Think "Steam"... I already have to take steps to block it to keep bandwidth usage under control -- lest it start an 8GB download on a T1 and kill all the web sites.
Yes, yes there was. But it wasn't in a very loud voice, because there weren't that many people on the internet in those days. And it was mostly due to people now having to figure out ways to get their SLIP software to detect their IP address; if they used PPP (which wasn't all that common then), it was a minor change.
PLUS, the bandwidth necessary to interact with the "application". People don't realize just how much data is flowing when working with graphic art, CAD, etc. Adobe is in for a huge surprise if this thing is even remotely popular. And their users are going to be P.I.S.S.E.D. when, not if, the service is ever down.
Wanna see what it's like... use Photoshop over a remote desktop connection hosted at the end of Uverse connection.
I guess you've never seen a chart recorder? There was one on the wall in the lab where I worked (many a year ago) at NCSU -- used to be a thermal test lab. We also had them all over the place in the hatchery my grandparents ran (many decades ago.) The rotating chart is a very efficient means of recording one or more readings continuously without using a huge roll of paper.
Correct. The difference is me hanging a Linksys PAP in my kitchen vs. the telco having thousands of them in the CO. That's pretty much what a CO phone switch is. They were NEVER designed to handle 100% usage. Keep in mind, a lot these things were built in the 60's -- it's practically new if it's from the 80's. Modern systems are lightyears ahead, but telcos tend to not f*ck with what's a) paid for, and b) working. One could replace what once filled a room (old AT&T 5ESS) with something that takes up a few "U" in a rack. But those things aren't free, they aren't "established technology" (translation: the maker may know little about large scale telecoms, and may not be around in 2, 5, 10+ years), and people have to be re-trained to work on them.
[Granted, many of the BIG players have gone away... Nortel - bankrupt and sold off. Alcatel - a shadow of what once was. Amazing the amount of technology that's changed hands and gone away. And more amazing is what museum pieces telcos are still running. Starting talking about cellular, and it's a very different world.]
Actually, they're pushing the A/D conversion (and power for it) to the customer -- FiOS, Uverse, TW/Comcast/etc "Digital Voice", Vonage, et. al. But there's still a heap of analog POTS out there. (line powered... as long as the wiring and CO haven't been destroyed, It. Just. Works.)
And to the point... yes, there are still pay phones around. Not nearly as many, but they still exist. They can be a HUGE profit center (as long as people aren't out destroying them.) Have you looked at the cost for a local call from a pay phone? Last time I looked... something like $0.50! One has to drop a bucket of dimes these days.:-)
In the case of FiOS, Uverse, and cable "digital voice" (where the TA is in/on your house)... if you have an analog phone line, and a GREAT MANY people still do, it goes back to a central office phone switch (ala 5ESS, DMS100, etc.) that has to handle the power and A/D conversion. Those switches cannot handle everyone picking up the phone at the same time. Can they switch that many packets? Sure. Do they have that much DSP (and DMTF decoder) capacity? Questionable and No.
If everyone were using a digital (VoIP) phone, sure. However, the PSTN is 99% ANALOG. A 5ESS or DMS100 cannot service thousands of lines (i.e. "all of them") all at once.
Cellphones are digital, however, there are notable RF limitations to having hundreds or thousands of radios active in the same small area. It works well for SMS because the phone only needs a brief period of clear air to push it's short message -- and the tower is queuing them up and streaming them in the same manner.
No they do it because it's not necessary. (also "not possible") One cannot build out the PSTN such that every phone can be in use at the same time. The switch itself cannot handle 100% usage, even if it had the trunk capacity for all the lines. Telcos build their infrastructure to meet statistical average and peak usages. Cellular operators can (and do) bring in additional capacity for planned events -- emergencies are far from predictable.
E911 is in the same boat. While there are dedicated trunks to the call center, they do not have infinite capacity. There's finite number of operators to take the calls anyway.
I think they are seriously underestimating the magnetic strength of modern drives. A "9000 gauss" field wouldn't do jack to the platters. It'll certainly f*** up the electronics and coils, but I have money that says the bits are just fine. [see also: Mythbusters attempt to erase a credit card]
For the record, I've read the specs on DLT tapes. It is impractical to "bulk erase" them due to their extremely high magnetic density. While commodity erasers will screw them up, they will not "erase" them -- parts of your data is still there and can be read with specialized hardware. The requirements I read for.gov tapes (many years ago) said "incinerate" with no talk of magnetic erasure. (note: the drive's erase function *will* destroy the data, but it spools the entire tape across the erase head.)
To be even remotely "scientific", someone ELSE has to turn it on and off completely without the subject's knowledge. That's what numerous studies have done, and shown no statistical corelation. (translation: the subjects are guessing.)
Basic steel... yes. Steel alloys on the other hand contain many other things (chromium, molybdenum, titanium, tungsten, etc.) and can be very hard to cut/burn. I've seen videos of lances taking hours to get through a hardened safe (vault) door. (safe... ~3" took almost an hour, vault... 1ft+ took several hours)
I'm not saying a bunker built in 1955 would have any of that stuff. I *am* saying it's going to take a while to get a hole big enough to get a human through into a 5 METER thick bunker wall. (go for the doors, they're thinner, and might not stand up to modern shaped charges.)
I don't know what they used in 1955, but today, safe makers have some very good steels that stand up to lances very well -- hours not minutes to get through it. One also has to get to the steel first; that bunker is made of some very tough concrete.
Now the doors, on the other hand, appear to be rather simple "few inch" thick steel doors -- looking at their pictures of the facility. A police hand-held ram isn't going to do jack to that door. A plasma cutter (something they didn't have in 1955), or lance, would go through that without much difficulty -- how quickly is the real question. There are *many* of those doors to get through! So, if one *really* wanted in there, it would only be a matter of a few days. (granted, it might be easier to go through any of the "classified" service tunnels)
Bottom line... if you want to take them off the internet, one doesn't need a lance or a nuke. All you need is a pocket knife (or backhoe.) All the food, water, and fuel in the world won't make a difference when someone cuts the fibre into the place. (assuming the attack was sourced from there and not just a CnC point for millions of zombies.)
6ft+ thick steel reinforced high strength blast resistant concrete. That's had many years to harden. Could you get through it? Yes, but it's going to take weeks.
They are at the mercy of what information the phone companies provide them. Unfortunately, no one in the entire history of telecommunications has had a single g** d*** clue how to secure anything at all. So, hackers have many holes at their fingertips.
(In fact, our current phone provider (SIP) allows us to specify any origin we want and they will pass it along unverified and unmodified. Intentionally!)
Again, you miss the point. You did it "right"... took the old machines from desks and sat them on a shelf. Translation: the absolute minimum amount of time and effort. The poster is taking the dell optiplex's apart to make a "google cluster" (i.e. motherboard bolted to a sheet) thus, making them take (marginally) less space. He's putting in a whole lot of work for very little gain.
(For the record, I've built clusters on the uber-cheap using 1U (quad-core opteron) rack mount servers from ebay sellers. Actually have a small pile of them on the conference table right now -- shipping was more than the actual machines.)
No, we haven't. What you and many others (including the poster) miss is how much time and effort -- and yes, money -- will go into building this custom, already obsolete, cluster. His first mistake is keeping Dell's heat tower and fan -- that's designed for a DESKTOP where you need a large heatsink so a slow (quiet) fan can move enough air to keep it cool; in a rack cluster, that's not even remotely a concern. (density trumps noise)
(I'm in the same boat -- as I'm sure everyone else is. I have stacks of old, obsolete machines. Difference is, *I* know they're junk which is why they're stacked in a corner... spare parts for the few we still use (read: never replaced))
Where "the right registry settings" means turn off Micor$haft's BS "Windows Time" service and install an actual NTPd. (WT will only keep a sane time in a domain.) I've been doing that since Window 95! (anyone remember "Tardis"?)
Inside the craft... you cannot put yourself in the center of the room out of reach of anything. You'd have to be placed there (as she was), or have something in contact with the cabin. This is simple physics: the energy that got you there has to go somewhere.
(FWIW, you *can* "swim" in the air in zero G. you won't move very fast, but you can generate "delta V")
YOU try to muscle a 5000 pound vehicle at close proximity to others going close to 200 mph for several hours.
Athleticism? That's pushing it. I've not seen very many "athletic" drivers in NASCAR or F1. In fact, many of the older drivers are rather pudgy.
And the cars don't weigh 2.5ton. They have 700hp engines so you don't have to get out and push them -- and as the driver, you're never pushing it anyway. They have power steering, power brakes, and a hydrolic clutch (or a flappy-paddle (F1).) They are as easy to manage as any street car. Even with a manual steering rack, once the car is moving, it's not hard to turn. (esp. on a NASCAR oval where there's very little steering anyway.)
Every sport has it's rules. NFL, NHL, NBA... golf, tennis, lacrose, bowling, fox hunting... EVERY. F'ing. THING. NASCAR is no different -- 'tho the officials aren't always enforcing all of the rules. (eg. the rules about no intentional contact.)
You say NASCAR isn't a sport because you don't think there's any skill or competition in it. Well, you are 100% wrong. By all means, get in a stock car and see for yourself -- there are many "NASCAR Experience" events every year that will put you in a "baby" stock car (with an instuctor) on a NASCAR oval at close to full speed. (the one I did at Rockingham eons ago, they kept everyone to 120-130, 'tho capable of 180+)
While driving around in a circle is certainly boring as all hell to watch -- making it not much of a spectator sport. It is entirely different from behind the wheel -- there's *alot* going on in the car, and a small lapse in attention (at 180mph) *will* be disasterous. To some it comes natural; to others, not so much. (*cough*Danica Patrick*cough* I watched her almost lose it driving in a straight line.)
Mostly because air is only partly oxygen. Those other parts lead to other combustion products that should be dealt with (plus the coal isn't 100% carbon) and the vast majority of the air comes right back out. The point is maintain near perfect control over the combustion and it's output (both gas, ash, and heat.)
Note: I would point out... replace the carbon (coal) with aluminium, and you've got thermite.
Slashdot Mirror
I DON'T CONTROL OTHER PEOPLE'S MACHINES.
Plus, one would have to remember to turn off updates and/or reduce the download speed every time they connect to the server network.
Think "Steam"... I already have to take steps to block it to keep bandwidth usage under control -- lest it start an 8GB download on a T1 and kill all the web sites.
Yes, yes there was. But it wasn't in a very loud voice, because there weren't that many people on the internet in those days. And it was mostly due to people now having to figure out ways to get their SLIP software to detect their IP address; if they used PPP (which wasn't all that common then), it was a minor change.
PLUS, the bandwidth necessary to interact with the "application". People don't realize just how much data is flowing when working with graphic art, CAD, etc. Adobe is in for a huge surprise if this thing is even remotely popular. And their users are going to be P.I.S.S.E.D. when, not if, the service is ever down.
Wanna see what it's like... use Photoshop over a remote desktop connection hosted at the end of Uverse connection.
*cough*IT DOESN'T*cough*
I guess you've never seen a chart recorder? There was one on the wall in the lab where I worked (many a year ago) at NCSU -- used to be a thermal test lab. We also had them all over the place in the hatchery my grandparents ran (many decades ago.) The rotating chart is a very efficient means of recording one or more readings continuously without using a huge roll of paper.
(google "temperature chart recorder")
Correct. The difference is me hanging a Linksys PAP in my kitchen vs. the telco having thousands of them in the CO. That's pretty much what a CO phone switch is. They were NEVER designed to handle 100% usage. Keep in mind, a lot these things were built in the 60's -- it's practically new if it's from the 80's. Modern systems are lightyears ahead, but telcos tend to not f*ck with what's a) paid for, and b) working. One could replace what once filled a room (old AT&T 5ESS) with something that takes up a few "U" in a rack. But those things aren't free, they aren't "established technology" (translation: the maker may know little about large scale telecoms, and may not be around in 2, 5, 10+ years), and people have to be re-trained to work on them.
[Granted, many of the BIG players have gone away... Nortel - bankrupt and sold off. Alcatel - a shadow of what once was. Amazing the amount of technology that's changed hands and gone away. And more amazing is what museum pieces telcos are still running. Starting talking about cellular, and it's a very different world.]
Actually, they're pushing the A/D conversion (and power for it) to the customer -- FiOS, Uverse, TW/Comcast/etc "Digital Voice", Vonage, et. al. But there's still a heap of analog POTS out there. (line powered... as long as the wiring and CO haven't been destroyed, It. Just. Works.)
And to the point... yes, there are still pay phones around. Not nearly as many, but they still exist. They can be a HUGE profit center (as long as people aren't out destroying them.) Have you looked at the cost for a local call from a pay phone? Last time I looked... something like $0.50! One has to drop a bucket of dimes these days. :-)
In the case of FiOS, Uverse, and cable "digital voice" (where the TA is in/on your house)... if you have an analog phone line, and a GREAT MANY people still do, it goes back to a central office phone switch (ala 5ESS, DMS100, etc.) that has to handle the power and A/D conversion. Those switches cannot handle everyone picking up the phone at the same time. Can they switch that many packets? Sure. Do they have that much DSP (and DMTF decoder) capacity? Questionable and No.
If everyone were using a digital (VoIP) phone, sure. However, the PSTN is 99% ANALOG. A 5ESS or DMS100 cannot service thousands of lines (i.e. "all of them") all at once.
Cellphones are digital, however, there are notable RF limitations to having hundreds or thousands of radios active in the same small area. It works well for SMS because the phone only needs a brief period of clear air to push it's short message -- and the tower is queuing them up and streaming them in the same manner.
No they do it because it's not necessary. (also "not possible") One cannot build out the PSTN such that every phone can be in use at the same time. The switch itself cannot handle 100% usage, even if it had the trunk capacity for all the lines. Telcos build their infrastructure to meet statistical average and peak usages. Cellular operators can (and do) bring in additional capacity for planned events -- emergencies are far from predictable.
E911 is in the same boat. While there are dedicated trunks to the call center, they do not have infinite capacity. There's finite number of operators to take the calls anyway.
That would be called "chickens". (they cannot eat the stems, but they'll sure as hell eat the leaves.)
I think they are seriously underestimating the magnetic strength of modern drives. A "9000 gauss" field wouldn't do jack to the platters. It'll certainly f*** up the electronics and coils, but I have money that says the bits are just fine. [see also: Mythbusters attempt to erase a credit card]
For the record, I've read the specs on DLT tapes. It is impractical to "bulk erase" them due to their extremely high magnetic density. While commodity erasers will screw them up, they will not "erase" them -- parts of your data is still there and can be read with specialized hardware. The requirements I read for .gov tapes (many years ago) said "incinerate" with no talk of magnetic erasure. (note: the drive's erase function *will* destroy the data, but it spools the entire tape across the erase head.)
To be even remotely "scientific", someone ELSE has to turn it on and off completely without the subject's knowledge. That's what numerous studies have done, and shown no statistical corelation. (translation: the subjects are guessing.)
Basic steel... yes. Steel alloys on the other hand contain many other things (chromium, molybdenum, titanium, tungsten, etc.) and can be very hard to cut/burn. I've seen videos of lances taking hours to get through a hardened safe (vault) door. (safe... ~3" took almost an hour, vault... 1ft+ took several hours)
I'm not saying a bunker built in 1955 would have any of that stuff. I *am* saying it's going to take a while to get a hole big enough to get a human through into a 5 METER thick bunker wall. (go for the doors, they're thinner, and might not stand up to modern shaped charges.)
I don't know what they used in 1955, but today, safe makers have some very good steels that stand up to lances very well -- hours not minutes to get through it. One also has to get to the steel first; that bunker is made of some very tough concrete.
Now the doors, on the other hand, appear to be rather simple "few inch" thick steel doors -- looking at their pictures of the facility. A police hand-held ram isn't going to do jack to that door. A plasma cutter (something they didn't have in 1955), or lance, would go through that without much difficulty -- how quickly is the real question. There are *many* of those doors to get through! So, if one *really* wanted in there, it would only be a matter of a few days. (granted, it might be easier to go through any of the "classified" service tunnels)
Bottom line... if you want to take them off the internet, one doesn't need a lance or a nuke. All you need is a pocket knife (or backhoe.) All the food, water, and fuel in the world won't make a difference when someone cuts the fibre into the place. (assuming the attack was sourced from there and not just a CnC point for millions of zombies.)
6ft+ thick steel reinforced high strength blast resistant concrete. That's had many years to harden. Could you get through it? Yes, but it's going to take weeks.
They are at the mercy of what information the phone companies provide them. Unfortunately, no one in the entire history of telecommunications has had a single g** d*** clue how to secure anything at all. So, hackers have many holes at their fingertips.
(In fact, our current phone provider (SIP) allows us to specify any origin we want and they will pass it along unverified and unmodified. Intentionally!)
Again, you miss the point. You did it "right"... took the old machines from desks and sat them on a shelf. Translation: the absolute minimum amount of time and effort. The poster is taking the dell optiplex's apart to make a "google cluster" (i.e. motherboard bolted to a sheet) thus, making them take (marginally) less space. He's putting in a whole lot of work for very little gain.
(For the record, I've built clusters on the uber-cheap using 1U (quad-core opteron) rack mount servers from ebay sellers. Actually have a small pile of them on the conference table right now -- shipping was more than the actual machines.)
No, we haven't. What you and many others (including the poster) miss is how much time and effort -- and yes, money -- will go into building this custom, already obsolete, cluster. His first mistake is keeping Dell's heat tower and fan -- that's designed for a DESKTOP where you need a large heatsink so a slow (quiet) fan can move enough air to keep it cool; in a rack cluster, that's not even remotely a concern. (density trumps noise)
(I'm in the same boat -- as I'm sure everyone else is. I have stacks of old, obsolete machines. Difference is, *I* know they're junk which is why they're stacked in a corner... spare parts for the few we still use (read: never replaced))
Where "the right registry settings" means turn off Micor$haft's BS "Windows Time" service and install an actual NTPd. (WT will only keep a sane time in a domain.) I've been doing that since Window 95! (anyone remember "Tardis"?)
Inside the craft... you cannot put yourself in the center of the room out of reach of anything. You'd have to be placed there (as she was), or have something in contact with the cabin. This is simple physics: the energy that got you there has to go somewhere.
(FWIW, you *can* "swim" in the air in zero G. you won't move very fast, but you can generate "delta V")
Athleticism? That's pushing it. I've not seen very many "athletic" drivers in NASCAR or F1. In fact, many of the older drivers are rather pudgy.
And the cars don't weigh 2.5ton. They have 700hp engines so you don't have to get out and push them -- and as the driver, you're never pushing it anyway. They have power steering, power brakes, and a hydrolic clutch (or a flappy-paddle (F1).) They are as easy to manage as any street car. Even with a manual steering rack, once the car is moving, it's not hard to turn. (esp. on a NASCAR oval where there's very little steering anyway.)
Every sport has it's rules. NFL, NHL, NBA... golf, tennis, lacrose, bowling, fox hunting... EVERY. F'ing. THING. NASCAR is no different -- 'tho the officials aren't always enforcing all of the rules. (eg. the rules about no intentional contact.)
You say NASCAR isn't a sport because you don't think there's any skill or competition in it. Well, you are 100% wrong. By all means, get in a stock car and see for yourself -- there are many "NASCAR Experience" events every year that will put you in a "baby" stock car (with an instuctor) on a NASCAR oval at close to full speed. (the one I did at Rockingham eons ago, they kept everyone to 120-130, 'tho capable of 180+)
While driving around in a circle is certainly boring as all hell to watch -- making it not much of a spectator sport. It is entirely different from behind the wheel -- there's *alot* going on in the car, and a small lapse in attention (at 180mph) *will* be disasterous. To some it comes natural; to others, not so much. (*cough*Danica Patrick*cough* I watched her almost lose it driving in a straight line.)
Mostly because air is only partly oxygen. Those other parts lead to other combustion products that should be dealt with (plus the coal isn't 100% carbon) and the vast majority of the air comes right back out. The point is maintain near perfect control over the combustion and it's output (both gas, ash, and heat.)
Note: I would point out... replace the carbon (coal) with aluminium, and you've got thermite.