Not only did Larry Wall answer your questions, but he said they were excellent questions. You've got to love Larry Wall, not just because he's a nice guy and created Perl, but also because he is the first Slashdot interview guest ever to send his answers preformatted in squeaky-clean HTML. We appreciate this like you wouldn't believe. They're great answers, too -- straightforward, heartfelt, and entertaining. Enjoy!

Bobby writes "Two great pop culture tastes that taste great together -- the TV show Survivor and the computer game Sims. The premise: eight virtual people trapped in a virtual house with limited resources. Instead of winning contests and voting people off, the characters are subjected to the whims of the Sims game -- but you'll still find the requisite scheming and sexual intrigue. Things really heat up in episode four, a robbery spoils the group's fun in a subsequent chapter, and catfights often liven up the action. Who will be the ultimate Sims Survivor? (Quote From Yahoo!)"

Here are 10+ plus answers to Slashdot questions from motion picture digital effects expert Thad Beier. He chose the additional questions himself. (Yes, he's on Slashdot almost every day; we asked him to do the interview after reading many intelligent comments he's posted.) Anyway, there's some fine insight into the intersection of moviemaking, graphic arts, and computer science here, brought to you by an award-winning member of the film industry who just happens to be a fellow Slashdot reader.

This is part 3 of the interview with Dr. Richard Wallace. You might want to start with part 1.

Okay, here are Alicebot inventor Dr. Richard Wallace's answers to your questions. You're about to enter a world that contains interesting thoughts on A.I., a bit of marijuana advocacy, a courtroom drama, tales of academic politics and infighting, personal ranting, discussion of the nature of mental illness, and comments about the state of American society and the world in general. Yes, all this in one interview so long and strong we had to break it up into three parts to make it fit on our pages. This is an amazing work, well worth reading all the way to the end.

Slashback with updates tonight on keystroke tracking (but not spying), OddTodd's interesting approach to unemployment, cold fusion, and an appeal from the Arch folks. Read on below for the details.

On June 20, we requested questions to submit to Google Director of Technology Craig Silverstein, and got a heck of a lot of them. Here are Craig's answers to the 10 we sent him, along with a "bonus" answer to an additional question he chose himself. (Yes, Craig reads Slashdot. His answers make that pretty obvious.)

Joe Griego of Bishop Union High School, CA asks: "I'm the Director of I.T. for a small school district, and we've implemented a 'Game Night' for our kids. We open the lab once or twice a month, and let the kids sign up for the lab computers (we have 34 of them), and play LAN games until the wee hours. It's a lot of fun for the kids, and I enjoy seeing them use the computers for recreation, as opposed to purely academic purposes. However, my question would be - do other high schools even do this?" Judging by the post-Columbine reactions from the government, parent's groups, school systems, and the media, if a school is doing this, it's probably on the QT. Personally, I think this is a great idea, it keeps kids off of the streets and their parents know where they are. What do you think?

This set of interview responses from Linux hacker Alan Cox is overtly political, in line with the questions we asked him on May 6th. Alan doesn't just talk about problems here but proposes sensible solutions for them. Very nice. Thanks, Alan.

I'm not much of a salesman, in comfort or skill, but I'm willing to hype my books, especially given the realities of 21st Century publishing, when you do it yourself or nobody does it. Some people think if you get a book published, you're a big deal and a rich one. If you're Grisham or King, that's true. The reality: Few books sell well, and even fewer (mine, for example) make money. Can content like books be successfully "open-marketed" on the Net? I say yes.

Peter Wayner writes: "A friend of mine who works as a public defender knows a thing or two about selling fear to the jury filled with doubts. Several months before December 31st, 1999, he asked me if we should be worried about the Y2K disasters. My answer was: The machines crash every day. Why should it matter if it happens on December 31st?" This time around though, the fears are of a different nature and scope: Peter reviews below Edward Yourdon's latest book Byte Wars, one aimed at everyone concerned about online terrorism in the post-9/11 climate.

blankmange writes "news.com reports: When games stop being fun; where the line between reality and fantasy blurs. Another story about games and the adults who can't stop playing them. It seems that we can't be held responsible for our actions -- it must be the 'heroinware' that game companies are producing...." Mmmm, Evercrack. T. pops in: Don't worry, games aren't addictive, but here's the announcement of a 24-hour gaming TV network for those unexplained late-night cravings. (Thanks to joestump98.)

Slashback items of note tonight: One more report (the last word?) on the demise of Loki, a good move on the Brilliant/KaZaA front, and a little 12-month oopsie on the release schedule for the newest from Stephenson.

I took some time to go and see the sequel to the 1998 film Blade and I thought I'd post a review about the movie and see what other slashdotters thought. In general it was like watching someone else play a really pretty beta quality video game. Read on if you'd like to know more. I don't spoil much of anything, I assure you.

Reader M. Grochmal writes with his brief review of Resident Evil, below. Yes, Resident Evil the game has been turned into Resident Evil, the movie. You have been warned.

John Q is contemporary Hollywood's idea of an issue movie: preachiness hiding behind a superstar. The good news is that a major film studio is taking up a complex issue like health care, one of the worst messes in American life. The bad news is that the movie is so hypocritical, heavy-handed and gummed up with silly, sentimental and cliche-stuffed sub-plots that it undermines its own good intentions. Fortunately for the studio, Denzel Washington and Robert Duvall are always worth seeing. Spoilage warning: plot is discussed, not ending. And your own reviews are as welcome as mine.

Figured I'd take a moment now that I've caught up on most of my post-LWCE email buildup to mention a few things that caught my eye at the Javitz Center this year. Hit the link below to get bits on PS/2 Linux, the Sharp Zaurus, and whatever else I remember before I click 'save.'

Alcachofo writes "Blizzard Entertainment has announced the long waited Beta Sign-Ups for their newest game: Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Individuals residing in the USA or Canada will be able to register for a chance to be one of the 5,000 players chosen. The beta signup is scheduled for a 24-hour period, beginning on January 7th at 11:00 p.m (GMT -8) and ending on January 8th at 11:00 p.m (GMT -8)." I couldn't even count the number of great hours of fun WC2 provided us back in the day. What an absolute classic. I wonder if WC3 will be reboot worthy.

Every Christmas season brings with it a storm of new game releases, just in time for the gift-buying frenzy. This year however, marks the release of SquareSoft's first Final Fantasy title for the PS2. I was lucky enough to snag a copy soon after release and spend some time with it. Read on for my first impressions.

jeffro writes "Dont know if this has been submitted yet, but the Independent news UK has a rather newbiesh article on the ups and down of Linux software as a free alternative to Windows. "Perhaps Linux shouldn't be regarded as an operating system at all, but more as a sophisticated multi-player game with a large number of enthusiastic players. You can lose yourself in Linux for hours, tweaking here, updating there. It's great fun if you like that sort of thing. But if you need to produce a document, spreadsheet or presentation, you're still likely to be able to do it faster and better by sticking with the Microsoft devil you know.""