Blizzard's New Educational Software Line!
Bliz always has the best pranks.
Reader Ravager!
Where in Sanctuary is Deckard Cain? (rated M of mature)
Working demos included. http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/blizzkidzz/
Happy 1st!
Posts by Jack
14 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Apr 2007
The best April 1 gags … or were they?
MeeGo and the Great Betrayal Myths of tech history
Thursday 23rd June 2011 21:37 GMT 
Correction: Betrayal Myth = Fascism
Betrayal myths are central to fascism, not communism -- in fact it's one of the three defining features of all fascist parties, along with a cult of the leader and the glorification and mythologization of supposed historical greatness of the race and/or nation.
See Nazi "stab in the back" myth for why Germany lost WWI.
Yes, I know, the other two forms of totalitarianism (communism and fundamentalism) are also premised on "active enemy" myths (class enemies and heretics/schismatics/unbelievers respectively) but those myths don't take the form of "betrayal".
OK, I'll step away from my history books now...
PARIS concocts commemorative cocktail
OOo contributors make a dash for LibreOffice
James Cameron poised to make Fantastic Voyage
Transformers helmsman demolishes English language
Tuesday 23rd June 2009 18:34 GMT
Spoken, Not Stirred
He must be using a dictation. Try reading what he "wrote" out loud - it makes perfect sense as spoken American English. Not that this is an excuse for what is, after all, attrocious grammar in a written missive, mind you: merely an explanation.
Whether spoken American English has anything to do with grammar (or the butchering thereof) is another matter entirely...
Scottish Parliament pr0n law faces angry opposition
Robots used to treat autistic kids
Thursday 19th February 2009 22:36 GMT 
Tantrum-izer More Like
As the father of a very cool little autistic 7 year old boy, allow me to sum up what will happen during this experiment:
Scientist:
"Here, let me just attach these electrodes..."
Kid:
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GTF AWAY FROM ME YOU PSYCHO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Parent:
"O_o, that's 4 new words today! You get a star!"
Teens use technology to party in strangers' pools
Wednesday 25th June 2008 18:25 GMT 
Skinny Skipping
We used to call that "skinny skipping".
I spent the summer after university (mid-80's) painting houses and partying with friends in New Haven CT. We'd have a few beers after work then go drive up into the hills where everyone had a pool. We'd all strip down - guys & girls alike - sneak over the fence or under the hedge, and silently slip into the pool. After a couple splashes or three we'd high tail it back to the car and skip on to the next house.
We were only pulled over once by a suspicious cop. Good thing his flashlight beam never made it below our chests as we never bothered to pull on our pants between stops... good times...
Martha Stewart criticised for swoop on town name
Monday 6th August 2007 19:01 GMT
Yes, Upstate NY
First, yes, Westchester County is upstate NY. Katonah is about an hour train ride north of NYC: I know, I grew up 10 miles from there in an even tinier town called Pound Ridge.
Next, this town, like most of northern Westchester, is so full of lawyers and money I seriously doubt she'll get away with anything. The local paper, The Patent Trader, has been covering this for weeks now. The residents understand fully what, if anything, is at stake.
Last, what they seem to be most concerned about (according the local paper) is the violation of their own sense of ownership. "Nobody Owns Katonah" is another way of saying "Hands off 'my' town name". Yes, they want to protect all 3 of the local businesses using "Katonah" in their name. But it's deeper than that. A proprietary sense runs deep in these towns. They take property very seriously.
With that proprietary sense as fuel, plus a healthy dose of the old-nouveau-riche snubbing the new-nouveau-riche, it should be fun to watch!
Israeli boffins bring life to human neuron culture
Don't let Windows Indexing Service know too much
Thursday 10th May 2007 17:53 GMT
Mac Indexing?
I know this is out-of-scope for a Windows discussion, but do you know what the security implications are for using the indexing service in OS X?
I assume indexing works in much the same way on both systems, by storing information in some form of .dat file. Apple claims that files in /usr are strongly encrypted and unrecoverable without the user password even by them - but this means little if you are not the administrator, doesn't it?
Suggestions? Warnings? Pointers to reliable sources of info on this?
Thanks in advance.
Dark mutterings on killer Wi-Fi in schools help no one
Tuesday 24th April 2007 14:14 GMT
American-ism?
Dear UK-ers:
What is going on over there? I would expect this kind of base-less fear mongering from my follow Americans, but from Brits? Oh sure, you can go a little fruity over fur coats but we could always count on your support for the important stuff: fry-ups, a proper pint and Page 3 girls.
Good God, get a grip. Y'all are supposed to be the sane English speakers.
It's all David Hasselhoff's fault, isn't it? You've been watching too much "Bay Watch", haven't you? Please stop it this instant.
Yours, etc. etc.
p.s. Have you tried the special radiation blocking tin-foil hats? Works wonders in my experience...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
