“Intercepting Predator Video”

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Just prior to the Christmas Underwear Bomber, the big security scandal was how the Predator drones don’t use encryption on their video feeds, and militants were using cheap off-the-shelf software to intercept that data. But Bruce Schneier points out the reasons for that, and why encrypting this data is likely to cause more problems than it solves. It’s an interesting read.

“President Obama, It’s Time To Fire the TSA”

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Although this article hits the nail right on the head, I don’t expect Obama or anyone else to make any changes — except, perhaps, banning more ridiculous things (as the TSA has already done — correction, the restrictions have apparently been eased now). Even if Obama wanted to (which he might), he’d face huge political opposition, because the terrorist bogyman is big money. I’m certain he’d quickly decide that it isn’t worth the effort.

Mr. President, I’d be happy to have you prove me wrong.

On the plus side, the more ridiculous the restrictions get, the more likely that someone is eventually going to put his foot down and stop them. If only to save air travel, because the more onerous the restrictions get, the fewer people will travel by air, and that will directly affect the bottom line of a lot of wealthy corporate entities.

(Don’t worry, I don’t plan to write any more posts on the subject. Unless something else interesting happens, that is. 🙂 )

“From the Toilet to the Tap”

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If the title alone didn’t cure you of the urge to finish off those Christmas-feast leftovers, read the full article. 🙂

Cloacina was the ancient Roman goddess of sewers. Think about that for a minute. To the Romans, the ability to take vile, disgusting wastewater and just get it the heck out of Rome was such a miraculous feat that they created a whole deity to watch over and protect the pipeline.

Now, how much more impressive would Cloacina have been if she could turn the sludge into usable water again? […]

“Browser makers hope WebGL will remake 3D”

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In the SF book Snow Crash, we’re introduced to the Metaverse, a 3D virtual world where the laws of physics are only casually enforced, and people from all over the world and all walks of life can meet up to discuss business or socialize, do research, or even have the occasional sword fight.

Ever since Snow Crash was published in the early nineties, I’ve noticed that the Internet has been edging closer and closer toward the ideal of the Metaverse. Nearly all the pieces are in place, except the 3D element and the advanced AI behind the Librarian program. We even have something very close to the Earth program that is available (at extreme expense) to Metaverse citizens, in Google Earth.

Well, WebGL apparently aims to add the 3D element.

It wouldn’t surprise me if, once WebGL becomes common, someone actually recreates the Metaverse. There are a whole lot of programmers out there who’ve read and enjoyed Snow Crash…

“‘Nerd’ and ‘Geek’ Should Be Banned, Professor Says”

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I understand his argument (that the world needs more nerds and geeks, and the associations brought up by the labels are turning people away from them), but as a former nerd (socially inept loner) and current geek (an expert in a technical field), I rather like things the way they are. It would be nice if there were more of us, but geekdom really wouldn’t be the same if anyone could be one.

Fortunately, there’s a pretty big bar to entry in the field: you’ve got to spend a lot of time, usually your own time, learning things that bore most people to tears. That tends to weed out all but a small fraction of the population. Which is fine by me… the fewer of us there are, the more demand for our services. As I mentioned to GoddessJ last night, boring stuff can be extremely lucrative if done properly. 🙂