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Comment mod GP up Re:Physchology (Score 2, Informative) 274

There have already been submerged submarine patrols lasting over a hundred days.

You'd think that military psychologists would have plenty of studies of people in these situations. Perhaps they are not sharing them.

Veteran of the SSBN sub force here, and I'm kind of surprised that this is considered that big a deal. We've been doing trips in isolation this long since the 60s.

Then again, I suppose the group dynamics for 6 people are slightly different than for 110 people.

Books

Was the Amazon De-Listing Situation a Glitch Or a Hack? 396

Miracle Jones writes "As Amazon struggles to re-list and re-rank gay, lesbian, and adult books on their website after massive public outcry against the secretive partitioning process, they are claiming that the entire situation was not the result of an intentional policy at all, are not apologizing, and are instead insisting that the situation was the result of 'a glitch' that they are now trying to fix. While some hackers are claiming credit for 'amazonfail,' and it is indeed possible that an outside party is responsible, most claims have already been debunked. How likely is it that Amazon was hacked versus the likelihood of an internal Easter weekend glitch? Or is the most obvious and likely scenario true, and Amazon simply got caught implementing a wildly-unpopular new policy without telling anyone?"

Comment Re:The Navy needs more men and ships. (Score 5, Insightful) 266

As retired submariner, I can certainly get behind the idea of having more subs... The number missions they are tasked with every year never goes down (and usually goes up), but there are fewer and fewer submarines every year to do them (old subs are being decommissioned faster than new ones are being built).

I've also heard surface types saying we need more carrier battle groups, an I understand their reasoning. And the logistics corp can also talk about we don't have enough supply vessels to adequately take care of our ships -now-. But... Where does it all stop? We only have so much money... I think one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century said it best:

''Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children . . . This is not a way of life at all in any sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.''--Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953, before the American Society of Newspaper Editors

Comment Re:Why so negative. (Score 1) 266

You should see what goes down in the radio room. Ba-dum-ding. Submarine jokes: there's a million of 'em :).

You should see who goes down in the radio room. Ba-dum-ding. Submarine jokes: there's a million of 'em :). --

There, fixed that for ya... ;)

Shipwack, another ex-bubblehead who really wishes he could read the accident/incident report on this one...

Comment Re:Whiny bastards (Score 1) 186

Not to mention that they don't prohibit lighter or matches on airplanes, which he was using to attempt to "detonate" the shoe bomb.

Why are matches allowed, but a can of soda is a security threat? Because the cigarette industry whined that the 2 minutes that a person couldn't smoke upon leaving a plane was costing them money, so an item that actually was used in an attempted terrorist attack is effectively unrestricted.

Comment Re:Whiny bastards (Score 2, Insightful) 186

Having been in the military, and actually involved in real security duty, I can assure you that almost all of the TSA restrictions are theatrics to show they are "doing something", and counter-productive at worst, including the liquid restrictions. Small volumes of liquids can't cause catastrophic damage, outside of a movie or TV show. While there are liquid explosives, they are neither easily obtainable, or easily made outside a laboratory. But... let's say this magic substance existed, and that it was only the fact that you can't bring more than a quarter ounce of liquids on board that keep a terrorist from manufacturing them in flight. The TSA regulations are -still- stupid because nothing prevents several people from bring a quarter ounce each and combining them. Or one person bringing a quarter ounce in a shampoo bottle, a quarter ounce of "medicine", a quarter ounce of "toothpaste", etc...
Image

Slashdot's Disagree Mail Screenshot-sm 188

Since we covered people who wanted out of Slashdot last week, I thought we'd look at some people who wanted back in. These users found that living without Slashdot was a lot harder than they thought. Maybe you've just been married and are finding out your wife is less interesting than Slashdot or maybe you were bad and want to make amends. These people found out it's hard to make it without your favorite website. Keep reading to find out what they'll do to get back.
Media

Submission + - Author Robert Asprin dead at age 61 (mythadventures.net)

Shipwack writes: MythAdventures.net, the website for Robert Asprin and his Wife Jody Lynne Nye, reports that Robert Asprin passed away at his New Orleans home May 22nd. Few details are given at the site, other than he passed away 'quietly.'

He was the author and/or contributor to of many series, including "Myth Adventures, "Phules Company", and the "Thieve's World" shared universe anthology series, of which he was also creator and chief editor.

Security

Hiding a Rootkit In System Management Mode 119

Sniper223 notes a PC World article on a new kind of rootkit recently developed by researchers, which will be demoed at Black Hat in August. The rootkit runs in System Management Mode, a longtime feature of x86 architecture that allows for code to run in a locked part of memory. It is said to be harder to detect, potentially, than VM-based rootkits. The article notes that the technique is unlikely to lead to widespread expoitation: "Being divorced from the operating system makes the SMM rootkit stealthy, but it also means that hackers have to write this driver code expressly for the system they are attacking."
PHP

Changes In Store For PHP V6 368

An anonymous reader sends in an IBM DeveloperWorks article detailing the changes coming in PHP V6 — from namespaces, to Web 2.0 built-ins, to a few features that are being removed.
The Internet

Virgin Media CEO Says Net Neutrality Is Already Gone 378

Virgin Media CEO Says Net Neutrality is "A Load of Bollocks". Anyone here been shaken down by their Internet Service Provider? "The new CEO of Virgin Media is putting his cards on the table early, branding net neutrality 'a load of bollocks' and claiming he's already doing deals to deliver some people's content faster than others... If you aren't prepared to cough up the extra cash, he says he'll put you in the Internet 'bus lane.'"

Neal Stephenson Returns with "Anathem" 248

Lev Grossman writes to tell us that Neal Stephenson, author of greats like Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, has another novel due for release in September. The catalogue copy gives us a small glimpse at what may be in store: "Since childhood, Raz has lived behind the walls of a 3,400-year-old monastery, a sanctuary for scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians--sealed off from the illiterate, irrational, unpredictable 'saecular' world that is plagued by recurring cycles of booms and busts, world wars and climate change. Until the day that a higher power, driven by fear, decides that only these cloistered scholars have the abilities to avert an impending catastrophe. And, one by one, Raz and his cohorts are summoned forth without warning into the Unknown."

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