Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
It's funny. Laugh.

Wink Chosen to Receive Noble Piece Prize 210

Posted by timothy from the aptly-named dept.
Phil Shapiro writes "Wink, a beautifully written free program for creating Flash-format animated tutorials has been chosen to receive a Noble Piece Prize, the prize that honors the craftsmanship of Alfred Noble, who worked at the Jacquard Loom factory in France. Previous winners of this prize include the Digital Bicycle web site."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Wink Chosen to Receive Noble Piece Prize More

Wink Chosen to Receive Noble Piece Prize

Comments Filter:

  • Wink, Wink (Score:5, Funny)

    by Vombatus ( 777631 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @08:51PM (#12427465)
    Nudge, nudge

    Say no more, say no more

  • No reference? (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Grakun ( 706100 )
    Isn't there supposed to be an article with this?
  • I'd take the Wink drink or the Japanese singing duo ANY day.

    Shoko Aida can cook for me. Any time.
  • Who is Alfred Noble??
    see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize [wikipedia.org]
    I trust wikipedia over ~pshapiro anyday.

  • Noble Piece Prize? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Vombatus ( 777631 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @08:55PM (#12427495)
    Surely this will infringe the trademark of the Nobel Peace Prize
    • Surely, it wouldn't be very peaceful of the commitee to sue for copyright infringement would it?
    • Surely this will infringe the trademark of the Nobel Peace Prize

      Only if the creator of the prize is motivated to absolve his concience of the guilt caused by years of doing/selling horrible deeds/goods. Like selling, say, heroin or weapons-grade dynamite.

  • There's no way this is true... (Score:5, Funny)

    by pdevor ( 603443 ) <seekingleverage@gmail.com> on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @08:56PM (#12427505) Homepage
    ...oh wait... The Piece Prize... Wow. It occurs to me that it is a highly humorous name for a prize. I am unable to contain myself. Really!
  • ... but a dynamite factory as well. He made a lot of explosives.

  • I don't believe it (Score:1, Redundant)

    by shanen ( 462549 )
    At least that's my initial reaction, along with the thought that they need to vet the articles more carefully. I'll eat my post in a follow up if I'm wrong, but I'd bet against it. Especially since the Nobel prizes are announced in October, and my calendar is insisting this is May.
    • Noble Piece versus Nobel Peace? Talk about a cheap ripoff. The article needs a little note like "NOT to be confused with the actually famous Nobel Peace Prize."

      • Re:I don't believe it (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Golias ( 176380 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @09:11PM (#12427629)
        Except that it is to be confused, that's why they chose that name. It's supposed to be funny.

        It's not, but it's supposed to be.
        • Except that it is to be confused, that's why they chose that name. It's supposed to be funny.

          It's not, but it's supposed to be.

          Looks like someone forgot to change the spelling when they did this one [go.com].
      • "NOT to be confused with the actually famous Nobel Peace Prize."

        The day slashdot needs and siclaimer like that, I will, erm, eat my Nobel Piece Hat!

        I just penned a quick reply saying how wacky this was, then realised, I was gullible. I have used Wink, it is ok. Neesd to be able to add VOICE, and more functions like custom graphics overlays, highlight areas, foo bar and etc.
    • This has nothing to do with the Nobel Peace Prize. This is the Noble Piece Prize. Although, since there is no link to the actual article, we have no way of knowing if they really won.

      • Re:You may be wrong... (Score:5, Informative)

        by tomhudson ( 43916 ) <barbara.hudson@b ... m ['son' in gap]> on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @09:39PM (#12427835) Journal
        Why is everyone saying there's no link to the article (which is an obvious joke)?
        Alfred Noble worked as a loom designer in the Jacquard loom factory in France in the early 1800's. He was known for constantly sharing with his peers better ways of doing things and for the beauty of his inventions. When people tried to give him credit, he always passed along credit to others.

        When Noble was focusing on a particular piece of ass, or task, he would often stay after work to get it just right. His reputation for producing things of beauty and inventiveness caused his factory co-workers to label anything beautiful or inventive as a "Noble piece."

        One day the owner of the factory suggested that an annual prize be given to anyone who created something of great beauty or inventiveness. In honor of Alfred Noble, this prize came to be known as the Noble Piece Prize.

        When Alfred Noble found out about this prize, he was so overjoyed he exclaimed, "That's dynamite."

        The owner of the factory was so happy with the orgasmic development of the Noble Piece Prize, he told his factory workers that he would seek to have the prize given annually by the king.

        Alfred Noble, who never said much, spoke up. "I'd much prefer that this prize not be given by a king, but that it given by any contributing member of our community. To me, the honor of giving the prize ought to be as great as the honor of receiving it -- and the people best suited to choose the prize giver are community members themselves. They know. Ask them."

        He walked over to one of his co-workers and holding his forearm said, "Rudy, here, has dignity." He walked over to another co-worker and holding her forearm said, "Elizabeth, here, has dignity and hooters."

        "Don't you see, it's dignity that matters, not status?"

        A hush befell the factory floor. Even the looms fell quiet at the poignancy of the moment.

        "And we cannot give this prize annually. Our days on Earth are limited. We must give this prize more often, for beauty and inventiveness exist everywhere if we just look for them. Twice a year is how often this prize must be given.

        And we must have other Noble prizes beyond the Piece Prize. Do we limit our homage to one another because of words?"

        And such is the origins of the Noble Piece Prize, which honors two people twice a year. Today the prize is most often given to people working on public-spirited software projects -- people who embody the spirit of Alfred Noble. By tradition, the giver of the Noble Piece Prize has no connection to software creation, but is a person who embodies great dignity in the community.

        By all accounts, there can be no greater honor than the Noble Piece Prize.

        February 2, 2005
        "... all we are saying ... is give piece a chance ..." just doesn't work.

    • Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Well, since the article is about the Noble Piece prize, and not the Nobel Peace Prize, this is strictly speaking off-topic. But I'll bite nevertheless.

        Maathai did not get the prize for claiming the AIDS virus was engineered [1]. She got the prize for making an important contribution to peace: growing trees, securing water and food supplies of central Africa.

        The committee stressed the point of linking peace with the environment, and this certainly makes sense. It everyone has enough food and water, no-o

      • This..lunatic claims the AIDs virus was engineered for the sole purpose of destroying the black race.

        That particular claim (if it really has been made) is a bit steep but there is a credible theory which claims that AIDS originated from polio vaccines.

        The oral polio vaccine theory IMO explains quite a lot and also has evidence to back its claims. It's not just for the tinfoil hat crowd.

        More here: Origins of Aids [aidsorigins.com]

        "The second theory, the "oral polio vaccine" or "OPV" theory, has it that AIDS bega

  • I nominiate (Score:5, Funny)

    by cove209 ( 681558 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @09:03PM (#12427556)
    I nominate the guy that invented shirts for chicks that show off their belly's. Now THAT is worth an award.

    • Re:I nominiate (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      McDonalds?
    • Fair enough, but their use should be strictly licensed. They're nice on Britney lookalikes, but I've seen too many fat chavettes [chavscum.com] with their guts hanging over their waistbands.

    • Re:I nominiate (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Fact Hunt ( 879015 )
      Except, sadly, these shirts are often worn by fat older boilers. They should pass a law that only allows Crop Tops, Mini Skirts and tight leggings to be manufactured up to a size 10.
  • I thought alfred nobel started this prize thingy because he figured out how to control nitroglycerine...great intially for blasting rocks for construction, but later was used for warfare and alfred nobel didn't want to be remembered for that.

  • Standards? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Not only self-promotion on part of the author, but a completely irrelevant non-article and intentionally misleading to boot. I hope I'm not alone in expecting a higher standard from the slashdot editors.
    • I hope I'm not alone in expecting a higher standard from the slashdot editors.

      Nope, you're alone. Expecting higher standards from slashdot editors is like a woman expecting to get off from a eunuch.

    • Nope. (Score:2)

      by raehl ( 609729 )
      I hope I'm not alone in expecting a higher standard from the slashdot editors.

      Nope, you're alone.
    • I hope I'm not alone in expecting a higher standard from the slashdot editors.

      Not at all; many newcomers and extremely naive people read Slashdot every day.

  • What kind of bollocks is this? (Score:4, Informative)

    by WouldIPutMYRealNameO ( 874377 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @09:09PM (#12427613)
    There is no article, no such thing as a Nobel "Piece" Prize, no mention of any such prize on Wink's homepage.
    So basically no evidence of anything at all. Is this whole article a Troll to see how many slashdotters will bite? Did the editors check a single link?
    This article can be summed up as "No content here, but I have some links - Clicky clicky clicky please!!"
    This is the most inane thing I have ever seen.

    If you will excuse me, I'm off to make up some prizes to award to random people.

    • Re:What kind of bollocks is this? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by kfg ( 145172 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @09:42PM (#12427856)
      " There is no article, no such thing as a Nobel "Piece" Prize . . ."

      Of course there isn't. It's the Noble Piece Prize.

      As in "really great bit of work." Noble Piece. Get it?

      And of course it exists, it's just been announced right here on Slashdot. With winners and everything. Yeah, Phil Shapiro made it up, but, that's how awards come to be you know. Someone just makes them up and starts handing them out.

      They don't come down from the mountain engraved on stone by the hand of God or something. Someone, like maybe Alfred Nobel, just decides to give 'em out.

      I have made up and awarded a number of prizes in my day mayself. They're perfectly legitimate prizes. Like the "Best Drive of the Day" trophy at my local kart track.

      I'm off to make up some prizes to award to random people.

      Exactly! Just like Nobel and Pulitzer did. Although awarding them at random takes some of the value out of them. I suggest you develop some real criteria first. Then they'll really mean something.

      You have an "Authority Thang," don't you?

      KFG
      • The heathens. Next thing you know, they'll be saying there's no such thing as the ig Nobel Awards [improb.com]

        Just in case, though .. the2004 winners [improb.com] were

        MEDICINE

        Steven Stack of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA and James Gundlach of Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA, for their published report "The Effect of Country Music on Suicide."

        PHYSICS

        Ramesh Balasubramaniam of the University of Ottawa, and Michael Turvey of the University of Connecticut and Haskins Laboratory, for exploring and explaining the dynamics of hula-hooping.

        PUBLIC HEALTH

        Jillian Clarke of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, and then Howard University, for investigating the scientific validity of the Five-Second Rule about whether it's safe to eat food that's been dropped on the floor.

        CHEMISTRY

        The Coca-Cola Company of Great Britain, for using advanced technology to convert ordinary tap water into Dasani, a transparent form of water, which for precautionary reasons has been made unavailable to consumers.

        ENGINEERING

        Donald J. Smith and his father, the late Frank J. Smith, of Orlando Florida, USA, for patenting the combover (U.S. Patent #4,022,227).

        LITERATURE

        The American Nudist Research Library of Kissimmee, Florida, USA, for preserving nudist history so that everyone can see it.

        PSYCHOLOGY

        Daniel Simons of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Christopher Chabris of Harvard University, for demonstrating that when people pay close attention to something, it's all too easy to overlook anything else -- even a woman in a gorilla suit.

        ECONOMICS

        The Vatican, for outsourcing prayers to India.

        PEACE

        Daisuke Inoue of Hyogo, Japan, for inventing karaoke, thereby providing an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other.

        BIOLOGY

        Ben Wilson of the University of British Columbia, Lawrence Dill of Simon Fraser University [Canada], Robert Batty of the Scottish Association for Marine Science, Magnus Whalberg of the University of Aarhus [Denmark], and Hakan Westerberg of Sweden's National Board of Fisheries, for showing that herrings apparently communicate by farting.

        Even I couldn't make this shit up (well, maybe I could, if I was given a research grant like most of these people were)
    • If you will excuse me, I'm off to make up some prizes to award to random people.

      So you're the one responsible for the MTV Awards!!
    • Did the editors check a single link?

      See foot icon - insert in mouth icon.
  • Stupid ad blcoker didn't seem to catch this ad, better go write the extension people.

    (I know its free ware, but it is still a product placement I didn't need)

  • Uh... spam on Slashdot? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ta bu shi da yu ( 687699 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @09:16PM (#12427671) Homepage
    Isn't this getting a little close to spamming? I mean, the app might be good, but the prize seems dodgy.

  • What the heck? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Geoffreyerffoeg ( 729040 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @09:22PM (#12427713)
    If you read the description of the prize, it seems like it was created by Phil Shapiro, the submitter of the story.

    So can I create my own Nebula Peas prize and give it to some random free software project, like Hebcal [sf.net] or something, and get it posted on the front page of Slashdot?

    (No offense against Hebcal; I just picked the first nonfamous project that I saw browsing SourceForge.)
  • . . .they're calling the winner of the Hooter's Bikini Contest these days?

    KFG

  • I hope to sum up the reaction from all non-posters (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @09:28PM (#12427759)
    ...

  • "Piece" (Score:2)

    by Jerf ( 17166 )
    It says a lot about Slashdot that my thought was not "Here's at least an attempt at interesting wordplay" but "OMG, it's narrowly a new low for spelling". I had to read most of the summary to be sure it wasn't actually a typo.

    (Remember, Slashdot, thou art mortal.)
  • Pretty lame attempt at humor compared to this one: http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/1 9/1925258&tid=133&tid=14 [slashdot.org]
  • or start a flame bit, but has Microsoft ever won one of these?

  • wink is great (Score:5, Interesting)

    by havaloc ( 50551 ) * on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @09:54PM (#12427962) Homepage
    All joking beside (peace/piece), Wink is a great utility and is a must download. It's great for creating tutorials on how to do things on computers.
    • Wink is a great utility and is a must download.

      Unless, for example, you're on PPC: it's x86 only.

      • Re:wink is great (Score:5, Funny)

        by vrai ( 521708 ) on Wednesday May 04, 2005 @03:57AM (#12429678)
        If only there was some way of distributing software that allowed the end-user to build it for their machine; whatever the architecture may be. Clearly America must focus the minds of its finest Computer Scientists on solving this, apparently insurmountable, problem.
    • It may be a "free program"; too bad it's not free software.

      Binary distribution only. The accompanying license states, in part:

      No form of decompilation/reverse engineering/disassembling parts or whole of the software be done.
    • I for one am grateful for this article. Wink is exactly what I've been looking for, for building drool-proof tutorials for people.
  • Is it just me or have people forgotten how to laugh here? It's the Noble Piece Prize Not the Nobel Peace Prize... the latter is a presitigious award, and the former... it's just a parody, get over it, get a sense of humor.

  • I could have sworn this was a dupe... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by antispam_ben ( 591349 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @10:51PM (#12428308) Journal
    "New Awards To Compete With Nobel Prizes"
    http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/0 3/1712250 [slashdot.org]
    Are these two stories, Nobel Prizes/Noble Piece Prize, appearing the same day a coincidence? I think not.

    The Biggest Lie Of Science:
    "The Piece Prize will be waiting for you backstage after you give your conference paper."

  • Wink is a nice app for Linux (Score:5, Informative)

    by nacs ( 658138 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2005 @10:51PM (#12428310) Journal
    I realize that most of the comments are going to be jokes because of the tone of the submission but Wink itself is a very useful application.

    It's similar to Macromedia Captivate and the dozens of other Flash-output screen recording tools available but what sets this app apart from the others in my opinion is it's support for Linux (it's available for Windows too) and it's price (free).

    The only other app that I've used that does screen recording and outputs Flash files is the vnc2swf [unixuser.org] console based program. While vnc2swf is quite good at full motion recording it's editing capability is virtually nonexistent (there is a program called edit_vnc2swf but it's console based at least right now).

    Wink has an excellent GUI, is 100% free ( I made a voluntary donation to the developer via Paypal and encourage others to do the same), allows you to do manual or full-motion (timed) captures, and has very good support for Linux. It's definitely an app worth downloading.

    (Note: I'm not affiliated in any way with Wink--just a happy user).
    • There's the open source version: KNiw - "KNiw Isn't Wink". Why would any one use Wink when they can use Kniw? Kniw software is great! Everything should be licensed under the Kniw General Public License.

      There's even a Konquerer KDE plug-in for Kniw - KKK - niw (though it has a bit of trouble handling colour separations when printing, tending to render large areas colourless).

      If anyone should have gotten the Noble Piece Prize, it should have been the guy(I think its a guy - the sourceforge project docs don

      • - KKK -...trouble handling colour separations...

        But I thought color separation was what it was all about?

        ...tending to render large areas colourless...

        On second thought, maybe it works as designed after all.

    • It is free to use, but the author is requiring that any redistributor get his personal permission.

      Of course, after large numbers of people write asking for permission, maybe he'll decide that it is a PITA and choose different terms.

    • from ye syte
      Freeware: Distributed as freeware for business or personal use. However if you want to redistribute Wink, you need to get permission from the author.
      Suchetha
  • as far as I'm concerned, this fake award has as much weight to it as any other award given by a foundation, hollywood, or some other society. I think it's a cool idea. Somebody decided to recognize the achievements of someone else and tried to spread it like wildfire. I'm not sure how many are in the academy whom vote for the academy awards, but I'd bet many people would vote for Wink when given the chance to see it. It really is excellent software.

    In the area of tutorials, Wink is like Firefox and Openof
  • It makes cool flash tutorial things. Looks like it may be easy to use (currently on mac so can't tell). It's free. It runs on Linux. What's *not* to like? (other than no osx version)

    Dave

  • When we first started talking about that prize, we, the boys in Noble Hall, did not relate it to that kind of software.
  • I thought people won the Noble prize for some great achievement. I didn't realize that websites, and software could win the prize? Or should I have read the article instead of paying attention to the blurb line?
  • ... is because the spelling and grammar on /. is so abominable that a joke which relies on a misspelling will not even be noticed by 90% of /. readers, and assumed to be unintentional by the rest.
  • I thought they were referring to this:
    http://www.wingtunes.com/public/samples.aspx [wingtunes.com]

Slashdot Top Deals

"What man has done, man can aspire to do." -- Jerry Pournelle, about space flight

Close