The computing world's venerable master/slave naming convention has come under fire by Los Angeles county officials who charge that this type of product description is offensive.

A discrimination complaint has been filed with the county's Office of Affirmative Action Compliance after one county worker saw a video recording device with the "slave" and "master" tags, according to Reuters. The complaint was enough to call county officials into action, asking vendors to re-label their gear.

"Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label," Joe Sandoval, division manager of purchasing and contract services, said in a memo sent to County vendors and obtained by Reuters.

"We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment components that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature," Sandoval said in the memo, which was distributed last week.

Sandoval has received some emails from angry technophiles suggesting that he be fired for his sweeping renaming proposal. The worker, however, maintains that he was not handing down an ultimatum for change but rather a suggestion that vendors see what they can do.

And all this time we thought the master/slave connection had its roots in the world of whips and chains -a notion supported by the dog collar-wearing admins.

In related news, Intel has called for server chief Mike Fister to change his name. ®

LA officials call for end to master/slave labels

] China's first manned space flight in October and its talk
] of a future landing on the Moon within the next two
] decades may end up being the spark to re-ignite the U.S.
] space program.

Thank GOD for Chinas space program.

U.S. eyes return to the Moon

"It is the central focus of my life. America, under Bush, is a danger to the world. And I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is."

The wrinkle in Soros's plan is that none of the major Democratic candidates are a particularly good fit for his foreign policy.

Soros's Deep Pockets vs. Bush

] Like the Segway, Bombardier's Embrio concept--a prototype
] that may or may not make production--uses gyroscope
] technology to balance riders but adds a dash of flair
] absent in the Segway, which we as car nuts find slightly
] nerdy.

KICK ASS, 'eh?

Canadian Segway

] Startup MagiQ Technologies Inc. yesterday announced it's
] shipping what appears to be the first security system
] based on quantum cryptography.
]
] Quantum cryptography goes a step further than electronic
] cryptography through its employment of a stream of
] photons, the quantum properties of which determine the
] key. The fun part is that if an intruder observes or
] intercepts the transmission, those properties get changed
] -- an unavoidable principle of quantum mechanics --
] meaning the sender and receiver can tell if anyone is
] eavesdropping. Perhaps more important, the key can't be
] copied or faked (see Optical Science Gets Spookier and
] Quantum Cipher Sent by Fiber ).
]
] It's a potential breaththrough, though working with
] photons has never been easy, and, as the optical
] networking bubble has shown, it can be an expensive way
] to build technology.
]
] MagiQ's Navajo system, a box made to fit in a standard
] telecom rack, was unveiled in February and began beta
] trials in March.

Startup Says Quantum Crypto Is Real

] Intravenous doses of a synthetic component of "good"
] cholesterol reduced artery disease in just six weeks in a
] small study with startlingly big implications for
] treating the nation's No. 1 killer.
]
] "The concept is sort of liquid Drano for the coronary
] arteries," said Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic
] cardiologist who led the study.
]
] Larger and longer studies need to be done to determine if
] the experimental treatment will translate into fewer
] deaths, but the early results are promising, said Dr.
] Daniel Rader, director of preventive cardiology at the
] University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
]
] The treatment used a laboratory-produced version of an
] unusually effective form of HDL, the good cholesterol
] that helps protect against heart disease by removing
] plaque, or fatty buildups, from the bloodstream.
]
] "This is clearly on the level of a breakthrough that will
] have far-reaching implications," pointing the way toward
] a rapid treatment for fatty buildups, said Dr. Bryan
] Brewer, chief of molecular diseases at the National
] Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

New treatment works like 'liquid Drano for arteries'

Go Elonka:)

STLtoday - News - Story

jessica wrote:
] ] PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Cheap Trick Avenue
] ] instead of Boardwalk? Hernando's Chop Shop instead of
] ] Reading Railroad?
] ]
] ] Black leaders are outraged over a new board game called
] ] "Ghettopoly" that has "playas" acting like pimps and game
] ] cards reading, "You got yo whole neighborhood addicted to
] ] crack. Collect $50."

http://www.ghettopoly.com/

I want!

LB

RE: CNN.com - 'Ghettopoly' game causes outrage - Oct. 9, 2003

] In his 2 1/2 years in office, Attorney General John
] Ashcroft has earned himself a remarkable distinction as
] the Torquemada of American law. Tomas de Torquemada was
] the 15th century Dominican friar who became the grand
] inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. He was largely
] responsible for its methods, including torture and the
] burning of heretics - Muslims in particular.

DenverPost.com - Walter Cronkite on the DOJ

] A Princeton graduate student said Monday that he has
] figured out a way to defeat new software intended to keep
] music CDs from being copied on a computer %u2014 simply
] by pressing the Shift-key.
]
] In a paper posted on his Web site late Monday, John
] Halderman said the MediaMax CD3 software developed by
] SunnComm Technologies could be defeated on computers
] running the Windows operating system by holding down the
] Shift key, disabling a Windows feature that automatically
] launches the encryption software on the disc.
]
] Halderman said the protection could also be disabled by
] stopping the driver the CD installs when it is first
] inserted into a computer's drive.

LMFAO!!!

USATODAY.com - CD-copy protection system said to have simple flaw