Sunday, December 23, 2012

Raspberry Pi Used To Replace A 30-Foot GSM Base Station And Create A Working Mobile Network

 Cool!

http://m.techcrunch.com/2012/12/21/raspberry-pi-used-to-replace-a-30-foot-gsm-base-station-and-create-a-working-mobile-network/

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

There’s a new military occupational specialty: Cryptologic Network Warfare Specialist



The military is looking for 500-600 soldiers to fill an initial need as Cryptologic Network Warfare Specialists (35Q), a new military occupational specialty (MOS) established this autumn.

Soldiers from any MOS may apply as long as their current MOS will release them to reclassify into this new field, and active-duty soldiers in the grades of E-3 to E-6 are eligible.

"A 35 Quebec supervises and conducts full-spectrum military cryptologic digital operations to enable actions in all domains, NIPRNet as well as SIPRNet, to ensure friendly freedom of action in cyberspace and deny adversaries the same," said SGT 1st Class Dan Gutierrez, 35Q CNW senior enlisted advisor, in an article written by the Army News Service.

Soldiers have been doing that type of intelligence work in related intelligence MOSs for a number of years, and the MOS was created to keep them working in the field and to keep their skills sharp.

"If you have a 35N (Signals Intelligence Analyst), for example, a traditional signals analyst doing what Quebecs are doing now, there was no way to track them and ensure their skills remained relevant as times change in field," said Gutierrez in the article. "If a 35N went on to another assignment (outside of what a 35Q now does), we could lose those highly perishable skills. So the new MOS was created to ensure those soldiers stay proficient and on top of their game."


More:

http://defensesystems.com/articles/2012/12/11/new-mos.aspx?s=ds_121212&m=1

Monday, December 10, 2012

Two minutes inside Md.’s ‘Star Wars’ museum

 Hmmm...

I wonder if his cats are allowed in the museum.

More:
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/rosenwald-md/post/two-minutes-inside-mds-star-wars-museum/2012/12/10/d9ea9e2c-42e0-11e2-8061-253bccfc7532_blog.html

Granny Pods Land in Virginia Backyards


No, this isn't a story about alien invaders, but rather an innovative form of housing that may revolutionize how aging Americans spend their final years.
friend JAD / Flickr

At 88, Viola Baez is an unlikely pioneer. But as the first first private inhabitant of a MedCottage, she's the reluctant resident of a shed-size dwelling that may offer an attractive balance between independence and special care for some of the 72 million Americans who will be 65 or older in less than twenty years, reports Fredrick Kunkle. 

"The MedCottage, designed by a Blacksburg company with help from Virginia Tech, is essentially a portable hospital room. Virginia state law, which recognized the dwellings a few years ago, classifies them as 'temporary family health-care structures.' But many simply know them as 'granny pods,' and they have arrived on the market as the nation prepares for a wave of graying baby boomers to retire."


How to keep EHR from auto-correcting to HER in Microsoft Word and Excel


All of us in the healthcare IT industry have likely at one time or another experienced an EHR-to-HER auto-correction either in Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel. This auto-correction can cause frustration at having to manually fix the auto-correction and can lead to some awkward written pieces - (The HER of the future?) We decided that we'd do a service for the industry and share how to override Microsoft's default auto-correction for "EHR." Here's how you do it...

More:
http://www.navinet.net/blog/how-keep-ehr-auto-correcting-her-microsoft-word-excel

Friday, December 7, 2012

Official Google Enterprise Blog: Changes to Google Apps for businesses


When we launched the premium business version we kept our free, basic version as well. Both businesses and individuals signed up for this version, but time has shown that in practice, the experience isn't quite right for either group. Businesses quickly outgrow the basic version and want things like 24/7 customer support and larger inboxes. Similarly, consumers often have to wait to get new featureswhile we make them business-ready

With this in mind, we've decided to make things very straightforward. Starting today for all new customers:
  • Individuals wishing to use Google's web apps like Gmail and Google Drive should create a free personal Google Account, which provides a seamless experience across all of our web services on any device.
  • For Businesses, instead of two versions, there will be one. Companies of all sizes will sign up for our premium version, Google Apps for Business, which includes 24/7 phone support for any issue, a 25GB inbox, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee with no scheduled downtime. Pricing is still $50 per user, per year.

Please note this change has no impact on our existing customers, including those using the free version. And as before, Google Apps for Education will be available as a free service for schools and universities. Also, as the first cloud productivity suite with FISMA certification, we'll continue to offer Google Apps for Government for $50 per user, per year. 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

The Hill: Jim DeMint resigns from Senate

 From The Hill:

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has resigned from the Senate to take over the conservative Heritage Foundation. 

"It's been an honor to serve the people of South Carolina in United States Senate for the past eight years, but now it's time for me to pass the torch to someone else and take...

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/271411-jim-demint-resigns-from-senate

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

X-47B gets ready for carrier duty (pictures)

 Have you seen this? This is a LARGE UAV. I have not seen one this size.

More:
http://www.techrepublic.com/photos/x-47b-gets-ready-for-carrier-duty-pictures/6395334?tag=nl.e036&s_cid=e036

Academic Men Explain Things to Me

 Are you a female academic, researcher, or graduate student? Has a man tried to explain your field or topic to you, on the assumption that he must inevitably know more about it than you do? Share your experiences as a mansplainee here.

http://mansplained.tumblr.com/

Monday, November 26, 2012

NSA declines to release presidential Cyber directive



The National Security Agency (NSA) said it will not publicly release a Presidential Directive document that would establish a broader set of standards that would guide federal agencies in confronting Cyber threats.

Presidential Policy Directive 20, first reported in the Washington Post on Nov. 14, was reportedly signed by president Obama in October and explicitly makes a distinction between network defense and cyber-operations to guide officials charged with making often-rapid decisions when confronted with electronic threats.

The Electronic Privacy and Information Center (EPIC), filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to make the document public because it said the measure could expand NSA's Cyber security authority. "Transparency is crucial to the public's ability to monitor the government's national security efforts and ensure that federal agencies respect privacy rights and comply with their obligations under the Privacy Act," said EPIC's request.



More:
www.gsnmagazine.com/node/27881

Thursday, November 15, 2012

DARPA transfers advanced Cyber net testing facility to DoD



A vast new Internet-like test bed that can probe complex defense and commercial critical infrastructure networks' Cyber security-worthiness is now in the hands of the Department of Defense.

On Nov. 13, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) said it had officially transferred the National Cyber Range (NCR) it developed to the DoD's Test Resource Management Center.

A fact sheet posted on the White House's Web site, said the NCR "will enable a revolution in national cyber capabilities and accelerate technology transition in support of the President's Comprehensive National Cyber-Security Initiative (CNCI)."

According to DARPA, the NCR can realistically and quickly replicate globally interconnected networks to securely test new Cyber tools and capabilities in a realistic environment. The test bed, which is actually a collection of smaller test beds that can be combined and recombined to provide larger or smaller scale experimental environments, provides the complex interaction found in real-life networks, according to DARPA. The NCR can test component to the system level events, for things like buggy code, misconfigurations, and user actions on the vast complex scale found in the real Internet, said the agency's NCR fact sheet.


More:
http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/27823

Thursday, November 8, 2012

2014 Edition Draft Test Methods | Policy Researchers & Implementers



2014 Edition Draft Test Procedures

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has begun to post waves of draft Test Procedures and applicable test data and tool files for the 2014 Edition EHR certification criteria. The Test Procedures, once finalized and approved by the National Coordinator, will be used for testing and certifying EHR technology under the ONC HIT Certification Program (formerly referred to as the Permanent Certification Program or PCP). The Test Procedures are being developed in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).


Monday, November 5, 2012

Free Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, Ben & Jerry and More Freebies on Election Day

 Your mileage may vary...

Details:
http://m.spoofee.com/deals-Free_Starbucks_Krispy_Kreme_Ben_&_Jerry_and_More_on_Election_Day-785297.htm#.UJg_Zfa9LCR

UAV video encryption remains unfinished job



The U.S. military is still broadcasting nearly half of its drone video streams without encryption four years after it learned that its adversaries can see the same information, reported Wired's Danger Room

Although military officials have been aware of the problem since the 1990s, the issue received widespread coverage in 2008 when U.S. warfighters discovered drone video footage on the laptops of Shi'ite militants in Iraq. The militants were actively intercepting feeds via a $26 piece of software, the story said. 

Four years later, only "30 to 50 percent" of America's Predators and Reapers are using fully encrypted transmissions, a source familiar with the retrofitting effort said in the story.

More:
http://defensesystems.com/articles/2012/10/31/agg-drone-video-encryption-lags.aspx

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Romney Avoids Taxes via Loophole Cutting Mormon Donations- Bloomberg

 Romney's CRUT, which is only a small part of the $250 million that Romney's campaign cites as his net worth, has been paying him 8 percent of its assets each year. As the Romneys have received these payments, the money that will potentially be left for charity has declined from at least $750,000 in 2001 to $421,203 at the end of 2011.

More:
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-avoids-taxes-via-loophole-cutting-mormon-donations.html

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The best time of day to send emails [infographic]



Email blasts may seem like the out-of-touch old fogey of online marketing, but there's a reason they keep hanging around: They still work. But that doesn't mean most businesses understand how to get the most out of them. One of the biggest, hardest-to-answer questions has always been: When is the best time to send out messages? Finally, we have some hard information.


More:
http://www.adverblog.com/2012/10/12/the-best-time-of-day-to-send-emails-infographic/

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Romney: 'Some Gays Are Actually Having Children. It's Not Right on Paper. It's Not Right in Fact.'


Romney hadn't even previously fathomed that gay people had children. Boston Spirit magazine reported last month that when gay activists met with him in his office in 2004, as Romney was backing a failed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in the state, Romney remarked, "I didn't know you had families." Julie Goodridge, lead plaintiff in the landmark case that won marriage rights for gays and lesbians before the Supreme Judicial Court, asked what she should tell her 8-year-old daughter about why the governor would block the marriage of her parents. According to Goodridge, Romney responded,"I don't really care what you tell your adopted daughter. Why don't you just tell her the same thing you've been telling her the last eight years."
Romney's retort enraged a speechless Goodridge; he didn't care, and by referring to her biological daughter as "adopted," it was clear he hadn't even been listening. By the time she was back in the hallway, she was reduced to tears. "I really kind of lost it," says Goodridge. "I've never stood before someone who had no capacity for empathy."

More:

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Legal Voice - Parental Rights of Rapists

 This is unacceptable.

Each year, an estimated 32,000 women in the United States become pregnant as a result of rape. Of those women, many decide to terminate their pregnancies, rather than cope with the psychological torment of going through the pregnancy. Many others, for just as legitimate reasons, decide to carry the pregnancies to term. Most would assume that in this latter situation, the rapist would have no legal parental rights to the child. Sadly, this is not the case. For many women in this situation, there is a high likelihood under state family laws that the rapist could, indeed, gain parental rights.

More:
http://legalvoice.org/focus/health/rapists-rights.html

Monday, October 22, 2012

Fresh Windows, but Where’s the Start Button?

 Over the years, Keith McCarthy has become used to a certain way of doing things on his personal computers, which, like most others on the planet, have long run on Microsoft's Windows software.

But last week, when he got his hands on a laptop running the newest version of Windows for the first time, Mr. McCarthy was flummoxed.

Many of the familiar signposts from PCs of yore are gone in Microsoft's new software, Windows 8, like the Start button for getting to programs and the drop-down menus that list their functions.

It took Mr. McCarthy several minutes just to figure out how to compose an e-mail message in Windows 8, which has a stripped-down look and on-screen buttons that at times resemble the runic assembly instructions for Ikea furniture.

"It made me feel like the biggest amateur computer user ever," said Mr. McCarthy, 59, a copywriter in New York.


More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/technology/windows-staple-of-most-pcs-gets-a-major-makeover.html?_r=0


Sunday, October 21, 2012

Odd. One of Romney's favorite books is L. Ron Hubbard's "Battlefield Earth,"



That bad, hyperbolic simile was written by L. Ron Hubbard, and it's in "Battlefield Earth," Hubbard's massive 1982 sci-fi novel, listed on Romney's Facebook page as one of his favorite books.

Much about Romney the public figure — and about his opponent and presidential candidates in general — seems depressingly scripted. But "Battlefield Earth" is a work that's so odd, and such an unlikely choice for any political candidate to name as a favorite, I have little doubt that Romney actually read it. Why else would the first Mormon presidential nominee of a major political party name the founder of the Church of Scientology as one of his favorite authors?


Saturday, October 13, 2012

READ: Paul Ryan's Letters Requesting Stimulus, EPA Funds


 
READ: Paul Ryan's Letters Requesting Stimulus, EPA Funds
WASHINGTON -- During Thursday night's vice presidential debate, Vice President Joe Biden attacked Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for criticizing the president's stimulus act despite having sent two separate requests for stimulus funds for his district. Biden was wrong. Ryan sent at least four requests. A Freedom of Information Act request for correspondence between Ryan's office and the Environmental Protection Agency, filed by The Huffington Post, unearthed two additional instances in which the Wisconsin Republican petitioned for American Recovery Act funds. In addition, there were many other occasions in which the GOP vice presidential nominee asked the EPA for grant money for projects in Wisconsin's 1st District, which encompasses Ryan's hometown of Janesville and has a slight Democratic lean. Combined, the letters muddy Ryan's claim that the stimulus wasn't helpful and that government spending, more broadly, doesn't assist small businesses. The letters, Ryan's spokesman Brendan Buck said, were sent as part of the congressman's basic responsibility to advocate on behalf of his district. "Part of being a congressman is vouching for constituents and helping them navigate the federal bureaucracy when asked," he said. But the letters' language reveals a congressman who was involved in reviewing the applications and determining that taxpayer money could be useful economically. Moreover, the direct petitioning of the EPA could prove awkward for the Republican ticket, owing to the insistence among many in the GOP that the agency is a hindrance and should be eliminated. The Associated Press reported on some of the letters on Friday morning. It did not post copies of the letters, which The Huffington Post has done below. Paul Ryan Letters On May 4, 2009, Ryan wrote a letter to the EPA office in Chicago expressing his "support for the National School Transportation Association's (NSTA) application to the Recovery Act National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program, which was submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency." "I have reviewed the grant proposal that the NSTA has submitted, and I am confident that they would make effective use of the requested funds," Ryan wrote. According to EPA records, the National School Transportation Association was awarded $2.442 million in stimulus funds. Other efforts by Ryan were less successful. In late December 2009 and early January 2010, Ryan wrote three separate letters to the EPA on behalf of the Village of Sharon in an attempt to secure $550,000 in stimulus funds for utility repairs. The village, as Ryan noted, had worked to get the projects "shovel ready" so that they met requirements for the American Recovery Act. But despite Sharon operating under the assumption that the grant would be awarded, it wasn't. "The Village insists that while they were getting the project 'shovel ready,' no actual construction commenced before October 1, 2008. The Village also contends that it met all of the requirements of the grant, scoring extremely high in the grant evaluation process," Ryan wrote on Dec. 2, 2009. "To rescind a grant award after it was announced and after a project was completed under the assumption that those funds would be paid would be economically devastating to this small community." On Jan. 7, 2010, Ryan wrote again, asking for feedback and information. On Jan. 20, 2010, he wrote once more, saying that the "timeline" for the EPA's response "is not acceptable." An official with the Village of Sharon told the Huffington Post that Ryan's efforts were for naught. "When it came to getting the stimulus funds we were not approved," the official said. Many of these correspondences were in line with what virtually every lawmakers does in carrying out his or her constituent duties. But as Biden charged in Thursday night's debate, for Ryan -- who has taken a hard line against both the stimulus and government spending in general -- the requests have opened him up to charges of hypocrisy and insincerity. "I love that," Biden said. "This was such a bad program, and he writes me a letter saying, writes the Department of Energy a letter saying, `The reason we need this stimulus, it will create growth and jobs.' His words. And now he's sitting here looking at me." As the AP noted, Ryan made many such petitions while in Congress. He asked the Food Stamps Access Research program to approve a grant proposal by the Kenosha community center for purposes of educating families about the nutritional benefits of food stamps. In 2002, he wrote the Agriculture Department to help with a loan guarantee to develop a pork packing and processing plant for farms. In 2010, he wrote the Department of Health and Human Services to send money to a Kenosha health center to help "thousands of new patients" get coverage. The dozens of letters that Ryan wrote to the EPA underscore the dichotomy of Ryan's approach to the role of the government. The vast majority of the letters were banal efforts to help constituents with rules and regulations. Several of them were formal complaints about EPA overreach. But a number were requests for financial help. Many of those requests sought funding to study area brownfields that could be redeveloped. Brownfields are former industrial properties -- a boarded-up factory, a shuttered gas station -- that might be contaminated by hazardous materials. When Ryan's hometown of Janesville requested federal monies to study its numerous brownfields, as previously reported by HuffPost, Ryan did not write a letter of support. But he did lobby the EPA on behalf of Kenosha and Racine brownfields projects. On Oct. 10, 2006, Ryan wrote EPA administrator Stephen Johnson, expressing his "support for the Milwaukee Community Service Corps' (MCSC) application for the Brownfields Job Training Grant, which was recently submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency." On Dec. 8, 2006, he wrote again, this time in support of the City of Kenosha's grant application to the Brownfields Assessment Grant Program. On Oct. 9, 2009, he wrote EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, backing Racine County's application for the EPA's Brownfields Site Assessment Grant. "I have reviewed Racine's County's grant narrative, and I believe they would make effective use of the funds they would receive from the EPA," Ryan said. "I was pleased to learn that their proposed Brownfield's assessment project will help sustain, clean up, and restore the local community and the ecological systems that support them." In the fall of 2011, Ryan wrote a regional administrator of the EPA, urging her to consider an application from a constituent whose business -- BioGenesis Enterprises -- had approached the EPA two years earlier seeking funding. BioGenesis, which had already received federal funding through an earmark under the Weather Resources Development Act, got consideration for additional federal money after Ryan's letter. BioGenesis had sought funds to use the company's new technology for decontaminating sediment. The EPA ultimately rejected the funding request after several back-and-forths with the company. "As the company provided more details, it became increasingly clear that there were a number of insurmountable programmatic constraints and procurement requirements," the agency wrote Ryan on Dec. 28, 2011. "Unfortunately, it was not feasible to proceed." The EPA went on to note that it was "unfortunate" that the agency simply didn't have the funding to support BioGenesis' "promising" technology. BioGenesis did not return a request for comment. Ryan's success rate in helping out constituents is hard to ascertain. The Huffington Post contacted several, many of who said they didn't end up receiving help. Ronald Andersen is one those constituents. The owner of All Clean Pressure Washing of Wisconsin pursued a contract with the EPA in 2007 to help clean up federal buildings. He got a hand in the matter from Ryan. The congressman wrote a letter to the agency asking it to "carefully review" Andersen's "unsolicited proposal." The EPA did review did review the proposal, and decided to pass. Andersen continues to blame Ryan for not doing more. "He said he is for small business -- he didn't help nobody in small business," Andersen told The Huffington Post. "He sent me a letter, that's about it. I thought he would help. All he did was give me excuses. ... He didn't do nothing for me. So I will never vote for him again."
 

Friday, October 12, 2012

Biden Should Rip Ryan on Neglect of Hometown Workers



What Ryan said about "Detroit West" and his commitment to maintaining a muscular auto industry sounded great.

"Know this: We want the strongest auto sector. We want American manufacturing to have a comeback," he declared. "And the way we do that is we stop sending all our decisions to Washington in a government-driven economy."

But a "government-driven economy" didn't harm the auto industry. It helped.

When the industry was tanking, President Obama convinced Congress to support an auto bailout that, by most accounts, renewed General Motors and Chrysler, keeping factories going and saving hundreds of thousands of jobs.

It was Mitt Romney who wanted to "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."

And what of Ryan?

He voted for "free-trade" agreements—particularly the extension of permanent "Most-Favored Nation" trading status to China—that were devastating for the auto industry in what he refers to as "Detroit West." He opposed moves to mitigate against the damage, including the Currency Reform and Fair Trade Act. He rejected industrial policies and planning initiatives that might have helped "Detroit West."


Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Mother Of Navy SEAL Killed In Libya Demands Romney Stop Talking About Him In Stump Speech

 Boston's local NBC affiliate WHDH reported this morning that Doherty's mother objected to Romney using the story in a campaign speech. "I don't trust Romney. He shouldn't make my son's death part of his political agenda. It's wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama," said Barbara Doherty. WHDH even suggested that it reached out to Romney's campaign for comment, reporting that "there was no response from the Romney camp."

More:
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/10/10/986301/romney-navy-seal-mother-libya/?mobile=wp

Common IC cloud to go live in March, says Clapper -- Defense Systems



Common intelligence community cloud to go live in March, says Clapper

Data users in the intelligence community will have access to a common desktop and common cloud-based network starting in March, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Oct. 9 in a keynote address to the GEOINT 2012 Symposium in Orlando, Fla..

It's the first tangible result from an initiative ordered by Clapper in 2011 to integrate IT across the intelligence community, focusing on building a single cloud-based enterprise system.

Agencies are working together on the effort, with the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency taking the lead on building a common desktop, and the CIA and National Security Agency leading the cloud effort.

"We have no choice. We have to move in this direction," said Al Tarasiuk, the DNI's CIO.


More:

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Romney Attacks Obama over Coal Employment When Jobs are at 15 Year High



Mitt Romney sold himself as the BFF of coal Friday afternoon in order to appeal to Appalachian voters in Abingdon, Virginia, as well as talking down job numbers under Obama. But Mitt Romney is no BFF to coal and jobs in coal are at a 15 year high, while national unemployment hit the lowest level since 2009 today.

Not only did Romney use unpaid coal workers who lost pay due to his rally in a campaign ad, but as Governor, Romney said a Massachusetts coal-fired plant "kills people" and touted his power plant regulations there as the "toughest in the nation." He also denied a coal plant an extension to comply with regulations.


Saturday, October 6, 2012

Dinosaur - Conservapedia


Awesome. I didn't know this existed. 
Go RWNJs! 

History of dinosaurs

The Flood, by Michaelangelo, detail from theSistine Chapel, 1509.

Creation science asserts that the biblical account, that dinosaurs were created on day 6 of creation[3]approximately 6,000 years ago, along with other land animals, and therefore co-existed with humans, thusdebunking the Theory of Evolution and the beliefs of evolutionary scientists about the age and creation of the earth.

Creation science shows that dinosaurs lived in harmony with other animals, (probably including in the Garden of Eden) eating only plants[4]; that pairs of each dinosaur kind were taken onto Noah's Ark during the Great Flood and were preserved from drowning[5]; that many of the fossilized dinosaur bones originated during the mass killing of the Flood[6]; and that possibly some descendants of those dinosaurs taken aboard the Ark are still around today.[7] At least 300 distinct genera of dinosaur have been identified.[8]

Archaeologicalfossil, and documentary evidence supports the logical conclusion that dinosaurs co-existed with mankind until at least relatively recent times.[citation needed]

Because the term only came into use in the 19th century, the Bible does not use the word "dinosaur." However, there are numerous references throughout the biblical account. For example, the behemoth in Job and the leviathan in Isaiah are clearly references to dinosaurs,[9] [10] although others have claimed that Behemoth and Leviathan are references to a hippopotamus or elephant and a crocodile respectively. However, the Biblical descriptions do not fit those creatures, note that hippopotamuses and elephants do not have a "tail like a cedar". Furthermore, even if the terms did refer to other animals, this does not necessarily invalidate the existence of dinosaurs. The Creation account was not intended as a comprehensive list of all animals God created - it does not for instance state explicitly that He created theferret. However, Genesis does state that God created all animals, which would include any not mentioned by name.


More:

Sunday, September 30, 2012

FBI — United States Attorney Announces Procedures to Handle Election Fraud and Voting Rights Abuses

 Asst. United States Attorneys Steve Jordan and Blanche Cook will be available while the polls are open on August 2, 2012, to receive and handle complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington. They can be reached at the following numbers: AUSA Jordan-615-736-2083; AUSA Cook-615-736-5431.

In addition, the FBI will have special agents available to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on Election Day. The FBI can be reached by the public at 615-232-7500.

More:

http://m.fbi.gov/#http://www.fbi.gov/memphis/press-releases/2012/united-states-attorney-announces-procedures-to-handle-election-fraud-and-voting-rights-abuses

Thursday, September 27, 2012

mHealth Task Force issues recommendations


FCC ? Really?

The report, introduced at a Sept. 24 news conference by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowsky, comes with five recommendations, each of which breaks down into a number of even-more-specific directives, including the recommendation that the FCC fill the open position of FCC Healthcare Director. The recommendations are:

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Enterprise Architecture Conference and Expo

 Dr. Brett Brunk has been Chief Enterprise Architect of the US General Service Administration (GSA) since September 2010. In this capacity, he is responsible for facilitating the development of the GSA enterprise architecture to assist with strategic planning and prioritization of information technology (IT) investments. Some of Dr. Brett Brunk's other professional experiences include IT architect and manager at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He successfully applied IT know-how to improve efficiency and safety of several aviation information management (AIM) systems such as NOTAMs (Notice to Airmen) and Airspace Management. In addition, Dr. Brunk participated in FAA's enterprise activities including the development of enterprise service oriented architecture. Dr Brunk holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University.

More:
http://goveaconference.com/events/2011/Speakers/Speaker%20Window.aspx?SpeakerId=%7B15024044-50D3-46B4-B062-FD9A311531C1%7D&ID=%7BAB5EE76A-1A66-4169-899C-17036D20FD4B%7D&m=1

Thursday, September 20, 2012

ViewSonic Exits Mainstream Tablet Market, Focuses On Verticals

 "Today, the tablet form factor remains an important part of our connected vision and strategy for the future, building upon our 25 years of display expertise and innovation," said ViewSonic President Jeff Volpe, in an emailed statement to CRN. "With that said, ViewSonic has made the strategic decision to focus our future tablet initiatives in emerging markets and niche verticals, where we can best leverage our core competencies to fulfill technology needs in regions and markets presently underserved by the widely saturated supply of mainstream consumer tablets."

<Opinion>
It might also be driven by that fact that their tablets were a Hot Mess.
Seriously,
I never expected to see grub on a tablet boot screen and yet, there it is...
Right after the BIOS message, "Press F10 for Settings".
</Opinion>

More:
http://www.crn.com/news/mobility/240007592/viewsonic-exits-mainstream-tablet-market-focuses-on-verticals.htm

Monday, September 17, 2012

'Bucket List Bandit' caught in Okla. after crime spree



An FBI agent from Pennsylvania says a suspect dubbed the "Bucket List Bandit" who is believed to be responsible for bank robberies in nine states has been arrested inOklahoma City.

Jason Crouse, the acting supervisory special agent of the FBI office in Erie, tells The Associated Press that 54-year-old Michael Eugene Brewster was arrested Thursday night.


More:

Aw Crap... Halliburton's Misplaced Radioactive Cylinder



Somewhere in West Texas is a 7-inch radioactive cylinder that Halliburton would like to find. Anyone who comes across it is advised to keep their distance.

The oil field services company lost track of the device, which is used to assess potential sites forhydraulic fracturing, on Tuesday (Sept. 11) while trying to transport it from Pecos to a well site near Odessa 130 miles away. A special unit of the Texas National Guard has now stepped in to aid Halliburton in a search for the cylinder, according to Bloomberg.

"It's not something that produces radiation in an extremely dangerous form," said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. "But it's best for people to stay back, 20 or 25 feet."


More:

Friday, September 14, 2012

Sweet! Judge strikes down Wis. law limiting union rights



A story from AP Mobile:

Judge strikes down Wis. law limiting union rights

thumbnailMADISON, Wis. (AP) - A Wisconsin judge on Friday struck down the state law championed by Gov. Scott Walker that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers. It was not clear if the ruling means the law is immediately suspended. The law took away nearly all collective bargaining rights from most workers and has been in effect for more than a year. Dane County Circuit Judg...

Read Full Story.

Monday, September 10, 2012

L-3 awarded contract to support major USAF cyber initiative | Government Security News



"We are proud to be part of this agile approach to delivering cyber technologies that help ensure national security," said Les Rose, president of L-3 National Security Solutions Group. "As L-3's Center of Excellence for cyber initiatives, we develop full-spectrum cyber solutions and services for mobile, cloud and more traditional enterprise environments."

AFRL is the Air Force's organization wholly dedicated to leading the discovery, development and integration of warfighting technologies for air, space and cyberspace forces. L-3 STRATIS will be executing this contract from its cyber program office in San Antonio, TX, which is also the home of 24th Air Force (AFCYBER) and the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency.


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Mobile Security, Critical Infrastructure Issues Drive Physical, Logical Security Together

 Here at the co-resident (ISC)2 World Congress and ASIS International meetings, nearly 20,000 physical and logical security pros will attend sessions and exhibits together. Their interests aren't always the same, but issues such as mobile security and protecting critical infrastructure are increasing the overlap, leaders say.

More:
http://www.darkreading.com//security/news/240006981/mobile-security-critical-infrastructure-issues-drive-physical-logical-security-together.html?nomobile=1

Executive order could institute controversial cybersecurity measures


The draft order is said to still be undergoing revisions, but likely will involve the institution of a voluntary program for private companies operating critical infrastructure to cooperate with government-instituted standards and best practices, The Hillreported. The program would be led by the Homeland Security Department and include the Commerce and Defense departments, as well as others still being determined. While DHS would manage the program, the National Institute of Standards and Technology would work with industry in crafting the framework. 

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Saturday, September 8, 2012

Geez.. Another great Nokia/Microsoft product launch. Nokia Expands Apology for Misleading Lumia 920 Video, Photos



Nokia expanded its apology over faked video and photos used to publicize the company's newest flagship phone.

Unveiled on Wednesday, the Lumia 920 features the "PureView" camera, which has a "floating lens" optical image stabilization (OIS) technology that Nokia claims lets users take sharp photos and video.

Earlier this week, Nokia admitted a video that purportedly demonstrates the benefits of the 920′s OIS capabilities was "a simulation" and not shot using its PureView camera. It later revealed on Saturday that promotional photos were also faked.

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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Survey of Federal CyberSecurity Managers Shows Mobile Disconnect



A new survey of more than over 100 federal IT security managers, including senior management, IT operations, and risk and audit managers, shows that while government expands its use of mobile devices in the workplace, only about a third of agencies – 38 percent -- have a strategy for monitoring those devices.

 

The so-called "bring your own device," or BYOD, policy has been a hot-button security issue for the past several years, particularly since the mobile computing world has exploded with a wide array of device options, from smart phones to tablets, all of which introduce new complexities and potential security vulnerabilities for agency networks and sensitive information.


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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Republican Party Platforms: Republican Party Platform of 1956

 Interesting.
"The protection of the right of workers to organize into unions and to bargain collectively is the firm and permanent policy of the Eisenhower Administration."

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25838

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Interesting... Google Looks to Distance Android from Apple vs. Samsung Ruling

 From the article:
...Google "demanding" Samsung make changes in its implementation of Android over concerns that it was too similar to Apple's iOS. From one internal Samsung email describing Google's concerns:

"I am notifying you of the team leader's directives from the executives' meeting yesterday," the message begins. The sixth item on the list addresses a need to "respond to the issue of design similarity for the S series," which Samsung designer Kim Jin Soo testified was a reference to the company's S series of smartphones.

"Google is demanding distinguishable design vis-à-vis the iPad," according to the e-mail. "Consider design distinguishability for the items demanded by Google while maintaining the current design, and in regards to each carrier's demands."

More:
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/08/27/google-looks-to-distance-android-from-apple-vs-samsung-ruling/

Monday, August 27, 2012

Friday, August 24, 2012

An oldie, but a goodie. Free Online Nmap, OpenVas & More for One-Off Scans | NovaInfosec.com



Trinity Using NmapEver find yourself needing to do a quick security scan but are on a computer that doesn't have the right tools? This happens to me periodically when we need a quick scan done from "outside." Out of curiosity I searched around and found a few good options that I thought you may find useful.

(Note: As part of a campaign to bring forward some of our older posts that we feel still benefit the community, we've added this article to ourBest Of category that will periodically get tweeted out. Please mention it to me on Twitter or contact us if there are any other posts you feel we should include in this category. This post was previously categorized under Infosec Blogs/Podcasts. -@grecs)

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Monday, August 20, 2012

The 11 Worst Companies To Work For In America

 Countless companies promote themselves as "great places to work" -- on their own websites and elsewhere. Yet with the advent of websites such as Glassdoor, where employees can expose work conditions by posting anonymously, many companies are receiving ratings that proclaim their workplaces to be subpar.

The most common complaint? Not being paid well enough, followed by little opportunity for a raise or promotion. 24/7 Wall St. looked at publicly traded companies with over 300 reviews on Glassdoor, and found the lowest of the low-rated.

More:
http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/08/14/the-11-worst-companies-to-work-for-in-america/?a_dgi=aolshare_linkedin

A Full Fact-Check Of Niall Ferguson's Argument Against Obama

 ...But rather than make this straightforward case against the current administration, Ferguson delves into a fantasy world of incorrect and tendentious facts. He simply gets things wrong, again and again and again. 

Raspberry Pi: Essential add-ons for modders and everyday users

 These are worth a look.  The tiny TV screens are sweet!

http://www.techrepublic.com/photos/raspberry-pi-essential-add-ons-for-modders-and-everyday-users/6378529

Sunday, August 19, 2012

2012 Consumer Health IT Summit: Expanding Access to Health Information


Are you working to advance consumer access to health information? Last year 1,400 people tuned in to the Consumer Health IT Summit to hear about new public and private sector efforts to make health information more easily available to consumers and to engage them in using their data to improve their care and well being. This year we are celebrating the progress we've made together and preparing to take it to the next level with the 2012 Consumer Health IT Summit.  Look for:
  • Announcements about new policies and federal initiatives
  • Examples of trailblazing companies that are enabling widespread consumer access to health information
  • Compelling consumer tools that help people to make use of their data
  • Creative approaches to motivate and support consumer engagement in health
  • Exciting developments related to the "Blue Button"

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When Conservatives Loved Keynes



Greenstein is taking the sensible position that the 2001 recession seems mild enough that Keynesian tax cuts will not be needed -- by the time their stimulative effect kicks in, the economy should be growing again. Hassett, the conservative, replies that Keynesian fiscal policy during recessions works, and the only problem is that it's usually too small. And Ryan agrees!

Ryan and Hassett, of course, fiercely opposed the concept of fiscal stimulus in 2009. I don't see how you can explain progressing from that position to opposing Keynesian stimulus during a severe liquidity trap, the worst economic crisis since the depression, except as a function of pure partisanship.

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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

VP Role for Paul Ryan Has His Former Parish Priest Worried

 FTA:
Ryan's austerity budget and proposed steep cuts in social programs are inconsistent with the Catholic teachings that Ryan cites to justify the policies. "...he shouldn't wrap himself in Catholic teaching because he is not using that [teaching] in what I would say is a balanced way," said Umhoefer.

More:
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11707/vp-role-paul-ryan-has-his-former-parish-priest-worried