Re: Engineers in U.S. vs. India
On Tue, Jan 06, 2004 at 11:39:41AM -0800, Steve Schear wrote: > At 11:17 AM 1/6/2004, Declan McCullagh wrote: > >http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-407043,curpg-3.cms > > > >Moreover, it is found out that the Americans are shying away from the > >challenges of math and science. A recent National Science Foundation Study > >reveals a 5 per cent decline in the overall doctoral candidates in the US > >over the last five years. > Not surprising considering the lack of preparation most get today in school. > As has been discussed on this list many who graduated college before the > late '70s were able to pursue independent science experimentation (esp. > chemistry and rocketry, etc.). > Now almost all science can only be learned in the classroom. What's your motivation for saying that?! Are you saying that new science has gone too far ahead of the layman's understanding, that tools are expensive/inaccessible, or that knowledge is being hoarded by a conspiracy of Illuminati scientists? I don't buy it. Nature is still out there to be studied by those willing to look. > Many of the greatest scientific break throughs were made by amateurs. who are alive and well, AFAICT... http://www.sas.org What about: ftp://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/pub/astro/SL9/animations/keck-R.mpg > We'll probably never know what new ideas were never thought, or were > greatly delayed, because young minds in science were only channeled > through the rote of the classroom. STOP! We'll DEFINATELY never know. Don't Rummsfeldize.
Re: WiFi Repeater?
I can't be considered an expert on this technology, so probably there is another, much simpler solution. The first idea (and so far the only one) I got is to use a pair of wireless access points, eg, DWL-900AP+ ones (the only ones I have experience with so far); if I'd have a pair of these, I'd configure one to access the hotspot, and connect it by a crossover Ethernet cable with the other one, configured to be on another channel and use WEP and to be accessible only by you. On Tue, 6 Jan 2004, Tyler Durden wrote: > > I'm thinking about a WiFi repeater... > > Imagine I work on a high floor in an office tower, but I know that very > nearby, on the ground floor, there's a public WiFi hotspot. > > Now let's say I want to be able to access that hotspot, but I'm currently > out of range due to the height. > > DOES THERE EXIST something like a WiFi "repeater", which will allow me to > "reach" that public WiFi spot without my being within 200 feet or so? (I > deploying one or more repeaters throughout our offices so that I can reach > the public hotspot.) > > > Of course, it's also better if that repeater masks who I am to the real > hotspot, and terminates encryption on both sides. But of course, I don't > want it to cost a ton, and I probably don't want anyone else to be able to > use it either. > > One nice application of this is to be able to regularly send messages from > this public spot, but without anyone every actually seeing me. And if the > "last" repeater is in these (private) offices somewhere, it's doubtful > anyone would ever be able to tell that this is occurring. > > Or so I believe... > > -TD > > _ > Expand your wine savvy ? and get some great new recipes ? at MSN Wine. > http://wine.msn.com >
Re: Engineers in U.S. vs. India
On Tue, 6 Jan 2004, Declan McCullagh wrote: > http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-407043,curpg-3.cms "Today, Bangalore stands ahead of Bay Area, San Francisco and California, with a lead of 20,000 techies, while employing a total number of 1.5 lakh engineers." ek lakh = 100,000 I am sure that there are a lot of good engineers in India. However, the educational system has to be seen to be fully appreciated. When my wife and I last travelled in north India, admittedly quite some time ago, what began as a riot at the University of Lucknow -- students protesting over invigilation of exams, I believe -- escalated into a conflict that eventually involved the armed police on the one hand and the military on the other. The university campus was destroyed, burned down. I spent several months in Calcutta over a couple of years. During at least one visit there were riots at the university; the papers reported bodies hanging from trees. Many had been shot. Same story: students protested because they were stopped from openly exchanging papers, consulting books, or just chatting with friends during examinations. Many were also angry because invigilators were actually checking the identities of those writing the exam papers. The going rate for a degree at the time was several hundred dollars. Knowledge of the subject was not much relevant. Such education as occurred largely involved rote learning, often based on texts many years out of date. > Moreover, it is found out that the Americans are shying away from the > challenges of math and science. A recent National Science Foundation Study > reveals a 5 per cent decline in the overall doctoral candidates in the US > over the last five years. No telling what this actually means, given that a large percentage of doctoral candidates are foreign. It is becoming much harder for foreign students to get into the US, so many are going to universities in Europe. This change has occurred in the last five years -- more precisely, since 9/11. > The India side story: India produces 3.1 million college graduates a year, > which is expected to be doubled by 2010. The number of engineering colleges > is slated to grow 50 per cent, to nearly 1,600, over the next four years. My impression is that India has a few excellent institutions and a vast number of unbelievably bad schools. It seems likely that the flow of money into Bangalore and a few other centers will gradually improve this situation, but it is likely to take decades, and per-capita convergence with the US and Europe seems unlikely within the century. While 1.5 lakh (150,000) engineers may sound like a lot, you have to bear in mind that there are about 100 crore (1 billion) people in India. -- Jim Dixon [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel +44 117 982 0786 mobile +44 797 373 7881 http://jxcl.sourceforge.net Java unit test coverage http://xlattice.sourceforge.net p2p communications infrastructure
Re: DoS-ing fatherland goons
At 11:01 AM 1/3/04 +0100, privacy.at Anonymous Remailer wrote: If we put aside the probable and obvious cause for disrupting the air traffic - namely, introduction of the permanent emergency state (in the future 2-3% of all flights may be affected - small price for maintaining the power), I wonder what are the logistics of injecting false information into the snooping systems. It sure looks Al Qaida et al have already figured this out. There just so happens to be "chatter" indicative of a major attack before every major holiday. This seems to lead to three possibilities: a. AQ has worked out that it's cheaper and safer to disrupt life in the US by "chatter" than by actually trying any attacks here, and disrupting holidays is more fun. b. There really have been attacks planned, but they've either been foiled actively (e.g., the terrorists got arrested or shot or something before the attack took place) or passively (e.g., the higher alert status, changes to security procedures, etc., have made the terrorists postpone their attacks. c. There really isn't much useful information about AQ plans in the available intelligence, and what we're seeing is the intelligence community's priors (in the Bayesian sense; their prior assumptions are swamping the effects of their meager data). .. --John Kelsey, [EMAIL PROTECTED] PGP: FA48 3237 9AD5 30AC EEDD BBC8 2A80 6948 4CAA F259
Re: Engineers in U.S. vs. India
At 01:05 PM 1/6/2004, BillyGOTO wrote: On Tue, Jan 06, 2004 at 11:39:41AM -0800, Steve Schear wrote: > As has been discussed on this list many who graduated college before the > late '70s were able to pursue independent science experimentation (esp. > chemistry and rocketry, etc.). > Now almost all science can only be learned in the classroom. What's your motivation for saying that?! Are you saying that new science has gone too far ahead of the layman's understanding, that tools are expensive/inaccessible, or that knowledge is being hoarded by a conspiracy of Illuminati scientists? I don't buy it. Nature is still out there to be studied by those willing to look. Just try setting up a well-equipped personal chem. lab w/o inviting a visit from the BATF or FBI. Its next to impossible for minors to purchase chemical reagents, I had no trouble in the 60s. Try building and finding a place to launch an amateur rocket (it can be done, but now only with the greatest of regulatory red tape). I did. Some of my group's rockets achieved heights over 100,000 ft (confirmed by Edward's AFB radar.) Try doing independent research in bacterial or viral genetics and see who shows up on your doorstep. > Many of the greatest scientific break throughs were made by amateurs. who are alive and well, AFAICT... http://www.sas.org What about: ftp://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/pub/astro/SL9/animations/keck-R.mpg Notice that none of the science avenues presented are the one's I've discussed. steve
Re: WiFi Repeater?
On Tue, Jan 06, 2004 at 02:20:15PM -0500, Tyler Durden wrote: > DOES THERE EXIST something like a WiFi "repeater", which will allow me to > "reach" that public WiFi spot without my being within 200 feet or so? How about an antenna, instead? It would work if you have line-of-sight. If you're really looking for a repeater, check the comments from the community 802.11 groups, like Seattle Wireless: http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/PassiveRepeater
Re: WiFi Repeater?
Well, I don't think the truly passive route is the most appropriate. At least, I can imagine the DHCP of Starbucks, for instance, will be "aware" of my computer's Ethernet address, or at least it can be 'modified' to look for me and report (to a TLA) when I'm online. (I'm no datacom guy so I may have fumbled the correct usage of the terminology.) With an active device "I" could be made to look different every time. (I suppose some of this could be done in my laptop, but let's just assume I don't own this computer and can't modify it.) And I'd prefer if it didn't cost me an arm and a leg (come to think of it, I could probably just buy a few cheap Linksys WiFi routers and scatter them around, but I was hoping for something even cheaper, smaller, and less obtrusive.) -TD From: R/db <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Tyler Durden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: WiFi Repeater? Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 12:11:00 -0800 On Tue, Jan 06, 2004 at 02:20:15PM -0500, Tyler Durden wrote: > DOES THERE EXIST something like a WiFi "repeater", which will allow me to > "reach" that public WiFi spot without my being within 200 feet or so? How about an antenna, instead? It would work if you have line-of-sight. If you're really looking for a repeater, check the comments from the community 802.11 groups, like Seattle Wireless: http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/PassiveRepeater _ Enjoy a special introductory offer for dial-up Internet access limited time only! http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup
Engineers in U.S. vs. India
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-407043,curpg-3.cms Moreover, it is found out that the Americans are shying away from the challenges of math and science. A recent National Science Foundation Study reveals a 5 per cent decline in the overall doctoral candidates in the US over the last five years. The India side story: India produces 3.1 million college graduates a year, which is expected to be doubled by 2010. The number of engineering colleges is slated to grow 50 per cent, to nearly 1,600, over the next four years.
Re: Engineers in U.S. vs. India
At 11:17 AM 1/6/2004, Declan McCullagh wrote: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-407043,curpg-3.cms Moreover, it is found out that the Americans are shying away from the challenges of math and science. A recent National Science Foundation Study reveals a 5 per cent decline in the overall doctoral candidates in the US over the last five years. Not surprising considering the lack of preparation most get today in school. As has been discussed on this list many who graduated college before the late '70s were able to pursue independent science experimentation (esp. chemistry and rocketry, etc.). Now almost all science can only be learned in the classroom. Many of the greatest scientific break throughs were made by amateurs. We'll probably never know what new ideas were never thought, or were greatly delayed, because young minds in science were only channeled through the rote of the classroom. steve
WiFi Repeater?
I'm thinking about a WiFi repeater... Imagine I work on a high floor in an office tower, but I know that very nearby, on the ground floor, there's a public WiFi hotspot. Now let's say I want to be able to access that hotspot, but I'm currently out of range due to the height. DOES THERE EXIST something like a WiFi "repeater", which will allow me to "reach" that public WiFi spot without my being within 200 feet or so? (I deploying one or more repeaters throughout our offices so that I can reach the public hotspot.) Of course, it's also better if that repeater masks who I am to the real hotspot, and terminates encryption on both sides. But of course, I don't want it to cost a ton, and I probably don't want anyone else to be able to use it either. One nice application of this is to be able to regularly send messages from this public spot, but without anyone every actually seeing me. And if the "last" repeater is in these (private) offices somewhere, it's doubtful anyone would ever be able to tell that this is occurring. Or so I believe... -TD _ Expand your wine savvy and get some great new recipes at MSN Wine. http://wine.msn.com
Re: Snake oil?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > http://www.topsecretcrypto.com/ > Snake oil? I am not entirely sure. on the plus side - it apparently uses Sha-1 for a signing algo, RSA with a max keysize of 16Kbits (overkill, but better than enforcing something stupidly small), built in NTP synch for timestamps (probably spoofable, but at least a valiant attempt to keep timestamps accurate "by default") and supports a range of file, folder, email and chat crypto with a onscreen keyboard for password entry (again, not unbeatable but a valiant attempt) next step is the symmetric component though - which shows more than slight traces of oil. First is a randomly generated session key, protected by the RSA component - on the face of it fine (its how pgp and smime do it, after all) but no details are given on *how* the random key is obtained (the code apparently "contains a true random number generator" which seems doubtful) and the symmetric component is a proprietary algo (for which source is provided, but even so...) Second is pretty much pgp's conventional mode - but with a user supplied key. no mention of hashing, and again, the proprietary algo is in use. Third is True One Time Pad - yes well duh! I could write one in eight lines or so of VBScript, for free. Nobody needs to pay for a OTP application, certainly not per-seat. An announcement of the software (and subsequent discussion) took place in Sci.Crypt some months ago - dejagoogle link here: http://makeashorterlink.com/?M138249F6 - if anyone wants to read it.
Re: progress
On Mon, Jan 05, 2004 at 04:32:33PM -0800, James A. Donald wrote: > The existence of pecunix may well be what is deterring the > treasury from a more vigorous crackdown on e-gold. You may be right, and it's an interesting point, though partially inconsistent with the way the Feds have worked to date. Restraint has never been their strong suit. -Declan
Snake oil?
http://www.topsecretcrypto.com/ Snake oil? Regards, Matt-
Re: progress
-- Declan McCullagh: > But then you have the next wave of attacks by the U.S. > regulatory apparatus (again, assuming sufficient > determination). The U.S. could pressure the Panama government > to close Pecunix or apply direct or indirect sanctions and > incentives. The U.S. could make it more difficult for U.S. > residents to transfer money into a Pecunix account, perhaps > through direct criminal sanctions or regulatory > discouragement. The U.S. could mount a propaganda campaign > against trusting Pecunix and similar operators, and so on. Yes, but all this is more complicated, more difficult to do, and easier to evade, than sending in goons to a certain shop to beat the owner insensible and seize his inventory. A ruler who is competent and violent can accomplish all sorts of things. As Napoleon said, you can do anything with bayonets except sit on them, but in fact you cannot do anything with bayonets. It is hard to do complicated things. Leviathan is necessarily far less intelligent than the individuals that compose it. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG l4fPcdUpIZed1a9UOLVkoXAVUyNfIpAwdU1iD1c/ 43VuVeZv4rjEnepkdOsSb+yERponsE9yYH6rr1Dls
