Something about the words “Pirate” and “Volvo” just dont’ go together, but nonetheless the media mogul Disney has entered their billboard into the famous round-the-world race. Early images of what real Pirates should look forward to in their waters indicate a flashy black and red cartoon character. I can just imagine being sleep-deprived in high seas during the middle of the night and staring at the eerie glow of a giant skull on the foresail. No word on the specifics yet, but the 70-footer will probably be outfitted with some of Harken’s latest wenches. Har har!
Nov 14th update: Hall Spars is apparently doing the rigging. Congrats Ben!
“Darwin and Einstein correspondence patterns: These scientists prioritized their replies to letters in the same way that people rate their e-mails today.”
Not only does it vindicate my habit of attending to some communication instantly, while letting other things wait for eons, but it also raises interesting implications for confidentiality and data retention.
I know this is more about safety than security, but I just found the story somewhat shocking:
“Rev Kyle Lake, 33, was standing in a small pool used for baptisms at the University Baptist Church when he was electrocuted on Sunday morning. Rev Lake reached out to adjust a nearby microphone, which produced an electric shock, said church pastor Ben Dudley.”
SecurityFocus reports today that US SCADA systems are finally getting the attention they deserve:
“Wary of the increasing number of online attacks against industrial control systems, the U.S. government has begun a major push to secure the systems used to control and monitor critical infrastructure, such as power, utility and transportation networks.”
I did some consultative/audit work with a utility company in the late 1990s and was surprised that networked systems had become so commonplace with so few controls. Fail-safes were everywhere for the critical infrastructure (most of which was heavily engineered and influenced by ideas that probably went back to the beginning of utilities themselves) so disasters seemed unlikely without some knowledge or access, but simple network devices (routers) and Microsoft software were spreading like crazy to “increase efficiency” for remote management and control systems.
To be fair, that all was before the Critical Infrastructure Project (CIP) was even started. I just checked their online files and it seems that progress is slow but steady.