rendler - Slashdot User

Not Your Daddy's IT Force Anymore 342

Posted by Hemos on Monday June 05, 2006 @09:14AM from the relearning-the-new-skills dept.

Quill345 writes "The days of high-paying technology-based jobs right out of highschool are over. As writers for ACM report, the skill-sets required for jobs have grown over time. Academia has responded to the evolution with novel programs recruiting women and integrating IT into MBA programs. And as technology finds its way into every aspect of business life, the NSF is creating a grant program to fund service science, a blend of IT into other industries. Researchers at City University of NY are working on an NSF-funded project to infuse technology into Liberal Arts courses taken by students who are in primary tech-producer or tech-consumer majors. What are these crucial modern skills? Knowledge of laws like the DMCA? Interpersonal and group work skills? Experience with different technology platforms? The ability to discriminate between useful and useless information sources?"

HowTo Build a Quality DDR Deck 96

Posted by Zonk on Monday June 05, 2006 @06:30AM from the dance-till-the-revolution-comes dept.

Compu486 writes "In an effort to show that quality dance gaming systems can be done affordably, Inventgeek.com has put together an article showing how to make DDR systems better than arcade quality for not a lot of cash. Using this type of system and the free stepmania, hopefully schools in West Virginia can save some scratch and buy some modern text books."

Another Robotic Vehicle to Help Soldiers 154

Posted by Zonk on Monday June 05, 2006 @12:29AM from the johnny-five-is-alive dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "There are many teams of U.S. scientists working on robots able to find improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq before they can kill American soldiers. Today, let's look at an effort going on at Florida State University (FSU) to build unmanned ground vehicles that could save soldiers' lives. The researchers are creating complex algorithms to control these robots who will have to integrate many different factors such as the type of ground surface or obstacles that might block the vehicle's path. Some of these robots, which also could be used for civilian missions, are currently being tested at FSU. Read more for additional references and pictures of these robots which will have to navigate among dense obstacles."

Journal Journal: [warning: adult content] an odd question about sex 12

Journal by heliocentric on Thursday May 18, 2006 @09:13PM

Okay, hopefully there's a sex-ed teacher out there, I have a bizarre sex question.

Hypothetically speaking you're a guy and you are naked and have an erection. You are with goatse-guy and he is "spread." You two play a game sort of like the classic Operation. You insert your device but do not touch the walls or the end. You remove your device.

Now, did you just have sex with goatse-guy?

Americans Not Bothered by NSA Spying 1322

Posted by Zonk on Friday May 12, 2006 @10:23AM from the getting-the-government-they-deserve dept.

Snap E Tom writes "According to a Washington Post poll, a majority (63%) of Americans 'said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism.' A slightly higher majority would not be bothered if the NSA collected personal calls that they made. Even though the program has received bi-partisan criticism from Congress, it appears that the public values security over privacy."

Cutting Off an Over-Demanding End-User? 466

Posted by Cliff on Monday May 08, 2006 @08:55PM from the gently-saying-"no" dept.

SpaceNeeded asks: "Numbers of you will probably recognize the start of the situation. Because I work with systems, I perform occasional builds. This occasionally crosses over to support (especially where it's my kit I'm asked to support). This isn't a problem, nor is it a problem when I get the occasional support query from someone I haven't supplied a system to, but who needs assistance. This is all well and good, but I've had pretty poor year personally. I've lost two relatives and a third is in a pretty bad way in hospital. An eleven year relationship ended a couple of months back, and I'm now having to perform _all_ the domestic tasks that used to be shared. Between these few things and my regular job I'm finding I have a whole lot less time to allow to support calls. What methods do you know of for gently cutting off someone, support-wise?"

Journal Journal: Why I lick people. 8

Journal by heliocentric on Friday May 05, 2006 @06:32PM

Some of you are familiar with all of the photos of me going around licking people. One was even famously in that fark photoshop contest.

Well, I think I've finally figured out why.

The voices in my head are dyslexic.

It has taken me some time to figure that out as they were so annoying with that stutter and the slight lisp, but I'm sure of it now.

Journal Journal: Bye: Joanna Gleason in DRS on Broadway 2

Journal by heliocentric on Sunday April 30, 2006 @04:02PM

Today is Joanna Gleason's last day in her currently Broadway hit Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

I know I haven't been pestering you guys much about her since I'm sure most of you don't have a clue about who she is, or care, but it's kind of big news today and I made (with the help of a good friend) a really neat photo collage to say, "Bye!"

Check it out: http://www.joannagleason.com/

Microsoft Releases Critical IE Patch 172

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday April 12, 2006 @11:38AM from the but-i-thought-all-patches-were-critical dept.

Laura Brown writes "Microsoft has released its security software patches for April. The most anticipated is the MS06-013 patch, which fixes several IE bugs, including the "create TextRange ()" vulnerability. Hackers had been exploiting this problem by installing unauthorized software on PCs. "

Patriot Act Game Pokes Fun at Government 350

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 20, 2006 @03:36PM from the can-i-play-as-the-government dept.

The Miami Herald is reporting that a new game based on Monopoly is taking a crack at Patriot Act and what creator Michael Kabbash describes as the curtailed freedom that has resulted. From the article: "The object of the game is not to amass the most money or real estate, but to be the last player to retain civil liberties. 'I've had people complain to me that when they play, nobody wins. They say "We're all in Guantanamo and nobody has any civil liberties left," he said. 'I'm like "Yeah, that's the point."'"

DoJ Following Porn Blocker Advances? 265

Posted by Zonk on Monday March 20, 2006 @07:27AM from the dirty-little-program dept.

GreedyCapitalist writes "A new filter called iShield is able to recognize porn images based on the content of the image (other filters look at URLs and text) and according to PC Magazine, it is very effective. The next generation will probably be even better -- which highlights the retarding effect regulation has on technological progress - if we relied solely on government to ban 'inappropriate' content from the web, we'd never know what solutions the market might come up with. Will the DOJ (which argues that porn filters don't work) take note of filtering innovation or continue its quest for censorship?"

Internet Explorer Not Dead Yet 498

Posted by Zonk on Friday March 17, 2006 @03:29PM from the doesn't-want-to-go-on-the-cart dept.

turnitover writes "The future's not all Firefox, Deer Park and Camino, insists Microsoft. At its Mix '06 conference in Las Vegas, reports Microsoft Watch, company execs insisted that there's a bright future for IE. They not only distributed a 'layout-complete' build of IE 7.0, but offered hints about what the new version of the browser geeks love to disdain (yes, it will include ActiveX) will include. Also shown: tools to test IE compatibility. But with what? Standards or IE 6?"

Hot Pepper Kills Prostate Cancer 401

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday March 16, 2006 @10:36PM from the cajun-health-food dept.

brian0918 writes "U.S. and Japanese researchers have announced results of a study showing that capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers hot, can cause prostate cancer cells to kill themselves. 'Capsaicin led 80 percent of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis, the researchers said.' This led to tumors one fifth the size of those in untreated mice."

The NVIDIA GeForce 7900 Series 217

Posted by Zonk on Thursday March 09, 2006 @12:09PM from the new-shinies-for-the-precious dept.

An anonymous reader writes "HardOCP has posted their evaluation of the new GeForce 7900 technology. They fully cover widescreen gaming this time around too. 'NVIDIA has worked hard to try and produce a more powerful, albeit power-efficient GPU in the 7900 GTX and GT, and they've succeeded. They run cooler; are smaller, have less transistors, and they don't make you stuff cotton in your ears. The 7900 GTX and GT are just more efficient while being lightning fast.'"

Cut Down In Their Prime 88

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday March 08, 2006 @02:32PM from the quite-a-sharp-blade dept.

Gamecloud has a piece looking at some worthy games that never made it to market for one reason or another. The one that hurts the most for me is Microsoft's canceled, but intriguing, Norse MMOG Mythica. From the article: "Date of Cancellation: February 2004. Microsoft Games Studios decided to get into the MMORG genre with this fantasy themed game that was announced with much fanfare in April 2003. This game, with a Norse mythology theme, was going to have more of a single player experience than most MMO games. However, less than a year later Microsoft decided to shut down development of Mythica with the team all laid off as well."

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