and the term "witch-hunt" implies wrongfully accusing/persecuting a group of people for something... In the case of McCarthy, it seems history has turned out differently.
Don't get me wrong, the ends do not justify the means,... however, equating McCarthy's actions with a witch-hunt is simply an inaccurate analogy.
Wow,... thank you for encapsulating why the liberal/progressives in this country will continue to lose elections. Karl Rove couldn't ask for a better ally than people like you with no sense of moral relativism that equate making people answer questions with attempting to exterminate a race.
Oh, and I'd be careful using words like "witch-hunt" which imply that the people going after McCarthy were actually innoccent of the accusations. History seems to have turned out otherwise. Not that it makes his actions right... just his accusations.
Re:Don't suppose the No Nukes freaks will apologiz
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Pluto Probe Launches
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· Score: 2, Informative
The only problem I can see is that they use the same frequencies. If some one jams one they are also jamming the other. Given the military capability of the countries funding both systems I can imagine such jamming will be very short lived.
Actually you are incorrect. Originally Galileo was designed to operate at the same frequency as GPS - intentionally and arguably maliciously so that the US could not jam Galileo without denying its own signal. After negotiations (a couple years ago), Galileo was moved to a nearby but non-interfering band so that either the US or the Europeans could deny the other's signal without interrupting their own (this is sometimes referred to on slashdot as a "kill switch").
Tice had been making noises before he got fired. He was one of those pushing for greater congressional protection for whistleblowers. Hint, hint.
Shortly thereafter, his bosses had him pulled in for a medical exam, where despite having no symptoms, the MO labeled him as suffering from paranoia. This is standard practice in such circles to ensure compliance, and to provide ammo for any subsequent smear campaigns.
Looks like everyone is jumping to the assumption that this guy was a whistleblower regarding the NSA's collection actions and that that cause the NSA to discredit him by labeling him as paranoid. In looking into it further I found this article that has a timeline that does not support that conclusion. While it appears true that he was making noise earlier in 2002-2003, this was in relation to a co-worker who he suspect was a spy. He reported this, and then started sending emails detailing how imcompetent the FBI was that they couldn't expose his co-worker. It was this behavior that got him labeled as "paranoid" and put him in the light as a whistleblower. There is nothing, at least in that article, to suggest that either his diagnosis, or his disclosures, had anything to do with the ethics of NSA collection practices.
Re:So did Sinclair ZX80
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Scanjet Music
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· Score: 1
Completely off-topic... but I'm in the aircraft test and evaluation buisness and this is precisely the reason that operation of poratble electronic devices is not allowed below 10k ft. Electronics companies are all about profit; shielding and EMI testing are not high on their list of priorites when they are trying to meet a quarterly product cycle deadline...
I wonder how much of this uproar reflects the generation gap between 40-somethings and 20-somethings. The original Planet of the Apes was packed with social commentary - particularly civil rights, but to a lesser extent the battle between science and religion, animal rights, mutually assured destruction, etc...
The remake was a very low-brow action movie with no discernable deeper meaning like the original.
The original is a natural pairing with other civil rights pieces of the time, but if someone is thinking of the remake, I can see why they miss the connection.
Um, that's a very well written post but what does any of that have to do with the story or are you just pandering to the Slashdot collective anti-God/anti-ID collective? In the context of this story how is this "insightful" and not a "offtopic?"
The US may have "won" the race to the moon, but we've already lost the commercialization of space to the Russians (although Richard Branson - A Brit - may beat them to making such travel commonplace via Virgin Galactic).
You define "winning" the commercialization of space based on how many space tourists countries have put in orbit? That is a little odd, particularly when you consider that Russia puts tourists in orbit to make money, whereas the US has the capability to do so but chooses not to as a matter of NASA policy (granted, even the "capability" has been limited in the wake of Columbia - but do you doubt that if the US had a change of policy and wanted to start putting tourists in orbit they couldn't?
I suggest that a much better measure of "commercial success" would be the number of
commercial launches
I run XP Home as a limited user and it really is not that hard at all. Right-click -> run-as (admin, **********) ta-da. I never even log on to my admin account. The real problem are the software developers who refuse to let their programs be run from a limited account if they were installed from an admin account. This has gotten a lot better, I am down to one program that won't run from a limited account - most of these were older games btw. So you just "run-as" them or alternately, use CACLS to give the limited account access to the folder in question (that usually doest the trick).
In summary, the real blame should be placed on the developers and somewhat to Microsoft for not making the user create a limited account during install.
That is so 2000 of you. Everything you say used to be true, but seriously, XP and Office XP and beyond are rock solid. I am coming up on 4 years of using XP on my home computer and it has crashed a grand total of (wait for it) one time. And that was the first boot after intalling untrusted drivers from my PVR-250 (and after that reboot, nary a problem since).
The biggest problem in my opinion with Windows is the thrid party developers who refuse to write software that will run in limited user mode - this forces a lot of people to run XP from an admin account thus they loose that extra layer of security. Fortunately, they seem to have finally caught on this last year and I am down to only one program that won't work in my limited account. Interestingly, it is a game (Enemy Territory) that works fine itself in limited mode but a component I like to use(punkbuster) requires admin rights.
This change was made specifically in response to US concerns. Tell me thats not a concession to a party unrelated to the project?
I'd argue that the US is a party related to the project in the sense that (a)they are a member of NATO (as are most EU contries) and (b) Galileo signals could (and will) be used against the US military at some point. Almost certainly not by an EU member state, but by some even more unrelated party (China and Iran seem obvious potential candidates). Note that EU delagates have specificly stated that they would not selectivly degrade Galileo's accuracy, even if it was being used militarily against the US. That is a pretty bold and reckless statement. If a US ally was attacked by an adversary that was exploiting GPS in its efforts, I'd wager that the US would be happy to degrade the signal if asked.
after reading the GGGP more carefully, he does state the constraint on the weapons being used to deny the signal during US military operations -my bust
Wow... lots of good info on the subjects of US militarization of space and on the US's opposition to an unjammable version of Galileo (which was eventually changed as you point out in one of your links). Actually what I was looking for was a reference that the US would specificly shoot down Galileo satellites merely for being deployed, which is what the GGP seemed to be suggesting. Interesting, another comment in this thread found an article that was pretty close.
Thanks but the GGP post appeared to be suggesting that the US would shoot down Galileo for merely being deployed. The story you link to has a few more "ifs" in it - namely that the US was concerned with a non-European power (China in the example) using the Galileo system militarily against the US. The article then goes on to say that the US would prefer to use a "reversible" [read: jam] method of denying the signal to an enemy.
Recall that at the time, the Galileo system had been intentionally designed to use the exact same frequency band as GPS to prevent just this sort of jamming as it would simultaneously deny GPS to US forces.
Also note that the linked article quotes the European delegates as specificly stating that the Galileo signal would not be switched off or degraded even if they knew it was being used by a third party against the US
Incidently, the system was eventually redesigned so that it uses a different frequency, allowing both the US and the Europeans the ability to jam the other's signal - avoiding exactly this issue.
Thanks for the great post! Since the original story covered here drew well over 1000 comments (most of which were people spooling up about the Bush administration but with a few careful readers pointing out some inconsitencies) I figured that it would make for a good submission (if for nothing else than to discuss the dangers of internet hoaxes on the media). Unfortunately I was summarily rejected. Thanks for getting the word out!
The US demanded, and got, a kill switch for it in the event they need to disable it during military action against someone. Great eh?
There was no "kill switch" as you describe. The original design of Galileo had it operating in the exact same frequency range as GPS. This was an intentional (and arguably malicious) design decision that would have prevented the US from jamming Galileo without simultaneously jamming GPS. What was negotiated was for the European system's frequency to be moved slightly, such that the US or Europe could jam each others signals without interfering with their own.
As long as your starting assumption is that at some point a country might deem it necessary to degrade (note necessarily deny) full position fixing accruacy to a given region or theater of operations, this is actually a "play fair" agreement.
do people not remember the bush administration threatening to use anti-satellite weapons unless europe gave the US the power to interfere with it, jam the satellites and/or switch them off or to a lower resolution mode for certain areas of the globe which they were fighting in?
Uh...no, I don't recall that... would you care to back that up with a reference? Otherwise I'll just assume you trolling.
selling your development tools at a loss is something Microsoft could afford to do given their grip on the OS market.
Intersting take on that. I would suggest the opposite is true... that would be that Microsoft has such a grip on the OS market precisely because it sells its development tools at a loss. Seriously, have you ever developed software for the windows environment? I don't know if they could make it any easier. And that ease translates into software...lots of it.
Let me give you an example; today I needed to download a program that could convert between avi formats. I have no doubt that there are programs to do this on an Apple and in Linux. For windows there were countless apps, most available for free to accomplish this task. This is just one of many reasons that I haven't made the switch.
Actually the judge does think you have a right to decide what your child has access to, the judge doesn't think you have a right to decide what MY child has access to.
Actually, both your children still have access to violent video games. It is perfectly legal for a minor to play these games. They just need tacit approval from a parent to play these games and in this case, that approval is metted out by the giving the adult the exclusive right to purchase the game in question.
Somewhat related but not really cheating... as a physics major in college we were often allowed one sheet of notes to use in an exam. The profs were usually pretty savy so they would be very clear that it had to be 8.5" x 11" and they oftentimes further stipulated that you could only use one side. I don't remember if I came up with this or if someone showed me but somewhere along the line I started using colored pencils to write on my gouge sheets. Using colored pencils, you can actually layer information on your gouge sheet. I recommend using a moderately dark color(graphite, blue, green, brown) for the bulk of your notes (text, equations, etc) and then adding layers of lighter colors (yellow, light green, light orange) over the darker colors. I also recommend you save the higher layers for things like figures and example plots, right over your previous notes. It looks a little busy, but you would be amazed at how easy your brain can pick out the information when it is color coded! Play with the color combinations a bit first (RGB work well). Sorry in advance if anyone out there is color blind...
Slashdot Mirror
Don't get me wrong, the ends do not justify the means,... however, equating McCarthy's actions with a witch-hunt is simply an inaccurate analogy.
Oh, and I'd be careful using words like "witch-hunt" which imply that the people going after McCarthy were actually innoccent of the accusations. History seems to have turned out otherwise. Not that it makes his actions right... just his accusations.
You mean like Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI)? What? You've never heard that with the "N"?
Actually you are incorrect. Originally Galileo was designed to operate at the same frequency as GPS - intentionally and arguably maliciously so that the US could not jam Galileo without denying its own signal. After negotiations (a couple years ago), Galileo was moved to a nearby but non-interfering band so that either the US or the Europeans could deny the other's signal without interrupting their own (this is sometimes referred to on slashdot as a "kill switch").
Shortly thereafter, his bosses had him pulled in for a medical exam, where despite having no symptoms, the MO labeled him as suffering from paranoia. This is standard practice in such circles to ensure compliance, and to provide ammo for any subsequent smear campaigns.
Looks like everyone is jumping to the assumption that this guy was a whistleblower regarding the NSA's collection actions and that that cause the NSA to discredit him by labeling him as paranoid. In looking into it further I found this article that has a timeline that does not support that conclusion. While it appears true that he was making noise earlier in 2002-2003, this was in relation to a co-worker who he suspect was a spy. He reported this, and then started sending emails detailing how imcompetent the FBI was that they couldn't expose his co-worker. It was this behavior that got him labeled as "paranoid" and put him in the light as a whistleblower. There is nothing, at least in that article, to suggest that either his diagnosis, or his disclosures, had anything to do with the ethics of NSA collection practices.
Great nick... just what I'd expect from someone working there... I did my graduate research at JPL... in which division do you work?
WTF? You can "win" NETHACK?! Is that in the FAQ?!
Completely off-topic... but I'm in the aircraft test and evaluation buisness and this is precisely the reason that operation of poratble electronic devices is not allowed below 10k ft. Electronics companies are all about profit; shielding and EMI testing are not high on their list of priorites when they are trying to meet a quarterly product cycle deadline...
The remake was a very low-brow action movie with no discernable deeper meaning like the original.
The original is a natural pairing with other civil rights pieces of the time, but if someone is thinking of the remake, I can see why they miss the connection.
Um, that's a very well written post but what does any of that have to do with the story or are you just pandering to the Slashdot collective anti-God/anti-ID collective? In the context of this story how is this "insightful" and not a "offtopic?"
You define "winning" the commercialization of space based on how many space tourists countries have put in orbit? That is a little odd, particularly when you consider that Russia puts tourists in orbit to make money, whereas the US has the capability to do so but chooses not to as a matter of NASA policy (granted, even the "capability" has been limited in the wake of Columbia - but do you doubt that if the US had a change of policy and wanted to start putting tourists in orbit they couldn't?
I suggest that a much better measure of "commercial success" would be the number of commercial launches
In summary, the real blame should be placed on the developers and somewhat to Microsoft for not making the user create a limited account during install.
The biggest problem in my opinion with Windows is the thrid party developers who refuse to write software that will run in limited user mode - this forces a lot of people to run XP from an admin account thus they loose that extra layer of security. Fortunately, they seem to have finally caught on this last year and I am down to only one program that won't work in my limited account. Interestingly, it is a game (Enemy Territory) that works fine itself in limited mode but a component I like to use(punkbuster) requires admin rights.
I'd argue that the US is a party related to the project in the sense that (a)they are a member of NATO (as are most EU contries) and (b) Galileo signals could (and will) be used against the US military at some point. Almost certainly not by an EU member state, but by some even more unrelated party (China and Iran seem obvious potential candidates). Note that EU delagates have specificly stated that they would not selectivly degrade Galileo's accuracy, even if it was being used militarily against the US. That is a pretty bold and reckless statement. If a US ally was attacked by an adversary that was exploiting GPS in its efforts, I'd wager that the US would be happy to degrade the signal if asked.
after reading the GGGP more carefully, he does state the constraint on the weapons being used to deny the signal during US military operations -my bust
Wow... lots of good info on the subjects of US militarization of space and on the US's opposition to an unjammable version of Galileo (which was eventually changed as you point out in one of your links). Actually what I was looking for was a reference that the US would specificly shoot down Galileo satellites merely for being deployed, which is what the GGP seemed to be suggesting. Interesting, another comment in this thread found an article that was pretty close.
Recall that at the time, the Galileo system had been intentionally designed to use the exact same frequency band as GPS to prevent just this sort of jamming as it would simultaneously deny GPS to US forces.
Also note that the linked article quotes the European delegates as specificly stating that the Galileo signal would not be switched off or degraded even if they knew it was being used by a third party against the US
Incidently, the system was eventually redesigned so that it uses a different frequency, allowing both the US and the Europeans the ability to jam the other's signal - avoiding exactly this issue.
Thanks for the great post! Since the original story covered here drew well over 1000 comments (most of which were people spooling up about the Bush administration but with a few careful readers pointing out some inconsitencies) I figured that it would make for a good submission (if for nothing else than to discuss the dangers of internet hoaxes on the media). Unfortunately I was summarily rejected. Thanks for getting the word out!
There was no "kill switch" as you describe. The original design of Galileo had it operating in the exact same frequency range as GPS. This was an intentional (and arguably malicious) design decision that would have prevented the US from jamming Galileo without simultaneously jamming GPS. What was negotiated was for the European system's frequency to be moved slightly, such that the US or Europe could jam each others signals without interfering with their own.
As long as your starting assumption is that at some point a country might deem it necessary to degrade (note necessarily deny) full position fixing accruacy to a given region or theater of operations, this is actually a "play fair" agreement.
Uh...no, I don't recall that... would you care to back that up with a reference? Otherwise I'll just assume you trolling.
Intersting take on that. I would suggest the opposite is true... that would be that Microsoft has such a grip on the OS market precisely because it sells its development tools at a loss. Seriously, have you ever developed software for the windows environment? I don't know if they could make it any easier. And that ease translates into software...lots of it.
Let me give you an example; today I needed to download a program that could convert between avi formats. I have no doubt that there are programs to do this on an Apple and in Linux. For windows there were countless apps, most available for free to accomplish this task. This is just one of many reasons that I haven't made the switch.
Actually, both your children still have access to violent video games. It is perfectly legal for a minor to play these games. They just need tacit approval from a parent to play these games and in this case, that approval is metted out by the giving the adult the exclusive right to purchase the game in question.
Guess what! We now know the story was a hoax.
Somewhat related but not really cheating... as a physics major in college we were often allowed one sheet of notes to use in an exam. The profs were usually pretty savy so they would be very clear that it had to be 8.5" x 11" and they oftentimes further stipulated that you could only use one side. I don't remember if I came up with this or if someone showed me but somewhere along the line I started using colored pencils to write on my gouge sheets. Using colored pencils, you can actually layer information on your gouge sheet. I recommend using a moderately dark color(graphite, blue, green, brown) for the bulk of your notes (text, equations, etc) and then adding layers of lighter colors (yellow, light green, light orange) over the darker colors. I also recommend you save the higher layers for things like figures and example plots, right over your previous notes. It looks a little busy, but you would be amazed at how easy your brain can pick out the information when it is color coded! Play with the color combinations a bit first (RGB work well). Sorry in advance if anyone out there is color blind...
Social science is not a "hard science major"