Comment Re:I plug a power strip into itself. (Score 1) 497
Hey, at least it's safe.
Lost Online Games From the Pre-Web Era 186
harrymcc writes "Long before the Web came along, people were playing online games — on BBSes, on services such as Prodigy and CompuServe, and elsewhere. Gaming historian Benj Edwards has rounded up a dozen RPGs, MUDs, and other fascinating curiosities from the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s — and the cool part is: they're all playable on the Web today."
What old games were good enough for you to watch them scroll by on your 300 baud modem?
UK Anti-Piracy Firm E-mails Reveal Cavalier Attitude Toward Legal Threats 200
Khyber writes "A recent DDoS attack against a UK-based anti-pirating firm, ACS:Law, has resulted in a large backup archive of the server contents being made available for download, [and this archive] is now being hosted by the Pirate Bay. Within this archive are e-mails from Andrew Crossley basically admitting that he is running a scam job, sending out thousands of frivolous legal threats on the premise that a percentage pay up immediately to avoid legal hassles."
Scientists Find New Target For Alzhiemer's 107
GarryFre writes "Neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found a new therapeutic target that can potentially lead to a new way to prevent the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The target called neutral sphingomyelinase (N-SMase) is a protein which, when activated, can cause a chain of reactions in the cell leading to neuronal death and memory loss. Already a substance has been found that shows some promise in halting the progression of the disease."
Comment Re:Obligatory xkcd (Score 1) 165
I apologize for offending you. Still, I disagree. In my opinion, the problem is as much about sanitizing input as about output, regardless of where the damage is done.
Comment Obligatory xkcd (Score 3, Funny) 165
Comment Re:so what? (Score 1) 1141
Shooting down the fiber won't help anyone understand anything. Vandals are no freedom fighters.
Comment Re:Pretty common. (Score 1) 1141
Stealing the copper I can understand, as there is some monetary gain for the thief. But vandalism is something I just don't get. And it seems frustrating that there is no chance of catching these guys.
Comment Immature? (Score 2, Insightful) 1141
The combination of guns and immature pranks doesn't sound too good to me.
Hunters Shot Down Google Fiber 1141
aesoteric writes "Google has revealed that aerial fiber links to its data center in Oregon were 'regularly' shot down by hunters, forcing the company to put its cables underground. Hunters were reportedly trying to hit insulators on electricity distribution poles, which also hosted aerially-deployed fiber connected to Google's $600 million data center in The Dalles. 'I have yet to see them actually hit the insulator, but they regularly shoot down the fiber,' Google's network engineering manager Vijay Gill told a conference in Australia. 'Every November when hunting season starts invariably we know that the fiber will be shot down, so much so that we are now building an underground path [for it].'"
Comment Re:Just like the Slashdot moderation system (Score 1) 233
One problem I see with the approach you suggested is that work is already visible to many but may or may not be accepted in the end. Publications are often rejected not due to a lack of innovation but because of other aspects (evaluation, comparison to other work, ...). A new idea appearing in this paper will then be available to the world while the author is not (yet) credited for his work. Someone else might just pick up his idea, fix the problems, and publish it himself.
