WTF. DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has been hit with one of the largest funding cuts ever. All the funds are being redirected to "short term military spending" (Read: planes && weaponry) instead.

EXCUSE ME. WTF?!? DARPA is one of the few organisations in the world that can release a project that can change the world, and that will have approximately a 1 in 100 chance of success. Hint: You're using one now, yep, DARPA invented the internet.

Now, I thought the policy was to innovate. But, apparently, just as NASA cut funding to the Voyager probes in order to plan a *possible* trip to Mars (For WHAT? Do we *really* need to Americanize mars? Honestly, the whole project has no special scientific merit, especially when compared to the Voyagers), the US defence system is moving away from Technology, to just standard military. Excuse me, but this looks pretty fucking regressive.

It must feel great to be in "The Land of The Free™". Knowing the fact that the govt's new policy is "make war, not knowledge", and the rising theocracy in the South, America is headed for a DISASTER.

On a more interesting note, today I managed to make the easiest $100 _EVER_. Across the hall from the ScienceFair displays, there was, of all things, one of WinFortress' trademark "Hack this PC and Win $100" displays. Of course, for me, "Hack this PC and Win $100" automatically gets translated into "FREE MONEY!!!". Basically, it was the usual: Check Regedit, then Safe Mode. Turns out they disabled both. Then I tested out VBScript. Guess what? It worked. However, upon trying to kill a process, WFortress plopped up "OMGZ U R HAX0RING!!!1!!!!!1!oneone!!1!!!111!" dialog. However, bypassing this was as easy as rewriting the script to use WBEM to kill the resident monitor. After that, it was as simple as merging a .reg file to delete the "Policies" key. I will never forget the look on that guy's face as he was lecturing on how "wonderful and uncrackable" his software is. Basically, it went like this:
WFLuser: Yea yea, our crapware is secure++
Me: Erm, hey, can I have my $100 please?
WFLuser: No, that's only if you can crack WinFortress, which is impossible
Me: How about, you check out your display PC?
* WFLuser walks over, checks, stares for a few minutes, runs a few programs, and turns back to me, and asks "WTF"
Me: Here's a new security hole for you to plug: WBEM in VBScripts. Oh, and I'd like my money
* WFLuser gives me the forementioned $100
Me: WinFortress: The Security a Monkey can Crack™
WFLuser: Just...be quiet