The malware may or may not have been released by the government; It's doubtful we'll ever know the truth...
Well, if the keylogger sends its log to a server somewhere, perhaps there may be some useful evidence as to the authors' identity. I'm willing to wager that Citizen Lab and others are working on it now...
Given the authoritarian control and censorship modern governments seem to be intent on imposing on the internet, this news should not surprise anyone.
What does surprise me, only slightly, is how obvious the execution of this trojan version. I'm not trying to diminish Morgan Marquis-Boire's contribution to the international community; we owe people like him our gratitude and admiration. I just would have expected slightly better kung fu from a government censor... maybe I'm giving them too much credit.
Kudos to the teams at Citizen Lab and Simurgh for reacting quickly, and hopefully minimizing the casualties caused by this trojan.
You hear a lot of hyperbole lately from across the political spectrum bemoaning dire consequences from the use of UAVs. But having worked for a UAV manufacturer in the past, I know with certainty that they are preparing many flavors of unmanned systems for civil and commercial uses. Land management, asset management, traffic reporting, forestry, mining, oceanography, geology, communications, medevac, and cargo applications are just a few of the things that they could do... and will one day.
However, the only people now with enough money to purchase them are military customers. Thats why almost all of the UAVs out there are military ones.
if you are going to get a Macbook Pro, definitely don't buy one NOW. Apple is almost definitely going to release an update in a month, with rumors saying it will be 30% thinner, lighter, and probably with a "retina" (ie. stupid marketing speak for MUCH higher resolution) screen.
Rumors also have it that Apple will be eliminating the optical drive in favor of more battery, even in the 17" model, essentially forcing you to spend $3k on a souped-up netbook. I hope that that's either not true or that they'll offer a choice of battery or optical drive in that bay at no cost difference, because I'm planning on replacing my late 2006 MBP sometime in the next year.
It sounds trite, but there is a kernel of wisdom there. Buy a Macbook Pro if you can afford it.
If you have the budget, you'll get what you pay for. It has the only extended warranty for any electronic gadget that Consumer Reports recommends. It will run any OS you like. It will last for 5 to 10 years depending on your needs (games vs web/email, respectively). You can spend a similar amount and get a comparable or slightly better hardware package from Dell/Alienware, but it won't come with the warranty, OS options, elegance or robustness that Macbook Pros are famous for.
This suggestion will start a flame war. You're going to hear from fanatics from both sides. However, I manage a mix of computers for both a small business and a household with several power users, and I have learned firsthand the strengths and weakness of both camps.
Windows' strengths are in gaming and technical/engineering applications. If you want access to the most games, or need to run CAD/FEA applications, then you should buy a Windows desktop machine. Not a laptop, but one that you can upgrade piecemeal as your needs evolve. Build your own, or arrange to have one built for you, and you can get a spectacular set of hardware specs for a very low price.
However, if you want a casual use or business laptop, then Apple's MBPs are the best available, even if you intend to run Windows exclusively. The extra money you spend will eventually pay off in 1) time saved in building it, and 2) the time saved in maintaining it. The 2.2 GHz 15-inch models offer the best price/performance ratio if your budget is constrained. Otherwise, I recommend buying the 17-inch 2.5GHz quad-core i7 - it will last the longest before you need to purchase a replacement.
Instead of murder I just suggest he move out of the country.
Wish I had mod points for you today.
If Eduardo Saverin can leave the US and renounce his citizenship to avoid paying a legal and justifiable tax on his earnings, then Tenenbaum should be able to leave in order to avoid paying a debt that is legal but of severely questionable justification.
Oh. Wait. I forgot. Saverin is a wealthy businessman whose dodged debt represented a tiny fraction of his capital gains earnings. Tenebaum is a poor college student whose debt amounts to a decade of what he may expect for a gross salary after he finishes his Physics postdoc and moves on to industry.
I suggest he may have better luck using his post doc in Physics to land a job working on derivative equations for a Wall Street investment firm.
Researchers caution, however, that they can't be sure whether these associations mean that drinking coffee actually makes people live longer.
You can be certain, however, if the correlation had been between coffee drinking and decreased life expectancy, then there would have been no such disclaimer discouraging the inference of any causation.
There are any number of ways to roll your own DVR system these days that will allow you to buffer the first 20 minutes of a broadcast TV so that you can skip the commercials, and also allow you to download or torrent content that you don't subscribe to.
Anyone who has put together a PC-based home theater system has this capability.
For as little as a hundred bucks or so, anyone with a PC can add an external decoder and do the same thing. I did this with an iMac in our kitchen and now we watch TV in there as much as in the TV room.
The position of the switches with master off is irrelevant.
No, it's not irrelevant. The TAWS switch in the off state means that someone turned it off between the last pre-flight and the time of the photo. In a post-accident investigation, the questions "when was it turned off, and why" are quite relevant. Was someone (e.g., the pilot) in the habit of turning it off during flight? Post flight? Does it really get turned back on during pre-flight?
All very relevant questions after someone flies the very same airplane into a mountain.
There is a cone shaped 'plug' at the front of each engine
In other words, a large articulated structure that must be insulated but still function perfectly over an extremely large range of temperatures, pressures, and airspeeds (including some combinations of which we've never made such a thing work - see the recent news about the HTV-2 failure board report). It must operate reliably within strict tolerances both before and after being subjected to the dynamic stresses of launch and the thermal stresses of re-entry, and it must be economically re-usable, re-workable, cleanable and inspectable. I can see the "oh, shits" already.
Those are some serious engineering challenges. I'm not saying they're insurmountable, but they're certainly not to be treated casually either.
There's an engineering definition of the word "risk," which includes factors like probability of failure and effects of failure. Right now, both of those factors are large. Clever and diligent engineering can reduce the probability of failure, but there's not much one can do to mitigate the effects of failure of the main engine on a manned spacecraft, especially when it's required for both liftoff and landing. The best you can do is add redundancy and backup systems...... and there goes your improvement in payload fraction that gives you competitive advantage, right out the window. At some point it may still be technically feasible, but the economic reason for doing it becomes moot. You will not find any customers because a Soyuz or Proton is cheaper and more reliable, and their insurance companies will insist on the reliable part, that's for sure.
It sucks that it's that way. I am another "space nutter" who wants to see the human race develop better options than being confined to one gravity well.* But the technical and economic realities are harsh, and produce many victims. Any entrepreneur who is not aware of these realities is making a grave error.
(And the pessimists and nihilists who believe that it's a wasted effort are welcome to stay here at home, but we won't let you hold us back. We'll send home goodies, we promise...)
STS didn't need to have air intakes that hang out in the breeze... that simple difference makes the engineering problems a whole lot more difficult.
I've worked in commercial and government space for nearly 30 years, and one thing I've learned is that most, nay almost every, new launch system idea that sounds promising and brilliant in the concept stage runs aground on shoals of engineering problems with the result of either grossly inflated cost and schedule, or catastrophic failure. Layman frequently underestimate how much of the technology space has been explored and found to be dead ends due to either unsurmountable technical difficulties or simple economics. Incremental materials improvements are the most common route to innovation, but they can only do so much to open up new avenues.
In other words, it's not always possible to identify technical risks early on. The history of launch systems is full of "oh, shits." The cliche "the devil is in the details" may very well have been coined by a rocket scientist.
That said, I wish them luck and good fortune. If there's a way that we haven't yet achieved of bumping up the payload fraction of conventional launch systems, this is it. Hybrid jet/rocket engine approaches are also one place where I believe the introduction of improved materials can be disruptive. REL may have found a new route to orbit, and I hope it works for them.
My thoughts, too. This article says practically nothing about the outcome of the experiment.
The GM sheep "contains" good fat? Contains where? Does it replace all of the "bad" fat. Some of it? Is it in addition to the normal fats? Does the replacement or supplemental "good" fat change the physiology of the animal in any other fashion? Does the change in the genotype or phenotype have any other effects? Does the expression of the added flatworm gene harm the sheep or make it less hardy or vigorous? Can I cut the sheep in half and eventually wind up with two whole sheep?
"Healthy sheep?" Healthy how? Healthier for the organism or healthier for its prey? Is this health effect measurable? Does the change have any other effects on the organism, or on the nutritional value of its muscle tissue? And, as you mention, does it have an effect on the taste, texture, color, or reaction to a cooking fire?
These terms are used in a nearly meaningless fashion. I can make a sheep "contain" good fat by taking a syringe full of olive oil and shoving it up its bum. I can make a sheep "healthy" by giving it exercise, fresh air, and keeping it away from cigarettes and promiscuous rams.
Think about a Newton's cradle (that thingy with the balls that click back and forth). When a ball hits one end of the device, a ball emerges from the other end of the device. It's as though there were some kind of particle (there's a mandatory rule that we have to give it a stupid name, so let's call it a ballon) that is transmitted through the device.
If I understand the physics of this phenomenon properly (not guaranteed), the "particles" transmitted thru the system of balls already have a name: phonons.
Jesus fucking christ the US government and its excuse for a "justice" system is evil. Evil fucking pieces of shit.
Agreed, outlawing information (as opposed to the crime) is a tool of evil. Bust the people who make the CP, arrest the pedos who grope children, who sexually abuse other people. But outlawing information, *any* information, leads to abuses like this. It's tantamount to criminalizing thoughtcrimes.
Slashdot Mirror
The malware may or may not have been released by the government; It's doubtful we'll ever know the truth...
Well, if the keylogger sends its log to a server somewhere, perhaps there may be some useful evidence as to the authors' identity. I'm willing to wager that Citizen Lab and others are working on it now...
Given the authoritarian control and censorship modern governments seem to be intent on imposing on the internet, this news should not surprise anyone.
What does surprise me, only slightly, is how obvious the execution of this trojan version. I'm not trying to diminish Morgan Marquis-Boire's contribution to the international community; we owe people like him our gratitude and admiration. I just would have expected slightly better kung fu from a government censor... maybe I'm giving them too much credit.
Kudos to the teams at Citizen Lab and Simurgh for reacting quickly, and hopefully minimizing the casualties caused by this trojan.
I often listen to white (or brown) noise on my headphones in the office.
Just as long as you avoid the brown note, you shouldn't suffer any ill effects.
You hear a lot of hyperbole lately from across the political spectrum bemoaning dire consequences from the use of UAVs. But having worked for a UAV manufacturer in the past, I know with certainty that they are preparing many flavors of unmanned systems for civil and commercial uses. Land management, asset management, traffic reporting, forestry, mining, oceanography, geology, communications, medevac, and cargo applications are just a few of the things that they could do... and will one day.
However, the only people now with enough money to purchase them are military customers. Thats why almost all of the UAVs out there are military ones.
if you are going to get a Macbook Pro, definitely don't buy one NOW. Apple is almost definitely going to release an update in a month, with rumors saying it will be 30% thinner, lighter, and probably with a "retina" (ie. stupid marketing speak for MUCH higher resolution) screen.
Rumors also have it that Apple will be eliminating the optical drive in favor of more battery, even in the 17" model, essentially forcing you to spend $3k on a souped-up netbook. I hope that that's either not true or that they'll offer a choice of battery or optical drive in that bay at no cost difference, because I'm planning on replacing my late 2006 MBP sometime in the next year.
get a mac
It sounds trite, but there is a kernel of wisdom there. Buy a Macbook Pro if you can afford it.
If you have the budget, you'll get what you pay for. It has the only extended warranty for any electronic gadget that Consumer Reports recommends. It will run any OS you like. It will last for 5 to 10 years depending on your needs (games vs web/email, respectively). You can spend a similar amount and get a comparable or slightly better hardware package from Dell/Alienware, but it won't come with the warranty, OS options, elegance or robustness that Macbook Pros are famous for.
This suggestion will start a flame war. You're going to hear from fanatics from both sides. However, I manage a mix of computers for both a small business and a household with several power users, and I have learned firsthand the strengths and weakness of both camps.
Windows' strengths are in gaming and technical/engineering applications. If you want access to the most games, or need to run CAD/FEA applications, then you should buy a Windows desktop machine. Not a laptop, but one that you can upgrade piecemeal as your needs evolve. Build your own, or arrange to have one built for you, and you can get a spectacular set of hardware specs for a very low price.
However, if you want a casual use or business laptop, then Apple's MBPs are the best available, even if you intend to run Windows exclusively. The extra money you spend will eventually pay off in 1) time saved in building it, and 2) the time saved in maintaining it. The 2.2 GHz 15-inch models offer the best price/performance ratio if your budget is constrained. Otherwise, I recommend buying the 17-inch 2.5GHz quad-core i7 - it will last the longest before you need to purchase a replacement.
described as intense, smoky, and a 'hot scary mess.'
That description also matches a girl from the Fine Arts department that I dated when I was in college.
Physically, she could be described as cuddly, but in practice, that was only true when she was passed out from self-inflicted pharmaceutical abuse.
To hell with ceiling cat.
Uncle Sam is watching YOU masturbate on the internet.
Fixxord.
We embed these in our Atom-driven products to run GUIs and they work like a champ.
Mimo 7" USB touchscreen = $180
Mimo 10" USB touchscreen = $260
We use NT embedded but these also have OSX drivers, and if you want to use these with Unix you're not alone.
Instead of murder I just suggest he move out of the country.
Wish I had mod points for you today.
If Eduardo Saverin can leave the US and renounce his citizenship to avoid paying a legal and justifiable tax on his earnings, then Tenenbaum should be able to leave in order to avoid paying a debt that is legal but of severely questionable justification.
Oh. Wait. I forgot. Saverin is a wealthy businessman whose dodged debt represented a tiny fraction of his capital gains earnings. Tenebaum is a poor college student whose debt amounts to a decade of what he may expect for a gross salary after he finishes his Physics postdoc and moves on to industry.
I suggest he may have better luck using his post doc in Physics to land a job working on derivative equations for a Wall Street investment firm.
Besides, there's usually tits.
Maybe it's not the coffee, but the California water used to brew the coffee?
Researchers caution, however, that they can't be sure whether these associations mean that drinking coffee actually makes people live longer.
You can be certain, however, if the correlation had been between coffee drinking and decreased life expectancy, then there would have been no such disclaimer discouraging the inference of any causation.
Well, at least this thread has gotten rid of that "not so fresh feeling."
Agree with you: Too little, too late.
There are any number of ways to roll your own DVR system these days that will allow you to buffer the first 20 minutes of a broadcast TV so that you can skip the commercials, and also allow you to download or torrent content that you don't subscribe to.
Anyone who has put together a PC-based home theater system has this capability.
For as little as a hundred bucks or so, anyone with a PC can add an external decoder and do the same thing. I did this with an iMac in our kitchen and now we watch TV in there as much as in the TV room.
The position of the switches with master off is irrelevant.
No, it's not irrelevant. The TAWS switch in the off state means that someone turned it off between the last pre-flight and the time of the photo. In a post-accident investigation, the questions "when was it turned off, and why" are quite relevant. Was someone (e.g., the pilot) in the habit of turning it off during flight? Post flight? Does it really get turned back on during pre-flight?
All very relevant questions after someone flies the very same airplane into a mountain.
Astronomers See Another Star Torn Apart By a Black Hole
What a coincidence... last night I watched Another Black Hole Torn Apart by a Massive Star. (Number 19, I think...)
As usual, the ending was no surprise. Some stellar material was ejected, and then Fin.
There is a cone shaped 'plug' at the front of each engine
In other words, a large articulated structure that must be insulated but still function perfectly over an extremely large range of temperatures, pressures, and airspeeds (including some combinations of which we've never made such a thing work - see the recent news about the HTV-2 failure board report). It must operate reliably within strict tolerances both before and after being subjected to the dynamic stresses of launch and the thermal stresses of re-entry, and it must be economically re-usable, re-workable, cleanable and inspectable. I can see the "oh, shits" already.
Those are some serious engineering challenges. I'm not saying they're insurmountable, but they're certainly not to be treated casually either.
There's an engineering definition of the word "risk," which includes factors like probability of failure and effects of failure. Right now, both of those factors are large. Clever and diligent engineering can reduce the probability of failure, but there's not much one can do to mitigate the effects of failure of the main engine on a manned spacecraft, especially when it's required for both liftoff and landing. The best you can do is add redundancy and backup systems... ... and there goes your improvement in payload fraction that gives you competitive advantage, right out the window. At some point it may still be technically feasible, but the economic reason for doing it becomes moot. You will not find any customers because a Soyuz or Proton is cheaper and more reliable, and their insurance companies will insist on the reliable part, that's for sure.
It sucks that it's that way. I am another "space nutter" who wants to see the human race develop better options than being confined to one gravity well.* But the technical and economic realities are harsh, and produce many victims. Any entrepreneur who is not aware of these realities is making a grave error.
(And the pessimists and nihilists who believe that it's a wasted effort are welcome to stay here at home, but we won't let you hold us back. We'll send home goodies, we promise...)
STS didn't need to have air intakes that hang out in the breeze... that simple difference makes the engineering problems a whole lot more difficult.
I've worked in commercial and government space for nearly 30 years, and one thing I've learned is that most, nay almost every, new launch system idea that sounds promising and brilliant in the concept stage runs aground on shoals of engineering problems with the result of either grossly inflated cost and schedule, or catastrophic failure. Layman frequently underestimate how much of the technology space has been explored and found to be dead ends due to either unsurmountable technical difficulties or simple economics. Incremental materials improvements are the most common route to innovation, but they can only do so much to open up new avenues.
In other words, it's not always possible to identify technical risks early on. The history of launch systems is full of "oh, shits." The cliche "the devil is in the details" may very well have been coined by a rocket scientist.
That said, I wish them luck and good fortune. If there's a way that we haven't yet achieved of bumping up the payload fraction of conventional launch systems, this is it. Hybrid jet/rocket engine approaches are also one place where I believe the introduction of improved materials can be disruptive. REL may have found a new route to orbit, and I hope it works for them.
My thoughts, too. This article says practically nothing about the outcome of the experiment.
The GM sheep "contains" good fat? Contains where? Does it replace all of the "bad" fat. Some of it? Is it in addition to the normal fats? Does the replacement or supplemental "good" fat change the physiology of the animal in any other fashion? Does the change in the genotype or phenotype have any other effects? Does the expression of the added flatworm gene harm the sheep or make it less hardy or vigorous? Can I cut the sheep in half and eventually wind up with two whole sheep?
"Healthy sheep?" Healthy how? Healthier for the organism or healthier for its prey? Is this health effect measurable? Does the change have any other effects on the organism, or on the nutritional value of its muscle tissue? And, as you mention, does it have an effect on the taste, texture, color, or reaction to a cooking fire?
These terms are used in a nearly meaningless fashion. I can make a sheep "contain" good fat by taking a syringe full of olive oil and shoving it up its bum. I can make a sheep "healthy" by giving it exercise, fresh air, and keeping it away from cigarettes and promiscuous rams.
Psycho Killer Sheep? Definitely better!
If regular unicorns fart rainbows, do gay unicorn ponies fart plaid?
Bloody santorum, I would imagine... or am I being too literal here?
Think about a Newton's cradle (that thingy with the balls that click back and forth). When a ball hits one end of the device, a ball emerges from the other end of the device. It's as though there were some kind of particle (there's a mandatory rule that we have to give it a stupid name, so let's call it a ballon) that is transmitted through the device.
If I understand the physics of this phenomenon properly (not guaranteed), the "particles" transmitted thru the system of balls already have a name: phonons.
Jesus fucking christ the US government and its excuse for a "justice" system is evil. Evil fucking pieces of shit.
Agreed, outlawing information (as opposed to the crime) is a tool of evil. Bust the people who make the CP, arrest the pedos who grope children, who sexually abuse other people. But outlawing information, *any* information, leads to abuses like this. It's tantamount to criminalizing thoughtcrimes.
Thanks for the tip. I'll be downloading it... and donating if it works out.