Not only that, but it's funny that they would name it after a device that is notorious for fallibility. Yes, reports show that breathalyzers are not as accurate as claimed. Perhaps they used that phrase because they are expecting 10-20% false positives?
Indeed, and that is a short, simply encoded message with easily discernible rules, if you know English and have a dictionary (in your head or otherwise).
It can be much more complex but stay with simple rules, and without much effort it can make any message encrypted with PGP or whatever look like and be an encrypted message when the first decryption is complete. In fact, it might make no sense at all without having received the previous message, or perhaps not until you receive the next, or until your software scans the most recent page found when searching/. for the text in the 7th sentence.
What amazed me lately is when a social web site was named as possibly being used by 'terrorists'. Fsck, all websites could be used by terrorists to pass messages. Fox news could be used to pass messages. It's all in how you encrypt etc. When you don't have to rely on a fixed key (public or otherwise) the encryption becomes much stronger. Encrypting with a public encoding scheme after doing so with a private one of a random nature will ensure a much better security of data. Yes, this can be used on publicly stored data, as part of emails or files on Google services etc. You can encrypt messages into graphics files, or MP3 files. Or store the secondary key in such publicly available files. Straight forward encryption will get broken.
Yes, what I'm saying will take a bit extra time/effort, but when the prying eyes of the government are having to break 114 million different codes, all of which could be as strong as 256bit encryption, gathering everyone's packets becomes a bit of a nightmare. Stenographic encryption, or hiding the message in plain site is a good way to keep it safe. It's also easy to implement forms of it:
2 4 40 15 57 110 23 61 115 39 96 55 77 53
Another simple one there. That is what you would have after PGP decodes with the private key. Now additional code will render this to standard text.
While that is all true, I mentioned Blue-ray only because it was supposed to be tough encryption to break. "Supposed to be" is the key part of that sentence, and it demonstrates how fragile simple encryption really is.
While the hacker can find an unencrypted version of a movie and more or less determine what the encryption should look like when decoded, your common text messages are not much different. There are algorithms that can determine much of what you wrote by looking at repeating characters. Length of words etc. making ROT13 style easy to decode. It also makes the cadence or meter of your normal words decipherable. So, if a cracker can figure out PGP, even guessing brute force at the private key, there are many techniques that help them. If your text is encoded twice, those added techniques are of arguably little value.
Well, there may not be a pressing public need to hide cryptography usage, but if you want your data secure from prying eyes, additional measures are a good idea. Blue-Ray just got hacked (again) and it was supposed to be valid security for a decade... right?
If what you encrypt with can be broken by others, then it is not doing the intended job. If you use PGP, and the decrypted message between you and another trusted user is encrypted already, the likelihood of your message being decoded is substantially less.
In south or terse, I touch in kelp. You are wrought on girls, but it's young urine poor obese ladle mate.
Encrypting is not hard, but if what you decrypt looks like this above, it may be hard to decipher and not worth the effort. BTW, that is decipherable.
Both the PGP and this encryption (or another) can be decoded quickly on the fly. It's possible that those pesky 'terrorists' could be using v1 aGr4 spam to send messages.
Here is a good start (maybe) http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&output=googleabout&btnG=Search+our+site&q=space%20probe%20%22study%20the%20sun%22 They have already observed things that we did not know with space based observation vehicles. The magnetic 'portal' between Earth and the Sun has been confirmed, though not fully studied. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081101093713.htm so there are many things yet that we should really be trying to understand. Articles on the Aurora Borealis might help you with the Earth's magnetosphere and it's role in protecting life on this planet. As the Earth's magnetic poles shift over time, I have not yet seen what effect this might have on planetary weather, never mind radiation. It is presumed that as they shift, a hole (allowing in solar and cosmic radiation) will pass across parts of the the planet where the pole is moving through.
I've also looked for any data on volcanic activity vs. weather/temperature. It's difficult to find hard data without money to spend. NASA has some research available: http://nasadaacs.eos.nasa.gov/search.html I'm not sure what the Russians or EU have available. I need to spend more time reading, but there is always hope that someone at NASA reads/. and would like to answer my questions:-) (did I mention a penchant for optimism?)
I try, because it matters, to keep global climate change discussions civil and centered on facts. You and others have pointed out that those screaming about manmade CO2 like chicken little are overlooking some other big problems that need to also be fixed, some of them before CO2 problems.
Nuclear energy is one way to help curb man's contribution to global warming. Limiting shopping trips to Tue-Thursday will help curb woman's contribution. (just kidding there).
The point being that there are many things that in and of themselves are not a cure for climate problems. It's the gestalt of many changes that will bring mankind's contribution into a better alignment with the planet's ability to deal with CO2 and other pollutants.
Personally, if food supplies continue to be laden with hormones and pesticides, it may not matter what the weather is like in 15 years. Additionally, there are many other pollution problems that exacerbate mankind's situation in one or more immediate ways.
One point that I like to make is that despite all that we know, what we do not yet know is as important or more so than anything. Among the things we do NOT know are what was controlling the planet's climate 200 or 1000 years ago. You know, back before all of mankind's interloping. That is what we NEED to know.
I've seen papers on a 5 year galactic radiation cycle, 11 year sunspot cycle, XYZ year cycle for the solar system to cross the central plane of the galaxy etc.and even a 70-ish year cycle for weather patterns. All of these things can have some effect. What effect, and how powerful is that effect. If all it takes is one healthy GRB to cause the Sun to spike with solar flares, CO2 isn't going to mean diddly squat to the problem. Yes, I've left out some scientific terms, and pretty much have no references. You can Google for them, what I'm talking about is out there. What isn't is the effects any of these things can have on our planet.
I've read where space particle radiation may be responsible for some of our storms and lightning. The effects if very mobile charged particles has to have some effect... what is that effect. It seems to me that all of these cycles in solar and galactic energy might just have a 'biorythm' kind of effect on this planet. The shifting magnetosphere of this planet has a role in protecting us, and affects the interaction between Sun and Earth etc. What effect does that have on climate?
Clearly there are a lot more questions than there are answers. I have yet to see any group of scientists publishing data on all the information that we do know about. Reports that cite CO2 as the bad guy are bereft of other data that might be important and Reports that proclaim a lack of global warming are also bereft of comprehensive data and analysis.
Can CO2 cause global warming? Too much of it certainly doesn't help. Neither does a decrease in trees/plants, or an increase in methane production.
It would be really handy to know if re-forestation would be enough to quell the problem. Perhaps eating a few less hamburgers would do... all that methane is not helping either. Of course we can also run nuclear sourced electric vehicles to help too. There is a large number of things we can do to reduce the effects man has had on climate BUT it would still be pretty damned handy to know what controlled the climate before mankind started screwing with it.
kipman, I did not ask for an explanation of global warming. I am curious as to what effects space radiation has on our solar system, and in turn, our planet. Feel free to assume that every conversation about the planet earth is or should be able man's contribution to the global warming effect. You may also feel free to consider that there is more to science than answering politically charge questions. More often than not scientists simply want to answer a question to know the answer... whatever their personal beliefs. I'm not confused at all. I'm not looking for a cause of global warming. I'm asking what effects various types of radiation have on our Sun and solar system... and in turn, on our planet.
Until not long ago it was not thought that anything escaped a black hole, now we know different. Fortunately we've not been in the middle of the full force of some of that radiation in the past few hundred million years (that we know of). There are some fantastically energetic radiation sources in the Universe, and understanding how they might affect us is an important thing. Perhaps as important or more so than tracking any objects that might collide with the Earth.
Now, we find new particles and the question is how do they interact with other matter in the Universe/Solar System. What effect will they have on our understanding of physics etc. Your dismissal of the thought is rather boorish. This might bring you close to being up to speed: http://www.jrmooneyham.com/ctctgam.html or at least give you a clue.
I did NOT say that mankind is not contributing. There are many many reasons not to pollute our ecological system. Global climate effects are only one, and they are not the immediate need reasons.
What I did say is that I am curious as to how such things as new particles, GRBs, Hawking radiation and hundreds of other things that enter our solar system affect the planet's climate. You and a couple other take this to mean that this is a global warming because of mankind argument... and I'd like to point out that fine concerned people like you stop the conversation from ever being about fully and scientifically understanding what truly affects our climate outside of man's contribution.
Never test the water in a lake, just assume that man's urine is causing the ammonia levels to be so high. Wake up!!
If I want to talk about particle physics and space radiation and perhaps how that might affect our planet, it is NOT an invitation for you to spew idiocy across the thread.
Try now, if you can, to please contribute something to the questions posed: How might these discoveries lead mankind to truly understand what in space affects our planet, climate included.
An absolutely good question. I've been wondering about the effect of radiation from GRBs, blackholes, and other radiation sources in the Universe for a while now. That radiation must have an effect other than raising the ambient temperature a little bit. Even if the radiation is not enough to fry all life on this planet, it's possible that radiation may have an effect on the Sun's activity... which in turn directly affects our climate.
I do understand that the collider is a bit different than our Sun, but does anyone know what effect gamma ray bursts have on the efficacy or activity of our Sun?
With all the hubbub about global warming, I've been getting more interested in what affect our planet's climate. Recently we have found/discovered a few things that might have some effect. While it seems a small thing at best, what is not known is the effect of combined events (or lack of) from outside our solar system on how our Sun behaves.
Note: I am not convinced that man has not contributed to climate change. I simply am not convinced that we truly understand how and what controls our climate. I'd like to know all the factors that have nothing to do with mankind's interference. Until we do, there is no method to fully describe the climate model, nor predict any change to it.
I'm not sure that means what you think it does....
The threats from the outside world can make their way into the physical spaces which are protected computer areas... via usb, camera, cell phone, and other yet to be named methods. So it is quite important that all military accessible computer networks are protected. It only takes ONE USB stick or MP3 player to plant what could turn out to be a very bad thing. Virus software has the patience and time to sit and wait, staying undetected. Antivirus programs only protect you against virus code that has been detected. Done correctly an undetectable virus can sit there for months waiting for access to other networks/computers. I would think DDoS is hardly the problem they lay awake at night thinking about. I'd think any kind of 3-10 minute disruption of NORAD data would be a nightmare for the USAF. That doesn't even mention or consider rogue flash message traffic on the communication network of the USA military. Imagine the damage of one seemingly authentic flash message to European based nuclear counterstrike commands. Even if it is detected as false in the first few minutes of it's life, those few minutes of confusion could be dramatically bad for the world. So I don't really think common network threats are what they are worried about.
Now they even have to worry that test equipment, laptops, test software packages, everything has the ability to import a nasty virus inside their network now. The more risks they can easily mitigate, the cheaper and easier the task of working on the others should be.
You have just identified a new service for alarm.com or some new start-up - monitoring home installed alarms systems. Can't be that hard as the protocols are not exactly rocket science. Build a cheap-ish modem for Internet connection and you're off to success. Damn, forgot
1 - identify simple interface protocol 2 - build modem to connect user's alarm system to 3 - set up monitoring data center(s) 4 -.... 5 - profit
I'm just wondering what I'm going to do with that 8 foot long flexible shaft 3/4 inch auger drill bit I bought! damn!
You know that part on the label on cold medicines that says not to operate heavy machinery? When you buy an antivirus software package, are there any warning labels? Nope. This is what leads to my complaint. There are large numbers of people that think their original one year license for Symantec et al is good enough for the life of the PC, and nobody is telling them any different. Nor is anyone telling them that what they got for free with the PC will not keep up with malware, and that they are going to have to keep paying and paying if they want to use that program. This is a large portion of why Windows machines are so vulnerable. Even though Windows fanbois like to claim that Linux is for advanced users and not average users, those same users are making Windows a target for virus writers. The other portion is the vast security holes left in Windows production software.
Antivirus companies and MS will NEVER make Windows safe for two reasons: Nobody really wants to pay a yearly subscription and the people they sell to have NO FUCKING CLUE how to keep their machine(s) safe. You and I might know how to get rid of a MBR virus, but aunt bettie doesn't, and won't without a lot of training. FerChrisSakes, you first have to explain what a boot record is. Does training come with a Windows license? Do you need to pass a state level exam to operate a PC? nope. The problem will persist and will not get any better until antivirus companies start trying to educate. It will not get any better till your average Windows users understands that they have to work hard to administer their system to avoid infections and malware.
Without education, the problem will continue... ad infinitum!
There is another reason for not really needing to comment: Slashdot needs a special tag for stories that include this implicitly or by implication. That information is:
The majority of anti-virus and anti-malware scanners do not detect this threat.
For such stories, we need to call bullshit and throw spam like emails at the majority of anti-virus company's email servers.
It's one thing to say you are selling really nice tasting lemonade that helps your body fight disease by assisting your body with vitamin C. It's another to say you don't need to take anything else to help your body by our lemonade. That is the trouble with non-F/OSS software; they claim to have the answers. This is no better than selling snake oil IMO when you consider the condition of many if not most home users PC systems.
There are many times in the USA when the fucking cure is worse than the disease. Antivirus companies are part of that 'issue'
First, here is NASA being about as open about it as they can get. We dumped a toxic container out, and it might hit your house or spouse or both. Possible reason for joy?
Second, 50 years ago there was probably only two people on the entire planet that could have thought such a safety announcement would be put out with all the fame and glory of a news item about a fender bender in the WalMart parking lot!
I kind of look forward to news reports like this:
Space weather warning: Launch News- Today in the Southern Americas regions, the likelihood of debris showers is at Threat Level Orange. Expected drop zone is 15 miles off the coast of Peru as the StarLiner "Moses" launches for Alpha Centauri. Between the hours of 13:00 GMT and 23:50 GMT, some pieces of the launch platform are expected to survive the searing heat of re-entry. It is possible for pieces up to 57 kilograms to reach the Earth's surface. Please contact the local constabulary for concerns about livestock. Normal insurance claim processes apply.
You all wanted flying cars. I want star cruisers and Earth 2.0.
Can we get a special tag for this. I mean it's getting to where this type of headline is more abundant than anything needing the suddenoutbreakofcommonsense tag. Perhaps that is the tag that needs to be applied? Well, maybe not. We could at least start tagging them with OSSWindowsSmackDownScore or something, right?
I don't know who is keeping score between Windows and F/OSS anymore, but it seems like newsworthy events when entire government branches, or governments, or countries smack down Windows in favor of F/OSS. Funny, I've not heard any stories that amount to "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" after any of these announcements. Does anyone know of such a story where switching caused great harm or fiscal problems?
That is exactly what I was thinking. This arms race can escalate pretty damned fast, and at little cost to the user's fighting the filtering. Every time the Australian government has to rebuild or reinforce their great firewall/filter it will cost them money.
Judging from what they decided to implement, it's painfully clear that they won't have the savvy to keep up with the arms race. In effect they have created a great money pit. Some wise Australians should watch to see where the contract money goes and how much is sunk into this steaming pit.
I'm sure some enterprising tech savvy Australian already has set up a tunnel to some other country and is slowly spidering the Internet to see what is being filtered. Hopefully this/these person(s) will find a lot of false positives with which to complain vociferously about the problem.
There are likely to be quite a few sites willing to host the comparison results from such activity including caches of pages that are filtered, which should in turn make many of them viewable again inside Australia's filter system. OOoooops, guess that might be illegal? hmmmmmm Wonder if anyone will do it?
Technically, I think it makes programmers better and THAT makes the net safer... more or less. Back then people could say "oh shit, didn't know they could do that!" but today it means, or can mean, loss of revenue via real data loss or via decreased reputation. So now instead of "shit, didn't know they could do that" has become "shit, they did it again. Quick, delete the evidence, and don't tell anyone... someone call marketing/legal, get the spin machine goin."
I agree with some small exceptions. I have gone to an all Linux home (8 systems currently) but I still have some issues with using a couple of old Windows-only applications. Having said that, I'm more or less getting along without them, and have done so for long enough that I've either got a work around or figured out how to not need that program. This is not a criticism of Ubuntu at all, rather it is a criticism of the makers of those software packages, or would be if the software I sometimes would like to use wasn't so old (pre-linux era).
Aside from that, I can't see any reason to not use Ubuntu. My family has not noticed any difference. It doesn't matter to them whether it's Windows or Linux: when the window pops up requiring something to be installed, they react the same way. Other than that, they just use it. Once my wife wanted help with headers/footers in OOo and started to complain that "it's different from Word" but quickly fell silent when I asked her how to do what she wanted in Windows. She did not know and would have had to ask for help no matter which app she was using. The family uses 1.8 or 2.4 GHz machines with 1GB RAM. None of them are new MoBo. They never complain about system speed etc. Ubuntu rocks if you were to ask me.
Slashdot Mirror
Awesome! Thanks....
My reading list for the weekend is probably about 3 pots of coffee and a couple of six packs long now... all good stuff.
Not only that, but it's funny that they would name it after a device that is notorious for fallibility. Yes, reports show that breathalyzers are not as accurate as claimed. Perhaps they used that phrase because they are expecting 10-20% false positives?
Indeed, and that is a short, simply encoded message with easily discernible rules, if you know English and have a dictionary (in your head or otherwise).
It can be much more complex but stay with simple rules, and without much effort it can make any message encrypted with PGP or whatever look like and be an encrypted message when the first decryption is complete. In fact, it might make no sense at all without having received the previous message, or perhaps not until you receive the next, or until your software scans the most recent page found when searching /. for the text in the 7th sentence.
What amazed me lately is when a social web site was named as possibly being used by 'terrorists'. Fsck, all websites could be used by terrorists to pass messages. Fox news could be used to pass messages. It's all in how you encrypt etc. When you don't have to rely on a fixed key (public or otherwise) the encryption becomes much stronger. Encrypting with a public encoding scheme after doing so with a private one of a random nature will ensure a much better security of data. Yes, this can be used on publicly stored data, as part of emails or files on Google services etc. You can encrypt messages into graphics files, or MP3 files. Or store the secondary key in such publicly available files. Straight forward encryption will get broken.
Yes, what I'm saying will take a bit extra time/effort, but when the prying eyes of the government are having to break 114 million different codes, all of which could be as strong as 256bit encryption, gathering everyone's packets becomes a bit of a nightmare. Stenographic encryption, or hiding the message in plain site is a good way to keep it safe. It's also easy to implement forms of it:
2 4 40 15 57 110 23 61 115 39 96 55 77 53
Another simple one there. That is what you would have after PGP decodes with the private key. Now additional code will render this to standard text.
While that is all true, I mentioned Blue-ray only because it was supposed to be tough encryption to break. "Supposed to be" is the key part of that sentence, and it demonstrates how fragile simple encryption really is.
While the hacker can find an unencrypted version of a movie and more or less determine what the encryption should look like when decoded, your common text messages are not much different. There are algorithms that can determine much of what you wrote by looking at repeating characters. Length of words etc. making ROT13 style easy to decode. It also makes the cadence or meter of your normal words decipherable. So, if a cracker can figure out PGP, even guessing brute force at the private key, there are many techniques that help them. If your text is encoded twice, those added techniques are of arguably little value.
Well, there may not be a pressing public need to hide cryptography usage, but if you want your data secure from prying eyes, additional measures are a good idea. Blue-Ray just got hacked (again) and it was supposed to be valid security for a decade... right?
If what you encrypt with can be broken by others, then it is not doing the intended job. If you use PGP, and the decrypted message between you and another trusted user is encrypted already, the likelihood of your message being decoded is substantially less.
In south or terse, I touch in kelp. You are wrought on girls, but it's young urine poor obese ladle mate.
Encrypting is not hard, but if what you decrypt looks like this above, it may be hard to decipher and not worth the effort. BTW, that is decipherable.
Both the PGP and this encryption (or another) can be decoded quickly on the fly. It's possible that those pesky 'terrorists' could be using v1 aGr4 spam to send messages.
Here is a good start (maybe) http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&output=googleabout&btnG=Search+our+site&q=space%20probe%20%22study%20the%20sun%22 They have already observed things that we did not know with space based observation vehicles. The magnetic 'portal' between Earth and the Sun has been confirmed, though not fully studied. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081101093713.htm so there are many things yet that we should really be trying to understand. Articles on the Aurora Borealis might help you with the Earth's magnetosphere and it's role in protecting life on this planet. As the Earth's magnetic poles shift over time, I have not yet seen what effect this might have on planetary weather, never mind radiation. It is presumed that as they shift, a hole (allowing in solar and cosmic radiation) will pass across parts of the the planet where the pole is moving through.
I've also looked for any data on volcanic activity vs. weather/temperature. It's difficult to find hard data without money to spend. NASA has some research available: http://nasadaacs.eos.nasa.gov/search.html I'm not sure what the Russians or EU have available. I need to spend more time reading, but there is always hope that someone at NASA reads /. and would like to answer my questions :-) (did I mention a penchant for optimism?)
I try, because it matters, to keep global climate change discussions civil and centered on facts. You and others have pointed out that those screaming about manmade CO2 like chicken little are overlooking some other big problems that need to also be fixed, some of them before CO2 problems.
Nuclear energy is one way to help curb man's contribution to global warming. Limiting shopping trips to Tue-Thursday will help curb woman's contribution. (just kidding there).
The point being that there are many things that in and of themselves are not a cure for climate problems. It's the gestalt of many changes that will bring mankind's contribution into a better alignment with the planet's ability to deal with CO2 and other pollutants.
Personally, if food supplies continue to be laden with hormones and pesticides, it may not matter what the weather is like in 15 years. Additionally, there are many other pollution problems that exacerbate mankind's situation in one or more immediate ways.
One point that I like to make is that despite all that we know, what we do not yet know is as important or more so than anything. Among the things we do NOT know are what was controlling the planet's climate 200 or 1000 years ago. You know, back before all of mankind's interloping. That is what we NEED to know.
I've seen papers on a 5 year galactic radiation cycle, 11 year sunspot cycle, XYZ year cycle for the solar system to cross the central plane of the galaxy etc.and even a 70-ish year cycle for weather patterns. All of these things can have some effect. What effect, and how powerful is that effect. If all it takes is one healthy GRB to cause the Sun to spike with solar flares, CO2 isn't going to mean diddly squat to the problem. Yes, I've left out some scientific terms, and pretty much have no references. You can Google for them, what I'm talking about is out there. What isn't is the effects any of these things can have on our planet.
One thing I've tried unsuccessfully to find out is if Gamma rays have any effect on the Zeeman Effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeeman_effect
I've read where space particle radiation may be responsible for some of our storms and lightning. The effects if very mobile charged particles has to have some effect... what is that effect. It seems to me that all of these cycles in solar and galactic energy might just have a 'biorythm' kind of effect on this planet. The shifting magnetosphere of this planet has a role in protecting us, and affects the interaction between Sun and Earth etc. What effect does that have on climate?
Clearly there are a lot more questions than there are answers. I have yet to see any group of scientists publishing data on all the information that we do know about. Reports that cite CO2 as the bad guy are bereft of other data that might be important and Reports that proclaim a lack of global warming are also bereft of comprehensive data and analysis.
Can CO2 cause global warming? Too much of it certainly doesn't help. Neither does a decrease in trees/plants, or an increase in methane production.
It would be really handy to know if re-forestation would be enough to quell the problem. Perhaps eating a few less hamburgers would do... all that methane is not helping either. Of course we can also run nuclear sourced electric vehicles to help too. There is a large number of things we can do to reduce the effects man has had on climate BUT it would still be pretty damned handy to know what controlled the climate before mankind started screwing with it.
kipman, I did not ask for an explanation of global warming. I am curious as to what effects space radiation has on our solar system, and in turn, our planet. Feel free to assume that every conversation about the planet earth is or should be able man's contribution to the global warming effect. You may also feel free to consider that there is more to science than answering politically charge questions. More often than not scientists simply want to answer a question to know the answer... whatever their personal beliefs. I'm not confused at all. I'm not looking for a cause of global warming. I'm asking what effects various types of radiation have on our Sun and solar system... and in turn, on our planet.
Until not long ago it was not thought that anything escaped a black hole, now we know different. Fortunately we've not been in the middle of the full force of some of that radiation in the past few hundred million years (that we know of). There are some fantastically energetic radiation sources in the Universe, and understanding how they might affect us is an important thing. Perhaps as important or more so than tracking any objects that might collide with the Earth.
Now, we find new particles and the question is how do they interact with other matter in the Universe/Solar System. What effect will they have on our understanding of physics etc. Your dismissal of the thought is rather boorish. This might bring you close to being up to speed: http://www.jrmooneyham.com/ctctgam.html or at least give you a clue.
Well, thanks for playing, but NO
I did NOT say that mankind is not contributing. There are many many reasons not to pollute our ecological system. Global climate effects are only one, and they are not the immediate need reasons.
What I did say is that I am curious as to how such things as new particles, GRBs, Hawking radiation and hundreds of other things that enter our solar system affect the planet's climate. You and a couple other take this to mean that this is a global warming because of mankind argument... and I'd like to point out that fine concerned people like you stop the conversation from ever being about fully and scientifically understanding what truly affects our climate outside of man's contribution.
Never test the water in a lake, just assume that man's urine is causing the ammonia levels to be so high. Wake up!!
If I want to talk about particle physics and space radiation and perhaps how that might affect our planet, it is NOT an invitation for you to spew idiocy across the thread.
Try now, if you can, to please contribute something to the questions posed: How might these discoveries lead mankind to truly understand what in space affects our planet, climate included.
An absolutely good question. I've been wondering about the effect of radiation from GRBs, blackholes, and other radiation sources in the Universe for a while now. That radiation must have an effect other than raising the ambient temperature a little bit. Even if the radiation is not enough to fry all life on this planet, it's possible that radiation may have an effect on the Sun's activity... which in turn directly affects our climate.
I do understand that the collider is a bit different than our Sun, but does anyone know what effect gamma ray bursts have on the efficacy or activity of our Sun?
With all the hubbub about global warming, I've been getting more interested in what affect our planet's climate. Recently we have found/discovered a few things that might have some effect. While it seems a small thing at best, what is not known is the effect of combined events (or lack of) from outside our solar system on how our Sun behaves.
Note: I am not convinced that man has not contributed to climate change. I simply am not convinced that we truly understand how and what controls our climate. I'd like to know all the factors that have nothing to do with mankind's interference. Until we do, there is no method to fully describe the climate model, nor predict any change to it.
I'm not sure that means what you think it does....
The threats from the outside world can make their way into the physical spaces which are protected computer areas... via usb, camera, cell phone, and other yet to be named methods. So it is quite important that all military accessible computer networks are protected. It only takes ONE USB stick or MP3 player to plant what could turn out to be a very bad thing. Virus software has the patience and time to sit and wait, staying undetected. Antivirus programs only protect you against virus code that has been detected. Done correctly an undetectable virus can sit there for months waiting for access to other networks/computers. I would think DDoS is hardly the problem they lay awake at night thinking about. I'd think any kind of 3-10 minute disruption of NORAD data would be a nightmare for the USAF. That doesn't even mention or consider rogue flash message traffic on the communication network of the USA military. Imagine the damage of one seemingly authentic flash message to European based nuclear counterstrike commands. Even if it is detected as false in the first few minutes of it's life, those few minutes of confusion could be dramatically bad for the world. So I don't really think common network threats are what they are worried about.
Now they even have to worry that test equipment, laptops, test software packages, everything has the ability to import a nasty virus inside their network now. The more risks they can easily mitigate, the cheaper and easier the task of working on the others should be.
I know the editors are sitting there thinking how much fun this story would be... must be nice to have an easy Monday morning at work
You have just identified a new service for alarm.com or some new start-up - monitoring home installed alarms systems. Can't be that hard as the protocols are not exactly rocket science. Build a cheap-ish modem for Internet connection and you're off to success. Damn, forgot
1 - identify simple interface protocol ....
2 - build modem to connect user's alarm system to
3 - set up monitoring data center(s)
4 -
5 - profit
I'm just wondering what I'm going to do with that 8 foot long flexible shaft 3/4 inch auger drill bit I bought! damn!
Buy anything from China? Just curious.
You know that part on the label on cold medicines that says not to operate heavy machinery? When you buy an antivirus software package, are there any warning labels? Nope. This is what leads to my complaint. There are large numbers of people that think their original one year license for Symantec et al is good enough for the life of the PC, and nobody is telling them any different. Nor is anyone telling them that what they got for free with the PC will not keep up with malware, and that they are going to have to keep paying and paying if they want to use that program. This is a large portion of why Windows machines are so vulnerable. Even though Windows fanbois like to claim that Linux is for advanced users and not average users, those same users are making Windows a target for virus writers. The other portion is the vast security holes left in Windows production software.
Antivirus companies and MS will NEVER make Windows safe for two reasons: Nobody really wants to pay a yearly subscription and the people they sell to have NO FUCKING CLUE how to keep their machine(s) safe. You and I might know how to get rid of a MBR virus, but aunt bettie doesn't, and won't without a lot of training. FerChrisSakes, you first have to explain what a boot record is. Does training come with a Windows license? Do you need to pass a state level exam to operate a PC? nope. The problem will persist and will not get any better until antivirus companies start trying to educate. It will not get any better till your average Windows users understands that they have to work hard to administer their system to avoid infections and malware.
Without education, the problem will continue... ad infinitum!
That's why I think there should be a tag for it
There is another reason for not really needing to comment: Slashdot needs a special tag for stories that include this implicitly or by implication. That information is:
The majority of anti-virus and anti-malware scanners do not detect this threat.
For such stories, we need to call bullshit and throw spam like emails at the majority of anti-virus company's email servers.
It's one thing to say you are selling really nice tasting lemonade that helps your body fight disease by assisting your body with vitamin C. It's another to say you don't need to take anything else to help your body by our lemonade. That is the trouble with non-F/OSS software; they claim to have the answers. This is no better than selling snake oil IMO when you consider the condition of many if not most home users PC systems.
There are many times in the USA when the fucking cure is worse than the disease. Antivirus companies are part of that 'issue'
That was the Hollywood version, and the cheap Hollywood version at that. I want the real one, with funky lizards that talk and stuff like that.
about how cool this is?
First, here is NASA being about as open about it as they can get. We dumped a toxic container out, and it might hit your house or spouse or both. Possible reason for joy?
Second, 50 years ago there was probably only two people on the entire planet that could have thought such a safety announcement would be put out with all the fame and glory of a news item about a fender bender in the WalMart parking lot!
I kind of look forward to news reports like this:
Space weather warning: Launch News- Today in the Southern Americas regions, the likelihood of debris showers is at Threat Level Orange. Expected drop zone is 15 miles off the coast of Peru as the StarLiner "Moses" launches for Alpha Centauri.
Between the hours of 13:00 GMT and 23:50 GMT, some pieces of the launch platform are expected to survive the searing heat of re-entry. It is possible for pieces up to 57 kilograms to reach the Earth's surface. Please contact the local constabulary for concerns about livestock. Normal insurance claim processes apply.
You all wanted flying cars. I want star cruisers and Earth 2.0.
Can we get a special tag for this. I mean it's getting to where this type of headline is more abundant than anything needing the suddenoutbreakofcommonsense tag. Perhaps that is the tag that needs to be applied? Well, maybe not. We could at least start tagging them with OSSWindowsSmackDownScore or something, right?
I don't know who is keeping score between Windows and F/OSS anymore, but it seems like newsworthy events when entire government branches, or governments, or countries smack down Windows in favor of F/OSS. Funny, I've not heard any stories that amount to "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" after any of these announcements. Does anyone know of such a story where switching caused great harm or fiscal problems?
That is exactly what I was thinking. This arms race can escalate pretty damned fast, and at little cost to the user's fighting the filtering. Every time the Australian government has to rebuild or reinforce their great firewall/filter it will cost them money.
Judging from what they decided to implement, it's painfully clear that they won't have the savvy to keep up with the arms race. In effect they have created a great money pit. Some wise Australians should watch to see where the contract money goes and how much is sunk into this steaming pit.
I'm sure some enterprising tech savvy Australian already has set up a tunnel to some other country and is slowly spidering the Internet to see what is being filtered. Hopefully this/these person(s) will find a lot of false positives with which to complain vociferously about the problem.
There are likely to be quite a few sites willing to host the comparison results from such activity including caches of pages that are filtered, which should in turn make many of them viewable again inside Australia's filter system. OOoooops, guess that might be illegal? hmmmmmm Wonder if anyone will do it?
Actually, I find this rather interesting. For me the next question is how can this, or how does this affect global climate?
I think your comment is the only one needed for this story!
Technically, I think it makes programmers better and THAT makes the net safer... more or less. Back then people could say "oh shit, didn't know they could do that!" but today it means, or can mean, loss of revenue via real data loss or via decreased reputation. So now instead of "shit, didn't know they could do that" has become "shit, they did it again. Quick, delete the evidence, and don't tell anyone... someone call marketing/legal, get the spin machine goin."
I agree with some small exceptions. I have gone to an all Linux home (8 systems currently) but I still have some issues with using a couple of old Windows-only applications. Having said that, I'm more or less getting along without them, and have done so for long enough that I've either got a work around or figured out how to not need that program. This is not a criticism of Ubuntu at all, rather it is a criticism of the makers of those software packages, or would be if the software I sometimes would like to use wasn't so old (pre-linux era).
Aside from that, I can't see any reason to not use Ubuntu. My family has not noticed any difference. It doesn't matter to them whether it's Windows or Linux: when the window pops up requiring something to be installed, they react the same way. Other than that, they just use it. Once my wife wanted help with headers/footers in OOo and started to complain that "it's different from Word" but quickly fell silent when I asked her how to do what she wanted in Windows. She did not know and would have had to ask for help no matter which app she was using. The family uses 1.8 or 2.4 GHz machines with 1GB RAM. None of them are new MoBo. They never complain about system speed etc. Ubuntu rocks if you were to ask me.
God help us all if that post is modded as informative!!