Criminys, that's a silly idea. Mars? You'd need the mother of all extension cords to get the power back here. Anything that long and thick would be a tremendous trip-hazard anyway. Do you really want to send some poor UFO on a header?
The closest channel spacing currently available in the civilian realm (I can't speak for the military, since their latest communications tech is classified) is 6.25KHz. The separation you describe is far too narrow to be practical because you're not taking the bandwidth required by the modulating signal into account.
Any time you modulate an RF carrier, you increase the total bandwidth or spectrum width required by said carrier. To use standard FM as an example, assume that Bw=bandwidth, Pd=Peak deviation (offset from the center frequency caused by modulation), and Fmax=the maximum audio frequency used to modulate the signal. Your formula is:
Bw = 2 (Pd + Fmax)
To clarify this further, let's assume you're talking about an FM broadcast station with a maximum transmitted audio frequency and peak deviation both at 20KHz. You're looking at 2x40KHz, or 80KHz bandwidth required. This means that your minimum theoretical spacing would be 80KHz, while minimum practical would actually be what the broadcast standard is today (100KHz spacing).
Detailed discussion of the above may be found at this link.
I'm not yet well informed on digital modulation schemes, so I'm unable to go into detail about their bandwidth requirements. I do know that they're a lot tighter than the example I used above.
Quite the contrary. I see it as a curse. How can one grow and learn, in the spiritual sense, if one is stuck in one life, one world, one environment, for all eternity?
Think about it: No chance whatsoever to purge your regrets and start fresh with a clean slate; watching friends or family who did not choose the treatment waste away while you remain healthy; getting so bored with what this world has to offer that you start finding new ways to abuse others just for entertainment... well, you get the idea.
The whole search-for-immortality thing has always struck me as nothing more than pure human arrogance. After all, it's NOT how long you live. It's what you do in the time you're here.
...Fighting abuse with more abuse probably will not solve anything, and could also get you in trouble with your own ISP, if a spammer hits you hard enough to cause the fake E-mail addresses they put into their spam enough problems.
This is a bad idea, IMO. Stick with blocklisting. Once things get to the point where the spammers are all on what amounts to an intranet, and they're doing nothing but spamming each other, they'll get the idea.
One of the things I've run into is that there is so much ignorance (and in some cases outright stupidity) Out There that it makes it extremely difficult for those of us that really do know something about our stuff to get support.
In other words, if you're a good tech yourself, finding someone on the other end of the support line who speaks the same language can be a challenge at best. Companies like DirecTV are among the worst offenders; no matter how much you obviously know, their support people have their flip-chart to follow, and By God they are going to follow it no matter what! You could have multiple degrees in Electronics and Computer Science, you could even have designed the stupid receiver, and they'll still treat you like Joe or Jane Six-Pack in their trailer park.
Then again, it is a bit of a quandary. How do you keep someone who really does have good tech experience in a tech support job? Those who really know their stuff, the ones who like to build things or fix things, are going to move on to other jobs where they get to do just that. It's like finding a Really Experienced Techie working at somewhere like Radio Shack or Fry's. If they really know what they're doing, they're not going to be working there (or are going to be on their way out ASAP) in the first place.
The bottom line is that BPL's harmful effects ARE NOT limited to ham frequencies. There's a bunch of other services, both commercial and government, using HF from 2-30MHz.
So, it really isn't just hams that are going to be suffering. It's EVERYONE that uses the HF spectrum, including the U.S. Government!
How long do you think said government is going to let BPL exist in its current form once critical military or Justice Department installations start noticing the very same interference that'll be driving us hams nuts?
...May be to throw up such discouraging obstacles that people will simply stop voting.
Call me paranoid if you want, but it strikes me as odd that the US government is even allowing voting machine software to be closed-source. SAIC has been a virtual lap-dog for all kinds of well-shrouded government and DoD contracts for decades, most of which are heavily classified (I know this because a friend of mine used to work for them).
And Diebold is now allowing SAIC to "review" its code? Given SAIC's heavy federal connections, does this not strike anyone else as a Fox-Guarding-the-Henhouse scenario?
Don't even get me started on the possibility of back doors in voting software that would allow special interests who shelled out enough $$ to easily rig an election.
Like I said, I hope this is just my paranoid side jumping at shadows. Unfortunately, I have little proof one way or the other.
They've encouraged pollution of E-mail with HTML and rich text that's readable only on a client that can interpret the code. I mean, c'mon... If you can't get your message across using well-written sentences in plain ASCII text, then no amount of coloration, fancy fonts, or flashing widgets are going to help.
They've done a lot, both in the past and more recently, that bends or outright breaks W3C Consortium open standards. Granted, they've gotten a little better, but how many web sites still have interactive features that only work if you use IE? And how many have that stupid "Best viewed with Internet Explorer" blurb at the bottom? How are Flash animations and fancy graphics going to help a vision-impaired or outright blind user, who depends on text-to-speech software or simple high-contrast colors, find what they need on the web?
Outlook (known among myself and many of my friends as 'Lookout Distress') is still one of the best virus carriers on the planet. Only Microsoft would come up with an E-mail client insecure enough that it seems almost to have been designed expressly to aid virus and worm transmission.
And now UncaBill and Steve "Uncle Fester" Ballmer want to try and "Ballmerize" (my word -- like it?) Usenet? Sheesh... With their track records, they'll probably try (and, hopefully, fail miserably) to borg the whole thing into one big "Web Experience" that will be "Best Viewed with Internet Explorer" all over again.
As others have so accurately pointed out, Usenet is fine the way it is. Noisy, a bit tough to navigate, and definitely a place where you would want to have your Nomex undies handy to grab at a moment's notice, but perfectly usable to those of us who CARE ENOUGH ABOUT IT to LEARN how to use it right.
Speaking for myself, I think I can say, with confidence, that Balmy should leave Usenet to those who know it best: The admins around the world who carry it, and the thousands of users who make it a most interesting place indeed.
...the only option is to go with software encryption?
C'mon, Abit. If you're going to do something like this, do it right. Offer it on a SCSI host adapter as well. I don't care if you make something up that's customized to the motherboard. There are those of us who simply don't like IDE for any number of reasons. I'm one of them.
WAIT just one lousy foam-topped minute!!!
on
Another Beer Please
·
· Score: 2, Funny
And what happened to that poor beer glass's right to privacy? What business is it of the bar computer if it's half empty or half full?
Heck, if the computer is programmed for basic Zen, that could cause some interesting conniptions once the fluid level reached the halfway point ("Your system is contemplating its WHAT?!")
This could also lead into another option. Include a counter in the PIC chip that, once the consumer reaches a given number of beers, triggers a voice synthesizer to ask for their car keys if they want another refill.
"All the truely qualified software engineers are not unemployed. If you have the skills to back up what's written on your resume, there really is no problem finding a job..."
"Sorry, but that's bullshit. Have you been unemployeed recently? You are aware that the economy is in one of the worst states it's been in since the Great Depression? There are many qualified people who have trouble finding jobs."
At the risk of going further off-topic, I could not agree more! I've been out of work since Boeing laid me off in January. I've been scattering resumes to the wind for months, and I've only had ONE interview for an opportunity which didn't work out anyway.
I'm beginning to wonder if experience still counts for anything. Criminys, I've got 24 years worth, I've done eveything from fixing Teletype machines to maintaining statewide T1 networks to fixing radio and avionics gear, and I still haven't found a slot!
It's bad. Trust me. It's -really- bad right now...
...that killed DIVX? Movies that expire, in terms of playability, within a certain time frame?
Besides, why in the Multiverse would I want to watch a movie on my computer screen when I can wait for the DVD, and then watch it on a monster screen with a sound system that makes a PC's speakers sound like tin cans and a string?
Sheesh... Eisner'll try anything to make a buck...
Any time I travel, I almost always make it a point to check out whatever electronic surplus places are local to the area. The area around Melbourne, FL is amazing, probably thanks to the heavy NASA and aerospace presence. I found some amazing bargains on older Motorola radio hardware, to the point where I went to the trouble to ship it home. The transit time was such that it arrived the day after we got back.
For something a little closer to the west coast, you can have a look at my surplus store listings for the Bay Area, northwest Oregon (Portland and vicinity), and Washington (Puget Sound region) at this link.
I liked the article. Doc makes some terrific points. However, he was unclear on one that is of great concern to me. Here's a copy of the comments and question I posted.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Hey, Doc,
Great article, thanks! However, I would like to ask for clarification on one point. From your article:
"I think we need a galvanizing issue. I suggest Saving the Net. To do that, we need to treat the Net as two things:
a public domain, and therefore a natural habitat for markets
In other words, we need to see the Net as a marketplace that has done enormous good, is under extreme threat and needs to be saved..."
While there is certainly some truth to the fact that parts of the 'net have become a terrific marketplace, there is also the problem of 'net abusers -- spammers -- to consider.
If I interpret your words above literally, it seems to me that you are saying that any 'net-connected device is in the public domain, free for anyone to use as they please.
This is certainly not the case. As a fully self-hosted small business owner, my servers are my own. I pay out of my pocket to operate and maintain them, and keep them connected, and I'm not about to leave them open to things like spammer abuse and mail relaying. In fact, as of this moment, I have several entire countries blocked from sending mail to me because of their widspread spammer infestations.
So, here's my question: When you say "public domain," are you referring to the transmission medium itself (a concept that I have no problem with at all), or the "intelligence" at each end of a connection?
If it's the latter, I've got a BIG problem with that.
I know, bad form replying to my own thread, but... Your comment reminded me of another thing. DoubleClick has indeed used their technology to install "nasty-ware," in the form of web bugs, on the machines of those who were misled enough to click on their banner ads.
DoubleClick's entire business model is based on gross invasion of what little privacy we have left, intensive data mining, consumer profiling, spamming, etc., ad nauseum. Far as I'm concerned, they deserve this!
Some examples: In 1998, the spammed Princeton U, trolling for job candidates. In June of 2003, DoubleClick announced their own so-called anti-spam initiatives that, according to the article, will "focus on finding out how consumers identify spam, to give marketers a better idea of how they can avoid being unfairly singled out as spammers." (For the record, spam is any E-mail received that tries to sell you something or, in the case of political spam, get your vote, and that you did not ask for).
Want more? No problem. In 2001, DoubleClick two unnamed E-mail marketing companies to, according to a quote in the article from CBS's Market Watch, "increase its junk e-mail capabilities."
Still not convinced? How about this thread over at the Firewall-Wizards site from 1999?
In summary, it looks like DoubleClick has long attempted to redefine spam as "That Which We Do Not Do." It also appears that their ethics are questionable at best, especially in light of those FUI banners on web pages.
DoubleClick, if you're reading this... You brought it on yourselves, and you have nothing but your own shady practices to blame. May you go down in a nice, pretty set of multicolored flames, and may the ashes be used as space filler for the next five Great Deconstructed Architectural Makeovers in FunFun Town. Nick Danger could probably use a new office...
That was an excellent article. Easily one of the best I've ever read on the issue. One passage in particular caught my eye.
"But faced with the slimming down of work forces, expanding job responsibilities, and the retirement of older personnel who had specialized knowledge and experience in electromagnetic compatibility, the potential for problems increases..."
Boeing has already laid off a huge number of engineers, more than I think they ever should have, all in the name of "Shareholder Value."
I wonder where the "Shareholder Value" will be if the lack of one or more of those laid-off older guys, many of whom probably had all the knowledge ever needed regarding electromagnetic noise, will cause serious problems when future airliners are not properly designed, in terms of their avionics and wiring, to stave off interference problems?
In fact, they were just starting to develop the specs before I was laid off this last January. Their ultimate goal was to develop a wearable computer, with goggles and earpiece just as described in the story, that could be used by any A&P mechanic, not just the assembly line folk.
I think someone even had an idea that the system would be smart enough to where an inspector could look at, say, part of a turbofan engine and, if said engine was missing a fix mandated by a maintenance bulletin, would notice this and pop up an alert, pointing out what needed to be done.
The applications for something like this are limited only by imagination, the available CPU power, and the network bandwidth.
All that needs to be done, as near as I can see, is:
(1) Recognize the fact that the Internet is NOT public property; that it is, in fact, made up of a vast array of PRIVATELY-OWNED equipment. Doesn't matter if said equipment is owned by a mega-corporation, telco, or a self-hosted individual on a DSL or cable DSU circuit. It's still private property.
(2) Given that much, simply extend 47 USC 227(b) to cover junk E-mail as well. The prohibition against junk FAXes has already withstood the constitutionality test more than once, and I don't see why junk E-mail should be any different.
Perhaps these concepts are just too simple for politicians to figure out...?
Criminys. Somebody better tell Red Green (aka Steve Smith) about this. Assuming he makes another movie like 'Duct Tape Forever,', this would be a good addition to it.
I think Kathy Albrecht may be exaggerating a mite when she claims that the RFID tags will "burst into flames" when microwaved.
First off, you're dealing with a silicon chip. The melting point of silicon is, according to this site, over 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Its boiling point is even higher, at over 5,000 degrees F.
Another thing to remember is that any RFID device is going to have conductive paths in it. It is, in essence, a small integrated circuit chip. Considering that the thickness of conductive paths in a typical IC can be measured in micrometers, it seems to me that said paths would vaporize under microwave-oven level bombardment, thus rendering the chip useless, with only a few seconds (at the most!) of exposure to the high-power field.
Yet ANOTHER thing to think about. Microwave ovens work by heating water molecules trapped in food. How many water molecules do you think are trapped in a silicon chip?
I can see one possibility here, and I certainly intend to E-mail Ms. Albrecht about this. Under strong microwave fields, such as are found in a typical oven, it may be that the chip gets hot enough, with more than a few seconds exposure, to cause melting or scorching of the surrounding material.
Why might it do this? Because, once the microwave energy vaporizes the normal conductive paths, one or more of those paths may melt together on the chip and form a big diode, capable of passing lots of current. This could result in the chip generating lots of heat.
However, as for the chip itself, I don't think there's a consumer microwave oven on the planet that puts out enough power to make it "burst into flames." Not with a 2,500+ degree melting point!
Slashdot Mirror
Criminys, that's a silly idea. Mars? You'd need the mother of all extension cords to get the power back here. Anything that long and thick would be a tremendous trip-hazard anyway. Do you really want to send some poor UFO on a header?
The closest channel spacing currently available in the civilian realm (I can't speak for the military, since their latest communications tech is classified) is 6.25KHz. The separation you describe is far too narrow to be practical because you're not taking the bandwidth required by the modulating signal into account.
Any time you modulate an RF carrier, you increase the total bandwidth or spectrum width required by said carrier. To use standard FM as an example, assume that Bw=bandwidth, Pd=Peak deviation (offset from the center frequency caused by modulation), and Fmax=the maximum audio frequency used to modulate the signal. Your formula is:
Bw = 2 (Pd + Fmax)
To clarify this further, let's assume you're talking about an FM broadcast station with a maximum transmitted audio frequency and peak deviation both at 20KHz. You're looking at 2x40KHz, or 80KHz bandwidth required. This means that your minimum theoretical spacing would be 80KHz, while minimum practical would actually be what the broadcast standard is today (100KHz spacing).
Detailed discussion of the above may be found at this link.
I'm not yet well informed on digital modulation schemes, so I'm unable to go into detail about their bandwidth requirements. I do know that they're a lot tighter than the example I used above.
Hope that helps to answer things for you.
73 de KC7GR
Quite the contrary. I see it as a curse. How can one grow and learn, in the spiritual sense, if one is stuck in one life, one world, one environment, for all eternity?
Think about it: No chance whatsoever to purge your regrets and start fresh with a clean slate; watching friends or family who did not choose the treatment waste away while you remain healthy; getting so bored with what this world has to offer that you start finding new ways to abuse others just for entertainment... well, you get the idea.
The whole search-for-immortality thing has always struck me as nothing more than pure human arrogance. After all, it's NOT how long you live. It's what you do in the time you're here.
...because 'Astro' is, at the very least, a registered trademark for a series of Motorola digital radios and their corresponding voice/data network.
...Fighting abuse with more abuse probably will not solve anything, and could also get you in trouble with your own ISP, if a spammer hits you hard enough to cause the fake E-mail addresses they put into their spam enough problems.
This is a bad idea, IMO. Stick with blocklisting. Once things get to the point where the spammers are all on what amounts to an intranet, and they're doing nothing but spamming each other, they'll get the idea.
Hmm... Pr0n tornados?
;-)
You are one sick puppy...
One of the things I've run into is that there is so much ignorance (and in some cases outright stupidity) Out There that it makes it extremely difficult for those of us that really do know something about our stuff to get support.
In other words, if you're a good tech yourself, finding someone on the other end of the support line who speaks the same language can be a challenge at best. Companies like DirecTV are among the worst offenders; no matter how much you obviously know, their support people have their flip-chart to follow, and By God they are going to follow it no matter what! You could have multiple degrees in Electronics and Computer Science, you could even have designed the stupid receiver, and they'll still treat you like Joe or Jane Six-Pack in their trailer park.
Then again, it is a bit of a quandary. How do you keep someone who really does have good tech experience in a tech support job? Those who really know their stuff, the ones who like to build things or fix things, are going to move on to other jobs where they get to do just that. It's like finding a Really Experienced Techie working at somewhere like Radio Shack or Fry's. If they really know what they're doing, they're not going to be working there (or are going to be on their way out ASAP) in the first place.
The bottom line is that BPL's harmful effects ARE NOT limited to ham frequencies. There's a bunch of other services, both commercial and government, using HF from 2-30MHz.
Just as a few examples: Aeronautical HF, NOAA RadioFAX over HF, NOAA storm warnings broadcast by SITOR over HF, Federal and Marine HF frequencies... The list goes on forever.
So, it really isn't just hams that are going to be suffering. It's EVERYONE that uses the HF spectrum, including the U.S. Government!
How long do you think said government is going to let BPL exist in its current form once critical military or Justice Department installations start noticing the very same interference that'll be driving us hams nuts?
...May be to throw up such discouraging obstacles that people will simply stop voting.
Call me paranoid if you want, but it strikes me as odd that the US government is even allowing voting machine software to be closed-source. SAIC has been a virtual lap-dog for all kinds of well-shrouded government and DoD contracts for decades, most of which are heavily classified (I know this because a friend of mine used to work for them).
And Diebold is now allowing SAIC to "review" its code? Given SAIC's heavy federal connections, does this not strike anyone else as a Fox-Guarding-the-Henhouse scenario?
Don't even get me started on the possibility of back doors in voting software that would allow special interests who shelled out enough $$ to easily rig an election.
Like I said, I hope this is just my paranoid side jumping at shadows. Unfortunately, I have little proof one way or the other.
...For E-mail and the Web? Let's have a look.
They've encouraged pollution of E-mail with HTML and rich text that's readable only on a client that can interpret the code. I mean, c'mon... If you can't get your message across using well-written sentences in plain ASCII text, then no amount of coloration, fancy fonts, or flashing widgets are going to help.
They've done a lot, both in the past and more recently, that bends or outright breaks W3C Consortium open standards. Granted, they've gotten a little better, but how many web sites still have interactive features that only work if you use IE? And how many have that stupid "Best viewed with Internet Explorer" blurb at the bottom? How are Flash animations and fancy graphics going to help a vision-impaired or outright blind user, who depends on text-to-speech software or simple high-contrast colors, find what they need on the web?
Outlook (known among myself and many of my friends as 'Lookout Distress') is still one of the best virus carriers on the planet. Only Microsoft would come up with an E-mail client insecure enough that it seems almost to have been designed expressly to aid virus and worm transmission.
And now UncaBill and Steve "Uncle Fester" Ballmer want to try and "Ballmerize" (my word -- like it?) Usenet? Sheesh... With their track records, they'll probably try (and, hopefully, fail miserably) to borg the whole thing into one big "Web Experience" that will be "Best Viewed with Internet Explorer" all over again.
As others have so accurately pointed out, Usenet is fine the way it is. Noisy, a bit tough to navigate, and definitely a place where you would want to have your Nomex undies handy to grab at a moment's notice, but perfectly usable to those of us who CARE ENOUGH ABOUT IT to LEARN how to use it right.
Speaking for myself, I think I can say, with confidence, that Balmy should leave Usenet to those who know it best: The admins around the world who carry it, and the thousands of users who make it a most interesting place indeed.
...the only option is to go with software encryption?
C'mon, Abit. If you're going to do something like this, do it right. Offer it on a SCSI host adapter as well. I don't care if you make something up that's customized to the motherboard. There are those of us who simply don't like IDE for any number of reasons. I'm one of them.
And what happened to that poor beer glass's right to privacy? What business is it of the bar computer if it's half empty or half full?
;-)
Heck, if the computer is programmed for basic Zen, that could cause some interesting conniptions once the fluid level reached the halfway point ("Your system is contemplating its WHAT?!")
This could also lead into another option. Include a counter in the PIC chip that, once the consumer reaches a given number of beers, triggers a voice synthesizer to ask for their car keys if they want another refill.
I think I'll go take my meds now...
Can it accept an external display and keyboard/mouse combo?
Can it accept a CD-ROM?
Is its GPS receiver WAAS-ready?
Unless the answer to all three of the above is "yes,' I'll be sticking with what I have now, thanks.
"All the truely qualified software engineers are not unemployed. If you have the skills to back up what's written on your resume, there really is no problem finding a job..."
"Sorry, but that's bullshit. Have you been unemployeed recently? You are aware that the economy is in one of the worst states it's been in since the Great Depression? There are many qualified people who have trouble finding jobs."
At the risk of going further off-topic, I could not agree more! I've been out of work since Boeing laid me off in January. I've been scattering resumes to the wind for months, and I've only had ONE interview for an opportunity which didn't work out anyway.
I'm beginning to wonder if experience still counts for anything. Criminys, I've got 24 years worth, I've done eveything from fixing Teletype machines to maintaining statewide T1 networks to fixing radio and avionics gear, and I still haven't found a slot!
It's bad. Trust me. It's -really- bad right now...
"Eat all your vegetables, Percy, or we'll tell the RIAA that you've been file-sharing again!"
...that killed DIVX? Movies that expire, in terms of playability, within a certain time frame?
Besides, why in the Multiverse would I want to watch a movie on my computer screen when I can wait for the DVD, and then watch it on a monster screen with a sound system that makes a PC's speakers sound like tin cans and a string?
Sheesh... Eisner'll try anything to make a buck...
Any time I travel, I almost always make it a point to check out whatever electronic surplus places are local to the area. The area around Melbourne, FL is amazing, probably thanks to the heavy NASA and aerospace presence. I found some amazing bargains on older Motorola radio hardware, to the point where I went to the trouble to ship it home. The transit time was such that it arrived the day after we got back.
For something a little closer to the west coast, you can have a look at my surplus store listings for the Bay Area, northwest Oregon (Portland and vicinity), and Washington (Puget Sound region) at this link.
Have a great trip.
I liked the article. Doc makes some terrific points. However, he was unclear on one that is of great concern to me. Here's a copy of the comments and question I posted.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Hey, Doc,
Great article, thanks! However, I would like to ask for clarification on one point. From your article:
"I think we need a galvanizing issue. I suggest Saving the Net. To do that, we need to treat the Net as two things:
a public domain, and therefore
a natural habitat for markets
In other words, we need to see the Net as a marketplace that has done enormous good, is under extreme threat and needs to be saved..."
While there is certainly some truth to the fact that parts of the 'net have become a terrific marketplace, there is also the problem of 'net abusers -- spammers -- to consider.
If I interpret your words above literally, it seems to me that you are saying that any 'net-connected device is in the public domain, free for anyone to use as they please.
This is certainly not the case. As a fully self-hosted small business owner, my servers are my own. I pay out of my pocket to operate and maintain them, and keep them connected, and I'm not about to leave them open to things like spammer abuse and mail relaying. In fact, as of this moment, I have several entire countries blocked from sending mail to me because of their widspread spammer infestations.
So, here's my question: When you say "public domain," are you referring to the transmission medium itself (a concept that I have no problem with at all), or the "intelligence" at each end of a connection?
If it's the latter, I've got a BIG problem with that.
Looking forward to your reply. Thanks much.
I know, bad form replying to my own thread, but... Your comment reminded me of another thing. DoubleClick has indeed used their technology to install "nasty-ware," in the form of web bugs, on the machines of those who were misled enough to click on their banner ads.
Thanks for the nudge. I'd overlooked that.
DoubleClick's entire business model is based on gross invasion of what little privacy we have left, intensive data mining, consumer profiling, spamming, etc., ad nauseum. Far as I'm concerned, they deserve this!
Some examples: In 1998, the spammed Princeton U, trolling for job candidates. In June of 2003, DoubleClick announced their own so-called anti-spam initiatives that, according to the article, will "focus on finding out how consumers identify spam, to give marketers a better idea of how they can avoid being unfairly singled out as spammers." (For the record, spam is any E-mail received that tries to sell you something or, in the case of political spam, get your vote, and that you did not ask for).
Want more? No problem. In 2001, DoubleClick two unnamed E-mail marketing companies to, according to a quote in the article from CBS's Market Watch, "increase its junk e-mail capabilities."
Still not convinced? How about this thread over at the Firewall-Wizards site from 1999?
In summary, it looks like DoubleClick has long attempted to redefine spam as "That Which We Do Not Do." It also appears that their ethics are questionable at best, especially in light of those FUI banners on web pages.
DoubleClick, if you're reading this... You brought it on yourselves, and you have nothing but your own shady practices to blame. May you go down in a nice, pretty set of multicolored flames, and may the ashes be used as space filler for the next five Great Deconstructed Architectural Makeovers in FunFun Town. Nick Danger could probably use a new office...
That was an excellent article. Easily one of the best I've ever read on the issue. One passage in particular caught my eye.
"But faced with the slimming down of work forces, expanding job responsibilities, and the retirement of older personnel who had specialized knowledge and experience in electromagnetic compatibility, the potential for problems increases..."
Boeing has already laid off a huge number of engineers, more than I think they ever should have, all in the name of "Shareholder Value."
I wonder where the "Shareholder Value" will be if the lack of one or more of those laid-off older guys, many of whom probably had all the knowledge ever needed regarding electromagnetic noise, will cause serious problems when future airliners are not properly designed, in terms of their avionics and wiring, to stave off interference problems?
In fact, they were just starting to develop the specs before I was laid off this last January. Their ultimate goal was to develop a wearable computer, with goggles and earpiece just as described in the story, that could be used by any A&P mechanic, not just the assembly line folk.
I think someone even had an idea that the system would be smart enough to where an inspector could look at, say, part of a turbofan engine and, if said engine was missing a fix mandated by a maintenance bulletin, would notice this and pop up an alert, pointing out what needed to be done.
The applications for something like this are limited only by imagination, the available CPU power, and the network bandwidth.
All that needs to be done, as near as I can see, is:
(1) Recognize the fact that the Internet is NOT public property; that it is, in fact, made up of a vast array of PRIVATELY-OWNED equipment. Doesn't matter if said equipment is owned by a mega-corporation, telco, or a self-hosted individual on a DSL or cable DSU circuit. It's still private property.
(2) Given that much, simply extend 47 USC 227(b) to cover junk E-mail as well. The prohibition against junk FAXes has already withstood the constitutionality test more than once, and I don't see why junk E-mail should be any different.
Perhaps these concepts are just too simple for politicians to figure out...?
Criminys. Somebody better tell Red Green (aka Steve Smith) about this. Assuming he makes another movie like 'Duct Tape Forever,', this would be a good addition to it.
;-)
Remember... Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati!
I think Kathy Albrecht may be exaggerating a mite when she claims that the RFID tags will "burst into flames" when microwaved.
First off, you're dealing with a silicon chip. The melting point of silicon is, according to this site, over 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Its boiling point is even higher, at over 5,000 degrees F.
Another thing to remember is that any RFID device is going to have conductive paths in it. It is, in essence, a small integrated circuit chip. Considering that the thickness of conductive paths in a typical IC can be measured in micrometers, it seems to me that said paths would vaporize under microwave-oven level bombardment, thus rendering the chip useless, with only a few seconds (at the most!) of exposure to the high-power field.
Yet ANOTHER thing to think about. Microwave ovens work by heating water molecules trapped in food. How many water molecules do you think are trapped in a silicon chip?
I can see one possibility here, and I certainly intend to E-mail Ms. Albrecht about this. Under strong microwave fields, such as are found in a typical oven, it may be that the chip gets hot enough, with more than a few seconds exposure, to cause melting or scorching of the surrounding material.
Why might it do this? Because, once the microwave energy vaporizes the normal conductive paths, one or more of those paths may melt together on the chip and form a big diode, capable of passing lots of current. This could result in the chip generating lots of heat.
However, as for the chip itself, I don't think there's a consumer microwave oven on the planet that puts out enough power to make it "burst into flames." Not with a 2,500+ degree melting point!