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Comment Re:America, land of the free... (Score 2) 720

by cduffy (#48548235) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Can a Felon Work In IT?

There is no law barring employment for felons â" on the contrary, the state goes out of its way to encourage employers to hire them, to reduce recidivism.

...but they do a rather bad job of it, as a great many of your larger employers have a zero-tolerance policy.

To be born and raised in the USA â" the country, to which millions of people dream of migrating (legally and otherwise) â" and waste your youthful years on crime?

The advice the OP is asking for applies to other folks as well. One of my friends has a felony record for running web hosting for a brothel a friend of his owned, and otherwise offering services and support to a business which was to the best of his knowledge strictly offering services between consenting adults... and not turning her in when he changed his mind about being willing to continue to provide that support. That folks who don't follow a libertarian philosophy could see that as a lapse of ethics is certainly granted -- but a lapse that should mean that 4/5ths of employment prospects are permanently off the table? That's harsh.

That said -- he's working today, for an employer well aware of the entirety of his background (including his meticulous attention to detail and corner cases in software design and development). So, yes -- fewer options, but some do still exist.
The Military

Man Caught Trying To Sell Plans For New Aircraft Carrier 388

Posted by Soulskill from the bet-you-wish-you'd-stood-in-bed dept.
New submitter cyberjock1980 tips news that an engineer has been caught trying to deliver schematics for an aircraft carrier to the Egyptian government. The 35-year-old civilian received security clearance four months ago after working for the U.S. Navy since February. FBI agents made contact with him, pretending to be with the Egyptian government. They struck a deal to buy documents about the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, the first in a new line of improved, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The man sold four CAD drawings for the carrier, and was later seen photographing another set of schematics. A bond hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
China

Chinese Government Moves To Crack Down On Puns 156

Posted by timothy from the where's-the-pun-in-that? dept.
FreedomFirstThenPeac (1235064) writes "A story in The Guardian tells us that in an Orwellian move to legislate language, the Chinese government is attempting to stop the use of puns because they are disruptive and may lead to chaos (not the mathematical kind) and as such are unsuitable for use. However, Chinese is rife with puns, with this example quoted in the story: "When couples marry, people will give them dates and peanuts – a reference to the wish Zaosheng guizi or 'May you soon give birth to a son.' The word for dates is also zao and peanuts are huasheng." The powerful date and peanut lobbies are up in arms, claiming that such a ban will cost them more than peanuts. Their claim? "If you outlaw puns. Only criminals will have puns."
The Courts

New Effort To Grant Legal Rights To Chimpanzees Fails 341

Posted by timothy from the what-about-monkeys dept.
sciencehabit writes Advocates of "legal personhood" for chimpanzees have lost another battle. This morning, a New York appellate court rejected a lawsuit by the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) to free a chimp named Tommy from captivity. The group had argued that the chimpanzee deserved the human right of bodily liberty. Despite the loss, the NhRP is pursuing more cases in the hopes of conferring legal rights to a variety of animals, from elephants to dolphins.
Communications

How the NSA Is Spying On Everyone: More Revelations 148

Posted by timothy from the your-own-good dept.
The Intercept has published today a story detailing documents that "reveal how the NSA plans to secretly introduce new flaws into communication systems so that they can be tapped into—a controversial tactic that security experts say could be exposing the general population to criminal hackers." The documents also describe a years-long effort, aimed at hostile and friendly regimes, from the point of view of the U.S. government, to break the security of various countries' communications networks. "Codenamed AURORAGOLD, the covert operation has monitored the content of messages sent and received by more than 1,200 email accounts associated with major cellphone network operators, intercepting confidential company planning papers that help the NSA hack into phone networks."
Technology

Practical Magnetic Levitating Transmission Gear System Loses Its Teeth 103

Posted by Soulskill from the gearing-up dept.
Zothecula writes: A new transmission device that uses magnetic levitation to almost completely eliminate friction and wear has been developed as part of the MAGDRIVE research project, a collaboration of seven European nations. The creation of the unit entailed the development of a magnetic gear reducer and corresponding frictionless magnetic axles. Aimed primarily for use in spacecraft due to its extended mechanical life, the system is also adaptable for use in automobiles, railways, and aircraft.
Security

Iranian Hackers Compromised Airlines, Critical Infrastructure Companies 61

Posted by Soulskill from the emperor-has-no-firewall dept.
itwbennett writes: For the past two years, a team of Iranian hackers has compromised computers and networks belonging to over 50 organizations in 16 countries, including airlines, defense contractors, universities, military installations, hospitals, airports, telecommunications firms, government agencies, and energy and gas companies, researchers from IT security firm Cylance said in an extensive report released Tuesday (PDF). According to the report, "ten of these victims are headquartered in the U.S. and include a major airline, a medical university, an energy company specializing in natural gas production, an automobile manufacturer, a large defense contractor, and a major military installation."
Businesses

Workers On Autism Spectrum Finding Careers In Software Testing 109

Posted by samzenpus from the best-fit dept.
rjmarvin writes According to Autism Speaks, about 85% of people who have autism in the United States are currently unemployed or underemployed, but a social enterprise organization called Meticulon is training autistic individuals for highly skilled jobs in software testing. According to Meticulon, autistic people often possess sharp memory and pattern matching skills as well as attention to detail, making them ideal candidates for software testing jobs. Each year's crop of autistic students or Meticulon Consultants is tested and evaluated to develop their MindMap, a unique profile of skills and ideal work environment ultimately used to find these trained software testers an ideal job.

Submission + - Printing 3D Sex Toys At UPS Is Now A Reality (huffingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Press2ToContinue
Press2ToContinue writes: At UPS, you might be able to pick up a different kind of package.

The company began offering 3D printing services over the past couple of months, and UPS rules don’t explicitly prohibit customers from using those printers to create sex toys. A UPS representative told the site they won’t allow patrons to print out items like weapons but when asked about sex toys, the rep said there’s no company-wide rule against them.

Free downloadable sex toy patterns for 3D printers can already be found for free on the net.

Is it possible, that like the exponential growth of the the early Internet being spawned by the driving force of porn becoming so available, could the new, easy availbility of custom-fit sex-related items and clothing do the same for 3D printing? I'm feeling a sexy cosplay coming on...

Comment Re:How about transfer rate and reliability? (Score 1) 215

by Wolfrider (#48495017) Attached to: Consortium Roadmap Shows 100TB Hard Drives Possible By 2025

--I'm with you 99% as far as ZFS. The thing is, I *don't need* a 100TB hard drive, that's a single point of failure with WAY too much data on it to try and copy off before it dies.

--I'd like to see a drive that stores multiple copies of files like ZFS natively, so in the event of $badthings, the end-user has some way to recover files. (It might be nice to have RAID1 on the same drive, with independent heads between the platters.) I'd like to see a drive that goes beyond SMART diagnostics and gives you a really good indicator that it will fail soon. And all of this needs to work well / transparently with Linux and other OS's.

--A 5-year HD lifetime should also be a *given* anymore by default, but WD Black drives are about the only ones I trust for that. (I'm open to others tho, but WD's warranty/RMA process is really good as well.) Hitachi looks promising according to the Backblaze report*, but I'm not sure about the prices and their RMA process.

* https://www.backblaze.com/blog...

Submission + - Montana Lawmakers Propose 85 Mph Speed Limit On Interstates

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: AP reports that Montana lawmakers are drafting bills that would raise the daytime speed limit on Montana interstate highways from 75 to 80 and possibly as high as 85 mph. “I just think our roads are engineered well, and technology is such we can drive those roads safely,” says Art Wittich noting that Utah, Wyoming and Idaho have raised their speed limits above 75, and they haven't had any problems and drivers on German autobahns average about 84 mph. State Senator Scott Sales says he spent seven months working in the Bakken oil patch, driving back and forth to Bozeman regularly. “If I could drive 85 mph on the interstate, it would save an hour,” says Sales. “Eighty-five would be fine with me."

A few years ago Texas opened a 40 mile stretch on part of a toll road called the Pickle Parkway between Austin and San Antonio. The tolled bypass was supposed to help relieve the bottleneck around Austin but the highway was built so far to the east that practically nobody used it. In desperation, the state raised the toll road speed limit to 85 mph, the fastest in the nation. "The idea was that drivers could drop the top, drop the hammer, crank the music and fly right past Austin," says Wade Goodyn. "It's a beautiful, wide-open highway — but it's empty, and the builders are nearly bankrupt."

Submission + - German Probe Into NSA Activity Reveals Germany Spying On Its Own Citizens (thelocal.de)

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: The Local (DE) reports, "The Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany's foreign intelligence service, spied on some citizens living abroad, a former lawyer for the spies told MPs on Thursday. Dr Stefan Burbaum ... said that some Germans were targeted as “office holders”, a legal loophole the spies used to circumvent the law that protects Germans citizens from being spied on by its own intelligence agency. ... the German spies argue that a citizen working for a foreign company abroad is only protected in his private life, not in his professional communications ... "The office holder is the legal person," Burbaum said. ... “This construct of an office holder is just as absurd in practice as it appears in the law,” Konstantin von Notz of the Green party said. Further, foreigners' communications conducted abroad are not protected, even if they are in contact with German people or work for a German company. MPs ... criticized the BND's ability to operate in a “lawless zone” when it came to spying on foreigners. ... the BND regularly retains traffic which it had not received specific permission to investigate which it collects during such trawls. In this way, access acquired under the “G10 law” becomes a “foot in the door” to otherwise closed-off sources of data, Burbaum said." — The parliamentary investigation was initiated by reports that Chancellor Merkel's phone was being tapped by NSA but later it was found that at least five countries were tapping Merkel's phone.

Submission + - 4K Video: Are you Really Ready? (audioholics.com) 1

Submitted by Audiofan
Audiofan writes: HDTV manufacturers are now pushing 4K as the next best thing. Forget 3DTV, that's dead. You need 4K TV! What consumers may not realize is unless you're buying hardware with HDCP 2.2, you can't get native 4K. No AV receivers or Blu-ray players offer this yet. But will people really know the difference especially since the non discerning eye can't see a difference between 1080P and 4K resolutions on screen sizes under 100 inches anyways?

Submission + - Football Concussion Lawsuits Start to Hit High Schools

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: Michael Tarm reports that a former high school quarterback has filed a lawsuit against the Illinois High School Association saying it didn't do enough to protect him from concussions when he played and still doesn't do enough to protect current players. This is the first instance in which legal action has been taken for former high school players as a whole against a group responsible for prep sports in a state. Such litigation could snowball, as similar suits targeting associations in other states are planned. "In Illinois high school football, responsibility — and, ultimately, fault — for the historically poor management of concussions begins with the IHSA," the lawsuit states. It calls high school concussions "an epidemic" and says the "most important battle being waged on high school football fields ... is the battle for the health and lives of" young players. The lawsuit calls on the Bloomington-based IHSA to tighten its head-injury protocols. It doesn't seek damages. "This is not a threat or attack on football," says attorney Joseph Siprut, who reached a $75 million settlement in a similar lawsuit against the NCAA in 2011. "Football is in danger in Illinois and other states — especially at the high school level — because of how dangerous it is. If football does not change internally, it will die. The talent well will dry up as parents keep kids out of the sport— and that's how a sport dies."

Previous research has shown that far from innocuous, invisible injuries, concussions confer tremendous brain damage. Individuals with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) may show symptoms of dementia, such as memory loss, aggression, confusion and depression, which generally appear years or many decades after the trauma. "The idea that you can whack your head hundreds of times in your life and knock yourself out and get up and be fine is gone," says Chris Nowinski. "We know we can't do that anymore. This causes long-term damage."
Education

Finland Dumps Handwriting In Favor of Typing 523

Posted by timothy from the take-a-letter-maria dept.
mikejuk writes It seems incredible that in the 21st century schools are still teaching children to scratch marks on paper. Well in Finland they are taking a step in the direction of the future by giving up teaching handwriting. The Savon Sanomat newspaper reports that from autumn 2016 cursive handwriting will no longer be a compulsory part of the school curriculum. Instead the schools will teach keyboard skills and 'texting'. The idea of teaching proper keyboard skills to children is unquestionably a great idea, the idea of texting is a little more dubious and many will mourn the loss of a traditional skill like cursive writing. So what about a world where cursive writing is forgotten? What do you do when your computer is dead and you need to leave a note? The death of cursive script probably isn't the death of handwriting but the death of doing it quickly and with style. Some no doubt will want to master it just for the sake of it — like driving a stick shift. I know some U.S. schools have done the same; how proficient should kids be with cursive?

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