Cryptography - Keep Your Privacy One Way or Another
cn | 11 March, 2006 21:03
Over at Slashdot there's a review of a new book about the history of cryptography. Here's a clip:
Ever since the first codes and ciphers were developed, there has been a battle between those who want to keep their information secret, and those who want to read that information. It has been a purely intellectual war, but one that is often driven by motives from above that are far more violent. This book chronicles that battle, from it's inception, to the modern day, and outlines the techniques used to obfuscate information, and the fascinating history of the application of those techniques.
Remember - be responsible for protecting yourself, because those claiming to be your protector might just be spying on you.
Read the review here.
Posted in Computers/Technology, Inventions, Science . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
Soybean-Powered Car Gets 50 mpg, Made by High School Kids
cn | 07 March, 2006 19:00
So on cbsnews.com the other day they ran a story about a handful of city high school kids who build a soybean-powered car that goes from 0-60 in 4 seconds, gets 50 miles per gallon, and maybe even saved their lives. From cbsnews.com:
The star at last week's Philadelphia Auto Show wasn't a sports car or an economy car. It was a sports-economy car — one that combines performance and practicality under one hood.
...
A car that can go from zero to 60 in four seconds and get more than 50 miles to the gallon would be enough to pique any driver's interest. So who do we have to thank for it. Ford? GM? Toyota? No — just Victor, David, Cheeseborough, Bruce, and Kosi, five kids from the auto shop program at West Philadelphia High School
The five kids, along with a handful of schoolmates, built the soybean-fueled car as an after-school project. It took them more than a year — rummaging for parts, configuring wires and learning as they went. As teacher Simon Hauger notes, these kids weren't exactly the cream of the academic crop.
"We have a number of high school dropouts," he says. "We have a number that have been removed for disciplinary reasons and they end up with us."
One of the Fab Five, Kosi Harmon, was in a gang at his old school — and he was a terrible student. The car project has changed all that.
"I was just getting by with the skin of my teeth, C's and D's," he says. "I came here, and now I'm a straight-A student."
What's the best part of this whole situation? These kids know more about just making cool cars. Why wouldn't a big car maker jump on this? The kids have the answer:
"We made this work," says Hauger. "We're not geniuses. So why aren't they doing it?"
Kosi thinks he knows why. The answer, he says, is the big oil companies.
"They're making billions upon billions of dollars," he says. "And when this car sells, that'll go down — to low billions upon billions."
Posted in Computers/Technology, Inventions, Science . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
When You're in Public, the Government Owns You
cn | 05 March, 2006 18:22
In Orange County, CA last week a bus rider was cited for doing something completely legal - wearing headphones while on the bus (from Metroblogging OC):
Apparently Posh was cited for wearing both sets of headphones in her ears along with a fellow passenger by an Undercover and a uniformed deputy. I didn't even know that was illegal? I know that a person cannot wear headphones/earplugs (California Code Section 27400) in both ears while operating a motor vehicle and I know that a person can be searched on public transit (United States v. Drayton). As for a search, Florida v. Bostick states that a reasonable person should feel like they can decline a search by a peace officer on a bus if they are asked under their fourth amendment rights.
The laws in CA regarding wearing headphones while driving have absloutely no applicability when not actually operating a motor vehicle. And that's not all:
As for the part where the Deputy quizzed her on why she is in the country when she showed her Canadian ID that may soon become another issue in itself as the OCSD may start working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal laws at the local level (don't even get me started on how bad of an idea that is).
So it seems that now in America, if you wear a uniform you have the right to harass, question, ticket, and detain whomever you please for what ever reason you want...In America today, it seems, your rights are determined by who has the bigger gun...
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Stuff to Hide? Be a 007 - Make Your Own Hollowed-Out Book
cn | 04 March, 2006 18:09
The How To Do Stuff Blog has a very cool post about how to make a hollowed out book to hide stuff in:
The first step into making the hollow book is to select a book. Make sure this is a book your own, and not one belonging to the library, or your family. I suggest rummaging through books at yard/garage sales.
Make sure it is a hardback; otherwise you will cut all the way through the other side when you are cutting out the insides.
You'll also need:
- Elmer's white glue
- a container to hold glue solution (I've chosen a film canister)
- X-acto knife, and/or box cutter. Both if you have them
- brush to apply glue solution
- pencil/pen
- ruler, or other rigid straight edge
Select a page that you want to be the first one cut out, and save that page to be cut out at the end. (I'll explain later) Even if you don't want to save any pages at the beginning of the book, you must set one aside for a later step.
Next step? A secret sliding bookshelf...
Full instructions and pictures on the blog here.
Originally found via Lifehacker.com here.
Posted in Computers/Technology, Inventions, Literature . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink
Kill the TVs
cn | 02 March, 2006 10:54
So I at long last have a TV. No cable, not even a DVD player, though I do sometimes watch movies via the DVD player on my computer. We get 4.5 channels and still I find myself wandering down to work in front of it.
But if ever I'm somewhere and I'm tired of the incessant brain drain box and don't have the remote, I can now get a new weapon to kill the TVs - it's called TV-B-Gone and it's $20. Here's the description from the Cool Tools blog:
Switch off thousands of TVs using just one small remote!When you want some peace and quiet in that local bar of restaurant or office all you need to do is hit the TV-B-Gone button. I've used it in bars and clubs, and in the headquarters building of a large South African bank which had too many TV's on the walls and some of which needed to switched off. It really does work.
--Paul Parkinson
[When you press the button, TV-B-Gone takes slightly more than a minute to emit more than 200 popular shutdown codes, like trying every possible combination to open a safe. The instructions include a diatribe against television in general, as if using this product is not merely a prank, but a serious political act. CP]
I'm thinking of purchasing just for kicks...But it makes you think - if there's a consumer electronic device that through the click of a button can shut down so many machines, what's out there that we don't know about? Consider this: the power went out for the weekend in my area. Over one hundred thousand people lost power and it was the coldest few days of the winter thus far. It was mayhem. Stores were closed, hotels lost power after their generators ran out, gas stations couldn't pump gas, etc.
If we can shut down all the TVs in a room with the click of a button, what will someone be able to do tomorrow, or next week? What can the government do now?
But it's still a cool gizmo. The original Cool Tools post is here.
Posted in Computers/Technology, Inventions . Comment: (0). Trackbacks:(0). Permalink