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5 Tiny Mistakes That Led To Huge Catastrophes
A lot of you are probably reading this at work and despite that, a lot of you are probably also drunk. That's because most of us have jobs where, if you maybe screw up here and there, it's not the end of the world.
Or at least that's what we'd like to think. It turns out some of the biggest, costliest disasters have resulted from some random employee making a single tiny mistake. Such as ...
#5. One Leaked File Nearly Brings Down AOL
Over the course of three months in 2006, AOL compiled search data on over 650,000 of its users. That might sound ominous, but all they wanted was a tool for researchers. Sure, the users didn't know their data was being saved, but what they didn't know couldn't hurt them, right? After all, it's not like they would ever release it to the general public.
Whoops ...
Somebody should have told company researcher Abdur Chowdhury. On Friday August 4, 2006, with a click of a mouse, Chowdhury uploaded a single compressed text file of the search data on an AOL website that was, in fact, open to the public.
But don't fret, the user names weren't listed and AOL officials quickly realized the mistake and took the file down on Monday, the next business day.
Really, What's the Worst That Could Happen?
This is the internet, there is no such thing as the next day. By the time the file was taken down, word of the data leak had spread through blogs far and wide, the search results were posted on mirror sites including one that remains today as a searchable database. The media had already taken to the frighteningly easy task of personally identifying some of the users.
See, despite the absence of user names, a number of people had unknowingly identified themselves by way of "ego searches." That means that, along with searches for pleasant topics like rape, murder, committing rape and murder, hiding rape and murder, and Clay Aiken CDs, they also searched for their own names, addresses and social security numbers.
Within days, The New York Times had released, with consent, the name of a user who they tracked down by cross-checking search keywords with phone books and other public information. After a few weeks, AOL had not only fired the researcher responsible for the leak, but also his supervisor and Chief Technology Officer Maureen Govern.
All because of one click of the mouse.
As a bizarre postscript to all of this, one of the users identified in the file only by number ("User 927") became internet famous for having basically the creepiest search habits imaginable. Searches included "human mold," "dog sex," "child porn," "Disney Beauty and the Beast Porn" and, most frighteningly, "'Sugar, We're Going Down' by Fallout Boy." No, really.
Well, recently, a stage production premiered, based on their life, called User 927.
#4. One Switch Leaves New York City in the Dark
On the night of July 13, 1977, a system operator sat in New York City's ConEdison electric facility, probably reading a comic book and wishing the internet had been invented.
Then, lightning struck. Three times. It nearly crippled the facility. To make things worse, neighboring facilities then opened their connections to the ConEd system to keep their own from overloading. The details are technical, but let's just say at that point, the system was going to be fucked unless somebody took action.
But no worries, our trusty system operator was on duty. And all he needed to do was flip a few switches and disaster would be averted. What could go wrong?
Whoops ...
Did we mention those switches needed to be flipped quickly? And in the proper order? Someone should have mentioned it to the system operator. One switch flipped out of order and within a few minutes, a 230,000 volt connection with New Jersey closed and the system began to overload. At 9:36 PM, the entire ConEdison system shut down.
Really, What's the Worst That Could Happen?
New York City was suddenly plunged into 25 hours of electricity-free mayhem. With mid-July temperatures sweltering, a deranged serial killer who took his orders from his neighbor's dog on the loose, and 1977's New York City just being a generally unhappy place to be, people lost their shit.
In short order, the raucous, block party-like atmosphere in the streets turned into violent looting. Fires were started, store windows were smashed, electronics were stolen (albeit not used for some time) and the fucking Yankees were well on their way to another World Series title. Son of a bitch.
Above: Why we love New York
After all was said and done, 1,616 stores were damaged, 1,037 fires were set, and 3,776 arrests were made. A Congressional study estimated the total damage to the New York City area at $300 million. Also, as a bizarre side effect: hip-hop was born. Seriously. The looting apparently resulted in the first access to DJ equipment for poor inner city youths, launching the movement.
In the aftermath of the blackout, ConEdison implemented changes to make sure the same problem never happened again (which it totally did in 2003). We're assuming this involved something along the lines of a few sequentially ordered labels above those switches.
#3. The Fatal Four Microns in the Hubble Telescope
The Hubble Telescope was initially conceived and budgeted for in the '70s and planned for launch in 1983. Various mishaps, not the least of which being the Challenger disaster, delayed the project for years. When it launched in 1990, scientists expected the Hubble to take its place among NASA's "great observatories," placing it in the company of, among others, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.
Probably not related to the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.
The Hubble was expected to deliver some pretty kick-ass images thanks to its ability to capture those images with little to no back light (as you'd get with an earthbound telescope). Sounds like a huge task, but the Hubble was equipped with one of the most powerful mirrors ever built.
A team of the best engineers in the world gathered to build that mirror, working 12-hour days for five straight years, grinding the mirror with equipment that would make sure it was perfect to within a millionth of an inch.
Whoops ...
A guy named Lou Montagnino was in charge of testing the thing, using equipment so sensitive they had to do it in the middle of the night--(the vibration of a car driving three miles away would throw it off).
Unknown to Lou, a microscopic chip of paint flecked off a measuring rod that was supposed to make sure the mirror was the right shape. It started giving back false readings as a result, and the mirror wound up being off by four microns.
That was their mistake. Four microns. Twenty-five times smaller than the width of a human fucking hair. Smaller than a mosquito's flaccid penis.
Really, What's the Worst That Could Happen?
When the first images were returned from the Hubble, the quality was drastically less than what NASA expected, and nowhere close to powerful enough for what NASA needed it to do.
Of course the real problem was that by the time they discovered the flaw, the damned thing was already out in space. So say goodbye to a few billion more dollars, which is what it cost for a series of Space Shuttle missions to fix the thing's mirror (the repairs got so costly that there was debate as to whether it wouldn't be better to just build a new one). We're surprised they didn't just strap Lou Montagnino to a rocket and send him up there with some really fine grit sandpaper in his hand.


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Thank you for paying attention and replying to my requests.
I am in need of having to use Windows XP, and I was wondering which methods could you provide me in order to sucessfully install Windows XP on my HDD which already has Ubuntu 12.04.
Reading here and there, I've come up with a plan:
First, I'll resize my partitions using Gparted:
- Partition 1 - 199 MB Ext4
- Partition 2 - 2 GB SWAP
- Partition 3 - 78 GB Ext 4
I'll resize those on the image to, maybe:
First partition: Will be increased to 6 GB.
Second partition: Swap will stay the same.
Third partition: Will be first reduced to ~30 GB, and then moved all the way to the right.
A new partition will be made with the space in between Swap and the 30 GB partition, intended for Windows XP use, and maybe a few media files shared with Ubuntu 12.04.
After that, the first partition will become the target of my Windows XP installation. I'll also choose the free space for a partition so that the Windows Setup formats it and I can be sure Windows XP will be able to use it.
That's basically what I've thought up. All that would be left for me to do should be booting the Ubuntu 12.04 Live CD and running Boot-Repair.
Now, may I ask you, is there a fail behind my plan? Are there better ways? Any recommendation or comments?


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An employer usually asks a candidate to do a small project at home ("homework") as a part of applying for a job.
Last time I applied for a job (as a web developer), there were aproximately 10 applicants who were all given different tasks. Despite the fact that there was only one vacancy, the company used the work of all of the candidates in one of its projects.
Actually, it is quite plausible for a company to create these "vacancies" just to make people work for free - I estimate, that aproximately 2 weeks of programmer's work was saved with all of the job applications that company had on one vacancy.
Is this a common practice and how can you protect yourself from working for free in the future?
Have you seen this during your career?


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5 Surprisingly Easy Ways to Make Kids Smarter
There is an endless debate about why school kids in the Western world are falling behind everyone else. Some say it's a shameful lack of funding; others say kids these days are too lazy and too busy Twittering on their iPads about the Justin Biebers to learn calculus.
But there are actually things you can do to help kids learn that cost next to nothing. For instance, studies show that kids do better if you ...
#5. Start the School Day Later (By Just One Hour)
Here's something every kid knows, and that parents have been ignoring since the beginning of time.
Sneak a quick peek around your office/classroom/rodeo clown school. Chances are you're going to see one co-worker yawning and rubbing her eyes, another guy pulling the droopy-lid zombie glare and one person who is as chipper and alert as a coked-up bunny rabbit. How do we know? Because two out of three adult Americans are walking around sleep-deprived, that's how. And we push our messed-up sleep patterns off on our kids.
And our emotional problems.
And for those kids, particularly teenagers, sleep deprivation can mean failure at school. Which is why schools that pushed their start time back are reporting remarkable improvements. One school in England reported that persistent absenteeism dropped by 27 percent, while a high school in Toronto, Canada, claimed that the 11th-grade math failure rate dropped from 45 percent to 17 percent. Not only that, but kids going to school later say that they're less depressed, and their parents claim that their kids are easier to deal with.
"He's still terrible at art, but at least the cat's alive in this one."
Why Does This Work?
Because of a hormonal switch in the natural body clock, teens are often not sleepy late at night, unlike most adults and small children, so they stay up late. But then we force them to be at school by 7:30 a.m. As a result, most teens are getting something like 6.9 hours of sleep rather than the nine hours they need. That two-hour difference may not sound like much, but it makes a HUGE difference in the classroom. As many as 20 percent of students end up falling asleep in class altogether.
And not because she was trading on the Chinese markets at 3 a.m., the little scamp.
And falling asleep in class isn't even the worst-case scenario. Remember how chronic sleep deprivation can lead to a host of ailments in adults? Now put those symptoms on an already hormonally screwed up teenage body and see how well things work out for you. (They don't.) Which is probably why schools that have taken the initiative of pushing back their school day for teens are reporting such high success rates. One district even saved $700,000 a year by making the change, since the new schedule actually required fewer buses. Who would have thought that giving in to teenager laziness would actually result in good news all around?
Not us, because we just don't understand.
#4. Open the Blinds on the Windows
Hey, we hate the hippies as much as the next guy, but even we have to admit when they got something right. This time we're not talking about Vietnam, environmental responsibility or how much of a hassle bathing is, but the importance of sunshine.
Not Sunshine, who tries to sell you shrooms at the farmers' market. "Sunshine" as in "daylight."
Because if there was one thing that hippies loved, it was sunshine. So much so that they made the phrase "Let the Sunshine In" the chorus of their hippiest of hippie songs -- "Aquarius." Little did those granolas know that doing exactly what they prescribed would result in students scoring 25 percent higher on standardized tests and that kids with the largest classroom windows would be found to progress 15 percent faster in math and 23 percent faster in reading than those with smaller windows. In other words, for some marginal students, the difference between passing and failing could be as simple as opening up the blinds.
Children aren't actually short -- it just seems that way because of the rickets.
Why Does This Work?
Daylight, it turns out, isn't just important for photosynthesis and warmth and making Earth habitable. It also elevates our moods, helps eyesight and suppresses melatonin, the chemical that affects our sleep patterns. In other words, students who do their learning in the daylight are happier, able to see more and less sleepy.
"I feel more conscious now that I'm not walking into things."
The problem for today's students is that back in the '70s, architects were pressured to design windowless classrooms, partially to keep costs down, and partially because administrators and engineers got it into their heads that windows were a distraction to students. As if the trees and cars outside the school doors would suddenly erupt in can-can chorus lines to keep the school kids from paying attention to algebra. So, for students getting their education in 30-year-old buildings designed by window-haters, that's the bad news. For everyone else, "daylighting" has been the wave of the school-building future for several years now.
Or, "putting some freaking windows in."
#3. Give Every Teacher a Microphone
It almost sounds too simple: Studies show that if you give every teacher a lapel mike, a transmitter and a couple of speakers, it can make all the difference in the world for the kids' ability to absorb what they're saying. That is, if the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is to be believed (assuming it's not just a front for Big Microphone). The association has been keeping track of some of the 160,000 classrooms using sounds systems, and the results are impressive. In one New Jersey school district, for example, the number of first-grade students scoring at grade level jumped from 59 percent in September to 89 percent in May, with the only difference in classroom instruction being an added sound field system.
Soiled underwear incidents went up 300 percent.
Students also reported an increase in the incidences of teachers saying, "Is this mike on? But seriously ..." before repeating jokes they heard on Leno the night before, but that really had nothing to do with the study. There has also probably been some middle-age beat boxing here and there.
"One, one two, two two, two ... WHY ISN'T ANYONE WRITING THIS DOWN? MATHS!"
Why Does This Work?
It's not as simple as "kids can hear them better." Though that's part of it.
Just like their misplaced sense of entitlement, children's auditory systems are not mature until they reach 13 to 15 years of age. A speaker in an auditory-based learning environment (such as an escape rocket carrying a superhuman baby to Earth or a typical school classroom) is going to have to not only compete with a hosts of background noises, like AC units, shuffling chairs, gabby talkers and armpit farts, but also make herself understood to kids whose little ears aren't even fully functional yet. And for those of you who've never tried to make yourself heard over 25 5-year-olds, six hours a day, five days a week, it's exhausting.
Three seconds later, their eardrums ruptured.
According to teachers who have tried microphones, the sound systems prevented vocal fatigue, throat infections and overall stress for both teachers and students. And most teachers didn't want to give their sound systems up once they got them. Even more importantly, classes with mics reported fewer absences than in previous years, probably due to the less-stressful classroom environment.
Or the sick rhymes the teacher couldn't resist spitting into the mic. One or the other.


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Monday, September 26, 2011
In praise of worthy genealogists
4 comments:
Love your post. I started my journey into the mysteries of genealogy research a little over 14 years ago. I had a computer, the internet, and a genealogy program for entering the data I found. But there was not much available online at the time. Most of it I had to get from microfilm at the Family History Center or send away for it. I got a LOT of joy and satisfaction from waiting for the post each day with the hope that a record for which I had been searching would arrive. It was like Christmas when I finally got something. I do experience some of that joy when I find something online, but it's not the same. I still love paper.ReplyDelete
And 14 years ago is not that long ago either but in tech years its a lifetime!ReplyDelete
Well said, Nancy. My grandmother and great-grandmother both did their research the old-fashioned way. I continue to admire their patience and perseverance.ReplyDelete
I enjoyed this post. I started young (back in 1974) so I did most of my research the 'old way'. For me, the best thing about the Internet has been the ease with which I can find (and be found by) descendants of other branches of the family. When I look at the family history book I wrote in the 1980s, I am embarrassed by its appearance (written on an ancient typewriter) but cheered by the fact that it had detailed source citations and a bibliography. Despite all the on-line resources and new indexes available now, I have not found much that I hadn't already found via the 'hard slog' way back then. I guess that means my research methods were OK!ReplyDelete


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Despite the shale boom, the price of polyethylene in the US has generally risen over the past few years. The type most used typically costs around 75 cents/lb, up from an average of 64 cents in 2010.
By JAMES R. HAGERTY
LOGAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Heritage Bag Co., which makes
plastic trash bags around the clock at a factory here, should
be sitting pretty.
Heritage's main raw material, polyethylene, is derived from
natural gas. As the US ramps up production of gas released from
underground shale formations, output of polyethylene is
expected to soar too, creating the potential for lower
"I think it's our duty to use this gift of shale gas to
rebuild our industrial infrastructure," says Jim Morris, a
bluff Texan who serves as chief operating officer of privately
owned Heritage.
There's just one problem: Heritage and other US users of
polyethylene -- makers of plastic bags, toys, housewares and
myriad other items -- aren't benefiting yet. They may not
benefit for years and can't be sure it will fundamentally
change the economics of their businesses.
Despite the shale boom, the price of polyethylene in the US
has generally risen over the past few years. The type Heritage
uses typically costs around 75 cents/lb, up from an average of
64 cents in 2010, according to IHS, a research firm.
Polyethylene makers, such as ExxonMobil and Dow Chemical,
are enjoying lower costs because higher natural gas production
increases the supply of ethane, a component of natural gas used
to make polyethylene. Instead of passing on lower costs to
their customers, however, they are reporting fatter profit
First-half earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and
amortization in Dow's performance plastics division, which
makes polyethylene, were up 33% from a year earlier.
The polyethylene
producers are making "insane amounts of money," Mr. Morris. He
isn't, he says.
Dow Chemical's CEO, Andrew Liveris, two years ago published
a book called "Make It in America," suggesting ways to revive
American manufacturing. Now, says Mr. Morris of Heritage, Mr.
Liveris has a chance to "put his money where his mouth is."
Mr. Morris argues that Dow and other chemical makers should
try to ensure that the shale boom will lead to more US output
of finished plastic goods, such as the trash bags made by
Heritage, rather than just more exports of polyethylene to his
overseas rivals.
In recent years, polyethylene prices have been higher in the
US than in Asia, where big chemical companies from both the
Middle East and the US battle for market share. Mr. Morris
would like a promise from Dow and other polyethylene makers
that their customers in the US won't have to pay more than
customers in other parts of the world. So far, he hasn't
received such pledges.
A Dow spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr. Morris's
suggestion but said the shale boom is "a once-in-a-lifetime
chance for the US to regain its competitiveness in
Polyethylene accounts for around 70% of the cost of making a
plastic bag; the other main costs include labor and
Heritage, based in Carrollton, Texas, has annual sales of
more than $400 million and bills itself as one of the world's
largest makers of plastic trash bags used by restaurants,
stadiums and other institutional customers. With six plants
scattered around the US, Heritage employs about 750 people.
Heritage's plant here in Logan Township, N.J., smells
faintly of melting plastic. Polyethylene pellets arrive via a
railroad line alongside the plant. The pellets are pumped
through tubes into silos and later into the factory, where they
are melted in an extruder. Blasts of air blow the molten
plastic into a bubble that resembles a giant cigar, rising 10
yards or more. The plastic solidifies into a film as it cools;
then it is shaped and sliced into trash bags.
Workers in shorts and T-shirts tuck the bags into boxes and
load pallets for shipment. The plant also provides jobs for
managers and machine-maintenance people, among
Heritage and other US users of polyethylene eventually will
get lower prices, once new production capacity is completed in
2016 and beyond, predicts Nick Vafiadis, a senior research
director at IHS.
Dow, Royal Dutch Shell and others plan to spend billions of
dollars to expand US production of petrochemicals, including
polyethylene. Mr. Vafiadis forecasts that US polyethylene
capacity will rise more than 30% by 2018 and nearly 60% by
Most of that increased production will be exported, Mr.
Vafiadis believes, but he expects US buyers like Heritage will
benefit too.
Mr. Morris says Heritage would like to expand its US
production capacity and increase its exports, currently small.
But that could happen only if Heritage is convinced that its
polyethylene costs will be globally competitive.
The US is already a big exporter of polyethylene and other
resins, made from oil or natural gas, but has a large trade
deficit on plastic products, such as bags and packaging film,
made out of those resins. The deficit totaled $2 billion in
this year's first half.
Heritage's Mr. Morris says imports of the types of trash
bags his company makes are fairly small. But Chinese and other
Asian companies account for around one-third of the market for
plastic shopping bags often used at grocery and other retail
stores, despite import duties imposed by the US on those
Stanley Bikulege, chief executive of Hilex Poly Co., a big
US maker of plastic shopping bags, says he believes the shale
boom will help make Hilex more competitive by holding down raw
material costs. Hilex mainly focuses on its home market but is
looking at the possibility of more exports. "Is [exporting] a
huge opportunity for us?" Mr. Bikulege says. "Probably
William Carteaux, chief executive of the Society of the
Plastics Industry, a trade group, says he sees scope for
greater US exports of products containing plastic, including
auto parts and such health-care items as blood bags and
At IHS, Mr. Vafiadis sees a "renaissance" in the US plastics
For Mr. Morris, however, it is too early to celebrate.
Before embarking on expansion plans, Heritage is waiting
for assurances on raw-material costs.
"Entrepreneurs will take risks if there's a clear path to
the payoff," he says.
Dow Jones Newswires
All comments are subject to editorial review.
All fields are compulsory.
Once again - more excuses for lining the pockets of big oil. Their profits are absurd and they should pass the savings on to the consumers.
Dr. Fred Ellsworth
Just like Heritage, our domestic chemical suppliers are in the business to make money. Profit is what finances capital expansions and R&D, both of which stimulate manufacturing and production in our struggling domestic markets. From your article, the chemical companies have not increased their prices to Heritage. Raw material cost is only one of many pieces of the of the puzzle of profitability. I would prefer reading an article of how Heritage is finding ways to streamline cost of business, decrease production costs, and increase productivity to positively affect their bottom line and competitiveness in their industry. Not a complaint about someone else's profit margin. Innovation, positive thinking, and determination are the backbone of profitable healthy businesses, making our free economy work. Always have been, and always will be.
Chris Clodfelter
Just wait, all the produceers are going to overbuild and the excess capacity will lower your costs!!!!
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A searchable database of project activity in the global hydrocarbon processing industry
Engineers and designers are highly skilled individuals. Forcing them to enter design changes using tables, forms and spreadsheets is unproductive and uneconomical, and it increases the likelihood of human error—this is the way that most instrumentation software systems currently work. For too long, software vendors have denied engineers and designers the simple practicality of a graphical visual engineering interface with "drag and drop" capability and inbuilt intelligence, ensuring changes are automatically replicated into all the associated data and databases.
Is 2016 the peak for US gasoline demand?
Too soon to tell
July 2016


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expert advice MORE
Chickenpox Vaccine Risk for Sibling?
Q: I have a four year old who will be getting the chickenpox vaccine. I also have a nine month old. Is it possible for the nine-month-old to catch chickenpox from her vaccinated sister?
A: Yes, it's possible, but not very common at all. Your question is one that many people ask since the chickenpox vaccine is made in the lab from "live" virus particles. The chickenpox vaccine does protect well against the disease. It is attenuated (weakened) so as not to regularly cause the disease in the person getting it or in anyone exposed to that vaccinated person.
With this in mind, realize then that it is extremely rare for someone who gets the vaccine virus to spread it to another individual who does not have any protection against chickenpox. In fact, there are only three documented cases of chickenpox out of more than 15 million doses of vaccine given to date that were transmitted to healthy people from recently vaccinated people. These three cases ended up being mild disease and there were no complications. More importantly, this type of spread has only been documented when the person receiving the vaccine develops a chickenpox-like rash right after their shot.
Since the chickenpox vaccine was licensed in the U.S. in 1995, recommendations to promote wider use of it have expanded. Some states require children entering school who have not had the disease before to receive the immunization. Chickenpox vaccine is not recommended for children who cannot fight infection well, have cancer, are taking large doses of steroid medicines, or for women who are pregnant. So the bottom line is I would suggest your 4-year-old receive the vaccine, assuming everyone is healthy and well in your family. It is very unlikely she will spread it to her infant sibling.
More on: Expert Advice
Henry Bernstein, M.D., is currently the associate chief of the Division of General Pediatrics and director of Primary Care at Children's Hospital, Boston. He also has an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School.


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Over 30 years ago, a Christian leader was asked, "If you had one message to leave with us before you depart, what would it be?" Shortly thereafter, he died in a car accident. What did he say? The answer will inspire you. read more
The Danger of an Exaggerated End-Time Mentality
Could it be that we have a wrong mentality about the end of the age? Could it be that we're missing something very important? read more


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Looking at all these re sources I wonder why some units have a code of Conduct.
For pretty much every situation you can apply the Oath and Law. And when outdoors… the Outdoor Code coupled with the principles of Leave no Trace are your guides.
To be Clean in my outdoor manners.
To be Careful with Fire.
Considerate in the outdoors
And Conservation Minded.
What I have found is that the Scouts that know and practice these skills and principles do very well and do not need to be disciplined or constantly talk to about behavior.
That is why it is important to get the Scouts on their first Scoutmaster Conference to really understand what the Oath and Law mean and how to practice the Outdoor code.
Taking the time to teach these up front will pay off down the road.
You will see the proof when one day you are on a Switch back and horses are on the trail and your Scouts do it all right.
And for the most part they do. But you have to reenforce it and always practice what you teach.
Happy Scouting!


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What are some techniques in determining if a particular piece of source code is malicious or vulnerable to malicious attack? I am currently using cppcheck and I am waiting on an install of Rational AppSource. Aside from that and reviewing the US-CERT Secure Coding Guidelines, what else should I be looking at? This is for a very large codebase (150K SLOC).
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I don't think there is a tool, or ever will be, that can provide certainty. You do not state if you are looking for accidental or intentionally malicious code. Accidental mistakes are easier to catch, intentional "back doors" impossible, at the tool level, to distinguish from valid code.
I would start with (as you have already mentioned) static checks, and dynamic checks (valgrind).
Internal code review/audit will be required, and depending on importance and project budgets, external code review/audit by specialists would be money well spent. 150kLOC is a pretty average size project, an audit of that should be able to be performed.
Testing the interfaces (blackbox) is essential. Use a security consultant if you do not have experts inhouse.
If you are looking for intentional code, that's a really big problem, as it's pretty easy to hide an intentional vulnerably (e.g. an intentional buffer overflow hidden behind cast to hide the compiler warning), and it's too big code base to be certain of identifying every one. Assume you won't find them all, and deploy accordingly.
There are periodic contests for obfuscated code and code that does something other than what it appears to do. Study the contest entries, and you will discover that this is not a trivial problem to solve.
There are two parts here in the question. If you are looking for intentionally malicious code, then you'll have to resort to performing manual source code reviews by competent examiners. Not every reviewer would be aware of what malicious code looks like, but most reviewers (especially the ones who framed the requirements for the components/modules) would know whether any code obeys the underlying requirements or not.
If you are look for code that is susceptible to malicious attacks, both manual and automated source code reviews will help. Having worked with Fortify SCA in the past, I can only repeat this piece of advice - perform a manual analysis of your application to determine what you need to look for, and use tools to scale the security scan.


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Assume we have a multitype branching process, i.e., we have a mean matrix $M_{ij}$ and $M_{ij}$ is the expected count of generating $j$ from $i$ in one time step, i.e.:
$M_{ij} = \sum_{r} n(r,j)P(r | i)$
where $P(r | i)$ is the probability of choosing an action $r$ by type $i$ and $n(r,j)$ is the number of times $j$ is generated by this action.
Then we have $M^k$ to be the expected number of times $j$ will be generated by $i$ through $k$ time steps.
For $A = \sum_{k=0}^\infty M^k$, $A_{ij}$ would be the expected number of times that $j$ is generated at any time step by $i$.
Note that $A = (I-M)^{-1}$.
Does someone know where I can find a reference to the above statements, if they are indeed true? I tried looking all over for this in multitype branching processes literature, but couldn't find anything. I am basically looking for an interpretation, if exists, of $(I-M)^{-1}$ where $M$ is the mean matrix (momentum matrix) of a multitype branching process.


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On Sep. 7, Donna Branham of Summer Shade went to St. Thomas Outpatient Neurological Center for a routine steroid shot to relieve back pain after being diagnosed with degenerative disk disease. Now, she awaits what could be a much scarier diagnosis... meningitis.
"My sister called me and said have you heard on the news... I said what's that, and she said they're calling a meningitis outbreak from steroid injections. Where did you have yours done? And I said where's the problem. She said St. Thomas, and I said well guess where I had mine done... St. Thomas," said epidural steroid injection recipient Donna Branham.
Branham says she became suspicious when the center began pushing back her appointment for her second shot.
"I finally got a letter the next Tuesday saying they did have a problem, and there was a meningitis outbreak from the injections. It just happened that I found out on the 20th when they called me and told me the doctor had an emergency and would postpone, was the day they voluntarily shut down," said Branham.
After receiving calls and letters from St. Thomas, doctors, and the Health Department, Branham has been on guard for symptoms. She has been told the incubating period when the symptoms from the meningitis appear, is three months from the time the shot was administered. For now, Branham remains optimistic.
"The way I look at it... if you worry about something and make yourself sick... if it doesn't happen, you've worried yourself sick about it. If it does happen, you've worried yourself twice," said Branham.
For now, Branham seems to be in the clear, and her three month incubation period will be up on Dec. 7.
The steroid shots that were contaminated with fungal meningitis were manufactured by the New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass.
The CDC is now reporting 36 deaths related to the fungal meningitis outbreak.


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University of Washington
The Bachelor of Science in Human Centered Design & Engineering gives students strong communication and design skills, coupled with a solid foundation in math and science. Students learn to design, write, edit, and evaluate technical and scientific materials. Students also learn about technical discourse, human-computer interaction, hypermedia and multimedia, publications management, and online support systems. Graduates apply their knowledge to create and enhance communication in scientific and technical environments.
HCDE undergraduate students complete core requirements (43 credits) including coursework in communication design, usability and user-experience design, and project management. Students choose one of three degree options: Human-Computer Interaction, Technical Communication, Individualized Course of Study (27 credits).
The HCI concentration provides students with an opportunity to design, evaluate, implement interactive computing systems for human use, and to study major phenomena surrounding them.
The TC concentration provides students with practical applications and fundamental concepts in technical communication, including information design, software user-assistance, technical editing, and uses of software applications to solve communication problems.
The Individualized Course of Study gives students an opportunity to create an individualized curriculum designed around students' professional and academic interests. They work with their advisor to identify electives that complement the core and create a specialization in a field of their choice.
- Human Centered Design & Engineering
- 423 Sieg Hall MS 352315
- Seattle
- 98195


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Getting Up To Speed With…Brian Roden
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Ken O'Neil)
With just one full season under his belt West Linn, Oregon driver Brian Roden is excited for 2014. Originally from Alturas, California, Roden is a second generation driver following in the footsteps of his father Johnny.
In 2013 he would drive a couple of races for James Simmeroff but once he got in his own equipment he would score three wins and seven top five finishes in eleven starts while ending the campaign third in Street Stock points. We got a chance to chat with Brian about the upcoming season, why he races the #14, and his background in the racing scene. Now let's get up to speed with Brian Roden.
Driver: Brian Roden
Home Track: SSP
Hometown: West Linn, OR
Occupation: Owner/Operator of JNR Construction
Age: 44
Years Racing: 1
Classification: Street Stock
Car: 14
Chassis: 1978 Chevy Camaro
Sponsors: JNR Construction, Molecular Motion, Dockweiler Stainless Steel Tube Systems
Special Thanks: Elliott Hobson, Earl Claypool Jr., Jennifer Roden (Wife). James Simmerhoff
BD: Brian do have any specific plans for 2014?
BR: I'm going to try and race the full schedule at Sunset in the Street Sticks. On off weekends I might go to a couple of different tracks like Lebanon and maybe St. Helens.
BD: Is there a story behind you racing the #14?
BR: I'm a big Tony Stewart fan. But when I first got the #14 it was because it was available at the track and I decided to put it on the car.
BD: How exactly did you get your start in racing?
BR: I've always been a race fan. Growing up my dad raced at Modoc Speedway and Cedarville Speedway in Stock Cars down in Northern California. Over the years I wanted to drive but never got the chance. I pitted for Earl Claypool Jr. in the early 1990's at Portland Speedway and I had an opportunity to run a car several years ago as a part-time deal. Once I got the bug I was hooked so I built my own car over the winter of 2012-13.
BD: How fun has the Street Stock class been?
BR: I think it's a blast. Everybody sticks together and helps anyone out that needs it. It seems like anyone is willing to give you pointers which is nice for new drivers. But someone I really got to thank is my wife because without her I wouldn't be able to do this.
BD: Do you have any goals that you have set for yourself either this season or in the future?
BR: Not really anything specific at this time. This year I just want to be consistent and try to not have any mechanical failures. I really haven't thought about the future much but maybe eventually in a year or two I might go to the Modifieds. I just want to get some more experience in the Street Stock.
Sunset Speedway Park is expected to open the 2014 season this Saturday May 3rd. Classes in action include the Northwest Extreme Sprints, IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, 4-Bees, 600cc Restricted Micros, and 600cc Open Micros. For more information log on to www.sunsetspeedwaypark.com.
Sunset Speedway
Driven by MyRacePassTM
Sunset Speedway | All rights reserved


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Justin ordered the vegan burger, which seemed to be lentil-based but no overly mushy.
Claire got the gazpacho and salad.
I settled on the vegan Reuben because it has always struck me as a weird sandwich. Although I think they doused the bread in oil before toasting it, it was very tasty indeed. I will have to look up Isa'a recipe when I get home. It came with a salad of greens and beans. Nothing special but a nice balsamic dressing.
All in all, a great time was had by all! Thanks, Claire and Justin!


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Last week I had my Hover WindTunnel Max Multi-Cyclonic (Model # UH70601) vacuuming carpet on the bar floor setting. It started making a thwapping noise and smells like burned rubber when vacuuming with the brushroll on.
I opened up the bottom of the vacuum. When I remove the belt the vacuum doesn't make the noise. Looking at the belt and what is holding it in I don't understand why it is making the noise.


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For any p-adic local field K, all 1-dim semi-stable Galois repn: $G_K \to Q_p^{*}$ are just $Q_p(n)\otimes \mu$, where $Q_p(n)$ is the Tate twist of cyclotomic character, and $\mu$ an unramified charater.
My question is what if we replace the coefficient field to $E \neq Q_p$?
In fact, at the end of the paper by Gerasimos Dousmanis "Rank two filtered $(φ, N)$-modules with Galois descent data and coefficients", the filtered $(\varphi, N)$ modules of all such 1-dim repns are all classified. My question really is, how do we write out the representations explicitly?


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Will there be a need for cameras at all once we have 4k video? Probably within 5-10 years we will have consumer level 4k video cameras. At that time, what is the point of still cameras? You can pick any frame in the video and it'll be a perfectly crisp image, is it not?
Yes, still cameras can do things 4k video can't. I imagine that future cameras will go in the direction of the Canon 1D C, which has still photography and 4k video in the same body.
From a photography standpoint, the advantages of shooting stills instead of frame-captured video include:
4k video can still be useful for photography. The advantages of video over stills include:
In conclusion, there's no reason for cameras to disappear, and photography and video/filmmaking are still very different processes.
But 4k video integrated in cameras can be an additional photographic tool that will be useful in some circumstances.
4K video cameras will not be able to replace still cameras.
First, 4K video resolution is only about 9 megapixels. Megapixels aren't everything, but in general more is good, and modern mid-grade to high-end still cameras clearly take advantage of more than that.
Second, and more importantly, video cameras are optimized for video, and that has needs which are different from those of still photography. Each frame will have a shutter speed as needed for the video framerate, and furthermore digital video will be compressed across frames. And while film-production-level digital video cameras may record in some form of RAW, that's unlikely on consumer video cameras within any near timeframe. Plus, a video camera user interface generally has still photography only as an afterthought. An ultimate convergence device may make it possible to set the basic photographic parameters of shutter speed and aperture in a still photography mode, but there's a lot of non-overlap which would be hard to cover.
This really is an interesting and rather loaded question. For one thing, 4k video is HUGE compared to photos. Full quality 4K video that would really maintain quality at a per frame level takes around 250GB to 500GB per hour of video. Taking photos only require one particular frame to be captured and can capture at much higher quality. (4k UltraHD is only 8.3 megapixels which is already rivaled by an average camera phone for still images.)
As far as the devices used, sensors that are used for still cameras can also be used for video and we're already seeing a lot of convergence between video and photography across the market, from both consumer gear and smartphones all the way up through professional gear like the Canon 1Dc. The main reason they still operate in separate video and photo modes is simply that of user needs and quality.
Across the entire spectrum, much higher quality can still be achieved by using a sensor and image processing hardware for a single frame at a time. The image quality as well as the actual number of pixels are both much higher and the time to process and store that much information is too long for video. Even a high end professional still camera normally is limited to about 11 or so shots per second at full resolution which falls fall short of the 24 - 60 shots per second needed for common video formats.
More specifically on the professional side of the spectrum, the kinds of things you need to be able to do and adjust for are very different between video and photo. The concepts are similar enough that you see cross over devices like DSLRs with high end video capability, but the way in which you shoot is still very different.
Video has a fixed shutter time and requires keeping a constantly good image while adjusting on the fly for focus on moving subjects without hunting for focus or lowering the mirror. Still shots on the other hand are concerned about getting a particular moment just right and getting really tight focus and shutter timing control to get exactly the shot that is desired. They can benefit from higher end AF sensors that require the mirror to be lowered.
Is there necessarily a reason that a lot of the technical limitations can't eventually be overcome? No, there isn't, but the artistic choices that professionals have to make and the selection of particular images for stills that anyone needs to make are going to continue to make video and still photos require separate modes.
No, video is shot with a fixed shutter rate, which limits the speed. Sometimes a photographer wants a long exposure, you cant do that with video.
Still and video are two separate arts.
For snapshots of the kids, yeah, video captures just might work if you don't care too much, which is good enough for most people. But, if you are shooting wildlife, sports, landscape, architecture, people, low light, long exposure, etc... you'll really need the creative control that shutter and aperture give you.
So the 4k might be ok for a lot of snapshots, it isn't even close enough to what a craft photographer needs.
We've already seen a lot of convergence between video and still cameras. Still cameras have started to really be useful for serious video, and video cameras have been able to take still photos for ages. Some cameras (Sony Alpha, I think?) have started to use video-like capabilities to make taking photos easier by recording frames before and after you trigger the "shutter", so that if you hit the button a little early or late, you can select a different frame and "never miss a shot."
There's no reason to believe that this convergence has reached an end: it seems inevitable that the video capabilities of still cameras will continue to improve and vice versa, and also likely that some features on each side will bleed over into the other. That said, video and still photography are different, and it seems likely that we'll have cameras that are optimized for each application for a long time to come. Just grabbing a frame from video is not the same thing as taking/making a photograph.
Your concerns in photography: shutter, aperture, ISO.
You do not have these on today's video cameras.
But there is one additional thing that high resolution does not handle: higher pixel count on the same capture area (e.g. Full frame or APS-C) means that each pixel color value will come from a smaller sensor area. Signals from the smaller area need to be amplified more (because the amount of photons per area is much lower) so basically with more pixels you end up with more noise per pixel.
Obviously, you can remove that noise, but at the very same time you are blurring the image, ending up with much less effective resolution...
Many times, a photographer does not need high resolution, he needs less noise. E.g. I do snapshot (non-posed) portraits, with very shallow DOF, in the dark. Obviously, I need fast enough shutter because the woman is just moving, talking, smiling. My aperture is wide open. So I have to dial up ISO as much as possible. Can you do photos with 4K at 1/200, 1:1.4, ISO 6400? For me, life starts there :-).
I do not think that 4K will replace cameras in general, but you might find it useful in certain situations. Take a footage with a normal camera about your area of interest, and try to cut one image from that video. You will see that most of the time it is impossible, because unless your model is still and your camera is still and everything is still, motion will be encoded as motion in the video (see the MPEG-2, MPEG-4 details). You will see blocking, optimizations for encoding, etc. Unless you are able to record raw (uncompressed) video, a feature you will not see in any consumer- or prosumer-category video camera...


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Adventure mode's one of the most complicated campaigns that shows further development once a month. It's worth farming, because most rooms cost 12 energy and give a cards, some places even two cards. Also with new content released every month, there are new challenges as well as prizes. So what do you need to beat the tower?
Ground Floor
Near the Dark Tower
Dark Tower Entrance
Note: plays Aging and Celerity, but without big turn boosts
Ground Floor: Right Door
Note: hidden effect delays activation of cards what effectively cancels actions and spells, but leaves items attached but inactive until the end of the fight
Ground Floor: Central door
Note: every time you play a card, a slime pet attaches to one of your characters, when one of them reaches three of those pets, he/she will die; hidden effect removes cards from deck
Ground Floor: Left Door (BOSS)
Hidden Trophies:
- perfect in mission 3, 4 n 5
- play pirate golem in mission 3
- kill 300 undead in mission 1
- win mission 5 (the tracker) using each guild once


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Domain names at Gandi
Why have a blog?
A combination of the words web and log, a blog is an on line personal area where you can express yourself freely.
Each article will be presented in a chronological order and will have the possibility to leave comments. There exists today a multitude of blogs covering various subjects: personal journals, travel blogs, political blogs, business blogs ...
Gandi has chosen the best open source Blog platform available, Dotclear 2, to build their GandiBlog. Take a look at our hosting page to see blog examples.
For each domain you have registered, you have, for no extra fee:
What our offer includes
- a blog connected to the main address of your domain or a secondary address, even if your DNS servers are not Gandi's
- as many writers as you want.
- 1 Go of disk space for your multimedia files (photos, videos, music...)
- 10 Go per month of data transfer (that's several tens of thousand visitors)
... with many personalization possibilities:
- 30 pre-configured and customizable original themes
- access to the blog's style sheet (CSS) to completely customize your blog as well as the possibility to create your own design
- numerous personalization widgets
... and powerful associated tools:
- RSS feed
- the complete statistics of your blog
- the possibility to have "trackbacks"
- import/export your Blog
- an anti-spam filter / DNS blacklist
- XML-RPC support
- Search Engine


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Putting the Ebola outbreak in context
Americans more likey to catch the flu
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The world, and by the world we mean cable TV, is consumed by the news of an Ebola epidemic.
To be sure, it's serious. Ebola has grown out of control in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The latest outbreak started in March and, like previous Ebola outbreaks, has migrated from rural areas to cities and across borders.
So far, there have been more than 1,700 infected patients and at least 932 have died. Two U.S. missionaries are being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Ga.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has warned Americans not to travel to the countries hit by the outbreak. The last time the CDC issued such a high-level warning was in 2003 during the SARS outbreak in Asia.
U.S. Border Patrol agents and several dozen CDC disease specialists are monitoring passengers arriving on international flights from the affected region for signs of Ebola, and major medical centers around the country are on alert to isolate and care for any patient who might be infected, although CDC testing hasn't found any.
The high rate of international travel these days means it's possible for a single case of an infectious disease to pop up anywhere. But that doesn't necessarily mean there will be a giant outbreak wherever it does – even if there is a giant outbreak of cable news coverage.
One thing you don't hear often in the non-stop coverage is that while public health experts don't take the risk lightly, they do stress that getting infected with Ebola at all, and particularly in the U.S., is far less likely than picking up many other dangerous infections.
So, just for the record, we decided to look into how Ebola compares with a witches' brew of other infectious diseases in terms of transmission.
First, here's a recap of how Ebola is transmitted. The virus is shed in body fluids such as blood, feces, urine, semen and sweat, and you have to be in close contact – eyes, mouth or open wounds to be infected. It's not considered an airborne or respiratory disease, but CDC officials noted this week that someone exposed to droplets from a cough or sneeze by an infected person could possibly inhale or ingest the virus.
It can take up to 21 days for symptoms like fever, muscle pain, vomiting and diarrhea to develop, and the patient can be infectious for several more weeks. But the virus is fairly easy to kill with soap and water, alcohol or bleach.
Now for the witches' brew:
SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome): Between late 2002 and July 2003, the disease made more than 8,200 people sick and killed 775 in 37 countries. The spread was facilitated by air travel, although screening, including thermal imaging, kept some patients from boarding.
It takes between two and seven days to develop symptoms after contracting the infection, and while largely shared via droplets at close quarters, SARS can also be transmitted by patients' hands. Widespread quarantine and isolation of patients by hospitals in key cities eventually slowed the spread and there have been no reported human cases since 2004.
Flu: Influenza may be the ultimate air warrior. Recent research suggests the infection range on airplanes is limited to about two rows in any direction from the infected person. But in one landmark case from Alaska, a single flu patient infected 72 percent of fellow passengers in a plane tarmacked for three hours without the ventilation system running. Results in other crowded public spaces, offices or schools may vary. The virus may linger a day or two on some surfaces, but for shorter times in the air, particularly damp air.
Adults with the flu begin to share the virus a day before symptoms appear and then for another five to seven days. Kids are more infectious than adults and contagious for up to two weeks. Generally, the higher someone's fever is, the more virus they're shedding.
Seasonal flu sends more than 200,000 Americans to the hospital and is estimated to kill between 3,000 and 49,000 a year, depending on the severity of the viruses circulating. Public health officials are constantly on the lookout for new flu strains that people have little resistance to or that prove far more deadly.
TB: Tuberculosis bacteria spread through the air from person to person when someone with an active infection coughs, sneezes, speaks or sings. People can be infected without becoming sick, but latent infections can become active at any time. The disease cannot be spread by physical contact, through household surfaces or even kissing.
Measles: Ideally, everyone is properly vaccinated for measles. But for anyone who isn't, the virus is almost instant trouble and so contagious that 90 percent of those who are not immune will become infected if exposed. There have been at least 18 measles outbreaks in the U.S so far this year, with more than 800 people infected.The virus lives in the nose and throat and spreads by coughing or sneezing. It can live on surfaces in a room, bus or plane for up to 2 hours.
What's all this mean?
Well, despite Donald Trump's Twitter twitching, it seems that while our risk from Ebola isn't quite zero, it's much easier to catch a lot of other infectious diseases that are more common. And that means washing our hands, getting our shots, covering our coughs and keeping things clean out there in an everyday world full of diseases that aren't breaking news.


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In how many ways a single hyperplane can cut a hypercube? Two "ways" are considered different, if the sets into which they divide vertices of the hypercube are different. So e.g. a line can cut 2-dimensional hypercube in 4 + 2 = 6 ways.
Actually, all I need to know is whether the number of those possible cuts is polynomial or exponential with respect to the number of vertices of the hypercube.


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When you come to a stop with a manual transmission you have to push the clutch in or take it out of gear to keep the engine from stalling out. What keeps the engine from stalling in an automatic transmission. Even when I rev the engine while holding the brake the engine won't stall out, I can tell the car is in gear because it's trying to move forward but the engine stays running. If I tried this with a manual transmission the engine would stall
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The reason that an automatic doesn't stall out while "in gear" and at a stop, while a manual transmission does, is that automatic transmissions use a hydraulic torque converter to connect the engine to the transmission, while manual transmissions use a friction clutch. These two systems do a similar job in a very different way.
A torque converter uses fluid to transfer the power, and so it can "slip," effectively disengaging the engine from the drive wheels at low speeds. When you come to a complete stop in an automatic transmission car, the torque converter starts slipping, allowing the engine to keep turning even though the wheels have stopped.
The only way to get the friction clutch of a manual transmission to slip is to depress the clutch pedal. If you come to a stop in a manual transmission car without depressing the clutch pedal, the engine stops turning when the wheels stop turning, and the car stalls.
See Wikipedia's articles on torque converters and clutches for a more thorough treatment.
It is important to note that revving the engine on an automatic transmission car while holding the car stationary with the brakes causes premature transmission wear and early failure. This action causes the fluid to overheat. It also damages the torque converter and driveshaft or cv joints.
If you look at advertisements for performance torque converters they will mention antiballooning,furnaced brazed fins and roller bearings. These are all needed if you want to abuse the drive train by stalling the transmission with the brake. By pressing the brake and the gas pedal at the same time it is possible to spin the tires. The technique is as you described.


text: Features Pictures: Notable deaths from 2014 See which famous people have passed away in the last year. This photo gallery is featured in these articles: The List Just what were you clicking on in 2014? Entertainment Remembrance: Michael Shamberg, from Baltimore to New Order and beyond Home Oscar de la Renta dies at 82; fashion designer behind red-carpet icons