Slashdot Mirror

It's funny but quite sad at the same time.

Best quote:

Best part is they put this 6-foot-4-inch, 320-pound fellow under home detention. From what I can tell, doesn't sound like young Jeffrey Lee Parson got out much in the first place.

• It's my understanding that after launch there is no recovery method for crews.

Your understanding is wrong.

I submitted this story sometime ago, but got rejected. The kid actually did not write the MSBlaster worm, he modified it to make it more potent and released it. story here

SF Gate also has a story on this here more or less the same information ..

America may have some faults but in general it really is the best model for a true welfare state.

A Press Photo of Asimo vamping for the camera in Prague can be seen here:

http://www.sfgate.com/news/pictures/2003/08/22/rob ot7.jpg

• So far, the only major company [August 8, 2003] to publicly endorse SCO's claims by taking a license is Microsoft, the company that analysts say has the most to lose from the spread of Linux.
• IBM used the notion of FUD, once coined for IBM but now synonymous for Microsoft, to finger Microsoft as the culprit via this usage:

  In an internal memo obtained by internetnews.com targeted for IBM's sales force, Bob Samson, vice president of systems sales in IBM's Systems Group, discussed his company's thrust behind the SCO suit. "We see no merit in their claims and no supporting facts," Samson said. "Significantly, IBM counter sued SCO on a range of issues. Simply put, SCO's scheme is an attempt to profit from its limited rights to a very old UNIX operating system by introducing fear, uncertainty and doubt into the marketplace."

Yes, but it's something Arnold's far from being, which is what the implication that Curic had. What she didn't mention were things like this this article but instead when on her Democrat talking points, trying to screw him over with false implications.

Like this techie is doing. "a 26-year-old high-tech programmer from Mountain View", who has already won the unofficial endorsement of Washington Post Writer Howard Kurtz, though this seems to be mostly based on her using cafepress to sell endorsed thong underwear as a fundraising tool. Regardless, she is using the net to propel her campaign to an extent that she is garnering press attention even among the strippers and pornographers and actors.

I think the Dean campaign shows that it is media access that makes the biggest difference in getting an unknown launched, and techs are the media of the 21st century.

I'm irritated by the process because the original vote has an expiry date of four years, and Davis got that vote.

The recall statutes have been on the books for most of the century. Ever since then the term of the Governor has been either 4 years, or until enough people get pissed off to boot him out, whichever comes first. There is no manipulation or trickery in this recall- it is a constitutional right afforded by California.

A recall is, if not expensive, then at least highly disruptive to the job of governing.

Great- then Davis should campaign on that principle instead of working more backroom deals with special interest groups. And the recall advocates need(ed) to demonstrate why it is better for Davis to be recalled than to leave him in office (and IMO, they have shown that quite well).

The way to do that is to vote him out on the next election...voters (and most particularly the losing party from the last election) need to learn to live with the consequences of their choices.

We are dealing with the consequences of our choices, and we are doing so by using the constitutional provision of a recall election. This is pure democracy at work!

That said, there are plenty of good bands and slams out there to keep you busy without stuffing the coffers of the big five recording companies. That's what the RIAA and its partner companies have been afraid of all along, that people will be able to share the music of their favorite bands without their cartel having a stranglehold on the distribution channel. If you don't support their tactics, don't buy their CD's, don't listen to their stations, and for fuck's sake don't download their crap via P2P.

Instead, support independent artists, go to shows, and trade free music.

"Bullshit. We need militay to defend against possible attackers. Also, we have a track record of REBUILDING a country we levied war against. Also the tax cust are needed because small and up businesses SHOULD NOT CARRY ALL THE WEIGHT of welfare and related services.

You have GOT to be kidding me. We've got an arsenal that exceeds overkill. You want to defend against possible attackers, don't kill civilians in an occupation that is not justified by the UN. Another great step in preventing these attacks would be to not have such an offensive foreign policy. We're now finding out that the American people were lied to about WMD in iraq and an "iminent threat" to the US. We overspend by TRILLIONS to keep at bay phony enemies and fight phony wars. I'm sure the 243 dead US soldiers are glad that they've changed little to nothing for most US citizens, spare those who now protest against the war. But it's OK, our generation needed another Vietnam.

On rebuilding, I'll just say that we wouldn't have to rebuild Iraq if we hadn't wasted money bombing the shit out of civilian targets so Presidents Stuffyournose could have a higher approval rating

And onto the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time, Bush's tax cuts did NOTHING to help the economy, not for business owners, (especially not for small business owners), not for the common Joe, and not for anyone, with the exception of a few already wealthy elite upper-class citizens.

"AIDS would have been stopped, have they QUARANTEENED all known AIDS cases at onset. The GAY orginizations didnt like that at all. Then it went from gay disease to a regualr STD."

First of all, it's "QUARANTINE", way to show your ignorance. Secondly, and more importantly, AIDS was never a gay only disease, nope, not from the beginning. Many of the first diagnosed AIDS patients were straight women, and that's an incontrovertible fact. Shouldn't you be burning a cross or heiling somewhere?

Putting AIDS patients in quarantine would do nothing to stop the spread. As is the case with most STDs, people often don't know they have them until they've spread. THE ONLY WAY to prevent the spread of AIDS is with improved education and healthcare methods. You're a shining star of the miseducation of the common person with regards to AIDS. Because of pressure from conservatives like yourself, education about AIDS was delayed in many communities. In urban areas in the 80's many thought that AIDS was like a cold that would go away with time. Others tried such obscene methods as treating their genitals with bleach before intercourse or the long-standing-Judeo-Christian-favorite pull-out method. Not educating people ended up increasing the spread. In areas with functional healthcare systems and increased education incidents of AIDS are rising slower than in other areas. That's right, they're still RISING in most areas.

As long as people such as yourself continue to stigmatize the disease infection rates will continue to rise. Johnny football hero will be to afraid to get tested after he was too cool to use a condom, and he'll probably infect four or five girls before his little "secret" comes out.

I'm sure you've muttered under your breath about how GAY and POOR and LIBERAL I am by now. Just to let you know, I am none of the three, I just keep an open mind and LEARN before making a decision or forming an opinion. You want to see how much of a GAY disease AIDS is, go volunteer at your local AIDS clinic, I doubt bigotry such as yours could withstand the obvious reality that stares you in the face.

According to Mining bacteria's appetite for toxic waste

A complex community of microorganisms thrives by "breathing" oxides of sulfur, iron, aluminum and even more hazardous compounds like the uranium and other radioactive elements. As the microbes obtain their oxygen from soluble uranium oxide, for example, they transform it into a highly insoluble form called uraninite.

The article does not say what is uraninite. Uraninite is the primary ore of uranium. Uraninite is a reduced form of uranium which appears in places where there is few oxygen. So what the bacteria do, is consuming the oxygen and altering the environment of uranium so it changes the environment so uranium alters into uraninite faster which is only stable when uranium cannot associate itself with oxygen.

Ok now, according to The Mineral URANINITE:

Uraninite is a highly radioactive and interesting mineral. It is the chief ore of uranium and radium, which is found in trace amounts. Helium was first discovered on the earth in samples of uraninite.

So we have changed a radioactive material into a highly radioactive and interesting mineral ? Wow that's a deal =), now it is not only radioactive but interesting also.

So saith the anti-environmentalists.

If Oak Ridge has taught us anything, it's that even the best laid plans can end up destroying the ecology of an area.

I'm all for alternative energy sources, but nuclear is one source that is too hot too handle.

"I just find is pathetic that the U.S. can't find $600m to refurb the HST. We're spending about twice that EVERY DAY on operations in Iraq.

Just pull the troops out two days earlier and there you have it... enough cash to service the Hubble twice!" -gerardrj

"The number is 4B per month." -glrotate

"Congress in April passed an initial $62.4 billion measure to pay for the fighting. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld recently put the cost at $3.9 billion a month. Also, L. Paul Bremer, the top civilian administrator of Iraq, last week said $29 billion will be needed just to repair Iraq's electricity and water systems."
July 26th - Associated Press

"At the onset of war, Dov Zakheim, the Pentagon's chief financial officer, said postcombat operations were expected to cost about $2.2 billion a month. By early June, he adjusted that forecast to $3 billion."
July 13th - Orlando Sentinel

"Mr. Dorgan (Senator [D]) said the administration knows it's spending $4 billion a month in Iraq and it makes little sense to pretend the costs do not exist."
July 17th - Associated Press

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/25/technology/25DSL .html

More articles:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch ronicle/archive/2003/07/25/BU143220.DTL&type=busin ess
From which quotes: "... SBC's monthly wholesale fees were between $32.50 and $39 per subscriber. At that price, he said, his clients were unable to compete against SBC when the additional cost of Internet service and modems is factored in."

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/business/638193 1.htm

http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413, 87~11271~1532530,00.html

It's high time DSL prices fell so that I can get my $15/month - unlimited download - dedicated IP - T1!!! (then hook an 801 router and be peddling th e bandwidth to the neighbors... )

DEMAND paper ballots! Demand that votes be counted and posted AT THE POLL

I wish I could disagree with this. But elections here in San Francisco are so "irregular" that it doesn't even phase us when pieces of ballot boxes start washing ashore.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2 002/01/07/MN185094.DTL

mostly what .... there's a lot of music (gotta bring ear plugs if you want to sleep at night ....) there's a lot of art, fire, flame throwers, big sparky things, naked people, people dressed outrageously, dust, dirt, cars in fancy dress, opera, moments of wonder, .....

This is a very un-geek way to explain - perhaps some pictures ..... some panoramas or from above or a rubber duck jazz club or a galleon (err bus) or a beached whale or art or fire or home mande roller coasters (is that geeky enough?) or wind or anime come to life or .....

well you get the idea - it's lots of different things to different people - don;t forget you have to bring some art of your own to share .... remember the only thing you can buy there is ice - leave the $$ at home

Find more about Bush's Brain or Lack of One

Cheers,
W00t

Kucinich is not engaging in *wastefull* spending. He's the only candidate to publicly address the missing 1.1 trillion from the Pentagon.

His supporters are asking for direct connections to the candidate, not some stumpers. He'd rather invest in appropriate technology and support free software than run wastefull ads on braindead TV.

San Franciso Gate article

Robert

More info here, here and here. Here internetnews.com state that 3 vulnerabilities (not 2) where patched.

Here is the report from the people who found the vulnerabilities (or at least one of them) which includes a proof-of-concept paper and code.

Remember in late 2001 when the US Department of Interior was ordered by the court to take more than 100 of their web servers offline due to abysmal security? Hired white hats were easily able to gain access to the US Indian Trust database and found no security measures or even audit trails in place. Worried that this could be contributing to the agency's continuing mismanagement and loss of allegedly billions of dollars belonging to Native Americans, Judge Royce C. Lamberth ordered the DOI to "immediately shut down Internet access from any computer, server and system in the department that has access to individual Indian trust data."

The defense counsel noted that the fact that they took down over 100 mostly unrelated servers "...just shows you how inept they are. They don't even understand how these systems relate to each other so they just pull the plug on the entire system."

And now last month they were ordered to disconnect their servers again after refusing to let a court-appointed special master test the security measures they've supposedly put into place since then.

Sounds like an endemic problem for government agencies, at least at the federal level.

The San Fran Chronicle has a short MPEG available here.

Perhaps someone could explain this to me, but did the original foam piece really hit the leading edge of Columbia's wing at 500+ MPH? I don't know how fast the shuttle was going when the foam detached from the booster rocket, but the foam was moving just as fast as the shuttle prior to its detachment, right? Would it have decelerated -500MPH that quickly? I know this is basic physics, but I'm wondering how they calculated the velocity of the foam. 500MPH seems awful fast for the footage that I've seen.

"Taiwan had reported 674 cases of SARS and 84 deaths -- the highest death total after China, with 348 deaths and Hong Kong with 298. The United States reported 73 cases but no deaths.

SARS contained across the globe

Slashdot has little to do with the defacement. Slashdot is simply reporting this.

Nah, the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting it.

Slashdot is just giving a bunch of tech-minded people a forum in which to talk about it.

and then yesterday Kraft announced that they are cutting portion sizes, fat and sugar from all their products, including Oreos.

so while a lawsuit might not be the correct way to go about seeking change (i agree with you on that), it did get him into the news, and shortly after there WAS a change. not saying it was good or bad (nor does correlation imply causality), but i do think it is interesting.

here is a link for you. or a google news search if you'd rather.

Read about 43's daring statement here

Cheers,
W00t

Read about 43's daring statement here

Cheers,
W00t

I just heard some sad news on the radio today - U.S. senator Strom Thurmond was found dead in his Edgefield home last night. There weren't any more details yet.

I'm sure we'll all miss him - even if you weren't a fan of his promoting segregation and oppressing civil rights there's no denying his contribution to the political transformation of the South and the Slashdot trolling scene. Truly an American icon.

He shall be missed :'(

I just heard some sad news on the radio today - U.S. senator Strom Thurmond was found dead in his Edgefield home last night. There weren't any more details yet.

I'm sure we'll all miss him - even if you weren't a fan of his promoting segregation and oppressing civil rights there's no denying his contribution to the political transformation of the South and the Slashdot trolling scene. Truly an American icon.

He shall be missed :'(

I just heard some sad news on the radio today - U.S. senator Strom Thurmond was found dead in his Edgefield home last night. There weren't any more details yet.

I'm sure we'll all miss him - even if you weren't a fan of his promoting segregation and oppressing civil rights there's no denying his contribution to the political transformation of the South and the Slashdot trolling scene. Truly an American icon.

He shall be missed :'(

*pshaw*

The Pentagon has misplaced a trillion dollars before, so if you feel that they're mistakenly spending half a billion dollars on something worthless, don't worry about it.

The problem here isn't that the government is infringing on my rights, but the libraries'.

In effect, this states that libraries will ONLY provide access to information that the government deems acceptable. Keep in mind that they also are trying to force libraries to divulge information on readers' habits and information access.

So on the one hand the government is restricting access to information, and on the other hand they're monitoring it. This goes against everything that libraries and free society in general stand for.

Should libraries allow unfettered access to porn? No, I'd just as soon not see it. Should the GOVERNMNENT be the ones to legislate what the libraries do? No.

What You Can Do About the Thief-In-Chief

Cheers,
W00t

Case in point[sfgate.com]

(Yes they do occasionally have insightful articles)

See Incompetent People Really Have No Clue, Studies Find / They're blind to own failings, others' skills and another article here.

The original paper by David Dunning (Cornell University) and Justin Kreuger (University of Illinois), Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments, won an Ig Nobel Prize in 2000 (in Psychology).

Their report is a great and entertaining reading. The name says it all - basically they found that people generally tend to overestimate their skills (in certain areas) if they are actually bad and also suggested several mechanisms for that.

Despite its fancy new features, I wasn't even considering upgrading to a Treo 600 until I noticed the dedicated Home key on the keyboard. This feature alone, believe it or not, might be the one reason I need to upgrade.

The penguins already stopped, back in March.

But it was amusing while it lasted...

... last one to turn to grey goo please turn off the lights.

Or green goo.

Too tired to (attempt to) make any more jokes. Check here and I'm sure you can come up with some of your own.

for a laugh.

It is assumed that thousands of years ago all people had hypolactasia in the same way as most mammals do today. At that time in cultures where milk consumption was started after childhood, lactase persistence had a selective advantage. Those people with lactase persistence were healthier and had more children than people with hypolactasia, and the frequency of the lactase persistence gene started to increase.

it seems most likely that the European and Arabia-Sahara centers of LAC*P prevalence, and the Uganda-Rwanda center (if it in fact exists), arose independently. Population movement and gene flow can be very extensive and, no doubt, have played a substantial role around the centers. Despite the efforts of some authors to find a common origin in the ancient Middle East, it is simpler to suggest independent origins than to postulate gene flow from the Middle East to Scandinavia and to the interior of East Africa. The problem might be resolved in the future if gene sequencing could show that the LAC*P alleles in Sweden and Saudi Arabia are, in fact, the same or are distinct forms of the gene with a similar function.

Finally, the LAC*P and LAC*R genes are interesting far beyond their biomedical significance. Along with linguistics, archaeology, and physical anthropology, further research on lactase genes and other genetic markers will provide clues to the prehistory of peoples, their migrations and interminglings, and the origins and development of major language families.

It's shocking how much better the San Francisco Chronicle article is to the BBC article.

Clearly both writers had the same source to work with, but the sfgate article was much more researched, thought-out, and nicely tied together. Even when I had only read the BBC article, I was shocked at how poorly structured the article was.

If you're only going to read one of the two, read the sfgate piece.

TIA has nothing to do with protecting U.S. citizens from terrorism. It is instead part of a hidden political agenda.

Every year, the U.S. government gives between $3.5 billion and $5.5 billion to Jews in Israel. This money is used to kill Arabs. (The Jews call it defense.) The terrorism toward the U.S. was caused by Arabs who feel they have no other way to protest the brutality of moving them from their homeland, and continuing to kill them, to make a new country called Israel. They are sacrificing their lives to try to make a statement. I don't think violence is justified, but the U.S. government thinks violence is justified, the Jews think violence is justified, and it would be illogical to think that violence is okay for politically powerful groups in the U.S., but not for the people they want to kill.

The people who have brought you TIA have also put the U.S. government back into the huge debt it was in during the Reagan-Bush years. The people who want corruption cause the U.S. government to borrow money so that they can spend it (tax cut) to make themselves look good and on high-profit weapons.

Here are a few links that discuss other kinds of corruption:

War Profiteers card deck.

"Speaking to Pentagon reporters in a video teleconference from Iraq, General Conway said, 'What the regime was intending to do in terms of its use of the weapons, we thought we understood.' He added, 'We were simply wrong.'" [last paragraphs]

Secretary of State General Powell believes he may have been lied to about weapons in Iraq: Powell's doubts over CIA intelligence on Iraq prompted him to set up secret review.

"Could be the greatest intelligence hoax of all time."

More about war profiteers and conflict of interest: Lawmaker Questions Scope Of Iraq-Related Contracts.

Questionable accounting practices -- The U.S. government becomes another Enron scam:

Questionable accounting practices in the U.S. government: "The U.S. government is broke." George Bush gave U.S. citizens a tax cut, but it was fraud. The tax cut will be paid by money the U.S. government will borrow.

Questionable accounting practices at Halliburton, Vice President of the U.S. Dick Cheney's company.

Should U.S. President George W. Bush be impeached?

In a CNN article, John Dean asks, "Is lying about the reason for a war an impeachable offense?"

An Associated Press article reports that a retired Department of State analyst says the Bush administration was "not entirely honest".

International reaction is extremely negative. The Hindustan Times mentions that "a former CIA analyst with 25 years' experience" ... "accused the Bush administration of lying to Congress".

Well I think a reason for incorporating the RFID tags into the clothing is to impare the ability to shoplift just by cutting the tags or popping off the much larger and easier to find ink tags.

In one of the previous slashdot articles on RFIDs, the clothier Benetton was going to use them and in this article it sounds like they would be attached to the label. It doesn't say how it would be attached but I think a logical method would be to sew it behind the label.

They also mention a future washing machine by Whirlpool that can check the RFIDs on the clothes and choose the best water temperature. The there is going to be a washing machine that checks RFIDs, I would have to assume that they are capable of handling a wash/dry cycle.

You mean principals. After all, AOL doesn't have any principles.

Will those retailers that enforced the ESRB ratings stop now because they may have a First Amendment case on their hands? I think the free speech issues are a little more important than the fact a violent game ban was lifted.

Here's a round-up of the coverage so far (yes it's a rejected post which i'm too lazy to retype):

The federal 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that games are protected by the First Amendment as free speech, striking down a judgement last year that ruled games do not qualify as protected speech. This also means that banning minors from buying or renting mature-themed games is unconstitutional. Part of the judgement read that games 'are as much entitled to the protection of free speech as the best of literature.'

• (for those who don't click through)
• drops in his eyes
• two flaxseed oil tablets a day
• clear wraparound glasses, essentially protective goggles
• sealed off his tear ducts so that fluid wouldn't drain easily from his eyes