All Shows

Show of 2-7-2004

  • MyDoom Update
  • Burger Kings speakers used for verbal assault
    • Kids used a simple transmitter to communicate with drive-through speakers at Burger King in Troy Michigan
    • These speaker frequencies are well-known and transmitters are cheap
    • When one customer ordered a Whopper, they said, ?You don?t need a couple of Whoppers. You are too fat. Pull ahead.
    • When another ordered Coke, they said,? We don?t have any more Coke.?
  • The Virus Underground
    • 2003 Was the Year of the Worm
      • January we had Slammer
      • Summer we had Blaster
      • August we had SoBig.F
      • January 2004 we had MyDoom.A and B
    • Virus Writers have become very cautious and skilled
      • They post their work to the web and analyze each experiment
      • Improve the code and the approach
      • They typically do nothing illegal (albeit unethical)
    • Naive Distributors (Script Kiddies)
      • Download the virus/worms and launch them
      • At that point they are committing an illegal act
    • Modern virus epidemic is based on the symbiotic relationship between people smart enough to write a virus and people dumb enough to spread it.
    • Overall Trends
      • Hackers target the home computer with a broadband connection
      • Users continue to be dumb and click on nearly anything
      • Malicious viruses seem to be gone (Reformatting Hard Drive)
      • Viruses/Worms are being adopted by the criminal element
  • Music Industry Raids Kazaa Offices
    • Federal Court gave the Australian Record Industry permission to raid 12 premises in three states to collect evidence against Kazaa
    • Site included the office of Kazaa owner Sharman Networks and the home of two company executives
    • Looking for copyright infringements
    • Computers and disks seized for further study
    • Surprising result since the Dutch Courts ruled last year that Kazaa was not in violation
  • Why Do Golf Balls Have Dimples?
    • Short history of Golf Balls
      • Until 1600s golf balls were smoothly carved boxwood
      • In 1618, leather-skinned ball filled with feathers (?Featherie?) was invented
      • In 1848, a rubber-like substance (gutta-percha) was used (?Guttie?)
      • The Guttie improved with age, as it became nicked
      • Soon Guttie were being produced pre-nicked (the first dimples)
      • In 1898 balls were made of rubber thread wound around a rubber core, encased in a hard, dimpled, enamel skin
    • The Secret of Dimples
      • Smooth ball would travel only about half the distance of a dimpled ball
      • Most golf balls have between 300 and 500 dimples
      • Average depth: one hundredth of an inch
      • Dimples create a thin turbulent boundary layer between the ball and the flowing air
      • Allows flowing air to follow ball?s surface a little farther, thereby decreasing the size of the wake. Thus half the drag!
      • Dimples create lift by warping the air flow as the ball spins like the asymmetrical front edge of an airplane wing.
      • Lift is doubled by the dimples!
  • Websites of the Week
    • www.opensecrets.org
      • Track contributions
      • Your neighbors by zipcode or name
      • Soft PAC contributions
      • By special interest area
      • Fourth Quarter Results now posted
    • www.irs.gov
      • Guidelines for e-File
      • Help with selection a free online filing service
      • Make certain to link from IRS site to preparation site to get the same deal
      • If you file a complicated return, TurboTax by Intuit is getting good reviews (not free)
  • Mar Exploration Rover Mission
    • JPL Mission Website: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/
    • Mission is designed to gather geological evidence to show whether the planet was wet enough to support life.
    • Spirit landed January 3rd, Opportunity January 24th.
    • Spirit was launched June 10th and Opportunity on July 7th and? traveled for approximately seven months
    • Both rovers (1-Spirit and 2-Opportunity) operational.
    • Spirit slightly dysfunctional because of SDRAM overflow
      • 256MB flash RAM used to store data for transmission to earth
      • Use of RAM cache permits rovers to continue to work without waiting
      • All tasks routed through SDRAM, but not files were erased.
      • Stopped functioning when RAM was at capacity, like a digital camera
      • NASA has manually erased and reformatted RAM to fix problem.
      • May send software patch at a later date for permanent fix.
    • Both rovers sensors and tools onboard
      • Cornell Sensor Website: http://athena.cornell.edu/
      • Panoramic Camera using two high-resolution stereo cameras to complement the rover’s navigation cameras for 3-D panoramic pictures
      • Microscopic Imager is a combination of a microscope and a camera. It will produce extreme close-up views of rocks and soils examined by other instruments.
      • Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) can recognize carbonates, silicates, organic molecules, and minerals formed in water from their IR signatures. Thermal IR data will also help scientists assess the capacity of rocks and soils to hold heat over the wide temperature range of a Martian day.
      • Mossbauer Spectrometer (MB) determines the composition and abundance of iron-bearing minerals. It shines x-ray/gamma rays (from radioactive Cobalt source) on sample and measures backscattered radiation. Identification of iron-bearing minerals will yield information about early Martian environmental conditions (degree and specific type of oxidation or ?rusting?).
      • Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) determines the presence of Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, and Fe, Na, P, S, Cl, Ti, Cr, Mn, C, and O. The APXS shines x-ray/gamma rays from a radioactive Curium source and measures backscattered radiation.
      • Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) for scrapping off the outer surface of samples
      • Magnet Array to collect magnetic dust samples for evaluation
  • Stratford News
    • Stratford Launches New Website
      • PHP scripting
      • Linux server
    • New Professional Development Courses
      • IT (Windows 2003, .Net, etc.)
      • Business (Leadership, Finance, Accounting)
    • Open House Today (Scholarship Competition)
      • Falls Church Campus
      • Starts at 9 AM today (7777 Leesburg Pike)
    • Classes Start Monday, February 9th