Submission + - Google's Secret Class System 4
theodp writes: Back in 2005, a Slashdot commenter pointed out some prior art for Microsoft's badge color-based 'caste' system — Nazi concentration camp badges. Now, Google is taking heat as a terminated Google contractor shines a spotlight on Google's badge color-based 'class' system. According to Andrew Norman Wilson, full-time Googlers sport White Badges, interns are given Green Badges, and contractors wear Red Badges. But what really intrigued Wilson — and ultimately cost him his job — were the ScanOps workers with Yellow Badges who toiled for Google Book Search in Building 3.1459. 'The workers wearing yellow badges,' writes Wilson, 'are not allowed any of the privileges that I was allowed — ride the Google bikes, take the Google luxury limo shuttles home, eat free gourmet Google meals, attend Authors@Google talks and receive free, signed copies of the author's books, or set foot anywhere else on campus except for the building they work in. They also are not given backpacks, mobile devices, thumb drives, or any chance for social interaction with any other Google employees. Most Google employees don’t know about the yellow badge class.' Time for someone to update the official Google Books History?
Comment In Canada... (Score 4, Interesting) 415
For contrast:
B.C. consumers can't sign away class-action right: Canada's highest court ruled Friday that British Columbia consumers can pursue class action lawsuits even after signing contracts that appear to waive that right.
*shrug*
Thousands of Blackbirds Fall From Sky Dead 577
Dan East writes "In a fashion worthy of a King or Hitchcock novel, blackbirds began to fall from the sky dead in Arkansas yesterday. Somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 birds rained down on the small town of Beeb, Arkansas, with no visible trauma. Officials are making wild guesses as to what happened — lightning strike, high-altitude hail, or perhaps trauma from the sound of New Year's fireworks killed them."
Comment Re:I'm confused (Score 1) 402
Yes, Adobe Acrobat 1.0 for DOS.
iirc
Comment Re:How long will this last? (Score 1) 301
Or, you know... they could go off and pirate some spectrum, like the spectrum xplornet or hughes uses. :)
Comment flow of information (Score 1) 486
Former Military Personnel Claim Aliens Are Monitoring Our Nukes
498
An anonymous reader quotes Reuters "Witness testimony from more than 120 former or retired military personnel points to an ongoing and alarming intervention by unidentified aerial objects at nuclear weapons sites, as recently as 2003. In some cases, several nuclear missiles simultaneously and inexplicably malfunctioned while a disc-shaped object silently hovered nearby. Six former US Air Force officers and one former enlisted man will break their silence about these events at the National Press Club and urge the government to publicly confirm their reality." I won't worry until Gort shows up.
Submission + - EFF says "Stop using Haystack" (eff.org) 1
tenco writes: Based on a blog post by the CRC today, EFF warns against using Haystack for circumventing censorship firewalls in Iran. Jacob Appelbaum states on twitter: "Haystack is the worst piece of software I have ever had the displeasure of ripping apart.".
4chan Gives 90-Year-Old Vet a Great Birthday
363
Hugh Pickens writes "Members of 4chan aren't known for doing things that are cute and heart-warming and when they decide to go after someone, it's typically to subject them to ridicule. But not this time. Someone at 4chan decided that the Internet should get together and wish 90-year-old WWII veteran William J. Lashua a happy birthday, and soon Lashua's local branch of the American Legion was deluged by birthday calls from people as far away as Sweden. The account someone set up for Mr. Lashua's birthday on Facebook had 3,956 'likes' and over 500 comments, most of which wished him a happy birthday and thanked him for his military service. It's not clear how 4chan originally came across a photo of Lashua, but a member of the site posted a snapshot of a flyer that was on the bulletin board at a store in Ashburnham, Massachusetts asking for guests to attend the nonagenarian's birthday on at the American Legion hall and the post took off. In contrast to their usual behavior, 4chan members 'were giving him nice phone calls and sending him nice notes' and discouraging those who wanted to do something stupid or mean. 'They were all being.. well, shucks, awful nice.'"
Comment Re:Privacy (Score 1) 185
I dunno. BIS via Wifi uses an https connection to rim's servers.
Comment Re:...and RIM capitulates. (Score 1) 185
Journal Journal: Dreams: Two (1.5?) lucid ones from 20100709
20100709-crazy-dreams
1) Dreamed that I posted an innocuous message of good cheer / hello to the facebook profile of A. Promptly received cease and desist / stay-away order from her lawyers, which arrived in the form of two email messages. Boggled me.
2) Seemingly separate dream, with that one above as backstory:
Comment Re:... and Winlink 2000? (Score 1) 282
Winlink is just a message transport that can run over packet radio, tcp/ip, etc. It speaks B2F which has been around for a long time and is more open than D-STAR's proprietary codec but more importantly, is not a l2/l3 transport...
Pentagon Seeking Out Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange 628
a user writes "The Pentagon is desperately seeking the 'cooperation' of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, in order to stop him from releasing over 250,000 pages of confidential foreign policy documents. The documents were allegedly provided to Assange by Bradley Manning, the same solider who leaked a video showing a US Army helicopter killing unarmed civilians and international press correspondents."
