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Comment NSA has weakened national security (Score 1) 47

I'm wondering when somebody in congress will initiate legal action against the NSA for weakening national security.

It's generally acknowledged by now that the NSA has intentionally weakened various cryptographic algorithms, including AES. I'm responsible for various WAN links at my organization, and they use AES-256 IPSec tunnels to secure the traffic. That traffic is extremely sensitive in nature. The NSA may have intended to only allow themselves to crack this encryption, but how am I supposed to know that some other hacker hasn't figured out how to take advantage of the NSA's actions? How do I tell my director that our data is secure, and that we're meeting state and federal regulatory requirements?

Comment Re:Two Problems (Score 1) 164

As much as I loved Reading Rainbow growing up, I have two problems with this:

1. If you go to their website, nothing indicates this is a non-profit corporation. 2. None of the people involved has a background in education, child development, psychology, etc.

I just graduated with a Masters degree in education. I can tell you that, having met and worked with many Ph.D.s , that the degree does not necessarily mean that you know what you're doing. Case in point, have you LOOKED at the current Common Core standards? The curriculum? The test questions? Whoever created that mess will be primarily responsible for our increasing illiteracy in this country for the next decade.

Personally, I think Mr. Burton's efforts will me much more effective than much of the tripe created by supposed "experts",

Comment Stupid question from a non-astronomer (Score 3, Interesting) 142

Sorry for the double-post, didn't realize I wasn't logged in when I posted this previously

I keep hearing about "Dark Matter" as an explanation for how galaxies don't fly apart due to the force generated by their rotation, but I can't help thinking that all that mass we're looking for in galaxies could be stuff like this. Regular matter that just doesn't generate enough heat or light for us to have noticed prior to this.

Could the question of how galaxies rotate be answered by large quantities of objects such as these?

Comment Re:Hand out the PP slides after the talk. (Score 1) 181

My memory has gotten considerably worse these past five years. I need something to take with me to stimulate my memory of the things I found important.

I also find that, if I'm busy trying to take notes, the Extraneous Cognitive Load ensures that I actually absorb less of the material.

Bottom line: If I have pre-printed notes, highlights, outline, etc of the talk before it is given, I can relax and enjoy the lecture, interact with the instructor, and only add specific impressions by writing on the handout. I'll retain more, learn more, and remember more.

Comment Re:how can i tell if my router is affected? (Score 1) 134

There's a small recessed reset button on the back of the router. You have to get a paper clip and try to push it in there. If the router starts saying "I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you do that," and hits you with an electric shock, it has been compromised.

Damn, the first time I can remember when I *actually* laughed out loud at a Slashdot post, and I'm without MOD points!

Comment Re:Cost (Score 2) 473

> What part of "trends that some say have been accelerated by increasingly strict federal regulations" don't you understand? Big government strikes again . . .

He just just might not buy into the mindless Conservative drivel.

If incomes remain stagnant while inflation continues, EVERYTHING becomes more expensive. This includes any expensive esoteric hobbies. The cost of a pilot's license and an airplane is going to steadily become more and more out of reach even without the Tea Bagger rantings.

Reading the media nonsense and taking it completely at face value are two entirely different things.

My wife is a veterinarian trying to open her own clinic. I got angry, then depressed when I saw how much money we had to spend on useless, stupid regulation that did nothing but line the pockets of bureaucrats.

It's easy for you liberals to say that "big government" is a good thing, until you're a small business person trying to create and run a business and provide jobs for a few people. Once you have to actually deal with the crap you guys are creating, you'd sing a different tune, believe me.

Comment We use Synology (Score 1) 168

They're a bit expensive and I wish the documentation was better, but I've had some luck with the Synology products. They've got a lot of plug-in software modules, including an Asterisk PBM for VoIP, Cloud Station for folder synchronization, etc.

Make sure that you look at the specifications, if you're wanting encrypted tunnels or encrypted data on the drives, ensure that you buy one with the AES encryption set in hardware.

One more thing: I have had very poor luck with the Seagate drives I originally bought and put in a DS 412+. I replaced them with Western Digital Red NAS drives, and they work much better.

Comment Everybody should provide the "feedback" they want (Score 1) 222

That javascript pop-up at the top asks for feedback with a link to feedback@slashdot.org, subject beta_feedback. (I'm not doing an actual link, because the beta site appears to not allow links).

I've already sent an email stating that, if beta becomes permanent, I will be deleting my account and not returning to Slashdot. If everybody gives their feedback about the Beta, perhaps they'll realize that they're going to lose all their money when we stop visiting.

Comment Re:Gravity is not constant... (Score 1) 299

No shit. And measuring the mass of the slug in question involves weighing it. Or do you have another method involved for determining the mass of an object used as the constant for measuring mass?

Wow. Just....wow. So *this* is what modern education has come to?

Seriously, weight is an accelerational effect upon the mass by a force, in this case, gravity. Einstein taught us that any acceleration, outside of a frame of reference, would be identical. So, providing an acceleration by means of some other force while in microgravity would accomplish the same thing.

I suggest that you do a quick Google search on the subject. In about 5 seconds I found articles on using springs on the ISS, and a patent application for using a centrifuge to accomplish the same thing.

Comment Re:Egocentrism (Score 1) 517

It's all the same

"There's no global warming because I'm cold." "There's no poverty because I'm rich." "There's no racism because I'm white."

Let me fix that for you:

"It's too hot because of global warming."
"It's too cold because of global warming."
"It's too wet because of global warming."
"It's too dry because of global warming."

I'll start believing in global warming when "climate scientists" actually start sharing the raw data so that it can be analyzed by people who disagree with them, instead of hiding the data, altering it and/or only sharing it with fellow "warmers". That's something that we call "science".

Comment Re:Prior Art (Score 1) 107

He's not talking about an ANCD or other transfer device. He's talking about our Common Access Cards (CAC), by which we authenticate to DoD resources on the Web. The CAC has an encryption chip embedded in it, as well as some storage for certificates. I have a Smartcard reader attached to a USB port on my computer. When I need to get into a military website, I place my CAC in the reader. Windows 7 and 8 have built-in drivers for smart cards, and the web site will send a request for authentication to my computer. It will intercept the request and ask me to unlock my CAC. I enter my PIN, the CAC does it's PKI thing with my private certificate, and I have access to the website.

Most, if not all, federal agencies are moving to the Multi-factor authentication model, where we not only have to have the "something I know" piece, but the "something I have" piece, in this case, the CAC.

Comment I don't blame him for turning off wireless... (Score 1, Interesting) 242

I don't really like the Republican party any more. They're running the country into the ground. But listening to how hateful the liberals are, and how they wish death to their political opponents (see list below), I can't really support them either. I don't want to be a member of the party of hate. So for now I'll be an independent.

That being said, if even a few of the below links are accurate, wouldn't you protect yourself from the left, who profess to want their political opponents to die?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/9757837/

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/07/16/dan-savage-hbos-real-time-i-wish-republicans-were-all-f-king-dead

http://www.examiner.com/article/liberal-talker-mike-malloy-says-he-wants-gop-literally-dead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItcqrHLZGDg&feature=player_embedded#!

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/media-research-center-documents-liberal-death-wishes-against-conservatives

http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/the-dark-side-of-liberalism-death-threats-to-conservatives-and-racist-threats/question-3628447/

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