crumley - Slashdot User

Optimizing Linux Use On a USB Flash Drive? 137

Posted by timothy on Wednesday December 03, 2008 @06:18PM from the right-here-in-my-pocket dept.

Buckbeak writes "I like to carry my Linux systems around with me, on USB flash drives. Typically, SanDisk Cruzers or Kingston HyperX. I encrypt the root partition and boot off the USB stick. Sometimes, the performance leaves something to be desired. I want to be able to do an 'apt-get upgrade' or 'yum update' while surfing but the experience is sometimes painful. What can I do to maximize the performance of Linux while running off of a slow medium? I've turned on 'noatime' in the mount options and I don't use a swap partition. Is there any way to minimize drive I/O or batch it up more? Is there any easy way to run in memory and write everything out when I shut down? I've tried both EXT2 and EXT3 and it doesn't seem to make much difference. Any other suggestions?"

Verizon Employees Fired For Snooping Obama's Record 344

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday November 24, 2008 @01:15PM from the now-wait-a-minute dept.

longhairedgnome writes "The curiosity in President-elect Barack Obama's phone records came with a high price tag for Verizon Wireless employees. According to CNN, the workers who snooped on Obama's phone records have been fired. 'This was some employees' idle curiosity,' a company source told CNN and added 'we now consider this matter closed.' Justice served? What about legal possibilities?" Can we expect anyone who followed a warrantless wiretap from the Bush administration to also be fired then? I mean, they violated our privacy as well.

South Carolina Wants To Jam Cell Phone Signals 601

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday November 24, 2008 @10:22AM from the oooo-oooo-me-too dept.

Corey Brook writes "The South Carolina state prison system wants the FCC to grant them and local officers permission to block cell phone signals. News has been out about the growing problem of them perps smuggling cell phones into prisons for a while now. Inmates use cell phones as commerce, to implement fraud, smuggle drugs and weapons, and to order hits. Of course, some may use it to just talk to a loved one any time they can." Hopefully movie theaters and restaurants do it next.

Has HavenCo's Data Haven Shut Down? 287

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday November 24, 2008 @09:36AM from the where-will-i-keep-my-secrets-now dept.

secmartin writes "HavenCo, the self-proclaimed data haven located on the micronation Sealand, appears to be offline. Their website is down, and there have been no announcements from either HavenCo or Sealand. HavenCo has been covered here before; it was mostly known for offering hosting of content that might be illegal in other countries. Does anyone have news about what happened to them?"

Solar Wind Rips Up Martian Atmosphere 101

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday November 23, 2008 @09:12AM from the that-atmosphere-had-it-coming dept.

IHateEverybody writes "Scientists have found evidence that the solar wind is ripping off chunks of the Martian atmosphere, which could possibly explain why Mars has such a thin atmosphere today. The chunks are being ripped up along 'magnetic umbrellas,' which are bubbles of magnetic fields which rise from the ground and extend above the Martian atmosphere. This is surprising because scientists previously thought that these magnetic umbrellas protected the Martian atmosphere. Now it looks like exactly the opposite might be true."

Submission + - Polling Stations Resort to Paper Ballots

Submitted by

Astrogen

on Tuesday November 07, 2006 @01:37PM

Astrogen writes: "CNN Reports that there are problems with voting machines and some polling stations have gone back to paper ballots.

From the Article "voters rolled their eyes as election workers fumbled with new touchscreen machines that they couldn't get to start properly until about 10 minutes after polls opened.
"We got five machines — one of them's got to work," said Willette Scullank, a troubleshooter from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, elections board.""

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