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Submission + - Anti-Polygraph Instructor Targeted by Feds Goes Public 1

George Maschke writes: Last year, the McClatchy newspaper group reported on a federal criminal investigation into individuals offering instruction on how to pass polygraph tests. The ongoing investigation, dubbed "Operation Lie Busters," has serious free speech implications, and one of the two men known to have been targeted is presently serving an 8-month prison term. The other, Doug Williams, himself a former police polygrapher, has this week for the first time gone public with the story of federal agents' February 2013 raid on his office and home. Williams, who has not been charged with a crime but remains in legal jeopardy, is selling his story in an e-book. Public interest website AntiPolygraph.org (which I co-founded) has published a synopsis.

Comment rule of law (Score 1) 822

If I were president i would pardon him and fix the problem.

Rand Paul had some interesting comments this weekend. He said that this would not have come to light had Snowden not broken the law, but at the same time the law has to apply to everybody and you can't have it both ways: It's ridiculous that people want to throw the book at Snowden (even calling for his death) but we completely ignore that Clapper straight out lied to congress, which carries a 5 year jail penalty.

Comment Re:Herpin' the Derp (Score 1) 599

The concept of ownership, title, and property are themselves products of having a state.

Our founding fathers wholly rejected this. Ownership of property was God given, not state (human) granted. Rather, it is the state's obligation to safeguard that right. States that cannot or will not do that are then illegitimate.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: How Many (Electronics) Gates Is That Software Algorithm?

dryriver writes: Dear Slashdotters: We have developed a graphics algorithm that got an electronics manufacturer interested in turning it into hardware. Here comes the problematic bit... The electronics manufacturer asked us to describe how complex the algorithm is. More specifically, we were asked "How many (logic) gates would be needed to turn your software algorithm into hardware?" This threw us a bit, since none of us have done electronics design before. So here is the question: Is there are a software or other tool that can analyze an algorithm written in C/C++ and estimate how many gates would be needed to turn it into hardware? Or, perhaps, there is a more manual method of converting code lines to gates? Maybe an operation like "Add" would require 3 gates while an operation like "Divide" would need 6 gates? Something like this anyway... To state the question one more time: How do we get from a software algorithm that is N lines long and executes X number of total operations overall, to a rough estimate of how many gates this algorithm would use when translated into electronic hardware?

Comment Re:Typical National, 1.0 launch in early few weeks (Score 1) 307

Yeah, that was a good article.

But, the government isnt forcing me use Apple or Amazon or Google or Netflix or Whatever. So if you pass a law that makes me pay an extra tax if i dont use it when i can't get insurance elsewhere, then make the web site work, NO excuses, I dont care if the technical problems are insurmountable, NO excuses, it better work or don't pass that law.

Comment This was shown by JP Lewis, 2001 (citation here) (Score 1) 297

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.19.344

"Specifically, if it is accepted that algorithmic complexity is an appropriate definition of the complexity of a programming project, then claims of purely objective estimation of project complexity, development time, and programmer productivity are necessarily incorrect"

Microsoft

Microsoft Security Essentials Loses AV-Test Certificate 185

helix2301 writes "Every two months, AV-Test takes a look at popular antivirus software and security suites and tests them in several ways. In their latest test which was performed on Windows 7 during September and October, Microsoft Security Essentials didn't pass the test to achieve certification. Although that may not sound that impressive, Microsoft's program was the only one which didn't receive AV-Test's certificate. For comparison, the other free antivirus software, including Avast, AVG and Panda Cloud did."

Comment Second coming, or alien invasion? (Score 1) 1142

Would you become a theist if tomorrow you observed the second coming of Christ playing out more or less as Christians generally say it will? It seems to me by your own arguments an invasion by a naturally evolved advanced alien intelligence is far more probable than God. Once their forward agents noticed widespread belief in the Bible, their generals would proclaim "Easiest planetary takeover ever!" Your subsequent experience in heaven/hell is clearly just you being plugged into the Matrix. (My point being I strongly suspect that even in principle there is no possible evidence anyone could present to you that would convince you of theism.)

Comment Re:What did we expect? (Score 1) 1181

I don't know any infants that can survive on their own. The ancient Greeks used this fact to kill unwanted children, sometimes because they were deformed, or not the father's or the wrong sex, or various other reasons. I think that maybe if I'm sick and tired of dealing with my kid and she can't survive on her own, maybe it's ok for me to dispose of her, and your moral beliefs otherwise shouldn't get to interfere with my behavior...

Comment Re:Oh enough with the range whining (Score 1) 998

What do I do if the idiot in 2C parks his tank^H^H^H^H SUV in my spot (and the two on either side of it), refuses to move it and thus ensures I can't charge my car?

Have his car towed away? I've done that a bunch of times, they never park in my spot again. I also live near DC, so there's no shortage of lawyers to try to sue me but it's never happened.

Comment Re:ground water contamination? (Score 1) 279

OMG, hilarious!

Let's see... there are no reactors remotely designed like Chernobyl's. Because even back in the 50s we were aware (cf Edward Teller) this design was a disaster waiting to happen.

Hmm, lets see now... the "next" US disaster... well, the last disaster would be Three Mile Island. Where no one died. But never mind that, pay no attention, because Japan just had a big disaster. Right. Where no one died.

Yeah, nuclear power plants outside of the Soviet Union have been such a nightmare. I mean, its like people slagging on nuclear power have no concept of right and wrong. But hey, you can't expect them to. But you should hold them accountable when they can't get their facts right.

Comment Re:How About D.C.? (Score 1) 279

yes, as a "teabagger" (and props for using that derogatory term, thanks for tipping your hand -- much appreciated), I can assure you the Tea Party is not a giant fan of the iraq war or the extended afghanistan war, and I'm guessing the Nobel Peace Prize committee is just as thrilled as we are about the Libya war. Thank gods we elected "The One" because if we had McCain in there, man, we might be involved in some third war that made so sense whatsoever.

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