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Comment: Re:And so my book won't be published either (Score 1) 521

by Miraba (#24956651) Attached to: J. K. Rowling Wins $6,750 In Infringement Case
Your publisher is a moron. The Lexicon book failed because it stole too many quotes from her books and failed to provide enough commentary to justify the practice. Your book sounds rather similar to this one, which is quite acceptable (and highly rated). Find yourself another publisher.
Censorship

ESRB clears Rockstar in Manhunt 2 hack->

Submitted by Miraba
Miraba writes "Via GamePolitics, the ESRB has released the results of their investigation into the Manhunt 2 hack. The important bits: 1. The hack requires the use of unauthorized software. 2. The hack does not restore the game to its original AO form. 3. Rockstar disclosed the noted contents when Manhunt 2 was rerated.
There appear to be no plans to re-rerate the game."
Link to Original Source
Role Playing (Games)

Chinese Anti-Corruption online game got shut down

Submitted by
hackingbear
hackingbear writes "Sina.com.cn reported on July 31 that the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda department is getting hi-tech and creative by creating an Anti-Corruption Theme online game known as "Anti-Coruption Fighter". However,the game, published by the Discipline Committee of the CCP branch in the city of Ningbo, was shut down just a few days later. (The game can still be downloaded from sina.com.cn for unknown reason as the game's creator refuse to answer queries from the journalists.

In the game, the player's objective is to kill a corruptive official and fight the resistances from the official's guards, sons, and bikini-wearing mistresses and concubines, reflecting the real-world situation. The game has attracted a lot of curios visitors after media exposure. However, Internet users criticize the game being "too rough" in design and also seem to infringing other game's copyrighted materials.

In the reader commentary sections of the news report, some comments criticize the game as "stupid" and "dumb" while other wittily suggest that maybe some higher rank corruptive official's nerve got sensitized by the game and ordered it to shut down."
Space

Long tail discovered on Mira

Submitted by
tgeller
tgeller writes "A paper published today in Nature announces the discovery of a tail trailing behind the star Mira, 13 light years long and visible only in the ultraviolet spectrum. It in essence "lays out" the material that such a red giant sheds as it passes through space, giving astronomers insight into how new stars are formed, and the likely fate of our sun 5 billion years from now."
Space

Comet Explosion Killed The Clovis Culture. 1

Submitted by Haikuist_For_Hire
Haikuist_For_Hire writes "The NSF has released a study that strongly implicates a comet explosion over North America roughly 13000 years ago. Researchers at the University of Californina at Santa Barbara with the help of a National Science Foundation grant visited many Clovis sites around North America. The abrupt cooling trend of that time is known as the Younger Dryas or 'big freeze' and the collapse of the Clovis has been the subject of much debate over recent years. Samples from 12 Clovis period sites yielded high concentrations of Iridium, nano-diamonds, and buckyballs (fullerenes) that contain gases which indicate extraterrestrial origins. From the article: 'The team concluded that the impact of the comet likely destabilized a large portion of the Laurentide ice sheet, causing a high volume of freshwater to flow into the north Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.'"
Displays

3D Animations in Mid-Air Using Plasma Balls->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Japanese boffins are now making animations by creating small plasma balls in mid-air. The technology doesn't use vapor or strange gases, just lasers to heat up oxygen and nitrogen molecules: up to 1,000 brilliant dots per second, which makes smooth motion possible. They could be used as street signs, advertising or to create giant plasma monsters to destroy entire cities. Maybe."
Link to Original Source
Quickies

Squirrels heat tails to warn rattlesnakes 1

Submitted by Miraba
Miraba writes "According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences squirrels heat their tails as part of a defense mechanism against infrared-detecting rattlesnakes. The gopher snake, a species that cannot detect infrared, does not cause the squirrels to heat their tails. The scientists created a robotic squirrel to test their hypothesis."
Enlightenment

Drive for Altruism is Hardwired, Like Sex or Food

Submitted by
Dekortage
Dekortage writes "Your brain is pre-wired to enjoy placing the interests of others ahead of your own. At least, that's what neuroscientists are claiming in the Washington Post. In studies, "generosity activated a primitive part of the brain that usually lights up in response to food or sex.... Altruism, the experiment suggested, was not a superior moral faculty that suppresses basic selfish urges but rather was basic to the brain, hard-wired and pleasurable." Such neuroscience "has opened up a new window on what it means to be good," although many philosophers over recorded history have suggested similar things. Are you hardwired for good?"

Just when you thought you were winning the rat race, along comes a faster rat!!