I would like to make the request that we stop with the Harry Potter references. Can we not go through one legitimate discussion of this topic without mentioning that buffoon?

I don't insert "Hackers" movie quotes into articles about network security. You shouldn't trivialize actual science with little boys playing fairies. (Yes, it really is that annoying.)

Just a bunch of windows network protocol questions. Apparently us hardware engineers are equivalent to pom pom wielding cheerleaders.

I don't understand the random finger pointing. The point of the OP was that the US and Israel have the most obvious "will, motive and means" to do this. No other country in the world wants to see another nuclear nation, especially one as aggressive as Iran. However, only a few select countries have a resolve to actively prevent Iran from doing so.

Why go through every possible event no matter how improbable? Are we going to reduce this conversation to conspiracy theories? If we are, I'd like to throw Antarctic penguins into the ball game. Think about it, no one would suspect them. What exactly do they do every winter when they huddle en mass in the middle of an iceberg for 2 months? Perhaps shielding a laptop and satellite link under the guise of a ridiculous mating ritual? They could be plotting a global take over and this is a test of our civilizations defenses. They first target weakly guarded nuclear facilities and control simple equipment as a proof of concept for a larger scale attack. You can't rule them out, or are you saying you speak penguin and understand the motive of every faction in the penguin community?

I got a better idea. Why don't we get volunteers from people on death row to participate in a real life first person shooter game? We implant muscle control chips in their brain so that a user can completely control what they do remotely. Then we arm them and setup the matches in a warehouse at a prison facility. The incentive will be that if they survive 10 matches, they get to be released back into society!

Military spending drives high tech industries. The US DoD spends purely to create useful, novel technologies to make our armed forces more efficient, more powerful and safer. A commercial company spends SOLELY to make a profit. Few companies are willing to spend billions of dollars on far fetched technologies with a high failure rate and may perhaps pay itself off in a few decades. However, the success of just a handful of these far fetched ideas can completely change the world we live in. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_invention)

Lastly. Our troops deserve the best equipment available. There is no currency available to repay someone for risking their lives on your behalf. The best we can do is ensure that they have every advantage possible to reduce their risk.

We can use an oak tree, with gold injected into it's leaves, a high power UV light generator to induce a reddish glow and a variable CO2 generator to adjust brightness.

To say correlation does not equate causation?

Could it possibly be that students who use drugs and have sex are more inclined to use Facebook/Texting and not the other way around? I mean how else do they contact their drug distributors and pimps?

The whole point of patents is to encourage companies to share their inventions and methods with an ensured monopoly for a period of time and then EVERYONE else can benefit from it. If you keep a trade secret, you are not entitled to any form of protection. If an employee steals Cokes formula then someone else can make Coke. That's the whole point of trade secret vs patent. There should be NO leeway or any special consideration given to those not wanting to reveal trade secrets.

Oh, like this doesn't go both ways. At least they didn't start bribing/kidnapping our scientists to make "Dooms Day" devices in a hidden lair in the desert, like we did with the Germans in the Manhattan project.

Also that Washington Times article is way out of date. The proceedings of the Wen Hoo Lee trial (accused of stealing the W88 warhead for China) embarrassed public officials to the point where Bill Clinton had to issue an apology and the US government had to pay an undisclosed settlement to Lee.
The fact was US military research bases had slack handling protocols for classified documents. This was glaringly obvious as the cause of all the leaked secrets. However, to save their careers, the managers made Lee a scapegoat. Turns out it was common practice to take classified documents to work on at home. The only reason Lee was singled out for it was, because he was Asian.

The US has had a major war for every generation of citizens since it's founding.

War of 1812-1814
Mexican American War 1846-1848
Spanish American War 1898-1898
World War 1 1917-1921
World War 2 1942-1947
Korea 1950-1953
Vietnam 1964-1975
Gulf War 1990-1991
Afghanistan 2001-Present

I'm sure you can find a country with a more violent history (Ghana or someplace), but we sure aren't a peaceful population.
 

I am in favor of compulsory military service for every adult citizen in the US. Many modern nations enforce it: Germany, Norway, China and even Canada. It's not just for small third world nations.

Even without it, we should have had a draft a long time ago. People are on their 4th and 5th tour of Afghanistan. I know they voluntarily signed up for service, but we are down right abusing their situation. The standing army isn't meant to support all wars by themselves. They are there for day to day security enforcement and as the first line of defense when "poo" hits the fan. When was the last time the US military had to endure a war this long without a draft?

This has happened to me once. I got a virus and a couple hours later, my internet was off. I called the service desk and I was told that my computer was infected and get this, I need to download a patch to fix it. "How do I download a patch when my internet is off, I asked." "Bring your computer to the service center when we open on Monday." I instantly canceled my service. I was a college student at that time. Some tasks required the internet. In fact the only way to turn in my physics homework was to upload it to the server by 2am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I don't need to be worrying about my internet shutting off at random times and having to make a midnight dash to campus to use the library computer.

I try to keep my computer clean. I run firewalls and I have virus scanners, but if you haven't been infected with a virus before then you haven't been on the internet long enough. Sooner or later you'll get infected and god forbid if you rely on the internet. IE VoIP or server hosting. Why do I get punished for what other people do? Should car manufacturers be able to remotely turn off your car when your car starts to leak oil or freon?

Don't underestimate the cup, I wear one all the time when asking women if I can put my face in their bra.

You guys aren't even reading the post. This is a SCHOOL program at a UNIVERSITY. It is not a job. It is not for the military. It is not for a private company. It is purely academic for the benefit of STUDENTS at the UNIVERSITY.