The first breakthrough in cracking Nazi Germany's Enigma code was not done in Bletchley Park but in Warsaw. Starting in 1928 Polish Intelligence had been intercepting German radio traffic that was using a new cipher system which they eventually identified as being generated by an Enigma machine. Polish Intelligence also obtained examples of the commercial version of the Enigma machine but discovered the military was slightly different. Polish Intelligence intercepted German Radio transmissions using a new cipher system which was eventually identified as coming from an Enigma machine. In July 1939 right before the German invasion of Poland, the Polish cryptographers rushed to share their Enigma results with the French and British code breakers. The Polish team gave them copies of the German Enigma machine and revealed the details of the Cyclometers, Bombas and Zygalski sheets.
We have smart phones and smart guns but what we really need is smart people. You hear about people getting into accidents because they were texting while driving. And now car manufactures are adding even more distractions for the driver.
Equating the history of alcohol with the history of slavery is a straw man argument. People abuse everything. Alcohol, legal and illegal drugs, food, caffeine, tobacco, and even sugar. Should all these things also be legislated away to make sure no one is harmed? Just how far are you willing to go in building the nanny state? Get back to me when you can count to 10 with your shoes on. .
Alcohol, in one form or another, has been a part of human civilization going back to the glory days of the Roman empire and even going back as far as Egypt 5000 years ago. Trying to legislate it's demise is idiotic. My point was that religious hardliners were able to push such a law on society at large. Today's religious hardliners do not come close to wielding that type of influence today. They have been trying to overturn abortion law since 1972 and while there have been restrictions put into place they still have not had abortion totally outlawed.
China can make a law such as this because they do not have to worry about any domestic protests or complaints. They do not have an adversarial forum to debate new laws. The only discussion in amongst the top Party leaders behind closed doors.
I don't think it really matters what political party Nixon was in. The democrats and republicans back in the 50's, 60's, and 70's and even further back in time did not always share the same views that the modern day parties do. In some instances the roles of the major political parties were completely opposite of what the parties support today. And no matter how fucked up our politicians and their radical supporters are today it doesn't even come close to the madness that took place in the 1920's. The government was able to get voter buy in to enact prohibition. They might as well tried to prohibit people from breathing. The strongest supporters of that nonsense were religious hardliners who took it upon themselves to impose their version of morality on the country. It took a fucking Constitutional Amendment to fix to get the booze flowing legally again! And while this idiocy was getting all the attention the governments economic policies sent the US into the Great Depression. Things might be a little askew today but it is still a hell of a lot better than things were back in the day.
How in the hell could Israel cause any more chaos in the ME? That's the one thing the Arab's are quite capable of all by themselves. And Israel does represent a massive danger to the Arab countries and the Arab countries have experienced that danger up close and personal. The Arab's are also aware that Israel doesn't ask for permission or forgiveness when launching military attacks to protect it's interests. That level of decisiveness scares the hell out of countries who rely on delaying political strategies and manufactured public opinion to hide behind.
If we ever discover green alien chicks needing a good screwing the rush to go into space will shift into overdrive and prioritize the development of a warp drive and hang the cost. Until that happy day we will just have to make due with robotic probes to investigate the solar system.
I was not clear. The previous post said that the US doesn't have a reliable launch vehicle when in fact they do. They have a reliable launch vehicle that is responsible for delivering the X-37B into orbit. The US also uses the Delta IV Heavy and the configurable Delta IV Medium-Plus launch vehicles. There are a lot of people who seem to think the US is not currently capable of putting things into space but that perception is wrong.
The US already has a reliable launch vehicle called the X37-B. It can reach orbit, stay in orbit for extended missions, change it's orbital positioning, and when the mission is complete it can land back on earth for re-use. The US is also developing the Space Launch System (SLS). A heavy-lift booster that can carry humans farther than they've ever been, to an asteroid, Mars, and beyond. Why waste money and resources on rockets whose sole purpose is to launch satellites into orbit or play taxi for the ISS?
"Many, many people want to see Sony die" Took a poll did you? If you have a beef with Sony or any other company don't buy any of their products. Nobody is forcing you to use anything Sony makes. And let those who are not as juvenile as yourself use products of their own selection without you being an ass.
No, most people expect a monetary reward for their efforts. Or do you live in a land where food, shelter, transportation, education, and entertainment is free? Or do you want to be the arbiter of what a reasonable monetary reward should be comrade? Or maybe just let the government define reasonable? Or maybe you can just crowdsource several billions of dollars to research and develop the type of hardware needed for advances such as AI running on quantum processors.
And in a fine example of global cooperation and friendship Turkey took the time out of their busy day to help the Russian pilots re-calibrate their GPS system coordinates to demark the Turkish border.
There have been gun buy backs in US cities. The number of guns turned are miniscule compared to the number of guns in circulation. The number of people pitching a fit about their 4th Amendment rights being violated are inconsequential compared to the number of people who would go ballistic if they felt their 2nd Amendment rights were violated. If push came to shove I would just hide my firearms when the government comes looking and I would not shoot anyone but there would be a lot of people who would start shooting. For good or bad gun ownership is firmly embedded in American culture and there is not going away any time soon. "controlled firearm" When debating gun ownership policies with a staunch defender of the 2nd Amendment never use any form of the word "control". That is like waving a red flag in front of a pissed off bull. The US has it's own bat shit crazies just like the ones you see in the Middle East.
You could ban all guns by law tomorrow and repeal the second amendment however someone is going to have to enforce that law. You think all the law abiding citizens who own firearms would magically turn in their firearms because the government tells them to? You might have few takers but the majority would tell the government if they want them come and get them and then the fun starts. US private citizens control more firepower than most militaries in the world. After the first few thousand law enforcement officials get killed going door to door confiscating guns the government will have a hard time getting replacements.
I was not making any comparisons to the assassinated Israeli leader who was also killed by a countryman for making the peace treaty. The point I was making was that there have been no Arab leaders since Sadat who are willing to actually sit down directly with the Israelis and apply some common sense and pragmatism to the conflict. Jordan also signed a treaty with Israel but their main motivation was they saw no way the could every defeat Israel by military force and made a pragmatic decision to make peace. A strong Arab leader who is willing to cast aside all the harsh rhetoric, openly admit that all the previous wars and related actions were a mistake, and does not have a problem sitting at the same table, face to face, with the Israeli leadership could hammer out a solution. An Arab leader displaying these characteristics would force the Israeli's to respond in kind.
The US already planted a flag on the Moon and since then no one else has stepped foot on the moon:) Maybe the US is using the Mars rovers to survey the landscape looking for the best parcels of territory to claim just in case enough people actually travel there and start arguing over zoning regulations and eminent domain claims. If a sizeable number of humans ever leave the planet we will most likely take our prejudices, animosities, and god help us, our politics with us where ever we go.
Russia would need to actually attack a NATO country before Article 5 kicks in. In this particular case it was a NATO country who technically attacked another non-NATO country. With the destruction of the Russian bound passenger jet a couple of weeks ago and this current incident Russia is getting a refresher course on the chaos running rampant in the ME.
"Capitalism allowed the US to buy into advanced Russian products like the Russian RD-180" In this case it was Russia being capitalistic. And it was the US decision to not spend money on reinventing the wheel when they could purchase a viable alternative off the shelf while dedicating the savings to the development of the next generation of engine technologies.
We are not talking about a chess game here. It was a game of cyber-warfare and there are no rules in a game like this. The only possible rule would be try not to kill anybody but other than that anything goes. In the real world a drone could be used to take down the Wi-Fi or someone could infiltrate the facility and place a device inside the facility. I am sure the Iranians thought their nuclear centrifuges were safe from outside interference until someone infiltrated one of their most secure facilities in the country and released Stuxnext using a thumb drive.
"Ditch windows" A "properly administered" Windows OS is no more secure or non-secure than any of other popular OS's being used today. Windows just presents a bigger footprint. Windows biggest weaknesses can be attributed to inept system administration, sloppy security patch procedures, bad user account setup, social engineering, and poor firewall administration. These same weaknesses also apply to all of the other OS's being used today. And unfortunately ditching Windows would also mean ditching all the programs running on the system. Other OS's provide some of the applications being run on Windows so your average user might adjust to the transition. However, all the businesses running internally developed custom Windows applications will not be keen on having to re-build all those applications to run on another platform.
"Don't run the most vulnerable software, it does not matter if it is "industry standard". And what if this vulnerable software is the only option? I am forced to work with a 3rd party PLC interface library the could be vulnerable but there is no other choice available that meets my criteria.
You can build a secure OS of any flavor and then have it fall apart as soon as administrators, developers, and support staff start using it. And enough with the "sheep" BS. Your almost out of puberty so put a lid on your arrogance and realize being OS agnostic will serve you well when you get your first job in a couple of years.
It would be nice if the so called "security researches" and all the high dollar security firms could actually prevent an attack every now and then. As it is the best these experts seem to be able to do is conduct postmortems after the damage is already done. It's plain to see that the real "security experts" are those creating malware and the ones trying to prevent malware and other security weak spots are 2 steps behind.
"CIA wants to read my email, know what websites I visit" If this was actually true the perpetrator would have been in custody the minute he touched anything to do with the Director of the CIA. With all the magical powers attributed to the NSA and CIA in regards to capturing electronic information how could any one get away with hacking anything to do with the government? I mean supposedly the government is analyzing all the internet traffic in real time and sending out kill squads to deal with the violators.
"culture of secrecy and stonewalling unprecedented ''' The government is more transparent today than at any time in it's history. The people who can't see this are those who think US government history only goes back 20 years. It doesn't mean people should stop trying to ferret out government secrets but changes in how the government changes are incremental and government transparency is getting better and not worse. It may not be as transparent as some would like but it is not something that happens overnight. Is it a secret that the government is planning to store a limited amount of nuclear waste at one of it's research centers? How can it be when we are discussing the very thing that is supposed to be secret. The government, including it's national security agencies, can't keep anything secret these days. You can't complain about government secrets and then go on to describe in detail the very things you claim are a secret.
Slashdot Mirror
The first breakthrough in cracking Nazi Germany's Enigma code was not done in Bletchley Park but in Warsaw. Starting in 1928 Polish Intelligence had been intercepting German radio traffic that was using a new cipher system which they eventually identified as being generated by an Enigma machine. Polish Intelligence also obtained examples of the commercial version of the Enigma machine but discovered the military was slightly different. Polish Intelligence intercepted German Radio transmissions using a new cipher system which was eventually identified as coming from an Enigma machine. In July 1939 right before the German invasion of Poland, the Polish cryptographers rushed to share their Enigma results with the French and British code breakers. The Polish team gave them copies of the German Enigma machine and revealed the details of the Cyclometers, Bombas and Zygalski sheets.
We have smart phones and smart guns but what we really need is smart people. You hear about people getting into accidents because they were texting while driving. And now car manufactures are adding even more distractions for the driver.
Equating the history of alcohol with the history of slavery is a straw man argument. People abuse everything. Alcohol, legal and illegal drugs, food, caffeine, tobacco, and even sugar. Should all these things also be legislated away to make sure no one is harmed? Just how far are you willing to go in building the nanny state? Get back to me when you can count to 10 with your shoes on. .
Alcohol, in one form or another, has been a part of human civilization going back to the glory days of the Roman empire and even going back as far as Egypt 5000 years ago. Trying to legislate it's demise is idiotic. My point was that religious hardliners were able to push such a law on society at large. Today's religious hardliners do not come close to wielding that type of influence today. They have been trying to overturn abortion law since 1972 and while there have been restrictions put into place they still have not had abortion totally outlawed.
China can make a law such as this because they do not have to worry about any domestic protests or complaints. They do not have an adversarial forum to debate new laws. The only discussion in amongst the top Party leaders behind closed doors.
I don't think it really matters what political party Nixon was in. The democrats and republicans back in the 50's, 60's, and 70's and even further back in time did not always share the same views that the modern day parties do. In some instances the roles of the major political parties were completely opposite of what the parties support today. And no matter how fucked up our politicians and their radical supporters are today it doesn't even come close to the madness that took place in the 1920's. The government was able to get voter buy in to enact prohibition. They might as well tried to prohibit people from breathing. The strongest supporters of that nonsense were religious hardliners who took it upon themselves to impose their version of morality on the country. It took a fucking Constitutional Amendment to fix to get the booze flowing legally again! And while this idiocy was getting all the attention the governments economic policies sent the US into the Great Depression. Things might be a little askew today but it is still a hell of a lot better than things were back in the day.
How in the hell could Israel cause any more chaos in the ME? That's the one thing the Arab's are quite capable of all by themselves. And Israel does represent a massive danger to the Arab countries and the Arab countries have experienced that danger up close and personal. The Arab's are also aware that Israel doesn't ask for permission or forgiveness when launching military attacks to protect it's interests. That level of decisiveness scares the hell out of countries who rely on delaying political strategies and manufactured public opinion to hide behind.
If we ever discover green alien chicks needing a good screwing the rush to go into space will shift into overdrive and prioritize the development of a warp drive and hang the cost. Until that happy day we will just have to make due with robotic probes to investigate the solar system.
I was not clear. The previous post said that the US doesn't have a reliable launch vehicle when in fact they do. They have a reliable launch vehicle that is responsible for delivering the X-37B into orbit. The US also uses the Delta IV Heavy and the configurable Delta IV Medium-Plus launch vehicles. There are a lot of people who seem to think the US is not currently capable of putting things into space but that perception is wrong.
The US already has a reliable launch vehicle called the X37-B. It can reach orbit, stay in orbit for extended missions, change it's orbital positioning, and when the mission is complete it can land back on earth for re-use. The US is also developing the Space Launch System (SLS). A heavy-lift booster that can carry humans farther than they've ever been, to an asteroid, Mars, and beyond. Why waste money and resources on rockets whose sole purpose is to launch satellites into orbit or play taxi for the ISS?
"Many, many people want to see Sony die" Took a poll did you? If you have a beef with Sony or any other company don't buy any of their products. Nobody is forcing you to use anything Sony makes. And let those who are not as juvenile as yourself use products of their own selection without you being an ass.
No, most people expect a monetary reward for their efforts. Or do you live in a land where food, shelter, transportation, education, and entertainment is free? Or do you want to be the arbiter of what a reasonable monetary reward should be comrade? Or maybe just let the government define reasonable? Or maybe you can just crowdsource several billions of dollars to research and develop the type of hardware needed for advances such as AI running on quantum processors.
And in a fine example of global cooperation and friendship Turkey took the time out of their busy day to help the Russian pilots re-calibrate their GPS system coordinates to demark the Turkish border.
There have been gun buy backs in US cities. The number of guns turned are miniscule compared to the number of guns in circulation. The number of people pitching a fit about their 4th Amendment rights being violated are inconsequential compared to the number of people who would go ballistic if they felt their 2nd Amendment rights were violated. If push came to shove I would just hide my firearms when the government comes looking and I would not shoot anyone but there would be a lot of people who would start shooting. For good or bad gun ownership is firmly embedded in American culture and there is not going away any time soon.
"controlled firearm" When debating gun ownership policies with a staunch defender of the 2nd Amendment never use any form of the word "control". That is like waving a red flag in front of a pissed off bull. The US has it's own bat shit crazies just like the ones you see in the Middle East.
You could ban all guns by law tomorrow and repeal the second amendment however someone is going to have to enforce that law. You think all the law abiding citizens who own firearms would magically turn in their firearms because the government tells them to? You might have few takers but the majority would tell the government if they want them come and get them and then the fun starts. US private citizens control more firepower than most militaries in the world. After the first few thousand law enforcement officials get killed going door to door confiscating guns the government will have a hard time getting replacements.
I was not making any comparisons to the assassinated Israeli leader who was also killed by a countryman for making the peace treaty. The point I was making was that there have been no Arab leaders since Sadat who are willing to actually sit down directly with the Israelis and apply some common sense and pragmatism to the conflict. Jordan also signed a treaty with Israel but their main motivation was they saw no way the could every defeat Israel by military force and made a pragmatic decision to make peace. A strong Arab leader who is willing to cast aside all the harsh rhetoric, openly admit that all the previous wars and related actions were a mistake, and does not have a problem sitting at the same table, face to face, with the Israeli leadership could hammer out a solution. An Arab leader displaying these characteristics would force the Israeli's to respond in kind.
The US already planted a flag on the Moon and since then no one else has stepped foot on the moon:) Maybe the US is using the Mars rovers to survey the landscape looking for the best parcels of territory to claim just in case enough people actually travel there and start arguing over zoning regulations and eminent domain claims. If a sizeable number of humans ever leave the planet we will most likely take our prejudices, animosities, and god help us, our politics with us where ever we go.
Russia would need to actually attack a NATO country before Article 5 kicks in. In this particular case it was a NATO country who technically attacked another non-NATO country. With the destruction of the Russian bound passenger jet a couple of weeks ago and this current incident Russia is getting a refresher course on the chaos running rampant in the ME.
"Capitalism allowed the US to buy into advanced Russian products like the Russian RD-180" In this case it was Russia being capitalistic. And it was the US decision to not spend money on reinventing the wheel when they could purchase a viable alternative off the shelf while dedicating the savings to the development of the next generation of engine technologies.
We are not talking about a chess game here. It was a game of cyber-warfare and there are no rules in a game like this. The only possible rule would be try not to kill anybody but other than that anything goes. In the real world a drone could be used to take down the Wi-Fi or someone could infiltrate the facility and place a device inside the facility. I am sure the Iranians thought their nuclear centrifuges were safe from outside interference until someone infiltrated one of their most secure facilities in the country and released Stuxnext using a thumb drive.
"Ditch windows"
A "properly administered" Windows OS is no more secure or non-secure than any of other popular OS's being used today. Windows just presents a bigger footprint. Windows biggest weaknesses can be attributed to inept system administration, sloppy security patch procedures, bad user account setup, social engineering, and poor firewall administration. These same weaknesses also apply to all of the other OS's being used today. And unfortunately ditching Windows would also mean ditching all the programs running on the system. Other OS's provide some of the applications being run on Windows so your average user might adjust to the transition. However, all the businesses running internally developed custom Windows applications will not be keen on having to re-build all those applications to run on another platform.
"Don't run the most vulnerable software, it does not matter if it is "industry standard". And what if this vulnerable software is the only option? I am forced to work with a 3rd party PLC interface library the could be vulnerable but there is no other choice available that meets my criteria.
You can build a secure OS of any flavor and then have it fall apart as soon as administrators, developers, and support staff start using it. And enough with the "sheep" BS. Your almost out of puberty so put a lid on your arrogance and realize being OS agnostic will serve you well when you get your first job in a couple of years.
It would be nice if the so called "security researches" and all the high dollar security firms could actually prevent an attack every now and then. As it is the best these experts seem to be able to do is conduct postmortems after the damage is already done. It's plain to see that the real "security experts" are those creating malware and the ones trying to prevent malware and other security weak spots are 2 steps behind.
"CIA wants to read my email, know what websites I visit" If this was actually true the perpetrator would have been in custody the minute he touched anything to do with the Director of the CIA. With all the magical powers attributed to the NSA and CIA in regards to capturing electronic information how could any one get away with hacking anything to do with the government? I mean supposedly the government is analyzing all the internet traffic in real time and sending out kill squads to deal with the violators.
But supposedly these researchers are already facing revenge so why not name names or present some actual facts to bolster the claims of this story?
"culture of secrecy and stonewalling unprecedented '''
The government is more transparent today than at any time in it's history. The people who can't see this are those who think US government history only goes back 20 years. It doesn't mean people should stop trying to ferret out government secrets but changes in how the government changes are incremental and government transparency is getting better and not worse. It may not be as transparent as some would like but it is not something that happens overnight. Is it a secret that the government is planning to store a limited amount of nuclear waste at one of it's research centers? How can it be when we are discussing the very thing that is supposed to be secret. The government, including it's national security agencies, can't keep anything secret these days. You can't complain about government secrets and then go on to describe in detail the very things you claim are a secret.