meldroc - Slashdot User

Submission + - NASA to build moon base

Submitted by DaemonDazz on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @05:04PM

DaemonDazz writes: According to a story run on the Australian ABC news site, NASA is planning to start building a permanently occupied base on the moon by 2020. From the article (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200612/s1804 286.htm):

"NASA has announced it plans to build a permanently occupied base on the moon, most likely at the lunar north pole.

The habitat will serve as a science outpost as well as a testbed for technologies needed for future travel to Mars and construction will follow a series of flights to the moon scheduled to begin by 2020."

and

"NASA is not expecting a budget increase to pay for the program.

Rather, it will transition funds currently being used to support the space shuttle into the moon exploration program as the shuttle fleet is phased out.

The shuttles are set to retire in 2010 and by that time NASA plans to have finished building the space station, leaving the moon initiative as a successor to both programs."

The press release is here: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/dec/HQ_06361_ ESMD_Lunar_Architecture.html

Submission + - PostgreSQL 8.2 Released

Submitted by on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @03:48PM

An anonymous reader writes: With the winter holidays approaching, the developers of PostgreSQL have released version 8.2 as a present to us all. Tests really do prove that this is a performance release. With this release will PostgreSQL finally shed it's slow reputation? PostgreSQL 8.2 is trouncing MySQL with query optimization improvements, indexing without blocking INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE operations, and more...

Yet how does it compare to the big boys, Oracle and DB2? This release of PostgreSQL it is still missing SQL:2003 Window Functions so critical in business reporting. That means Oracle and DB2 still reign supreme in the OLAP/Data warehouse market. Even without many of the SQL:2003 features, this is good release. Get PostgreSQL 8.2 and take it for a spin!

Submission + - US to give you a risk rating...

Submitted by cayenne8 on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @03:41PM

cayenne8 writes: It looks like the Dept. of Homeland security is at it again. This time, a data mining system, used to evalute you the air passenger as to your security risk, and give you a rating. You think you have problems with a faulty credit score? Wait till you get a faulty risk assessment rating...because you cannot legally find out what your rating is according to the article about the new Automated Targeting System.

"The Automated Targeting System (ATS) is a data-mining system that will let the agency create "risk assessments" of tens of millions of travelers. The information will be held for 40 years, and even U.S. citizens will have no right to view those risk assessments. "

Submission + - US must give up civil rights to protect freedoms?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 05, 2006 @03:37PM

An anonymous reader writes: It seems non-intuitive that Retired U.S. Army Gen. Carl Stiner says Americans may have to give up civil liberties in order to win the war on terror which is necessary to protect our freedoms. Article requires free registration, bugmenot works. From the article: "Retired U.S. Army Gen. Carl Stiner says Americans might have to give up some civil rights if they want to win the 'war on terrorism.' However, he did not name any specific rights that might need to be given up." "America has much at stake, including access to oil, its dominant position in the world, cherished freedoms, and a way of life that could vanish if the United States does not prevail, Stiner said."

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