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Bruce Schneier already covered this, first in a 2005-02-11 entry in his blog, and again in a 2008-04-04 essay for ComputerWeekly.

I am absolutely not trying to compare myself to Bruce, but I recognized the weakness of security questions prior to his writings, when I was using his freeware PasswordSafe in 1997. (I've since moved to Keypass... not fucking plaintext Post-it Notes, FFS).

Like Bruce, I've always filled these Q&A fields with 64+ printable ASCII characters via PasswordSafe's/KeyPass's integrated CS-PRNG, which I do not record. When I can provide the question, even better. Two crazy-ass-long fields for an attacker to guess.

It should be obvious, no? A constrained set of questions (2-4 bits of entropy), each with a correspondingly constrained set of answers... ("First make of CAR???" You gotta be fucking kidding me... Why not be done with it, and offer 2kB dictionary downloads for brute-force attackers right on the Lost Password form?) Compare these constraints to a proper, lengthy CS-PRNG alphanumeric pass[word|phrase]... No contest.

Magic

littmann make a variety of stethoscopes including digital ones, and have done for some time.

However, dont believe the hype. They are of very limited clinical value. No hospital cardiology diagnosis these days would be based on auscultation. (echocardiography would be used). For taking BP the traditional tube plus ear-pieces 'scope more than suffices.

That's exactly why 3M markets a privacy filter for your screen!

The same process with molten glass produces the tiny beads for Scotchlite(TM) reflective material, which has been around for half a century or so.

If you teach middle school, don't order one of these. http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Meetin gs/Home/Solutions/Product_Catalog/DMS800Series/Pro duct_Info/ (heh, he said unit)

They may look stupid and it takes a while to get used to them but they work... at least for me.
Anir mouse
3M equivalent

Enablemart - This seems to be a third party seller but I've yet to find out who makes all the equipment they sell
3M Ergonomic Products - Notable is the Ergonomic Mouse that looks kind of like a joystick
Kinesis Corporation - Another third party place that sells ergonomic items (they have chairs also)
Perific - Their main product is the Wireless Dual Mouse
Evoluent - They are known for the VerticalMouse
Contour Design - Best known for the RollerMouse and the PerfitMouse (Contour Mouse)
Combimouse - Combination Keyboard and Mouse
Adesso - They make a lot of products
Aerobic Mouse - Looks a lot like the VerticalMouse except it has a plastic area to hold your hand
Nohands Mouse - Control your mouse with your feet
Zero Tension Mouse - seems like a mix between the VerticalMouse and 3M's Ergonomic Mouse

Yep, I mine saved me too, along with the 60-day transition to DVORAK key mapping.

The main benefit that I see is that all the motion comes from your upper arm and shoulder, not from your wrist.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ergono mics/home/products/ergonomicmouse/

This Mouse is not good it made my problem worse.

I have problems with my right hand and I have tried every ergonomic mouse that I could get my hands on. The best mouse I have found is the 3M Ergonomic Mouse
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ergono mics/home/products/ergonomicmouse/

I do a lot of cad work and my wrist started hurting even though I was using a Logitech ergonomic mouse. I knew I needed to get a mouse that was vertical. I tried many mice and ended up using the Evoluent Vertical Mouse. My wrist stopped hurting but after two weeks the tendons on the back of my hand started hurting. I think it was because the scroll wheel on the Evoluent Vertical Mouse is too close and you end up bending your fingers a lot to use it. Before the Evoluent mouse my hand tendons were fine and after they started hurting. The tendon problem is worse then the original wrist problem and it still plagues me so I am pretty annoyed about that.
The mouse I use now is the 3M Ergonomic Mouse and it is really nice. The only problem is that it has no scroll wheel (that is why I didn't use it in the first place). I will gladly give up the scroll wheel for no pain in my hand.

Wish I didn't have this problem.

In fact, one need not look far to find the oldest of old telephone cabling still in service: the old paper wrapped twisted pair cables with lead Western Electric splice closures. There are plenty of old-style WECO terminals, surge protectors and everything else. Many of these items were placed in service over fifty years ago and due to robust engineering are still in use today. Verizon is a huge buyer of these items.

While all of that are facts, it is also a fact that outside plant is shifting FiOS at a rapid pace. Despite quantum leaps in copper technology, a single-mode fiber has a very distinct advantage: infinite bandwidth. It is the future, plain a simple, and the much anticipated "copper cliff" (where placement of copper plant outside the US drops precipitously) has been passed for a few years now.

The question then becomes how long the copper legacy systems will be supported. The best answer is probably as long as it takes to make them completely superflous. Many industry best-guesses are putting that time at 10-15 at max.

I think of this as scotch tape.

http://www.3m.com/us/office/postit/faq.html

Taking a notebook entirely depends on where you are travelling to. If you are travelling in the Europe, US or Australia, then you can happily chug your notebook with you. On the other hand, if you are travelling to Asia, it would depend entirely on your destination. The same goes for parts of Africa and South America.

I'm not a physicist, and barely remember the difference between protons and neutrons. Really. Probably it's the way they choose the names, having nothing to do with the physical properties of the elements, and not even sounding cool. I mean, Uranium, Plutonium, Titanium have cool names. Krypton -- cool name. "Carbon" is at least descriptive, deriving from the Latin for burning. I've always thought "Gold", "Iron", and "Lead" were onomatopoeic. And everyone knows that "Sodium" is Greek for "soda pop". Good names, all, and they don't sound phake and made up.

But "Hassium"? "Bohrium"? Not cool, not descriptive. These are vanity names, like getting your name in a phony star registry, or some weak license plate, except it goes in the encyclopedia. Yes, I know there's this tradition for naming the radioactive ones after people, but that kind of thing ought to be left to the entomologists, hadn't it? I mean, what if there's a disaster, and Jonesium kills a bunch of people and gives the rest weird cancers? How will ol' Doc Jones feel about his legacy then, hmm? Better to be devoured by wasp larvae. So clearly, we need better, less risky names for these elements.

Let's see, an element that sticks around for 30 seconds and then goes away. I believe I can come up with a few right here, even without some fancy-shmancy degree:

• Postite
• BlogTrollium
• Wevedoneitohnowehaventium (or Heybosslookatuhnevermindium)
• Anaviagrium
• Blinddatium

Greptile

Worked pretty well, and even improved the grip between the gloves and stuff that didn't have the material on it. Only problem was the haird tend to wear out/fall off over time, so now those gloves have a few bald spots where the rubberish material has worn through and they aren't nearly as grippy

Tm

If regular input devices cause you so much distress, perhaps you should look for some less painful alternatives. I don't know much about arthritis, but I do know that your controller options shouldn't be limited by regular keyboards and gamepads. There are trackballs, head trackers, eye sensors, one button joysticks, large button keyboards, speech controlled mice, etc, etc. Instead of thinking how to spend your 'last hours' with regular controllers, I would advise you to do some research and get an input device that will help you overcome this horrible disease and keep enjoying the things you like in the future.

There are some links you may find useful. I wish you good luck and happy gaming.
http://www.naturalpoint.com/
http://www.game-accessibility.com/forum/viewforum. php?id=2
http://www.3m.com/cws/renmouse.html
http://www.aroga.com/com_access/comaccess.asp
http://ablegamers.com/component/option,com_facilef orms/Itemid,26/ff_name,ReviewList/ff_param_section ,5/ff_param_cat,allcat/ff_param_limit,20/ff_param_ order,SubmissionDateNew

Just a hunch.

Dear Slashdot: I need to work in a server room for a few hours a day, it's really loud and I value my long term hearing. While I know that this is a solved problem and that ear plugs or ear muffs are the correct tool to deal with this; I don't like ear plugs and think ear muffs look stupid. Can you suggest a way for me to spend money on something that requires a battery so that I can continue to prop up my own insecurities about how much of a geek I am?

Dear Slashdot: I need to work in a server room for a few hours a day, it's really loud and I value my long term hearing. While I know that this is a solved problem and that ear plugs or ear muffs are the correct tool to deal with this; I don't like ear plugs and think ear muffs look stupid. Can you suggest a way for me to spend money on something that requires a battery so that I can continue to prop up my own insecurities about how much of a geek I am?

I can wear something comfortable at home (Any man who says slacks, a tie, and a collared cotten shirt is "comfortable" is either very ignorant or out right lieing to your face. Even if it might be physically tolerable, it's still mentally uncomfortable to have to dress that way and worry about spilling coffee on it.).

My guess is that the cops were either misinformed, or chose to misinform the public to trick people into driving better for fear of getting a ticket.
The devices you are talking about are technically cameras, in that they manipulate light onto a sensor. But not the type of camera that can see you or take note of your license plate if you run a red light. Mind you, those types of cameras exist, and are becoming quite common, but they are not the ones that change the signal for emergency vehicles. 3M , Tomar, and others. The light you described was probably telling the driver of the ambulance he had control of the intersection, as described here.
The cameras that take your picture look more like this.

From what I understand, 3M still does basic research. Perhaps this is because a number of their products historically have been serendipitous, accidental discoveries.

A person with wrist problems in our office has been using a joystick-like mouse for a long time. It's hard to use for me, and gives me a sore elbow. Maybe I am using it wrong, but after having learned how to protect my wrist using a conventional mouse, I would rather not start over and having to learn to protect my elbow from a new product that doesn't offer any real advantage.

Finnhh

I also recommend buying a mouse like this - it helps to keep your arm in a "natural" position. Unless you're a gamer, you won't matter having one.

I also recommend buying a wrist brace, even if you don't have RSI. It helps to keep your wrist straight - not keeping it straight is what can inflamate the nerve, AFAIK.

Drop a couple AAs into a pouch in a jacket or something, wire it up to strips of this: Suddenly drivers etc. can see you at night.

FWIW, Scotchlite(tm) is probably better than OLED for safety clothing. A headlight reflected back at a driver from Scotchlight is *VERY* *BRIGHT* since it is a highly directional reflection back at the source. You'd need very high output OLED to achieve the same brightness. Not to mention that with Scothlite, you don't need an active power supply, it's washable, and you can buy it right now.

http://cms.3m.com/cms/US/en/2-135/cikicFJ/view.jht ml

Then again, this is Slashdot, where common-sense and available now are never as cool as bleeding-edge vaporware.

I don't think Scotch was ever a company - pretty sure it's always been a brand of 3M.

I have to disagree and go with escalator. Adobe is working hard to keep Photoshop from becoming generic, and Kleenex sends letters asking people to use "facial tissue" instead.

Plus it looks like 3M still has the Scotch trademark, so I don't even think that applies.

I haven't used this particular mouse, so I can't comment on it. I have, however, used a different "vertical" mouse called the "3M Renaissance Mouse" (e.g. http://www.3m.com/cws/renmouse.html ) for several years. I swear by it, in that all my RSI symptoms vanished once I started using it. I've also recommended it to two friends with RSI problems and they also swear by it. Your mileage my vary, of course. Check it out!

Like many of you I'm trying to prevent doing myself a permanent injury by mouse usage. I have a normal cordless mouse, a Logitech cordless trackman trackball and a 3M ergonomic mouse (which is vertical but a better design than this thing I reckon). The 3M vertical mouse saved my wrist, but in recent months shoulder pain has started - there's a lot of repetitive shoulder movement with a vertical mouse. So I got the trackball, which is better, but a bit hard on the hand (the thumb in my case).

I definitely recommend a vertical mouse to save your tendons, but keep both plugged in - I find that switching between my 3 (!) mice is the best way to avoid over-stressing myself, or rather, to spread the stress out. If I had to choose one it would probably be the trackball right now (though it's the least precise of the mice) but the vertical mouse would be a close second.

Doesn't it seem strange that using a mouse can hurt you in the long run? But it's true.

I've owned a few vertical mice like this, formerly known as "Dr. Mouse", now it's the "3M Renaissance" Mouse. I've had no complaints. Zero. They're fantastic. I'm using one right now. I got my friends hooked on them too.

I could simply line the pockets of my actual wallet with foil

Available here.

Here ya are.

This has been around for a while. They have a number of other nice things you can make from duct tape.

Also, check out the duct-tape bandaid.

Everyone on /. should know about these things.

I forgot to mention 3M Fluorinert:
http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/en001/oil_gas/s pecialty_materials/node_HX0DNRHXKWge/root_GST1T4S9 TCgv/vroot_G1F6DNZDBVge/theme_us_oilgas_3_0/comman d_AbcPageHandler/output_html

http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/en001/oil_gas/s pecialty_materials/node_L98WR0Q8WQbe/root_GST1T4S9 TCgv/vroot_G1F6DNZDBVge/gvel_M2C4BHRN70gl/theme_us _oilgas_3_0/command_AbcPageHandler/output_html

http://www.parallax-tech.com/fluorine.htm
"1 liter bottle Fluorinert-77 ~ 4 lbs = $240 plus shipping."

I forgot to mention 3M Fluorinert:
http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/en001/oil_gas/s pecialty_materials/node_HX0DNRHXKWge/root_GST1T4S9 TCgv/vroot_G1F6DNZDBVge/theme_us_oilgas_3_0/comman d_AbcPageHandler/output_html

http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/en001/oil_gas/s pecialty_materials/node_L98WR0Q8WQbe/root_GST1T4S9 TCgv/vroot_G1F6DNZDBVge/gvel_M2C4BHRN70gl/theme_us _oilgas_3_0/command_AbcPageHandler/output_html

http://www.parallax-tech.com/fluorine.htm
"1 liter bottle Fluorinert-77 ~ 4 lbs = $240 plus shipping."

I believe what you'd want to use on a computer is the '77' variety.

Yeah, just make sure you don't get Super 77 from them instead. That would be a big "oops."

I should call 3M and see if they can find me a non-conductive, inert, non-volitale chemical to submerge a PC in. I'm sure they make one.

You should. But I'll save you the trouble.

It's called 3M Fluorinert, and now that it's come up in two separate discussions in two days, I now know more about the stuff than I ever wanted to. (Great use of company time, eh?)

This is the 3M page about it, they make a bunch of different varieties for various purposes. I believe what you'd want to use on a computer is the '77' variety. (I'm told that's what the Cray II used.) 3M Fluorinert
Some people who will sell it to you in small quantities (3M wants you to buy 11 lbs.)
And here's the obligatory Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorinert

I just did some research...my un-implemented idea about submerging a mobo in oil was a while ago, and at the time I was never able to find any supporting information on it. It seems now though that a lot of people had the same idea, and a few of them have even gotten it to work.

Also, I found the name of the material used in the Cray II's submersion cooling system. It's called Fluorinert FC-77, and it's made by 3M. Electrically inert, not toxic to the touch (unlike PCB based transformer oils), great heat transfer properties ... too bad it's ridiculously expensive. The cheapest place that sells it in small quantities (3M wants you to buy 11 lbs.!) has it for $240 a liter. Apparently it's used in the cooling systems of some lasers.
http://www.parallax-tech.com/fluorine.htm

However there are people who have successfully cooled systems by submerging them in vegetable and sunflower oil:
http://www.hwspirit.com/reviews.php?read=16 Sunflower Oil
http://www.markusleonhardt.de/en/oelbilder.html German, Vegetable Oil (?), even submerges the PS

I can't find a picture of a mineral oil cooled one (although there are references to a Slashdot story), but I think if I were going to do it, I'd definitely go for some sort of inorganic or synthetic liquid. Having a rancid vat of vegetable oil on my desk just doesn't appeal to me at all.
These guys will sell you a 5gal jug of "odorless, tasteless, crystal clear, technical grade white mineral oil" for $54.45 (and they have 55gal drums available, if you want to go into business). They have a bunch of viscosities available, I just looked at the lowest one.
http://www.steoil.com/catalog.asp?productgroup=70t

I'm lazier than you are, I would have given 3M as an example instead.

What do you think of something like this monitor filter? Maybe make it required for students who wish to use their laptops. Seems like most of the time, the laptop users would prefer this anyway; I know on the few occasions I've had a laptop in a lecture setting (conferences, not schools, but basically the same thing) the laptop wasn't distracting, but the ability of other people to read my screen made me uncomfortable, even though I was doing innocuous things.

The fishy smell is usually caused by vaginal infection. IANAD, but you might want to consult one.

Listening to Spongebob for 6 hours is better than listening to "are we there yet" for 6 hours.

Those aren't your only options.

The 3M privacy filter reduces side viewing snoops, http://cms.3m.com/cms/US/en/2-22/FiiuuFS/view.jhtm l

How will such a wonder run a laptop on anything other than cold fusion? Wait!"...with very low consumption of electrical energy..." (known in the scientific circles as "electricity".) Wow, they'll never cease to amaze me.

I use KNotes, it's an upgrade to the "Post-it Notes" solution.

PS: Please don't sue me.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_ Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4h3DgXJgFjGpvqRqCKO6 ALOIRgiwRgiQegilu5wEV-P_NxU_aDUvPjQYH1v_QD9gtxQEIg od3RUBACI3JbE/delta/base64xml/L0lJYVEvd05NQUFzQURz QUVBLzRJVUZDQSEhLzZfMF9OMC9lbl9VUw!!

With the size of that monitor, I'm thinking a roll of VHB, and he could've just afixed it behind the monitor, and saved a whole lot of time.

Also, the cardboard box seemed like the real hack ... I've found that the best way to attach a computer below a fixed surface was using two ratchet straps bolted to the bottom of a table, and a couple of strips of foam (cut up camping pad) between the table and the computer.

It was a little more complicated than that, as I was mounting them in vehicles, and had other issues to deal with. You could leave out the foam, but I'd probably still use some sort of a spacer, so there was some airflow above the system, especially with the mini.

I read your link and I still believe I'm more correct than the previous poster. Your link has a better ancient history of duct tape, mine only gave the most recent 2/3rds.
Here's a revised history:

duck tape, originally made for the military by Johnson & Johnson. Apparently not trademarked.

duct tape, came into common usage. Is made by many manufacturers. 3M, for instance, makes some really nice stuff and has been for 75 years. http://www.3m.com/intl/CA/english/centres/home_lei sure/duct_tape/index.html

Their "all weather" and "professional" tape meets UL standards. Although they also have a "Home and Shop" version that I haven't yet used which doesn't meet the standards.

Duck Tape, which is usually quite inferior in my experience, is made by Henkle. As _your link_ says, the original term fell out of usage and was only reintroduced recently by this trademark. The Duck Tape was not common until about 1995, IIRC.