NukeDoggie - Slashdot User

Comment Senior Citizen Linux (Score 4, Insightful) 496

by NukeDoggie on Wednesday December 16, 2009 @01:24PM (#30460030) Attached to: Why Top Linux Distros Are For Different Users

Someone should make a version of Ubuntu or openSuse or Fedora or whatever that is designed for Seniors. Large Fonts, easy to use, very little duplication of apps, no problems... I bet it would spread far and wide. We have the kids checking it out, time to take the seniors... Also, why does all the netbook distros never fit the dialogs on the screen? 800x480 is not much to work with granted...

Submission + - Teleworking Bandwidth over VPN

Submitted by NukeDoggie on Thursday December 10, 2009 @04:56PM

NukeDoggie writes: At work we have a third of our CSR's teleworking from a home broadband connection. We have LOT's of fun trying to support them remotely, but one of the really troubling things is bandwidth. We use a VPN, and they connect to it to work, and it seems to work Most of the time. We allow our workers to go home if they get a "broadband" connection, and they are all over the state, including in the countryside with an aircard or satellite card, but just having a "BROADBAND" connection might not ensure they can function. So some of the engineers asked me if I knew of any tools to continuously test "bandwidth", ie latency, throughput, packet loss. Something we can load on the teleworker's machine and test just our VPN connection speed, not their general internet connection speed...

Anyone got any ideas?

Comment Re:Blame Northrop? (Score 1) 211

by NukeDoggie on Tuesday November 24, 2009 @11:53AM (#30214522) Attached to: New Virginia IT Systems Lack Network Backup

Really blame doesn't fix anything. THere was a move to consolidate IT back in the 80's called DIT, and it also failed. Consolidation of IT doesn't work. The initial savings of consolidating software licenses from all Agencies worked. Having VA negotiate with Microsoft etc once for all seats and getting them at a good rate saves money. Trying to consolidate Helpdesk as a commodity fails. The current Helpdesk merely takes a message (garbled of course) and sends it to Tier 3 workers to fix. THey used to be able to fix things directly with their own knowledgebase. Also, CESC and SWESC are 2 consolidated Datacenters does work. Instant on backup etc. They did do some stuff correctly. But mandating that all Agencies be on the same Microsoft DOMAIN, with the same Security Policy and the same everything else opens HUGE security Holes really. Also, not having sufficient Networks and Network backups have caused major outages like it says. Then they tell you that there was "no loss in service" when you've been down for 32 hours because someone unknown removed your DNS entries for your webapp. The Iceburg is HUGE!!!

Comment Re:419 Scams (Score 1) 808

by NukeDoggie on Wednesday November 04, 2009 @11:05PM (#29990188) Attached to: Why a High IQ Doesn't Mean You're Smart

All these guys that "Earned" it had the Keys to Power, the ability to go to college and hobnob with the rich and posture themselves to earn even more than their parents had. Like Gates for instance, it's not like his dad was dirt poor... He was in Harvard for peat's sake. All these guys inherited it pretty much, there might be one that came from the "wrong side of the tracks" so one out of thousands of millionaire/Billionaires...

UK Royal Society Claims Geo-Engineering Feasible 316

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 03, 2009 @03:26AM from the jury-rigging-the-planet dept.

krou writes "The BBC is reporting that a UK Royal Society report claims that geo-engineering proposals to combat the effects of climate change are 'technically possible.' Three of the plans considered showed the most promise: 'CO2 capture from ambient air'; enhancing 'natural reactions of CO2 from the air with rocks and minerals'; and 'Land use and afforestation'. They also noted that solar radiation management, while some climate models showed them to be ineffective, should not be ignored. Possible suggestions included: 'a giant mirror on the Moon; a space parasol made of superfine aluminum mesh; and a swarm of 10 trillion small mirrors launched into space one million at a time every minute for the next 30 years.'"

Sound From Bird Wings Act As a Predator Alarm 100

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 03, 2009 @01:40AM from the that-noise-means-something-terrible-for-you dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Biologists have discovered that a species of Australian pigeon has a secret way of alerting fellow birds to predators — a 'whistle' emitted by flapping wings when the bird takes off in alarm. The crested pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) is well known for the abrupt metallic-sounding whistle that it makes on takeoff. Many birds have the ability to make vocal cries to alert other members of their flock, but this is the first study to show that flight noise can also serve as an alarm call."

Airborne Boeing Laser Blasts Ground Target 419

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 03, 2009 @12:34AM from the lazlo-approved dept.

coondoggie writes "The airborne military laser which promises to destroy, damage or disable targets with little to no collateral damage has for the first time actually blown something up. Boeing and the US Air Force today said that on Aug. 30, a C-130H aircraft armed with Boeing's Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) blasted a target test vehicle on the ground for the first time. Boeing has been developing the ATL since 2008 under an Air Force contract worth up to $30 million."

An End To Unencrypted Digital Cable TV and the HTPC 345

Posted by timothy on Thursday August 27, 2009 @05:00PM from the so-I-can-be-both-ahead-of-and-behind-my-time dept.

Talinom writes "AnandTech has a writeup on how ClearQAM appears to be headed for an early death. From the article — 'At this point there's no reason to believe that cable companies won't deploy Privacy Mode across their networks, so it's a matter of 'when,' not 'if' this will happen. It goes without saying that if you're currently enjoying the use of a ClearQAM tuner to receive EB tier channels, you'll want to enjoy what time you have left, and look in to other solutions for the long-haul. At this pace, it looks like cable TV and computers will soon be divorcing.'" Update: 08/27 23:59 GMT by T : "EB" here stands for "Expanded Basic (cable service)"; Wikipedia as usual has a time-sucking, digressive, fascinating explanation about the tiers of cable TV service in the US.

US Call-Center Jobs — That Pay $100K a Year 362

Posted by timothy on Thursday August 27, 2009 @01:50PM from the payment-for-the-gift-of-gab dept.

bheer writes "BusinessWeek profiles a call center company called iQor which has grown revenues 40% year-on-year by (shock) treating employees as critical assets. It's done this not by nickel-and-diming, but by expanding its US operations (13 centers across the US now), giving employees universal health insurance, and paying salaries and bonuses that are nearly 50% above industry norms. The article notes that outsourcing will continue and globalization will continue to change the world's economic landscape. 'But the US is hardly helpless. With smart processes and the proper incentives, US companies can keep jobs here in America, and do so in a way that is actually better for the company and its employees.' Now if only other companies get a clue as well."

Database Records and "In Plain Sight" Searches 154

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday August 27, 2009 @10:33AM from the but-it's-sitting-right-there dept.

chriswaco writes "A federal appeals court ruled that database records are not 'in plain sight' when other records in the same database are subpoenaed. The case involved Major League Baseball drug test results, but the implications are far wider."

FSF Attacks Windows 7's "Sins" In New Campaign 926

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday August 27, 2009 @04:35AM from the a-long-way-to-absolution dept.

CWmike writes "The Free Software Foundation today launched a campaign against Microsoft Corp.'s upcoming Windows 7 operating system, calling it 'treacherous computing' that stealthily takes away rights from users. At the Web site Windows7Sins.org, the Boston-based FSF lists the seven 'sins' that proprietary software such as Windows 7 commits against computer users. They include: Poisoning education, locking in users, abusing standards such as OpenDocument Format (ODF), leveraging monopolistic behavior, threatening user security, enforcing Digital Rights Management (DRM) at the request of entertainment companies concerned about movie and music piracy, and invading privacy. 'Windows, for some time now, has really been a DRM platform, restricting you from making copies of digital files,' said executive director Peter Brown. And if Microsoft's Trusted Computing technology were fully implemented the way the company would like, the vendor would have 'malicious and really complete control over your computer.'"

China Admits Use of Death-Row Organs 309

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday August 27, 2009 @02:05AM from the you-won't-be-needing-this-anymore dept.

h.ross.perot writes "Like a page from Larry Niven's Known Space series, here is a real report of criminals' organs being harvested for 'profit.' From the article: 'China is trying to move away from the use of executed prisoners as the major source of organs for transplants. According to the China Daily newspaper, executed prisoners currently provide two-thirds of all transplant organs. The government is now launching a voluntary donation scheme, which it hopes will also curb the illegal trafficking in organs. But analysts say cultural bias against removing organs after death will make a voluntary scheme hard to implement.'"

Guitar, Studio Wizard Les Paul Dies At 94 227

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday August 13, 2009 @01:22PM from the he-will-be-missed dept.

beeshman noted that Les Paul has died. Paul was quite the hardware hacker of his day, innovating with guitar hardware, and later multi track recording. The Gibson Les Paul is one of the single most iconic instruments associated with Rock 'n Roll, and was of course played by Pete Townshend. Someday I'm going to get me one.

Parents Baffled By Science Questions 656

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday August 13, 2009 @12:57AM from the don't-get-smart-with-me dept.

Pickens writes "The BBC reports that four out of five parents living in the UK have been stumped by a science question posed by their children with the top three most-asked questions: 'Where do babies come from?', 'What makes a rainbow?' and 'Why is the sky blue?'. The survey was carried out to mark the launch of a new website by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills called Science: So what? So everything."

Database Error Costs Social Security Victims $500M 299

Posted by timothy on Wednesday August 12, 2009 @05:18PM from the drop-in-the-bucket dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "The Washington Posts reports that the Social Security Administration has agreed to pay more than $500 million in back benefits to more than 80,000 recipients whose benefits were unfairly denied after they were flagged by a federal computer program designed to catch serious criminals. At issue is a 1996 law, which contained language later nicknamed the 'fleeing felon' provision, that said fugitives were ineligible to receive federal benefits. As part of its enforcement, the administration began searching computer databases to weed out people who were collecting benefits and had outstanding warrants. The searches captured dozens of criminals, including some wanted for homicide, but they also ensnared countless elderly and disabled people accused of relatively minor offenses such as shoplifting or writing bad checks and in some cases, the victims simply shared a name and a birth date with an offender." (Read more, below.)

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