Comment Re:This can be improved by removing some text (Score 1) 639
But, if you can act confidently and fake it...that will carry you a long way.
Are you talking to us, or the "hot" women?
Are you talking to us, or the "hot" women?
6-Year-Old Says Grand Theft Auto Taught Him To Drive 504
nandemoari writes "A six-year-old who recently stole his parents' car and drove it into a utility pole has passed the buck onto a familiar scapegoat: the video game, Grand Theft Auto.
Rockstar Games' controversial Grand Theft Auto video game has been criticized by parent groups and crusaders (or in the eyes of gamers, nincompoops) like former lawyer Jack Thompson for years (Thompson once tried to link the Virginia Tech slayings to late-night Counterstrike sessions. He's since been disbarred). However, not as of yet has anyone under the age of, oh, ten, blamed the game for a car theft."
Submission + - Teacher laid off for telling the truth about Santa (timesonline.co.uk)
Pfhorrest writes: "The Times Online reports:
A supply teacher has been told not to return to one primary school after she told a class of seven-year-olds that Santa Claus did not exist.
Children at Blackshaw Lane Primary School in Oldham were talking about Christmas when the teacher came out with the news.
Father Christmas was not responsible for delivering their presents on Christmas Eve, the pupils were taught. The teacher, who had been drafted in for just the day, has now been told not to come back.
Parents complained to the school after their children returned home to recount what they had learnt in lessons that day.
With all the contention about teaching religion (or the lack thereof) in schools these days, what do you all think about similar issues regarding more frivolous popular folklore like Santa Claus here? Should a school be able to fire a teacher for telling the truth about something all adults accepts as mere myth?"
Submission + - Corrupt DVD Lands Rapist in Prison for 24 Years (computerworld.com) 1
Lucas123 writes: "The Santa Cruz, Calif. DA's office had been counting on a DVD with the recorded testimony of a victim in case against a serial rapist, but when they popped the video into the player, nothing came up — the disc was blank. To make matters worse, the cop who performed the original interview with the victim told the DA she never said she was "forced", so the judge wasn't going to allow the witness to testify in a case where her original statement to police was in conflict with her current testimony. After two local data recovery firms said there was no way to restore the data, a third was able to recover the police interview from two years earlier, which lead the defendant to plead guilty earlier this month. Close call."
Submission + - Astronomers Dissect a Supermassive Black Hole (spacefellowship.com)
Matt_dk writes: "Combining a double natural "magnifying glass" with the power of ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have scrutinised the inner parts of the disc around a supermassive black hole 10 billion light-years away. They were able to study the disc with a level of detail a thousand times better than that of the best telescopes in the world, providing the first observational confirmation of the prevalent theoretical models of such discs."
Submission + - Apple's 3D desktop (theregister.co.uk)
phantomfive writes: The patent office has released some patent filings by apple which indicate that the company is working on a 3D desktop of some sort. They call it a multi-dimensional desktop, according to the patent filing.
Teacher Sells Ads On Tests 532
Tom Farber, a calculus teacher at Rancho Bernardo high school in San Diego, has come up with a unique way of covering district cuts to his supplies budget. He sells ads on his tests. "Tough times call for tough actions," Tom says. The price of an ad on a Mr. Farber Calc test is as follows: $10 for a quiz, $20 for a chapter test, and $30 for a semester final. Most of the ads are messages from parents but about a third of them come from local businesses. Principal Paul Robinson says reaction has been "mixed," but adds, "It's not like, 'This test is brought to you by McDonald's or Nike.'" I see his point. Being a local business whore is much better than being a multinational conglomerate whore.
Down's Symptoms May Be Treatable In the Womb 170
missb writes "US researchers have found that prenatal treatment for Down syndrome works in mice. This raises the possibility that a pregnant woman who knows her unborn child has Down syndrome might be able to forestall some of the symptoms before giving birth. When fetal mouse pups that had a syndrome similar to Down's were treated with nerve-protecting chemicals, some of the developmental delays that are part of the condition — such as motor and sensory abilities — were removed."
Comment Comment Moderation (Score 1, Redundant) 344
"Can we expect anyone who followed a warrantless wiretap from the Bush administration to also be fired then? I mean, they violated our privacy as well.
I wish I could mod that comment up. If it'd been a normal comment, it would've gotten +5 Insightful in no time flat.
I wish I could mod that comment up. If it'd been a normal comment, it would've gotten +5 Insightful in no time flat.
Massive Martian Glaciers Found 314
Kozar_The_Malignant writes "Scientific American is reporting that 'data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter point to vast glaciers buried beneath thin layers of crustal debris.' Data from the surface-penetrating radar on MRO revealed that two well-known mid-latitude features are composed of solid water ice. One is about three times the size of the City of Los Angeles. This certainly makes the idea of establishing a station on Mars far more plausible."
Woman Unable To Recognize Voices, Unless It's Sean Connery 68
A 60-year-old British woman is suffering from a neurological defect that is sure to put her in the next version of "The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." She is unable to recognize any voice she hears — any voice, that is, but Sean Connery's. Unless she sees the face of the person speaking, she has no idea who is talking to her, even her daughter and co-worker's voices are unrecognizable. Dr. Brad Duchaine at University College London, thinks she might have the first documented case of vocal prosopagnosia, a condition which makes it extremely difficult for people to recognize faces. "His accent is distinctive," Duchaine explained. "And she is a British woman in her sixties ... let's say it's probable he got her attention."
Comment Link to original, more detailed, story. (Score 5, Informative) 507
My god people, is slashdot actually linking to ABC action news? I mean come on, firstly the summary (of the summary) is woefully incomplete.. Even though the original link also belongs to ABC at least it doesnt have the word "action" attached to "news". I'm just waiting for ABC's next upgrade to SEXY, ACTION NEWS... a bit elitist? Maybe.. but at least the original link clarifies the story rather than leaving out information in order to make the story more "exciting".. From TFA: "NASA isn't sure where the spider could have gone." Doesn't mean they don't have an idea..
From the original article: "Kirk Shireman, deputy shuttle program manager, says that while only one spider is visible, that doesn't mean the other is missing. 'We don't believe he has escaped the payload. I am sure we will find him spinning a web somewhere in the next few days."
From the original article: "Kirk Shireman, deputy shuttle program manager, says that while only one spider is visible, that doesn't mean the other is missing. 'We don't believe he has escaped the payload. I am sure we will find him spinning a web somewhere in the next few days."
IP Rights For Games Made In School? 128
Gamasutra has a story questioning whether schools should be able to hold intellectual property rights on games created by students. The point out a recent incident in which a development team was unable to market a game they created, and another situation where a school overrode the creator's decision to withdraw the game from a contest.
"What irks Aikman is that, after graduating, he and his team approached DigiPen, hoping it might change its policy and make an exception for the award-winning game, but the school wouldn't budge. 'They were dead set on not setting a precedent because, if they let us keep the IP, they were afraid other students would want the same. But I believe there's something wrong with the idea of DigiPen owning games it has no intention of doing anything with, while discouraging people like me who could really make use of our efforts and use it as a springboard to a career.'"
Comment Re:No PC Support... (Score 1) 193
This doesnt surprise me at all. Console makers pay studios good money to get exclusive first rights. The Playstation consoles was a great success but somehow I don't think it would've been had it not been for the exhaustive list of exclusives compared to Xbox. Devil May Cry, Tekken, Final Fantasy, GTA 3. Yea, some of those were eventually ported over to the xbox.. months later and yeah xbox had the Halo series, but that was after Microsoft had bought Bungie that they managed to get Halo. I remember reading in GamesTM that Rockstar studios had approached Sony about making GTA 4 exclusive for the PS3 and were surprised when Sony werent willing to cough up the dough. It wouldnt be a stretch of the imagination thinking that a few more PS3s would've been sold if that was the only chance gamers would've had of playing GTA4
Additionally, a lot of studios are afraid of piracy and that most definitely would act as a deterrent. Argue all you like why they shouldn't be but with all the DRM buzz flying around titles such as Spore, it's obvious to be pretty high on their agenda. I wouldn't be surprised if studios would rather release games on consoles to generate the most profit due to hype/new release status before releasing it onto PC. And yes, I am aware that it is possible to pirate console games.. with the aid of a mod chip, add on, etc vs. downloading a game off bittorrent that's already been cracked.
Additionally, a lot of studios are afraid of piracy and that most definitely would act as a deterrent. Argue all you like why they shouldn't be but with all the DRM buzz flying around titles such as Spore, it's obvious to be pretty high on their agenda. I wouldn't be surprised if studios would rather release games on consoles to generate the most profit due to hype/new release status before releasing it onto PC. And yes, I am aware that it is possible to pirate console games.. with the aid of a mod chip, add on, etc vs. downloading a game off bittorrent that's already been cracked.
