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Comment Re:John Brunner (Score 1) 1365

by Ebirah (#40913317) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What's the Most Depressing Sci-fi You've Ever Read?
The Sheep Look Up is indeed grim, not least because of the way that reality increasingly resembles the world it depicts. Most depressingly, the eminently practical solution it arrives at to allows human life's continuation (in a still-ghastly dystopian world) is unlikely to be adopted in the real world. Stand on Zanzibar isn't particularly upbeat either. Or The Jagged Orbit.
Communications

Palin's E-Mail Hacker Imprisoned Against Judge's Wishes 502

Posted by Soulskill from the grizzly-justice dept.
Em Adespoton writes "It was a computer security story that made headlines around the world, involving the private emails of a woman who could have become Vice President of the United States. And now, it's ended with a young man sent to a federal prison, hundreds of miles from his family home. David C Kernell, the hacker who broke into Sarah Palin's personal Yahoo email account, is reported to have been sent to jail despite a judge's recommendation that he should not be put behind bars."
The Courts

Judge Berates Prosecutors In Xbox Modding Trial 285

Posted by Soulskill from the your-uppance-has-come dept.
mrbongo writes with this excerpt from Wired: "Opening statements in the first-of-its-kind Xbox 360 criminal hacking trial were delayed here Wednesday after a federal judge unleashed a 30-minute tirade at prosecutors in open court, saying he had 'serious concerns about the government's case.' ... Gutierrez slammed the prosecution over everything from alleged unlawful behavior by government witnesses, to proposed jury instructions harmful to the defense. When the verbal assault finally subsided, federal prosecutors asked for a recess to determine whether they would offer the defendant a deal, dismiss or move forward with the case that was slated to become the first jury trial of its type. A jury was seated Tuesday."
Security

TSA Pats Down 3-Year-Old 1135

Posted by samzenpus from the security-theater dept.
3-year-old Mandy Simon started crying when her teddy bear had to go through the X-ray machine at airport security in Chattanooga, Tenn. She was so upset that she refused to go calmly through the metal detector, setting it off twice. Agents then informed her parents that she "must be hand-searched." The subsequent TSA employee pat down of the screaming child was captured by her father, who happens to be a reporter, on his cell phone. The video have left some questioning why better procedures for children aren't in place. I, for one, feel much safer knowing the TSA is protecting us from impressionable minds warped by too much Dora the Explorer.
United States

Rupert Murdoch Publishes North Korean Flash Games 186

Posted by Soulskill from the wonder-if-they're-paywalled dept.
eldavojohn writes "You might recall back in June when it was noted that North Korea was developing and exporting flash games. Now, the isolated nation state is apparently home to some game developers that are being published by a subsidiary of News Corp. (The games include Big Lebowski Bowling and Men In Black). Nosotek Joint Venture Company is treading on thin ice in the eyes of a few academics and specialists that claim the Fox News owner is 'working against US policy.' Concerns grow over the potential influx of cash, creating better programmers that are then leveraged into cyberwarfare capabilities. Nosotek said that 'training them to do games can't bring any harm.' The company asserts its innocence, though details on how much of the games were developed in North Korea are sparse. While one of the poorest nations in the world could clearly use the money, it remains to be seen if hardliner opponents like the United States will treat Nosotek (and parent company News Corp.) as if they're fostering the development of computer programmers inside the DPRK. The United Nations only stipulates that cash exchanged with companies in the DPRK cannot go to companies and businesses associated with military weaponry or the arms trade. Would you feel differently about Big Lebowski Bowling if you knew it was created in North Korea?"

Comment Re:You Never Spoke A Truer Word (Score 1) 230

Certainly MS's attitude to patent abuse deserves to be punished. However, it is not as if this money is returned to the people from whom it was extracted in the first place. Rather, it goes to yet another bunch of thieving lowlife scumbags.

The patent system is so messed up that it can support multiple tiers of extortionists, each preying on the one below, but for MS to unilaterally moderate their own abuses of the system (which would be nice, admittedly) would have little effect on the overall state of affairs, where the entire business model of numerous companies is based upon extortionate patent litigation (though generally against much smaller, more vulnerable companies than MS).

Comment Re:The missing option.... (Score 1) 457

by Ebirah (#27810103) Attached to: When watching a movie, I like to add calories via ...
Alcohol, definitely. Probably strong. The exact variety consumed will depend upon season, inclination, and availability.

There are lots of calories in alcohol. And with a G&T there is the added health benefit of the vitamins in the slice of lemon (and the tonic will protect you from getting malaria).

Alcohol's main benefit though, is its mood-altering qualities, putting one in a better state of mind to enjoy and appreciate the film, whatever it may be.

Comment Re:Real world learning from video games? (Score 3, Interesting) 150

by Ebirah (#27529549) Attached to: Norfolk Police Officers To Be Tagged To Improve Response Times
More to the point, this being Norfolk (right here, where I am), the job of tracking the entire county police force could be done by a single suitably-inclined human without computer assistance. (Someone with the right sort of Aspergers Syndrome, say.)

For example, in the small hours of the morning, (I have been reliably informed by a serving member of the Norfolk Constabulary) there are precisely two officers on patrol.

Comment Re:Developing markets (Score 1) 821

by Ebirah (#26636201) Attached to: Windows 7 To Come In Multiple Versions

And MS expects some preteen in Singapore to know better? Good luck with that.

That's an unfortunate example to choose, preteens in Singapore being likely to be both better educated and more law-abiding than their US equivalents. (And quite possibly more affluent too.)

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