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Majority of Americans Say NSA Phone Tracking Is OK To Fight Terrorism 584

Posted by Unknown Lamer
from the don't-want-to-get-onto-a-list dept.
An anonymous reader writes "While the tech media has gone wild the past few days with the reports of the NSA tracking Verizon cell usage and creating the PRISM system to peer into our online lives, a new study by Pew Research suggests that most U.S. citizens think it's okay. 62 percent of Americans say losing some personal privacy is acceptable as long as its used to fight terrorism, and 56 percent are okay with the NSA tracking phone calls. Online tracking is fair less popular however, with only 45 percent approving of the practice. The data also shows that the youth are far more opposed to curtailing privacy to fight terror, which could mean trouble for politicians planning to continue these programs in the coming years."

Comment: Are thieves desperate enough to use those? (Score 1) 282

by Ellis D. Tripp (#43935789) Attached to: It's Time To Start Taking Stolen Phones Seriously

I had a couple iPhone 3GS that I didn't want anymore, so I tried one of those ecoATM things once. They do require a scan of a drivers license as a form of ID, for whatever that is worth. But the big issue is how much they lowball the offered price compared to what you can get almost anywhere else. The machine offered $20 each for the 8GB phones (in near mint shape), so I declined the offer, and sold them myself on eBay for a bit over $100 each.

Even a desperate thief should be able to find a place to fence a stolen phone that gives them more money than those scam machines...

Comment: The cops have better things to do--like pot busts! (Score 2) 282

by Ellis D. Tripp (#43935493) Attached to: It's Time To Start Taking Stolen Phones Seriously

Why would they "spend MANY thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on investigation, arrest, booking, court hearing/trial, and imprisonment for a $500 piece of electronics" when they could spend MANY thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on investigation, arrest, booking, court hearing/trial, and imprisonment for a $10 bag of weed?

Comment: Cernan and Schmitt covered that distance in 22 hrs (Score 3, Interesting) 92

by Ellis D. Tripp (#43751223) Attached to: Opportunity Breaks NASA's 40-Year Roving Record

, spread over 3 separate EVAs in 3 days. All of the unmanned US and Russian rovers took a lot longer to set their distance records.

If the Apollo program was allowed to continue past 17, there were plans for even longer distance surface excursions. There were even preliminary studies done for a small flying vehicle to allow the astronauts to cover even longer distances from their landing site.

Open Source

Why Is Science Behind a Paywall? 210

Posted by Soulskill
from the because-we-are-not-a-smart-species dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Priceonomics blog has a post that looks into how so much of our scientific knowledge came to be gated by current publishing models. 'The most famous of these providers is Elsevier. It is a behemoth. Every year it publishes 250,000 articles in 2,000 journals. Its 2012 revenues reached $2.7 billion. Its profits of over $1 billion account for 45% of the Reed Elsevier Group — its parent company which is the 495th largest company in the world in terms of market capitalization. Companies like Elsevier developed in the 1960s and 1970s. They bought academic journals from the non-profits and academic societies that ran them, successfully betting that they could raise prices without losing customers. Today just three publishers, Elsevier, Springer and Wiley, account for roughly 42% of all articles published in the $19 billion plus academic publishing market for science, technology, engineering, and medical topics. University libraries account for 80% of their customers.' The article also explain how moving to open access journals would help, but says it's just one step in a more significant transformation scientific research needs to undergo. It points to the open source software community as a place from which researchers should take their cues."
News

Interview: Ask John McAfee What You Will 194

Posted by samzenpus
from the straight-from-the-source dept.
John McAfee was best known as a software designer and founder of the computer anti-virus company McAfee Associates until his saga in Belize began. McAfee's works on producing natural antibiotics commercially in Belize was quickly overshadowed by police raids, murder allegations, and a month of evading Belizean authorities while maintaining his innocence. He was eventually captured and deported back to the United States in December 2012 without being charged with any crime. "Boston George" Jung (a man who has lived quite an unusual life himself) has been tapped to write McAfee's biography titled, No Domain. Now that things have mostly settled down, John has agreed to answer your questions. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one per post.

+ - SCOTUS: Warrant Needed To Take Blood In DUI Cases ->

Submitted by Ellis D. Tripp
Ellis D. Tripp writes "In a case that could have nationwide implications in the enforcement of marijuana impaired “drugged driving” laws, the United States Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that states can not routinely compel drivers to submit to a blood test in drunk driving cases without consent and without a warrant.

The ruling comes in the case of Missouri v. McNeely, originated by an arrest in October 2010 in the rural county of Cape Girardeau, Missouri."
Link to Original Source

Comment: Slashdot--several weeks behind the curve again.... (Score 1) 117

by Ellis D. Tripp (#43347159) Attached to: The RFP and IT Logistics For Washington's "Pot Czar"

Comment: "Atomic" clocks don't use radioactive decay.... (Score 3, Informative) 84

by Ellis D. Tripp (#43329645) Attached to: First Petaflop Supercomputer To Shut Down

They rely on the resonant frequency of atoms in metal vapors (Cesium or Rubidium), or the output of a hydrogen maser.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_clock

Radioactive decay is a chaotic process. So chaotic that it can be used as the basis for a random number generator. Just what you DON'T want in a precise time/frequency reference.

http://www.fourmilab.ch/hotbits/

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