wongn - Slashdot User

Comment Re:The Pete Townsend defense, eh? (Score 2, Informative) 681

by wongn on Monday May 26, 2008 @10:42PM (#23551067) Attached to: UK Academics Arrested For Researching al-Qaida

In TFA, the student was researching (broadly) Islamic Politics. Which seems reasonable enough; it's regrettably a large part of perceived western views on Islamic politics. Additionally, it wasn't the student who originally downloaded the material who is now being threatened with deportation. Hisham Yezza was asked to print the document in question, and there's no evidence that he even read it.

Submission + - Manhunt 2 Rejected by BBFC (pro-g.co.uk)

Submitted by

JamesO

on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @07:16AM

JamesO writes: "The BBFC has today announced that Manhunt 2 for Wii and PlayStation 2 has been rejected, meaning the game cannot be legally supplied anywhere within the UK. The last video game to be rejected was Carmageddon back in 1997, although that decision was later overturned on appeal by the Video Appeals Committee.

The decision to reject Manhunt 2 was taken by the Director and the Presidential Team of Sir Quentin Thomas, Lord Taylor of Warwick and Janet Lewis-Jones.

"Rejecting a work is a very serious action and one which we do not take lightly. Where possible we try to consider cuts or, in the case of games, modifications which remove the material which contravenes the Board's published Guidelines. In the case of Manhunt 2 this has not been possible," said David Cooke, Director of the BBFC. "Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing. There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game."

Cooke goes on to say: "Although the difference should not be exaggerated the fact of the game's unrelenting focus on stalking and brutal slaying and the sheer lack of alternative pleasures on offer to the gamer, together with the different overall narrative context, contribute towards differentiating this submission from the original Manhunt game. That work was classified '18' in 2003, before the BBFC's recent games research had been undertaken, but was already at the very top end of what the Board judged to be acceptable at that category."

Under the terms of the Video Recordings Act an appeal can be made against the Board's decision. Manhunt 2 had been scheduled for release on Wii, PS2 and PSP on July 13."

Submission + - Deep Fritz Beats Chess World Champion

Submitted by The Saint (ST) on Friday December 08, 2006 @07:59AM

The Saint (ST) writes: Computer chess program Deep Fritz (http://www.chessbase.com) scored a clear victory (4-2) against the chess World Champion V.Kramnik in a match of six games that finished on Dec.5, 2006. This victory is considered more profound than the one of Deep Blue against Kasparov in 1997, because Deep Fritz is actually a commercial product (although running on a very fast computer). More about the duel here: http://www.kramnik.com/default.aspx and here: http://www.chessbase.com/eventlist.asp?eventname=K ramnik%20vs%20Deep%20Fritz

Submission + - Inside the biggest science experiment on earth

Submitted by ukhackster on Friday November 24, 2006 @11:18AM

ukhackster writes: One of the most exciting places on earth is CERN's European high-energy physics laboratory, where the Large Hadron Collider is being built. This will be used to smash particles together at very high speeds, in search of the elusive Higgs Boson particle. The experiment will start next year, when it will be closed to the public, but some journalists got a tour this week. This photo gallery shows the impressive scientific equipment that will power the LHC, and the massive computing power needed to cope with the 15,000,000GB of data it will generate each year. There's also a shot of the first Web server created by Tim Berners-Lee.

Submission + - Website to send student to space

Submitted by on Friday November 24, 2006 @07:24AM

An anonymous reader writes: A UK PhD student has built a website similar to the million dollar homepage hoping that it will raise enough money to send him to space. According to CNet, Michael Halls-Moore set up the site, called BuyMeToTheStars.com, this week and is "hoping to raise around $200,000 in order to achieve his dream. He will fly with Virgin Galactic's sub-orbital spaceflight service, which is planning to propel its first astronauts into space by 2009."

Submission + - Sony finds defect in digital cameras

Submitted by gbobeck on Friday November 24, 2006 @07:23AM

gbobeck writes: Sony has announced Friday that it found a defect in 8 Cyber-shot compact digital camera models. "The liquid crystal display screens of eight camera models might not display images correctly, images could be distorted or cameras might not take photos at all." The affected models were sold between September 2003 and January 2005 globally. According to Sony spokesman Chisato Kitsukawa, "Sony will repair for free only cameras that show signs of the problems."

Submission + - Second Life - the corporate invasion cometh...

Submitted by

Tyburn Franklie

on Tuesday November 14, 2006 @07:32AM

Tyburn Franklie writes: "So Second Life is entering its second phase. What with big-name brands (as seen here) colonising its virtual earth — and the media getting worked up into a frenzy of hype (Second Life: the Cheat Sheet? Yep, it's here) — the alternative world is looking more and more like the old one... Frankly it's been in the news more than Tony Blair's greying hair. There are even worries about virtual office etiquette (sorry guys: no guns in the office). And now Linden Labs has words of warning for would-be corporate warriors seeking a Second Life: "If you are not authentic and do not offer anything to the community, you are likely to be ignored, at best." Sage advice — whatever world you're in."

Journal Journal: Slashdot Subscriber Plums...Or How Slashdot Is Going Web 2.0 6

Journal by Real World Stuff on Monday October 30, 2006 @03:39PM

Forever the Grand Daddy of online web bulliten boards, Slashdot.org (Wholly owned by technology advertisement company VA),is moving from antiquated editorial processes, and moving toward upstat Digg.com collaborative content processes. By implementing FireHose, Slashdot.org allows for users to vote, or "digg", articles for promotion to publishing on the web site. Beta implementation of the kludge process introduces new coloring scheme, and more user input. Slashdot.org clings to the orig

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