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Comment Re: Ruby is a great language (Score 3, Interesting) 65

And I accidently sent my comment away. The syntax is great, but I don't like the way Ruby hasn't crystallized yet. Every new version they somehow remove compatibility with the old versions, that's bad. My scripts stop working and I have to fix everything, this is not userfriendly.

Documation is scattered and incomplete. It's something that needs to fixed if they want to get to version 4

Submission + - Dutch Security Services Plan NSA Style Phone And Internet Monitoring (dutchnews.nl)

cold fjord writes: DutchNews.nl reports, "... Dutch secret services ... plan to expand the scope of their monitoring services to cover internet and telephone traffic and ministers are sympathetic At the moment, the security services are only allowed to collect bulk details about conversations made via satellite or short wave. But they want to expand the scope of the legislation to cover internet and cable-based telephone connections ... In a couple of weeks ... legislation will be published and is expected to recommend revisions to take account of new technology. ... the security services have already ordered listening systems which will allow them to bulk collect data about internet and telephone traffic. ... the secret service supervisory board CTIVD has no plans to intervene ... Internet privacy lobby group Bits of Freedom has already warned that any expansion of the security services' powers would be 'totally unacceptable' ... a public prosecution department official has said police and the justice ministry tap so many phones and internet connections that they are compromising on quality and investigation capacity. ... in the Netherlands we are tapping like crazy.' The Netherlands is already the most heavily phone-tapped country in the world. " — The Las Vegas Sun reports: Dutch government taken to court over NSA links — More at ZDNet, WSJ, and telecompaper

Comment Re:I'm for this (Score 1) 394

The NSA could detect anomalous phenomena or detect certain sociological patterns that are impossible to find unless you monitor as much as possible on a global scale.

It would be logical for them to look. If what they find can be exploited, it would be much more powerful and stealthy than any new conventional weapon.

Nobody's looking for a new a-bomb anymore, except for the acclaimed terrorists.

Comment Re:Some people... (Score 1) 621

No, your kid is probably not going to be "irreparably mentally harmed" from being exposed to violent video games too early. But there is such a thing as exposing a kid to shit that they're too young to handle (or understand). And that's not a good thing.

A kid's innocence is a precious thing, and it's a shame to squander it too early. That doesn't mean I want to have my 12-year-old still believing in Santa Claus, but I also don't want him introduced to the ugly world of violent crime, drugs, and prostitution while he's still in kindergarten either.

You probably have the best comment here so far.

It all depends how you support your kids. If you don't have time to set the moral standards for your kid (because you're a single parent and gone all day - keep this in mind when watching Dr.Phil in the distant future) and buy GTA5 to basically babysit your teenager - you're in trouble.

Government

Fighting TSA Harassment of Disabled Travelers 525

An anonymous reader writes "A man with a neurological disorder is currently pushing the TSA to release a full list of its policies and procedures after a series of incidents in which he was harassed while trying to fly. His condition requires medical liquids and causes episodic muteness, and the TSA makes his encounters very difficult. From January: 'Boston Logan TSA conducted an illegal search of my xray-cleared documents (probably motivated either by my opting out or by my use of sign language to communicate). They refused to give me access to the pen and paper that I needed to communicate. Eventually they gave it to me, but then they took it away in direct retaliation for my using it to quote US v Davis and protest their illegal search (thereby literally depriving me of speech). They illegally detained me for about an hour on spurious, law enforcement motivated grounds (illegal under Davis, Aukai, Fofana, Bierfeldt, etc). ... TSA has refused to comply with the ADA grievance process; they are over a month beyond the statutory mandate for issuing a written determination.'"
NASA

Submission + - NASA's News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery (nasa.gov)

Totally_Tux writes: This looks like a significant event, has something been found? From the press release:

"NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

The news conference will be held at the NASA Headquarters auditorium at 300 E St. SW, in Washington. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website at http://www.nasa.gov./ "

Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft makes free online version of Office (nwsource.com)

walterbyrd writes: Microsoft will offer an online version of Office 2010 for free. I have to wonder, will this remain free indefinitely? Or is Microsoft just trying to firmly establish it's OOXML standard, then go back to business as usual?

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