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Researchers Discover Irresistible Dance Moves Screenshot-sm 215

Posted by samzenpus from the gene-gene-the-dancing-machine dept.
sciencehabit writes "To find out if certain dance moves are more attractive to women than others, researchers recruited a bunch of college guys and used motion-capture to create avatars of them dancing. When women watched the avatars (2 videos included in story), the men they found most attractive were those who kept their heads and torsos moving without flailing their arms and legs. The researchers say dancing is thus an honest signal to women of the man's strength and health, just as it is in crabs and hummingbirds, who also move in special ways to attract mates."
United States

Rupert Murdoch Publishes North Korean Flash Games 186

Posted by Soulskill from the wonder-if-they're-paywalled dept.
eldavojohn writes "You might recall back in June when it was noted that North Korea was developing and exporting flash games. Now, the isolated nation state is apparently home to some game developers that are being published by a subsidiary of News Corp. (The games include Big Lebowski Bowling and Men In Black). Nosotek Joint Venture Company is treading on thin ice in the eyes of a few academics and specialists that claim the Fox News owner is 'working against US policy.' Concerns grow over the potential influx of cash, creating better programmers that are then leveraged into cyberwarfare capabilities. Nosotek said that 'training them to do games can't bring any harm.' The company asserts its innocence, though details on how much of the games were developed in North Korea are sparse. While one of the poorest nations in the world could clearly use the money, it remains to be seen if hardliner opponents like the United States will treat Nosotek (and parent company News Corp.) as if they're fostering the development of computer programmers inside the DPRK. The United Nations only stipulates that cash exchanged with companies in the DPRK cannot go to companies and businesses associated with military weaponry or the arms trade. Would you feel differently about Big Lebowski Bowling if you knew it was created in North Korea?"

Comment Re:Yep (Score 5, Interesting) 484

by MrFreezeBU (#32733396) Attached to: Dell Selling Faulty PCs

Yes, we had the very same situation in my previous company....At the beginning of this fiasco... As their supplies of motherboards dried up, their willingness to overnight the need parts disappeared. Fast forward another two months, and we were looking at 1 out of 4 GX270s out of service, and Dell unwilling and unable to honor their warrant support (Silver in this case). It took papers from company council to get Dell to agree to a PFR (Proactive Field Replacement) on most GX270s in inventory (~100). During this process, we were told that only certain production runs, which were identifiable by asset tag) were faulty. 3 months later, they were back to replace those also.

In the end, we certified our internal helpdesk technicians as Dell authorized warranty support. By doing this we were at least able to recoup some of the costs, as it does not take much extra time to swap out the motherboard when you are already inside looking for failed caps.

Shortly thereafter, our account reps were calling, asking why their sales volume had dropped off....

Just one of many Dell related storied I can tell.... The one with them moving Gold support to India with no warning was another fun one..

Comment Re:Slashdot achievements (Score 1) 1582

by MrFreezeBU (#27419873) Attached to: Slashdot Launches User Achievements
Or my personal favorite: Like the time I caught the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for m'shoe. So I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt. Which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Gimme five bees for a quarter, you'd say. Now where was I... oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time. You couldn't get white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...

Comment Re:Regulations (Score 2, Informative) 176

by MrFreezeBU (#26768197) Attached to: Keeping in Contact With Family, From Afghanistan?
One thing to watch for, if someone deployed to the base is critically injured or killed, all unofficial communication channels are closed until the next-of-kin can be notified, for understandable reasons. I've been on the US side of one of these blackouts, and although unpleasant and nerve racking, I can understand the reasoning behind the decision.

Comment Re:MWR provided internet and Voip (Score 1) 176

by MrFreezeBU (#26768185) Attached to: Keeping in Contact With Family, From Afghanistan?
I've had friends stationed at FOBs in Iraq over the last 4 years. They were able to bring their personal laptop along for the ride. As far as connectivity goes, I am not sure the options presented to them, but they were online in some capacity. On a flight to Vegas during a friends mid-deployment leave, he fired up the laptop, complete with sand from Iraq, much to the annoyance of the other passengers (you can only imagine what infantry guys find amusing)
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Nobel Winner Says Internet Might Have Stopped Hitler Screenshot-sm 290

Posted by samzenpus from the what-can't-it-do dept.
There can be little doubt that the internet has changed everyday life for the better, but Nobel literature prize winner Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio has upped the ante by saying an earlier introduction of information technology could even have prevented World War II. "Who knows, if the Internet had existed at the time, perhaps Hitler's criminal plot would not have succeeded — ridicule might have prevented it from ever seeing the light of day," he said. I have to agree with him. If England had been able to send a "Stop Hitler Now!" petition to 10 friendly countries, those countries could have each sent it to 10 more friendly countries before the invasion of Poland, and one of history's greatest tragedies might have been averted.
Patents

Rewriting a Software Product After Quitting a Job? 604

Posted by kdawson from the clean-room-white-coats dept.
hi_caramba_2008 writes "We are a bunch of good friends at a large software company. The product we work on is under-budgeted and over-hyped by the sales drones. The code quality sucks, and management keeps pulling in different direction. Discussing this among ourselves, we talked about leaving the company and rebuilding the code from scratch over a few months. We are not taking any code with us. We are not taking customer lists (we probably will aim at different customers anyway). The code architecture will also be different — hosted vs. stand-alone, different modules and APIs. But at the feature level, we will imitate this product. Can we be sued for IP infringement, theft, or whatever? Are workers allowed to imitate the product they were working on? We know we have to deal with the non-compete clause in our employment contracts, but in our state this clause has been very difficult to enforce. We are more concerned with other IP legal aspects."
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Dead Goldfish Offered The Vote In Illinois Screenshot-sm 216

Posted by samzenpus from the Mr.-Limpet dept.
Election officials in northern Chicago want to know why voter registration material was sent to Princess, a dead goldfish. "I am just stunned at the level of people compromising the integrity of the voting process," said Lake County Clerk Willard Helander, a Republican, who said she has spotted problems with nearly 1,000 voter registrations this year. Beth Nudelman, who owned Princess, said the fish may have got on a mailing list because the family once filled in her name when they got a second phone line for a computer. When will we recognize a goldfish's right to vote?
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Slashdot's Disagree Mail Screenshot-sm 202

Posted by samzenpus from the well-here's-your-problem dept.
Slashdot has one of the best discussion systems there is. It's grown and adapted over the years to meet various challenges and suit the needs of our users. A lot of time and effort has gone into it and we are always open to user input to help make it better. Some of our best ideas start as user suggestions and we appreciate the feedback. Of course they can't all be gems and sometimes the suggestions we get are unworkable or just bizarre. Here are a few of my favorite unhelpful, helpful suggestions.
Television

Submission + - Battlestar Galactica ends after season 4 officiall (aqfl.net)

Submitted by
Ant
Ant writes: "TV.com reports David Eick and Ronald Moore released a statement on Thur., May 31, 2007, stating that they will conclude the show on their own terms. They said it was a creative decision. The show was always planned with a definite beginning, middle and end, unlike many other sci-fi shows and dramas. Sci Fi Channel has accepted the decision. The news had been foreshadowed this spring through statements from stars Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff. Ronald Moore himself had said that the show was heading into its final act, although he said the final act could be one or two more seasons. Now we know that the final act will last for one season. The special 2-hr. episode "Razor" starts off the season in November. The first regular episodes of Season 4 will air in early 2008."
Sony

Submission + - Ubisoft Calls For PS3 Price Drop

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Ubisoft's chief executive officer, Yves Guillemot, has warned that Sony will face a considerable drop in its console market share for this season should the firm decide not to lower the price of its Playstation 3 console. "For sure Sony will have a different market share ... lower than before", commented Guillemot, at the Reuters Technology, Media and Telecom summit. "They have to decrease the price quite significantly," he said."

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Top Ten Things Overheard At The ANSI C Draft Committee Meetings: (5) All right, who's the wiseguy who stuck this trigraph stuff in here?

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