__Reason__ - Slashdot User

Submission + - Why cyberwarfare is just fiction (blogspot.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 07, 2010 @05:56AM

An anonymous reader writes: In response to calls by Russia and the UN for a "cyberwarfare arms limitation treat", this article explains
"Cyberwar" and "cyberweapons" are fiction. The conflicts between nation states in cyberspace are nothing like warfare, and the tools hackers use are nothing like weapons. Putting "cyber" in front a something is just way for people to grasp technical concepts, the analogies quickly break down, and are useless when taken too far (such as a "cyber disarmament treaty").

Comment Re:Has Boris thought.... (Score 2, Interesting) 130

by __Reason__ on Friday May 21, 2010 @07:20AM (#32291294) Attached to: London's Mayor Promises London-Wide Wireless For 2012 Olympics

how many lamp-posts there are in London?

There's approximately 20,500 bus stops in Greater London - I have a database (NaPTAN) of them. I'd estimate there's as least 50 lamp posts for every bus stop. So, thats over 1,000,000 WiFI access points to be rolled out by 2012! Wow!

Comment Re:A few details (Score 3, Informative) 491

by __Reason__ on Monday December 28, 2009 @10:02PM (#30578222) Attached to: China Debuts the World's Fastest Train

BTW, in day-to-day operations, German's ICE and Japan's Sinkansen often go beyond 300 km/h. Frace's TGV never does, and Canada's Bombaardier doesn't even work well above 200 km/h.

France's LGV Est (this is the line that the 574km/h world speed record was set) has a standard operating speed of 320 km/h. There is no line in Germany capable of speeds over 300km/h (but German ICE trains do operate on LGV Est at 320km/h).

Also, Bombardier isn't the name of a train network in the sense of ICE, TGV, or Shinkansen. Bombardier is a train manufacturing company like Alstom, Siemens, or Hitachi. Canada's passenger rail network is known as VIA and for the most part it isn't regarded as high-speed, though they do use tilting train technology on the densely populated "corridor" between Windsor, ON and Quebec City, QC. This corridor line does boast higher average speeds than on any current passenger rail line in the US.

Comment Re:Nice (Score 1) 491

by __Reason__ on Monday December 28, 2009 @09:40PM (#30578066) Attached to: China Debuts the World's Fastest Train

Its downright uncomfortable/impossible to stand without holding onto something, hence the hand straps to grab. A super fast train is probably much worse. I find it highly unlikely it would take more than 60 secs to go 0-300 or 300-0. That's actually pretty slow acceleration, compared to a car.

I'm thinking one / one / one, total three mins, times 20 is 60 mins station time, leaving two hours, cruise around 300 MPH, it does all work out. Of course there is always marketing BS, such as not counting station time...

You may be confusing passenger trains with freight trains. A couple million pounds of coal does indeed take awhile to accelerate and decelerate.

And you may be confusing subway/metro/commuter trains systems with long distance passenger trains. The ride quality and acceleration of a long distance train is usually much smoother. In my experience Eurostar, Shinkansen, TGV type trains often accelerate so smoothly that you can barely feel the train moving at all if you aren't looking out the window!

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