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Comment Re:I Played as the US... (Score 2, Informative) 186

by Lookin4Trouble (#25951695) Attached to: Virtual Peace Sim Game Based On America's Army
I see what you did there, a crack at FEMA. Bloody brilliant, if not entirely rooted in fact.

I'm pretty sure there's folks who were on the ground on day one who would disagree with you, including myself (No, I do not work for FEMA, but I am a Federal Employee, and made the trip down as soon as it became apparent that things were worse than expected). That said, I won't resort to calling your post flamebait, or anything else of the sort, even though I agree it is disappointing that certain executive officials may not have necessarily respond with the alacrity that the situation called for. In the meantime, please don't downplay the role myself and other volunteers played in search and rescue operations, as well as recovery efforts in the months after (both physical and economic).

Thanks

Posted with "No Karma Bonus" modifier, but not anonymous, so you can dig through my comment history and maybe glean who I do work for from there...
Music

Submission + - Music industry convenes, finds some sanity. (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
Lord of Hyphens
Lord of Hyphens writes: "The Register reports on the global conference by the music industry... and apparently some consensus emerged on the following:


  • Prosecuting end users is silly — when you can monetise them
  • Since "piracy" today means "get free music", the future has to offer something that "feels like free"
  • Vastly wealthier industries than the music business today profit from the demand for recorded music — without giving anything back. That isn't fair, and it's got to change
  • Digital music services of the future need a better deal than the begrudging and piecemeal licenses offered so far by rights holders: but these have to be so attractive only the suicidal would want to turn it down.
"The era of levies is over," said one participant. "Government isn't going to step in and hand us a business."
It's about time they realized they were "shooting themselves in the foot", to borrow El Reg's phrasing."
Nintendo

Submission + - Nintendo opens up the Wii (theglobeandmail.com)

Submitted by
Raver32
Raver32 writes: "Nintendo Co. has opened its blockbuster Wii game system to independent video-game developers for the first time, the company announced Wednesday. Nintendo said it will let individuals and outside game studios create and sell downloadable Wii games with a tool called WiiWare. Gamers will be able to purchase the games through the console's Wii Shop channel starting in early 2008. Perrin Kaplan, a Nintendo spokeswoman, said the game-creation kit is designed for people with at least some knowledge of computer programming. Developers can start designing games using a PC but must complete them on the Wii console, Kaplan said. "Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit," said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, in a statement."
Wii

Submission + - Wii Opened For Development

Submitted by
kiwipom
kiwipom writes: "The BBC is reporting that Nintendo are opening up the Wii to developers to produce their own games.

"Home and independent game makers are getting a chance to put together titles for Nintendo's Wii console. The hi-tech firm has released a set of game-making tools called WiiWare that give budding game makers the data they need to use the console and its innovative controller.



Do Slashdotters think this will drive a decent selection of games for the Wii driving further adoption, or is this just a gimmick that will supply endless versions of centipede clones? What games, that can be home developed, do people think would benefit from the wiimote and nunchuck?"
Nintendo

Submission + - Nintendo to open up Wii Console (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by the_crowing
the_crowing writes: [Nintendo] has released a set of game-making tools called WiiWare that give budding game makers the data they need to use the console and its innovative controller. Wii owners will be able to download the games through net channels accessible via the console. Nintendo said the first games would be available for download in early 2008.
Education

Submission + - No OLPCs for Cuba. Ever.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In a move going largely unnoticed by the developers the OLPC project now requires all submissions to the project to be hosted in the RedHat Fedora project.

While not seeming like a big deal, the implications are interesting. First, contributors have to sign the Fedora Project Individual Contributor License Agreement. By being forced to submit contributions to the Fedora repository they automatically fall under the provisions of US export law. So, no OLPC for Cuba, Syria and the likes. Ever.

But at least the OLPC project will build a nice business for RedHat The software borrows from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, with about 95 per cent of the code overlapping.
Spam

Submission + - Mr. and Mrs. Spam (hungarytourism.hu)

Submitted by
Tamas Feher from Hungary
Tamas Feher from Hungary writes: "CNN reports that some 200 american people recently became subjects of a targeted e-mail spam attack, which alleged a relative contracted them to a hitman. The message warned that they will be assasinated very soon unless they cough up some 30 to 80 thousand dollars in ransom. Those who disobeyed were harassed with a fake follow-up letter from an "FBI representative in London", warning the recipient that he/she is high up on a kill bill found with a recently arrested mafia messenger. The most resistant victims were even sent an ultimatum, full of personal and family details, ordering the recipient to pay immeditely or they will be retired. The real FBI is investigating this unusual strain of the infamous "nigerian 419" scam.

Here is the full article:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/18/lothian.cybercrim e/index.html"
Space

Submission + - Tunguska Impact Crater "Found" (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
BigBadBus
BigBadBus writes: "An Italian Team is claiming to have found the impact crater resulting from the 1908 Tunguska impact. From the BBC website:
A University of Bologna team says a lake near the epicentre of the blast may be occupying a crater hollowed out by a chunk of rock that hit the ground. Lake Cheko — though shallow — fits the proportions of a small, bowl-shaped impact crater, say the Italy-based scientists. Their investigation of the lake bottom's geology reveals a funnel-like shape not seen in neighbouring lakes. In addition, a geophysics survey of the lake bed has turned up an unusual feature about 10m down which could either be compacted lake sediments or a buried fragment of space rock."
Of course, this is highly controversial, but its a hell of a lot better than the gas eruption theory mentioned in one of Arthur C.Clarke's "Mysterious World" books."
Security

Submission + - Passwords in small companies

Submitted by daeg
daeg writes: As any person in a small company can tell you, we have too many passwords and too many people know them because the defined job roles are very lax. The programmers know our shipping password because they've had to ship things before and the administrative assistants know our printer passwords, for instance. Are there any easy ways to manage these types of passwords securely? If an employee leaves, we have to change all of the passwords (particularly for the places that do not allow multiple delegate user accounts) and simultaneously tell everyone the new password, which is tedious and error prone, at best. What are some methods that have worked in your small companies?
Education

Submission + - UK Government rules Inteligent Design not Science (theregister.co.uk) 1

Submitted by blane.bramble
blane.bramble writes: The Register is reporting that there is no place in the science curriculum for Inteligent Design and that it can not be taught as science. The UK Government has stated that "The Government is aware that a number of concerns have been raised in the media and elsewhere as to whether creationism and intelligent design have a place in science lessons. The Government is clear that creationism and intelligent design are not part of the science National Curriculum programmes of study and should not be taught as science."
Security

More Than Half of Known Vista Bugs are Unpatched 257

Posted by Zonk from the bugtracker-is-half-empty-attitude dept.
MsManhattan writes "Microsoft security executive Jeff Jones has disclosed that in the first six months of Vista's release, the company has patched fewer than half of the operating system's known bugs. Microsoft has fixed only 12 of 27 reported Vista vulnerabilities whereas it patched 36 of 39 known bugs in Windows XP in the first six months following its release. Jones says that's because "Windows Vista continues to show a trend of fewer total and fewer high-severity vulnerabilities at the six month mark compared to ... Windows XP," but he did not address the 15 unpatched flaws."
Quickies

Submission + - Santa Fe Courthouse 'Ghost' Just a Spider

Submitted by anthemaniac
anthemaniac writes: A YouTube video looking out the window of the Santa Fe, New Mexico courthouse, shows what some think was a glowing, moving ghost. Benjamin Radford, a self-proclaimed 'scientific paranormal investigator,' went to see for himself. He suspected the blurry, moving object was either a bug or some floating cottonwood seed near the camera, rather than a glowing object far away. So he recreated the video circumstances and shot another video. The ghost, it turns out, was just a spider crawling and glowing in the light.
Books

Submission + - Deathly Hallows Hacked?

Submitted by
Silentknyght
Silentknyght writes: "Most news organizations are now reporting rumors, propagated by "Gabriel", that the aforementioned has managed to hack into the London-based Bloomsbury Publishing and has obtained a digital copy of the final book. The publisher has stated that the public should just consider these rumors as other theories. Already, a quick google search can yield these new rumors, citing "Gabriel" as the source, about the book's outcome, and most notably, who dies at the end."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Circumcision overstated as prevention against AIDS (plosone.org)

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Male circumcision is overstated as prevention tool against AIDS (reported by Eurekalert http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/plo s-mco062007.php)
Quoting:
"New study finds the key to understanding the global spread of AIDS is the size of the infected prostitute community around the world. [...] The study has a number of important findings that should impact policy decisions in the future. First, male circumcision, which in previous studies had been found to be important in controlling AIDS, becomes statistically irrelevant once the study controls for the number of prostitutes in a country."

Cross fingers! The prevention programs so much touted by the neo-conservators and intelligent-designers, baked by UN (http://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/news/20070329/circu mcision-new-weapon-against-AIDS) are not good at all? How about the praying and singing in the churches?"

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With all the fancy scientists in the world, why can't they just once build a nuclear balm?

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