Just great . . . I move away from Austin and then they have a Zombie Attack

Ok, not really. But just in case, we know the signs work in the event of an undead apocalypse.

Apparently, some local folks hacked a construction sign to warn passersby of zombies in the area.

Construction signs warn of zombies Hackers change public safety message

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin drivers making their morning commute were in for a surprise when two road signs on a busy stretch of road were taken over by hackers. The signs near the intersection of Lamar and Martin Luther King boulevards usually warn drivers about upcoming construction, but Monday morning they warned of "zombies ahead."

KXAN Austin News cameras caught many drivers slowing down to read the signs as they approached. Some read, "Zombies ahead! Run for your lives!"

Of course the city didn't think it was too funny. But then again, sending out a false warning of impending zombie doom is never funny. It's just like the old tale of the "boy who cried werewolf." Pretty soon, the angry townsfolk will stop running towards you aid with pitchforks and torches.

More.

I wonder if they changed the password from 1-2-3-4 over to 4-3-2-1? :)

Space Nazis!

Holy crap - Clive Cussler was right all along!



Here's the site.

"The following tale of alien encounters is true . . . . and by true I mean false. It's all lies but they're entertaining lies and in the end isn't that the real truth. The answer is no."
- Leonard Nimoy

23 skidoo

"The most thoroughly and relentlessly Damned, banned, excluded, condemned, forbidden, ostracized, ignored, suppressed, repressed, robbed, brutalized and defamed of all Damned things is the individual human being. The social engineers, statisticians, psychologists, sociologists, market researchers, landlords, bureaucrats, captains of industry, bankers, governors, commissars, kings and presidents are perpetually forcing this Damned Thing into carefully prepared blueprints and perpetually irritated that the Damned Thing will not fit into the slot assigned to it. The theologians call it a sinner and tries to reform it. The governor calls it a criminal and tries to punish it. The psychotherapist calls it neurotic and tries to cure it. Still, the Damned Thing will not fit into their slots. "

- From The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Wilson

Power to the People . . . Tech People

TenSix Redz sent me over this great bit about the libertarian nature of folks in the technology sector and how a more distributed model of government may soon be on the horizon.

Technology Will
Change Politics From Top Down To Bottom Up
from the but-it-won't-be-pleasant-in-the-meantime dept

Sometimes people wonder why so many people in the tech industry tend to fall into more of a "libertarian" viewpoint on things. Perhaps it's because they realize the empowering nature of technology to do away with the need for many more centralized top down structures. The reason that we often have big top down structures is because there was no efficient way to spread the control outwards, so you consolidate power at the top allowing someone else to make decisions for a large group of people as their "representative." However, technology erodes some of that, by creating more efficient means of communication, breaking down the need for such top down control. We see it many different aspects. Companies today are more fluid, with a much more bottom up approach. Products and services that involve a bottom up approach are becoming more popular (and more useful) every day. So it's only a matter of time until the same thing happens to the government.

It's almost surprising to find out that there's a high ranking politician who recognizes this. Apparently the UK's Tory leader David Cameron made exactly that point, noting that politicians need to let go, and let the technology distribute tasks out to citizens, rather than trying to control everything centrally. Of course, it's one thing to say it and another thing altogether to do it. Those who came up through the "old" way, which grants more power and control at the top freak out at the idea of giving up that control. You see it today with the way Microsoft reacts to open source, the way the RIAA reacts to Napster, to the way newspapers react to citizen journalism. They close up, circle the wagons and talk about how important that control is -- though, not in those terms exactly. Instead, they trash the quality of the more chaotic bottom up system, missing the point that it's not about the average quality, but the the abundance of options that make quality more personalized. The same thing will happen in politics as well. Many people get into politics (or get hooked on politics) because of the power that comes with it. Getting them to give up that power won't be easy by any means. But it will happen. It'll just mean a period of rather painful adjustment.

His emphasis above.

All and all I think that the power of technology to allow different voices to be heard and express themselves is a great thing (well, duh!). Unfortunately also I think the downside of all of this is that The Man is probably not be very excited about these changes to their tradtional hold on things. Though I think this will be a time of great opportunity for freedom, but there will be an equal opportunity for the rights of the people to be stomped about in the name of preserving order, tranquility, right of the landowners, etc.

Ahem . . . I digress.

I think the "age of the Internet" hasn't even really begun.

Just keep an eye out for the hunter-killers.

Hunter-Killer – That’s right folks, you heard it!

A fellow TAG'er sent me over this item from today’s issue of US Today:

Bomb-laden 'Reaper' drones bound for Iraq

The airplane is the size of a jet fighter, powered by a turboprop engine, able to fly at 300 mph and reach 50,000 feet. It is outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting, and with a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles.

The Reaper is loaded, but there is no one on board. Its pilot, as it bombs targets in Iraq, will sit at a video console 7,000 miles away in Nevada.

The arrival of these outsized U.S. "hunter-killer" drones, in aviation history's first robot attack squadron, will be a watershed moment even in an Iraq that has seen too many innovative ways to hunt and kill.

My emphasis above

Note that the company building these devices is General Atomics of San Diego and not Cyberdyne Systems, but if the DOD or NORAD starts calling their computer network SkyNet, I think we all should be really concerned.

Is it a case of life imitating art, or something much more sinister?

More here.