"A while back, our New York Mayor Bloomberg came down here to take away some of your Virginia gun rights," a man says in the spot, in a Sopranos-like accent. "You see, the mayor thinks you guys are responsible for our New York crime problem. But when Mayor Bloomberg got down here, your guy, Bob McDonnell, kicked him out of Virginia. Now that was very disrespectful." Contacted about what the spot meant with the claim that McDonnell "kicked [Bloomberg] out of Virginia," an NRA representative said it was a reference to the fact McDonnell sent Bloomberg a "cease and desist" letter. He also pointed to McDonnell's work with the legislature to make sure sting operations would be illegal. "So now I'm here to make sure Mr. McDonnell doesn't get in New York's way again," the man continues in the ad, as Italian-style music plays in the background. "Listen to me: When you vote, I strongly suggest you forget about your freedoms and your Mr. Second Amendment Bob McDonnell. I want you to do it for New York. If you know what's good for you."

This $20 million project could surely save you a lot of pain at security checkpoints like airports, stadiums, mass transit centers etc. You may not even have to remove your jacket and shoes. However, one of the researchers, Daniel Martin is of the viewpoint that the measurement of body signals cannot measure the intent of the person. Many critics have say that the regular method of tracking the terrorist or suspect is much more convincing than the FAST technology. Civil liberties groups have found another reason protest claiming that no one has the right to measure ones bodily functions and is an invasion of ones privacy. The FAST technology hopes to start its field testing by 2011.

If means is lacking, intent is irrelevant ...

From the user's perspective, however, the drive is almost as easy to use as any thumbdrive. I tried it with a few computers and it worked very well. The drive comes with two separate partitions. One is a fixed 30MB read-only partition that contains the security software. The second is the rest of the drive's capacity to store data. The first time you insert the drive into a computer, be it a PC or a Mac, its self-contained security software will prompt you to pick a password and a security question for retrieving password when it's forgotten. Once a password is chosen, you'll need to run the software again each time you connect the drive to a computer, then enter the password to gain access to the drive's data partition. After that, the drive works just like any other thumbdrive. 

I'm happy to see more folks getting into the biz, maybe the prices will come down ...

Commuters choked and coughed in the ticket hall of a busy station last Friday morning as a police officer tried to restrain a man. Stunned passengers at Ealing Broadway station watched as a single officer tackled the man who was resisting arrest for a public order offence at around 8:30am. The officer released pepper spray and peak hour commuters rushed to move away from the scene, covering their noses and coughing after inhaling the fumes.

Use the foam, guys ...

The River Rat’s face was photographed up close and uncovered during a bank heist in August — and the security video images were widely publicized by newspapers and TV stations around the area. And yet the armed robberies continued and now total at least 15, most in Vancouver and Portland, says the FBI. The holdups of banks and cash advance stores began Aug. 7 in Portland and, two months later, with the FBI and five police agencies trying to identify him, they still don’t know who he is. How does he do it?

If/when they catch him it will be interesting to see what his invisibility methodology looks like. He has to be in a situation where something other than his appearance causes peoples eyes to pass over him, or recognize him and then discount the possibility that he's the River Rat ...

The CCTV video (the action really begins at the 1:11 minute mark) is entertaining enough. It's not every day that you get to witness a pair of homophobic thugs getting their comeuppance. Nor do I suspect that our anti-heroes in question Dean Gardener, 19, and Jason Fender, 22 believed that they would achieve world-wide Internet fame, really more scorn and ridicule, for getting their clocks cleaned by guys in heels who can pack a punch.

This is pretty funny. I would like to see everyone develop their martial ability to the point where random attacks on the street become a thing of the past ...

At the outset, the viewer is high above the earth, ominous music precipitating a perilous dive through space and clouds directly into the CELL headquarters -- a camera move that ends with a symbolic explosion. Elway, who's inside, is brave enough not to run for cover -- but he's certainly more somber than usual as he shares his memories of 9/11 as the World Trade Center explodes again. Back then, he couldn't believe something like the attacks could happen in America, but he understands now. "This is something we're going to have to deal with the rest of our lives," he warns.

Seems like a good basic primer ...

Carrying a lethal weapon in public confers a grave power that carries with it great responsibilities. Those who lawfully engage in the practice realize that. Those who are considering “carrying” need to know what those experienced people know.

No matter how happy you are when you're at the mall buying your first gun, don't jump up and down yelling 'I've got a gun, I've got a gun!'

8. Big Trouble in Little China (1986): A trucker, who walks and talks like John Wayne, finds himself in an underworld battle in San Francisco’s Chinatown with an army of spirits. This is Carpenter’s parody of the action film and one of his favorite genres, the kung fu movie.

Great movie ...

Last year, in the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. However, as that case concerned the actions of the District of Columbia government, a federal entity, the high court was not called upon to decide whether the right bound states and local governments. Over the years, almost the entire Bill of Rights has been held to apply to state and local governments by operation of the Fourteenth Amendment.“The freedoms we enjoy as Americans are secured to us against violation by all levels of government,” noted Alan Gura, of Gura & Possessky, PLLC, lead counsel for the McDonald plaintiffs. “State and local politicians should be on notice: the Second Amendment is a normal part of the Bill of Rights, and it is coming to your town.”

Planetary scientists such as Lunine have suggested that methane plays the same role on Titan that water does on Earth, freezing, evaporating and raining down on the moon's surface. Cassini arrived at Saturn in 2004, and is on an extended mission to investigate the planet's rings and moons.

Denver's Police Chief Gerald Whitman agreed that law enforcement, through Colorado's intelligence and fusion centers, worked well together in the investigation that led to the arrest of terror suspect Zazi. However, Whitman says he hopes more tips in the future come from residents. "We need the tips from the community. We really do need those. Even though sometimes they may be burdensome, when they come in large numbers when we're in a heightened state of awareness after an arrest like this, but I guarantee we're going to follow up on each one of them and follow up to see if there's a connection to anything," Whitman said.

I think most people know what to look for. The problem is that they ultimately don't trust you enough to expose themselves unless they are really, REALLY sure ...

Police say that Mark Brown returned to his home on the 8500 block of Norton at about 9:30 AM, and heard an unusual noise that sounded like a burglar.  Brown is said to have grabbed a shotgun from his bedroom.  The burglar reportedly then jumped out of a bedroom closet and rushed towards him, causing Brown to fear for his safety.  Brown fired in self defense, fatally wounding the intruder and saving himself, police say.  Brown, who has lived on the same street for the last 50 years, was unharmed and is not expected to face any charges.

Probably folded him up like a snotty tissue ...

"He kept jumping up and down in the street here saying, 'He's trying rob me. He's trying to rob me.' And he said 'I shot him. Why'd you make me do this? Why'd you make me do this?' Becker said. "I kept telling him to, 'Put the gun down. Put the gun down. I want to go see if I could help this kid.' And he wouldn't drop the gun."

Remember ... no matter how happy you are when you go to the mall and buy your first pistol, don't start jumping up and down yelling "I've got a gun! I've got a gun!"

"Tracking devices can be useful to parents," Allen told the AP. "Our concern is that they will be viewed as more than they are." Security companies are marketing such devices as those that can be placed in children’s backpacks, although some more invasive methods, such as implantable devices also exist. Still, security firms say that these methods are not intended to be used as substitutes to good parenting. "This is not tag and release," Todd Morris, CEO of BrickHouse Security, told the AP. "But even the best parent, with the best intentions, can find it hard to keep track of their kids all the time."

A taxi driver, he had been detained on suspicion of attempted rape. The police interrogation was so relentless, he says, that it brought him to the brink of suicide. "When I first started saying I was innocent the intimidation and the pressure on me grew stronger," he said. "They kept saying, ‘Your family is giving up on you, they’re very disappointed in you.’ They kept repeating over and over. "I got to the stage of there’s really nothing I can do about this. Anything I say they’re not going to listen to, there’s nothing I can do. I just said yes, one word yes. That led them to arrest me." That confession was enough to see Hiroshi Yanagihara convicted and spend more than two years behind bars, even though a footprint at the scene did not match his shoe size. He was only cleared after he was released, when another man was found guilty of the crime.

Yes, traveling with kids is a whole different ball game. For sure.

Police say that 61 year old Carlton L. Burgess of Lumberton, NJ had some sort of unknown dispute with Marcel Alston of Halifax, NC back in 1988.  It is said that the two men had not seen each other in several years, until Burgess came to Alston's home at 7AM and knocked on the door, waking him up.  When Alston opened the door, Burgess promptly began beating the man, leaving a gash on his head, according to police.  Alston is then said to have turned and ran up the stairs of his home, only to have Burgess shoot him in the buttocks and continue to follow him.  Alston was able to run upstairs, get his self defense gun, and fatally shoot Burgess in self defense after Burgess followed him into his bedroom.  Alston survived, and was treated at a nearby hospital for the gunshot wound and gash on his head.

Oh man ... not in the buttocks ...

Fight Quest unveiled itself in December 2007 to eager viewers with the discipline of Kung Fu. Each episode follows a routine formula. First, the show opens with an introduction to the art (Kung Fu in this case) with a montage of exciting clips to hook viewers. Second, viewers see a staged Kung Fu fight between experienced practitioners to get the adrenaline flowing. The audience is then introduced to the masters who will be teaching the hosts. What makes ‘Fight Quest’ different from ‘Human Weapon’ is that the hosts, Doug and Jimmy, are split up and undergo different training regiments with different masters. Once the training begins, viewers are given the hosts’ points of view in asides. One will start to notice that each host has his defining characteristic.

Announced by the global credit card company on Monday, these best practices are designed to further the payment industry's efforts to develop a common, open standard while providing guidance to encryption vendors and early adopters. Data field encryption protects card information from the swipe to the acquirer processor with no need for the merchant to process or transmit card data in the "clear."

Every laptop user should have a healthy paranoia about the possibility of getting their notebook stolen or hacked while they're using a public Wi-Fi network at the airport or coffeehouse. Stay circumspect and use some of the tools built into your notebook's operating system to keep yourself safe.

Not much detail, but ...

CSD already had in place a fiber optic-supported virtual local area network (VLAN), which allows users to view stored and real-time video without interrupting regular enterprise traffic. This allows administrators to handle surveillance and respond immediately to a security problem, as well as to review potential security breaches, captured by the cameras as they occur, at day's end.

The article doesn't really say whether they have someone watching the cameras all the time or whether there are people on campus that, once notified that something is going on, will be able to respond and come up with the right answer. The fact that they plan on reviewing potential security breaches at 'day's end' doesn't really load me with confidence that they have any idea what security is all about.

HANGOVERS Sometimes so bad, ya need a friend just to hold your brain in your skull….

Lieutenant General Fang Fenghui, general director of the parade, told Xinhua the parade was supposed to showcase the transformation of the PLA from a low-tech, manpower-intensive force to a high-tech, 21st-century one. And nothing says futuristic! like white go-go boots. 

Sooo right ...

In fact, developers claim the laser gunship would have sniperlike precision. When they requested the Advanced Tactical Laser to be deployed to Iraq a couple of years back, the Marine Corps envisioned using it as a way to target individual insurgents — to devastating psychological effect. Such weapons, when used against people, “can be compared to long-range blowtorches or precision flamethrowers, with corresponding psychological advantages for [Coalition Forces] CF,” the request stated. But don’t expect a frightening “spontaneous combustion” weapon to be fielded soon. The Advanced Tactical Laser is still a demonstration program; the company has proven that it can package a chemical-powered laser inside a C-130, but as Noah has been writing for years, it’s hard to see the practical application of flying around with lots of toxic chemicals.

Let me know when it's available as a sidearm ...

For those entranced by security theater, New York City is a sight to behold this week. A visit to one of the two centers of the action -- the Waldorf Astoria, where the presidents of China, Russia, the Prime Ministers of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and the President of the United States -- are all staying. (Who gets the presidential suite? Our POTUS.) Getting to the Waldrof is a little intimidating, which is the point. Wade through the concrete barriers, the double-parked police cars, the NYPD mobile command post, a signals post, acreages of metal fencing, snipers, counter surveillance teams, FBI surveillance teams in street clothes, dodge traffic and a dignitary motorcade or two, and you're right at the front door of the hotel. A Secret Service agent from the Midwest gestured dismissively when a reporter showed him a press credential. "You don't need it. Just go in that door over there."

Have you ever worried that knuckle cracking will give you arthritis or wondered why pregnant women don't tip over? Me too. Research into those topics--as well as studies finding that diamonds could be created from tequila and giant panda feces are good for composting--received Ig Nobel Prizes in a ceremony on Thursday night at Harvard University. The prizes, awarded to scientific achievements that "cannot and should not be reproduced," are presented in the week before the real Nobel prizes are announced and are sponsored by the science humor magazine "Annals of Improbable Research." A Thousand Oaks, Calif., doctor won the Ig Nobel medicine prize for his firsthand research into arthritis in fingers. As a child and in adulthood, Donald Unger's mother, several aunts, and mother-in-law warned him that cracking his knuckles would lead to arthritis in his fingers. To test that theory, he cracked the knuckles of his left hand, but not the right hand, every day for more than 60 years.

"There's a new reality in laptop pricing," said Bob O'Donnell, an analyst at market-researcher IDC. "It's getting harder and harder to sell anything over $800." O'Donnell cited a data point that showed the average selling price of notebooks falling below desktops briefly in retail. "That may have been an anomaly, but the fact that's it's even close is indicative of this phenomenon."

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is usually around late September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumn and spring Equinoxes of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

Thunder Bay‘s tai chi association is looking to raise $100,000 towards the construction of International Taiji Park on the city‘s waterfront. The rest of the $200,000 project will come from government and other funding sources, members of the Peng You Taiji Quan Association said Friday at the campaign‘s launch in Marina Park. The park, which will be located near the skateboard plaza and will ideally be completed in 2011, will include a traditional Chinese-style moon gate entrance, leading to a flagstone pad in a Yin Yang shape. It was designed by Thunder Bay architect Walter Kuch, a news release says.

Most important: Forgive yourself for being captive and unable to meet your obligations. When Ingrid Betancourt was rescued from FARC forces in Colombia, she told debriefing officers that she had more problems related to the mental stress from feeling she had let down her family, friends and associates by becoming a captive than the physical stress. Even though she understood that she was a captive through no fault of her own, she had a difficult struggle overcoming her guilt. She and other captives have reported that self forgiveness is the most important key to survival in a long term captivity. Seven years, in her case.

This is a fairly exhaustive dissertation on personal security measures for traveling in terror-prone regions ...

This paper argues that terrorism, beyond its immediate impact on innocent victims, also raises the costs of crime, and therefore, imposes a negative externality on potential criminals. Terrorism raises the costs of crime through two channels: (i) by increasing the presence and activity of the police force, and (ii) causing more people to stay at home rather than going out for leisure activities. Our analysis exploits a panel of 120 fatal terror attacks and all reported crimes for 17 districts throughout Israel between 2000 and 2005. After controlling for the fixed-effect of each district and for district-specific time trends, we show that terror attacks reduce property crimes such as burglary, auto-theft, and thefts-from-cars. Terror also reduces assaults and aggravated assaults which occur in private homes, but increases incidents of trespassing and “disrupting the police.” Taken as a whole, the results are consistent with a stronger deterrence effect produced by an increased police presence after a terror attack. A higher level of policing is likely to catch more people trespassing, and at the same time, reduce the number of property crimes. The decline in crimes committed in private houses is likely an indication that the tendency for individuals to stay home after a terror attack further increases the costs of crime.

Hmmm ...

Formation flying missions in space sound like science fiction, but missions using multiple spacecraft are already in the planning stages. These missions will involve multiple spacecraft flying anywhere from tens to hundreds of meters apart. The highly accurate distance measurements would allow a formation to monitor their distance and turn the formation into a single large sensor.

[Smile] ...

The end result, the developers of Mozilla's Content Security Policy (CSP) hope, is that policy-enhanced browsers will be completely immune from cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks from malicious sources, by virtue of restricting themselves to either only executing inline code from trusted, certified sites, or not executing any such code at all.

Firefox just keeps getting better and better ...

An unscientific poll can be found here ...

For police the incident turned out to be little more than a false alarm, but for the university, it turned out to be an opportunity to test their ability to get the message to the students through technology they use.

One night the motion detector went off and we panned over to see a pedestrian.  Not unusual, and given that it was a quiet night, we panned along with him to see make sure he had no intention of making mischief.  He wandered into the next lot and stopped to pick something up, then seemed to loiter near a car.  Before long we could see something bright in the car and we could tell it was on fire.

As I went through the line and took off my shoes, yet again demonstrating that my footwear has no potential for dangerous, rapid expansion under high heat and pressure, I began to wonder. We in medicine are expected to demonstrate at least some benefit of the things we do to our patients.  The government wants to have comparative effectiveness data to see what works and what doesn’t, and what needs to continue being reimbursed.  I’m not sure that’s always a good idea, but it is what it is. So let me ask, ‘how many shoe bombers have we now caught, except for the first one?’  Is there data?  Is there any suggestion that the enormous slow-down of the security lines that results from shoe removal and re-application causes any improvement in security? Isn’t it ironic that the government wants us to cut costs on unnecessary procedures, even as we have no real idea if all of the gesticulations we endure in airports have any bearing on our safety?

Yes ... NNT, or Number Needed to Treat, the gold standard of effectiveness in medicine. Why aren't they doing it for security measures?

Excluding speculations about future breakthrough discoveries in physics, it is shown that with what is at present known, and also what is technically feasible, manned space flight to the limits of the solar system and beyond deep into the Oort cloud is quite well possible. Using deuterium as the rocket fuel of choice, abundantly available on the comets of the Oort cloud, rockets driven by deuterium fusion, can there be refueled. To obtain a high thrust with a high specific impulse, favors the propulsion by deuterium micro-bombs, and it is shown that the ignition of deuterium micro-bombs is possible by intense GeV proton beams, generated in space by using the entire spacecraft as a magnetically insulated billion volt capacitor. The cost to develop this kind of propulsion system in space would be very high, but it can also be developed on earth by a magnetically insulated Super Marx Generator. Since the ignition of deuterium is theoretically possible with the Super Marx Generator, rather than deuterium-tritium with a laser where 80% of the energy goes into neutrons, would also mean a breakthrough in fusion research, and therefore would justify the large development costs.

Once we have this capability, Mars isn’t really the only place that we can go. With a megawatt-class VASIMR, basically we will have access to the entire solar system. Mars is an interesting place, but so are Europa and Ganymede and Enceladus and Titan. These are places where we might find extraterrestrial life. Even with the 200-kilowatt solar-powered VASIMR we could do amazing things. We’re developing a concept to drive it close to the Sun, between Venus and Mercury, where it can get a momentum boost and catapult a probe into the outer solar system at high speed. This would let us deliver a package to Jupiter in one-and-a-half years; otherwise that trip takes about six.

Interesting ...

Yet this extraordinary planet is also the least explored in the Solar System. Before the current Messenger mission only 45 per cent of the planet's surface had ever been glimpsed, using the Mariner crafts in the 1970s. Now after three flybys in 2008 and 2009, around 95 per cent of the surface has been imaged. Only a few small sections around the poles have yet to be covered.

After a new antenna is placed on the school grounds, officers will be able to park even further away, out of the sight of any people who may be causing problems at the school and safely assess the danger of a situation, or see if it is simply a false alarm.

I believe that this comes in the 'when seconds count, the police are only minutes away' category ...

Sources said Skype has shared its encryption code with the US, China and other governments but is refusing to accept similar Indian requests.

Hmmm ... that's news you can use ... or not use, as the case may be ...

In contrast, by transferring all card holder data out of your systems, a company eliminates capital expenditures. It’s a simple premise: The less data there is onsite, the less it costs to keep it secure. This will also reduce the complexity of a company’s PCI audit. Because the merchant no longer stores cardholder data, they will be removed from the scope of PCI Requirement 3, reducing the number of questions needed to answer on the audit.

You may not know it, but this year, the State of Hawai‘i designated the second week of October as Hawaiian Aerospace Week. And the timing couldn’t have been better. In the early morning hours of Friday, Oct. 9, stargazers across the globe will keep an eye on the sky, watching with anticipation as a spacecraft is intentionally crashed into the moon. This will create a plume of debris that will rise more than three miles above the surface of the moon, an event that will hopefully determine if water exists beneath the lunar surface.

“I know a lot of the bad guys in Chicago come over to Indiana to get their guns,” Heimke said. “Every time I drive from Indiana to Chicago, nobody sees what I’m bringing in. If other communities took the same approach as Chicago, we would be even safer.”

The tooth fairy will protect you ...

"The IDF conducted many serious internal investigations. I told leaders from the United States and Europe that the norms of the IDF are among the world's most ethical and I say with confidence that the IDF is one of the most punctilious armies when it comes to the purity of arms and serious, in-depth investigations of untoward conduct," Barak said.

And I think that there is a good chance that regardless of what else happens, Iran is going to have an accident before they achieve any proximity to a nuke ...

We are now at a crossroads with the RT Program and have the experience and knowledge from the lessons learned over the last several years to move the program forward in an effective manner. The failure of Clear, and their shutdown June 22nd came as a shock to the 250,000 RT members nationwide, to Clear's competitors (FLO and Vigilant Solutions) and to all who had invested in RT. As FLO prepares to re-launch the RT program in the next 30 days, we see Clear's unfortunate demise as a unique opportunity to fix what was wrong with RT in the past and focus on all the things that were right. 

Let's pay these guys to do something that ultimately doesn't add to flight security, identify fliers, rather than use the money to do something that ultimately DOES add to flight security, verify that fliers don't have the means to interfere with the flight.

The weapon “creates a heating sensation that repels individual adversaries”. They performed testing with this device mounted on a rifle and they’ve managed to figure out that the combination of laser pulse power and wavelength can cause a ridiculously painful sensation on the skin without causing a burn.

Currently soldiers wear body armor known as the Improved Outer Tactical Vest, which weighs about 33 pounds with all of its soft armor attachments. The new plate carriers, which would be issued as an alternative to the IOTV, could shave about 16 pounds while providing the same 7.62mm ballistic protection.

Better is better ...

"Cosmic radiation can go right through the spacecraft, and right through electronics on the way, generating charge inside the device that can cause electronic systems to produce errors or even die," Cressler said. "There’s a lot of interest in improved hardening capabilities from NASA, the Department of Defense and communications companies, because anything that flies into space has to withstand the effects of this radiation."

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, is denying charges by the TSA employees' union that he intentionally chose an airport screening line in order to provoke a confrontation over full-body imaging. Meanwhile, the American Federation of Government Employees insists the freshman lawmaker was not singled out for harassment due to his vote against collective bargaining for TSA workers. The incident occurred last Monday at the Salt Lake City International Airport, and a videotape is under review by TSA officials. Chaffetz, who sponsored a bill that would limit full-body imaging, says he wants the video made public, while the TSA argues that releasing the footage could compromise security.

The question that immediately comes to mind whenever someone says that an action will compromise security is "Whose security?" ...

Adafruit's first open source Homeland Security non-lethal weapon project - The "Do-it-yourself Handheld LED-Based Incapacitator: THE BEDAZZLER". After attending a conference where the $1million "sea-sick flashlight" (THE DAZZLER) was demoed by Homeland Security, Adafruit decided to create an under $250 version and here are the source code, schematics and PCB files! This is not a kit - but it is an Arduino project!

Some of the comments are pretty funny ...

The bank asked Google for information on the owner of the Gmail address, but Google said the bank had to get a court order to get access to that information. Last week, a judge in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., ordered Google to deactivate the Gmail account and Google complied, Pederson said.

It's unfortunate that the whole thing came up, but Rocky Mountain seems to have behaved well once they realized that they screwed up ...

The Star-Telegram reports that, at least in Texas (where they know a thing or two about guns), prices have started coming down and bullets have begun showing up on store shelves again.

It's about time ...

We’ve all been there. You climb into bed, you turn off the nightstand lamp, and you think “Did I close the garage door?” Save yourself the midnight trip to check on the garage with this ingenious hack. Instructables user kcj2010 hated peeling himself out of bed to double check on the garage door and hated waking up in the morning realising he’d left it open even more. His solution was to wire a sensor to his garage door and place an indicator light hidden in the light fixture of the master bedroom.

Sounds like a good idea ...

For one night only, Bridgewater had its own drive-in off Summer Street on Friday. That was where nearly 100 cars were pulled into fields to watch a firebomb explode as part of the new Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz movie that was filmed on Thursday and Friday in a Cumberland Farms field off Curve Street.

The driveway alarm alert system operates according to a series of sensors. Each sensor can be configured individually and once it is activated it sends a signal to a transmitter. The transmitter is quite powerful and can emit a signal up to 300 feet through walls to the receiver in your home, for example. It’s good to know that the system is entirely waterproof and weatherproof and can be easily mounted and adjusted to your needs. Rather than just been notified that there is a problem of some kind some way, the beauty of the driveway alarm alert system is that each sensor can be matched to a specific message. You record the message in your own voice when you are setting up the system and therefore will know the nature of the problem, whether it relates to the dog in the flower bed or to the pool area.

The problem with this type of system is that everyone in the household must alter their behavior or you have so many false alarms that you quit adequately responding to the alarms ...

Taking cues from conservative blogs and the Drudge Report, Fox News and its online properties flogged a YouTube video that purports to show "[s]chool kids taught to praise Obama." Indeed, in discussing the significance of the story, Fox News host Megyn Kelly said that the video, which the school's superintendent has said was unauthorized, "is getting attention on the Drudge Report website this morning."

They used to call it the Wall St. Journal test. Critically examine whatever it is your fixin' to do and ask yourself how you will feel about it if you wake up tomorrow and find a story and pictures about it on the front page of the WSJ ...

They recorded a video of themselves blowing up a turtle with a homemade pipe bomb. Now a sixth person has come forward in the killing of the animal. The man was charged Wednesday night. He is in the group seen in the video we first showed you on NEWS10 over the weekend.

I know, it's fun, but don't do it ...

The document validates what many of us have been saying for some time now that the decision to use social media technologies should be a risk-based business decision and not an IT security decision.  Further, it states that "The safe use of social media is fundamentally a behavioral issue, not a technology issue."  Everybody say 'Amen!  Not only do the "Guidelines" recommend developing organizational policy for the use of social media, but that the policy should focus on personal and professional user behavior when using government information.  The "Guidelines" call for, among other things, augmented training requirements for employees and additional security monitoring and configuration controls.  I can already see CISO's across the nation smiling.

“We are working overtime and still can’t keep up with the demand,” said Al Russo, spokesman for North Carolina-based Remington Arms Company, which makes bullets for rifles, handguns and shotguns. “We’ve had to add a fourth shift and go 24-7. It’s a phenomenon that I have not seen before in my 30 years in the business.” Americans usually buy about 7 billion rounds of ammunition a year, according to the National Rifle Association. In the past year, that figure has jumped to about 9 billion rounds, said NRA spokeswoman Vickie Cieplak.

In the wake of a recent planned attack on a synagogue in New York City, one former NYC cop is offering rabbis a new way to protect themselves and their worshipers. Rabbi Gary Moscowitz is teaching his peers everything from martial arts to gun handling.

Why is this in any way innovative ...

I've found it almost impossible to find information on Swiss laws regarding self defense. I am shocked and horrified, but there have been 6 (six) muggings at knife point and a break-in in my neighborhood. I just want to know what my rights to protect myself are here in Ticino. Any ideas? Thanks!

It amazes me that an unambiguous right to self-defense isn't in common law. Probably interferes with too many shenanigans ...

The problem of securing data isn’t just about managing it during the life of a drive, but also ensuring it is securely deleted once that drive is no longer used. Seagate’s Secure Self-Encrypting Drives (SED) are being advertised as a complete solution as they not only encrypt while the drive is in use, but deleting the data on the drive at the end of its life only requires the deletion of the encryption key rendering all data unreadable. No more data deletion policies or paying another company to securely dispose of the drives.

MediaPost is reporting that Rocky Mountain Bank, a small institution in Wyoming, accidentally e-mailed the names, Social Security numbers, addresses, and loan information to a Gmail address. When it realized its mistake, it e-mailed the address again and got no response–so it went to court, and a California appellate court judge has told Google that it must deactivate the Gmail address in question. Even though nobody’s accused the e-mail recipient of doing anything wrong.

I imagine they were able to determine through google that the e-mail hadn't been read yet. It that is the case,  deactivating the address will keep the address owner from recovering the data. Sounds like they're moving heaven and earth to protect the data, whether for their customers or for their business reputation ...

The new measure, formally titled UNSC Resolution 1887, expresses the Council's grave concern about the threat of nuclear proliferation and the need for international action to prevent it with a series of conferences leading to treaties to ban nuclear testing and production of fissile (bomb-making) material.

It seems unlikely that they can actually get that particular genie back in the bottle ...

Voice Data Fax Encryptor is a single system Securing all three Voice/Data/Fax in a single casing. It operates over low data rate channels (from 4800 bps), ensuring operability over satellite networks, including INMARSAT, as well as full bandwidth analog channels.

The showing of the video had been eagerly awaited by news organizations as a highlight of the case. In fact, its emotional impact appeared to be a factor in the defense decision to request a nonjury trial. After rejecting repeated defense motions to exclude the video, the judge approved its playing as evidence in court Tuesday and said copies could be distributed to news organizations that had long sought them.

Hmmm ... catastrophic loss of invisibility ...

We have vague terror threats guaranteed to strike fear in the heart of every American because they reference football stadiums, hotels, and mass transit. We have President Obama today calling for a renewal of expiring Patriot Provisions

I was wondering when someone would bring this up ...

Mayor Keith McDonald is licensed to carry and planned on keeping the ban in place. That is until he says he got dozens of persuasive e-mails against the ban and talked to his wife. "I said do you feel safer when I'm carrying my gun? And she said 'yes' and so I was like other families probably feel that way."

Tokenization protects against data breaches by replacing primary account numbers (PANs) and other sensitive data with a different value, a "token." The PANs and matching tokens are stored in an encrypted database, and the organization uses the token, instead of the PAN, to process and record transactions within its own systems. If hackers gain access to those systems, they only receive meaningless tokens and are unable to sell or use customer information.

This is pretty cool ...

It is important for you to carry some form of protection with you wherever you go. Whether you prefer to have pepper spray or one of the many stun guns that are available, it doesn’t matter. You can even have both if you want. Don’t be caught off guard. Show them that they cannot mess with you! You have a right to protect yourself, so you should do what you can to make sure that you are safe when in public or at home and even when you are at work.

Just don't try to use either one in a gun fight ...

The nine new cameras expand the SANYO industry-leading family of security video products that are driving high-definition into CCTV. The growing demand for high quality HD video in the security industry has created the need for HD cameras in various configurations. By combining HD video with security features, SANYO can help security professionals seize this opportunity by offering proven HD video in a variety of form factors for different applications. The new cameras join the award-winning SANYO VCC-HD4000 resulting in the industry’s first complete HD lineup. 

"The 24-year-old stepped out of his vehicle with an AK 47 Assault rifle and said, 'give me all you got'", Sergeant John Sullivan with Dayton Police said. Officers say instead of money, Anderson got bullets.

Oh, and ... uh ... keep the change ...

The honest way to do this is to adopt a form of the administrative detention system other countries use for national-security threats. That way, the government could hold everybody who was reasonably suspected in a mass-murder plot rather than just those against whom it can currently scrape together evidence of some crime — any crime — while the other plotters stay at liberty, destroy evidence, and flee. 

Yeah, that whole constitution thing is down right inconvenient ...

Undermine our allies. Embolden our enemies. Diminish our country. Those nine words define the Obama Doctrine with respect to American security policy. All three elements were much in evidence in the president's benighted decision last week to cancel the "Third Site" for intercontinental-range missile defenses in Eastern Europe. They will be on display as well during this week's several conclaves with foreign leaders. The cumulative effect is predictable: A world in which the United States has fewer friends, more enemies, and less options for assuring its security. 

It's hard to picture us having very many fewer friends or very many more enemies ... the previous andministration made sure of that.

When the Raymond, New Hampshire, selectmen refused permission to a local resident to hold a yoga class on the town green in honor of the United Nations International Day of Peace, they may not have anticipated the decision would draw gun-toting libertarians and others to the site to show support for First and Second Amendment rights. Molly Schlangen, the yoga instructor who had planned to hold a complimentary class on the green on Sunday, held it instead at her studio in the neighboring town of Epping. But two other gatherings were held on the town common that day. At noon about 20 members of the Free State Project, a movement to draw people to New Hampshire to work for smaller government and greater protections of individual liberty, showed up to demonstrate their support for freedom of speech and the right to peacefully assemble, as well as the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Several of them were wearing guns, in accordance with the state's "open carry" law.

The fact of having to ask should tell you that it's time to throw the bums out ...

The use of this statute may have very well have prevented a variety of mass terrorist attacks, as it is a quick and effective way of getting violent prone extremists off the streets early -- before an attack takes place.  These dangerous folks often crack and lie under the gauntlet of professional interrogators aided by intensive search techniques. Civil libertarians argue, however, that this strategy often ensnares unsophisticated blowhards whose threat potential is minimal or overblown. The fact that the strategy is purposefully preventative in nature means that in many cases we’ll never be able to conclusively prove how bad the threat actually was.

It's odd that they chose not to remain silent ...

Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin says he likes Mayor Greg Nickels' proposed ban of guns on more than 500 city-owned properties. Conlin also says state Attorney General Rob McKenna's opinion that Seattle lacks the legal authority to ban guns on its properties is wrong.

Perhaps he will have his ass handed to him in next election's primaries, just like Nickels did ...

Kangin had denied the charges made against him 5 days ago and now the truth is finally out. The police have decided Kangin did try to stay out of it which makes it self defense but he must go to court for a further and more detailed decision about his punishment because he is charged with an act of violence violation.

Brox’s program worked like this: When casino security guards detained people on misdemeanor charges — such as trespassing, disorderly conduct and petty theft — they would attempt to route the detainees into the program as an alternative to calling police to arrest them. While the people were detained, they were shown a video that presented them with the “option” of enrolling in the program to avoid a criminal record. The detainees were charged $500 to enroll, and Brox paid $100 to the casinos for each person who completed the program.

Hmmm ... I'd hate to be the one that signed a company up for this. I suspect the ramifications will be widespread and costly.

Utah gun owners are protesting Nevada's decision to reject Utah-issued concealed-weapon permits. On July 1, the Nevada Sheriffs' and Chiefs' Association, which sets the Silver State's permit recognition requirements, dropped Utah from the list of states whose permit holders also may carry concealed firearms in Nevada. The reason: Utah does not require permit holders to prove their proficiency with a live-fire test on a shooting range.

It would be nice if everyone just went the Vermont route, but absent that, it would be nice if an independent organization came up with a tasty 'best practices' guide so that everyone could agree and get on with it.The pointlessness of this situation comes from the fact that everyone can 'supposedly' open carry with out any permit at all.

These electronic locksets by Kwikset work with Control4 and the Schlage LiNK system to send you an email when someone enters the door (with the correct combination, of course).

Interesting ...

The change allows health-care companies to do a self-assessment of the potential privacy and fraud risks stemming from a data breach and leaves it up to them to decide if a notification is justified. If a breached company decides there is no harm, it will have no obligation to disclose the breach to anyone -- even if it had taken no measures previously to protect the data. "The harm standard completely undermines the purpose of mandatory notification, which is that covered entities protect their patient data with strong safeguards," said Harley Geiger, legal counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a Washington-based think tank. "Now an entity can avoid both encryption and notification because they can decide that any information that was released poses no risk," he said.

A much better way to defend yourself against physical attacks is to carry a self defense weapon with you. Most people assume that this must mean a gun or a knife, but in fact there is a wide range of non lethal self defense products from which to choose. Pepper spray canisters, a very common choice, come in styles small enough to fit inside a purse or even a jacket pocket. Just pull out your pepper spray canister and press the button to discharge the pepper spray straight in your attacker’s face. This spray will stop them in their tracks. If you’ve never seen pepper spray in use, you’ll be astonished at how fast your attacker goes down. This method gives you up to 30 minutes to safely get away from the situation.

In most situations, a victim is literally surrounded by self-defense weapons but the vic doesn't recognize them as such because they haven't trained themselves in the use of 'pick-up' weapons. Pens, paperweights, brooms, picture frames ... all can be used to good effect in battle IF you've taken the time to familiarize yourself with how they might be used. REMEMBER: When seconds count, the Police are only minutes away ...

A security guard has been shot and killed during a bank robbery in west Dallas, according to FOX affiliate KDFW. The body of the victim was left in the bank's drive-through bank lane, covered by a tarp as detectives and FBI agents combed the area.

Today's the day, everyday ...

The Obama administration offered to hit the "re-set" button in its relations with Russia and the scrapping of the Polish-Czech facility is a good step in this effort. A sea-borne option provides greater flexibility, responsiveness and doesn't violate anyone's sovereignty or vital interests while still placing an impediment in the way of Iranian ambitions. The United States and Russia should now have a freer hand in cooperating against Al Qaeda and Russia has less incentive to aid Iran. One hopes that the global fight against Al Qaeda and Islamist extremism will be strengthened, Iran will be contained and the American homeland will be made safer, not only from terrorism, but from the missile threat that led to all this activity in the first place. 

This was a pretty provocative installation so abandoning it may have been the right move. It increased our invisibility with only minimal corresponding decrease in invincibility. Hopefully, the Poles and Czechs will come to see it that way, too. After all, it wasn't an anti-tank installation ...

The proposition could be legally dicey. Nickels acknowledges that state law preempts city ordinances on firearms, but notes that property owners may impose conditions for carrying guns on their land. Nickels argues the city can therefor impose restriction on firearms on park property, which it owns, like any other property owner.

Hmmm ... so the city owns the property and isn't just a steward for the actual owners, the citizens. No wonder he got routed in the primary. Be gone ...

A major problem inherent in dealing with security against terrorism via political means is the tendency to focus what are always scarce resources on highly visible efforts—what some have termed “security theater.” The alternative is to base security policy on serious risk analysis, putting resources where they achieve the greatest bang for the buck. That kind of analysis in aviation security suggests that spending $4 billion per year on screening every passenger and bag (rather than focusing resources more on higher-risk passengers) and stationing air marshals on airliners are not cost-effective uses of security dollars. If we spent less of these resources on security theater and more on preventing airfield perimeters from being breached and lobbies from being targeted by suicide bombers, we’d likely be better off. And by the same token, serious risk analysis might suggest spending relatively less on aviation security and relatively more on rail and cargo security.

Focus on detecting means, and motive becomes irrelevant ...

Some really cool space pics ...

The budget cudgel was approved despite pleas from Amtrak that it lacks the manpower, equipment and extra financing to effectively meet the deadline and that it faces a shutdown if federal funds are lost. Among other changes, baggage cars would have to be securely retrofitted and manpower increased. The warning cut no ice with the majority as the chief sponsor, Senator Roger Wicker, a Republican of Mississippi, intoned a lock-step mantra: “Americans should not have their Second Amendment rights restricted for any reason.”

Heh, heh ...

A person who learns martial art is less likely to get into fights unless cornered. Parents could complement trainers by teaching responsible and caring behaviors to children learning martial arts. By doing so, parents are putting the kids on the right path as they begin their journey to the world of martial arts.

With funding from the US Department of Homeland Security, Draper Laboratory and other collaborators are building technology to detect potential terrorists with cameras and noninvasive sensors that monitor eye blinks, heart rate, and even fidgeting. The project, called the “Future Attribute Screening Technology,’’ is aimed at allowing security checkpoint personnel at airports or large public events to make better, faster decisions about whether a person should get follow-up screening. At a demonstration of the technology this week, project manager Robert P. Burns said the idea is to track a set of involuntary physiological reactions that might slip by a human observer. These occur when a person harbors malicious intent - but not when someone is late for a flight or annoyed by something else, he said, citing years of research into the psychology of deception.

Perhaps we could work on a machine that tells us whether a person has the wherewithall to interfere with a flight (such as by carrying exposives) and not worry about whether they have the desire to interfere with the flight.

"Yale has done a very good job of protecting people who work in that building from those who don't and who might object to the (animal) research taking place there who might resort to violence," Bulger said. "That security measure, however, doesn't address situations that might arise between employees" on the premises.

At least not in the way carrying blam-blams would ...

The Jianguomenwai Diplomatic Residence Compound is a glum, Stalinist-style group of buildings constructed in the 1970s to house the first foreigners allowed to live in China after the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution ended. Although there are plenty of newer, swankier developments available, Jianguomenwai is still favored by some diplomats and journalists for its bargain rents and convenient proximity to an avenue leading to Tiananmen Square. But the apartments may be a little too close to the capital's most famous landmark. In late August, residents were notified by the compound's managers that, during the planned Oct. 1 parade marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, they should refrain from opening "any window or balcony door" facing the parade route. Nor should they stand on the balcony to watch the procession. "When I asked them what would happen if we did go out on the balcony," one resident says, "in so many words they said we could get shot." 

You get the impression that life is fairly cheap in China ...

When American lives hang in the balance, it is not enough to tell us we have treated terrorists with sensitivity to our highest ideals. We want to know that those charged with keeping us safe have done everything necessary to carry out their charge. I am heartless enough to say that I am not in any way concerned for the comfort of those who might have information we could employ to protect Americans. And when thousands die and the FBI tells us that they treated those who had that information with the highest Constitutional consideration, I am realistic enough to say they will not be forgiven.

Or ... he may just like people being tortured ...

Why the hell would you want to encrypt your data anyway?
Lots of reasons ... looks like a pretty good primer ... I kill me, sometimes!