The most telling part of this entire saga is what Fred Phelps said after the judgment, that it will make him important. — That’s what this has been from the beginning. Their sad little Church (which is in reality nothing more than Phelps and his children) is all about bringing attention to themselves. I honestly don’t think that this decision will stand, but it will no doubt lead to many more lawsuits against Phelps and his band of intolerant sycophants — I guess that’s all the justice that we can give to the poor men and women who have given their lives for their country only to be mocked by morons

From the article:“Church founder Fred Phelps said the church would appeal the decision, adding it would “take about five minutes to reverse that thing. This will elevate me to something important,” Phelps told reporters. “This was an act of futility.” Later, Phelps said the case was about “putting a preacher on trial for what he preaches. All it was, was a protestation by the government of the United States against the word of God. They don’t want me preaching that God is punishing the country by killing their servicemen.”

From the article:“Foreclosure filings across the U.S. nearly doubled last month compared with September 2006, as financially strapped homeowners already behind on mortgage payments defaulted on their loans or came closer to losing their homes to foreclosure, a real estate information company said Thursday.”

This isn’t surprising, but it is sad nonetheless. Many of these foreclosures are of properties that were unsuccessfully “flipped” but some of them are unfortunate folk who were caught up in the financial hot plate of 05-06 and are now looking at losing their homes.

You can watch this video after the jump. It’s pretty disgusting and quite “Not Safe for work” but I find it fascinating to see what medical professionals have to deal with on a daily basis. (It’s not all E.R. and Scrubs!)
More after the Jump »

This news has been buried, partly because Microsoft doesn’t want to make a big deal out of a new OS while they’re still trying to push Vista, and partly because there are plenty of people who are sick on anything to do with Microsoft — but I’m intrigued by this news because MS “bloatware” has been such a problem that I think that a new approach to an OS can only be good. Take a super-small Windows OS Kernel, then add the modules and services that you need for your personalized application. You make everything faster, more secure, more stable and less expensive. – What’s not to like?

From the article:” It’s rare that anyone at Microsoft talks publicly about Windows 7, the next version of Windows. It’s even rarer that anyone provides actual information about what might be inside the operating system, which is still in the planning stages.

However, Microsoft has posted a video of a recent university lecture given by Distinguished Engineer Eric Traut in which he talks about, among other things, a new, slimmed down kernel known as MinWin that was created as part of the Windows 7 development process.

The kernel, which lacks Vista’s bells and whistles or even a graphics system at all, takes up just 25MB on disk as compared with 4GB that the full Windows Vista takes up. And while people would need far more than MinWin to run even a basic Web server, Traut said it shows that Windows, at its heart, does not have to be a monster resource hog.”

From the article:“Eating some bad fish might not seem like the most spectacular way to ruin a tropical vacation, but for a 45-year-old man from England, a bit of tainted seafood was the beginning of a wild ride.

Cold water felt burning hot. Hot things felt icy cold. His tongue felt strange. Drinking alcohol or coffee only increased his suffering.

The patient had ciguatera poisoning — an ailment caused by ciguatoxin, a neurotoxin that is produced by microorganisms and found in a wide variety of tropical fish. “

Cool… I mean… HOT… I mean… well, you know what I mean!

The current Telco system was created at a time when only large corporations had the resources, determination and foresight to see the value of having an expansive, interconnected communications network. The legislation that gave the Telcos carte blanch to own the cables and fiber depended on the “goodness and benevolence” of the Telcos to ensure that the American people were properly served.

Well we’ve seen lately that the Telcos pretty much don’t care about us little consumers. Sure there are a few alternatives, but the only REAL alternative that I can see will come about when the users of the communications capacity actually OWN the infrastructure for that communication. This Canadian-co-op may be the IT equivalent of hippies in the backyard, but I love their model.

From the article:“Some ISPs simply discourage end users from offering WiFi connections to neighbors; most explicitly rule it out in their terms of service. But a small Canadian ISP called Wireless Nomad actually requires it.

Nomad does things a little differently. The company is subscriber-owned, volunteer-run, and open-source friendly. It offers a neutral Internet connection with no bandwidth caps or throttling, and it makes a point of creating wireless access points at the end of each DSL connection that can be used, for free, by the public. Bell Canada this is not. ”

Hmmm… the man behind the company that made E.T. — The worst videogame in HISTORY and a huge multi-million dollar flop that almost single-handedly destroyed the Videogame industry is calling today’s games “Trash?” — Did I miss a memo? — This man hasn’t been behind the development of a video game for three decades and he’s calling games like “breakout” innovative and community-building? His entire argument is that today’s videogames are too “insular” and yet he seems to ignore the fact that the force behind the Nintendo WII or XBOX Live is that people WANT to play with other people.

From the article:” Nolan Bushnell may not be a household word but his effect on the game industry has been felt for decades–he is the founder of Atari and one of the early pioneers in video games.

But Bushnell has some harsh words for the state of today’s games and said, “Video games today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash and I’m sad for that.”

I remember an episode of “G.I. Joe” that I watched when I was a kid. Cobra took over a Space-based Solar Array and used it as a weapon by controlling where the power was beamed. I though it was cool back then, it looked pretty ridiculous when I grew older, and now it looks like it might actually be a possibility! The science is sound. It’s more efficient to collect solar power in space and the ability to beam the power to anywhere in the world makes it a solar farm that can feed any location on the planet. — I just hope Cobra Commander doesn’t use it to microwave D.C.!

From the article:“Collecting solar power in space and beaming it back to Earth is a relatively near-term possibility that could solve strategic and tactical security problems for the U.S. and its deployed forces, the Pentagon’s National Security Space Office (NSSO) says in a report issued Oct. 10.

As a clean source of energy that would be independent of foreign supplies in the strife-torn Middle East and elsewhere, space solar power (SSP) could ease America’s longstanding strategic energy vulnerability, according to the “interim assessment” released at a press conference and on the Web site spacesolarpower.wordpress.com.”

From the article:” Total sales in September, a 5-week retail period, soared to $1.36 billion, up from $779 million a year earlier, according to market research firm NPD. “Halo 3″, the latest installment of Microsoft’s flagship franchise, sold 3.3 million copies, more than twice as many as the next nine games combined, the data showed.”

All of us uberGeeks knew that Halo 3 was going to be a big release, but selling more than 2x the total of the following 9 titles combined? That’s just crazy!

I’m a geek… no… more than that… I’m an uberGeek… which means I admit that I have next to no sense of design and style. I actually like the industrial, super geeky look of wires and connectors and chips and technology that clashes with its surroundings. However, I understand that many people don’t like that look and that perhaps it is exactly that style that keeps some people from adopting technologies that they would otherwise embrace. — That’s why Kyocera has created the concept of a “solar grove” for parking lots. The idea is simple, we don’t like when our cars are cooked as the set in parking lots. With an array of solar trees in an average parking lot, we can both keep cars cool and use prime sunlight to power alternative vehicles and the like.

From the article:“Solar Trees. Solar Groves. The value of shade in the future economy. Bio-mimicry. My little brain was racing to absorb all the solar heat coming through the phone. I spent nearly an hour talking with Robert Noble. Trained as an architect, he’s now CEO of Envision Solar in LaJolla, among his several ventures. Envision’s a spin-off from his architectural firm. Their first big project was to solarize a parking lot for Kyocera in San Diego. Appropriately Kyocera maunfactures solar components, and they wanted a showcase. They got it.”

From the article:“The suit, filed earlier this month, has drawn international attention to the private Christian school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, founded by evangelist Oral Roberts, father of university President Richard Roberts.

The new allegations come in an amended version of the wrongful termination suit filed by three former professors, who say they lost their jobs after reporting that Roberts and his family lavishly spent school money for personal expenses.”

Can you hear me now? — No? —- Maybe you need a personal signal repeater from Wi-Ex.

The zBoost zPersonal YX300 from Wi-Ex is a cellular signal repeater that is tailored for “workspace” boosting of a cellular signal. Unlike the more powerful YX510 which can boost the signal enough to cover a 2,500 square foot region, the zP will amplify a signal to a level that can serve a 4-6 ft ring around the YX300.

More after the Jump »

From the article:” The State Department does not know specifically what it received for a billion-dollar contract with security firm DynCorp International to provide training services for Iraqi police, a U.S. watchdog agency said on Tuesday.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said it was forced to suspend its audit of the DynCorp contract after administration officials told investigators they had no confidence in their own accounting records.”

The zBoost YX510 from Wi-Ex is a dual-band signal repeater that can extend signal coverage into “dead zones” within your house, office or other “roaming area” where you need mobile communications. The YX510 works with 800 & 1900Mhz phones which basically covers every cellular service provider aside from Nextel. (Their Push-To-Talk Feature isn’t repeatable by this type of technology.) The booster will repeat data using the CDMA, GSM, TDMA, AMPS, GPRS, EDGE, 1xRTT, EVDO, HSDPA protocols which means that you can get both voice and data services where you need them most.

On average, the YX500 series will serve an area of 2,500 square feet. (The average home is 2,137 square feet.) With its 500mw EIRP (Effective Isotropically Radiated Power) you can get an average of 56-65db of gain, depending on the terrain. (i.e. walls, windows, etc.) You can also increase that coverage by changing the internal antenna which uses a TNC connector — this lets you use higher gain antenna, increasing the EIRP and the effective gain.

More after the Jump »

I found this link and I thought, “cool… I’ll get to see some real computing dinosaurs” then I actually checked out the pictures and I realized that I either had or worked on most of these computers at one point in my IT history. Still… uberGeeks of the world unite!

From the article:“This gallery showcases several 1970s-era machines from Steven Stengel’s vintage computer collection. Stengel has graciously allowed CNET to republish his photos and descriptions. You can find much more detailed information on each machine and additional photos of the collection on his Web site Oldcomputers.net”