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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2004 9:55 pm Post subject: "News" from Beneath the Fold...
Welcome to the very first edition of the Animotions.com DailySpam! - All the News that unfit's, we Print!
This is going to be the Animotions news branch of the long running Radio Free thread currently hosted at 3-D Arena. Rather than controversy and Poser Community points of interest and oddball news, this will be geared more specifically to gaming, tech, and comics industry items of interest - just the sort of thing that Animotions is geared to. Hopefully readers will find it as useful as I find it enjoyable to put them together.
"Above the Fold" items will be links to various useful or informative sites, odd bits of news, threads of interest to the Animotions community from around the 'Net, the occassional announcement, and the even more occassional rant or editorial.
"Below the Fold" is excerpts of news items that I found interesting enough to share... always with a link to the origional article and source, and the odd one-liner wisecrack.
Haven't decided wether I'll make this an ongoing thread and add DailySpam! updates appended to the origional, or just make each edition it's own post yet. Probably the latter. Easier to keep track of the updates and old issues than digging through what can easily turn into a 300+ Post thread over time.
Feel free to jump in, comment, and add in your own tidbits and any handy news items/link you find. In spite of the name, updates probably won't be daily. ;]
Joe Zabel, author of Rapid Eye Movement, has added a 3D Comics weblog to his site. Informative and good reading, with a pretty good links listing to other comics blogs on his sidebar.
Our own Ariah81's online comic Wind Weaver had hit Chapter 4 in it's history...
TenTen is Back! Looks like he found some hosting, finally.
Firing Squad has a new image gallery of 15 Theif 3 screenshots, for all us jonesing Theif fans.
Make BLUES News a part of your daily browsing: all the gaming industry news you could shake a Tek Panel at and more.
"24 Hour Comics Day Besieged by Monkeys! - Posted: Friday, April 23 Posted By: Shawn Patty
Silver-Bulletins - Industry Veteran Dave Lanphear to broadcast 24 Hour Comics efforts live on the internet.
On Saturday, April 24th, 2004, cartoonists all over the globe will face the 24-hour comics? challenge. To help cartoonists face this challenge, some comic book stores, educational institutions, and comics clubs are hosting special 24 Hour Comics Day events. Artist Dave Lanphear has decided to go another route.
www.artmonkeys.com has hosted some strange and ambitious occurrences in its time, but nothing as strange and ambitious as what web surfers will find this Saturday. Beginning at midnight EST and running for the full 24 hours of Saturday April 24, 2004, CrossGen letterer and freelance cartoonist Dave Lanphear will be webcasting his 24 Hour Comics endeavor.
Realizing that many comics? fans cannot visit one of the various locations where 24 Hour Comics events are being held, Lanphear decided to bring the experience right into comics? fan?s homes via their internet connection.
?All too often I hear about comics? fans that can?t make it to conventions, signings and other fun comics? related activities,? laments Lanphear..."
Pretty cool. Making the 'Net work for 'em.
"Vivendi offers Starsiege, Tribes and Tribes 2 Free for download - Shilpi Das TECHtree.comApril 12, 2004
Vivendi Universal Games has announced to distribute its video games, Starsiege, Tribes and Tribes 2 free on a special edition of DVD-ROM. It is a special offer given to the users on the occasion of fourth quarter-release of Vivendi's Tribes: Vengeance, the next installment of Tribes games.
The DVD will be bundled with the June issue of Computer Gaming World magazine and is expected to hit the stores on around 4th May 2004. The online edition of the games can be accessed and downloaded from FilePlanet
Like its predecessors, Tribes: Vengeance is a first person action packed game where the gamers become immersed in a roiling galactic thriller. Besides this, while playing the game, the players catch glimpses of interrelated stories that unfold behind-the-scenes which give them opportunity to experience multiple viewpoints and characters....."
Very cool. Sounds like a good offer, and a nice bonus for anyone who missed out on the first installments.
"MSN Messenger's got game - Last modified: April 22, 2004, 5:24 PM PDT By Ed Frauenheim Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Microsoft on Thursday introduced a new subscription service for playing games using its MSN Messenger instant messaging software.
The move, which coincides with the release of an upgrade to the software, comes on the heels of a new version of America Online's rival ICQ instant messaging program, which also features games.
MSN Messenger, ICQ, AOL's AIM and Yahoo's IM program are competing to attract millions of computer users who want the ability to communicate online at quick speeds, without many of the hassles of e-mail exchanges.
Microsoft said its MSN Instant Games Clubhouse initially will offer four head-to-head games: "Wheel of Fortune," a word game called "Upwords," an online billiards game and a version of chess. Customers in the United States can play all the games for free as part of a 14-day trial.
Monthly subscriptions for "Wheel of Fortune," billiards and "Upwords" cost $4.99 per game, while a monthly subscription to chess costs $3.99. Microsoft also is offering introductory price discounts for year-long subscriptions...."
Heh. As FARK puts it: "MSN to start gaming service like Yahoo's, only with less games and costing money" *snicker*
"Integrated testing of airborne ray gun completed - From e4engineering.com, 22 April 2004
Lockheed Martin has completed factory testing of the optical benches for the Airborne Laser's Beam Control/Fire Control (BC/FC) system. The Airborne Laser (ABL) is the first megawatt-class laser weapon system to be carried on a specially configured 747-400F aircraft, designed to autonomously detect, track and destroy hostile ballistic missiles.
The Beam Control/Fire Control system will point, focus and fire the laser to provide sufficient energy to destroy the missile while it is still in the boost phase of flight, before separation of its warheads.
The ABL program is managed by the Missile Defence Agency and is executed by the US Air Force from Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Lockheed Martin said in a statement that it had completed functional and performance testing of the two major elements of the Beam Control/Fire Control system - the Multi-Beam Illuminator (MBIL) and the Beam Transfer Assembly (BTA) - at its Sunnyvale, California facility...."
Sunnyvale? What's this... the Buffy ABMD?
"Used Cellphones Find a Market Among Bare-Bones Users - By MARCIA BIEDERMAN Published: April 22, 2004 NY Times
EVEN as the latest cellphone models arrive in showcases, a new breed of shopper is scouring online ads and dark corners of stores for a bargain phone with a little mileage on it. As cellphones become routine for even the cash-strapped and the very young, more Americans are willing to pay for handsets previously used by other hands.
Josh Cain, 16, of Los Angeles spent $29.99 last month for a refurbished Siemens C56 offered by AT&T Wireless at its Web site (www.attws.com) as part of its pay-as-you-go GoPhone plan. A computer-science major at California State University, Los Angeles - he entered at age 13 - Josh already had a cellphone included in his father's Verizon Wireless account. But the refurbished handset was "a cheap option to try out G.S.M.," he said, referring to the Global System for Mobile Communications, a standard used by AT&T Wireless, T- Mobile, Cingular and many European carriers.
Now, having tested the used phone in the Los Angeles hills, "I'm thinking of keeping it," he said. "I go over on my Verizon phone, and my dad doesn't want to switch to a higher plan."
Widely accepted in poorer countries, secondhand cellphones are finding new roles in the United States. Several prepaid wireless services are using them to court customers, and some carriers say they will activate service on cellphones that a consumer or dealer in secondhand phones has "unlocked" from software tying it to another network.
Many customers for these retreads are more interested in price tags than multimedia messaging or games of Snake II. "They say, 'I just want to make a phone call,' " said Jay Ellison, executive vice president of U.S. Cellular..."
Heh. Bodes ill for telecom industry drive to sell phones with more gadgets than a spaceshuttle. Link via Boing Boing
"Nvidia acquires network processor maker - By Tony Smith TheREGISTER Published Friday 23rd April 2004 09:24 GMT
Nvidia took a step to broaden its product line beyond its traditional graphics offerings by acquiring the technology assets of networking and storage processor developer iReady.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it encompasses all of privately held iReady's intellectual property, including patents both granted and pending. A "core" collection of iReady engineers have been given jobs at Nvidia..."
Interesting. nVidia reaches for the sky - wonder how long til they pull a 3Dfx?
"Raids Seek to Break Web Piracy Rings: Justice Department sweep targets global 'warez' groups distributing software, music, and games. - By Nick Davis TECH Tv
Pressing on in its fight against illegal Internet distribution of copyright-infringing materials, the U.S. Department of Justice today announced a massive antipiracy sweep of at least 120 locations worldwide, including 80 domestic searches in 27 states.
The FBI, coordinating with law enforcement in at least 10 foreign countries, has seized computers and servers said to be holding at least $50 million worth of illegally pirated material.
Tonight on "Tech Live," we'll show you what agents seized in an Arizona raid connected to what the Justice Department has dubbed Operation Fastlink.
Global raids, no arrests
Agents raided various locations in the United States, while other raids were conducted in Singapore, Israel, and European countries including Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark, France, and Germany.
Operation Fastlink resulted in the seizure of 200 computers, including more than "30 computer servers" that are said to have been functioning as storage and distribution hubs for pirated materials. These pirated materials include movies, music, and computer programs. One server reportedly contained 65,000 separate pirated titles.
There were no arrests in the United States, and the DOJ was unable to confirm any arrests overseas..."
DoJ - helping to stamp out piracy in our lifetimes. Kinda... maybe.
"A Window in Time: A Look Back at the 3D Industry - FiringSQUAD January 19, 2004 Alan
Sometimes, the best stories are the ones from the past that have been forgotten. If Nintendo was less cocky, they would have had the Sony Playstation under their own brand. The Soviet MiG-15s that ruled the skies over Korea (initially) would not have existed if the Rolls Royce company did not sell the plans to the jet engine (after the head was hustled in a game of pool.)
Recently, while cleaning out my hardware closet, I was reminded that the 3D graphics industry is also rich with many stories that have not yet been told.
Some stories you know, such as our world exclusive NVIDIA NV2 article, our feature behind the fall of 3dfx, a look at what happened to the original Hercules, and even the true story of the Bitboys. Some stories will remain untold for a few more years? some stories need storytellers, but today, we'll go back and take a look at the graphics products that deserve a spot in the history books.
We'll be looking at products from PowerVR, S3, Matrox, ATI, and NVIDIA -- we've already written everything we know about 3dfx.
Today, ATI and NVIDIA dominate the graphics industry. It wasn't always like this -- in fact, it was the complete opposite. In this article, we're going to go back..."
Decent overview of 3D Industry history... don't think they covered the Rise and Fall of the Curious Labs Empire though.
"War of words rages over Internet taps - By Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus Apr 14 2004 6:35PM
The public comment period on a Justice Department proposal to make the Internet easier to wiretap ended Monday with most of the filed comments tracing a clean line between two opposing camps: on the government's side, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies who perform wiretaps, allied with companies who sell surveillance equipment and services; on the other, Internet companies who would be forced by the plan to make changes to their networks, along with advocacy groups concerned about slowed innovation and an incursion on Internet privacy.
The controversy kicked off last month when the Department of Justice, the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration jointly petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to immediately direct broadband providers to modify their networks to be more easily wiretapped by law enforcement, and to begin an "expedited rulemaking" of new regulations that would mandate that any new communications technology be certified as wiretap-ready by the government before launch. The petition capped over a year of low-key lobbying at the commission by Justice and FBI lawyers seeking to expand the reach of the 1994 Communication's Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which already mandates surveillance backdoors in U.S. telephone networks. The FCC issued a notice on the proposal, and opened the question to public comments..."
Hey hey ho ho - The FCC has got to go.
Security Focus wrote:
'Criminals have the ability to act on a network in microseconds.' -- VeriSign
Which is a good reason to keep the Gov out of the 'Net - there's already enough criminals on the Internet without adding the FBI.
***********************************************
Warning! You are now entering a DoJ Free Zone. Buffy TVS Brand Orbital Mind Control Lasers available at the Kiosk near the White Courtesy Phones.
Remember - It's Radio Free: We may not get to it first but we cover it a lot less thoroughly...
Quote for the Day wrote:
"I've been checking around the web, and I found out Trudeau denies that his inker, Don Carlson, draws the strip. Trudeau claims it's a false rumor that came from an "Entertainment Weekly" story. Funny, I believe I read it in a cartoonist trade magazine back in the Eighties. I probably still have the issue." - Little Tiny Lies
Nice thing about online comics is they're not only funnier than Doonesbury, but a tree doesn't die for them. ;]
Posted: Sun May 09, 2004 12:14 am Post subject: Re: "News" from Beneath the Fold...
Not *quite* another RFI, wadus, so yer safe. Just the DailySpam! section of it on tech, gaming and comics news, on an "As I have the spare time" basis. ;]
First off, say hello to our newest Staff, Xena and Hawkfyr. Plus, congratulate Sharby and BillyBob on their promotions to Chief Evil Minionh--- errr... Adminhood. ;]
Ko. We're Chiefed up. I think we just had a Staff infection. Umm.. infusion. Now we need indians... anyone want a Mod-job? Line forms on the left. Noooo.. your other left. You there - yeah you - down in front. Seriously, if you think you might be interested in a fast paced exciting technical career as a forum weasel herder, contact me via PM.
He's baaaaccccccccckkkkk!!! Anton joins RDNA with a Maximus preview.
His Kung-Fu is puny - he stillcannot Render. Careful with that axe, Eugene...
In case you missed the announcement, Daz is running a Bryce Madness Sale right now.
Speaking of Daz, The Heiress Watch is ended - Daz sent all the forumites a decapitation video. Ewww... AND they're towing cars now! Oh where will this horror end?!?
"Time Travelers Welcome at MIT - Page 1 of 1 By Mark Baard | 02:00 AM May. 09, 2005 PT
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- If John Titor was at the Time Traveler Convention last Saturday night at MIT, he kept a low profile.
Titor, the notorious internet discussion group member who claims to be from the year 2036, was among those invited to the convention, where any time traveler would have been ushered in as an honored guest.
"We were hoping Titor might show up," said Massachusetts Iinstitute of Technology grad student Amal Dorai, convention organizer. "Maybe he's going to make a grand entrance."
The convention, which drew more than 400 people from our present time period, was held at MIT's storied East Campus dormitory. It featured an MIT rock band, called the Hong Kong Regulars, and hilarious lectures by MIT physics professors. The profs were treated like pop stars by attendees fascinated by the possibility of traveling back in time..."
Time travelers welcome - but cash and carry only.
"Lightning Strike Raises Stink in Iowa CLEAR LAKE, Iowa (AP) -- Lightning hit some Alliant Energy equipment and created a stink strong enough to wake up some residents. The rotten-egg smell was caused early Wednesday when lightning hit an odorizer, a device that mixes a chemical with a foul odor into the natural gas system, officials said.
Its purpose is to alert people to possible leaks, since natural gas itself is odorless.
The lightning struck at about 4 a.m., Alliant spokesman Ryan Stensland said.
He said it "fried" the odorizer and allowed the system to be flooded with the stinking chemical..."
'Ees not only Thor, 'ee smells bad, too...
"Put Smut in Its Place - WIRED Page 1 of 2 By Regina Lynn | 02:00 AM May. 13, 2005 PT
I stayed up all night Monday reading Smut: A Sex Industry Insider (and Concerned Father) Says Enough Is Enough by Gil Reavill.
Reavill is a journalist who started his career at porn rag Screw before going on to write for Penthouse and Maxim. He's also a father and co-author (with Jean Zimmerman) of Raising Our Athletic Daughters: How Sports Can Build Self-Esteem and Save Girls' Lives.
He's no prude, and he's no extremist. But he is tired of the porn creep that has turned mainstream entertainment into a sex-saturated parody of itself. And as I finished each chapter, I found myself thinking "yeah!" and "what he said!" instead of what I'd expected to think (which was something along the lines of "whatever, get over it").
"(The) internet ... represents a shared commons or public square," he writes. "It presents an engrossing portrait of who we are as a society, as a culture and as human beings." And it also houses "the nastiest neighborhoods of any town on Earth."
Reavill makes it clear that he sees nothing wrong with sexually explicit material "being available to every consenting adult who seeks it out." He reminds us -- several times -- that he opposes government censorship, supports freedom of speech and belongs to the American Civil Liberties Union.
But he objects strenuously to having smut flung in our faces when we're not looking for it, not consenting to it or not old enough to understand it. He's not alone...."
But but but... It's only smutty if you're doing it right!
Regina Lynn wrote:
My own perspective on porn has fluctuated over the years. I've enjoyed it, ignored it, purchased it, defended it, despaired of it, researched its history, been bored by it and written a handful of dirty stories I've never gotten around to submitting anywhere. But I've never, not even once, thought it should be shown to someone who didn't want to see it...
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl movie is now available from GSC Game World's upcoming first-person shooter, showing off DirectX 9.1 features of the game's graphics engine. The 43 MB download is available at 3D Gamers PLUS: A new 25 to Life movie shows off more of the upcoming crime-and-punishment third-person shooter. The 7 MB download is available on the Eidos FTP server.
Kewl stuff. Hattip to Blue's News. Blue's News - where all your Gaming News hangs out.
"One Bad Apple Can Ruin it for Everybody - FiringSquad.com April 01, 2005 Alan
Introduction:
Recently, Apple Computer successfully sued a number of “bloggers” running Apple rumor websites, forcing them to divulge their source of leaked Apple information. In this precedent-setting lawsuit, it was determined that posting leaked information was in effect theft of protected trade secrets. This ruling has significant reprecussions beyond leaked rumors and may be a major setback for online journalism.
Summary of the Case
I’ll start by summarizing the case as briefly as I can for all of us non-lawyers. Keep in mind that this is designed to just highlight the important points of discussion and is not a comprehensive discussion.
In December, several Apple enthusiast online magazines such as AppleInsider and PowerPage published information on Apple's upcoming Firewire audio interface for GarageBand, then codenamed “Asteroid.” The information included a diagram from a confidential Apple slide presentation and contained a list of specifications taken verbatim from the slide. Apple filed a lawsuit against 25 “John Does” for leaking confidential trade secrets and in doing so, violating California’s Uniform Trade Secret Act.
However, Apple had no clue who they were actually suing. Literally. They were suing 25 hypothetical individuals for leaking information and not the journalists themselves. While this appeared to be a pointless lawsuit to some, assuming that it was simply Apple trying to save face, this was actually only the first step. With the formal lawsuit in the system, Apple then issued subpoenas to the journalists running those websites demanding that the operators of those websites divulge their sources. The teams running the websites argued that as journalists, they were entitled to a journalist’s right to preserve the anonymity of their sources and the first amendment rights of free speech. Consequently they filed to have protection under the law from Apple’s subpoenas...."
Apple vs the Bloggers, Round 1...
"Google's Accelerator Breaks Web Apps, Security - By Matt Hicks May 6, 2005 eWeek.com
Google's effort to speed the pace of Web browsing quickly aggravated some early users, who say that the software is delivering them Web pages under other users' logins and breaking Web applications.
Google Inc.'s Web Accelerator application, launched as a test on Wednesday, uses a combination of local and server-based caching and preloading of Web pages to more quickly serve Web pages to a user's browser. Google's servers, in many ways, act as an intermediary between Web sites and a user's browser.
But Google's approach has had some unintended consequences. Google officials Friday confirmed that the company was aware of as many as five sites where Web Accelerator was returning users cached pages under other people's user names.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company has stopped caching pages from those sites, said Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer Web...."
The CuriousLabs of search engines strikes again!
"Former Daz Star exposed in police roundup Draper, Utah -- Among those arrested in a ten borough derelict sweep yesterday evening, Spuggles T. Oon is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, May 16th on Public Indecency charges. Police Spokesperson Barry Buzzwicke stated: "We normally don't bother much with toons - they're not noted for clothing anyway. But when they take to accosting random Daz employees on loading docks, we have to take notice."
Following his metoric descent from the Daz spotlights, Spuggles career has been steadily on the decline through a decreasing number of RFI spots and infrequent guest appearences on the x2000 Show. Police sources say they're giving little credulence to the former celebrities claims on his behalf that his recent activities are a result of having escaped from alien abductors. Spuggles attorney states that while he has no plans to use the abduction claims in his cleint's defense, "... it isn't unknown for victims of similar experiences to undergo personality degradation stemming from technological psychosis induction, and we're keeping all of our bases open at the moment."
Daz CEO Dan Farr was unavailable for comment as of press time..."
Rest assured that RFI will be following developments closely. Someone has to...
Quote:
"Maybe we need to add courses in remedial humor to journalism schools." - Jeff Jarvis
"University Of Chicago Researchers Reveal Secrets Of Snake Flight - Science Daily.com
It seems size does matters after all. But for flying snakes, smaller is better, according to University of Chicago researchers.
In the May 15, 2005, issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology (http://jeb.biologists.org/content/vol208/issue10/), scientists described the effects of size and behavior of flying snakes, and found that the smaller animals were better gliders.
"Despite their lack of wing-like appendages, flying snakes are skilled aerial locomotors," said lead scientist and author Jake Socha, Ph.D., who has been studying these unique creatures for the past eight years.
With the help of colleagues Michael LaBarbera, professor of organismal biology and anatomy at Chicago, and Tony O'Dempsey, an expert in photogrammetry, Socha used 3-D flight information from the synchronized recordings of two video cameras to digitally reconstruct the trajectories, speed and body postures of Chrysopelea paradisi, or paradise tree snake, and Chrysopelea ornata, golden tree snake.
In this study, Socha, who also is a biologist at Argonne National Laboratory, found that paradise tree snakes are true gliders, traveling further horizontally than dropping vertically. The best flight Socha recorded traveled 13 degrees from the horizon at the end of its trajectory.
Socha correlated 19 performance variables, such as glide angle and horizontal speed, of the snake's flight with 16 size and behavior variables, such as mass and snout-vent length, of the animal's body. He found that body length and wave amplitude are important predictors of flight behavior, but wave frequency was not..."
Because you just never know when we're going to have to turn normal ground snakes into air launched cruise snakes...
Update: The convention was a mixed success. Unfortunately, we had no confirmed time travelers visit us, yet many time travelers could have attended incognito to avoid endless questions about the future. We had a great series of lectures, awesome bands, and even a DeLorean. We regret having had to turn away visitors, but there were capacity restrictions governing Morss Hall. Thanks so much to the dozens of people who helped...
Of course they didn't show up - they were all here and at XFX-3D having a brew. ;]
I gotta say... Titor's a real prick when he's drunk, too...
Today's Best of FARK one-liners says: "Australians invent wine in a can, export it to Japan. Taste test shows Japanese can't tell the difference between canned wine and a dead crab..." - Some of the best wine I ever had tasted like dead crabs. On the way back up, anyway...
Hrrm... *bemused* Ok, I KNOW I have the FREE Dystopia City Blocks 11-20 in Poser format, and they were already available. I'm looking at them in my runtime right this moment, and at the zip on my harddrive via p3d0 explorer. k?
So... why are they beta testing those same blocks for poser again?
I mean: looks like the exact same block to my eye that I'm looking at on my workstation's screen, and I just loaded it out of my poser library. Maybe they're adding P6 material room upgrades on the materials, as someone in RFI suggested?
Meanwhile, "deep into the Geek Sector", Jame Lileks has Trek remembrances going on.
Wow! HIS Kung-fu is downright anemic! He cannot even load See? Poser *is* a virus!
I mean, it's cool and all. But do you really believe that people would use it to re-create Sherlock Holmes mysteries and old-west saloons? Come on, we all know what the holodeck would be used for. And we also know what the worst job on the Enterprise would be: Having to squeegie the holodeck clean...
*snicker* And that one maybe shoulda gone in over at Rotica, but what the hell. ;]
"No Real Debate for Real ID - WIRED Page 1 of 2 next » By Kim Zetter 02:00 AM May. 10, 2005 PT
Hundreds of civil liberties groups, immigrant support groups and government associations oppose the Real ID Act, a piece of legislation that critics say would produce a de facto national ID card, cost states millions of dollars and punish undocumented immigrants.
Yet despite widespread opposition to the bill, it passed through the House last week and is expected to easily pass through the Senate on Tuesday.
The legislation is raising questions not only about privacy and costs but about the ways in which critical legislation gets passed in Congress.
That's because lawmakers slipped the bill into a larger piece of legislation -- an $82 billion spending bill -- that authorizes funds for the Iraq war and tsunami relief, among other things, and is considered a must-pass piece of legislation.
It's not the first time Congress has slipped contentious bills into larger legislation that is almost guaranteed to pass. In 2003, Congress augmented Patriot Act surveillance powers with wording slipped into the Intelligence Authorization Act, a bill that authorized funding for intelligence agencies...."
I think it's past time for Mr Misrepresentative to meet Mr. Rope and Mrs. Lamppost. Some assembly required.
A survey to be released Monday reveals a wide gap on many media issues between a group of journalists and the general public. In one finding, 43% of the public says the press has too much freedom, while only 3% of journalists agree. And just 14% of the public can name "freedom of the press" as a guarantee in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, in the major poll conducted by the University of Connecticut Department of Public Policy.
Fascinating. And disturbing.
"Serenity Comic Bridges Gap - Sci-fi Wire
Joss Whedon-creator of TV's SF series Firefly and its upcoming movie, Serenity-told SCI FI Wire that he has penned a prequel comic series, based in part on an animated project that never got off the ground. The three-issue Dark Horse Serenity miniseries hits comic shops on July 6.
"We had talked about doing an animated Serenity prequel, because Universal was into that," Whedon said in an interview. "Brett Matthews [Whedon's comic co-writer] and I worked on a story, and then Universal decided not to go ahead with the project. We thought, 'Well, we have exactly the story we want to tell, and it's almost like a prequel to the Serenity movie.' And so we said, 'Comics might be the place to tell this story.'"
The Serenity comics tell the story of a heist gone wrong and old enemies out for revenge. Along the way Capt. Malcolm Reynolds (played in the film by Nathan Fillion) finds himself the target of a conspiracy between government and mercenary forces, and Reynolds' ragtag crew must try to unite behind their compromised leader..."
I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything, but I'd rather have Firefly back than a stinking comicbook. Meanwhile: First look at some Serenity Comic interior pages, scroll down the link a bit to find 'em. [No permalinks there]
"Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-Fight - "NEWS".BBC
An African Lion much like this is responsible for the death of 28 Cambodian Midgets
Spectators cheered as entire Cambodian Midget Fighting League squared off against African Lion
Tickets had been sold-out three weeks before the much anticipated fight, which took place in the city of Kâmpóng Chhnãng.
The fight was slated when an angry fan contested Yang Sihamoni, President of the CMFL, claiming that one lion could defeat his entire league of 42 fighters.
Sihamoni takes great pride in the league he helped create, as was conveyed in his recent advertising campaign for the CMFL that stated his midgets will "... take on anything; man, beast, or machine."
This campaign is believed to be what sparked the undisclosed fan to challenge the entire league to fight a lion; a challenge that Sihamoni readily accepted..."
Hey ya'll - Watch THIS! We don't often get Death by Stupidity in the large economy size at the DailySpam!
"People-pardon me, journalists and politicians-have often accused me of believing that I'm above the law. And yet, who isn't? ... The law is created by demonstrable criminals, enforced by demonstrable criminals, interpreted by demonstrable criminals, all for demonstrably criminal purposes. Of course I'm above the law. And so are you."
So say we all. ;]
"Researchers tout positive effects of video games: Gamers get high marks for problem-solving, careful risk-taking - By George Lewis Correspondent NBC News
Updated: 7:35 p.m. ET May 19, 2005
LOS ANGELES - If you're in the $10 billion-a-year video game business, L.A. is the place to be this week, at something called "E3," the Electronic Entertainment Expo. It's an enormous, raucous trade show, where the likes of Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft show off their latest game boxes as they shoot it out for the hearts, minds and fingers of America's youth.
The noise from hundreds of video games going all at once is deafening. This collection of high-tech toys raises the perennial question: What are these games doing to our kids?
Some who've studied the subject say, surprisingly, video games, played in moderation, can actually help young people develop mental skills that will serve them well in adult life..."
I know the skills I acquired fragging Strogg in Quake II have stood me in good stead in adult life...
"Sapphire gets into heavy metal cooling: E3 Launching X850 liquid metal cooled - By Fuad Abazovic in Los Angeles: Wednesday 18 May 2005, 19:14 theINQUIRER.net
SAPPHIRE IS releasing its next generation of graphic card coolers based on liquid metal. That's the latest greatest marchitecture and it's even more efficient than water cooling.
How it works is very simple, you have some liquid metal and some pipes and metal will actually circle the pipes using electromagnetic phenomenon and will be able to cool the card just fine. Some early testing showed that prototype cooled Radeon X850XT PE card to just 12 Celsius..."
And on its day off, it can hunt for Sarah Connor...
Quote:
"One of the blogosphere’s greatest strengths is that it’s an unfiltered roar of noise-and one can pick and choose among each of the voices to suit one’s own taste. Taming this into some aggregation would be a mistake, in my opinion---that’s already being done by the mainstream media, with their editorial boards and policies." - Kim du Toit
"Furry Toy Souvenirs Made With Real Fur, Hide - POSTED: 5:48 pm EDT May 20, 2005
ORLANDO, Fla. -- An Eyewitness News investigation has found Central Florida stores selling furry souvenirs made with real animal hide and fur.
They come in all shapes and sizes. They are furry animals for your kids to cuddle, but these animals are far from cuddly.
"This one, believe it or not, is made from rat fur," WFTV reporter Steve Barret told parent Angie Wynn, showing her a toy.
"Oh, that's gross," Wynn replied.
Channel 9 bought animal figurines at Central Florida shops and sent them for DNA analysis at a nationally known crime lab. The results were startling. The animals weren't covered in synthetic fur, but in real animal hides such as goat and rabbit. Some of a toy kangaroo's fur came from what appears to be rat, and the lab couldn't rule out dog hide and fur on a monkey..."
Moooommmm!!! They skinned Bambi!!!
Quote:
Parents say the thought of their children playing with real fur and hide is unimaginable.
Okayyyy.... We're an awful long way from our pioneering roots, huh? ;]
Today's Best of FARK one-liners says: "As Freud said, sometimes a cigar is only a cigar, but when it's 45 feet long, sometimes somebody's got issues..." - Actually, Drew, it was 62 feet long.
XFX-3d is having its Grand Opening this week. The public is welcome to join and subscribe at any time. Administrative features are functioning and self-editing features will become avilable. Subscriptions are ready and working and we have 49 downloads avaikable at the time of this writing..
Ya'll check it out, y'heah?
*ROFLMAO!* Ok, this may be the only Revenge of the Sith movie review you'll ever need: The Sith Hits The Fans
"Zion: Aw, that Vader person is crying.
steveo: He's crying because he just killed Knute Gunray, the only person in the galaxy who could get Anakin those imported Japanese dating games he likes so much..."
"Two hurt in mock light sabre duel - "News".BBC.co.uk
Two Star Wars fans are in a critical condition in hospital after apparently trying to make light sabres by filling fluorescent light tubes with petrol.
A man, aged 20, and a girl of 17 are believed to have been filming a mock duel when they poured fuel into two glass tubes and lit it.
The pair were rushed to hospital after one of the devices exploded in woodland at Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.
A third person present at the incident had been questioned, police said.
Videotape found
A videotape was found nearby by police called to the scene on Sunday...."
Okayyy.... Today's Near Death by Stupidity on Videotape Episode brung to you by LucasFilms.
"Star Wars to become new TV series - "News".BBC.co.uk
Two Star Wars TV series will follow the latest movie in the hit film franchise, director George Lucas has said.
Animated show Clone Wars, currently broadcast as three-minute episodes, will become "a 3D animated" series of 30-minute shows, he said.
It would be followed by a live-action series featuring characters from the six Star Wars movies, he added.
"We're probably not going to start that for about a year," he told a Star Wars convention in Indianapolis..."
Gods help us...
"BALL WITH HIDDEN CAMERA - SkyNews
A ball with a secret camera and night vision could be used to spy on terrorist strongholds.
The Eye Ball can be bowled into dangerous situations to assess risks to police officers.
The device has been shown to the British police force and is currently being tested in the US by 20 police forces.
One of its potential uses is to be tossed into a room where armed terrorists are holding hostages or where a violent suspect might be hiding..."
Bowling for terrorists. ;]
"ALL CHANGE AT THE TOP - SkyNEWS
Buxom computer character Lara Croft is being given a trimmer figure for the next Tomb Raider game.
Her slight waist used to prop up a 36DD bust, but makers Eidos have decided to reduce her cup size to a more realistic C-size cup.
Lara, fantasy to millions of gamers, is set to set to present fans with another surprise - less revealing clothing.
Some of her outfits will be toned down in the skimpiness stakes and in other scenes the combat-wearing tight-top fighter will even don round-neck, full-length sweaters.
The new-look Lara Croft will be revealed in Tomb Raider: Legend..."
Lara with a boob job?!?
Matt Gorman wrote:
"The days of selling Lara as boobs and guns are over."
Eeek! Say it's not SO!!!
"WARNING ON DALEK TORTURE - SkyNEWS
Children have been banned from buying the new Dr Who series because it shows cruelty to Daleks.
The British Board of Film Classification has ruled shops cannot sell videos or DVDs to children aged under 12.
The Dalek episode, which will be screened on television in June, shows the last Dalek in the universe imprisoned and chained by a billionaire.
He tortures it with drills and the Doctor taunts the defenceless Dalek, saying he has wiped out its race..."
DALEK torture?!? ROFLMAO!!!
Quote:
"MIT's Jenkins agrees that producers and regulators of popular culture share a common goal: control of an audience that is inherently beyond control. Although they obviously benefit from pleasing consumers, producers of popular culture have an ambivalent relationship with their audience, says Jenkins. That's because fans don't merely accept what they are given--they actively appropriate or reshape things to their own liking. Such activity can take any number of forms, from letter-writing campaigns, to producing 'unauthorized' novels, stories, and song cycles, to recutting videotaped footage into 'new' episodes. In an age where photocopying, audio sampling, videotaping, and computer technology make it ever easier for fans to cut and paste their own versions of pop culture, it is increasingly difficult for original producers to control all representations of their product, says Jenkins, who notes that Star Trek distributor Viacom has cracked down on fan clubs in Australia over fan-generated materials." - Nick Gillespie
"Victim's E-journal led to slay suspect - BY KERRY BURKE, SCOTT SHIFREL and MELISSA GRACE NY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
A doomed Queens man's chilling computer entry led cops to a suspect who allegedly robbed and killed the victim and his sister to finance a return to China, police said yesterday.
Jin Lin, 23, was charged with first-degree murder yesterday in the bloody slayings of Sharon and Simon Ng in their Kew Gardens Hills apartment Thursday, officials said.
Cops zeroed in on Lin, who once dated the woman, because Ng typed a journal entry into his computer fingering his sister's ex-boyfriend as the suspect, police said.
"He wrote that he was wondering why Lin was there and wished he would leave," said Police Officer Jennara Everleth, an NYPD spokeswoman.
Cops said that Ng, 19, let Lin into the second-floor apartment in the late afternoon when Lin asked if he could wait for the 21-year-old Sharon.
Sgt. Michael Breidenbach, head of the 107th Precinct detective squad, said the entry turned Lin's alibi upside down..."
Suspect reportedly joins MSM in cursing bloggers...
Today's Best of FARK one-liners says: "Colorado brewery unveils Gonzo Imperial Porter in honor of Hunter S. Thompson, cautions you may see huge reptiles after consuming it, but they can be overcome by massive firepower" - you may want to have a Harley handy, just in case.
Warning! You are now entering a Dalek Free Zone. Industrial strength Dremel and diassembly diagrams available at the Kiosk near the White Courtesy Phones.
Remember - It's Radio Free: Chronicalling the protracted death of the Clue Faerie since late 2000.
Quote for the Day wrote:
"America is a nation without a distinct criminal class..with the possible exception of Congress." - Mark Twain
Something Awful does the worst Super Hero costumes of All Time. Heh - they shoulda checked Daz3D. Oh... they said Hero costumes, not Hiro. My bad.
Zack wrote:
You never know when a mod mob gorilla will strike you down. You could be minding your business gliding in midair down the boulevard when suddenly a huge and very fresh purple hand will wrap around your most personal of areas...
For those of you interested in the status of the Open3DProject we have had a turn of events that have strengthened the project but delayed our offering. In the spirit of cooperation, Sixus 1 Media has offered to combine the Project Human figures with the Zygote figures for this initiative.
eFrontier and Zygote view this as a very positive event for the Open3DProject, allowing our organization to immediately have rigged figures available....
Interesting.
Radio Free Link(s) for the Day:StarWars Revelations - seemed appropriate in light of Lucas' multibillion dollar bust.
RFI Gratuitous Hopolophobe Repellent Link:Lar Grizzly Mark 1 in .45 Winchester Magnum. Good for those Episode III easter egg hunts. Just imagine what it'd do to an ewok, too...
"'Star Wars' fan has 'Revelations' - By Anthony Breznican, USA TODAY
A long time ago (three years), in a galaxy far, far from Hollywood (northern Virginia), a graphic designer named Shane Felux set out to make his own Star Wars movie.
And Felux, a cross between Han Solo and Don Quixote, did it for the cost of an average Honda Accord.
Fan films had been done before, usually only a few minutes long and with a jokey premise. The online site AtomFilms is full of them, and Lucasfilm hosts a contest every year to honor the best. The most famous short, Troops, was a parody of the TV crime show Cops, featuring Stormtroopers responding to routine crimes.
But Felux, 33, wanted to create a serious 40-minute adventure film, complete with spacecraft chases, lightsaber duels, extraterrestrial cityscapes, treasure-seeking Jedi and a rivalry-obsessed DarthVader...."
"Game lets you create own species - BBC.newsround
A computer game which lets you make your own species has been developed.
The game, called Spore, is made by the man behind the Sims game, and it lets you grow your own race which can exist on any planet in space.
Spore is based on the evolution of life. You start off with an amoeba in a 2D world, then slowly grow creatures and choose their characteristics.
"I want to allow people to create their own world," creator Will Wright said. It's due out in shops in summer 2006.
The computer game will be so clever that once the player's chosen how it will look, and how many legs it will have etc, the technology will accurately work how out it will behave and move..."
I'm not sure what my species is. Can I still make one of me?
"Vigilante hackers mete cyber justice - The AUSTRALIAN By Rob Lever in Washington May 26, 2005
ANGERED by the growing number of Internet scams, online "vigilantes" have started to take justice into their own hands by hacking into suspected fraud sites and defacing them.
These hackers have targeted fake websites set up to resemble the sites of banks or financial institutions in recent weeks, and have inserted new pages or messages. Some say "Warning - This was a Scam Site," or "This Bank Was Fraudulent and Is Now Removed".
The efforts by the self-proclaimed "hero hackers" come amid a surge in online schemes known as "phishing" in which victims are lured to fake websites to get passwords or other personal data.
The British security firm Netcraft was among the first to pick up the hacking activity, discovering hacked sites that were set up to steal passwords from customers of the US Web payment site Paypal and NatWest Bank in Britain.
"While phishing is undoubtedly an illegal activity, the legality of defacing phishing sites is also quite questionable, but in cases observed by Netcraft so far it is reasonable to assume that only the fraudsters themselves have been disadvantaged," the security firm said...."
So... what kind of bait do you use when you phish for hackers, anyway?
"Freezing gas prices - May 25, 2005, 10:11 KFOR News AM ALI MEYER REPORTING
Americans guzzle 65 billion gallons of fuel a year and lately we have been paying a pretty penny at the pump. NewsChannel 4 has done reports in the past on how to get the most out of your gas. Now we introduce you to a new way to save on those gasoline dollars.
There is a man who fills up his tank once every two months. One tank of gas, literally, lasts him two months. He is freezing the price of gas by freezing something else.
People complain about the price of gas and we are all spending dearly to stay on the road these days. The money we spend on gas seems to burn up faster than the fuel.
While there may be little rhyme or reason to why the prices are on a perpetual roller-coaster, there is one man who has found a way to freeze them in their tracks, literally..."
Don't worry - the Government will make it illegal soon.
"Intel Unveils Dual Core Processor - Techtree News Staff May 27, 2005
Intel has announced the launch of its new dual-core processor, Pentium D, for use in desktop PCs. The new platforms introduced for home and office PCs, combine hardware and software technologies that are designed to provide consumers with enhanced PC security, system management and collaboration capabilities.
The new technology for home PCs include the Intel Pentium D processor with two processing cores and the Intel 945 Express Chipset family with support for consumer electronics-like features such as surround-sound audio, high-definition video and enhanced graphics capabilities. PCs equipped with Intel's Pentium D processor and 945 Express chipset will allow users to route multiple audio, video or gaming streams to different users with a home network simultaneously.
The technology introduced for office PC combines security, management and collaboration technologies..."
AND it makes julienne fries!
Quote:
"It's the New Calvinism: Humans are evil by nature and should be punished, even if the punishment won't solve the problem, and even if the problem is actually better than the 'solution.'" - Orson Scott Card
Damn right. Frag the hughmons!
"HP aims to help governments check IDs - Published: May 26, 2005, 4:16 PM PDT By Alorie Gilbert Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Hewlett-Packard launched a product on Friday that helps governments check the digital identity of citizens.
The technology, called the HP National Identity System, is designed to be used in conjunction with a number of Microsoft products, including its .Net line of server, database and middleware programs. The companies plan to jointly develop, market and offer training for the authentication system.
The product can be used to authenticate visitors to government Web sites, to control access to services and manage citizens' online identity, HP said..."
Looks like I won't be buying an HP product ever again. Link to HP Press Release
Today's Best of FARK one-liners says: "Japanese soldiers from WWII found in Philippines; claim they came out of hiding to see how that damn Star Wars saga ends" - Boy are they going to be pissed when they find out there won't be a third-and-final trilogy...
Warning! You are now entering a Phish Free Zone. Paging Dr. Bong! Paging Dr. Bong! Please pick up the White Courtesy Phone at the Kiosk near the potted triffids...
Remember - It's Radio Free: The enemy has many faces. We WILL need coffee. And bourbon...
Quote for the Day wrote:
"12 hours later, you wake up on the floor with your cheek stuck to the tile after dreaming that you're a ball of fire, and Ella Fitzgerald is pointing at your feet and laughing and holding a pair of hedge clippers, and your gums are bleeding, and you don't know what month is it for like 15 minutes.
When you finally go to pee, there are ants in it..." - Dong Resin
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