Bad form replying to my own post, but on closer inspection this seems to be a business led initiative, not what I thought. That doesn't make it any the more useful though;)
"The Bioinformatics Organization, Inc. (Bioinformatics.Org) was founded to facilitate world-wide communications and collaborations between practicing and neophyte bioinformatic scientists and technicians. The Organization provides these individuals, as well as the public at large, free and open access to methods and materials for and from scientific research, software development, and education. We advocate and promote freedom and openness in the field as well as provide a forum for activities which facilitate the development of such resources."
This is just another example of someone trying to carve out a niche in the "hot" area of bioinformatics - the same way as this profusion of Live-CD's for Bioinformatics. It seems to me it's all quite divisive. Bioinformatics models itself on the OSS movement for the most part, but its inherent bindings with industry means there seems to be a lot of people trying to make names for themselves with "projects" even if it means duplicating the effort of someone else.
I wonder if the GIMP is slightly more useable on Windows in its next incarnation? I have been raving about the GIMP to anyone who will listen, for most people I know it's a very worthy replacement for Photoshop.
However I recently set up a dual boot laptop for my gf (the only way she will boot into Linux though is to play FreeCiv;)) and put the GIMP on XP for her. When she complained it was unusable, I didn't believe her - I've found it very intuitive under Linux. But after trying it on XP, it really does feel like a crippled version of the package I know and love - it's clunky, ugly and restrictive.
Now of course, she is using a commercial package derived from a bittorrent source, and my OSS evangelism has fallen flat on its face:/
Robot Helps NASA Refocus on Hubble Written-Off Mission to Extend Telescope's Life Is Revived Because of 'Dextre'
By Guy Gugliotta Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, November 12, 2004; Page A03
The promotional video shows a multi-jointed titanium handyman untwisting knobs and disconnecting an electrical cable with slow-motion aplomb, displaying fine motor skills that the voice-over assures will enable it to install "new batteries, gyroscopes and scientific instruments" aboard the aging Hubble Space Telescope.
But the video is only a teaser. In April, when NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt showed the whole sequence to headquarters VIPs, what had first seemed an elusive dream -- a robotic mission to service Hubble and extend its life by five years or more -- suddenly became real.
"I remember coming to look at this stuff and asking, 'Is that an [animation]?' And somebody said, 'No, it's really happening,' " recalled Edward J. Weiler, who was NASA's associate administrator for space science at the time and is now Goddard's director. "I didn't think robots could do this kind of stuff."
It is by no means a sure thing. Yet largely because of the Canadian robot named "Dextre," NASA has gone in less than a year from virtually writing off the Hubble to embracing a mission that will cost between $1 billion and $1.6 billion and approach in complexity the hardest jobs the agency has ever undertaken.
"Almost as difficult as landing on Mars successfully twice," Weiler called it. Servicing the Hubble, like the nine-month tour de force that has kept two rovers tooling around the Martian countryside, will demand a host of technical tasks and tricks that have never been tried.
To do it, the United States must develop its first-ever robotic docking vehicle, fill a bag with tools that, in many cases, have not been invented, and use the robot repairman to unscrew j-hooks, open and shut doors and "drawers," disconnect and attach electric connectors, and rig jumper cables.
By the end of 2007, NASA hopes to put into orbit its Hubble Robotic Vehicle of four components: a de-orbit module designed to dock with Hubble; a grappling arm to seize the telescope during docking and serve as a repair platform; an ejection module to carry spare parts and tools; and Dextre.
The jobs, in descending order of importance, are to change Hubble's batteries; install new gyroscopes; swap an old camera for a new, more sophisticated one; install a new spectrograph; and, if possible, replace a telescope pointing device and repair another spectrograph.
"There's nothing easy about it. It's all firsts," said Goddard's Preston M. Burch, Hubble's program manager. "And some of the things we're thinking about make people nervous." The fundamental tenet for a servicing mission, he noted, is the same one that doctors espouse: "Above all, do no harm."
In the past, shuttle astronauts had the job of servicing Hubble, missions that required a few days of spacewalks lasting six hours each. Dextre "can work 24-7," Weiler said -- a fortunate feature, because robots are not as supple as humans. "Watching it is like watching grass grow," Weiler said.
Burch hopes to complete the mission in a month. Some of it will be done by the robot working on its own, but most will be handled by ground controllers manipulating the robot's two arms -- like playing a video game.
"Astronauts are keen to do this," Burch said, and they will probably get the call because of their experience and knowledge of the perils inherent in handling large objects in space -- where something pushed or pulled does not slow down until it is checked.
"Hey, if they ask me, I would be very happy to do this," said Michael Massimino, an astronaut who serviced the Hubble in 2002 and has joysticked Dextre in the lab. "It's an interesting and challenging project -- it's cool, really cool."
Dextre, so nicknamed by the Canadian Space Agency, was developed by MD Robotics, of Brampton, Ontar
OK I read blogs.. once in a blue moon - generally from a blogging friend. They're text, I can read quite fast - therefore if I was so inclined I could read dozens if not hundreds a day.
Why the hell would I want to sit down and have to catch up with people in effectively "real time" on a videoblog? What a waste of time...
Having used Firefox and Thunderbird extensively.. the latter has been FAR more stable than the former!
Firefox has frustrated me no end, but Thunderbird never did. However Evolution2 is the way forward for those of us working in a GroupWise environment...
I have to say I wanted to insert a "denial" here, as I think it's quite well known that C02 levels DO fluctuate with time - a fact I knew, but not the paramaters of the fluctuation.
Having spent a few minutes looking for some evidence of this I came across this page which clearly shows the CO2 increases over time from ice core data - something I'd not seen before. Modern CO2 concentrations are way above anything seen before even with the natural fluctuations.
Quite what this implies for the environment however, I do believe is currently anyones "educated guess"...
Speaking of pornography I find it amusing that it's ok to share Gb's worth of hardcore material without harassment - potentially supplying minors with stuff they wouldn't have been able to get hold of say 10 years ago, yet share some mp3's and you're automagically a criminal...
Totally correct, I take your point entirely. If someone is defruaded by a spammer - treat it as fraud, surely it doesn't need new legislation? If you're going after people just because they bulk mail to sell shitty products, I'm less inclined to see the crime.
I find the fact people might actually use these to buy prescription medications more worrying than anything, $DEITY only knows what people are putting in their mouths because they're too afraid/stupid/addicted to go to the doctors to ask...
Interesting point. I understand that time and money is spent, but I suspect it's on sysadmins - who, the last time I looked, are responsible for this on their networks. Traffic costs are a different matter.
The thing is, I just don't get that much spam. Not on my webmail accounts, not at my work accounts. My mailman lists discard posts from non-members automatically. My helpdesk system with widely publicised email gets maybe 3-5 a day. My SPAM UNFILTERED shell account that I've used to post on Usenet since 1995 gets maybe 5 a day.
What on earth do people do to get such infuriating amounts of spam?
The problem with this erm issue of spammer is that there is no decent legal framework for international cooperation. Sure a lot of spammers are in the USA, but a lot aren't. And a lot are using techniquest that obscure their origins.
I'd rather personally just see a concerted effort to find them... Maybe charge them on a per message basis when they're caught. The amount per message, should be suitably crippling, but payable.. Over a few decades;)
But the question I have to ask - are they really worth persuing to this degree? I'm not trolling (seriously) but I'd rather see my tax dollars paying for takedowns in more serious crime..
I suspect we like our non-copyright aware distribution channels too much;)
I had someone trying to brute force ssh..
on
Dealing with Intruders?
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
From a server in Brasil yesterday. I never bother reporting these things normally, but the compromised machine (ie originating the attack) was a webserver and had some "info@" addresses. I wrote, apologising for my lack of Portuguese, and an hour later had a very grateful email from the sysadmin. This is going to encourage me to report them in future.
Basically I just gave a quick digest of the log clearly showing their IP and the attack in progress, and a note to the effect that I believed their machine had been compromised (in as plain English as I could muster) - and got the desired result.
I like the fact that there's some script kiddie out there cursing that one of his "boxen" is no longer..;)
Because Cuckoos Egg is light on technical details, and is really throwaway, populist fluff. It wasn't written for a technical audience, just a curious one. If I want a book to tell me about network security I don't want it written in laymans language - I want it written in a language a competent systems administrator appreciates. It's not about NAT'ing your home system, it's about protecting a network... It's a bad parallel to draw as far as I'm concerned. Cuckoos Egg was a great book compared to some of the other books on "Hacking" that proliferated in the early 1990's, but it was never a manual on keeping your systems secured. The internet was a very different beast when that book was written.
but I wouldn't use it as a textbook on "knowing the enemy" in a modern network environment. Your comparison worries me enough to warrant me not buying the book you're reviewing..
I wish I knew if it runs on a Quadro4 NVS (NV18GL), as this is what I have - I believe it's based on the GeForce4mx core. Guess I'm just going to have to suck it and see, and make sure I have enough money for that graphics card (hell Aug 3rd is just after payday yeah?:))
Slashdot Mirror
I must be exercising more than I thought!
Bad form replying to my own post, but on closer inspection this seems to be a business led initiative, not what I thought. That doesn't make it any the more useful though ;)
Doesn't this mostly just duplicate the efforts of bioinformatics.org?
"The Bioinformatics Organization, Inc. (Bioinformatics.Org) was founded to facilitate world-wide communications and collaborations between practicing and neophyte bioinformatic scientists and technicians. The Organization provides these individuals, as well as the public at large, free and open access to methods and materials for and from scientific research, software development, and education. We advocate and promote freedom and openness in the field as well as provide a forum for activities which facilitate the development of such resources."
This is just another example of someone trying to carve out a niche in the "hot" area of bioinformatics - the same way as this profusion of Live-CD's for Bioinformatics. It seems to me it's all quite divisive. Bioinformatics models itself on the OSS movement for the most part, but its inherent bindings with industry means there seems to be a lot of people trying to make names for themselves with "projects" even if it means duplicating the effort of someone else.
(Yes I am a bioinformatician)..
Erm.. I can't work out if you're trolling or not ;)
Clicky for Win32 goodness
I wonder if the GIMP is slightly more useable on Windows in its next incarnation? I have been raving about the GIMP to anyone who will listen, for most people I know it's a very worthy replacement for Photoshop.
;)) and put the GIMP on XP for her. When she complained it was unusable, I didn't believe her - I've found it very intuitive under Linux. But after trying it on XP, it really does feel like a crippled version of the package I know and love - it's clunky, ugly and restrictive.
:/
However I recently set up a dual boot laptop for my gf (the only way she will boot into Linux though is to play FreeCiv
Now of course, she is using a commercial package derived from a bittorrent source, and my OSS evangelism has fallen flat on its face
Robot Helps NASA Refocus on Hubble
Written-Off Mission to Extend Telescope's Life Is Revived Because of 'Dextre'
By Guy Gugliotta
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 12, 2004; Page A03
The promotional video shows a multi-jointed titanium handyman untwisting knobs and disconnecting an electrical cable with slow-motion aplomb, displaying fine motor skills that the voice-over assures will enable it to install "new batteries, gyroscopes and scientific instruments" aboard the aging Hubble Space Telescope.
But the video is only a teaser. In April, when NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt showed the whole sequence to headquarters VIPs, what had first seemed an elusive dream -- a robotic mission to service Hubble and extend its life by five years or more -- suddenly became real.
"I remember coming to look at this stuff and asking, 'Is that an [animation]?' And somebody said, 'No, it's really happening,' " recalled Edward J. Weiler, who was NASA's associate administrator for space science at the time and is now Goddard's director. "I didn't think robots could do this kind of stuff."
It is by no means a sure thing. Yet largely because of the Canadian robot named "Dextre," NASA has gone in less than a year from virtually writing off the Hubble to embracing a mission that will cost between $1 billion and $1.6 billion and approach in complexity the hardest jobs the agency has ever undertaken.
"Almost as difficult as landing on Mars successfully twice," Weiler called it. Servicing the Hubble, like the nine-month tour de force that has kept two rovers tooling around the Martian countryside, will demand a host of technical tasks and tricks that have never been tried.
To do it, the United States must develop its first-ever robotic docking vehicle, fill a bag with tools that, in many cases, have not been invented, and use the robot repairman to unscrew j-hooks, open and shut doors and "drawers," disconnect and attach electric connectors, and rig jumper cables.
By the end of 2007, NASA hopes to put into orbit its Hubble Robotic Vehicle of four components: a de-orbit module designed to dock with Hubble; a grappling arm to seize the telescope during docking and serve as a repair platform; an ejection module to carry spare parts and tools; and Dextre.
The jobs, in descending order of importance, are to change Hubble's batteries; install new gyroscopes; swap an old camera for a new, more sophisticated one; install a new spectrograph; and, if possible, replace a telescope pointing device and repair another spectrograph.
"There's nothing easy about it. It's all firsts," said Goddard's Preston M. Burch, Hubble's program manager. "And some of the things we're thinking about make people nervous." The fundamental tenet for a servicing mission, he noted, is the same one that doctors espouse: "Above all, do no harm."
In the past, shuttle astronauts had the job of servicing Hubble, missions that required a few days of spacewalks lasting six hours each. Dextre "can work 24-7," Weiler said -- a fortunate feature, because robots are not as supple as humans. "Watching it is like watching grass grow," Weiler said.
Burch hopes to complete the mission in a month. Some of it will be done by the robot working on its own, but most will be handled by ground controllers manipulating the robot's two arms -- like playing a video game.
"Astronauts are keen to do this," Burch said, and they will probably get the call because of their experience and knowledge of the perils inherent in handling large objects in space -- where something pushed or pulled does not slow down until it is checked.
"Hey, if they ask me, I would be very happy to do this," said Michael Massimino, an astronaut who serviced the Hubble in 2002 and has joysticked Dextre in the lab. "It's an interesting and challenging project -- it's cool, really cool."
Dextre, so nicknamed by the Canadian Space Agency, was developed by MD Robotics, of Brampton, Ontar
OK I read blogs.. once in a blue moon - generally from a blogging friend. They're text, I can read quite fast - therefore if I was so inclined I could read dozens if not hundreds a day.
Why the hell would I want to sit down and have to catch up with people in effectively "real time" on a videoblog? What a waste of time...
Having used Firefox and Thunderbird extensively.. the latter has been FAR more stable than the former!
Firefox has frustrated me no end, but Thunderbird never did. However Evolution2 is the way forward for those of us working in a GroupWise environment...
I have to say I wanted to insert a "denial" here, as I think it's quite well known that C02 levels DO fluctuate with time - a fact I knew, but not the paramaters of the fluctuation.
Having spent a few minutes looking for some evidence of this I came across this page which clearly shows the CO2 increases over time from ice core data - something I'd not seen before. Modern CO2 concentrations are way above anything seen before even with the natural fluctuations.
Quite what this implies for the environment however, I do believe is currently anyones "educated guess"...
Speaking of pornography I find it amusing that it's ok to share Gb's worth of hardcore material without harassment - potentially supplying minors with stuff they wouldn't have been able to get hold of say 10 years ago, yet share some mp3's and you're automagically a criminal...
Totally correct, I take your point entirely. If someone is defruaded by a spammer - treat it as fraud, surely it doesn't need new legislation? If you're going after people just because they bulk mail to sell shitty products, I'm less inclined to see the crime.
I find the fact people might actually use these to buy prescription medications more worrying than anything, $DEITY only knows what people are putting in their mouths because they're too afraid/stupid/addicted to go to the doctors to ask...
Interesting point. I understand that time and money is spent, but I suspect it's on sysadmins - who, the last time I looked, are responsible for this on their networks. Traffic costs are a different matter.
;)
The thing is, I just don't get that much spam. Not on my webmail accounts, not at my work accounts. My mailman lists discard posts from non-members automatically. My helpdesk system with widely publicised email gets maybe 3-5 a day. My SPAM UNFILTERED shell account that I've used to post on Usenet since 1995 gets maybe 5 a day.
What on earth do people do to get such infuriating amounts of spam?
The problem with this erm issue of spammer is that there is no decent legal framework for international cooperation. Sure a lot of spammers are in the USA, but a lot aren't. And a lot are using techniquest that obscure their origins.
I'd rather personally just see a concerted effort to find them... Maybe charge them on a per message basis when they're caught. The amount per message, should be suitably crippling, but payable.. Over a few decades
this
But the question I have to ask - are they really worth persuing to this degree? I'm not trolling (seriously) but I'd rather see my tax dollars paying for takedowns in more serious crime..
I think you'll find it's Dutch - didn't even RTFS(ummary)? ;)
A good excuse not to RTFA in my opinion :) Not that anyone does. Actually not that I did after being assaulted aurally and visually with that.
I suspect we like our non-copyright aware distribution channels too much ;)
Basically I just gave a quick digest of the log clearly showing their IP and the attack in progress, and a note to the effect that I believed their machine had been compromised (in as plain English as I could muster) - and got the desired result.
I like the fact that there's some script kiddie out there cursing that one of his "boxen" is no longer..
before some enterprising Asian hacker merely removes the constraints from the crippled software?
But given the low cost of a pirated copy of Windows I still think this is a strategy doomed to failure!
Because Cuckoos Egg is light on technical details, and is really throwaway, populist fluff. It wasn't written for a technical audience, just a curious one.
If I want a book to tell me about network security I don't want it written in laymans language - I want it written in a language a competent systems administrator appreciates. It's not about NAT'ing your home system, it's about protecting a network...
It's a bad parallel to draw as far as I'm concerned. Cuckoos Egg was a great book compared to some of the other books on "Hacking" that proliferated in the early 1990's, but it was never a manual on keeping your systems secured. The internet was a very different beast when that book was written.
but I wouldn't use it as a textbook on "knowing the enemy" in a modern network environment. Your comparison worries me enough to warrant me not buying the book you're reviewing..
I wish I knew if it runs on a Quadro4 NVS (NV18GL), as this is what I have - I believe it's based on the GeForce4mx core. Guess I'm just going to have to suck it and see, and make sure I have enough money for that graphics card (hell Aug 3rd is just after payday yeah? :))
It's more like 9 page samplers of other chapters, the first one only is reproduced in full.
Hmm I watched it when I was a kid. I'm 30. I hope I've got more than a 20 year lifespan left.. cheers!
All links are dead... I presume this was *after* it was modded Informative....
given the cost of a subscription to Nature ;)
Long live BMC!