Comment ...and here I was thinking Wall Street (Score 1) 210
When I saw the heading "Artificial Ethics". Oh Well!
Comment This is just a geek version of "The Rapture". (Score 1) 366
... and has about the same likelihood of happening. So don't hold your breath till robot Jesus comes, because he probably won't. If he did come he'd be named Bender!
Comment except the Republicans continue to become (Score 1) 1124
a regional party further marginalizing them selves by moving to the right. Specter had to jump ship because he was going to be challenged in the primary by someone from the far right of the party. He left because the more moderate members of the GOP in Specter's state have seen the handwriting on the wall and have already left the party to either join the Democrats or go Independent.
Comment All hail the Lords of Cobol! (Score 1) 314
Now where did Boomer and Star Buck get off to?
Journal Journal: What Happened to BookPool?
bookpool.com has been my favorite place to purchase books for many years now.
All I get is "This Site Is Under Construction and Coming Soon" when I point my browser there now. I hope they didn't go out of business.
The Shadow Factory 157
brothke writes "The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America is the third of James Bamford's trilogy. Bamford started this with The Puzzle Palace in 1982 and Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency in 2001. The Shadow Factory is likely the last book Bamford will find the NSA cooperative to, given his often harsh treatment of the agency and its directors. It is also doubtful that former NSA Director Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden will grant Bamford additional dinner invitations, given his portrayal of Hayden as a weakling who could not stand up to Dick Cheney and other in the Bush administration." Read below for the rest of Ben's review.
Comment I'd like to give T'pol some Ponn Far (Score 1) 169
Then we can meld more than minds!
Comment U.S.A. Stimulus and O.S. what's wrong with it? (Score 1) 525
Well, I can think of one thing wrong with it. How do you insure that only American software developers benefit from such the stimulus? After all, the stimulus is for helping Americans and I assume most Open Source projects know no national boundaries
Comment Were they H1-B mosquitoes? (Score 1) 841
I'm just saying! (ducks)
The Best Gaming Laptop Money Can Buy 161
Parz writes "Gameplayer has gone live with their winners for the best gaming laptops money can buy as of Q3 2008. The analysis is broken into three sections to cater for three different budget requirements. There is a detailed explanation of why each laptop was selected, going into each hardware component individually. Regular Slashdot users will remember the site's article from a few weeks ago, which analysed the Best Gaming PCs that Money can Buy. Prices may vary depending on where you live."
Submission + - Jobs in Computer Forensics?
raw-sewage writes: I recently obtained a copy of Wietse Venema and Dan Farmer's Forensic Discovery. The book has piqued my interest in a career in computer forensics. Does anyone have experience with such a job? What kinds of firms (private or governmental) hire people to perform technological investigations?
Submission + - Open Source archive hits the web (osliving.com) 1
James Campbell writes: "A silent storm has been brewing on the Open Source front with the recent launch of Open Source Living. Simply put, it's an archive of Open Source and free software ranging from lesser known personal projects to some of the major OSS programs that Web users have come to love.
While the site is clearly still in its infancy, with growth pains and all, it shows signs of becoming a valuable resource. Clean and organized information, plus the ability to raise awareness to OSS alternatives are its key assets right now. But what is really interesting about this case is that the site's author, a UK based blogger and OSS enthusiast, has thrown open the direction of the archive to members of its growing forum community.
The Internet is a perilous place for a fledgling website and avoiding the many pitfalls is no mean feat, but if the right cards are played and the project brings on board multiple authors who share a passion for OSS, then this will be something to watch out for. I suppose at the very least, everyone loves a bit of free gear!"
While the site is clearly still in its infancy, with growth pains and all, it shows signs of becoming a valuable resource. Clean and organized information, plus the ability to raise awareness to OSS alternatives are its key assets right now. But what is really interesting about this case is that the site's author, a UK based blogger and OSS enthusiast, has thrown open the direction of the archive to members of its growing forum community.
The Internet is a perilous place for a fledgling website and avoiding the many pitfalls is no mean feat, but if the right cards are played and the project brings on board multiple authors who share a passion for OSS, then this will be something to watch out for. I suppose at the very least, everyone loves a bit of free gear!"
Submission + - Fedora 8 officially released (arstechnica.com) 1
Cat in the Hat writes: Fedora 8 has been officially released. Ars Technica has a run-down of what's new in Fedora 8, including the PulseAudio sound daemon, Nodoka visual style, and a new authentication system. 'Another major change in Fedora 8 is the new PolicyKit authentication system that makes authority escalation more secure. Instead of providing root access to an entire program when it needs higher privileges, PolicyKit makes it possible to isolate individual operations that require higher privileges and put them into system services that can be accessed through D-Bus. Another advantage of PolicyKit is that it will give administrators more control over which users and programs have access to individual operations that use escalated privileges.'
Submission + - Gold record $850 And Oil $100 & Dollar Down (bd-blogger.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Gold eyes record $850 And Oil prices' climb toward $100 , Dollar hitting fresh lows against the euro. Oil was on the cusp of the landmark $100 a barrel level on Wednesday, helping push gold towards a record $850 an ounce as an embattled dollar hit new lows. Oil prices stalled in their climb toward $100 a barrel after a government report said oil inventories fell less than expected last week while refinery utilization remained flat.A larger than expected drop would most certainly have propelled oil past $100 a barrel for the first time. Gold surged above $845, approaching a record set in 1980. Silver has followed gold, hitting a 27-year high above $16 an ounce.
Submission + - The Despair of White-collar Job Seekers (scienceblogs.com)
grrlscientist writes: "Inspired by reading Barbara Ehrenreich's book, Bait and Switch, I write about the many tribulations faced by the real-life white-collar job seekers whom I know.
From the story: But instead of chronicling the trials and challenges of the average white-collar employee working in a large corporation, the author never actually manages to get her desired position in the first place and only succeeds in getting one (or was it two?) interviews during the entire ten months of her job hunt. So faced with a ten month investment in a fruitless (and expensive) job search, Ehrenreich instead writes about the white-collar long-term unemployed people, those people who "did everything right" by "playing by the rules" only to find their lives crumbling around them anyway. She writes about all the people out there who prey upon desperate unemployed professionals who are "in transition". These predatory people masquerade as career coaches and as speakers at job hunting "boot camps" and religious ministries. As an undercover job seeker herself, she also subjects herself to those ridiculous personality tests that employment agencies and employers use, reads books that are supposed to help ease one's job search, posts her resume on several internet job sites, attends job fairs and networking events, all in pursuit of those elusive employers "out there" who cannot find the qualified professionals that they so desperately seek."
From the story: But instead of chronicling the trials and challenges of the average white-collar employee working in a large corporation, the author never actually manages to get her desired position in the first place and only succeeds in getting one (or was it two?) interviews during the entire ten months of her job hunt. So faced with a ten month investment in a fruitless (and expensive) job search, Ehrenreich instead writes about the white-collar long-term unemployed people, those people who "did everything right" by "playing by the rules" only to find their lives crumbling around them anyway. She writes about all the people out there who prey upon desperate unemployed professionals who are "in transition". These predatory people masquerade as career coaches and as speakers at job hunting "boot camps" and religious ministries. As an undercover job seeker herself, she also subjects herself to those ridiculous personality tests that employment agencies and employers use, reads books that are supposed to help ease one's job search, posts her resume on several internet job sites, attends job fairs and networking events, all in pursuit of those elusive employers "out there" who cannot find the qualified professionals that they so desperately seek."
