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Encryption

What's Holding Back Encryption? 660

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the cypher-sex-is-a-different-thing dept.
nine-times writes "After many years in IT, I've been surprised to notice how much of my traffic is still unencrypted. A lot of businesses that I interact with (both business and personal) are still using unencrypted FTP, and very few people use any kind of encryption for email. Most websites are still using unencrypted HTTP. DNSSEC seems to be picking up some steam, but still doesn't seem to be widely used. I would have thought there would be a concerted effort to move toward encryption for the sake of security, but it doesn't seem to be happening. I wanted to ask the Slashdot community, what do you think the hold up is? Are the existing protocols somehow not good enough? Are the protocols fine, but not supported well enough in software? Is it too complicated to manage the various encryption protocols and keys? Is it ignorance or apathy on the part of the IT community, and that we've failed to demand it from our vendors?"
Image

Giant Spiders Invade Australian Outback Town 373 Screenshot-sm

Posted by samzenpus
from the welcome-to-my-sleepout-said-the-spider-to-the-bloke dept.
youth68 writes "Australia is known around the world for its large and deadly creepy crawlies, but even locals have been shocked by the size of the giant venomous spiders that have invaded an Outback town in Queensland. Scores of eastern tarantulas, which are known as 'bird-eating spiders' and can grow larger than the palm of a man's hand, have begun crawling out from gardens and venturing into public spaces in Bowen, a coastal town about 700 miles northwest of Brisbane."

Comment: New USB device? (Score 1) 835

by Greg Newton (#26568119) Attached to: How To Diagnose a Suddenly Slow Windows Computer?

I've seen behaviour like this caused by a dodgy USB device. A random process would spike and if you killed that, another one would spike in it's place. This was under windows XP. I tracked down the offending device by systematically removing things till the problem went away. Once it was removed there were no further problems. I'm guessing it was windows I/O system not coping well with the hardware problem.

Similarly, try going through any other things that might have changed around the time you started seeing the problem. The device in question also caused problems under Linux.

Image

South Carolina Seeking To Outlaw Profanity 849 Screenshot-sm

Posted by samzenpus
from the f@#k-those-f@#king-f@#kers dept.
MBGMorden writes "It looks like in an act that defies common sense, a bill has been introduced in the South Carolina State Senate that seeks to outlaw the use of profanity. According to the bill it would become a felony (punishable by a fine up to $5000 or up to 5 years in prison) to 'publish orally or in writing, exhibit, or otherwise make available material containing words, language, or actions of a profane, vulgar, lewd, lascivious, or indecent nature.' I'm not sure if 'in writing' could be applied to the internet, but in any event this is scary stuff."
Image

Slashdot's Disagree Mail 354 Screenshot-sm

Posted by samzenpus
from the teach-me-something dept.
There is an old Japanese proverb that goes, "Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher." This week's mail is all about teaching. Whether it is about the seriousness of psychic ability, a short history of trolls or explaining how much free time and malice your dad's attorney has, these people just want to impart information. If what they sent me is any indication, they had a lot of sick days. Click on the link below to become enlightened.
Space

Floating Cities On Venus 501

Posted by Soulskill
from the brain-candy dept.
Geoffrey.landis writes "Some of you may have heard me talk about colonizing Venus. Well, for those who haven't, Universe Today is running story about floating cities on Venus. It's a reasonable alternative for space colonies — after all, the atmosphere of Venus (at about 50 km) is the most Earth-like environment in the solar system (other than Earth, of course). '50 km above the surface, Venus has air pressure of approximately 1 bar and temperatures in the 0C-50C range, a quite comfortable environment for humans. Humans wouldn't require pressurized suits when outside, but it wouldn't quite be a shirtsleeves environment. We'd need air to breathe and protection from the sulfuric acid in the atmosphere.'"
Earth

The World's 10 Dirtiest Cities 286

Posted by samzenpus
from the none-more-dirty dept.
neever writes "You may already know about the pollution plight of Linfen, China. But how about the heavy metals Pittsburghers breathe in on a daily basis? Or the incomparable smog Milanesi put up with? PopSci has culled an eye-opening selection of some of the world's most problematic cities. From the painfully high cancer rates in Sumgayit, Azerbaijan to the acid rain destroying La Oroya, Peru, writer Jason Daley walks readers through the lowest of the low; and explains why, despite it all, there's still hope for these places."

Comment: Re:Gaffer's Tape = Duct Tape (Score 1) 230

by Greg Newton (#14530149) Attached to: Homemade Digital Cameras
"leave no residue when peeled away"

Ha! I wish!

Leave it on for any length of time and it'll leave it's adhesive behind. You only have to look at the marks of the floor of many studios and stages where it's been used to hold cables down to know just likely it is leave marks.

Still incredibly useful stuff though...

A priest advised Voltaire on his death bed to renounce the devil. Replied Voltaire, "This is no time to make new enemies."

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