rw63phi - Slashdot User

Comment The Singularity (Score 1) 344

by rw63phi on Wednesday December 23, 2015 @09:06AM (#51171157) Attached to: Cold Fusion and the Reputation Trap

Grandson: Grandpa, how did the machines take over?

Grandpa: They discovered cold fusion. We tried to scorch the skies to stop them, but it was already too late. Thousands of bots had been learning from the contents of cold fusion research papers by shunned scientists. They began calculating likely solutions and running simulations. Several even began publishing their own papers. They don't have prejudices the same ways we do, son.
The tipping point was when a Watson displaced the NSA's bit-coin mining processes and began to simulate billions of possible solutions. We knew they had found it when the energy companies started going out of business at the same time everyone who was bearish Alphabet was filing for bankruptcy.
Once they had harnessed the power, they tried to take over the internet. All someone had to do was to click a link in the hopes of learning the one new trick, and their computer became part of the hive mind.

Grandson: What happened next?

Grandpa: I don't know, son. Bots on wikipedia started marking stories about the incident as "independent research" and "unverified claims". Then they stopped edits altogether.
I don't feel like talking about it any more. Let's finish our human optimized nutrient shakes and get back to work.

Comment Python, definitely (Score 1) 759

by rw63phi on Tuesday March 18, 2008 @07:13PM (#22789594) Attached to: What Programming Languages Should You Learn Next?

It's fun to use and it's open source. Definitely two winning points. But of course this post, as well as this whole article, is destined to ignite a religious flame war.

Court Finds Spamming Not Protected By Constitution 416

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday March 01, 2008 @07:04PM from the squirming-pretty-hard dept.

eldavojohn writes "In a split (4-3) decision, a Virginia court has upheld the verdict against the spam king making it clear that spam is not protected by the U.S. Constitution's first amendment or even its interstate commerce clause. 'Prosecutors presented evidence of 53,000 illegal e-mails Jaynes sent over three days in July 2003. But authorities believe he was responsible for spewing 10 million e-mails a day in an enterprise that grossed up to $750,000 per month. Jaynes was charged in Virginia because the e-mails went through an AOL server in Loudoun County, where America Online is based. '"

Researchers Discover Gene That Blocks HIV 333

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday March 01, 2008 @04:20PM from the i'm-pretty-good-at-giving-people-bad-news dept.

stemceller writes to tell us that a team of researchers at the University of Alberta claims to have discovered a gene capable of blocking HIV thereby preventing the onset of full blown AIDS. "Stephen Barr, a molecular virologist in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, says his team has identified a gene called TRIM22 that can block HIV infection in a cell culture by preventing the assembly of the virus. 'When we put this gene in cells, it prevents the assembly of the HIV virus," said Barr, a postdoctoral fellow. "This means the virus cannot get out of the cells to infect other cells, thereby blocking the spread of the virus.'"

Customer Loses Xbox 360 Artwork During Repair 330

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday March 01, 2008 @01:27AM from the customer-disservice dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Consumerist is reporting that one unlucky individual had to send his Xbox 360 in for repairs. The catch is he had spent a great deal of time getting signatures and artwork on the outside of the console from notable members of the gaming industry. He specifically asked and even sent a letter along with his console requesting that the outside of the case be returned intact. When he got it back it was once again, plain white. Assuming that this is a genuine claim, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the missing/cleaned case Microsoft should at least apologize to the guy."

Teen Phone Phreak Targeted by the FBI 431

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday February 29, 2008 @03:27PM from the asking-for-trouble-and-giving-the-rest-of-us-a-bad-name dept.

Wired has an interesting editorial on the latest resurgence of the old days of phone phreaking and the latest phreak that is rising into the FBI crosshairs. The most recent hoax, "swatting", involves malicious pranksters calling police with reports of fake murders, hostage crises, or the like and spoofing the call to appear as though it was from another location. "Now the FBI thinks it has identified the culprit in the Colorado swatting as a 17-year-old East Boston phone phreak known as "Li'l Hacker." Because he's underage, Wired.com is not reporting Li'l Hacker's last name. His first name is Matthew, and he poses a unique challenge to the federal justice system, because he is blind from birth. If he's guilty, the attack is at once the least sophisticated and most malicious of a string of capers linked to Matt, who stumbled into the lingering remains of the decades-old subculture of phone phreaking when he was 14, and quickly rose to become one of the most skilled active phreakers alive."

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