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Slashback: Security, Telephony, Solicitude 255

Posted by timothy from the greetings-from-ft-walton-beach dept.
Slashback with more on Linux telephony, Mailblocks' terms of service, the scary disease known as SARS, the status of civilian GPS accuracy and more -- read on for the details.

A good oversight to correct. AndyMan! writes "Regarding yesterdays 'Building A Better Inbox,' I got the following email from support@mailblocks.com:

"'Our apologies, we picked up an old version of our TOS when we went live. We will NOT be allowing 3rd parties to send unsolicited email to our userbase. Please check the site this evening for the updated and correct TOS. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience.'"

All the government you pay for. dunng808 writes "Despite frequent speculation to the contrary, Security Enhanced Linux is alive and well. Government Executive Magazine has a report from a conference on open-source software at which Peter Loscocco, a senior NSA scientist, revealed that the agency has continued to work on SE Linux despite efforts by Microsoft and the Initiative for Software Choice. "We spent a lot of time educating our managers, who accepted a lot of the flack that has come back to NSA about SE Linux," Loscocco said. For those readers trying to win acceptance of open-source software in the workplace, what effort have you undertaken to educate management, and what has worked?"

Also safe for now is GPS. As an anonymous reader writes, "Following last week's thread on GPS, and the possibility that the Pentagon might goof around with the civilian signal, Forbes checks in with the folks in charge and finds we have nothing to worry about."

OK, both of these things involve series of coherent vibrations in air ... A few months back, we mentioned that TheKompany was selling software to let Zaurus owners use Net2Phone for telephone service, and that they were working on a desktop version as well. Well, now it's ready. HeUnique writes "TheKompany just released tkcphone for the Linux desktop. This is the first product which lets Linux users to use their existing net2phone accounts to talk either through net2phone to net2phone or net2phone to standard POTS phone with the best audio quality (G.729 codec)."

And in almost-but-not-totally-unrelated news, jackjumper writes "Shawn Gordon of The Kompany fame has started his own record label, ProgRock Records. From the interview at Linux and Main: "The idea...is to provide progressive rock music to listeners at a low price while allowing more of that money to find its way to the artists' pockets than happens with conventional recording contracts and at the same time making a gesture -- you know the one -- to the established recording cartel." This sounds really cool."

A deadly pathogen by any other name. waytoomuchcoffee writes "The leading hypothesis for what is causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is now thought to be a coronavirus, one of the virii that can cause the common cold. The New York Times (archive version for those non-members) has a story here. The global toll is now more than 750 stricken and 22 dead. Singapore is quarantining hundreds of people in an effort to stop the outbreak, while the head of the city's hospitals has taken ill with symptoms consistent with SARS. Both the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization have pages up now, which include FAQs and progression information."

How many times do we have to go over this? Vajsvarana writes "The major free Desktop Environment GNOME and KDE has released a common open statement on recent XFree86 troubles. 'Innovation should happen in the open, with all affected parties able to participate early in the process' seems a clear and strong request to XFree86 people."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Slashback: Security, Telephony, Solicitude More

Slashback: Security, Telephony, Solicitude

Comments Filter:

  • Mailblocks MAY Spam You (Score:5, Informative)

    by waldoj ( 8229 ) <waldo@@@jaquith...org> on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @08:18PM (#5595214) Homepage Journal
    Some how I don't feel better by Mailblocks' assertation that they're not going to spam users. Their privacy policy [mailblocks.com] says:
    Not now, but in the future, Mailblocks may permit third parties, such as advertisers, to furnish our members, through the Services and otherwise, with information from time to time.
    So, were they lying to us before, or are they lying to us now; and if now, in which instance are they lying?

    -Waldo Jaquith

    • So, were they lying to us before, or are they lying to us now; and if now, in which instance are they lying?


      I'm hardly a neutral party,
      but I wouldn't trust an anti-spam company that ever had such a spam friendly TOS,
      even if the new TOS is "the truth".

      -- this is not a .sig

      • Re:Mailblocks MAY Spam You (Score:4, Insightful)

        by DCowern ( 182668 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @10:10PM (#5595439) Homepage

        Even more disturbing to me is the following:

        WE RESERVE THE RIGHT AT ANY TIME TO:

        * Change the terms and conditions of this Agreement;
        * Change the Services, including eliminating or discontinuing any Services; or
        * Change any fees or charges for use of the Services.

        Any changes we make will be effective automatically immediately after posting such changes on the Site. Your continued use of the Services following such changes will be deemed acceptance of such changes. Be sure to review this Agreement periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version. You can determine when this Agreement was last revised by checking the "Last revised" legend at the top of the Agreement.

        Basically, they're saying that without notice, they can do whatever the hell they want with your information and it's up to you to go and find out. Even if you happen to check a few minutes after they change the TOS, they've probably already sold all your info to 3rd parties. Since this probably contains your home address and phone number, it could affect you even after you stop using the service.

        If they wanted to be reasonable, they could change their policy to allow them to make changes only if they notify you one week in advance via a message to your mailblocks account.

        • Hehehe, that provision would never stand up in court. It breaks one of the most basic principals of contract law, that of informed consent. You can not submit to a contract term before you are even aware of what the term is.

  • SARS (Score:3, Interesting)

    by DjMd ( 541962 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @08:18PM (#5595215) Journal
    Good news is this virus seems to be close contact only (family memebers, health care workers) and does not seem highly infectious...

    Now if they could actually confirm which bug it is and get a good test then we would be good shape...

  • SARS and chinese gov (Score:3, Informative)

    by gsmb ( 658454 ) <daxiccb&gmail,com> on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @08:27PM (#5595232) Homepage Journal
    being in china now i am getting really concerned about SARS. while i am a long way from the epicentre the gov here is very quiet and now there are reports of possible infections in beijing...http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapo re/story/0,4386,179331,00.html if beijing becomes a new epicentre for spread of this then we are ALL in deep sh*t cos its such a big city (i think 13m+) the first thing that will happen is that everyone will want to LEAVE in different directions WHAT A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN. i cant imagine the chinese gov (as with any other) preventing the spread. no way of "patching" this one!
    • Not to cause a panic, buuuuut....

      http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story /0 ,4386,179331,00.html

      "Uh oh."
      =Smidge=
    • So if this is just a variant of the common-cold, could the antidote be chicken-soup?
    • Chill out. Check the sites gives...I went for the WHO, which stated that there was a very low morltailty rate, secondary outbreaks have not happened (and due to increased awareness will probably not happen at all) and there are about 450 people affected in total.

      True, here's another resistant bug, which is freaky in itself, but it's no super-ebola. Unless you french kiss your spouce who's just contracted it by sucking on an infected persons mucus, you'll be fine.
      • In fact immature viruses like ebola are rarely a true threat becuase their incubation period is not long enough to allow an infected host to spread the infecting agent to a wide enough area for it to move out of its immediate outbreak area. This is why this particular virus was so scary, it followed an incubation regime similar to that of the common cold which is a great pathogen but it has the side-effect of eventually killing the host (long after it has hopped to many additional hosts).

  • KDE and GNOME (Score:2, Interesting)

    by YokuYakuYoukai ( 570645 )
    It's really nice to see unified support by KDE and GNOME on this issue. The way they have been getting along lately i would'nt be supprised if we saw some joint projects...
    • The way they have been getting along lately i would'nt be supprised if we saw some joint projects...

      That would explain why LinuxCon is being held in Amsterdam....

    • Remember the reason why GNOME was ever started: KDE was based on QT which at the time was not Free software. Since QT became available under the GPL, the only reason for GNOME's existence has been moot. IMHO one strength of opensource is that there's less incentive for reinvention and pissing contests, and more room for collaboration where resources are used more efficiently. It's silly to have a KDE/GNOME competition within the opensource movement, while we still have to fight against Microsoft et al.

      I'm

      • Actually, GNOME's native interface is C, which has a very simple ABI (and is more popular on Un*x anyway). That supposedly makes it easier to make bindings from real languages (Haskell, Scheme, ML, etc.). So, GNOME probably has a good reason for existence. I do love seeing cooperation between the two, though.

      • There is no fight (Score:3, Informative)

        by DrSkwid ( 118965 )
        The purpose of my desktop is to fight against Microsoft?
        I think not.
        I want to get work done in a timely and cost effective manner not be part of a Jihad.
        I'd be rather upset if the people contributing were all fucked up with "must beat Microsfot, must beat Microsoft" rather than "must write good code, must write good code"

  • Initiative for Software Choice (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Michael Hunt ( 585391 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @08:43PM (#5595258) Homepage
    The Initiative for Software Choice seems like a whitewash organization backed by Microsoft.

    It seems to me that every time it becomes politic to get somewhat more relaxed towards Microsoft, lest you draw mocking cries of 'Linux zealot! Stallman Fanboy!' that Microsoft turn around and prove to everyone just how justified the ire against them is.

    Here are a few choice quotes:

    "Policymakers should not make rigid intellectual property licensing choices a precondition for eligibility for procurement, nor should they discriminate between developers that choose to license their intellectual property on commercial terms, and developers that choose not to charge licensing fees...."

    "Lately, concerns have emerged that policy makers, through government procurement policies, research funding or standards policies, may seek to favor one software development model over another."

    I won't bother with any more.

    The scary thing about this organization is that their party line appears to be quite subtle. Where they fail is that they appear to be up in arms about purchasing regimes which haven't happened yet.

    They also use their contentions to subtly dig at the GPL... 'rigid intellectual property licensing' indeed. I wonder if anybody at the Initiative for Software Choice has ever tried to install Windows 2000 in Application Server mode. THAT is 'rigid licensing' at its best.

    MH

    • Ya gotta hate 'em, but they know how to do this. No direct slams at open source or linux, just very friendly, helpful suggestions that offering users choice is better than not, isn't it? They've been doing this for decades. If it weren't for the other crap, you know, the illegal immoral stuff, I might even like the bastards.
    • Here are a few choice quotes:

      "Policymakers should not make rigid intellectual property licensing choices a precondition for eligibility for procurement, nor should they discriminate between developers that choose to license their intellectual property on commercial terms, and developers that choose not to charge licensing fees...."

      "Lately, concerns have emerged that policy makers, through government procurement policies, research funding or standards policies, may seek to favor one software developmen
      • Reading the commentary literally, I have no issues with their contention whatsoever.

        Reading between the lines, doesn't it sound like more subtle versions of what Microsoft has been saying about the GPL the whole time?

        Why even mention software development models unless they're trying to cast aspersions on the Open Source model?

        Why even mention the poor abused software developers who 'choose to license their intellectual property on commercial terms'?

        Someone has a beef, and it's neither the procurement de
      • They are deliberately reasonable statements, because M$ is trying to mask their real agenda (and make the other side look unreasonable). Those statements do not reflect M$'s real position. They're just a way to preserve the status quo.
      • [...] Are you suggesting that policymakers should force the Gov't to purchase only GPL'd software? Or release Gov't funded R&D only under a GPL license? Either of those would be unacceptable and every bit as bad as preventing the Gov't from using GPL'd software [...]

        Brave assertions. Any facts to back them up? Or even some reasoning?

        • Brave assertions. Any facts to back them up? Or even some reasoning?

          What assertions? Your quote includes two questions and an opinion. The opinion is based on the simple premise that more choices are better than fewer choices. No GPL and only proprietary sales to Gov't gives the Gov't fewer choices than both proprietary sales and GPL. Forcing the Gov't to use only GPL'd software gives the Gov't fewer choices than allowing both proprietary sales and GPL where appropriate.

          Both extremes, the GPL onl
    • make rigid intellectual property licensing choices

      Yes they should! Have you *READ* the GPL? We are not talking about abstract whishywashy pieinthesky pseudo stuff here. When you PURCHASE MS Products (spending tax $), you are volunteering to comprimise your position. You place yourself in a position of servitude. When you choose to use GPL software you retain -- you provide a GREATER PUBLIC SERVICE -- because you keep the public free from being beholden to the ominious TOS M$ subjects you to.

      I impl

  • Infection rate (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Thumb-One ( 653376 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @08:52PM (#5595268)
    22 dead out of 750 infected is definitely not insignificant. Assuming a rate of 20 deaths out of 1000 infections, and a 30% infection rate, equals what, 150k deaths in the US? Not trivial.
    • Sounds like it's about as contagious as the common cold, except that it's deadly. Not a good combo.
    • by my reconing 20/1000 = 2%
      30% x 300 million = 90 million
      2% of 90 million = 1.8 million

      And of course, the current death rate is calculated across a sample who are (mstly) getting ICU care in well-equipped hospitals.
      Once a real epidemic gets rolling, you'll be on your own, so the death rate can be expected to climb.

  • GPS is having problems (Score:5, Informative)

    by thogard ( 43403 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @09:01PM (#5595290) Homepage
    There are many areas in the world that are having problems with GPS but its not due to jaming, its due to the fact that there isn't a full constilation up. PRN 22 went dead a while back and hasn't been replaced. The current plan is to spread out the sats in that orbital ring (the B plane) to help fill up the gap but that will result in more outages in more places for short times compared to the current 1/2 hour outages seen directly in the flight path. The NavCen [uscg.gov] are recomending that you change your mask angle to 5 degrees if its set higher (many people use 15 degrees).

    Right now you can see the problems on this map [af.mil] (mirrored here) [abnormal.com]. The black areas are where GPS isn't going to give a 3d position and the red areas are where it wont get a 4d (3d+time) fix. The dark blue will have issues if any part of the sky is blocked. I don't think I've seen the GPS status this bad for a long time. Maybe its time to launch a few new navstar sats.

  • My story (Score:5, Funny)

    by The Bungi ( 221687 ) <thebungi@gmail.com> on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @09:03PM (#5595293) Homepage
    For those readers trying to win acceptance of open-source software in the workplace, what effort have you undertaken to educate management, and what has worked?

    Well, I told the manager that it was free. He squinted. Then I told him there was no support, but if he opened a port to an IRC server we could get by. He squinted a little more. Then I told him it doesn't really run any of the software we use. He squinted even more. Finally I told him we'd have to use Java or something because .NET doesn't really run in Linux. It will soon, though! He was beginning to look like a japanese psycho on speed by then, so fearing for my job I backpedaled out of his office, bowing a few times and muttering something I heard on the Iron Chef the other day that sounded important. To this day he's not speaking to me.

    That's my story. Anyone else?

    • Re:My story (Score:5, Insightful)

      by digidave ( 259925 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @09:31PM (#5595357)
      Here goes:

      I told my manager Linux was free, and his eyes opened wide. I told my manager it was more stable than our NT 4 servers, and his eyes opened wider. I told my manager that I would have better, easier, remote management, and his eyes opened wider. I told my manager Linux would still run our Websphere software and that IBM provided a free migration path (no new licenses), and my bosses eyes finally popped out of their sockets.

      I'm not being a Linux zealot. Everything there -- except for his eyes popping out -- is true. We just migrated 3 web servers to Redhat. It was an incredibly easy process and we're already seeing dramatic stability improvements despite a severe coding bug that cause us some downtime. I have never managed a Linux server before, but I'm not having any trouble learning it, with a bit of online help.

      While your .NET apps won't easily port, who says .NET is better than Java anyway? I'm no Java fan, but I've done some Java web app coding and some .NET development, and .NET is no better.

      • Re:My story (Score:4, Interesting)

        by keyslammer ( 240231 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @09:52PM (#5595370) Homepage Journal
        Hmmm. Sounds a lot like one of my stories!

        Only I like to come in with the "I need $1200 to purchase this commercial package - unless you want me to use this competing open source package, which IMHO is a better product anyway" angle.

        Last project I was on, management was blown away by the stability of our Linux servers. Even the Windows guys were impressed. When I left the group, they were using Linux as a dedicated DB/2 server platform (wouldn't switch their web servers because of the VB/.NET thing).

        • Re:My story (Score:3, Funny)

          by technos ( 73414 )
          I like to come in right after the Microsoft rep has been in..

          "He wanted us to do what?!? XP on the desktops? They're P2s with 64M of memory! Replace the NT servers with 2K just for the new proxy server software? $16 grand?? Plus client licenses? He said he thought we might have overused our Windows 98 liscenses? How about I just snag a couple 486s from the junk bin, toss a copy of Debian on em, and we call it done? Oh, cost? You owe me a six pack of beer to drink when I'm doing it. Support? What do you hav
          • "Support? What do you have me here for? Its not like you've ever actually called Microsoft. No. You call me."

            Doesn't that actually just say it all?

      • While your .NET apps won't easily port, who says .NET is better than Java anyway? I'm no Java fan, but I've done some Java web app coding and some .NET development, and .NET is no better.

        Ouch! That hurts!

        My current assignment at work is to try and get this Java app working on Linux. Should be easy right? Wrong. It uses huge amounts of code via JNI to integrate with Windows, from embedding Internet Explorer to system tray icons. Does Java 1.4 work on Wine? Nope. Time to put on my debugging hat.

        Ironi

    • Re:My story (Score:3, Insightful)

      by vadim_t ( 324782 )
      Then you didn't tell well.

      It's free, but you can pay for it.

      You don't get support for free, but you can buy it, from RedHat for example.

      Wine and vmware might be useful in *some* situations.

      And, it's not a silver bullet. For example, I considered rewriting a VB app in PerlQt and running it on Linux. Turns out it wouldn't work because we'd have to migrate from SQL Server as well. So what to do? Very simple.

      Tell your manager that while Linux is not currently a viable alternative for your business it's gro

      • And, it's not a silver bullet. For example, I considered rewriting a VB app in PerlQt and running it on Linux. Turns out it wouldn't work because we'd have to migrate from SQL Server as well.

        I use FreeTDS and Python's Sybase module to get at SQL Server databases. I bet Perl has similar library too, but I haven't checked because I don't
        do Perl.

        Even if not, there are good reasons for preferring Python to VB, even if you would still rather use Perl given the chance.

    • A few years ago I told my manager that SCO was not enterprise quality and it was on the way out, and that Linux was going to replace it. They looked at me like I was on crack. Things didn't go to well for me there after that.

  • SARS predictions (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Walt Dismal ( 534799 )
    SARS is likely to be as bad as a smallpox epidemic. The Chinese are stonewalling, that's bad, and the Hongkong authorities are trying to play it down so it won't hurt tourism. These idiocies will get us all in trouble. I predict that this virus will hit Silicon Valley hard; I've seen a lot of techies, especially foreign 'guests', just not practicing simple hygiene like washing hands coming out of the restrooms, sneezing widely into the air, etc. Also, the disease hit China, and so much manufacturing is
    • From what I understand, the virus itself doesn't directly kill you. It just causes your throat to swell up so bad that you can suffocate.

    • Re:SARS predictions (Score:3, Informative)

      by 1u3hr ( 530656 )
      SARS is likely to be as bad as a smallpox epidemic.

      Bullshit. I live in Hong Kong, so I think I have more of a clue about this than the sensationalist overseas reports.

      Yes, it can kill. But so far, all those infected were in close physical contact with carriers -- mostly health workers who treated them, or members of family. Here people are crushed in close contact on public transport every day. If it spread like smallpox, we'd have a million dead already. It's risk, but nothing to obsess over.

    • Smallpox has a 30% fatality rate.
      SARS at best has a 3% fatality rate.

      Smallpox has a 90%+ communicability rate.
      SARS has at best a 25-30% communicability rate.

      SARS is likely to be as bad as a smallpox epidemic?
      'Yeah... right!'
      -Bill Cosby

    • Re:SARS predictions (Score:4, Informative)

      by tfoss ( 203340 ) on Wednesday March 26, 2003 @12:51AM (#5596114)
      SARS is likely to be as bad as a smallpox epidemic.

      Hold on there nostradamus, how on earth could you have an rational basis for that kind of claim?

      I predict that this virus will hit Silicon Valley hard; I've seen a lot of techies, especially foreign 'guests', just not practicing simple hygiene like washing hands coming out of the restrooms, sneezing widely into the air, etc.

      Nice vague tinge of racism.

      Also, the disease hit China, and so much manufacturing is now there, so there are plenty of chances for it to be contracted and brought back to the US. I think we have a real problem coming.

      Except everything so far suggests this virus (if it is) requires close respiratory contact with infected people. Breathing on a tv that will be boxed, packaged, shipped and left on a ship for weeks hardly counts as close respiratory contact.

      I suspect SARS is a two-component disease; first you are hit with the new mutant virus, which sets up your immune system to fail to handle certain things, then the second virus characterizing this disease attacks you unhampered.

      Again, on what basis do you make these wild-ass statements? Do you work in a research lab studying SARS? When those researching this aren't even ready to make this kind of statement (they say it's possible, but by no means proven, and always stated as 'might,' 'could,' 'would be unusual,' &c. ), how are your prescient enough to?

      We do not have any effective way to combat that.

      True, just like we don't have any effective way to handle the vast majority of viral infections we get. We let our immune system go at it, and more often than not we get better.

      -Ted

    • Man, go read the WHO or CDC page and take a chill pill.
    • SARS has a two to seven day incubation period. If it was going to be as bad as you say, there would be an awful lot more than seven hundred odd reported cases. Flying with a respiratory mask is not only excessive, but everybody will think you're a dickhead.

      As for your references to foreign 'guests', in my experience the people who fail to wash their hands are as likely to be Yanks as anything else. Which is surprising, because a quick survey of American television commercials shows a near obsession with
  • What the Forbes article fails elucidate is the difference between military and civilian GPS. Not only is the military GPS on a different band, and considerably more accurate, but it's also encrypted. In fact, SOP if an aircraft is shot down is for the pilot to press a "data destruct" key that formats internal memory storage so the enemy doesn't get ahold of any information on the military band. The encryption keys are also changed daily.

    BTW, both military and civilian GPS can increase the accuracy of the signal by using differential GPS, which uses stationary ground stations to reduce uncertainty to well under an inch.
    • True. However, the funny thing is, a GPS unit is only as accurate and effective as the soldier who is using it. It's reliability also depends on the age of the map that is programmed into it, or the age of the paper map the soldier is holding. Speaking from experience, I've gone through many "field excursions" where the officer in charge couldn't make heads or tails of the data he/she was receiving. Nevertheless, good navigations skills, like resection, a map and a properly set compass will get you out of a
    • Ok some corrections, the military signal is one TWO different bands, this is a large amount of where the increased accuracy comes from (in fact by doing some advanced analysis it is possible to gain ~80% of the accuracy gain of the military signal without ever decrypting the signal, advanced civilian units for things like surveying already do this), and the encryption keys do not change daily, in fact they are used for so long that another poster stated that they had seen a fellow soldier input the keys fro
  • There's not a single Matthias who signed the document! How can KDE be represented without a single Matthias? :)
  • Slightly OT, but anyone knows if ATT broadband has been blocking Net2Phone lately ? I haven't been able to connect from home in the last few months.

  • How is SARs more dangerous than AIDs? (Score:3, Informative)

    by frank249 ( 100528 ) on Tuesday March 25, 2003 @11:40PM (#5595805)
    Wow 750 infected and 22 dead. How about the millions dead from AIDs? This study [blackvoices.com] says that after 22 years of education 14.7 percent -- one in seven -- of gay and bisexual black men ages 23 to 29 become HIV-positive each year. Since the discovery of AIDS -- first reported in a 1981 government health bulletin as a strange form of pneumonia -- there have been about 750,000 reported cases in America. Nearly 450,000 of those patients have died.

    The Washington Post reports [washingtonpost.com] that world wide there are now 42 million people living with HIV infection and by 2010 there will be between 50 million and 75 million cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in India, China, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Russia alone.

    Why was AIDs not decleared a contagious disease back in 1981 and infected people quaratined? Were the rights of a few worth more than the rights of 75 million?
    • It's more dangerous because I can virtually assure myself not getting AIDS by not having sex, not sharing hypodermic needles, and avoiding other peoples' blood. I can sit next to an HIV positive person in an airplane without any danger of getting AIDS. The same CAN'T be said of SARS.

    • Not to say anything against those who have died with AIDS (including my favorite high school teacher...), but very few of the people who have contacted AIDS or HIV did so in a way that they couldn't have prevented. I'm only aware of one case (I think there were a couple more that I can't remember) of someone getting it from a blood transfusion.

      In particular, NOBODY has gotten HIV by touching a standard doorknob after an infected person touched it. The common cold often transmits in this way from person

      • Considering the facts, and my personal behavior, my chances of getting HIV/AIDS are nearly nil.

        Didn't you get the memo? Please tell me you remember that AIDS is a threat to everyone, it's racist and homophobic to point out any behavioral aspects of its transmission, and the fact that it still exists at all is Ronald Reagan's fault. Sheesh. Now come on back to the bath-house for some barebacking, cupcake.

        -ccm

    • "Why was AIDs not decleared a contagious disease back in 1981 and infected people quaratined?

      Which population was infected by AIDS first ?

  • Winnipeg's National Microbiology Laboratory [workopolis.com] has good reason to think this isn't coronavirus at all.

    Ok, so not the most trusted news source, but it was the first I could find quick, and it's been all over our local news for several days now. Why isn't anyone else reporting this? Bad news sells more eyeballs?

  • GLONASS and the EU system (Score:5, Interesting)

    by wowbagger ( 69688 ) on Wednesday March 26, 2003 @12:18AM (#5595990) Homepage Journal
    I'm surprised we don't see more folks making dual mode GPS/GLONASS systems.

    GLONASS, for those of you too lazy to Google it, is basically GPS-ski - it's the Russian answer to GPS. Same basic idea, but at a different frequency.

    That's important. The biggest reason a military GPS receiver is still more accurate than a civilian rig is that the military rig uses 2 frequencies - the first is the frequency the civilian rigs use, the second is a military only frequency and is encrypted.

    The reason this helps accuracy is that the ionosphere bends radio waves, including the GPS signal. Since the signal does not take a straight line path, it travels a bit farther. How much farther - aye, that's the rub. Unless you know what the ionosphere is doing you have no idea.

    However, the amount of bend is propotional to frequency - if you use 2 different frequencies, you can determine the difference between them, and thus the amount of bending the ionosphere is adding.

    Now, back to GLONASS - being on a different frequency, if you used it plus GPS, you could, in theory, get the same information about the behavior of the ionosphere, and reduce the error. (In practice you wouldn't get the same level of accuracy since the signals are not coming from the same birds, but...)

    I've seen some chipsets in the trade journals that do both, but I've not seen any consumer units that do so.

    And the .eu is starting to set up THEIR OWN system. I cannot say I blame them - I'd want my own system as well, were I them.

    So, if we could only get a triple-threat system....

  • Nuff said.

    I was worried that the signal would degrade after the war started (like it did with the last war,) but I continue to use my Navman GPS sleeve on my iPAQ for a great deal of automated driving directions.

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