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Comment Re:This would be fun to hack (Score 1) 36

by WillAffleckUW (#49022091) Attached to: Airport Using Google Glass For Security and Passenger Information

Depends on the feed protocols. Would be far easier to change the text and color displays, and have the headset send back an "override: incorrect identification" message back to the system. This "clears" the subject long enough for them to proceed and confuses, due to high levels of mismatch. Any system without such overrides would be non-functional, due to real world constraints.

Basic application of social engineering - find the most common override that shuts or delays the security and use that. Don't upgrade from BAD GUY to VIP, upgrade from BAD GUY to NORMAL or from NORMAL to VIP. Play the numbers.

(caveat: none of this will impact real world risks, which are already set up for failure)

Submission + - What Will It Take to End Mass Surveillance? (alternet.org)

Submitted by Nicola Hahn
Nicola Hahn writes: Both the White House and the U.S. Intelligence Community have recently announced reforms to surveillance programs sanctioned under Section 215 of the Patriot Act and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But do these reforms represent significant restructuring or are they just bureaucratic gestures intended to create the perception that officials are responding to public pressure?

The Executive’s own Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board has written up an assessment of reform measures implemented by the government. For those who want a quick summary the Board published a fact sheet which includes a table listing recommendations made by the board almost a year ago and corresponding reforms. The fact sheet reveals that the Board’s mandate to “end the NSA’s bulk telephone records program” has not been implemented.

In other words, the physical infrastructure of the NSA’s global panopticon is still in place. In fact, it’s growing larger. So despite all of the press statements and associated media buzz very little has changed. There are people who view this as an unsettling indication of where society is headed. Ed Snowden claimed that he wanted to “trigger” a debate, but is that really enough? What will it take to tear down Big Brother?

Submission + - Arkansas Declares a High School CS Education State of Emergency

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Aiming to deliver on Governor Asa Hutchinson's inspired-by-Code.org-and-others Plan For Job Creation Through Technology Education, the Arkansas House voted 99-0 last week to require high schools to offer [but not require] a course in computer science, either in a traditional or online setting, starting this fall. Hutchinson learned last December that the state has only 6 qualified instructors to teach CS to high school students, so it's envisioned that the courses will be offered online through Virtual Arkansas ("where AR kids are Our kids"). Interestingly, House Bill 1183 includes a pretty dire-sounding Emergency Clause: "It is found and determined by the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas that computer science and technology skills are of vital importance to meet the growing needs of the workforce; that public school students need opportunities to develop computer science and technology skills in order to be competitive in the future; and that this act is immediately necessary to ensure that the Department of Education has the time necessary to develop and modify academic standards for computer science courses before beginning of the 2015-2016 school year. Therefore, an emergency is declared to exist, and this act being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, and safety shall become effective on: (1) The date of its approval by the Governor."

Comment Re:Nuclear fission has higher carbon than measured (Score 1) 309

by WillAffleckUW (#49020687) Attached to: The IPCC's Shifting Position On Nuclear Energy

I'm a bit concerned about the fusion source materials. Would have to cost them out cradle to grave as well, including their processing before and after. Since it's still in test phase, am not going to weigh in on a process that's only partially complete.

The problem is the "they" you refer to. Different "they" groups exist. Isolated spaceships or military bases with difficult logisitics for fuel supply might find the cost/benefit ratios different. Places dependent on coal with no ready supply of wind or solar PV or solar passive might have different values.

Comment Nuclear fission has higher carbon than measured (Score 1) 309

by WillAffleckUW (#49019525) Attached to: The IPCC's Shifting Position On Nuclear Energy

The problem is that any real measurement of global warming impact has to be done using the Cradle-to-Grave methodology to be true. The mining process is fairly bad in impacts, and the 10,000 year storage and movement and cleanup dilemma makes it a non-starter.

Now, don't get me wrong, I've owned nuclear fission utilities in the past. But it's highly subsidized and not a good choice at all.

On the upside, nuclear fusion research is promising here at the UW, so if your heart is set on nuclear, maybe fusion will pencil out.

Submission + - Doctor Who Legos On Shelves This Christmas (dailymail.co.uk) 2

Submitted by WillgasM
WillgasM writes: "Lego has signed a deal with the BBC to create a Dr Who set with mini-figures, the Tardis and representations of many of the enemies he has taken on and defeated." It hasn't yet been decided exactly which characters will be released, but potential characters include "various doctors, including David Tennant and Tom Baker, alongside Billie Piper, K9 the robot dog, and versions of the Daleks, Cybermen and Weeping Angels." So...how exactly are they going to make the Tardis bigger on the inside?

Submission + - Why the nuclear industry targets renewables instead of gas (midwestenergynews.com) 3

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: Cheap natural gas has upended the nation’s energy landscape and made aging nuclear power plants increasingly uncompetitive.

Yet the nuclear industry, which generates almost a fifth of the nation’s energy, has declared war not on gas but on wind and solar, which represent about 4 and 0.2 percent of our energy mix, respectively.

Nuclear generators have successfully fought against renewable and energy efficiency standards on the state level, and lobbied against tax incentives for wind and solar on the federal level. They’re in the process of securing changes in regional capacity markets that would benefit nuclear and harm solar and wind.

And as states develop their Clean Power Plans to fulfill the federal mandate to reduce carbon emissions, nuclear is often pitted against renewables.

In deregulated states like Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, nuclear generators have found it increasingly difficult to sell their power at a profit on open markets, because of competition primarily from gas but also from wind.

Meanwhile, energy efficiency and distributed solar generation have reduced demand for electricity and are part of a fundamental shift which could significantly shrink the role of large, centralized power plants.

Submission + - Norway is the first country in the world to divest from fossil fuels (qz.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: Norway, the nation with the largest sovereign fund in the world, is withdrawing from its investments in fossil fuels. A number of universities, cities, and religious institutions have joined the so-called “divestment” movement, but Norway is the first nation to do so officially.

“It’s not the first time a country’s fund has sold off companies,” Jamie Henn, co-founder of the international climate-change advocacy group 350.org, told Quartz. “But it’s definitely the first time they’ve done so in the context of climate risk and environmental concerns.”

Norway is divesting from 32 coal companies, most of which are linked to either high carbon emissions or deforestation. It’s also pulling out of investments in tar sands and cement. Moral high ground aside, investing in these companies—like the fossil fuels they generate—may be unsustainable. While Norway can now boast that it has made a bold move toward a cleaner planet, it has in the process also shed assets that are inherently risky.

Submission + - H1B Records Being Destroyed by Feds

Submitted by Foofoobar
Foofoobar writes: On the tail of 100,000 layoffs by IBM, the Feds are deleting all long term electronic records associated with the H1B program. No reason was given and this would never have been noticed until the Labor Dept posted a note saying those records were no longer available. This directly inhibits ANY research on companies using these. What is the government trying to hide?

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