These kinds of stories have been around forever. Slashdot was around for the aftermath of both 9/11 and Columbine. There's always been an interest in personal liberties and personal privacy, especially as it intersects with geek culture.

Not if you've been here for 13 years...

Back before Sony disabled the "Other OS" option on the PS3, trying to subvert its security was not a high priority. The first security hacks arrived within weeks. This shows that once hackers were incentivized, the security was never really that good to begin with. Dongle-less cracking is really just the next step in the inevitable. It's actually a bit surprising it took this long, but it was expected.

What wasn't expected was getting access to the signing keys. This is fairly unprecedented, as far as I know. There have always been rooting/jailbreaking/etc. hacks, but they've always worked around or suppressed the key/certificate model. You can think of these methods as picking a lock or breaking the door. Some solutions are more elegant than others. The "Epic Fail" on Sony's part came when a mildly interested party discovered the keys under the welcome mat. That's some pretty terrible security.

I've seen duped articles summaries, but usually in different posts. I guess Slashdot is streamlining the process.

It's hard to be excited about advances in air travel when, even after the nightmarish experience of going through security, I find myself herded like cattle into a cramped cabin. It's nice to imagine that this could lead to cheaper ticket prices, but airlines seem to be so deep in the red, that all it will probably mean is the same high ticket prices with slightly less airline bailout in the next go-around.

On the other hand, is any of this useful for private planes?

What's the catch?

Well, as a Christian, I'm sad to see him go for some of the reasons you mentioned. He was truly one of the greatest minds that ever lived. That being said, did you ever stop to consider that they may have had legitimate reasons for dropping him? As time passes and his achievements are surpassed by modern innovators, spending a significant amount of time on Newton may become unrealistic. After all, there were many great men in various fields who contributed almost as much, but they become footnotes in the history books. Maybe Texas felt it was Newton's time.

All I'm saying is: consider the possibility that not *everything* they're doing is a part of a nefarious Christian conspiracy.

As a hard-core Christian, I fully endorse that sentiment. On the other hand, most of us believe that much of our national blessing comes from siding with Israel these last many decades, which is only possible when at least some of those who govern this country share that Biblical sentiment.

In other words, you never had any chance of getting modded down.

The most common interpretation is the one held by most contemporary societies. Brain death = death. However, there are minor groups who believe:

1) A person is dead only when they irreversibly stop breathing. This is based on the passage where God first breathes into Adam. They also define life as starting as "at first breath".

2) A person is dead only when their hearts irreversibly stop. This probably based on common sense from most societies back before we could do proper brain scans.

The problem arises because all the good organs are irreparably damaged when oxygen no longer reaches them. This the problem with both minor interpretations above. The controversy is that:

1) There is nothing that would lead to an interpretation that receiving organs from a "murdered" person is wrong. Rejecting the organ doesn't undo the deed and, in any case, there is now a potential for a saved life as a result of the act they believe immoral. So they accept the organs, which makes other

2) People think that they're getting a "free ride". Essentially, while these potential organ-donors are behaving semi-altruistically, they believe those who chose not to be donors are violating a social contract. So while they can't force people to give up their own organs, they are trying to pass legislation where there is now a negative consequence for not participating. This irritates

3) Altruistic donors, who do not care a whit about the argument and just want to save lives. They don't want their organs being used as pawns in a political/religious game when the whole reason they signed the consent form was to help those in the most need. The problem is that those who have the most need would be bumped below those who did not need the organ as much.

Religion is a part of life. If you want to make a game realistic, you have no choice but to include it. Including all the potential hypocrisy and simplicity of behavior it would entail. It's certainly not required, since there are plenty of games that don't feature eating, sleeping, sex, friendship, careers, hobbies, or brushing your teeth. Still, it's pretty much the elephant in the room at this point.

Actually, there's a Watchdog websites that keeps track of the persecution throughout the globe: http://www.persecution.com/
If it's happening, it's there. If it's not there, then it's probably not happening. Yes, most Western Christians cry wolf, but most Westerners are pretty soft as a matter of course.

The fact that you have three "cornerstones" to a philosophy of disbelief pretty much puts you in the religious category. Honestly, I'm not really sure I see any fundamental difference between your foundation and the "Soviets" you criticize (history lesson notwithstanding).

Then you should be really pissed that the anti-theists stole your word and that you don't have one anymore.

You mean like how every WW2 game is AO because of the Holocaust oven scenes? Or how Civ 4 got AO because of the non-stop Greek orgies? Or perhaps we're just being silly.

The Bible has some hard stuff in it because life was generally pretty crappy 3000 years ago. People got cheated, robbed, raped, and murdered just like today. Politicians lied, the rich exploited the poor, the powerful exploited the weak just like today. There were foolish people, wise people, violent people, peaceful people, mean people, kind people, and every other kind of people that you have today. None of this really lends itself to video games because its just life. Worse, the whole point of the narrative is to highlight the deus ex machina, which makes for a pretty poor game.

Still, the reality of that little strip of land the size of New Jersey is that it has seen more war than any other place on the planet. Its people really were besieged by foreign armies and forced to resort to cannibalism and worse. Its neighbors really did resort to child sacrifice to appease their gods. The Jews remember these things, not because they were the good old days, but so they can look back and be grateful that they have endured throughout the millennia. The Christians do not focus on these things, not because they are cherry-picking the Bible, but because they focus on Jesus ushering in the Kingdom of Heaven that obsoletes all the screwed up ways people have tried to live on this Earth that led to so much horror in the past.

I always wondered why they listed the blood type for the characters in Street Fighter. Now I know. Thanks Slashdot!