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Submission + - Obama gets notice of default in Calif. court over forgery allegations (examiner.com) 1

Submitted by Examiner News
Examiner News writes: On Friday, a district court in California issued a notice of default on Barack Hussein Obama for the president's lack of response to the plaintiff, Dr. Orly Taitz, in the latter's birther allegations. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled that Obama had until Jan. 25, 2013 to respond to allegations that he had submitted fake IDs and forged documents in order to run for the nation's highest elected office in 2008 and 2012.
China

Submission + - First Details of Chinese Spacecraft's Asteroid Encounter

Submitted by the_newsbeagle
the_newsbeagle writes: Chinese aerospace engineers have revealed, for the first time, details about their Chang’e-2 spacecraft’s encounter with the asteroid Toutatis last month. They have plenty to boast of: The asteroid flyby wasn’t part of the original flight plan, but engineers adapted the mission and navigated the satellite through deep space.

Exactly how close Chang'e-2 came to Toutatis is still unclear. The article states that the first reports “placed the flyby range at 3.2 km, which was astonishingly—even recklessly—tight. Passing within a few kilometers of an asteroid only 2 to 3 km in diameter at a speed of 10 730 meters per second could be described as either superb shooting or a near disaster.” If the Chinese spacecraft did pass that near, it could provide a “scientific bonanza” with data about the asteroid’s mass and composition.
Games

Submission + - Steam on Linux Public Beta Status Update (linux.com)

Submitted by skade88
skade88 writes: Linux.com has an article that will bring you up to speed on the good and bad when it comes to the Steam on Linux Beta. Valve has brought gaming a long way, once they work the kinks out of the Steam On Linux Beta, it will be ready for the masses.
Open Source

Submission + - Why a Linux user is using Windows 3.1 (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: About two weeks back, I was using my Android tablet and looking for a good graphics editor. I wanted something with layers and good text drawing tools. That’s when it hit me. We already have that.

Photoshop used to run on Windows 3.1. And Windows 3.1 runs great under both DOSBox and QEMU, both of which are Open Source emulators available for Android and every other platform under the sun.

So I promptly set to work digging up an old copy of Photoshop. The last version released for Windows 3.1 was back in 1996. And finding a working copy proved to be...challenging. Luckily, the good folks at Adobe dug around in their vaults and managed to get me up and running.

And, after a bit of tweaking, I ended up with an astoundingly functional copy of Photoshop that I can now run on absolutely every device I own. And the entire environment (fonts, working files and all) are automatically backed up to the cloud and synced between systems.

But what other applications (and, potentially, games) does this give me access to? How far can I take this?

Submission + - john mcafee wanted for murder (gizmodo.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: John McAfee of antivirus fame is wanted for murder in a Hans raised resembling case
First Person Shooters (Games)

Submission + - Gabe Newell confirms Source 2 Engine (playerattack.com)

Submitted by dotarray
dotarray writes: How was your weekend? With any luck it was suitably awesome, and to start your week off right we have some interesting news for you: Valve's Gabe Newell has confirmed that they are building the Source 2 engine, but haven't yet had the game to roll it out with.
EU

Submission + - Will EU Regulations Effectively Ban High-End Video Cards? (nordichardware.com)

Submitted by arun84h
arun84h writes: A new energy law, which will apply in the European Union, has the power to limit sale of discrete components deemed "energy inefficient". GPU maker AMD is worried this will affect future technology as it becomes available, as well as some current offerings. From TFA:

"According to data NordicHardware has seen from a high level employee at AMD, current graphics cards are unable to meet with these requirements. This includes "GPUs like Cape Verde and Tahiti", that is used in the HD 7700 and HD 7900 series, and can't meet with the new guidelines, the same goes for the older "Caicos" that is used in the HD 6500/6600 and HD 7500/7600 series. Also "Oland" is mentioned, which is a future performance circuit from AMD, that according to rumors will be used in the future HD 8800 series. What worries AMD the most is how this will affect future graphics cards since the changes in Lot 3 will go into effect soon. The changes will of course affect Nvidia as much as it will AMD."

Is this the beginning of the end for high-end GPU sales in the EU?
Government

Submission + - CIA: Flying Skyhook wasn't just for James Bond, it actually rescued agents (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "This had to be one hell of a ride. The CIA today said it added a pretty cool item to its museum archives — the instruction card for officers being plucked off the ground by a contraption that would allow a person to be snatched off the ground by a flying aircraft without the plane actually landing."
Education

Submission + - From a Nand Gate To Tetris (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: Long before the current crop of MOOCs there was a course that taught you all you needed to know about computers by starting from the Nand gate and working its way up through the logic circuits needed for a computer, on to an assembler, a compiler an operating system and finally Tetris. Recently one of the creators of the course, Shimon Schocken gave Ted talk explaining how it all happened and why it is still relevant today. Once you have seen what is on offer http://www.nand2tetris.org/ you will probably decide that it is not only still relevant but the only way to really understand what computers are all about.
Politics

Submission + - The GOP's War on Reality Has Finally Jumped the Shark 2

Submitted by derekmead
derekmead writes: It can be ridiculously frustrating when our Congress doesn’t understand something important, like the Internet, but the less cynical amongst us could argue that it’s impossible to be an expert on everything, even though congresspeople are often expected to be. I’m imagining a short film called “The Innocence of Congress,” about aides trolling Wikipedia while Chuck Grassley talks to the MS Word paperclip.

But there’s something far worse than ignorance or naiveté, feigned or not. It’s the type of vitriolic misinformation coming out of Republican Representative Paul Broun, who’s broken hateful new ground in the GOP’s war on facts.

Broun, a physician who sits on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, pulled no punches with videotaped remarks, in which he said that there’s a lot of good evidence that the Earth is only 9,000 years old, and that evolution and the big bang theory are “lies straight from the pit of hell.” He qualified those statements, made September 27 at a sportman’s banquet at a church in Georgia, by saying that he’s a “scientist.”

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