ZeroGee - Slashdot User

Comment Re:It's about Cherry Picking. (Score 2, Insightful) 507

by vehn23 on Wednesday June 30, 2010 @05:02PM (#32750726) Attached to: Fark Creator Slams 'the Wisdom of Crowds'

I keep coming back here because I keep my comment threshhold at +5, +10 at reddit(and would be higher if they let me), and almost never read the comment threads at Fark unless I want to pgdn through it quickly to find pictures of hot russian spies or whatever without clicking through links. Basically I try to keep my entertainment and laziness quotients as high as possible.

Why Overheard Cell Phone Chats Are Annoying 344

Posted by timothy on Thursday May 20, 2010 @05:26PM from the they-drown-out-the-bark-of-my-gun dept.

__roo writes "American researchers think they have found the answer to the question of why overhearing cell phone chats are annoying. According to scientists at Cornell University, when only half of the conversation is overheard, it drains more attention and concentration than when overhearing two people talking. According to one researcher, 'We have less control to move away our attention from half a conversation (or halfalogue) than when listening to a dialogue. Since halfalogues really are more distracting and you can't tune them out, this could explain why people are irritated.' Their study will be published in the journal Psychological Science."

Air Canada Ordered To Provide Nut-Free Zone 643

Posted by samzenpus on Friday January 08, 2010 @06:09PM from the no-nuts dept.

JamJam writes "Air Canada has been told to create a special 'buffer zone' on flights for people who are allergic to nuts. The Canadian Transportation Agency has ruled that passengers who have nut allergies should be considered disabled and accommodated by the airline. Air Canada has a month to come up with an appropriate section of seats where passengers with nut allergies would be seated. The ruling involved a complaint from Sophia Huyer, who has a severe nut allergy and travels frequently. Ms. Huyer once spent 40 minutes in the washroom during a flight while snacks were being served."

Surgeon Makes Tutorial DVD For Conscious Open-Heart Surgery 170

Posted by samzenpus on Friday January 08, 2010 @12:58PM from the looks-easy-enough dept.

Lanxon writes "Swaroup Anand, 23, from Bangalore, was fully conscious as he underwent open-heart surgery. An epidural to the neck, administered at the city’s Wockhardt Hospital, numbed his body during the procedure. Dr Vivek Jawali pioneered the technique ten years ago and has recently released a tutorial on DVD, which gives a step-by-step guide to the procedure for other surgeons to watch and learn from."

NYT's "Games To Avoid" an Ironic, Perfect Gamer Wish List 189

Posted by Soulskill on Friday December 11, 2009 @06:48AM from the more-or-less dept.

MojoKid writes "From October to December, the advertising departments of a thousand companies exhort children to beg, cajole, and guilt-trip their parents for all manner of inappropriate digital entertainment. As supposedly informed gatekeepers, we sadly earthbound Santas are reduced to scouring the back pages of gaming review sites and magazines, trying to evaluate whether the tot at home is ready for Big Bird's Egg Hunt or Bayonetta. Luckily, The New York Times is here to help. In a recent article provokingly titled 'Ten Games to Cross off Your Child's Gift List,' the NYT names its list of big bads — the video games so foul, so gruesome, so perverse that we'd recommend you buy them immediately — for yourself. Alternatively, if you need gift ideas for the surly, pale teenager in your home whose body contains more plastic then your average d20, this is the newspaper clipping to stuff in your pocket. In other words, if you need a list like this to understand what games to not stuff little Johnny's stocking with this holiday season, you've got larger issues you should concern yourself with. We'd suggest picking up an auto-shotty and taking a few rounds against the horde — it's a wonderful stress relief and you're probably going to need it."

New Aliens Vs. Predator Game Doesn't Make It Past AU Ratings Board 277

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday December 05, 2009 @03:36AM from the gauntlet-thrown dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Australia refused to give Rebellion's new Aliens Vs. Predator game a rating, effectively banning it in the country. Rebellion says it won't be submitting an edited version for another round of classifications, however. (As Valve did with Left 4 Dead 2.) They said, 'We will not be releasing a sanitized or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices.'"

Comment Re:No oldies (Score 1) 254

by vehn23 on Friday February 27, 2009 @03:34AM (#27009369) Attached to: The Most Influential Games In History?

Not having Dune 2 is a mindbogglingly massive omission, but not having Super Mario Bros at #1 is even more ridiculous.

Comment Re:In my day, we had to hand format disks (Score 1) 232

by vehn23 on Monday September 29, 2008 @07:21PM (#25199943) Attached to: PC Historian Finds Puzzling Game Diskette Image

how do you make those letters that look 'bigger' and more 'formal', like the ones that you use to start sentences after periods/

Comment Re:Good idea (Score 2, Insightful) 425

by ZeroGee on Tuesday August 30, 2005 @07:11PM (#13440900) Attached to: GM Claims Advanced Cruise Control By 2008

catalytic converters -- protect the environment, cheap, only downside is it lowers power very slightly.

airbags -- cheap, saves lives, downside is possible added injury due to deployment but overall benefit is worth it

seatbelts -- very cheap, saves lives.

automated traffic system -- vastly increases costs, reduces traffic congestion, reduces traffic fatalities only if the system is perfect and the mechanical parts never fail. What if you blow a tire? The car behind you might still plow into you, only now instead of at 70 mph it's plowing into you at 150 mph. What if the actual auto-drive system fails? Maybe you swerve into oncoming traffic. This is just hardware failure. What if you get hacked / get a "virus"?

In actuality, I didn't mean to imply the ACLU is a means to stifle innovation, but rather there is a legitimate argument to be made that such a system does discriminate against the lower classes. That IS a battle the ACLU would fight.

Comment Re:And in other news... (Score 2, Funny) 844

by sql*kitten on Sunday February 27, 2005 @05:18AM (#11793171) Attached to: Experts Suggest Replacing Definition of Kilogram

Pi is exactly equal to 3!

My brother is a scientist. I had just gotten a new phone, so he didn't have the number, and I texted him to say "Pi is exactly 3". He send back several long messages explaining why this wasn't true, as far as he knew to a complete stranger. So either scientists are incredibly helpful people or they have way too much time on their hands...

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