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Earth

Climategate's Final Days 872

Posted by kdawson from the miami-vice-violated-no-research-norms dept.
The Bad Astronomer writes "Climategate may be on its way out. An investigatory committee at Pennsylvania State University has formally cleared climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann of any scientific misconduct. Mann was central in the so-called Climategate scandal, where illegally leaked emails were purported to indicate examples of scientists trying to cover up any lack of global warming in their data. This finding by the committee (PDF) is another in a series of independent investigations that have all concluded that no misconduct has occurred."
Privacy

US Shows Interest In Zombie Quarantine Code 195

Posted by timothy from the aussies-please-weigh-in dept.
bennyboy64 writes "Barack Obama's cyber-security coordinator has shown interest in an e-security code of practice developed in Australia that aims to quarantine Internet users infected by malware, also known as zombie computers. He reportedly said it would be a useful role model for the US to adopt. One suggestion within the code is to put infected users into a 'walled garden,' which limits Internet access to prevent further security problems until quarantined. Another is to throttle the speed of an infected users' Internet connection until their computer fixed. The code is also being considered by other Asia-Pacific countries, ZDNet reports."
Games

Roger Ebert On Why Video Games Can Never Be Art 733

Posted by Soulskill from the wait-till-you-catch-those-moving-pictures dept.
Roger Ebert has long held the opinion that video games are not and can never be considered an art form. After having this opinion challenged in a TED talk last year, Ebert has now taken the opportunity to thoughtfully respond and explain why he maintains this belief. Quoting: "One obvious difference between art and games is that you can win a game. It has rules, points, objectives, and an outcome. Santiago might cite an immersive game without points or rules, but I would say then it ceases to be a game and becomes a representation of a story, a novel, a play, dance, a film. Those are things you cannot win; you can only experience them. She quotes Robert McKee's definition of good writing as 'being motivated by a desire to touch the audience.' This is not a useful definition, because a great deal of bad writing is also motivated by the same desire. I might argue that the novels of Cormac McCarthy are so motivated, and Nicholas Sparks would argue that his novels are so motivated. But when I say McCarthy is 'better' than Sparks and that his novels are artworks, that is a subjective judgment, made on the basis of my taste (which I would argue is better than the taste of anyone who prefers Sparks)."

Comment Contacted the Gov about this (Score 1) 713

by SMacD (#26271779) Attached to: Oregon Governor Proposes Vehicle Mileage Tax

As an Oregon resident, this is clearly just another tax that our illustrious governor is going to use to double-dip. Our state is already highly financially mismanaged by our state government, and now they are proposing "solutions" like this.

Yesterday, I contacted our governor about this, and gave him the following points about why this is completely unacceptable:
- If the tax is based on mileage, then what incentive to I have to choose a hybrid over a hummer? (our state is FULL of greenies, and promotes hybrid vehicles all over)
- Under no circumstances will I accept a government tracking device in my vehicle.
- While its proposed as a replacement to the gas tax, I'm not stupid enough to believe that gas tax will go away if this is implemented. This will just be ADDED in.
- We will no longer tax the out-of-staters (both people traveling from CA to WA & vice versa, as well as all of the people who choose to live in Vancouver and work in Portland)

This is unacceptable. I told the governor I will leave the state I've lived in since I was very young, and not look back, if he pursues this bull**** additional tax. Until they can figure out how to manage the money they do get, I see no reason they should get any more. The new I-5 interstate bridge in Portland is projected to cost several times what the longer/larger replacement to the bridge that collapsed in the midwest 2 years ago, and we just opened a $400,000 outdoor toilet in downtown Portland. And now they want MORE of my money? Governor Sleepy Ted, you can kiss my ass.

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