You don't think people are trying to find underlying causes? OWASP? CERT? Every university with an IT security program? Every OS maker? Every web server author? Every database author?

There are plenty of highly motivated, well funded, intelligent people working on these problems. The fact is that security is not a mathematical absolute, and no such underlying cause exists, despite your imaginings. There is no grand conspiracy creating security problems.

Look you. It's hard to be a fanboi around here. First it was Apple, then Jobs had to go and die on us. Then it was Google which somehow managed to go all Evil in the space of a few years.

There always were a few twisted folk who thought Gates was the second coming but we mostly ignored them except to use them as the butt of some pretty nasty jokes.

Who else? Nokia? Blackberry? Motorola? H-P ???????

So 'ol Elon shows up in a cool car and a rocketship. Man, that's pretty close to God hood around here. Car AND Rocket Scientist analogies.

He's all we've got.

There are typically two phases to processing credit. In the first phase, called authorization, the terminal sends the request to the bank via their processor and requests authorization: hey, bank, will you approve $100? The bank sends back a 'yes' which is returned to the terminal, but no money changes hands at this time. The processor saves up the day's batch of authorization requests.

In the second phase, called settlement, the processor sends the batch to the bank, either later that night, or every few hours, or whenever. The bank then transfers the funds for every authorized transaction in the batch.

This is different from debit, where the funds are transferred in a single step.

Agreed. Anyone know what kind of exploit this is?

If you're going to spend time with your family, spend it *with* them!

Dad sitting around with his head in a screen and clacking away on the keyboard is *not* "spending time with your family."

Aside from that, you'd be far more productive to spend, say, 7-9 with the family while the kids are up and then focus on work for another couple of hours before going to bed. Interrupted work is not productive work; you're just putting in time and fooling yourself that you're "productive".

What you said is true, but obvious. Effectiveness on global CO2 levels aside, the CA program has been a success by other measures. They intended it to be a pilot program, and it looks like it has mostly worked out from a technical standpoint. They have demonstrated that the system is workable from an administrative and bureaucratic standpoint. Few people are silly enough to think that CO2 emissions can be handled on a local (or even national) level - but having what is effectively one of the largest economies in the world to use as an example is a pretty good start.

Didn't look at the source of a Youtube page, did you? Look for "http://s.ytimg.com/yts/swfbin/player-vflZsDuOu/watch_as3.swf". Videos can also play with "HTML5 video", but there's Flash code there to be executed.

But would you have realized it as a child?

Yup. Back in the day I had a fist fight or two, and learned young that even if you win the fight you still get hurt. It really doesn't take being exposed to horror to figure out what happens when you let people go all out with the most destructive forces at our disposal.

Kids are way smarter than you think. Even my 6 yo sees an explosion on TV and tells me "But dad, this is fiction, but they really made that explosion right? Couldn't someone get hurt?".

If you're looking for facts, don't go to a psychiatrist. Solace, understanding, compassion, drugs maybe. But not facts.

Indeed. Caffeine is remarkably safe an effective, if not incredibly powerful. Coca leaves are also quite safe. Cocaine and amphetamines not so much. Of course, then one gets into the murky question of how much you let individuals control and take responsibility for their actions. I give the US another generation before pretty much everything is either on the table for everyone to snort or everything the other side of the classic triumvirate (alcohol, tobacco and firearms, oops, coffee) will get you tossed in jail.

Not all ADHD folks are hyperactive. The "H" is common but not universal. Poor sleep can definitely cause a loss of ability to focus, though. It can also contribute to risk of stroke, heart attack, type 2 diabetes, and a lot of other problems. I wouldn't doubt that hyperactivity could be among those.

Nobody (outside Slashdot and other highly reputable bits of the Internet) really questions whether ADD exists.

Many people wonder about a number of aspects of the problem:

- Where the break between normal and abnormal is. Like most biological issues, this behavior is on a continuum. Where do you intervene?
- Which leads to the question of diagnostic accuracy and efficiency.

We know that amphetamine class drugs are helpful in real ADD. But these drugs (like virtually all drugs) have risks and benefits. Since amphetamines carry significant risks, who do you treat and how long. It is also clear than non-pharmeceutical approaches can work, but these are typically labor and time intensive. How do you manage this?

So there is plenty to discuss within the framework of diagnosis and treatment of the disease. But it most certainly exists.

Presumably this attack is via a Flash vulnerability. So why is there no mention of Adobe in the article? Why isn't Adobe being held responsible? Why are there still vulnerabilities in Flash? Who audits that code? Well?

Well, here you go!

On the surface, it has been quite successful. But you have to remember that most of the reduction has come from natural gas displacing coal - which thanks to fracking would have happened even without the carbon trading.