"We introduce the notion of a Spoofing Set as a way of describing a generalized attack methodology. We also discuss a method of constructing Spoofing Sets that is based on Phase Space Analysis and the presence of function attractors. We review the major network operating systems relative to this attack."

This is a fun paper. How random IS your PRNG?

Strange Attractors and TCP/IP Sequence Number Analysis

"Numerous safeguards in the ICC treaty will prevent frivolous or politically motivated cases. "

There are irreconcilable factual differences between what the US is saying, what Human Rights Watch is saying, and what some of the press are reporting about the amount of control the U.N. Security Council has over the ICC and some other issues. Two of the three must be wrong. HRW has lots of detailed information about the ICC, along with links the ICC pages and counterpoints to the U.S. position. Its a reasonable starting point for research if you are interested in the disagreement.

Personally, I advise caution in deciding to "agree" with anyone in this situation unless you have time to read the actual treaty. The international support for the court leads one to question the credibility of the US position. On the other hand, Human Rights Watch joins many who don't want you to THINK about the issue by making irrational emotional appeals which divert your attention from the real questions:

"The move is the latest manifestation of the view in Washington that international justice is only for others, not for Americans. Yet behind this breathtaking arrogance, the US administration is trying to determine how far it can push its allies."

HRW: ICC: Myths and Facts About the International Criminal Court

Every news outlet is reporting the strong international opposition to the U.S. position on the ICC. Here are the state department's reasons.

"The prosecutor is not responsible to an elected body or to the UN Security Council, and the court lacks fundamental checks and balances. "

State Department on the International Criminal Court

"I am glad to present you a very simple experiment that you can conduct yourself with common material that you already have in your house. This experiment will allow you to see and check by yourself that a stable Plasmoid ( an artificial Plasma Ball ) can be created in air ( at a pressure of one atmosphere ). "

Weird microwave tricks. This is an old link, but a good one.

How to build a Stable Plasmoid at one atmosphere.

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The cost of mailing a standard letter domestically increases 3 cents this Sunday to 37 cents. Sending a postcard will rise 2 cents to 23 cents. "

I just freakn' bought a book of stamps yesterday. I wish they would pre-announce this stuff earlier then the day beforehand.

CNN.com - U.S. postal rates rise Sunday - June 29, 2002

If the state's budget woes cannot be resolved before midnight Sunday, the state government could shut down."

CNN.com - Shutdown threat looms over Tennessee gov't - June 29, 2002

"NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Xerox Corp. improperly booked nearly $2 billion in revenue over the past five years, the company said Friday, as the company was forced to restate earnings to reflect $1.4 billion less in pre-tax profits during the period. "

On the subject of accounting problems...

Xerox documents accounting woes - Jun. 28, 2002

In Spring 2001, Virginia Tech professor Naren Ramakrishnan taught an entire course on the topic of recommender systems. Here you can browse the syllabus, review slides from the lectures, and review the reading list.

Course overview: CS 6604 concentrates on algorithms, methodologies, systems, and larger-scope issues (economic, commercial etc.) pertaining to reducing information overload. The unique aspect of this course will be how it integrates ideas from diverse areas: numerical analysis (strange but true), information systems, human-computer interaction, and algorithmics. Over the past three years, a large body of literature on recommender systems, filtering, and personalization technologies has been developed. Even though the field is driven by commercial trends and industrial developments, many of the ideas are nearing a stage of stabilization when their use is becoming common place (textbook material). CS 6604 will help illustrate the interplay between these different areas and demonstrate how ideas from diverse backgrounds can be combined in novel and sophisticated ways.

CS 6604: Recommender Systems (Spring 2001)

802.11 based "Star Trek" communicators. Cool...

Vocera Communications Products

[I]n certain limited circumstances, the Governments need to discover such latent or hidden conditions, or to prevent their development, is sufficiently compelling to justify the intrusion on privacy entailed by conducting such searches without any measure of individualized suspicion."

From the dissent:

"It is a sad irony that the petitioning School District seeks to justify its edict here by trumpeting the schools custodial and tutelary responsibility for children. In regulating an athletic program or endeavoring to combat an exploding drug epidemic, a schools custodial obligations may permit searches that would otherwise unacceptably abridge students rights. When custodial duties are not ascendant, however, schools tutelary obligations to their students require them to teach by example by avoiding symbolic measures that diminish constitutional protections. That [schools] are educating the young for citizenship is reason for scrupulous protection of Constitutional freedoms of the individual, if we are not to strangle the free mind at its source and teach youth to discount important principles of our government as mere platitudes. "

Precrime has arrived, Thank you Supremes...