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Math

Submission + - No proof (yet) of P = NP after all (wordpress.com)

Submitted by
00_NOP
00_NOP writes: "Internet commerce seems safe for now as Russian computer scientist Vladimir Romanov has conceded that his previously published solution to the "3 SAT" problem of boolean algebra does not work. If his solution did work it would have shown that many problems thought to be unsolvable with conventional computers — including decrypting your HTTPS encoded credit card number — would have been solvable in polynominal time. Romanov, who is very far from the sort of crank who normally claims to have proved P = NP or the opposite, is not giving up though..."

Comment Re:Ban guns (Score 1) 2166

by SkeeZerD (#34809248) Attached to: Congresswoman and Staff Gunned Down

Banning the possession of firearms by civilians will ensure that only tyrants and criminals will have them.

Not only that, but what a dangerous precedent! The right to bare arms is guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. If the precedent is set for overturning that, what happens next? The freedom of press dies? Right to assembly gone? Illegal search/seizure free for all? State sponsored religion?

We have a right to militia and bare arms so that when/if We The People decide the only way to affect change in our government is through violence, we have the means to do so.
Linux

Submission + - Cedega Being Replaced By GameTree Linux (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Transgaming Cedega, the software forked from Wine that allows running Windows games under Linux, is being discontinued and replaced by TreeGame Linux. This new software is also free. From the new website: "TransGaming is pleased to announce the continued development of Cedega Technology under the GameTree Developer Program. This repositioning of the technology that powered the Cedega Gaming Service will allow the entire Linux community to gain free access going forward. Cedega is a cross-platform enablement technology that allows for Windows-native games to be executed on both the Linux desktop and embedded Linux platforms."
Science

Submission + - Hypersonic Radio Black-Out Problem Solved (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by KentuckyFC
KentuckyFC writes: Russian physicists have come up with a new way to communicate with hypersonic vehicles surrounded by a sheath of plasma. Ordinarily, this plasma absorbs and reflects radio waves at communications frequencies leading to a few tense minutes during the re-entry of manned vehicles such as the shuttle. However, the problem is even more acute for military vehicles such as ballistic missiles and hypersonic planes. Radio black out prevents these vehicles from accessing GPS signals for navigation and does not allow them to be re-targeted or disarmed at the last minute. But a group of Russian physicists say they can get around this problem by turning the entire plasma sheath into a radio antenna. They point out that any incoming signal is both reflected and absorbed by the plasma. The reflected signal is lost but the absorbed energy sets up a resonating electric field at a certain depth within the plasma. In effect, this layer within the plasma acts like a radio antenna, receiving the signal. However, the signal cannot travel further through the plasma to the spacecraft. Their new idea is to zap this layer with radio waves generated from within the spacecraft. These waves will be both absorbed by the plasma and reflected back inside the spacecraft. However, the key point is that the reflected waves ought to be modulated by any changes in the electric field within the plasma. In other words, the reflected waves should carry a kind of imprint of the original external radio signal. That would allow the craft to receive external signals from GPs satellites or ground control. And the same process in reverse allows the spacecraft to broadcast signals too.

Submission + - Thousands of blackbirds fall from sky dead (reuters.com) 1

Submitted by Dan East
Dan East writes: In a fashion worthy of a King or Hitchcock novel, yesterday blackbirds began to fall from the sky dead. Somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 birds rained down on the small town of Beeb, Arkansas, with no visible trauma. Officials are making wild guesses as to what happened — lightning strike, high-altitude hail, or perhaps trauma from the sound of New Year's fireworks killed them.

Comment Re:You thought the GOP/TP represented regular peop (Score 1) 528

by SkeeZerD (#34597122) Attached to: Republicans Create Rider To Stop Net Neutrality
I tried to set this as my sig, but it was too long. think it says it all.

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that
unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of
my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and
an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the
money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its
reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until
all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic
is destroyed."

-- U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
(letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw
(Macmillan, 1950, NY)
Image

Hi-Tech Nativity Security 110

Posted by samzenpus from the a-higher-satellite-power dept.
To combat vandalism and theft of their holiday displays, many churches and cities are turning to a technological answer. After one of their cows was stolen, St. Marks Episcopal Church in Glen Ellyn, Ill. installed GPS devices in the figurines of its nativity scene. This year the village of Wellington, Fla. added security cameras to protect their display. From the article: "BrickHouse Security in New York City offered churches and synagogues free GPS and cameras to protect their displays this season. Seventy have signed up so far. About 24 of them are also installing security cameras. In Merrick, N.Y., the Chabad Center for Jewish Life is putting GPS in its 8-foot menorah on display in a park."

Comment Re:Is this Wikileaks day? (Score 1) 810

by SkeeZerD (#34466026) Attached to: Digging Into the WikiLeaks Cables

After yesterday's leak, they may as well dump the whole shebang. IMHO: "A list of stuff that people can blow up if they want to screw with us", is something that legitimately deserves to be hidden from everyone but the guy dispatching people to guard that stuff.

2.5 MILLION people had access to these cables, and supposedly, a PRIVATE is responsible for leaking them to Wikileaks.
Who's to say someone else hasn't already leaked this particular cable to AlQaeda? I think the reason people should be outraged is that all this sensitive information was shared with so many needlessly.

That being said, now thanks to Wikileaks, I have a list of locations to stay away from!

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