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Submission + - Slashdot Alum Samzenpus's Fractured Veil Hits Kickstarter

Submitted by CmdrTaco
CmdrTaco writes: Long time Slashdot readers remember Samzenpus,who posted over 17,000 stories here, sadly crushing my record in the process! What you might NOT know is that he was frequently the Dungeon Master for D&D campaigns played by the original Slashdot crew, and for the last few years he has been applying these skills with fellow Slashdot editorial alum Chris DiBona to a Survival game called Fractured Veil. It's set in a post apocalyptic Hawaii with a huge world based on real map data to explore, as well as careful balance between PVP & PVE. I figured a lot of our old friends would love to help them meet their kickstarter goal and then help us build bases and murder monsters! The game is turning into something pretty great and I'm excited to see it in the wild!

Comment Re:SIKHS ARE NOT MUSLIMS (Score 1) 954

I know this, and you know this, and it seems that many a Slashdot reader knows this. Regrettably, this is Texas - where many think that anybody who looks like they are from another country that is not Mexico is automatically a terrorist.

Beyond this, there's a saying about idiots. You can tell an idiot, but you can't tell them much.

Still, this is not to tell you to stop. Keep going. Just remember that you're not going to get through somebody whose brain pain is so devoid of matter that it's a vacuum. And in that regard, you have my sympathy.

Comment Resources for learning (Score 1) 193

by dacarr (#50756161) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Good Subscription-Based Solution For PC Tech Support?
...no really. Teach a man to fish and all that. Some of the best resources can be found at the local library for learning this stuff, as well as community colleges. On one hand, it helps that they are willing to learn this stuff - but on the other hand, it helps that they understand that you're not necessarily going to be available 24/7 for their needs.

Comment Onions have layers...shells have layers? (Score 1) 176

by dacarr (#47337941) Attached to: Meet Carla Shroder's New Favorite GUI-Textmode Hybrid Shell, Xiki

So, lemme see if I have this right.

This is a new take on a shell.

...which is run from within my editor of choice, emacs.

...which I run in a shell.

...which I run from an xterm, which I spawn in the gui.

Or, maybe, I run it in a browser.

...which I spawn from an icon in Gnome.

I'm not seeing how this is a Good Thing.

Comment Calling a spade a.... (Score 1) 1198

by dacarr (#47115029) Attached to: Misogyny, Entitlement, and Nerds

Look, this is not a nerd problem. This is not a subset-of-men problem. The problem is simplified as "misogyny" and that's it.

Yes, there are misogynist nerds. But to be frank, let's call 'em what they are - misogynist. Because there are misogynist Christians, there are misogynist atheists, there are misogynist railfans, there are misogynist bus drivers, there are misogynist flautists. it does not matter what group they are part of, a misogynist is a misogynist.

I'd say "fuck them", but that would be a lowering of standards. I suggest not fucking them.

Submission + - Monty Python to bid farewell in a simulcast show

Submitted by dacarr
dacarr writes: The five remaining members of Monty Python will be performing in the O2 Arena, and their last show as a comedy troupe will be simulcast across hundreds of theaters in the UK, and roughly 1500 more across the world, according to the Guardian. According to Michael Palin, this really is going to be the last time before the Pythons cease to be. Well, at least, before Monty Python, as a comedy troupe, runs down the curtain and joins the bleedin' choir invisible.
Networking

Intentional Backdoor In Consumer Routers Found 236

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the insecurity-through-idiocy dept.
New submitter janoc (699997) writes about a backdoor that was fixed (only not). "Eloi Vanderbeken from Synacktiv has identified an intentional backdoor in a module by Sercomm used by major router manufacturers (Cisco, Linksys, Netgear, etc.). The backdoor was ostensibly fixed — by obfuscating it and making it harder to access. The original report (PDF). And yeah, there is an exploit available ..." Rather than actually closing the backdoor, they just altered it so that the service was not enabled until you knocked the portal with a specially crafted Ethernet packet. Quoting Ars Technica: "The nature of the change, which leverages the same code as was used in the old firmware to provide administrative access over the concealed port, suggests that the backdoor is an intentional feature of the firmware ... Because of the format of the packets—raw Ethernet packets, not Internet Protocol packets—they would need to be sent from within the local wireless LAN, or from the Internet service provider’s equipment. But they could be sent out from an ISP as a broadcast, essentially re-opening the backdoor on any customer’s router that had been patched."

Submission + - Experts Say Hitching a Ride in an Airliner's Wheel Well Is Not a Good Idea 2

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Hasani Gittens reports that as miraculous as it was that a 16-year-old California boy was able to hitch a ride from San Jose to Hawaii and survive, it isn't the first time a wheel-well stowaway has lived to tell about it. The FAA says that since 1947 there have been 105 people who have tried to surreptitiously travel in plane landing gear world-wide on 94 flights — with a survival rate of about 25 percent. But agency adds that the actual numbers are probably higher, as some survivors may have escaped unnoticed, and bodies could fall into the ocean undetected. Except for the occasional happy ending, hiding in the landing gear of a aircraft as it soars miles above the Earth is generally a losing proposition. According to an FAA/Wright State University study titled “Survival at High Altitudes: Wheel-Well Passengers,” at 20,000 feet the temperature experienced by a stowaway would be -13 F, at 30,000 it would be -45 in the wheel well — and at 40,000 feet, the mercury plunges to a deadly -85 F (PDF). "You’re dealing with an incredibly harsh environment,” says aviation and security expert Anthony Roman. “Temperatures can reach -50 F, and oxygen levels there are barely sustainable for life.” Even if a strong-bodied individual is lucky enough to stand the cold and the lack of oxygen, there’s still the issue of falling out of the plane. “It’s almost impossible not to get thrown out when the gear opens,” says Roman.

So how do the lucky one-in-four survive? The answer, surprisingly, is that a few factors of human physiology are at play: As the aircraft climbs, the body enters a state of hypoxia—that is, it lacks oxygen—and the person passes out. At the same time, the frigid temperatures cause a state of hypothermia, which preserves the nervous system. “It’s similar to a young kid who falls to the bottom of an icy lake,” says Roman. "and two hours later he survives, because he was so cold."

Submission + - Risk and the Android Heartbleed vulnerability (networkworld.com)

Submitted by Steve Patterson
Steve Patterson writes: Less than 10% of Android devices were affected by the Heartbleed vulnerability.

I haven’t written about the Heartbleed vulnerability. Anything I had to say would have just added to the atmosphere of fear, uncertainty, and doubt, or might have caused a 15-year-old who has been coding since he was five to track me down through stackoverflow to reprimand me for some inexcusable oversight. Don’t laugh, it happens. But now that the dust has settled, here are a few thoughts about the OpenSSL vulnerability, aka Heartbleed, in Android 4.1.1

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It seems that more and more mathematicians are using a new, high level language named "research student".

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