get to it.
What's sad is that it's rare to see a company "get it". Why have we reached the point where we expect companies to be stupid? Was it always like this?
I have to assume it's building up to that. If you haven't built robots before, maybe you don't want to start fiddling with sensors until you've got motors down.
At least they don't have to bother killing you for being an idiot... You'll have done it yourself.
Hey... self-fulfilling Darwin Award!
"My parents will kill me..."
*BANG!*
Let's not forget the first article in the series...
Overall, it's not a bad primer on the field of robotics. The entire series is a refreshing read for beginners.
I have to say, this is one of the most useful things I've seen on Slashdot in a while. For getting kids interested: my old middle school used to participate in a robotics league, which really got me interested in the whole idea of AI and computer programmming. There was too much demand: we could only send 16 people (8 per team) and every year 50 kids would show up. Let's get some schools to join...
You mean to tell me that this has never been covered before on Slashdot? Are you kidding?
Or am I just being naive? I guess the slogan is true - Slashdot. The News 24 Hours After Everyone Else Or Your Money Back!
As an aside - why not mention Portable Firefox or FFDeploy? They fit the same category of spreading firefox.