Comment I suppose they are married until... (Score 1) 142
I suppose they are married until blue screen of death do them part...
Comment Re:Floor plans... (Score 1) 502
Will Osama get a gun in this game or are they going for the more realistic shoot him in cold blood no pow operation.
And don't forget the (unarmed) injured wife and the (unarmed) 12 year old daughter. If you don't shoot him in front of them, it just ain't the American way...
Net Users In Belarus May Soon Have To Register 89
Cwix writes "A new law proposed in Belarus would require all net users and online publications to register with the state: 'Belarus' authoritarian leader is promising to toughen regulation of the Internet and its users in an apparent effort to exert control over the last fully free medium in the former Soviet state. He told journalists that a new Internet bill, proposed Tuesday, would require the registration and identification of all online publications and of each Web user, including visitors to Internet cafes. Web service providers would have to report this information to police, courts, and special services.'"
US Air Force Buying Another 2,200 PS3s 144
bleedingpegasus sends word that the US Air Force will be grabbing up 2,200 new PlayStation 3 consoles for research into supercomputing. They already have a cluster made from 336 of the old-style (non-Slim) consoles, which they've used for a variety of purposes, including "processing multiple radar images into higher resolution composite images (known as synthetic aperture radar image formation), high-def video processing, and 'neuromorphic computing.'" According to the Justification Review Document (DOC), "Once the hardware configuration is implemented, software code will be developed in-house for cluster implementation utilizing a Linux-based operating software."
Comment Re:Fucked? Hell no! Not yet at least... (Score 2, Funny) 383
... still - on the the bright side - at least we got fucked....
Comment Re:n/a (Score 3, Funny) 379
.. all the participants were rats.
Make what you will of how that applies to Americans...
(Although applying the results of animal studies to humans is always best done with caution.)
The Rocky Road To Wind Power 281
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times has an interesting story on the logistical problems involved in transporting disassembled towers that will reach more than 250 feet in height from ports or factories to the remote, windy destinations where the turbines are erected. In Idaho trucks laden with tall turbine parts have slammed into interstate overpasses requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs. In Texas the constant truck traffic is tearing up small roads in the western part of the state where the turbines are being rapidly erected. And in Maine a truck carrying a big piece of turbine got stuck for hours while trying to round a corner near Searsport."
SpinVox "Recognition" Is Often Expensive Human Transcription 226
An anonymous reader writes "SpinVox offers to convert voice messages to text using a system called D2 or 'the Brain.' According to BBC News, said 'Brain' is often of the old-fashioned kind: SpinVox is sending private voice messages to South Africa, the Philippines, and maybe Egypt to be typed by people in a call centre, despite being registered as keeping all private data inside Europe and claiming that the text is somehow anonymised. Insiders say they transcribed 'love messages, secret messages' and everything else from beginning to end, and the company is being bled dry by the cost: SpinVox has been locked out of one of their data centers over a payment dispute. SpinVox refuses to comment further on details — but according to their web page, they're 'enabling the Speech 3.0, Voice 3.0, and Business 3.0 markets,' whatever that means."
Comment Re:False right (Score 2, Interesting) 474
[repost - I forgot I wasn't logged in the first time....]
He isn't saying he has the RIGHT to get them illegally.
Just that he WILL get them illegally.
And for companies interested in doing business - "right" is not important - it is what your customers will tolerate, and pay for, that matters.
Remember, when you are talking about "rights" that copyright (and patent, trademark, etc...) is a right conferred because it is in the public good. It is a profoundly "conditional" right. And when that conferral ceases to be in the public good - as - arguably, it is has now - it should be withdrawn.
I am with him - I would cheerfully pay $40 - or more - for the convenience to just be able to download stuff I want to watch. A lot of the stuff I want to watch is old - and hence cheap. Like him, I don't have that much time to watch stuff.
So $40 to $50 'aint that unreasonable for what I would actually consume.
I DO want to pay - but for a decent service. But make no mistake, if it isn't provided, I will take what I want - with mild regret - but for free.
You know - someone should set up a charity. It would do decent things in Africa. (Or New Orleans. Whichever is the poorer.) People like me would pay $40/month to it - just to show that we are willing to PAY for what we bittorrent.
I reckon there are at least a couple of 1000 people like me - willing to make a point to the studios.
Now there isn't such a service. So let's cut it to $20
12 x 20 X 2000 is half a million dollars a year almost.
Is anyone up for this?
That could do some good somewhere.... And show the studios that there really IS a revenue stream.
Comment Re:oh for fuck's sake... (Score 0, Flamebait) 366
> we honor and express our joy for a beloved writer
What a pompous tosser you are! This isn't a funeral and he isn't dead.
As for stuffy - no - it is the absurd system of "honours" that is stuffy.
Comment Re:Try reading the books (Score 1) 366
Well yes, of course he is a Brit. As am I. My post does not suggest he is anything other.
As for "making his attitude clear about honours in his books" - that is simply absurd - his books are mostly fantasy and satire. You state that one should not read too much into them, and promptly do so... (What next - will you be solemnly announcing you have derived his attitude to penal policies, or to dragons?)
"Honours" of this kind are absurd - and it is sad that so many Americans are so deferential to people who have them.
Comment oh for fuck's sake... (Score 0, Troll) 366
I like Prachett.
His lute/loot joke (you know the one) has me giggling still.
Not because it is good - it is terrible - but because it makes a pearl from dross.
His alzheimers is the very bugger.
But as soon as he gets a "knighthood" from the old county, you are pawing and slathering over him like little children.
You are either egalitarian iconoclasts or you are not (and to his credit, I suspect Pratchett is. Which makes him one up on you.)
America - the idea of "America" - far more precious than the absurd Bush tainted thing you have become - ain't what it used to be.
You have no pride.
Comment If ever there were a place (Score 1) 511
...for a " via Natalie Portman" option, it's here.
1.4 Billion Pixel Camera To Watch For Asteroids 138
SpaceSlug writes "The world's largest digital camera is to be used to keep an eye out for asteroids heading towards Earth. The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) has been built by researchers at MIT's Lincoln Lab. At its heart is a 1.4 billion pixel (or 1400 megapixel) camera that will scan the night sky looking for rogue near-Earth objects from atop Mount Haleakala in Maui Island, Hawaii. The system uses something called an orthogonal transfer CCD to remove atmospheric blur from images."
MGM First To Post Full-Length Features To YouTube 116
Lithal13 writes to tell us that MGM studios will soon be the first major movie studio to post a complete feature-length film on YouTube. Some credit commercial video site Hulu.com for the mended relationship between YouTube parent Google and Hollywood. "YouTube has developed systems that help keep pirated clips off the site and is developing video players that present clearer images than the site's standard player. When it comes to financial terms, Google has proven much more flexible than in the past, according to three studio sources. [...] The only obstacles to Google and YouTube getting more studios to post full-length movies is Google's insistence on a particular ad format, say the sources. They declined to say which ad unit Google prefers. The other hurdle is that some studios are skeptical that users will accept all the ads that need to accompany a feature film in order to make it profitable."
