Comment Re:Four Lettered Languages (Score 1) 127
I think most people would agree PHP is a four-letter word.
Journal Journal: Verbiage/Rant: Customized email addresses problems (4)
I like to customize my email addresses. (parts 2 and 3 are not as relevant here.) The problem is, not all websites accept this format. Somehow the extra period throws them for a loop and either i get no response from them or they reject it from the outset.
Submission + - What Does The NSA Think Of Cryptographers? (i-programmer.info)
mikejuk writes: A recently declassified NSA house magazine, CryptoLog, reveals some interesting attitudes between the redactions. What is the NSA take on cryptography?
The article of interest is a report of a trip to the 1992 EuroCrypt conference by an NSA cryptographer whose name is redacted.We all get a little bored having to sit though presentations that are off topic, boring or even down right silly but we generally don't write our opinions down. In this case the criticisms are cutting and they reveal a lot about the attitude of the NSA cryptographers. You need to keep in mind as you read that this is intended for the NSA crypto community and as such the writer would have felt at home with what was being written.
Take for example:
Three of the last four sessions were of no value whatever, and indeed there was almost nothing at Eurocrypt to interest us (this is good news!). The scholarship was actually extremely good; it’s just that the directions which external cryptologic researchers have taken are remarkably far from our own lines of interest.
It seems that back in 1992 academic cryptographers were working on things that the NSA didn't consider of any importance. Could things be the same now?
The gulf between the two camps couldn't be better expressed than:
The conference again offered an interesting view into the thought processes of the world’s leading “cryptologists.” It is indeed remarkable how far the Agency has strayed from the True Path.
The ironic comment is clearly suggesting that the NSA is on the "true path" whatever that might be.
Clearly the gap between the NSA and the academic crypto community is probably as wide today with the different approaches to the problem being driven by what each wants to achieve. It is worth reading the rest of the article.
The article of interest is a report of a trip to the 1992 EuroCrypt conference by an NSA cryptographer whose name is redacted.We all get a little bored having to sit though presentations that are off topic, boring or even down right silly but we generally don't write our opinions down. In this case the criticisms are cutting and they reveal a lot about the attitude of the NSA cryptographers. You need to keep in mind as you read that this is intended for the NSA crypto community and as such the writer would have felt at home with what was being written.
Take for example:
Three of the last four sessions were of no value whatever, and indeed there was almost nothing at Eurocrypt to interest us (this is good news!). The scholarship was actually extremely good; it’s just that the directions which external cryptologic researchers have taken are remarkably far from our own lines of interest.
It seems that back in 1992 academic cryptographers were working on things that the NSA didn't consider of any importance. Could things be the same now?
The gulf between the two camps couldn't be better expressed than:
The conference again offered an interesting view into the thought processes of the world’s leading “cryptologists.” It is indeed remarkable how far the Agency has strayed from the True Path.
The ironic comment is clearly suggesting that the NSA is on the "true path" whatever that might be.
Clearly the gap between the NSA and the academic crypto community is probably as wide today with the different approaches to the problem being driven by what each wants to achieve. It is worth reading the rest of the article.
Comment Re:With a RTG, it couldn't have got to the comet. (Score 2) 523
The SNAP-9A used in the Transit 5B-2 navigation satellite launched in 1963 weighed 12.3 kg and produced 25 watts of power. That looks about like a perfect fit for Philae, and I'm sure more efficient thermocouplers are available today that could further reduce the weight.
They could also have made Rosetta much larger, and possibly have got to its destination much faster, by launching on a Saturn V rather than an Ariane 5.
(Unfortunately, the jumbo-sized booster was unavailable - as was the RTG.)
Comment Re:I'm quite surprised it wasn't (Score 1) 523
Like the GP, I was also surprised to hear that a probe so far from Earth was solar powered, I wouldn't have thought there was enough light that far out even without the shadows. Sure it's an assumption but it's not baseless, previous deep space probes such as Cassini, pioneer, and voyager are all nuclear powered.
NASA's Juno probe, currently en route to Jupiter, is also solar powered.
RTGs are great, but availability is limited.
Comment Re:Moo (Score 1) 5
Heh.
Anyway, thanx for posting.
Comment Re:Moo (Score 1) 5
OK, i misunderstood what expat meant. I thought it had to do with revoking citizenship. There i go not looking up words again.
Who knows, maybe i'll take a peek at reddit again someday.
Comment Moo (Score 1) 5
expat? I don't remember that.
reddit is a cesspool, so i rarely bother with it, even when it shows up from a search.
I (like to) think i would pay for a service where someone filtered slashdot & reddit comments to what is actually informational, interesting, and truly funny. IOW, what comment moderation was intended for.
Comment Re:The Truman Show (Score 1) 246
By the time "the launch window" comes around you could easily have them (and hell, us as well, the viewing public) convinced that they are onboard a genuine Mars mission rocket heading into space... much easier to achieve - and cheaper and safer - if it's all in a studio.
Been done already (albeit with a flight to a peculiarly non-weightless 'low Earth orbit' rather than a mission to Mars) with the 2005 television series Space Cadets.
Comment Re:A great family of products (Score 4, Interesting) 141
For my own use, I was thinking of turning mine into an airplay-compatible receiver (I found that there is software for for that) and built it together with (wifi dongle and a little amp) into a very old radio cabinet. Nice to put in the kitchen.
If your radio is still in semi-working condition, it might be possible to inject the audio signal from the Pi into the radio's existing amplifier. I almost certainly broke all kinds of audio design rules, but in my instance it sounds brilliant. I (briefly) got it working as an Airplay receiver, but for nearly two years it's been doing sterling stuff as a time-delayed BBC Radio 4 device.
(I would definitely recommend against blindly doing this with stuff that's directly mains-powered - I know that a lot of old radios, especially in the USA, did scary things with mains voltages. For a battery-powered transistor radio? Certainly worth a try.)
Comment Moo (Score 1) 2
Written well and talks about warmth without communicating any of it.
Thanx.
Comment Moo (Score 1) 4
Dude, i hope ya feel better.
I have to agree with your thought process here. Second opinion, costing more, pain killers, disc vs disk, spine is more important, etc.
Thanx for posting! And get better!
Comment Re: Well (Score 1) 594
I should also point out that the Stratolaunch concept wouldn't have even been conceived had the original White Knight or the White Knight 2 never been developed.
Erm... Pegasus? (Apparently Stratolaunch Systems will be launching the Pegasus II...)
The whole SpaceShip[n] concept is pretty similar to the X-15 anyway.
Comment Re:We could probably write this in HTML5 today (Score 1) 299
I experienced LabVIEW as part of standard software for a Lego Mindstorms kit. THE HORROR.
Comment Re:Fine, if (Score 5, Interesting) 286
I've seen so many incredible things looking out of aircraft windows. One vaguely recent example - a crescent moon during a sunrise causing rapidly changing light on the clouds below. And then there's a wintry Iceland with geothermal power stations venting steam, and ice on Lake Michigan reflecting sunlight in abstract ways...
Not sitting next to a window is awful.
