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United States

Submission + - Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A 'Gay Bomb' (cbs5.com)

mikesd81 writes: "CBS has an article that states a Berkeley watchdog organization that tracks military spending said it uncovered a strange U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting.

Apparently, Pentagon officials on Friday confirmed to CBS 5 that military leaders had considered, and then subsquently rejected, building the so-called "Gay Bomb." Edward Hammond, of Berkeley's Sunshine Project, had used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain a copy of the proposal from the Air Force's Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio.

As part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons, the proposal suggested, "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior."

The Air Force wanted 7.5 million dollars to develop this weapon, nicknamed The Gay Bomb. The Ohio Air Force lab proposed that a bomb be developed that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soldiers to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistably attractive to one another," Hammond said after reviewing the documents. "The notion was that a chemical that would probably be pleasant in the human body in low quantities could be identified, and by virtue of either breathing or having their skin exposed to this chemical, the notion was that soldiers would become gay," explained Hammond. The DOD says the idea was quickly dismissed, however Hammond said the government records he obtained suggest the military gave the plan much stronger consideration than it has acknowledged. "In fact," he says, "the Pentagon has used it repeatedly and subsequently in an effort to promote non-lethal weapons, and in fact they submitted it to the highest scientific review body in the country for them to consider.""

Announcements

Submission + - SDF Public Access UNIX System Celebrates 20 Years (lonestar.org)

Stephen Jones writes: "It was on June 16th, 1987 that the SDF-1 received its first caller at
300bps. This little Apple ][e BBS of the late 80s turned into a Public
Access UNIX System with the demise of "killer.dallas.tx.us" during the
"Operation Sundevil" raids. Since then it has grown to become the oldest
and largest continually operating PUBNIX on the planet.""

Censorship

Submission + - Flickr users revolt vs. filtering of "unsafe&# (laist.com)

A concerned citizen writes: Following on from Flickr censoring one user, and China censoring Flickr, the Yahoo owned website have now begun forcefully filtering out photos deemed as "unsafe" for users in Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong and Korea. Judging by the number of protest photos showing up in their "interesting photos from the last 7 days" (about 1 in 5), this revolt could rival the recent AACS key debacle.
Oracle

Submission + - IBM refuses to certify Oracle Linux

Andrew writes: "IBM has thrown a spanner in the Oracle Linux works by refusing to certify that IBM's software portfolio will run and be supported on Oracle Linux. If IBM applications turn out to be incompatible with Oracle Enterprise Linux then it will be up to Oracle to resolve any issues that arise.

http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?t ype=comktNews&storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20070 223:MTFH11324_2007-02-23_21-00-19_N23330134&pageNu mber=0&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=HybArt-C1-Arti clePage2 This statement is unlikely to help Oracle sell Linux subscriptions to businesses who use any of IBM's large software portfolio."
Space

Submission + - SDI satellite for sale

One Mad Muppet writes: "A genuine McDonnell Douglas "Star Wars" Regan-era SDI satellite is up for sale on eBay. This could be your ideal opportunity to stand side-by-side with the Chinese, and makes a perfect compliment to sharks with frickin' lasers on their heads as part of your Evil Genius arsenal."
The Internet

Submission + - Get arrested for using free wifi at the library

edmicman writes: "Tech news outlets are reporting a story from Alaska where a man's laptop was confiscated after he was caught playing online games using the library's free WiFi connection:

Brian Tanner was sitting in his Acura Integra recently outside the Palmer Library playing online games when a Palmer police pulled up behind him. The officer asked him what he was doing. Tanner, 21, was using the library's wireless Internet connection. He was told that his activity constituted theft of services and was told to leave. The next day, Sunday, police spotted him there again.
"
Portables

Submission + - Sony PSP Firmware Battle vs Open Source Developers

An anonymous reader writes: The BBC is running an article entitled Three hacker teams unlock the PSP. The article summarizes the efforts of Open Source developers (including quick descriptions of the renowned Dark_Alex and Fanjita) to unlock the DRM'd Sony handheld. Thanks to their efforts, the Sony PSP homebrew community has become an excellent example of how much value can be added to a hardware product if developers are given the freedom to exercise their creativity. Some examples of interesting homebrew projects include PSPRadio: an "Online Streaming Music Client" supporting shoutcast stations, PSPoste: an SMTP/POP3 email client supporting SSL/TLS, Lua Player: allows users to write applications in the Lua scripting language. Many other homebrew examples can be found at PSP Hacks.
Perl

Submission + - Randal Schwartz achieves clean slate

soboroff writes: The state of Oregon has ordered that Randal L. Schwartz' conviction be expunged. From Randal's email:

When I actually began working with my attorney, Marc Sussman, to gather the materials for the pardon, we were both a bit startled to notice that it had been 10 years since the conviction. And under Oregon law, this meant that I was now eligible for an expungement, rather than clemency. We quickly shifted gears to getting the necessary fingerprints (one more time) and affidavits signed, and then waiting the few months for the result. (While the process is a fairly mechanical one, there were still some possible snags.)
I'm happy to announce that the expungement order was signed effective 1 Feb 2007. That is, as of this date, if someone asks me "have you ever been convicted of a crime?", my fully legal answer to any and all concerned is a resounding, "no". (This is similar to what happens to someone's juvenile convictions as they become an adult. For all intents and purposes, the crimes simply no longer exist.) The PDF of the "order to set aside" is already up on the FORS website (http://www.lightlink.com/fors/); thanks to Steve Pacenka for putting that up quickly. Thus, I am announcing, "nothing".
Some additional details, including lots of history on the case, are available at http://www.lightlink.com/fors/.

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