Slashdot

Here's my latest submission attempt:

Some readers may disagree but to me, the user signatures are an integral part of Slashdot discussions, often providing additional perspective about the posters' opinions.
However, sigs are not normally considered a part of the discussion and commenting on them is liable to get you moderated "off topic". Likewise, sig moderation is not provided.

Maybe it's time to acknowledge and celebrate the lowly sig.
Please nominate the best (and worst) Slashdot sigs of 2007.
Which ones did you find the funniest? The most insightful? Trollish?

Let the quoting begin.

Here's an article I submitted on Dec 1, 2004.
It was rejected (like the rest of my submissions) so I'm reposting it here.

Canadian witch hunt claims victim (YRO)

Injusticebusters reports the suicide of James LeCraw from Toronto who, on April 16, 2003, was publicly outed by the police as a suspect of child-porn possession as part of "Operation Snowball" that purports to "name and shame" suspected Pedophiles.

Although after a 5-month investigation the charges against were completely withdrawn, LeCraw was never cleared from the stigma of being associated with such a horrific crime and on on July 19th this year he killed himself.

Given the implications of the case, I find it strange that the only other reference I could find on the internet is a report by CBC Radio reporter Kellie Hudson (scroll down to The Current: Part 3).

Are we going to experience a wave of McCarthyism in Canada?

CBC News has an article on the Criminal Property Forfeiture Act, introduced by the government of Manitoba (currently run by the New Democratic Party).

The legislation would let police seize the homes, cars, cash and other property of any person, as long as police could persuade a judge that the individual is a member of a criminal organization.
The onus would then be on the suspected gang member to prove the assets were earned through legitimate income and not the proceeds of crime.

The Manitoba bill is civil in nature and requires a judge to rule based on a balance of probabilities - a lesser burden of proof.

Supposedly, New York's Nassau County, New Jersey and Ireland have already implemented similar laws.

From 22 to 30 November 2003, the world's best chess software will be put to the test in a multimedia environment in the Dom im Berg. The world champion will be determined according to ICGA (International Computer Games Association) statutes in an eleven-round computer chess tournament in Graz. Clear favourite is a chip called "Brutus", programmed by Chrilly Donninger from Austria.

Under the title "Chess003" Graz will see the world's best chess programmes playing against each other according to the ICGA rules in the Dom im Berg. This World Computer Chess Championship will feature new media, video walls, broadcasting of all games in the Internet and presentation on site.

Further Events will be held in Graz: 1st European Youth Chess Championship, Styrian Open, Austrian Team Chess Championship, Advances in Computer Games Conference (ICGA), Computer Olympiad (ICGA).

More information is available on the ICGA at Graz 2003 and the 8th Computer Olympiad sites.

Interestingly, the list of participants is missing some of the highest ranking programs such as Fritz, Hieracs, The King and Chess Tiger.

CDRInfo has a piece about Plextor's new dual format DVD recorder.

The PX-708A (ATAPI) and PX-708UF (USB2 and FireWire) write and rewrite at a speed 8x and 4x with DVD plus, and 4x and 2x with DVD minus respectively. The recorders read DVD-ROMs at 12x, read and write CDs at 40x and rewrie them at 24x.

This story is also posted to cdfreaks.

8x DVD+R means that you will be able to burn 4.7GB of data in less than 10 minutes! I guess that the "plus" format scores another one...