Genral Web Comments
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Canadian Researchers To Showcase CanX-2 Nanosat August 31
Canadian Researchers To Showcase CanX-2 Nanosat August 31: "University of Toronto researchers will demonstrate how a satellite the size of a milk carton that may revolutionize the space industry on Wednesday, Aug. 31, at 10 a.m. at University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) Lecture Hall, 4925 Dufferin Street.
At only 3.5 kilograms, the Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiment 2 (CanX-2) will test small, low-power devices that could lay the groundwork for flying formations of small satellites that could eventually replace larger, more expensive satellites.
"
QDB: Random >0 Quotes
QDB: Random >0 Quotes: "#466122 (393)- [X]
QDB: Random >0 Quotes
QDB: Random >0 Quotes: "#234201 (821)- [X]
KDE Women Homepage - KDE Women - the website for women!
KDE Women Homepage - KDE Women - the website for women!: "Welcome to the new website for all women, who are contributing to KDE or want to get involved. This site should help you to find a starting point and supports you while you are working on KDE.
[ Goal | How to take part | Latest news ]
The Goal of KDE-Women
KDE-Women is about building a community of female KDE contributors and users. On these pages you'll find projects by women developers, documentation, guidelines, reviews, help for beginners and much more. There are tutorials about coding, tips and tricks, and other nice stuff, that can be useful for you. We hope to update the tutorials and articles very soon. You can find all of this in section Articles.
In the Events part you can find information about coming exhibitions and meetings we had so far. There are some nice photos as well ;-)
Furthermore we have a forum for discussions in form of a mailinglist and a chat room - feel free to join us and to inform yourself about our ideas. We are looking forward to your introduction :) Discussions and questions about KDE are very welcome. Details you can read on the Contact page.
And finally you can read something about us - the KDE-Women - in the About Us part."
Unique Polymer Coating - Made of Silica Nanoparticles Eliminates Fogging
Unique Polymer Coating - Made of Silica Nanoparticles Eliminates Fogging: "Unique Polymer Coating - Made of Silica Nanoparticles Eliminates Fogging
Foggy windows and lenses are a nuisance, and in the case of automobile windows, can pose a driving hazard. Now, a group of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may have found a permanent solution to the problem. The team has developed a unique polymer coating - made of silica nanoparticles - that they say can create surfaces that never fog.
The transparent coating can be applied to eyeglasses, camera lenses, ski goggles … even bathroom mirrors, they say. The new coating was described today at the 230th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
Researchers have been developing anti-fog technology for years, but each approach has its drawbacks. Some stores carry special anti-fog sprays that help reduce fogging on the inside of car windows, but the sprays must be constantly reapplied to remain effective. Glass containing titanium dioxide also shows promise for reduced fogging, but the method only works in the presence of ultraviolet (UV) light, researchers say.
'Our coatings have the potential to provide the first permanent solution to the fogging problem,' says study leader Michael Rubner, Ph.D., a materials science researcher at MIT in Cambridge, Mass. 'They remain stable over long periods, don’t require light to be activated and can be applied to virtually any surface.' Coated glass appears clearer and allows more light to pass through than untreated glass while maintaining the same smooth texture, he says.
The coatings consist of alternating layers of silica nanoparticles, which are basically tiny particles of glass, and a polymer called polyallylamine hydrochloride, both of which are relatively cheap to manufacture, Rubner says. He has applied for a patent on the manufacturing process and says that the coating could be available in consumer products in two to five years. The military and at least two major car manufacturers have already expressed interest in using the technology, he says.
"
Opinion: Five reasons NOT to use Linux
Opinion: Five reasons NOT to use Linux: "I love Linux. I use it on my servers, I use it on my desktops, and I use it on my entertainment center, where it powers my HDTV TiVo and my D-Link DSM-320 media player, which turns my network into a media library with terabytes of storage. Heck, I even run Linux on my Linksys WRT54G Wi-Fi access points, which hook the whole shebang together.
But, Linux isn't for everyone. Seriously. Here are my top five reasons why you shouldn't move to Linux . . .
Reason number one: Linux is too complicated
Even with the KDE and GNOME graphical windowing interfaces, it's possible -- not likely, but possible -- that you'll need to use a command line now and again, or edit a configuration file.
Compare that with Windows where, it's possible -- not likely, but possible -- that you'll need to use a command line now and again, or edit the Windows registry, where, as they like to tell you, one wrong move could destroy your system forever.
Reason number two: Linux is a pain to set up
It's true. After all, with modern Linuxes like Xandros Desktop or SimplyMEPIS, you need to put in a CD or DVD, press the enter button, give your computer a name, and enter a password for the administrator account.
Gosh, that's hard.
On the other hand, with Windows, all you have to do is put in a CD or DVD, do all the above, and then immediately download all the available patches. After all, Symantec has found that an unpatched Windows PC connected to the Internet will last only a few hours before being compromised.
Unpatched Linux systems? Oh, they last months, but what's the fun of that? "
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
A List Apart: Articles: Smarter Image Hotlinking Prevention
A List Apart: Articles: Smarter Image Hotlinking Prevention: "Hey! That’s mine!
Most web professionals are all too aware of the problems caused by hotlinkers. Leechers. Bandwidth thieves. People who use images hosted on your web server on their own pages.
For some lucky people who don’t pay by the gigabyte for the amount of data they transfer, that's not too big a deal. Who cares if some little-trafficked weblog uses your photograph of snow falling in New York?
For other sites, however, it's a much bigger problem. If a 100K JPEG is hotlinked on a site that gets, say, 1,000 hits a day, that’s 100MB of data transferred from your site without a single person actually visiting your site. If you have only a few gigabytes of transfer available per month — or worse, pay money per gigabyte — this can add up. And if someone were to leech an entire gallery from your site …
The trouble is that the usual approaches for preventing hotlinking have a couple of side effects."
Chapter�2.�Securing the File System
Chapter�2.�Securing the File System
Insecure files summary
Once you have obtained the list(s) of world-writable files and directories, you will want to save those lists in a secure place. Make a copy of the lists on a floppy, or other secure location, so you have them to reference, if needed. If you are using gpg, or have installed the md5 utility, you will want to run a checksum of your file, or digitally sign it, so that in the event you need to reference that file, you are able to verify that it has not been tampered with.
You will also want to periodically re-check your file system to make sure that no new files with the above permissions issues have been introduced into your system, that you are unaware of. To accomplish this, you can copy the following script, which combines the above commands, and run it from the cron tab on a regular basis.
#!/bin/bash
#simple script to check for world writable files and setUID/setGID files.
# baseline world-writable files list
BL_WWF='/SCRIPTS/security/harden/world-writable-files.txt'
#baseline setuid files list
BL_SUID='/SCRIPTS/security/harden/setuid-files.txt'
TODAY=`date +%y%m%d`
printf "Checking the file system for world-writable files ..... "
find / \( -type d -o -type f \) -perm +002 > /tmp/${TODAY}-wwf.txt
printf " done.\n"
printf "Checking the file system for setUID/GID files ..... "
find / -type f \( -perm -04000 -o -perm -02000 \) > /tmp/${TODAY}-suid.txt
printf " done.\n"
diff ${BL_WWF} /tmp/${TODAY}-wwf.txt > /tmp/${TODAY}-wwf.diff
diff ${BL_SUID} /tmp/${TODAY}-suid.txt > /tmp/${TODAY}-suid.diff
printf "Changed world-writable files:\n"
cat /tmp/${TODAY}-wwf.diff | mail -s "World Writable Files for ${TODAY}" charlie@localhost
printf "Changed setUID/GID files:\n"
cat /tmp/${TODAY}-suid.diff | mail -s "setU/GID Files for ${TODAY}" charlie@localhost
This may take a few minutes depending upon the size of your file system. For example, on a file system spanning multiple drives, and totaling approximately 160GB, it could take as long as 10 minutes.
To run the script from the crontab, enter a line like the following into the cron:
0 0 * * * /SCRIPTS/security/harden/check_files.sh
This will run the script every night at midnight. You will want to make adjustments for your own application.
Linux: Internet Server Security and Configuration Tutorial
Linux: Internet Server Security and Configuration Tutorial: "Use the command chattr and lsattr to make a file unmodifiable over and above the usual permissions.
Make a file unmodifiable: chattr i /bin/ls
Make directories unmodifiable: chattr -R i /bin /sbin /boot /lib
Make a file append only: chattr a /var/log/messages"
Ultra Monkey: Topologies: Load Balancing
Ultra Monkey: Topologies: Load Balancing: "This topology provides a highly available service with minimal hardware requirements. For a more detailed explanation of the function of each component please see the overview.
The documentation that follows assumes that all nodes on the network are set up with correct interfaces and routes for each network they are connected to as per the diagram above. The return path for packets must be through the Linux Director. In most cases this will mean that the the default route should be set to the Linux Director."
Quick HOWTO: Linux Firewalls Using iptables
Quick HOWTO: Linux Firewalls Using iptables: "#---------------------------------------------------------------
# Disable routing triangulation. Respond to queries out
# the same interface, not another. Helps to maintain state
# Also protects against IP spoofing
#---------------------------------------------------------------
net/ipv4/conf/all/rp_filter = 1
#---------------------------------------------------------------
# Enable logging of packets with malformed IP addresses
#---------------------------------------------------------------
net/ipv4/conf/all/log_martians = 1
#---------------------------------------------------------------
# Disable redirects
#---------------------------------------------------------------
net/ipv4/conf/all/send_redirects = 0
#---------------------------------------------------------------
# Disable source routed packets
#---------------------------------------------------------------
net/ipv4/conf/all/accept_source_route = 0
#---------------------------------------------------------------
# Disable acceptance of ICMP redirects
#---------------------------------------------------------------
net/ipv4/conf/all/accept_redirects = 0
#---------------------------------------------------------------
# Turn on protection from Denial of Service (DOS) attacks
#---------------------------------------------------------------
net/ipv4/tcp_syncookies = 1
#---------------------------------------------------------------
# Disable responding to ping broadcasts
#---------------------------------------------------------------
net/ipv4/icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts = 1"
Diamonds are not forever (August 2005) - News - PhysicsWeb
Diamonds are not forever (August 2005) - News - PhysicsWeb: "Physicists in Germany have created a material that is harder than diamond. Natalia Dubrovinskaia and colleagues at the University of Bayreuth made the new material by subjecting carbon-60 molecules to immense pressures. The new form of carbon, which is known as aggregated diamond nanorods, is expected to have many industrial applications (App. Phys. Lett. 87 083106)."
Monday, August 29, 2005
RPM resource kernel 2.4.20-8
RPM resource kernel 2.4.20-8: "The search service can find package by either name (apache), provides(webserver), absolute file names (/usr/bin/apache), binaries (gprof) or shared libraries (libXm.so.2) in standard path. It does not support multiple arguments yet..."
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Wired News: Laptops Are Hot; Maybe Too Hot
Wired News: Laptops Are Hot; Maybe Too Hot: "t may be hard to fry an egg on a new laptop today, but notebook surface temperatures remain too hot for many users -- and the situation could get worse.
Contemporary laptops are generally cooler than their predecessors. In IBM's case, what it calls the maximum 'skin temperature,' or surface temperature, is 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit), which is considered an optimal threshold in the industry. However, laptop makers increasingly struggle to accommodate components that are more powerful and, consequently, hotter."
Anti-porn spam laws to shield kids backfire - Yahoo! News
Anti-porn spam laws to shield kids backfire - Yahoo! News: "Laws in two states to shield children from objectionable e-mail are having a chilling effect on nearly everyone but the spammers they were intended for.
ADVERTISEMENT
The laws in Michigan and Utah create e-mail registries to prevent children from viewing adult-oriented messages. But the laws, both barely a month old, threaten to disrupt businesses nationwide, marketers and legal experts say.
Legitimate e-mail marketers are weighing the legal and financial risks of doing business in the two states. Small and midsize companies are anticipating crushing fines. And legal experts are alarmed by the potential impact on free speech and e-mail taxation.
Spammers, ironically, may be tempted to send more e-mail to those states to gain valid e-mail addresses.
"
Wired News: Brit License Plates Get Chipped
Wired News: Brit License Plates Get Chipped: "The British government is preparing to test new high-tech license plates containing microchips capable of transmitting unique vehicle identification numbers and other data to readers more than 300 feet away.
Officials in the United States say they'll be closely watching the British trial as they contemplate initiating their own tests of the plates, which incorporate radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags to make vehicles electronically trackable."
Wired News: Traffic Hackers Hit Red Light
Wired News: Traffic Hackers Hit Red Light: "If you've ever been stuck in traffic longing for a magic box that could turn all your red lights to green, beware: Acting on that fantasy became a federal crime this week.
The Safe Intersections Act, part of the transit bill signed Wednesday by President Bush, makes it a misdemeanor for unauthorized users to wield a 'traffic signal pre-emption transmitter,' a special remote control used by police, firefighters and ambulance drivers to change traffic lights to green as they approach an intersection."
Wired News: Whistle-Blower Faces FBI Probe
Wired News: Whistle-Blower Faces FBI Probe: "LAS VEGAS -- The FBI is investigating a computer security researcher for criminal conduct after he revealed that critical routers supporting the internet and many networks have a serious software flaw that could allow someone to crash or take control of them.
Mike Lynn, a former researcher at Internet Security Systems, or ISS, said he was tipped off late Thursday night that the FBI was investigating him for violating trade secrets belonging to his former employer."
Award#0550008 - SGER: A Socio-Technical Approach to Internet Security
Award#0550008 - SGER: A Socio-Technical Approach to Internet Security: "Abstract
0550008
SGER: A Socio-Technical Approach to Internet Security
Nancy G. Leveson
Technical security measures are often breached through social means, but little research has tackled the problem of system security in the context of the entire socio-technical system, with the interactions between the social and technical parts integrated into one model. Similar problems exist in the field of system safety, but recently a new accident model has been devised that uses a systems-theoretic approach to understand accident causation. Systems theory allows complex relationships between events and the system as a whole to be taken into account, so this new model permits an accident to be considered not simply as arising from a chain of individual component failures, but from the interactions among system components, including those that have not failed.
This exploratory research will examine how this new approach to safety can be applied to Internet security, using worms as a first example. The long-term goal is to create a general model of trustworthiness that can incorporate both safety and security, along with system modeling tools and analysis methods that can be used to create more trustworthy socio-technical systems. This research provides a unique opportunity to link two research disciplines, safety and security, that have many commonalities but, up to now, relatively little communication or interaction."
Greenspan warns end of housing boom inevitable - Yahoo! News
Greenspan warns end of housing boom inevitable - Yahoo! News: "JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (Reuters) - U.S. home prices could fall as the housing surge 'inevitably' slows,
Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan said on Saturday as he cast doubt on central banks' ability to sway such asset values.
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'The housing boom will inevitably simmer down,' the Fed chief said. 'As part of that process, house turnover will decline from currently historic levels, while home price increases will slow and prices could even decrease.'
Greenspan's latest house price warning came during concluding remarks to an annual Kansas City Fed symposium -- his last as Fed chief and one focused on a retrospective of his 18 years at the Fed. Greenspan intends to step down at the end of next January."
Anti-Gay Church Protests at GI Funerals - Yahoo! News
Anti-Gay Church Protests at GI Funerals - Yahoo! News: "SMYRNA, Tenn. - Members of a church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in
Iraq.
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The church members were met with scorn from local residents. They chased the church members cars' down a highway, waving flags and screaming 'God bless America.'
'My husband is over there, so I'm here to show my support,' 41-year-old Connie Ditmore said as she waved and American flag and as tears came to her eyes. 'To do this at a funeral is disrespectful of a family, no matter what your beliefs are.'"
Schneier on Security: Actors Playing New York City Policemen
Schneier on Security: Actors Playing New York City Policemen: "Actors Playing New York City Policemen
Did you know you could be arrested for carrying a police uniform in New York City?
With security tighter in the Big Apple since Sept. 11, 2001, the union that represents TV and film actors has begun advising its New York-area members to stop buying police costumes or carrying them to gigs, even if their performances require them.
The Screen Actors Guild said in a statement posted on its Web site on Friday that 'an apparent shift in city policy' may put actors at risk of arrest if they are stopped while carrying anything that looks too much like a real police uniform.
The odds that an actor might be stopped and questioned on his or her way to work went up this month when police began conducting random searches of passengers' bags in New York's subway system. The guild said two of its members had been detained by security personnel at an airport and a courthouse in recent months for possessing police costumes.
This seems like overkill to me. I understand that a police uniform is an authentication device -- not a very good one, but one nonetheless -- and we want to make it harder for the bad guys to get one. But there's no reason to prohibit screen or stage actors from having police uniforms if it's part of their job. This seems similar to the laws surrounding lockpicks: you can be arrested for carrying them without a good reason, but locksmiths are allowed to own the tools of their trade.
Here's another bit from the article:
Under police department rules, real officers must be on hand any time an actor dons a police costume during a TV or film production.
I guess that's to prevent the actor from actually impersonating a policeman. But how often does that actually happen? Is this a good use of police manpower?
Does anyone know how other cities and countries handle this?"
Schneier on Security: A Socio-Technical Approach to Internet Security
Schneier on Security: A Socio-Technical Approach to Internet Security: " Technical security measures are often breached through social means, but little research has tackled the problem of system security in the context of the entire socio-technical system, with the interactions between the social and technical parts integrated into one model. Similar problems exist in the field of system safety, but recently a new accident model has been devised that uses a systems-theoretic approach to understand accident causation. Systems theory allows complex relationships between events and the system as a whole to be taken into account, so this new model permits an accident to be considered not simply as arising from a chain of individual component failures, but from the interactions among system components, including those that have not failed.
This exploratory research will examine how this new approach to safety can be applied to Internet security, using worms as a first example. The long-term goal is to create a general model of trustworthiness that can incorporate both safety and security, along with system modeling tools and analysis methods that can be used to create more trustworthy socio-technical systems. This research provides a unique opportunity to link two research disciplines, safety and security, that have many commonalities but, up to now, relatively little communication or interaction.
"
Windows Flaw May Let Hackers Hide Code From AV Scanners - Yahoo! News
Windows Flaw May Let Hackers Hide Code From AV Scanners - Yahoo! News: "A flaw in how Windows handles entries in the all-important registry can be used by hackers to hide evidence of malicious code from a wide swath of commercial anti-virus and anti-spyware scanners, the SANS Internet Storm Center reported Friday. While the disclosure of the bug by Danish vulnerability tracker Secunia on Wednesday got little attention, Internet Storm Center (ISC) analysts believed it was far more dangerous than it looked.
'Once we started to play with [the vulnerability], the nastiness became apparent: An overly long registry entry can be added, but won't be shown by regedit and regedt32,' wrote ISC handler Daniel Wesemann on the group's alert site. 'Even better, all registry entries that get added afterward under the same key, even if not overly long, will be hidden as well.'"
Schneier on Security: Privacy Risks of Used Cell Phones
Schneier on Security: Privacy Risks of Used Cell Phones: "Privacy Risks of Used Cell Phones
Ignore the corporate sleaziness by Cingular for the moment -- they sold used cell phones meant for charity -- and focus on the privacy implications. Cingular didn't erase any of the personal information on the used phones they sold.
This reminds me of Simson Garfinkel's analysis of used hard drives. He found that 90% of them contained old data, some of it very private and interesting.
Erasing data is one of the big problems of the information age. We know how to do it, but it takes time and we mostly don't bother. And sadly, these kinds of privacy violations are more the norm than the exception. I don't think it will get better unless Cingular becomes liable for violating its customers' privacy like that."
Thursday, August 25, 2005
8 Out Of 10 Enterprise PCs Spyware Infected - Yahoo! News
8 Out Of 10 Enterprise PCs Spyware Infected - Yahoo! News: "Even as spyware has become a dirty word and users have been bombarded with stories about its pervasive, pernicious nature, criminals have dramatically expanded their distribution channels and infected an overwhelming majority of enterprise PCs, anti-spyware vendor Webroot said Tuesday as it rolled out its latest stats.
ADVERTISEMENT
The number of malicious sites hosting spyware has quadrupled since the start of the year, said Richard Stiennon, Webroot's director of threat research, and now number over 300,000 URLs.
On average, enterprise PCs have 27 pieces of spyware on their hard drives, a 19 percent increase in the last quarter alone, while a whopping 80 percent of corporate computers host at least one instance of unwanted software, whether that's adware, spyware, or a Trojan horse."
Cancer Fighter Gets Past Blood-Brain Barrier - Yahoo! News
Cancer Fighter Gets Past Blood-Brain Barrier - Yahoo! News: "WEDNESDAY, Aug. 24 (HealthDay News) -- For decades, efforts to treat brain cancer have been stymied by the fact that the brain is protected with a natural shield called the blood-brain barrier -- making it tough for tumor-fighting drugs to get through."
Airborne laser brings Star Wars one step closer - Yahoo! News
Airborne laser brings Star Wars one step closer - Yahoo! News: "LONDON (Reuters) - A U.S.
Pentagon invention could make air combat resemble a battle scene from Star Wars, with a laser so small it can fit on a fighter jet, yet powerful enough to knock down an enemy missile in flight.
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The High Energy Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS), being designed by the Pentagon's central research and development agency, will weigh just 750 kg (1,650 lb) and measures the size of a large fridge."
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Duct tape - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Duct tape - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Duct tape (originally known as duck tape) is a strong, fabric-based, multi-purpose adhesive tape, usually silver in color, although many other colors, including transparent, are also available, and is usually 2 inches (50 mm) wide. It was originally developed during World War II in 1942 as a waterproof sealing tape for ammunition casings. Permacel, then a division of Johnson & Johnson, used a rubber-based adhesive to help the tape resist water and a fabric backing to facilitate ripping. Because of these properties, it was also used to quickly repair military equipment, including jeeps, guns, and aircraft.
Because the original tape was made of cotton duck fabric, and it repelled moisture like 'water off a duck's back', it was originally referred to as 'duck tape'. The original term came into modern usage with the introduction of 'Duck Tape', a registered trademark of Duck Products.
After the war, the housing industry boomed and people started using duct tape for many other purposes. The name 'duct tape' came from its use on heating and air conditioning ducts, a purpose for which it, ironically, has been deemed ineffective by the state of California and by building codes in most other places in the U.S. (which means professionals are restricted from using it in systems they install, but do-it-yourselfers are not). However metallized and aluminum tapes used by professionals are still often called 'duct tapes'."
Scotch Transparent Duct Tape
Scotch Transparent Duct Tape: "The latest solution for quick, easy home repairs will go unnoticed, and that’s the beauty of it. The most recent addition to the Scotch duct tape family is the development of the first-ever transparent duct tape.
Like all Scotch duct tapes, the new transparent duct tape is strong enough to tackle almost any repair project in or around the home, vehicle, boat or job site. The clear benefit is that this duct tape is transparent when applied, making repairs less noticeable. Scotch transparent duct tape also lasts six times longer than other heavy-duty duct tapes, based on accelerated weathering, providing peace of mind that the repair will last a long time."
Slashdot Poll
Slashdot Poll: "Ya' know all that 'dark matter' out there them rocket science guys keep looking for that keeps the universe from 'sploding apart?
...yeah, you know what it is.
...It ain't dark, it's grey."
PWNtcha - captcha decoder
PWNtcha - captcha decoder: "PWNtcha stands for 'Pretend We’re Not a Turing Computer but a Human Antagonist', as well as PWN capTCHAs. This project’s goal is to demonstrate the inefficiency of many captcha implementations.
For an overview on why visual captchas are a bad idea, see Matt May’s excellent presentation, Escape from CAPTCHA, as well as the W3C’s Inaccessibility of Visually-Oriented Anti-Robot Tests working draft.
FAQ
Please read this FAQ attentively before making hasty assumptions
* Q. Does this mean that captchas are dead?
* A. No, of course not. There are many very difficult captchas here and there. PWNtcha does not decode them and probably never will.
* Q. Why don’t you list captcha
* A. Maybe because I was not aware of it. Please send me more information about it.
* Q. Where is the code?
* A. No code is available yet. I am still pondering the pertinence of allowing code in the wild. The good old full-disclosure debate... If you think I should release the code for PWNtcha, feel free to explain your arguments to me.
* Q. Please give me a copy of PWNtcha so that I can test it on my own CAPTCHA and see how efficient it is!
* A. PWNtcha does not work that way. It is not an intelligent program that tries to decode a random CAPTCHA. Such a program would be nearly impossible to do. PWNtcha is simply a toolkit of image manipulation functions, and a list of known CAPTCHAs with the associated list of image operations to apply in order to decode each of them. If I have never seen your CAPTCHA, then PWNtcha does not know about it, and there is absolutely no way it could decode it."
MySQL Bugs: #563: Frequent Corruption of MyISAM tables
MySQL Bugs: #563: Frequent Corruption of MyISAM tables: "[1 Jun 2003 14:29] [ name withheld ]
Description:
I know the how to fix corrupt tables, the probablem is that the corruption
occurs frequently on an otherwise stable server.
You closed another bug report with very similar problems on v4.0.13
http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=541
The number of queries per second, size of tables, and serverload do not
seem to trigger the corruption. I have had table corruption on small tables,
busy tables, large tables, etc.
The corruption occurs about every 4-5 days much like was stated in the
other bug report.
The user comments on the manual also appear to show that this is not
some little rare occuarnce, but rather a bug:
http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/News-4.0.13.html
How to repeat:
Appears to not be tied to a specific query or action. I have not killed any
mySQL processes. There have been no hardware problems.
Suggested fix:
This appears to have started in the v4.0.12 release. Therefore most likely
a change from v4.0.11 caused the bug."
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
FBI wedding crashers snare Asian crime ring at fake nuptials - Yahoo! News
FBI wedding crashers snare Asian crime ring at fake nuptials - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (AFP) - Daring US agents who outfaked an Asian counterfeiting ring by nabbing suspects at a phony wedding celebrated 87 indictments and a 40 million dollar haul of drugs, bogus Viagra and contraband.
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Operations Smoking Dragon and Royal Charm netted more than four million dollars in counterfeit money alone, and smashed a syndicate bent on flooding US shores with machine guns, rocket launchers, drugs and pirated cigarettes, officials said.
'This investigation, going back over four-and-a-half years, has been like peeling back the layers of an onion,' said
FBI Deputy Director John Pistole."
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A drug dubbed CX717, made by Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Irvine, California, reverses the biological and behavioral effects of sleep deprivation, according to results of animal studies.
In an article in the research journal PLoS Biology, Dr. Sam A. Deadwyler and his associates propose that CX717 would particularly benefit individuals affected by extended work hours or night shifts.
To test this possibility, they taught monkeys to perform a 'delayed-match-to-sample task,' in which they were presented with a single image on a computer screen, then would use a cursor to identify that image in a group of several different images."
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - So, you like the idea of having a tattoo? Join the club. It's estimated that about one in seven Americans has a tattoo, most likely one professing their independence, allegiance, style, or love for someone or something.
But remember: it's easier to change your mind than your tattoo.
According to Dr. Roy Geronemus, most people make the decision to get a tattoo on a whim, with very few giving it careful thought or reflection. Therefore, it's not surprising that many of them seek to have it removed. According to the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery, laser tattoo removal procedures rose 27% between 2001 and 2003."
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When children with diabetes don't get enough insulin, impurities can build up rapidly in the body and cause a medical emergency. However, diabetic ketoacidosis, as the condition is called, can be treated effectively and relatively simply with a fast-acting insulin analog injected subcutaneously, a new study shows.
The current standard of treatment for diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA, is continuous intravenous administration of insulin, which may require admission to an intensive care unit, Dr. Durval Damiani of Sao Paulo University Medical School in Brazil and colleagues note in the medical journal Diabetes Care."
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "CHICAGO (Reuters) - Going under general anesthesia is not an effective way for heroin users to avoid the painful, drawn-out process of breaking their habit and can be dangerous, a study said on Tuesday.
Publicized as a quick way to withdraw from heroin addiction, the $15,000 treatment involves making the user unconscious and rapidly administering an antagonist drug that neutralizes heroin's effects.
Columbia University researcher Dr. Eric Collins evaluated three detoxification methods on a total of 106 patients, between the ages of 21 to 50."
Alzheimer's Hits Brain's 'Daydream' Centers - Yahoo! News
Alzheimer's Hits Brain's 'Daydream' Centers - Yahoo! News: "TUESDAY, Aug. 23 (HealthDay News) -- The areas of the brain that young, healthy people use when daydreaming are the same areas that fail in people with
Alzheimer's disease, new research reveals.
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'The regions of the brain we tend to use in our default state when we are young are very similar to the regions where plaques form in older people with Alzheimer's disease,' said study lead researcher Randy L. Buckner, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Washington University, St. Louis."
World of Warcraft Community Site -> Test Realm Patch Notes
World of Warcraft Community Site -> Test Realm Patch Notes: "Test Patch Notes Disclaimer: The test realm patch notes only apply to features that exist on the public test realms. We provide these patch notes to players who wish to know what features and changes exist in the test environment in order to more effectively test these features."
BBC NEWS | Technology | Vietnam medic makes DIY endoscope
BBC NEWS | Technology | Vietnam medic makes DIY endoscope: "A hospital doctor in the poor rural area around the Mekong Delta in Vietnam has used his PC and some cheap parts to create a homemade endoscope.
In Vietnam, there is a shortage of endoscopes, with normally only one in each province.
Endoscopy is a minimally invasive diagnostic procedure used to evaluate the interior surfaces of an organ by inserting a small scope in the body. Through the scope, doctors are able to see lesions."
iMedia Connection: Web Analytics Breakthrough!
iMedia Connection: Web Analytics Breakthrough!: "In his monthly column, Think Metrics CEO Brandt Dainow describes a new and more accurate way to identify unique visitors to your site.
This article is going to ask you to make a paradigm shift in how you think about identifying unique visitors. This article will describe new, cutting edge methodologies for identifying people, methodologies that -- at this point -- no web analytics product supports. We’re going to take a journey from first generation web analytics to second."
Monday, August 22, 2005
mozdev.org - flashblock: index
mozdev.org - flashblock: index: "Flashblock is an extension for the Mozilla and Firefox browsers that takes a pessimistic approach to dealing with Macromedia Flash content on a webpage and blocks ALL Flash content from loading. It then leaves placeholders on the webpage that allow you to click to download and then view the Flash content. "
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Quiz: Is Your Boss a Psychopath?
Quiz: Is Your Boss a Psychopath?: "The standard clinical test for psychopathy, Robert Hare's PCL-R, evaluates 20 personality traits overall, but a subset of eight traits defines what he calls the 'corporate psychopath' -- the nonviolent person prone to the 'selfish, callous, and remorseless use of others.' Does your boss fit the profile? Here's our do-it-yourself quiz drawing on the test manual and Hare's book Without Conscience. (Disclaimer: If you're not a psychologist or psychiatrist, this will be a strictly amateur exercise.) We've used the pronoun 'he,' but research suggests psychologists have underestimated the psychopathic propensity of women."
Is Your Boss a Psychopath?
Is Your Boss a Psychopath?: "One of the most provocative ideas about business in this decade so far surfaced in a most unlikely place. The forum wasn't the Harvard Business School or one of those $4,000-a-head conferences where Silicon Valley's venture capitalists search for the next big thing. It was a convention of Canadian cops in the far-flung province of Newfoundland. The speaker, a 71-year-old professor emeritus from the University of British Columbia, remains virtually unknown in the business realm. But he's renowned in his own field: criminal psychology. Robert Hare is the creator of the Psychopathy Checklist. The 20-item personality evaluation has exerted enormous influence in its quarter-century history. It's the standard tool for making clinical diagnoses of psychopaths -- the 1% of the general population that isn't burdened by conscience. Psychopaths have a profound lack of empathy. They use other people callously and remorselessly for their own ends. They seduce victims with a hypnotic charm that masks their true nature as pathological liars, master con artists, and heartless manipulators. Easily bored, they crave constant stimulation, so they seek thrills from real-life 'games' they can win -- and take pleasure from their power over other people."
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Ill. Police Claim Lab Botched DNA Tests - Yahoo! News
Ill. Police Claim Lab Botched DNA Tests - Yahoo! News: "SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois state police canceled a contract with a nationally known DNA laboratory because it failed to detect the presence of semen on tests of evidence in nearly a dozen cases, officials said.
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No one appears to have been freed as a result of the errors at Virginia-based Bode Technology, Doug Brown, a first deputy director with the state police, said Thursday."
Seven Indian AIDS Drugs Reinstated - Yahoo! News
Seven Indian AIDS Drugs Reinstated - Yahoo! News: "GENEVA - The U.N. health agency said Friday it has reinstated seven Indian-made generic drugs to its list of approved
HIV/
AIDS medicines for use in developing countries after the manufacturer was able to prove they were the same as the patented versions.
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The
World Health Organization removed three of the drugs — made by Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. — from its list of generic AIDS medicines recommended for use in developing countries in August 2004. A random check had found that tests failed to prove that the medicines were biologically the same as the patented drugs."
Water Park Closes After Hundreds Fall Ill - Yahoo! News
Water Park Closes After Hundreds Fall Ill - Yahoo! News: "ALBANY, N.Y. - Gastrointestinal illness possibly stemming from a state-run water playground has sickened more than 700 people, mostly children and teenagers, the state Health Department said Thursday.
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'The numbers are growing significantly,' said department spokesman Rob Kenny.
Seneca Lake Park's Sprayground, which has water jets shooting up from a hardtop surface, was closed after tests showed the tank system that feeds the water jets was contaminated with a common waterborne disease called cryptosporidiosis."
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Most adults in the U.S. believe that a vaccine against HIV infection offers the best chance of controlling the global AIDS epidemic and are confident that an effective vaccine against the virus will be developed. However, only a minority said they would strongly support a friend or family member who participated in an HIV vaccine trial.
These are among the findings of a telephone survey designed to gauge attitudes, knowledge, and awareness of HIV vaccine research in the U.S. For the survey, researchers polled 2,008 Americans 18 years of age or older who were randomly selected from the general population, as well as 1,501 randomly selected from three groups highly affected by HIV infection -- African-Americans, Hispanics and men who have sex with men"
Poll: Third Of PC Users Blame Microsoft For Zotob Attacks - Yahoo! News
Poll: Third Of PC Users Blame Microsoft For Zotob Attacks - Yahoo! News: "Almost as many people point the finger at Microsoft over the week's attacks on
Windows 2000 as do those who blame the hackers who wrote the bots, said a U.K.-based security vendor Thursday that polled 1,000 business PC users.
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The Sophos survey's numbers have to be distressing to Microsoft, which released a patch for the vulnerability prior to the attack, but still caught substantial flak from users."
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Oddly Enough Article | Reuters.co.uk
Oddly Enough Article | Reuters.co.uk: "HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Mexican citizen must forfeit about $2.75 million (1.52 million pounds) in Texas lottery winnings because of his drug-trafficking conviction, a federal appeals court said on Wednesday.
Jose Luis Betancourt, 52, was arrested after making a cocaine delivery shortly after accepting $5.5 million for having the winning ticket in the December 11, 2002, lottery drawing, according to court documents.
A jury convicted Betancourt, who was living in the border city of Brownsville, Texas, of conspiracy and two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine in May 2003 and also found he must forfeit his one-half interest in the lottery ticket.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court judge's ruling that Betancourt bought his share of the ticket with drug proceeds because that was his only apparent source of income.
The court also upheld his punishment of more than 24 years in prison without parole.
'Mr. Betancourt's luck ran out, and appropriately so,' said U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg. "
Woman Acquitted in Sticky Threat Case - Yahoo! News
Woman Acquitted in Sticky Threat Case - Yahoo! News: "ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A 24-year-old dental student who sent a note and a wad of bubble gum with her fine for a speeding ticket was acquitted Wednesday of two felony counts of mailing a threat. A federal jury found Rosemary Ho of Phoenix not guilty following a two-day trial and a few hours of deliberation."
Woman Charged With Kidnapping Lawn Boys - Yahoo! News
Woman Charged With Kidnapping Lawn Boys - Yahoo! News: "MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A woman faces two counts of kidnapping after allegedly paying two boys for a lawn job with a fake $50 bill, then holding them hostage when they caught on.
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Tracy Lynn Clinton, 39, remained in the Eastern Regional Jail on Wednesday, where she has been held on $12,500 bail since her arrest Monday. Police say she has no known address."
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Parted - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)
Parted - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF): "GNU Parted is a program for creating, destroying, resizing, checking and copying partitions, and the file systems on them. This is useful for creating space for new operating systems, reorganising disk usage, copying data between hard disks and disk imaging."
Monday, August 15, 2005
gizmag Article: Scientists demonstrate a mind-controlled future
gizmag Article: Scientists demonstrate a mind-controlled future: "November 5, 2004 Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have demonstrated that a monkey can feed itself with a robotic arm simply by using signals from its brain, an advance that could enhance prosthetics for people, especially those with spinal cord injuries. The robotic arm, or neural prosthesis, is about the size of a child's arm and moves much like a natural arm, with a fully mobile shoulder and elbow and a simple gripper that allows the monkey to grasp and hold food while its own arms are restrained."
A World of Warcraft World
A World of Warcraft World: "There are more people playing World of Warcraft in the U.S. today (two million) than had indoor plumbing 100 years ago. There are more people with blogs today (31 million) than had internet connections ten years ago.
Thomas Edison said it best: 'Change happens with ball-flattening speed.' "
Sunday, August 14, 2005
I2O on Linux
I2O on Linux: "Manufacturer Promise
Model SuperTrak SX6000
Driver 1.297
Kernel 2.6.11
Architecture 32-bit
System
Working yes
Comment Workes fine with (Build 77 BIOS 1.10.XX) with this patch: --- drivers/message/i2o/driver.c 2005-06-17 08:05:38.766357128 0200 drivers/message/i2o/driver.c 2005-06-16 19:42:03.333683000 0200 @@ -200,6 200,7 @@ } if ((le32_to_cpu(msg->u.head[1]) >> 24) == I2O_CMD_UTIL_EVT_REGISTER) { #if 0 struct i2o_device *dev, *tmp; struct i2o_event *evt; u16 size; @@ -230,6 231,7 @@ INIT_WORK(&evt->work, (void (*)(void *))drv->event, evt); queue_work(drv->event_queue, &evt->work); #endif return 1; } without it my system hangs. With lates firmware/BIOS 1.20.x my system wont work verry well just stops working from time to time some funktions locks the system.
Reporter Andreas Dahlgren"
Promise SX6000, FreeBSD, and Linux | K-Squared Ramblings
Promise SX6000, FreeBSD, and Linux | K-Squared Ramblings: "I noticed this site gets a lot of traffic and wanted add a bit more information about the sx6000 card. I tried many distros with the sx6000 and had problems with most if not all. suse 9 claims to have support and even provides drivers for the card. I could NOT get the card to be recognized at bootup. The drivers loaded, kernel compiled, but no card. I tried both a fresh install with the card in. I also tried loadind the drivers post-install. Nothing. Also after reading many posts, this card and linux experience i/o speeds on par with carrier pigeons. So my recommendation would be to ditch this card and pick up a 3ware card. I just bought the 7506-8 and it’s been flawless. I’ve only had it up for a day, but speeds are on par with expectation. Also please note i have no affiliation with either 3ware or promise(and also have little linux knowledge for that matter)
sorry to hijack this post
good luck"
Promise SX6000, FreeBSD, and Linux | K-Squared Ramblings
Promise SX6000, FreeBSD, and Linux | K-Squared Ramblings: "If you want to build a Linux or FreeBSD system around a RAID array, don’t use the Promise SuperTrak SX6000 controller. At least not for now.
The card used to work under Linux using the standard I2O drivers (i2o_block, etc.), but sometime last year Promise changed the firmware so that it no longer uses I2O. Now you’re stuck with Promise’s own driver, so if you want to use an old enough distribution* (say, Red Hat 7.3) that you can find a driver disk, or make your own driver disk, go ahead…but don’t expect to be able to upgrade it unless you can create a driver disk for the newer distro. This assumes the source code for the driver will work with recent 2.4 kernels—it won’t compile with 2.6. There has been talk of merging the pti_st driver into the kernel (fortunately it’s GPLed), but I can’t find anything more recent than August. Someday it might work again, but not today.
Now, FreeBSD is another matter. It has built-in drivers (pst), the installer will detect it automatically, and even let you install your entire system to it—without warning you that FreeBSD can’t boot from the SX6000. You can boot from another drive and interact with it once the system’s running, but you can’t put your entire system on the RAID array. (This information is not in the installer, not in the hardware notes, not in the driver man page. I only found the one 1�-year-old mailing list post by the driver’s author, and a bunch of “I don’t think it works” comments in other lists and forums.)
I hope this post will save someone a lot of frustration."
Slashdot Poll
Slashdot Poll: "Group Home? (Score:5, Informative)
by tymbow (725036) on Thursday August 11, @06:55PM (#13299052)
I don't know about the US, but in Australia a Group Home is usually a place that people who suffeer a developmental or mental disability live together with assistance. Then again, maybe that is appropriate for some Slashdotters. ;)"
PSP Sony PlayStation Portable - News Updated 24/7: Confirmed: Windows & Linux Run On The PSP
PSP Sony PlayStation Portable - News Updated 24/7: Confirmed: Windows & Linux Run On The PSP: "Earlier we reported on the Bochs x86 emulator being ported to the PSP by Matan. This is indeed true and has opened the door for a wide range of options that the PSP can now do, not limited to but including the running of: FreeDOS, Linux, DLX Linux, NetBSD, OpenBSD, PicoBSD, Pragma Linux, Debian 3.0r0 and 2.2r5, and any other disk images with pre-installed systems on them (which are on the bochs sourceforge site here.)"
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Faith-Based Fudging - How a Bush-promoted Christian prison program fakes success by massaging data. By Mark A.R. Kleiman
Faith-Based Fudging - How a Bush-promoted Christian prison program fakes success by massaging data. By Mark A.R. Kleiman: "The White House, the Wall Street Journal, and Christian conservatives have been crowing since June over news that President George W. Bush's favorite faith-based initiative is a smashing success.
When he was governor of Texas, Bush invited Charles Colson's Prison Fellowship to start InnerChange Freedom Initiative, a Bible-centered prison-within-a-prison where inmates undergo vigorous evangelizing, prayer sessions, and intensive counseling*. Now comes a study from the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society reporting that InnerChange graduates have been rearrested and reimprisoned at dramatically lower rates than a matched control group."
Dogs graduate from bomb-sniffing school - Yahoo! News
Dogs graduate from bomb-sniffing school - Yahoo! News: "FRONT ROYAL, Virginia (Reuters) - U.S.
Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff on Thursday paid tribute to one of America's most useful weapons in the war on terrorism -- the nose of a well-trained dog."
Tampa Cadaver Exhibit May Be Scuttled - Yahoo! News
Tampa Cadaver Exhibit May Be Scuttled - Yahoo! News: "TAMPA, Fla. - A decision by Florida's attorney general Friday could scuttle plans for a controversial museum exhibit featuring human bodies preserved and posed to reveal their inner workings.
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The board that oversees the use of human specimens at Florida's medical schools wants proof that the deceased or their families authorized the use of the bodies.
The Tampa Museum of Science and Industry argues that the Anatomical Board doesn't have jurisdiction."
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Patients and doctors must register with manufacturers and promise to comply with tight restrictions on Roche Holding AG's acne drug Accutane and generic versions, U.S. officials said on Friday.
The requirement starts December 31 and is part of a plan announced in November 2004 to strengthen safeguards meant to keep pregnant women from taking Accutane. The prescription drug can cause severe birth defects or miscarriages.
Wholesalers and pharmacies also must sign up with makers to obtain the drug starting November 1 and pledge to follow distribution rules, the Food and Drug Administration said.
The program is an 'unprecedented' effort to manage a serious safety concern of a widely used drug, said Dr. Sandra Kweder, deputy director of FDA's Office of New Drugs. About 1.2 million prescriptions per year are written for the medicine, the FDA said.
The FDA also said on Friday it changed existing warnings on Accutane so doctors and patients could better identify depression, suicidal behavior and other psychiatric problems that could occur."
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - During a 6-month period, doctors treated six cases of severe eye injuries in young children caused by their squeezing capsules containing liquid washing detergent, according to a report released Thursday.
'Kids may instinctively grasp and squeeze these gel-liquid tablets, which can burst relatively easily in the hand, and thus splash the caustic contents in the eyes,' study author Dr. Noel Horgan of the Children's University Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, told Reuters Health."
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "LONDON (Reuters) - The new anti-smoking ads from Britain's National Health Service are in bad odor -- literally.
Several hundred thousand leaflets are being distributed with the sharp stench of tobacco embedded in them to dissuade teenagers from picking up the cigarette habit. Similar ones are appearing in women's magazines Heat, OK! and Cosmopolitan.
'The research suggests that women of that age are unmoved by messages about health but are much more likely to be moved by issues concerning appearance,' said Marc Nohr, managing partner of the independent London agency Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw, which created the campaign."
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - After resuscitation from cardiac arrest, there's a high risk of the patient dying from intractable shock, but this may be averted in some cases by a blood filtering procedure, according to a small study.
Lack of circulation followed by restoration of blood flow -- ischemia-reperfusion -- is known to cause widespread damage to blood vessels. This is thought to lead to death by multiple organ failure following successful resuscitation, Dr. Mehran Monchi and colleagues note in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology."
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Derivatives of the active compound in cannabis -- cannabinoids -- may have the potential for treating inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, UK researchers report.
'The system that responds to cannabis in the brain is present and functioning in the lining of the gut,' lead researcher Dr. Karen Wright, of the University of Bath, explained to Reuters Health. 'There is an increased presence of one component of this system during inflammatory bowel diseases,' she explained."
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A second influenza drug, GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza, should be stockpiled in readiness for a feared global pandemic of avian flu, researchers said on Thursday.
The drug, known generically as zanamivir, is inhaled and some doctors have worried that patients may not be able to use it correctly, but the team of Asian doctors said it will be important to have as many antivirals on hand as possible.
The H5N1 bird flu virus has killed 62 people since late 2003 and is affecting flocks from Vietnam to Kazakhstan. Although it is not yet easily transmitted from birds to people or from person to person, experts fear it will acquire this ability and cause a worldwide disaster.
So health officials are scrambling to come up with a plan for dealing with it.
A dozen Asian nations agreed on Thursday to build a regional stockpile of drugs, mostly oseltamivir, made by Swiss drugs giant Roche under the brand name Tamiflu."
School Backpacks Can Be a Real Pain - Yahoo! News
School Backpacks Can Be a Real Pain - Yahoo! News: "SATURDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Backpacks are a convenient and efficient way for children to carry school books and other items, but if overloaded or improperly worn they can harm children's backs, experts warn."
X-bit labs - News around the Web - Intel’s Pentium 4 Overclocked to 7.1GHz, Sets World’s Record
X-bit labs - News around the Web - Intel’s Pentium 4 Overclocked to 7.1GHz, Sets World’s Record: "A Japanese overclocker has managed to overclock Intel Pentium 4 670 microprocessor to 7.132GHz and even run certain benchmarks on the system that was cooled down by liquid nitrogen.
In order to accomplish the extreme overclocking Japanese enthusiast Memesana, who published his results at XtremeSystems web-site, used ASUS P5WD2 Premium mainboard based on Intel’s i955X core-logic, Corsair PC2-5400UL 512MB memory modules as well as Intel Pentium 4 670 processor with stock speed of 3.80GHz. The processor system bus was overclocked to 1520MHz; processor’s voltage was pumped up to 1.70V, significantly higher than default setting; memory latency settings were CL4 3-3-4, memory voltage was set to 2.3V."
ALA | Florida Librarian Suspended over Porn Incident
ALA | Florida Librarian Suspended over Porn Incident: "The director of the Valparaiso (Fla.) Community Library was suspended without pay in early August after city officials found that a registered sex offender had used library computers to access pornographic websites.
City Commissioner Robert Billingsley said in the August 12 Gainesville Sun that he would ask the commission to fire VCL Director Sue Martin, but he declined to explain why he thought she had not done enough to prevent the incident, which occurred July 25. Police charged Michael Bushee, 25, with possession of child pornography several days later. Billingsley said police also told him that three male minors had used the VCL computers to look at sites with adult content."
TechWeb | News | Did Microsoft Invent The iPod?
TechWeb | News | Did Microsoft Invent The iPod?: "Did Microsoft Invent The iPod?
By TechWeb News
If you think Apple Computer's Steve Jobs invented the technology behind the Apple iPod, don't bet your 60GB, 15,000-song model on it.
According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, patent applications that cover much of the technology associated with the iPod were submitted by Microsoft, which has been on a patents tear recently filing thousands of patents.
If the patents hold up on appeal, Apple could be accountable for royalties on the spectacularly successful iPod. Jobs and others associated with Apple filed for patents covering the technology in October, 2002, but that application was rejected by the patent office last month. AppleInsider.com reported the rejection this week."
Friday, August 12, 2005
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean man who played computer games for 50 hours almost non-stop died of heart failure minutes after finishing his mammoth session in an Internet cafe, authorities said on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old man, identified only by his family name Lee, had been playing on-line battle simulation games at the cybercafe in the southeastern city of Taegu, police said."
Puberty Comes Sooner for Overweight Girls - Yahoo! News
Puberty Comes Sooner for Overweight Girls - Yahoo! News: "THURSDAY, Aug. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Overweight and obesity in young girls appears to speed puberty, a new study confirms.
But the research also refutes the theory that girls who experience their first period at a relatively young age are predisposed to become obese as adults.
Instead, the study suggests that childhood obesity helps drive both early puberty and adult weight troubles.
For parents concerned about the potential for obesity in their daughter's future, 'the focus should be on the child being overweight rather than the timing of her first period,' said lead researcher Aviva Must, an associate professor of public health and family medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston."
Many Dads Unknowingly Raising Others' Kids - Yahoo! News
Many Dads Unknowingly Raising Others' Kids - Yahoo! News: "THURSDAY, Aug. 11 (HealthDayNews) -- Calling it a Pandora's Box with broad health implications, British researchers say genetic testing is informing about 4 percent of fathers that a child they are raising is not their own.
The implications are huge, the study authors noted, because such revelations often lead to divorce and increased mental health problems for both the man and woman involved, including the threat of violence by the man.
In addition, children whose lives are changed by this genetic information can struggle with low self-esteem, anxiety, and increased antisocial behavior, such as aggression.
And the problem will only grow more serious as genetic testing is used for more and more purposes, including screening for organ donations and checking for genetic-based diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis and heart disease, the researchers said. In addition, such testing is becoming more common in police investigations."
Science News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Science News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Tell a man that he's not 'man enough' and he may exhibit extremely macho behavior to compensate, new study findings suggest.
'In general, men in our society are very invested in maintaining a masculine identity,' study author Robb Willer, a PhD candidate in sociology at Cornell University, told Reuters Health.
When their masculinity is threatened, 'they overcompensate,' he said.
The idea of masculine overcompensation is not new. With roots in Freudian psychology, the concept has been popularly accepted as true, but not necessarily proven, according to Willer.
The current findings suggest that it 'actually does have some empirical validity,' he said."
Science News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Science News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A dispute over whether global warming is really happening may have been caused by the placement of sensors on weather balloons when studies were done in the 1970s, researchers said on Thursday.
Very few scientists now dispute that the Earth's temperature is rising, and that this is caused by human activity, including burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
But there have been some discrepancies that have troubled experts. For instance, some measurements show that atmospheric temperatures have been unchanged since the 1970s, while temperatures at the Earth's surface are rising.
'Even though models predict a close link between atmospheric and surface temperatures, there has been a large difference in the actual measurements,' said Steven Sherwood, an associate professor of geology and geophysics at Yale University in Connecticut, who led the study."
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Japan Plans Giant Broadband Satellite
Japan Plans Giant Broadband Satellite: "Japanese government officials say they will develop a new communications satellite to provide broadband services that are as fast as fiber optic cable.
Japan's Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said the new satellite will make it possible to send and receive data at a maximum speed of 100 megabits per second in mountainous areas and remote islands, as well as aboard Shinkansen bullet trains, airplanes and ships.
The ministry plans to incorporate research and development funding in its fiscal 2006 budget request and plans to begin services by 2015."
All speed camera fines in doubt | NSW/ACT | Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au (10-08-2005)
All speed camera fines in doubt | NSW/ACT | Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au (10-08-2005): "EVERY fine issued by speed cameras could be invalid, after the Roads and Traffic Authority admitted yesterday it could not prove the authenticity of the pictures they take.
In a double blow to the RTA, The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that Sydney Harbour Tunnel cameras monitoring toll cheats have been switched off for at least three years - and no penalties handed out.
The revelation came as Sydney magistrate Lawrence Lawson threw out a speeding case after the RTA said it had no evidence that an image from a camera had not been doctored.
Mr Lawson had adjourned the case in June, giving the RTA eight weeks to produce an expert to prove pictures from a speed camera on Carlingford Rd, Epping, had not been altered after they were taken.
He said it was a matter of public interest and the RTA should be given time to back up its case. "
Slashdot | Google Gives Reason Why it is Built on Linux
Slashdot | Google Gives Reason Why it is Built on Linux: "Linux success b/c of Google (Score:5, Interesting)
by bach37 (602070) on Wednesday August 10, @10:26PM (#13291361)
Linux is successful many say because of Google- Google being the free 24/7 searchable customer support for your Linux problem. Somewhat ironic that Google's success is in part from using Linux. "
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Unhappiness drives open source adoption - Computer Business Review
Unhappiness drives open source adoption - Computer Business Review: "A common reason why more governments and enterprises around the world are moving to open source software is unhappiness, it was revealed during a panel discussion at the LinuxWorld Conference in San Francisco yesterday.
AdvertisementGoogle Inc open source programs manager Chris DiBona said the search giant has stuck with Linux throughout the company's life, in part, because it was unhappy with the terms of another software company. "
High Performance Enabled SSH/SCP [PSC]
High Performance Enabled SSH/SCP [PSC]: "Abstract
SCP and the underlying SSH2 protocol implementation in OpenSSH is network performance limited by statically defined internal flow control buffers. These buffers often end up acting as a bottleneck for network throughput of SCP, especially on long and high bandwith network links. Modifying the ssh code to allow the buffers to be defined at run time eliminates this bottleneck. We have created a patch that will remove the bottlenecks in OpenSSH and is fully interoperable with other servers and clients. In addition HPN clients will be able to download faster from non HPN servers, and HPN servers will be able to receive uploads faster from non HPN clients. However, the host receiving the data must have a properly tuned TCP/IP stack. Please refer to this tuning page for more information.
The amount of improvement any specific user will see is dependent on a number of issues. Transfer rates cannot exceed the capacity of the network nor the throughput of the I/O subsystem including the disk and memory speed. The improvement will also be highly influenced by the capacity of the processor to perform the encryption and decryption. Less computational expensive ciphers will often provide better throughput than more complex ciphers.
Performance Gap
With many high bandwidth connections, there is a performance gap between what SSH is capable of and what the network link has the capacity to do. The difference between these two numbers is the performance gap, or the underutilized portion of your network connection. This gap, in most situations, is the direct cause of undersized receive buffers in the SSH congestion control mechanism. The graph below shows the optimal receive buffer versus the effective SSH channel receive buffer for various round trip times along a 100Mbps path"
Remote-Controlled Humans - Forbes.com
Remote-Controlled Humans - Forbes.com: "OS ANGELES - Smiling nervously, the young woman walks forward in a straight line. Suddenly, she veers to the right. She stumbles and stops, attempting to regain her balance, and continues to walk forward. And then she veers off to the left.
No, she's not intoxicated. The young lady's vestibular system, which controls her sense of movement and balance, has been thrown off-kilter by two weak electrical currents delivered just behind her ears. (Click here to see video of a remotely controlled woman.) "
Colorado firm develops glow-in-dark lamps - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com
Colorado firm develops glow-in-dark lamps - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com: "NEW YORK - As incongruous as it may sound, a Colorado company has developed glow-in-the-dark lamps. The 'Glow-lux' fluorescent tubes from American Environmental Products shine normally when plugged in. When they are turned off or the power goes out, they glow with a dim, eery blue-green light.
For an hour, that glow is strong enough to be useful as emergency lighting.
The tubes are bright enough that most people don't have to wait for their eyes to adjust and can begin finding their way out of a building right away."
Remote-Controlled Humans - Forbes.com
Remote-Controlled Humans - Forbes.com: "LOS ANGELES - Smiling nervously, the young woman walks forward in a straight line. Suddenly, she veers to the right. She stumbles and stops, attempting to regain her balance, and continues to walk forward. And then she veers off to the left.
No, she's not intoxicated. The young lady's vestibular system, which controls her sense of movement and balance, has been thrown off-kilter by two weak electrical currents delivered just behind her ears. (Click here to see video of a remotely controlled woman.)
This sort of electrical stimulation is known as galvanic vestibular stimulation, or GVS. When a weak DC current is delivered to the mastoid behind your ear, your body responds by shifting your balance toward the anode. The stronger the current, the more powerful its pull. If it is strong enough, it not only throws you off balance but alters the course of your movement. "
SpeedGuide.net :: Bandwidth Delay Product
SpeedGuide.net :: Bandwidth Delay Product: "About the SG RWIN/BDP Calculator
The SG RWIN/BDP Calculator is a tool provided for quick calculation of approximate RWIN (TCP Window) values using the BDP (Bandwidth*Delay Product).
To use the calculator, simply fill the maximum available bandwidth of your connection, and the maximum anticipated latency. The resulting BDP is a measure of what the TCP Window value should be approximately. It is still a good idea to make RWIN a multiple of MSS, and scaled appropriately as per RFC 1323. The BDP calculator simply provides an approximation of the maximum throughput (and approximate RWIN) for a given bandwidth and latency."
GROKLAW
GROKLAW: "Here are excerpts from the Deposition of SCO employee Erik W. Hughes [PDF]. It's a large PDF, so be patient. Our thanks to Frank Sorenson for picking up this deposition and scanning it for us.
Hold on to your hats. He confirms that the Linux Kernel Personality did indeed include Linux kernel code, and as a result, both UnixWare 7.1.2 and 7.1.3 included Linux kernel code until May of 2003.
While Hughes testifies that in addition to the obvious candidates (Caldera's Linux distributions), two releases of UnixWare included the Linux kernel in some way, as part of the LKP -- and of course, such inclusion would have to be under the GPL -- yet the question that is left unanswered, tantalizingly, by the deposition is this: in what way was the Linux kernel 'included' in LKP? Did the UnixWare kernel somehow make use of the Linux kernel binary? If so, how -- and would the use be intimate enough to have created a 'work based on the program' as the GPL puts it? If not, how was the kernel 'included'? Was kernel source code reused in the UnixWare kernel, as one anonymous source claimed to eWeek's Peter Galli long ago? We don't have totally firm answers to these questions from this deposition alone, but IBM probably does, and we're definitely getting warmer. And more and more, it looks like SCO's goose is cooked.
No wonder SCO is now talking about trying to survive as a tech company even if they lose the litigation. It also is now apparent why SCO tried to say the GPL is unconstitutional, void, voidable, etc., anything to try to make it not be binding on them. Please don't anyone ever again tell me that we don't need the GPL. Look at the role this champion license has played in SCO v. the World.
You will also enjoy the questions and answers about Linux being available long after SCO said they had sto"
Microsoft Trying to Fix Security Hole - Yahoo! News
Microsoft Trying to Fix Security Hole - Yahoo! News: "SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. is attempting to plug a glaring hole in some versions of its Windows software, a weakness similar to those exploited by the devastating 'Blaster' and 'Sasser' attacks, a security expert said Tuesday.
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Have you had a U.S driver's license for more than 3 years? Yes No
Has any driver in your household had 2 or more accidents or moving violations in the last 3 years? Yes No
The patch, included in the company's monthly security bulletin, fixes a hole that could allow hackers to take complete control of computer systems, Microsoft said.
The problem is most serious on Windows 2000 systems, which could be accessed remotely through the operating system's 'Plug and Play' hardware detection feature"
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Slashdot | Performance Tuning for Linux Servers
Slashdot | Performance Tuning for Linux Servers: "Posted by timothy on Tuesday August 09, @04:24PM
swsuehr writes 'Performance Tuning for Linux Servers provides information and resources for Linux administrators looking for a guide to the background, options, and commands available for enhancing the performance of a Linux server.' Clear enough -- but read on for Suering's review of the book to see if it might help you at that task."
Unbelievable RC helicopter performance - Simradar.com Video & Image Gallery
Unbelievable RC helicopter performance - Simradar.com Video & Image Gallery
Monday, August 08, 2005
Friday, August 05, 2005
Why Do Men Have Nipples? - Yahoo! News
Why Do Men Have Nipples? - Yahoo! News: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - Have you ever wondered why your teeth chatter when you're cold, or if you could really catch a disease from sitting on a toilet seat?
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New York physician Billy Goldberg, pestered by unusual questions at cocktail parties and other social gatherings over the years, puts the public's mind at ease in his book 'Why Do Men Have Nipples?' which hits the book stores on Tuesday.
'It's really remarkable how often you get accosted,' said Goldberg, 39. 'There are the medical questions from family and friends, and then there are the drunk and outrageous questions where somebody wants to drop their pants and show you a rash or something.'"
Oddly Enough Article | Reuters.co.uk
Oddly Enough Article | Reuters.co.uk: "SEOUL (Reuters) - Man can now reproduce his best friend -- South Korean scientists announced on Wednesday they had created the world's first cloned dog.
Woo-Suk Hwang and his team of researchers at Seoul National University made world headlines earlier this year when they created stem cells with a patient's specific genetic material, derived through cloned embryos.
Now they have cemented their place as leaders in the field by creating Snuppy, the first dog cloned from adult cells by somatic nuclear cell transfer. This is the same technique used to create Dolly, the world's first cloned mammal, and other animals."
German guide aims to bridge gulf between the sexes - Yahoo! News
German guide aims to bridge gulf between the sexes - Yahoo! News: "BERLIN (Reuters) - A German handbook has set out to bridge the gulf between the sexes by explaining that what men say is not necessarily what they really mean.
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The Langenscheidt publishing group, best known for its respected foreign language dictionaries, says tests have shown men utter about half as many words as women in a typical day so it is imperative they are understood.
When out shopping, 'that doesn't suit you' means 'it is too expensive', and 'buy that one' means 'I want to go home', said co-author Susanne Froehlich.
The guide's female authors hope they can help solve some couples' lack of communication -- the sixth most popular reason given for divorce in Germany.
They also list ten questions women should never ask men as men will not understand the logic -- including 'would you still love me if I was fatter and uglier?', 'why do you love me?', and 'what are you thinking?'.
Froehlich pre-empts accusations of sexism saying the book is light-hearted, that not all men display all listed traits, and that she herself is happily married.
Last year Langenscheidt published a male-authored guide to help men understand the subtext of phrases uttered by women."
trifinite.org - the home of the trifinite.group
trifinite.org - the home of the trifinite.group: "On this page, you find files that have to do with the activities/experiments/publications of the trifinite.group. There is also a photo album with pictures from various events.
trifinite.toools
This section lists tools that have been developed by trifinite.group members.
carwhisperer - Talk to Technophile Strangers (be nice)
(written for for Linux using BlueZ)
by Martin Herfurt
Download carwhisperer-0.1.taz.gz
more information on the Car Whisperer project page
Blueprint - a perl tool to identify Bluetooth devices
by Collin Mulliner and Martin Herfurt
This version recognizes about 45 different devices.
more information on the BT Audit project page
BTClass - PalmOS Bluetooth Device Class Tool
by Collin Mulliner
more information on the BTClass project page
Blooover - J2ME phone auditing tool
(runs on phones with MIDP 2.0 and JSR-82 (Bluetooth API))
by Martin Herfurt
more information on the Blooover project page
BT Audit - a security utility for Bluetooth-enabled devices
by Collin Mulliner
more information on the BT Audit project page"
camerahacking :: View topic - SaturnDownload Version 2.1/downloads all videos in one pass
camerahacking :: View topic - SaturnDownload Version 2.1/downloads all videos in one pass
trifinite.org - the home of the trifinite.group
trifinite.org - the home of the trifinite.group: "On this page, you find files that have to do with the activities/experiments/publications of the trifinite.group. There is also a photo album with pictures from various events."
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Family Guy Forums
Family Guy Forums: "Peter: (About Bowling alley, where the balls come from) Hmmm, I wonder whats down there...(Sticks head in, sees Judd Hirsch making an atomic missle) Judd Hirsch?!
(Cuts to when Stweie got his head stuck in the tree)
Keebler Elf: All right we attack those Rice Crispy Guys at dawn, asuming Judd Hirsch delivers the goods)
(Cuts to when Crackle and Pop are at the druncken clam)
Crackle: Those elves man, they came out of the trees! They came out of the trees man...
Pop: You saved me back there man
Crackle: You saved me (Holds up a glass, sniffs) To Snap.
Pop: To snap (Toats, then drinks)"
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
The Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books
The Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books
The Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books
The Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Apple - Mighty Mouse
Apple - Mighty Mouse: "Meet the mouse that reinvented the wheel. The scroll wheel, that is. At $49, Mighty Mouse features the revolutionary Scroll Ball that lets you move anywhere inside a document, without lifting a finger. And with touch-sensitive technology concealed under the seamless top shell, you get the programability of a four-button mouse in a single-button design. Click, roll, squeeze and scroll. This mouse just aced the maze."
IT Manager's Journal | Survey shows IT workers in UK are valued but unhappy
IT Manager's Journal | Survey shows IT workers in UK are valued but unhappy: "IT workers in the United Kingdom are dissatisfied with their jobs, but their employers are happy with them, according to a recent study commissioned by SkillSoft. The study, completed in early July, showed that U.K. employees working in the information technology industry are more valued than they think they are. SkillSoft's head of research, Kate Baldwin-Evans, says the training company wanted to find out if employees in various industries felt more valued when their employers provided skill-specific training as part of their job benefits.
According to the results of the survey, only 45% of IT workers feel valued at work, and 70% don't believe that their job reflects their true potential. Baldwin-Evans says this may explain why IT workers tend to change jobs more frequently than workers in other departments in the companies for which they work. Twenty-four percent of the IT professionals surveyed have worked for their current employer for less than six months, compared to an average of 11% of people in other occupations. "
ACM Queue - A Conversation with Peter Tippett and Steven Hofmeyr - Two experts discuss biomedicine, cyberwarfare, and security
ACM Queue - A Conversation with Peter Tippett and Steven Hofmeyr - Two experts discuss biomedicine, cyberwarfare, and security: "There have always been similarities and overlap between the worlds of biology and computer science. Nowhere is this more evident than in computer security, where the basic terminology of viruses and infection is borrowed from biomedicine.
The two participants in this month�s conversation, Peter Tippett and Steven Hofmeyr, both come from backgrounds in the life sciences that led them to become leaders in the field of computer security.
Tippett, who refers to himself as �one of the graybeards� of the field, has both an M.D. and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Case Western Reserve. He created �a little software company� and built the first anti-virus product that evolved into Norton Anti-Virus. His company, Certus International Corporation, merged with Symantec in 1992, and Tippett was made director of security and enterprise products at the Peter Norton Group of Symantec. Tippett advised the Joint Chiefs of Staff on cyberwarfare during Desert Storm. The national media often turns to him as their expert during news stories about computer security. He is now chief technology office of Cybertrust, a $160 million company created in 2004 through the merger of Betrusted and Trusecure. Based in Herndon, Virginia, Cybertrust provides information security technologies and services to companies and governments worldwide."
Monday, August 01, 2005
Wired News: Router Flaw Is a Ticking Bomb
Wired News: Router Flaw Is a Ticking Bomb: "LAS VEGAS -- Security researcher Mike Lynn roiled the Black Hat conference Wednesday when he resigned from his job at Internet Security Systems to deliver a talk about a serious vulnerability in Cisco IOS, the operating system powering its routers, defying efforts by the router manufacturer and his former employer to block the presentation.
In the aftermath, Lynn reached a legal settlement with Cisco and ISS in which he agreed to erase his research material on the vulnerability, to keep secret the details of the attack, and to refrain from distributing copies of his presentation, among other concessions."
Court throws out prison grooming policy - Yahoo! News
Court throws out prison grooming policy - Yahoo! News: "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The California prison system acted improperly when it tried to trim the hair of an American Indian inmate who said a haircut violated his religious beliefs, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday.
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Billy Soza Warsoldier, who had not cut his hair in 25 years, filed a lawsuit after a minimum-security prison punished him for refusing to comply with a rule that men's hair be no longer than 3 inches (8 cm) long.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing a lower court decision, said the state had failed to show the grooming policy was the least restrictive way to ensure prison safety and security."
Smoking, Obesity Double Trouble for Teens - Yahoo! News
Smoking, Obesity Double Trouble for Teens - Yahoo! News: "MONDAY, Aug. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Obesity and tobacco smoke are a dangerous cardiac combination for America's teens, a new study finds, and the danger is nearly as great if the smoke arrives secondhand rather than puffed directly.
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'A lot of public attention has turned from tobacco to obesity,' said lead researcher Dr. Michael Weitzman, a professor of medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. 'There has never been substantial enough attention paid to the dangers of secondhand smoke to children.'
Reporting in the Aug. 2 issue of Circulation, Weitzman's team looked at data on nearly 2,300 adolescents, aged 12 to 17, and found those who were overweight and had been exposed to tobacco smoke were most likely to have the metabolic syndrome, a constellation of factors such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and high blood sugar that increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular problems.
The new report 'is the first study in any age group to show an association between secondhand smoke exposure and the metabolic syndrome,' Weitzman said. 'It uses a biological measure of exposure to secondhand smoke.'"
Teen Dating Violence Takes a Double Toll - Yahoo! News
Teen Dating Violence Takes a Double Toll - Yahoo! News: "MONDAY, Aug. 1 (HealthDay News) -- As many as one in three sexually active teenage girls may have been the victim of dating violence. And those same girls are also at a significantly higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including
HIV.
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Those disturbing conclusions come from a study in the August issue of Pediatrics.
'Tremendous rates of dating violence are experienced among adolescents,' said study author Michele Decker, a research project coordinator at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. 'Girls who experienced dating violence are two-and-a-half times as likely to be diagnosed with STDs.'"
Science News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Science News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "ONDON (Reuters) - Hurricanes have become more destructive over the past 30 years and global warming could increase their intensity in the future, an expert warned on Sunday.
He found that both the duration of the tropical cyclones and the wind speeds they produce have risen by 50 percent along with increases in the average surface temperature of tropical oceans.
'My results suggest that future warming may lead to an upward trend in tropical cyclone destructive potential, and taking into account an increasing coastal population, a substantial increase in hurricane-related loss in the 21st century,' Professor Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States said.
In a research letter published in the science journal Nature he analyzed records of tropical cyclones -- hurricanes and typhoons -- since the middle of the 20th century.
His findings suggest that the rising sea surface temperature, thought to be due at least in part to global warming, is responsible for the increased power of hurricanes."
The Genetic Origin of Ashkenazi Genius || kuro5hin.org
The Genetic Origin of Ashkenazi Genius || kuro5hin.org: "
A genetics paper published in the Journal of Biosocial Science in June, “Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence,” makes the following claims about Ashkenazi European Jews:
* They have the highest average IQ of any ethnic group.
* Their intelligence advantage is genetic.
* Their intelligence advantage is recent.
* Jews as a whole are not of above-average intelligence, just the Ashkenazi.
* Ashkenazi intelligence is a result of natural selection.
The paper is important not just for what it says about the Ashkenazi, but also for what it says about the nature of intelligence and genes. A surprising amount of favorable press coverage was generated over it—positive coverage appeared in both The Economist and The New York Times—despite the fact that the authors are claiming that: a) some racial differences in intelligence exist, and b) that they can be genetic in origin."
Microsoft Hack Causes Piracy Alarm - Yahoo! News
Microsoft Hack Causes Piracy Alarm - Yahoo! News: "he fact that hackers found a way around Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) antipiracy system only a day after it went into effect has prompted concern about the capacity of antipiracy efforts in general to stop piracy."
