] Government experts are investigating a claim that an
] unarmed nuclear bomb, lost off the Georgia coast at the
] height of the Cold War, might have been found, an Air
] Force spokesman said Monday.
]
] The hydrogen bomb was lost in the Atlantic Ocean in 1958
] following a collision of a B-47 bomber and an F-86
] fighter.

And to think treasure hunters have been focusing all their attention on the Caribbean.

] The United States lost 11 nuclear bombs in accidents
] during the Cold War that were never recovered, according
] to the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

Collect em' all!

CNN.com - Lost nuclear bomb possibly found - Sep 13, 2004

] There's been a big discussion - especially since Iraq
] about whether America is an empire or not.
] Certainly we're involved in a lot of countries, and we
] have a kind of imperial reach, and people see us that
] way. But Americans are really not comfortable with this.
] They don't like the idea of ruling other people, and
] they're not in it for the long haul. They have no desire,
] like the British did in India, to rule in perpetuity. One
] of the big problems is that we are subject, as a
] democracy, to momentary enthusiasms for undertaking
] projects of various sorts. But a lot of times we don't
] have the staying power to see them through to the end.

Johns Hopkins Magazine - Fukuyama interview

In this article for The National Interest, Francis Fukuyama rips into the viewpoints of Charles Krauthammer, which have acquired strong influence inside the Bush Administration foreign policy team and beyond. The primary subject is nation building in Iraq, the larger context is America's relations with our allies and the Middle East, our position as the only superpower, and the war on terror.

Suggested reading. Fukuyama is a very clear thinker. All his points here are valid, relevant, and well supported.

Fukuyama: The Neoconservative Moment

In the correct context, a relevant connection can be as powerful as unique new information. Be prepared to fight for your ability to make and share both. Don't lose heart if your speech is someone else's.

DoJ Blacks out Supreme Courts Quotes

] Eli Biham announced new results in cryptanalyzing SHA-1,
] including a collision in a reduced-round version of
] SHA-1. The full SHA-1 algorithm does 80 rounds of
] scrambling. At present, Biham and Chen can break
] versions of SHA-1 that use up to about 40 rounds, and
] they seem confident that their attacks can be extended to
] more rounds. This is a significant advance, but it's
] well short of the dramatic full break that was rumored.
]
] Where does this leave us? MD5 is fatally wounded; its
] use will be phased out. SHA-1 is still alive but the
] vultures are circling. A gradual transition away from
] SHA-1 will now start. The first stage will be a debate
] about alternatives, leading (I hope) to a consensus among
] practicing cryptographers about what the substitute will
] be.

Answer, not a 5 alarm fire, but if you write or maintain cryptography code you can still expect some work coming up.

Followup on SHA-1 break

] The UN imposes all sorts of penalties on all those who
] contradict its religion. It issues documents and
] statements that openly contradict Islamic belief, such as
] the International Declaration for Human Rights,
] considering all religions are equal, and considering that
] the destruction of the statues constitutes a crime...

This is long but its interesting. Someone extracted emails from a computer stolen from Al'Q and posted them in The Atlantic. Details about some of Al'Q's codes are discussed, as well as an interesting inside look at their operation. (The statues were the buddhist monuments destroyed by the Taliban in the late nineties.)

Emails from Bin Lauden

] The Quantum Sleeper Unit is a high-level security system
] designed for maximum protection in various hostile
] environments.

This is positively fucked up. Intruders in your home? House burning down? Biological warfare? Red Dawn? Just press a button and your bed becomes a sealed bulletproof coffin complete with entertainment system, rebreather, and optional offensive weapons systems. Sit happy and dry in your little pine box while you watch the cataclysm unfold through your one way view port.

If you really feel like you need this product I suggest that you:
A. Go back on your meds.
B. Just give the mob the money you owe them.
C. Stop watching television.
D. Move to Alaska.
E. All of the above.

Quantum Sleeper

] Acidus writes "While researching for an embedded systems
] project (a magstripe enabled Coke machine), I was shocked
] by the lack of magstripe information: Programs/code that
] would run on a modern OS were all but nonexistant,
] articles that were 6-10 years old, etc.

Acidus is on Slashdot today. That's the hardcore geek year 2k+ version of being on TV.

He's done an extremely good job with the StripeSnoop site. All the information you'd need to get up to speed on working with magstripe stuff is there in the form of FAQ's, diagrams, and even video.

Also, I just sync'd the SiteSnoop CVS tree, and it is building on OSX now as well.

Acidus is the authoritative source on magstrip interfacing

That is what happened at the CIA: A culture of process destroyed a culture of excellence. There are many outstanding people at the agency, in both the Directorate of Intelligence and in Operations. The agency's obsession with the intelligence process crushes these people daily. Those who flourish in this environment are those who can sit through long meetings without falling asleep. The people who can peer through the darkness and see the truth are either sucked into the surreal world of modern management or shunted aside.

Gold Star.

The Problem With the CIA

] The two brothers who created the fantastic "This Land"
] parody -- sending up President Bush, Senator Kerry, and
] the current state of American democracy to the tune of
] "This Land is Your Land" -- have been threatened with a
] copyright lawsuit.

I like what Guthrie had to say about it:

] "This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright
] # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught
] singin it without our permission, will be mighty good
] friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it.
] Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's
] all we wanted to do."

Could that be construed as explicit licensing, a la Creative Commons?

EFF: This Land isn't your land