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Censorship

DoD Paper Proposes National Security Through a Culture of Restraint (and Stigma) 310

decora writes "An SAIC analyst has written a paper [PDF] calling for the 'stigmatization' of the 'unattractive' types who tend to discuss government secrets in public. The plan, described in the Naval Postgraduate School Homeland Security Affairs journal, is to promote self-censorship as a 'civic duty'. Who needs to censor themselves? Amateur enthusiasts who describe satellite orbits, scientists who describe threats to the food supply, graduate students mapping the internet, the Government Accountability Office, which publishes failure reports on the TSA, the US Geologic Survey, which publishes surface water information, newspapers (the New York Times), TV shows, journalism websites, anti-secrecy websites, and even security author Bruce Schneier, to name a few."

Comment Czech govt. already did (Score 5, Interesting) 188

And it's been a failure, for a number of reasons:

- it cost a fortune to deploy
- one message costs an equivalent of about 1 USD, which means no one uses it except for communicating with the government
- it relies on a proprietary (although free as beer) rather obscure application for Windows, fortunately a non-profit foundation later developed a cross-platform library for accessing the mailbox
- once you register into the system, any official letter you get is automatically considered delivered, so you cannot deny receiving it, that's why any sane lawyer will discourage from getting such an account ever unless you are obligated to

Obviously, because so much money already burnt, the mailbox system is here to stay.

Comment Re:Past His Prime (Score 1) 465

Reminds me of Arthur Eddington and his search for fine structure constant formula.

... The great Arthur Eddington gave a lecture about his alleged deviation of the fine structure constant from fundamental theory. Goudsmit and Kramers were both in the audience. Goudsmit understood little but recognized it as far-fetched nonsense. After the discussion, Goudsmit went to his friend and mentor Kramers and asked him, “Do all physicists go off on crazy tangents when they grow old? I am afraid”. Kramers answered, “No Sam, you don’t have to be scared. A genius like Eddington may perhaps go nuts but a fellow like you just gets dumber and dumber.
Robotics

Soccerbots Learn How To Fall Gracefully 105

wjousts writes "Up until now, most work with humanoid robotics has focused on keeping them upright and balanced, but in the real world, falling down is inevitable. So now researcher in Chile are looking at teaching their Soccerbots how to fall down gracefully to minimize damage and allow for a quick recovery. According to a New Scientist article, 'They found that one of the main ways to minimise damage is for the robot to fold its legs underneath it. Among other things, that means the robot is much less likely to hit its head on the ground. Another good strategy is to use a fall sequence consisting of several movements, so the falling body has several points of contact with the ground, spreading the energy of the impact over a large number of joints, rather than taking it all in one disastrous crunch.'"

Comment Obligatory quote (Score 5, Funny) 296

Melchett: Now, I've compiled a list of those with security clearance, have you got it Darling?

Darling: Yes sir.

Melchett: Read it please.

Darling: It's top security sir, I think that's all the Captain needs to know.

Melchett: Nonsense! Let's hear the list in full!

Darling: Very well sir. "List of personnel cleared for mission Gainsborough, as dictated by General C. H. Melchett: You and me, Darling, obviously. Field Marshal Haig, Field Marshal Haig's wife, all Field Marshal Haig's wife's friends, their families, their families' servants, their families' servants' tennis partners, and some chap I bumped into the mess the other day called Bernard."

Melchett: So, it's maximum security, is that clear?

Blackadder: Quite so sir, only myself and the rest of the English speaking world is to know.

Comment Re:probably overkill (Score 1) 262

In some code, which was a result of reverse engineering, I have also seen SHA-1 hashes (probably of authors' names + some salt, but I can only guess for obvious reasons) being used instead of names. Looks a bit weird, but on the other hand it gives you the possibility to prove that it is actually your code if you would need a reference.

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