dutchsinse geiger counter reads 73.2 clicks per min in idaho

Our radioactive weekend continues with Dutchsinse taking readings on a radioactive road trip! Do you recall when camping involved Coleman stoves and lanterns, a tent, sleeping bags and groceries? Dutchsinse may be a trendsetter where a geiger counter for measuring radioactivity levels on site seems essential? Highest readings recorded on Dutchsinse's radioactivity measurement trip, appears to be 73.2 clicks per minute at Craters of the Moon park in Idaho, which seems to be only background radiation, according to McGill University website? In Pendleton, Oregon, Dutchsinse reads 55.7 cpm on his counter! A geiger counter reading over 400 clicks per minute considered contamination. The readings from an independent source are reassuring as they appear to show low radioactivity?

5/5 defcon: re-entry & removal

video: Spacecraft re-entry over Wash. & Oregon on may3?*

Department of Justice:
FBI Too Focused On Child Porn*
Feds Demand Firefox Remove Add-On That Redirects Seized Domains*
Mozilla Refuses to Block Extension for dhs - As Government's ICE Effort Continues to Look Silly*
flashback: 'mafiaa fire': firefox add-on to reverse US govt domain censorship
Gabrielle Giffords leaves Florida after shuttle Endeavor delay*

4/7 defcon: comets, condé, attacks, accidents

elenin may produce greatest meteor showers in history*
nasa admits all previous warming trends caused by sun?*
google making app that would identify people's faces*
is google online piracy public enemy #1?*
to boost innovation, facebook opens server designs; prineville, oregon data center 38% more energy-efficient & 24% cheaper to build*
epsilon breach a treasure trove for phishing attacks*
studio suing bittorrent pirates does not own the movie, records show*
'anonymous' attacks sony to protest ps3 hacker lawsuit*
condé nast got hooked in $8m spear-phishing scam*
georgian woman cuts off web access to whole of armenia*
'the onion' digitizes archives, area man stoked*

video update: US to use facebook, twitter to issue terror alerts*

oregon senator wyden effectively kills internet censorship bill

from raw story: It's too early to say for sure, but Oregon Senator Ron Wyden could very well go down in the history books as the man who saved the Internet.

A bill that critics say would have given the government power to censor the Internet will not pass this year thanks to the Oregon Democrat, who announced his opposition during a recent committee hearing. Individual Senators can place holds on pending legislation, in this case meaning proponents of the bill will be forced to reintroduce the measure and will not be able to proceed until the next Congress convenes.

Even then, its passage is not certain.

The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) would have permitted a blanket takedown of any domain alleged to be assisting activities that violate copyright law, based upon the judgment of state attorneys general.

"Deploying this statute to combat online copyright infringement seems almost like using a bunker-busting cluster bomb, when what you need is a precision-guided missile," Wyden said.

defcon 6/9: wikileaked, registered & artificials

US intel analyst arrested in wikileaks video probe*
bbc: wikileaks site unfazed by arrest of US army 'source'*
video: state dept anxious about diplomatic secrets bradley manning allegedly downloaded*
wikileaks was launched with documents intercepted from tor*
wikileaks & julian paul assange in 'the new yorker'*
wikileaks denies tor hacker eavesdropping gave site its start* at&t leak leaves US apple ipad owners at risk*
bill gives feds 'emergency’ powers to secure civilian nets*
dhs would be cyber power center under lieberman/collins proposal*
nsa chief: US carefully monitoring military computer networks for sabotage*
wireless signals to be jammed in canada for g8 summit*
top US commander in iraq raises internet concerns*
new worries emerge about internet monitoring*
calls increase for govt to regulate net journalists & bloggers*
michigan considers law to register journalists*
lawyers claim google wi-fi sniffing 'is not an accident'*
chinese net addicts stage mutiny at boot camp*
ceo of firm that made $100m selling 'scareware' was a fugitive*
6 astronauts begin 520-day mock flight to mars*
approaching space object 'artificial, not asteroid' says nasa*
more active sun means nasty solar storms ahead*
ancient meteorite discovered in oregon*

portland pimps to be 'ultra-high speed' google giunea pig

from ars technica: The City of Portland, Oregon says it's ready to be one of Google's test run fiber-to-the-home projects, and how: "No city in the USA is as ready as Portland to launch a citywide or scaled test bed for ultra high speed open platform broadband," its response to Google's Request for Proposals proudly declares. "Portland has the history, broad community support, willing businesses, committed local government, and cost-effective, year-round construction metrics."

As we've reported, Google says it's planning to roll out and test "ultra-high speed broadband networks" in various trial areas around the United States. And they sound pretty darned ultra: one gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections "at a competitive price" to cities and regions of 50,000 to ten times that many people.

Portland says if you build it, we will download. But beyond that, why should Google choose that rainy northwestern city where people prefer to rust rather than tan?
Here are some answers the RFP gives.

First, hardcore telecommuters, Portlanders like to work at home, or "over Wi-Fi in coffee shops, or in co-working spaces," the RFP notes. In fact, "nine Portlanders telecommute for every one who commutes by light rail." Plus it's a small business city—within Multnomah County, three out of four businesses have ten employees or less.

Next, Portlanders are huge long-term planners of the green variety. This was the first city to embrace a plan for global warming, the document adds. Its emissions levels have dropped 14 percent while national emissions continue to go up. The town already serves as a test site for sensor nets, telemedicine, and advanced geolocation services.

And Portland "was the first government in the nation to endorse 'open access' requirement to then-emerging broadband Internet platforms," doing so back in December of 1998. Google's project, it should be noted, will be open access—letting users choose from a variety of ISPs.

Finally, Mr. Linux himself, Linus Torvalds, lives in Portland, as does wiki inventor Ward Cunningham.

This all sounds pretty competitive to us (we, of course, aren't making the decision). Applicants had until March 26 to make their move; as cities now reveal their applications, everyone else can see what they are up against. Google may take until the end of this year to make its decision.