> There's "fat-val", "tracer JIT" and "method JIT".
Just curious, given all these advances in JS speed, are there technical reasons why stuff like Python, Ruby and Perl aren't getting similar improvements in speed?
What I find people do in real life is they jam/rig fire escape doors so that they can: 1) Have a smoke. 2) Get somewhere else faster (toilet, other dept, floor etc).
But that's not analogous to malware or phishing scams, hence my analogy of pizza delivery etc.
I bet more people get pwned via "drive-by malware" or phishing or trojans than brute-forced passwords.
So what you should do is figure out which group of people are more likely to get pwned, and design/structure your security accordingly. Even if it turns out the CEO is that group. The CEO doesn't really need full _direct_ access to everything, even if he/she thinks so.
Yeah the CEO will have secrets to keep, but the sort that are likely to get pwned are also likely to brag about stuff at a bar (or even facebook:) ). The others will put in the necessary effort to learn not to get pwned, and put up with the inconveniences.
There is little security gain (or even decreased security as you mentioned).
The users will just get compromised by malware (keyloggers etc), or phishing scams (what prevents them from entering that same password to the phishing site if they think it's a legit site?).
It's like having a super expensive security system for a building, but people hold/open the doors for the pizza delivery guy/guy carrying stuff with both arms. Or let random cleaning staff into the most secure areas.
If say you go to https://www.yourbank.com/ at home and the cert is signed by Thawte. Then one day you go to UAE and visit https://www.yourbank.com/ and the cert is signed by Etisalat whose cert is signed by Cybertrust whose cert is installed in your browser.
By default your browser won't warn you at all!
In fact for this scenario you would be safer if you actually deleted all the CA certs, and accepted certs on a site by site basis, because you would then get a warning since the cert has changed.
Currently I'm using the Certificate Patrol plugin and I hope it works properly and doesn't automatically "bless" some CAs as trustworthy, since as far as I'm concerned it's better to assume that they all aren't.
Verizon owns Cybertrust whose CA cert is installed in Mozilla Firefox.
From the article: "We are writing to request that Verizon investigate the security and privacy implications of the SSL CA certificate (serial number 0x40003f1) that Cybertrust (now a division of Verizon) issued to Etisalat on the 19th of December, 2005, and evaluate whether this certificate should be revoked."
FWIW, CNNIC (state network information center of China) has it's cert signed by Entrust. So if you don't trust CNNIC, you shouldn't trust Entrust either:).
You can use the Certificate Patrol plugin to help keep track of CA/cert changes in sites you visit. After all if your bank website's cert was signed by Comodo today, but CNNIC when you go to China, I'd think you'd want a warning. Current browsers by default would NOT give you a warning in this scenario as long as the website's certificate chain is ultimately signed by one of the CA certs installed in your browser.
So go figure how much the browser bunch really care about your security.
OK here's an example: there was that recent killing the Taliban _claim_ was linked to the wikileaks data but if you or anyone can show which entries in the wikileak data are linked to that (or any other) victim I'd be happy to see them.
So far people have just made claims that wikileaks are partly responsible but not provided evidence showing that is indeed true.
> I think faced with the task of explaining to children and wife that their father/husband being be-headed by the Taliban was a necessary sacrifice
Unless there's evidence otherwise, it's the Taliban's fault for killing them.
You can stretch the responsibility for all you want - from an ethical point of view perhaps even we could be responsible - we could have done more or done things differently so they wouldn't have been killed. But from a legal point of view the chain of responsibility has to stop at a certain point.
Fact is, you could blame the US Gov for their deaths too, after all if the US wasn't in Afghanistan those civilians and soldiers might not have been killed. And see below:
> "It's OK if some innocents get killed for what I believe is the greater good"
Actually the US Gov (and implicitly the US voters) have already decided that is the case for Afghanistan - otherwise they wouldn't be there.
When you start a war, innocents get killed.
Whether or not it really is for the greater good or for some evil/stupid reason is why you need to keep a close watch on the US Gov (and whoever tries to start wars).
Whether some innocents getting killed by some soldiers was unfortunate or an evil to be punished/discouraged is where stuff like wikileaks can help.
I doubt the US Military will help as much- tribes will tend to protect their members, esp if their members are "only" screwing up against "outsiders".
So if you're in the war-torn zones in Afghanistan, your odds of being killed are higher anyway - doesn't matter whether you're civilian or soldier, local or foreigner. I doubt Wikileaks is going to increase your risk that much.
Fact is if you are a US citizen living in the USA you have more to fear from your government than the Taliban. Heck, if you are living in some other country (other than Afghanistan) the US Gov is more likely to negatively impact your life than the Taliban.
So even if the Taliban claims that Wikileaks helped them kill more people in Afghanistan, I don't see it as a big deal. They can claim all they like.
If Wikileaks helps reduce the excesses of the most powerful Government in the world, it's doing good overall even if that Assange guy is just on an ego-trip.
p.s. Maybe the US Gov should start swapping in names of Taliban "middle managers" in their documents, leak them and let the Taliban go kill those:).
Captain Splendid: Oops... Looks like I'm dead. Damn...:( Tuesday at 10:00pm
Captain Splendid likes 10 ways to tell that you are really dead Tuesday at 10:02pm
Captain Splendid: Anyone have a res handy? Urgent!
Captain Splendid needs a resurrection! Give him one and you'll get HadesVille points! Tuesday at 10:13pm via HadesVille
Captain Splendid: Where's the restore from quick-save option when you really really need it. Sigh... Tuesday at 10:17pm
Captain Splendid: On the bright side, I guess I don't have to show up for work tomorrow:) @Boss. Tuesday at 10:20pm
Captain Splendid: Hmm, wonder what time the funeral will be tomorrow. I'd hate to be late;). Haha I kill me sometimes (but not this time, it was Professor Plum with the candlestick!). Tuesday at 10:32pm
Captain Splendid: I guess I'll call it a night, no point doing the graveyard shift, don't want to be like a zombie tomorrow... Tuesday at 10:50pm
Captain Splendid: Good morning! I'm up! OK not so good and not so up. Oh well. At least the mortician made me smile, put stitches in my side too. Wednesday at 7:30am
Captain Splendid likes What's worse than waking up early in the morning? Not waking up at all! Wednesday at 7:32am
Captain Splendid: I guess I'll skip breakfast, no stomach for it today... But I'd die for a cup of coffee:p. Wednesday at 7:35am
Captain Splendid: Wow, people are actually coming to my funeral! Wednesday at 8:43am
Captain Splendid likes a minute of silence Wednesday at 9:01am
Captain Splendid: Aww don't cry... OK so I'll really be forever in your debt, but hey I did say the payback's gonna be "out of this world" right? XD Wednesday at 9:05am
Captain Splendid likes The Sweet By and By Wednesday at 9:10am
Captain Splendid: @MaryNotMarried now's the time to ask that pesky aunt "When's your turn" just like she does to you at weddings... Haha! Wednesday at 9:13am
Captain Splendid likes short sermons and even shorter skirts Wednesday at 9:20am
Captain Splendid: ok Human Torch time! Wednesday at 9:30am
Captain Splendid: getting kinda warm in here... I hate stupid ties and suits. Wednesday at 9:35am
Captain Splendid: SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSMOKIN'! Wednesday at 9:37am
Captain Splendid: Flame on! Wednesday at 9:40am
Captain Splendid: The ultimate fat burning program... Watch the pounds melt away. And never come back- 100% guaranteed! Wednesday at 9:45am
Captain Splendid: ok I guess I can fit in that sexy "size nothing" urn now... Check out my new curves... Hey guys, I'm coming out of the closet! Just kidding! Don't look like you've just seen a ghost. Wednesday at 9:55am
Captain Splendid: It is very dark. I wonder if grues eat ashes. Wednesday at 10:00am
> You do realize that computers use electricity, right?
Yes they do but not that much. Here's some perspective:
A desktop computer (minus display) uses about 100W. If you leave it on all the time that's 2.4kWh per day. If only 8 hours, that's 0.8kWh. Add a 22" LCD panel for another 55W. 155W * 8 hours a day = 1.24kWh. Note: you can get most modern PCs and displays to go to "energy saver" mode when idle, so they can use even less power.
Contrast: A single fluorescent tube lamp uses about 40W. A Desk/stand fan uses about 50W. A fridge uses about 100W on average. A typical room airconditioner/heater uses about 1000 to 1500W peak (how much on average depends on your temp setting, but it's usually bad in terms of energy consumption). Microwave ovens, toasters, hair dryers also use about 1000W when running. A "proper" electric oven uses about 2500 to 7000W. Roast/bake something for an hour and it'll use more than running a PC for 8 hours. Washing machines can use about 2kWh per load ( http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html ). And clothes dryers? They use 4kW or so.
A Tesla Roadster has a 53kWh battery and a range of about 350km. That makes it about 7km per kWh. Including charging losses, Tesla state the overall plug-to-wheel efficiency is 0.128 kWh/km. I guess that excludes stuff like in-car airconditioning and heating;).
That means just driving an electric car to work 10km away will use more electricity than running a PC+LCD for 24 hours.
And after driving 10km to the office, most people will end up working on a computer anyway. So if the fibreoptic stuff allow more people to work from home, it'll actually save a lot more energy.
Lastly: 1 litre of petrol contains about 34 megajoules. That's 9.4 kilowatt hours. A small car's fuel tank can typically hold about 40-50 litres. Yes that's not electricity but if you don't use an electric vehicle to get to work, you'll probably be burning petroleum.
Anyway, it is true that if you want education you can use the Web - even Youtube has plenty of lecture videos from MIT, Stanford and various other universities (Indian ones included).
However, if you want a degree from say MIT you're still going to have to give them a lot of money, unless they give you an honorary one for free;).
> The real reason people pay $50,000 per year is to gain membership in a gated social community
There's also another effect of paying kilobux for your education. Many people tend to be a bit more motivated to slog through the difficult or boring bits so that they don't waste the $$$$$.
Related example: I once was asked to provide in-house training to my colleagues, so I did, but since the training was free the attendees ended up being sent/allowed by the boss to see customers or do other work. End result - people didn't get that much training. In contrast if the training costs the company 1000/day per participant the boss has an incentive to not allow the attendees to skip a few hours etc unless it may cost the company more...
"The setting where Rowling penned the last of the Harry Potter series is a far cry from the Edinburgh cafes - The Elephant House and Nicholson's coffee shop - where she famously began the first of them 10 years ago as a single mother living on benefits. Then, she struggled to find an agent and was turned down by eight publishers. A decade later, she has been credited with transforming the publishing world and changing our definition of what a children's novel can be."
Many people may not think much of her work, but since she's a billionaire I guess there must be people who like her stuff:).
But a number of your examples show that despite those warnings you still get sued and you often still have to pay.
And heck: "The city, however, says the killing is not the officer's fault; it argues that "any reasonable police officer" could "mistakenly draw and fire a handgun instead of the Taser device" and has filed suit against Taser,"
If that city's claim is true, I'd be afraid of police officers.
And maybe Taser should have filed a countersuit against the city for claiming that their device is so easily confused with a handgun even by reasonable police officers...
Pi? Boring. Assuming they can actually get here and you really want them here, try this:
Broadcast a string of digits that looks like Pi but differs slightly in an interesting/plausible way...
After all, I bet scientists here would get really excited if they not only received digits of Pi, but Pi appeared to be different "over there"...
Of course if the journey had significant costs they might be a bit pissed off, but hey you said "alien invasion" right?
FWIW, the ratio of the circumference to the radius (2*Pi) would seem a more logical number to base off than Pi (which is the ratio of circumference to diameter). But I suppose basing off Pi wouldn't be a problem .
Slashdot Mirror
> There's "fat-val", "tracer JIT" and "method JIT".
Just curious, given all these advances in JS speed, are there technical reasons why stuff like Python, Ruby and Perl aren't getting similar improvements in speed?
Since it's not a 410 maybe there's hope for him then. Perhaps they'll replace it with 406, 417 or 301.
What I find people do in real life is they jam/rig fire escape doors so that they can:
:) ). The others will put in the necessary effort to learn not to get pwned, and put up with the inconveniences.
1) Have a smoke.
2) Get somewhere else faster (toilet, other dept, floor etc).
But that's not analogous to malware or phishing scams, hence my analogy of pizza delivery etc.
I bet more people get pwned via "drive-by malware" or phishing or trojans than brute-forced passwords.
So what you should do is figure out which group of people are more likely to get pwned, and design/structure your security accordingly. Even if it turns out the CEO is that group. The CEO doesn't really need full _direct_ access to everything, even if he/she thinks so.
Yeah the CEO will have secrets to keep, but the sort that are likely to get pwned are also likely to brag about stuff at a bar (or even facebook
And it's a waste of time and productivity.
There is little security gain (or even decreased security as you mentioned).
The users will just get compromised by malware (keyloggers etc), or phishing scams (what prevents them from entering that same password to the phishing site if they think it's a legit site?).
It's like having a super expensive security system for a building, but people hold/open the doors for the pizza delivery guy/guy carrying stuff with both arms. Or let random cleaning staff into the most secure areas.
Just wondering if someone has figured out a way to "Rambus" it...
Most (all?) browsers are broken too.
If say you go to https://www.yourbank.com/ at home and the cert is signed by Thawte.
Then one day you go to UAE and visit https://www.yourbank.com/ and the cert is signed by Etisalat whose cert is signed by Cybertrust whose cert is installed in your browser.
By default your browser won't warn you at all!
In fact for this scenario you would be safer if you actually deleted all the CA certs, and accepted certs on a site by site basis, because you would then get a warning since the cert has changed.
Currently I'm using the Certificate Patrol plugin and I hope it works properly and doesn't automatically "bless" some CAs as trustworthy, since as far as I'm concerned it's better to assume that they all aren't.
Verizon owns Cybertrust whose CA cert is installed in Mozilla Firefox.
:).
From the article:
"We are writing to request that Verizon investigate the security and privacy implications of the SSL CA certificate (serial number 0x40003f1) that Cybertrust (now a division of Verizon) issued to Etisalat on the 19th of December, 2005, and evaluate whether this certificate should be revoked."
FWIW, CNNIC (state network information center of China) has it's cert signed by Entrust. So if you don't trust CNNIC, you shouldn't trust Entrust either
You can use the Certificate Patrol plugin to help keep track of CA/cert changes in sites you visit. After all if your bank website's cert was signed by Comodo today, but CNNIC when you go to China, I'd think you'd want a warning. Current browsers by default would NOT give you a warning in this scenario as long as the website's certificate chain is ultimately signed by one of the CA certs installed in your browser.
So go figure how much the browser bunch really care about your security.
Hmmm, need to get them to take up smoking then... :)
But if the obese people die much earlier they might still use up less energy and resources overall.
:).
e.g. Instead of dying at 80 they die at 60.
I believe by the time most people hit 70 they start to consume more resources and wealth than they produce.
For similar reasons that's why smoking isn't so bad (assuming you collect hefty tobacco taxes)
OK here's an example: there was that recent killing the Taliban _claim_ was linked to the wikileaks data but if you or anyone can show which entries in the wikileak data are linked to that (or any other) victim I'd be happy to see them.
So far people have just made claims that wikileaks are partly responsible but not provided evidence showing that is indeed true.
> I think faced with the task of explaining to children and wife that their father/husband being be-headed by the Taliban was a necessary sacrifice
Unless there's evidence otherwise, it's the Taliban's fault for killing them.
You can stretch the responsibility for all you want - from an ethical point of view perhaps even we could be responsible - we could have done more or done things differently so they wouldn't have been killed. But from a legal point of view the chain of responsibility has to stop at a certain point.
Fact is, you could blame the US Gov for their deaths too, after all if the US wasn't in Afghanistan those civilians and soldiers might not have been killed. And see below:
> "It's OK if some innocents get killed for what I believe is the greater good"
Actually the US Gov (and implicitly the US voters) have already decided that is the case for Afghanistan - otherwise they wouldn't be there.
When you start a war, innocents get killed.
Whether or not it really is for the greater good or for some evil/stupid reason is why you need to keep a close watch on the US Gov (and whoever tries to start wars).
Whether some innocents getting killed by some soldiers was unfortunate or an evil to be punished/discouraged is where stuff like wikileaks can help.
I doubt the US Military will help as much- tribes will tend to protect their members, esp if their members are "only" screwing up against "outsiders".
It doesn't really matter - the Taliban will find all sorts of excuses to kill:
e.g. Dancing girls and musicians
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/4217690/Taliban-underlines-its-growing-power-with-killing-of-dancing-girl-in-Pakistan.html
http://www.rferl.org/content/British_Ethnomusicologist_Discusses_Talibans_Campaign_Against_Musicians/1753865.html
Medics who the Taliban in one breath claim are missionaries and in another US spies:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10900338
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10903737
So if you're in the war-torn zones in Afghanistan, your odds of being killed are higher anyway - doesn't matter whether you're civilian or soldier, local or foreigner. I doubt Wikileaks is going to increase your risk that much.
Fact is if you are a US citizen living in the USA you have more to fear from your government than the Taliban. Heck, if you are living in some other country (other than Afghanistan) the US Gov is more likely to negatively impact your life than the Taliban.
So even if the Taliban claims that Wikileaks helped them kill more people in Afghanistan, I don't see it as a big deal. They can claim all they like.
If Wikileaks helps reduce the excesses of the most powerful Government in the world, it's doing good overall even if that Assange guy is just on an ego-trip.
p.s. Maybe the US Gov should start swapping in names of Taliban "middle managers" in their documents, leak them and let the Taliban go kill those :).
Nah wireless is more convenient. As long as you don't hold the phone in a death-grip.
What? So that you can do this?
:(
:) @Boss.
;). Haha I kill me sometimes (but not this time, it was Professor Plum with the candlestick!).
:p.
Captain Splendid: Oops... Looks like I'm dead. Damn...
Tuesday at 10:00pm
Captain Splendid likes 10 ways to tell that you are really dead
Tuesday at 10:02pm
Captain Splendid: Anyone have a res handy? Urgent!
Captain Splendid needs a resurrection! Give him one and you'll get HadesVille points!
Tuesday at 10:13pm via HadesVille
Captain Splendid: Where's the restore from quick-save option when you really really need it. Sigh...
Tuesday at 10:17pm
Captain Splendid: On the bright side, I guess I don't have to show up for work tomorrow
Tuesday at 10:20pm
Captain Splendid: Hmm, wonder what time the funeral will be tomorrow. I'd hate to be late
Tuesday at 10:32pm
Captain Splendid: I guess I'll call it a night, no point doing the graveyard shift, don't want to be like a zombie tomorrow...
Tuesday at 10:50pm
Captain Splendid: Good morning! I'm up! OK not so good and not so up. Oh well. At least the mortician made me smile, put stitches in my side too.
Wednesday at 7:30am
Captain Splendid likes What's worse than waking up early in the morning? Not waking up at all!
Wednesday at 7:32am
Captain Splendid: I guess I'll skip breakfast, no stomach for it today... But I'd die for a cup of coffee
Wednesday at 7:35am
Captain Splendid: Wow, people are actually coming to my funeral!
Wednesday at 8:43am
Captain Splendid likes a minute of silence
Wednesday at 9:01am
Captain Splendid: Aww don't cry... OK so I'll really be forever in your debt, but hey I did say the payback's gonna be "out of this world" right? XD
Wednesday at 9:05am
Captain Splendid likes The Sweet By and By
Wednesday at 9:10am
Captain Splendid: @MaryNotMarried now's the time to ask that pesky aunt "When's your turn" just like she does to you at weddings... Haha!
Wednesday at 9:13am
Captain Splendid likes short sermons and even shorter skirts
Wednesday at 9:20am
Captain Splendid: ok Human Torch time!
Wednesday at 9:30am
Captain Splendid: getting kinda warm in here... I hate stupid ties and suits.
Wednesday at 9:35am
Captain Splendid: SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSMOKIN'!
Wednesday at 9:37am
Captain Splendid: Flame on!
Wednesday at 9:40am
Captain Splendid: The ultimate fat burning program... Watch the pounds melt away. And never come back- 100% guaranteed!
Wednesday at 9:45am
Captain Splendid: ok I guess I can fit in that sexy "size nothing" urn now... Check out my new curves... Hey guys, I'm coming out of the closet! Just kidding! Don't look like you've just seen a ghost.
Wednesday at 9:55am
Captain Splendid: It is very dark. I wonder if grues eat ashes.
Wednesday at 10:00am
> You do realize that computers use electricity, right?
Yes they do but not that much. Here's some perspective:
A desktop computer (minus display) uses about 100W. If you leave it on all the time that's 2.4kWh per day. If only 8 hours, that's 0.8kWh.
Add a 22" LCD panel for another 55W. 155W * 8 hours a day = 1.24kWh. Note: you can get most modern PCs and displays to go to "energy saver" mode when idle, so they can use even less power.
Contrast:
A single fluorescent tube lamp uses about 40W.
A Desk/stand fan uses about 50W.
A fridge uses about 100W on average.
A typical room airconditioner/heater uses about 1000 to 1500W peak (how much on average depends on your temp setting, but it's usually bad in terms of energy consumption).
Microwave ovens, toasters, hair dryers also use about 1000W when running.
A "proper" electric oven uses about 2500 to 7000W. Roast/bake something for an hour and it'll use more than running a PC for 8 hours.
Washing machines can use about 2kWh per load ( http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html ).
And clothes dryers? They use 4kW or so.
A Tesla Roadster has a 53kWh battery and a range of about 350km. That makes it about 7km per kWh. Including charging losses, Tesla state the overall plug-to-wheel efficiency is 0.128 kWh/km. I guess that excludes stuff like in-car airconditioning and heating ;).
That means just driving an electric car to work 10km away will use more electricity than running a PC+LCD for 24 hours.
And after driving 10km to the office, most people will end up working on a computer anyway. So if the fibreoptic stuff allow more people to work from home, it'll actually save a lot more energy.
Lastly: 1 litre of petrol contains about 34 megajoules. That's 9.4 kilowatt hours. A small car's fuel tank can typically hold about 40-50 litres. Yes that's not electricity but if you don't use an electric vehicle to get to work, you'll probably be burning petroleum.
If you were really convincing the mushrooms might start preying on you :).
If you carry a cellphone with you and are within "coverage", you're already tracked.
They can find out which towers your phone has been talking to and thus figure out where you've been.
He used the term "throwback", which from the context I took to mean "reversion to an ancestral or earlier type or character".
Hence I'm wondering when in past the trait would have been advantageous.
I doubt it's a throwback - after all when in history/prehistory would sleeping like a log have been advantageous?
Only in safe places would sleeping like a log be an advantage.
It's not just HR departments who value degrees. Immigration departments do too.
http://www.workpermit.com/australia/general-skilled-migration/points_requirements.htm
quote: "Doctorate degree with min. 2 consecutive years of full-time study while present in Australia 25 [points]"
Or: http://www.workpermit.com/canada/points_calculator.htm
So degrees certainly have value.
Anyway, it is true that if you want education you can use the Web - even Youtube has plenty of lecture videos from MIT, Stanford and various other universities (Indian ones included).
However, if you want a degree from say MIT you're still going to have to give them a lot of money, unless they give you an honorary one for free ;).
> did problem 2a on the board one afternoon(s). After 3 hours of derivation, we called it quits.
What was problem 2a? I'm just curious on what Wolfram Alpha would do with it: http://www.wolframalpha.com/
e.g.: http://preview.tinyurl.com/36gppwf
(click on "show steps").
> The real reason people pay $50,000 per year is to gain membership in a gated social community
There's also another effect of paying kilobux for your education. Many people tend to be a bit more motivated to slog through the difficult or boring bits so that they don't waste the $$$$$.
Related example: I once was asked to provide in-house training to my colleagues, so I did, but since the training was free the attendees ended up being sent/allowed by the boss to see customers or do other work. End result - people didn't get that much training. In contrast if the training costs the company 1000/day per participant the boss has an incentive to not allow the attendees to skip a few hours etc unless it may cost the company more...
http://www.heraldscotland.com/how-jk-rowling-has-us-spellbound-1.852126
:).
"The setting where Rowling penned the last of the Harry Potter series is a far cry from the Edinburgh cafes - The Elephant House and Nicholson's coffee shop - where she famously began the first of them 10 years ago as a single mother living on benefits. Then, she struggled to find an agent and was turned down by eight publishers. A decade later, she has been credited with transforming the publishing world and changing our definition of what a children's novel can be."
Many people may not think much of her work, but since she's a billionaire I guess there must be people who like her stuff
But a number of your examples show that despite those warnings you still get sued and you often still have to pay.
And heck: "The city, however, says the killing is not the officer's fault; it argues that "any reasonable police officer" could "mistakenly draw and fire a handgun instead of the Taser device" and has filed suit against Taser,"
If that city's claim is true, I'd be afraid of police officers.
And maybe Taser should have filed a countersuit against the city for claiming that their device is so easily confused with a handgun even by reasonable police officers...
Uh just have three arms then. Three arms would be more handy in many scenarios...
Pi? Boring. Assuming they can actually get here and you really want them here, try this:
Broadcast a string of digits that looks like Pi but differs slightly in an interesting/plausible way...
After all, I bet scientists here would get really excited if they not only received digits of Pi, but Pi appeared to be different "over there"...
Of course if the journey had significant costs they might be a bit pissed off, but hey you said "alien invasion" right?
FWIW, the ratio of the circumference to the radius (2*Pi) would seem a more logical number to base off than Pi (which is the ratio of circumference to diameter). But I suppose basing off Pi wouldn't be a problem .