Comment Re:That's it, I'm moving to ... (Score 1) 195
A Canadian must have moded your pos
Submission + - Anyone minding the store at the Federal Reserve? (silverbearcafe.com)
thtrgremlin writes: "Rep. Alan Grayson asks the Federal Reserve Inspector General about the trillions of dollars lent or spent by the Federal Reserve and where it went, and the trillions of off balance sheet obligations. Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman responds that the IG does not know and is not tracking where this money is."
Submission + - Zero-day Exploit Leads to Apparent Suicide (avertlabs.com)
methamorph writes: According to the McAfee Avert Labs blog, the creator of HyperVM apparently commited a suicide after someone erased more than 100,000 websites using a 0-day exploit in HyperVM.
A few hours later, K. T. Ligesh, the 32-year-old Bangalore-based developer was found dead on Monday, leaving behind him plenty of worried customers who were left with their VPS installations unpatched.
Comment Re:Wow, that's pretty impressive! (Score 2, Funny) 154
Next they'll wanna vote
Submission + - E3 2009 Unawards (crispygamer.com)
Ssquared22 writes: As the gaming community reflects back on E3 2009, and since the hangovers have faded, sites are starting to roll out their inevitable "Best of E3" lists and awards. While E3 is the time-to-shine for most video game companies, E3 2009 was full of moments that were deserving of their own type of accolades. Check out E3's unrecognized, unconventional, undesirable and unexpected moments in Crispy Gamer's Unawards.
Submission + - RoboGames Land at San Francisco This Weekend (singularityhub.com)
Singularity Hub writes: "The RoboGames are coming to San Francisco this weekend. Voted top ten geek-fest in the nation by Wired Magazine, Robogames promises 70 different events and endless hours of weekend entertainment. With so many events taking place in one weekend, there really is a big draw for almost any type of robot enthusiast. For the humanoid robot lovers, there are the autonomous humanoid robot challenges, including basketball, weight lifting, a soccer tournament and a marathon. Other categories include Sumo, where two opponents try and knock each other out of a ring, self-navigating robots, art-bots and a junior league for the wee ones."
Comment Wii Aqua (Score 2, Funny) 582
In other news, Wii has now announced the release of 'Wii Aqua' in order to help its MANY over weight users make the most of their useless WiiFits (most likely being used as a foot rest) and drowned themselves to insure the ultimate 'Watered-Down' gaming experience
Submission + - Review of sci-fi novel, Don't Mess With Earth 1
Cliff Ball writes: "My first review for Don't Mess With Earth, done by Feathered Quill Book Reviews
http://www.featheredquill.com/
Don't Mess With Earth By: Cliff Ball Publisher: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing Publication Date: March 2009 ISBN: 978-1602643413 Reviewed by: Will Gabbett Review Date: June 10, 2009
In the new book, Don't Mess With Earth, intellectually and scientifically advanced humans, as well as aliens from a distant world, have descended on Earth. They have been experimenting and meddling in the affairs of humans for the advancement of their own species for centuries. But wait! Earthlings have caught on to the devious ploys and are fighting back.
Don't Mess With Earth begins with the President of the United States getting ready to hold a press conference to explain how Earth has been manipulated. "...it all started a few thousand years ago..." The story then jumps back to a time when Earth was populated by primitive people with the exception of the Terrans, a race of technologically advanced humans. The Terrans worked constantly to advance their society while those around them fought and scrounged for food. Eventually, the Terrans were able to build a space ship and leave Earth, and all its problems, behind.
With the help of another alien race, the Terrans exponentially advanced their technology and soon were in conflict with the Ragnor, another advanced race. While these two enemies battled each other, they both descended on Earth — the Terrans to meddle and the Ragnor to experiment.
Once the author presents the history of the Terrans and Ragnors, he then brings us back to Earth and the reader is taken on a history trip where we meet Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Michelangelo, Galileo, and King Arthur along with many other historical figures. In the U.S., we meet Amelia Earhart and Chuck Yeager. The reader sees how some famous characters from the past were actually Terrans, and how these advanced people affected history.
The story chronicles various historical events around the world, including the well-known alien spaceship crash in New Mexico in the late 40s. In Don't Mess With Earth, the crash is real. When a Ragnor space vessel crashes on Earth, one alien is captured alive and taken to a secret research area known only as 'Area 51.' By using the Ragnor captive's knowledge and studying the spaceship, humans, particularly the U.S. military, advance their own knowledge. Soon, they are able to launch an attack of their own.
Don't Mess With Earth has a great premise and the way the author weaves historical fact with creative alien mischief is clever and intriguing. There are a bit too many background chapters that present historical figures which, although fun to read, eventually drag the story to a halt. They are really mini vignettes that prevent the plot from getting into the meat of the story until about halfway through the book when the Ragnor ship crashes and 'Area 51' is established.
The writing in Don't Mess With Earth is a bit strained in places as is the dialog. For example, when Amelia Earhart is having problems, we read, "She was beginning to suspect that her radio was being jammed by the Terrans, so she waited for whatever that was about to happen, go ahead and happen." There are also several holes in the plot, such as how the Terrans became so much more sophisticated than their primitive neighbors. When the military captures a Ragnor, they force him to cooperate. How could one Ragnor's reluctant assistance, the technology his ship offers, along with human ingenuity be enough to launch a strike against a much more advanced civilization? This idea may strain believability and evoke questions from the reader. Still, the unexpected twist at the end of the story, plus the creative storyline, will keep many readers hooked.
Quill says: A good attempt at showing what might happen when aliens think they know more than their human subjects."
Don't Mess With Earth By: Cliff Ball Publisher: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing Publication Date: March 2009 ISBN: 978-1602643413 Reviewed by: Will Gabbett Review Date: June 10, 2009
In the new book, Don't Mess With Earth, intellectually and scientifically advanced humans, as well as aliens from a distant world, have descended on Earth. They have been experimenting and meddling in the affairs of humans for the advancement of their own species for centuries. But wait! Earthlings have caught on to the devious ploys and are fighting back.
Don't Mess With Earth begins with the President of the United States getting ready to hold a press conference to explain how Earth has been manipulated. "...it all started a few thousand years ago..." The story then jumps back to a time when Earth was populated by primitive people with the exception of the Terrans, a race of technologically advanced humans. The Terrans worked constantly to advance their society while those around them fought and scrounged for food. Eventually, the Terrans were able to build a space ship and leave Earth, and all its problems, behind.
With the help of another alien race, the Terrans exponentially advanced their technology and soon were in conflict with the Ragnor, another advanced race. While these two enemies battled each other, they both descended on Earth — the Terrans to meddle and the Ragnor to experiment.
Once the author presents the history of the Terrans and Ragnors, he then brings us back to Earth and the reader is taken on a history trip where we meet Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Michelangelo, Galileo, and King Arthur along with many other historical figures. In the U.S., we meet Amelia Earhart and Chuck Yeager. The reader sees how some famous characters from the past were actually Terrans, and how these advanced people affected history.
The story chronicles various historical events around the world, including the well-known alien spaceship crash in New Mexico in the late 40s. In Don't Mess With Earth, the crash is real. When a Ragnor space vessel crashes on Earth, one alien is captured alive and taken to a secret research area known only as 'Area 51.' By using the Ragnor captive's knowledge and studying the spaceship, humans, particularly the U.S. military, advance their own knowledge. Soon, they are able to launch an attack of their own.
Don't Mess With Earth has a great premise and the way the author weaves historical fact with creative alien mischief is clever and intriguing. There are a bit too many background chapters that present historical figures which, although fun to read, eventually drag the story to a halt. They are really mini vignettes that prevent the plot from getting into the meat of the story until about halfway through the book when the Ragnor ship crashes and 'Area 51' is established.
The writing in Don't Mess With Earth is a bit strained in places as is the dialog. For example, when Amelia Earhart is having problems, we read, "She was beginning to suspect that her radio was being jammed by the Terrans, so she waited for whatever that was about to happen, go ahead and happen." There are also several holes in the plot, such as how the Terrans became so much more sophisticated than their primitive neighbors. When the military captures a Ragnor, they force him to cooperate. How could one Ragnor's reluctant assistance, the technology his ship offers, along with human ingenuity be enough to launch a strike against a much more advanced civilization? This idea may strain believability and evoke questions from the reader. Still, the unexpected twist at the end of the story, plus the creative storyline, will keep many readers hooked.
Quill says: A good attempt at showing what might happen when aliens think they know more than their human subjects."
Comment Re:We do the same thing with athletics here that t (Score 1) 316
Is this World Cup half full or half empty? And why does it say made in China on the bottom?
Comment Re:Hey! Look! (Score 1) 86
I think there's an emperor penguin colony in my underpants!
Bow before the emperors in my pants!!!!!
Comment Magnetic Tunnel Effect (Score -1, Offtopic) 105
I thought the magnetic tunnel effect was achieved with a slutty girl with a new tongue ring
Submission + - Rob Malda on CNN
NickyGotz22 writes: Good news everyone! The folks over at CNN have their fingers on the pulse of society again, they just let me know its probably okay and maybe even "cool" to be a geek and apparently its "chic". Slashdot creator-director Rob Malda weights in on this gripping tale of the struggle for equality that is faced daily by my fellow geeks, nerds, dorks, and maybe even a few of you dweebs.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/05/06/geeks.pop.culture/index.html
Comment Copyright issue is a scam (Score 5, Informative) 292
Finally an article on Slashdot where a librarian can weigh in with professional knowledge. I don't think enough people realize the mini-war going on in the publishing industry and how those vulture are trying to bleed everyone dry. I am a college librarian at a major university in Manhattan. Today I had to attend a meeting about copyright compliance. It seems that publishers are no longer satisfied with overcharging for every textbook and then overcharging again when a "new" edition (almost identical version except for a new graph or intro) comes out the very next year. Now they would like us to purchase a new copyright compliance software that will allow them to monitor (through the middlemen in the software company) how many times we upload any part of any published material and how many times the students access each pdf or document, and then charge us for every use even thought we have already purchased the book and been using that same material for years. Its nuts. Fair use and common long standing practices by many academic libraries used to mean to us that we could put up 10% of any published document and not have to worry. And i know the diligent followers of Slashdot are not surprised but this type of thuggish shake down. But its almost criminal the nerve these jackals have to try to penny pinch and financially gouge the very universities that are their life blood in this struggling market. Very rarely does a librarian threaten to burn books, but it would be a better use of em that paying those publishing bastards another cent.
Comment All this work??? (Score 0) 83
All that effort and those damn kids still wont like their veggies. Next year i wanna see an xbox360 made of Funions and then maybe we'll get a response.
Comment Re:Dwight Schrute (Score 0) 81
"Beats. Bears. Battlestar Galactica"
Its how I live.
