As reported, the probe sent had the same processor as the PlayStation. They used the 3D graphics capability to create images of Pluto and Charon in CGI.

Q.E.D.

Study it out, sheeple!

So the Pawn Store is dealing with old RTS game servers?

What?

That's easy. A few well placed h-bombs, perhaps in conjunction with some volcanoes, and we can put a nice sun-shield up into our atmosphere.

If man can affect global climate change, it can work both ways. What have we got to lose?

Exactly where I find myself. My company thinks paying me below average (about 20% less) will fly when they literally cost me $400/mo more to follow their idiotic policies (while costing my manager $1000/mo from his budget, which means less money for any possible raises) - worse, to drive to a location where I will be forced to pay city income taxes because the company got a break in taxes to move there.

I'm finding my higher salary requirements are being met with no issues.

Corporations need to realize these tactics for "Work Force Reduction" only lead to the cream being skimmed and the ones you have left are the ones willing to put up with that sort of nonsense.

Ah well. It was motivation I needed to advance my career.

I haven't observed a lot of intelligence from those executives.

Corporate executives are supposed to make policy decisions and approve high-profile actions. In short, they had the ultimate review of this, which anybody with an above-average IQ would easily see it's a bad plan, on numerous fronts, whether it is from the consumers' perspective (bad deal, bad price, bad service) or company perspective (destined to be a failure)

Yes, I seriously question the intelligence of executives who keep approving this sort of nonsense. I might also be a bit bitter that these people make decisions that affect so many of us, impacting us regularly in a negative manner. Please note, I'm not asking for freebies here... give me a service that provides common sense features and I'll gladly pay. Why is it so hard for corporations to offer consumers quality service and goods for the price being demanded?

In my neck of the woods, I have been told there are these things called "buses" that come around and pick people up... I often see people waiting under signs that indicate they are "places of bus stopping" - yet I rarely see these elusive contraptions actually on the road, or picking up passengers.

Public transportation is a great idea in theory, but poorly run in practice, even in metropolitan areas. As for Michigan, it might as well as be non-existent. Rural and suburban areas are always poorly serviced. The solution, of course, is for people to move to areas closer to work and other required destinations - but that only works well for people who do not put down roots somewhere with a mortgage.

Free or not, I simply don't have the option. My current employer used to be willing to let me telecommute, now they expect me to commute an hour or more every day, each way, to satisfy some CEO's bizarre notion of esprit de corps (though most of my team members are in other states). I'd gladly ride a bus if it was convenient, both in timing and within a reasonable distance to my destination, but it doesn't even exist.

Downvoted as a troll? Is Slashdot giving Comcast execs mod points now?

Still no practical choices to get a full plate of live sports without being tied to cable... Football, Baseball, Hockey, Basketball - college and pro levels, that shouldn't be too much to ask for, but either you spend $100+ for cable, or run XBMC/Kodi with SportsDevil to stream it.

Geez, idiots, just give me an option to pay $10~25/mo for live locals and sports stations and you'll get my money.

Unfortunately, you are only interested in short-sheeting the consumer with fewer offerings than NetFlix or Sling at a higher price with more limitations.

Is a sub-80 IQ a requirement for an MBA and a job as a media company executive these days?

I used to think that way. Over the years, I've mellowed. At least 10 in the provincial prison would be enough, but no less.

Watch the "White Bear" episode from the excellent anthology series "Black Mirror" - it's probably a far more cruel thing to inflict a crime upon an individual, over and over, than deal with it in the most direct, blunt sense.

The guy deserves harsh punishment, for sure. If the law put just 10% of the effort into catching these idiots that they do toward pursuing "copyright infringers" the world would be a far better place.

A Hotmail account I signed up for in 1996 or 1997 is often used as a throw-away e-mail by idiots all the time.

Often, I will log in to the service they used my address for, and reset the password and take it over, just to let it sit.

If morons are dumb enough to use my e-mail, then they should not have access to whatever service they signed up for.

One time, a "sugardaddy.com" account used my e-mail, and I took it over, changing the profile pics to some handy images from "faces of meth" and spicing up the profile. Sadly, a drug-addicted, STD carrying woman still sparks a lot of interest, apparently, among "sugar daddies"

Is the project head named Baron Von Westphalen?

Well, it is on topic, because it stands as counterpoint to mob programming.

Nice.

Here is a quick and dirty script I made to fix the "XX comments" Slashdot moved to out of the way balloons.

http://pastebin.com/1xUuuvtN

Just curious, because learning to code is simple if you have a computer. There are tons of free courses, development platforms, etc... offering MORE courses seems pointless, and misses the fact that there is plenty of access to education online.

So... in my mind, any effort to educate the masses (of any sex) comes down to providing that access through hardware. Not tablets (geez, useless as anything but an aid through which you might view books or videos), but desktops or laptops (laptops are more useful if accompanied by a dock and extra monitor), which will provide a decent development environment, and broadband access.

Educational guidelines, providing languages and technology tracks for students, based on a particular field of study in computer science would also be nice, as well as a central site where access to ALREADY FREE tutorials and courses can be searched and rated, as well as grouped under those lines of study. This provides assistance to everybody, not just some finite amount of students, or students of a particular sex or race. A section devoted to coding competitions (not just hosted there, but worldwide) would also go a long way to encouraging young developers.

Once such a site is established, then work on arming students with real, physical tools to make full use of it. This is where I'd spend the rest of the money. Deciding who gets those tools is more difficult. Some sort of basic aptitude in problem-solving skills and a grasp of basic programming concepts, as well as a genuine interest in the field of study should be prerequisites.

These things should be no-brainers, but what gets lost in all of these efforts directed at special groups is that they are battling cultures and often fail to provide a true path to success (i.e. they go for quantity over quality, only making the situation more dire for those that are good, because they have to fight the perceptions employers have of their 'group' as a whole).

Now, if you can start turning out good quality programmers, as an organization fighting discrimination, you have to educate employers (or set an example, I'm looking at you, Google, and your "do as we say, not as we do" example). That's not a program that targets 10,000 low income girls, though. It's a program that targets employers and benefits everybody.

Having outlined my course of action... where does the money go in these programs? I get the feeling most of it goes to a redundant effort to create online courses, which are provided to a fixed number of individuals (why? because reasons, that's why!), while a bureaucracy swallows up the money and touts its success. It seems ridiculous - because it is, but that is the logic employed by way too many of these sort of organizations. It looks good in sketchy press releases that contain virtually no real information, outside of the stated "goal". Hopefully, I'm mistaken. I'd love to see underprivileged kids (no matter the sex or race) get decent computers and given encouragement to learn computing skills (beyond playing video games), but the cynic in me knows better.

SourceForge should never have been considered a potential revenue stream... it should have been preserved as a community service project that enhances your standing in relation to those parts of Dice that do generate revenue.

Corporate execs are far too quick to forget that.

Lots of tech companies subsidize community service projects - this is great, but abusing these efforts, and trying to make a quick buck off them is a quick way to damage your reputation in the tech world. Building trust and admiration through such projects takes time and effort, and can be very rewarding to a company's bottom line, but when you betray the trust, it can quickly become a poison that no amount of time can heal.

Dice, you've gained a lot of people who will never forget this. Certainly, many of them were not exactly fans to begin with, but they will be vociferous and their influence WILL impact your bottom line. Trying to make that quick buck will cost you far more in the long run. I certainly hope whoever was behind this "idea" has been sent packing. The road to rebuilding your reputation will be a long and painful one.