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Submission + - DoD News Aggregation Service "The Early Bird" Dead After 65 Years (foreignpolicy.com)

SanDogWeps writes: Periodically viewed as copyright infringement by the media, the Department of Defense's "Early Bird" has been delivering applicable headlines to the Armed Forces since 1948. It stopped updating on October 1st, along with a number of other government products, but when the lights turned back on, The Early Bird remained dark. A number of reasons have been floated, including applicability in the internet age, cost, and a lack of interest. Others claim The Early Bird was nothing more than a propaganda machine, by culling articles that painted DoD in a favorable light.

Submission + - USS ZUMWALT (DDG 1000) running on Linux (arstechnica.com)

SanDogWeps writes: Sean Gallagher over at ARS Technica reports that when the USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) puts to sea later this year, it will be different from any other ship in the Navy's fleet in many ways. The $3.5 billon ship is designed for stealth, survivability, and firepower, and it's packed with advanced technology. And at the heart of its operations is a virtual data center powered by off-the-shelf server hardware, various flavors of Linux, and over 6 million lines of software code.

Comment As a guy unable to have kids... (Score 1) 1

I can still be pretty certain that this would NEVER happen. I'd also watch the controversial TV shows and play games with the kid in the hopes that I wouldn't move towards electronic babysitters and offer the adult insight into such things.... But I guess I'll never know for sure...

Comment Re:Digital Darwinism? (Score 2) 311

Absolutely! But sadly, the world is full of unpleasant people who will get it into their heads that what they want, they must have, and devil-may-care about the consequences. I'm not about to leave my life savings in a box on my doorstep in the hopes that no one will steal it. I'm going to safeguard it in a vault or a bank (another topic for another thread, perhaps) because there are thieves afoot. My phone has a password on it because I'm not convinced the person to find it in case I misplace it won't be one to call Kenya on my dime. My car door is locked. The list goes on...

Comment Re:Digital Darwinism? (Score 2) 311

No - simply invoking the error chain, though I can see how that might come across in the reading. Take a link out of the error chain, any error chain (in flight collision, at-sea collision, ordnance mishap) and suddenly all you have is a close call instead of a headline. In similar fashion to the related story, taking certain precautions (full night of sleep, drink a six pack instead of a case, put down the phone instead of answering it mid-turn), keeps everyone out of harm's way. Tech is a tool - so are weapons. The user has certain responsibilities for both understanding and usage.

Comment Digital Darwinism? (Score 0, Troll) 311

I dunno. Sure - there's the pseudo-excuse that is Autism, and the pseudo-apology upon getting caught (didn't regret it when you were viewing the images, did you?). But unless you crawled out from under a rock and into Best Buy after being a hermit for the last decade, then by now you should know enough to take certain precautions. Turn your webcam away from you, close your laptop, don't change clothes in front of it, put your router in standby when not using it, don't click that link, he's not really an African Prince, she's not really going to Western Union you the money plus another hundred for your trouble, these aren't really naked pics of Pink, etc. In 2013, I think survival of the digital fittest should come into play...

Comment Percentage of shoppers? (Score 1) 364

"It also notes that Tesla's quoted new-car prices net out a $7,500 Federal income-tax credit for purchase of a plug-in electric car. According to the California dealers, just 20 percent of all car shoppers qualify for that credit--and the group attributes that statistic to the Congressional Budget Office..." says the industry that touts 0.9% APR financing (for well qualified buyers - suspect that number is a mite lower than 20%).

Comment He's right... (Score 1) 140

Just look no further than WASD. It's everywhere. It's a good idea, and it stuck. Personally, if I had an idea, put it in the wild, and saw it used later by someone else, I'd like to think I'd be charitable enough to say "Wow - I thought of that and people like it enough to use it." Developing a card game myself now, and a mite paranoid that someone like White Wolf or Steve Jackson might give me a slapdown due to some mechanics minutia. Reading this, I figure, heck with it. Make it, turn it into a PDF, throw it into the wild, and see what happens. Cards Against Humanity seems to be doing well for themselves. My day job pays enough. Why not?

Comment Wah... (Score 1) 243

There's space to be had - Governor's Island. That rock has been sitting idle for years, but the "woe is us - we're too crowded" headlines make for better ad sales than "we just blew up a building that could have housed any number of businesses if we'd just fixed it up." You have to really want it, people. Not just wank about it.

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