Sooner Boomer - Slashdot User

Submission + - Biggest storm seen on Saturn (tgdaily.com)

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Sooner Boomer

on Thursday July 07, 2011 @05:16AM

Sooner Boomer writes: "The Cassini space probe has been monitoring an enormous storm on Saturn since it was detected last December. The storm was first discovered by the radio signals produced by the incredible lightening strikes. The storm, dubbed "The Great White Spot", now 500 times larger than any previously seen by Cassini at Saturn, is 8 times the surface area of Earth. Observers on Earth have been able to see a bright white "smudge" in the northern half of the planet. Article with audio of storm here: http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/57070-cassini-monitors-biggest-ever-saturn-storm , great pictures here: http://www.universetoday.com/87269/the-sights-and-sounds-of-saturns-super-storm/ , NASA Cassini page here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html"

Submission + - Computer worm found in industrial control systems (computerworld.com)

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Sooner Boomer

on Friday September 17, 2010 @02:16AM

Sooner Boomer writes: "In the Sept. 14th Computer World is an article about a sophisticated worm designed to steal industrial secrets and disrupt operations has infected at least 14 plants, according to Siemens.

Called Stuxnet, the worm was discovered in July when researchers at VirusBlokAda found it on computers in Iran. It is one of the most sophisticated and unusual pieces of malicious software ever created — the worm leveraged a previously unknown Windows vulnerability (now patched) that allowed it to spread from computer to computer, typically via USB sticks. Stuxnet has infected systems in the U.K., North America and Korea, however the largest number of infections, by far, have been in Iran.

Once installed on a PC, Stuxnet uses Siemens' default passwords to seek out and try to gain access to systems that run the WinCC and PCS 7 programs — so-called PLC (programmable logic controller) programs that are used to manage large-scale industrial systems on factory floors and in military installations and chemical and power plants.

If the worm were to be used to mess up systems at a chemical or power plant, the results could be devastating."

Submission + - Nigerian "Scam Police" shut down 800 web sites\

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Sooner Boomer

on Thursday October 22, 2009 @01:48PM

Sooner Boomer writes: "Nigerian police in what is named Operation "Eagle Claw" have shut down 800 scam web sites, and arrested members of 18 syndicates behind the fraudulent scam sites. Reports on Breitbart.com, and Pointblank give details on the busts. The investigation was done in cooperation with Microsoft, to help develop smart technology software capable of detecting fraudulent emails. From Breitbart "When operating at full capacity, within the next six months, the scheme, dubbed "eagle claw" should be able to forewarn around a quarter of million potential victims.". So maybe Microsoft does a little bit of good after all."

Submission + - Searchble archive for literature w/keywords?

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Sooner Boomer

on Wednesday April 01, 2009 @10:34AM

Sooner Boomer writes: "I'm trying to help drag a professor I work with into the 20th century. Although he is involved in cutting-edge research (nanotechnology), his method of literature search is to begin with digging through the hundreds of 3-ring binders that contain articles (usually from pdf's) that he has printed out. Even though the binders are labeled, the articles can only go under one "heading" and there's no way to do a keyword search on subject, methods, materials, etc. Yeah, google is pretty good for finding stuff, as are other on-line literature services, but they only work for articles that are already on-line. His literature also includes articles copied from books, professional correspondence, and other sources. Is there a FOSS database or archive method (preferably with a web interface) where he could archive the pdf's and scanned documents and be able to search by keywords? It would also be nice to categorize them under multiple subject headings if possible. I know this has been covered ad nauseum with things like photos and the like, but I'm not looking at storage as such: instead I'm trying to find *what's* stored."

Submission + - Japan launches lunar orbiter mission Friday

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Sooner Boomer

on Friday September 14, 2007 @01:25AM

Sooner Boomer writes: "Japan launched its first lunar probe on Friday, nicknamed Kaguya after a fairy-tale princess, in the latest move in a new race with China, India and the United States to explore the moon. The rocket carrying the three-metric ton orbiter took off into blue skies, leaving a huge trail of vapor over the tiny island of Tanegashima, about 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo, at 10:31 a.m. (9:31 p.m. EDT) as it headed out over the Pacific Ocean. The mission consists of a main orbiter and two baby satellites equipped with 14 observation instruments designed to examine surface terrain, gravity and other features for clues on the origin and evolution of the moon. Read the article or see Japanese Space Agency home page (in English) China has plans to launch an orbiter later this year, with unmaanned rover lander mission scheduled for 2010. India and the US also have orbiter missions scheduled for next year."

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