Topic: COMPUTER - on April 13, 2008 at 3:21:00 PM CEST
Super Mario in 14kB Javascript
Here's an experiment in keeping things small and confined to one Javascript file. There are no external image files or anything, everything is rendered with Javascript using either canvas elements or old fashioned div-making tactics (for IE). The sprites are stored in custom encoded strings in a format that only allows 4 colors for each sprite but in turn only takes up around 40-60 bytes per sprite.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on April 13, 2008 at 3:20:00 PM CEST
Rettungs-CDs für defekte Rechner
Startverweigerung, Fehlermeldungen, Abstürze: Wenn der PC streikt, ist Hilfe mit Bordmitteln oft nicht möglich. Mit Notfall-Systemen auf CD oder USB-Stick lässt sich dagegen manche Windows-Malaise beheben. Spezialkenntnisse sind dafür nicht nötig.
Streikt der Rechner, geraten Prozessor und Alltag gehörig außer Takt. Abhilfe leisten sogenannte Live-Systeme, mit denen startunwillige Computer wiederbelebt werden können. Liegt kein Hardware-Fehler vor, ist die Sicherung der eigenen Daten möglich. Versagen die Reparaturwerkzeuge, muss im schlimmsten Fall das Betriebssystem neu installiert werden.
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Topic: FUN - on April 13, 2008 at 3:15:00 PM CEST
The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time - From Monty Python to "More Cowbell," and beyond.
There's no more sure-fire way to kill something's intrinsic comedic value than to try to examine what makes it funny. The minute you start thinking, you stop laughing. So why, then, have Nerve and IFC.com devoted an enormous amount of time, manpower, monetary resources, server space and posh catered lunches to the pursuit of ranking the boob tube's finest sketch comedy offerings?
In part, we're here because magical new technology (coughYouTubecough) allows us to do more than just pontificate for paragraphs on end — now we can pontificate for paragraphs on end and provide audio-visual evidence to back up those pontifications. We provide the context, share our thoughts and feelings and let you commence with the guffawing and, naturally, the disagreeing. After all, the comedy sketch — short, sweet, completely silly or shot through with social commentary — worms its way into the public mind like nothing else, and has easily made the leap to the web when other forms have faltered.
- "Dead Parrot," Monty Python, 1969
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Topic: DRUGS - on April 13, 2008 at 3:06:00 PM CEST
Cocaine planes make a "Bogotá Connection"
Federal Aviation Administration records obtained recently by Narco News offer some razor sharp evidence that a fat line of connections in the ongoing cocaine plane mystery leads right back to the nose of the U.S. government.
At the time a Gulfstream II jet, packed with nearly four tons of cocaine, crashed in Mexico’s Yucatan on Sept. 24 of last year, the owners of that jet were Clyde O’Connor and Greg Smith — both pilots who hail from Florida.
Both men have since vanished like vapor in the wake of that ill-fated Gulfstream II’s misadventure, but the paper trail has now caught up to them.
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Topic: DRUGS - on April 13, 2008 at 3:05:00 PM CEST
Legal loophole means sales of marijuana seeds for home cultivation on the rise
A loophole in the drug laws has allowed a growing number of people to buy marijuana seeds on the Internet for cultivation.
Last year, police confirmed 184 incidents of growing marijuana plants, more than four times the figure 10 years ago, according to the National Police Agency (NPA).
The Cannabis Control Law bans people from growing marijuana plants, but has no clause outlawing the possession of seeds.
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Topic: Terror - on April 13, 2008 at 3:02:00 PM CEST
Craigslist and eBay: Terrorist arms bazaars of DEATH
American government investigators believe that eBay and Craigslist are becoming international arms bazaars, facilitating the sale of "sensitive and stolen US military items" to the agents of sinister foreign powers - or even (gasp) terrorists. However, they have produced very little evidence to back this up.
In a newly-released report (pdf) entitled Undercover Purchases on eBay and Craigslist Reveal a Market for Sensitive and Stolen U.S. Military Items, the beancounters of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) lay out the shocking facts. It turns out that GAO agents operating "undercover" (on the internet) in recent months were able to purchase the following items on the named webmarts.
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