Saturday, July 09, 2011

Programming Note: Off To Manila Again...

Metro Manila

So I'm off to Manila on business for a while -- back on July 23rd, so blogging may be light until then.


In any event, thanks for the interest, patience, and following.

Cheers,

- ferg

Friday, July 08, 2011

In Passing: Betty Ford


Betty Ford
April 8, 1918 - July 8, 2011


Thursday, July 07, 2011

In Passing: John Mackey


John Mackey
September 24, 1941 — July 6, 2011

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Cyberattacks Take Two U.S. Energy Labs Offline

William Jackson writes on GCN.com:



Two Energy Department research facilities on opposite sides of the country have been taken offline by what one spokesman called a “sophisticated cyber attack.”


Officials became aware July 1 that the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., and the Thomas Jefferson Laboratory National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Va., were under attack, PNNL spokesman Greg Koller said.


All network services initially were shut down at PNNL, but external e-mail had been restored by the afteroon on July 6, Koller said. Internal e-mail and some intranet connections havd already been restored at the laboratory. The public website at www.pnl.gov remained offline July 6.


“We expect we will be able to get them online over the next three days,” Koller said.


The Jefferson Lab website at www.jlab.org also was unavailable on Wednesday.

More here.

Monday, July 04, 2011

(Update) 30th Annual Palo Alto Summer Festival & Chili Cook-off


The place to be today... details here.

Happy Independence Day!

- ferg

Update: 17:20 PDT 4 July 2011: Yes, I went up to the Chili Cook-Off in Palo Alto for a few hours this afternoon -- did some chili-tasting, had a few beers, listened to some music, and of course did some people-watching. All-in-all, a good time was had by all. And I liked the Chili by Secret Mountain Labs (Google it) the best -- it was rockin'. -ferg

Remember Our Troops on This Independence Day...


You Are Not Forgotten.


Happy 235th Birthday, America



Happy Independence Day, America.

Sunday, July 03, 2011

U.S. Spies Can't Stop Buying Fake Microchips from China

Adam Clarke Estes writes in The Atlantic Wire:

The U.S. miltary has known for quite some time that they have a quality control problem with the microchips they've been buying in China. A 2005 report from the Defense Science Board warned that in buying weapon circuitry overseas, "trojan horse" chips could find their way into American weapons, potentially prompting missiles to detonate early or computers to shut down in the event of an attack. Then, in 2008, an investigation by BusinessWeek revealed that this was, in fact, happening--fake Chinese microchips were crashing American military networks. In 2010, the military bought 59,000 chips that turned out to be counterfeits. Last week, the government finally announced that they wanted to figure out a way to spot "trojan horse" chips. What took them so long?


Well, for one, China's gotten really good at counterfeiting. The fake Louis Vuitton bags they sell on Canal Street in New York City is one thing, but brand-stamped microchips sold to the U.S. military in the thousands is different in a number of different ways. When BusinessWeek investigated this issue, they found that money and "affirmative-action goals" steered government equipment buyers away from the most trusted manufacturers...

More here.