[Quote:]

TinyP2P is a functional peer-to-peer file sharing application, written in fifteen lines of code, in the Python programming language. I wrote TinyP2P to illustrate the difficulty of regulating peer-to-peer applications. Peer-to-peer apps can be very simple, and any moderately skilled programmer can write one, so attempts to ban their creation would be fruitless.

[Quote:]

Dr. Edward Felten recently posted a piece of code called TinyP2P, which demonstrates how easy it is to create a peer-to-peer filesharing application by doing it in just 15 lines of Python.� However, TinyP2P uses a ready-made XMLRPC server library, which seems to me to be taking the easy way out.� Here’s my response:� MoleSter, a non-trivial filesharing application in 9 lines of Perl, using no protocol library more sophisticated than TCP.

[Quote:]

An experimental interceptor missile failed to get off the ground in a test of the U.S. national missile defense system early Wednesday, raising new doubts about prospects for the imminent activation of the system.

In the test, a target missile, a simulated ICBM with a mock warhead, was launched without problem from Kodiak, Alaska, at 12:45 a.m. EST, a statement from the Defense Department’s Missile Defense Agency said.

However, 16 minutes later, an “unknown anomaly” led to an automatic shutdown of the interceptor missile shortly before it was to launch from the Ronald Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean.

[..]

During the test, the interceptor was not necessarily supposed to strike the target missile, officials said, but it was possible. Instead, the primary goal was to collect data on the interceptor’s performance.

Well, I guess the test was a total success after all… they got exactly the performace data one can expect from such a system.