Comment Re:There's a precedent for this (Score 1) 139
Heh, I still prefer Andy Hamilton's reasoning on why Sergeant became so popular - if you could either vote for the best dancer or to irritate Arlene Phillips, who would you vote for?
Comment Re:VisiCalc binary is still available (Score 3, Interesting) 407
I'm with AC, why shouldn't you run it on your main computer? I don't have dosbox here, so I can't check
I remember reading somewhere that the Visicalc executable is used as part of Windows testing, to make sure that (really) old DOS programs still run without a problem. Can't find a citation for it at the moment, though.
Comment Re:doubtful transition (Score 1) 233
Good point, but this page on Solenodon paradoxus says it eats "various orthopteran insects (Gryllidae, Tettigoniidae, Blattidae)", and Blattidae are a family of roaches. They got that from fecal analysis.
Comment Re:Jobs leaving? (Score 1) 405
Ah, but you have to be interested in PC history to know who the third founder was.
Comment Re:Unit AI (Score 1) 79
I loved that game
Early Praise For Empire: Total War 79
CVG had a chance to preview Empire: Total War, the latest in Creative Assembly's popular strategy series. This installment focuses on a time period which includes the Industrial Revolution and the struggle for US independence. CVG praises the intuitive interface and the improved AI, as well as the level of detail shown in large-scale battles. Quoting:
"With a single mouse click I changed my troops' attack orders to melee and sent a sea of blue uniforms sweeping down the hill at the enemy. Zooming into the action revealed a previously unmatched level of battlefield realism and detail, with each motion captured soldier actively seeking out an opponent before engaging in a mortal shoving and stabbing match. Men toppled into the mud, squirming with terror before receiving a deft bayonet jab to the windpipe. After a titanic, 20-minute struggle the tide turned my way with the enemy hightailing it thanks in no small part to a bullet to the British general's head that broke his men's morale."
Submission + - SPAM: Can FBI geeks identify legal/illegal images? 2
destinyland writes: "The FBI's geeks admitted they were nervous over computer-generated images at a recent forensics conference. In court they're now arguing that a jury "can tell" if an image is real or computer-generated — which marks the current boundary between legal and illegal. But reporter Debbie Nathan argues that that distinction is getting fuzzy, and that geeks will inevitably make it obsolete."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Submission + - AVG Anti-Virus to Users: Pray for mercy, infidels! (grisoft.com) 1
Lincoln6Echo writes: I've been using and reselling AVG products for a few years now. Lately they appear to have begun a campaign to "be more corporate". I'd like to add my two cents towards their new corporate image and to user's impression of non-compromised AVG updates: remove the page that says "Pray for mercy, infidels!" from your SSL protected website. I found it when I made a mistake logging into the resellers console at https://biz.grisoft.cz/ (not https://biz.grisoft.com/) which is supposed to now redirect you to https://secure.grisoft.com.
Submission + - Terry Pratchett diagnosed with Alzheimer's
ElrondHubbard writes: Bad news for Discworld fans (and everyone else): Associated Press reports that Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld novels and others, has been diagnosed with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's disease. "I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but ... it seems to me unfair to withhold the news," according to an online post by Pratchett, but "Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet :o)".
Submission + - Terry Pratchett has Alzheimers (smh.com.au) 1
Hecatonchires writes: A blow to discworld fans everywhere. Terry Pratchett has announced he has a rare form of early onset alzheimers.
Submission + - Google Launches Highly Open Participation Contest
zakame writes: "Leslie Hawthorn of Google's Open Source Programs Office has just announced the launch of the Highly Open Participation Contest in her talk here at the Open Source Developers' Conference in Brisbane, Australia. This program is open for high school and pre-university students who are wanting to get into the Summer of Code but could not (either because its not summer, or they're not college students, or both,) and participating students can work in areas other than coding, like preparing training materials and documentation, or researching into user experiences. Participating mentor organizations include Apache, GNOME, and Drupal, among others."
Submission + - Linux Users Can't Sell On eBay (ubuntuforums.org) 2
bobintetley writes: Many Linux/Firefox users are reporting problems uploading images to eBay. Having tested this myself, it is indeed completely broken. Why eBay would break standard HTTP uploads by using IE specific javascript to "check the file exists" boggles the mind. This problem has been reported to eBay since late October, but so far with no resolution. eBay have since stated that only IE is supported. I guess when you have no real competition you can pull stunts like this.
Submission + - Obama to cut NASA budget for education
mknewman writes: MSN is reporting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's education policy is causing a stir ... but not all in a good way. Advocates for space exploration are noting with dismay that he'd take billions of dollars from NASA to pay for the educational programs he'd like to expand.
The shift from exploration to education came last week when Obama talked up his $18 billion education plan during a New Hampshire campaign swing. Actually, the reference to NASA comes at the end of a 15-page document laying out the details behind the plan (PDF file):
"The early education plan will be paid for by delaying the NASA Constellation Program for five years, using purchase cards and the negotiating power of the government to reduce costs of standardized procurement, auctioning surplus federal property, and reducing the erroneous payments identified by the Government Accountability Office, and closing the CEO pay deductibility loophole. ..."
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/26/481595.aspx
The shift from exploration to education came last week when Obama talked up his $18 billion education plan during a New Hampshire campaign swing. Actually, the reference to NASA comes at the end of a 15-page document laying out the details behind the plan (PDF file):
"The early education plan will be paid for by delaying the NASA Constellation Program for five years, using purchase cards and the negotiating power of the government to reduce costs of standardized procurement, auctioning surplus federal property, and reducing the erroneous payments identified by the Government Accountability Office, and closing the CEO pay deductibility loophole.
Submission + - What Geeky Things Must Be Done? 2
John writes: A few weeks ago, my friends were discussing "The Princess Bride", and most of the references went completely over my head — I've not seen it all the way through, nor read the book. Naturally, revealing this fact made these people look at me as if I'd just moved into town from under some rock. This led into a discussion of the things that most general geeks should be expected to know; for example, reciting the inscription on the One Ring, or (apparently) quoting "Princess Bride" on-demand. The suggestions we came up with ranged from personal things, like having one's movie/game library in an online database, to big, world-scoped things like contributing to an open-source project of your choosing. I'm curious to know what the general consensus is on the most obvious or biggest geek/nerd things that should be seen, done, or read/watched/heard.
Submission + - Water torture, is it torture or not torture?
An anonymous reader writes: Amnesty International has made a video of water torture. Recommended viewing for everyone.
