Article indicates the pacemaker doesn't have an IP address, and only connects via 402-405 MHz radio link.
However, it's nearly inevitable that a later version of it and/or those of another pacemaker manufacturer will have its own IP.
Those with access to a large bot net could easily scan for pacemaker software and then target all or, more likely, a specific person(s) to remotely sabotage their pacemaker, possibly resulting in death...
Most killers won't go to such extremes, since there are numerous easier, less traceable ways of killing. But for people in prison, remote killing has its appeal... in particular, to target judges and prosecutors, who, due to age / stress along with access to top quality medical care, often have pacemakers.
To digress somewhat, there are already numerous horror stories of people's on-line medical records getting mixed up / corrupted due to identity theives who seek care under someone elses name - and to make matters worse, ID victims generally do NOT have the right to see that extraneous data nor have it removed. So I'm highly skeptical of the security of on-line medical devices when even on-line medical records aren't as secure as they should be.
Assuming the grid can accept that excess power, which is not a sure thing. Often peak power usage times doesn't correspond with times of optimal wind speed. There have reportedly been instances in which some grids in Europe have experienced severe problems due to large excess and/or rapidly fluctuating loads coming from wind farms.
Addendum: I misread the summery. 300 is the height in feet of the turbines. With that said, the article speaks of there being hundreds of turbines as opposed to thousands, so the 300 number I mentioned is probably still in the ballpark.
59 square miles of land to generate a theoretical maximum of 1500 megawatts (300 turbines x 5 MW each). But the reality is even with all 300 turbines running, assuming they all get built, the actual power output much of the time will be well below their rated maximum output. A nuclear power plant, in particular, those containing multiple reactor units, can easily produce well in excess of 1500 MW on a much smaller foot print than 59 square miles, and more consistently.
In my view, wind power is a fad. I'd wager in 20 years there will be a booming business in wind turbine demolition as it becomes painfully clear, even to many wind power advocates, that their efficiency is lousy and the ongoing maintenance, especially as the turbines age, far larger than inticipated; many will be glad to see the eyesores turn down. To digress, right now, wind turbines, in most places, are still a novelty and seem neat, but once they're everywhere, and especially as they age, aren't going to seem so nice anymore.
Solar, especially home and business installations on roofs, which basically unused space now, shows much promise - won't eliminate the need for the grid, but will reduce demand somewhat while saving people money.
CD-Rs design is very flawed in that the recording layer is near the surface as opposed to being well protected in the middle, as it is in DVD-Rs.
I've had numerous CD-Rs that were well cared for get flaky after a year or so; data is usually still there, but requires use of various recovery tools.
DVD-Rs have been very reliable in comparison - never had a problem.
With that said, what I do for archival data is use two different brands of DVD-R *plus*, when possible, save two, sometimes even three, duplicate copies of the data on the same DVD-R. That way I have two to as many as six copies of the data, often including dups on the same DVD-R allowing for faster, more convenient recovery.
You're correct about NTSC not having a set horizontal resolution. Some could display upwards of 400 lines of horizontal resolution, but most TVs were designed with 320 +/- in mind. VCRs were lucky to get past 250; reason most stuff recorded on videotape appears excessively blurry. And one needs to think back to the early computer days in which the display and graphics were designed for existing TV-based CRT screen hardware.
In regards to the vertical resolution, some of the 262 lines are in the overscan area on CRT based monitors leaving about 240 lines viewable.
Presumably 320 is the horizontal resolution, and is about the max most older NTSC CRT TVs are capable of displaying; much of the reason 320x240 and resolution multiples thereof became widely common in computer video cards.
You're way behind the curve. The U.S. federal government even mandates the types of toilets one can legally buy. About 15 years ago, they restricted the sale of flush toilets that use over 1.6 gallons of water per flush.
While newer model low-flow toilets have improved, many people still prefer the older 3.5+ gallon models... so much so, there's a second-hand market for them. A common scenerio is the owner of a custom built home / addition will have the contractor put in cheap low-flow toilets temporarily and then after final inspection, have them swapped out with illegal high-flow models.
You're spot on about SSN being an identifier only, and was not intended to be a secret.
However, SSNs were never designed to be unique; they are not!
SSNs can be recycled. And it's also possible, though difficult, for one to obtain a new SSN.
In addition, many SSNs are assigned to more than one person - so common that the IRS, as well as many other government agencies, as well as the major credit bureaus, utilize software that allows for SSN duplicates and doesn't rely on SSNs alone to separate people.
150 milliseconds sounds fast, but equates to only 7 messages per second.
Sure that may be faster, presuming it's a deep intensive scan, than what one can do on their home PC, and yes Google has zillions of boxes... but anyways, my point is that 7 messages per second illustrates the very real, high cost of dealing with spam; scanning of just a million messages, which is a fraction of the spam volume, at 7 messages per second, takes well over a day of computer time.
Back when music CDs first came out, many made similar claims; would basically last forever, which turned out to not be true, as many early CD adopters found out the hard way by the late 1980s.
I'd doubt such nanotech memory, especially at the extreme densities mentioned in the article summery, would last (as in being easily readable and having zero uncorrectable errors) even 50 years.
What about the stability of the substrate / packaging, cosmic rays, etc? Still too many unknowns for any credible longevity claim.
Folks who write articles about smart grid communicating with cars, etc bring to mind foolish talk of internet toasters and networked refrigerators.
The current electrical grid (speaking of USA; PJM region in particular) is very reliable as it is. Grid operators already have the ability to shape production; with millions of users, usage patterns are easy to spot and plan for ahead of time.
In my view, smart grid and smart meters are simply a way to control people's usage and charging them more; residential electric bills will likely become very complicated.
All this talk about people charging their cars at night and then selling it back during the day for extra credit is nonsense, because when millions of people are charging at night, it's easily conceivable that nightly usage could be just as high as during the day.
In respect to cars communicating with other cars - why? It's obvious that most people will charge their cars as often as possible, even if told not to, in particular, at night so they are sure to have enough charge to get to get the kids to school, get to work, etc.
The internet is another means of communication - it's not going magically solve energy issues nor change human nature.
In my view, a better approach than a so-called smart grid is developing / promoting more efficient energy production methods, in particular nuclear (solar, wind, etc are nice, but are lacking in energy density), along with encouraging people to produce some of their own energy for their needs, such as with solar panels on their roof.
Occasional thorough cleanings of dust off the fans and power supply will greatly extend the life of the entire computer.
Flaky / noisy fans, and especially, buzzing / irregular sounding power supplies are telltale signs of serious dust problems.
Sucking / blowing out dust is sufficient for most of the parts, but sometimes not enough for fans (including those on graphics cards, etc) and power supply where dust can easily cake up necessitating physical disassembly for cleaning.
In short, the OP, if they haven't already, should make regular dust cleanings part of the maintenance routine - that alone will add much life to the hardware.
Fortunately 6000 nuclear warheads is not, by a long shot, enough to destroy even a little country. It's enough to cause lots and lots of suffering, but it's not enough to keep them down.
You greatly underestimate the power of nuclear weapons; the effects of nuclear fallout and electromagnetic pulse (emp).
Hiroshima and Nagasaki both got 1 10 megaton warhead, and recovered to full economic capacity in a matter of months.
Hiroshima was estimated ~13 kilotons and Nagasaki around ~20 kilotons.
10 megatons would be upwards of 500 times more powerful than anything dropped on Japan. Again, you greatly underestimate the power and danger of nuclear weapons.
The power of nuclear weapons is massively exxagerated in popular culture. They are not, at all, the world destroyers people often claim they are. They are, almost exclusively, psychological weapons. They cause a relatively large pinpoint strike, and are almost impossible to defend against.
The world would continue, but with a lot less people and technology would revert back to the stone age. In my view, nuclear weapons is one of the few things not overly exaggerated by the mass media.
It is possible that Vista, with its all-over-the-map program flow, is missing cache a lot more often and so is hitting DRAM harder...
Perhaps that's another "feature" of Windows - no need for Memtest86... just leave Windows running for a few days with some applications running... and if nothing crashes, the RAM is probably good.
For a 400 user ISP, there is presumably only a dozen or so high traffic users...
Privately, encourage them to shift some of their activity to off times, such as late morning and middle of the night - explain to them it will help other users, plus help them too in they'll get better speed while helping to keep prices low.
If not enough voluntary compliance, then try enabling aggressive throttling / shaping during day / evening, but allow unthrottled speed during off-hours for high traffic users.
Presuming the ISP has access to multiple providers, then another option to consider is evaluating how much the ISP is paying for bandwidth - see if there are better options and/or if contracts can be renegotiated.
Seriously, such limitations gives the public the perception that older versions of Windows, in particular XP, are a better value and more usable.
If Microsoft plays up the "most people only run 2 apps" too much, that makes it far easier for others to sell people on netbooks, running a non-Microsoft O/S. For browsing, email, and basic word processing many people can't tell the difference / don't care what the O/S is.
I've long been curious as to whether major stadiums truly have reliable backup power? I know from first-hand experience many minor league stadiums certainly don't.
It would be interesting to read what they do (or don't do) to handle unexpected power interruptions at the Super Bowl.
While I figure the IT folks have their end covered, what about the TV folks (I assume they run their own power?), and more to the point, the field lighting and other equipment in the stadium itself, which draw massive amounts of power... is all of that on backup?... or do they just hope the local utility doesn't experience any problems during the event.
I've been in some major venues, such as malls and even a casino, that, despite having some backup power, were not fully prepared resulting in closure / patrons being forced to leave.
And most instances, it's often something simple that causes the power failure, such as a vehicle knocking down a utility pole or a blown transformer.
If experts claim the damage is already done and nothing can be done to fix it, then all this worrying is pointless. Why worry, be happy.
IMHO, "global warming" is BS, since the Earth has experienced far warmer periods in the relative recent geological past.
And some news articles I've read said that Mars had experienced slightly warmer average temparatures in recent years. Umm, I know humans sent some robot landers up there, but they're electric not fuel guzzling Hummers or anything - so how else could Mars be getting warmer... perhaps that big bright ball the Sun whose out fluctuates could be it, but that would be a too simplistic explaination - easier to blame humans for everything.
And as for the term "climate change"... that is, well, dumb. The climate is always changing... always has, always will.
Anyways, where is this irreversible "global warming" they speak of... it's been cold this year - so cold that Gore's upcoming hearing on warming in Washington DC may be postponed due to excessive icy conditions. Ironic to say the least.
Regardless of whether they need a waiver, I wouldn't be surprised to hear reports of many stations claiming sudden, unexpected "antenna damage" prior to June-12th so as to switch "early" on Feb-17th.
It will be interesting to what the public reaction is come Spring time when many stations have already switched despite assurances from politicians that the deadline was extended to June-12th. People will be even more confused, and upset.
Slashdot Mirror
Speaking of infinity, query the number "11 trillion" ... in my view, both Google and Bing get it exactly right!
Which begs the question, what's the point of this True# service when the major search engines already appear to do a good job with numbers.
Ron
For the number 420, Wikipedia's Cannabis information page comes up #1 in both google and bing.
Article indicates the pacemaker doesn't have an IP address, and only connects via 402-405 MHz radio link.
However, it's nearly inevitable that a later version of it and/or those of another pacemaker manufacturer will have its own IP.
Those with access to a large bot net could easily scan for pacemaker software and then target all or, more likely, a specific person(s) to remotely sabotage their pacemaker, possibly resulting in death...
Most killers won't go to such extremes, since there are numerous easier, less traceable ways of killing. But for people in prison, remote killing has its appeal ... in particular, to target judges and prosecutors, who, due to age / stress along with access to top quality medical care, often have pacemakers.
To digress somewhat, there are already numerous horror stories of people's on-line medical records getting mixed up / corrupted due to identity theives who seek care under someone elses name - and to make matters worse, ID victims generally do NOT have the right to see that extraneous data nor have it removed. So I'm highly skeptical of the security of on-line medical devices when even on-line medical records aren't as secure as they should be.
Ron
Assuming the grid can accept that excess power, which is not a sure thing. Often peak power usage times doesn't correspond with times of optimal wind speed. There have reportedly been instances in which some grids in Europe have experienced severe problems due to large excess and/or rapidly fluctuating loads coming from wind farms.
Ron
Addendum: I misread the summery. 300 is the height in feet of the turbines. With that said, the article speaks of there being hundreds of turbines as opposed to thousands, so the 300 number I mentioned is probably still in the ballpark.
59 square miles of land to generate a theoretical maximum of 1500 megawatts (300 turbines x 5 MW each). But the reality is even with all 300 turbines running, assuming they all get built, the actual power output much of the time will be well below their rated maximum output. A nuclear power plant, in particular, those containing multiple reactor units, can easily produce well in excess of 1500 MW on a much smaller foot print than 59 square miles, and more consistently.
In my view, wind power is a fad. I'd wager in 20 years there will be a booming business in wind turbine demolition as it becomes painfully clear, even to many wind power advocates, that their efficiency is lousy and the ongoing maintenance, especially as the turbines age, far larger than inticipated; many will be glad to see the eyesores turn down. To digress, right now, wind turbines, in most places, are still a novelty and seem neat, but once they're everywhere, and especially as they age, aren't going to seem so nice anymore.
Solar, especially home and business installations on roofs, which basically unused space now, shows much promise - won't eliminate the need for the grid, but will reduce demand somewhat while saving people money.
Ron
Yep, slower burn speed can make a difference. One of those details few people are aware of.
For DVD-Rs, I limit burning to 4X. Probably overly conservative; 8X, as you suggest, is likely fine too.
Ron
CD-Rs design is very flawed in that the recording layer is near the surface as opposed to being well protected in the middle, as it is in DVD-Rs.
I've had numerous CD-Rs that were well cared for get flaky after a year or so; data is usually still there, but requires use of various recovery tools.
DVD-Rs have been very reliable in comparison - never had a problem.
With that said, what I do for archival data is use two different brands of DVD-R *plus*, when possible, save two, sometimes even three, duplicate copies of the data on the same DVD-R. That way I have two to as many as six copies of the data, often including dups on the same DVD-R allowing for faster, more convenient recovery.
Ron
You're correct about NTSC not having a set horizontal resolution. Some could display upwards of 400 lines of horizontal resolution, but most TVs were designed with 320 +/- in mind. VCRs were lucky to get past 250; reason most stuff recorded on videotape appears excessively blurry. And one needs to think back to the early computer days in which the display and graphics were designed for existing TV-based CRT screen hardware.
In regards to the vertical resolution, some of the 262 lines are in the overscan area on CRT based monitors leaving about 240 lines viewable.
Ron
Presumably 320 is the horizontal resolution, and is about the max most older NTSC CRT TVs are capable of displaying; much of the reason 320x240 and resolution multiples thereof became widely common in computer video cards.
Ron
You're way behind the curve. The U.S. federal government even mandates the types of toilets one can legally buy. About 15 years ago, they restricted the sale of flush toilets that use over 1.6 gallons of water per flush.
While newer model low-flow toilets have improved, many people still prefer the older 3.5+ gallon models ... so much so, there's a second-hand market for them. A common scenerio is the owner of a custom built home / addition will have the contractor put in cheap low-flow toilets temporarily and then after final inspection, have them swapped out with illegal high-flow models.
Ron
You're spot on about SSN being an identifier only, and was not intended to be a secret.
However, SSNs were never designed to be unique; they are not!
SSNs can be recycled. And it's also possible, though difficult, for one to obtain a new SSN.
In addition, many SSNs are assigned to more than one person - so common that the IRS, as well as many other government agencies, as well as the major credit bureaus, utilize software that allows for SSN duplicates and doesn't rely on SSNs alone to separate people.
Ron
150 milliseconds sounds fast, but equates to only 7 messages per second.
Sure that may be faster, presuming it's a deep intensive scan, than what one can do on their home PC, and yes Google has zillions of boxes ... but anyways, my point is that 7 messages per second illustrates the very real, high cost of dealing with spam; scanning of just a million messages, which is a fraction of the spam volume, at 7 messages per second, takes well over a day of computer time.
Ron
The pixellation / loss of DTV video is inconvenient, but the loss / breakup of the audio is downright annoying.
It's a shame there's a lack of redundency for the audio channel in the ATSC standard to reduce the "cliff effect" on the audio portion.
NTSC for all its faults, and it has many, degrades gracefully and remains somewhat usable well out into fringe areas.
On a related topic, the U.S. version of DTV results in a noticeable delay to change channels / reacquire signal.
Ron
Back when music CDs first came out, many made similar claims; would basically last forever, which turned out to not be true, as many early CD adopters found out the hard way by the late 1980s.
I'd doubt such nanotech memory, especially at the extreme densities mentioned in the article summery, would last (as in being easily readable and having zero uncorrectable errors) even 50 years.
What about the stability of the substrate / packaging, cosmic rays, etc? Still too many unknowns for any credible longevity claim.
Ron
Folks who write articles about smart grid communicating with cars, etc bring to mind foolish talk of internet toasters and networked refrigerators.
The current electrical grid (speaking of USA; PJM region in particular) is very reliable as it is. Grid operators already have the ability to shape production; with millions of users, usage patterns are easy to spot and plan for ahead of time.
In my view, smart grid and smart meters are simply a way to control people's usage and charging them more; residential electric bills will likely become very complicated.
All this talk about people charging their cars at night and then selling it back during the day for extra credit is nonsense, because when millions of people are charging at night, it's easily conceivable that nightly usage could be just as high as during the day.
In respect to cars communicating with other cars - why? It's obvious that most people will charge their cars as often as possible, even if told not to, in particular, at night so they are sure to have enough charge to get to get the kids to school, get to work, etc.
The internet is another means of communication - it's not going magically solve energy issues nor change human nature.
In my view, a better approach than a so-called smart grid is developing / promoting more efficient energy production methods, in particular nuclear (solar, wind, etc are nice, but are lacking in energy density), along with encouraging people to produce some of their own energy for their needs, such as with solar panels on their roof.
Ron
Occasional thorough cleanings of dust off the fans and power supply will greatly extend the life of the entire computer.
Flaky / noisy fans, and especially, buzzing / irregular sounding power supplies are telltale signs of serious dust problems.
Sucking / blowing out dust is sufficient for most of the parts, but sometimes not enough for fans (including those on graphics cards, etc) and power supply where dust can easily cake up necessitating physical disassembly for cleaning.
In short, the OP, if they haven't already, should make regular dust cleanings part of the maintenance routine - that alone will add much life to the hardware.
Ron
You greatly underestimate the power of nuclear weapons; the effects of nuclear fallout and electromagnetic pulse (emp).
Hiroshima was estimated ~13 kilotons and Nagasaki around ~20 kilotons.
10 megatons would be upwards of 500 times more powerful than anything dropped on Japan. Again, you greatly underestimate the power and danger of nuclear weapons.
The world would continue, but with a lot less people and technology would revert back to the stone age. In my view, nuclear weapons is one of the few things not overly exaggerated by the mass media.
Ron
Perhaps that's another "feature" of Windows - no need for Memtest86 ... just leave Windows running for a few days with some applications running ... and if nothing crashes, the RAM is probably good.
For a 400 user ISP, there is presumably only a dozen or so high traffic users...
Privately, encourage them to shift some of their activity to off times, such as late morning and middle of the night - explain to them it will help other users, plus help them too in they'll get better speed while helping to keep prices low.
If not enough voluntary compliance, then try enabling aggressive throttling / shaping during day / evening, but allow unthrottled speed during off-hours for high traffic users.
Presuming the ISP has access to multiple providers, then another option to consider is evaluating how much the ISP is paying for bandwidth - see if there are better options and/or if contracts can be renegotiated.
Ron
Seriously, such limitations gives the public the perception that older versions of Windows, in particular XP, are a better value and more usable.
If Microsoft plays up the "most people only run 2 apps" too much, that makes it far easier for others to sell people on netbooks, running a non-Microsoft O/S. For browsing, email, and basic word processing many people can't tell the difference / don't care what the O/S is.
Ron
I've long been curious as to whether major stadiums truly have reliable backup power? I know from first-hand experience many minor league stadiums certainly don't.
It would be interesting to read what they do (or don't do) to handle unexpected power interruptions at the Super Bowl.
While I figure the IT folks have their end covered, what about the TV folks (I assume they run their own power?), and more to the point, the field lighting and other equipment in the stadium itself, which draw massive amounts of power ... is all of that on backup? ... or do they just hope the local utility doesn't experience any problems during the event.
I've been in some major venues, such as malls and even a casino, that, despite having some backup power, were not fully prepared resulting in closure / patrons being forced to leave.
And most instances, it's often something simple that causes the power failure, such as a vehicle knocking down a utility pole or a blown transformer.
Ron
No, you were right the first time. Regular "Basic" isn't the lowest tier. Cable companies are tricky when it comes to that.
Call back and ask for Limited Basic. It's around $15 per month.
Ron
If experts claim the damage is already done and nothing can be done to fix it, then all this worrying is pointless. Why worry, be happy.
IMHO, "global warming" is BS, since the Earth has experienced far warmer periods in the relative recent geological past.
And some news articles I've read said that Mars had experienced slightly warmer average temparatures in recent years. Umm, I know humans sent some robot landers up there, but they're electric not fuel guzzling Hummers or anything - so how else could Mars be getting warmer ... perhaps that big bright ball the Sun whose out fluctuates could be it, but that would be a too simplistic explaination - easier to blame humans for everything.
And as for the term "climate change" ... that is, well, dumb. The climate is always changing ... always has, always will.
Anyways, where is this irreversible "global warming" they speak of ... it's been cold this year - so cold that Gore's upcoming hearing on warming in Washington DC may be postponed due to excessive icy conditions. Ironic to say the least.
Ron
Regardless of whether they need a waiver, I wouldn't be surprised to hear reports of many stations claiming sudden, unexpected "antenna damage" prior to June-12th so as to switch "early" on Feb-17th.
It will be interesting to what the public reaction is come Spring time when many stations have already switched despite assurances from politicians that the deadline was extended to June-12th. People will be even more confused, and upset.
Ron