] Galileo was to provide highly accurate, guaranteed global
] positioning services under civilian control.
]
]
] Talks are underway between the US and the European Union
] to ensure that the navigation satellite system will
] operate with - not interfere with - the present U.S.
] Global Positioning System (GPS). In practice this would
] mean the US can jam frequencies if desired (without
] consulting the Europeans first), but it also wants
] control over the accuracy of the system for security
] purposes, according to Tagesschau.

interesting debate... should we have the right to shut down their system when it's convenient for us?

The Register

] Zapping bugs which flourish in office ventilation systems
] with ultraviolet radiation could cut the sickness
] suffered by millions of office workers, suggests a new
] study.

sounds good to me... less bacteria in my work/living spaces is a good thing.

New Scientist

umberto eco is a smart guy... read this.

Al-Ahram Weekly | Books Supplement | Vegetal and mineral memory: The future of books

] A Florida company has announced plans to develop a
] service that would allow consumers to pay for merchandise
] using microchips implanted under their skin.

now, i don't know if it's the mark of the beast, but it raises some serious privacy concerns, yes?

Wired News: When Cash Is Only Skin Deep

] Just weeks after an antitrust suit was filed against the
] RIAA by webcasters, the music labels' lobby group, is,
] along with Hollywood, seeking a permanent exemption from
] similar litigation. The proposal seeks to extend the
] exemption to anything covering mechanical copyright: a
] sweeping extension of the copyright cartel's immunity.

are you fucking kidding me! Holy sweet baby jesus this is some sneaky shit.

The Register

] Senior FBI officials took the unusual step Tuesday of
] publicly declaring that agents are not using the war
] against terrorism as a cover to collect information on
] people who demonstrate against the government.

oh, good, i was a bit worried there for a minute, but i guess it's all ok. i suppose i just need to learn to trust our benevolent federal police-state-in-the-making.

FBI declares publicly: We're not spying on protesters

hey shoppers... may be some unadvertised deals worth your while here. i, personally, plan to be as far away from the stores as possible, but maybe y'all can save some $$$

misterorange.com's Black Friday Mirror Page

they're frickin kidding, right?

if web addresses get international characters, it better get a lot easier to type them.

anyone know how to type the "null set" character that some nordic languages use?

perhaps sites with language specific domain names will prove to only be useful to people in countries where the language is spoken... seems like a bad precedent to me.

having said all that, the specific solution being proposed for handling this is retarded. instead of telling DNS server vendors to support unicode, they're making the DNS records even more obtuse than they already are. hack hack hack.

Slashdot | Internationalized Domain Names Coming Soon

] The Nachi worm compromised Windows-based automated teller
] machines at two financial institutions last August,
] according to ATM-maker Diebold, in the first confirmed
] case of malicious code penetrating cash machines.
]

but surely the insecurities in ATM's were missed because Diebold was putting SO MUCH TIME into making safe and secure voting machines...

grr.

and curse.

Nachi worm infected Diebold ATMs

"A Kentucky man found guilty Wednesday of murdering his wife was convicted based in part because of a homemade rap video he made about the killing. Jurors recommended a sentence of life in prison for Dennis R. Greene, 31, of Lakeside Park, in northern Kentucky, for the May 4 death of Tara Barrett Greene, Cincinnati television station WLWT reported... Just hours after killing his wife, Greene made a rap video in an apartment in Chicago, where he'd fled and was eventually captured. The video showed Greene relaxing, smoking marijuana and admitting that he told his boss he would not be at work the next day because he was going home to fight with his wife... I really don't care about tomorrow. Hell, you try to dare me, the fucking bitch made me mad. I put it on paper, hell yeah, I'm still sad. She kept at me so I had to take her fucking life... I cut her motherfucking neck with a sword."

Murderer Convicted Thanks to Crappy Rap Video