Rattle wrote:

The first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress, attacked for planning to use the Koran at his swearing-in instead of a Bible, will use a copy of the Muslim holy book once owned by Thomas Jefferson, an official said on Wednesday.

Representative-elect Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, requested the 18th century copy of the Koran for the unofficial part of his swearing in on Thursday, according to Mark Dimunation, chief of rare books and special collections at the Library of Congress in Washington.

Ellison, a Muslim convert who traces his U.S. ancestry to 1741, wanted a special copy of the book to use, Dimunation said, and approached the library for one.

The third U.S. president, serving from 1801 to 1809, Jefferson was a collector with wide-ranging interests. His 6,000-volume library, the largest in North America at the time, became the basis for the Library of Congress.

I've been ignoring all the silly bickering about Ellison getting sworn in using a Koran, because frankly, it's too damn stupid for me to take seriously. As far as I'm concerned, the item used in any oath should have significance to the individual taking the oath. What is the use of taking an oath on something you don't find personally significant? He could use a picture of his mother for all I'd care.. However, I do think it's really neat that he is using Thomas Jefferson's copy of the Koran.

Aye. It seems like technically one shouldn't have to use an article of faith for the oath.

"...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust" -- US Constitution, Article VI, Section 3

There's no Consitutional basis for such that I can see.

RE: First Muslim in U.S. Congress to use Jefferson's Koran - washingtonpost.com

The agreement between the U.S. and Mexico was signed in June 2004, and is awaiting President Bush's signature. Once President Bush approves the agreement, which would be done without Congressional vote, either House of Congress would have 60 days to disapprove the agreement by voting to reject it.

"The Social Security Administration itself warns that Social Security is within decades of bankruptcy -- yet, they seem to have no problem making agreements that hasten its demise," said Ralph McCutchen, Chairman of the TREA Senior Citizens League.

...

The Social Security Totalization Agreement was one of the bullet points listed in the CFR's "Building a North American Community" report. We're on the cusp of having it become law.

Social Security Agreement With Mexico Released After 3 1/2 Year Freedom of Information Act Battle

adam wrote:

Singer James Brown, known as the "Godfather of Soul", has died at the age of 73, his agent has said.

RIP a musical legend

James Brown was the fuckin' man. Well played Mr. Brown, well played. Your spirit will live on.

On the music family tree, he's one of the big trunks with lots of branches. The cool thing about the music family tree though is that even when old parts die, they live on as long as we remember to pay our respect. I put James Brown right up there with Ray Charles in that respect.

RE: BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Soul star James Brown dies at 73

Abaddon wrote:
Neoteric wrote:
] ] Do this dude edisoncarter cracked open what appears to be
] ] a cheesy 3rd party PS2 controller (save the good stuff
] ] for the gaming, we always say), hooked up the lines to a
] ] parallel port for signal injection, and then hash-cracker
] ] style used a custom app that ran brute force key
] ] combinations until he came up with a slew of unreleased
] ] cheat codes for GTA San Andreas. Damn, dude.
]
] That is so damn cool!

seems like a lot more work than just disassembling the rom images to find them...

--Abaddon

I was searching for info about this old hack I remembered hearing about and found a Memestream thread, cool!

What I'd like to do is have one PSX controller controlling two PSX's. I don't know if such a thing is possible, but I'd like to give it a shot for an experiment I want to try.

Technically, the "second" PSX won't really be a Playstation. It will be going to a PSX to USB converter. What I'd like to do is play a regular PSX game with the controller, but capture the padstrokes and joystick movements to the computer. Almost like a span port for the PSX controller if you will, TX from the controller only.

Anyone think this is possible?

-D

RE: Brute-forcing GTA San Andreas cheat codes

With each day of network activity a new world is generated, each of which are stored as tiny files for you to browse, compare and visit as time goes by. Think of them as pages from a network diary.

...

Very cool concept. From the creator of fijuu and q3apd.

Packet Garden: Seeking Beta Testers

bucy wrote:

In the continuing quest to see if humans can outpace their electronic creations, the humans have lost another, perhaps decisive, round.

Since you have recommended this, maybe you can shed light on what makes this noteworthy. (I've not studied computer chess in detail.)

What, in layman's terms, are the computers actually doing? Predictive analysis based on lookup tables of all historical chess matches it has played and/or notable chess matches throughout history? If so, it seems that as Moore's Law increases the effectiveness of computation, any logic based game that begins in the same state will be won by the computer as a matter of calculation capacity.

Not quite analogous to saying, "computers can perform long division millions of times faster than a human," but saying, "computers can analyze every possible outcome in less time than it takes to move a chess piece" will some day be true.

I guess the secret sauce is in the "analyze" part of the statement I made. Guess that's what I don't really comprehend.

RE: Once Again, Machine Beats Human Champion at Chess - New York Times

(sorry for the late post, better late than never though eh?)

On Saturday November 4, that monster that DJ B and I created is shuffling back into town - That’s right, it’s Buzz and Click time again! On the advent of this 4th installment of the Mid-South’s premier electronic music showcase, the net has been cast out a bit further this year, bringing more artists from the greater South East and more variety to the evening’s entertainment! This year’s lineup:

8:00 aTHeNa BLue (Electronics/Keyboards - Nashville)
8:30 Matt Hamilton (Treated Guitar - Nashville)
9:00 Circuit Breakers (Computer & Electronics - Chattanooga)
9:30 Bluff Duo (Winds and Prepared Guitar - Nashville)
10:00 Logickal (Computers and Electronics - Nashville)
10:30 Taiwan Deth (Guitar, Sax, Electronics - Nashville)
11:00 Anemone (Computers and Electronics - Nashville)
11:30 3kStatic (Computers, Keyboards, Drums - Tampa FL & Nashville)
12:00 The Potato Battery Experiment (Sax,Potato Battery and More - Nashville)
12:30 Let’s Say Baltimore (Drums, Bass, Guitars, Electronics - Nashville)
Also, it’s going back to its birthplace: The End on Elliston Place. This is a great room to play in in a great location. Once again, it’s being sponsored by WRVU Radio , and the $5 goes directly to benefit the radio station. Because of the number of artists on the bill, music starts promptly at 8, so don’t be late!

Executive Summary

Buzz & Click 4, Saturday November 4th - The End (2219 Elliston Place) 8pm - $5

Buzz & Click IV in Nashville, Sat Nov 4th 8pm at The End, 2219 Elliston Pl

Congressman Markey,

While I'm not one of your constituents, your statements and actions often have an impact that reaches beyond your district. Yesterday you were quoted in several news media outlets as having called for the arrest of Christopher Soghoian, a PHD candidate at the University of Indiana Bloomington, because he created a web page that generates phoney airline boarding passes. As you are likely aware, your call was answered by the FBI who reportedly broke into Soghoian's house last night and seized all of his computer equipment.

I am a professional computer security researcher. I work for one of the worlds largest IT companies. My job involves finding vulnerabilities in software systems and getting them fixed. Responsible vendors are usually very responsive and willing to work with my team when we contact them with information about problems with their products. Through this process we are able to locate and repair vulnerabilities in IT infrastructure before the bad guys can find them and exploit them. However, there are always a few unsophisticated people who seek to shoot the messenger instead of dealing with the flaw.

Christopher Soghoian is one of the good guys. He is not a criminal and he is not enabling criminals. He did not create the vulnerability in the boarding pass screening process. This problem has existed for years, and it has been noted in other quarters, most recently by Sen. Chuck Schumer. However, the problem hasn't been fixed. Soghoian's website was intended to demonstrate how simple this is, and he has clearly and repeatedly stated that his intent in creating the site was to raise awareness about the problem so that it will be fixed. His website does not make this much easier than standard desktop publishing software available on anyone's personal computer.

Your call for his arrest, and the subsiquent events that have unfolded over the past 24 hours, have done serious harm to the national security of the United States. You could have simply contacted him, informed him of the legal problems that one could face for operating such a website, and discussed shutting it down. By choosing instead to prosecute him you are sending a message to security professionals in this country that if you observe a problem with national security policies or practices and make people aware of those problems in good faith so that they might be fixed, the government will treat you as an enemy and will prosecute you if possible. The inevitable result will be that people will hold their tongues, and problems will persist until they are discovered by someone who has malicious intent.

I strongly urge you to reconsider your position on this matter. The current course of action is not in the best interests of this country.

Respectfully,
Tom Cross

My Letter to Ed Markey

A glimpse of the remarkable father-son bond of Dick and Rick Hoyt, and their inspirational journey together in a triathlon and life itself.

"Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day."

Can

The program will air on C-SPAN 1 at 8PM EST (7PM CST) on Saturday, July 29th and then air again for the West Coast at 11pm EST (10pm CST).

...

I've been a subscriber to Alex Jones' website for the last two years. I've seen most of the presentations from this conference. It's fairly amazing to me that CSPAN is airing some of the talks.

I know 9/11 conspiracies are still a hot button topic, but nothing is going to be easier that setting your Tivo's to record this and spending a couple of hours out of your life to at least hear what the people on the other side of the fence are saying.

I've been lambasted for my views in the past on Memestreams and have pretty much given up trying to talk about my research here. You have to arrive at your own conclusions. I've been equated with people who believe the towers didn't really collapse and were just special effects and Holocaust deniers in the same breath (thank you for that Elonka, it made my day let me tell you.) There are too many unanswered questions about 9/11 for me though, so I press on with research.

Still, this should be an easy pick. I really believe you should check it out. You can even watch CSPAN online if you don't have cable TV (like me.)

Would love to hear back from all of you that choose to watch it and tell me what you thought.

C-Span Airing Of L.A. Conference Shows Mainstreaming Of 9/11 Truth