The Concept Atomic Helped Father the Internet

In “A History of the Internet and the Digital Future” by Johnny Ryan, he writes about the exciting (if not terrifying at times) when strategic policy decisions regarding Nuclear deployment systems, redundancy, and communication systems were developed in order to insure the United States would not fail in the defense of itself.

But before the technology could be built, competing conceptual theories about just how all that could meaningfully occur in a rapid timeframe were happening in think-tanks. The now Ex Soviet Union eventually developed vaguely similar strategies; but in the early 50s, they relied on brute force and numbers to get their upper hand.

This is the story about how the U.S.took those theories they developed, and forged them into other areas that would allow every part of our world to be connected. Whether it’s medical information, scientific data between universities and schools, or even how commerce and tool die shops tie in to one another; these once specific Atomic concepts eventually morphed into what now allows women and men around the world to chat with their families and friends nearly everywhere in a fashion that is simply taken for granted by most.

This three page post found in this link, is the whole first chapter of a very enjoyable read. It is in fact the whole first chapter and a book I recommend for anyone wanting to learn how we got to the great place we are, as well as where we are going to. (and soon!)

Enjoy…

Government is gonna get theirs

If anyone has ever actually looked at their cell phone bill, you know that somehow, some way, they are trying to screw and confuse you.  Looks like the government is adding to it as well.  The New York Post had a recent article that found that “Eleven federal, state and city levies add as much as 33 percent to the cost of New Yorkers' cell phones, a Post analysis found.”

Now mind you that most plans probably have only around 22% taxes added, so it is a little sensationalized.  Wait…what!!!! Twenty-two percent taxes on a service???  Last I checked most services were not taxed.  And almost one quarter, that is just ridiculous.  But at least it’s going towards fixing roads, building schools, funding 911 emergency.  Wait…what!!! Only a small percentage of the per month 911 charge actually goes to it???  I think I smell something rotten.

Taxpayers to Foot The Bill for MPAA Lawsuits?

I saw this over at Download Squad and figured everyone should know about it.

"As DownloadSquad gears up for "Download Like a Pirate Day" this Friday, it appears as though our friends from the MPAA and the boys on Capitol Hill are also hard at work. The U.S. Senate appears ready to give Bill S. 3325 - the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Act of 2008 - the green light as early as today.

A quick look at this article by Alex Curtis and this open letter from twelve different advocacy groups will provide some insight into the proposed bill.
Why should you care? Well, for starters, S. 3325 would allow the Department of Justice to sue offenders in civil court. That's a bad thing. A really bad thing.
First, it means taxpayers are footing the bill while the DOJ does MPAA dirty work. Not good. Second, defendants are guaranteed free legal representation. Third, there only has to be a "preponderance of evidence," which is not nearly the same as "beyond a reasonable doubt." As a kicker, it looks as though fines for violation would be doubled.
Over at OpenCongress there appears to be a lot of buzz about this one (64 blog posts and growing), and rightfully so.
Holy crap. The MPAA has filed 30,000 suits over the past five years. Do you really want to pick up the tab?
For the truly interested, you can view the bill's text here. Read up, and then call your Senator. You can use Cause Caller to contact members of the Senate Judiciary, find and call your own senator, or send a fax

Five Years, No Patches, Govt Server, Worm Virus, OBVIOUSLY HAPPENED IN FLORIDA

New concerns about the accuracy of electronic voting in Sarasota County, Florida are being raised after a published report documented how the county's main database system came under attack from a virulent worm. The county server was breached on the first day of early voting in the 2006 election, which included a now-disputed race for a seat in the US House of Representatives.
The attack code was a variant of the infamous Slammer worm that penetrated the county's server, which unbelievably, was missing five years worth of security patches, according to an article painstakingly reported by investigative journalist Brad Friedman. The breach crippled the county's entire network, including the electronic voting system, where net connectivity was disrupted for two hours. Those trying to vote during the outage were turned away.

Jump to the rest of this predictably sad florida voting scandle.