Five letters--AWACS.

Noting like an eye in the sky to give you a view over your sea-level horizon.

That's a lot of missiles you're firing.

In terms of the maths, the delivery system in this case (the missile) is the more-expensive consumable in your equation. And for a multi-shot bombardment, that's going to add up the war costs. OTOH, once you have the railgun in place, the projectiles aren't exactly much more expensive than your warheads (at worst, you'll probably be using up some relatively-cheap sabots). Given enough juice, you could launch a bunch of them for much less cost than using a bunch of missiles. Not only that, the projectiles could be made quicker since they're simpler.

Target of Opportunity?

Perhaps Assange targets the US because that's where he gets the most dirt. It's not like it's easy to get anything out of REALLY repressive countries like China, whose standards of secrecy are probably much tighter (if only because of practices that would shock more decent societies). Think of it this way: how do you break into an organization who only takes natives, checks you and your family forwards and backwards for outside contact, and demands as a right of passage what would qualify as an act of treason in western nations?

Can't be pressure.

As Assange is anti-American, any posturing on the US's part would likely be replied with some polite version of the one-fingered salute. As for being seen as not doing anything, considering their public face at the moment, one could say it might be wiser to simply shut up and only LOOK like an idiot.

Or just wait for a sale.

I do admit that I personally have a noticeable collection of BluRays now (as well as a PS3 and BluRay Player with which to watch them). However, I play it cagey and usually don't buy a movie on release day (unless it's the odd title I really want). Usually, I can find it later on either used or on sale (Now's a good time for bargain hunting--after-Black-Friday clearance sales can find you some BluRays cheap--at least in my experience).

One problem with that idea.

The USPTO is part of the US Department of Commerce. This means it's an established part of the federal government. And one of the general rules is that you cannot directly sue a sovereign government, since what it says goes (look up "Sovereign Immunity"). Now, the US does allow rare exceptions, but the USPTO does not perform actions that would result in a qualifying lawsuit (it usually has to be deliberate--a case of tort).

Okay...

Any kind of crime committed by a kid under your legal custody, in addition to the kid serving some juvenile term, the parent must also serve a term of some sort (say for "contributing to the delinquence of a minor by negligence" or something) relative to the severity of the kid's crime. Perhaps that would enforce the idea of parents looking after their children as they would normally be obligated by moral and legal custom.

Who would?

Someone who has access to TOR, i2p, a friendly darknet, or access to the inevitable Wikileaks copies on Freenet. All of them are designed with anti-government motives and anonymity in mind.

But sites are getting smart.

The sites booby-trap the sites to make sure you bite. NoScript filters by domain, and guess where the history-sniffer code's going to reside? In the same domain as the video player, which you MUST allow in order to get anything productive out of the site. So no videos without a history sniff.

Backtracking.

Some people have delayed reactions to sites (reconsidering after moving on) or run into situations that require them to backtrack. It's for those kinds of people (and the people that close tabs/windows by mistake) that the browser history exists so they can get back to that site they wanted but no longer remember how they reached (and sometimes, not even searching helps--I've had that happen a few times personally).

You ignore the costs.

The costs involved per individual ad are so minuscule as to be nearly zero. A hit in a million is actually GOOD for the site and means PROFITS. That's why spam persists even with all the filtering in the world--they only need to get lucky once in a long while to earn enough to keep going.

Re-tooling as in...

...modifying the existing tools to produce a slightly different product. Like what happened in auto plants during World War II. The equipment was basically the same; they just started building different things. Are you saying that OLEDs cannot be made at existing LCD facilities without making more than minor adjustments to existing equipment?

Simple: They ASK.

The idea of the privacy advocates is that any form of personally valuable information should not be obtained by any other party unless they are (a) government and keepers of that data anyway for legal reasons, or (b) given your EXPRESS and EXPLICIT consent to do so, and this consent would follow the "lazy" rule (to borrow from RegEx parlance) in that it applies only to those specific instances consented. Anything beyond that, or any extension of the instance would require another explicit consent.

And for those who break the rules? For accidental exposures, they could be charged with criminal neglect. Intentional instances may be construed as Identity Theft. Oh, and either instance could result in civil damages, too.

Can't you retool, though?

If you can adapt your existing equipment (without massive additonal outlay) to do OLEDs, which is what Stu is noting, then why not switch over a smaller plant or the like? You'll still be paying off the mortgage, just in a slightly different way.

Clarification.

I was referring to Verizon the landline instead of Verizon Wireless (mobile carriers are still considered CONTRACT carriers--their communications scope is still limited). But if Verizon (landline) were to charge extra for a call to an AT&T landline customer (landline telephone, OTOH, is a COMMON carrier), there would be a legal investigation.

Cartel behaviour?

But wouldn't that kind of conspiracy be considered anti-competitive cartel behavior?

But some have made a point. Most carrier businesses aren't producers as well. It'd be like Norfolk Southern (North American rail carrier) also owning a mining stake. There'd be an overpowering interest to carry their own ore over someone else's.

That should be brought before the FCC--see if carriers should be allowed to be simultaneous producers, and if so, under what conditions?

That's if latency is an issue.

But lottery systems aren't really that time-sensitive (except as drawing cutoff approaches, but that's always been "caveat emptor"). If latency isn't a big issue, then it's simpler to just use the satellite both ways. It's not exactly as if even a heavy playslip stream overloads the line (each play is a handful of bytes, plus likely encryption overhead, and each response is a small bit containing ticket number, final numbers, cost, and verification).

At that level...

...why not just WHITELIST instead. This would also take care of the possibility of new bad sites that have yet to be inspected; instead you deny by default and only allow those sites which have been 100% inspected clean and their webmasters bound (maybe even bonded) to vouch for their sites at all times under severe legal penalty.

The Forbidden Fruit Effect

To quote from a comic book, "If it ain't kind of creepy and dirty and mysterious and forbidden, guys don't get off."

We Westerners seem to have an innate curiosity for those things which we can't figure out. Put a "Do Not Touch" sign, and someone will touch it just for the sake of it: disregarding any potential dangers because, "I'm bored." Put that together with a fundamental biological instinct (which is sex at the most fundamental level), and you have to wonder what the conservative Christians (who are the groups behind the strongest sex taboos) are thinking: unless, as some do, that instinct is considered evil and that the human condition to do it because "I'm bored" needs to be bred out of humanity in order to save its collective soul (1984 ring a bell?--similar ideas).

Not safe, either.

Perfectly legitimate sites, even banks and even ones where you type in the URL, can be hit with drive-bys. Could make things hard for banks with no brick & mortar presence where you live.

So what happens...

if someone brings in a CD-RW that happens to have a fake label on it (maybe even silkscreened so you can't tell it's fake) and knows how to re-enable, unplug, or even jury-rig a USB port? Maybe it's time to bring back pure read-only drives and bring back BIOS that have no USB support at all. But next thing you know, they'll know how to rig a data transfer device into the keyboard port (which CAN'T be disabled or you can't log in--since the USB ports needed for a bioscan are supposedly disabled).

I've yet to see one that overscans.

Now, some will perform an accommodating zoom, but that usually isn't on by default, and it's usually only used on the analog inputs. DTV, HDMI, and digital component almost always use unzoomed modes, and there are two ways to notice the lack of overscan. One is to hook up a computer with DVI or HDMI output to the HDMI input of the TV. If the picture goes corner-to-corner upon setting to the right res, then there's no overscan. The other is to check out a DTV channel using either the internal TV tuner or an HDTV box hooked up to either HDMI or component (an HDTV box will almost always allow for digital component). Find a channel with a logo watermark (I know most US stations do this now; does Europe do it, too?) The watermark is positioned so that it's still visible right at the corner of the old CRT TVs; on HD screens with no overscan, they'll be further into the screen vertically.

And it's not just the UK lottery that uses it.

As I understand it, Italian firm GTECH, which provides many lottery machines worldwide, was the first to use satellite networks for its lottery terminals. I know, for example, that Virginia's lottery went satellite when GTECH updated them to new Altura terminals about three years ago. I've also read reference to satellites being in use in other lotteries such as Idaho and California.

Space-worthy, yes, but not launch-worthy.

Thus the article says it's a worthy thrust system once you're already out in space. However, to start the initial thrust from 0 to escape velocity requires at least a couple orders of magnitude improvement in the thrust-to-weight ratio, and I think there are a few physics limitations in the way of improving it by one order at the moment.

How about a router on a router?

Add on an anonymity service like Freenet, TOR, or i2p, and the hardwired router will probably won't be able to figure out where you're going or what you're doing. And you can't block encryption wholesale because you need encryption for money-related e-services. And note that these anonymity networks are DESIGNED for use in "hostile" environments.

What about encrypted connections?

Encrypted connections can't be inspected and can go anywhere if they're part of an anonymity system. As others have said, packet filters will be useless against darknets.

Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage is the one thing they're trying to avoid right now. Really stirs up trouble when you accidentally kill the good guys. They probably won't start taking such measures until the Flashbang round is ready. Then it'll make more tactical sense just before a storming.

I commend you on your efforts.

Still, I have to ponder if things are going on which you may not be aware. As in, kids finding ways to go online that you can't necessarily track or filter. Have you been taking pains to make sure the computer doesn't have a hidden anonymity (TOR/i2p) router or virtual computer hidden inside and that there isn't a hidden WiFi device around the house?

All I'm saying is that just because all's quiet on the bedroom front doesn't mean another front may be opening without your notice.

But how do you supervise them...

...when they know your routine and know ways around them? You may now even know they get lettes from strangers because they beat you to the post and pocket all the incriminating evidence. How you control SMS when they get their own personal phones from college-age friends? How do you keep them off the web when they've learned to piggy-back off the neighbor's wireless link on an iPod Touch they can easily pocket?

But as me this.

How do you outsmart the kids when the kids are smarter than you? It's not easy since they have access to things the parents may have never even heard of (like secret wireless routers they conceal in the furniture or, as said, the iPod Touch they can easily pocket).

Overscan?

IIRC, overscan is mostly a holdover from the CRT days (because CRTs can't aim pixel-perfect). But with digital display technologies like LCDs, there is usually no overscan (easy to see with a TV that takes computer input from DVI or HDMI; it takes the picture corner-to-corner, so no overscan).

Think of it this way.

GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out

If the original BluRay transfer was shoddy or the original film is very grainy (I think of the Godfather trilogy at this point), then those imperfections are MORE likely to show up on a BluRay because the higher resolution allows those imperfections to show (whereas on a DVD they tend to get covered up due to interpolation and necessary smoothing).

BTW, some of the worst BluRays are really nothing more than DVD upscales. So it'll show virtually no difference vs. an upscaling DVD player (which is doing essentially the same thing).

As I recall...

...the closer you get to c, the less acceleration you get for a given force. This is because, from the equation you've stated, as you put more energy into the system, you gain mass, thus going back to the force equation (F = ma), you either lose acceleration or need to pump out more force to maintain the same rate.

Maybe not in Indian law...

...but in those areas, local law is the most important since Indian authorities rarely intervene on those matters. It's like in the medieval days when most people didn't stray further than seven miles.

As for the "honour" bit, it may be a bit tricky for Westerners to understand, but, especially in the past and in "less-forward" places like these, Easterners value their honour more than they value their life since the latter is fleeting but the former is eternal. The phrase "I'd sooner die..." isn't as hollow a bravado over there.

Better.

Using entangled particles as a form of communication, that I see. If they can only get the testing apparatus to work outside the currently-difficult-to-maintain conditions; I understand the entanglements break very easily: only slightly more hardy than your average qubit.

Figured it'll be on the iPad 3, actually.

Mirasol works well in daylight, yes, but I understand these color e-inks cannot support backlighting, and since the first-gen iPad is backlit, you'll be hampering one feature to support another. Might not sit well with people used to being able to read at night without a booklight. Not to mention backlights aren't prone to glare.

Are we one the same page?

You're talking about Quantum COMPUTERS.

But I distinctly recall the article referring to Quantum NETWORKS.

Problem with safe languages...

...is that you sacrifice performance, and the fault happens to reside in a GRAPHICAL routine. Guess what's one of the most demanding things a computer can do? Graphics (especially 3D graphics) is such a demanding job that programmers have a devil of a time finding the fine line between making it universal and taking it close to the metal for maximum performance.

No.

Article I, Section 9 of the US Constitution specifically forbids retroactive (or ex post facto, "after the fact") laws. You can try to use ROT13 as a protection mechanism, but you can only go after people who break the ROT13 used in YOUR work.

He's not being charged with "Jailbreaking"...

...but with doing so at a profit. Sorta like plagiarism.

Maybe even Sneaker-proof.

If ALL externally-accessible drives are disabled during normal operation, then not even Sneakernets can break through. IOW, these are SEALED SYSTEMS whose operational files cannot be modified in any way, shape, or form.

To update or otherwise repair the system, it has to be taken out of the loop and worked at in isolation, and I would think that it would have to pass a thorough acid test on an isolated test network before it's RE-SEALED re-introduced to the loop.

Was thinking a little more succint...

...like a dildo bomb. Had been thinking it even before we learned of the suppository bomber earlier this year, but you get the idea.

Here's another idea. Swallow a sealed packet in the bathroom just before the checkpoint, get past it (since the scans wouldn't be able to see into the esophagus), and then just employ your favorite emetic technique later on to get it out (say it was something you ate at the terminal).

I just wish someone would pull off some (LEO-backed) stunt to prove you can't stop truly bent anarchists (these aren't terrorists--they're out to destroy world order; terror's just their preferred weapon).

Fine for those two...

...but what if your favorite writer/artist happens to be Stan Lee? Or perhaps Neil Gaiman (they're both comic book artists)? Most comics books are in color, and seeing them in grayscale can be tricky (believe me, I've tried). Then, as others have mentioned, many technical books have color diagrams, which can be important when a diagram gets complicated and/or crisscrosses a lot. Sure, it's not always needed, but it has its uses, which is why television went to color decades back and why most comic books stick to color.

But for now, I'm patient. I still have my classic Sony Reader, and it does fine for the time being. Once a good-performing but affordable color e-Reader comes along that will still fit in my pocket, then I'll consider a jump.

And if you're not driving?

How can the providers tell that the phone's moving at speed because you're riding along in the passenger seat or perhaps even on a bus or train? Plus what if you need to make an emergency call but can't stop due to incidents of drunk driving, road rage, or other incidents where stopping is ill-advised?