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Comment Free Speech? (Score 1) 8

by TurdTapper (#26848459) Attached to: A Special Note of Thanks to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-IA
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I guess I must not be reading this right...

Comment On a lighter note (Score 1) 5

by TurdTapper (#26812125) Attached to: Obama Lies, and an AP Story Calls Him On It (SHOCKER)
I figured you'd get a kick out of this comic strip. This one in particular is part of a month long bit about trying to become Obama's pet in the Whitehouse (this bit starts here: http://comics.com/over_the_hedge/2009-01-05/ )

But the best one is this one: http://comics.com/over_the_hedge/2009-02-10/ I think the squirrel says it all. He personifies the media and most liberals.

Comment No Taurus, go with a Sig (Score 1) 16

by TurdTapper (#26529867) Attached to: Pistols
From the recommendation of my gunsmith buddy, I would avoid the Taurus.

As for anything else, is there a reason you wanted the 9mm? I personally have a Sig Saur P229 .40 S&W. I want something with a lot of stopping power and it still holds 13 rounds. Very dependable, very comfortable, and a blast to shoot.

But no matter what you pick, make sure you are good with it. A tool can't help you if you don't know how to use it. And getting together with the guys for practice is awesome.

Comment Re:If it was impossible to fire union employees (Score 1) 16

by TurdTapper (#25738067) Attached to: An Open Letter to the Big 3 Automakers
Holy crap, what did you do? We have guys here at the state university that can drive a plow drunk, damage property and endanger people and still get their job back a week after being fired. All it takes is a grievance around here.

Unions protect the lazy and drain the resources that could improve an institution. We could halve the maintenance force around here, give the hard workers huge raises and get more work done.

Nothing ruins a good worker like joining the union here.
Encryption

First Secure Quantum Crypto Network Up and Running 102

Posted by timothy from the all-new-perfect-forever-place-your-bets dept.
John Lam was one of many readers to send in news that on Thursday, "at a conference in Vienna, Austria, as reported by the BBC, a European Community science working group built a quantum backbone using 200-km of standard commercial optical fiber running among seven sites and successfully demonstrated the first secure quantum cryptographic key distribution network. In addition, each of the seven links used a different kind of quantum encryption, demonstrating interoperability between the technologies. To paraphrase, the project focused on the trusted repeater paradigm and developed an architecture allowing seamless integration of heterogeneous quantum-key distribution-link devices in a unified framework. Network node-modules managing all classical communication tasks provide the underlying quantum devices with authentic classical channels. The node-module architecture uses a layered model to provision network-wide, end-to-end, provably secure key distribution."
Mars

How To Beat Congress's Ban Of Humans On Mars 447

Posted by CmdrTaco from the or-just-stop-spending-on-wars dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban humans on Mars at NASA: "Provided, That none of the funds under this heading shall be used for any research, development, or demonstration activities related exclusively to the human exploration of Mars." The bill is held up in Congress and the anti-Mars language may be taken out. But in case the Mars ban becomes law, the Space Review has a handy guide on how NASA can beat the ban and continue its research and development without breaking the law."
The Military

How Tech Almost Lost the War 679

Posted by samzenpus from the just-point-and-shoot dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Blame the geeks for the mess in Iraq? Wired says so. Networked troops were supposed to be so efficient, it'd take just a few of 'em to wipe out their enemies. But the Pentagon got their network theory all wrong, with too few nodes and a closed architecture. Besides, a more efficient killing machine is the last thing you want in an insurgency like Iraq."
Bug

Apple iBook G4 Design Flaw Proven 252

Posted by kdawson from the sudden-iBook-death-syndrome dept.
empaler writes "Apple has long denied service on iBook G4s whose screens went black after just over one year of use, denying that there was any error. But now, the Danish National Consumer Agency has released a report proving that the error is due to a design flaw. So far, the only news site picking this up is The Register (unless you understand Danish). The Danish Consumer Complaints Board says that Apple needs to get a grip and acknowledge this error in the rest of the world. The NCA also has some photos from the report (explanations in Danish, but easily comprehensible from context)."
Privacy

Soldiers Can't Blog Without Approval 358

Posted by CmdrTaco from the how-else-will-we-know-what-they-ate-for-lunch dept.
denebian devil writes "Wired.com has obtained a copy of updated US Army rules (pdf) that force soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages without first clearing the content with a superior officer. Previous editions of the rules asked Army personnel to "consult with their immediate supervisor" before posting a document "that might contain sensitive and/or critical information in a public forum." The new version, in contrast, requires "an OPSEC review prior to publishing" anything — from "web log (blog) postings" to comments on internet message boards, from resumes to letters home. Under the strictest reading of the rule, a soldier must check with his or her superior officer before every blog entry posted and every email sent, though the method of enforcing these regulations is subject to choices made by the unit commanders. According to Wired, active-duty troops aren't the only ones affected by the new guidelines. Civilians working for the military, Army contractors — even soldiers' families — are all subject to the directive as well, though many of the people affected by these new regulations can't even access them because they are being kept on the military's restricted Army Knowledge Online intranet. Wired also interviewed Major Ray Ceralde, author of the new regulations, about why this change has been made."
Google

Submission + - Google Sends Disgruntled Blogger Superman Cape

Submitted by
rulesaremyenemy
rulesaremyenemy writes: "Google's sense of humor strikes once again:

"While at SXSW, I tried out the new Google Transit service. I was far away from the hotel and wanted to find an efficient way to get back. Well, Google got me close, then expected me to cross an eight-lane highway on foot. Um, no. I had to explore for a long time to find a way to get across the damn thing and back to my hotel. I bitched at my blog.
Today, I got a package from Google at my workplace. At first, I saw the hand-written "Google" return address and thought "anthrax", but figured, what the hell. I ripped it open. I was treated to the single greatest customer service experience I had ever had. Enclosed was a hand-written note from Joe Hughes at Google. The note said:

Dear Superman, Reading your blog post about Google Transit at SXSW made us wonder if you were losing your powers — I mean, how hard could it be to leap over a simple 8-lane highway intersection, man of steel? We've enclosed a new cape — hopefully it will help you find your powers again.
...seriously, though, Adam, we're sorry that Google Transit sent you on such an expedition, and we wanted to let you know that we've since improved our routing, so that it returns more plausible walking sections at the start & end of transit routes.

Cheers, Joe Hughes Google Transit"

(Picture of the Cape and Letter on Flickr)"
Games

Videogames Really Are Linked to Violence 204

Posted by Zonk from the much-like-your-average-poet-is-linked-to-black-clothing dept.
ahoehn writes "Amanda Schaffer has written a refreshingly balanced piece about the connection between video games and violence. Instead of regurgitating the typical reactionary voices in this debate, she looks at what scientific studies suggest about the issue. From the article: 'Pathological acts of course have multiple, complex causes and are terribly hard to predict. And clearly, millions of people play Counter-Strike, Halo, and Doom and never commit crimes. But the subtler question is whether exposure to video-game violence is one risk factor for increased aggression: Is it associated with shifts in attitudes or responses that may predispose kids to act out? A large body of evidence suggests that this may be so ... Given this, it makes sense to be specific about which games may be linked to harmful effects and which to neutral or good ones. Better research is also needed to understand whether some kids are more vulnerable to video-game violence, and how exposure interacts with other risk factors for aggression like poverty, psychological disorders, and a history of abuse.'"
Privacy

Buildings Could Save Energy By Spying On Workers 195

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the tracking-everyone-driving-down-that-particular-sidewalk dept.
Galactic_grub writes "In the future, your place of work (or apartment) may very well spy on you. But that doesn't mean it'll be able to name and shame you for all your nasty habits. Researchers at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory (MERL) have devised a 'dumb' surveillance system that monitors the movements of workers without identifying them individually. The idea is to have a computer system automatically configure the air-conditioning to save money, or illuminate the most appropriate escape signs in an emergency."
Software

Lone Programmer Writes 352 Webcam Drivers For Linux 450

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the twelve-cases-of-ballz-later dept.
mrneutron2004 writes "A French physician and ardent Linux supporter is the one man you can all thank for adding support for 352 webcams in Linux. The Open Source OS world may still be a bit of a mess when competing with the ease of Windows, but efforts like this make you wonder. One man with drive, tenacity, and no funding does what no one else can do. And none of the major Linux distributions back this guy's efforts, even the big players dipping into the corporate world's coffers."
Security

Submission + - Quantum Cryptography Hacked

Submitted by mrbluze
mrbluze writes: Nature reports on a eavesdropping technique developed by researchers at MIT for intercepting quantum-encrypted messages:

To listen in, the team used a quantum-mechanical principle known as entanglement, which can link together two different traits of a particle. Using an optical setup, the team was able to entangle the transmitted photon's polarization with its momentum. The eavesdropper could then measure the momentum in order to get information about the polarization, without affecting the original polarization.
This stuff is beyond me, but I can't wait to read Slashdot's explanation!
Television

Online Video Suddenly Gets Brainy 79

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the hard-to-compete-against-jackass-tv dept.
David Kesmodel writes "Several online-video efforts are under way that offer a more cerebral alternative to the typical fare seen on the Web, the Wall Street Journal reports. The ambitious Fora.tv, for example, intends to establish relations with all of the lecture series from the nation's scores of think tanks, civic groups, bookstores and the like, and then put tapes of their speeches and panel discussions online in an easily searchable fashion."

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