firehose

Old-School Rules by Gilbert Hernandez, Jim Campbell, Jared Fletcher (from Strange Tales II #2)

jrepin writes "A few weeks ago the FSF reported that Google had started blocking invites sent from non-Google Jabber servers. This was done as a crude anti-spam measure. Google have since rolled out proper anti-spam filtering for its Jabber service, and has removed the invite block. This was announced a few days ago in a public mailing list post. This means that users of all Jabber servers will once again be able to fully communicate with Google users."

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mikejuk writes "Java Development Kit 8, planned for September 2013, is being delayed until next year because of 'a renewed focus on security.' Java has been having security publicity problems recently, but Oracle now seems to be taking them more seriously. Mark Reinhold, chief architect of the Java platform group, said, 'Maintaining the security of the Java Platform always takes priority over developing new features, and so these efforts have inevitably taken engineers away from working on Java 8.' The major change still to be made to Java 8 is Project Lambda, which Reinhold says is 'the sole driving feature of the release.' He laid out alternatives, such as dropping Lambda from this release, but said Oracle has decided instead to wait until Lambda is ready. The revised schedule for JDK 8 has a developer preview scheduled for September, a release candidate scheduled for January 2014, and general availablity scheduled for March 2014. The delay means that Java SE 9 will probably be released in early 2016, rather than late 2015."

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Parks And Recreation star and stellar human Amy Poehler has posted a touching video response to the Boston Marathon bombing. Poehler addresses the tragedy in a clip for her “Smart Girls” series by answering a question for a 16-year-old named Millie about how to avoid negative images and videos online.

Poehler, who was raised in Newton, Mass., says she’s long struggled with how to keep informed and connected without feeling like she’s exploiting people and harming herself, saying that it feels like “everywhere you go, there’s just some picture that’s worse than the one before.” She advises Millie to soften her heart and mind, and give her eyes a break, meaning maybe the teenager shouldn’t check out the hundreds of pictures online of bloody sidewalks and horrified faces. As Poehler notes, “It’s okay to not be looking at what everyone’s looking at all ...

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cylonlover writes "Lockheed Martin has been getting its feet wet in the renewable energy game for some time. In the 1970s it helped build the world's first successful floating Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) system that generated net power, and in 2009 it was awarded a contract to develop an OTEC pilot plant in Hawaii. That project has apparently been canceled but the company has now shifted its OTEC sights westward by teaming up with Hong Kong-based Reignwood Group to co-develop a 10 MW pilot plant that will be built off the coast of southern China."

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Guy On Roof Starting To Think He Might Get Away With It

NEWPORT BEACH, CA—Following the Lakers shooting guard’s surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon, Kobe Bryant’s family and friends told reporters Friday that they are really looking forward to spending the next nine months with the NBA s...

WASHINGTON—Following FBI reports this morning that the suspects implicated in Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing are of Chechen descent, efforts to thoughtlessly stereotype the alleged terrorists were impeded by the majority of Americans’ ...

New submitter LeadSongDog writes with news that Apple has provided information on how long it holds onto voice search data used by its digital assistant software Siri. Speaking to Wired, an Apple representative said the data is kept for two years after the initial query. "Here’s what happens. Whenever you speak into Apple’s voice activated personal digital assistant, it ships it off to Apple’s data farm for analysis. Apple generates a random numbers to represent the user and it associates the voice files with that number. This number — not your Apple user ID or email address — represents you as far as Siri’s back-end voice analysis system is concerned. Once the voice recording is six months old, Apple “disassociates” your user number from the clip, deleting the number from the voice file. But it keeps these disassociated files for up to 18 more months for testing and product improvement purposes." This information came in response to requests for clarification of Siri's privacy policy, which was not very clear as written. The director of privacy group Big Brother Watch said, "There needs to be a very high justification for retaining such intrusive data for longer than is absolutely necessary to provide the service."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader writes with news that Yahoo will be ending their email service in China on August 13th. A support post on the Yahoo China site tells users how to migrate their account to a different email service called Aliyun. If they do so, their data can be migrated and they will continue to receive emails to their Yahoo address until the end of 2014. From the article: "The US Internet giant Yahoo! has come under criticism in the past over its business in China, with executives apologising in 2007 for providing evidence that Chinese authorities used to convict government critics. The company said it was legally obliged to divulge information about its users to the Chinese government but that it was unaware it would be used to convict dissidents. The end of the service will affect millions of users, the paper quoted Alibaba public relations official Zhang Jianhua as saying, though he did not have a total figure." Yahoo also announced the closure of six other products today: Upcoming, Deals, SMS Alerts, Kids, Mail and Messenger feature phone apps, and older versions of Mail.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

retrogasm:

Jayne Mansfield and Swiss cheese…

shmamanda:

My new favorite picture from the Internet.

childhoodphobia:

Best scene

anitaleocadia:

Randy West -  New York Sky, #49 (2004). Via Bruce Silverstein Gallery

Margot

“Holy Crap” cereal is made from buckwheat, chia, cranberries, raisins, and apples. These are cheap ingredients, but it costs $16.85 for an eight-ounce bag.

That’s $33.70 a pound. To compare: gasoline (in the US) costs roughly $0.66 a pound.

Maybe the box is really expensi– oh wait, it doesn’t come in a box.

By Michael McWhertor on Apr 19, 2013 at 11:30p

A copy of the ultra rare NES game Stadium Events was reportedly purchased from a North Carolina thrift shop for a mere $7.99 is now up for auction at reseller GameGavel. The listing for the complete collector's item starts at just $12,000.

According to GameGavel, the complete-in-box copy of Bandai's Stadium Events "appears to be one of the nicest to ever go up for auction" and could bring in record-setting bids. Previous auctions for copies of Stadium Events, which was released in 1987 in very limited numbers, have seen bids as high as $41,300 in 2010 and $22,800 in 2011 on eBay.

The buyer who purchased the copy of Stadium Events from a Goodwill store said she was aware of the game's rarity upon discovering it, telling GameGavel of the purchase, "My heart raced the whole time."

The owners of the cartridge say they plan to pay off student loans and put a down payment on a house with the proceeds from the auction.

Now that second Boston bombing suspect has been apprehended, there are still lots of unanswered questions swirling. One of them is whether or not he has been read his Miranda rights, which are designed to protect a suspect's Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights under the US Constitution. The answer as of this writing that the bombing suspect is not being read his rights. "There is a public safety exemption in cases of national security and potential charges involving acts of terrorism," said US Attorney Carmen Ortiz at a press conference tonight, "And so the government has that opportunity right now, though I believe that the suspect has been taken to a hospital."

---

So far, Dzokhar Tsarnaev has not been read his rights

Talking Points Memo confirmed with an official at the Department of Justice that so far Dzokhar Tsarnaev has not been read his rights, so that the DOJ could "question the suspect extensively about other potential explosive devices or accomplices and to gain critical intelligence."

The public safety exception has existed since 1984, when the Supreme Court ruled that in very limited cases, law enforcement could question a suspect about imminent threats before reading Miranda rights. Those rules became established law, and in February 2011, the FBI itself published an extensive review of the public safety exception. In it, the FBI said that "questions designed solely to elicit incriminating statements" fell outside the public safety exception and that Miranda applied to them.

"Such interrogation might include, for example, questions about possible impending or coordinated terrorist attacks."

However, the Obama administration has long pushed for an expanded interpretation of the public safety exception. In March of 2011, a memo from the FBI leaked to the New York Times which "encouraged agents to use a broad interpretation of public safety-related questions." It generally instructs agents to limit their questioning to issues of "immediate concern for the safety of the public or the arresting agents," but does grant that there are "exceptional cases" in which "continued unwarned interrogation is necessary to collect valuable and timely intelligence not related to any immediate threat." In those cases, agents are told to seek higher approval whenever possible.

The determination whether particular unwarned questions are justified on public safety grounds must always be made on a case-by-case basis based on all the facts and circumstances. In light of the magnitude and complexity of the threat often posed by terrorist organizations, particularly international terrorist organizations, and the nature of their attacks, the circumstances surrounding an arrest of an operational terrorist may warrant significantly more extensive public safety interrogation without Miranda warnings than would be permissible in an ordinary criminal case.

Depending on the facts, such interrogation might include, for example, questions about possible impending or coordinated terrorist attacks; the location, nature, and threat posed by weapons that might post an imminent danger to the public; and the identities, locations, and activities or intentions of accomplices who may be plotting additional imminent attacks.

At this time, with Tsarnaev in the hospital, it's not clear what questions law enforcement has put to him. We also don't yet have answers about whether the government intends to limit their pre-Miranda questions solely to issue of immediate threats to the public or whether it believes this is one of those "exceptional cases" that merits questioning that goes beyond imminent threats.

There's also the later question of how exactly Tsarnaev will be tried. The going presumption is that it will be in a criminal court, but earlier today Senator Lindsey Graham began agitating for a military trial. In a joint statement with Senator John McCain, Graham expanded on his call for what he calls the "enemy combatant option."

Under the Law of War we can hold this suspect as a potential enemy combatant not entitled to Miranda warnings or the appointment of counsel. Our goal at this critical juncture should be to gather intelligence and protect our nation from further attacks.

We remain under threat from radical Islam and we hope the Obama Administration will seriously consider the enemy combatant option.

However, Tsarnaev is a US citizen and is most likely going to be tried as such — and the public safety exception to Miranda theoretically gives law enforcement some latitude to address terrorism concerns within that system. Hopefully, more details on what exactly the judicial process is going to look like will come out soon, and presumably it will include reading Tsarnaev his Miranda rights at some point.

• Source New York TimesFBITalking Points Memo
• Related Items fbi miranda doj boston bombing dzokhar tsarnaev public safety exception

San Francisco Chronicle

Pagan lifts Giants over Padres 9NEWS.com San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Angel Pagan drove in the winning run in the ninth inning to lead the San Francisco Giants in a 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres to open a three-game set on Friday. In the ninth off Luke Gregerson (1-2), Gregor Blanco ... San Francisco Giants take on the San Diego Padres at AT&T ParkSan Jose Mercury News media center Padres open 3-game series in SFU-T San Diego Giants Step Up Security At AT&T ParkCBS Local Sacramento Bee (blog) all 37 news articles »

San Francisco Chronicle

Pro boxer threw punches with 'evil' Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2010 Boston Herald If Edwin Rodriguez knew back in late 2010 what he knows now, his boxing encounter in Worcester with Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev would have had a different ending, that's for sure. Reached yesterday afternoon, Rodriguez, the No ... Boston bombings: Don't blame boxingLos Angeles Times Exclusive pics: Boston bomb suspect boxed in '09 Golden Gloves in UtahSalt Lake Tribune Dead bombing suspect boxed in Lowell Golden GlovesThe Sun New York Daily News -Boston.com -Chicago Tribune all 66 news articles »

Internet donations are pouring in for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, with crowdfunding campaigns on various websites raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to help pay for their medical care.

Bucks for Bauman, which was established to help bombing victim and key eyewitness Jeff Bauman, has raised more than $250,000 of its $1 million goal in two days. As of this writing, more than 6,000 people have donated over $275,000 to aid Bauman in his recovery.

"Every dollar counts!"

"Medical bills are going to start rolling in, let's get a head start on helping out Bauman and his family!" reads the introduction from Brooke Gibbs, who created the campaign. "Every dollar counts!"

Bloomberg reported that Bauman, who lost his legs in the explosion, saw the bomb being planted and helped identify the suspects to the FBI.

A similar effort has raised more than $400,000 for Celeste Corcoran and her daughter Sydney. They were at the finish line to watch a relative compete when the bombs went off, and both suffered significant injuries as a result. Their story attracted a $25,000 donation from comedian Chelsea Handler and a visit from actor Bradley Cooper, according to photos posted on their donation page.

Similar campaigns have been set up for victims Roseann Sdoia, Ann and Eric Whalley, and newlyweds Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky.

While the outpouring of support from around the world is heartening, the proliferation of places to donate has also led to calls for caution. CNET notes that scores of domains sprung up in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, and not all of them appear to be legitimate.

• Via CNETMashable
• Source Bucks for BaumanCeleste and SydneyMashable
• Image Credit Bucks for Bauman
• Related Items injury donation money campaign funding boston marathon fund bradley cooper explosives care medical victim crowdfunding jeff bauman celeste corcoran sydney corcoran chelsea handler roseann sdoia ann whalley eric whalley patrick downes jessica kensky

Victoria amazonica water lilies can reach 20 feet in circumference and support up to 300 pounds each. Perching children atop the massive leaves was all the rage in water gardens of the time. Salem, North Carolina, c. 1892.
Photograph by Frank Hege, National Geographic

First time accepted submitter jimshatt writes "I want my kids to play around with programming languages. To teach them basic concepts like loops and subroutines and the likes. My 8-year-old daughter in particular. I've tried Scratch and some other visual languages, but I think she might be turned off by the English language. Having to learn English as well as a programming language at the same time might be just a little too much. I'd really like to have a programming language that is easy to learn, and localized or localizable. Preferably cross-platform, or browser-based, so she can show her work at school (Windows) as well as work on in at home (Debian Linux). By the way, she speaks Dutch and Danish, so preferably one of those languages (but if it's localizable I can translate it myself). Any suggestions?"

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alostpacket writes "The New York times reports that statistical scoring by the standardized testing company Pearson incorrectly disqualified over 4700 students from a chance to enter gifted / advanced programs in New York City schools. Only students who score in the 90th percentile or above are eligible for these programs. Those in the 97th or above are eligible for 5 of the best programs. 'According to Pearson, three mistakes were made. Students' ages, which are used to calculate their percentile ranking against students of similar age, were recorded in years and months, but should also have counted days to be precise. Incorrect scoring tables were used. And the formula used to combine the two test parts into one percentile ranking contained an error.' No mention of enlisting the help of the gifted children was made in the Times article, but it also contained a now-corrected error. This submission likely also contains an erro"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

[Johna and Justin] are working to take the emotion out of playing the market. They built this piggy bank which automatically purchases stock when your coinage totals the cost of a single share. That’s right, just turn the selector to one of your three chosen stocks (Google, Facebook, and Apple are used in this example) and plug in some coins. The bank counts your money, compares it to the current online stock price, and pulls the trigger if you have enough dough. You can check out a demo clip after the jump.

The hardware is rather simple thanks to Adafruit’s programmable multi-coin acceptor. It handles the cash and it’s pretty easy to interface with the Arduino which handles the rest of the work. It connects to a computer via USB, depending on a PHP script to poll the current price. We dug through the code repository just a bit but didn’t find the snippet that does the actual stock purchase. Whether or not they actually implemented that, it’s certainly an interesting concept.

Filed under: lifehacks

the moon