http://jobs.slashdot.org/job/f108a484996a2d4a4c4e3efd38becb6d/?d=1&bc=1&nsc=1

I am sorry for neglecting you...but I have been ill, and tired, and now that I have modified my SIG, need to to something to test it with...so I post!

ttyl
          Farrell

Buffalo Technology has alwasy been Linux Friendly...but today I ran across a nice little bit of tech from them that really blows me away. A TeraByte in a Box. Basically, it is a box that has four 250Gig drives in it, and probably a small Linux computer. It supports all sorts of snazzy protocols to attach this array to your system.

About 8 years ago, I built a three quarters of a terabyte array using Linux's software RAID, 4 SCSI controllers and lots of Seagate Cheeta drives. The fact that I can now get a full terabyte that will sit on my desktop is just astounding!

Read about the beastie here

ttyl
          Farrell

Cnet News has a great article on Adobe software, and why they continue to do so well even in the face of competition and Microsoft. To me, it all boils down to two things.

1. They make Quality Innovative Software
2. They charge a fair price for it.

Yes, it can be expensive if you buy *everything*, but they do offer bundles with other products, and cut-down versions.

And they do share their technology.

ttyl
          Farrell

My friend, Serge Wroclawski, just had his first article published on NewsForge.com...url of it is:

http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/09/28/1554200

Go and check it out, and learn about safe IMing!

ttyl
          Farrell

p.s. I've been sorting out the mess that is my life, and I am slowly getting a handle on it...more posts soon!

Any Canadian who knows anything about our Aerospace industry will have heard about the Arrow, which in 1958 had it's first flight, but all too soon the project was shut down, some say due to cost, others due to pressure from the US since it would litterally blow the doors off anything anyone else in the world had. Don't believe me? Well, it had a top speed rating of Mach 1.98 (Maybe more, but it was never tested beyond that). Anyways, here are some specs:

Cruising speed: 701 mph (Mach 1.06)
Max speed: 1,312 mph (Mach 1.98)
Climbing speed(0 to 50 000 feet): 4 minutes 24 seconds
Operating ceiling: 58 500 feet
Interception ceiling: 75 000 feet

It would have comparable to the F-15, but flying a full 15 years before the first flight of the F-15! True, the F-15 would outperform it, but not by much.

The Arrow was also unique because it was the first fly-by-wire aircraft with force-feedback controls using digital computers to control the avionics and fire-control. Remember, this was in 1958.

One of the big bugaboos around the cancelation of the Arrow program was that all of the prototypes were destroyed, as were all of the plans...or so they thought. It seems that a woman in New Brunswick has a some of the blueprints. You can read about it at CTV.COM.

After the cancellation of the project, many of the prime engineers went to work for NASA, where they made a huge contribution to the Gemini and Apollo programs...including the designers of the Gemini space craft, and the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). Men landed on the moon because of the work of Canadians who worked on the Avro Arrow.

If you are interested in more information about the Avro Arrow, just do we google search, you will turn up lots of info!

ttyl
          Farrell

Well, the latest attempt at converting Asimov's Robot stories to the screen has just been released, and it should be intersting...It will be judged against the Robin Williams' vehicle "Bicentenial Man", based upon a later Robot story. One might say that the new movie is a Will Smith vehicle as well. The fact that these stories can attract such star power is a tribute to their power. The fact that they end up having so little to do with the stories they are based upon says a lot about Hollywood.

Realistically, one should probably view this movie as a new piece of fiction based in the Robot universe...I wonder if they will ever explore the juntion of the Robot universe with the Foundation universe...

There is an excellent article discussing the new movie on the New York Times web site...registration required...you can read it here

I haven't seen the movie myself, but I will soon.

ttyl
          Farrell

It seems that over the past year has had their computers and networks compromised repeatedly. Now, that is not as bad as it sounds...no security is perfect, and that is why you also have to build security in depth, with Intrusion Detection Systems, and proceedures to minimise the damage when a cracker gets in. But...we don't know how much damage was done, and if ultra secure systems were compromised. Here is what part of the report says:

  "They also logged five cases of "unauthorized limited access" and 35 instances of "malicious logic" -- the attempted introduction of viruses, worms or other unwanted programs into a computer system.

There were 110 cases of "poor security practice" on the part of employees, by far the most common problem last year. Of these, the majority involved concerns about the security of e-mail transmissions.

Others stemmed from use of Internet Relay Chat messaging and the popular KaZaa file-sharing service, inappropriate storage of materials, and unauthorized Web postings. Another case involved improper access to a network."

You can read the entire article here

ttyl
          Farrell

ABCNews's website is running an article on the idea that Microsoft might be running an astroturf war against Linux....I wonder what their first clue was?

Still, it is nice to see that the mainstream media has a bit of a clue about what is happening.

ttyl
          Farrell

Actually, every Government on this planet lies. Comes with the territory. But what we are asking now is did the Governement lie when it said that it couldn't fufil a Freedom of Information Act request? You may have remembered a story here on Slashdot.org. But take a look at this story from NewsForge questioning if the systes are *really* that unstable, or if it is just an excuse not to give out that information. I expect this to go to the courts soon...

ttyl
          Farrell

Well, according to this Wired article, John Kerry's site is using Red Hat Linux, and Apache. Bush, on the other hand is using Microsoft IIS 5.0. I don't know about you, but I don't trust places that use IIS, and you shouldn't either, especially if you use Internet Explorer, as outside parties can crack the IIS site, and add code that will allow them to compromise any IE user who connects an infected IIS server.

Of course, this shows that the Bush people don't have much of a clue about security, both online, and in the Big Blue Room. We really need to get Bush out of there!

Well, they have offically done it, and no, not giving Iraq their sovereignty back, although that did happen...but Real Networks has announced that popular distros will now have offical support from Real Networks! You can read about it on NY Times website, free registration required, of course...here's the link

One of the big problems with current space launch systems is the volatility of the fuels. They may be exotic chemicals, or simply kerosene and liquid Oxygen, they tend to blow up at the slightest provocation. Since there are huge amounts needed to put payloads into space, this means that launches need to have a huge safety perimeter around the lauch sites.

One of the innovations of Rutan's Spaceship is the use of what is known as a hybrid fuel that conists of basically rubber and nitrious oxide. Both are easy to obtain, don't need massive refriguration units to keep them liquid, and are pretty much know quantities in terms of their behaviour.Although the "bang for the buck" is not as good as many more exotic fuels, it makes up for it in terms of weight savings and reduced complexity. Both are important aspects to commercial space flight.

CNN has an article taken from a Space.com article that talks about this.

ttyl
          Farrell

Well, it used to be that the closest Science Fiction had to a museum was Forrest J. Ackerman's house. It was chock full of books, posters, models and other "stuff" pertaining to SF and Fantasy...but now, Paul Allen has taken part of his "Experience the Music" complex and turned it into a SF Museum. New York Times has an article here, the usual blahblahblah about registration.

In reading the article, I fear it may be mostly a media oriented museum...and I guess in today's culture it can't be helped...but I certainly hope that the place has a good selection of stuff from Books, and maybe, SF Fandom. Without Fandom, SF probably would have died a long time ago.

The BBC has a great series of photos of Dr. Who's companions over the years. Here is the link

I've never been a big Dr.Who fan, but I have watched my share of episodes, and do think that it is one of the better SF series ever made.