"The glass spheres scatter laser light so that it falls in a speckle pattern on a surface on the far side that is divided into a grid of pixels. The intensity of light in each pixel is the fingerprint that is compared against a pre-recorded version to verify the token. "

Cheap trick secures secrets

I stumbled across this URL by accident, but it's quite a good URL list of Cisco-related security tips and documents.

Cisco - Security Technical Tips

"Conclusion
If you want to make a political difference, join one of the parties: Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Reform, Green or whatever. Your fundraising and campaigning will be much appreciated. If you want to pleasure yourself mindlessly, get some porn. But try not to confuse the two: don't pleasure yourself by posting political stories to K5. "

The follies of political debates on blogs or other websites.

kuro5hin.org || technology and culture, from the trenches

"Kofi Annan's speech was a pithy and eloquent challenge to unilateralism by major powers, but it was President George W. Bush who gave the evening's decisive performance. His eloquent appeal asking the U.N. Security Council to hold Iraq accountable seems to have garnered the international support he needs for an attack on Baghdad. "

Bush Hectors U.N. Into Submission

"The Great Liberator Lawrence Lessig helped mount the case against Microsoft. He wrote the book on creative rights in the digital age. Now the cyberlaw star is about to tell the Supreme Court to smash apart the copyright machine."

Quick introduction to Lawrence Lessig. A bit long, FYI.

Wired 10.10: Lawrence Lessig's Supreme Showdown

Commission President Loretta Lynch said the five largest non-utility electricity generators were not operating at maximum capacity on all but two of the 32 days during which the state saw either blackouts or cuts in service to customers that had agreed to give up power during electricity crises.

You have to love unregulated corporations. :-)

Calif.: Blackouts Weren't Necessary

"For many people, tobacco represents a death sentence -- inflicting nicotine addiction, lung cancer and other ills. But for millions of women in the developing world at risk for cervical cancer, tobacco could eventually be a lifesaver.
University researchers are working on genetically engineering tobacco plants to produce an experimental vaccine against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can lead to cervical cancer"

Ironic, isn't it?

No Smoke: Tobacco Used in Vaccine

David Brin's critique of E2:ATC. A great author writes and insightful critique into the flaws of George Lucas' latest. I always enjoy reading his work.

David Brin's: My Star Wars: Attack of the Clones critique (article)

'[Fuller] has redefined the role of a manager for the 21st century. He treats pop acts as brands, to be exploited over different media, rather than performers who make money only by selling records and playing concerts. He's a genius -- he makes everyone else look like complete amateurs.'"

From the head mouth of Universal Music, U.K. comes this nugget of wisdom. No wonder they aren't selling any CDs.

Why today's music industry sucks: Salon.com | Slaves of celebrity

Jeremy Munday and Bill Robertson made a 120-metre-long cable by alternating six- to eight-metre-long lengths of two different kinds of coaxial cable, each with a different electrical resistance. They hooked this hybrid cable up to two signal generators, one of which broadcast a fast wave, the other a slow one. The waves interfere with each other to produce electric pulses, which can be watched using an oscilloscope.

Wow....go MTSU;)

New Scientist