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Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons dies at 61 (slashdot.org)

Submitted by BeanBagKing
BeanBagKing writes: From Amy Forliti of the Associated Press:
Dave Arneson, one of the co-creators of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy game and a pioneer of role-playing entertainment, died after a two-year battle with cancer, his family said Thursday. He was 61.

Arneson and Gary Gygax developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys.

The full article can be found here

Comment Re:other potential things (Score 1) 433

by Snowgen (#27489341) Attached to: Nine Words From Science Which Originated In Science Fiction

"Warp speed" though, I'm not sure on. I'm pretty sure it predates Roddenberry though... Any takers?

"Warp", as a nautical term, is a method of moving a ship by pulling on a rope. C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower frequently does this in the novels (often having the crew in a rowboat carry the anchor some distance then drop it, then the shipboard crew pulls the line to drag the ship to the new location where the process is repeated). Seeing that Roddenberry frequently described Trek as "Horatio Hornblower in space" I would say that Roddenberry borrowed the nautical term to have a new meaning.

Comment Wrong question (Score 3, Insightful) 207

by Snowgen (#25232575) Attached to: Cheaper Car Insurance For Gamers

The question is, does gaming improve mental agility and make you a safer driver.

That's the wrong question. A more correct question would be "Is there a correlation between gaming and driving ability?"

It could very well be the there is no causal relationship between the two, but rather they share a common cause. Perhaps those without sufficient mental acuity/coordination to drive also lack the "mad skillz" needed for gaming, and thus they don't find games to be enjoyable and therefore don't play.
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Steve Jobs's Obituary Mistakenly Published (telegraph.co.uk) 1

Submitted by nevergleam
nevergleam writes: Bloomberg.com mistakenly published the obituary of Apple founder Steve Jobs late Wednesday afternoon. The obit was only up momentarily before it was removed. Jobs, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, is still very much alive. According to the Telegraph article reporting the mistake, Bloomberg News stated, "An incomplete story referencing Apple Inc. was inadvertently published by Bloomberg News at 4:27 p.m.New York time today." That incomplete story asserts that Jobs "helped make personal computers as easy to use as telephones, changed the way animated films are made, persuaded consumers to tune into digital music and refashioned the mobile phone." Of possible interest is getting this small glimpse of how mainstream media plans to remember Jobs. It was of interest to me because I was not cognizant of the fact that obituaries of notable people are prepared well before they leave us.
Security

Submission + - Apple overtakes Microsoft in vulnerabilities count

Submitted by peekay4
peekay4 writes: Apple has the highest number of disclosed security vulnerabilities, according to the IBM X-Force Mid-Year Security Report.

Apple has also moved into the #3 spot of vendors affected by the highest number of public exploits, behind Microsoft and HP. The report notes that exploits which until recently only affected Windows-based systems, such as Trojan.Win32.DNSChanger, now have MacOS variants active in the wild.

According to the report, attackers are exploiting vulnerabilities within days of public disclosure. For example, the first public exploit of the QuickTime RTSP URL vulnerability was seen only two days after its public disclosure. 94% of all browser exploits occur within 24-hours of disclosure.

More on the report's conclusions from Infoworld
The Almighty Buck

Journal Journal: I miss teh OMG PONIES!!! 19

Journal by Shadow Wrought
*sigh*

Part of why I like the dot is April the First. In jokes, dupes, ponies, and nonsense. It was a familiar reminder in this corporatized world that some people were still capable of not taking themselves too serious. Alas, not anymore.

Maybe the next slashdot poll should be, "Which editor do you blame for killing T3h P0n13s?"
Security

Submission + - Apple lags MS in security response (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by Computershack
Computershack writes: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/31/apple_security_response_pants/
Apple is trailing way behind Microsoft in security patch responsiveness, according to a study by security researchers from IBM.
Stefan Frei and Bernard Tellenback of IBM's X-Force security division analysed several years of vulnerability disclosures and patching processes from various vendors.
They found that Apple is getting worse at dealing with security problems while Microsoft is improving. Apple is experiencing more vulnerabilities, longer patching times, and more attacks on unpatched vulnerabilities, according to the duo.
Frei and Tellenback presented their findings at a presentation entitled 0-day Patch — Exposing Vendors (In)Security Performance at last week's Black Hat conference in Amsterdam.
Colleagues of the duo reckon Apple's antagonistic attitude with security researchers is one of the reasons for its poor response.
"While I think that there are quite a few reasons why this is probably so, I'd be inclined to say that Apple's biggest problem appears to be that they treat every new vulnerability as a potential PR disaster rather than an opportunity to visibly reinforce their work in securing their customers," writes Gunter Ollman of IBM's X-Force.
"In recent times this has most critically been reflected in the way Apple works with security researchers."
Space

Submission + - The 42-light-year Doritos commercial

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: People in the UK have an opportunity to get their Doritos-sponsored message sent to 47 Ursae Majoris, which is believed to be supporting living organisms — 42 light years away from Earth. The will be using a 2000 million watts strong signal to get the commercial into space, enough to tell living organisms hundreds of light years away that there is a snack called Doritos somewhere in the universe. Well, besides the fact that this ad will also have some user-created content about life on earth, thankfully.
Medicine

Submission + - SPAM: A new strategy to fight HIV and AIDS

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "An international team of researchers has developed a novel strategy against HIV. They added two genes to immune cells which 'transformed them into potent weapons that destroy cells infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.' This idea of 'genetically engineering immune cells to redirect their infection-fighting ability toward killing HIV-infected cells could lead to an entirely new approach for combating AIDS.' This research looks promising, but it's only working in labs right now. But read more and please note that this is a very different story from the one you mentioned on March 1, Researchers Discover Gene That Blocks HIV."
Novell

Submission + - Microsoft indemnifies Novell Moonlight users (regdeveloper.co.uk)

Submitted by comm2k
comm2k writes:
Microsoft will provide codecs worth $1m to every user downloading Moonlight from Novell under a special patent covenant, separate to the companies' broader — and controversial — patent protection and interoperability deal of November 2005.
The Internet

Submission + - AT&T Throttling the internet? 1

Submitted by
DarkkOne
DarkkOne writes: "One week ago, I purchased a new 6 megabit DSL connection, after having moved. Once it was working, I immediately performed a test to see how much bandwidth I really seemed to be getting, expecting something in the 4.5-5.5 range. Much to my dismay, I discovered I was getting the appropriate upload, but a mere 1.5 down. I called AT&T, my provider, and was given the runaround about their servers needing to communicate with my modem, and requiring a week or so for things to show full speed. Being a kind hearted soul, I assumed they just didn't want to confuse my feeble mind with technical details like "we have to actually set up your account properly now that the modem's on" and that I would be getting full speed in the next day or two, as they assured me it usually didn't take the full week. Several days later, my speed still isn't full, and I talk with a friend who has AT&T DSL. They reveal they weren't getting their full 6 mbit connection until they called AT&T and complained, at which time their line was immediately enabled even thought they'd been paying for 6 mbit for some time. Being less of a power user, they hadn't noticed the problem as being significant until they finally got around to testing it. When I contacted AT&T again, I managed to get through to someone with a clue, who told me that yes, my line was set to 1.5, and after a mere few minutes on the phone, I was getting speeds above 5 mbit on every bandwidth test I felt like trying. He told me it's been a problem recently in Texas. So I'd like to know, any experiences like this outside Texas with AT&T/SBC/Yahoo? Further experiences in Texas? Lack of clue, or something sinister, or an ISP merely trying to keep from overusing their own bandwidth, and only giving you what you pay for when you ask?"

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