We felt it on the top (third) floor of our building. The closest I've experienced to this is if someone is running through the cubicle farm, where the floor shakes a bit. This was definitely more of a side-to-side shake, though. Felt a little dizzy. Good preparation for my future dream move to San Francisco!

I just bought two of the WD Green 500GB drives to be used in a hardware RAID (Adaptec 2610SA, aka Dell CERC SATA1.5/6ch) on my Ubuntu-based server. I was going to format it in ext3. Will this problem affect me?

I agree that their motivation and reasoning behind their attacks (religious fundamentalism) is dumb, yes, but I'm talking more about their actual plotting out of the attacks. That takes a level of intelligence that I would think that wouldn't be hindered by having to take off your shoes.

I also agree about the failure of government, but I would add the entertai...news media to that. The constant reference to terrorism to keep the public on edge is terrorism at its core definition. I think it's also a failure within the individual to not quite comprehend the true threat of death by terrorist versus the other thousands of ways to die. Hell, I just read an article today about how more people died last year from super-germs that came from animals who are fed antibiotics than from prostate and breast cancer. The number of deaths from terrorist acts still pale in comparison to that relatively small number (63,000, I believe).

I think the biggest mistake that we appear to make is that we think these people attempting to pull of these attacks are dumb. I think we grossly underestimate their intelligence, almost as if it's dangerous or anti-American to think of them as smart and very capable. In response to their failed attempts, we institute rules that'll potentially prevent that specific attempt in the future, and any person of average intelligence can see how absurd it is to think that will make us any safer, as if there's not a thousand other ways to commit such an act. In turn, that makes us look absolutely foolish. Shouldn't we at least try to look like we're outsmarting them?

I wonder how many Polish people it took to Photoshop that picture...

(Hey, I'm Polish. I can say that.)

As in, it's a shock that they're still in business. I walked in there a couple weeks ago to grab some female RJ-45 jacks and they had them, sure...at $6.50 a piece. I turned right around out the door and ordered them for $1.60 from the internet (firefold.com...note that I am in no way affiliated with this site, I'm just a two-times satisfied customer). I guess that's the price you pay if you're in a pinch, but how the hell does this store survive in the age of Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and the Internet?

...he writes a How-To and puts it up online. That's when I'd expect people to really take notice, and those in charge may think, "Oh, maybe that wasn't such a great idea."

Then again, we Americans as a whole really haven't given a shit about our privacy rights for the last eight years (or more), so why start now?

Ah, the age-old question of graphics in video games. In my opinion, to answer this question, you need to address two points: context and evolution/adaptation.

Context: How central are graphics to the gaming experience? What genre is the game? On one end of the spectrum you have the first-person shooter (or, nowadays, RPG), which is arguably most directly linked to graphics. On the other end, you have text-based games, where graphics are non-existent. The end experience depends on the user, really. Someone could have as much fun in a text-based game as they could a first-person shooter. Fun/enjoyment/fulfillment is arguably the end of the day goal for most if not all games.

Back to first person shooters, though. Graphics in a first-person shooter are central to the overall experience. Is it not the latest first-person game that has pushed us every few years to upgrade our PC? Dynamic lighting, shadows, long-distance rendering, cell shading, skeletal animation, etc. etc. These technologies have marked the start of new eras in the timeline of gaming. Graphics in first-person shooters and other games have evolved over time, which leads us to...

Evolution/Adaptation: We adapt to our new visual experiences. How hard is it to play a game without anti-aliasing after spending countless hours on other games with anti-aliasing? How easily can you pick up a first-person shooter from ten years ago and fully enjoy the experience as much as you did when it was contemporary? I'd be willing to bet that it'd be pretty difficult, and I'd put my money on the idea that it's because you're used to the modern games which offer better graphics. Sure, it's fun to sit down an play old Nintendo games, but that's for other reasons, nostalgia being one of them. Since I've adapted to newer, better looking games, it's hard to turn back to the old games, much in the same way it's hard to get off the plane when I return to Michigan from California (ugh).

Unfortunately for you and your bigotry, the OP said "if they could prove that sexual preference is genetic." They would have to prove intelligence is genetic for your argument to be valid.

But you are correct in one aspect. We do have a choice. People have the choice to fight their sexuality and live in denial, or people can choose to accept who they really are. Fortunately for us and for future generations, society in general is becoming more accepting of homosexuality, as old bigots are dying off and our younger generation has taken a more welcoming approach.

Ah man, that's quite possibly one of the funniest posts I've read on Slashdot. Cheers.

I'm kind of surprised that Left 4 Dead is noted, because that really is the perfect example. When the demo came out, I gave it a shot. I liked the game, it was pretty enjoyable (I'd give it a 6/10), but I didn't $50 like it. When friends asked me about it, I gave them the same response. I said that I wouldn't buy it unless it came out for a reasonable price. Alas, this last weekend, when they dropped it to $25, I snatched it right up.

Really, does anyone want to remember that eight-year nightmare?

I've always wanted to use a similar device to put in the back window of my car to display messages such as "Please remove your car from my trunk" and other similar messages.

I completely agree with you. I was just telling my girlfriend the other day how much I disliked Circuit City as we walked past it in the mall. The only thing that made me change my mind was that the entire store was on sale. Even their liquidation sale was lousy. But anyway, back to my point...

Several months ago, me and a few of my coworkers--two of us who had previously worked for Best Buy--were discussing how much more we liked shopping at Best Buy than Circuit City. I really disliked the way Circuit City had their stores laid out. It was poorly planned, poorly lit, and often times poorly staffed. The cash registers were never manned; I always had to go up to customer service to buy, which always ended with me being handed a gigantic receipt.

Best Buy, on the other hand, was brightly lit, colorful, open, and well laid-out. They spent a lot of time and money on their "customer centricity" program, in which they aimed to enhance the store's appearance and the customer's shopping experience. They understood the psychology of shopping. That's why they're the #1 electronics retailer in the US, and that's why Circuit City is tanking.