Experts hack power grid in no time - Network World
Here is an interesting article. Seems a power company hired "hackers" to see if they could break into the power grid! The scary part is that they succeeded and way ahead of their own schedule. And it was sooo easy!!
Way to go. And they published how they did it!!
Ira Winkler, a penetration-testing consultant, says he and a team of other experts took a day to set up attack tools they needed then launched their attack, which paired social engineering with corrupting browsers on a power company's desktops. By the end of a full day of the attack, they had taken over several machines, giving the team the ability to hack into the control network overseeing power production and distribution...
The Miscellaneous Ramblings of a Warped Mind!!
Apr 27, 2008
Hot Sauce Blog: "Welcome to the Hot Sauce Blog. The HSB is a one stop location for reviews, news, recipes & anything else related to hot sauce and spicy foods."
Great site devoted to reviews Hot Sauces, BBQ Sauces, Chili, Hot Wing Sauces, Salsa recipes and other related items. If you like hot or spicy or just flavorful, this is your place!
Great site devoted to reviews Hot Sauces, BBQ Sauces, Chili, Hot Wing Sauces, Salsa recipes and other related items. If you like hot or spicy or just flavorful, this is your place!
Apr 19, 2008
Current Chaos Manor mail: "SL (Second Life) — impressions ---------------------------------------------
The following is a note that was posted on Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor site... I love that site. Jerry, a great science fiction writer and scientist, has written this column for many years and was a key component of Byte magazine. His column was one of the main reasons that I subscribed to Byte until it folded. He has continued to post on his personal site.
Current Chaos Manor mail: "SL (Second Life) — impressions
The following is a note that was posted on Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor site... I love that site. Jerry, a great science fiction writer and scientist, has written this column for many years and was a key component of Byte magazine. His column was one of the main reasons that I subscribed to Byte until it folded. He has continued to post on his personal site.
Current Chaos Manor mail: "SL (Second Life) — impressions
Houston, Texas Banks on Short Yellows
Interesting article that describes how Dallas and Houston, and probably many other cities with traffic cameras, have set the yellow traffic lights to last a shorter time interval than is safe for motorists and just so they can collect additional traffic fines!! In other words, they jeopardize you and yours just for the funds of it!! My impression was always that traffic laws and the accompanying fines were for the purpose of protecting the public!! Guess not.
A local news investigation has found that the city of Dallas, Texas depends upon short yellow timing to maximize red light camera profit. Of the ten cameras that issue the greatest number of tickets in the city, seven are located at intersections where the yellow duration is shorter than the bare minimum recommended by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), KDFW-TV found.
The city's second highest revenue producing camera, for example, is located at the intersection of Greenville Avenue and Mockingbird Lane. It issued 9407 tickets worth $705,525 between January 1 and August 31, 2007. At the intersections on Greenville Avenue leadding up to the camera intersection, however, yellows are at least 3.5 or 4.0 seconds in duration, but the ticket producing intersection's yellow stands at just 3.15 seconds. The yellow is .35 seconds shorter than TxDOT's recommended bare minimum.
"For 30 miles per hour, if your yellow time was less than three and a half, you would not be giving that driver enough time to react and brake and stop prior to getting to the intersection," TxDOT Dallas District office transportation engineer supervisor Chris Blain told KDFW.
A small change in signal timing can have a great effect on the number of tickets issued. About four out of every five red light camera citations are issued before even a second has elapsed after the light changed to red, according to a report by the California State Auditor. This suggests that most citations are issued to those surprised by a quick-changing signal light. Confidential documents obtained in a 2001 court trial proved that the city of San Diego, California and its red light camera vendor, now ACS, only installed red light cameras at intersections with high volumes and "Amber (yellow) phase less than 4 seconds."
Dallas likewise installed the cameras at locations with existing short yellow times. A total of twenty-one camera intersections in Dallas have yellow times below TxDOT's bare minimum recommended amount. The Texas Transportation Institute study also found that shorter yellows generate a 110 percent jump in the number of tickets, but at the cost of safety. Increasing the yellow one second above the recommended minimum cut crashes by 40 percent.
Since the Dallas intersection ticketing program launched last December, it has issued $13.5 million worth of automated citations from sixty camera locations. Beginning in September, however, Texas cities must split camera ticket profit with the state. To make up for lost revenue, Dallas plans to install forty more cameras. View KDFW's signal timing chart, a 44k PDF file.
Interesting article that describes how Dallas and Houston, and probably many other cities with traffic cameras, have set the yellow traffic lights to last a shorter time interval than is safe for motorists and just so they can collect additional traffic fines!! In other words, they jeopardize you and yours just for the funds of it!! My impression was always that traffic laws and the accompanying fines were for the purpose of protecting the public!! Guess not.
A local news investigation has found that the city of Dallas, Texas depends upon short yellow timing to maximize red light camera profit. Of the ten cameras that issue the greatest number of tickets in the city, seven are located at intersections where the yellow duration is shorter than the bare minimum recommended by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), KDFW-TV found.
The city's second highest revenue producing camera, for example, is located at the intersection of Greenville Avenue and Mockingbird Lane. It issued 9407 tickets worth $705,525 between January 1 and August 31, 2007. At the intersections on Greenville Avenue leadding up to the camera intersection, however, yellows are at least 3.5 or 4.0 seconds in duration, but the ticket producing intersection's yellow stands at just 3.15 seconds. The yellow is .35 seconds shorter than TxDOT's recommended bare minimum.
"For 30 miles per hour, if your yellow time was less than three and a half, you would not be giving that driver enough time to react and brake and stop prior to getting to the intersection," TxDOT Dallas District office transportation engineer supervisor Chris Blain told KDFW.
A small change in signal timing can have a great effect on the number of tickets issued. About four out of every five red light camera citations are issued before even a second has elapsed after the light changed to red, according to a report by the California State Auditor. This suggests that most citations are issued to those surprised by a quick-changing signal light. Confidential documents obtained in a 2001 court trial proved that the city of San Diego, California and its red light camera vendor, now ACS, only installed red light cameras at intersections with high volumes and "Amber (yellow) phase less than 4 seconds."
Dallas likewise installed the cameras at locations with existing short yellow times. A total of twenty-one camera intersections in Dallas have yellow times below TxDOT's bare minimum recommended amount. The Texas Transportation Institute study also found that shorter yellows generate a 110 percent jump in the number of tickets, but at the cost of safety. Increasing the yellow one second above the recommended minimum cut crashes by 40 percent.
Since the Dallas intersection ticketing program launched last December, it has issued $13.5 million worth of automated citations from sixty camera locations. Beginning in September, however, Texas cities must split camera ticket profit with the state. To make up for lost revenue, Dallas plans to install forty more cameras. View KDFW's signal timing chart, a 44k PDF file.
Apr 8, 2008
ManyBooks.net - Free eBooks for your PDA, iPod, or eBook Reader: "Free eBooks for your PDA, iPod, or eBook reader.
Browse through the most popular titles, recommendations, or recent reviews from our visitors. Perhaps you'll find something interesting in the special collections. There are 20,208 eBooks available here and they're all free!"
JUST LIKE CHRISTMAS!!! I happened onto this site by accident while gooling for an author. There are over twenty thousand titles here for download including versions for PDA and blcakberry!! ALL FREE!! Many are reviewed and or recommended. A lot of categories, certainly something there that you will like, I downloaded ten almost immedialtely and will make plently of tstops there in the futures. A Good Read recommendation from me!!!
Where the Brains Are: "The physical proximity of talented, highly educated people has a powerful effect on innovation and economic growth—in fact, the Nobel Prize–winning economist Robert Lucas declared the multiplier effects that stem from talent clustering to be the primary determinant of growth. That’s all the more true in a postindustrial economy dependent on creativity, intellectual property, and high-tech innovation."
George Orwell: 6 Questions/6 Rules: "What am I trying to say?"
Rules of writing by George Orwell
A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:
- What am I trying to say?
- What words will express it?
- What image or idiom will make it clearer?
- Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
And he will probably ask himself two more:
- Could I put it more shortly?
- Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?
One can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases:
- Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
- Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use the passive where you can use the active.
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
* From Orwell's essay“Politics and the English Language”
Apr 7, 2008
Poodwaddle World Clock
Poodwaddle World Clock
Very comprehensive world clock with dozens of specific clocks in a tabular format.
Too many to describe but well worth a look!
Very comprehensive world clock with dozens of specific clocks in a tabular format.
Too many to describe but well worth a look!
Climate Science: Roger Pielke Sr. Research Group News » Recent Data On Surface Snowmelt In Antarctica
Climate Science: Roger Pielke Sr. Research Group News » Recent Data On Surface Snowmelt In Antarctica
Interesting Climate Science Blog with a great deal of information and excellent side links.
Interesting Climate Science Blog with a great deal of information and excellent side links.
Apr 6, 2008
Openlifegrid.com A Global Community 3D Metaverse built on Open Source Technology: "A Global Community 3D Metaverse built with opensource technology from the opensimulator project."
A Global Community 3D Metaverse built with open source technology from the open simulator project.
Similar to Second Life but not as developed. I run this on my system locally to do SL development without logging onto Second Life!! Gives me humongous number of prims to play with and as much space as I want. Only real drawback to me is the lack of a MAC version.
A Global Community 3D Metaverse built with open source technology from the open simulator project.
Similar to Second Life but not as developed. I run this on my system locally to do SL development without logging onto Second Life!! Gives me humongous number of prims to play with and as much space as I want. Only real drawback to me is the lack of a MAC version.
Apr 5, 2008
The Kansas City BBQ Store - Home Page
Lots of barbecue sauces and rubs from around the country. I found a couple of my favorites listed for sale here. Seems to be a great place to shop.
Also has a great selection of barbecue accessories and lots of equipment.
Getting to be that time of year again so you might as well get ready for the Summer grilling and smoking season!!
Lots of barbecue sauces and rubs from around the country. I found a couple of my favorites listed for sale here. Seems to be a great place to shop.
Also has a great selection of barbecue accessories and lots of equipment.
Getting to be that time of year again so you might as well get ready for the Summer grilling and smoking season!!
Say hi to hybrids : 2008DenverAutoShow : Boulder Daily Camera
"Environmental technology takes many forms when it comes to automobiles. It can range from seats made out of 100 percent recycled material, to new hybrids that can work with gas and diesel engines, to plug-in hybrids that promise the potential for 40 miles or more of electric driving."
"Environmental technology takes many forms when it comes to automobiles. It can range from seats made out of 100 percent recycled material, to new hybrids that can work with gas and diesel engines, to plug-in hybrids that promise the potential for 40 miles or more of electric driving."
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper
Energy expert Richard Gilbert believes Hamilton has an opportunity to turn the looming oil shortage into a job creation strategy that could transform the city.
The author of a report suggesting that Hamilton could regain the reputation it once enjoyed as "The Electric City" of Canada, Gilbert thinks the city is well-positioned to be a leader in energy conservation.
The likelihood of a fourfold increase in gasoline and natural gas prices by 2020, he maintains, doesn't need to be as ominous as it appears if the city embraces an imaginative vision to prepare for it.
In what he calls "Hamilton's grand project for the 21st century," Gilbert envisions a city that would boost public transit with light-rail, streetcar or trolley-bus lines, promote energy conservation by retrofitting old buildings, require new ones to be energy efficient, and encourage more solar panels, wind turbines and district heating systems, among other things.
Read the reast of the article. Interesting.
California DUI Lawyer Center Blog: False-positive breath-alcohol test after a ketogenic diet
Interesting. With the push for low calorie diets and the idea that this action will prolong life, you may want to watch out for the cops if you try this diet out! Seems that the diet can lead to a DWI offense or a failed work required physical..
False-positive breath-alcohol test after a ketogenic diet
California drunk driving criminal defense attorney article
False-positive breath-alcohol test after a ketogenic diet
A 59-year-old man undergoing weight loss with very low calorie diets (VLCD) attempted to drive a car, which was fitted with an alcohol ignition interlock device, but the vehicle failed to start. Because the man was a teetotaler, he was surprised and upset by this result.
VLCD treatment leads to ketonemia with high concentrations of acetone, acetoacetate and b-hydroxybutyrate in the blood. The interlock device determines alcohol (ethanol) in breath by electrochemical oxidation, but acetone does not undergo oxidation with this detector. However, under certain circumstances acetone is reduced in the body to isopropanol by hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). The ignition interlock device responds to other alcohols (e.g. methanol, n-propanol and isopropanol), which therefore explains the false-positive result. This ‘side effect’ of ketogenic diets needs further discussion by authorities when people engaged in safety-sensitive work (e.g. bus drivers and airline pilots) submit to random breath-alcohol
tests.
Interesting. With the push for low calorie diets and the idea that this action will prolong life, you may want to watch out for the cops if you try this diet out! Seems that the diet can lead to a DWI offense or a failed work required physical..
False-positive breath-alcohol test after a ketogenic diet
California drunk driving criminal defense attorney article
False-positive breath-alcohol test after a ketogenic diet
A 59-year-old man undergoing weight loss with very low calorie diets (VLCD) attempted to drive a car, which was fitted with an alcohol ignition interlock device, but the vehicle failed to start. Because the man was a teetotaler, he was surprised and upset by this result.
VLCD treatment leads to ketonemia with high concentrations of acetone, acetoacetate and b-hydroxybutyrate in the blood. The interlock device determines alcohol (ethanol) in breath by electrochemical oxidation, but acetone does not undergo oxidation with this detector. However, under certain circumstances acetone is reduced in the body to isopropanol by hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). The ignition interlock device responds to other alcohols (e.g. methanol, n-propanol and isopropanol), which therefore explains the false-positive result. This ‘side effect’ of ketogenic diets needs further discussion by authorities when people engaged in safety-sensitive work (e.g. bus drivers and airline pilots) submit to random breath-alcohol
tests.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)