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Journal Journal: Why doesn't the "world" like us? Should we care??

Journal by 8282now

http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/16/obama-anti-american-oped-cx_mk_1216kaminski.html?feed=rss_news

Interesting article highlighting the fact that try as we might, the fact is the rest of the world may not like us. But then again, can we really do anything to change that?
Earth

Submission + - Scientists Find the Dark Ages Really Were Dark

Submitted by
Ponca City, We Love You
Ponca City, We Love You writes: "In 536 Byzantine historian Procopius wrote that "a most dread portent took place. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness... and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear." Now palaeoclimatologist Keith Briffa and an international team of collaborators have found the characteristic fingerprint of a volcanic eruption in layers of ice in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, narrowly dated to around 533-536 and the amount of sulphate they found implies that the eruption was even bigger than that of Tambora in Indonesia in 1815, perhaps releasing as much as 40% more dust making the event "the most severe volcanic cooling event in the Northern Hemisphere in the past 2,000 years". Some have suggested that consequences of the erpuption were more dramatic than mere crop failure and overcast skies. Around 541, a plague pandemic rampaged from southern Asia to Denmark, wreaking havoc in the Byzantine Empire and possibly killing about 40% of the inhabitants of its capital Constantinople."
Internet Explorer

Submission + - What the CIA really thinks of Internet Explorer 3

Submitted by
Mike
Mike writes: "Ever wonder what the CIA really thinks of Microsoft's Internet Explorer? How about just viewing the source of some of their javascript programs. When defining variables to define the browser the client uses, the CIA is very specific. Just look at the javascript source for the program found here: https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/games/break-the-code/code-1.html and you will see the CIA is telling the kiddies of the world that Microsoft's Internet Explorer is: bugRiddenCrashPronePieceOfJunk.

Here is the sample code:
var bugRiddenCrashPronePieceOfJunk=(navigator.userAgent.indexOf('MSIE 5')!=-1&&navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Mac')!=-1)

Nice. At the very least, you see how the CIA views the browser."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Scam about scams

Submitted by
wakejagr
wakejagr writes: "Looks like enough people are wary of scammers that the new scams are using warnings about scamming as the hook!

FEDERAL HIGH COURT OF NIGERIA

Attention: Beneficiary

This to acknowledge you that your e-mail id is found among those
that have been scammed,and the compensation have been approved
from the Federal high court here in Nigeria and we are asked to
contact you by the Federal Ministry of Justice on how to send
you the bank draft total value Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand
Dollars. So you are adviced to contact the lawyer in charge of
this Bank Draft and by name is Bar.David Onyema and make sure
you contact him.

SEND HIM THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION TO PROVE YOURSELF TO HIM:

Your full names;...............................

Your contac address:.................................

Your country:.................................

Your age:.........................................

Your occupation:.................................

Your telephone number:.............................

For more information on how to make the Bank Draft sent to you
because many People complain about scamming every day from
Nigeria and we are trying to stop this fraudulent activities
from Nigeria and I assure you that it will stop because we are
now working with the internet operation such as YAHOOMAIL,HOTMAIL
and also the united state FBI and Nigeria police with Nigeria
EFCC so the scam can be eradicated in this country and I want
you to follow your Bank Draft code below,and which is given to
you by the Federal high court of Nigeria and the code is (NG74678FGN).

And I want you to keep this code, because this code will ensure
you and alert you in any day you receive a scam e-mail from this
country.And as soon as you contact Bar.David Onyema with your
full contact information requested, he will be forwarding
everything to the Federal Ministry of Justice to issue out
your award certificate as the rightful beneficiary of the
Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars.And here is the contact
information from the lawyer in charge of this Certified Bank
Draft below and you must contact him to enable him comence all
the fastest processes in order to have the Bank Draft delivered
in your doorstep in located area.

Name: Barrister David Onyema

E-mail Address: bardavidonyema@gmail.com

Direct Telephone: +234-1-8834547

Contact him in regarding of your Bank Draft to be delivered
to you by a courier service and also as soon as you contact
the lawyer in charge of your Bank Draft he will alert your
state security bureau for the certified bank DRAFT to be
deliver to you without any restriction and problem when the
certified Bank Draft get to you in your located area.

Sincerely Yours
Mrs Anthonia Akintola
(Federal High Court's Secretary)"
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - PC of my dream

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Wouldn't it be good if our bosses allows beer in the office so that we don't have to hide it from them? Instead of hiding beer bottles in modified refrigerator you can use this computer case (only if its available in market, which I seriously doubt). It boasts a small reservoir in the upper portion to store your daily fix.
Portables

Submission + - Bug Base brings mashups to hardware (popularmechanics.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Popular Mechanics has more detail about the Bug Base, an open-source portable device that will be released by Bug Labs before the end of the year. The Linux-based device, which is smaller than a paperback book, uses the concept of a hardware mashup to allow users to program whatever functionality they want into the unit. When it debuts, the Bug Base will have the ability to run modules that allow for GPS, camera and Wi-Fi functionality, among many others.
Wireless Networking

Submission + - EMF makes brain more permeable: Vaccine danger? (ehponline.org)

Submitted by Drake42
Drake42 writes: http://www.ehponline.org/members/2003/6039/6039.ht ml says EMF does NOT cause cancer but it does make your brain somewhat more permeable. This article http://www.newstarget.com/011764.html sums up that the mercury in vaccines is generally not good for you, and can collect in your brain.

I agree that EMF is generally proven safe. I also agree that vaccines with mercury are generally safe.

However, engineers (i.e. early Wifi/cell phone adaptors) have a 200% chance of having kids with autism over the general populace.
Is it possible that the increased permeability caused by low level EMF emissions causes the mercury in vaccines to be more easily admitted to the brain and thus become dangerous?
Encryption

Submission + - Deranged diplomatic passwords revealed (derangedsecurity.com)

Submitted by a_n_d_e_r_s
a_n_d_e_r_s writes: At http://derangedsecurity.com/ there are live and real proof that password like 1234 are actually used for highly sensitive stuff.

Have you ever wondered what the email password the dimplomatic personel use to protect their highly secure email accounts. How about 1234 ? Yes, that is one of a hundred real passwords and username displayed at deranged security. Swedish security expert Dan Egerstad has broken the password for a number of national powers — but he won't tell anyone how he got them. He tried to call the ambassy of a country but they did not take him seriou — so he decided to display them on a web page since he had not the time to call everyone on the list that he know used bad security and leaked their password to the world. Now you can read the truth about which password that are used to protect the diplomatic emails.
AMD

Submission + - First 2GB R600-Based Graphics Card Images Emerge (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
bigwophh
bigwophh writes: "Images have emerged of the first ATI R600-based graphics card to sport 2GB of frame buffer memory. The Diamond Multimedia VFX 2000 shown here is based on AMD's ATI R600 GPU, but the card's PCB has been modified from the standard HD 2900 XT reference design to support the workstation-class features inherent to the FireGL line of professional graphics cards. GPU and RAM frequencies were not available, but the VFX 2000 will likely be similar to ATI's high-end FireGL V8650."
Portables

Submission + - WD Scorpio Drive, 250 Gigs For Notebooks (hothardware.com)

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "Mobile hard drives don't get nearly as much exposure as their more common 3.5 desktop counterparts, but there have been significant advances made in this space that warrant some attention. Western Digital, for example, has released a high-capacity 250GB 2.5" SATA hard drive, the Scorpio WD2500BEVS, that sports a few proprietary technologies dubbed WhisperDrive, ShockGuard, and SecurePark, that improve the drive's acoustic profile, power consumption, and durability. And despite being a 5400RPM drive, its performance characteristics put it well ahead of most other 2.5" drives with similar spindle speeds and just behind a full-sized desktop hard drive running at 7200RPM. With hard drive speeds being the limiting performance factor in many instances, a drive like this could make for a worthwhile notebook upgrade."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Ref admits in court NBA is fixed (cnn.com) 1

Submitted by LoveMe2Times
LoveMe2Times writes: Former NBA referee Tim Donoughy pleaded guilty to charges related to his gambling on NBA games, including those he officiated. While many suspected him of fixing games or altering the outcome of games he officiated, the real story — that the mainstream media only mentions in passing — is that he didn't need to fix games. As a ref, he had access to "non-public" information about the games, including the real nature of injuries, who would ref the game, and the extent to which those refs favored the players. This inside information was enough for him — and presumably any NBA insider — to pick winners with enough accuracy to get paid $5000 for correct picks. In other words, referee bias is statistically significant enough for those in the know to make lots of money betting on it. In essence, the referees decide the game more than the players in a known, predictable way; hence, the game is fixed by choice of refs for a game.
United States

Submission + - US Temperature measurement errors? (norcalblogs.com)

Submitted by
Natros
Natros writes: "A data set is only as reliable as the instrumentation used to collect the data. One of the important data sets in the climate change field is the system of NOAA/NWS climate monitoring stations. The cumulative data from these stations shows warming trends nationwide. But what if the data from these stations is suspect? This blog has been documenting problems with weather station placement and maintenance that makes the data collected from some of these stations quite questionable. Among the most egregious errors: placing the station in the midst of A/C exhausts, and stations surrounded by asphalt parking lots. Whatever your position on the question of climate change, I think we can all agree that accurate measurement and reporting should be a priority of good science."

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