Comment Re:By definition (Score 1) 211
A mouse in one hand, a flame-thrower in the other?
Yes, it's
Comment Re:Back to the Future (Score 5, Funny) 658
I'd go back just far enough to beat you to first post
Submission + - No news today?
donak writes: "This is the email I got this morning:
Slashdot Daily News
__________________________________________________________________________ Automate Your Data Center in 5 Easy Steps
No matter what stage of automation you\'re in
To unsubscribe, send an email to: unsubscribe- with the address: in the subject line."
Slashdot Daily News
__________________________________________________________________________ Automate Your Data Center in 5 Easy Steps
No matter what stage of automation you\'re in
To unsubscribe, send an email to: unsubscribe- with the address: in the subject line."
Weaponizable Police UAV Now Operational In Texas 416
crackspackle writes "The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office in suburban Houston, Texas is preparing to launch operations with a newly received Shadowhawk MK-III unmanned aerial vehicle, paid for by grant money received by the Department of Homeland Security. The MK-III is a product marketed for both military and law enforcement applications. Michael Buscher, chief executive officer of manufacturer Vanguard Defense Industries, said this is the first local law enforcement agency to buy one of his units. 'The aircraft has the capability to have a number of different systems on board. Mostly, for law enforcement, we focus on what we call less lethal systems,' he said, including Tazers that can send a jolt to a criminal on the ground or a gun that fires bean bags known as a 'stun baton.' 'You have a stun baton where you can actually engage somebody at altitude with the aircraft. A stun baton would essentially disable a suspect,' he said. The MK-III also has more lethal options available, capable of carrying either a 40mm or 37mm grenade launcher or 12 gauge shotgun with laser designator."
Submission + - US Copyright Office Out Of Touch; Supports E-PARAS (techdirt.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The US Copyright Office, for years, has remained totally out of touch with the mess that copyright has become, often acting as the entertainment industry's voice within the government. There was some hope that when longtime boss Marybeth Peters finally left, that the Copyright Office would bring in some new blood who might actually recognize how hindering and damaging copyright law is today, and seek to actually help bring copyright law into the modern era. So much for that plan. New boss Maria Pallante has released a new report detailing the "priorities" of the Copyright Office... and its the entertainment industry's two favorite bills: PROTECT IP/E-PARASITE and the felony streaming bill. The full report (pdf) also supports the RIAA bailout bill/performance rights act, also known as the extra tax on radio stations, forcing them to pay to advertise music. While there are a few nods towards things like orphan works, it seems like the Copyright Office is about more of the same failed policies... just ratcheted up further.
When Having the US Debt Paid Off Was a Problem 633
Hugh Pickens writes "NPR reports that not so long ago, the prospect of a debt-free U.S. was seen as a real possibility with the potential to upset the global financial system. As recently as 2000, the U.S. was running a budget surplus, taking in more than it was spending every year — and economists were projecting that the entire national debt could be paid off by 2012. So the government commissioned a secret report outlining the possible harmful consequences of retiring the debt completely. For one thing, paying off the national debt would mean the end of Treasury bonds, a pillar of the global economy. Treasury securities are crucially important to the world financial system in a number of ways: banks buy them as low-risk assets, the Fed uses them for executing monetary policy, and mortgage interest rates vary based on Treasury rates. 'It was a huge issue ... for not just the U.S. economy, but the global economy,' says Diane Lim Rogers, an economist in the Clinton administration. In the end, Jason Seligman, the economist who wrote most of the report titled 'Life After Debt (PDF),' concluded it was a good idea to pay down the debt — but not to pay it off entirely. 'There's such a thing as too much debt,' says Seligman. 'But also such a thing, perhaps, as too little.'"
Is That an Android On Your Wrist? 119
DeviceGuru writes "Two startups are about to go chrono y chrono with competing Android gizmos. The I'm Watch exclusively targets smartwatch applications, whereas the WIMM Platform is meant to create 'a new market of connected wearable devices that deliver timely, relevant information at a glance' — of which smartwatches are but one example. The Italian-designed I'm Watch runs a customized Android 1.6 on a 454 MHz ARM9 processor with just 64MB of RAM; the WIMM module, a product of Silicon Valley, runs Android 2.1 on a 667 MHz ARM11 CPU. Would you actually wear one of these things?" Personally, I'd rather have an IBM watch running Linux.
Submission + - Droughts linked to global warming (wired.com)
Layzej writes: Two new papers indicate that we are likely already seeing some of the predicted impacts of global warming, The first used Monte Carlo simulations to analyze how many new record events you expect to see in a time series with a trend. They applied the technique to the unprecedented Russian heat wave of July 2010, which killed 700 people and contributed to soaring wheat prices. According to the analysis, there’s an 80 percent chance that climate change was responsible. The authors describe the methods and how they improved on previous studies here. The second studied Wintertime droughts in the Mediterranean region. They found that 'the magnitude and frequency of the drying that has occurred is too great to be explained by natural variability alone. This is not encouraging news for a region that already experiences water stress, because it implies natural variability alone is unlikely to return the region’s climate to normal.'
Submission + - QANTAS Grounded (abc.net.au)
donak writes: "QANTAS, Australia's no. 1 airline, has grounded it's entire QANTAS branded fleet, both within Australia and overseas, effective immediately. This is being done to enforce the lockout of staff that is to commence from 8 pm Monday. Not just a bit of "brinkmanship", a cannon-ball down the corridors of power ... the Australian government has now been stirred to action."
Quiet Cellular Antenna Tech To Boost S. African SKA Bid 38
slash-sa writes "Two South Africans have given their home country a boost with its Square Kilometre Array (SKA) bid by inventing cellular antenna technology which reduces 'noisy' emissions from cellular base stations in the area. They reduced emissions by using an antenna based on phased-array principles, providing omnidirectional coverage but also blocking the RF transmissions along a single direction (that would correspond with the bearing of the SKA core site). The antenna has been tested and performs extremely well. Trialling measurements have shown that the RF signal levels at the proposed SKA core site can be reduced significantly, while at the same time, much of the original GSM coverage can be retained."
Submission + - Anonymous takes on a Mexican drug cartel (chron.com) 1
NarcoTraficante writes: After one of their members was kidnapped in Veracruz, Mexico by the Zetas drug cartel, Mexican Anonymous members have issued an ultimatum to the Zetas in a recently posted YouTube video (Spanish). The video demands release of the kidnapped member and threatens to publish information of cartel members and affiliates in Veracruz if the victim is not released by November 5. The Houston Chronicle article warns that there will be bloodshed if Anonymous publishes information on the Zeta's operations, either perpetrated by rival cartels or reprisal attacks by the Zetas themselves.
Submission + - Battlefield 3 Performance: 30+ Graphics Cards, Ben (tomshardware.com)
wesbascas writes: Have you ever wanted to play a new PC game, but weren't sure where your PC falls between the minimum and recommended system requirements? I don't have a whole lot of time to game these days and with new hardware perpetually coming out and component vendors often tweaking their model numbering schemes, knowing exactly what kind of experience I'm buying for $60 can be difficult. Luckily, somebody benchmarked Battlefield 3's campaign on a wide range of hardware configurations and detail settings. If you've purchased a system in the past few years you should be in luck. The video cards tested start with the AMD Radeon HD 4670 and Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT, and go up to the brand new Radeon HD 6990 and GeForce GTX 590. I hate it that my aging Radeon HD 4870 isn't going to cut it at 1080p, but am glad that I found out BEFORE buying the game. I suppose it's time for an upgrade anyway, there's no way I'm missing this title.
Submission + - ask slashdot: do some new movie DVDs not work on y 4
fade-in writes: "Using RedBox has been really hit-or-miss for me lately, as about half of the movies I rent flat-out don't work on my PC. At first I thought it was a Linux problem, but when I tried the discs on a Windows 7 PC I met the same results.
After doing some research I've found that all of the titles that have failed for me are distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Am I alone in the world, or has anyone else experienced this? Is it a secret plot to drive folks to BitTorrent? Which movie distributors' discs cause the most trouble, and where do I complain to get it fixed?"
After doing some research I've found that all of the titles that have failed for me are distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Am I alone in the world, or has anyone else experienced this? Is it a secret plot to drive folks to BitTorrent? Which movie distributors' discs cause the most trouble, and where do I complain to get it fixed?"
Submission + - Don't Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career (kalzumeus.com)
Ian Lamont writes: "Patrick McKenzie has written about the do's and don't's of working as a software engineer, and some solid (and often amusing) advice on how to get ahead. One of the first pieces of advice:
Don't call yourself a programmer: "Programmer" sounds like "anomalously high-cost peon who types some mumbo-jumbo into some other mumbo-jumbo." If you call yourself a programmer, someone is already working on a way to get you fired.
Although he runs his own company, he is a cold realist about the possibilities for new college grads in the startup world: "The high-percentage outcome is you work really hard for the next couple of years, fail ingloriously, and then be jobless and looking to get into another startup""
Submission + - The White House Responds to We the People Petition (whitehouse.gov)
Nysul writes: The White House, aiming to gather the opinion (or marketing data) of the internet nation, asked for our thoughts by creating the We the People site and now it has responded to some of the more popular petitions, such as marijuana reform and separation of church and state. You probably won't be surprised at the answers.
