38256037
submission
clam666 writes:
White House sources partly confirmed an alarming report that U.S. government computers — reportedly including systems used by the military for nuclear commands — were breached by Chinese hackers.
I mostly submitted it because I just loved the phrase "The attack originated in the form of a spear phish, which involves a spoofed inbound email with either a link to a malicious website or a weaponized document attachment such as a .pdf, Microsoft Excel file or Word document"
Damn those weaponized Excel files.
36327961
submission
clam666 writes:
The 1944 Strategic Services Field Manual is declassified by the CIA, with its intent being to show how to teach saboteurs how to disrupt the enemy. The goal being do cause as much disruption as possible.
Around page 28 it gives gems for management and empployee sabotage including "Insist on doing everything through
'channels.' Never permit short-cuts to be taken
in order to expedite decisions.", "When training new workers, give incomplete
or misleading instructions.", "If possible, join or help organize a group
for presenting employee problems to the management.
See that the procedures adopted are
as inconvenient as possible for the management,
involving the presence of a large number of
employees at each presentation, entailing more
than one meeting for each grievance, bringing
up problems which are largely imaginary, and
so on.", and my favorite, "Act stupid."
It seems like where I work the used this as the basis of the employee handbook.
2942513
submission
clam666 writes:
Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close.
Earlier this year, predictions were rife that the North Pole could melt entirely in 2008. Instead, the Arctic ice saw a substantial recovery. Bill Chapman, a researcher with the UIUC's Arctic Center, tells DailyTech this was due in part to colder temperatures in the region. Chapman says wind patterns have also been weaker this year. Strong winds can slow ice formation as well as forcing ice into warmer waters where it will melt.
Why were predictions so wrong? Researchers had expected the newer sea ice, which is thinner, to be less resilient and melt easier. Instead, the thinner ice had less snow cover to insulate it from the bitterly cold air, and therefore grew much faster than expected, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center
In May, concerns over disappearing sea ice led the U.S. to officially list the polar bear a threatened species, over objections from experts who claimed the animal's numbers were increasing.
On a personal note, I, for one, hopefully welcome our new polar bear overlords.