Comment Re:Venerable? (Score 1) 45
Fair enough. But if you cut the Bonding plant instead of digging it up, well, don't say I didn't warn you.
Comment Venerable? (Score 2, Insightful) 45
Return to Zork is hardly a venerable game. It was a rather poor adventure game for the era, with at least one extremely counter-intuitive puzzle, as well as a error you can make very early in the game that renders it unbeatable, and gives you no clue that you've made an error when you make the mistake.
Zork: Grand Inquisitor, the third of Activision's 90s Zork games, was the lone one of that set that can be fairly called Venerable.
Comment The highlight (Score 1) 616
The highlight of the article is really where he says that being difficult to program for just means that the system offers more opportunities.
I mean, if that was their goal, they should have required coding in INTERCAL.
Comment Huh (Score 1) 408
Maybe the helicopter he has isn't adequate after all.
Comment Re:Something is needed (Score 1) 205
Eh. I think that puts too high a bar. Generally speaking, if someone is slandering me, I'd rather just find a way to stop the slander than to have an obligation to seek damages. Which is, to my mind, the major advantage of something like the DMCA. Frankly, DMCA takedown notices are vastly superior to actually having lawsuits for damages at every single case of infringement. Now I'm all for reform and a system whereby spurious notices can be treated as the harassment they are. But on the other hand, a system in place that facilitates merely stopping the activity rather than seeking damages and punishment seems to me desirable.
Comment Something is needed (Score 1) 205
As it stands, Section 230 of the CDA offers a more or less complete safe harbor immunity to any "provider of an interactive service" for law-infringing content, with copyright currently being the only exception.
I could care less about making it easier to out anonymous commentators, and in fact oppose any effort to make that easier. But on the other hand, illegal content is illegal content, and once a provider is notified that they are hosting illegal content, I have no objection with a requirement to take it down or assume liability for it.
Submission + - Citizendium, the non-free encyclopedia (citizendium.org) 4
An anonymous reader writes: Citizendium, the erstwhile competitor to Wikipedia, is about to adopt a non-free license — a CC-NC license, with the Citizendium Foundation being able to sell the content commercially. Larry Sanger claims he hasn't decided, but the question, his arguments in favor and him comparing people who disagree to Hitler make it pretty clear. There is a Wikipedia blog post that says this means Citizendium is conceding the whole Third World to Wikipedia — and Wikipedia's already won the First World.
Submission + - RIAA hires DJ's, then sends in the SWAT team
cancan writes: "The NY times is carrying an article about how the RIAA is hiring hip hop artists to make mix tapes, and then
helping the police raid their studios. In the case of DJ Drama and DJ Don Cannon (myspace warning), they were raided by SWAT teams with their guns drawn. The local police chief said later that they were "prepared for the worst." Men in RIAA jackets helped cart away "evidence"."
Submission + - Are eInk displays the future?
An anonymous reader writes: This week a company called Polymer Vision, which used to be part of Philips, unveiled a fully functional and soon to be commercially available eInk display. What makes this display special, though, is its ability to be rolled up so that you can store it in a smaller package than current large screen handheld devices. The problem, however, with eInk displays is that they can only display greyscale at the moment and they don't support video either. This begs the question, will consumers be put off by non-colour screens that don't play video or will the extra battery life, small form factor and easy-to-read functionality prove too tempting an offer?
Submission + - How To Protect Your PC Data
An anonymous reader writes: Former network computing editor David Strom looks at How To Protect Your PC Data, discussing methods from physical security (lock up your damn laptop) to encryption. He also collects a list of low-cost tools, ranging from PCP Desktop and MyLaptopGPS, to ZTrace and CyberAngel Security. How do you protect your notebook (other than trying to remember not to leave it at Starbucks)?
Princeton ESP Lab to Close 363
Nico M writes " The New York Times reports on the imminent closure of one of the most controversial research units at an ivy league School. The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory is due to close, but not because of pressure from the outside. Lab founder Robert G. Jahn has declared, in the article, that they've essentially collected all the data they're going to. The laboratory has conducted studies on extrasensory perception and telekinesis from its cramped quarters in the basement of the university's engineering building since 1979. Its equipment is aging, its finances dwindling. Jahn points the finger at detractors as well: 'If people don't believe us after all the results we've produced, then they never will.'"
Submission + - YouTube bans video containing Qur'an quotes
skraps writes: "YouTube, in a move that has caused quite a reaction in the community, has censored popular atheist commentator NickGisburne.
Mr. Gisburne has built a large following on YouTube by making simple and accessible logical arguments against Christian beliefs, and had recently decided to change the focus of his videos to the Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam.
YouTube reacted by deleting his account, along with 60+ videos, after he posted a simple slide-show video with direct quotes from the English translation of the Qur'an, containing no commentary aside from the video's title "Islamic Teachings — Cruelty from the Qur'an".
YouTube's explanation was "After being flagged by members of the YouTube community, and reviewed by YouTube staff, the video below has been removed due to its inappropriate nature. Due to your repeated attempts to upload inappropriate videos, your account now been permanently disabled, and your videos have been taken down."
Do "Web 2.0" sites like YouTube fit the legal definition of a "public commons", and if so, what will it take for corporations like YouTube to start honoring constitutionally protected speech?"
Do "Web 2.0" sites like YouTube fit the legal definition of a "public commons", and if so, what will it take for corporations like YouTube to start honoring constitutionally protected speech?"
Submission + - China Creates Massive Online ID Database
schwaang writes: While the US continues to hash out concerns over the Real ID Act, which aims to create a national ID by standardizing state driver's licenses, China Digital Times points out a story from
Xinhua Daily News describing China's massive online ID database, which they sell will help prevent fraud.
From the article:
Anyone can now send a text message or visit the country's population information center's website, to check if the name and the ID number of a person's identity card match. If they do match the ID cardholder's picture also appears, said the Ministry, adding that no other information is available to ensure a citizen's privacy is protected.
Completed at the end of 2006, China's population information database, the world's largest, contains personal information on 1.3 billion citizens.
Giving public accessing to the database is also designed to correct mistakes if an individual discovers that their name, number and picture don't match.
Submission + - Big Bang Enigma Solved
newsblaze writes: "Astro-Cosmologist Jerome Drexler says the Big Bang may have satisfied the Second Law of Thermodynamics. In Big Bang Enigma May be Solved by Relativistic Dark Matter, Drexler, former NJIT Research Professor of physics, says the Big Bang was actually a Relativistic Big Bang. The temperature of a Relativistic Big Bang could be estimated by averaging the energies of the relativistic protons and helium nuclei. The estimated temperature would be extremely high and probably of the same order of magnitude as the temperature scientists estimate for the Big Bang. Nevertheless, the Relativistic Big Bang would have the very low entropy that the Second Law of Thermodynamics requires for the "beginning of time.""
Submission + - Barbara Boxer Wants Opinions on Global Warming
fistfullast33l writes: "Barbara Boxer(D-CA) wants to know how you would legislate environmental issues in the 110th Congress. She has posted a survey asking you to rank 9 items that Congress can do to limit the effects of Global Warming. The Congresswoman is currently Chair of Environment and Public Works Committee in the United States Senate and plans to put your input to good use."
