Slashdot Mirror

Pacman already hit college campuses last year:

McMaster University

Some people on a local board I visit were complaining about inflamatory threads being deleted, cencorship, and all that... so I was searching for good info on Canadian Defamation law, and found this:

gopher://insight.mcmaster.ca/11/org/efc

First, is it legal to cross check students' work against publicly accessible sources? The answer it obviously yes, whether using google or an automated service. If anything, the element of automation is desirable, since it reduces the arbitrariness of cross checking only certain students' work.

Second, can you make it a condition of a course that work submitted will be licensed to such a service? Debatable. Copyright normally vests in the student. However, it is often the case that universities require that students grant them a royalty free non exclusive license to use the work for essentially internal purposes. See, e.g., McMaster.ca.

In principle, an appropriately drafted policy, adopted by the university, and made known to students before enrolment, would allow such use. However, I suspect that in this case the policy was never formally adopted by the university (especially given the trial use of the software) and as such amounted to an attempt by the university to unilaterally vary their contract with the student.

On a personal note, just yesterday I failed a student for lifting the bulk of an assignment straight from the web, while not too long ago I had the dubious pleasure of failing another student who paid me the tribute of taking four pages directly from my own text.

Mabey you need to change your "PE" into a "P.Eng"? :)

I agree about the lack of marketing though.. I'm in my second year of a four year computer engineering degree (@ McMaster), and this program is the hardest thing that I've ever even attempted to do in my life .. Engineers totally deserve recognition, if for nothing else, then for the mind bending they're subjected to in university!

By the time actual commercial products roll out, massively parallel machines evolved from current technologies will beat the shit out of them for virtually all general-purpose applications. Technologies that will evolve at about the same time as QC, such as hardware and/or software modelled neural networks with massive numbers of "neurodes" and implemented as building-block style modules, will allow the simulation of animal-like behavior and form the basis of the much feared robotic revolution that will overwhelm us sometime this century. When convincing simulation of human behavior emerges, we will all be, um, distracted from quantum computing.

Quantum computing, like fusion energy, is the technology of the future, and always will be.

What Happens When a Linux Geek Takes Over a Canadian Football Team ?

* Bob Young, founder of Red Hat and Lulu.com buys Canadian football team the Hamilton Ticats.
* Ticats playbook submitted to SourceForge for development. Fans of the Canadian Football League are invited to submit revisions.
* Initially puzzled by open source strategy, other CFL teams begin using the plays.
* Ticats adopt open-channel Wi-Fi for communications between coaches and quarterbacks using new helmet developed under the GPL, known as the GNU-Helmet. Xs and Os on playbook diagrams are replaced with 1s and 0s. Fans begin to show up at games with laptops to IM the assistant coaches.
* Ticats playbook becomes bestseller .
* First season is devoted to eliminating bugs. Bob Young called an eccentric, fringe player. Headline screams "Playbook Bazaar -- Bizarre!"
* Innovation in CFL play explodes. Stadiums host record crowds. US newspapers run stories, but most assume that the sport in question is actually soccer.
* Bill Gates surprises press by purchasing Seattle Seahawks.
* In the third season, CFL continues to gain momentum. Young brokers a revolutionary agreement with the Australian Football League incorporating new rules and tactics. Games become more interesting. Cable channel TechTV signs contract to air every CFL game. US viewers begin to abandon NFL games in droves.
* NFL sues, claiming a process patent on option plays
* Clear-Channel takes over 90% of US stadiums and inks 10-year contract with NFL. Fans are routinely strip-searched for illicit food and drink items as they enter stadiums.
* Gates responds to decrease in attendance at games by inking broadcast deal with all four networks to air games simultaneously.
* Canada announces increase in immigration. MIT Beavers win Division Championship.
* Electronic Arts announces that "Madden NFL 2007" will be open source. Furor erupts. New version quickly surfaces in which characters can be forced to play soccer.
* NYT article notes that enrollment in youth football programs across North America are up, as are demands for reinforced padding and elastic straps for eyeglasses. 'Football is all about brains!" bellow coaches.
* 2010 - Ticats win Grey Cup for the first time in decades. Average size of defensive lineman is 5'7", 155 lbs.

C'mon up to Canada for your education. The tuition is about half (or less) of what it is in the states, if you're gay you can get married, and we're about to decriminalize marijuana.

Better yet, you don't have to pay to see our rankings:

1 Toronto
2 Queen's
*3 McGill
*3 Western
5 UBC
6 Montreal
7 Alberta
8 Sherbrooke
9 Ottawa
10 McMaster
11 Dalhousie
12 Saskatchewan
13 Laval
14 Calgary
15 Manitoba

Obviously, not everyone who plays violent games is going to go on a rampage. But don't pretend that they have no effect whatsoever...

Um, never took a course in population genetics, have you?

Because if you had, you would surely know about the neurtal theory of molecular evolution, which "proposes that the majority of nucleotide substitutions and polymorphisms are the result of selectively neutral mutants" ie, most changes in the gene pool are selectively neutral. This theory revolutionized genetics, and led to the development of many useful techniques like "molecular clocks" to determine when two bloodlines split off from each other.

Furthermore, the neutral theory does not require selection on an allele to be totally absent (s = 0), but only that it is small with respect to the effects of random genetic drift ( 4*Ne*s less than 1, where Ne is the effective population size, and s is the selection coefficient).

Which means that even genes which are HARMFUL to the individual sometimes become fixed in all members of the species, becoming more frequent than the less harmful versions.

Over time, this leads to movement of the genepool away from it initial state, even if the environment favours the initial state.

The sad thing is that the Telegraph article refers to "the wacky engineering of Caractacus Potts's breakfast-making machine in the Sixties film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," without crediting the real creator, Rowland Emett.

More can be found on Emmett at: http://www.mech.mcmaster.ca/~nyet/emett/

At my school, the recently mentioned McMaster University, our residence meal plan could be used at local restaurants which had a deal with the Univerisity, like East Side Marios, Pizza Hut, and equivalent places.

Thing was, while they were mainly restaurants, some of these restaurants had bars in them, and we found early on that the system did not discriminate between what one ordered from these places.

So basically, one could use mommy and daddy's meal plan money. I think they eliminated this loophole since my first year, but it was good(by which I mean very very bad) while it lasted :)

I'm starting to sound like a broken record here....
McMaster has a day called Kipling.

Early Kipling morning graduating classes leave there mark on the school in the form of a prank. Some last longers then other (I.E. The hanging car lasted about a week, while the cement desk is still in use).

During the afternoon they have there Iron Ring Ceremony, followed by the Kipling socail event.

Relevant links:
Kipling 2003
MES brief kipling write up

mcs
sfwr eng & scty III

I'm starting to sound like a broken record here....
McMaster has a day called Kipling.

Early Kipling morning graduating classes leave there mark on the school in the form of a prank. Some last longers then other (I.E. The hanging car lasted about a week, while the cement desk is still in use).

During the afternoon they have there Iron Ring Ceremony, followed by the Kipling socail event.

Relevant links:
Kipling 2003
MES brief kipling write up

mcs
sfwr eng & scty III

was by far the best this year. Not only was there the pac man board in the student centre, but the SFWR Graveyard was great too (although, politically, with everything going on in the world, I think some of the crazy artsies may have been offended - or mistook the prank for a political stance, meh).

The Graveyard was everything that a Software Engineer lays dead to the world after 4 years. For example the ablility to pick up women, Hit by bus error, Deadlock because "Has X waiting for Y" was buried right beside "Has Y waiting for X", and from all the exams we have no chance in ever passing we bury our anal viginity.

Good-bye www.eng.mcmaster.ca Slashdot now has a hold of you, fair well.

was by far the best this year. Not only was there the pac man board in the student centre, but the SFWR Graveyard was great too (although, politically, with everything going on in the world, I think some of the crazy artsies may have been offended - or mistook the prank for a political stance, meh).

The Graveyard was everything that a Software Engineer lays dead to the world after 4 years. For example the ablility to pick up women, Hit by bus error, Deadlock because "Has X waiting for Y" was buried right beside "Has Y waiting for X", and from all the exams we have no chance in ever passing we bury our anal viginity.

Good-bye www.eng.mcmaster.ca Slashdot now has a hold of you, fair well.

was by far the best this year. Not only was there the pac man board in the student centre, but the SFWR Graveyard was great too (although, politically, with everything going on in the world, I think some of the crazy artsies may have been offended - or mistook the prank for a political stance, meh).

The Graveyard was everything that a Software Engineer lays dead to the world after 4 years. For example the ablility to pick up women, Hit by bus error, Deadlock because "Has X waiting for Y" was buried right beside "Has Y waiting for X", and from all the exams we have no chance in ever passing we bury our anal viginity.

Good-bye www.eng.mcmaster.ca Slashdot now has a hold of you, fair well.

was by far the best this year. Not only was there the pac man board in the student centre, but the SFWR Graveyard was great too (although, politically, with everything going on in the world, I think some of the crazy artsies may have been offended - or mistook the prank for a political stance, meh).

The Graveyard was everything that a Software Engineer lays dead to the world after 4 years. For example the ablility to pick up women, Hit by bus error, Deadlock because "Has X waiting for Y" was buried right beside "Has Y waiting for X", and from all the exams we have no chance in ever passing we bury our anal viginity.

Good-bye www.eng.mcmaster.ca Slashdot now has a hold of you, fair well.

was by far the best this year. Not only was there the pac man board in the student centre, but the SFWR Graveyard was great too (although, politically, with everything going on in the world, I think some of the crazy artsies may have been offended - or mistook the prank for a political stance, meh).

The Graveyard was everything that a Software Engineer lays dead to the world after 4 years. For example the ablility to pick up women, Hit by bus error, Deadlock because "Has X waiting for Y" was buried right beside "Has Y waiting for X", and from all the exams we have no chance in ever passing we bury our anal viginity.

Good-bye www.eng.mcmaster.ca Slashdot now has a hold of you, fair well.

I believe it's called the Iron Ring ceremony everywhere. Shorely someone is confused, as Rudyard Kipling was the author of the ceremony.

Also, this Computer and Software Engineering seems to be part of McMaster's engineering department, as opposed to a misnamed Computer Science degree.

-legolas

So this is not a Rube Goldberg device, it is a piece of conservation technology :-)

Why not eliminate the Rube Goldberg device and get to the root of the problem: Eliminate DST

• Farmers hate it. It greatly screws with them having to get up with the sun, then deal with customers that arbitrarily go against nature's clock by an hour.
• Night shift hates it. It effectively screws those on third watch out of an hour of pay in the spring, and keeps them on an extra hour in the fall. This confuses some payroll departments, too.
• Public safety really hates it. Police, security, fire and ambulance crews working on spring ahead and fall back end up having to try and deal with trying to log events on an hour that happens twice or get an odd hour-long gap when trying to write reports. The time change also adds to fatigue making these folks less effective late in the shift during the fall back. If you think I'm ranting, you should spend the timeshift nights with the third watch in an emergency room and listen to the ER staff and arriving ambulance crews cursing it like drunk sailors.
• Public welfare takes a back seat for a week after the change. The University of British Columbia did a study on daylight savings time shifts on traffic. Accidents were more frequent for the first week after the time change, especially on the following Monday morning, with epsilon difference in driver safety the rest of the time.
• 1945 was almost 60 years ago. Japan was nuked, Hitler shot himself in the head, and modern technology makes artificial lighting economical. Factories aren't working overtime to increase production to fight the most expensive wars ever fought (after adjusting for inflation) and haven't done so since the end of World War II, and even if they were, not many factories are primarily lit with skylights anymore.

So given the added risks of DST-lagged public behind the wheel, a fatigued public safety sector cleaning up after it, and the farmers that feed us having to go out of thier way to get the food out, not to mention the abovementioned problems with historical clocks breaking when they go to lag or jog them an hour, can society really afford to continue using DST in the long term?

The effects of radiation are known to conflict with the linear-no-threshold hypothesis and are definitely non-linear. A study of roughly 60,000 Naval shipyard workers (half in the nulcear program and half not) showed that the nuclear shipyard workers (who received roughly 5x normal background) had death rates 24% lower. (That's 16 standard deviations!) The deaths due to cancer rate were 4 standard deviations lower. For the study's population size this is extremely significant because all other demographic factors were virtually identical except for the high levels of radiation.

Current thinking is that these levels of radiation actually stimulate the body's immune system. For further info, search google for "Nuclear Shipyard Worker" and "Radiation" or on "Radiation Hormesis". Here's a start

Reference:

Mapping the mysteries of the mind

"What we did is a series of experiments in which we were trying to look at functional asymmetry in men and women of homosexual orientation, compared to a matched group of heterosexuals. And what we found was a two to one ratio. There was a very high incidence of people who were not consistently right handed among the gay people." - Exploring your brain

Offtopic = Yes
Intent = Funny

The loss of Mt. Stromlo Observatory facility is very great loss.

A number of the obvious sites related to Stromlo are down, due to the fire or due to the wide spread power outages in the area. I will make links to indirect and cached pages.

Established in 1924, the Commonwealth Observatory at Mount Stromlo, on the outskirts of Canberra. Commonwealth Observatory was recognized for its important research into the origin and future of the universe.

Astronomers at Mount Stromlo made outstanding contributions to astronomy. It would be difficult to list all of the important contributions to Astronomy made by the people working at Mt. Stromlo. Now, a few come to mind:

• Stromlo research in the 1950s provided the first clue that the Magellanic Clouds had evolved differently from our own galaxy. These results gave us important insights into galactic evolution.
• In the 1990's, astronomers from Stromlo and Sliding Springs (many km away from the fire area) showed that about 90% of disc galaxies (such as our own) are greatly influenced by ''dark matter'', in their galaxies' halos.
• They made important observations in the first hours after Supernova 1987A (the first naked eye supernova in several centuries of years) was discovered.
• Then there is the sort of work such as the Stromlo Abell Cluster Supernova Search
• The Massive Compact Halo Objects (Macho project that was the first to record many microlensing events in our Galaxy as well as in the LMC.
• Then there was all of that tedious, but vital work of spectral classification of southern stars.
• Many of the first parallax distances to Southern stars were first made at Stromlo.
• The list goes on and on ... I am sorry that I must leave out so many other significant contributions!

One of the principal instruments at Stromlo was the 74-inch (188-cm) reflecting telescope. The 74-inch telescope was erected in 1953, and until the completion in 1974 of the 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Spring, this was the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1982, it was used to discover the fossil star CD-38245: a star so old that it is made almost purely of gases left over from the big bang.

It also was home scopes such as the robotic 50-inch (127-cm). It was an excellent example of how an older telescope could be outfitted with new controls and instruments to perform innovative work. The MACHO project was conducted on the 50 inch.

Two historical scopes come to mind, the Oddie, and the Yale-Columbia telescope:

The Oddie, was a wonderful 9-inch Newtonian telescope. The Victorian MP, James Oddie, presented this telescope to the Commonwealth government for use in the proposed Commonwealth Observatory. It was installed on the site at "Mt Strom" (as Stromlo was originally known) in September 1911. Over the years the Oddie telescope has made valuable contributions to Southern Hemisphere astronomy; it did some of the first measurements of the brightness, color and spectral classification of southern stars.

The Yale-Columbia telescope, 26-inch Grubb long-focus refractor was erected at this site for the determination of parallaxes of southern stars (it was the largest refractor in the southern hemisphere when first installed.

Moreover, there were other scopes as well ... But alas, from what can be seen from the air at this time, most, if not all of those telescopes have been lost. At appears that heat from the burning of the nearby bush /trees was hot enough to melt many of the domes at the observatory.

The Canberra Astronomical Society used the Stromlo lecture hall for their monthly meetings. During public nights, the public had access to a domed C14 scope, the Oddie, and a number of scopes brought to the site by members ... all through the hard work and generous efforts of the Canberra Astronomical Society.

I had the privilege of observing at Mt Stromlo several times and spoke at one of the CAS meetings. I still can recall flying down from the US to a CAS member's home to see SN1987, . I was there only 36 hours after the naked eye supernova was first observed. I still recall seeing the single star, at a distance of over 168,000 light-years, change in color and rightness over the course of an evening. I was one of the most important astronomical events I have had the honor to witness. I recall that every scope up at Mt Stromlo was all pointed at the Large Magellanic Could where SN 1987A was blazing away. The previous observing board schedule was cancelled as people raced to collect as much early critical data as they could in the early hours of the event.

I had the privilege of being with the members of the Canberra Astronomical Society on two of my several total solar eclipses: 1991 in Hawaii, US and most recently the 2001 eclipse in Ceduna, AU.

(Both trips count among my several successful viewings of solar totality. Although the 1991 Hawaii was a close call that was saved because my friend (the one who introduced me to the CAS) broke his arm a very short time before the Eclipse ... which allowed both of us to have a full view of Totality in Hawaii ... but that is another story!)

My best wishes and heart felt sorrow go out to all of those people who worked so hard to make Mt. Stromlo such a wonderful place for the public to visit and who helped the observatory make many important contributions to Astronomy. Much of what was lost cannot be replaced. Still it is my hope that those who are left will be able to rebuild something anew out this tragedy.

The loss of Mt. Stromlo Observatory facility is very great loss.

A number of the obvious sites related to Stromlo are down, due to the fire or due to the wide spread power outages in the area. I will make links to indirect and cached pages.

Established in 1924, the Commonwealth Observatory at Mount Stromlo, on the outskirts of Canberra. Commonwealth Observatory was recognized for its important research into the origin and future of the universe.

Astronomers at Mount Stromlo made outstanding contributions to astronomy. It would be difficult to list all of the important contributions to Astronomy made by the people working at Mt. Stromlo. Now, a few come to mind:

• Stromlo research in the 1950s provided the first clue that the Magellanic Clouds had evolved differently from our own galaxy. These results gave us important insights into galactic evolution.
• In the 1990's, astronomers from Stromlo and Sliding Springs (many km away from the fire area) showed that about 90% of disc galaxies (such as our own) are greatly influenced by ''dark matter'', in their galaxies' halos.
• They made important observations in the first hours after Supernova 1987A (the first naked eye supernova in several centuries of years) was discovered.
• Then there is the sort of work such as the Stromlo Abell Cluster Supernova Search
• The Massive Compact Halo Objects (Macho project that was the first to record many microlensing events in our Galaxy as well as in the LMC.
• Then there was all of that tedious, but vital work of spectral classification of southern stars.
• Many of the first parallax distances to Southern stars were first made at Stromlo.
• The list goes on and on ... I am sorry that I must leave out so many other significant contributions!

One of the principal instruments at Stromlo was the 74-inch (188-cm) reflecting telescope. The 74-inch telescope was erected in 1953, and until the completion in 1974 of the 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Spring, this was the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1982, it was used to discover the fossil star CD-38245: a star so old that it is made almost purely of gases left over from the big bang.

It also was home scopes such as the robotic 50-inch (127-cm). It was an excellent example of how an older telescope could be outfitted with new controls and instruments to perform innovative work. The MACHO project was conducted on the 50 inch.

Two historical scopes come to mind, the Oddie, and the Yale-Columbia telescope:

The Oddie, was a wonderful 9-inch Newtonian telescope. The Victorian MP, James Oddie, presented this telescope to the Commonwealth government for use in the proposed Commonwealth Observatory. It was installed on the site at "Mt Strom" (as Stromlo was originally known) in September 1911. Over the years the Oddie telescope has made valuable contributions to Southern Hemisphere astronomy; it did some of the first measurements of the brightness, color and spectral classification of southern stars.

The Yale-Columbia telescope, 26-inch Grubb long-focus refractor was erected at this site for the determination of parallaxes of southern stars (it was the largest refractor in the southern hemisphere when first installed.

Moreover, there were other scopes as well ... But alas, from what can be seen from the air at this time, most, if not all of those telescopes have been lost. At appears that heat from the burning of the nearby bush /trees was hot enough to melt many of the domes at the observatory.

The Canberra Astronomical Society used the Stromlo lecture hall for their monthly meetings. During public nights, the public had access to a domed C14 scope, the Oddie, and a number of scopes brought to the site by members ... all through the hard work and generous efforts of the Canberra Astronomical Society.

I had the privilege of observing at Mt Stromlo several times and spoke at one of the CAS meetings. I still can recall flying down from the US to a CAS member's home to see SN1987, . I was there only 36 hours after the naked eye supernova was first observed. I still recall seeing the single star, at a distance of over 168,000 light-years, change in color and rightness over the course of an evening. I was one of the most important astronomical events I have had the honor to witness. I recall that every scope up at Mt Stromlo was all pointed at the Large Magellanic Could where SN 1987A was blazing away. The previous observing board schedule was cancelled as people raced to collect as much early critical data as they could in the early hours of the event.

I had the privilege of being with the members of the Canberra Astronomical Society on two of my several total solar eclipses: 1991 in Hawaii, US and most recently the 2001 eclipse in Ceduna, AU.

(Both trips count among my several successful viewings of solar totality. Although the 1991 Hawaii was a close call that was saved because my friend (the one who introduced me to the CAS) broke his arm a very short time before the Eclipse ... which allowed both of us to have a full view of Totality in Hawaii ... but that is another story!)

My best wishes and heart felt sorrow go out to all of those people who worked so hard to make Mt. Stromlo such a wonderful place for the public to visit and who helped the observatory make many important contributions to Astronomy. Much of what was lost cannot be replaced. Still it is my hope that those who are left will be able to rebuild something anew out this tragedy.

• Me!
• Brigitte Boisselier (info)
• Arnold Schwartzenegar (pic)
• Lance Bass (info)
• Sally Ride (pic)
• Team Gates (pic)
• Mike Meyers (pic)
• Space Coyboy Neal

Perhaps if they had a convertible... a hot-tub?

The Car Pool

If people started flooding across the border into Canada

Canada? That's no beter; those hosers don't even have freedom of speech. (Just teasing, my buddies to the north. Props to ya, eh?)

Look, if you're in a modern democracy and you don't like the laws, you try to make things better and get the laws changed, not just give up and move away. This is fundamental to the health of the democracy, and although it may at sometimes might seem like an uphill fight, it's a battle worth fighting.

Can't get to the site, but it sounds exactly like the program I graduated from. I was in the first graduating class, and I have to say if it wasn't for this program I would have never finished my engineering education.

The Engineering and Society program at McMaster is a 5 year program instead of the usual 4 for a standard engineering degree. You still "belong" to a particular branch of engineering (chemical in my case), but you spread the technical portion of your education over the entire 5 years, freeing up time for other areas of study. I studied anthropology and philosophy outside of engineering, as well as a number of targetted Engineering and Society courses on social impacts of technology, environmental issues, history of technology, etc. And these were far from bird courses, critical thought was stressed and the work load was high. Math and physics were for the most part easy for me, defending my arguments critically was hard. But it is the skill I took from university that I am most proud of.

For me, it was the best education I could have had. I'm good at the technical part, and always wanted to have a career in engineering. But I always had in mind that sometimes technology doesn't always make the world a better place. I think that as engineers, we need to have a broader world view of how what we do affects the world around us. Both the human societies and environment. Engineering education requires a huge amount of content, and in order to pack it all into 4 years, there isn't much room for anything else.

I think that anyone looking to get into engineering should look closely at programs like this, the extra year may seem like a lot now but the rewards in the end may far outweigh it.

Some links to info on Canadian crypto laws:

Electronic Frontier Canada's Crypto Page

A Notice to Exporters, part of the Canadian Export and Import Permits Act: "Export Controls on Cryptographic Goods"

A speech by John Manley from 1998, then the Minister of Industry: Canada's Cryptography Policy

The Canadian government's cryptography website: Cryptography/Cryptographie

I have somewhat of a stake in Canada's crypto laws, as I've been writting and maintaining a strong cryptography extension for PHP which uses the Crypto++ library. Of course, my code itself contains absolutely no cryptographic code, it just links to the aforementioned library, but still...

J

You simply cannot have the expectation that software will *NEVER* crash.

Umm, the aircraft and space industries certainly do.

You don't work in either, do you?

Certainly, they crash *less*, but they most certainly do crash (literally, in some cases), fail, give wrong outputs, etc. Flip through a few articles on the RISKs digest. Here's a few examples I found after a brief search

• Mariner 1 was destroyed by range safety because the ground computers had a bug in the radar tracking system
• The first Venus mission was blown up because of a missing hyphen in the code
• The first Ariane 5 launch failed due to a bug in converting FP to integer.
• The Patriot missile missed virtually every target in the Gulf War due to incorrect compensation for clock drift
• A Lauda Air 767 disintigrated in mid-air when a thrust reverser was accidentally deployed, either by computer malfunction or when the computers failed to prevent it.

That's the result of less than 5 minutes checking: have fun filling in more horror stories.

Software bugs happen: they always will. Testing can make them much less common, but anything more complicated than Hello World is probably going to have bugs.

Firstly, this is excellent news.

However, one thing that Sun must still address is how to increase their adoption in the corporate sector.

The reason why colleges are requested to stock Microsoft Office is that is what the businesses use to whom they are applying for jobs.

My last university, McMaster University used to stock nothing but Corel office (cheaper, helped to support a local business), but in about 1997, they bowed to student pressure to replace it with MS Office since the commerce/science/arts/etc students wanted to have the "strong proficiency with advanced Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Access" on their resumes to compete for their jobmarkets.

Echo cancellation is a classic application of adaptive filters. Every reference ever published on the subject discusses it. I like Haykin's book myself.

I just did a search on Google and came up with 4000 references.

The underlying theory is pretty hairy, but the implementation of an algorithm like LMS is straightforward.

...laura

PGP was free from the start, just check out the license of PGP 2.6.3. But even if it starts free, copyright holders can turn their package into a non-free status in later releases.

Steve went to McMaster U for his undergrad degree. Here's a little info on what he did. That picture from '87 is classic.

two years ago he did a talk on his research. it was great. although, he was quite awkward and it appeared as if he had little patience for questions. he might have been having a bad day, but the question period after was very tense.

nevertheless, he adds alot of credibility to my school.

Steve went to McMaster U for his undergrad degree. Here's a little info on what he did. That picture from '87 is classic.

two years ago he did a talk on his research. it was great. although, he was quite awkward and it appeared as if he had little patience for questions. he might have been having a bad day, but the question period after was very tense.

nevertheless, he adds alot of credibility to my school.

Canada already has software engineering as a true engineering discipline. McMaster University which I currently attend in S.E. has a program that has been accredited by the Professional Engineers Ontario. Our department is led by Dr. David Parnas, one of the fathers of software engineering (read the Mythical Man-Month by F. P. Brooks or Software Fundamentals by D. Parnas) Many other canadian universities are following with their own S.E. programs including the very strong in computer science University of Waterloo, the world renowned McGill University of Montreal and many others.

• Last time this came up here I believe the firm consensus was that the
• 
  Erasmatron is not particularly interesting and the demonstration games are
  terribly embarrassing. Crawford is about 15 years too late, for a start.
  
  For more interesting and worthwhile work related to IF and personality
  I'd look at Emily Short's Galatea or Adam Cadre's Varicella.
  

because gambling and loteries are (as someones sig puts it) it "a tax on stupidity"

The epigram is by William Petty (1623 - 1687) that lotteries are "a tax upon unfortunate self-conceited fools; men that have good opinion of their own luckiness."

For the sake of the fools, it is unfortunate the Australia is banning Australian casinos from establishing online gambling sites because the well-regulated Australian casinos would at least ensure an honest game.

Even more foolish than gambling is gambling at an unregulated casino, particularly an online casino where a computer program determines the payout according to the dictates of a programmer, rather than the laws of chance.

Some unregulated online casinos try to establish some credibility by having their payouts certified by an accounting firm. However, the firm may only perform an analysis of the Web log, not the company books. Presumably an online casino that had a dishonest gambling program would know how to modify their Web logs.

In fact, this auditing method is so weak that it makes one suspicious why it was chosen or why a reputable accounting firm would pretend that it indicating anything about the site's honesty.

It's as if a company could be audited by compiling its own balance sheet and having the outside accountant check the arithmetic.

The court said that while they found the drawings disgusting and that they should be banned, it would be impossible for them to rule that they're illegal because that's one step away from declaring that a person's thoughts are under the control of the law.

The law, however, remains on the books. There is precedent as a result of this case and Eli Langer's problems with the Toronto authorities (Langer was the first person arrested under the law, and it took him two years to get clear), but the fact remains that people can still be arrested on the grounds that they made up and drew a prepubescent couple doing something naughty.

Sure if you don't want to be able to read books on vegetarianism, homosexuality, erotica, beat literature, or BDSM. Not a good place for comics either.

Not that there is any perfect place but I would lose a lot of my books & Comics going through customs.

(a) freedom of conscience and religion

(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other means of communication.

(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

(d) freedom of association.

So just come out and say it, Eccles.

FOAD.

Well, you're obviously smart enough to tell the difference between English literature and kiddie porn -- you gave this outrageous example. Don't you think anyone else is capable as well?

Anyone? Yes. Everyone? No. Do a web search on "Romeo Juliet banned books"; I recommend Google. The guidelines here say "child pornography", with absolutely no information on what qualifies as such. Note also that "Romeo and Juliet" contains a double suicide, thus falling even further in violation of these guidelines.

But if I even question that the guidelines might be too vague, and I get dimwits like you libelling me.

I leave you with the following
web site to read. You can skip to the 1990s.

Try donating close to home : EFF Canada

I've got a copy of the code on my web page at: computers.html
I've also got the song version there. It may be inaccessible, since the university DNS server is down though.

Quite a while back someone posted the decss source code as a story (don't recall who wrote it). Here it is:(sorry about the poor formatting)
*******************
NOTE: This story is licenced under the GPL version 2.
It is a dark and stormy night in a dark and stormy town. Tonight we find ourselves looking apon Dick and Jane, two programmers bundled up by the fire discussing current events:
"So, Jane, how was your day?" says Dick.
"Oh, fine. You know, I just heard about this interesting program that is creating quite a fuss." says Jane, "It is called 'css_descramble.c'.".
"Wow," Dick enthused, "I have heard of it. My buddy kept talking about it. He couldn't stop mentioning how it was...how did he put it? Ah yes, 'Released under the version 2 of the GPL and Copyright 1999 Derek Fawcus'".
Jane jumped with joy. "I am so glad you have heard of it. I happen to have a copy. Here, look. The very first thing it does is '#include <stdio.h>' then it has '#include <string.h>'."
"You are right, but you forgot '#include "css-descramble.h"'" Dick admonished.
Jane blushed, "Silly me. Well, we should have a look at the code. It seems to start with 'typedef unsigned char byte;'. Then it moves right along to an array. What is that? Oh, 'static byte csstab1[256]={'"
"I know!" Dick blurted, "lets play a number game! I will say a bunch of numbers, then you can repeat the numbers. Ready? '0x33,0x73,0x3b,0x26,0x63,0x23,0x6b,0x76,0x3e,0x7e ,0x36,0x2b,0x6e,0x2e,0x66,0x7b,'"
"Hmmm...that is one long list of numbers...let me see. Was it, ' 0xd3,0x93,0xdb,0x06,0x43,0x03,0x4b,0x96,0xde,0x9e, 0xd6,0x0b,0x4e,0 x0e,0x46,0x9b,'?"
Dick frowned, "That is completely wrong! Well, let me try again, '0x57,0x17,0x5f,0x82,0xc7,0x87,0xcf,0x12,0x5a,0x1a ,0x52,0x8f,0xca,0x8 a,0xc2,0x1f,'"
Jane furrowed her brow, "I think I can do this one, '0xd9,0x99,0xd1,0x00,0x49,0x09,0x41,0x90,0xd8,0x98 ,0xd0,0x01,0x48,0x08,0x40,0x91,'? "
"Wow!" dick exclamed, "You suck! Third time is the charm: '0x3d,0x7d,0x35,0x24,0x6d,0x2d,0x65,0x74,0x3c,0x7c ,0x34,0x25,0x6c,0x2c,0x64, 0x75,'. Got it?
"I think so," Jane said, "Is it '0xdd,0x9d,0xd5,0x04,0x4d,0x0d,0x45,0x94,0xdc,0x9c ,0xd4,0x05,0x4c,0x0c,0x44,0x95,'?"
Dick scowled, "No, no, no! It is, '0x59,0x19,0x51,0x80,0xc9,0x89,0xc1,0x10,0x58,0x18 ,0x50,0x81,0xc8,0x88,0xc0,0x11,' or is it, '0xd7,0 x97,0xdf,0x02,0x47,0x07,0x4f,0x92,0xda,0x9a,0xd2,0 x0f,0x4a,0x0a,0x42,0x9f,'? That is not right. It could have been, '0x53,0x13,0x5b,0x86 ,0xc3,0x83,0xcb,0x16,0x5e,0x1e,0x56,0x8b,0xce,0x8e ,0xc6,0x1b,0xb3,0xf3,0xbb,0xa6,0xe3,0xa3 ,0xeb,0xf6,0xbe,0xfe,0xb6,0xab,0xee,0xae,0xe6,0x fb,0x37,0x77,0x3f,0x22,0x67,0x27,0x6f,0x72,0x3a,0x 7a,0x32,0x2f,0x6a,0x2a,0x62,0x7f,'. No that is too many letters...."
"I remember!" Jane interupted "It is '0xb9,0xf9,0xb1,0xa0,0xe9,0xa9,0xe1,0xf0,0xb8,0xf8 ,0xb0,0xa1,0xe8,0xa8,0xe0,0xf1,0x5d,0x1d ,0x55,0x 84,0xcd,0x8d,0xc5,0x14,0x5c,0x1c,0x54,0x85,0xcc,0x 8c,0xc4,0x15,'. Well, either that or '0xbd,0xfd,0xb5,0xa4,0xed,0xad,0xe5,0xf4,0xbc,0xfc ,0xb4,0xa5,0xec,0xac,0xe4,0xf5,0x39,0x79,0x31,0x20 ,0x69,0x29,0x61,0x70,0x38,0x78,0x30,0x21 ,0x68,0x28,0x60,0x71,0xb7,0xf7,0xbf,0xa2,0xe7,0x a7,0xef,0xf2,0xba,0xfa,0xb2,0xaf,0xea,0xaa,0xe2,0x ff'"
"Boy, that was harder than I thought." Dick sighed. Where were we in the code? Ah yes, '};static byte lfsr1_bits0[256]={'".
"You skipped a bunch" said Jane, "Besides, I am still not ready to look at that again. I feel like counting. In hex! '0x00,0x01,0x02,0x03,0x04,0x05,0x06,0x07,0x09,0x08 ,0x0b,0x0a,0x0d,0x0c,0x0f,0x0e,0x12,0x13 ,0x1 0,0x11,0x16,0x17,0x14,0x15,0x1b,0x1a,0x19,0x18,0x1 f,0x1e,0x1d,0x1c,0x24,0x25,0x26,0x27,0x2 0,0x21,0x22,0x23,0x2d,0x2c,0x2f,0x2e,0x29,0x28,0 x2b,0x2a,0x36,0x37,0x34,0x35,0x32,0x33,0x30,0x31,0 x3f,0x3e,0x3d,0x3c,0x3b,0x3a,0x39,0x38,0 x49,0x48,0x4b,0x4a,0x4d,0x4c,0x4f,0x4e,0x40,0x41 ,0x42,0x43,0x44,0x45,0x46,0x47,0x5b,0x5a,0x59,0x58 ,0x5f,0x5e,0x5d,0x5c,0x52,0x53,0x50,0x51 ,0x56,0x57,0x54,0x55,0x6d,0x6c,0x6f,0x6e,0x69,0x 68,0x6b,0x6a,0x64,0x65,0x66,0x67,0x60,0x61,0x62,0x 63,0x7f,0x7e,0x7d,0x7c,0x7b,0x7a,0x79,0x 78,0x76,0x77,0x74,0x75,0x72,0x73,0x70,0x71,0x92, 0x93,0x90,0x91,0x96,0x97,0x94,0x95,0x9b,0x9a,0x99, 0x98,0x9f,0x9e,0x9d,0x9c,0x80,0x81,0x82, 0x83,0x84,0x85,0x86,0x87,0x89,0x88,0x8b,0x8a,0x8 d,0x8c,0x8f,0x8e,0xb6,0xb7,0xb4,0xb5,0xb2,0xb3,0xb 0,0xb1,0xbf,0xbe,0xbd,0xbc,0xbb,0xba,0xb 9,0xb8,0xa4,0xa5,0xa6,0xa7,0xa0,0xa1,0xa2,0xa3,0 xad,0xac,0xaf,0xae,0xa9,0xa8,0xab,0xaa,0xdb,0xda,0 xd9,0xd8,0xdf,0xde,0xdd,0xdc,0xd2,0xd3,0 xd0,0xd1,0xd6,0xd7,0xd4,0xd5,0xc9,0xc8,0xcb,0xca ,0xcd,0xcc,0xcf,0xce,0xc0,0xc1,0xc2,0xc3,0xc4,0xc5 ,0xc6,0xc7,0xff,0xfe,0xfd,0xfc,0xfb,0xfa ,0xf9,0xf8,0xf6,0xf7,0xf4,0xf5,0xf2,0xf3,0xf0,0x f1,0xed,0xec,0xef,0xee,0xe9,0xe8,0xeb,0xea,0xe4,0x e5,0xe6,0xe7,0xe0,0xe1,0xe2,0xe3'"
When jane finished she looked exausted. As she collapsed, she uttered the cryptic phrase, '};static byte lfsr1_bits1[512]={'.
Dick slapped Jane back to consciousness. "You counted wrong. You are delerious. Repeat these numbers until you feel better, '0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24 ,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,' "
Jane smiled, "Numbers always make me feel better. I will repeat those numbers, '0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24 ,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24 ,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x2 4,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6 d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6 d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0 xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0 xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0 xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00 ,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49 ,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49 ,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x 92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0x db,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0x db,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff, 0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24, 0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24, 0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6 d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb 6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb 6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0 xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0 x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0 x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49 ,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92 ,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92 ,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0x db,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x 00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x 00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24, 0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d, 0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d, 0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb 6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xf f,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xf f,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0 x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0 x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0 x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92 ,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb ,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb ,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x 00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x 49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x 49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d, 0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6, 0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6, 0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xf f,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x2 4,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x2 4,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0 x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0 xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0 xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb ,0xff'"
"'};static byte bit_reverse[256]={'," Dick swore. "That gave me a headache."
But Jane still continued to repeat the numbers, So Dick was forced to drown Jane out with his own numbers, "Two can play at that game, '0x00,0x80,0x40,0xc0,0x20,0xa0,0x60,0xe0,0x10,0x90 ,0x50,0xd0,0x30,0xb0,0x70,0xf0,0x08,0x88 ,0x48,0xc8,0x28,0xa8,0x68,0xe8,0x18,0x98,0x58,0x d8,0x38,0xb8,0x78,0xf8,0x04,0x84,0x44,0xc4,0x24,0x a4,0x64,0xe4,0x14,0x94,0x54,0xd4,0x34,0x b4,0x74,0xf4,0x0c,0x8c,0x4c,0xcc,0x2c,0xac,0x6c, 0xec,0x1c,0x9c,0x5c,0xdc,0x3c,0xbc,0x7c,0xfc,0x02, 0x82,0x42,0xc2,0x22,0xa2,0x62,0xe2,0x12, 0x92,0x52,0xd2,0x32,0xb2,0x72,0xf2,0x0a,0x8a,0x4 a,0xca,0x2a,0xaa,0x6a,0xea,0x1a,0x9a,0x5a,0xda,0x3 a,0xba,0x7a,0xfa,0x06,0x86,0x46,0xc6,0x2 6,0xa6,0x66,0xe6,0x16,0x96,0x56,0xd6,0x36,0xb6,0 x76,0xf6,0x0e,0x8e,0x4e,0xce,0x2e,0xae,0x6e,0xee,0 x1e,0x9e,0x5e,0xde,0x3e,0xbe,0x7e,0xfe,0 x01,0x81,0x41,0xc1,0x21,0xa1,0x61,0xe1,0x11,0x91 ,0x51,0xd1,0x31,0xb1,0x71,0xf1,0x09,0x89,0x49,0xc9 ,0x29,0xa9,0x69,0xe9,0x19,0x99,0x59,0xd9 ,0x39,0xb9,0x79,0xf9,0x05,0x85,0x45,0xc5,0x25,0x a5,0x65,0xe5,0x15,0x95,0x55,0xd5,0x35,0xb5,0x75,0x f5,0x0d,0x8d,0x4d,0xcd,0x2d,0xad,0x6d,0x ed,0x1d,0x9d,0x5d,0xdd,0x3d,0xbd,0x7d,0xfd,0x03, 0x83,0x43,0xc3,0x23,0xa3,0x63,0xe3,0x13,0x93,0x53, 0xd3,0x33,0xb3,0x73,0xf3,0x0b,0x8b,0x4b, 0xcb,0x2b,0xab,0x6b,0xeb,0x1b,0x9b,0x5b,0xdb,0x3 b,0xbb,0x7b,0xfb,0x07,0x87,0x47,0xc7,0x27,0xa7,0x6 7,0xe7,0x17,0x97,0x57,0xd7,0x37,0xb7,0x7 7,0xf7,0x0f,0x8f,0x4f,0xcf,0x2f,0xaf,0x6f,0xef,0 x1f,0x9f,0x5f,0xdf,0x3f,0xbf,0x7f,0xff'"
At this, Jane opened her eyes wide, she began shaking and speaking in tounges. "Bloogle said, '};static void css_titlekey(byte *key, byte *im, byte invert){unsigned int lfsr1_lo,lfsr1_hi,lfsr0,combined;byte o _lfsr0, o_lfsr1;byte k[5];int i;lfsr1_lo = im[0] | 0x100;lfsr1_hi = im[1];lfsr0 = ((im[4] >8)&0xff] >16)&0xff]>24)&0xff];'" Jane said as she rolled her eyes. "Lograth told Jane, 'combined = 0;for (i = 0; i >1;lfsr1_lo = ((lfsr1_lo&1)>8)^lfsr0)>>1)^lfsr0 )>>3)^lfsr0)>>7);lfsr0 = (lfsr0>>8)|(o_lfsr0 Dick looked concerned. He tried to calm her by reciting her favorite code segment, 'combined += (o_lfsr0 ^ invert) + o_lfsr1;k[i] = combined & 0xff;combined >>= 8;}'" His voice cresendoed as he reached the heigh t of the epic function, 'key[4]=k[4]^csstab1[key[4]]^key[3];key[3]=k[3]^cs stab1[key[3]]^key[2];key[2]=k[2]^csstab1 [key[2]]^key[1];key[1]=k[1]^csstab1[ke y[1]]^key[0];key[0]=k[0]^csstab1[key[0]]^key[4];ke y[4]=k[4]^csstab1[key[4]]^key[3];key[3]= k[3]^csstab1[key[3]]^key[2];key[2]=k[2]^csstab1[ key[2]]^key[1];key[1]=k[1]^csstab1[key[1]]^key[0]; key[0]=k[0]^csstab1[key[0]];}'"
Jane relaxed vissibly. At that point there was a knock at the door. Dick got up to answer it.
"Oh dear," said Dick. Jane rushed to see the problem.
At the door was a a robot gone awry. "Illegal function." It said in monotone, 'int css_decrypttitlekey(byte *tkey, byte *dkey, struct pl aykey **pkey){byte test[5], pretkey[5];int i = 0;for (; *pkey; ++pkey, ++i) {memcpy(pretkey, dkey + (*pkey)->offset, 5);css_titlekey(pretk ey, (*pkey)->key, 0);' Illegal function, 'memcpy(test, dkey, 5);css_titlekey(test, pretkey, 0);if (memcmp(test, pretkey, 5) == 0) {fprintf(stderr, "Using Key %d\n", i+1);break;}}i f (!*pkey) {fprintf(stderr, "Shit - Need Key %d\n", i+1);return 0;}css_titlekey(tkey, pretkey, 0xff);return 1;}' violates rules. Illegal function."
"Illegal function. What do you suppose it means?" wondered Jane.
"Hmm..." said Dick. "Lets see if we can fix the robot with some new instructions."
"Robot, enter command mode" Ordered Dick.
"By using this robot you agree not to reverse engineer, distribute, rent, or use this robot for purposes not explicitly..."
"Whatever," Dick interupted as he pressed the glowing accept button on the torso of the robot, "Robot, enter command mode."
"Ready for commands"
"Command: 'void css_descramble(byte *sec,byte *key){unsigned int lfsr1_lo,lfsr1_hi,lfsr0,combined;unsigned char o_lfsr0, o_lfsr1;unsigne d char *end = sec + 0x800;#define SALTED(i) (key[i] ^ sec[0x54 + (i)])'" Dick paused for a breath, "'lfsr1_lo = SALTED(0) | 0x100;lfsr1_hi = SALTED(1);lfsr0 = ((SALTED(4) >8)&0xff] >16)&0xff]>24)&0xff];sec+=0x80;combined = 0;while (se c != end) {o_lfsr1 = lfsr1_bits0[lfsr1_hi] ^ lfsr1_bits1[lfsr1_lo];lfsr1_hi = lfsr1_lo>>1;lfsr1_lo = ((lfsr1_lo&1) "Illegal command," the robot repeated. "Error code: 'o_lfsr0 = (((((((lfsr0>>8)^lfsr0)>>1)^lfsr0)>>3)^lfsr0)>>7); lfsr0 = (lfsr0>>8)|(o_l fsr0 "Hmm," said Jane. "Let me try. Robot, enter command mode"
"Ready for commands" droned the robot.
"Command: '*sec++ = csstab1[*sec] ^ (combined&0xff);combined >>= 8;}}' End command."
At this point the robot did something very frightening. It blew up. Dick and Jane shielded thier eyes. When they were finally able to see again, they were shocked by what lay before their eyes. When the robot exploded, it released thousands of fliers. The fliers flew for miles around. On each flyer the reader was greeted with the source code for a program. The program was DeCSS.

***********

Such systems do exist, but how they do it us a mystery. Check out the bookstore at McMaster in Canada. They can do it. Why can't we?

Closer to home, a friend who works at a local programming-house regaled me with the tale of how they had to send a PC Stateside to be checked out (they write device drivers for high-end video-capture systems, and any serious hardware issues have to be dealt with by the manufacturer's techies); when it was returned, they discovered that the kids at Customs had opened it up (maybe they were searching for contraband copies of Omaha the Cat Dancer), let it get about half-filled with styrofoam packing peanuts (you know, the ones that hold a charge for longer than your average battery), and then put the case back on-- securing it with one of the originally six screws (perhaps they caught the other five portraying prurient images of anal sex). Needless to say, my friend and his co-workers were furious (and rather fortunate that the system was still functioning).

Now, back to the topic. Am I surprised that HR has a database like that? Not at all. Am I surprised by any numb-witted stunt that any Canadian political organization does? Not at all. Do I trust them not to fsck up, and distribute my data to anyone who asks? Again, not at all. Is anything going to be done about it? Nope-- unless, of course, someone wants to stage a daring night-time commando raid to destroy their hard-drives and backups (assuming, of course, that their database doesn't still only exist in hard-copy). Am I angry about this? You betcha. I don't collect air-miles, I surf with an old copy of Atguard, and I pay for almost everything with cash-- granted, it's a bit more of a pain, and I'm not getting the "rewards" that I could be, but since I'm trying to reduce my trail (both paper and electronic), I feel that I have some right to complain about the skulduggery being perpetrated on me.

Finally, I have one question: what is going to happen to this database? Will it be shared with other agencies (perhaps to "reduce redundancy")? Will it be (gods forbid) sold to a third party? Or are they going to post all of it to the net, like Canada411?

OpenBSD notes on the Canadian Export Control List
Here is a link to where Marc Plumb has drawn some general conclusions about exporting crypto from Canada
It appears that crypto that is public domain has absolutely no restriction as far as the Canadian Government is concerned, but if it originated from the USA, then it has to be approved, and if its not public domain (free) then a permit must be acquired. Interesting to see that the US gov has charged people for exporting crypto from Canada. (Canadian and american?)
Oh, and I'm a high tax paying Canadian myself.

OpenBSD notes on the Canadian Export Control List
Here is a link to where Marc Plumb has drawn some general conclusions about exporting crypto from Canada
It appears that crypto that is public domain has absolutely no restriction as far as the Canadian Government is concerned, but if it originated from the USA, then it has to be approved, and if its not public domain (free) then a permit must be acquired. Interesting to see that the US gov has charged people for exporting crypto from Canada. (Canadian and american?)
Oh, and I'm a high tax paying Canadian myself.

The Colossu s machine (used to break the German's "FISH" code during World War II is (in my opinion) one of the greatest hacks. The complexity of the project and the speed at which they brought it to light is admirable, and quite amazing to boot. All designed by a postmaster, too. Who knew?