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Programming

Choice of Programming Language Doesn't Matter For Security 192

Posted by Soulskill from the obvious-things-your-boss-doesn't-understand dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Security Ninja has written a blog post which discusses web programming languages and the fact that they are all insecure. It's based on a report from WhiteHat Security and aims to dispel the myth that some languages will guarantee that an application will be more or less secure than other languages. '... secure code is the product of a secure development process and real business commitment to deliver secure applications which includes developer education. The absence of these processes and business commitments will lead to web applications being developed insecurely regardless of the language being used.'"

Comment Re:Licensing? Severs? (Score 1) 190

by Inspector Lopez (#31607046) Attached to: Open Source Alternative To Google Earth?

not useful for end-user activity? I think you'd have to have a fairly narrow view of "useful" for that statement to be defensible.

My son spent an amusing hour this evening driving a Viper aircraft at ground level from SFO to SEA at 390 miles per hour on Google Earth Flight Simulator. He was asked me how to figure out when he got near SEATAC, which gave me an opportunity to tell him to look for the various volcanos in the Cascades, the Columbia River, and to take a 30 degree left turn at Mt. Rainier.

Sounds useful to me, especially considering that huge fortune I spent on Google Earth.

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"useful" like "beauty" is in the eye of the beholder. We all know that MS produces loathesome software, stifles innovation, and serves up grilled dolphin steaks with penguin sauce to their droids in the cafeteria in Redmond. And yet, and yet, ... dangit: a lot of people kind of like Windows.

I don't, but I have to admit, a lot of people do.

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I think Google Earth is cool. I'm not really sure why Google did it, but I'm not yelling at them for doing it.

Inspector Lopez
Earth

Attack of the Killer Electrons 98

Posted by Soulskill from the blame-the-esa-for-the-title dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "At the peak of a magnetic storm, the number of highly energetic 'killer electrons' strong enough to damage electronics and human tissue can increase by a factor of more than ten times, posing a danger to spacecraft, satellites, and astronauts. Killer electrons can penetrate satellite shielding, so if electrical discharges take place in vital components, a satellite can be damaged or even rendered inoperable. For many years, the mechanism by which killer electrons are produced has remained poorly understood, in spite of physicists' attempts at solving this puzzle. Now the ESA reports that data shows the increase in the creation of a substantial number of killer electrons is due to a two-step process. First, the initial acceleration is due to the strong shock-related magnetic field compression. Immediately after the impact of the interplanetary shock wave, Earth's magnetic field lines began wobbling at ultra low frequencies. In turn, these ULF waves effectively accelerate the seed electrons (provided by the first step) to become killer electrons. 'These new findings help us to improve the models predicting the radiation environment in which satellites and astronauts operate. With solar activity now ramping up, we expect more of these shocks to impact our magnetosphere over the months and years to come,' says Philippe Escoubet, ESA's Cluster mission manager."

Comment Re:Not the world's largest radio telescope (Score 1) 161

by Inspector Lopez (#16894180) Attached to: Funding Cut For Arecibo Observatory
largest != most sensitive. I'm sure that Pune is very nice, as is the radar at Gadanki ... however

The US operates an even larger radar near Lima, Peru (the Jicamarca Radar Observatory). However, at 50 MHz, and looking up through the equatorial ionosphere ... it's less sensitive than Arecibo. Arecibo (as a reflector system) is intrinsically broadband, operating from 50 MHz through X band ... which *very* impressive.

Both JRO and AO have their uses. *neither* is replacable by *any* instruments on the planet. They are both fabulous instruments. They have *no* competition on Earth --- at what they do best.
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Journal Journal: I'm this guy

Journal by Inspector Lopez

I'm a professor of electrical engineering at a reasonably well-known university in the United States.

My nom-de-electron, "Inspector Lopez", is in fact an allusion to my dear dog, Lopez, whose long "warrior name" is "Inspector Lopez of the Lopez Bureau of Investigation." I admit that this makes no sense at all.

I play cello, violin, and piano, not at the same time, and in mediocre fashion.

I grew up on a farm. I was persuaded not to make farming my career.

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Just about every computer on the market today runs Unix, except the Mac (and nobody cares about it). -- Bill Joy 6/21/85

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