Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:*sigh* Not Again... (Score 5, Insightful) 515

Yep, another case of the FBI finding a 'terrorist' by finding a mildly disgruntled guy, giving him fake weapons and explosives, suggesting a terrorist plot to him, and then 'catching' him when he did exactly what they wanted him to do.

Like these guys:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/fbi-arrests-terrorists-sting-operations-dallas-springfield/story?id=8666300

And these guys:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/11/families-struggle-in-the-_n_957365.html

Comment Keep those Confidential Memos confidential (Score 1) 309

I imagine the first terms to be added could be something like "Company Confidential, Do Not Copy" or "Sensitive Business Information".

That said, copiers already block copying of certain patterns, such as US currency. With a little trial and error it's not hard to figure out exactly what on the dollar bill is being matched. Just add it to your documents, and no body will even be able to print them. (Careful, as some brands of printers will lock themselves and require a service call after you try to copy money.)

Comment Re:How much is your time worth (Score 1) 837

Yes, the 100m limit was put in place to minimize the amount of time you had to wait to detect a collision, but it was also put in place when people hooked up a chain of computers to the same coaxial cable for their ethernet. Unless you are still using hubs, collisions aren't a huge problem, as the only thing to collide with is yourself. Use a switch and you can go above 100m easily.
The Internet

Submission + - Are you a victim of Wikipedia deletionists?

CowardX10 writes: The recent Slashdot story Call For Halt To Wikipedia Webcomic Deletions combined with the commentary I read for the Wikinews article on this subject made me feel the scope of what's happening in terms of deletionist admins angering and driving away a lot of contributors. I posted the following comment there and now here hoping to get feedback showing that this problem goes far beyond Webcomics.

The assholes have definitely taken over

My friend who used to contribute a lot in terms of articles and even money decided to stop because the deletionist assholes made it such a pain for him that he now despises the site. And although almost none of his contributions were deleted, he hated the way half his time was spent arguing with deletors about his work.

Even Jimbo Whales has experienced this. He started an article on Mzoli's Meats , a butcher shop and restaurant in South Africa. When it was almost speedily deleted, he told the deletors to "excuse themselves from the project and find a new hobby.". In other words, get a life and stop ruining the project. Unfortunately, a bunch of editors added information to the article so it's now kept, saving Jimbo from having to confront either the bitterness many have felt in getting their work destroyed or remaking policy so that people like my friend would continue contributing.

These asshole admins are really making Wikipedia a crappy site, and their effect on valuable editors is worse than what any nasty vandal might do since admins are part of the power hierarchy. This is another valuable lesson in what happens when you give thoughtless small minded people a little power. They make their pronouncements and mass annihilations without any consideration on what the effect might be on a person who has spent sometimes hundreds of man hours creating, maintaining, and protecting his/her articles. They dismiss people by spouting some arbitrary interpretation of policy backed up by their cabals, while those who have better things to do like actually create content get fucked over. James Derk of The Daily Southtown wrote an article where he talks about having a similar experience.

Also, here's a good Slashdot thread illustrating the intellectual dishonesty of the deletionist admins. It is part of the Slashdot story Call For Halt To Wikipedia Webcomic Deletions which is filled with former contributors testifying to their own treatment at the hands of these assholes. It's sad how some people seem to really get off on destroying the work of others.

I think it's interesting how when I don't know about a subject, editing an article on it would be considered vandalism. But it's perfectly OK for the deletors to destroy work relating to things they often know nothing about. Sometimes they even use their very ignorance as justification.

I think Wikipedia has a choice right now. Allow a lot more in than they are currently doing and piss off the deletionists, or let these deletionists have their way and piss off the content creators(And I should add, it's not only deleted articles that are targeted, but plot synopses, trivia sections, clearly permissible images, etc. have all succumbed to the slash and burn mentality of these deletionists.). So Jimbo, who would you rather keep around?
Announcements

Submission + - Halo 3 Launchtacular (Film Festival and more) (mlgpro.com)

Brickv writes: "Just wanted to drop a tip letting you know that Major League Gaming is holding a Halo 3 Launchtacular consisting of two contests and a Halo 3 all-nighter in celebration of the game's launch. The first contest (winners will be randomly selected and to enter you have to sign up on the GameBattles Halo 3 ladder and play one game on it within the first week) will let 5 individuals join forces with a team of Halo pros (3 pros and one winner to a team) for one hour. These guys are pretty good and whoever gets to play is sure to win a few games and learn some stuff — I've had the crap kicked out of me by a Halo 2 pro in matchmaking before, not pretty!

The Halo 3 "all-nighter" hopes to give fans a competitive edge. The MLG Staff will be updating their site all day and straight in to the night of the 25th with tips from the pros, official impressions, best map set-ups, exclusive video content etc... so people who come to the site can get a jump on the competition.

Probably the coolest thing is the Halo 3 Film Festival. For one month starting on September 25th the MLG Gameroom will have a section for the festival that will allow users to submit their Halo 3 videos in one of four categories (skill clip, humor clip, best trick and creative). The winner of each category, selected by a fan vote, will receive $500. I think any Halo 3 fan would be interested in checking this stuff out. All the information is over at their Halo 3 Game Channel:

Halo 3 Launchtacular."

Censorship

Submission + - Internet Acess When Traveling To China

pinqkandi writes: Like many fellow slashdotters, I live by my email and other internet based communication. In the next few weeks, I will be travelling to Beijing and Shenyang, China for a business trip. Having heard the stories of the "Great Firewall of China", do you have any tips or recommendations for travelling to China with my laptop and (hopefully) accessing the internet?
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Unveils Touchscreen Coffee Table

imamac writes: Microsoft may have finally made something that could be considered "revolutionary:" A table top touch screen. It is however, still based on Windows Vista. The device ca receive multiple touch inputs simultaneously, and perhaps most impresive, respond and interact with items placed on it, including barcodes and credit cards. This could be a fantastic device for retail stores and apparently T-mobile agrees. Other locations for future use include restaraunts, hotels and Harrah's Casino. Mark Bolger, the Surface Computing group's marketing director, says "It's not a touch screen, it's a grab screen."
Communications

Submission + - Vonage wins permanent stay

i22y writes: "Vonage today won a permanent stay allowing it to sign up new customers. From their press release: "Vonage sought the stay following an April 6th decision by the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. enjoining the company from using certain VoIP technology to add new customers. The permanent stay enables Vonage to add new customers as [they] pursue [their] appeal. Existing customers remain unaffected by the company's ongoing patent litigation.""

Slashdot Top Deals

Kleeneness is next to Godelness.

Working...