Comment Re:Home solution (Score 1) 319
Also SmoothWall but of the three I'm happiest with pfSense.
http://www.pfsense.org/ (BSD)
http://www.smoothwall.org/ (Linux)
http://m0n0.ch/wall/ (BSD)
Comment Re:NSA and cable taps (Score 1) 162
The USA is reported to have a long history of cable tapping, Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage
http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Mans-Bluff-Submarine-Espionage/dp/006097771X/ref=sr_1_1
"For decades American submarines have roamed the depths in a dangerous battle for information and advantage in missions known only to a select few. Now, after six years of research, those missions are told in Blind Man's Bluff, a magnificent achievement in investigative reporting. It reads like a spy thriller -- except everything in it is true. This is an epic of adventure, ingenuity, courage, and disaster beneath the sea, a story filled with unforgettable characters who engineered daring missions to tap the enemy's underwater communications cables and to shadow Soviet submarines."
Submission + - Judge slams Ohio village's speed cameras (blogspot.fr)
quantr writes: "In a scathing ruling, a Hamilton County judge ruled that an ordinance allowing this village of 2,000 to install speed cameras is invalid and unenforceable.
Critics have said those cameras, which already have generated about $1.5 million in fines, have more to do with revenue enhancement than safety in this Cincinnati suburb nearly surrounded by the city.
"Elmwood Place is engaged in nothing more than a high-tech game of Three-card Monty," Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman wrote in his Thursday decision. "It is a scam the motorist cannot win."
Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have speed cameras operating in at least one location, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Ohio has 13 other jurisdictions that use them, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says."
Critics have said those cameras, which already have generated about $1.5 million in fines, have more to do with revenue enhancement than safety in this Cincinnati suburb nearly surrounded by the city.
"Elmwood Place is engaged in nothing more than a high-tech game of Three-card Monty," Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman wrote in his Thursday decision. "It is a scam the motorist cannot win."
Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have speed cameras operating in at least one location, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Ohio has 13 other jurisdictions that use them, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says."
Submission + - Toaster Pastry Gun Freedom Act proposed in Maryland (dailycaller.com)
Freddybear writes: A state senator in Maryland has proposed a bill called the "The Reasonable School Discipline Act of 2013" to require teachers and school officials to distinguish between real guns and things that resemble or represent guns but which are not guns. This is in response to the suspension of a kindergarten child who was suspended for biting a toaster pastry into the shape of a gun. “I just kept on biting it and biting it and tore off the top of it and kind of looked like a gun,” the seven-year-old told Fox News. “But it wasn’t,” he astutely added.
The bill also includes a section mandating counseling for school officials who fail to distinguish between guns and things that resemble guns. School officials who fail to make such a distinction more than once would face discipline themselves.
The bill also includes a section mandating counseling for school officials who fail to distinguish between guns and things that resemble guns. School officials who fail to make such a distinction more than once would face discipline themselves.
Submission + - Study Finds Length of DNA Strands Can Predict Life Expectancy
An anonymous reader writes: Can the length of strands of DNA in patients with heart disease predict their life expectancy? Researchers from the Intermountain Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City, who studied the DNA of more that 3,500 patients with heart disease, say yes it can.
Submission + - Best-selling drug in the U.S. is an antipsychotic (blogspot.com)
Kas Thomas writes: "The latest sales figures are out, and they show that in Q4 of 2012 the best-selling drug in the U.S., in terms of dollar volume, is Abilify, an atypical antipsychotic that's now widely prescribed as an adjunct for depression and other ills. How did it get to be No. 1? Largely through illegal sales tactics. In 2007, Bristol-Myers Squibb paid $515 million in a settlement with the U.S. government based on Justice Department findings that BMS paid doctors (and flew them to resorts) to prescribe the drug for off-label as well as on-label uses, among other marketing shenanigans (described at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2007/September/07_civ_782.html)."
Submission + - SXSW: Google's Amit Singhal Talks SEO "Experts," Mobile, Search (slashdot.org)
Nerval's Lobster writes: "Google senior vice president Amit Singhal, one of the executives heading up the company's search-engine operations, sat down with Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist for Apple and author, at one of this year’s SXSW keynotes in Austin, TX. “Our dream is for search to become the ‘Star Trek’ computer, and that’s what we’re building today,” Singhal said. But he seemed reluctant to share much about his company on a more tactical level, parrying Kawasaki’s queries about everything from the amount of code in Google’s search platform to recent cyber-attacks on the company’s systems. But the two did have an interesting back-and-forth about SEO. “We at Google have time and time again said—and seen it happen—that if you build high-quality content that adds value, and your readers and your users seek you out, then you don’t need to worry about anything else,” Singhal said. “If people want that content, your site will automatically work you could make a bunch of SEO mistakes and it wouldn’t hurt.” When Kawasaki followed up by asking, "Is SEO bull****?" Singhal replied: "That would be like saying marketing is bull****." That drew a laugh from the audience—and maybe some gritted teeth from people who position themselves as SEO experts. The two talked about much more with regard to Google's future plans."
Submission + - Brennan Sworn Using Copy of Constitution Lacking Bill of Rights (yahoo.com)
Jeremiah Cornelius writes: The White House ceremony confirming and swearing John Brennan as the new Director for the CIA contained rich and bitter symbolism. By his own selection, Brennan chose to swear his oath on a manuscript copy of the U.S. Constitution, drawn from the George Washington presidential archive. "Director Brennan told the president that he made the request to the archives because he wanted to reaffirm his commitment to the rule of law as he took the oath of office as director of the CIA,” The fly in the ointment is that this copy of the Constitution, with Washington's handwritten marginalia, pre-dates including the protections from the Bill of Rights, required by states to ratify the document as foundation law for the nation. Given the recent record of CIA activity in the last two administrations, is possible another intention is being heralded?
Submission + - How Many Time Standards ARE There?
jjoelc writes: Being one of those "suffering" through the time change last night, the optimist in me reminded me that it could be much worse. That's when I started wondering how many different time/date standards there really are. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_standard is a good starting point, but is sorely lacking in the various formats used by e.g. Unix, Windows, TRS-80, etc. And that is without even getting into the various calendars that have been in and out of use throughout the ages.
So how about it Slashdotters? How many different time/date "standards" can we come up with, and I'm betting there are more than a few horror stories of having to translate between them...
So how about it Slashdotters? How many different time/date "standards" can we come up with, and I'm betting there are more than a few horror stories of having to translate between them...
Comment Let your ISP do the work (Score 1) 884
Contact your ISP, you'll have to get beyond the phone-script crew, and explain the issue to the technical types there. It isn't likely that they will be happy to have someone playing this type of games with their connections and will step in. In most places the ISP can also bring legal charges under a theft of service law.
Comment Re:Do yourself a favor (Score 1) 171
Not a Motorola Barrage, the Bluetooth system doesn't work very well. After a call made or answered from your bluetooth device the phone may not reconnect to it properly properly and you'll be scrambling for your phone when it rings and your car/headphone remains silent.
Comment Open bug list is scary (Score 3) 96
Check the bug tracker here: https://bugzilla.novell.com/buglist.cgi?&query_format=advanced&order=Importance&field0-0-0=op_sys&type0-0-0=substring&value0-0-0=openSUSE&resolution=---&product=openSUSE%2012.2&classification=openSUSE
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Lots of critical and major bugs left that can leave you with an unusable system until you figure out the poblem and find the work-around for it.
Comment Zahn the Dragonback series (Score 1) 726
Timothy Zahn the six volume Dragonback series. I just picked it up used from Amazon (look for Zahn "dragon and") for the grandkid and ended up reading the whole set myself.
Comment Re:Pros of Monsanto? (Score 3, Informative) 377
They and Bill Gates play well together?
Google: Monsanto "Bill Gates" - but only if you want to get really aggravated.
Comment Re:Matamoros (Score 2) 409
A bit further south will put you out of the worst danger from the problems drug addicted Americans are causing for Mexico and be a bit closer to the equator as a bonus.
Given a choice of 10 years in court and millions in legal fees for a Texas base or a facility located in Mexico that can be started in a few months the choice seems clear. Down the road not having every move opposed and being hauled back into court over and over for years is going to be a big cost and time saver.
