Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:Wikileaks seems to be playing the PR angle a lo (Score 1) 1018

I asked myself the same thing. If they are selecting what to release, in what order, and how much noise to make for each release, then it would look like they have a reason to privilege certain leaks, or even hide leaks they went through and decided not to publish (which is far more dangerous).

IMHO it is too much power in the hands of a single organization and that rarely brings anything good in the long run.

Comment Re:Wow. (Score 1) 1018

I highly doubt he hasn't the support of some government or even big companies around the world who would love to see their rivals (be it political or economical) going down. It is highly unlikely he has no secret agenda.

Comment Re:Democrats loved the Pentagon Papers (Score 1) 833

Reason gets to pick, for Christ's sake. They should have released documents which reveal crimes, misconduct, torture, etc. They should have not disclosed documents which reveal internal reports and assessments of other governments, internal relations and legitimate negotiations between the US and other nations.

Having privileged information doesn't mean having to disclosed it. Unless one is using it as evidence to uncover, accuse and ultimately trial said crimes, disclosing it is pure sabotage and high treason.

Comment Interesting but meaningless (Score 1) 348

From a geekish point of view the idea is pretty neat. Who wouldn't like a bonsai lamp on his desk?

But using such a technology in public trees to replace street lights? Doesn't sound too good for me. What about the animals which dwell on the trees? Not only birds and squirrels, but also invertebrates, reptiles and other small mammals which have nocturnal life and depended on the absence of light to feed, to hunt, to reproduce, to be hunted, etc. This isn't Middle-Earth, they haven't evolved for an environment where leaves give off luminous glow.

Changing the environment (for worst) is not restricted to dumping tons of CO2 on the atmosphere. People haven't got that yet?

Comment Re:Havent seen it. Let me go Download it... (Score 3, Interesting) 374

The interesting thing about this flick is that it actually has a history -- weak as it may be, I've seen worse in regular movies. The DVD even includes a 30 minutes long non-porn version of the movie in which all the porn scenes have been cut off.

This non-porn version is probably just a reordering of the DVD chapters by excluding the porn chapters, but nonetheless it's pretty interesting, it really captures the spirits of the original series.

Comment Re:Seems reasonable (Score 1) 205

Those results are from google.com. The Brazilian TLD for Google is google.com.br. I just did a quick search on both now and for the .com TLD I got 52.7% vs 47.3% for Rousseff, and for the .com.br TLD 54% vs 46%. Official polls run by several different media agencies were giving Rousseff with 60%+ of valid votes.

On the first turn of our major elections, when we voted for Senators, Governors and Congressmen, something similar happened. For my state a certain Senator candidate had 17% on previous public surveys and it was ranking 3rd. After the results were out he was elected with 36% and he was the 1st.

Here in Brazil such surveys and predictions are quite dangerous, to some extent they are used as manipulative tools. Most people are unfortunately uneducated and ignorant in issues concerning politics and economy and those people are likely to vote on the candidate which seems to be winning, just so they don't "lose" their vote (yes, this is not an uncommon reasoning around here, insane as it may sound). Worst of all perhaps is the fact that we are obliged to vote, it is an imposed duty. Our democracy is still an infant, and I think we are yet to reach adolescence. Some rough years to come.

Comment Seems reasonable (Score 3, Interesting) 205

Today Brazilians are electing their new President. It is the second turn of our elections so we get to choose between the two candidates for the presidential chair which were most voted in the first turn that occurred one month ago.

The candidates are Jose Serra (current opposition) and Dilma Rousseff (candidate supported by the current President). According to a simple "volumetric" serach on Google, Serra has 47% and Rousseff has 53%. These predictions are somewhat similar to what polls and public opinion surveys have been showing (reckoning only the valid votes). Tonight we will have the final results and I will be amazed if this Google prediction so to speak turns out to be more accurate than official polls.

Comment Re:Real-life Merlin (Score 1) 86

True, but the video made me feel kinda sad. Despite being completely ignored by most people he lives in this world in his head where the current president would subject himself to a dark and moldy basement in order to get a half-assed hologram taken. Other than that, when was this documentary made? I thought someone would mention 3D TVs and stuff like that near the end when he says the world is dimensional but we seem to be content with representing it as flat.

Slashdot Top Deals

If a subordinate asks you a pertinent question, look at him as if he had lost his senses. When he looks down, paraphrase the question back at him.

Working...