(Source : Comments section of - http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/267413-texas-secession-petition-gains-enough-signatures-for-white-house-response) Don't know the origin of this, but I liked it. "Dear Red States We're ticked off at your Neanderthal attitudes and politics and we've decided we're leaving. We in California intend to form our own country and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware that includes New York, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and the rest of the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation and especially to the people of the new country of The Enlightened States of America (E.S.A). To sum up briefly: You get Texas , Oklahoma and all the slave states.We get stem cell research and the best beaches.We get Andrew Cuomo and Elizabeth Warren. You get Bobby Jindal and Todd Akin.We get the Statue of Liberty. You get OpryLand.We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.We get Harvard. You get those ignorant fools at Ole' Miss.We get 85 percent of America 's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama .We get two-thirds of the tax revenue. You get to make the red states pay their fair share. Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunchof single moms.With the Blue States in hand we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92%of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90% of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the US low sulfur coal, all livingredwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.With the Red States you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans and their projected health care costs, 92% of all US mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99%of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, RushLimbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the deathpenalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.We're taking the good weed too. You can have that crap they grow in Mexico.Sincerely,A Citizen of the Enlighten

IT is always evolving and there is always new stuff. If you choose not to evolve and learn new things then you will become out dated and have problems finding a job. This is not unique to programming, demand for NT 4 Server and Exchange 5.5 admins is probably pretty low these days.

[Generalization] Companies are not ethical, they are rat bastard pieces of crap that care only about profits and money and give a fuck all about consumers.[/Generalization].

As such, being hacked doesn't immediately mean a financial or business impact. Hackers stole 100,000 encrypted database tables, well so what? Do you disclose worst case scenario if they attackers can decrypt them or do you just assume they won't be able to break the encryption. My bet would be companies would go the later route. Also translating lost data into dollars usually looks really bad. For example.

When prosecuting the case and determining damages, they will include the cost of reporting to each individual effected, labor, envelopes, stamps, etc. At a 2-3$ per person this adds up quick. That doesn't cover loss of revenue, business deals and who knows what. So on one hand you want to stick it to the people who attacked you but not spook your investors. Tricky situation, most companies instead just sweep it under the rug.

Kinect motion tracking is actually very good, using Kinect motions to control an avatar (robot) would be a good way to leverage existing research and technology. I'm actually surprised we don't have Kinect Battle bots yet....

First and foremost, its ugly. Seriously Ugly, check it out here : http://www.teslamotors.com/models
Second off, it does not compare to Porsche in any real way, speed, agility, handling, comfort, all go to Porsche.
Next, its too expensive. 80 Grand for a car that looks like an ugly Buick? No thank you, I'll but a GTR or GT500 instead. Don't forget that you will need a 240W outlet (most homes have only one for your dryer), so you'll need that, or the high performance charging unit. Count on a nice addition to your electric bill every month.

Finally, average Joe won't get one. 5,000 units in 2012, that means you can't go to the dealer and snag one, not to mention you have to customize it 3 months beforehand to make sure you get what you want. Plunk down 5k, wait months and months and end up with a battery powered Buick Le Sabre. To hell with that. These auto mags really are useless dreck these days...

If this was their first time, or it had been a few years, I would expect there to be mass hysteria and a general failure of DR plans. Mostly because DR plans are theoretical and costly to test and not tested very often. However I think Irene gleaned much useful information for those developing these DR plans which led to NY data centers being better prepared. I'd love to read the DR plans in 6 months and compare the new changes from lessons learned during and after this storm.

I haven't followed the case very closely but what ended up happening to the content that existed on the megaupload site? Did Dotcom get his servers back?

Also, if this service works it will be much easier that uploading truecrypt volumes. Which I will probably keep doing anyway.

Agreed. Had the attacker not been able to leverage the access he obtained on the web servers to compromise the SQL Server he may very well have been stopped in his tracks in the DMZ.

"CNET has learned that U.S. District Judge William Griesbach ruled that it was reasonable for Drug Enforcement Administration agents to enter rural property without permission -- and without a warrant -- to install multiple "covert digital surveillance cameras" in hopes of uncovering evidence that 30 to 40 marijuana plants were being grown."

"Two defendants in the case, Manuel Mendoza and Marco Magana of Green Bay, Wis., have been charged with federal drug crimes after DEA agent Steven Curran claimed to have discovered more than 1,000 marijuana plants grown on the property, and face possible life imprisonment and fines of up to $10 million."

Life in prison for growing plants, fuck our legal system.

Sure mine won't be as classy as the military grade drones. But I'll still be able to do some cool stuff...

- Follow the police around and see what they are up to all day
- Follow the local politicians around to see who's working and who's dicking around all day
- Watch fireworks from above
- Drop politically motivated leaflets
- Provide a roving 3g/4g hotspot anywhere I want

Possibilities for this are endless.... Go Forth my Drone Army!!!!!

1). Batteries are heavy and not super efficient
2). Night Time flights are out, so are bad weather flights
3). You need a ton of solar panels
4). Solar panels are not that efficient yet

So weight, inefficiency and the fact that the technology isn't there yet.

Private sector pays IT sec folks 6 figures+, last time I googled the salaries of the alphabet boys I wasn't very impressed.

Example: http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/FBI-Salaries-E24637.htm

Example: http://www.criminaljusticeschoolinfo.com/fbi-agent-salary.html

I'm guessing I know how Timothy is preparing for the storm. Geez, isn't this supposed to be news for nerds? This storm is the front page of CNN, if I want news like this I'll go there...

Why use some lame app store when you can just fire up Steam and download whatever the heck u want when it comes to games?

As someone who draws immense joy from replacing old clunky equipment like servers and networking equipment this place just looks like a junkyard to me. Hopefully others will enjoy it as it probably took a few hundred admins to get this stuff working again.....

Instead of free wifi do they offer a connection to their token ring?