From the original post: the FBI's attempt to modernize their department has once again failed
Failed once again? The article (you have to read the whole thing) says it's on track.
The article is 90% about the Virtual Case File system ("built" by SAIC) and it's eventual demise in early 2005, almost 2 years ago. At the end, they discuss the FBI's replacement for VCF, saying:
"Last year, FBI officials announced a replacement for VCF, named Sentinel, that is projected to cost $425 million and will not be fully operational until 2009. A temporary overlay version of the software, however, is planned for launch next year. The project's main contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., will be paid $305 million and will be required to meet benchmarks as the project proceeds. FBI officials say Sentinel has survived three review sessions and is on budget and on schedule."
Sure, social networking sites are terribly unreliable, but that's the analyst's job to sort it out. The NSA does not expect it all to be true. Intelligence is gathered here and there, often from shady folks. Politics aside, the article basically says the NSA is doing its job. Get as much information as possible, then work out what's true and what's whack:
Ring! Ring! Terrorist 1 What are you calling me for again and this time on my disposable cell phone? We just talked on my land line for like half an hour! You wanna use up all my minutes? Terrorist 2 Nah, dude! Check this out - remember when I said all that crazy stuff on the phone a minute ago - I was just Joshin' ya, holmes. We would NEVER do that, that's crazy! Terrorist 1 Yeah it is! Terrorist 2 But we gotta make the Americans think we would do that. Hey, I gotta go and put that crazy stuff up on my blog before I forget what I said. Terrorist 1 Dude! I'm glad you called cuz I was gonna leave a comment on your MySpace page about how you went crazy! Terrorist 2 Nah, dude - just say I'm a genius and be all like yeah, that stuff I said during that 32 minute phone call at 8:17PM was the best plan you ever heard and you are so down with it! Holy War Out, bro!
A planemo, short for Planetary Mass Object, is a celestial object which is solitary and orbited by matter as if it were a star, but is actually a planet. Studies have shown that humans cannot differentiate between real active stars and these inert planets, wishing on both equally. Researchers call this the "Planemo Effect"
The site also answers everybody's big question: Is it dangerous to drink soda and eat Mentos?
"Well, a lot of the fizz goes away as you drink. Then when bubbles are released in your stomach, your stomach can expand a bit, and it also has ways of releasing excess pressure. Do not, repeat, do not be stupid and test the limits of your stomach. Don't even think about it."
If the physics say that it ought to be uniform, and observations shows that it isn't
then maybe it's still uniform, but uniformly shrinking? If it is shrinking at a constant rate, we'll be in for quite a Termination Shock when we wake up on September 24, 2014!
saying "we havent had a terrorist atack because of this program" is like saying "the wolly mammoth repelant is working" unless you can show proof that attacks have been thwarted
I see your point and respect your desire for proof before offering blind faith, but the issue is not black and white. The problem is that the wooly mammoths watch the news too and if the public is told where and when every wooly mammoth attack was prevented, the mammoths will know how we administer our repellant and where we concentrate our repellant and where we (possibly) don't.
I agree with the parent, but the hard part is not the technical challenges. It's the social ones.
ISP's aren't going to do anything that doesn't increase their bottom line. I would guess that many (physical) owners of compromised machines don't even know what a zombie is and aren't aware of the battles going on in cyber-space.
The process of viruses becoming ubiquitous, the public understanding the problem and embracing a solution, and the response of demand for "free anti-virus software" from ISPs was a slow one. The process of getting the public to understand the problem of SPAM (well beyond "I get a lot of it") and embracing a solution like the one posed in the parent, to demanding that ISPs provide warnings and solutions to customers who have compromised machines, will take even longer.
We must also note that this won't "solve" the prolem of SPAM any more than "free virus software" solved the problem of viruses, but it will help.
A government representative commented that they 'hope that this video will put to rest the conspiracy theories.'"
It was not a government representative. The federal government did not release the video to dispel conspiracy theories. They released it in response to a FOIA request.
Read TFA, it's short!
From TFA: The release of the video, taken from a Pentagon security camera, comes after a Freedom of Information Act request by legal watchdog Judicial Watch. The group said it hoped to dispel conspiracy theories about the crash. "Finally, we hope that this video will put to rest the conspiracy theories involving American Airlines Flight 77," president Tom Fitton said.
some dirt would've been dumped on him to have the media label him the greatest threat to humanity since Saddam
That would only work until the real villian reveals himself in a big climactic ending and the superhero saves the day in public and then everybody loves him again.
At least that's how it always happens for Spiderman...
There is a Windows/OS X Game already out there that uses Biofeedback to control the action. It's called The Journey to Wild Divine http://www.wilddivine.com/ and comes with a USB "device" that clips on to three fingers and measures heart rate variability and skin conductance.
From the Game's Website:
The Journey to Wild Divine's innovative biofeedback hardware platform measures skin conductance level (SCL) and heart rate variability through the three, gently attached finger sensors. The measurements are registered through the "Light Stone" and fed back to you through biofeedback activities on the screen.
Mentors within The Journey help you learn to control your body's reactions. By increasing, decreasing or synchronizing body rhythms, through various levels of breathing, relaxation, and meditation techniques you'll quickly learn to master the activites and begin using these techniques everyday in throughout your life.
From an Amazon Review:
This is on the face of it an adventure game. A Myst style wander around solving puzzles and looking for objects way to relax. The twist of it is that it uses biofeedback to control what is happening. You use a standard point and click to travel from place to place. Once there the puzzles are operated by using the biofeedback to raise or lower your "energy" level. I don't know if they are using temperature, pulse rate, or galvanic response but it works surprisingly well. It is really cool to see kites or balloons, or balls, or whatever floating up or down and being able to control them just by thinking. The hard part I found was that just as I would almost get relaxed enough to reach my goal, I'd think "Yeah!, I did it!' and my energy level would crash so I'd have to start over. The puzzle where you are stacking rocks was the most interesting for me because you had to raise and lower your energy to set the rock down in just the right place.
It seems to me that the reason this article was posted and is receiving such discussion is because Bush said it. He was obviously joking. The US Government did not fund research so Apple could make the iPod. Please.
Anyway - goverment funded research is behind all kinds of products that we use every day. NASA research for example, has led entirely or indirectly to smoke detectors, laptop computers, cordless tools, invisible braces, infrared thermometers, joystick controllers, consumer water purifiers, radiation blocking and scratch resistant eyeglass lenses, safety grooves on highways, modern athletic shoes and many others.
Why can't people think that God put an devolved form of life on the planet and we evolved like the Scientists say?
I agree and wonder about this debate. There are bunches of comments here but very few disparate opinions. As many of these posts have stated, the majority of slashdot readers believe in evolution, and many clearly have a disdain for those who believe in creationism. To me, it seems odd that we are arguing about if there is a God or not, when the article is arguing that human beings are millions, not thousands of years old as a species. I don't see how finding another fossil proves God does not exist.
Fundamentalist Christians take the Bible literally and argue that Adam and Eve were created not too long ago, etc. This does not jive with what we've observed ourselves, but none of us was actually there. So yes, it's a possibility, remote or not. It's also possible that as the parent says, God created the universe and life and let it evolve and the Bible is not literal, but figurative, at least when discussing the origins of life.
It's also possible that God put the fossils there for the same reason he didn't answer the heart doctors' fake scientist prayers recently. He wants people to put Him before themselves. Yes, let's talk about pre-creationism for a second. (For you non-believers, I'll preface this with "The story goes" so you'll read on..)
God was. He made everything because He felt like it, and for the purpose of glorifying Himself. I hear the "how self-centered" cries right now. Come on, He's God! Anyway, so he made heaven and a bunch of angels. Lucifer was the handsomest. At some point, God decided that everybody wasn't loving Him as much as they should. So, he asked them all instantly whom they loved more, themself or God. Without thinking or speaking, each "answered" by just feeling how they felt. Those who put God first stayed in heaven. Those who loved themselves more (Lucifer and company) were cast out of heaven. Why have I recounted this story? Because that is the point behind this whole debate:
God will not make his existence scientifically provable because he created free will, or in other words (since I see people misusing "free will" all the time) he does not want you to believe in him and put him first because you know you have to in order to "survive" beyond death. That's not putting God first, that's putting you first. Get it? He wants you to choose Him without earthly proof which would negate the choice for a reasonable person - in other words, He wants faith.
If everyone gave God the fair shake they give science (suspended disbelief long enough to truly understand the point (not of organized religion, but of a relationship with God)), I am sure many people would "observe" enough to believe. For those of you who say you have, how do you know you did? If you "observed" nothing, I suggest while your eyes might have been open, your heart may not have been. On the other hand, if some Christians did the same for science, they might discover they don't have the faith they thought they had.
This is not an easy issue, but realize that saying something is stupid and wrong because it doesn't make sense or it can't be proven is the same as saying something is stupid and wrong because it's not written in the Bible. Fundamentalism goes both ways, and you can be a fundamentalist athiest. "The Bible says so and I won't believe it until someone shows me "proof" that I can read in the Bible!" is the same as "Science says so and I won't believe it until someone shows me "proof" that I can read in a journal!"
In any democracy, those that trust the government are shirking their responsibility to act as a check on government power.
That's true, for civilians. But not for the military. Their responsibility is to do just the opposite. That's why we have ultimate civilian command over the armed services in America, to check government power - your blanket statements seem to prove that you don't understand the point of the military or the sacrifices men and women in the armed forces make.
The parent was talking about how great the military is that some people can voluntarily give up that distrust and concern over what our elected officials are doing. At that point, their responsibility changes to protecting civilians' rights to do that.
I think that many of the people who "love their country" aren't loving their country, but rather those rights and freedoms they enjoy as citizens, as CIVILIAN citizens.
One way to Love your country is to join the military and ALWAYS trust the government, while protecting others' right (and duty) not to.
It takes quite a while to properly "clean" a hard drive. Depending on the size, it could take 4 or 14 hours. I wonder if he had any warning that the Man was coming to take his stuff?
Slashdot Mirror
From the original post: the FBI's attempt to modernize their department has once again failed
Failed once again? The article (you have to read the whole thing) says it's on track.
The article is 90% about the Virtual Case File system ("built" by SAIC) and it's eventual demise in early 2005, almost 2 years ago. At the end, they discuss the FBI's replacement for VCF, saying:
"Last year, FBI officials announced a replacement for VCF, named Sentinel, that is projected to cost $425 million and will not be fully operational until 2009. A temporary overlay version of the software, however, is planned for launch next year. The project's main contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., will be paid $305 million and will be required to meet benchmarks as the project proceeds. FBI officials say Sentinel has survived three review sessions and is on budget and on schedule."
Sure, social networking sites are terribly unreliable, but that's the analyst's job to sort it out. The NSA does not expect it all to be true. Intelligence is gathered here and there, often from shady folks. Politics aside, the article basically says the NSA is doing its job. Get as much information as possible, then work out what's true and what's whack:
Ring! Ring!
Terrorist 1 What are you calling me for again and this time on my disposable cell phone? We just talked on my land line for like half an hour! You wanna use up all my minutes?
Terrorist 2 Nah, dude! Check this out - remember when I said all that crazy stuff on the phone a minute ago - I was just Joshin' ya, holmes. We would NEVER do that, that's crazy!
Terrorist 1 Yeah it is!
Terrorist 2 But we gotta make the Americans think we would do that. Hey, I gotta go and put that crazy stuff up on my blog before I forget what I said.
Terrorist 1 Dude! I'm glad you called cuz I was gonna leave a comment on your MySpace page about how you went crazy!
Terrorist 2 Nah, dude - just say I'm a genius and be all like yeah, that stuff I said during that 32 minute phone call at 8:17PM was the best plan you ever heard and you are so down with it! Holy War Out, bro!
According to the article, the last (and only) thing to dethrone beer since the survey started was the Internet in 1997.
Free as in beer.
Free as in the Internet.
Free as in iPods.
A planemo, short for Planetary Mass Object, is a celestial object which is solitary and orbited by matter as if it were a star, but is actually a planet. Studies have shown that humans cannot differentiate between real active stars and these inert planets, wishing on both equally. Researchers call this the "Planemo Effect"
The site also answers everybody's big question: Is it dangerous to drink soda and eat Mentos?
"Well, a lot of the fizz goes away as you drink. Then when bubbles are released in your stomach, your stomach can expand a bit, and it also has ways of releasing excess pressure. Do not, repeat, do not be stupid and test the limits of your stomach. Don't even think about it."
Make sure you check out the cautionary tale they recommend.
MIT nerds make lights and sounds appear with the touch of a button. Where's the story? If they could get girls to appear, now that would be a story!
If the physics say that it ought to be uniform, and observations shows that it isn't
then maybe it's still uniform, but uniformly shrinking? If it is shrinking at a constant rate, we'll be in for quite a Termination Shock when we wake up on September 24, 2014!
saying "we havent had a terrorist atack because of this program" is like saying "the wolly mammoth repelant is working" unless you can show proof that attacks have been thwarted
I see your point and respect your desire for proof before offering blind faith, but the issue is not black and white. The problem is that the wooly mammoths watch the news too and if the public is told where and when every wooly mammoth attack was prevented, the mammoths will know how we administer our repellant and where we concentrate our repellant and where we (possibly) don't.
I didn't see Schindler's List, but IMDB says the tagline is "Whoever saves one life, saves the entire world."
I don't know but that seems a little different from "Another victory for the Trench Coat Mafia."
I agree with the parent, but the hard part is not the technical challenges. It's the social ones.
ISP's aren't going to do anything that doesn't increase their bottom line. I would guess that many (physical) owners of compromised machines don't even know what a zombie is and aren't aware of the battles going on in cyber-space.
The process of viruses becoming ubiquitous, the public understanding the problem and embracing a solution, and the response of demand for "free anti-virus software" from ISPs was a slow one. The process of getting the public to understand the problem of SPAM (well beyond "I get a lot of it") and embracing a solution like the one posed in the parent, to demanding that ISPs provide warnings and solutions to customers who have compromised machines, will take even longer.
We must also note that this won't "solve" the prolem of SPAM any more than "free virus software" solved the problem of viruses, but it will help.
A government representative commented that they 'hope that this video will put to rest the conspiracy theories.'"
It was not a government representative. The federal government did not release the video to dispel conspiracy theories. They released it in response to a FOIA request.
Read TFA, it's short!
From TFA: The release of the video, taken from a Pentagon security camera, comes after a Freedom of Information Act request by legal watchdog Judicial Watch. The group said it hoped to dispel conspiracy theories about the crash. "Finally, we hope that this video will put to rest the conspiracy theories involving American Airlines Flight 77," president Tom Fitton said.
some dirt would've been dumped on him to have the media label him the greatest threat to humanity since Saddam
That would only work until the real villian reveals himself in a big climactic ending and the superhero saves the day in public and then everybody loves him again.
At least that's how it always happens for Spiderman...
I don't know about HAM-based, but I think there's plenty out there about SPAM-basaed internet connections.
There is a Windows/OS X Game already out there that uses Biofeedback to control the action. It's called The Journey to Wild Divine http://www.wilddivine.com/ and comes with a USB "device" that clips on to three fingers and measures heart rate variability and skin conductance.
From the Game's Website:
The Journey to Wild Divine's innovative biofeedback hardware platform measures skin conductance level (SCL) and heart rate variability through the three, gently attached finger sensors. The measurements are registered through the "Light Stone" and fed back to you through biofeedback activities on the screen.
Mentors within The Journey help you learn to control your body's reactions. By increasing, decreasing or synchronizing body rhythms, through various levels of breathing, relaxation, and meditation techniques you'll quickly learn to master the activites and begin using these techniques everyday in throughout your life.
From an Amazon Review:
This is on the face of it an adventure game. A Myst style wander around solving puzzles and looking for objects way to relax. The twist of it is that it uses biofeedback to control what is happening. You use a standard point and click to travel from place to place. Once there the puzzles are operated by using the biofeedback to raise or lower your "energy" level. I don't know if they are using temperature, pulse rate, or galvanic response but it works surprisingly well. It is really cool to see kites or balloons, or balls, or whatever floating up or down and being able to control them just by thinking. The hard part I found was that just as I would almost get relaxed enough to reach my goal, I'd think "Yeah!, I did it!' and my energy level would crash so I'd have to start over. The puzzle where you are stacking rocks was the most interesting for me because you had to raise and lower your energy to set the rock down in just the right place.
*0*0 works on lots of systems too.
It seems to me that the reason this article was posted and is receiving such discussion is because Bush said it. He was obviously joking. The US Government did not fund research so Apple could make the iPod. Please.
Anyway - goverment funded research is behind all kinds of products that we use every day. NASA research for example, has led entirely or indirectly to smoke detectors, laptop computers, cordless tools, invisible braces, infrared thermometers, joystick controllers, consumer water purifiers, radiation blocking and scratch resistant eyeglass lenses, safety grooves on highways, modern athletic shoes and many others.
These guys sound like a perfect "3rd faction to join the fight" plot twist for the surely on its way live action Transformers 2: Dinobot Island!
Back in the day, when Apple was one bad day from becoming a memory, MacWorld had a glowing-postive view of the future.
They weren't wrong that time.
Why can't people think that God put an devolved form of life on the planet and we evolved like the Scientists say?
I agree and wonder about this debate. There are bunches of comments here but very few disparate opinions. As many of these posts have stated, the majority of slashdot readers believe in evolution, and many clearly have a disdain for those who believe in creationism. To me, it seems odd that we are arguing about if there is a God or not, when the article is arguing that human beings are millions, not thousands of years old as a species. I don't see how finding another fossil proves God does not exist.
Fundamentalist Christians take the Bible literally and argue that Adam and Eve were created not too long ago, etc. This does not jive with what we've observed ourselves, but none of us was actually there. So yes, it's a possibility, remote or not. It's also possible that as the parent says, God created the universe and life and let it evolve and the Bible is not literal, but figurative, at least when discussing the origins of life.
It's also possible that God put the fossils there for the same reason he didn't answer the heart doctors' fake scientist prayers recently. He wants people to put Him before themselves. Yes, let's talk about pre-creationism for a second. (For you non-believers, I'll preface this with "The story goes" so you'll read on..)
God was. He made everything because He felt like it, and for the purpose of glorifying Himself. I hear the "how self-centered" cries right now. Come on, He's God! Anyway, so he made heaven and a bunch of angels. Lucifer was the handsomest. At some point, God decided that everybody wasn't loving Him as much as they should. So, he asked them all instantly whom they loved more, themself or God. Without thinking or speaking, each "answered" by just feeling how they felt. Those who put God first stayed in heaven. Those who loved themselves more (Lucifer and company) were cast out of heaven. Why have I recounted this story? Because that is the point behind this whole debate:
God will not make his existence scientifically provable because he created free will, or in other words (since I see people misusing "free will" all the time) he does not want you to believe in him and put him first because you know you have to in order to "survive" beyond death. That's not putting God first, that's putting you first. Get it? He wants you to choose Him without earthly proof which would negate the choice for a reasonable person - in other words, He wants faith.
If everyone gave God the fair shake they give science (suspended disbelief long enough to truly understand the point (not of organized religion, but of a relationship with God)), I am sure many people would "observe" enough to believe. For those of you who say you have, how do you know you did? If you "observed" nothing, I suggest while your eyes might have been open, your heart may not have been. On the other hand, if some Christians did the same for science, they might discover they don't have the faith they thought they had.
This is not an easy issue, but realize that saying something is stupid and wrong because it doesn't make sense or it can't be proven is the same as saying something is stupid and wrong because it's not written in the Bible. Fundamentalism goes both ways, and you can be a fundamentalist athiest. "The Bible says so and I won't believe it until someone shows me "proof" that I can read in the Bible!" is the same as "Science says so and I won't believe it until someone shows me "proof" that I can read in a journal!"
In any democracy, those that trust the government are shirking their responsibility to act as a check on government power.
That's true, for civilians. But not for the military. Their responsibility is to do just the opposite. That's why we have ultimate civilian command over the armed services in America, to check government power - your blanket statements seem to prove that you don't understand the point of the military or the sacrifices men and women in the armed forces make.
The parent was talking about how great the military is that some people can voluntarily give up that distrust and concern over what our elected officials are doing. At that point, their responsibility changes to protecting civilians' rights to do that.
I think that many of the people who "love their country" aren't loving their country, but rather those rights and freedoms they enjoy as citizens, as CIVILIAN citizens.
One way to Love your country is to join the military and ALWAYS trust the government, while protecting others' right (and duty) not to.
It takes quite a while to properly "clean" a hard drive. Depending on the size, it could take 4 or 14 hours. I wonder if he had any warning that the Man was coming to take his stuff?