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Submission + - DIA Polygraph Countermeasure Case Files Leaked

Submitted by George Maschke
George Maschke writes: AntiPolygraph.org (of which I am a co-founder) has published a set of leaked Defense Intelligence Agency polygraph countermeasure case files along with a case-by-case analysis. The case files, which include polygraph charts and the exact questions used, suggest that the only people being "caught" trying to beat the polygraph are those using crude, unsophisticated methods that anyone who actually understood polygraph procedure and effective countermeasures (like, say, a real spy, saboteur, or terrorist) would ever use. AntiPolygraph.org has previously published polygraph community training materials on countermeasures that indicate they lack the ability to detect countermeasures like those described in our free book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (PDF) or in former police polygraph examiner Doug Williams' manual, How to Sting the Polygraph . Williams, who was indicted last year after teaching undercover federal agents how to pass a polygraph, is scheduled to stand trial on May 12 in Oklahoma City.

Submission + - Helpin' minorities in earning Ph.Ds (cgsnet.org)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: The article outlines the attempts of universities in helping minorities — specifically the African Americans, the Latin Americans, the Native Americans and the Alaska Natives — obtaining their Ph.Ds, and the recent progress

A conundrum remains — nobody can put their fingers to a specific (proven) recipe which led to the success

The three-year study, which was paid for by the National Science Foundation, is the most comprehensive to date on times to degree, attrition, and completion rates for members of underrepresented minority groups

The report's suggestion on improvements on completion rates include

1) Conducting interventions throughout the entire doctoral process;
2) Providing students with enhanced academic support;
3) Monitoring and evaluating programs and interventions; and
4) Cultivating a culture of diversity and inclusion,

A highlight of the report

“One of the striking lessons from this study is that the dissertation phase is a particularly critical time for students. Our country’s STEM workforce will lose a great deal of potential talent if we don’t help underrepresented doctoral students cross the finish line”

...carries the hint of 'shortening the time to degree based on interviews with minority graduate students' might prove to be controversial as that could bring forth the ' entitlement mindset ' that has been plagued the society at large for much too long

Comment Re:Define intelligence (Score 0) 385

by Taco Cowboy (#49502225) Attached to: Can High Intelligence Be a Burden Rather Than a Boon?

I have a high IQ and I have found it easier to digest information, correlate that information and draw conclusions that my peers
This was identified in early grade school and resulted in both selection into gifted programs and the occasional beating on the playground by my peers
As a result, I have usually sought to disavow any claim to intelligence and work with people at the level that they are comfortable at, only bringing on additional capacity as needed to keep things moving along
Being identified as 'exceptional' is both gratifying and painful, and I would normally attempt to avoid it.
This because people both set higher expectations for me and seek an opportunity to prove themselves by besting me

I feel your pain, I do

I always suspect that I am 'different' from the rest ever since I was a little kid --- and even without 'trying' I always manage to 'get the answer'

That brought a whole lot of jealousy and angst amongst my peers - and when that happened in the midst of the cultural revolution of China, of course I got in trouble very fast

All kinds of labels were heaped on me, 'counter-revolutionary', 'foreign-spy', whatever that you could imagine I was burdened with it

But unlike you, I refused to back down --- why should I?

Why should I fall into their level of mediocrity, to dumb down myself, to stoop low, just so that I could be one of them?

Fuck that!

I am what I am. If I am born 'different' so be it

By the time I took the IQ test I was in my mid-twenties, and at that time I was already in the USA, and the result wasn't actually surprising, at least not to me (supposed to be one in 300+ million, or something like that)

Am I 'special' because my high IQ? Not really. As I said, I am what I am. Even if my IQ level turns out to be a goose-egg, I am still what I am

I do not despise those who can't comprehend the things that I can, no matter how they try. I mean, why should I?

They are they. I am me

They have their own lives to live. I have mine

But I continue to be me, that 'me' that I am born with

I continue to do the things that I want to do, even if the society around me doesn't appreciate what I do

Hey, I have but one life to live, and I am going to live it to the fullest

Comment Ask the former residents of East Germany (Score 5, Insightful) 254

by Taco Cowboy (#49502139) Attached to: The Upsides of a Surveillance Society

They were under constant watch of the Stasi

Why don't you guys go ask the former residents of the East Germany and see if they prefer to be "kinder to each others" when under surveillance or to have their liberty back ... even if they have to endure the consequence of having more people being rude to each others

TFA should be a warning sign - that TPTB is actively trying to inject a meme / an idea into people's mindset that the society would be somehow *nicer* if everybody are under surveillance

I thought you guys are supposed to have above average IQ, but looking at the way you guys are commenting ... sigh !

Comment We have NSA to thank for ... (Score 1) 192

by Taco Cowboy (#49491945) Attached to: Microsoft's Role As Accuser In the Antitrust Suit Against Google

These details all used to show on www.groklaw.net, whose thoughtful legal analyses and detailed reporting are missed by many

I too missed the insightful analysis of Groklaw a lot

Unfortunately, we have only ourselves to blame because it is us who keep on funding nefarious cabals such as that motherfucking NSA with our tax monies

http://www.groklaw.net/article...

Comment I do not play the 'victim game' (Score 5, Insightful) 192

by Taco Cowboy (#49491027) Attached to: Microsoft's Role As Accuser In the Antitrust Suit Against Google

So who do you blame for obesity, McDonald or the people who promote McDonald and target their ads at people who they also target with dieting ads

Who do I blame?

Me

I blame myself for being a fucking idiot wasting my hard earned $ on Mickey-D's hamburgers for I, as a consumer, have the choice to *NOT* going to Mickey-D no matter what the ads tell me

Comment Remember M$'s role on SCO? (Score 5, Informative) 192

by Taco Cowboy (#49490891) Attached to: Microsoft's Role As Accuser In the Antitrust Suit Against Google

Remember who was behind SCO on its patent claim against Linux?

M$

Do you know that M$ still has patent claims on Linux and Android?

Do you know that Samsung had to pay M$ to use Android on their smartphone?

Do you know that because of the so-called settlement in between M$ and Samsung on the Android patent thing, Samsung is obliged to use Microsoft's apps on its new smartphones?

Comment WTF are you complaining about?? (Score 2) 245

by Taco Cowboy (#49483785) Attached to: Google Responds To EU Antitrust Claims In Android Blog Post

You have completely lost me

... but I got a smartphone recently - a Samsung Ace 3 with Android. My impression is that the concept has huge promise, but that it is set up to disappoint massively, because although it is so-called open-source, you are not likely to be set free from the tie-in. This particular phone comes without Google Play (and as Google say: 'if it isn't installed from the start, you are not supposed to have it'), and all I can find on Samsung's equivalent is ad- and spyware. I have a suspicion the same holds for Google Play, but I don't know. Even if you download Google Play from elsehwere, it will not be allowed to run - it gets killed instantly

Let's see ...

The phone you got is from Samsung

It runs Android

It does NOT have Google Play

And if you want to install Google Play in it, that Samsung phone somehow deletes it, instantly

Am I stating the facts correctly?

The phone's only tie with Google is the OS ( Android )

Fact 1. The Phone is not from Google

Fact 2. Google Play is not allowed to be installed in that phone

But of course, that's not all ...
 
You just goota bitch about the evilness of Google, even if you have to make it up

... To my mind, this is very close to being abuse of monopoly - 'collusion to abuse a monopoly' if there is such a concept. Oh, I'm sure it is all legal, in the lawyer sense of the word, meaning that if you get away with it, it must have been legal; I don't think it should be legal, and it certainly isn't moral. They are misappropriating the open source concept and unless we speak out against it, we let them demean the good standing of the open source movement ...

Regarding that fucking phone of yours, Google's role is limited to the Android OS, and nothing else

So what the fuck are you trying to prove?

That Google is evil? Just because Google supplies that Android OS that Samsung uses?

That Google is a monopoly? How can Google be a monopoly if Google Play isn't even allowed to be installed???

You got tard for in between your ears, or what?

Comment Outsiders will forever be outsider if ... (Score 5, Insightful) 148

... that's what they want

I am a Chinese, born in China

In the US of A I am an *outsider* --- and if I want to forever remain an *outsider*, I can

In other words, if I remain an *outsider* that is because I choose to be an *outsider*

Look, man ! In this thread there is an Indian American (who was born in America) and a Chinese American, who was born in China already chimed in, and we share the same view, that the idea in which students can learn better from teachers who share the same racial background as them (the students) as a totally ridiculous notion

Political Correctness has no place in Education!!

Comment You are so right ! (Score 3, Insightful) 148

If I can mod you up 1000 times, I will !

I came from China. Back in China all my teachers are Chinese - as China is full of Chinese naturally my teachers (good and bad) are Chinese

But when I landed on US of A none of my teachers / lecturers / professors (good and bad) happened to be ethnic Chinese

Did I ever fail to learn just because my teacher / lecturer / professor happened to be not of the same ethnic / racial background as me? Nope !

In fact, I find it utterly ridiculously to claim that students learn better with teachers of the same racial background, and you are so right --- Political Correctness has no place in Education!!

Submission + - Dark Energy Survey Shows 'Weak Gravitational Lensing' Effects On Mapping Dark Ma (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey have released the first in a series of dark matter maps of the cosmos. These maps, created with one of the world's most powerful digital cameras, are the largest contiguous maps created at this level of detail and will improve our understanding of dark matter's role in the formation of galaxies

The maps, created using one of the world’s most powerful digital cameras, are designed to probe the origin of the accelerating universe and help uncover the nature of dark energy

They are the largest contiguous maps created at this level of detail. The project scientists hope they will improve our understanding of the role dark matter plays in the formation of galaxies. By analysing the “clumpiness” of the dark matter in the maps, scientists will be able to further examine the nature of mysterious dark energy, thought to be the reason the universe is continuing to expand at an accelerating rate

To explain cosmic acceleration, cosmologists face two possibilities: Either 75 percent of the universe exists in an exotic form, now called dark energy, that exhibits a gravitational force opposite to the attractive gravity of ordinary matter, or General Relativity must be replaced by a new theory of gravity on cosmic scales

The new map was released April 13 at a meeting of the American Physical Society in Baltimore, MD. To create the map, scientists used data captured by the Dark Energy Camera, at 570-megapixels, one of the world’s most powerful digital cameras. The Dark Energy Camera, roughly 100 times more powerful than a typical digital camera, is the primary instrument for the DES

The camera was constructed and tested at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and is now mounted on the 4-meter Victor M. Blanco telescope at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The data were processed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign

Those theories suggest that, since there is much more dark matter in the universe than visible matter, galaxies will form where large concentrations of dark matter (and hence stronger gravity) are present. So far, the DES analysis backs this up: The maps show large filaments of matter along which visible galaxies and galaxy clusters lie and cosmic voids where very few galaxies reside. Follow-up studies of some of the enormous filaments and voids, and the enormous volume of data, collected throughout the survey will reveal more about this interplay of mass and light

Submission + - Super-hydrophobic paint pisses back on public street pissers

Submitted by monkeyzoo
monkeyzoo writes: San Francisco is testing 10 walls in areas fraught with public urination problems with ultra-water-repellent paint designed to repel the urine and cause the stream to instead soil the scofflaw's pants. "It's supposed to, when people urinate, bounce back and hit them on the pants and get them wet. Hopefully that will discourage them. We will put a sign to give them a heads up," said Mohammad Nuru, director of the San Francisco public works. The super-hydrophobic oleophobic nano-coating is produced by a Florida company named Ultra-Tech and was recently used with success on walls in Hamburg, Germany to discourage public urination [video]. Signs posted there warn, "Do not pee here! We pee back!"

Submission + - Leaked details, if true, point to potent AMD Zen CPU (extremetech.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For more than a year, information on AMD’s next-generation CPU architecture, codenamed Zen, has tantalized the company’s fans — and those who simply want a more effective competitor against Intel. Now, the first concrete details have begun to appear. And if they’re accurate, the next-generation chip could pack a wallop.

Submission + - Coordinated Takedown Puts End to Simda Botnet (threatpost.com)

Submitted by msm1267
msm1267 writes: The Simda botnet, known for spreading banking malware and dropping a backdoor on hundreds of thousands of machines worldwide, was taken down last Thursday in a collaborative effort between international law enforcement bodies and private security and technology companies.

Thirteen command and control servers in four countries were seized, putting an end to a malware family that has infected more than 90,000 computers since January of this year alone.

Simda distributed several types of malware including financial Trojans and illicit software, and has been active since the end of 2012. The keepers of Simda make frequent functionality updates and constantly enhance its capabilities to evade detection by researchers and security software, making it an attractive option for cybercriminals, who buy only access to Simda-infected machines and then install additional malicious code on the machines.

The takedown was coordinated by the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore, the Cyber Defense Institute, the FBI, the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), Microsoft, Kaspersky Lab and Trend Micro. Not only were officials able to seize command and control servers and domains, but were also able to sinkhole Simda traffic. That traffic shows a diverse set of victims in more than 40 countries, officials said.

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