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Well, he wasn't all that wrong. You do get substantial grain deformation in the lengthwise direction when you draw steel (as it's a cold forming process). And that increases strength in the direction of pull.

So the rope analogy kind of works, only the fibres are really really small... :-) And they're made from the steel in the first place.

That's not to say that there isn't more to say on the subject, since I haven't studied this in a couple of decades, I did some googling and came up with http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewc... .

But of course you're not going to "print" steel wire. We're in violent agreement there.

The potential is there. Isn't it one of the complains against the security agencies that they show a "failure of imagination" in dealing with potential terrorist threats, resulting in spectacular attacks like 9/11? Are you suggesting perpetuating that? Should the terrorists "out think" the security agencies?

MetaTerror: The Potential Use of MMORPGs by Terrorists By Andrew Cochran - 2007

While the makers of Second Life (Linden Labs) pursue an admirable utopian ideal these metaverse systems can potentially also be used by those seeking to pursue a radical agenda. Many of the overwhelmingly positive features of Second Life can be adapted for negative Real Life means. The rapid and potent way in which communication takes place would seem to be an ideal platform for recruitment into radical groups, especially given the age range of those engaged in the world, which is typically 18-34. The teaching capabilities of the world can clearly be adapted for use by terrorists.

Streaming video can be uploaded into Second Life and a scenario can easily be constructed whereby an experienced terrorist bomb-maker could demonstrate how to assemble bombs using his avatar to answer questions as he plays the video. Using the decentralized organization effect, already successfully used by SL companies, the bomb-maker and his pupils can be spread around the globe and using instant language translation tools (available in the world) could be speaking a variety of languages. Just as Real Life companies such as Toyota test their products in Second Life so could terrorists construct virtual representations of targets they wish to attack in order to examine the potential targets vulnerabilities and reaction to attack. But possibly by far the most useful tool currently available to radical groups is the ability to transfer in-world money between avatars that can be translated into real currency. The Second Life currency of Lindens (approximately $270L to $1US) can be bought using a credit card in one country and credited to one avatar (account) and can be given to a co-conspirator avatar in another country. The person controlling this second avatar can then convert these lindens to the real-world currency wherever they are based using a local credit card or paypal equivalent. Clearly the ability to transfer money in this fashion is a very useful function. While Linden Labs sets a limit on the amount of currency an avatar can buy or sell (typically $5000US) this is likely to change and $5000 gets you a long way in many parts of the world.

DETECTING MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM FINANCING ACTIVITY IN SECOND LIFE AND WORLD OF WARCRAFT - 2010

In recent years there has been much debate about the risks posed by virtual environments. Concern is growing about the ease in which virtual worlds and virtual reality role-playing games such as Second Life and World of Warcraft can be used for economic crimes such as financially motivated cybercrime, money laundering and terrorism financing. Currently, virtual environments are not subject to the strict financial controls and reporting requirements of the real world, therefore, they offer an excellent opportunity for criminals and terrorism financers to carry out their illegal activities unhindered and with impunity. This paper demonstrates the need for suitable approaches, tools and techniques which can be used to detect money laundering and terrorism financing in virtual environments and introduces a research project which aims to establish a comprehensive set of behaviour maps, rule bases and models to help in the fight against organised crime and terrorism.

Technology is neutral - it can be put to purposes both good or evil. The surgeon's knife can heal or mutilate. When you integrate virtual worlds with the real world in some way, there is

It does indeed make sense, and there are many who are striving to construct an objective set of criteria for evaluating wines.

However, even this can be foiled by expectations. There have been several instances where researchers have found that supposedly knowledgeable judges tasting wines in a blind (as in blindfolded) context have been shown to be unable to distinguish white wines from red.

Objectively, that might stand to reason, given that both are likely to carry a similar array of organic compounds.

From a chemist's point of view, it might be more informative to subject the wine to some form chromatographic or other chemical analysis. This, at least would have the advantage of cutting out all the pretentious bullshit associated with wine criticism.

The good news is that there are a few Masters of Wine (example here) who are currently attempting to do just that.

They're not trying to make spyware.

What they're suggesting is an extension of ECU's Image Preview System (SiMPLE) and Laptop Inspector And Recovery System (LIARS) live CDs.

They want a simple, forensically valid tool for quickly checking computers in situ. Presumably it'd be something like a version of SiMPLE which had an interface for choosing what to inspect on the target machine (ie, Kiddie porn, chat logs, financial docs, etc). The cops on site would use the tool to quickly screen any computers they find/suspect, then take any positives back to a better-equipped lab for proper analysis.

Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE)

In year 2006, inspired by WFT, Ricci Ieong started the development of Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE) (Ieong 2006) COFEE uses batch script to manage a list of existing incident response tools and IT security tools volatile data forensics acquisition system similar to WFT, IRCR and FRED. But all the scripts, programs were stored on USB storage device before data acquisition.

Instead of requesting users to key in the output directory, COFEE automatically redirect the output to the inserted USB storage device. With the automatic OS version detection and storage assignment scheme, Operating System dependent program will be automatically selected after the version detection. Investigator only needs to insert the USB storage devices to the target machine and click one to two buttons in order to start the data acquisition process.

Another difference between COFEE with other live forensics toolkits is separation of the data acquisition procedures with the data examination procedures. In WFT, the report generation processes are executed immediately after the data acquisition process on the target machine. However, performing report generation on target machine may also alter the memory content in the target machine. As report generation does not necessarily be executed on target machine, therefore, only data acquisition programs, in COFEE, would be executed on target machines. All program selection, data examination and analysis processes would be performed on investigator machine.

Besides, more forensics programs are supported by COFEE such as screen capture and password capture tools.

I'm currently taking a Microprocessors class at Ferris State University. We're using the Motorola 68HC11. It's a CISC processor with simple nmenonics. We both have quite a few physical boards, but we also use a Windows-based emulator called Wookie with MiniIDE as the IDE/assembler.

I'm enjoying the class so far.

Hell, in my day, I read the source code, and with an abacus in one hand, and a box full of crayons in the other...

Hah! I can one up you on that one, Mr. AC. When I was five, things were so bad that we had to give computer commands to a TURTLE just to get an image drawn!

(for those who don't get it)