46174593
submission
Fortran IV writes
"Randall Munroe's xkcd webcomic has done some odd things before, but #1190, "Time," is something special. It's a time-lapse movie of two people building a sandcastle that's been updating just once an hour (twice an hour in the beginning) for well over a month (since March 25th), and after over a thousand frames shows no sign of ending; in a few days the number of frames will surpass the total number of xkcd comics. It's been mentioned in The Economist. Some of its readers have called it the One True Comic; others have called it a MMONS (Massively Multiplayer Online Nerd Sniping). It's sparked its own wiki, its own jargon (Timewaiters, newpix, Blitzgirling), and a thread on the xkcd user forum that runs to over 20,000 posts from 1100 distinct posters. Is "Time" a fascinating work of art, a deep sociological experiment—or the longest-running shaggy-dog joke in history? Randall Munroe's not saying."
16818344
submission
Fortran IV writes
"Back in June, Washington, D.C. signed up with the The Open Source Digital Foundation to set up an internet voting system for D.C. residents overseas. The plan was to have the system operational by the November general election. Last week the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics opened the system for testing and attracted the attention of students at the University of Michigan, with comical results. The D.C. Board has postponed implementation of the system for "more robust testing.""
2845881
submission
Fortran IV writes
"Volunteer-powered anti-malware site CastleCops appears to have closed up shop. As of Tuesday, December 23, the CastleCops home page notes: "You have arrived at the CastleCops website, which is currently offline. . . . Unfortunately, all things come to an end." It was reported back in June that Paul Laudanski, founder of CastleCops and its parent Computer Cops LLC, was taking a full-time job with Microsoft and was "looking for new management" for CastleCops. The site has also long had problems with funding and with hostile action from spammers. But the actual shutdown seems to have taken the security community by surprise: as late as Tuesday evening Brian Krebs was still recommending CastleCops on his Security Fix blog."
712959
submission
Fortran IV writes
"Do you like hard pencil-and-paper puzzles? Can you free up 2-1/2 hours next Saturday? Then register for the 2008 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship. The top scorer will join Team U.S.A. at the October 2008 World Puzzle Championship in Vilnius, Lithuania. For a sample of the puzzles, check out the 2008 practice test (as Slashdotters have commented, if you can't even open the practice test, skip the real one). For more fun—or stress—you can try out the full tests for previous years. Sharpen your pencils, turn off your phone, lock the server room door, and get to solving!"
