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Comment It might be worth it --- eventually (Score 2) 151

The problem with any space based mining/resources operation is that competition from just launching from Terra Firma doesn't go away. Let's say that SpaceX can get a fully reusable BFR flying regularly, putting 100 metric tons to leo on every launch at a vastly lower cost. Would it still worth the huge capital expenditure to develop space based resource mining/extraction to reduce the amount of mass that needs to go up form Earth? Maybe eventually -- the rocket equation is cruel, but we are no where near the limits of what we can do with technology on a $$$/kilo delivered to Mars.

Comment Re:He is not a whistleblower (Score 2) 536

Thank's for quoting the 4th Amendment! If you read it carefully, it says person's house, papers and effects are only subject to "unreasonable" searches when a warrant has been requested and authorized. Going back about 45 years to the Katz decision, the courts have said a search is unreasonable when it violates a person's "reasonable expectation of privacy". Anything outside of that that "reasonable" expectation of privacy is fair game for the government without a court approved warrant. Anything within, that "reasonable expectation expectation of privacy" requires a warrant.

Subsequently, the courts have been trying to determine what stuff falls inside or outside that "reasonable expectation of privacy" and the most recent jurisprudence says that when you give your data to a third party, and you aren't paying them to store it for you, you don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy when it comes to that data and thus is subject to government subpoena without a warrant.

Now don't take my for all this - read what the eff has to say:
https://ssd.eff.org/your-computer/govt/fourth-amendment

Comment Re:He is not a whistleblower (Score 0) 536

The problem with this position is that the 4th amendment is not, and never has been an absolute right to privacy whenever and wherever I want it to be. There are limitations. Thus we have a huge history of jurisprudence surrounding the whole notion that the 4th only applies when you have a "reasonable expectation of privacy". And when you provide information to a third party to store for your convenience, not pay them for anything for the service (thus you can't really be called a "tenant"), and you allow that third party to read your information so that they can sell better targeted advertisements, you no longer have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

The sad reality of our online world is that the vast majority of our communications now involve 3rd party intermediaries who provide their services for free and when you use those services, your 4th amendment rights don't apply.

Don't like it? Host your own mail server in your house. Encrypt your communications. Use peer to peer encrypted services that don't involve 3rd parties. Avoid communicating with those that use 3rd party services.

Too much trouble for you? Then lobby for some tougher privacy laws or an amendment to the constitution guaranteeing a more absolute right to privacy when you store your information with a 3rd party.

Comment Usenet (Score 1) 499

Step 1: Spend $10 for a month of unlimited premium usenet service. Really, any will do.
Step 2: Create an iso of the files you want to backup
Step 3: Encrypt the heck out of the iso file. Then encrypt it again. Put the keys somewhere safe.
Step 4: Rar the encrypted file into 50-100 mb segments
Step 5: Use par2 to generate the parity archives.
Step 6: Post to favorite binary group of your choice
Step 7: After about 2 and half years, repost the archive.
Step 8: Don't lose your encryption keys, and don't forget to re-post your archive.
Step 9: Profit from the knowledge that you have an unlimited offsite backup system for the cost of 2 lattes every 2 years.

And while you have the usenet sub, download some quality linux iso's faster than bittorrent could even dream.....

Linux

Submission + - kernel.org compromized (kernel.org) 2

JoeF writes: There is a note posted on the main kernel.org page, that kernel.org has been compromised earlier this month:
"Earlier this month, a number of servers in the kernel.org infrastructure were compromised. We discovered this August 28th. While we currently believe that the source code repositories were unaffected, we are in the process of verifying this and taking steps to enhance security across the kernel.org infrastructure."

The note goes on to say that it is unlikely to have affected the source code repositories, due to the nature of git.

Comment Just remember to consider your power supply... (Score 1) 186

I just got an MSI GTX 260, but hadn't considered whether my power supply could adequately drive it. I've been off of the graphics upgrade treadmill for a while and was quite surprised after I got the new card installed when I had serious stability problems when running games. Turns out nVidia recommends that your power supply be able juice the 12v rails with a total of AT LEAST 36 amps, and thus I had to spring for a new power supply ($60) to make the $170 video card work right. That said, now that I've got it working properly, I am very impressed with how powerful this card is for the money.

The Almighty Buck

Journal Journal: The wall street bailout

I've been looking at all the wall street bailouts happening with a sense of profound disgust. I've read that we've already guaranteed upwards of a trillion dollars, and it looks like we're about take some more. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080918/wall_street.html?.v=44
When this mess started blowing up last year, if the government nationalized fannie and freddie, bought all the housing loans under 500k made since 2004, chopped 25% off the amount owed, then made the people pay back the rest at

Comment Re:"New" poll analysis technique (Score 1) 813

The problem with his analysis was that the methodology used relied on comparing the predictions that were made on Kerry against Bush well after Kerry had sewn up a really easy primary run, to making similar predictions to Obama & Clinton after a long, heated, and contentious primary. In addition, since Obama's been the main frontrunner (though still in a heated primary fight) since mid-February, McCain and the RNC have been hitting him in the press a lot harder than they were attacking Clinton during the same period and thus Obama's negatives were highlighted a lot more than Clinton's were. In sum, see apples v. oranges. I was really disappointed the Times published this.

Slashdot CSS Redesign Winner Announced 882

The winner of the contest is Alex Bendiken. He will receive a new laptop as well as bragging rights as the creator of the new look of Slashdot. You can see his winning design in a near complete form now. Feel free to comment on any compatibility issues. We plan to take this live in the next few days. There will undoubtedly be a few minor glitches, but please submit bug reports and we'll sort it out as fast as possible. Also congratulations to Peter Lada, our runner up. He gets $250 credit at ThinkGeek. Thanks to everyone who participated- it was a lot of fun.

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