crumshot - Slashdot User

Police Objecting to Tickets From Red-Light Cameras 807

Posted by Zonk on Thursday April 12, 2007 @07:28PM from the a-little-hair-of-the-irony-dontcha-think dept.

caffiend666 writes "According to a Dallas Morning News article, any 'Dallas police officer in a marked squad car who is captured on the city's cameras running a red light will have to pay the $75 fine if the incident doesn't comply with state law ... Many police officers are angry about the proposed policy. The prevailing belief among officers has been that they can run red lights as they see fit.' Is this a case for or against governments relying on un-biased automated systems? Or, should anyone be able to control who is recorded on camera and who is held accountable?"

A Bit About Making Maniac Mansion 34

Posted by Zonk on Thursday April 12, 2007 @06:19PM from the oh-the-memories dept.

Over at the Grumpy Gamer site, Rob Gilbert is reminiscing a bit about the making of Maniac Mansion, prompted by a YouTube video depicting a 9 minute speed run for the game. "I found it fascinating to watch this video. It's was like thumbing through an old family album of childhood photos. Memories long forgotten are jarred to the surface by the smallest of details. An old and forgotten toy. The front grill of your fathers car. Things you could never have remembered if you tried become so clear they could have happened yesterday. I'd see little things like Dave hitting the edge of the porch, turning around, then walking forward and then continuing on his way. I remember this from development. It was a weird bug having to do with the walk-boxes that told the character where they could walk. I knew how to fix it, but it would have broken oh-so-many of other things. It always drove me crazy that he did that." Many thanks to Mr. Gilbert for his work on the game; Bernard's Theme still pops into my head every once in a while for no particular reason.

Comment fairly widespread problem? (Score 1) 153

by crumshot on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @03:15PM (#18184596) Attached to: For Unlucky 360 Owner Seventh Time's the Charm

At first, I thought that people were completely exaggerating the failure rate just to make MS look bad, etc, whatever reason. I bought my 360 in March 2006, and in Jan 2007, I got the dreaded red ring of death. I called MS up and got mine repaired for free. It's pretty funny that they actually have a menu option for if you're seeing the red ring of death. This kind of suggested this problem was slightly more widespread than I previously thought. All said and done, I was without a working Xbox for ~3 weeks, including all shipping delays.

Approx a year after I purchased my 360, everyone else who I know (5 or 6 people) have all gotten the red ring of death and had to replace theirs. And no, none of them are sitting in an enclosed entertainment center, etc. The power brick is properly placed and has plenty of buffer space around it and whatnot. I'd really love if MS would actually say what the problem is that causes this red ring.

Bionic Eye Could Restore Vision 167

Posted by Zonk on Friday February 16, 2007 @07:15PM from the we-have-the-technology dept.

MattSparkes writes "A new bionic eye could restore vision to the profoundly blind. A prototype was tested on six patients and 'within a few weeks all could detect light, identify objects and even perceive motion again. For one patient, this was the first time he had seen anything in half a century.' The user wears a pair of glasses that contain a miniature camera and that wirelessly transmits video to a cellphone-sized computer in the wearer's pocket. This computer processes the image information and wirelessly transmits it to a tiny electronic receiver implanted in the wearer's head."

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