What I find hilarious is that to truly make it hard for terrorists to get this level of technology they will need to outlaw double boilers, sugar and saltpeter.:}
Just take a quick google search for solid fuel amateur rocket motors... They will tell you how to make fuel nearly as good as ESTES uses... and you can make it in LARGE engine sizes.
I just can't wait for the outcry near 4th of July when we go to celebrate our country and its freedom and we can't get good supplies of bottle rockets due to shipping problems.
If someone wants to kill you and doesn't care if they die you are dead... limiting 10% of the possible weapons isn't going to stop them.
Lets see them ban gasoline...
Alternate... safer version of the guns
on
Potato Bazookas
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
We have done this for physics often... no explosives or flammables involved. (I know... where's the fun then:} )
All you need is a length of pipe that just barely fits a pingpong (table tennis whatever) ball through it. Fit a connector into one end of it that can hook to a vacuum pump.
Ok.. now here is the operation. *WARNING do not have anything in line with EITHER end of this device!!! It is VERY unlikely but either end can give way and it fire either direction!*
Place the pingpong ball in the pipe. Place a single piece of plastic packing tape over each end. (Clear or brown... not filament!)
Use your pump and lower the pressure as far as you can. (You will have to expirement to make sure you can get it that low without imploding the tape on the ends)
When ready to fire.. put end with fitting slightly lower. Wait for pingpong ball to settle at that end of the tube. Aim. Using something sharp or pointed pierce the tape on that end of the pipe.
Bye-bye pingpong ball:}
Basically the inrush of air propels the ball through the tube and straight through the tape on the other end. We have clocked these pingpong balls in excess of 150mph:}
Please only do this under carefully controlled circumstances... It makes a great science expirement and is relatively safe. But as always be careful, wear protection and DON'T BE STUPID.
BTW You can pick up used vacuum pumps for cheap on Ebay... cheaper than 20 or 30 cans of hairspray so...
802.11b is what most equipment uses now... it uses the 2.4ghz spectrum and maxes at 11mb/s 802.11a uses 5.8ghz spectrum (less range but not as much interference) and runs at 22mb/s or 54mb/s depending on manufacturer. 802.11g is an "upgrade" to 802.11b that is backwards compatible in the 2.4ghz spectrum but also runs speed up to 22mb/s or 54mb/s
802.11g is still a working draft (not a standard) however enough of the standard has been fleshed out that flash upgrades for devices should bring them easily into compliance when/if any changes are announced to the end standard. This is also getting so much press because since it is 100% backwards compatible with 802.11b you only change your access point and you can start attaching higher speed devices. 802.11a you have to change all your clients or have 2 access points going (or linksys's dual 802.11a/802.11b access point)
802.11a is largely being ignored because so far few manufacturers have outdoor/longhaul equipment for it. Most emphasis on this standard has been on access points for internal networks. Until companies put out equipment that can take better antennas the range is stodgy (and in 5.8ghz the range is still less even with those antennas)
At our institution we have implemented password patterns that must be used. These rules have greatly inhanced security and we have yet to have one of the passwords cracked (we are running a cracker ourselves). The ruleset it easy: #1 Passwords must not contain a dictionary word #2 All passwords must contain a at least 1 number and 1 special character (ie #$%^&....) #3 The at least 1 number and 1 special character can not be the first or last character of the password.
As for password rotation. I actually believe that harms password integrity. If you are using passwords good enough to stand to crack attacks then changing them only encourages people to write them down someplace and thereby loosing all the benefits of a better password.
What an appropriate article... Now we will have to change the old Blinkenlichten so as to protect our information...
ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS! Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen. Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.
From their press release it says that the new unit is based on an Intel 386 processor. Now from that point of view how long until someone gets linux/bsd/your favorite opensource OS running directly on it.
I know that myself I would love a wireless handheld with a keyboard that is running linux.
When you go to the actual plugin download page it is currently only available for Wintel platforms.
The linux one is a high priority they say and they hope to have it available for all platforms that Blender supports.
The plantronics CT-10 is a VERY nice phone for these situations. Easy to dial, nice small and not too heavy.
Runs about 130$+ from CDW and well worth the cost.
Use CAT5e and you have flexibility
on
Wiring A New House?
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I am preparing to build my own house as well and have been looking at this very issue.
What I have decided was to run 6+ normal CAT5e wires to each room. This may seem like a lot but... Comready.com has 1000' spools for 40+$ so price is not that great of an issue.
Now for the secret ingredients. First of all.. For network just use 1 or more standard CAT5e cables to do that in each room. You can then run up to 4 phone lines on another CAT5e cable. You then have 3 left.
That also leaves a couple cables free for intercoms and such.
If you want to lessen the cable runs or hook more things up in each room in the future you get something like the NJ-100 that we saw the article on slashdot about a couple weeks ago.
One of the big trade offs though is that in using 5ghz instead of 2.4ghz the range for the same output power is cut to about 1/4 that of 802.11b
Speed is great when inside your house for long hauls we need to be looking forward to 802.11g and such... 802.11g is targeted at only 20mbs but the range stays the same with the lower frequency range.
After watching the whole thing that was all I could think of... Mix the Wonder Years touchy feely in with the wonder of Star Trek and maybe through in a dash of Seaquest DSV to make the producers happy.
Come on guys.. If you are going to make Sci-Fi... make Sci-Fi... Don't give in and try and make it a "family hour" type show.
"Contributing to its mass appeal are the low-cost solutions available. For less than $100, a volunteer can buy an access point, and Kennedy says he uses a Pringles potato chip can in his coffee shop to enhance network performance. Performance degrades the farther away from an access point a user is located."
As to thre repeater... the article seems to have been revised in that respect since the first post. However the other errors do still exist...
Unfortunately, from the documentation, it appears only to handle ad-hoc and IBSS mode... if computers A and B are connected to it they can not see each other unless they are close enough to do it anyways. A little playing with routes on a linux box could fix this but the NCP600 is a little short of what you would want to allow public access...
Yes but you can not use this as a bridge. It can only be used in either "AdHoc" or IBSS mode. It can not be used as a true access point. Once someone learns the correct bit to flip in the pcmcia cards we should be able to do just as such but for remote access by clients you just can't run in IBSS
Several people on the Bay Area Wireless User Group mailing list have pointed out a large amount of factual errors in this article. Such things as that the pringles cans are ANTENNAS not REPEATERS and that you can not get ANY wireless fully 802.11b access points for under about 160$ new (even on ebay).
For some more on this check out the mailinglist archive at http://lists.bawug.org/pipermail/wireless/2001-A ug ust/thread.html under the subjects "Did you know you were a parasitic grid?","Infoworld writer responds
" and "Unprofessional conduct on the part of Ephraim Schwartz". Definately shows how little this writer actually knows...
function fire
{
local COLOR_RED='\[\033[00;31;40m\]'
local GRAD0='\[\033[00m\]'
PS1="$COLOR_RED\h$GRAD0 "
}
function green
{
local COLOR_GREEN='\[\033[0m\033[32;40m\]'
local GRAD0='\[\033[00m\]'
PS1="$COLOR_GREEN\h$GRAD0 "
}
if [ $UID == '0' ] ; then
fire
else
green
fi
Simple... but it keeps me from destroying stuff as root and not knowing it...
But seriously, if they can provide a product that comes close in performance I see a lot more companies going over to it. I know a lot of companies that would love to use open source but they want someone to blame when it goes wrong.
Hopefully Redhat can still turn a profit when they are the ones catching the blame.
Now I know that they get higher viewership/traffic but they are paying for that just the same as a smaller company would... probably even more. When you get a free geocities page or something then any advertising money you get you can keep. But yahoo and other such portals actually are paying a premium to get that kind of traffic to their site.
It doesn't take a genius to know that as your traffic increases so does your cost... and your users arn't going to see more adds just because more other people are using it. You are still stuck with 2 very close linear functions.
I voted for CmdrTaco on the pro-moderation ticket.
I feel that america would be a much better society if it was a moderated (first POST!!!) society. He how did that slip in there... With such campaign topics as privacy (Natalie Portman), foreign policy (hot grits). I think that the slashdot crew will come through in the end.
And remember vote early, often and for slashdot...
Well the obvious option is by marriage but there are several problems with this:
#1 Girl/Guy ratio in computing is a little stiff and most states still don't do same sex marriages.
#2 USA/International ratio (excluding the gender thing) are pretty awful as well.
#3 Have you ever seen the girls that are interested in computers?
Ohh well... just had to throw in my 2 cents.
Neal Stephensen only a little lower tech
on
3D Printers
·
· Score: 1
In "The Diamond" age they had their MCs (Matter Compilers).
Just can't wait until we get to the rapid prototyping in 3d at the molecular level. Talk about some fun designing.
My father works in this field and one of the coming things they are trying for is this same technique with metal so they can design and try parts before the CNC machining takes place. Would definately speed up the prototyping stage
Just hate to have a "jet" getting plugged, like on your cheap bubble-jets, be responsible for the Concorde coming down.:)
Slashdot Mirror
What I find hilarious is that to truly make it hard for terrorists to get this level of technology they will need to outlaw double boilers, sugar and saltpeter. :}
Just take a quick google search for solid fuel amateur rocket motors... They will tell you how to make fuel nearly as good as ESTES uses... and you can make it in LARGE engine sizes.
I just can't wait for the outcry near 4th of July when we go to celebrate our country and its freedom and we can't get good supplies of bottle rockets due to shipping problems.
If someone wants to kill you and doesn't care if they die you are dead... limiting 10% of the possible weapons isn't going to stop them.
Lets see them ban gasoline...
We have done this for physics often... no explosives or flammables involved. (I know... where's the fun then :} )
:}
:}
All you need is a length of pipe that just barely fits a pingpong (table tennis whatever) ball through it. Fit a connector into one end of it that can hook to a vacuum pump.
Ok.. now here is the operation.
*WARNING do not have anything in line with EITHER end of this device!!! It is VERY unlikely but either end can give way and it fire either direction!*
Place the pingpong ball in the pipe. Place a single piece of plastic packing tape over each end. (Clear or brown... not filament!)
Use your pump and lower the pressure as far as you can. (You will have to expirement to make sure you can get it that low without imploding the tape on the ends)
When ready to fire.. put end with fitting slightly lower. Wait for pingpong ball to settle at that end of the tube. Aim. Using something sharp or pointed pierce the tape on that end of the pipe.
Bye-bye pingpong ball
Basically the inrush of air propels the ball through the tube and straight through the tape on the other end. We have clocked these pingpong balls in excess of 150mph
Please only do this under carefully controlled circumstances... It makes a great science expirement and is relatively safe. But as always be careful, wear protection and DON'T BE STUPID.
BTW You can pick up used vacuum pumps for cheap on Ebay... cheaper than 20 or 30 cans of hairspray so...
You can find additional tracks that Stefan has written on http://www.mp3.com/stev/.
Quite a few excellent tunes.
802.11b is what most equipment uses now... it uses the 2.4ghz spectrum and maxes at 11mb/s
802.11a uses 5.8ghz spectrum (less range but not as much interference) and runs at 22mb/s or 54mb/s depending on manufacturer.
802.11g is an "upgrade" to 802.11b that is backwards compatible in the 2.4ghz spectrum but also runs speed up to 22mb/s or 54mb/s
802.11g is still a working draft (not a standard) however enough of the standard has been fleshed out that flash upgrades for devices should bring them easily into compliance when/if any changes are announced to the end standard. This is also getting so much press because since it is 100% backwards compatible with 802.11b you only change your access point and you can start attaching higher speed devices. 802.11a you have to change all your clients or have 2 access points going (or linksys's dual 802.11a/802.11b access point)
802.11a is largely being ignored because so far few manufacturers have outdoor/longhaul equipment for it. Most emphasis on this standard has been on access points for internal networks. Until companies put out equipment that can take better antennas the range is stodgy (and in 5.8ghz the range is still less even with those antennas)
At our institution we have implemented password patterns that must be used. These rules have greatly inhanced security and we have yet to have one of the passwords cracked (we are running a cracker ourselves).
The ruleset it easy:
#1 Passwords must not contain a dictionary word
#2 All passwords must contain a at least 1 number and 1 special character (ie #$%^&....)
#3 The at least 1 number and 1 special character can not be the first or last character of the password.
As for password rotation. I actually believe that harms password integrity. If you are using passwords good enough to stand to crack attacks then changing them only encourages people to write them down someplace and thereby loosing all the benefits of a better password.
What an appropriate article... Now we will have to change the old Blinkenlichten so as to protect our information...
k enlights.html
ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!
Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen. Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.
From:
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/blin
Try: http://www.blackberry.net/products/blackberry5810/ index.shtml
And go through the interactive demo... Under Introduction:Overview... it reads: "Includes powerful wireless handheld with Intel386 processor....."
From their press release it says that the new unit is based on an Intel 386 processor. Now from that point of view how long until someone gets linux/bsd/your favorite opensource OS running directly on it.
I know that myself I would love a wireless handheld with a keyboard that is running linux.
heh... found it later... not on their main download page. The main one says that they were still waiting for the linux version. :)
Found it on the direct download link later...
When you go to the actual plugin download page it is currently only available for Wintel platforms.
The linux one is a high priority they say and they hope to have it available for all platforms that Blender supports.
The plantronics CT-10 is a VERY nice phone for these situations. Easy to dial, nice small and not too heavy.
Runs about 130$+ from CDW and well worth the cost.
I am preparing to build my own house as well and have been looking at this very issue.
What I have decided was to run 6+ normal CAT5e wires to each room. This may seem like a lot but... Comready.com has 1000' spools for 40+$ so price is not that great of an issue.
Now for the secret ingredients. First of all.. For network just use 1 or more standard CAT5e cables to do that in each room. You can then run up to 4 phone lines on another CAT5e cable. You then have 3 left.
Milestek.com has cat5 baluns that let you transmit everything from S-video to Broadband Video in case you ever want video in any room.
That also leaves a couple cables free for intercoms and such.
If you want to lessen the cable runs or hook more things up in each room in the future you get something like the NJ-100 that we saw the article on slashdot about a couple weeks ago.
Happy home hacking!
One of the big trade offs though is that in using 5ghz instead of 2.4ghz the range for the same output power is cut to about 1/4 that of 802.11b
Speed is great when inside your house for long hauls we need to be looking forward to 802.11g and such... 802.11g is targeted at only 20mbs but the range stays the same with the lower frequency range.
After watching the whole thing that was all I could think of... Mix the Wonder Years touchy feely in with the wonder of Star Trek and maybe through in a dash of Seaquest DSV to make the producers happy.
Come on guys.. If you are going to make Sci-Fi... make Sci-Fi... Don't give in and try and make it a "family hour" type show.
Dollar amount reference is in:
"Contributing to its mass appeal are the low-cost solutions available. For less than $100, a volunteer can buy an access point, and Kennedy says he uses a Pringles potato chip can in his coffee shop to enhance network performance. Performance degrades the farther away from an access point a user is located."
As to thre repeater... the article seems to have been revised in that respect since the first post. However the other errors do still exist...
Unfortunately, from the documentation, it appears only to handle ad-hoc and IBSS mode... if computers A and B are connected to it they can not see each other unless they are close enough to do it anyways. A little playing with routes on a linux box could fix this but the NCP600 is a little short of what you would want to allow public access...
Yes but you can not use this as a bridge. It can only be used in either "AdHoc" or IBSS mode. It can not be used as a true access point.
Once someone learns the correct bit to flip in the pcmcia cards we should be able to do just as such but for remote access by clients you just can't run in IBSS
Several people on the Bay Area Wireless User Group mailing list have pointed out a large amount of factual errors in this article.
A ug ust/thread.html under the subjects "Did you know you were a parasitic grid?","Infoworld writer responds
Such things as that the pringles cans are ANTENNAS not REPEATERS and that you can not get ANY wireless fully 802.11b access points for under about 160$ new (even on ebay).
For some more on this check out the mailinglist archive at
http://lists.bawug.org/pipermail/wireless/2001-
" and "Unprofessional conduct on the part of Ephraim Schwartz". Definately shows how little this writer actually knows...
function fire
{
local COLOR_RED='\[\033[00;31;40m\]'
local GRAD0='\[\033[00m\]'
PS1="$COLOR_RED\h$GRAD0 "
}
function green
{
local COLOR_GREEN='\[\033[0m\033[32;40m\]'
local GRAD0='\[\033[00m\]'
PS1="$COLOR_GREEN\h$GRAD0 "
}
if [ $UID == '0' ] ; then
fire
else
green
fi
Simple... but it keeps me from destroying stuff as root and not knowing it...
sorry... couldn't resist....
But seriously, if they can provide a product that comes close in performance I see a lot more companies going over to it. I know a lot of companies that would love to use open source but they want someone to blame when it goes wrong.
Hopefully Redhat can still turn a profit when they are the ones catching the blame.
Now I know that they get higher viewership/traffic but they are paying for that just the same as a smaller company would... probably even more. When you get a free geocities page or something then any advertising money you get you can keep. But yahoo and other such portals actually are paying a premium to get that kind of traffic to their site.
It doesn't take a genius to know that as your traffic increases so does your cost... and your users arn't going to see more adds just because more other people are using it. You are still stuck with 2 very close linear functions.
Isn't this just a napdeck? www.napdeck.com Go here if you want it with a USB docking bay as another option.
They look identical...
I voted for CmdrTaco on the pro-moderation ticket.
I feel that america would be a much better society if it was a moderated (first POST!!!) society. He how did that slip in there... With such campaign topics as privacy (Natalie Portman), foreign policy (hot grits). I think that the slashdot crew will come through in the end.
And remember vote early, often and for slashdot...
Well the obvious option is by marriage but there are several problems with this:
#1 Girl/Guy ratio in computing is a little stiff and most states still don't do same sex marriages.
#2 USA/International ratio (excluding the gender thing) are pretty awful as well.
#3 Have you ever seen the girls that are interested in computers?
Ohh well... just had to throw in my 2 cents.
In "The Diamond" age they had their MCs (Matter Compilers). :)
Just can't wait until we get to the rapid prototyping in 3d at the molecular level. Talk about some fun designing.
My father works in this field and one of the coming things they are trying for is this same technique with metal so they can design and try parts before the CNC machining takes place. Would definately speed up the prototyping stage
Just hate to have a "jet" getting plugged, like on your cheap bubble-jets, be responsible for the Concorde coming down.