Comment IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH (Score 1) 281
Mwahhhahaahaaahaaaa!
-- Eric Schmidt
Comment DOCUMENTS? (Score 1) 250
What are they going to do, install a rootkit on my computer to prevent me from downloading stuff? Who thinks up this stuff?
The documents DEMAND that the the press DESTROY SONY!
Comment Prometheus. (Score 1) 299
Enough said.
I'll wait for the Netflix release.
US Navy Authorizes Use of Laser In Combat 225
mi writes The U.S. Navy has declared an experimental laser weapon on its Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) in the Persian Gulf an operational asset and U.S. Central Command has given permission for the commander of the ship to defend itself with the weapon. The 30 kilowatt Laser Weapon System (LaWS) was installed aboard USS Ponce this summer as part of a $40 million research and development effort from ONR and Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to test the viability of directed energy weapons in an operational environment. No word yet on a smaller, shark-mounted version.
Comment Re:Here come the certificate flaw deniers....... (Score 2) 80
Your certificate is authenticated by checking against it's parent certificate authority. That parent also has a parent. Rinse and repeat until you reach one of the top certificate authorities. There are seven of those (or just about?).
For as long as the parents are valid and your certificate is valid, then it's considered signed.
VeriSign, a top certificate authority back in 2001, had made the news because it's DB got compromised. All certificates underneath where disabled and the whole tree had to be re-created. Symantec bought VeriSign since.
Submission + - Royal Mail pilots 3D printing service
MRothenberg writes: Just in time for the holidays, the UK's postal service is testing out a 3D printing service at its central London delivery center. Customers can order "ready-to-print" objects (including shoes, soap dishes and phone cases) or bring in their own originals to duplicate and send via Royal Mail. The postal company's COO predicts consumer demand for 3D printing will grow 95 percent by 2017.
Comment If... (Score 1) 103
You are vulnerable to Social Engineering (and almost everyone is), no security of any kind will ever work. Become a Scottish crofter, it's your only hope of a life.
You are a private individual, see all XKCD coverage. Same remedy.
You are Sony, abandon hope now. You wouldn't even make it as a crofter.
You are anyone else, encryption is not enough. You want segmentation, active NIDS, proxies and firewalls at the gateways, HIDS on the machines, role-based access controls, host-to-host IPSec, security labels on packets, total removal of all vulnerable protocols, disk encryption, strong authentication and Neuromancer's Black Ice. A platoon of extreme freediving Ninja with enhanced magnetic sensors in their eyeballs would help, too.
Comment Re: Diversity is good, especially in SciFi (Score 1) 368
Science fiction isn't fiction that has elements that aren't science but might appeal to geeks who like science.
Science fiction isn't science fantasy.
Science fiction isn't pure fantasy with stuff science geeks like.
Science fiction isn't biologically improbable females fulfilling spotty teen fantasies.
Science fiction is science that is fictional. Very different animal and naturally restrictive.
That's life. Or will be.
Comment Re: you're doing it wrong (Score 0) 368
Absolutely wrong on all accounts.
People are the least important part of a story, they exist solely to represent something. What they represent is almost never another person. In fact, it is never another person.
Science fiction is about the universe, about meaning, about the nature of reality. There are perfectly good science fiction stories that don't include people, or indeed any living thing. And that is fine.
Stories that are people-centric are no more science fiction than vampire stories are history, or Microsoft manuals are about learning.
This isn't up for discussion, it is the way the ontology is. Don't like it? Fine, don't call your crap science fiction. It's very simple.
Comment If... (Score 1) 368
...It's Cheers in Space, or Eastenders on Mars, then no it is not science fiction. It is Cheers in Space or Eastenders on Mars. There is no science and there is precious little fiction.
Comment Suicide (Score 1) 194
by fricking trains with lasers beams attached to their heads.
Comment Re: 60 Minutes Pushing Propaganda? (Score 1) 409
Touché. But an alias is still a distinct identification, unlike anonymous posting, for an alias is linked to an email address and that can be traced. Besides, my linked home page clearly identifies me.
NASA's Orion Capsule Reaches Orbit 140
PaisteUser sends word that NASA's Orion capsule successfully reached orbit this morning after a flawless launch atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket. Video of the launch is available on YouTube, and the Orion Mission blog has frequent updates as mission milestones are reached.
Mission managers said the rocket and capsule performed perfectly during the initial phases of the test. "It was just a blast to see how well the rocket did," said Mark Geyer, NASA's Orion program manager. After Orion makes its first circuit around the planet, the rocket's upper stage will kick it into a second, highly eccentric orbit that loops as far as 3,600 miles from Earth. Then Orion will come screaming back into Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 20,000 mph — 80 percent of the velocity that a spacecraft returning from the moon would experience. This particular Orion is missing a lot of the components that would be needed for a crewed flight, and it won't be carrying humans. Instead, it's outfitted with more than 1,200 sensors to monitor how its communication and control systems deal with heightened radiation levels, how its heat shield handles re-entry temperatures that are expected to rise as high as 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and how its parachutes slow the craft down for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Journal Journal: In Passing: if talking about pesos, there'd be more zeroes
Overheard a coworker in mid sentence, "but if we were talking about pesos, there'd be _a lot_ more zeroes"
On a side note, i've been at the office for a year. How do i know? Building access was denied. Happy anniversary...
Why Pluto Still Matters 91
StartsWithABang writes Nearly a century ago, Pluto was discovered, and for 48 years it remained the only known object whose orbit takes it beyond the gravitational pull of Neptune. In a single generation, we've now discovered more than 1,000 additional objects in the Kuiper Belt, but does that make Pluto any less special? Here's a strong argument for why Pluto might matter now more than ever.
