Thanks! OS projects is definitely something I'm interested in getting involved with. I mostly lurk around mediawiki submitting bugs and suggesting fixes as my dev skills aren't as hot as a straight-up dev. Any suggestions for any projects you know of?

correlation != causation

Just take everything with a pinch of salt, don't be misled, and then these studies might be more useful to you.

You're right - it's not irony, it's hypocrisy.

Google is publicly berating Microsoft for their supposedly-inadequate security, yet their own products face similar complaints.

Of course you can't blame them for wanting to be as secure as possible, and they chose the route of ditching Microsoft rather than helping fix the problems that they seem to care so much about. If they think they can do better, then why don't they help fix them?

The way IE integrates with the OS varies between releases. In XP and earlier, items such as Windows Update and Windows help are running on IE. Since Vista, these have been control panel applets instead, giving malicious code exectued in IE no power over it.

Users using another browser wouldn't be able to execute code that affects these components, but if some malicious code successfully attacks an IE user, it could potentially attack other parts of the system where IE is integrated (and to which IE has some form of access), and then execute code to potentially gain 'control' of a system.

This "remote code execution" usually isn't a hack that a script kiddie could run to gain access to your files, but often it's enough for hackers just to be able to redirect your browser (to fake online banking sites) or even just cause your PC to visit a site. Thousands of compromised PCs visiting a website a thousand times a second each is your basic DDoS attack.

Since when are anti-trust actions based on law? I got the impression it was a case of suing as your competitors as often as possible to try and catch them out on some semantic technicality...

Or it could just be a straightforward doppler effect with it moving away from the receiver?

1. no need to prove they are here legally, they just pay out of their own dime or take tourist insurance. I take out a policy when I travel overseas.

2.Of course. Letting people in urgent need die because you cannot find their visa card is just evil.

Horses for courses. If you want reproducible, you don't want true random. If you want security, you do.

As natural gas prices go up, the price of natural gas-fired electric power will go up, so Bloom Box users save on the mark-up.

Photovoltaic and photothermal power sources have problems at night, on cloudy days, and far from the equator.

For one thing, Bloom is looking at cutting the price further than half. For another, the return on investment from a Bloom Box isn't purely monetary; it's also a hedge against relative prices of different forms of power.

One of the best uses aside from utter destruction (ever seen what a November does to anybody unlucky enough to be in the house it hits?) is deterrent. Bad guys don't want to go out when Apaches are in the air. There is a reason that Apaches have been in the air around Baghdad 24/7 for several years.

If I had an innocent relative killed by a remote-controlled robot I still wouldn't become a suicide bomber. I'd wanna kill the other guy and live to see peaceful days again.

Insurance companies (at least auto/property) are regulated by their respective states. They are considered financial institutions, sort of like banks and yet not like them at all.

There are basically 3 ways they can change their rates, depending on the state board of insurance where they do business.

1)Change your rates, whenever you want, we don't care, just file them with us so we know what they are.
2)File your rates with us, and if we don't smack you down within X days, feel free to implement them.
3)File your requested changes with us, and we will let you know whether they are acceptable or not. You must continue to charge existing rates until you hear back from us.

Most states are either #2 or #3. They are already under the thumb of the state to a degree and operating as the state has explicitly given them permission to operate, so no need for bribery.

Now, I suppose it could still happen for law changes, but again, the "government" has to approve everything they do anyway.

The only real way to stop that is firewalls all over the place or firewalls built into all the switches.

Most intelligent switches can block with ACLs. We block all sorts of nefarious things at out place.