Not to be pedantic but if the star is 50 million light years away then the "new" black hole is really 50,000,030 years old. Not exactly "news".

I'm getting sick and tired of these "blackhat" conferences and their endless phallus measuring contests.

I really am all for free speech but these folks have potentially dangerous information and need to act _responsibly_ with it. Many of us here realized that the web based jailbreak could be refactored into a driveby exploit but we didn't do it -- much less do it and brag about it. This "revelation" doesn't in any way enlighten the community. It's only a "mine is bigger" statement for the self aggrandizing "haxor".

This kind of Dangerous Knowledge is nothing new. What if John (Captain Crunch) Daper had had a conference for phone-freakers and released press statements? No different. If these folks want to have what they think of as "security" conferences then protect the content shared there with an NDA and strict fines for breaking it.

These folks think of themselves as "experts" but they are really nothing more than juvenile delinquents -- regardless of their ages.

This might be a bit safer way to go: Antivirus software is sometimes tricked with false positives. I don't know what virus scanner you have on your lab machines but you can do a web search and find legitimate, harmless software that will trigger a false alert for whatever you have. Download one of those and use that to demonstrate to your students.

I assume since you say its a 101 class that by "remove by hand" you mean by using an anti-virus program and not hacking the registry. If so, then a harmless program will work as well as a true virus/worm.

I use McAfee and it alerts on a CD eject task bar tool I once had. It thinks it is a trojan joke program (I guess to make you think your CD drive is busted). That would make a fine demonstration and a good example of don't blindly download every "cool" program you see on the 'net.

See this is what happens when you tell some guys with billions of dollars to "go get a life"..... I know it sounds like a crazy scheme but then they laughed at Microsoft Bob too... Uh, wait....

Stop it! You're giving them ideas! Courts have in the past ruled that as few as three notes are copyrightable. Throw in some Hollywood math and we could well see one inadvertently whistled tune worth more in damages than the entire GNP of the combined western hemisphere.

Since copyright is instant and automatic the amount of "work" required to produce it has no bearing at all -- a 4 line limerick gets as much protection as a 20 volume encyclopedia. Besides the US courts long ago rejected the "sweat of the brow" argument. The distinction between a recipe and a program is completely arbitrary and has more to do with the fact that recipes predate copyright law while software came after. Suppose I made a very advanced "fry-bot" (like McDonalds uses) that could peel the potatoes, slice them, season them, deep fry them for exactly the right amount of time, and then serve them in little cups. Would the program driving all this activity deserve a copyright? But really haven't I just taken a recipe and turned it into a computer program? If I write a recipe in C++ notation does it suddenly become copyrightable? This is just another rehash of the "on the internet" trope that is so often pilloried here. Copyright law is still in the 18th century while the culture is not.

Right.... 'cause that worked so well with the banks.

Since ASCII stands for "American" Standard Code for Information Interchange I think the Soviets who created this might be offended.

And the deaf might be good at watching surveillance camera video... And those height-challenged might be good in tight spaces.... And those uterus-enabled might be.... well you get the picture. I guess we all "sell" what we are good at but those doing the buying should be careful of enabling exploitation.

If you subscribe to cable or satellite TV then you are paying to be advertised to. Every minute there is a commercial on your screen is a minute of service you are paying for that someone else is using for his gain.

Here's an interview with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, where he concludes that Life is the most likely and simplest explanation for all the methane on Mars. Surprising to hear a very mainstream scientist say so and so openly. http://jonja.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=8193

Waiting for Perl 6 seems a lot like waiting for the Messiah to arrive. And even when (if) it happens there'll be some people saying "Nope. Not the right one... Keep looking...."

No joke, I see the the inevitable end of all this is that the world will be dragged kicking and screaming to an eventual worldwide government. Nobody is going to like it. The masses will fear loosing their voice but will accept it because it will be the only way to have a chance at reining in these huge multi-national behemoths. The corporations will fear being out muscled by an entity even larger than they but will acquiesce because, as in this story, they will see it as the only way to keep from bleeding from a thousand cuts.

Can I get an "Amen"! Grab those cans and sing "Hallelujah"! The lords [of the internet] work in mysterious ways!

By presenting a situation that in and of itself is not dangerous (clear maps) but presenting it as an imminent danger to life and limb, isn't the honorable Mr. Anderson doing exactly what he claims to want to prevent?