Comment Re:It's a typo (Score 1) 361
And an 'n' instead of a 'c'?
Comment Re:Really Germany? (Score 0) 580
Really? What powerful people wish to ban paintball, and what do they stand gain from it? This is a knee-jerk reaction of people reacting to a tragedy, and willing to try anything to make sure it doesn't happen again, not a vast secret conspiracy to fulfil some nebulous goal of world domination. Just because it's wrong, and unlikely to work doesn't mean it's sinister.
Comment Re:Possibly because it worked? (Score 2, Funny) 519
Mainly because all the girls will be so testosteroned up that none of the guys will want to sleep with them.
Comment Re:which state(s)? (Score 1) 784
Highly unlikely, since retailers are probably far happier with online sales than with their physical stores, and will lobby like hell against imposing an additional penalty for doing business online.
The Low-Intensity, Brute-Force Zombies Are Back 203
Peter N. M. Hansteen writes "In real life, zombies feed off both weak minds and the weak passwords they choose. When the distributed brute-force attempts stopped abruptly after a couple of months of futile pounding on ssh servers, most of us thought they had seen sense and given up. Now, it seems that they have not; they are back. 'This can only mean that there were enough successful attempts at guessing people's weak passwords in the last round that our unknown perpetrators found it worthwhile to start another round. For all I know they may have been at it all along, probing other parts of the Internet ...' The article has some analysis and links to fresh log data."
Comment Re:Mail Goggles (Score 2) 281
Then you're not bright enough to send an email.
Comment Re:This is not a bad idea (Score 1) 848
By bringing serious study and research to this field, we can shed light on it and evolve the field to be at least in line with current scientific thought. Beyond that, it would also be possible to expand the theological underpinnings of the theory and discover the rationale behind it. How much better off would we be if we finally cleared away all the religious baggage of Creationism and brought it inline with real science?
Clearing away the religious baggage of creationism would leave nothing. So yes, let's do it!
Comment Re:Flatland (Score 5, Interesting) 630
You laugh and mod parent funny, but I actually picked up the book on a whim because I wanted non-fiction. What I got was a kid in a rowboat with a tiger.
Back on topic though, I really liked "The Code Book" by Simon Singh, and it has a significant amount of number theory and statistics that is light enough for someone without too much background to pick up.
How To Track the Bug-Trackers? 174
schneecrash writes "Submitting bug reports — and waiting for responses etc. — seems to be SOP for developers and users alike, these days. Every project has some sort of bug-tracker — bugzilla, trac, mailing list, etc. E.g., we currently track 200+ external bugs across ~40 OSS projects. Half the bugs depend on something else getting fixed, first. Every bug has its own email thread, etc. Management asks 'How we doin' overall?,' and suddenly everyone involved gets to work removing dried gum from the bottom of their shoe. What do Slashdotters use/recommend for centrally keeping track of all the bugs you track across all those different bugtrackers? In particular, managing communications and dependencies across bugs? So far, the best method I've managed to use is bunches of PostIt-notes stuck to the screen of an out-of-commission 32" TV (glossy, non-matte screen, of course!)."
Comment Re:Was the cover designed by someone at Fark? (Score 2, Funny) 253
Mr. Ninja, will you stand UP, please?
Comment Joe the computer programmer. (Score 1) 538
Incidentally, I find it appalling that you can become a programmer with less training than it takes to become a plumber.
Clearly the Republicans were aiming for the wrong demographic.
Comment Re:The Text (Score 3, Funny) 727
My forte is made out of cushions from my mom's couch.
You mean your mom's couche, I think.
Comment Re:Gotta love the Onion (Score 2, Funny) 11
Now, I wonder what you can bribe a touchscreen terminal with? Windex?
You could bribe it by touching it, you know, the same way you would a Congressman. "Oh yeah, rub my screen good...'
Google Can Predict the Flu 289
An anonymous reader mentions Google Flu Trends, a newly unveiled initiative of Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm. The claim is that this Web service, which aggregates search data to track outbreaks of influenza, can spot disease trends up to 2 weeks before Centers for Disease Control data can. The NYTimes writeup begins: "What if Google knew before anyone else that a fast-spreading flu outbreak was putting you at heightened risk of getting sick? And what if it could alert you, your doctor and your local public health officials before the muscle aches and chills kicked in? That, in essence, is the promise of Google Flu Trends, a new Web tool ... unveiled on Tuesday, right at the start of flu season in the US. Google Flu Trends is based on the simple idea that people who are feeling sick will tend to turn to the Web for information, typing things like 'flu symptoms; or 'muscle aches' into Google. The service tracks such queries and charts their ebb and flow, broken down by regions and states."
NVIDIA Makes First 4GB Graphics Card 292
Frogger writes to tell us NVIDIA has released what they are calling the most powerful graphics card in history. With 4GB of graphics memory and 240 CUDA-programmable parallel cores, this monster sure packs a punch, although, with a $3,500 price tag, it certainly should. Big-spenders can rejoice at a new shiny, and the rest of us can be happy with the inevitable price shift in the more reasonable models.
