http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/01/german_tv_on_th.html
"The video is worth watching, even if you don't speak German. The scanner caught a subject's cell phone and Swiss Army knife -- and the microphone he was wearing -- but missed all the components to make a bomb that he hid on his body. Admittedly, he only faced the scanner from the front and not from the side. But he also didn't hide anything in a body cavity other than his mouth -- I didn't think about that one -- he didn't use low density or thinly sliced PETN, and he didn't hide anything in his carry-on luggage.
Full-body scanners: they're not just a dumb idea, they don't actually work."
Sunday, January 31, 2010
How To Deal With Unintended Acceleration
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/09q4/how_to_deal_with_unintended_acceleration-tech_dept
Lexus and Toyota models were stung recently by claims that faulty floor mats had jammed throttle pedals and were causing wide-open acceleration. Toyota has agreed to a largest-ever recall of 4.3 million vehicles (which could cost $250 million or more) to modify the gas pedals and remove unsecured or incompatible driver’s floor mats. Not since Audi was decimated by accusations of unintended acceleration in the late 1980s has the topic of runaway cars received so much media attention.
The furor began when an off-duty California Highway Patrolman crashed a loaner Lexus ES350 at high speed, killing himself, his wife and their daughter, and his brother-in-law. It was reported that someone, either the officer or his brother-in-law, called 9-1-1 moments before the crash, saying that the “accelerator is stuck . . . there’s no brake.”
Lexus and Toyota models were stung recently by claims that faulty floor mats had jammed throttle pedals and were causing wide-open acceleration. Toyota has agreed to a largest-ever recall of 4.3 million vehicles (which could cost $250 million or more) to modify the gas pedals and remove unsecured or incompatible driver’s floor mats. Not since Audi was decimated by accusations of unintended acceleration in the late 1980s has the topic of runaway cars received so much media attention.
The furor began when an off-duty California Highway Patrolman crashed a loaner Lexus ES350 at high speed, killing himself, his wife and their daughter, and his brother-in-law. It was reported that someone, either the officer or his brother-in-law, called 9-1-1 moments before the crash, saying that the “accelerator is stuck . . . there’s no brake.”
Obama Budget To Triple Nuclear Power Loan Guarantees
http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/01/31/1327238/Obama-Budget-To-Triple-Nuclear-Power-Loan-Guarantees?art_pos=6
"When President Obama said in his State of the Union address on Wednesday that the country should build 'a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants,' it was one of the few times he got bipartisan applause. Now the NY Times reports that administration officials have confirmed their 2011 federal budget request next week will raise potential loan guarantees for nuclear projects to more than $54 billion, from $18.5 billion, and a new Energy Department panel will examine a vastly expanded list of options for nuclear waste, including a new kind of nuclear reactor that would use some of it. The Energy Department appears to be getting close to offering its first nuclear loan guarantee. Earlier this week, Southern Co. Chief Executive David Ratcliffe said the company expects to finalize an application for a loan guarantee 'within the next couple months,' while Scana Corp., which has also applied, is 'a couple months behind Southern' and is hopeful of receiving a conditional award 'sometime in the next months.'"
"When President Obama said in his State of the Union address on Wednesday that the country should build 'a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants,' it was one of the few times he got bipartisan applause. Now the NY Times reports that administration officials have confirmed their 2011 federal budget request next week will raise potential loan guarantees for nuclear projects to more than $54 billion, from $18.5 billion, and a new Energy Department panel will examine a vastly expanded list of options for nuclear waste, including a new kind of nuclear reactor that would use some of it. The Energy Department appears to be getting close to offering its first nuclear loan guarantee. Earlier this week, Southern Co. Chief Executive David Ratcliffe said the company expects to finalize an application for a loan guarantee 'within the next couple months,' while Scana Corp., which has also applied, is 'a couple months behind Southern' and is hopeful of receiving a conditional award 'sometime in the next months.'"
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Man in Court Over Simpsons Porn
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/01/28/0112246/Man-in-Court-Over-Simpsons-Porn?art_pos=17
"Ever get the urge to look at pornographic drawings of famous cartoon children? Neither do I, but 28-year-old Kurt James Milner did, and that's what got him registered as a sex offender. Police received a tip about the pornographic material and eventually found images featuring child characters from The Simpsons and The Powerpuff Girls on Milner's computer. Back in 2008, a Supreme Court judge in Australia ruled that cartoons in which child characters engage in sexual acts is child pornography. Milner said he downloaded the images to show them to his friend 'because he believed they were funny.' Guess it's not so funny now."
It's only fair to mention this was his second offense, the first involving pictures of actual humans. That being said at most that makes this stupid. It shouldn't make it any more illegal. Cartoons don't hurt anyone.
PARADOX!!!!!11!!11!111!1111ONE!~~`1!1!@@#131!!!11!!11
"Ever get the urge to look at pornographic drawings of famous cartoon children? Neither do I, but 28-year-old Kurt James Milner did, and that's what got him registered as a sex offender. Police received a tip about the pornographic material and eventually found images featuring child characters from The Simpsons and The Powerpuff Girls on Milner's computer. Back in 2008, a Supreme Court judge in Australia ruled that cartoons in which child characters engage in sexual acts is child pornography. Milner said he downloaded the images to show them to his friend 'because he believed they were funny.' Guess it's not so funny now."
It's only fair to mention this was his second offense, the first involving pictures of actual humans. That being said at most that makes this stupid. It shouldn't make it any more illegal. Cartoons don't hurt anyone.
PARADOX!!!!!11!!11!111!1111ONE!~~`1!1!@@#131!!!11!!11
Obama Choosing NOT To Go To the Moon
http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/01/27/1725236/Obama-Choosing-NOT-To-Go-To-the-Moon?art_pos=15
"Obama's budget proposal will contain no funding for the Constellation program, which was to send astronauts to the moon by 2020. Instead, NASA will be focused on terrestrial science, such as monitoring global warming. One anonymous official said: 'We certainly don't need to go back to the moon.'"
"Obama's budget proposal will contain no funding for the Constellation program, which was to send astronauts to the moon by 2020. Instead, NASA will be focused on terrestrial science, such as monitoring global warming. One anonymous official said: 'We certainly don't need to go back to the moon.'"
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Judge Lowers Jammie Thomas' Damages to $54,000
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/01/22/1939256/Judge-Lowers-Jammie-Thomas-Damages-to-54000?art_pos=17&art_pos=17
"Judge Michael Davis has slashed the amount Jammie Thomas-Rassett is said to owe Big Music from almost $2,000,000 to $54,000. 'The need for deterrence cannot justify a $2 million verdict for stealing and illegally distributing 24 songs for the sole purpose of obtaining free music. Moreover, although Plaintiffs were not required to prove their actual damages, statutory damages must still bear some relation to actual damages.' The full decision (PDF) is also available."
http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2010/01/jammie-thomas-verdict-reduced-from-192m.html
"Judge Davis also indicated that he found even the reduced amount to be "harsh" and that, were he -- rather than a jury -- deciding the appropriate measure of damages, the award would have been even lower than $54,000. But he felt that since the jury had determined the damages, it was his province to determine only the maximum amount a jury could reasonably award."
"Judge Michael Davis has slashed the amount Jammie Thomas-Rassett is said to owe Big Music from almost $2,000,000 to $54,000. 'The need for deterrence cannot justify a $2 million verdict for stealing and illegally distributing 24 songs for the sole purpose of obtaining free music. Moreover, although Plaintiffs were not required to prove their actual damages, statutory damages must still bear some relation to actual damages.' The full decision (PDF) is also available."
http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2010/01/jammie-thomas-verdict-reduced-from-192m.html
"Judge Davis also indicated that he found even the reduced amount to be "harsh" and that, were he -- rather than a jury -- deciding the appropriate measure of damages, the award would have been even lower than $54,000. But he felt that since the jury had determined the damages, it was his province to determine only the maximum amount a jury could reasonably award."
Friday, January 22, 2010
Civ 4 OCC
So I've been playing a lot of Civ 4 One City Challenge. Lately I've been playing with the most default options. Nobel, standard map, 7 civs, continents, all other defaults (except quick game speed). I've been winning space race victories reliably around 2010. I'm going to outline my game plan here.
First off I play as Bismark (Germany). He is expansive and industrious.
Expansive, +2 health per city; build granary and harbor at half cost; +25% worker production
Industrious, +50% wonder production; build forge at half cost
His unique unit is the panzer, replacing tank. Of some use because late game wars are common in OCC. The unique building is assembly plant, replacing tank. Production is always useful.
As for starting position I try not to regen the map too much. However I do have some requirements. First off the space elevator is important to me to win space race, and it can't be built too close to the poles. So if I see any indication that I'm near a pole I'll regen. Also I used to insist upon being on a coast, to have access to the water. However, Now I see that sea tiles are a waste. Thus I refuse to be anywhere where my fat cross will have any water tiles. I prefer to be as far inland as possible since strategic resources only appear on land, but will play any start position that is a few tiles away from coast at least. I do insist upon a river start, but almost always am.
As far as visible resources I don't take that into account. While it's nice to have marble/stone for wonders, and food resources for growth, I don't insist upon it.
Upon starting this game I see that I have stone, corn, and sheep close by, that is great. I start my scout on auto explore, and build a new scout. Scouts get goody huts which are usually worthless money, but sometimes valuable techs or workers. Since I have nothing better to build initially I start with the second scout.
http://www.civfanatics.com/gallery/files/1/techtree_original.jpg
My starting techs are hunting and mysticism. I do arg, wheel, pott, animal, (mason, arch, preist, bronze no set order). Note that fishing is cheaper than arg, so if you just click pottery it'll default to that. However arg needs to be researched for farms, while fishing is worthless. Todd said he tried to time the completion of the oracle with the ability to get the free tech of civil service. I was unable to beat the AI in building the oracle with delaying it while researching the prerequisites. Instead I am to get metal casting, which is rather expensive.
I do notice some tundra to the south, and after my first expansion it's confirmed. Still I'll stick with this map because the resources are good. Also I'm building a scout in 5 turns as opposed to 10, so I'll build 2 more instead of the normal 1, giving me 3 total. After my second scout I'm 3 turns from pottery, and thus granary. I'm also just at pop 3. So I build my first worker.
As my explorers fight animals I promote them to combat and let them rest if needed, I don't much care about them after the first 20 or so turns when the pop goodie huts. I'll pay 50 gold around 50 turns for a map. I usually just automate my workers, as I hate micro management. But I'll sometimes manually give them orders, especially at the very start.
In this game I go with mason so I can get access to my stone. I also start building barracks after my granary. I then research towards priest (and the 2 requisites). I build a second worker, then start on pyramids. Once I've connected my stone, and built on the corn and sheep, I automate my workers. I also switch to build the Stonehenge in 3 turns with stone connected.
Once priest is done I do archery, so that I can build archers my early game defense. I still have no units providing defense in my capital. However, I've never had the AI declare an early war. Usually there is a point to build a couple archers in 1 or 2 turns between early wonders.
On turn 48/1120BC I finished the pyramids, and started researched bronze working. However, someone else finished the Oracle. This is the earliest I ever saw an AI finish it. Maybe I should have switched to it as soon as I had the tech and went back to the pyramids which usually don't get built until late. Oh well. I switch representation, and begin building walls. A few archers with city defense to guard the capital. Throughout the game whenever I don't have something to build I'll build the general defensive unit. I rarely build research since it's important to have a solid 20 or so units by late game to prevent war.
After bronze I queue writing, math, aesthetics. Since I have more production than research I build the great wall, more archers and more workers. All great people get added to the city. The only exceptions being ones that can build a building with the first one (scientist), and my first artist which I start a golden age with.
I agree to open borders, and will buy maps once in a while. Other wise I do no trading. I'll hold off on a religion until I see one that is leading in terms of power of civs with it.
Literature, calender, drama, music, civil service. My 5 national wonders are National epic, globe, oxford university, national park, wall street. Then I beeline to liberalism. As my free tech I usually go with nationalism. I tried to come up with a better tech to get but couldn't. Nationalism lets me build the Taj Majal, for a golden age. Whenever I research paper I go to the last AI and buy their map for around 100 gold. This is really just a nice thing to have, it doesn't much matter what the rest of the map looks like.
After Liberalism I'll get a few beginning techs that I still don't have (iron working). Then I'll go towards astronomy then bio, then steam. There's a lot of techs needed before them, but I just hold shift and click those three. Then assembly line, and rocketry. This begins the race to space. I then research industrialism both for the production boost and to reveal aluminum.
Around 1900 I usually build my first space ship part. Around this time I like to take note of two things. First off you should start strategizing on how you are going to get aluminum. You can either trade for it or attempt to found the corp that makes it. I've yet to go the found the corp method. If you are going to trade you likely won't want to wait until a civ has the tech to see it. I try to find a civ that is behind but has at least two sources. Then trade/give them the techs they need. Second you want to check the victory screen and make sure no one is getting close to winning. The only method the AI has ever almost won in a OCC with me is culture. Luckily the victory screen gives you a 100 turn warning before a culture victory. If you see a civ is going to win culture pretty much your only option is to build tanks and raze the city.
First off I play as Bismark (Germany). He is expansive and industrious.
Expansive, +2 health per city; build granary and harbor at half cost; +25% worker production
Industrious, +50% wonder production; build forge at half cost
His unique unit is the panzer, replacing tank. Of some use because late game wars are common in OCC. The unique building is assembly plant, replacing tank. Production is always useful.
As for starting position I try not to regen the map too much. However I do have some requirements. First off the space elevator is important to me to win space race, and it can't be built too close to the poles. So if I see any indication that I'm near a pole I'll regen. Also I used to insist upon being on a coast, to have access to the water. However, Now I see that sea tiles are a waste. Thus I refuse to be anywhere where my fat cross will have any water tiles. I prefer to be as far inland as possible since strategic resources only appear on land, but will play any start position that is a few tiles away from coast at least. I do insist upon a river start, but almost always am.
As far as visible resources I don't take that into account. While it's nice to have marble/stone for wonders, and food resources for growth, I don't insist upon it.
Upon starting this game I see that I have stone, corn, and sheep close by, that is great. I start my scout on auto explore, and build a new scout. Scouts get goody huts which are usually worthless money, but sometimes valuable techs or workers. Since I have nothing better to build initially I start with the second scout.
http://www.civfanatics.com/gallery/files/1/techtree_original.jpg
My starting techs are hunting and mysticism. I do arg, wheel, pott, animal, (mason, arch, preist, bronze no set order). Note that fishing is cheaper than arg, so if you just click pottery it'll default to that. However arg needs to be researched for farms, while fishing is worthless. Todd said he tried to time the completion of the oracle with the ability to get the free tech of civil service. I was unable to beat the AI in building the oracle with delaying it while researching the prerequisites. Instead I am to get metal casting, which is rather expensive.
I do notice some tundra to the south, and after my first expansion it's confirmed. Still I'll stick with this map because the resources are good. Also I'm building a scout in 5 turns as opposed to 10, so I'll build 2 more instead of the normal 1, giving me 3 total. After my second scout I'm 3 turns from pottery, and thus granary. I'm also just at pop 3. So I build my first worker.
As my explorers fight animals I promote them to combat and let them rest if needed, I don't much care about them after the first 20 or so turns when the pop goodie huts. I'll pay 50 gold around 50 turns for a map. I usually just automate my workers, as I hate micro management. But I'll sometimes manually give them orders, especially at the very start.
In this game I go with mason so I can get access to my stone. I also start building barracks after my granary. I then research towards priest (and the 2 requisites). I build a second worker, then start on pyramids. Once I've connected my stone, and built on the corn and sheep, I automate my workers. I also switch to build the Stonehenge in 3 turns with stone connected.
Once priest is done I do archery, so that I can build archers my early game defense. I still have no units providing defense in my capital. However, I've never had the AI declare an early war. Usually there is a point to build a couple archers in 1 or 2 turns between early wonders.
On turn 48/1120BC I finished the pyramids, and started researched bronze working. However, someone else finished the Oracle. This is the earliest I ever saw an AI finish it. Maybe I should have switched to it as soon as I had the tech and went back to the pyramids which usually don't get built until late. Oh well. I switch representation, and begin building walls. A few archers with city defense to guard the capital. Throughout the game whenever I don't have something to build I'll build the general defensive unit. I rarely build research since it's important to have a solid 20 or so units by late game to prevent war.
After bronze I queue writing, math, aesthetics. Since I have more production than research I build the great wall, more archers and more workers. All great people get added to the city. The only exceptions being ones that can build a building with the first one (scientist), and my first artist which I start a golden age with.
I agree to open borders, and will buy maps once in a while. Other wise I do no trading. I'll hold off on a religion until I see one that is leading in terms of power of civs with it.
Literature, calender, drama, music, civil service. My 5 national wonders are National epic, globe, oxford university, national park, wall street. Then I beeline to liberalism. As my free tech I usually go with nationalism. I tried to come up with a better tech to get but couldn't. Nationalism lets me build the Taj Majal, for a golden age. Whenever I research paper I go to the last AI and buy their map for around 100 gold. This is really just a nice thing to have, it doesn't much matter what the rest of the map looks like.
After Liberalism I'll get a few beginning techs that I still don't have (iron working). Then I'll go towards astronomy then bio, then steam. There's a lot of techs needed before them, but I just hold shift and click those three. Then assembly line, and rocketry. This begins the race to space. I then research industrialism both for the production boost and to reveal aluminum.
Around 1900 I usually build my first space ship part. Around this time I like to take note of two things. First off you should start strategizing on how you are going to get aluminum. You can either trade for it or attempt to found the corp that makes it. I've yet to go the found the corp method. If you are going to trade you likely won't want to wait until a civ has the tech to see it. I try to find a civ that is behind but has at least two sources. Then trade/give them the techs they need. Second you want to check the victory screen and make sure no one is getting close to winning. The only method the AI has ever almost won in a OCC with me is culture. Luckily the victory screen gives you a 100 turn warning before a culture victory. If you see a civ is going to win culture pretty much your only option is to build tanks and raze the city.
Guantanamo group of 47 'should be held indefinitely'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8476075.stm
"A task force on the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay has advised that 47 inmates should be held indefinitely without trial, officials say."
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am5
"No person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;"
"A task force on the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay has advised that 47 inmates should be held indefinitely without trial, officials say."
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am5
"No person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;"
Thursday, January 21, 2010
American's Crazed Corn Habit
http://mises.org/daily/3934
"The federal government provides a 45 cent per-gallon subsidy for domestically produced (corn-based) ethanol. Add to that the crippling sugar policy, plus a 54 cent per gallon tariff placed specifically on foreign ethanol (sugar based, from Brazil), and bang — ADM corners the domestic ethanol market. Pretty crafty, huh?"
"The federal government provides a 45 cent per-gallon subsidy for domestically produced (corn-based) ethanol. Add to that the crippling sugar policy, plus a 54 cent per gallon tariff placed specifically on foreign ethanol (sugar based, from Brazil), and bang — ADM corners the domestic ethanol market. Pretty crafty, huh?"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)