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Submission + - Explosive-laden Calif. Home to be Destroyed (yahoo.com) 1

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Neighbors gasped when authorities showed them photos of the inside of the Southern California ranch-style home: Crates of grenades, mason jars of white, explosive powder and jugs of volatile chemicals that are normally the domain of suicide bombers.

Now authorities face the risky task of getting rid of the explosives. The property is so dangerous and volatile that that they have no choice but to burn the home to the ground this week in a highly controlled operation involving dozens of firefighters, scientists and hazardous material and pollution experts.
Google

Submission + - Google Makes Adobe Vanish with Chrome 8

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Using Google Chrome and can't figure out what-the-heck is wrong with your Adobe PDF documents? You're probably not alone. With the release of Chrome 8 on Thursday, reports the Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro, Adobe Reader and Preview users may be confused by the absence of familiar PDF toolbars and the absence of save, print and rotate buttons, now that Google's built-in PDF reader takes the place of their usual PDF plug-in. Google touts that its PDF viewer is secured in Chrome's sandbox, although the recently-shipped Adobe Reader X also offers sandboxing protection. Some are finding the now-enabled-by-default PDF Viewer to be more of a bug than a feature. 'To disable the Chrome PDF Viewer,' a helpful Googler tells some frustrated users, '1. Type 'about:plugins' into the address bar and hit Enter. 2. Find the entry called 'Chrome PDF Viewer' 3. Click on 'Disable'. Intuitive, no?

Submission + - Papal advisers urge support for modified crops (newscientist.com)

Submitted by Calopteryx
Calopteryx writes: Scientists have both the right and a moral duty to be "stewards of God" by genetically modifying crops to help the world's poor, scientific advisers to the Vatican said this week. In a statement condemning opposition to GM crops in rich countries as unjustified, a group of scientists including leading members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences is demanding a relaxation of "excessive, unscientific regulations" for approving GM crops, saying that these prevent development of crops for the "public good". New Scientist has the story.
Crime

Submission + - AT&T goes after copper wire thieves (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: Copper thieves targeting Atlanta are now being targeted themselves by AT&T which is now offering $3,000 for information leading to their arrest. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that in one recent three day stretch, nearly 7,000 customers and two schools lost land line phone service. The FBI has said in the past that the rising theft of the metal is threatening the critical infrastructure by targeting electrical substations, cellular towers, telephone land lines, railroads, water wells, construction sites, and vacant homes for lucrative profits.
Idle

Submission + - For Sale: Aircraft Carrier, One Only, Lightly Used

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Time Magazine reports that just in time for the holidays, the British Navy has put the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible up for sale on an eBay-like website. The proud 690-foot warship sailed Her Majesty's seas from 1980 to 2005, and took part in the Falklands, Balkans and Iraq campaigns. A crew of more than 1,000 manned the ship as she steamed at speeds topping out at 28 knots, thanks to its four Rolls-Royce turbine engines. The ship underwent a major refit in 2004 but was decommissioned in 2005 with the proviso that she could be "reactivated" at 18 months notice if a crisis beckoned but over the years her engines, pumps and gear boxes were cannibalized for use in other ships. Of her total weight of 17,0000 tons, 10,000 is composed of metal which makes her attractive on the scrap market. If interested go to the like auction web site and put her to your "wish list," or add her to your "cart." Interestingly enough, the Australian government had originally planned to purchase the ship in 1982 but the Falklands war intervened and in July 1982 the British Ministry of Defence announced that it had withdrawn its offer to sell Invincible and that it would maintain a three-carrier force."

Comment Re:I abstain (Score 1) 794

by el_gordo101 (#34092668) Attached to: Voting Machines Selecting Default Candidates

So, he deliberately chooses not to do that which would give him the right to vote.

Correct, that is his choice.

And just how is that discriminatory, or a failure on the part of the US?

It is not, nor did I say it was.

That's his choice, and he has continually made that same choice for decades.

Exactly, as I stated in my post.

Your father just doesn't value the right to vote enough to do what it takes to become a citizen. However, I don't see how holding dual citizenship would deny his national heritage. Becoming a US citizen does not destroy or revoke any previous citizenship.

Dual citizenship is kind of a grey, murky area. Technically, under US law, there is no such thing as dual citizenship as you are required to renounce your allegiances to any foreign flag when you naturalize. In reality, this is rarely enforced. As I stated in my original post, this is a choice that my father has made, knowing full well what the ramifications are. My point was that here is a man that has been a productive member of society, worked his entire life, always paid his fair share, always followed the law, and served in the US military. I don't think giving him a vote would be such a terrible thing.

Comment Re:I abstain (Score 1) 794

by el_gordo101 (#34027440) Attached to: Voting Machines Selecting Default Candidates
Maine for one. In fact, until the 1920s, many states allowed legal immigrants to vote in state elections. I don't see this a being particularly outrageous, actually. My father, for example, has been a resident alien (aka green card holder) in the US since the 1950s. He has a social security number, pays federal and state income taxes, social security taxes, local property taxes, automobile excise taxes, etc. Hell, he was drafted and served in the US army, but he cannot vote. He fully understands that he could very easily become a US citizen and earn that right, but he chooses instead to hang on to his national heritage.

Comment Re:But on he other hand (Score 1) 156

Speaking with my brother-in-law who is a FIOS installer, Verizon is leaving the old copper up nowadays instead of pulling it like they did in the past. I think this is more of a labor-saving measure than anything else, but it does leave the option of falling back to POTS/copper if need be. I believe they do rip out the termination box for the copper, though, so there would be some work if you needed to roll back.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Intros Hi-Res Image Sharing Tool Zoom.it (readwriteweb.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Microsoft Live Labs has released an early version of a free tool for easy sharing of high-resolution Web- images. Enter a URL at http://zoom.it/ and it will spit out a short link and embed code for a basic but sleek image viewer that lets you zoom around an image or image of a website.

The tool is usable and it looks great, reminding us of the fun and zoomy Street Slide feature Microsoft recently introduced in Bing Maps.

The tool converts any image to Silverlight's Deep Zoom format and is ideal for bloggers, photo galleries and any situation in which people would want to share high-quality images on the internet. It holds promise for e-magazines and social readers like the blockbuster iPad app Flipboard.

One of the nifty uses for the app is zooming around one long, single page of a website. Here is an example, using the homepage of the Discovery Channel (in honor of Shark Week).

ReadWriteWeb: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/microsoft_introduces_social_lightbox_zoomit_from_live_labs_and_silverlight.php

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