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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 12 declined, 1 accepted (13 total, 7.69% accepted)

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Security

Submission + - FBI gets tough with Video Sat-signal hackers (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
aqk
aqk writes: "Not sure about slashdotters' honesty, but many people in the North American general public have increasingly been using FTA (Free-To-Air) digital receivers to get, well... free satellite TV.
"Free" as in illegal.
The most popular of these FTA receivers is, or perhaps was?, the Viewsat.
Now it looks like the FBI may have put them out of business
These FTA receivers were popular in Canada until last year, when Bell ExpressVu rolled out the new Nagra-3 encryption to its subscribers.
Most FTA receivers in Canada are now presumably serving as boat anchors.
The American ones may now follow suit."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - SPAM: Kidney donation. The "EASY" way!

Submitted by
aqk
aqk writes: "Slate magazine reports a new easier way of donating a kidney to make some extra cash for many of you now unemployed slashdot readers: transvaginal nephrectomy . Yeah, big words, but probably self-explanatory.
We're guessing that perhaps most /.ers do not possess the necessary orifice, but the procedure can also be done anally.
This may explain the Goatse condition (thankfully, no url provided here)."
Link to Original Source
Television

Submission + - Rumpole's John Mortimer dies (plonque.com)

Submitted by
aqk
aqk writes: "Younger /.ers will no doubt associate the phrase "She who must be obeyed" with their mom upstairs in the kitchen, but older ones will recognize it as one of the enduring lines penned by John Mortimer and mourn his death today at age 91
Mortimer had a distinguished career in the law, authored many books, and was best known as the creater of the immortal Rumpole of the Bailey, and Rumpole's wife, the original "she who must be obeyed".
Let's hope that Sir John, like his creation Rumpole, will find happiness in a celestial Pomeroys, and have access there to a limitless supply of Rumpole's legendary Plonk (and perhaps now, the better stuff)."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - FTC opens up those white spaces (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by
aqk
aqk writes: "The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted Tuesday to open up unused, unlicensed portions of the television airwaves known as "white spaces" to deliver wireless broadband service.
The vote is a big victory for public interest groups and technology companies such as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. that say white spaces could be used to bring broadband to rural and other underserved parts of the country."
Programming

Submission + - Has anyone here used LOLCODE? (plonque.com)

Submitted by
aqk
aqk writes: "HAI. I am interested in converting some of my programs and webpages (perhaps even XHTML... LOL!) to LOLCODE
Does anyone on /. have any experience with it?
There appears to be rudimentary documentation in Wikipedia, but I'd like to see some more subjective remarks on it."
Enlightenment

Submission + - SPENGLER'S SLACKERS. Are you one?

Submitted by
aqk (NOT the Pakistani physicist)
aqk (NOT the Pakistani physicist) writes: "Young American slashdotter! Are you possibly one of Spengler's Slackers? This modern-day journalist descendant of Oswald Spengler has almost as much a dark vision of Western Society (i.e. the USA) as the philosopher.
To wit: "America might be the first country in recorded history whose culture celebrates not only indolence but also the sheer absence of ability. Byronic loafing is the birthright of genius, but slacking has become the entitlement of every young American."

Huh. You're comfortably ensconced in your parents' basement, penning arguments on your Ubuntu system to slashdot, on why"XP is sooo much better than Vista".Maybe you're the beer-swilling undergrad in his fully-paid-for dorm using your Macintosh to rant about how you'll replace all those Windows systems, when (and if) you join the business world?

Nevertheless, Spengler ( a scribe for The Asia Times — yes, another offshore corporation) may have given you some kind of wake-up call. Perhaps you should take note. Do you agree with the above SLACKER article? Indeed: where is the USA going?"
Announcements

Submission + - Paul MacCready died last week. (www.aqk.ca)

Submitted by
aqk
aqk writes: "Did any /.ers notice this ?
I admit I do not often read obits, but one thinks this guy might have gotten a slightly larger eulogy from the masses.
If I hadn't been a member of the Skeptics Society , I might not have found out at all!
More about MacCready at Wikipedia

Now: go fly a kite in his honour!"
Spam

Submission + - Spam article in New Yorker Aug 6th (tonyking.tk)

Submitted by
aqk
aqk writes: "Spam? You want spam? You can't HANDLE THE DAMN SPAM!

From my New Yorker issue of Aug 6th: Damn Spam! The losing war on junk e-mail.

After reading this article, I went looking for it online, and oddly enough, it was listed on the first page of www.newyorker.com

Hmmnn.. must be popular!

I, for one, am willing to bow to my New Yorker overlords, if only they can somehow help more of the general populace understand the growing Spam problem.
Perhaps however, readers of the "New Yorker" are not part of the general populace.
Of course, neither are /.ers eating cold Pizza and breathing the Radon in their parents' basement apartment..."

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