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Comment Re:Storm in a very, very tiny teacup (Score 1) 672

There are two distinct types of cosmic rays - low energy ones that are sourced from the sun, and the high energy ones that are sourced from the big guys on the universal block. So yes, there are different sources for both high and low energy cosmic rays. However, for the sake of this conversation all cosmic rays are considered high energy when compared to the measly energies our colliders can produce :)

Comment Re:Well, duh! (Score 4, Interesting) 672

Heh - when you're talking about a black hole at or smaller than the size of an atomic nucleus it doesn't matter whether it's at the top of the atmosphere or at the center of the Earth. Matter at that scale is described as tenuous at best. You'd have to get somewhere like the center of the sun or denser before a collision would be anywhere near likely.
NASA

Start Saving To Buy Your Space Shuttle Now 197

stoolpigeon writes "With the retirement of the shuttle drawing near, NASA has begun to plan for museums that may want a used orbiter of their own. The Orlando Sentinel reports that NASA issued an RFI to US educational institutions, science museums and other organizations to see if they would be interested in the orbiter while also able to cover the estimated $42 million cost of 'safeing' the shuttle and transporting it."
IBM

Chicago Developing 'Suspicious Behavior' Monitoring System 294

narramissic writes "Over the past few years, Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) has been blanketing the city with a network of thousands of video cameras in an effort to remotely keep track of emergencies in real time. Now, with the help of IBM, the network is getting some smarts. IBM software will analyze the video and ultimately 'recognize suspicious behavior,' says OEMC spokesman Kevin Smith. 'The challenge is going to be teaching computers to recognize the suspicious behavior,' said Smith. 'Once this is done this will be a very impressive city in terms of public safety.'"
The Courts

SCO Blames Linux For Bankruptcy Filing 321

Stony Stevenson writes "SCO Group CEO Darl McBride is now claiming that competition from Linux was behind the company's filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 'In a court filing in support of SCO's bankruptcy petition, McBride noted that SCO's sales of Unix-based products "have been declining over the past several years." The slump, McBride said, "has been primarily attributable to significant competition from alternative operating systems, including Linux." McBride listed IBM, Red Hat, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems as distributors of Linux or other software that is "aggressively taking market share away from Unix.""
Media (Apple)

Submission + - Apple May Track IPod Thieves & You (msn.com)

Ryan N. Kamfolt - ClickAway writes: "Apple may begin implementing software in its I-Tunes suite to track serial numbers of I-Pods and compare them to a stolen I-Pod database. Due to the worlds most successful and popular product being on the #1 most stolen items list. This may alert the local police to come knocking on your door, if "Your" I-Pod is in question. Weather it be stolen or legit, people are not taking this to heart kindly at all. With the right to privacy walls closing in on us ever so fast, this seems to be another push to take our privacy rights away even more, or is it? Those who have had their I-Pods stolen love the idea. Others are not so happy about the idea. Some privacy right advocates have suggested implementing I-Pods or I-Phones with owner ID verification, such as a password or other forms of verification that must be entered into the devices before they will take a charge or allow you to place songs on the device. Or offer a service that is apart of Apple iCare, which allows users who feel they may become a victim of theft, to join this database, to further protect them in the even their I-Pod is stolen."
Privacy

Submission + - Unencrypted passwords at "secure" sites 1

linear a writes: I've noticed that quite a few web sites do *not* encrypt user passwords. I've gotten into the habit of hitting the "email me my password" from them to see what happens. So far I've found maybe 6 that must store passwords in clear since they were able to return the original password back to me. Clearly this is Bad Security Practice. Also, I've had notably bad progress when I ask them to fix this practice. Some of these are sites one would clearly expect to have better security (e.g., a software vendor and an online bank). Do you have thoughts on how to better encourage better password practice at these places? Also, is this is really as common as it seems to be for me?
Privacy

Submission + - Do Not Call Registry gets wake-up call (networkworld.com) 2

coondoggie writes: "If you signed up for the federal or your state's Do Not Call Registry a few years ago, you might want to thing about refreshing it. Pennsylvanians this week got a wake up call, so to speak from the state's Attorney General Tom Corbett who kicked off a public awareness campaign designed to remind people what many have forgotten or never knew — that the 2002 law set registrations to expire after five years. That is of course unless you want to start hearing from those telemarketers as you sit down to dinner. Corbett said about 2 million people signed up in the immediate aftermath of the law taking effect and those who do not act by Sept. 15 will have their numbers dropped from the registry on Nov. 1. The Pennsylvania action is a reminder that the National Do Not Call Registry has a five year life span as well. The Federal Trade Commission is set to being a nation campaign in Spring 2008 to remind all US citizens to refresh their federal Do Not Call Registry standing. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/18066"
NASA

Submission + - NASA's Mars Phoenix prepared for Launch

StaffInfection writes: "On Earth, the Phoenix lander (http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/mission.php) is a table for four — about the size of a modest dinner table. On Mars it will soft land a suite of science instruments for studying the Martian Polar regolith. Phoenix is the rekindling of the Mars Surveyor Lander, twin to the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander (MPL, http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?M Code=MPL). After a one day delay in fueling of the Delta II-7925 (http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/delta/d elta2/delta2.htm) launch vehicle due to weather, Phoenix is prepared for launch on Saturday, July 4th, at 5:26 a.m. or 6:02 a.m EDT. The science payload will analyze the martian polar soil for water and mineral content and study the surrounding morphology and atmospheric conditions. Landing (animations at http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/newsArchive.php?p=4 &y=2007) will be a Viking style soft landing rather than the air bag system used on the Mars Pathfinder and Rover missions. All missions to Mars are challenging but Phoenix represents a last chance to rectify for the loss of MPL and Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999. A successful landing will present our first visit to the Martian Polar environment."
Censorship

Submission + - Pot plant pics lands MySpace teen in jail

paynesmanor writes: "Authorities were monitoring the web for gang activity when they found a picture of a potted pot plant the lable read: "My Mary Jane thats growin in my closet right now", athorities also found, pictures of weapons, and other people showing gang signs. Athorities tracked the website creater to eighteen-year-old Moua Yang, who used his real name, and even posted a picture of himself. Athorities raided Yang's house and found the pot plant in the closet just like the photo showed. The teenage boy was arrested Monday, and has since been released. The teen faces felony charges of manufacturing marijuana and maintaining a drug trafficking place, he also faces two misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Full story, can be found here. http://www.myfoxmilwaukee.com/myfox/pages/News/Det ail?contentId=2684798&version=1&locale=EN-US&layou tCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1 Or here, http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/ 2007/03/15/0703150229.php"

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