Comment Re:1:1 (Score 1) 582
OH SHI-
Comment Re:Too easy... (Score 4, Insightful) 170
I'm amazed you can exhibit such foresight from under that bridge!
I often scoff at marketing ploys, but game demos are a good thing. As long as this doesn't increase the price of the discs, this is more value for your dollar- it isn't as if you have to play the demo to watch your movie.
Now, just watch them bundle some highly anticipated game demo exclusively with some crap film- SURPRISE HOME MOVIE SALES HIT OF THE SUMMER!
Comment It will take exactly... (Score 1, Insightful) 112
4 years.
Comment bad chair:( (Score 1) 460
I assume that I have one of the least ergonomic setups imaginable, but I figure that since I started with the OxyContin before my back begins to hurt, as long as I keep it up I'll never know!
VIVA OXYCONTIN!!1 VIVA GRADUATING TO HEROIN!!1 VIVA SUBOXONE TREATMENT!!1 VIVA FALLING OFF THE WAGON AND GOING BACK TO STEP 1!!!1
Comment Re:Legalization (Score 1) 647
Technically, THC is a mild hallucinogen. If you want to feel its hallucinogenic effects, I recommend getting yourself a pollinating grinder or box, scoring a hefty amount of kief, and try smoking an entire bowl taken from some really good dank. Odds are if you don't live in California, Colorado, Oregon or Washington, you wont be finding weed good enough to warrant putting in a pollinator.
BUT! If you can find pot that good, I recommend the Space Case brand of grinders. They are amazing. If for some reason I was forced to give up all of my paraphernalia save for one, my space case would be what I keep. I love it.
Comment Re:Legalization (Score 1) 647
As far as pot goes, it isn't excreted in your saliva. Consequently, saliva drug tests can only score positives for pot if there is still residue in your mouth from the last time you were smoking, and even then only if it was relatively recent (a few hours). So, as long as they're using saliva for the test, they should not be able to pull positives when you aren't high. Now, if they had a curtain and a cup, that would be a different story.
Games Fail To Portray Gender and Ethnic Diversity 590
eldavojohn writes "A new study has found that game characters tend not to reflect cultural diversity. According to the paper from researchers across four universities (PDF): 'A large-scale content analysis of characters in video games was employed to answer questions about their representations of gender, race and age in comparison to the US population. The sample included 150 games from a year across nine platforms, with the results weighted according to game sales. ... The results show a systematic over-representation of males, white and adults and a systematic under-representation of females, Hispanics, Native Americans, children and the elderly.' The researchers also note that games 'function as crucial gatekeepers for interest in science, technology, engineering and math,' and that without these groups represented properly, 'it may place underrepresented groups behind the curve.'"
AT&T Blocks Part of 4chan 342
holdenkarau writes "Several news sources (Mashable, The Inquistr, etc.) are reporting that AT&T is blocking img.4chan.org in the southern United States. That server is used for the infamous /b/ board (the home of anonymous). TechCrunch calls the decision to block 4chan 'stupid,' noting that they may have 'opened perhaps the most vindictive, messy can of worms.' The Inquisitr suggests that 'The global internet censorship debate landed in the home of the free.' moot (who runs 4chan) asks users to call AT&T, while some others suggest more drastic action (like cutting AT&T fiber)." Update: 07/27 09:23 GMT by T : Readers' comments below suggest that a) the purpose of the block was to curtail the effects of a serious DDoS attack and b) that the block has now been lifted, at least for some regions.
Ireland Criminalizes Blasphemy 1376
An anonymous reader writes "Another European country clamps down on free speech. From the article: 'It does seem bizarre that, in 2009, a modern European nation would seek to shield religious belief from criticism — yet that is what is happening in Ireland right now. In repealing the 1961 Defamation Act, the Irish government sought to expunge the worst excesses of Ireland's draconian laws restricting free speech, but in the process it has ended up making offending religious belief a criminal offence. Aside from a 25,000 fine (reduced from the 100,000 originally sought by the government), the new Defamation Act gives the authorities the power to stage raids on publishers: the courts may now issue a warrant authorising the police to enter, using "reasonable force," premises where they have grounds for believing there are copies of "blasphemous statements."'"
Desktop As a Cellphone Extension? 199
spaceman375 writes "Like many slashdotters, I've given up on landlines and have only a cell account. The problem: when I am home I don't want to carry my phone on my person, AND I don't want to have to run (possibly up or down stairs) to answer a call. Landlines solved this with extensions. I could go buy an xlink or other Bluetooth-to-POTS solution, but that takes money for equipment. My desktop has Bluetooth, as do my laptop and cell. All I want is a program that can use my cell's Bluetooth to make and receive calls from my Linux PC. I can do this with asterisk or related programs, but that is like buying UPS when I just need a taxi ride. Yet all I can find are programs that either use 'presence' to shift other-sourced calls to my cell, or ways to use a Bluetooth headset when receiving a call on a PC. Has anyone found a way to use their desktop to make and receive calls through their cell via Bluetooth?"
Monty Python Banks On the Long Tail Via YouTube 222
JTRipper writes "Monty Python seems to have done the right thing. Instead of issuing take down notices of their videos on YouTube, they are doing it better themselves with their own YouTube channel. They are putting all their clips (including snips from their movies) up in a decent resolution, with the only caveat being a link to buying the movies and TV episodes from Amazon."
"Back Door" Cheating Scandal Rocks Online Poker 427
AcidAUS sends us the story of an online poker cheating ring that netted an estimated $10M for its perpetrators over almost 4 years. The article spotlights the role of an Australian player who first performed the statistical analyses that demonstrated that cheating had to be going on. "In two separate cases, Michael Josem, from Chatswood, analyzed detailed hand history data from Absolute Poker and UltimateBet and uncovered that certain player accounts won money at a rate too fast to be legitimate. His findings led to an internal investigation by the parent company that owns both sites. It found rogue employees had defrauded players over three years via a security hole that allowed the cheats to see other player's secret (or hole) cards." The (Mohawk) Kahnawake Gaming Commission, which licenses the two poker companies, has released its preliminary report. MSNBC reporting from a couple of weeks back gives deep background on the scandal.
Researchers Identify Wi-Fi Dead Zones Cheaply 37
schliz writes "A new technique developed by HP Labs and Rice University could lower the cost of identifying 'dead zones' in large wireless networks. The technique '[combines] wireless signal models with publicly-available information about basic topography, street locations, and land use.' This enables Wi-Fi architects to test and refine their layouts cheaply before a network is deployed by focusing measurement efforts on areas that potentially could be dead zones. The technique requires only about one-fifth as many measurements as a grid sampling strategy."
The Facts & Fiction of Bandwidth Caps 394
wjamesau writes "What's the deal with broadband caps, like Comcast's 250GB/month data transfer limit, which goes into effect tomorrow? Om Malik at GigaOM has a whitepaper laying out the facts and fiction about Comcast's short-sightedness (which other carriers are mimicking), and how it will impact the future Internet: 'Given the growth trend due to consumers' changes in content consumption, today's power users are tomorrow's average users. By 2012, the bill for data access is projected to be around $215 per month.' Ouch." The white paper is embedded at the link using Scribd; for a PDF version you'll have to give up an email address.
Comment Help those that help you (Score 1) 267
https://secure.eff.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=DON_splash
EFF donation/membership page. "Get swell EFF gear with your donation!"
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