Slashdot Mirror

Here are some better ones.

MSNBC
Wired

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17805134/

Exactly what it says and is currently running.

magi:/home/peter $ pfexec snoop host 10.0.0.167
Using device /dev/rtls0 (promiscuous mode)
10.0.0.167 -> magi.intranet.lan TCP D=3128 S=49248 Syn Seq=2626883403 Len=0 Win=8192 Options=
magi.intranet.lan -> 10.0.0.167 TCP D=49248 S=3128 Syn Ack=2626883404 Seq=123510362 Len=0 Win=49640 Options=
10.0.0.167 -> magi.intranet.lan TCP D=3128 S=49248 Ack=123510363 Seq=2626883404 Len=0 Win=16425
10.0.0.167 -> magi.intranet.lan TCP D=3128 S=49248 Push Ack=123510363 Seq=2626883404 Len=409 Win=16425
magi.intranet.lan -> 10.0.0.167 TCP D=49248 S=3128 Ack=2626883813 Seq=123510363 Len=0 Win=49640
magi.intranet.lan -> 10.0.0.167 TCP D=49248 S=3128 Push Ack=2626883813 Seq=123510363 Len=843 Win=49640
10.0.0.167 -> magi.intranet.lan TCP D=3128 S=49248 Ack=123511206 Seq=2626883813 Len=0 Win=16214
magi.intranet.lan -> 10.0.0.167 TCP D=49248 S=3128 Fin Ack=2626883813 Seq=123511206 Len=0 Win=49640
10.0.0.167 -> magi.intranet.lan TCP D=3128 S=49248 Ack=123511207 Seq=2626883813 Len=0 Win=16214
10.0.0.167 -> magi.intranet.lan TCP D=3128 S=49248 Rst Ack=123511207 Seq=2626883813 Len=0 Win=0

The 'magi' is my main Solaris server, port 3128 is the port used by the Java webproxy. These logs were created while I was simply checking the control panel and device properties on the Vista box. The proxy server logs show this:

10.0.0.167 - - [22/Jul/2007:23:34:25 +0200] "POST http://sqm.microsoft.com/sqm/windows/sqmserver.dll HTTP/1.1" 403 0 403 0 472 472 162 353 206 261 0
10.0.0.167 - - [22/Jul/2007:23:34:25 +0200] "POST http://sqm.microsoft.com/sqm/windows/sqmserver.dll HTTP/1.1" 403 0 403 0 472 472 162 353 206 286 0
10.0.0.167 - - [22/Jul/2007:23:34:26 +0200] "POST http://sqm.microsoft.com/sqm/windows/sqmserver.dll HTTP/1.1" 403 0 403 0 472 472 162 353 206 261 0
10.0.0.167 - - [22/Jul/2007:23:34:26 +0200] "POST http://sqm.microsoft.com/sqm/windows/sqmserver.dll HTTP/1.1" 403 0 403 0 472 472 162 353 206 261 0
10.0.0.167 - - [22/Jul/2007:23:40:18 +0200] "GET http://money.service.msn.com/StockQuotes.aspx?v=1& symbols=$NL:AEX,NL:GTN,NL:JETIX,NL:KPN HTTP/1.1" 200 465 200 465 - - 409 378 449 304 0

OH NOES! Vista is trading on the stock market without me knowing, MS is stealing my money!!!
And now for the people who don't believe in fairytales: the only thing it did was polling from time to time to get recent information. My Vista's sidebar is keeping track of a few stock funds. Next to that it seems to be downloading "sqmserver.dl

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19764563/

Here's the first clue: that's not the Terms of Use that you receive if you actually click the Terms link ON Hotmail!

As such, because that's not linked from Hotmail, it does not apply to Hotmail. Here is the Terms that apply to Hotmail.

When laptops get really low in price ($50), it has been known to cause riots in the ghettos,...

Shit.

The executive is not rewriting property law. It is making clear that assets used to further a war are subject to seizure, as they have always been in wartime and getting a move on a program to do just that. It's about time.

Huh. I read some news before I came here. I saw an article about a letter "written by an undersecretary of defense named Eric Edelman" which states:

"Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq," Edelman writes, "reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia."

Edelman adds: "Such talk understandably unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks."

So, combining that letter and this new ruling, is Bush about to take away Hilary's 36 million dollar campaign war chest? Chilling, indeed...

It looks like this research is already being torn to pieces:

"John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison says the paper is mistaken. A major flaw is that the current research is largely based on skull variability. "You can't find the origin of people by measuring the variability of their skulls," Hawks said.

"Differences in skull features are related to genetics, and genetic variation depends on how much mixing occurs with other populations. "The main problem with the paper is that it takes some assumptions from genetics papers of 10 to 15 years ago that we now know are wrong," Hawks said.

"Other scenarios, besides the single-origin theory, could account for the link between distance and skull variability. "Africa is ecologically diverse, and cranial variation is a function of environments," he said. In environments supporting hardy foods such as roots, people would need bigger jaw muscles, and thus larger areas for muscle attachments.

"Also, correcting for climate is not a good idea, according to Hawks. "The most important feature that is related to climate is skull size. So by correcting for climate, they are subtracting a major component of variability," he said.

"In his own research, Hawks is finding that natural selection has led to changes in thousands of genes during only the past few thousand years.

"I'm really thinking just the opposite of this paper," Hawks said. "There are differences in the skull between populations, including their variability, but it is mostly due to very recent effects and not the origin of modern humans."

"At the end of the day, a resolution to the "Out of Africa" debate may be impossible, he said. Most of the evidence can be interpreted as supporting both human-origins theories. "It's really hard to find observations that distinguish the two," Hawks said.

"The multiregional idea is identical to the recent African origin idea, except for its prediction that Europeans and Asians were part of the single population of origin and didn't become extinct."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19762050/site/newsweek /

and just think, those muslim madmen have their claws in europe now too.

You can die drinking water, not drowning, just drinking. If you drink enough (it is extremely hard to do but you can do it) you'll dilute the electrolytes in your body to the point it can't function, and you will die.

Indeed:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16614865/

It could have something to do with how rising temperatures can cause death.

Or it could be related to fears that rising temperatures may cause higher rates of mosquito born illnesses.

There is also evidence pointing to more potent and prevalent poison ivy.

Let's not forget rising rates of asthma, food supply problems, increasing number and severity of natural disasters, mass extinction and global economic collapse.

All of those are related to our health in one way or another--even the extinction of species. Consider it the global equivalent of the canaries in mine shafts.

So the fact that the majority of Americans believe in a higher power hurts America? I fail to see the reasoning in that. Even if you don't believe in a god I fail to see how you are hurt by others who do. You might be annoyed, you might have to put up with people talking about it, you might even have to put up with your politicians making laws based on it.

I don't understand how following a religion is an act of "stupidiy or ignorance". It's a choice that most people have made and are happy with it. While I happen to not be religious, I believe it is significant when more than 90% choose to be. It doesn't hurt me at all, it doesn't even bother me.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17879317/site/newsweek / - More than 90% of American adults believe in some religious deity.

It's cheaper, and given the failure rate of cloning with mammals, a lot more cost effective I'd think.

SNU may have ways to keep the costs down -

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10587038/

Hey it may work out for the herpes

This price drop indicates that Sony is in a desperate situation. Sony has seriously slipped up here and needs to pull out all the stops in order to catch up with this next gen battle. Let's review what is going on here:

1) Cost - Sony really botched up with the cost. No matter what fellow geeks out there say - $599 is way too much for somebody like me. The average gamer isn't able to generate that kind of income. Remember Neo Geo? It was technology advanced, but nobody was willing to fork over $700 for the system, $100 per game, and $200 for games. This is EXACTLY the same mistake Sony is making with the $599 price tag. Now that it is down to $499, it MAY be able to catch up.

2) Games - Sony has blatenly ignored the gamers out there, both causal and hard core. So far there has been nothing to justify the cost of the system. Also, Sony has lost most of its "exclusive titles". Meanwhile Microsoft and Nintendo have created games that newbs, casual and hardcore gamers enjoy. Sony's only justification? Ridge Racer and giant enemy crabs http://lexluthorbeating.ytmnd.com/....

3) Wii - The Wii has had a strong head start. Outselling PS3 almost 7 to 1 in Japan will give Sony alot of work ahead of it. Sony needs to find a weakness in the Wii's momentum to stop it. However, that may be akin to trying to find a weakness in Fort Knoxx...

4) Blu-Ray - This whole deal with the next-gen DVD format is way too soon. Not everybody can rush out there and get the next big thing... Most wait till they have to get it before switching and, despite what a lot think, not everybody has even made the switch to regular DVD...

To sum this all up - Sony has their work cut out for them because of the starting blunders. IF they want to suceed with this, they need to make games that people WANT to play. Funny bit is - Wii is making a profit with each sale and despite a lot of defective 360s, is still going strong. A good site to look at is at http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Ext ra/SonySlashesPlayStationThreePrice.aspx

Yeah, exactly. What abuses of the PATRIOT Act? Nothing to see here.

The reason cops do that is because they don't know if the occupants of the car are going to start shooting. Every cop knows that their life could be on the line during a "routine traffic stop". This seems only prudent, and isn't at all comparable to this sort of surveillance (which I definitely disapprove of).

Heh, in the people's republic of California, not only do they NOT not look, they give it to the
state at the drop of a hat. California has changed the laws over the years, to define "abandoned" down from 15 to 7, and now just 3 years.

DISCLAIMER: I am a former MSFTie and I held an R&D position, although not in MSR. This is all speculation on my part and not based on any tangible insider info...

Some thoughts:
0. This sounds more like a development lab than an expansion of MSR. More and more the company is expanding its research away from MSR and into product groups. See Live Labs or adCenter labs as good examples.
1. MSFT pays good money for top-tier programmers and developers- more salary and better benefits than you'll find just about anywhere. Add to this the cost of relocating international researchers and it's mind-boggling to think about how much money they throw at attracting talent.
2. Vancouver is a natural choice to locate a new facility- high quality of life, proximity to Redmond, and most importantly a relatively deep talent pool- *especially in game programming*. MSFT is one of the few kids on the block that can compete directly with EA for top talent and it makes sense to set up shop in their back yard. There's no indication that this will be a game studio but I'd put some money on that bet.
3. MSFT can spin this as an immigration issue all they want, as it suits their political agenda, but the truth is that there is a large, growing, highly educated segment of the talent pool that has no interest in moving to the US, at any price.

As an aside, it is a common belief amongst Canuck MSFTies that there are more University of Waterloo grads at MSFT than any other alma mater. I don't know the actual numbers but I'm more than willing to believe it based on my encounters there. It would cost the company a whole lot less to relocate their annual recruits from Waterloo and other Canadian schools to a Canadian development center. Pardon me, centre, eh?

Hillside Memorial Park.

What? Too soon?

I suppose most of the world is observing the Biblical demand to love who you hate, then, because pervasive anti-American sentiment doesn't seem to have so much as caused a blip in the number of folks scrambling to immigrate to the US. ("US Immigration Boom Hits Record Levels", http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10440110/, Dec 12 2005 -- 12% of population now foreign born) I had this conversation with a Chinese researcher at my university once:

*snip long rant about the Bush administration*
Me: Wow, sounds like you are less than happy with the US.
Him: I hate everything the government stands for.
Me: Maybe you could go home to protest it? Send a letter to the Congressman and tell him thats why you're taking your PhD home with you.
Him: Are you "#$"% nuts?

And yes, thats what most immigrants feel like. There are occasional frustrations with living in America -- complaining about incompetent bureacrats is a well-established tradition for everybody, regardless of place of birth. (And the INS and its successor agencies are probably among the worst in the federal government.) But would large numbers of folks give up the tremendous opportunities living in America has over those frustrations? As my Chinese-accented colleague put it, are you "#$"# nuts?

The number of citizenship applications, one easy barometer of "So, how many of you folks want to hitch the rest of your lives to the United States of America?", is up 60% in four years. That is more than double the number when Clinton left office and a Dark Shadow Fell Across The Land. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/05/news/citize n.php

Also, I don't know if subtleties of domestic politics make it abroad that often, but while Dubya's Republican Party is often depicted as being anti-immigrant, and that might well be true for a large part of the party base (also true for a large portion of the Democratic base), Dubya is personally *extraordinarily* pro-immigration. He wanted comprehensive immigration reform, which would have included a mass legalization of illegal immigrants living in the US, to be his domestic legacy. It failed for a couple of reasons, including opposition from broad portions of the bases of both parties and absolutely incompetent political maneuvering. (I think that is distressingly common in the Bush administration, and I say this having voted for him twice.)

(Disclaimer: I'm actually an expat in Japan, but I feel like waving the flag a little bit this close to the Fourth of July. America should be justifiably proud of how it treats immigrants, in the main. The system has its fair share of issues, but its nothing intractable, and its so much better than Japan its not even funny.)

(P.P.S. On the general topic of the thread, to all Slashdotters who worry that the immigrants are forcing you into poverty: learn to compete. I got a degree in Japanese along with my IT skills, and now on either side of the Pacific for jobs which require a bilingual English/Japanese engineer I can compete quite favorably with folks making a tenth of my salary, because if they can't speak both languages than hiring ten of them still won't replace me. Languages are just one way you can make yourself something other than an interchangeable cog. Domain expertise, business skills, communication skills, a finance background, proficiency in obscure legacy technologies, jumping early onto new ships like the Ruby on Rails boomlet, etc, etc.)

Nope.
not true.
real simple now, please pay attention....

*******PLAME WAS A COVERT AGENT, WHEN OUTED, ACCORDING TO THE CIA *************

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18924679/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/06/08/AR2007060802478.html

Your dispute is with the CIA itself, and it's employee records.

***** Plame was a covert agent, according to the CIA.*******

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18924679/ [msn.com]

    May 29, 2007
WASHINGTON - An unclassified summary of outed CIA officer Valerie Plame's employment history at the spy agency, disclosed for the first time today in a court filing by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, indicates that Plame was "covert" when her name became public in July 2003.

***Obviously, Plame was not a covert agent at the time.***

Plame was a covert agent, according to the CIA.
The "she was just an office worker" meme is a lie, as revealing an office worker would not have had the desired effect of silencing a critic of the administration's war.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18924679/

  May 29, 2007
WASHINGTON - An unclassified summary of outed CIA officer Valerie Plame's employment history at the spy agency, disclosed for the first time today in a court filing by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, indicates that Plame was "covert" when her name became public in July 2003.

Nope - that is an Oxycontin inspired delusion there.
Time to start joining the "reality based" folks.
Plame was, in fact, under cover

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18924679/

The "she was an office worker" meme was a neocon BS line

I lie is a lie, no matter how much bold text you use. Plame was a covert CIA operative. To quote from an official document supplied by the CIA to clarify Plame's status:

"At the time of the initial unauthorized disclosure in the media of Ms. Wilsons employment relationship with the CIA on 14 July 2003, Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for whom the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States."

"When traveling overseas, Mz. Wilson always traveled under a cover identity, sometimes in true name and sometimes in alias -- but always using cover -- whether official or non-official (NOC) -- with no ostensible relationship to the CIA."

For the full document see:
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/07 0529_Unclassified_Plame_employement.pdf

She was an undercover agent for the CIA, and revealing her status did significant harm to the security of the country. To try and deny this fact is to put partisan politics ahead of the national well being. You are disgusting. By some measures, in a time of "war on terror", your position is close to traitorous.

How the fsck can this trip be modded Informative?
Do the facts somehow escape your whiney little prozac-deprived crypto-marxist terrorist-boot-licking please-beat-me-with-the-guilt-stick post-modernist text? Deconstruct the reality, twit:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14533384/site/newsweek /
Clinton was an idiot, the Starr investigation a joke, and the Libby chaser a punchline.
There was no serious pursuit of anything here. A bunch of lawyers mugged the American people for seven or eight figures worth of billable hours.
If Fitzgerald were any less competent, his name would be Nifong.

The answer is yes http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11179719/site/newsweek / [msn.com] Less Rush please

Plame WAS covert. See Plame employment report. You could also see MSNBC's commentary.

Plame WAS covert. See Plame employment report. You could also see MSNBC's commentary.

The CIA has explicitly stated that Plame was covert. See Plame employment report. You could also see MSNBC's commentary.

The CIA has explicitly stated that Plame was covert. See Plame employment report. You could also see MSNBC's commentary.

Um...Plame was covert http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11179719/site/newsweek / Scooter obstructed justice by lying under oath & by by refusing to name the traitors. He should be in jail. Rule of law, you know. Just sayin'

The unclassified summary of Plame's employment with the CIA at the time that syndicated columnist Robert Novak published her name on July 14, 2003 says, "Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for who the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States."

Plame worked as an operations officer in the Directorate of Operations and was assigned to the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) in January 2002 at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

The employment history indicates that while she was assigned to CPD, Plame, "engaged in temporary duty travel overseas on official business." The report says, "she traveled at least seven times to more than ten times." When overseas Plame traveled undercover, "sometimes in true name and sometimes in alias -- but always using cover -- whether official or non-official (NOC) -- with no ostensible relationship to the CIA."

If that were the case, there'd be news stories galore, all over CNN etc.

"But in a sign of strong initial demand, AT&T said it had sold almost all its phones within hours of the device going on sale at its 1,800 stores.

As for web availability, people are being quoted 2-4 weeks.

AT&T has stated that pre launch, 40% of the inquiries they received about the iPhone came from people currently on other service providers. Of course, that isn't very scientific, but it does give you an idea of who potential iPhone consumers are.

Linky

In short, just because your heart stops beating doesn't mean your cells are going to die anytime soon. Cells are undergoing (committing?) apoptosis when oxygen is reintroduced, after they have been deprived for 5 minutes or so.

If we could prevent apoptosis, we could conceivably restore life to a person who has been dead for hours. I wonder if that could time could be stretched even further under cold temperatures.

They should probably have a related reading link for the story posted in May regarding the discovered consequences of oxygen reperfusion in the human body.

Quick summary: Doctors and scientists are finding that the cells of the heart and brain are still alive after clinical death, but they go into a dormant state. Jolting them back with oxygen and adrenaline after 4-5 minutes seems to kill the otherwise still living cells. A trial run on 34 cardiac patients indicates a significant increase in CPR success when done in a very gradual and controlled manner after that 4-5 minute mark (about 80% success opposed to around 15% for traditional CPR techniques)

Does that mean you also wonder why McCain has yet to follow through and commit suicide, since the Dems won over 50% of the House and Senate in '06?

I don't know whether you're trying to provide an excuse for the fact that you don't know how to pronounce a common word or an excuse for why your president can't pronounce it. Look - nuculer is wrong, period. Do you also believe that protons and neutrons exist in the "nuculous" of an atom? Of course you don't.

Altruism triggers pleasure centers like a drug or sex, which means that we do altruistic acts for ourselves, not for others. So don't expect the OLPC folks to cry out over this one. The original OLPC group wanted to construe themselves as philanthropists, and now Intel and others are moving in to scoop up this "new market." There are no gifts without strings.

David Pogue, New York Times

- "so sleek and thin, it makes Treos and BlackBerrys look obese."
- After walking around with the iPhone unprotected for 2 weeks, no marks on it. Glass smudges are easily wiped off.
- 700 megabytes is occupied by the phone's software
- Making calls can be a 6 step process if phone is off.
- Web, Email is superior
- Battery Life Test: 5 hours video, 23 hours audio. Note: did not turn off Wi-Fi and other features as Apple suggests.
- Typing was OK. Difficult at first, but learned to "trust" the keyboard. "The BlackBerry won't be going away anytime soon."
- Cites AT&T network as iPhone's biggest downfall. Cites Consumer Reports survey which ranks AT&T network as last or second to last in 19 out of 20 major US cities.
- AT&T's EDGE cellular network: "excruciatingly slow"
- Slideshow of photos taken with iPhone
- Video Review

Steven Levy, Newsweek

- bottom line is that the iPhone is a significant leap
- The iPhone is the rare convergence device where things actually converge.
- e-mail looks more like you're working on a computer than a clunky phone
- YouTube videos work great on Wi-Fi, but can display in a lower quality when you're not at a hotspot and are using AT&T's EDGE network
- unless I did a lot of video watching or Web browsing, [the battery] could generally last the day
- I've been jamming it in my pocket with keyrings, coins and pens, and so far it's nearly as good as new.

Edward Baig, USA Today

- Apple's iPhone isn't perfect, but it's worthy of the hype
- The revelation is that it's also comfortable to hold and touch.
- I expected to miss the tactile feel that a physical keyboard provides. I didn't.
- You can hold a conference call with up to five people.
- No voice recognition or voice dialing
- halfway decent internal speakers for listening if you set the thing down
- iPod games are not compatible with iPhone
- our company tech department raised questions about the security settings Apple required with our Microsoft Exchange servers.
- Battery life didn't prove to be a big problem in my unscientific tests

Walt Mossberg, Wall Street Journal (the submitted article's highlights):

- Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer. Its software, especially, sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry, and its clever finger-touch interface, which dispenses with a stylus and most buttons, works well, though it sometimes adds steps to common functions.
- largest, highest resolution screen of any smart phone they've seen, most internal memory
- Impressive battery life and thin
- Feels solid
- Regarding the touch keyboard: "After five days of use, Walt -- who did most of the testing for this review -- was able to type on it as quickly and accurately as he could on the Palm Treo he has used for years."
- Can't use T-Mobile SIM cards
- Wi-Fi capability doesn't fully make up for the lack of a fast cellular data capability
- Multitouch: "effective, practical and fun"
- No way to copy/paste text
- Microsoft's Exchange system support
- Voice call quality was good, but not great
- Can't record video
- No Adobe Flash support
- Songs can't be set as ringtones
- Apple says it plans to add fea

And what probably occurred is that the recipient realized what happened, and reported it.

Here here! I wish I had mod points today.

It used to be that a war's home front consisted of a lot of sacrifice - not just sending the boys off to fight and die, but also making do with less, shortages and rationing, and, of course, higher taxes to pay for the military expenditure. Now we somehow think that we can fight a war without sacrifice. In the particular case of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the President and Congress seemed to feel that we could not only afford a $750 billion open-ended war (probably over $1 trillion before all is said and done), but could even afford tax cuts for the most well-off at the same time.

The President and Congress (2001-present) don't even feel the need to account for the cost of this prolonged war in the normal budget - it requires periodic "emergency" spending so that everyone's precious balanced budget fuzzy calculations can still work out.