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Comment Donate it, but it could remain available to you (Score 1) 321

I have heard it said that there are registries out there who will accept your donation and, if down the road your child may need it, will provide it back to you if it has not already been used (probably for a fee at that point would be my guess). Might be worth investigating donation policies.

Comment Why let a good crisis go to waste? (Score 1) 315

Of course the U.S. Government will latch onto this, it represents an ideal opportunity to invoke the name of anti-terrorism to actively censor; just in case they haven't completely covered their bases with SOPA/PIPA.

I keep finding it ironic that we are slowly slipping back into the Alien & Sedition Acts, which came immediately following our inception as a country. Perhaps a sign that our system of government is due for rebirth?

Although I will say, I have been reassured by the recent media reports that gun purchases have skyrocketed recently - hopefully this indicates that the rugged-individualist, American-spirited Americans out there will have a little sway over the outcome of this rebirth.

Comment The FAA pops its pimple of a head into the mix (Score 1) 515

After reading this article, I'm halfway tempted to think that his incident was an elaborately orchestrated plot to facilitate a power grab by the FAA:

AMA: FAA Seeks To Restrict Model Aircraft Flight

Excursus: When the FAA was in danger of "losing 4,000 jobs", I thought to myself, "what the hell does the FAA need with 4,000 employees" - can't we deploy Skynet already?

Comment Pegboard + variety of peg hardware (Score 1) 374

For me the problem was just as much the variety of physical devices to and from which cords were running as the problem with cords themselves (i.e. modem, router, UPS, etc.). Therefore, I went and had some pegboard cut to spec and mounted it on the back of my computer desk - such that some of it is accessible from the front, as well - and bought a variety bag of pegboard hardware (hooks, etc.). I then proceeded to mount my modem, router, UPS, USB hub, speakers, etc. on there, wired everything up, and used releasable zip ties to bundle up the cords. So far it's worked very nicely, and given me more desk space.

Comment Re:G+ id policy is problematic at multiple levels. (Score 1) 560

Given the uniqueness of many African-American names, I think the incidence of this policy will largely fall on them, which one might construe as racism on Google's part. Obviously I don't see any reason to suspect racism, but there are a whole lot of political opportunists out there not quite so averse to outlandish statements as I. ;)

Comment Re:Well (Score 1) 97

What stops the Feds from simply claiming anyone they want to investigate is a "suspected terrorist" and doing all the snooping they want. Suppose the Feds simply declare that due to "secret" information, they believe that someone is a "suspected terrorist". They tap his phone, bug his car, break into his email accounts...and discover that John Doe buys personal use quantities of prescription pain meds without a prescription. (but is not a terrorist). Or some other low-end crime.

Can the Feds put John Doe into prison based on this information?

I was just about to post to this effect - you're spot on.

Biotech

Submission + - Cancer resembles life 1 billion years ago (lifescientist.com.au) 4

An anonymous reader writes: What is cancer? It's not an invader, it's spawned from our own bodies. And it bears striking resemblance to early multicellular life from 1 billion years ago. This has led astrobiologists and cosmologists Paul Davies and Charlie Lineweaver to suggest that cancer is driven by primitive genes that govern cellular cooperation, and which kick in when our more recently evolved genes that keep them in check break down. So, far from being rogue cells that mutate out of control, cancers are actually cells that revert to a more ancient level of programming, like booting in Safe Mode. The good news is this means cancers have only finite variation. Once we nut out the ancient genes, we'll know how it works, and it's unlike to evolve any new defence mechanisms, meaning curing cancer might be not quite as mammoth a task as commonly thought.

Submission + - One tip enough to put name on terrorist watch list (washingtonpost.com) 1

Frosty Piss writes: As a result of the US Government’s complete failure to investigate credible warnings about "Underwear Bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab from none other than Abdulmutallab’s father, senior American counterterrorism officials say they have altered their criteria so that a single-source tip can lead to a name being placed on the watch list. But civil liberties groups warn that it is now even more likely that individuals who pose no threat will be swept up in the America’s security apparatus, leading to potential violations of their privacy and making it difficult for them to travel. 'They are secret lists with no way for people to petition to get off or even to know if they're on,' said Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Games

Submission + - Split screen co-op is dying (goozernation.com)

kube00 writes: Split screen co-op and local multiplayer are becoming something from the past. Games like the Halo series and Rock Band 3 sort of fill that void. What happened to cramming a bunch of gamers into a room with two TVs and doing a system link match in Halo? Where have the all night Goldeneye matches gone? Like the arcades of gamers' youth, local multiplayer and co-op bonding experience has been replaced with individual gamers and a network

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