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Comment: Re:Normally I don't respond to AC (Score 1) 381

by MadEE (#22500764) Attached to: Airport Security Prize Announced

Now, assume the bullet hits the ceiling and almost immediately the aircraft will start de-pressurizing (venting oxygen too) which is a very bad thing (read Hypoxia). In general, commercial aircraft are pressurized at a maximum cabin altitude equivalent to about 8,000 feet, where it is possible to breathe normally without an oxygen mask. This is when the oxygen masks come in handy as you are venting oxygen into the atmosphere.
An aircraft fuselage is not a completely sealed tank, pressurization happens by either drawing air from one or more of the engines or a separate compressor. Putting more holes in it will not suddenly stop the plane from bleeding air into the cabin.
Quickies

Big 'Ocean' Discovered Beneath Asia

Submitted by anthemaniac
anthemaniac writes "Seismic observations reveal a huge reservoir of water in Earth's mantle beneath Asia. It's actually rock saturated with water, but it's an ocean's worth of water ... as much as is in the whole Arctic Ocean. How did it get there? A slab of water-laden crust sank, and the water evaporated out when it was heated, and then it was trapped, the thinking goes. The discovery fits neatly with the region's heavy seismic activity and fits neatly with the idea that the planet's moving crustal plates are lubricated with water."
XBox (Games)

XBOX360 Hypervisor Security Protection hacked

Submitted by
ACTRAiSER
ACTRAiSER writes "A recent Post on Bugtraq claims the hack of the XBOX360 Security Protection Hypervisor. It includes sample code as well. "We have discovered a vulnerability in the Xbox 360 hypervisor that allows privilege escalation into hypervisor mode. Together with a method to inject data into non-privileged memory areas, this vulnerability allows an attacker with physical access to an Xbox 360 to run arbitrary code such as alternative operating systems with full privileges and full hardware access.""
The Internet

Wikipedia bureaucrat with bogus PhD

Submitted by keyero
keyero writes "The New Yorker has posted an Editor's note, correcting for a story they published in July about Wikipedia and expertise. In the article, they quoted User:Essjay who is a a bureaucrat, arbitrator, and other roles including checkuser. He was described as "a tenured professor of religion at a private university" with "a Ph.D. in theology and a degree in canon law." Turns out, he is twenty-four and holds no advanced degrees, and that he has never taught. Nonetheless, Jimmy Wales has brushed this aside and recently appointed Essjay to the Arbitration committee. He also hired Essjay to serve as "Community Manager" on Wikia."
Software

MPAA Fires Back at AACS Decryption Utility

Submitted by RulerOf
RulerOf writes "The AACS Decryption utility released this past December known as BackupHDDVD originally authored by Muslix64 of the Doom9 forums has received its first official DMCA Takedown Notice. It has been widely speculated that the utility itself was not an infringing piece of software due to the fact that it is merely "a textbook implementation of AACS," written with the help of documents publicly available at the AACS LA's website, and that the AACS Volume Unique Keys that the end user isn't supposed to have access to are in fact the infringing content, but it appears that such is not the case. From the thread:

"...you must input keys and then it will decrypt the encrypted content. If this is the case, than according to the language of the DMCA it does sound like it is infringing. Section 1201(a) says that it is an infringement to "circumvent a technological measure." The phrase, "circumvent a technological measure" is defined as "descramb(ling) a scrambled work or decrypt(ing) an encrypted work, ... without the authority of the copyright owner." If BackupHDDVD does in fact decrypt encrypted content than per the DMCA it needs a license to do that."
VA

DOT gets Between Airline Passangers and Doom

Submitted by
JonLesser
JonLesser writes "On Dec. 8, 2005, Virgin America filed an application with the DOT to provide air service in the US. Shortly after the application was filed, Continental, American, United, and Delta filed the first of a wave of opposition briefs and legal motions to try to stop or slow down the DOT approval process.

VA set up a website in an effort to mobilize a grass-roots campaign to support their application. A key selling point for the public is the linux-based in-flight entertainment system. In a video on the website Charles Ogilvie, Director of In-Flight Entertainment and Partnerships, demos Doom and claims VA is planning to reach out to Linux game developers in search of more games for the system."
NASA

Golf-Ball Sized Hail Damages Shuttle 118

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the don't-make-me-stop-this-thing dept.
MattSparkes writes "The Shuttles March launch has been delayed to late April after golf-ball sized hail caused 7000 pits and divots in the foam that shields the fuel tank. NASA say it's the worst damage of its kind that they have ever seen, but hail is not a new problem for the agency. In 1982, a hailstorm damaged the sensitive heat shield tiles on the Columbia's wings. The damaged tiles then absorbed about 540 kilograms of rain. Once in space, the orbiter faced the Sun to allow the tiles to dry out."

I request a weekend in Havana with Phil Silvers!