Years ago I read an interview with one of the cast members of the original Star Trek.
He said that the most creative writers were the finance guys who claimed that in 30 years of reruns that Star Trek has never made a profit.
(I think the interview was in the early 90's)
Unfortunately I do not recall who that was.
Hardly. The moon is the next logical stepping stone to everywhere else we want to go in the solar system.
To go to Mars, we need to know the effects of long term duration of humans in a low (NOT ZERO) gravity environment.
We have 1G on earth, and zero G at the ISS.
What happens with Mars gravity? We have no idea.
Where is the nearest place to test that? The moon.
We need to see the effects of long term radiation exposure does to humans in space. The ISS is protected by the earth's magnetic field.
Where can we test this, and get back fast if there is a severe problem? The moon.
We should test robots that can build a shelter remotely in a hostile environment.
The earth will do at first, but to test in a low gravity and low atmosphere environment, you need the moon.
Maybe the US will wake up when China lands a man on the moon.
That actually reminds me of a real incident.
I was stopped at a light, cars in front of me.
I notice a truck coming up behind me.
Suddenly I see the truck lurch downward as I hear brakes slamming.
I didn't even think, I rapidly turned the wheel left and floored the engine.
He missed me, but he stopped roughly where my front seat was.
With this new system my car would be totalled as well as the car in front of me, and maybe damage to the next one as well.
Didn't Don Imus have something like this in his night time stand up routine many years ago?
Something like reserving swearing for when no other form of expression can truely get the point across.
I think he called it something like "Swear with Flair".
Call me a radical if you like, but I believe in sticking to principals, not parties.
I didn't like the Patriot Act under Bush.
I dislike it even more under Obama.
And this concept of no fundamental right to privacy of location?
Starting to sound like Nixon and J Edgar Hoover spying to me.
And this modification of Miranda rights for US Citizens? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
Where is the ACLU?
What is it with this administration that everyone who disagrees is a racist?
Was it not Hillary Clinton who said that disagreement is a fundamental principal of a democracy?
Unfortunately racism is alive and well in the USA.
But to call everyone who disagrees with you a racist is to cheapen the entire civil rights movement.
The satellite in question is at geosync altitudes, something like 23,000 miles. I think the space shuttle has a maximum orbit at something like 300 miles.
And even if you blew it to bits, what do you do about all the pieces that will be floating around for the next hundred years or so?
Best option for now is to let it drift out of control until the solar cells no longer can let the machine charge and then it goes dead.
Maybe in 10 years when China is the new world superpower they can clean it up.
The devices probably use GPS to get a time and location fix. Later on they probably upload data to a central computer that figures out who has to be speeding based on the maps between the various points.
Have to wonder if these guys are using GPS receivers that are resistant to spoofing. You could really screw with the speed calculations if you make the unit think its somewhere else, or slew the time.
A common theme in comp.risks is that designers of new products often rush to get products out to market, and don't think of how their systems can be abused until afterwords.
Like open source programs in general, many people have influenced who I am today.
I knew of RMS when I discovered Unix in the 80's.
I greatly admired him when I read Steven Levy's "Hackers" the first time over a weekend.
I do not agree with all of his ideas.
But I would say society is much better off that he was here.
Here is a trick I did for the above case.
I do not give out SSN to anyone I did not call.
They (the other end) were not allowed to give out the SSN, they said that they required me to give it to them. To which I responded that I have no way to confirm who they are.
Classic Mexican standoff.
So I did a simple hash.
Lets say your SSN ends in ABCD (these are variables).
I had them add AB to CD and tell me the number.
If it does not match mine, and it didn't,
I know the SSN does not match.
If it does, I have a reasonable assurance that they have the correct SSN already.
Yeah its not as good as MD5, but its something that I can walk someone over the phone with.
And if they refuse, I score them negatively on my "is this legit or fraud" rating.
Lenders will not do anything until it costs them more money to get it wrong than to get it right.
I have recently been the target of a fraud.
The bank has called me 4 times in the past year about this account.
They have my name and my home telephone number.
They have the wrong home address, nothing right except the state.
They have the wrong SSN.
They have the wrong birth month, day, and year.
The birth year is off more than 30 years.
The card has my name and some other guy (I'm not even going there).
How much do you need to get wrong before you refuse this guy?
How did they get my phone number?
My suspicion is that the original phone number was incorrect so they just looked up anyone with my name in my state and updated it.
Twice I hung up on the bank because I thought they were a telephone phishing attack trying to get me to hand over PII (They were asking my SSN, my home address, my birthdate).
The last two times I've talked to their fraud department saying that whomever this is is not me and has no PII even close to me.
We have to suspend democracy in order to save it eh?
Sounds like the Vietnam era "we have to destroy the village to save it".
SCO has more lives than Freddy Krugger
on
Novell Wins vs. SCO
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
How many times have we pronounced the SCO lawsuits dead?
I think its more times than Freddy Krugger has been brought back to life.
I think Freddy said it best to Jason: "Why won't you die?"
Maybe I am using the wrong term, but I thought all GPS signals were phase correlated.
Each satellite transmits on the L1 carrier a gold code modulated signal.
To figure out the pseudo distances between the satellites and the receiver, the receiver needs to figure out the phase difference of the signals coming in.
They take the Alamac with the rough time and position, figure out which satellites it should see, and which gold codes they are sending.
The receiver has a series of clocks get get the right gold code sequence loaded into them and run a bit faster than the received one, and the signals are compared, often with an exclusive-or. When the output of the exclusive or is mostly zero, then your signals are phase correlated.
Take 4 phase corrections and plug them into 4 equations and you get the position and the time.
Did I get this mostly right?
Am I using the wrong terms?
Corrections would be appreciated. I've always had an interest in GPS.
Planes flying at 30K feet in cruise mode is not the threat I am thinking of.
I'm thinking of landing in a poor visibility situation where you are depending on instruments.
How do they filter the signal? Do they favor the leading edge of the signal when doing phase correlation? That would make sense since by definition multipath signals would lag.
If it does, can that be used in the design of a spoofer or jammer? Also, do airliner GPS systems make use of differencial transmitters? They would be ground based.
Now don't get me wrong, as a very navigationally challenged person I think GPS is great. My first GPS I had a map to find the longitude and latitude to enter into the GPS and I used the GPS to get the correct direction to drive.
I currently have one on my cell, a hand held, one in the car and one to run with Kismet, I love it.
But as a long time reader of comp.risks, I'm worried that people may have not thoroughly considered what may go wrong.
Who needs anti satellite weapons? In the second Iraq war, wasn't Iraq using GPS jamming equipment for a while? Heck, last time I was in DC I noticed that my GPS would blink out around the White House. Although direct jamming equipment I don't worry about as much as the possibility of spoofing equipment. Something that could raise the apparent altitude of your airplane on descent in bad weather. Or move your location so you fly into a mountain range. Jamming would be obvious as you would have problems getting a signal lock. How do you identify spoofing without an independent source?
And remember, when something is dependable, people tend to rely on it without critical thinking.
Its worse, its not that they fine you, THEY CAN THROW YOU INTO JAIL FOR FIVE YEARS for not having what they feel is sufficient health insurance.
It makes not having sufficient health care A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.
Re:A false choice, of course...
on
Health Care Reform
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Full bill, but not the final bill. Deals are still being made. Even the CBO says that the numbers are preliminary.
And frankly, 10 years of taxes and 6 years of benefits means they are cooking the books.
Check out plasma incinerators.
If I understand the logic behind them, they use plasma torches in a low oxygen environemnt.
This causes the organic compounds to vaporize, leaving all the heavier compounds.
The vapors are then mixed with air and then burned.
Very interesting idea, if it works.
Slashdot Mirror
Years ago I read an interview with one of the cast members of the original Star Trek. He said that the most creative writers were the finance guys who claimed that in 30 years of reruns that Star Trek has never made a profit. (I think the interview was in the early 90's) Unfortunately I do not recall who that was.
"The moon has been done?"
Hardly. The moon is the next logical stepping stone to everywhere else we want to go in the solar system.
Maybe the US will wake up when China lands a man on the moon.
That actually reminds me of a real incident. I was stopped at a light, cars in front of me. I notice a truck coming up behind me. Suddenly I see the truck lurch downward as I hear brakes slamming. I didn't even think, I rapidly turned the wheel left and floored the engine. He missed me, but he stopped roughly where my front seat was. With this new system my car would be totalled as well as the car in front of me, and maybe damage to the next one as well.
Anyone want to take bets on how long until the protocols gets hacked and spoofed?
This should be a good thread on comp.risks.
Didn't Don Imus have something like this in his night time stand up routine many years ago? Something like reserving swearing for when no other form of expression can truely get the point across. I think he called it something like "Swear with Flair".
Call me a radical if you like, but I believe in sticking to principals, not parties. I didn't like the Patriot Act under Bush. I dislike it even more under Obama. And this concept of no fundamental right to privacy of location? Starting to sound like Nixon and J Edgar Hoover spying to me. And this modification of Miranda rights for US Citizens? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Where is the ACLU?
What is it with this administration that everyone who disagrees is a racist? Was it not Hillary Clinton who said that disagreement is a fundamental principal of a democracy?
Unfortunately racism is alive and well in the USA. But to call everyone who disagrees with you a racist is to cheapen the entire civil rights movement.
The satellite in question is at geosync altitudes, something like 23,000 miles. I think the space shuttle has a maximum orbit at something like 300 miles. And even if you blew it to bits, what do you do about all the pieces that will be floating around for the next hundred years or so? Best option for now is to let it drift out of control until the solar cells no longer can let the machine charge and then it goes dead. Maybe in 10 years when China is the new world superpower they can clean it up.
The devices probably use GPS to get a time and location fix. Later on they probably upload data to a central computer that figures out who has to be speeding based on the maps between the various points.
Have to wonder if these guys are using GPS receivers that are resistant to spoofing. You could really screw with the speed calculations if you make the unit think its somewhere else, or slew the time. A common theme in comp.risks is that designers of new products often rush to get products out to market, and don't think of how their systems can be abused until afterwords.
Like open source programs in general, many people have influenced who I am today. I knew of RMS when I discovered Unix in the 80's. I greatly admired him when I read Steven Levy's "Hackers" the first time over a weekend. I do not agree with all of his ideas. But I would say society is much better off that he was here.
Here is a trick I did for the above case. I do not give out SSN to anyone I did not call. They (the other end) were not allowed to give out the SSN, they said that they required me to give it to them. To which I responded that I have no way to confirm who they are. Classic Mexican standoff. So I did a simple hash. Lets say your SSN ends in ABCD (these are variables). I had them add AB to CD and tell me the number. If it does not match mine, and it didn't, I know the SSN does not match. If it does, I have a reasonable assurance that they have the correct SSN already. Yeah its not as good as MD5, but its something that I can walk someone over the phone with.
And if they refuse, I score them negatively on my "is this legit or fraud" rating.
Lenders will not do anything until it costs them more money to get it wrong than to get it right. I have recently been the target of a fraud. The bank has called me 4 times in the past year about this account. They have my name and my home telephone number. They have the wrong home address, nothing right except the state. They have the wrong SSN. They have the wrong birth month, day, and year. The birth year is off more than 30 years. The card has my name and some other guy (I'm not even going there). How much do you need to get wrong before you refuse this guy? How did they get my phone number? My suspicion is that the original phone number was incorrect so they just looked up anyone with my name in my state and updated it.
Twice I hung up on the bank because I thought they were a telephone phishing attack trying to get me to hand over PII (They were asking my SSN, my home address, my birthdate). The last two times I've talked to their fraud department saying that whomever this is is not me and has no PII even close to me.
Doesn't this sound like a plot device from a recent James Bond movie?
It just doesn't sound right. Not that I would really know as I am seriously tone deaf.
We have to suspend democracy in order to save it eh? Sounds like the Vietnam era "we have to destroy the village to save it".
How many times have we pronounced the SCO lawsuits dead? I think its more times than Freddy Krugger has been brought back to life. I think Freddy said it best to Jason: "Why won't you die?"
Maybe I am using the wrong term, but I thought all GPS signals were phase correlated. Each satellite transmits on the L1 carrier a gold code modulated signal. To figure out the pseudo distances between the satellites and the receiver, the receiver needs to figure out the phase difference of the signals coming in. They take the Alamac with the rough time and position, figure out which satellites it should see, and which gold codes they are sending. The receiver has a series of clocks get get the right gold code sequence loaded into them and run a bit faster than the received one, and the signals are compared, often with an exclusive-or. When the output of the exclusive or is mostly zero, then your signals are phase correlated. Take 4 phase corrections and plug them into 4 equations and you get the position and the time.
Did I get this mostly right? Am I using the wrong terms? Corrections would be appreciated. I've always had an interest in GPS.
Planes flying at 30K feet in cruise mode is not the threat I am thinking of. I'm thinking of landing in a poor visibility situation where you are depending on instruments. How do they filter the signal? Do they favor the leading edge of the signal when doing phase correlation? That would make sense since by definition multipath signals would lag. If it does, can that be used in the design of a spoofer or jammer? Also, do airliner GPS systems make use of differencial transmitters? They would be ground based.
Now don't get me wrong, as a very navigationally challenged person I think GPS is great. My first GPS I had a map to find the longitude and latitude to enter into the GPS and I used the GPS to get the correct direction to drive. I currently have one on my cell, a hand held, one in the car and one to run with Kismet, I love it. But as a long time reader of comp.risks, I'm worried that people may have not thoroughly considered what may go wrong.
Who needs anti satellite weapons? In the second Iraq war, wasn't Iraq using GPS jamming equipment for a while? Heck, last time I was in DC I noticed that my GPS would blink out around the White House. Although direct jamming equipment I don't worry about as much as the possibility of spoofing equipment. Something that could raise the apparent altitude of your airplane on descent in bad weather. Or move your location so you fly into a mountain range. Jamming would be obvious as you would have problems getting a signal lock. How do you identify spoofing without an independent source? And remember, when something is dependable, people tend to rely on it without critical thinking.
Just one, I'm sure there are more:
http://www.aolnews.com/opinion/article/opinion-obamas-health-care-myths-exposed/19402359
Its worse, its not that they fine you, THEY CAN THROW YOU INTO JAIL FOR FIVE YEARS for not having what they feel is sufficient health insurance. It makes not having sufficient health care A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.
Full bill, but not the final bill. Deals are still being made. Even the CBO says that the numbers are preliminary. And frankly, 10 years of taxes and 6 years of benefits means they are cooking the books.
Peak shaving, load balancing, two halves of the same coin, in my book.
Check out plasma incinerators. If I understand the logic behind them, they use plasma torches in a low oxygen environemnt. This causes the organic compounds to vaporize, leaving all the heavier compounds. The vapors are then mixed with air and then burned. Very interesting idea, if it works.
Hm, gas turbines to power the wind turbines, from the Wild E. Coyote School of Engineering? ;-)