The feds have more time and resources than the local cops. That's why it's a very bad idea to commit a crime on federal property. You have a much higher chance of being caught, convicted and spending time in prison.
The hard disk is the big problem. It will produce enough heat to keep itself warm and working if installed in an insulated box. It must be kept on at all times or an auxiliary heat-source like a light bulb must be provided when the drive is powered down.
Other than being evil, there are good reasons to "lock" the battery to the device. Lithium batteries can't be treated like ordinary alkaline or nicad batteries. For safety reasons, the battery subsystem is designed as an integrated system. The charging and safety circuits, some of which may be in the battery case, are designed for a known and specific lithium battery. A third-party battery that uses a different lithium battery or doesn't have the same integrated charging and safety circuits, can be unsafe. That's why you read about cell phones going up in flames when used with counterfeit or poorly made battery assemblies.
Let's take North Korea for an example. Kim Jong-il can pick up the telephone, and in a half-hour, Seoul will be a smoking hole in the ground. That's without using any nukes or other weapons of mass destruction. How are you going to punish him without destroying South Korea in the process?
Anyone with a few nukes and some medium-range missiles could threaten to destroy his neighbors' largest cities if attacked.
The problem with electronics devices is that they can easily be modified to detonate a high explosive. For example, grab one of those disposable cameras they sell in check-stand lanes. Add a bit of wire and an electrically initiated blasting cap. Combine with the high explosive of your choice, and you have a bomb. Anything with a battery in it could be modified to fire a blasting cap with the addition of a small circuit board.
If I was the guy with the monocle and persian cat, I'd seriously consider it. Let's say that I have a dozen nuclear weapons. For the cost of one weapon and launch vehicle, I can cause severe economic damage and disruption to the Great Satan, without directly killing anyone. This makes it difficult for my enemies to justify retaliating with nuclear weapons. I still have 11 nuclear weapons that I can use to threaten anyone who attacks me with conventional weapons.
I'm disappointed to see all the posts from the "macho men" on slashdot, who think safety is for wimps, and if you saw your hand off, you're stupid and it's your fault.
I hope that every time a worker loses fingers to a traditional table saw, their employer gets hit with a big lawsuit. Endangering yourself in your home workshop is your choice, but you shouldn't be able to impose that decision on your employees. I have an Uncle who was almost killed by a poorly maintained saw at his workplace. He lost part of one hand. It was pure luck that it didn't cut him in half.
You can't assume that the equipment is in good working condition, and that the operators are properly trained and alert. You have to take active steps to regularly inspect the equipment for problems, perform preventive maintenance, train the operators on how to safely operate it, and make sure that everyone is actually following the safety rules. Any machine that relies solely on operator alertness to prevent an accident is an accident waiting to happen. Real people get distracted and have off days.
The Apple II reduced its hardware costs by a huge amount due to clever engineering. Just compare the floppy disk controller to similar cards on other computers of the time.
Networking over serial I/O was a reasonable choice for the time. Zilog had a chip that would do serial I/O at 230 kbps and Ethernet hardware was still very expensive.
My boss used to say, "You can produce a concrete surfboard that is ISO 9001 certified".
Whatever happened to the Underwriters Laboratories (UL)? Their certification is supposed to ensure that the products you buy won't electrocute you or burn your house down.
Though IANAL it seems to me that, should such legislation pass, any such broadcasters would have a FINE suit against the government for the replacement value of the equipment rendered worthless, under the "takings" caluse of the 5th Amendment.
I doubt it. Many individuals and companies have had equipment rendered obsolete by FCC regulations, and they didn't get a nickel in compensation. Sometimes the FCC reallocates frequencies, sometimes they tighten up or add technical requirements. You still have your equipment, it just isn't legal to use it on the air.
Apples and oranges. A high explosive produces a shock wave and huge quantities of hot gas. In a confined space, this produces a pressure spike that can easily cause structural failure. In an airplane, the pressure hull bursts.
When I was a kid, I accidentally demonstrated this effect by putting an ordinary, and wimpy, firecracker inside a wooden box and locking the lid. The box disassembled itself in a spectacular fashion.
The last time "liquid" explosives were used in a plane, ONE PERSON DIED...and there is simply no way that terrorists could bring on enough liquid explosive to kill everyone...or even bring down the plane killing everyone.
It doesn't take a large amount of explosives to destroy an aircraft. The bomb that destroyed the 747 at Lockerbie was estimated to contain 300g of Semtex. The problem is that a pressurized cabin is very vulnerable to explosives. It's a big aluminum balloon.
All of the information that I could find on binary explosives was probably biased by the fact that legitimate users of explosives are very concerned about safety, so they want products that are relatively insensitive to heat or shock.
From some of the documentaries that I've seen on Palestinian terrorism, there are many bomb makers that have been killed or injured while working with TATP, a popular homemade explosive that isn't very stable.
I think they're worried about binary explosives, which aren't dangerous until you mix the two components. Even then, you need a blasting cap to trigger an explosion.
More like 100 GB. The problem with reducing the tape speed is that it also reduces your production rate, which can greatly increase your costs. This is important if you have a fixed budget and schedule to convert
a batch of tapes.
I don't think you understand the problem. These are not video tape recorders. They are analog instrumentation recorders designed to record multiple independent tracks containing high-bandwidth analog signals. Think of a 14-track analog recorder with a frequency response of DC to 2 MHz.
Slashdot Mirror
No, it isn't.
http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/vibrat.html
The feds have more time and resources than the local cops. That's why it's a very bad idea to commit a crime on federal property. You have a much higher chance of being caught, convicted and spending time in prison.
Military equipment often uses conformal coating, which is a spray-on plastic coating that protects the components from the environment.
The hard disk is the big problem. It will produce enough heat to keep itself warm and working if installed in an insulated box. It must be kept on at all times or an auxiliary heat-source like a light bulb must be provided when the drive is powered down.
All of the moons in the solar system do revolve around the Sun. The Earth and the Moon also revolve around a common point, which is inside the Earth.
Other than being evil, there are good reasons to "lock" the battery to the device. Lithium batteries can't be treated like ordinary alkaline or nicad batteries. For safety reasons, the battery subsystem is designed as an integrated system. The charging and safety circuits, some of which may be in the battery case, are designed for a known and specific lithium battery. A third-party battery that uses a different lithium battery or doesn't have the same integrated charging and safety circuits, can be unsafe. That's why you read about cell phones going up in flames when used with counterfeit or poorly made battery assemblies.
Anyone with a few nukes and some medium-range missiles could threaten to destroy his neighbors' largest cities if attacked.
The problem with electronics devices is that they can easily be modified to detonate a high explosive. For example, grab one of those disposable cameras they sell in check-stand lanes. Add a bit of wire and an electrically initiated blasting cap. Combine with the high explosive of your choice, and you have a bomb. Anything with a battery in it could be modified to fire a blasting cap with the addition of a small circuit board.
If I was the guy with the monocle and persian cat, I'd seriously consider it. Let's say that I have a dozen nuclear weapons. For the cost of one weapon and launch vehicle, I can cause severe economic damage and disruption to the Great Satan, without directly killing anyone. This makes it difficult for my enemies to justify retaliating with nuclear weapons. I still have 11 nuclear weapons that I can use to threaten anyone who attacks me with conventional weapons.
I hope that every time a worker loses fingers to a traditional table saw, their employer gets hit with a big lawsuit. Endangering yourself in your home workshop is your choice, but you shouldn't be able to impose that decision on your employees. I have an Uncle who was almost killed by a poorly maintained saw at his workplace. He lost part of one hand. It was pure luck that it didn't cut him in half.
You can't assume that the equipment is in good working condition, and that the operators are properly trained and alert. You have to take active steps to regularly inspect the equipment for problems, perform preventive maintenance, train the operators on how to safely operate it, and make sure that everyone is actually following the safety rules. Any machine that relies solely on operator alertness to prevent an accident is an accident waiting to happen. Real people get distracted and have off days.
Networking over serial I/O was a reasonable choice for the time. Zilog had a chip that would do serial I/O at 230 kbps and Ethernet hardware was still very expensive.
Whatever happened to the Underwriters Laboratories (UL)? Their certification is supposed to ensure that the products you buy won't electrocute you or burn your house down.
I doubt it. Many individuals and companies have had equipment rendered obsolete by FCC regulations, and they didn't get a nickel in compensation. Sometimes the FCC reallocates frequencies, sometimes they tighten up or add technical requirements. You still have your equipment, it just isn't legal to use it on the air.
When I was a kid, I accidentally demonstrated this effect by putting an ordinary, and wimpy, firecracker inside a wooden box and locking the lid. The box disassembled itself in a spectacular fashion.
It doesn't take a large amount of explosives to destroy an aircraft. The bomb that destroyed the 747 at Lockerbie was estimated to contain 300g of Semtex. The problem is that a pressurized cabin is very vulnerable to explosives. It's a big aluminum balloon.
From some of the documentaries that I've seen on Palestinian terrorism, there are many bomb makers that have been killed or injured while working with TATP, a popular homemade explosive that isn't very stable.
I think they're worried about binary explosives, which aren't dangerous until you mix the two components. Even then, you need a blasting cap to trigger an explosion.
On a simple microcontroller, you can count cycles and rely on the system clock. That's how some old systems generated video timing in software.
More like 100 GB. The problem with reducing the tape speed is that it also reduces your production rate, which can greatly increase your costs. This is important if you have a fixed budget and schedule to convert a batch of tapes.
I don't think you understand the problem. These are not video tape recorders. They are analog instrumentation recorders designed to record multiple independent tracks containing high-bandwidth analog signals. Think of a 14-track analog recorder with a frequency response of DC to 2 MHz.
You would need a digital recorder capable of recording about 900 Mb/s for 15 minutes to properly digitize one analog tape.
These are analog tapes. They can't be duped without a significant loss of quality.
It isn't enough to extinguish a lithium fire.
I'm going to loose my dogs on the next loser who can't distinguish between lose and loose.