Planet Metro

'Coolbox' van brandweer wint prijs

2008-05-16T18:51:31+00:00

De Coolbox van Brandweer AmsterdamAmstelland heeft woensdag een prijs gewonnen voor de meest creatieve campagne, zo maakt de brandweer vrijdagochtend bekend. De Coolbox is een onderdeel van de campagne 'Blijf jij cool als het heet wordt?', die als doel heeft om mensen te interesseren voor het vak van brandweerman.

Aanleg Park Frankendael voltooid

2008-05-16T18:51:31+00:00

De aanleg van Park Frankendael in Oost/Watergraafsmeer is vrijdag eindelijk voltooid. In 1998 ging het stadsdeel akkoord met het ontwerp.

Majoor Bosshardtprijs voor Terpstra

2008-05-16T18:51:31+00:00

Erica Terpstra en de Willeke Alberti Foundation mogen dit jaar de Majoor Bosshardtprijs in ontvangst nemen, zo maakte juryvoorzitter Christian Houkes vrijdag bekend. De uitreiking wordt gehouden tijdens een groot feest op 8 juni in Krasnapolsky.

Emanuelson gaat niet mee naar EK

2008-05-16T18:51:31+00:00

Urby Emanuelson gaat niet mee naar het Europees Kampioenschap deze zomer. De linkspoot van Ajax is één van de vier afvallers.

Twee gewonden bij ruzie binnenstad

2008-05-16T18:51:31+00:00

Bij een ruzie donderdagavond in de buurt van de Haarlemmerdijk zijn twee gewonden gevallen. Twee mannen kregen het in de Vinkenstraat met elkaar aan de stok .

Bromfietser gewond bij aanrijding

2008-05-16T18:51:31+00:00

Een 21-jarige bromfietser is donderdagavond omstreeks 18.45 uur ernstig gewond geraakt bij een aanrijding in de Zeilstraat in Oud-Zuid.

Dronken passagier van KLM opgepakt

2008-05-16T18:51:31+00:00

Het personeel van een KLM Boeing 747 heeft donderdagochtend een stomdronken passagier in de boeien geslagen. De Ierse vrouw reisde van Johannesburg in Zuid-Afrika naar Schiphol.

Slijngard zondag bij Ajax in basis

2008-05-16T18:33:44+00:00

Ajax begint zondagmiddag met Donovan Slijngard in de basis aan het beslissende duel met Twente om een plaats in de voorronde van de Champions League. Trainer Adrie Koster laat de 20-jarige aanvoerder van Jong Ajax debuteren omdat de drie eerste opties voor de positie links in de defensie ontbreken.

SANS sounds alarm on Debian OpenSSL flaw

2008-05-16T18:33:44+00:00

Lockpicking script prompts alarm

The SANS Institute today took the highly unusual step of issuing a yellow alert over a vulnerability in the cryptographic functions of Debian, the Linux distro that underpins Ubuntu.…

Cartoonist 'Nekschot' gearresteerd

2008-05-16T18:32:38+00:00

De politie heeft dinsdag op last van het OM de cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot aangehouden. Hij wordt verdacht van het publiceren van cartoons die discriminerend zijn voor moslims en mensen met een donkere huidskleur, aldus een woordvoerder van het parket donderdag.

Rover: 'situatie Zuid onacceptabel'

2008-05-16T18:28:50+00:00

De infrastructurele situatie voor invaliden op station Zuid is onacceptabel, zo liet reizigersorganisatie Rover vrijdag weten. De organisatie eist daarom maatregelen van de gemeente en het GVB.

Man aangehouden wegens megaboete

2008-05-16T18:25:56+00:00

Vrijdagochtend rond 10.00 uur is in de Bestevaerstraat in Bos en Lommer een man aangehouden die nog een megaboete van 124.

DARPA Celebrates 50 Years of Pushing the Envelope

2008-05-16T18:09:00+00:00

holy_calamity writes "The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency was founded in 1958 after the Soviets shocked the world by launching Sputnik. New Scientist recounts the history of the agency charged with protecting the US from 'technological surprise' and lists some of its most spectacular successes and failures."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Goudse scholieren op bezoek in schouwburg

2008-05-16T17:53:00+00:00

GOUDA - Circa 1200 Goudse schoolkinderen gingen vrijdag niet naar school, maar brachten een bezoek aan de Goudse Schouwburg.

Grote coffeeshop moet half jaar dicht

2008-05-16T17:44:11+00:00

TERNEUZEN - Coffeeshop Checkpoint in Terneuzen moet een half jaar dicht. Dat heeft burgemeester Jan Lonink van de Zeeuwse grensplaats vrijdag besloten.

Keeping Customer From Accessing My Database?

2008-05-16T17:36:00+00:00

cyteen02 writes "We run a data processing and tracking system for a customer in the UK. We provide a simple Web site where the customer can display the tracking data held in our Oracle database. From these screens they can query based on a combination of 15 different data fields, so it's pretty flexible. We also provide a csv report overnight of the previous day's data processing, which they can load into their own SQL Server database and produce whatever reports they want. Occasionally they also want one-off specific detailed reports, so we write the SQL for that and send them the results in an Excel format spreadsheet. This all ticks along happily. However they have now asked for direct read-only access to our Oracle database, to be able to run ad-hoc queries without consulting us. As a DBA, my heart sinks at the thought of amateurs pawing through my database. Unfortunately, 'because you are stupid' is not considered a valid business reason to reject their request. So can any Slashdotters assist me in building my case to restrict access? Have you experienced a similar situation? Have you had to support this sort of end user access? How would you advice me to keep my customer away from my precious tables?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Taalbureau vraagt uitstel betaling

2008-05-16T17:34:22+00:00

De Amsterdamse taalaanbieder A Deux heeft als eerste in Nederland uitstel van betaling aangevraagd, zo werd vrijdagmiddag bekend. Aanleiding voor de financiële problemen is het feit dat de gemeente veel minder mensen die een inburgeringscursus moeten volgen, heeft doorgestuurd naar de firma dan was afgesproken.

TWikiMarketingMeeting2008x05x05

2008-05-16T17:16:04+00:00

TWiki Marketing Meeting, 05 May 2008 "TWiki, the open source wiki for the enterprise." Logistics Place: IRC Server chat.freenode.net, channel #twiki marketing ... (last changed by CrawfordCurrie)

NewTWikiOrgServer2008

2008-05-16T17:14:24+00:00

2008 05 13 some update on the twiki.org servers we are making progress : ) 2 webservers and nas backend are racked and powered up the sun solaris ... (last changed by CrawfordCurrie)

AMD cries foul over Intel's 'river of cash' flowing to Dell

2008-05-16T17:08:57+00:00

Shows Intel Chairman begging for forgiveness

AMD vs Intel It's document season in the ongoing anti-trust lawsuit between AMD and Intel. Last week, the companies fought over witness testimony and earlier this week a judge told Intel to fork over some documents related to interviews done as the company tried to deal with its deletion of e-mails possibly related to the case at hand. Now, we've received AMD's response to Intel's filing around the witness testimony, and a couple of tidbits fell out of the heavily censored document.…

Jongetjes filmen verkrachting 10-jarig meisje

2008-05-16T17:00:19+00:00

PARIJS - De Franse politie heeft twee jongens van elf en twaalf jaar opgepakt omdat zij een meisje van tien hebben verkracht. Dit is vrijdag uit justitiële bron vernomen.

Verklaring van Den Haag inzake Vrije en Open standaarden

2008-05-16T16:54:30+00:00

De Digital Standards Organization (http://www.digistan.org/) (Digistan) zal op 21 mei de Verklaring van Den Haag (http://www.digistan.org/hague-declaration:en) inzake het gebruik van Vrije en Open Standaarden wereldkundig maken in de Koninklijke Bibliotheek in Den Haag. Deze verklaring positioneert zich als een verdieping van de Universele Verklaring van de Rechten van de Mens, omdat zij een aantal vrijheden in het digitale tijdperk wil waarborgen.

Vermeend geweldpleger 'Joegomaffia' vol in vizier

2008-05-16T16:46:14+00:00

HAARLEM - Het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) heeft de 50-jarige Milos 'Bato' P. volledig op de korrel. P. werd in februari samen met Willem Holleeder en Maruf 'Paja' M. gearresteerd in verband met de liquidatie van drugshandelaar Srdjan Miranovic.

OM acht cartoons Nekschot strafbaar

2008-05-16T16:36:32+00:00

AMSTERDAM - Het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) in Amsterdam meent dat cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot zich in acht cartoons schuldig heeft gemaakt aan discriminatie en mogelijk het aanzetten tot haat of geweld.

Honeywell & Airbus To Turn Algae Into Jet Fuel

2008-05-16T16:36:00+00:00

mystermarque alerts us to an announcement by Honeywell, JetBlue Airways, International Aero Engines, and Airbus about a program to develop jet fuel from algae and other biomass. They hope to supply nearly 1/3 of the demand for jet fuel from these sources by 2030. A Wall Street Journal blog points out that even if this program's goals are met, we will be worse off by 2030 in terms of jet kerosene released into the atmosphere, assuming that the rapid growth in the aviation sector continues apace.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Poetin creëert nieuw machtsorgaan

2008-05-16T16:19:31+00:00

MOSKOU - De Russische premier Vladimir Poetin, tot voor kort nog president, heeft een nieuw uitvoerend overheidsorgaan opgericht dat volgens hem de regering beter zal laten functioneren. Dat meldden de Russische media vrijdag.

World economy group gives IPv6 big push

2008-05-16T16:09:57+00:00

Warns about depletion of IPv4 addresses

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) sounded an alarm bell yesterday over the rapid depletion of IPv4 internet addresses and gave the IPv6 protocol another push.…

Akkoord over MEOB-terrein Oegstgeest

2008-05-16T16:09:00+00:00

OEGSTGEEST - Er lijkt eindelijk een akkoord te zijn over de bestemming voor het voormalige MEOB-terrein in Oegstgeest.

Acteur Youssef Idilbi overleden

2008-05-16T16:07:17+00:00

Acteur Youssef Idilbi is donderdag overleden, zo maakte zijn management vrijdag bekend. De 32-jarige acteur heeft zichzelf van het leven beroofd.

Jihadis: We turned hacked killbots against US troops

2008-05-16T15:58:08+00:00

ROTM fever spreads to mujahideen press office

In a strange twist of fate it has emerged that gutter hacks, writing for a well known publication offering tasty mechanically recovered news-like media product, have handed a stunning propaganda coup to jihadi terrorism. We're obviously very sorry*.…

Code Quality In Open and Closed Source Kernels

2008-05-16T15:53:00+00:00

Diomidis Spinellis writes "Earlier today I presented at the 30th International Conference on Software Engineering a research paper comparing the code quality of Linux, Windows (its research kernel distribution), OpenSolaris, and FreeBSD. For the comparison I parsed multiple configurations of these systems (more than ten million lines) and stored the results in four databases, where I could run SQL queries on them. This amounted to 8GB of data, 160 million records. (I've made the databases and the SQL queries available online.) The areas I examined were file organization, code structure, code style, preprocessing, and data organization. To my surprise there was no clear winner or loser, but there were interesting differences in specific areas. As the summary concludes: '..the structure and internal quality attributes of a working, non-trivial software artifact will represent first and foremost the engineering requirements of its construction, with the influence of process being marginal, if any.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Beperking afsteken vuurwerk onderzocht

2008-05-16T15:47:00+00:00

DEN HAAG/VOORSCHOTEN - Tijdens Oud en Nieuw mag voorlopig nog vanaf tien uur 's ochtends vuurwerk worden afgestoken.

P2P soars, licensed music flatlines

2008-05-16T15:36:42+00:00

Today is a good day to die download

Freeloading music is more habit-forming than paying for legal downloads, according to polling in the UK.…

Prominenten naar Vlaggetjesdag

2008-05-16T15:26:32+00:00

Vlaggetjesdag mag zich dit jaar verheugen op een groot aantal belangrijke gasten. Zo zal onder meer de Eurocommissaris Maritieme Zaken en Visserij, de heer Borg uit Malta op 7 juni een bezoek brengen aan dit haringevenement. Bovendien zijn naast minister Gerda Verburg, die de dag gaat openen, ook de ministers Hirsch-Ballin en Plasterk aanwezig. Volgens [...]

Balkenende en Verhagen bezoeken Bush

2008-05-16T15:26:04+00:00

DEN HAAG - Premier Jan Peter Balkenende en minister Maxime Verhagen van Buitenlandse Zaken brengen van 5 tot 8 juni een bezoek aan de Amerikaanse hoofdstad Washington. Op 5 juni worden zij op het Witte Huis ontvangen door president Bush.

DNS gaffe leaves spy agency totally under cover

2008-05-16T15:22:33+00:00

Big website knickers round ankles

The unavailability of the US National Security Agency website on Thursday has been linked to misconfigured DNS (Domain Name System) servers.…

Sportvelden TU Delft vervuild, Berlage Instituut helpt

2008-05-16T15:15:00+00:00

DELFT - Ook de sportvelden van de TU Delft ondervinden de gevolgen van de brand in de faculteit Bouwkunde van afgelopen dinsdag. De asbest die vrijkwam bij die brand kwam deels op de velden terecht.

OLPC and Microsoft punt Windows-only XO laptop

2008-05-16T15:13:22+00:00

Odd couple shack up

Microsoft and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) foundation have confirmed that the XO laptop will soon be available as Windows-loaded machines.…

Fermilab Calls For Code Crackers

2008-05-16T15:10:00+00:00

atrocious cowpat passes along a call for help from symmetry magazine, the joint publication of Fermilab and SLAC, noting: "Could be just plain gibberish, it could be something like those wonderfully weird letters to the Mount Wilson observatory, or it could be a message from aliens who just happened to have gotten their hands (tentacles/exoskeleton) on a fax machine." "A little over a year ago, the Fermilab Office of Public Affairs received a curious letter in code (4.4-MB image here). It has been sitting in our files all that time and we haven't had much of a chance to look into breaking the code, nor are we particularly expert at this!"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Rijkswaterstaat Corporate Dienst

2008-05-16T15:00:45+00:00

NL Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Aanbesteding training proces- en projectmanagement

Rijkswaterstaat Corporate Dienst

2008-05-16T15:00:26+00:00

NL Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Aanbesteding Juridische leerlijn

Arnoud Boer: Het is eenzaam aan de top

2008-05-16T14:52:48+00:00

Je zou toch bijna medelijden krijgen met de topmannen met hun topsalarissen: ze staan niet eens in de Quote 500. Verbijstering alom over zoveel onrecht. Het is al zo zwaar aan de top, met al die bonussen, opties, gouden handdrukken en aandelen. Om dat op je schouders mee te torsen, het is een mensonwaardig bestaan. Ik zou bijna zover durven gaan dat het een schending is van de mensenrechten. Bevrijd deze mensen van zoveel onrecht. Bij deze open ik mijn girorekening voor stortingen: Zo draag ook ik graag een steentje bij. Topmannen van Nederland, maak er gebruik van en verlos u van uw schuldgevoel!

Bericht van: Arnoud Boer

Het is eenzaam aan de top

OLPC's a con - former insider

2008-05-16T14:38:33+00:00

Departing software chief stings Negroponte

The former security director of the One Laptop Per Child non-profit has blasted the project for losing sight of its goals, accusing chairman Nicholas Negroponte of deceiving the public. It's all about shipping kit, says Ivan Krstić in an incendiary essay.…

Ché Jenner naar AGOVV

2008-05-16T14:38:00+00:00

DELFT - Voetballer Ché Jenner van Tonegido uit Voorburg speelt volgend seizoen op amateurbasis bij AGOVV in Apeldoorn.

Officieel dodental Myanmar op 77.738 (video)

2008-05-16T14:32:26+00:00

YANGOR - Het officiële dodental als gevolg van de cycloon in Myanmar is gestegen tot 77.738. Dit heeft de staatstelevisie in het voormalige Birma vrijdag gemeld. Officieel worden 55.917 Myanmarezen vermist.

Qualcomm splurges on UK spectrum

2008-05-16T14:31:22+00:00

Just bag up the whole lot for me, please

US technology company Qualcomm has scooped all 17 chunks of UK-L-Band spectrum, auctioned over the last week, for a total of £8,334,000 - so you can expect MediaFLO announcements from UK operators any day now.…

Politie doet meerdere drugsvangsten

2008-05-16T14:30:17+00:00

De Amsterdamse politie heeft deze week een grote hoeveelheid drugs en geld in beslag genomen bij huiszoekingen in West en Nieuwegein, zo liet het vrijdag weten. In totaal werd maar liefst 28 kilogram cocaïne en 1,3 miljoen euro cash aangetroffen.

What To Do With Old Laptops?

2008-05-16T14:29:00+00:00

An anonymous reader writes "I've recently acquired a few old P2/P3 laptops. Most either work properly but are slow, or have various problems with power supplies and/or batteries. Attempting to sell them would probably earn less than the cost of shipping, so that's out of the question. I was hoping the Slashdot crowd could give me some ideas on what to do with these old computers. As somebody who already has ~10 computers lying around the house there is certainly no need for an additional computer to 'experiment' with, so I was hoping for some more creative suggestions."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Gemeente Almere

2008-05-16T14:28:50+00:00

EU RECTIFICATIE Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Europese aanbesteding inkoopadviesdiensten en inhuur inkoopprofessionals

Xbox 360 'eaten' by alligator

2008-05-16T14:22:12+00:00

Beast of a box

People have covered themselves and their possessions in animal skins since the dawn of time, but one gamer has taken things to another level by crafting an alligator-themed Xbox 360.…

High Court orders MPs to 'fess up on expenses

2008-05-16T14:17:44+00:00

Show us how you've spent our money

The Information Commissioner has welcomed the High Court's decision to force MPs to publish their full expenses.…

Woonhuis oud-premier op particuliere markt

2008-05-16T14:17:00+00:00

DEN HAAG - De voormalige woning van oud-premier Willem Drees in Den Haag is toch nog op de particuliere markt terecht gekomen.

Raad voor de rechtspraak

2008-05-16T14:08:01+00:00

NL RECTIFICATIE Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Cateringdienstverlening ten behoeve van alle gerechtsgebouwen en landelijke diensten van de Rechtspraak

Orange signs multi-nation iPhone distribution deal

2008-05-16T14:02:15+00:00

Jesus Phone coverage spreads

France Telecom's Orange offshoot has formally joined the roster of cellcos that will offer Apple's iPhone in multiple territories.…

Heemstede, Bloemendaal, Zandvoort, Bennebroek en Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude

2008-05-16T13:57:12+00:00

EU RECTIFICATIE Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: aanbesteding re-integratie en inburgering , gemeenten Heemstede, Bloemendaal, Zandvoort, Bennebroek en Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude 2008/heem-hoogher-020

Museum Mesdag dicht voor verbouwing

2008-05-16T13:56:00+00:00

DEN HAAG - Museum Mesdag in Den Haag sluit maandag zijn deuren voor een grote interne verbouwing.

Vijf miljoen mensen dakloos door aardbeving China

2008-05-16T13:53:15+00:00

PEKING - De Chinese autoriteiten krijgen een steeds beter beeld van de gevolgen van de aardbeving die het midden van het land maandag trof. Bestuurders lieten vrijdag weten dat alleen al in de zwaarst getroffen provincie Sichuan 4,8 miljoen mensen dakloos zijn geworden.

Universiteit Utrecht

2008-05-16T13:53:11+00:00

EU INTREKKING Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Onderhoudscontract warmtekracht centrale Universteit Utrecht

Treinverkeer langzaam weer op gang na botsing

2008-05-16T13:53:00+00:00

DEN HAAG/DELFT/RIJSWIJK - Het treinverkeer tussen Den Haag en Rotterdam komt weer langzaam op gang na een botsing op vrijdagochtend.

Min. van VROM

2008-05-16T13:47:16+00:00

NL Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Examentraining voor examinatoren inburgering & Trainersopleiding voor de Examentraining voor examinatoren inburgering & examineren / certificeren.

IE 7.0/8.0b Code Execution 0-Day Released

2008-05-16T13:45:00+00:00

SecureThroughObscure writes "Security blogger and researcher Nate McFeters blogged about a 0-day exploit affecting IE7 and IE8 beta on XP that was released by noted security researcher Aviv Raff. The flaw is a 'cross-zone scripting' flaw that takes advantage of the fact that printing HTML web pages occurs in the Local Machine Zone in IE rather than in the Internet Zone. Quoting McFeters's post: 'This is currently unpatched and in all of its 0-day glory, so for the time being, beware printing using the "print table of links" option when printing web pages.' McFeters and others will be presenting at Black Hat on the link between cross-site scripting and cross-zone. Rob Carter has been hitting this hard over at his blog, pointing out cross-zone weaknesses in Azureus, uTorrent, and the Eclipse platform."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amsterdam kans op 'evenementenstad'

2008-05-16T13:16:35+00:00

Amsterdam maakt kans om de 'evenementenstad' van het jaar te worden, zo werd vrijdagochtend bekend. De stad dankt deze nominatie aan de meer dan 140 evenementen die ze het afgelopen jaar gehouden heeft.

'Jeugdzorg potte 2 miljoen euro op'

2008-05-16T13:16:34+00:00

Bureau Jeugdzorg Amsterdam heeft de afgelopen jaren ruim twee miljoen euro opgepot die eigenlijk bedoeld was voor onder andere het wegwerken van wachtlijsten. Dit staat in een donderdag verschenen rapport van de Rekenkamer Amsterdam.

WebNotify

2008-05-16T13:15:18+00:00

This is a subscription service to be automatically notified by e mail when topics change in this Codev web. This is a convenient service, so you do not have to come ... (last changed by ClifKussmaul)

Gemeente Zaltbommel

2008-05-16T13:11:50+00:00

NL RECTIFICATIE Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: accountantscontrole 2008 - 2009 gemeente Zaltbommel

Thus spake the Moderatrix

2008-05-16T13:09:39+00:00

Your problems solved, the world set to rights

Yesterday my esteemed colleague kindly offered the Reg readership a place to pour out your hearts, and so you copiously did, proving once and for all what a deeply ~~sad~~ distressed bunch you are.…

Ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer

2008-05-16T13:09:22+00:00

EU Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: De werkzaamheden bestaan uit het onderhoud van alle aan het object gerelateerde transportinstallatiedelen.

Waterschap de Brabantse Delta

2008-05-16T13:06:17+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: RAW-bestek nr. 08-167-WM

Bletchley Park Facing Financial Ruin

2008-05-16T13:04:00+00:00

biscuitfever11 writes "Bletchley Park, the home of Station X, Britain's secret code-breaking base during World War II, barely scraping by financially, as shown in these images compiled by ZDNet this week. The site has undergone major redevelopment as an act of remembrance for the Allied efforts to break the German Enigma code, but now its future is clouded — among others, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation turned them down for financial assistance (since it doesn't have to do with the Internet). Its director estimates that Bletchley Park's funds will be exhausted in three years. Hungry land developers are circling. This is an insightful look at what's happened to Bletchley Park these days and the pain it's going through."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Waterschap de Brabantse Delta

2008-05-16T13:02:31+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: RAW-bestek nr. 08-165-WM

Universiteit van Amsterdam

2008-05-16T13:02:30+00:00

EU RECTIFICATIE Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Accountancy UvA & HvA

Gemeente Middelburg

2008-05-16T13:02:16+00:00

EU Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Aanbesteding geldgaring, -verwerking en volledigheidscontrole parkeeropbrengsten in de Gemeente Middelburg

UWV

2008-05-16T13:00:39+00:00

EU RECTIFICATIE Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Strategisch advies en implementatiediensten

The Quick Meal (Off Topic)

2008-05-16T13:00:00+00:00

As you probably have guessed, I spend a whole lot of time running The Daily WTF when going through submissions, writing articles, and sending out free stickers. While I do this primarily for fun and hobby, it does tend to interfere with my day job at Inedo and, as a result, I tend to earn much less than I could otherwise. But I don’t mind. All I have to do is sacrifice a few, small things. Things like a decent lunch.

Normally for me, lunch is all about getting as much nutritional value for the least amount of money possible. This means my lunch-time staples include things like sticks of butter ($0.23/ea), discarded military MREs (free… if you know where to look), and grocery store free-sample binges (free… if you have no dignity). Today, however, I decided to treat myself, so I scrounged up a dollar and headed on over to the Dollar Tree. After an exhaustive search through bins of expired food items, I stumbled across a wonderful treasure: the Chow Mein “Quick Meal”.

Nothing screams “appetizing!” like artificial beef, and this sure screams ARTIFICIAL BEEF. Even more loudly than “Authentic Chinese Vegetables & Seasonings” – a feature that you’d think would help sell the Quick Meal better. But you’d think wrong: I didn’t even catch that bit until salivating over it on the way back to the office.

The one important thing I did notice, however, was the Nutrition Facts on the back. Keep in mind that, for the frugal lunch connoisseur, nutritional value is key, and this Quick Meal sure knows how to pack that in.

With two servings in this little, 100g box, the Quick Meal manages to pack in 1,200 calories. Considering that 100g of the most caloric food – pure fat – is only 900 calories, that’s a rather impressive feat. Even more impressive is how the Quick Meal delivers 206 grams of carbohydrates from a 100g package. And to think, this amazing treasure was only a single dollar!

When I arrived back at the office, I tore open the Quick Meal and was delighted by the completeness of its contents.

There’s the spoon-shaped fork, the eerily uncongealed sauce packet, the beef “flavour”, and a packet of dried noodles that somewhat resembled a ramen noodle block. But since the packaging clearly stated that the Quick Meal is chow mein, I figured the noodles would somehow morph into something resembling chow mein. There was also the unmistakable pack of Authentic Chinese Vegetables, which are certainly worth a zoom in:

Note that there are exactly three freeze-dried peas – the exact same number as seen on the Quick Meal package. I can only imagine how much trouble some unfortunate factory worker would have gotten in if four peas were accidently included in the packet. But no matter, it was time to prepare my feast. And to that, I needed the all-telling instructions:

First and foremost, I truly appreciated the CAUTION. Who among us hasn’t forgotten how Extremely Hot boiling water can get? But I will say, I was a little put off by the “350ml” thing. Really… what am I, a scientist? Does the Quick Meal think I have beakers lying around to measure things in milliliters!? Just tell me how many cups or half-cups I need, Quick Meal.

Well, as it turned out, I did happen to have beakers lying around, and measured out 350 milliliters as the Quick Meal instructed. After following the rest of the instructions, this is what I ended up with.

I suppose it was just a bit different than advertized. As for the tasting… the Quick Meal delivered a somewhat unpolished, slightly immature nose with hints of broiled sirloin, poached egg, and cellar-dried carrots, though somewhat overpowered by brine. Its palate offered a lively medley of complex flavors from roasted sesame to buttered shallot, all influneced by a hint of smokeyness. The finish was warming, with a touch of bitternes that was quickly replaced by a subtle yet influential balance of spices.

All told, the Quick Meal was a fine meal, and a great deal at a single dollar. Sure, some might point out that a block of ramen noodles (with an obligitory flavor packet) can be had at six for a dollar, but the Quick Meal is no ramen noodle. The Quick Meal comes with a fork and authentic Chinese vegetables. And besides, I’m a bit above eating just ramen noodles for lunch.

Brought to you by the Non-WTF Job Board:

Waterschap de Brabantse Delta

2008-05-16T12:59:58+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: RAW-bestek nr. 08-166-WM

Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst

2008-05-16T12:59:49+00:00

NL Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Europese aanbesteding BHV opleidingen

ImplementSortingByRelevanceInStandard

2008-05-16T12:50:56+00:00

Feature Proposal: Implement a sorting by relevance in TWiki Standard edition Motivation The weakest part in TWiki was the search ... until I found out today, that ... (last changed by ClifKussmaul)

Pentax Optio V20 compact camera

2008-05-16T12:49:00+00:00

Sweet and simple?

Review Chances are that many pics in your photo album are of family and friends. Little wonder then, that camera manufacturers are devoting a lot of time and energy in providing features designed to help us take even better people shots.…

Cafe t Bliekkie mag weer open

2008-05-16T12:49:00+00:00

DELFT - Cafe 't Bliekkie in Delft mag voorlopig weer open. De rechter heeft dat donderdag besloten.

Outback hack suspect denied bail

2008-05-16T12:43:06+00:00

Strewth he's deleted the system

A former contractor allegedly knocked out government systems and deleted thousands of records in Australia's Northern Territories earlier this month.…

Gemeente Leidschendam-Voorburg

2008-05-16T12:32:39+00:00

EU RECTIFICATIE Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Onderhoud Openbare Verlichting 2008 - 2011, OMOP LV07-09

Gemeente Leidschendam-Voorburg

2008-05-16T12:31:13+00:00

EU Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Onderhoud Openbare Verlichting 2008 - 2011, OMOP LV07-09

Verzet tegen sloop Schoonhovense huurwoningen

2008-05-16T12:31:00+00:00

SCHOONHOVEN - GroenLinks in Schoonhoven verzet zich tegen de sloop van twintig huurwoningen aan de Vlisterweg.

Gemeente Leidschendam-Voorburg

2008-05-16T12:29:42+00:00

EU Vooraankondiging Diensten: Onderhoud Openbare Verlichting 2008 - 2011, OMOP LV07-09

Verizon Joins Linux Mobile Foundation

2008-05-16T12:22:00+00:00

An anonymous reader brings news that Verizon Wireless has announced plans to use a Linux-based software platform for phones on its network. Verizon is the first US mobile carrier to join the Linux Mobile Foundation, the goal of which is to "collaboratively develop a comprehensive Linux-based mobile software stack that can be modified easily and used at no cost on a wide range of hardware devices." Many had expected Verizon to go with Android, but according to the Register, Verizon feels Android "isn't as open as it would prefer." Continuing: "Yes, Google bills Android as open. And, yes, it's backed by the Open Handset Alliance, another industry consortium calling for the open development of mobile apps. But [Verizon spokesman Jeffrey] Nelson argues that at this point, Google is calling the shots. 'Google said "Here's the plan. Sign on the dotted line if you support." It may end up being collaborative. It may end up being collegial. But it need not be.' He actually has a point. But maybe Verizon just wants more control over the situation. It should be noted that the company made sure it has a place on the LiMo board. In any event, Verizon says that customers will be free to attach any device and any application to its network by the end of the year - provided those devices and applications met certain minimum specifications. So, in theory, you'll have free rein to attach an Android phone even if you don't buy it from Verizon."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Gemeente Valkenswaard

2008-05-16T12:16:26+00:00

NL RECTIFICATIE Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: 2008-003, uitmaaien watergangen en bermen maaien

Steeds minder autokraken in Gouda

2008-05-16T12:13:00+00:00

GOUDA - Het aantal autoinbraken in Gouda is opnieuw fors afgenomen. In 2007 werden er ruim dertig procent minder auto's opengebroken dan het jaar ervoor.

Hoofdredacteur AT5 gaat naar NOS

2008-05-16T12:11:40+00:00

Hoofdredacteur Klaas Treurniet vertrekt bij AT5, zo liet hij vrijdagochtend aan de redactie weten. Treurniet maakt de overstap naar zijn voormalig werkgever, de NOS.

Burgemeesters openen nieuwe wandelroute

2008-05-16T12:10:00+00:00

JACOBSWOUDE/NIEUWKOOP - Tussen het Braassemermeer en de Langeraarse Plassen komt een nieuwe wandelroute.

The Moderatrix: Exclusive boudoir snap

2008-05-16T12:09:17+00:00

You've been a naughty, naughty commenter...

The commenters among you who've been foolish enough to cross swords with the Moderatrix know that she doesn't suffer fools gladly - and quite right too.…

Activist coders aim to deafen Phorm with white noise

2008-05-16T12:05:59+00:00

Faking it for data pimps

Updated Coding activists have developed an application designed to confound Phorm's controversial behaviour-tracking software by simulating random web-browsing.…

Schoonhoven kan gerenoveerd stadspark openen

2008-05-16T12:03:00+00:00

SCHOONHOVEN - De renovatie van het Springerpark in Schoonhoven is afgerond. Het stadspark is de afgelopen maanden hersteld in de geest van de beroemde landschapsarchitect Leonard Springer.

HP begs AMD PC owners to put XP SP3 on ice

2008-05-16T11:47:30+00:00

Wait for sticky plaster patch

Hewlett-Packard has told customers not to install Windows XP service pack three (SP3) on AMD-based desktops until Microsoft and HP cough fixes to the endless reboot snafu that has wreaked havoc on PCs.…

Fondsenwerving voor herstel Gouds Nonnenwater

2008-05-16T11:41:00+00:00

GOUDA - De plannen om de gedempte gracht van het Nonnenwater in Gouda open te graven zijn nog niet van de baan.

Aanlijnplicht in deel van Bosjes van Poot

2008-05-16T11:41:00+00:00

DEN HAAG - Hondeneigenaren moeten binnenkort in een gedeelte van de Bosjes van Poot in Den Haag hun dier aan de lijn houden.

Trauma helikopter ingezet na val uit boom

2008-05-16T11:41:00+00:00

PIJNACKER-NOOTDORP - Een 13-jarig meisje uit Nootdorp heeft een gecompliceerde botbreuk opgelopen na een val uit een boom in Pijnacker.

Hard Disk Drive Drum

2008-05-16T11:28:01+00:00

Fibra from Belgrade has created an interesting drum system. It uses old hard drive read/write arms as drum hammers. The original hard drive voice coils are used to move the arms. The picture above is the new system which doesn’t seem to be documented yet, have a look at the video for a demonstration of the first version. If you need a larger hard drive project fix have a look at these hard drive projects.

Via: Make

Is Vista ready for Business?

2008-05-16T11:12:05+00:00

Reboot, then tell us what you think

Reg Tech Panel Now that Windows Vista SP1 is here, you’ve got no more excuses to put off that upgrade, right? And if you have strayed in the past onto one of those ‘alternative’ (shiver) platforms such as Linux or OS X, you’ll of course be coming home to grab yourself a slice of that Wow!…

Zalencentrum Waddinxveen beklad met anti-Wildersleuzen

2008-05-16T11:08:00+00:00

WADDINXVEEN - Ramen en vloeren van zalencentrum Het Trefpunt in Waddinxveen zijn in de nacht van donderdag op vrijdag beklad met leuzen als 'Hezbollah' en 'Geert dood', verwijzend naar PVV-leider Geert Wilders.

Wii controller lawsuit costs Nintendo $21m

2008-05-16T11:01:50+00:00

Texas firms sues Nintendo, and wins!

Nintendo has vowed to fight a court order demanding it pay $21m (£10.7m/€13.5m) to a US gaming company for patent infringements associated with controllers for the Wii and GameCube.…

Number crunching knife crime and online ID verification

2008-05-16T10:58:58+00:00

Legislating in a data-light zone

This afternoon (Friday 16 May}, Margaret Moran, MP for Luton South, will introduce the second reading of a Bill to make age and identity verification compulsory for all online retailers.…

'Coolbox' van brandweer wint prijs

2008-05-16T10:54:53+00:00

Alphense Boys verliest van Feyenoord

2008-05-16T10:36:00+00:00

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN - De voetballers van Alphense Boys hebben de oefenwedstrijd tegen Feyenoord met 7-2 verloren.

Yahoo! strikes back at Icahn

2008-05-16T10:35:45+00:00

Thanks but no thanks

Roy Bostock, chairman of Yahoo!, has wasted no time in responding to Carl Icahn's attempt to seize control of the company's board.…

Sharp claims record mobile fuel cell power density

2008-05-16T10:33:04+00:00

Shrink it a bit, and it'll replace laptop batteries

Sharp has claimed the crown for the highest power density mobile fuel cell. It delivers enough power per cubic centimetre, it's said, to one day replace standard lithium-ion packs. This time it really will...…

Ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer

2008-05-16T10:27:10+00:00

EU Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: De werkzaamheden bestaan uit het onderhoud van alle aan het object gerelateerde bouwdelen.

Goedkope software voor het hoger onderwijs: eerlijk voordeel?

2008-05-16T10:16:48+00:00

De overheid heeft zich tot doel gesteld om het gebruik van open source software bij de door haar gefinancierde onderwijsinstellingen en -organisaties te stimuleren. Dat klinkt mooi, aldus Gijs de Bakker*, maar wat komt er in de praktijk van terecht? De promovendus educatieve social software ondervond aan den lijve dat SURFSPOT.NL, de partij die software levert aan studenten en medewerkers in het onderwijs, gesloten commerciële software bijna voor niets weggeeft, terwijl de aandacht en kortingen voor open source software daarbij ver in het niet vallen.

Gemeente Eindhoven

2008-05-16T10:13:56+00:00

EU RECTIFICATIE Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Aanbesteding Re-integratie, Activering en Scan Voorliggende voorzieningen, gemeente Eindhoven 2008

'Crazy rasberry ants' target Texan tech

2008-05-16T10:08:38+00:00

Electronics on the menu for rampaging nutter insects

Texans in the Houston area are battling rampaging hordes of "voracious swarming ants" which have inexplicably developed a taste for electronic equipment, Chicago Tribune reports.…

Bouw ministeries loopt vertraging op

2008-05-16T09:50:00+00:00

DEN HAAG - In Den Haag kan de bouw van de ministeries van Binnenlandse Zaken en Justitie op de plek waar wooncomplex de Zwarte Madonna stond, nog altijd niet beginnen.

Gemeente Schiedam

2008-05-16T09:43:14+00:00

NL Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: adviesbureau particuliere woningverbetering gemeente Schiedam

Gemeente Sittard-Geleen

2008-05-16T09:35:24+00:00

NL Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Openbare aanbesteding voor de advisering, bepalen akoestische en bouwkundige maatregelen en directievoering voor het gevel-isolatieproject ISV 2 Sittard-Geleen

Reizigers merkten niets van ontsporing

2008-05-16T09:30:00+00:00

RIJSWIJK - Reizigers hebben niets gemerkt van de aanrijding tussen een heftruck en de intercity van Den Haag richting Venlo en de daarop volgende ontsporing van de locomotief. Dat zegt Thies Timmermans, zelf één van de passagiers.

Decent Book Clubs for Sci-Fi Fans?

2008-05-16T09:18:00+00:00

willyhill writes "I'm a Sci-Fi and Fantasy book nut, but in the last few years I've found it more and more difficult to find the time to read. Contrary to what most people would think, I actually have a hard time finding books, rather than cuddling up with them. In reality, I don't have time to mess around at my local Barnes & Noble and browse books, and I find it dicey and expensive to do the same at Amazon or other online retailers. I was looking at a magazine the other day and I found an advert for the Science Fiction Book Club. While my experience with CD clubs and the like in the past has not been entirely positive, I was prepared to give it a shot given the fact that it would be less expensive than Amazon in the long run. The problem was that their selection is not exactly grand. Having read the Simmons Hyperion Cantos, for example, I was ready to give Ilium a go, but I could only find its sequel. How do other readers get their hands on Sci-Fi books? I tried Googling for book clubs and the like, but there's too much static out there, mostly caused by Oprah. Any suggestions would be appreciated!"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Government orders data retention by ISPs

2008-05-16T09:10:13+00:00

Keep it for 12 months for the plods

Phone and internet companies will soon be forced to keep logs of internet usage to be made available to the police under a new law announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week.…

Verizon lands 10-year deal to unify DHS networks

2008-05-16T09:03:23+00:00

One net to rule them all - and in the darkness find them

US telco Verizon yesterday announced it had won a $678.5m, ten-year deal to tie together the many disparate networks within the vast US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).…

Google Translate speaks in (more) tongues

2008-05-16T09:01:37+00:00

Adds 10 new languages

Google has announced the addition of ten new languages to its Google Translate feature, bringing the total of available tongues to 23.…

PvdA pleit voor vaste routes zwaar verkeer in Den Haag

2008-05-16T08:56:00+00:00

DEN HAAG - De PvdA in Den Haag wil vaste routes voor zwaar verkeer in de binnenstad om de verkeersveiligheid te vergroten.

Captain Cyborg creates human bat with <em>Reg</em> baseball cap

2008-05-16T08:50:56+00:00

Ahem...

It's come to our attention that the media's favourite cybernetically-enhanced human - Kev "Captain Cyborg" Warwick of Reading Uni - earlier this week demonstrated an echolocation hat for blind people on the Beeb's The One Show.…

Belastingdienst Centrum voor Facilitaire Dienstverlening

2008-05-16T08:42:26+00:00

NL Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: het hercertificeren van de taxateurs volgens het protocol van VASTGOEDCERT.

Belastingdienst Centrum voor Facilitaire Dinestverlening

2008-05-16T08:35:42+00:00

NL Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: WVS 2008/2009

UWV

2008-05-16T08:21:57+00:00

EU RECTIFICATIE Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Strategisch advies en implementatiediensten

NHS IT four years late and over budget

2008-05-16T08:10:22+00:00

Outlook uncertain but expensive

The NHS IT project, one of the world's largest public sector IT programmes, is already four years late.…

Woman Indicted In MySpace Suicide Case

2008-05-16T07:48:00+00:00

longacre writes "The Associated Press is reporting an indictment has been handed down in the sad case of Megan Meier, the girl who committed suicide after receiving upsetting MySpace messages from someone she perceived to be her boyfriend. It was later determined the boy, Josh Evans, was a fictitious identity created by a neighbor of Meier's family. Lori Drew, of a St. Louis suburb, has been charged with 'one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress on the girl.' Interestingly, despite the alleged crime having occurred strictly in Missouri, the case was investigated by the FBI's St. Louis and Los Angeles field offices, and the trial will be held in Los Angeles, home of MySpace's servers. Wired is running a related story about the potentially 'scary' precedent this case could set."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

PS3 update fails to fix <em>Grand Theft Auto IV</em> woes

2008-05-16T07:44:43+00:00

But Sony has a solution, apparently

The thumbs of most GTA IV-owning PS3 gamers are probably red-raw by now, their only respite being the game’s inexplicable freezes. So you’d expect the latest firmware update for the console to fix the problem..?…

Locomotief ontspoord tussen Rijswijk en Delft

2008-05-16T07:42:00+00:00

DELFT - Een locomotief van een intercity is vrijdagochtend even na half acht ontspoord na een aanrijding met een werkvoertuig.

Bijeenkomst over nieuwe technologieën en het juridisch kader

2008-05-16T07:41:58+00:00

'Geldt het Nederlands recht ook in Second Life?' of 'Hoe toereikend is ons huidige juridisch kader als het gaat om nieuwe technologieën?'. Het zijn twee van de vragen die aan de orde kunnen komen tijdens de bijeenkomst 'ICT, Recht Vertrouwen', die op dinsdag 27 mei in het Babylon Hotel in Den Haag wordt gehouden. De bijeenkomst, die begint om 13.00 uur en duurt tot ongeveer 17.00 uur, is georganiseerd door ECP.NL (http://www.ecp.nl/), het platform voor eNederland.

Stichting Delta-onderwijs

2008-05-16T07:36:02+00:00

EU Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Aanbesteding schoonmaakonderhoud en glasbewassing (optioneel) van de scholen van stichting Delta-onderwijs.

Universiteitsbibliotheek Universiteit van Amsterdam en Hogeschool van Amsterdam

2008-05-16T07:35:52+00:00

EU Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: NL-Amsterdam: Systeem voor bibliotheekbeheer

Provincie Fryslân

2008-05-16T07:35:38+00:00

EU Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Projectmanagement en directievoering Bouwurk (provinciehuis).

Essent netwerk b.v.

2008-05-16T07:34:22+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: Schilderwerk hoogspanningslijnen Zuid Nederland.

Gemeente Eindhoven

2008-05-16T07:33:49+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: Leerlingenvervoer gemeente Eindhoven.

Waterschap Hollandse Delta

2008-05-16T07:33:36+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: Bestek 07B2004.Gewoon onderhoud Voorne-Putten (oost).

waterschap Hollandse Delta

2008-05-16T07:33:27+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: Bestek 07B2023Gewoon onderhoud in stedelijk gebied Dordrecht.

Waterschap Hollandse Delta

2008-05-16T07:33:15+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: Bestek 07B2013.Gewoon onderhoud regio IJsselmonde.

waterschap Hollandse Delta

2008-05-16T07:33:07+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: Bestek 07B2020.Gewoon onderhoud Regio Hoeksche Waard en eiland van Dordrecht - maaibestek.

waterschap Hollandse Delta

2008-05-16T07:32:49+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: Besteknummer: 07B2003 (perceel 1, 2 en 3).Gewoon onderhoud 2007 Voorne en Putten (regio west).

Gemeente Bronckhorst

2008-05-16T07:32:37+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: Leerlingen-, zwem- en gymvervoer gemeente Bronckhorst.

Centraal Administratiekantoor bijzondere zorgkosten

2008-05-16T07:32:25+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: Print- en maildiensten.

CodersForHire

2008-05-16T07:30:11+00:00

TWiki Coders for Hire Perl coders who are experienced in working with the TWiki codebase and are willing to contract out to people or companies who wish to make modifications ... (last changed by AndreUlrich)

Belastingdienst Centrum voor facilitaire dienstverlening

2008-05-16T07:27:52+00:00

NL Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: hercertificering taxateur

GoodSortingForSearchResults

2008-05-16T07:07:10+00:00

Feature Proposal: Real Search Engine with better (not alphabetical results sorting) Motivation The current search results of TWiki are poor, as the sorting of the ... (last changed by MartinSeibert)

Carl Icahn Takes on Yahoo's Board

2008-05-16T06:16:00+00:00

narramissic and several others have written to point out that Carl Icahn has initiated a proxy battle with Yahoo's board of directors over their rejection of Microsoft's bid for the company in February. Icahn has purchased millions of Yahoo shares over the past week and assembled a group of nine other investors (including Mark Cuban) to persuade the board to resume talks with Microsoft. Yahoo remains unimpressed. Icahn's letter to Yahoo accuses: "It is unconscionable that you have not allowed your shareholders to choose to accept an offer that represented a 72% premium over Yahoo's closing price of $19.18 on the day before the initial Microsoft offer. I and many of your shareholders strongly believe that a combination between Yahoo and Microsoft would form a dynamic company and more importantly would be a force strong enough to compete with Google on the Internet."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Fractievoorzitter OGP Midden-Delfland stapt op

2008-05-16T05:46:00+00:00

MIDDEN-DELFLAND - Elly de Jong stapt op als fractievoorzitter van Open Groen Progressief (OGP) in de gemeente Midden-Delfland.

Fors meer katten in asiel Leiden

2008-05-16T05:46:00+00:00

LEIDEN - Het Streek-Dierentehuis Leiden krijgt steeds meer katten aangeboden.

Wijkfonds voor vier krachtwijken

2008-05-16T05:45:00+00:00

DEN HAAG - De PvdA in de Haagse gemeenteraad wil in de vier krachtwijken in Den Haag een wijkfonds oprichten.

CDA voor behoud koeien in Groene Hart

2008-05-16T05:45:00+00:00

GROENE HART - Het CDA in de Tweede Kamer wil boerenbedrijven in het Groene Hart behouden. Recreanten mogen dan tussen de koeien over het land lopen, zegt het CDA-Kamerlid Koppejan.

Gebouw TU volgende week gesloopt

2008-05-16T05:45:00+00:00

DELFT - De sloop van het uitgebrande deel van de faculteit Bouwkunde van de TU Delft begint volgende week. Dat heeft de gemeente Delft donderdagavond gemeld.

Virtual Earth puts human face on data

2008-05-16T05:02:02+00:00

Lightweight programming, minus Google

Project Watch: Microsoft 2008 Those who have been following Project Watch will know that I have been leading the development in a large database project using SQL Server 2008, Windows 2008 and Visual Studio 2008.…

Black Holes Don't Trap Information Forever

2008-05-16T04:11:00+00:00

sciencehabit writes "New calculations suggest that black holes are not a one-way street. Anything that falls into them may eventually come out. The findings lend important support to quantum gravity, but fly in the face of Einsteinian relativity. They also support Stephen Hawking's reluctant admission that information couldn't be destroyed by black holes. Penn State researcher Ahbay Ashtekar was quoted saying, 'Once we realized that the notion of space-time as a continuum is only an approximation of reality, it became clear to us that singularities are merely artifacts of our insistence that space-time should be described as a continuum.' Let the physics infighting begin."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Comic: Never saw it coming

2008-05-16T04:00:00+00:00

Security Holes

2008-05-16T04:00:00+00:00

Streamlining and Testing RFID Technology

2008-05-16T02:06:00+00:00

Multiple readers have written to let us know that an experiment at the upcoming Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference will use RFID to track the movements of at least 1,500 registrants for the duration of the conference. Those movements will be transmitted onto screens which "show in real-time where people go, with whom they associate, for how long and how often." The system will also be used for games which involve manipulation of the available data. Meanwhile, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a method for testing large quantities of RFID tags, which may serve to greatly speed distribution.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New game site designed to make computers smarter

2008-05-16T01:03:10+00:00

Or at least taggier

Scientists have launched a new game site designed to make computers smarter by harnessing the cognition of the humans playing the games. Gwap.com, short for games with a purpose, takes a Tom Sawyer approach to solving age-old computer problems by repackaging normally mundane tasks as online fun.…

Microsoft and OLPC Agree To Put XP On the XO Laptop

2008-05-16T00:13:00+00:00

Apro+im points out a NYTimes report which states that Microsoft and the OLPC project have officially agreed to put Windows XP on the XO laptop. While Microsoft has been working toward this for some time, analysts began to think a deal was more likely after Walter Bender resigned from the project and was replaced by Charles Kane. Former OLPC security developer Ivan Krstic had a lot to say about Windows on the XO as well. From the Times: "Windows will add a bit to the price of the machines, about $3, the licensing fee Microsoft charges to some developing nations under a program called Unlimited Potential. For those nations that want dual-boot models, running both Windows and Linux, the extra hardware required will add another $7 or so to the cost of the machines, Mr. Negroponte said. The project's agreement with Microsoft involves no payment by the software giant, and Microsoft will not join One Laptop Per Child's board. 'We've stayed very pure,' Mr. Negroponte said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple will please missile makers by backing PA Semi's chip

2008-05-16T00:11:08+00:00

Unleashing the iBomb

Exclusive Apple will indeed support PA Semi's line of PowerPC-based processors, The Register has learned.…

Netezza buys analytics mystery house

2008-05-16T00:01:35+00:00

Byzantine buy

Data warehouse appliance maker Netezza is buying an enigmatic analytics firm based in North Carolina, NuTech Solutions.…

MySpace fraudster indicted in teen's suicide

2008-05-15T23:02:33+00:00

Cyber-bully 2.0

A 49-year-old Missouri mother has been indicted for fraudulently using MySpace to "cyber-bully" a teenage girl who committed suicide after she was tricked into believing she was being dumped by her online boyfriend.…

Rootkits on routers threat to be demoed

2008-05-15T22:42:38+00:00

Networks own3d

Updated Security researchers have devised a rootkit capable of covertly monitoring and controlling Cisco routers.…

American cable giant joins data pimping club

2008-05-15T22:38:46+00:00

Charter member

Charter Communications, the eighth largest ISP in the States, has jumped into bed with NebuAd, a behavioral ad targeting firm along the lines of Phorm and Front Porch.…

Heemstede, Bloemendaal, Zandvoort, Bennebroek en Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude

2008-05-15T22:03:12+00:00

EU Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: aanbesteding re-integratie en inburgering , gemeenten Heemstede, Bloemendaal, Zandvoort, Bennebroek en Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude 2008/heem-hoogher-020

Arnoud Boer: Korte terugblik 2008-05-15: Arnoud maakte weer heel wat mee

2008-05-15T21:59:59+00:00

werkt vandaag weer op kantoor, duimt voor het werken van internet… #
zit te mijmeren over lissabonvakantie, nog een paar dagen voor vertrek. #
mist vanavond het 3voor12-feestje in het paard. #

Bericht van: Arnoud Boer

Korte terugblik 2008-05-15: Arnoud maakte weer heel wat mee

Arnoud Boer: Dagsluiting

2008-05-15T21:59:53+00:00

´Dat vind ik ontstellend.´

(Topmannen met topsalarissen gedragen zich als kinderen ten top.)

Bericht van: Arnoud Boer

Dagsluiting

Overstock's Patrick Byrne battles New York Sith Lord

2008-05-15T21:56:52+00:00

'I will not pay the Amazon Tax'

Unwilling to collect the Empire State's new "Amazon Tax," Patrick Byrne and Overstock.com have jettisoned their New York-based affiliate marketers.…

Syringe logic probe

2008-05-15T21:28:00+00:00

Filed under: misc hacks, daily

[Travis] sent in his oh so simple(why didn't I think of that) syringe logic probe. that he put together for his version of the sump logic analyzer. Real probes tend to be pretty expensive. With some effort, you can probably fit an led/diode/resistor in there and make a simple 5v logic probe. If you'd like a nice logic analyzer, Spartan-3 board that it's based on is only $99.

RIAA ordered to shell out $100k for P2P witch hunt

2008-05-15T21:13:25+00:00

Pigopolists pay for 471 hours

How many work hours does it take to fight off a false accusation of copyright infringement from the Recording Ass. of America?…

Online Quiz As a Gateway to P2P

2008-05-15T20:47:00+00:00

Andy Guess points out an interesting approach taken by a Missouri university to limiting (and limiting legal exposure because of) on-campus, on-line copyright violations, as described at Inside Higher Ed: "In order to download (or upload) files on any peer-to-peer network whatsoever, all on-campus users at Missouri S&T have to pass an online quiz on copyright infringement. But not just once. Passing the test — with a perfect score — enables peer-to-peer access for six hours on the user's on-campus registered machines."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Cartoonist aangehouden wegens discriminatie

2008-05-15T20:25:21+00:00

AMSTERDAM - De politie heeft dinsdag op last van het Openbaar Ministerie in Amsterdam de cartoonist die publiceert onder het pseudoniem Gregorius Nekschot aangehouden.

David Pogue Gushes Over the Chumby

2008-05-15T19:56:00+00:00

stoolpigeon writes "IHT is running a David Pogue review of the Chumby. The Chumby is a small computer embedded in a soft case. The Chumby hardware and OS are open and the review mentions that the device already has a large developer following, cranking out new widgets for owners. Pogue is obviously quite taken with the Chumby and gives a good introduction to a device that may be the inspiration for a new generation of hackers." http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=12873467

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Adobe lands Sun Java rich-client CTO

2008-05-15T19:34:09+00:00

Swings for Flex-based RIA

Sun Microsystems' desktop division CTO has defected to Adobe Systems. It's the latest installment of musical chairs between vendors jockeying for developers building rich internet applications, and highlights Sun's weaknesses in this already competitive field.…

The world's spookiest weapons

2008-05-15T19:30:00+00:00

Filed under: news

As purveyors of a fine hacks, we often get pitched on what are generally considered very bad ideas. Luckily, most of these ideas die on the drawing board due to a lack of time and energy or maybe having a shred of moral accountability. There's nothing that government funding can't fix though. Popular Science has put together a gallery of The World's Spookiest Weapons. It's a who's who of real and speculative engineering that could lead to our eventual destruction. Opening with the atomic bomb, it moves quickly into more bizarre territory, everything from heat rays, to rail guns, to gassing people with elephant tranquilizers. Our personal favorite is The Rods from God. Imagine getting smote by a precisely targeted metal power pole dropped from space that has accelerated to 36,000 feet per second thanks solely to gravity. What a wondrous world we live in.

[via Acidus]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Apple okay with Safari 'carpet bombing' vuln for now

2008-05-15T19:23:15+00:00

'Eh. Don't expect much from us'

Next time you get nagged to install Apple's Safari browser keep this in mind: The company's security team has dismissed research that shows a simple way miscreants can use the browser to litter an end user's machine with malicious files.…

Volgende week sloop gebouw Bouwkunde

2008-05-15T19:21:45+00:00

DELFT - De sloop van het uitgebrande deel van het faculteitsgebouw Bouwkunde van de TU Delft begint volgende week. Dat heeft de gemeente Delft donderdagavond gemeld.

Changing a School'sTech Disposal Policy?

2008-05-15T19:07:00+00:00

An anonymous reader writes "I attend a state university where a new building has recently been put in, and a new budget put in place. They have decided to upgrade all the computer systems involved in the department, with a few slight exceptions. From my limited understanding, State policy is that we cannot just let things go, they have to be sent back to the state capital in order to take them off the books. Then they put them in the dumpster. I feel that this is a huge waste of useful machines (some are merely two years old), but I know not how to change this, any suggestions, or does anyone know where Illinois dumps used tech?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Te weinig politiecellen binnenstad

2008-05-15T19:00:11+00:00

Politiebureaus in de binnenstad hebben te weinig cellen om arrestanten in de nachtelijke uren in het weekeinde onder te brengen. Daardoor kunnen onveilige situaties ontstaan, concludeert de Commissie van Toezicht voor Politiecellen in het jaarverslag over 2007.

AT5 is live bij Sevensrugbytoernooi

2008-05-15T18:59:23+00:00

Op het Nationaal Rugby Centrum op Sportpark Eendracht in Geuzenveld wordt komend weekeinde voor de 37ste keer het Amsterdam Sevens toernooi gehouden. Meer dan honderd teams binden in verschillende klassen de strijd met elkaar aan.

Geen broodjes meer halen bij Loekie

2008-05-15T18:58:36+00:00

De bekende broodjeszaak Loekie aan de Prinsengracht is niet meer. Eigenaar Lodewijk Koopman is onverwacht gestopt.

Speciale website overvalverdachten

2008-05-15T18:58:03+00:00

De politie wil een speciale website beginnen waarop beelden van overvalverdachten te zien zijn. Hierover moet de politie echter nog afspraken maken met Justitie, omdat met de site de bescherming van persoonsgegevens van verdachten in het geding kan zijn.

'Glazen kap over de A1 en A10-Oost'

2008-05-15T18:57:19+00:00

Bestuurders in de regio Amsterdam gaan bij het Rijk pleiten voor een glazen overkapping over de A1 en de A10-Oost. Dit omdat bij de voorgenomen verbreding van de snelwegen tussen Amsterdam en Almere geluidsschermen niet voldoen om de overlast voor de omwonenden te beperken.

Máxima doet bakkie op Kastanjeplein

2008-05-15T18:56:34+00:00

Prinses Máxima heeft donderdag een 'bakkie' koffie gedronken met inwoners van Oost. Ze nam een kijkje bij het project 'Bakkie in de buurt' op het Kastanjeplein.

Kwakoe Festival toch niet in Almere

2008-05-15T18:55:51+00:00

Het Kwakoe Festival verhuist toch niet naar Almere. Kwakoe Events wilde het zomerfestival in Almere organiseren, omdat de vergunning voor het evenement in het Bijlmerpark in Zuidoost naar een concurrent is gegaan.

ADO en RKC weer in evenwicht: 2-2

2008-05-15T18:55:00+00:00

DEN HAAG - ADO Den Haag en RKC spelen nog een keer om een plek in de eredivisie. Na het gelijke spel afgelopen zondag in Den Haag, kwamen ADO en RKC ook donderdag niet verder dan 2-2 .

Arrestant in politiecel overleden

2008-05-15T18:54:00+00:00

DEN HAAG - Een 27-jarige Hagenaar is in de nacht van dinsdag op woensdag in een politiecel in Den Haag overleden. De politie heeft het stoffelijk overschot van de arrestant woensdagochtend ontdekt.

Judge in Capitol v. Thomas Considers New Trial

2008-05-15T18:27:00+00:00

Jay Maynard writes "The judge in Capitol Records v. Thomas said today he's thinking about granting a new trial because he may have committed a 'manifest error of law' in his jury instructions. He says that his instruction that simply uploading music to a P2P network without any proof that anyone actually downloaded it may conflict with a case in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that said 'infringement of [the distribution right] requires an actual dissemination.' Briefs are due by May 29, with oral argument July 1. The judge invited friend of the court briefs by May 29, as well." NewYorkCountryLawyer links to the Judge's order itself (PDF), in which the Judge notes that he may (in NYCL's words) "have overlooked controlling Eighth Circuit authority, the case of National Car Rental v. Computer Associates, which held that you can't have a violation of the 'distribution right' without an 'actual dissemination of copies or phonorecords.'" Update: 05/15 18:54 GMT by T : Note that while the linked story as well as Jay Maynard's summary use the term "upload," Thomas wasn't uploading the files themselves, only making them available.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Van Middelkoop handhaaft clustermunitie

2008-05-15T18:13:53+00:00

DEN HAAG - Zolang er geen VN-verdrag over clustermunitie ligt zal Nederland de clusterbom M261 voor Apache-gevechtshelikopters alleen in hele speciale gevallen en pas na overleg met de Tweede Kamer inzetten.

Afghaanse overheid mag NAVO-projecten bepalen

2008-05-15T17:48:36+00:00

MAASTRICHT - De NAVO zal in Afghanistan niet meer op eigen houtje hulpprojecten opzetten, zoals bruggen bouwen of waterputten repareren. Het bondgenootschap zal zich voor de projecten voortaan richten naar ideeën van Afghaanse provinciebesturen.

Kort geding hondengeleiders politie

2008-05-15T17:46:27+00:00

Drie hondengeleiders van de politie hebben donderdag in een kort geding opheffing van hun schorsing door de korpsleiding geëist. De drie zijn met vier collega's op 'buitengewoon verlof' gestuurd omdat zij onder andere seks op de werkvloer zouden hebben gehad.

China schat dodental aardbeving op 50.000

2008-05-15T17:44:53+00:00

PEKING - Het dodental als gevolg van de zware aardbeving in de Chinese provincie Sichuan zal waarschijnlijk oplopen tot boven de 50.000.

Air Force Aims for Control of 'Any and All' Computers

2008-05-15T17:40:00+00:00

Noah Shachtman on Wired.com's Danger Room reports that Monday, the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB introduced a two-year, $11 million effort to put together hardware and software tools for 'Dominant Cyber Offensive Engagement.' 'Of interest are any and all techniques to enable user and/or root level access,' a request for proposals notes, 'to both fixed (PC) or mobile computing platforms ... any and all operating systems, patch levels, applications and hardware.' This isn't just some computer science study, mind you; 'research efforts under this program are expected to result in complete functional capabilities.' The Air Force has already announced their desire to manage an offensive BotNet, comprised of unwitting participatory computers. How long before they slip a root kit on you?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Scholieren jumpen voor het goede doel

2008-05-15T17:17:00+00:00

VOORSCHOTEN - De 1100 leerlingen van de Vlietland College school in Voorschoten bewogen donderdagmiddag allemaal op hetzelfde moment op muziek voor het goede doel.

Wake up and smell the Doritos™ - Avril Lavigne's manager

2008-05-15T17:14:43+00:00

Mmm. Doritos.

Copyright is over, and musicians should make themselves as pretty as they can for big brand advertisers, says top music manager and label boss Terry McBride.…

Early Review Calls New Indiana Jones Film Dreadful

2008-05-15T17:02:00+00:00

bowman9991 writes "Hope this one isn't true! An early negative review calls the upcoming "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" movie predictable, lacking in tension, and a fan's worst nightmare. SFFMedia believes this new Indiana Jones movie could create a similar reaction a lot of people experienced after watching the first of the last three Star Wars movies, 'The Phantom Menace': you wait for years and years, the anticipation building, and then it's so awful it taints your view of the original movies. Of course George Lucas was involved with Star Wars too." The SFFMedia piece refers to this review on Ain't it Cool News. The trailer I saw (before Iron Man) actually looked great to me, so I'm taking this with a grain of salt.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

NLnet lanceert wedstrijd om internetgebruikers te beschermen

2008-05-15T16:45:36+00:00

De in Nederland gevestigde not-for-profit-organisatie NLnet (http://nlnet.nl) heeft vandaag een internationale wedstrijd (http://nlnet.nl/usersafety2008%20) waarin deelnemers tools moeten verzamelen die eindgebruikers beschermen tegen cybercrime en privacyaantastingen. De wedstrijd maakt deel uit van een langer lopend programma om privacy en security op ICT-vlak te bevorderen. Normale computergebruikers vallen maar al te gemakkelijk ten prooi aan misbruik van buitenaf op de informatiesnelweg , stelt Michiel Leenaars, directeur strategie van NLnet.

Personeel verliest vertrouwen in leiding tbs-kliniek

2008-05-15T16:28:29+00:00

REKKEN - De ondernemingsraad van tbs-kliniek Oldenkotte in Rekken heeft donderdag het vertrouwen opgezegd in de directie van de instelling. Vakbond Abvakabo FNV eist spoedoverleg met de raad van bestuur en zegt onthutst te zijn over de "wantoestanden" in de kliniek.

Securing Your Notebook Against US Customs

2008-05-15T16:21:00+00:00

Nethemas the Great points out a piece from Bruce Schneier running in the UK's Guardian newspaper with some tips for international travelers on securing notebook computers for border crossings. A taste of the brief article: "Last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you're entering the country. They can take your computer and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days. ... Encrypting your entire hard drive, something you should certainly do for security in case your computer is lost or stolen, won't work here. The border agent is likely to start this whole process with a 'please type in your password.' Of course you can refuse, but the agent can search you further, detain you longer, refuse you entry into the country and otherwise ruin your day."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Akkoord over einde geweld Libanon

2008-05-15T15:56:42+00:00

BEIROET - De Arabische Liga heeft donderdag laten weten dat ze een akkoord heeft bereikt met de rivaliserende Libanese leiders om een einde te maken aan het geweld.

ANWB spreekt van drukke avondspits

2008-05-15T15:54:36+00:00

DEN HAAG - De ANWB sprak donderdag van een drukke avondspits. Rond kwart voor zes stond er ruim 400 kilometer. Vooral rond Amsterdam en Utrecht was het erg druk.

Koreans tout standard for US mobile TV

2008-05-15T15:52:53+00:00

LG and Samsung have just what you need

LG and Samsung have teamed up to have their respective technologies accepted as the American standard for mobile TV, just as Dish starts casting around for someone to help them build such a network.…

Shuttleworth Calls For Coordinated Release Cycles

2008-05-15T15:44:00+00:00

voodoosws points out on Mark Shuttleworth's blog Shuttleworth's call for synchronized publication of Linux distributions, excerpting: "There's one thing that could convince me to change the date of the next Ubuntu LTS: the opportunity to collaborate with the other, large distributions on a coordinated major / minor release cycle. If two out of three of Red Hat (RHEL), Novell (SLES) and Debian are willing to agree in advance on a date to the nearest month, and thereby on a combination of kernel, compiler toolchain, GNOME/KDE, X and OpenOffice versions, and agree to a six-month and 2-3 year long term cycle, then I would happily realign Ubuntu's short and long-term cycles around that. I think the benefits of this sort of alignment to users, upstreams and the distributions themselves would be enormous. I'll write more about this idea in due course, for now let's just call it my dream of true free software syncronicity."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Belastingdienst, Centrum voor facilitaire dienstverlening

2008-05-15T15:34:10+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: Hercertificering Taxateurs

Yahoo! faces battle for the board

2008-05-15T15:33:58+00:00

Icahn! launches! proxy! war!

Yahoo! might not have escaped the clutches of Microsoft after all.…

Bestuursbureau Proloog, p/a Het NIC B.V.

2008-05-15T15:24:33+00:00

EU Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Schoonmaakdienstverlening inclusief de glazenwasserswerkzaamheden.

Meer postkantoren voor gemeentelijke producten

2008-05-15T15:22:00+00:00

ZOETERMEER - Het aantal postkantoren waar inwoners van Zoetermeer gemeentelijke producten kunnen aanvragen is gestegen.

Belastingdienst, Centrum voor Facilitaire Dienstverlening

2008-05-15T15:18:29+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: WVS 2008/2009

Vrije Universiteit

2008-05-15T15:10:31+00:00

EU RECTIFICATIE Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: inhuur ICT personeel, IT0005

3 Rugged Notebooks Take a Beating

2008-05-15T15:03:00+00:00

bsk_cw writes "Brian Nadel got a chance to try to destroy three 'fully rugged' notebooks and get paid for it — Computerworld had him drop, spray, drown, bake, shake, and freeze notebooks from General Dynamics Itronix, Getac and Panasonic. All three suffered some damage, but only the Getac M230 actually died as a result. Brian made videos of the tests (which were apparently done in his home, including his kitchen)."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Vandaal vernielt doek op Kunstvlaai

2008-05-15T15:02:23+00:00

Een onbekende heeft woensdagmiddag op kunstbeurs Kunstvlaai in de Westergasfabriek een doek van kunstenaar Frank Ammerlaan vernield. De vandaal zette een grote hand in de pasteuze verfhuid (dikke verflaag) van het schilderij.

TU begint met de opbouw van tenten

2008-05-15T14:59:00+00:00

DELFT - De TU Delft is donderdag op het sportveld naast het afgebrande faculteitsgebouw Bouwkunde begonnen met de opbouw van de tenten waarin studenten de komende tijd les krijgen.

FriendshipLogos

2008-05-15T14:57:55+00:00

Zitting beroep Holleeder op 10 juni

2008-05-15T14:55:57+00:00

Het gerechtshof in Amsterdam houdt op 10 juni een eerste korte, procedurele zitting in de strafzaak in hoger beroep tegen Willem Holleeder. Het is nog onduidelijk waar de zitting gehouden zal worden.

Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap

2008-05-15T14:53:08+00:00

EU RECTIFICATIE Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: ICT consultancy en overige diensten

Service Centrum Drechtsteden

2008-05-15T14:51:01+00:00

EU Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Warme Drankenautomaten SCD

Dienst Landelijk Gebied regio Oost

2008-05-15T14:46:09+00:00

EU Vooraankondiging Diensten: Opstellen MER-rapportage en procesbegeleiding Gendtse Waard

Yad Vashem eert redders Salo Muller

2008-05-15T14:38:55+00:00

Salo Muller, die in het begin van de jaren zeventig als fysiotherapeut de grote successen van Ajax meemaakte, heeft tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog acht onderduikadressen gehad. De beste herinneringen bewaart hij aan Pietje Heddema-Bos en Klaas Vellinga uit het Friese Drachtstercompagnie.

ANWB waarschuwt voor gladheid op snelwegen.

2008-05-15T14:36:00+00:00

DEN HAAG - De ANWB waarschuwt voor mogelijk gladheid op de snelwegen bij ons in de regio.

Haagse geboortekliniek ziet het levenslicht

2008-05-15T14:36:00+00:00

DEN HAAG - Prinses Maxima heeft donderdag de geboortekliniek wereldwonder officieel geopend.

Ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer

2008-05-15T14:35:21+00:00

EU Aankondiging gegunde opdracht Diensten: Programmamanagement naar een functiegebouw Rijk

Unhappy Hour

2008-05-15T14:30:00+00:00

Everything was lined up for some seasonal specials at Chotchkie's (as we'll call it), a mid-size chain of family restaurants. Starting just in time for the weekend on Friday, there would be specials on Pizza Shooters, Shrimp Poppers, and Extreme Fajitas.

The special had been promoted, ads circulated, table cards and menus updated — everything was ready to go. That is, aside from setting up the discount in the PoS system on their antiquated Panasonic 7000-series cash registers. Because of the old architecture and a confusing interface, what should be a simple change for restaurant staff to update item pricing actually required the involvement of a developer; in this case, Mike L.

The circumstances had worked well for Mike. Chotchkie's had been running their PoS system for a long time — well past the point that support had ended. Chotchkie's Corporate had to figure something out, and came up with two options:

Upgrade the PoS system for every Chotchkie's (at a cost of ~$28,000 per store, over three million for the whole chain), or
Figure something else out.

They chose #2 and hired Mike, and things had been going smoothly for months.

Two days before the special started, Mike received a panicked call from the client, begging him to rush a change. "We've already begun advertising this," the client pleaded. "I know today's Wednesday and usually we have more time, but we really need this in by Friday morning!" Since they were in such a bind and Mike didn't have much of a choice, he ignored his conscience and agreed to a "rush job." This was his first mistake.

While preparing the changes, Mike realized that he had a narrow window to roll the change out to the 120 restaurants. In order to get the change in before Friday morning, he would have to bypass the usual client testing phase. Mike worked late on Thursday and dispatched the change to 120 Chotchkie's restaurants. This was his second mistake.

After a good night's sleep he returned to work on Friday. At 10:05 that morning, his phone started ringing. Constantly. The restaurants had been open for five minutes.

Everything at every Chotchkie's was ringing up for ten cents. Super Fries, Belly Busters, Onion Hoppers, Marshmallow Hoorays, even $50 gift cards were $.10 each.

Mike realized he had to do something drastic; something he hoped he'd never have to do. He shut down every register in all 120 Chotchkie's locations, leaving hundreds of employees with nothing to do, and turning away thousands of hungry customers.

This was not a popular decision, and only increased the number of calls he was receiving. Worse, clients had begun asking to remain on hold until the issue was fixed.

It didn't take him too long to find the source of the problem. Price changes were done with updates to four dBase III tables on each register, and five tables on one central computer for each restaurant. In an attempt to make his life easier, Mike wrote an app to streamline the process. It'd build these nine tables into a common table, then send the updates down to each register.

To deal with the quirkiness of the old Panasonic registers' database structures, Mike's app had to massage the data going to and from his own tables using some fairly painful string parsing and manipulation code. Though the price changes he needed to make were fairly straightforward, a missing leading zero on one of the items (.10 instead of 0.10) lead towards disasterous consequences: the register update loop got "stuck" on the ".10", causing all prices to be updated to $0.10.

Mike hacked like he'd never hacked before and had a fix ready before too long. Because the registers had already been opened for the day and the systems were designed to only accept automatic updates when the registers were closed, he couldn't do one big push. Four tedious hours of updating restaurants one-by-one and a $7,000 discount on the invoice later, he was out of the woods. It may sound bad, but he got off easy considering all the free food that was given to people that showed up right when the restaurants opened, the cost to have the staff sitting around doing nothing all morning, missing the lunch rush...

Needless to say, he's learned not to ignore his conscience anymore.

Brought to you by the Non-WTF Job Board:

Korps landelijke politiediensten

2008-05-15T14:26:43+00:00

EU Aankondiging opdracht Diensten: Catering ten behoeve van de medewerkers van het KLPD.

CBS Acquires CNET Networks for $1.8 Billion

2008-05-15T14:25:00+00:00

An anonymous reader writes "According to an announcement made today by Neil Ashe, CEO of CNET Networks, CBS has acquired CNET Networks. "Today, CNET Networks announced that it has been acquired by US media company CBS, in a deal valued at $1.8bn. The agreement represents an important strategic step for both companies and should be completed by the third quarter of 2008." So guess we'll be seeing The Late Show with Dan Ackerman, Molly Wood in Hollywood and CSISpot." If you'd like to read about it someplace other than CNet, Ian Lamont contributes a link to coverage at The Standard. It seems reasonable to ask how much longer they'll let news.com remain an IT-centric site.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Decaan TU doet oproep aan omwonenden

2008-05-15T14:18:00+00:00

DELFT - Decaan Patijn van de faculteit Bouwkunde Delft roept mensen in de opgeving van het afgebrande gebouw op om alle documenten van die ze vinden in te leveren bij de TU.

SOCA says: We are hitting serious criminals

2008-05-15T14:15:36+00:00

UK's FBI goes after crims, and their cash

The UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has said it is making progress in the fight against high-impact crime. The agency published its second annual report on Thursday highlighting increased seizures of Class A drugs and the confiscation of criminals' wealth.…

MindTouch

2008-05-15T14:00:53+00:00

!MindTouch Company behind DekiWiki http://www.mindtouch.com/ home http://wiki.opengarden.org DekiWiki home http://www.wikimatrix.org/show/DekiWiki ... (last changed by MichaelCorbett)

CBS saves CNet from activist investors

2008-05-15T13:56:25+00:00

Billion dollar buyout

CBS is buying CNet Networks - the web publisher behind ZDNet, gamespot.com, tv.com, mp3.com, news.com and techrepublic. These sites will now be combined with CBS's websites.…

Billg bigs up SharePoint and Touch Wall

2008-05-15T13:53:20+00:00

No future for keyboards though

Bill Gates bigged up collaborative technologies and demoed a new device called the Touch Wall, which looks to us rather like a wall-mounted iPhone.…

Colossus Cipher Challenge Winner On Ada

2008-05-15T13:47:00+00:00

An anonymous reader writes "Colossus Cipher Challenge winner Joachim Schueth talks about why he settled on Ada as his language of choice to unravel a code transmitted from the Heinz Nixdorf Museum in Germany, from a Lorenz SZ42 Cipher machine (used by the German High Command to relay secret messages during the World War II). 'Ada allowed me to concisely express the algorithms I wanted to implement.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sterke daling overvallen in de stad

2008-05-15T13:45:45+00:00

De aanpak van het kernteam STOP Overvallen van de politie lijkt te werken. Het aantal overvallen in de stad is dit jaar sterk gedaald.

Nog meer defensieve problemen Ajax

2008-05-15T13:38:59+00:00

Ajax kampt in de aanloop van het beslissende duel met FC Twente in de de play-offs om een plaats in de voorronde van de Champions League met grote defensieve problemen. Trainer Adrie Koster mist zondag in de ArenA waarschijnlijk Urby Emanuelson.

UMG Calls Infringement Damages "Excessive"

2008-05-15T13:10:00+00:00

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Why would UMG, one of the four major RIAA members, consider an infringement award 'grossly excessive'? Naturally, because they were the ones ordered to pay it. While they had no trouble with Jammie Thomas being ordered to pay $222k, some 13,214 times the actual costs, they thought that being ordered to pay ten times the actual damages in Bridgeport v. Justin Combs was just too much. Then again, maybe that's why they didn't complain back when the increased statutory damages section was cut from the PRO-IP Act? Now if they could just cut the rest of the act."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Life a mess? The Moderatrix can help

2008-05-15T13:02:02+00:00

El Reg launches Agony Aunt service

It's come to our attention that some of you have lost your way a little on this journey we call life, and are wandering aimlessly while attempting to answer the fundamentals of existence. How do I install a printer driver on Umbongo Linux? I'm hungry - should I order pizza or a bucket-'o-plumped-chicken-gizzards? If I have a shower, will women want to have sex with me?…

KnownIssuesOfTWiki04x02

2008-05-15T13:01:49+00:00

Known Issues of TWiki 4.2.x Production Releases These are known issues of TWiki 4.2.0 and their development state. If an issue is marked as Planned that means that ... (last changed by StephaneLenclud)

Chinese boffins show off unbelievably tight ring

2008-05-15T12:47:27+00:00

Golden monomolecular nano wedding-band is largest ever

Chinese nanojewellery experts have managed to fashion an exceptionally tiny ring out of just 36 atoms of gold. Incredibly minuscule as the golden nano-ring is, however, it is in fact the world's largest of its type.…

Swarming Ants Destroy Electronics in Texas

2008-05-15T12:34:00+00:00

AntOverlords writes "Voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers. They have ruined pumps at sewage pumping stations, fouled computers and at least one homeowner's gas meter, and caused fire alarms to malfunction. They have been spotted at NASA's Johnson Space Center and close to Hobby Airport, though they haven't caused any major problems there yet."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Verizon shuns Android for LiMo

2008-05-15T12:02:02+00:00

'Google don't know open'

Sometime next year, Verizon will roll out a Linux OS as the "preferred operating system" for phones on its US wireless network. And that Linux OS is not Google Android.…

Error'd: Schrödinger's Submenu

2008-05-15T12:00:00+00:00

"I wonder if it's possible to change the text of the sensibility of the message," pondered Adam, "if the message having sensibility cannot have text... or something like that."

Glenn Dejaeger snapped another crash on Piccadilly Circus. This one was apparently up for a full day...

Sergey notes, "opening TextPad has never been so informative!"

Actually Tim, this is isn't really an error. Everyone knows that the German über is so much more über than the English version.

asdf zxcvzxcv, asdf Duff qwer asdfasdf zxcvpoiu.

Brought to you by the Non-WTF Job Board:

NBC Activates Broadcast Flag

2008-05-15T11:57:00+00:00

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "NBC activated the 'broadcast flag' on a number of shows this week, ranging from American Gladiator to Medium, which prevented compliant programs like Windows Media Center from recording them. The matter is being 'looked into,' but that doesn't tell us whether it was an accident or a ploy to see how outraged viewers would be at being stripped of the time-shifting rights they've enjoyed ever since Sony v. Universal. Just in case it's the latter, it wouldn't hurt to let them know what you think."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Spotigo promises Wi-Fi mapping within 5 metres

2008-05-15T11:45:44+00:00

'It says we're...in the airport'

German Wi-Fi specialist Spotigo has managed to compile a Wi-Fi radio map of London and other major European cities, enabling it to locate any Wi-Fi device within five metres - and it promises to have the rest of Europe mapped within a year.…

Meijendel weer open voor paardentrailers

2008-05-15T11:45:00+00:00

WASSENAAR - Het wordt voor mensen met paardentrailers weer mogelijk om te parkeren in het hart van natuurgebied Meijendel in Wassenaar.

IM represents 'new linguistic renaissance'

2008-05-15T11:41:51+00:00

Teens flex their chat muscles

Those among you who believe the use of instant messaging slang and shorthand among teens has doomed the English language to inevitable destruction should take heart from this report in New Scientist, which claims that au contraire, IM represents an "an expansive new linguistic renaissance".…

Weghalen kippen Amstelpark begonnen

2008-05-15T11:30:29+00:00

Stadsdeel Zuideramstel is donderdag begonnen met het weghalen van kippen uit het Amstelpark. Het park heeft last van een grote groep loslopende kippen die qua aantal nauwelijks in de hand te houden was.

Planet Metro

'Coolbox' van brandweer wint prijs

Aanleg Park Frankendael voltooid

Majoor Bosshardtprijs voor Terpstra

Emanuelson gaat niet mee naar EK

Twee gewonden bij ruzie binnenstad

Bromfietser gewond bij aanrijding

Dronken passagier van KLM opgepakt

Slijngard zondag bij Ajax in basis

SANS sounds alarm on Debian OpenSSL flaw

Lockpicking script prompts alarm

Cartoonist 'Nekschot' gearresteerd

Rover: 'situatie Zuid onacceptabel'

Man aangehouden wegens megaboete

DARPA Celebrates 50 Years of Pushing the Envelope

Goudse scholieren op bezoek in schouwburg

Grote coffeeshop moet half jaar dicht

Keeping Customer From Accessing My Database?

Taalbureau vraagt uitstel betaling

TWikiMarketingMeeting2008x05x05

NewTWikiOrgServer2008

AMD cries foul over Intel's 'river of cash' flowing to Dell

Shows Intel Chairman begging for forgiveness

Jongetjes filmen verkrachting 10-jarig meisje

Verklaring van Den Haag inzake Vrije en Open standaarden

Vermeend geweldpleger 'Joegomaffia' vol in vizier

OM acht cartoons Nekschot strafbaar

Honeywell &amp; Airbus To Turn Algae Into Jet Fuel

Poetin creëert nieuw machtsorgaan

World economy group gives IPv6 big push

Warns about depletion of IPv4 addresses

Akkoord over MEOB-terrein Oegstgeest

Acteur Youssef Idilbi overleden

Jihadis: We turned hacked killbots against US troops

ROTM fever spreads to mujahideen press office

Code Quality In Open and Closed Source Kernels

Beperking afsteken vuurwerk onderzocht

P2P soars, licensed music flatlines

Today is a good day to die download

Prominenten naar Vlaggetjesdag

Balkenende en Verhagen bezoeken Bush

DNS gaffe leaves spy agency totally under cover

Big website knickers round ankles

Sportvelden TU Delft vervuild, Berlage Instituut helpt

OLPC and Microsoft punt Windows-only XO laptop

Odd couple shack up

Fermilab Calls For Code Crackers

Rijkswaterstaat Corporate Dienst

Rijkswaterstaat Corporate Dienst

Arnoud Boer: Het is eenzaam aan de top

OLPC's a con - former insider

Departing software chief stings Negroponte

Ché Jenner naar AGOVV

Officieel dodental Myanmar op 77.738 (video)

Qualcomm splurges on UK spectrum

Just bag up the whole lot for me, please

Politie doet meerdere drugsvangsten

What To Do With Old Laptops?

Gemeente Almere

Xbox 360 'eaten' by alligator

Beast of a box

High Court orders MPs to 'fess up on expenses

Show us how you've spent our money

Woonhuis oud-premier op particuliere markt

Raad voor de rechtspraak

Orange signs multi-nation iPhone distribution deal

Jesus Phone coverage spreads

Heemstede, Bloemendaal, Zandvoort, Bennebroek en Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude

Museum Mesdag dicht voor verbouwing

Vijf miljoen mensen dakloos door aardbeving China

Universiteit Utrecht

Treinverkeer langzaam weer op gang na botsing

Min. van VROM

IE 7.0/8.0b Code Execution 0-Day Released

Amsterdam kans op 'evenementenstad'

'Jeugdzorg potte 2 miljoen euro op'

WebNotify

Gemeente Zaltbommel

Thus spake the Moderatrix

Your problems solved, the world set to rights

Honeywell & Airbus To Turn Algae Into Jet Fuel