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Submission + - Slashdot Alum Samzenpus's Fractured Veil Hits Kickstarter

CmdrTaco writes: Long time Slashdot readers remember Samzenpus,who posted over 17,000 stories here, sadly crushing my record in the process! What you might NOT know is that he was frequently the Dungeon Master for D&D campaigns played by the original Slashdot crew, and for the last few years he has been applying these skills with fellow Slashdot editorial alum Chris DiBona to a Survival game called Fractured Veil. It's set in a post apocalyptic Hawaii with a huge world based on real map data to explore, as well as careful balance between PVP & PVE. I figured a lot of our old friends would love to help them meet their kickstarter goal and then help us build bases and murder monsters! The game is turning into something pretty great and I'm excited to see it in the wild!

Comment Re:I would be very surprised... (Score 1) 531

Nothing is a deal breaker for Trump fans. Trump could rape the father of one of his supporters and the supporter would cheer. Or at least blame Hillary.

This is the question I've been asking every vociferous political activist I can find: What would your candidate have to either do or advocate to lose your support. It's a stumper for almost everyone. The truth is whether you are for Trump, Clinton, Johnson, or Stein, you are virtually guaranteed to have no idea where your line in the sand is. I find this both deeply disturbing and, I guess, unsurprising given how little we humans actually think about our opinions.

Comment Re:Could have been killt or worse.... (Score 1) 153

if it hadn't been for the emergency stop.... Hey, kids THERE WAS AN EMERGENCY STOP BUTTON!

There's (almost) always an e-stop. But my the time you can reach it someone is probably already as injured as they were going to get. I've been working in industrial automation for more than 20 years and I have prevented an impending injury with an e-stop precisely once. Even then it was because I had specifically told that person not to be where they were and I was moving to the e-stop at the moment the machine ran away (because someone shorted out a motor controller feedback circuit). Even then in the time it took me to react and respond the machine moved almost 10 feet (straight at his face). Missed him by less than two inches (because he flinched).

E-stops have two purposes: 1) locking out the system while you will be in a dangerous interference location, and 2) releasing the machine so you can extract the mangled remains. In this case it appears to have been the latter. Fortunately it was his leg not his torso or head.

Comment Re:Interact? You can't! (Score 1) 43

Yes, your description is exactly the reason, but my point is that Facebook really has no room to complain about a lack of engagement when they've filled my feed with things I can't engage with. Give me a way to filter out the people who've declared they don't want me intruding on their echo chamber anyway.

Disclaimer: The above is almost certainly a simplification. There's rather more important things to worry about than an inability to comment on a random Facebook post.

Pshaw! Nothing is more important than telling someone you don't know that they are wrong, especially online.

Comment Interact? You can't! (Score 1) 43

In the last two years there's been a steady increase in the prevalence of what I call voyeur posts. Items I can see but I can't either like (emote?) or comment on. I don't really care why that is, I'm much more interested in filtering it from my social media feed. There's no way to do that. So, Facebook, if you would like to increase my ability to "interact and post more" make it so my news feed is filled with things that I can, you know, interact with.

*grumble*grumble*humperdinck-a-mumble*young*whippersnappers*grumble*off*my*lawn*

Comment Re:Ars Technica Coverage. (Score 1) 99

something he was authorized to do. In fact it was his job.

Not after he was let go from the company.

It's incredibly easy to remove or restrict a login account that has any kind of password. It is *universal* policy to do this when employees should no longer have access to specific accounts. Were I a judge I think I'd have to at least consider whether KTXL made a good faith effort to secure their system, and whether that lack of effort should mitigate the punishment handed down. When consent can clearly, easily, and unequivocably be retracted does the fact that said consent wasn't retracted imply consent? despite other factors?

As with so many things in the law, it falls back on the violator's intent to do harm, which was, in this case, clearly established. If he'd done the exact same thing with the intent to correct an error in their publication I doubt he'd be going to jail, and possibly he'd avoid the felony record.

Iphone

Apple Unveils Smaller iPhone SE, Starting At $399 (techcrunch.com) 158

An anonymous reader writes: Apple has officially unveiled a smaller, cheaper iPhone designed to make a splash in the budget-friendly smartphone market. The new device, called the iPhone SE, looks nearly identical to the iPhone 5S but with a new rose gold color configuration. It's the internal specifications that differ significantly. The new iPhone SE will feature a NFC chip for Apple Pay, A9 processor and M9 motion co-processor, 12-megapixel camera sensor with the ability to capture 4K video, and a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Unfortunately, it does not feature Apple's new 3D touch functionality. The iPhone SE will come in two models, 16GB and 64GB, priced at $399 and $499 respectively. You can buy the new iPhone starting March 31, and it will make its way to 100 countries by May.
Censorship

UK GHCQ Is Allowed To Hack (bbc.co.uk) 73

An anonymous reader writes: A security tribunal has just decreed that hacking by the UK security agency GCHQ is legal. [The case was launched after revelations by Edward Snowden about the extent of US and UK spying. Campaigners Privacy International claimed GCHQ's hacking operations were too intrusive]. The legal challenge that they were violating European law was rejected.

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