Sorry for the gotse on that url. It wasn't there when I posted. Just the two graphics of the TOR node stats. I'd erase this but that's not an option on/.
Many websites attempt to 'customize' the information a visitor sees according to location/IP number, browser type, or your past history. I object to any website filtering in this manner and therefore see the value in anonymous networking.
... since the earliest days of aviation radio navigation aids. AM and FM broadcast receivers have oscillators in them that can be tiny transmitters. Depending on design, they can interfere with the VOR, localizer, glideslope and ADF navigation receivers.. and only a few feet away from their antennas. Add in the intentional transmitters on cellphones, the digital radiation from laptops with wireless links accidentally turned on close to the GPS and DME frequencies and there's reason to be concerned.
.. if someone else has to do the work. That's the 'hook' or motivation for the author, make it look like all the spectrum problems can be solved by wishful thinking, without going into the details of the solution. Cheap journalism at it's worst.
How much will such devices cost? What sort of power consumption do SDR's have? Will I be able to get 16 hours use out of a $30 SDR walkie-talkie using 4 AA alkaline batteries?
All the refinements made in radio design over the last 100 years have been motivated by cost and capability. During this time the FCC has tried to encourage innovation, without degrading existing systems. They are very interested in SDRs but also must consider current users of the radio spectrum and their needs. They aren't likely to obsolete several billions of dollars worth of existing equipment on a whim, there must be proven rewards to the public first.
is unbreakable. It involves adding so much 'random noise' to the encrypted data that it's impossible to decrypt unless the key to the original encryption is known. The trick is to use true random noise sources, not psuedorandom number generators, who's/whose (take your pick) output can be analysed, predicted and subtracted from intercepted copies. Natural noise sources, like the electrical noise a zener diode makes, can't be predicted as they follow no mathmatical pattern.
THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938, AS AMENDED (29 U.S.C. 201, et seq.)
Exemptions SEC. 13.92 (a) The provisions of sections 6 (except section 6(d) in the case of paragraph (1) of this subsection)93 and 7 shall not apply with respect to -
(17)99 any employee who is a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer, or other similarly skilled worker, whose primary duty is (A) the application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software, or system functional specifications; (B) the design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications; (C) the design, documentation, testing, creation, or modification of computer programs related to machine operating systems; or (D) a combination of duties described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) the performance of which requires the same level of skills, and who, in the case of an employee who is compensated on an hourly basis, is compensated at a rate of not less than $27.63 an hour.
That's fine for mica caps, but we're talking about aluminum electrolytic caps. Their fabrication is more a chemical process than anything else.
A really fine article about it is at:
http://www.elna.co.jp/en/ct/c_al01.htm
I've seen waves of bad production lots like this before over the last 20 years. What seems to be the problem is the parts are mismarked for operating voltage and are fine at lower voltages. It may have been something as simple as the maker using the wrong heatshrink plastic sleeves over the cans. Sometimes the board makers demand a smaller size cap because of board space limits and the cap makers try to sub a lower voltage (hence smaller) part rather than match the construction of their higher priced (and quality) competitors.
BTW, all aluminum based electrolytic caps use a water based electrolyte.
Having designed the things for a living, I can tell you oscillators are far more complex devices than their relative simplicity suggests. In fact the major problem with an oscillator design is to confine it's operation to the parameters specified. If care isn't taken they'll act as sensitive receivers, phaselocking on any extraneous signal that is harmonically close to it's fundamental frequency. Armstrong noticed this when he was developing the regenerative detector and used it to great effect, resulting in a one tube receiver that had the sensitivity of a five tube tuned amplifier receiver.
The interesting part of the article was the fact they allowed the oscillator to design itself, not that it ended up being a receiver.
Someone else on here suggested life could have started the same way, and I suspect to a great extent he's right. Playing with chaotic oscillators is instructive, the population equation (or logistic equation), x'=rx(1-x), demonstrates all the different modes of oscillation an electonic oscillator can have. none, single mode, bimodal, quad, octal,... random, depending on the starting value of x and the constant value of r. What really gets interesting is when one establishes a second equation and couples them together, ie. x'=rx(1-x-by') and y'=sy(1-y-cx'). Selecting values for b and c can result in oscillations that are very complex, regular patterns.
Science has found that living cells contain a myriad of chemical oscillators, coupled together in unknown ways, apparently regulating cell metabolism, gene switching and division. I wouldn't be at all surprised they find this oscillation is the key to life, evolution and everything.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry for the gotse on that url. It wasn't there when I posted. Just the two graphics of the TOR node stats. I'd erase this but that's not an option on /.
Many websites attempt to 'customize' the information a visitor sees according to location/IP number, browser type, or your past history. I object to any website filtering in this manner and therefore see the value in anonymous networking.
http://img272.imageshack.us/img_viewer.php?g=numbe rofrunningtornodes1sn.png
Done, except for the holes - buggy
I knew all this tin foil would be useful! Now to cover my walls and ceiling with three corner reflectors so the bastards fry themselves.
... since the earliest days of aviation radio navigation aids. AM and FM broadcast receivers have oscillators in them that can be tiny transmitters. Depending on design, they can interfere with the VOR, localizer, glideslope and ADF navigation receivers.. and only a few feet away from their antennas. Add in the intentional transmitters on cellphones, the digital radiation from laptops with wireless links accidentally turned on close to the GPS and DME frequencies and there's reason to be concerned.
.. if someone else has to do the work. That's the 'hook' or motivation for the author, make it look like all the spectrum problems can be solved by wishful thinking, without going into the details of the solution. Cheap journalism at it's worst. How much will such devices cost? What sort of power consumption do SDR's have? Will I be able to get 16 hours use out of a $30 SDR walkie-talkie using 4 AA alkaline batteries? All the refinements made in radio design over the last 100 years have been motivated by cost and capability. During this time the FCC has tried to encourage innovation, without degrading existing systems. They are very interested in SDRs but also must consider current users of the radio spectrum and their needs. They aren't likely to obsolete several billions of dollars worth of existing equipment on a whim, there must be proven rewards to the public first.
is unbreakable. It involves adding so much 'random noise' to the encrypted data that it's impossible to decrypt unless the key to the original encryption is known. The trick is to use true random noise sources, not psuedorandom number generators, who's/whose (take your pick) output can be analysed, predicted and subtracted from intercepted copies. Natural noise sources, like the electrical noise a zener diode makes, can't be predicted as they follow no mathmatical pattern.
Here's the current federal rules for IT workers:
THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938, AS AMENDED
(29 U.S.C. 201, et seq.)
Exemptions
SEC. 13.92 (a) The provisions of sections 6 (except section
6(d) in the case of paragraph (1) of this subsection)93
and 7 shall not apply with respect to -
(17)99 any employee who is a computer systems
analyst, computer programmer, software engineer, or
other similarly skilled worker, whose primary duty is
(A) the application of systems analysis techniques
and procedures, including consulting with
users, to determine hardware, software, or system
functional specifications;
(B) the design, development, documentation,
analysis, creation, testing, or modification of computer
systems or programs, including prototypes,
based on and related to user or system design
specifications;
(C) the design, documentation, testing, creation,
or modification of computer programs related
to machine operating systems; or
(D) a combination of duties described in
subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) the performance
of which requires the same level of skills, and
who, in the case of an employee who is compensated
on an hourly basis, is compensated at a rate of not less than $27.63 an hour.
Hee! Now you know why programmers hate to write documentation!
That's fine for mica caps, but we're talking about aluminum electrolytic caps. Their fabrication is more a chemical process than anything else. A really fine article about it is at: http://www.elna.co.jp/en/ct/c_al01.htm
I've seen waves of bad production lots like this before over the last 20 years. What seems to be the problem is the parts are mismarked for operating voltage and are fine at lower voltages. It may have been something as simple as the maker using the wrong heatshrink plastic sleeves over the cans. Sometimes the board makers demand a smaller size cap because of board space limits and the cap makers try to sub a lower voltage (hence smaller) part rather than match the construction of their higher priced (and quality) competitors. BTW, all aluminum based electrolytic caps use a water based electrolyte.
Having designed the things for a living, I can tell you oscillators are far more complex devices than their relative simplicity suggests. In fact the major problem with an oscillator design is to confine it's operation to the parameters specified. If care isn't taken they'll act as sensitive receivers, phaselocking on any extraneous signal that is harmonically close to it's fundamental frequency. Armstrong noticed this when he was developing the regenerative detector and used it to great effect, resulting in a one tube receiver that had the sensitivity of a five tube tuned amplifier receiver.
... random, depending on the starting value of x and the constant value of r. What really gets interesting is when one establishes a second equation and couples them together, ie. x'=rx(1-x-by') and y'=sy(1-y-cx'). Selecting values for b and c can result in oscillations that are very complex, regular patterns.
:)
The interesting part of the article was the fact they allowed the oscillator to design itself, not that it ended up being a receiver.
Someone else on here suggested life could have started the same way, and I suspect to a great extent he's right. Playing with chaotic oscillators is instructive, the population equation (or logistic equation), x'=rx(1-x), demonstrates all the different modes of oscillation an electonic oscillator can have. none, single mode, bimodal, quad, octal,
Science has found that living cells contain a myriad of chemical oscillators, coupled together in unknown ways, apparently regulating cell metabolism, gene switching and division. I wouldn't be at all surprised they find this oscillation is the key to life, evolution and everything.