The closest I think you're going to get to this is Purism: https://puri.sm/products/libre...

They take security pretty seriously, to the extent that you can buy a GPG key from them and install their version of Coreboot, which will then validate itself and check to see that none of the main OS files (kernel, initramfs, etc.) have been changed. The last I heard, they still have one blob from Intel in the firmware set that they haven't been able to get rid of (yet), but they're working towards it.

As for the OS, they publish PureOS, which is Debian-based with all of the non-free software pulled out.

So, unless you're facing Edward Snowden-level threats, it's pretty much as close to a secure, private environment as you're going to get.

Nope. The RAM in particular is actually not even soldered to the motherboard any more: it's now actually on package for the M1 processors (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ). Supposedly, that's one of the ways they're able to get the kind of performance out of the M1 SoC that they are. And the SSDs? They weren't even SSDs. They were individual ICs soldered to the motherboard.

I can remember the first MacBook Pro I bought back around 2006 or so. A battery you could swap without even cracking the case - that way you could swap batteries on long flights or replace the battery if it swelled up. The SODIMM slot was directly under the battery, and upgrading the RAM took all of removing the battery, removing one screw, and popping the new memory in. A 3 minute job. The HD was a standard 2.5" unit. I bought the machine and saved a good chunk of change upgrading the RAM and HD after.

Now, the RAM's on die, the SSD chips are soldered directly onto the motherboard, and my last MacBook Pro had a battery so firmly glued that, when the battery croaked, I had to take it into a repair store to get fixed.

All of this explains why I finally gave up and am now typing this on a Librem 15.

You are very correct. And that's what the trainers I spoke of earlier were saying (maybe I phrased it badly). Another way of putting it is:

"Are you willing to be shot and killed to stop this bad guy right here and now? Every bang you hear is a life, and you have seconds to make the decision."

Each situation will be different. In some instances, it may be worth the risk, in others, not so much. The only sure thing is that there won't be any second chances, so you better make the right decision the first time.

And this is why you should continue to train after you've gotten a CCL. This has come up in several training sessions (usually but not always in the context of an active shooter scenario), and the trainers' response has always been (paraphrasing a bit):

"If you're more worried about SWAT than you are about the active shooter, seek cover, leave the area, and be prepared to render first aid if required or requested. Nobody has ever been arrested or shot by Law Enforcement for failure to engage an active shooter."

All of the trainers I've worked with have suggested setting up behavior triggers: if someone does something, what will you do? If it's an armed robbery, will you attempt to stop the robber? If it's an active shooter targeting the public at large? Targeting a woman or a child? Targeting your spouse or children? Are you willing to engage an active shooter to prevent greater loss of life, knowing that there are very good odds that you'll be engaged not only by SWAT/Law Enforcement, but also by other concealed carriers on scene who may not take the time to sort out good guys from bad?

Only the carrier can make that decision in that moment.

Not quite correct, at least at our local Walmart: they were selling 200 rounds of Federal Red Box 9mm for $33, which was cheap enough to buy locally instead of buying online. But, if they don't want that money, interested customers will take it elsewhere I'm sure.

And this, kids, is why no network admin with the brains G_d gave your average cockroach allows unauthenticated computers on a network. Granted, some of these older units still use serial connections up to an aggregator, but TFA mentioned ARP spoofing. I accidentally shut down half a basement at a hospital at one point by plugging my laptop into a port in the training room. The ports on that network switch were locked to specific MAC addresses, and would actually shut down if a network adapter with any other MAC address than the designated one were plugged in. It was somewhat embarrassing.

And it's also one of the reasons why every reasonable EMR requires that human eyes look at the data before adding it to the database. Yes, you could fudge factor vitals readings to a certain extent, but the human body is a collection of systems that have really nice feedback loops to maintain equilibrium. If you see a change in one measurement, there will almost always be a corresponding change in one or more others. So, it's not enough to change an SpO2 reading. You not only need to know what the clinically valid ranges are for an SpO2 reading, but what changing SpO2 will do for respiration and pulse rate. And then you get to add additional factors (like COPD) into the mix.

So, all in all, this would take someone with some level of medical training, a specific goal in mind, an almost criminally stupid network admin, and active cooperation from the patient to make it work.

Sorry. Brain wedgie on my part. You're correct!

No worries from our end. And that's why I wrote what I did in the way that I did: I've given this talk several times to people, and they typically fall into one of two categories:

1: They're so invested in civilian disarmament that they just stick their fingers in their ears until they can't hear me any more.

2: As in your case, they're not USian, so they don't have the cultural background for the debate.

Having said all that though, speaking as a combat veteran myself: Call of Duty is not an accurate model of reality. If you're interested, here's a paper where the US Army itself discusses the lethality of the 5.56 NATO round: http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/Mi... Depending on the ammunition issued, the 5.56 NATO round either is too fast to do more than make a tiny hole going in and a tiny hole going out (if you're close to the bad guy), or it won't reach the bad guy at all.

I wish I could find it (my Google skills are weak today, I guess) but I remember seeing a helmet video of a US soldier engaging an enemy in an alley somewhere in Afghanistan, I think it was. The soldier hits his enemy something like 4 times with his M-4, and is then killed by the enemy with one shot from his AK.

Note that there were some folks up-thread that brought up alternate calibers (things like .300 AAC, 6.5 Grendel, and so on). Modifying a standard M-4 to accept one of these other calibers can be as simple as just swapping out the barrel (in the case of the .300 AAC), or swapping out the barrel and bolt (6.5 Grendel). These are much more effective, but they're also much more expensive, and they're still pretty hard to come by.

I'm going to hope that this is just an unintentional lack of knowledge on your end. If you're actually open to reading facts, please keep reading. Otherwise, feel free to ignore this.

First, in response to the comment about people that keep "shooting up schools and other public places with automatic weapons." This is incorrect. The phrase "automatic weapon" refers to a weapon that can discharge more than one projectile due to a single action (pulling a trigger or actuating some other mechanism). As far as crimes with automatic weapons go, they are so low as to be lost in the underflow of the number of other assaults. In 1934, the National Firearms Act regulated automatic weapons, suppressors, short barreled rifles and shotguns, and "other weapons". Since that date, you have to pay a $200 tax just to be allowed to purchase the weapon. You also have to undergo a background check even more thorough than most class 3 Federal Firearms Dealers. The automatic weapon must be registered and kept at a known location at all times, and the Feds can knock on your door at any time of the day or night and demand that you produce that weapon immediately for their inspection. If you can't, it's a federal felony.

Since 1934, there have been 2 murders committed with registered automatic weapons. As far as unregistered automatic weapons go, numbers vary, but are again so low as to be statistically insignificant. According to GunCite ( http://www.guncite.com/gun_con... ), 4 police officers were killed between 1983 and 1992. And even when targeting groups that are thought to have large numbers of automatic weapons, virtually none of the firearms recovered in raids on drug houses, gangs, and so on were automatic. For all intents and purposes, automatic weapons are not used in crime.

And, since 1986 when the NFA was amended, only automatic weapons made before that date are now available for purchase by the public. This amendment ended out pricing most automatic weapons out of the reach of the standard consumer, and for those that do buy them, they're usually purchased as investments not, not with the intent to shoot them.

As far as the second half of your comment goes, I'm going to assume you're talking about so called "assault weapons", or what are more accurately termed modern sporting rifles (MSRs). And when people think of an MSR, they think generally of an AR-15 variant (go Google what the AR in AR-15 stands for. Hint: it does NOT stand for Automatic Rifle). What is so bad about them?

1: You say "their only real purpose seems to be for killing lots of people efficiently." First, the caliber of most AR-15 variants (5.56x45 NATO, or .223 Remington (and yes, the specs are not completely equivalent between those to calibers, but for the sake of argument, we'll assume they are)) is small enough (and fast enough) that the rounds tend to not do all that much damage to a man-sized target. In fact, in many states, it's illegal to hunt deer with a .223, as it's likely to only wound and not kill it. So, no, an AR-15 is not a particularly efficient killing machine. If you don't believe me on this, go find an Iraq/Afghanistan vet. If they're willing to talk to you about their experiences, ask them about how effective the M-4 was at killing the enemy. Or use Google. The stories are out there. The only reason the US Military uses 5.56x45 instead of 7.62x54 (the old .308 Springfield cartridge that got your (great)grandfather through World War II) is that you can carry 70% more 5.56 than you can 7.62 for the same weight and size of package.

2: Because the AR-15 platform is so modular, my wife and I can shoot the same rifle. My arms are a little shorter than hers. I can adjust the stock. Because it has a pistol grip, I can hold it more comfortably. If you take a look at the definition of an assault rifle from the 1994 US ban, it involved a rifle that could accept a detachable magazine and had 2 or more of any of the following attributes:
- Folding or telescoping stock
- A pistol grip
- A bayonet mount
- A flash suppressor
- A grenade launcher

We've addressed why the telescoping or folding stock is a good idea. The same with the pistol grip (trying to wrap your hand around the stock and still reach the trigger is much less comfortable and natural than using a pistol grip). Including bayonet mounts was silly. Bayonets aren't "shot" out of the end of a rifle, and never have been. The only way a bayonet could even do any damage is if the attacker had taken the time to actually buy and mount the bayonet on the lug, and then get within arm's reach of his victims. Flash suppressors really are misnamed. They can help hide the muzzle flash of the rifle, but their primary purpose on any sort of MSR is to reduce recoil and keep dust from kicking up if you're shooting while laying down on your belly. They do not add or detract from the lethality of the firearm one bit. As far as grenade launchers go, they really don't matter. If you take a look at the National Firearms Act, it's illegal to own any grenades to shoot out of your grenade launcher even if you had one.

So, looking at the criteria for defining an "assault weapon", there's not one item in the list (other than POSSIBLY the detachable magazine) that makes the rifle any more lethal than the lever action rifles common over 100 years ago.

And one last thing: the comment about automatic weapons "not existing when the constitution was written", you're right. They didn't (although there were experiments, and I think the first patents for the first automatic weapons were granted not very long after the Constitution was approved). Think on this, though: the first two battles of the American Revolution were the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Those battles were fought because British General Thomas Gage was concerned that independence-minded colonists were going to use their privately owned artillery (yes, private citizens and militias owned cannons back in those days). And the Founders, with that thought fresh in their minds, explicitly amended out Constitution to prevent any such orders from ever being given again.

If you really think that "assault weapons" should be outlawed because they didn't exist when the 2nd Amendment was ratified, are you willing to get rid of your TV, cell phone, tablet and Internet connection because they didn't exist when 1st Amendment was ratified as well?

Actually, it's kind of the other way around in reverse. MUMPS is the database backend. Cache exists as an object oriented datastore that uses MUMPS. Cache also has a VB-ish scripting language that can be used for those that don't feel like parsing stuff that looks like

N X S X="^DIC(",X=$QS(@X)

Many (but not all) of my personality problems derive from supporting software written in MUMPS for the last 15 or so years.

Oh, man. I almost want one of these. I learned to code on a C-64 back in Jr. High and High School.

You kids get off my lawn.

If only the NSA listened as well as the NSA listens, we wouldn't be in this situation.

Not serious. Parent was an oblique reference to an old 1970's sci-fi series. We were just showing our age.

The problem is that, as soon as you do that, some idiot will start using it to store nuclear waste. And once that waste explodes, you'll have a whole new set of problems.

Not necessarily. A lot of our membership is still in the Reserves or National Guard. If they can get inside the military network, they can have a little bit of fun. When I was in, all of the truly classified stuff was on an internal network that was actually physically separated from the Real World. I can't swear that this is still the case, but I'd be greatly surprised if it wasn't.