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Comment Re:Good (Score 3, Interesting) 134

by Ollabelle (#43654831) Attached to: Judge Refers Prenda Copyright Trolls To Criminal Investigators
And that in turn might happen if the Senate would stop stonewalling every freakin' judicial appointment offered up http://atyourlibrary.org/culture/even-shortages-federal-bench-cant-get-judicial-appointments-through-congress/, and I'm not talking about up or down votes - I'm talking about a refusal to vote.

Comment That's how they'll jump to mobile phone spamming. (Score 5, Insightful) 58

by Ollabelle (#42617829) Attached to: Messenger App Brings Free VoIP to US Facebook Users — At a Price
The warnings in Facebook's reports to the SEC always mention advertising revenue on mobile phones as one of their challenges. And this is how they will build their database of mobile phone numbers.

At some point, they'll "streamline" the privacy settings so the numbers will be shareable, visible, etc. so the advertising revenue can start coming in.
Education

Submission + - Parent questions mandatory high school chemistry (washingtonpost.com) 1

Submitted by Ollabelle
Ollabelle writes: David Bernstein, a nonprofit executive who lives in Gaithersburg, Md., has two sons, ages 7 and 15. He has previously written about how schools fail students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Now he turns his attention to mandated curriculum in public schools, and argues that his sons shouldn't be forced to take any science class.
Operating Systems

Submission + - Computer Viruses Are "Rampant" on Medical Devices in Hospitals (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by Dupple
Dupple writes: Computerized hospital equipment is increasingly vulnerable to malware infections, according to participants in a recent government panel. These infections can clog patient-monitoring equipment and other software systems, at times rendering the devices temporarily inoperable.

While no injuries have been reported, the malware problem at hospitals is clearly rising nationwide, says Kevin Fu, a leading expert on medical-device security and a computer scientist at the University of Michigan and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who took part in the panel discussion...

The computer systems at fault in the monitors were replaced several months ago by the manufacturer, Philips; the new systems, based on Windows XP, have better protections and the problem has been solved, Olson said in a subsequent interview.
Space

Submission + - Beware the Rings of Pluto 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The Christian Science Monitor reports that scientists are planning a new route for NASA's New Horizons space probe as it approaches a potentially perilous path toward Pluto through a potential set of rings that may create dangerous debris zones for the NASA spacecraft. New Horizons is currently about 1,000 days away and 730 million miles from closest approach to Pluto but given how New Horizons is currently zooming away from the sun at more than 33,500 mph, "a collision with a single pebble, or even a millimeter-sized grain, could cripple or destroy New Horizons," says project scientist Hal Weaver. "We need to steer clear of any debris zones around Pluto." That's why researchers are making plans to avoid these hazards if New Horizons needs to. "We are now exploring nine other options, 'bail-out trajectories,'" says principal investigator Alan Stern. New Horizon's current plan would take it about halfway between Pluto and the orbit of its largest moon, Charon. Four of the bail-out trajectories would still take the spacecraft between Pluto and Charon's orbit. The other alternatives would take New Horizons much further away from Pluto, past the orbits of its known moons. "If you fly twice as far away, your camera does half as well; if it's 10 times as far, it does one-tenth as well," says Stern. "Still, half a loaf is better than no loaf. Sending New Horizons on a suicide mission does no one any good. We're very much of the mind to accomplish as much as we can, and not losing it all recklessly. Better to turn an A+ to an A- than get an F by overreaching.""

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