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Japan

Prepare For Massive Wave of Earthquake Scams 158

Posted by Soulskill from the i-see-what-you-did-there dept.
wiredmikey sends this quote from Security Week: "Today's tragic events of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami, as sad as it is, is a dream for scammers and fraudsters around the world. Tragic events are always something scammers use to their advantage, helping them prey on and exploit innocent victims. Scams are already spreading across Facebook, which started in a matter of minutes after the news broke of the earthquake in Japan. As I write this, scammers are hard at work, registering new domains and cranking out templates for their fake donation sites. This will be followed with massive volumes of email spam, Tweets through Twitter, and Facebook posts, as scammers gear up to solicit donations from around the world." As coverage of the earthquake and resulting tsunami has proceeded, collections of videos and pictures are showing the extent of the devastation. The NY Times makes the excellent point that things could have been much worse if not for building codes and quake-resistant engineering. A state of emergency was declared at one of Japan's nuclear plants, after the earthquake caused cooling problems at one of the reactors. No radiation leakage has been reported, and the US Air Force has helped by delivering coolant by air.

Comment Right thing to do. (Score 3, Interesting) 558

by MentlFlos (#34586262) Attached to: Judge Declares Mistrial Because of Wikipedia
I just finished jury duty so this is all fresh in my mind. The jurors job is to determine if the evidence presented shows that the defendant violated specific laws. The judge lets you know specifically what the laws are and explains what they mean if it is too cryptic for a non-lawyer to understand. In the case I was in it basically meant that all 6 of us were used as human lie detectors to see which witnesses were the most truthful. We were encouraged to ask questions if anything was unclear about the law, evidence or charges. Outside interpretations would have tainted the whole thing.
The Almighty Buck

ATMs That Dispense Gold Bars Coming To America 482

Posted by samzenpus from the leprechaun-industries dept.
tetrahedrassface writes "As the US economic woes continue unabated, a German company is bringing gold-bearing ATMs to Mainstreet America. The machines accept credit cards, and will dispense 1 gram, 5 gram, 10 gram and 1 ounce units, as well as various gold coins. The company hopes to install 35 bullion machines in the United States this year, and will hopefully have several hundred up and running by next year. The machines will be decorated like giant gold ingots and be over two meters tall. Physical gold has both pros and cons, but from a safety standpoint would it be fine to have a couple of ounces in your pocket while walking around the mall? The giant, gold-dispensing ATMs will monitor the market conditions for gold every 10 minutes in order to reflect spot price changes as they occur." We already covered similar machines installed in travel hubs across Germany.

Comment Re:Diesel (Score 1) 1141

by MentlFlos (#33154190) Attached to: My Automobile Gets __ MPG

except the new Volkswagen TDI, which carries a $5,000 USD premium over its gasoline equivalent.

This isn't as easy to compare as you think. The TDI is pretty much the top level trim version of the gasser with the diesel engine. While it may be $5k over the price of the base level, once you knock the options up so you are comparing similar option packs that number drops to approx $2.5k more for the oil burner.

They are also a hoot to drive. I just got one in April
Space

How To Destroy a Black Hole 364

Posted by Soulskill from the put-it-in-a-michael-bay-movie dept.
KentuckyFC writes "The critical concept that makes a black hole black is the event horizon: a theoretical boundary in space through which light and other objects can pass in one direction but not the other. Since light cannot escape the event horizon, it must be black. The event horizon is a nuisance to astrophysicists because it hides the interesting new physics that must go on inside a black hole. What they would like is a way to get rid of the event horizon so that they can see what goes on behind it. It turns out that just such a thing may be possible, say physicists. According to the mathematics of general relativity, the event horizon should disappear if a black hole were fed enough charge and angular momentum relative to its mass. However the calculations are so fiendish (PDF) that nobody knows whether the black hole would shed this extra angular momentum and charge before it could settle into a stable 'naked' state. However, the possibility that the event horizon could be destroyed raises the question of what astrophysicists would see behind this veil. According to some, black holes are regions of spacetime with infinite curvature called singularities. Many believe that 'naked' singularities cannot exist in nature. And yet there are enough question marks to suggest that this mystery is far from settled."

Comment Re:1. Complete nonsense; 2. google ELM327 (Score 1) 270

by MentlFlos (#32227506) Attached to: Any Open Source Solutions For DIY Auto Diagnostics?

You've apparently got no understanding of what the OBD II interface lets you do.

OBD II lets you read trouble codes and operational data (sensor values, fuel integrator, ignition timing, etc.), and lets you clear trouble codes.

That's it. There's no danger at all. You can't alter anything other than clearing trouble codes.

I do not think that means what you think that means...

I could very easily use open source software to write out new code to the ECU in my subaru. There was no way (to my knowledge) to have it effect safety systems but you could pop the engine if the wrong bits were flicked.

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