Comment Re:New Writers (Score 1) 218
Call me an old fogie..
I knew you were an old fogie as soon as you introduced Lensmen into your Drizzt/Legolas slashfic.
Comment Re:This seems abrupt (Score 1) 856
Corporations with very limited IT budgets are not going to move to Windows 7 any time soon.
They might.. but they'll be moving from XP or 2000, not Vista.
Comment Re:"and it will be rolled out free of charge. " (Score 1) 170
I haven't been paying attention for the last 14 months, but in the 3 years I played, the only and last one was Dire Maul.
If you're going to post such hilarious lies on a website as popular as Slashdot, at least do it as Anonymous Coward so people don't know who they're laughing at.
Patch 2.4 - Isle of Quel'Danas (new zone), Magisters Terrace (dungeon), Sunwell (raid)
Patch 2.3 - Zul'Aman (raid)
Patch 2.2 - Built-in voice chat
Patch 2.1 - Black Temple (raid), Mount Hyjal (raid), Skettis, Ogri'la and Netherwing Ledge (outdoor quest hubs)
Patch 1.12 - Cross-server battlegrounds
Patch 1.11 - Naxxramas (raid)
Patch 1.10 - "Dungeon 2" armor sets (massive quest chain)
Patch 1.9 - Ahn'Qiraj (world event and two raids)
Patch 1.8 - Green Dragons (outdoor raid bosses), Silithus rework (virtually a whole new zone)
Patch 1.7 - Zul'Gurub (raid), Arathi Basin (battleground)
Patch 1.6 - Blackwing Lair (raid)
Patch 1.5 - Warsong Gulch (battleground), Alterac Valley (battleground)
Patch 1.4 - PvP honor system and rewards
Patch 1.3 - Dire Maul (dungeon), Azuregos and Kazzak (outdoor raid bosses)
Patch 1.2 - Maraudon (dungeon)
Comment Re:If this is true... (Score 1) 328
This is the first time I've seen anyone other than me reference this excellent man and the wisdom he is willing to share.
Are you serious? I don't think I've ever seen a story about education on Slashdot which didn't feature some disciple linking to his book.
Comment Can't have your cake and eat it Mr. Wolfe (Score 2, Insightful) 726
I love the way Alex Wolfe blames shoddy programming on the PC industry, which apparently replaced the waterfall development model with "cramming in as many features as possible before the shipping cut-off date, and then fixing the problems in beta". He then goes on to reference two books, from 1971 and 1975 respectively, which provide wisdom regarding this problem.
They're excellent books - but I wasn't aware that the PC industry was around in 1971. Could it be.. that bad programming practices have always been with us? That the PC isn't to blame?
Comment Re:Matt Smith (Score 1) 330
But at least all the info on imdb is verified
You might like to try creating a fraudulent IMDb profile sometime, I think you'd find the experience educational.
Here's an example: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1885979/
Comment Re:Think outside the box. (Score 1) 442
Hang out with somebody who does Feng Shui for a living--it really is just a different language for expressing good design and architecture.
No it isn't, it's a line of bullshit used for liberating the contents of gullible peoples' wallets.
Submission + - Creative Labs' Vista driver team feeling stressed? (creativelabs.com) 2
regular_gonzalez writes: "While the X-Fi's issues under Vista have been widely reported, that doesn't prevent a flood of complaints pouring into the Creative Labs website, posted for all to see. What is more surprising is the employees' responses. A sampling:
Is Creative Labs obliged to treat even the most obnoxious of whiners with a certain level of respect, or is it refreshing to have a company actually state opinions that normally would be kept to themselves?"# The drivers will be released when we are good and ready and happy with them
# Bitching like a 5 year old won't magically solve all our problems on the drivers.
# Call us hopeless and whatever else all you like, noone else is going to fix these drivers but us, demoralizing us won't bring it faster
# There are already reasonably working drivers supplied with the card, legally our responsibility stops there, think yourselves lucky we even bother updating the drivers at all.
# Anymore of these derogatory posts and we might well just flush the whole XFi/Vista64 saga to the toilet and move on.
Submission + - Oddsmakers Handicap Next iPod Features
An anonymous reader writes: I guess you can bet on anything these days so why not put two dollars down on the new Bluetooth 2.1 standard being in the next gen iPod over Bluetooth 2.0. The odds are only 30:1. Or if you're more conservative an iPod with OS X is just a 2:1 shot. Meanwhile, replaceable batteries jumped up from 18:1 to 40:1, suggesting designed obsolescence has been too good a strategy for Apple. Anyone making book on this?
Submission + - 1984 Down Under (theobstructionist.com)
theoeag writes: "As our Aussie friends are also having a fun little election, it's good to know we're not alone in being ridden with Authoricrats. Australian Prime Minister John Howard has, like our own Mitt Romney, taken it upon himself to clean the "waters" for us. Gee!
According to The Australian, if Mr.Howard wins re-election, he's promised:
Even more interestingly:Every Australian family will be provided with a free Internet filter and the federal Government will enter an unprecedented partnership with service providers to filter pornography at the source...
And for good measure:...The Prime Minister unveiled his new net commandments last night on a webcast to more than 700 churches and thousands of churchgoers around the country.
I'm only guessing here, but I suspect this list's prejudices will closely resemble Mr.Howard's own(or whatever they are this week). That may sound a little paranoid, but historically what's dirty in the water largely relies on the opinions of it's cleansers. I don't really have much more to say on the subject of Internet censorship, at-least not right now, as I'd always assumed we'd long ago — a couple centuries actually — decided Freedom of Speech was the better position and had closed the "issue". Guess not. But, two questions:A "black list" of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which covers Australian-based pornographic and terror sites, will be expanded internationally after consultation with the Attorney-General.
- When did it become a populist position to oppose openness?
- Do we really need to start asking our politicians their feelings on Freedom of speech?
Submission + - Getting out while the Gettin's good? 1
An anonymous reader writes: OK, so I live in the Bay Area, and have for years and years now. I also run my own small but growing and successful local business. I have a lot to keep me here, friends, clients, and more. Yet, due to fortune of birth, I also have Canadian citizenship. And, due to fortune of my skills and profession, I know folks there who could get me a decent job pretty easily while I restart my business there. I've never thought about moving out of the good ol' USA, but these days it don't always seem so Good. Seeing that I've got an easy out, and how so many here when topics such as Real ID come up say to 'get out' while we can, well, as a big ol' geek I ask Slashdot: Should I get out while the gettin's good?
Submission + - Scientologists In Row With BBC
CmdrGravy writes: "The Church Of Scientology is currently engaged in a row with BBC over a Panorama investigation by the BBC reporter John Sweeney. John is investigating the Church Of Scientology for the program to find out if they have changed in the last few years and moved away from the questionable practices and secrecy they have employed in the past.
The row centres around a YouTube video posted by the scientologists and a DVD they have released which show Mr Sweeney losing his temper with a scientology spokesman Tom Davis in which Mr Sweeney is driven to yelling at Tom Davis at the top of his voice. Mr Sweeney has since apologised for losing his temper which he says he now realises was both wrong and stupid. In the DVD the scientologists also accuse the BBC of organising an anti scientology demonstration and yelling terrorist death threats at John Travolta, allegations which the BBC denounce as being clearly laughable and utter nonsense. John Travolta has also accused of Mr Sweeney of harbouring "personal prejudices, bigotry and animosity" against Scientology in the documentary, and accused the reporter of displaying "hatred against my religion." This despite the fact that in the UK scientology is not classed as a religion due to the financial nature of their practices.
Mr Sweeneys outburst came at the end of a tour of a scientology exhibition which attempts to portray psychiatrists as evil nazi type torturers entitled "Psychiatry: Industry of Death" which is both gruesome and utterly unconvincing. In the days previous to this Mr Sweeney and his camera team became the latest in a long line of reporters to suffer harassment at the hands of scientologists whereby he has been shouted at, spied on, denounced as a bigot by John Travolta had his hotel invaded at midnight, and had mysterious strangers visit his neighbours and family and spy on his wedding. You can begin to see why someone might lose their temper having been victim to this sort of activity.
There is an excellent article in the Telegraph and you can read about the incident in Mr Sweeneys own words here at the BBC.
The video of Mr Sweeney losing his temper is available on YouTube, the argument is about Tom Davis claiming he has said things in a previous interview with someone else at which Tom Davis was not present and therefore cannot know what he has said. During this interview with, I think, an ex scientologist Tom Davis burst in half way through to make claims that the interviewee was some kind of paedophile.
Happily it looks like the BBC is going to stand behind their reporter, judging by this interview with the programs editor and the general tone of their reporting but, really why I'm posting this on /., what can be done against an organisation so determined to prevent fair and unbiased reporting on their activities and is clearly able to utilise the power of the internet and YouTube to further their aims. The BBC is a large organisation and can survive attacks like this which would easily cause a lot more problems to individuals or smaller organisations, is there a way of levelling the playing field in favour of the general population being able to access accurate information on organisations or corporations rather than propaganda put out by the said organisations or corporations ?"
The row centres around a YouTube video posted by the scientologists and a DVD they have released which show Mr Sweeney losing his temper with a scientology spokesman Tom Davis in which Mr Sweeney is driven to yelling at Tom Davis at the top of his voice. Mr Sweeney has since apologised for losing his temper which he says he now realises was both wrong and stupid. In the DVD the scientologists also accuse the BBC of organising an anti scientology demonstration and yelling terrorist death threats at John Travolta, allegations which the BBC denounce as being clearly laughable and utter nonsense. John Travolta has also accused of Mr Sweeney of harbouring "personal prejudices, bigotry and animosity" against Scientology in the documentary, and accused the reporter of displaying "hatred against my religion." This despite the fact that in the UK scientology is not classed as a religion due to the financial nature of their practices.
Mr Sweeneys outburst came at the end of a tour of a scientology exhibition which attempts to portray psychiatrists as evil nazi type torturers entitled "Psychiatry: Industry of Death" which is both gruesome and utterly unconvincing. In the days previous to this Mr Sweeney and his camera team became the latest in a long line of reporters to suffer harassment at the hands of scientologists whereby he has been shouted at, spied on, denounced as a bigot by John Travolta had his hotel invaded at midnight, and had mysterious strangers visit his neighbours and family and spy on his wedding. You can begin to see why someone might lose their temper having been victim to this sort of activity.
There is an excellent article in the Telegraph and you can read about the incident in Mr Sweeneys own words here at the BBC.
The video of Mr Sweeney losing his temper is available on YouTube, the argument is about Tom Davis claiming he has said things in a previous interview with someone else at which Tom Davis was not present and therefore cannot know what he has said. During this interview with, I think, an ex scientologist Tom Davis burst in half way through to make claims that the interviewee was some kind of paedophile.
Happily it looks like the BBC is going to stand behind their reporter, judging by this interview with the programs editor and the general tone of their reporting but, really why I'm posting this on
