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Comment Re:Thought experiment (Score 0) 841

by matt_gaia (#34051798) Attached to: Researchers Find a 'Liberal Gene'

Would that solve the perennial liberal-conservative fights? And who would come out ahead?

Short answer... no.
Liberaltopia would be invaded so that Conservatopia could "spread democracy to the godless heathens in Liberaltopia" or some bit of jingoistic nonsense like that.
 
Here's a better idea... let the lead-paint-eating nuts who are trying to take over congress marginalize themselves to they will become wholly unelectable in any future elections. (not that they are particularly electable right now). If any of them make it into office, I'm sure that they will do enough to get booted right back out in 2-6 years.

Comment Re:Stupid (Score 1) 1695

by matt_gaia (#33522712) Attached to: Rackspace Shuts Down Quran-Burning Church's Sites

That's essentially how churches fall under the US tax code, with the caveat being that they are not supposed to try to have a direct say in political issues. Church leaders can say "You should vote for candidates who support x, y, and z issues", but cannot say, "You should vote for Candidate Joe Schmoe because we think you should. Doing so usually results in their tax-exempt status being revoked.
I'm willing to bet that along with asinine actions like this burning, this church probably has had its leaders openly support a candidate (more than likely someone like W.) and should have their exemption status stripped.
NASA

Dying Man Shares Unseen Challenger Video 266

Posted by Soulskill from the new-perspective-on-an-old-tragedy dept.
longacre writes "An amateur video of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explosion has been made public for the first time. The Florida man who filmed it from his front yard on his new Betamax camcorder turned the tape over to an educational organization a week before he died this past December. The Space Exploration Archive has since published the video into the public domain in time for the 24th anniversary of the catastrophe. Despite being shot from about 70 miles from Cape Canaveral, the shuttle and the explosion can be seen quite clearly. It is unclear why he never shared the footage with NASA or the media. NASA officials say they were not aware of the video, but are interested in examining it now that it has been made available."
PC Games (Games)

Future Ubisoft Games To Require Constant Internet Access 497

Posted by Soulskill from the this-will-go-over-well dept.
Following up on our discussion yesterday of annoying game distribution platforms, Ubisoft has announced the details of their Online Services Platform, which they will use to distribute and administer future PC game releases. The platform will require internet access in order to play installed games, saved games will be stored remotely, and the game you're playing will even pause and try to reconnect if your connection is lost during play. Quoting Rock, Paper, Shotgun: "This seems like such a bizarre, bewildering backward step. Of course we haven't experienced it yet, but based on Ubi’s own description of the system so many concerns arise. Yes, certainly, most people have the internet all the time on their PCs. But not all people. So already a percentage of the audience is lost. Then comes those who own gaming laptops, who now will not be able to play games on trains, buses, in the park, or anywhere they may not be able to find a WiFi connection (something that’s rarely free in the UK, of course – fancy paying the £10/hour in the airport to play your Ubisoft game?). Then there's the day your internet is down, and the engineers can’t come out to fix it until tomorrow. No game for you. Or any of the dozens of other situations when the internet is not available to a player. But further, there are people who do not wish to let a publisher know their private gaming habits. People who do not wish to report in to a company they’ve no affiliation with, nor accountability to, whenever they play a game they’ve legally bought. People who don’t want their save data stored remotely. This new system renders all customers beholden to Ubisoft in perpetuity whenever they buy their games."
PC Games (Games)

PC Grand Theft Auto IV Features SecuROM DRM 531

Posted by Soulskill from the players-are-pirates-qed dept.
arcticstoat writes "Game developer Rockstar has revealed that the forthcoming PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV will feature the controversial SecuROM 7 DRM system. Unlike some of EA's recent titles, such as Spore and Mass Effect, GTA IV won't limit the number of times that you can install the game, although SecuROM will be impossible to remove without leaving 'some traces' on your PC. Anyone hoping to avoid SecuROM by downloading the game form Steam will also be disappointed, as Rockstar says that all versions of the game will feature SecuROM, including digital versions online. On the plus side, Rockstar says that it's 'working with SecuROM to post information on our support pages regarding how to remove these inactive traces of the program for users who wish to do so.' Has Rockstar gotten a better balance between draconian DRM and fair copy protection here?"

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