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Comment Re:I've nearly last count... (Score 1) 958

by Jrono (#29676777) Attached to: How many countries have you visited?

I don't know... if you are referring to it as "US-occupied CSA" then at best you probably could only count the counties you have been to!

But since you refer to EPCOT with the one true capitalization scheme you probably aren't one of those types, though for extra bonus points you could have called it "The EPCOT Center" ;-)

(so far I've only been to 3 countries outside of the Americas)
Communications

ELF Knocks Down AM Towers To Save Earth, Intercoms 616

Posted by timothy from the damn-right-wing-nutjobs dept.
ScentCone writes "The ELF (Earth Liberation Front) has claimed responsibility for destroying the primary AM towers used by radio station KRKO in Washington state. From their statement: 'AM radio waves cause adverse health effects including a higher rate of cancer, harm to wildlife, and that the signals have been interfering with home phone and intercom lines.' The poor intercom performance must have been the last straw."
Television

Comedy Central Confirms 26 New Futurama Episodes 259

Posted by Soulskill from the good-news-everyone dept.
e9th was one of several readers to write with an update to the Futurama rumors we discussed earlier this week: "TVWeek reports that 20th Century Fox Television and Comedy Central have officially confirmed a deal for 26 new episodes of Futurama, due to the strong ratings of its reruns and feature-length specials. Matt Groening is quoted as saying, 'We're thrilled Futurama is coming back. We now have only 25,766 episodes to make before we catch up with Bender and Fry in the year 3000.' According to the press release, the episodes will begin to come out in mid-2010."

Comment This happened to me (Score 1) 589

by Jrono (#28056825) Attached to: FCC Reserves the Right To Search Your Home, Any Time
I think it was the FCC who actually visited my house when I was in 4th grade. I had a NES and the RF adapter was messed up, so I mucked around with it with some aluminum foil and got it working again. One day a couple of guys in suits visited our house and said that there was a signal interfering with airplane radios and we had to disconnect the device... My parents were amazed at the time how the government was able to track down our one house in the huge neighborhood. So I'm proud to say I had a run in with feds in elementary school!

Reviews: Star Trek 544

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-finally-got-to-expense-a-movie dept.
On these pages, admitting that you are a Trekkie is not a mark of shame; it's more like admitting that you are a carbon-based life form, which is true of almost all of us. I watch every movie. I've seen every episode of every series. And as my wife will tell you, I scream "F*** you Rick Berman!' during the credits every time I see it. So when JJ Abrams got a crack at a reboot, I was hopeful. The short review is that I liked it. Keep reading; I'll keep the spoilers down to a minimum. (Continued below.)
Security

Windows 7 Users Warned Over Filename Security Risk 613

Posted by timothy from the death's-too-good-for-some-people dept.
nandemoari writes "Would-be Windows 7 users have been warned to change a default setting which could leave them vulnerable to attack via bogus files. As a result, Microsoft is taking flak for failing to correct a problem found in previous editions of Windows. The issue involves the way Windows Explorer displays filenames. In all editions of Windows after Windows 98, the default setting hides the filename extension (which identifies what type of file it is). This means that a Word file titled 'partyinvite.doc' will show up in Windows Explorer as simply 'partyinvite'. The only exception to this rule is if Windows does not recognize the file type. The reason for this setting is that it makes for a less cluttered look and avoids filling the screen with redundant detail. However, a flaw in the way it works leaves it liable to exploitation by hackers. They can take an executable file (which can do much more damage to a computer when opened) and disguise it by calling it 'partyinvite.doc.exe.'"
Earth

Antarctic Ice Is Growing, Not Melting Away, At Davis Station 633

Posted by timothy from the weather-is-what-you-get dept.
schwit1 writes "A report from The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research says that Antarctic ice is growing, not melting away. Ice core drilling in the fast ice off Australia's Davis Station in East Antarctica by the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-Operative Research Centre shows that last year, the ice had a maximum thickness of 1.89m, its densest in 10 years. The average thickness of the ice at Davis since the 1950s is 1.67m. A paper to be published soon by the British Antarctic Survey in the journal Geophysical Research Letters is expected to confirm that over the past 30 years, the area of sea ice around the continent has expanded."
The Military

North Korea Missile Launch Fails 609

Posted by timothy from the one-of-the-strings-must-have-broken dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Remember the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile launch by the North Koreans last night? You know, the one that went over Japan and supposedly put a 'communications satellite' into orbit. Well, according to the US Northern Command and NORAD it has been a complete and utter failure, with the second stage and payload 'falling in the Pacific.'"
Google

Chrome EULA Reserves the Right To Filter Your Web 171

Posted by timothy from the here's-some-birdseed-for-you dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Recently, I decided to try out Google Chrome. With my usual mistrust of Google, I decided to carefully read the EULA before installing the software. I paused when I stumbled upon this section: '7.3 Google reserves the right (but shall have no obligation) to pre-screen, review, flag, filter, modify, refuse or remove any or all Content from any Service. For some of the Services, Google may provide tools to filter out explicit sexual content. These tools include the SafeSearch preference settings (see google.com/help/customize.html#safe). In addition, there are commercially available services and software to limit access to material that you may find objectionable.' Does this mean that Google reserves the right to filter my web browsing experience in Chrome (without my consent to boot)? Is this a carry-over from the EULAs of Google's other services (gmail, blogger etc), or is this something more significant? One would think that after the previous EULA affair with Chrome, Google would try to sound a little less draconian." Update: 04/05 21:14 GMT by T : Google's Gabriel Stricker alerted me to an informative followup: "We saw your Slashdot post and published the following clarification on the Google Chrome blog."
Government

Quebec Says 'Non' To English-Only Video Games 554

Posted by Soulskill from the cette-ligne-est-mal-écrit-en-français dept.
daveofdoom writes "The French-Canadian government of Quebec is saying 'non' to English-only video games if French versions are available. 'It's causing a lot of consternation among retailers and gamers alike, who fear the rules will lead to delays in video games arriving in the province, and may not accomplish what the law intends, which is to promote and protect the French language.' This is a ridiculous rule, as game companies can simply stop creating French versions of games to bypass the restriction."
Math

March 14th Officially Becomes National Pi Day 321

Posted by Soulskill from the pi-in-the-sky-legislation dept.
whitefox writes "The scoop from CNet is that 'The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a resolution introduced two days earlier that designates March 14, 2009 (3/14, get it?) as National Pi Day. It urges schools to take the opportunity to teach their students about Pi and "engage them about the study of mathematics."' The resolution is available online. I doubt it'll ever become a national holiday, but the Pi string in the article is pretty cool in a nerdy sort of way."

Comment Re:I didn't know Feinstein was a Republican.... (Score 1) 873

by Jrono (#26821119) Attached to: Senator Diane Feinstein Trying to Kill Net Neutrality

This argument is a perfect example that just blindly following a single party is not good for democracy.

Unfortunately most people are lazy and will just go with one of the two parties and assume/pretend that that party either is completely aligned with them, or even worse, will adopt the same position on a given issue as their party since the "other guys" have taken the opposite position (i.e. "I don't care about about X but since my party is for it and the other guys are against it I will be for it.")

We have to look at each politician as an individual - not as a Rep/Dem/Indp - with their own stands on the various issues we care about. Unfortunately there is usually just one or two issues (abortion/Iraq/death penalty/etc.) which decide our entire opinion on that one politician.
Cellphones

Keeping in Contact With Family, From Afghanistan? 176

Posted by timothy from the and-don't-say-learn-pashto dept.
LiNKz writes "Within a short while I will be heading to Afghanistan and in the interest of keeping in communication with my wife and family I've been looking at different means of it, from VoIP to cellular services. I'm not sure how well connected or how stable of a connection the base I'm deploying to has, which means VoIP might simply not be an option. I have, however, noticed in my searches that Afghanistan has recently boomed with cellular coverage though that too seems to be difficult to ascertain. I'm curious if the Slashdot community has any information or experience regarding international cellular services offered in this country and the means of obtaining it."
PC Games (Games)

Massive EVE Online Alliance Disbanded 352

Posted by Soulskill from the create-your-own-drama dept.
tnt001 writes "In the world of EVE Online, the infamous Band of Brothers alliance has been disbanded. It seems that rival alliance Goonswarm had a spy in the holding corporation, and he stole money as well as capital ships and other assets. The spy then disbanded the alliance. 'One of GoonSwarm's stated motivations from their early days as an alliance was to punish what they viewed as the arrogance of Band of Brothers. If they've held true to that ideal, stealing the alliance out from under BoB effectively means GoonSwarm has accomplished what they set out to do years ago.' As of 11:00 GMT, BoB lost all its sovereignty (its outposts are conquerable now, cyno-jammers are offline, jump bridges are inoperable)."
Government

RIAA and BSA's Lawyers Taking Top Justice Posts 377

Posted by CmdrTaco from the one-hand-washes-the-other dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Following the appointment of RIAA's champion Donald Verrilli as associate deputy attorney general, here's a complete roundup of all the RIAA and BSA-linked lawyers comfortably seated at top posts at the Department of Justice by the new government. Not strange, since US VP Joe Biden is well known for pushing the copyright warmongers' agenda in Washington. Just in case you don't know, Verrilli is the nice man who sued the pants off Jammie Thomas."

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