At the risk of parroting: I think this is an excellent and rare chance for us to get in some ?real world?, ?field work? (not on the world or a field) of any of the ideas we've all imagined.

Original Thought (I hope): I just want them to start messing with the trajectory(s) AFTER it passes Earth on it's own.

Has anyone thought of attaching a probe to this or any other asteroids? Seems like it would be a good way to do some exploration using the momentum of the asteroid.

I realize that you said you prefer a Linux box but in the event you decide\cave and use Windows, check out the SteadyState app from MS. My favorite feature is it's ability to keep what amounts to an image of itself on a separate partition that it restores from on reboot. That is in addition to all the features to lock down the interface, of course.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx

- Zotdogg

I sure this new system is not where electronic voting needs to be in the end but the fact that people are working on making these systems better truly puts my mind at ease.

Looks like it's finally back up.

511.org (Traffic)
http://www.511.org/baybridge/default.asp

Bay Bridge site:
http://baybridgeinfo.org/

"Sharepoint does this"....

COME ON! I can't believe Sharepoint is even being referenced as an even half-way acceptable solution to provide a search method for remote volumes with LESS overhead. Not only would you have to install the broken piece of shit known as Sharepoint and all it's overhead componentry but you would also have to make all kinds of changes to your existing computing system(s) as a whole that would serve no necessary purpose other than sinking MS's (not biased enough to use a $) teeth further in to your system and enabling a system that BARELY works anyhow.

The best solution looks to be the one Blowdart posted below:
"Oh well, if we're recommending MS solutions on slashdot (ah karma suicide) then good old Windows Desktop Search works just as well. Since V4.0 came out you can have WDS on other machines, indexing away and it's the remote index that is queried - so no need for local machines to index remote shares. Plus, like sharepoint (spit) indexing, and Index Server before that it uses iFilters, so format aware indexing is available for most of the common formats a business uses."

See, not necessarily biased against Microsoft. I'm just biased against good-for-nothing, useless, waste of time, expensive, over-hyped, retarded, cock-gurgling, card-tabled, takes-you-12-times-as-long-to-set-up-and-do-half-the-work-as-not-using-it software.

Seriously, shame on anyone suggesting Sharepoint as a solution to this question! WTF!?!?!!!

I don't know if anyone played Army of Two but that game seems to have HUGE political themes. It came out well inside Bush's term\reign and was all about private military contractors. That was a game that freaked the hell out of me if I thought about it too much. The game is awesome to play with a friend but, when you start thinking about how Blackwater operates and the same rules that apply to all of the other military force contractors that are\were also deployed to Iraq and wherever else and how much of an analog Army of Two is to that...

I think it's entirely possible for a game to contain (strong) political themes and messages. Even more dangerous is the propensity to get drawn in to an "evil" plot and think nothing of it because the game is so fun to play.

This is NOT me saying that this is a huge problem and that games should be taken off the shelves if they fit this definition. This is just me saying it's a valid point. Let me put it a different way:
Republican Gamers: Think about how awesome it would be to play a game where you were a special forces operator who went on spec op missions around the world killing terrorists. During the course of which, you discover that Obama is actually a terrorist about to orchestrate a takedown of our entire economy and it was your job to go "get 'im".

Liberal\Democrat Gamers: Think about how awesome it would have been to play a game where you were a lone vigilante who actually finds and executes Bin Laden. During the course of which, you discovered that Bush had orchestrated all of 9/11 as a massive money laundering\stealing scheme and it was your job to go "correct the problem".

Dear DHS - This post is a product of imagination only meant to prove a point. Please disregard.

True, but if they did figure out how to bring a cell tower down (which I'd file under the category of plausible but improbable) then they'd know how to pretty much take them all down (assuming they're all configed the same). Then they get all their terrorist friends, give them all JBed iPhones and have them take down ALL the cell towers in a specific area as a precursor to a physical attack. All of which is probably unnecessary 'cause they'll probably just have all their new-hire terrorists with a bomb strapped to their chest go out there, hug the cell tower their assigned to and hit the button.

If somebody's going to try to "pop" a cell tower, they should have at least a T2 rig with a T2 fitting and maybe a friend with a heavy interdictor at the gate as it comes through. Ephin pirates.

"Geek Squad style repairs" probably means that when they upgrade the batteries, they will forget to connect the main leads and not realize it until everyone's back on the ground trying to use it again.

"Geek Squad style repairs" probably means that when they are done working on the it, there will no longer be solar panels attached. When questioned later the responsible astronaut will simply say that he misread the instructions while doing the work.

"Geek Squad style repairs" probably means that when they are done working on it, it will stop functioning, it's orbit will degenerate, and it will land on it's owner's (NASA) house (ground control).

Fucking Tard Squad.

Don't forget Autorunning (Flash or otherwise) Drives. Even if the "Great Firewall of China" was stopping anything from getting in and it wasn't on the network already, all that has to happen is for someone come in with their flash drive and show off some pictures of their kids and voila - Conficker: ENGAGED.

Based on what I've seen in previous stories here on /. - I see this going through without a hitch and not causing any problems whatsoever.

psych

Bailouts - Not Funny (??or acceptable??)
Microsoft asking for money - Disliked, Not Funny, ...

Microsoft asking for Bailout money? .... How many swear words can you use in one /. post before getting your account revoked?

I was liking the April Fool's stuff.

Sweet - April Fool's Achievement! Does anybody know which thread I can go to go get the full set of Epic Poster achievements?

Bear with me, I know no one here is a stranger to this kind of opinion but...

The RIAA is realizing that they are not getting the results they want because some of the people they bring to court are innocent. So, they are seeking to broaden the base of people they influence by coordinating with ISPs to shut off internet for people they deem guilty of pirating.

If it wasn't the RIAA, I'd say something like "Unbelievable!".

A couple of techniques come to mind.

Cell Jammers - would probably be difficult to administer though, as the power of the jammer(s) would need to be adjusted to only effect the area inside the courthouse. Kinda like the inverse of a properly constructed wireless network.

Faraday cage - Would require MUCH more work to install but would require significantly less maintenance\administration. Maybe Cell jammers could be used until the building gets a renovation where a Faraday cage could be embedded in the building walls. With the Faraday cage, anyone could bring in any electronic device, they just wouldn't be able to transmit out of the building. Internal building wireless would still be an option if desired but, I think wired would be the best communications solution for the building (and probably required\necessary for emergency concerns).