Calista241
Calista241's JournalThe U.S. is still using floppy disks to run its nuclear program
Source: CNN
Want to launch a nuclear missile? You'll need a floppy disk.
That's according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which found that the Pentagon was still using 1970s-era computing systems that require "eight-inch floppy disks."
Such disks were already becoming obsolete by the end of that decade, being edged out by smaller, non-floppy 3.5 to 5.25-inch disks, before being almost completely replaced by the CD in the late 90s.
Except in Washington that is. The GAO report says that U.S. government departments spend upwards of $60 billion a year on operating and maintaining out-of-date technologies.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/26/us/pentagon-floppy-disks-nuclear/
CNN presents this as a bad thing, but there Is a giant positive.
Floppy systems are not connected to the Internet and are essentially un-hackable. If there's one system we don't want the design public and easily available for review by anyone who wants it, it's this one.
Two officers in Freddie Gray case sue Marilyn Mosby for defamation
Source: Baltimore Sun
Two officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray are suing Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby for defamation and invasion of privacy.
Sgt. Alicia White and Officer William Porter, who are facing charges of involuntary manslaughter in the 25-year-old's death last April, filed the lawsuit against Mosby, Baltimore sheriff's office Maj. Sam Cogen and the state of Maryland on May 2, according to Baltimore Circuit Court records made public Wednesday.
The officers claim that Mosby and Cogen knew the statement of charges filed against the officers and other statements made by Mosby at a May 1, 2015, news conference announcing the charges "were false."
The officers had asked that the lawsuit be sealed to "avoid any suggestion" that they were "not complying with the spirit of" a gag order issued in their criminal cases by Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams, and to "avoid any additional pretrial publicity in connection with their upcoming criminal trials." They said they had to file the lawsuit at this time because of statute of limitations concerns.
Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/freddie-gray/bs-md-ci-gray-officers-sue-mosby-20160525-story.html
FDNY/NYPD Football Game Devolves Into Fisticuffs
Source: Gawker
Members of the NYPD and FDNY football teams were supposed to line up and shake hands after playing in the “Fun City Bowl” (a charity game) this weekend. Instead, because everyone involved is very big and tough, there was a shoving match and some punches thrown and a lot of yelling.
“I think one of the FDNY guys exchanged words with the NYPD player and then from there, I couldn’t see what was happening, I just saw the crowds come around the player,” Angel Zayas, a freelance photographer who captured some of the fighting on video, told NBC New York. “I heard it happening before I saw it happening.”
“They hit our quarterback out of bounds, and that’s how things started,” FDNY coach Steve Orr said. “There were a lot of hotheads there.”
Read more: http://gawker.com/fdny-nypd-football-game-devolves-into-fisticuffs-1778385596
video at link. it's pretty amazing.
Kindergartener Suspended For Bringing Bubble-Blowing ‘Gun’ To School
Source: Huffington Post
Thank God someone intervened. It could have been a soap bath.
That is, if Southeast Elementary in Brighton, Colorado, hadn’t stopped a kindergartener who was wielding a bubble-blowing “gun” at recess. The school subsequently suspended the girl for a day.
“I apologized right away and said that I am so sorry she did that,” her mother told local news station ABC 7. “I appreciate that they’re trying to keep our kids safe, I really do. But there needs to be some common sense. It blows bubbles.”
The mother spoke anonymously with ABC7 but identified herself to Fox 31 as “Emma.” She said hadn’t realized that her daughter had put the toy in her backpack before heading to school.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kindergartener-bubble-gun-suspension_us_573c9518e4b0646cbeebb18a
We need some common sense in our society.
Donald Trump supporters are not the bigots the left likes to demonise
From the Guardian:
Though calling him a fascist surely demeans the victims of the real thing, Trump has some extremely grim views, and the idea of him in the White House has an obviously terrifying quality. But for those who loathe him, a problem comes when the nastier elements of his rhetoric are conflated with the supposed instincts of millions of his supporters, and familiar stereotypes come into play. “Not all Donald Trump supporters are racists, but most racists are Donald Trump supporters,” says the liberal online outlet Salon. “The unusual geographic pattern of Trumpism … corresponds to the geography of white racial resentment in the United States,” offers a contributor to the political website Vox. “They vote for him because he is a racist bigot,” reckoned one eloquent tweeter I briefly corresponded with.
Caricatures of rednecks and white trash are obviously in the foreground here. Worse still, such judgments are often arrived at through polling data, guesswork, and a large measure of metropolitan prejudice: in keeping with one of the most baffling failings of political journalism across the globe, too few people think of speaking to the voters themselves.
So to Indiana, where, with my Guardian colleague John Domokos, I spent the best part of five days following the Trump campaign. No one mentioned his assuredly unpleasant ideas about excluding Muslims from the US, nor his absurd proposal to build a wall between America and Mexico, at the latter country’s expense. Indeed, when I saw Trump speak at a rally in the Indiana town of Evansville, he made no reference to what he has said about Muslims, and dealt with the fabled wall in a matter of seconds.
Instead, he talked at length about two of his pet themes. First, he banged on about the free trade deals that he says have blitzed US industry as companies have moved abroad, luxuriated in newly low labour costs, and imported their wares back into the country. Second, he fed that specific story into a general sense of national decline.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/13/donald-trump-supporters-bigots-left-demonise
London receptionist 'sent home for not wearing heels'
Source: BBC
A London receptionist was sent home from work after refusing to wear high heels, it has emerged.
Temp worker Nicola Thorp, 27, from Hackney, arrived at finance company PwC to be told she had to wear shoes with a "2in to 4in heel".
When she refused and complained male colleagues were not asked to do the same, she was sent home without pay.
Outsourcing firm Portico said Ms Thorp had "signed the appearance guidelines" but it would now review them.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-36264229
Good for her.
House GOP wins Obamacare
Source: Politico
A federal judge on Thursday ruled the Obama administration has been improperly funding an Obamacare subsidy program, a huge win for the House of Representatives’ lawsuit against the White House.
The judge said that the program can continue, pending appeal. The ruling, if it stands, could be a significant financial setback for the millions of low-income Americans who benefit from the cost-sharing subsidies, which help people pay for out-of-pocket costs like co-pays at the doctor’s office. But it would not be a fatal blow to the future of the president’s signature domestic policy achievement.
Congress authorized the program but never actually provided the money for it, wrote U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, a George W. Bush appointee.
"Congress is the only source for such an appropriation, and no public money can be spent without one,” she wrote.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/house-gop-wins-obamacare-lawsuit-223121
Planned Parenthood shooting suspect ruled incompetent to stand tria
Source: CNN
Planned Parenthood shooting suspect ruled incompetent to stand trial
Accused Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Lewis Dear is incompetent to stand trial, a Colorado judge ruled Wednesday.
Dear, 57, is charged with 179 felony counts including murder and attempted murder in the November 27, 2015, shootings at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs.
The ruling puts the criminal case on hold while Dear undergoes treatment at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, Colorado court public information officer Rob McCallum said.
Fourth Judicial District Judge Gilbert Martinez ordered Dear to undergo a mental competency evaluation in December after his public defender raised questions about his competency. Dear has repeatedly interrupted proceedings with outbursts, shouting at his attorneys and the judge, muttering to himself and declaring his guilt.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/11/us/planned-parenthood-shooting-robert-lewis-dear-hearing/
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