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Comment Re:Just me? (Score 5, Insightful) 105

That's what I was thinking too; and probably just function like an 18-wheeler where a tire can blow out and there's so much support that the load is still distributed adequately.

Basically, all this means is Google designs like Mack while everyone else designs like Chrysler...

Government

Submission + - Bush Wiretap Memos Reveal Shocking Revelations

nandemoari writes: A set of memorandums written by U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) lawyers were recently disclosed to the public by the Obama administration. The memorandums note how the Bush administration gave the authority to wiretap the Internet and telephone calls with no limitations, suppress journalists, restrict freedom of speech, and allegedly allowed the President to domestically use the U.S. military against suspected terrorists. The Bush administration memos came after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The memos provide glimpses into the arguments used to justify those claims and the depths of those beliefs. We may not have realized it at the time, as noted by Scott Horton from Harper's Magazine, but in the period from late 2001 to January 19, 2009, many argue that the U.S. was a dictatorship.
Enlightenment

Submission + - Kevin Slavin at PSFK Conference NYC 2009 (eventbrite.com)

Laissa Hayden writes: "Hi, Larissa Hayden here from PSFK.com. Just wanted to send you a quick notice about our upcoming event, PSFK Conference New York 2009. On April 2nd, PSFK will bring together a collection of forward-focused innovators and thought leaders to discuss ideas in the fields of arts & culture, design, digital & mobile technology, marketing & advertising, sustainability, social media and publishing. I thought your readers might be particularly interested in When Technology is Everywhere. Kevin Slavin from area/code will speak about we can all leverage it to create ideas that make connections between our online and offline worlds. Check out two of our previous panel discussions: Technology, New Forms of Entertainment & Consumer Engagement at PSFK Conference Los Angeles (http://www.psfk.com/2007/12/technology-new-forms-of-entertainment-consumer-engagement-at-the-psfk-conference-los-angeles.html) and Good Ideas in 2009 in Mobile from The Good Ideas Salon in London (http://www.psfk.com/2008/11/video-good-ideas-in-2009-in-mobile.html). For tickets or more information on the event, please visit http://psfkconferencenyc09.eventbrite.com/ We appreciate your support. Best, Larissa — Larissa Hayden www.psfk.com 536 Broadway 11th Floor New York NY 10012 OUR NEW BOOK — GOOD IDEAS IN 2009: www.goodideas2009.com PSFK : Hamburg | London | New York | Sao Paulo | Shanghai | Beyond"
The Military

Submission + - Army Developing Teams for Electronic Warfare

krou writes: The New York Times is reporting that the Army is now developing its own electronic warfare teams, after having had to rely on the Navy and Air Force in Iraq. Electronic warfare is completely separate to cyber warfare, in that it normally occurs in a tactical battlefield setting, focusing primarily on signals carried on radio and microwave frequencies. Possible applications would be to defend (and, obviously, carry out attacks) against radio and cellphone scrambling, or jamming satellites that feed navigation networks. (I wonder if they'll use raspberry?) "The initial goal is to train more than 1,600 people from enlisted ranks through the officer corps by 2013, and to double that in the following years, giving the Army enough of these specialists to rival its sister services and surpass all of the NATO allies combined."
Government

Submission + - 10 IT Agenda Items For U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra (infoworld.com)

snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Paul Venezia views Vivek Kundra's appointment as an important first step toward getting the U.S. back on track in a number of tech areas faltering due to corporate neglect, offering 10 agenda items many in IT would like to see the first-ever U.S. CIO address. From mandatory restitution for customer data leaks, to net neutrality, to EULA restrictions, to DNSSEC, BGPSEC, and the mandating of a single electronic voting standard, Venezia's agenda is far-reaching, and suggests the former CTO of the District of Columbia's responsibilities should extend beyond modernizing the country's IT infrastructure and begin lending oversight to an industry that, if left unchecked, will further threaten our freedoms and privacy, as well as the long-term potential for innovation in IT."
Biotech

Submission + - Stem Cell Kit Reverses Stroke Brain Damage in Rats (technologyreview.com)

Al writes: "Scientists have discovered that the brain damage caused by a stroke can be reversed (in rats) using a novel matrix of neural stem cells and a biodegradable polymer material. Mike Modo, a neurobiologist at King's College London, and his colleagues found that, within just seven days of injecting the concoction directly into the damaged part of a rat's brain, new nerve tissue grew to fill stroke-induced cavities. A biodegradable polymer called PLGA, which ensures that the stem cells remain in the area of stroke damage and establish connections with surrounding brain tissue is the key to the advance. By reducing the stray stem cells, the system should also be safer. Details are published today in the journal Biomaterials."
Security

Submission + - SPAM: US cybersecurity chief quits over NSA meddling

alphadogg writes: Rod Beckstrom, director of the National Cybersecurity Center, has resigned his position effective March 13, complaining about the large role of the National Security Agency (NSA) in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. In his resignation letter, Beckstrom voices objections to the role of the NSA and objects to a proposal to locate the NCSC at Ft. Meade, Maryland, the NSA's headquarters. Saying the NSA is dominating most of the efforts, Beckstrom adds, "While acknowledging the critical importance of the NSA to our intelligence efforts, I believe this is a bad strategy on multiple grounds. The intelligence culture is very different than a network operations or security culture. In addition, the threats to our democratic processes are significant if all top level government network security and monitoring are handled by any one organization, either directly or indirectly."
Link to Original Source

Comment Well, the guy at Au Bon Pain (Score 1) 489

Where I regularly go to lunch, said he freaking loved it. He had never read the graphic novel, and had only seen the previews on TV. To be honest, if Snyder's previous work is any indication, it's a crowd pleaser. Wordiness is really only an issue if you assume the public is so blatantly starved for attractions that they need movies to be just non-stop action scenes. Based on how many people who had never read the books got into the LOTR movies, I'd say the public is pretty damn tolerant of dialogue as long as there's a strong finish.

Comment Re:purell (Score 5, Interesting) 524

Here's the thing: you're assuming all trees cut down and processed into paper are grown on land owned by paper manufacturers and mills. You're also assuming that replanting always occurs.

What actually happens is a little different. Let's say I'm a company, and I happen to--for some reason--own a forest. Perhaps I use it for experiments, perhaps for milling. I replant because I have an incentive to keep processing wood or using the forest.

I go bankrupt or get bought.

Now these "friendly" fellows called Asset Strippers come in. They do just as their name implies...and strip my assets. This means removing every conceivable resource from the land, and then selling it for as much money as possible.

The truth is that there hasn't been any money in cutting down forests as a sustainable business for about 10-15 years. So a lot of forestry these days is a consequence of asset stripping, rather than any normal business practice. If the bottom dropped out on timber for paper use, you'd probably see clearcutting from asset strippers cease because the cost of the logging would be greater than the profit to be reaped.

Boom! Problem solved and explained.

Comment Re:Yeah... Ok (Score 1) 623

Bullshit. Society has a moral obligation to protect the law-abiding members of said society.

Yes it does, but once a criminal is incarcerated, that obligation has been fulfilled. Permanently locking someone up is equally effective as killing them, costs less, and oftentimes gives back to the state in the form of labor performed by the inmate. Do your research, and you'll find that the death penalty is just a way for angry people to try soothe their ills through the deaths of others...which in the end, is why we would be sinking to the level of the criminal.

That was never intended to be the case in the United States:

nor shall any person ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;

Exactly! DUE PROCESS. Which is why it's so expensive and makes so little sense. In order to fulfill its obligations, the state wastes so many FTEs on the criminal that it becomes inefficient. I think we can all agree that inefficiency in Government is a bad thing. So why kill 'em? Isn't forcing someone to sit in a cell making license plates for 70 years more vindictive?

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