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Yeah, they seem sufficiently rad hardened on earth because they are being shielded from most of the cosmic and sun's radiation by the earth's atmosphere and magnetic field. In space, though, it's another matter. The Pentium 4 I'm typing this on would be unreliable at best, and wouldn't work at all at worst

Your ignoring the obvious. If this is such a big problem, then NASA could use some of the billions that they use on the shuttle to overcome it. The fact is that it is no longer a problem

Quoting the article;

"NASA administrator Daniel Goldin said the Pentium will help NASA "plumb the depths of the oceans of [Jupiter moon] Europa, take samples from Mars and explore the outer limits of our own solar system."

Sounds to me that pratical unmanned missions are possible right now. NASA spends all of its money on the shuttle and ISS though.

As for it costing trillions of dollars? I don't think so. But, maybe this time we should just ask NASA, "Ok, how much realistically (i.e. taking into account unforseen problems, test failures, redesigns, etc.) will it cost?" instead of, "Ok, you've got this much to spend. Can you do it?" And then decide if it's too expensive

In the middle of the seventies, NASA was asked how much it would cost to go to mars. There response? $500 billion dollars Knowing that NASA has a history of underestimating everything by a factor of least three (look at the price of all the International Space Station overruns)-- that's 1.5 trillion, and that's 1973 dollars. Today it would cost much more. so yes, it would be trillions of dollars

That wasn't the point of that statement. What I meant was seeing what the earth looks like from space or the moon IN PERSON. I would imagine that no picture in existence could do it justice.

It's only significant for the single astronaut standing there. So we should spend billions of dollars for the view?? So the astronaut can stand there and be awed?? The experience?? The Hubble space telescope takes great pictures of far away places, and an astronaut is not required for this. Unmanned probes have and can accomplish the same thing with the planets.

But the only way we are going to learn how to make space travel safer for humans is by doing it.

That's just it. We aren't learning anything from patching up old shuttle technology and flying it. Nothing is being gained from it. To spend billions on another "safer" vehicle to do exactly what the shuttle is doing makes no sense either

Having a man in space is "neat", but that's all that it is. the cost is not justified

I understand what you are trying to say -- because its the same thing NASA has been trying to say.

In fact though, it's more like a religion, not science.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A213 40-2003Feb3.html
http://slate.msn.com/id/2078104/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A167 19-2003Feb2.html
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/035/oped/Rebuild ing_the_dream_of_space_exploration+.shtml
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/17 63385
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/68231. htm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,482-564534 ,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/03/opinion/03ALDR.h tml
http://www.msnbc.com/news/867640.asp?0cv=KB10
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Artic les/000/000/002/204pkfxj.asp
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101030210/sctone. html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A134 74-2003Feb2.html
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/ 5086944.htm
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/bev02 022003.htm

The main contractor on the entire International Space Station project, Boeing already has built up $1 billion in overruns in other phases of the program on top of its original $8 billion contract with NASA, Williams said.

...

From Huntington Beach, Calif., on Monday, Boeing spokesman Alan Buis acknowledged that the propulsion module project has faced overruns but declined to provide a figure.

...

He added, however, that NASA recently reduced these requirements and Boeing will give NASA a new estimate by June 29 based on the lessened requirements.

Within the aerospace industry, cost overruns of 10 percent on projects are not considered uncommon. But Boeing's overrun on the module is at least 37 percent and at a point where NASA is re-evaluating the contract.

The 20 percent increase is attributable to a range of factors, said NASA's Gretchen McClain, a deputy associate administrator responsible for station planning. Those include (...) a major cost overrun by the Boeing Co., NASA's prime contractor.

One question the task force will need to answer, Pike said, is whether NASA turned over too much control to the prime contractor, Boeing. The overruns have been blamed on unrealistic budgeting by both Boeing and NASA.

"Congress tells them to go to hell."

Actually, most of Congress voted along the lines of "Not my state." As usual.

"Our President and Congress disagree, apparently, and are stranging NASA by cutting budgets"

Exsqueeze me? Baking powder?

(The really funny thing is the second link is from the parent post.)

"and not helping out when contractors go over budget (a fact of life in federal government contracts)."

"Throw money at it until the problem goes away." I see you're well on your way to being qualified to run for political office. Everybody else is funding government cheese, so we should too!

"You, Guppy06, assert that I cannot blame either the President or our Congress for the fact that NASA lacks the money to do anything other than bandage the ISS plans."

Alright, so I forgot to insert the word "rationally" into that sentence.

But the fact still remains that the ISS is over-budget to the tune of $5 billion (with a "b"). That's nine zeroes, more money than the GDP of many nations. That money is essentially up in smoke. If it needed to be spent, Boeing should have had a more realistic project bid ($5 billion isn't just out of the ballpark, it's out of the damned city as far as I'm concerned). It doesn't pay for the space station, the space station was paid for $5 billion ago. All it pays for is a little piece of paper with some signatures on it. And you're complaining that the White House and the Capitol weren't shoveling cash into the incinerator fast enough?

Like I said, I should have put the word "rationally" in there...

This is going to be me, rambling. I'll be accused of being a liberal, tree-hugging, deficit-loving bitch, but it needs to be said.

Bush has, from day one, been all about, or so he says, cutting budgets. Everything but Defense, he says, is spending far too much. Education. Health and Human Services. AIDS research (his "broad" plan announced in the State of the Union address was a joke). NASA.

Time and time again, he has harped on cutting NASA's budget. He has forced the agency to abandon most all other programs, except extending the life of the shuttles.

Democrats and others have pleaded for Bush to reconsider. He hasn't.

One year ago, CNN discussed Bush's plans to dramatically reduce NASA's budget, INCLUDING safety spending, in favour of learning more about nuclear technology in space.

This PDF from the House Democrats makes Bush's cuts clear, in terms of NASA and science in general.

Worse yet, a year and a half ago, people were warning that these cuts were leading to an inevitable disaster in the shuttle program. A freaking year and a half ago.

And through all of this, the best Bush can say is "May God continue to bless America."

Oh, and Saddam is an evil, evil man.

Growl.

jrbd

The Shuttle was moving at speeds varying from Mach 6 to Mach 20. Fighter pilots who punch out at Mach 1 or so come out of it seriously fscked up. And that's with a solid-fuel rocket propelling them away from the now out-of-control aircraft.

The astronauts, AFAIK, would have had to use a pole to open the hatch, extend a ten-foot slide, and parachute out that way. This, of course, assumes they weren't padlocked in.

The upshot of this? Well, after the Challenger disaster (which was 100% preventable, 100% unnecessary and for which, like any other government fsckup, nobody lost their jobs) Congress nearly killed the shuttle program. This time, they probably will. Truth be told, they probably should.

Basically IAT was awarded a contract for $9.5 million. There are several problems with this contract:

One of the big question marks about the whole deal involves Piper's spending of 42,000 of our public bucks for a PR plan for the new IAT system, and doing this more than a month before the deadline for companies to present proposals. Amazing. With so much time remaining for bids to come in, how could Piper possibly be so certain about which company would win?

Denny Piper, the city's chief information officer who resigned right after the contract was awarded, had claimed SimHouston would save the city $1.6 million this year. Tatro said Piper didn't support that with any documentation, but he told the councilman that "I feel" that would be the savings. Tatro said he suggested council members pray about the contract because "if feelings get us $1.6 million, prayer ought to get us $3 million."

There might be a case for going for the other vendor, but I would want to see rather more of a track record with the city before I voted for spending $9.5 million on an untried product. Like doing a trial of 100 seats or so over an extended period.

The premise behind the contract appears to be that the CIO office will spend $9.5 million making a central purchase of desktop application software and this will save money becuase the departments won't have to buy office. The problem with this argument is that the departments that have already deployed office are not going to switch to a different platform just because the CIO office tells them to, particularly if the order appears to be to facilitate some scam.

PBS/Frontline has extensive data on this project -- a FAQ that talks about Judge Ted Poe a bit, and similar tapings to date.

This is a good example of the First Amendment running into fair trial concerns.

The only completely safe way to do it would be to tape it without telling any of the jurors.

But that might raise certain privacy issues, plus it would just pollute every single jury deliberation that follows! ([whisper]Hey ... where do you think they hid the camera?)

I'm 90% they were going to ask consent at voir dire. Only 14 of 110 refused. Funny, the prosecution's objection: "Allowing a camera in the jury room during capital murder deliberations would violate Texas law by creating new reasons to disqualify potential jurors, Harris County prosecutors are arguing." However, "a lawyer for state District Judge Ted Poe, who approved the videotaping for a documentary, said Wednesday that the new argument to ban the camera was raised too late." Note that the judge has a lawyer!

I agree that the prosecution's standing is a little hard to figure, though I would really want their agreement to videotaping. They appear to be positioning themselves as defending the jurors, although 9 out of 20 jurors said no problem. At bottom, they must feel that the cameras will decrease likelihood of a death sentence -- now why it would is an interesting question. If death is chosen or not, we know how everyone voted anyway. So it must be something in the deliberations themselves.

Veto power is a very good suggestion, at least before the verdict is in. It's all really in the trial court's discretion, unless the appeals court says never in Texas. It could then go to the TX Supreme Court. This is interesting.

Of course, more important is that they get the verdict right. Cameras helped make hash of the OJ trial.

The internal combustion engine is usually attributed to Benz, a German. The american inventor was a patent fraud whose claim to have invented the engine was thrown out by the US courts in the Ford case.

the sowing machine

The first functional sewing machine was invented by the French tailor, Barthelemy Thimonnier, in 1830. There were about 6 previous patents for sewing machines of which the first US one came in at number 5...

electricity

Try Faraday, Royal Society, London

the light bulb

Swan invented the light bulb first and actually filed his patent first to boot. Edison only got a patent because at the time the USPTO did not recognise foreign inventions or prior art.

bar-b-que

I don't think you can count that since the Hawaiian islanders were having BBQ before the US was founded, before Westerners had discovered it even. I don't think you can count inventions aquired by conquest.

the vaccine

"In 1796 English country doctor Edward Jenner found that if a small amount of material was taken from a cow suffering from cowpox and injected into a healthy human child, that child would become immune to smallpox. " - incidentally the term vaccine comes from the Latin for cows.

Should I continue?

Well since that leaves you with only the atom bomb, the telephone, cotton gin and the laser I don't think you should. I'll disallow the Internet and the computer since the first computer design was British, the first practical computer was german (Konrad Zues Z1 and z2), the first electronic computer was british - the programmable enigma machines but was classified research, the Internet is not an invention it is an implementation of packet switching which was invented on both sides of the pond.

former Trek star Wil Wheaton is reduced to the level of an extra upon his return.

It is therefore not necessarily a religious motivation under which Bush limited stem cell research. Not that it wasn't a religious motivation. But an experienced politician at the top of the game knows better than to try to legislate his religious ideas without a separate rational argument.

Here's what I want you to do: 1) Put on your propaganda-warning hat and pretend your George Orwell. Now, go back and reread the above sentences. Repeat until you realize what complete doublespeak that was. I don't think I've read anything that ironic in a long time.

If you don't want to protect human life as an embryo, why should your human life be protected now?

I don't. That's why I'm for the war in Iraq, for Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, pro-death penalty, don't have a problem with the CIA being legally able to kill US citizens, disapprove of educational or other measures which help stop the spread of AIDS, and, oh yes, perform ritualistic cannibalism. No profit is bad profit and God save the Republican Party.

You people would have a lot more credibility if you gave a fuck about life AFTER it comes tearing out of some bitches pussy. But fuuuuuck that. "We're conservative! We're pro-life! Unless, that is, you can breathe on yer own. Then, well, I don't want *my* tax dollars going to keeping you off the streets! And you can't put 'em in jail long enough to keep me happy!"

What the fuck ever man. A fetus is not a child. It's a salamander. It's got gills and a fucking tail. Do not care. Never will care. Gimme a cigarette, a pair of tongs, and a knocked up 14 year old. Let's go. "Let's take care of this baby so we can make another one. Mooohahahahaha."

No, I've never run a business, but that doesn't mean that I don't know what I'm talking about. (My interest doesn't go beyond watching the stock market.) For one thing, I said MOST businesses, not all. My experience has been that manufacturing-oriented businesses tend to have lower profit margins than service-oriented ones.

If you do a quick Google search for profit margins, you'll find results like the highest profit margins in Houston and the top businesses in Massachusetts. Funny, 20% gets you in or near the top 20 in those localities. I suppose all the businesses there are dying quickly.

The FBI is on occasion not above a little blackmail (especially the 3rd paragraph) They also like to keep tabs on the political opposition.

Seriously. You're paranoid...

No, just cynical. You're naive.

Because eventually they'd get to someone like me, who has nothing to hide.

But do you have nothing to lose?

It applies to the government, too. Everyone will be able to see exactly what the FBI and the CIA and the NSA are up to

How does this follow? Will the NSA publish their intercepts? No, open government is a great idea, but I doubt the U.S. government would open up voluntarily. If anything it has recently clamped down on information "because it might help terrorists".

I think our constitution needs another ammendment that says something along the lines of "No law shall be passed which denies an adult individual the right to perform an act which causes no harm to any individual other than the actor."

Good luck getting that through. After all there are states that still have sodomy laws on the books. And you want a constitutional amendment no less.

Fortunately, though, our first ammendment already covers the most important rights of all. As long as it stays intact and as well-defended as it is

The point is that you can, in practice, damage the first amendment without breaking it. All you need to do is make it clear to people that they may be free to speak up, but there will be consequences. This is the famous "chilling effect". The problem is that the consequences can be serious, but subtle enough that most people not affected will simply not care. A perfect example is the new airline watch list: e.g. if you are caught protesting missile defense, or the "School of the Americas", you can look forward to a strip search every time you want to fly in the U.S. Sure, it may not deter the hardcore activists, but it will help keep such opinions marginalized (there was an article in Salon.com recently but I can't find the link anymore).

I think a 100% open information society could have a lot of advantages.

This new government database is a long way from an open society. Your use of phrases like "information wants to be free" makes me think you understand that "knowledge is power". Now we have a case of the government collecting information; I don't think they should have the associated power, at least not without a helluva lot more oversight.

Companies who fire people for being gay are limiting their own selection of employees and making an unprofitable decision. Besides that, such actions tend to generate lots of negative publicity.

And has that kept the U.S. military from firing people for being gay?

Here is the current link.

I also know for a fact that every American...I know of thinks about the same way

Winess what happened in Houston when the cops arrested 278 people because they happened to be eating at a burger joint or going to KMart at the wrong time... and several of them pleaded GUILTY to the charge of tresspass charges, even though none of the businesses there even asked the police to clear the parking lot. That's why the real axis of evil (AOE) will win - because they have the ability to make laws and most people can't be bothered to watch or understand what they are doing.

Who here researches candidates before voting? Don't lie, you know you don't. Barely 1 out of 5 can even bother to get to the polls, so I seriously doubt there's more than one person in the entire country that checks up on his or her representatives.

1. Apple comes out with cool software product

This isn't entirely correct. Yes, iTunes is Apple's product, and I don't doubt that they've put a good deal of work into it. However, the foundation isn't theirs, they just bought it off the people that developed the MP3 player SoundJam. I can't find a link with the details at the moment, but this will do for now:

By the way, if iTunes sounds a lot like SoundJam (reviewed here in October 1999), it is. SoundJam has some additional features -- a graphic equalizer, custom "themes" (a.k.a. "skins"), more visual effects, and better sound quality. But it also costs $50 and doesn't have iTunes' cool browser or fast search features. Frankly, I think iTunes is all the MP3 player most people will ever want or need. (For what it's worth, the same programmers wrote both iTunes and SoundJam.)

Ahh, of couse, also see SoundJam.com:

Important Information for Our Customers

Casady & Greene, Inc. ceased publication of SoundJam MP on June 1, 2001 at the request of its developers. We believe that SoundJam MP will continue to give our customers long and useful service, and, in keeping with our philosophy of putting our customers first, Casady & Greene will continue to offer tech support to SoundJam MP owners. The SoundJam development team is now working for Apple on their popular iTunes jukebox software, and will continue to work on exciting and innovative products for Mac users.

Anyway, I thought there may have been a Windows version of SoundJam, but at the moment I'm not turning anything up, Mac or otherwise....

Not good to have people learning about stuff. Expect similar things in the US. All governments are deeply interested in having a hand in what their people think about. The internet is making that a difficult task.

This is the sort of thing you probably aren't seeing in the mainstream press.

These suits are becoming popular with police forces. Have something you don't like about the government and want to hold a peaceful protest? Kinda makes you think twice. Which is the desired effect of the scary looking suits. This is the United States in 2002. Really.

discrimination normally implies an unfair identification, where in this case there is a legitimate difference.

So living in a poor neighborhood is legitimate grounds for discrimination? Unfortunately, we already have amply grounds to show where this leads. Beyond the well-publicized "driving while black" issue, there was a
recent case in Houston, where police arrested a number of innocent people for "loitering" in a "high crime" area, the exact population profiled here.

Mayor James Baker called the criticism "asinine and intellectually bankrupt."

"I don't care what anyone but a court of law thinks," he said. "Until a court says otherwise, if I say it's constitutional, it's constitutional."

This is one of the problems in this country. "If it's legal, it's OK." No, just because it's legal does not mean that it contributes to a better society. Government officials who turn off their ethics meter just trying to "get the job done" end up doing a lot of damage to this country and the rest of the world.

John Ashcroft complains that people questioning the government's actions with regard to civil liberties as "helping the terrorists." Then the mayor of Wilmington, Delaware says, hey, I'm going to right up to the very edge of constitutionality as I interpret it. But we're not to question that.

"I don't care what anyone but a court of law thinks," he said. "Until a court says otherwise, if I say it's constitutional, it's constitutional."

That's from this article.

• Hotmail story (part 1)
• This story (part 2)

• Hotmail story (part 1)
• This story (part 2)

You can find the entire 3-part series here.

I know most of those who comment on stories don't read them, but for Christ's sake how can an "editor" who submits one or two stories a day duplicate himself after three days?

The spam articles are from the Associated Press and were published in the Houston Chronicle:

SPAMMED! PART I: A costly war of attrition

SPAMMED! Part II: Despite vigilantes, spammers keep e-mail flowing

SPAMMED! Part III: Anti-spam tools more aggressive but frustrated by e-mail's 'dumb' nature

Europe outlaws spam, but it keeps coming

The article complains about a "vigilante", but the woman, Karen Hoffmann, seems very reasonable: Karen Hoffman's website. She says fighting spam is her hobby.

The spam articles are from the Associated Press and were published in the Houston Chronicle:

SPAMMED! PART I: A costly war of attrition

SPAMMED! Part II: Despite vigilantes, spammers keep e-mail flowing

SPAMMED! Part III: Anti-spam tools more aggressive but frustrated by e-mail's 'dumb' nature

Europe outlaws spam, but it keeps coming

The article complains about a "vigilante", but the woman, Karen Hoffmann, seems very reasonable: Karen Hoffman's website. She says fighting spam is her hobby.

The spam articles are from the Associated Press and were published in the Houston Chronicle:

SPAMMED! PART I: A costly war of attrition

SPAMMED! Part II: Despite vigilantes, spammers keep e-mail flowing

SPAMMED! Part III: Anti-spam tools more aggressive but frustrated by e-mail's 'dumb' nature

Europe outlaws spam, but it keeps coming

The article complains about a "vigilante", but the woman, Karen Hoffmann, seems very reasonable: Karen Hoffman's website. She says fighting spam is her hobby.

The spam articles are from the Associated Press and were published in the Houston Chronicle:

SPAMMED! PART I: A costly war of attrition

SPAMMED! Part II: Despite vigilantes, spammers keep e-mail flowing

SPAMMED! Part III: Anti-spam tools more aggressive but frustrated by e-mail's 'dumb' nature

Europe outlaws spam, but it keeps coming

The article complains about a "vigilante", but the woman, Karen Hoffmann, seems very reasonable: Karen Hoffman's website. She says fighting spam is her hobby.

: "It took a little digging to find an on-line copy of this article that I first saw in my treeware daily newspaper.

: "It took a little digging to find an on-line copy of this article that I first saw in my treeware daily newspaper.

A few carefully crafted google searches revealed the other two articles in the series (although the Arizona Star seems to think it's a four-part series- I guess we'll find out tomorrow):

Part 1: It's a war, and spam foes are losing

Part 3: Anti-spam tools more aggressive but frustrated by e-mail's 'dumb' nature

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Yikes. The story contains many more details... Like a pr0n file appearing on a server, the target's stormy past with the county, political power grabs... It's a lot more than just war-driving! Here's a link with the scandalous details: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan /1302663

According to the Houston Chronicle article, it's obvious Puffer did more than benignly access the Courthouse's network. Where else could that pr0n picture on the clerk's office server have come from?

The Original Houston Chronicle Story
The Houston Chronical Story #2

The Original Houston Chronicle Story
The Houston Chronical Story #2

Based on the account in the article your response is simply ridiculous. Although the story is brief and somewhat biased ("Ethical Hacker" etc.) NOWHERE does it indicate that he *poked* around or otherwise exploited the security gap.

from the Houston Chronicle article...

In a Chronicle article about the demonstration, Puffer said he noticed he could access the county network in early March, when he scanned for weaknesses throughout Houston.

He said he could also access numerous home, government, university and business computer systems. ...
County Attorney Mike Stafford said he will resume his investigation into whether the security breach was corrected as promptly as county officials learned of it and the origin of a pornographic picture found on the clerk's office server in March.

Noting a network is open/accessable is one thing.. noting you can access a number of specific systems leans more toward the probing side of things. And, as for the last paragraph, I would suspect either he found that or the subsequent audit after the intrusion.

Overall, the Houston article is rather vague as to his exact actions, so inference on his intent/whatnot is nigh impossible and therefore simple ASSumption.

At first I thought they were being a bit harsh until I took a closer look at the dates. He's accused of breaking into the network on the 8th, but not reporting it until the 18th.

I read the July 24th Houston Chronicle article and the March 21st article too. The Cheif County Clerk seems to be saying that one (1) pornographic picture found on one (1) of his department's poorly secured computers was the sole damage found. He claims it cost $5,000 to fix the damage he accuses Puffer (the whistleblower) of causing.

With a network as poorly secured as his practically anyone with a wifi card could have uploaded that picture.

If any repercussions should come anyone's way over this incident I don't understand why the first candidate isn't Charles Bacarisse, the County's District Clerk. Bacarisse claims that none of the computers under his administration could have been seriously damaged by the penetration of war-drivers. Okay, but am I mis-reading the Chronicles quotes from him? Doesn't he seem to have been completely oblivious to the vulnerability his insecure testing was opening to the rest of the computers on the County's system?

We have seen this before, with Randal Schwartz's ordeal at Intel. This comp.security article contains a contemporary account of his "crimes".

The lesson seems to be that no matter how well intentioned you are, the only safe way to report a security vulnerability is if you can find a way to do so anonymously.

At first I thought they were being a bit harsh until I took a closer look at the dates. He's accused of breaking into the network on the 8th, but not reporting it until the 18th.

I read the July 24th Houston Chronicle article and the March 21st article too. The Cheif County Clerk seems to be saying that one (1) pornographic picture found on one (1) of his department's poorly secured computers was the sole damage found. He claims it cost $5,000 to fix the damage he accuses Puffer (the whistleblower) of causing.

With a network as poorly secured as his practically anyone with a wifi card could have uploaded that picture.

If any repercussions should come anyone's way over this incident I don't understand why the first candidate isn't Charles Bacarisse, the County's District Clerk. Bacarisse claims that none of the computers under his administration could have been seriously damaged by the penetration of war-drivers. Okay, but am I mis-reading the Chronicles quotes from him? Doesn't he seem to have been completely oblivious to the vulnerability his insecure testing was opening to the rest of the computers on the County's system?

We have seen this before, with Randal Schwartz's ordeal at Intel. This comp.security article contains a contemporary account of his "crimes".

The lesson seems to be that no matter how well intentioned you are, the only safe way to report a security vulnerability is if you can find a way to do so anonymously.

(I don't remember what his exact title was, and I don't remember the links offhand, but the official was definitely the head of the county's equivalent of an IT department.)

I just found an older link. It was Steve Jennings, head of the County Technology Department. Also, the article shows just exactly how badly Bacarisse reacted, inclusing saying "hackers, terrorists or anyone else intending harm would be detected long before they could do any damage or use the system illegally."

You can read the rest for yourself here.

Just my $.02...

This isn't the first time the Houston Chronicle (which the Register references) has reported on this story. What they're leaving out in this article is that the county official that Puffer demonstrated the breakin to was, in fact, the equivalent of the head of IT for the county. So, one wonders if indeed that could be counted as having permission...

(I don't remember what his exact title was, and I don't remember the links offhand, but the official was definitely the head of the county's equivalent of an IT department.)

Just my $.02...

The Register is cool and all, but why not just link the Houston Chronicle article that they got it from? Their article is much better.

apparently this is the website of the county clerk quoted in the houston cronicle story. since /. failed to get info from him, perhaps we could each drop him an email to find out the other side of the story.

however, i do note that the county attorney seems a little selective in what laws he wants enforced.

According to the Houston Chronicle article, he discovered the security problem "early March", the demonstration was on March 18th, and he is charged with hacking on Match 8th, so he is being charged with the discovery, not the demo.

Also, there may be more going on, as the article also alludes to "a pornographic picture found on the clerk's office server in March." Perhaps they believe that was another "demonstration".

I am ever growing. I am ever discovering another ability or talent coursing through me. The energies of balance. The Yen and the Yang. I am light and darkness and accept Zen. I have never felt so much power in the Christian world! I am real! Connected with all of nature where the power of life trully resides to discipline, teach, and reveal. I am sad at my lonely position. I dream of finding a master to learn the Shaolin. To be the Dragon I was meant to be. 03/03/76. I was born in the year of the Dragon. I hold to the spinning enegies of it's balance. I yearn to fly and feel my chi seeking flight. Searching Searching...I learned guitar on my own. I've never gone to college, but I excel in computers, dance, philosophy, and science. I will seek into the universe and find the Dragon.

Wow.

This is the right person; the fractalized@yahoo.com address was connected to the email sent to the Belgian rockhounds according to the Houston Chronicle article.

You wouldn't happen to be their defense lawyer, would you? Because that's exactly the argument I'd take to try to make to weasel out of this. "It's ahl a gubmint cohnspeerasee yah honah! These heah rocket wizahds was TRICKED into a life ah crime!"

I'm not a lawyer, but if I recall correctly, entrapment only occurs when the enforcement organization actively initiates the transaction or crime.

For example, let's say that the FBI puts two and two together (as they're apparently good at doing) and thinks that Senator Hollings is on the take. They call him up, offer him some money in return for some legislation, and pay him off. Well, ok, that's not a great example because we already know he's on the take, so this is just a sting proving his behavior. ;-)

Instead, let's say your local police force sends an undercover officer to your house and the cop convinces/coerces you to take his gun and hold up the convenience store down the street. He goes with you and arrests you when you pull out the gun in the store. That's entrapment.

If, however, I start asking around about where I can get a gun fast and the police get tipped off and start an undercover operation to catch me doing whatever it is I'm planning, that's not entrapment.

Regardless of their original intent, at least one of these four posted an email saying they had lunar materials for sale on a web site and subsequently followed through with the theft and attempted sale. Their intent could conceivably have bearing on sentencing, but shouldn't on whether or not they're guilty of the crime. They said they had moon rocks for sale, they stole moon rocks, they tried to sell the stolen moon rocks. Period.

(And yes, I read the Chron article.)

One of these things is not like the other... tell me, can you guess which one?

(Scroll down and look at the photos and descriptions)

When I first saw the lineup I laughed out loud:

• Thad Ryan Roberts, NASA co-op, Age: 25, Worked at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab Mission Operations Directorate. Triple major at University of Utah.
• Tiffany Brooke Fowler, NASA intern, Age: 22, She worked in Biological Systems in Space and Life Sciences. Recent graduate of Texas Lutheran University. From Odessa.
• Shae Lynn Saur, NASA intern, Age: 19, Worked in Structural Engineering with Thermal Design. Worked last summer in the X-38 program. Pursuing a B.S. in engineering from Lamar University.
• Gordon Sean McWorter, Age: 26

Just look at those photos and descriptions and then try to guess which one was saying (in his best Steve from Dell voice), "DUDE! Like, if you could get some of those rocks, we could make... like... I bet at least 200 bucks!" (Suppressed laughter to hold his smoke)

Incidentally, I bet the University of Utah, Texas Lutheran University, and Lamar University are oh so happy with having their names displayed so prominently. Shining alumni indeed!

Houston Chronicle has the story available with no register.

Last time I was in Texas, it was illegal for the driver of a car to have an open alcoholic beverage, but of course the passenger could be holding two of them.

You should visit more often!

This all changed about 9 months ago. Texas now has an open container law. Frankly, after having grown up with the old laws, it's a bit of a pain in the ass having to remember that all the alcohol must go in the trunk when you're on the way to parties...

(-0.5, slightly off topic)

Satellite won't be a viable broadband/phone solution anytime in the near future, mostly because:

a) Satellites are expensive to launch. If you thought the price of DSLAMs was bad....
b) They aren't exactly easy to upgrade with new, faster technology
c) Bandwidth is too limited for a widespread and bandwidth hogging activities such as local telephone and Internet service. Increasing bandwidth runs you into problems with a) and b)

I would instead say that land-based wireless is the future, for these reasons:

a) Cost of infrastructure is mimimal, at least compared to running fiber underground
b) The technology is here, and it works.
c) Easy to upgrade. No need to worry that the cables you spent billions of dollars running can't carry your super duper new broadband speeds.

Of course the problems with this are mostly range, obstructions, and interference. But last I checked DSL was subject to the same things, just in different ways (18000 ft limit, RSU's, and crosstalk, respectively. Throw in phone company stupidity as an added bonus)
I've heard rumblings of talk about "flying wings" taking over satellite functions, but at a much lower cost and much easier maintenance. I'm not well versed on the details, but this article should explain what I am trying to say.