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Comment: Re:The Haystack (Score 1) 500

Finding a needle in a haystack is easy. Finding one particular needle in a needle stack is painful.

This may well be a better metaphor. I'm sure these reporting systems (and the resulting investigations) will lead to seizures of marijuana and illegal pet reptiles, and because some people investigated will get rowdy, there'll be some assault charges generated as well. None of those charges will involve actual terror plots, but there'll be enough "crime" discovered to justify the system.

Comment: Re:The Haystack (Score 4, Funny) 500

The edges of a "kettle" would be the absolute best place for a suicide bomber to strike. You'd get to kill a ton of tightly packed innocents & as a bonus, eradicate quite a few LEOs at the same time.

You don't happen to live near Jacksonville, do you? 'Cause I might need to report that.

Comment: Re: The Haystack (Score 1) 500

...and the merits of the argument are shit.

Dumping more security camera footage on top of the pile of footage you already have is not adding more hay to the stack with a needle in it. In all of the hay, both the current stack and the new stack, there are going to be some needles. You plan to dig through the stack and find as many needles as possible. Therefore, adding more hay isn't a bad thing, since it also adds more needles for you to eventually find.

If you have increased manpower to process through all the footage and all the tips that come in, then yes, you've got a point. But if you're just throwing a bunch of off-the-wall suspicion on top of the mix, then I can see this getting in the way.

Comment: Re:Might be a good idea (Score 1) 500

7 Caught Trespassing At Quabbin Reservoir; Patrols Stepped Up Across State

BELCHERTOWN (CBS) – Shortly after midnight Tuesday, seven people were caught trespassing at the Quabbin Reservoir.

State Police say the five men and two women are from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore, and “cited their education and career interests” for being in the area. The men told police they were chemical engineers and recent college graduates.

The Quabbin, in Belchertown, is one of the country’s largest man-made public water supplies. Boston’s drinking water comes from the Quabbin and the Wachusett Reservoirs.

Looks like the Massachusetts State Police were able to spot this one on their own.

Though my suspicion is that these gentlement just got directions to a B&B in Enfield, and didn't realize it was at the bottom of the reservoir now.

Comment: Re:Really??? (Score 5, Insightful) 500

This is for increasing the level of fear in citizens in order to make privacy invasion more acceptable.

And since it will be the police getting the reports, how do you figure it will increase the level of fear in citizens?

The first time local law enforcement says, "Reports of terrorism are up 900% this year; we need an increased budget to deal with the increased threat."

+ - Interactive Raycaster for the Commodore 64 under 256 bytes->

Submitted by Wisdom
Wisdom writes "1bir (1 Block Interactive Raycaster) is a simple ray casting engine implemented only in 254 bytes to run on a stock, unexpanded Commodore 64. The name comes from the fact that on a C64 floppy disk, 1 block is equivalent to 254 bytes stored on a disk sector. In 254 bytes, 1bir sets up the screen for drawing, creates sine and cosine tables for 256 brads based on a simple approximation, casts rays into a 2D map that lives inside the C64 KERNAL ROM, renders the screen in coordination with KERNAL, evaluates 8-way joystick input and detects collision against walls. The ray casting core employs a brute force algorithm to determine visible walls, while the mapping portion supports both open-ended (infinitely looped) and traditional, closed maps. The source code in 6502 assembly is available, with extensive comments. A YouTube video showcases 1bir in a detailed manner with both kind of maps and more information, while a Vimeo video presents a shorter demonstration."
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I only know what I read in the papers. -- Will Rogers

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