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Comment Re:How to befuddle the TSA: (Score 1) 256

by Sean0michael (#38476096) Attached to: Vanity Fair On the TSA and Security Theater

Anecdote:

My wife was allowed to take her yogurt through security in her carry-on, even though it was more then 3oz of yogurt. The reason was she had put it in the freezer before the trip. Since it was still frozen, it didn't count as a liquid, and therefore wasn't subject to the usual rules.

Your TSA experience may vary, since there's certainly inconsistency in how rules are applied.
Firefox

Adblock Plus To Offer 'Acceptable Ads' Option 373

Posted by Soulskill from the polarizing-issue dept.
Many readers have submitted news of a week-old announcement from Wladimir Palant, creator of Adblock Plus, about a change to the addon that will allow unobtrusive ads to be displayed. The change has been controversial because most people who run the addon strongly dislike seeing any ads. Palant hastens to point out that this is a toggle-able option, and by changing one setting, users can resume ad-less website viewing. Many are upset, however, that the setting defaults to allowing the display of "acceptable" advertisements. The description of "acceptable" ads includes the following criteria: "Static advertisements only (no animations, sounds or similar); Preferably text only, no attention-grabbing images; At most one script that will delay page load (in particular, only a single DNS request)."
Science

Quantum Coherence Found Fueling Photosynthesis 135

Posted by samzenpus from the spooky-energy dept.
A user writes "Ars Technica has posted an interesting article about new findings regarding quantum physics and photosynthesis. Their excerpt for the article: 'Physicists have found the strongest evidence yet of quantum effects fueling photosynthesis. Multiple experiments in recent years have suggested as much, but it has been hard to be sure. Quantum effects were clearly present in the light-harvesting antenna proteins of plant cells, but their precise role in processing incoming photons remained unclear.' Here's a little background info for those unaware of what coherence and quantum coherence are."
Government

Debt Reduction Super Committee Fails To Agree 954

Posted by timothy from the spend-all-you-want-they'll-print-more dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "VOA reports that the latest effort to cut the U.S. government's debt apparently has ended in failure as leaders of the special 12-member debt reduction committee plan to announce that they failed in their mandate from lawmakers to trim the federal debt by $1.2 trillion over the next decade. Democrats and Republicans blame each other for the collapse of the effort. 'Our Democratic friends were never able to do the entitlement reforms,' said Republican Senator Jon Kyl. 'They weren't going to do anything without raising taxes.' Democratic Senator Patty Murray, one of the committee's co-chairs, says that the Republicans' position on taxes was the sticking point. 'The wealthiest Americans who earn over a million a year have to share too. And that line in the sand, we haven't seen Republicans willing to cross yet,' Now in the absence of an agreement, $1.2 trillion in across-the-board spending cuts to domestic and defense programs are set to take effect starting in January, 2013, and the lack of a deal will deprive President Barack Obama of a vehicle for extending a payroll tax cut and insurance benefits for unemployed Americans, which expire at the end of the year." (Though the official deadline for the committee's hoped-for plan is tomorrow — the 23d — they were to have provided it for review 48 hours prior.)

Comment Re:I am gonna start my own ask slashdot thread (Score 1) 488

by Sean0michael (#37958616) Attached to: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Won't Fit On a CD
Honestly, I wish I understood the filesystem better.

I came from the Windows world with very little programming experience. Even though I've used Ubuntu as my other OS since 10.04 (and experimented before then), I still don't understand the filesystem beneath it. Everything is in something like /bin, /etc, /lib /home, or some other very short folder. I could at least make the connection that /home is for my stuff, because that's where all my stuff is saved by default. But just about everything else is a mystery.

When I install a program, where does it go? In Windows, I've been trained to look in the "Programs" folder. In Linux, I have no idea where it went. Did it go into /bin or /lib? Or somewhere else? What are those separate directories for? Why is the .conf in a different place than the program? If I want to install something myself before it hits the distro's repository, where do I put it?

What Ubuntu lacks (along with just about every other distro aiming to convert Windows users) is some built-in way to teach users how to do the things they used to do in Windows. I don't mean things like "how to open a Word doc" -- if you can't find LibreOffice in the menu or use an online doc-editing tool, Linux is beyond you. But advanced users of Windows could use the boost to get them on the same level as beginner-to-normal Linux users.

I have thought of writing some kind of book or website tutorial on just this topic several times, but I can't -- I don't know the answers to these questions. If someone or some group did this, that would help make Ubuntu a more mainstream desktop OS.
Google

Submission + - Hackers Get Valid Google SSL Cert (threatpost.com) 1

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: A certificate authority in the Netherlands issued a valid SSL wildcard certificate for Google to a third party in July, leading to concerns that attackers may have been using the certificate to route sensitive traffic through their own servers, capturing it and compromising user data in the process. The certificate was revoked by the CA, DigiNotar, after the problem came to light Monday.

The attack appears to have been targeting Gmail users specifically. Some users trying to reach the Gmail servers over HTTPS found that their traffic was being rerouted through servers that shouldn't have been part of the equation. On Monday afternoon, security researcher Moxie Marlinspike checked the signatures on the certificate for the suspicious server, which had been posted to Pastebin and elsewhere on the Web, and found that the certificate was in fact valid. The attack is especially problematic because the certificate is a wildcard cert, meaning it is valid for any of Google's domains that use SSL.
Security

Submission + - Former TSA Agent Admits to Aiding Drug Dealer (foxnews.com)

Submitted by mrquagmire
mrquagmire writes: A former federal security officer has admitted helping a man accused of running a drug ring evade security and smuggle money through the Buffalo Niagara Airport.
Minnetta Walker was arrested in March. She admitted Friday in federal court helping the man get around airport security scanners, The Buffalo News reported.
As a behavioral detection officer, Walker was trained to observe and analyze human behavior and had unrestricted access to the airport and its security stations. Sometimes, she'd direct travelers she appeared to know, including Frank, away from security lines where body image scanners or pat-downs might detect large sums of cash, and escort them to their gates so they wouldn't be pulled aside for random inspections, authorities said. She'd also alert travelers to the presence of undercover law enforcement officers, authorities said.

Submission + - When did Irene stop being a hurricane? (blogspot.com)

Submitted by jamesl
jamesl writes: Cliff Mass, a climate researcher at the University of Washington and popular Seattle blogger asks, "When did Irene stop being a hurricane?"

" ... there is really no reliable evidence of hurricane-force winds at any time the storm was approaching North Carolina or moving up the East Coast."

"I took a look at all the observations over Virgina, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York. Not one National Weather Service or FAA observation location, not one buoy observations, none reach the requisite wind speed. Most were not even close."

"Surely, one of the observations upwind of landfall, over Cape Hatteras or one of the other barrier island locations, indicated hurricane-force sustained winds? Amazingly, the answer is still no."

Cliff supports his statement with data from NOAA/NWS/NDBC presented in easy to understand charts.
Windows

Submission + - Microsoft 'Ribbonizes' Windows 8 File Manager (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "Microsoft said on Monday that it will 'ribbonize' the file manager in next year's Windows 8, adding Explorer to the short list of integrated applications that already sport the interface in Windows 7. Microsoft's Alex Simons, director of program management, released screenshots of the new ribbon interface planned for Explorer (scroll way down). 'We evaluated several different UI [user interface] command affordances including expanded versions of the Vista/Windows 7 command bar, Windows 95/Windows XP style toolbars and menus, several entirely new UI approaches, and the Office style ribbon,' explained Simons. 'Of these, the ribbon approach offered benefits in line with our goals.' Plans by Microsoft and others — including Mozilla at one point — to ribbonize applications have often met resistance. 'We knew that using a ribbon for Explorer would likely be met with skepticism by a set of power users, but there are clear benefits,' Simons said."

Submission + - Fake certificate for *.google.com in Iran (pastebin.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Dutch CA DigiNotar has issued a certificate for *.google.com (which was revoked a few hours ago), that some Iranian ISPs used to do SSL MITM.

Comment See you in the comments! (Score 1) 1521

by Sean0michael (#37205078) Attached to: Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda Resigns From Slashdot
I have really enjoyed reading /. and all the realms it opened my eyes to, from Linux to patent trolls to politics to OMG Ponies!!!.

The thing I will probably .miss the most is being able to reply to Anonymous Coward who bothers to question, "Is this News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters????" Pointing out that it was your post on your site and you can post whatever you want always had some sweet justice to it. Now I'll just have to stop feeding the trolls.

The best of luck to you in whatever you do.

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