| Friday,
October 9, 2009 New FTC Rules
This appears to be an excellent and concise look at
the important issues.
http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/
2009/10/bought-and-paid-for-yessirreee-bubba.html
-- Tim of Angle
New FTC Rules
Worth your attention. We have not seen the last of
this.
=============
FBI's 'Operation Phish Phry' snares nearly 100 people
The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday
charged almost 100 people in Operation Phish Phry, the largest cyber fraud
phishing case to date.
The FBI said it uncovered a sophisticated phishing
operation that was designed to swipe personal information and then use the
data to defraud banks. On Wednesday, authorities arrested 33 of the 53
defendants named in an indictment. Egyptian authorities charged another 47
alleged cybercrooks.
Operation Phish Phry started in 2007 and authorities
ultimately collected enough information used in today’s bust. That
information led to the joint U.S.-Egypt sting
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=25590&tag=nl.e019
Tracy Walters, CISSP
A fairly small operation (only a few of million
dollars apparently) but with a very large potential. Be careful out there.
============
Is the AK47 a Copy of the MP44?
I'm not personally familiar with the internals of
either but according to this link, the two have different bolt locking
designs. It seems likely that the Russian design was influenced by the
German one. They certainly have many similar characteristics.
http://www.ww2incolor.com/
forum/archive/index.php/t-2132.html
I did see a TV interview with Mr. Kalashnikov where he
nearly had a kitten when the interviewer suggest that the AK was a copy.
-- Mike Johns
No opinion, and I guess this will end discussion of
the topic. Thanks
===========
TSA Kabuki -
Jerry,
A week ago I flew into Roswell, NM airport (former
Walker AFB). To my surprise, my wife was at the gate to meet me. Not behind
the security, not behind the scanner, only behind the door. (Roswell is
somewhat limited. Ladders to enter/leave the plane, etc.) In fact, there was
no scanner, no x-ray machine, no nothing that most of us have to deal with.
Where was the flight I took coming from? Los Angles, CA. Where was it going
to? LAX. However, every airport I went through, the TSA people were very
polite. In fact, when I went out of security in Orlando, FL, TSA did a very
considerate search on me, since I would not remove my suspenders. Come to
find out, my passport was tripping the metal detectors.
John
============
The VASIMIR Rocket
In Mail for October 8, 2009, "Bob", commenting on an
earlier linked article on the VASIMIR plasma engine, wrote:
"Gee, throw in some tritium and deuterium and get some
real thrust!
I'm skeptical."
Good. Skeptical is good. However, the VASIMIR engine
is not "smoke and mirrors", it's not some Dean Drive hokum worked up in a
basement, and it's not a nuclear drive. It'an electric rocket, mot much
different in basic principles from an ion rocket, which is old and proven
technology.
While VASIMIR is new and in prototype stage, the
developer has solid credentials. Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz has worked in
plasma physics his entire scientific career, from his doctoral work at MIT
in Physics, where he worked on a fusion power program, right on through his
career as a NASA astronaut (seven shuttle missions flown), his appointment
in 1993 to the directorship of the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at
NASA's Johnson Space Center, and continuing from 2005 with his start up, Ad
Astra Rocket Company.
All of which is to say: Chang-Diaz and VASIMIR have
real potential. Just because The Register, as usual, oversells a baby
technology doesn't mean this baby isn't full of real potential. It's a game
changer if it works, and I would not bet against Chang-Diaz. He left Costa
Rica at eighteen, telling his friends there he was going to the USA to
become a rocket scientist and astronaut. I'm sure they were skeptical, too.
Petronius
This is the sort of technology I used to keep track
of. I am ashamed to say I haven't kept up with this one. The important
number in interplanetary operations is ISP. VASIMIR supporters claim a
potential of 50,000. ISP is a fuel efficiency measure which calculates a
number in "seconds". (These are not units of time but units of thrust over
time divided by fuel consumed over time.)
The highest chemical rocket ISP's hover around 400.
NERVA, a hydrogen modulated nuclear powered rocket I have used in some of my
stories and which I supported back in my political activist days, got a
measured 800 in sea level tests before NASA discontinued the project. NERVA
has a potential well above that. Some of the ion rockets Bob Forward was
testing at Hughes were in the neighborhood of 20,000. In all of these
including VASIMIR the thrust to weight ratios are low, because the physical
plant required to generate the power and create the thrust has a large
minimal size. (See my story "Tinker" in EXILE -- AND GLORY!)
I have been unable to find a report of the
demonstrated ISP of VASIMIR. I see nothing in the design descriptions
available on line to refute the 50,000 ISP potential. At 50,000 ISP
interplanetary commerce becomes possible and even economic.
I wish the VASIMIR people well, of course.
==
Re: Plasma rocket - VASMIR
Jerry,
Though I know your correspondent Bob of Oct. 10th was
probably being facetious, I think I can address his criticism.
First, truth in advertising; I am not involved in the
VASMIR project or Ad Astra in any way; just a space and tech enthusiast that
tries to keep up with these kinds of things. I’ve had my eye on the VX-200
testing for a while now, since it does seem to be a promising space drive.
The implied criticism in Bob’s email is that, if you
have a rocket engine with chamber temperatures truly ‘approaching that of
the sun,’ you might as well go straight for fusion. The fallacy here is that
he’s missing a term in his recipe for fusion. D + T + HEAT don’t equal
fusion by themselves. You need D + T + HEAT + residence time (or something
else that increases the probability of the ions hitting each other
frequently enough to generate fusion energy in worthwhile quantities).
Something tells me that since VASMIR generates exhaust gas velocities
sufficient for an Isp in the tens of thousands, there won’t be much time for
the D’s and T’s to dance around and eventually hit each other.
All that being said… A healthy dose of skepticism is
called for whenever a system claims performance that seems extravagant. I
however remain optimistic, bolstered mostly by the transparency that this
development effort has had on the internet. They’ve shared videos of live
firings inside their vacuum chambers, as well as (admittedly dumbed-down for
public consumption) data and results from those tests. Also, anyone who can
successfully work with superconducting magnets isn’t a brash amateur.
Regards,
Mike Smith
===============
Original URL:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/08/beholder_ptds/
US Army doubles fleet of enormous floating eyes
'Beholder'-esque aerostat blimps spy Afghanistan
By Lewis Page
The US Army is doubling its fleet of moored spy
balloons, deployed in overseas warzones to provide continuous unblinking
overwatch around fortified American camps and bases.
The 74K Aerostat, as used in the PTDS System. Credit:
Lockheed
Giant, floating, all-seeing eyes in the sky r us
Arms behemoth Lockheed Martin announced yesterday that
it has been awarded a $133m contract to provide a further 8 Persistent
Threat Detection Systems (PTDS) tethered aerostats, supplementing the 9
already in service overseas.
The PTDS is based on Lockheed's 74K (74,000 cubic
foot) helium aerostat design, produced at the stupendous Airdock in Akron,
Ohio - where the mighty flying aircraft carriers (http://www.airships.net/us-navy-rigid-airships/uss-akron-macon)
of the pre-war US Navy were built by Goodyear-Zeppelin in the 1930s,
although nowadays it is owned by Lockheed. It's understood that the PTDS
aerostats carry a ground-sweeping radar and accompanying thermal-camera
systems, able to pick out moving objects across a wide stretch of terrain
and then zoom in to identify them.
Tracy Walters, CISSP
============
Obama's Nobel
Accepting it was the stupidest decision he's made yet,
from every viewpoint including his own political future. The committee is
appointed by the Norwegian parliament. This makes the award itself a very
partisan extension of the reigning coalition in the Norwegian Parliament,
notably leftist at this moment.
Considering the questions at hand about Iraq, Iran and
Afghanistan it's a very transparent attempt at meddling in US policy.
Every future decision he makes towards "peaceful"
resolutions of anything will now be haunted his snap decision to accept this
award. Should the results of any of them afterwards be found lacking this 15
minute moment of ego, photo op and spin will come back to bite him without
surcease.
Can he have even considered the morale of US troops in
Afghanistan? I doubt it.
BHO is looking more and more like a one term President
every day. If his Adminstration even makes through 2012. He's combining some
of the worst aspects of LBJ and Mikhail Gorbachev.
A
The question is whether the President of the United
States should be a world spokesperson.
===========
Barack Gorbachev
The downfall of both was rooted in their love of
superficial p.r. over substantive results. Both refused to seriously reform
corrupt elites and instead depended on them. The upper nomenklatura in
Gorbachev's case and the crony capitalists in Obama's.
Both thought mere spin could reform a failing economy.
"Perestroika" in Gorbachev's case and "Stimulus" in Obama's.
And both refused to act decisively in Afghanistan to
win or get out.
It is too easy to see Obama going Gorbachev's route;
dragged down in political chaos in the midst of a collapsing domestic
economy and failing foreign wars. Unfortunately we have to go with him...
===================
More about FTC
Sorry to pile on you like this, but:
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/
jennifer-vilaga/slipstream/ftc-bloggers-
its-not-medium-its-message-0
[Fast Company] solicited responses to those concerns
from Richard Cleland, assistant director, division of advertising practices
at the FTC.
RC: "That $11,000 fine is not true. Worst-case
scenario, someone receives a warning, refuses to comply, followed by a
serious product defect; we would institute a proceeding with a
cease-and-desist order and mandate compliance with the law. To the extent
that I have seen and heard, people are not objecting to the disclosure
requirements but to the fear of penalty if they inadvertently make a
mistake. That's the thing I don't think people need to be concerned about.
There's no monetary penalty, in terms of the first violation, even in the
worst case. Our approach is going to be educational, particularly with
bloggers. We're focusing on the advertisers: What kind of education are you
providing them, are you monitoring the bloggers and whether what they're
saying is true?"
*****
And, as someone on the internet pointed out, this FTC
regulation is specifically intended to go after stuff like the "Windows
Update search leads to malware" unpleasantness. Under the FTC regulations,
Google could be fined if they don't make it sufficiently clear that an
apparent result is in fact a sponsored link.
-- Mike T. Powers
Whatever its intent it's a power grab that will
inevitably lead to unintended consequences, none of which will be bad for
the FTC staffers and bureaucracy. More nanny state. It isn't needed.
==
Re: Disclosed Compensation
You linked to
http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/
2009/10/bought-and-paid-for-yessirreee-bubba.html
One of the comments there is interesting,
and--frankly--I can't help but agree:
"While I agree the FTC got ahead of itself...in
promulgating these rules without understanding the blogging environment, why
is it a problem for bloggers to disclose that they got a book for free?
....if I put a notice on my blog that says, "Hey, here's an author you
should know, and btw, this author donated XYZ book to my giveaway contest,"
why is that a bad thing? Or should I just hate the FTC ruling on principle
and raise an angry fist to the sky, demanding all bloggers and authors
"stick it to the man" because we don't like it when government tries to
regulate the internet?"
The point of this is to be able to sock people for
payola. Now, you're right that there's a concern here--if the notion of
"compensation" is thrown out to the in-the-field bureaucrat to define, you
might wind up with English levels of foolishness (for example, "being linked
to counts as compensation!" "having your comment approved counts as
compensation!" "we feel that your description of the compensatory nature of
this transaction was lacking in a number of particulars, that'll be $1000
please."
-- Mike T. Powers
Do you have any evidence that the cure will not be
worse than the disease? As to truth in advertising and disclosure and the
rest, do you not think that readers are astute enough to determine what is
going on? Most of us tell the readers what we are doing as a matter of
principle. As I said in Chaos Manor Reviews you are free to assume that any
high tech equipment I write about was probably sent to me by either the
manufacturer, a PR agency, or an enthusiast. In the old days I maintained an
enormous network far larger than anything I would ever need for the work I
do. Apple used to send almost anything they made, leave it here in theory to
be returned, then when it became obsolete offer to sell it for about 20% of
the list price. It was simpler to buy it than to pack it up. I just got rid
of several ancient pre-returnofJobs Macs that haven't been turned on in a
decade.
I am always alarmed when the federal government
undertakes to enforce "ethics." Note what happened to Martha Stewart who
ended up serving prison time for denying, not under oath, that she had done
something that was not a crime if she had done it. I would say that inviting
the government camel's nose into the tent has the expected result of
inviting camels and bears into your affairs.
==========
The Nobel Peace Prize "remains a very prestigious
honor?"
Dr. Pournelle,
The Nobel Peace Prize is s no longer “prestigious.”
They gave it to Arafat (despite his not renouncing terrorism), and to Jimmy
Carter (as a "kick in the leg" to Bush), then gave it to Al Gore for his
nonsense (as another slap to Bush).
Now it’s just a joke, and a bad one at that.
Meanwhile, President Obama seems just vain enough to really believe it’s
about him, and not just another slap at Bush.
I grieve for the Republic we once had.
Robin
Prestige is in the eyes of the beholders, and the
award remains prestigious however questionable some of the more recent
recipients. It is no longer what Nobel intended it to be, but perhaps it
ought not be abandoned just yet. Whether it is worth of prestige or not,
prestige attaches. The President of the United States will go to Oslo to
accept it.
It may be that this award will greatly lower the
prestige of that prize, and possibly lower the prestige of the other Nobel
prizes.
=============
Subject: Health Insurance
Portability
Jerry,
Yet again, I have learned something useful from
perusing your site.
I was already aware that COBRA allowed you to extend
group insurance coverage for 18 months after termination of employment. I
also knew that if you could get hired by someone else who offered a group
plan before that COBRA extension expired, then you were guaranteed entry
into the new employer's plan without any limitations regarding pre-existing
conditions. (I gather that is a HIPAA, rather than a COBRA, provision)
What I worried very much about is what my options
would be if my COBRA period expired, and I hadn't been able to acquire group
insurance from a new employer. I had thought that the only options were:
a) to go into the private insurance market, and hope
that I could pass the medical underwriting, and still get quoted a policy at
a rate that I could afford,
b) apply for my State's high risk insurance pool and
hope that I could get in. (I gather that not all State's offer a high risk
pool to people who can't qualify for an individual policy.)
After reading Paul's letter, and doing some more
research, I discovered that HIPAA does provide some additional federal
protections that I wasn't aware of, i. e., upon expiration of COBRA, you
have a 63-day window to buy into an insurance plan designated specifically
for HIPAA eligible applicants. While coverage is guaranteed, the degree of
coverage, and the cost of the premiums is not regulated by the Federal law.
That last provision is, of course, a huge potential loophole. If insurers
are allowed to charge what ever they want for the premiums, then they can
effective price most or all HIPAA subscribers out of the market. In
practice, it appears that most states have imposed some kinds of regulations
on coverage requirements and premiums. Since premium costs for these plans
can be rather substantial, the degree of protection one can get from this
law is therefore somewhat dependent on where you live. For example, one web
site based in Arizona claimed that in switching from COBRA coverage to HIPAA
coverage, you could see your premium cost increase by a factor of 4. For
many people, that would be financially ruinous, and would keep them from
acquiring coverage.
In the case of Connecticut, HIPAA eligible coverage is
provided by the State's high risk insurance pool. Coverage premiums for a
24-year old man vary between between $250 and $322/month, depending on the
plan chosen. By comparison, the premiums for a 64-year old man range from
$1087 to $1402/month.
I also learned that in some States, some group health
insurance plans do provide conversion rights to subscribers, so that they
can roll their coverage from a group plan into an individual plan without
(apparently) any limitations for pre-existing conditions. Typically, such
conversions can only occur after COBRA eligibility has expired. Which States
and which plans allow for this I cannot say. I know that kind of option was
not available to me on the three occasions when I or my wife were laid off
from large employers. The State of California does provide some discussion
of such conversions on one of their web sites, so some plans in your State
apparently do contain such provisions. I wonder if that was why you were
able to convert your Kaiser group plan into an individual plan with a
minimum of hassle. This kind of option would seem like a pretty useful
protection to require of all group plans. Of course, it might be difficult
to apply to large company plans, since some of them self insure, and only
use insurance companies as plan administrators.
Of course, none of these protections mean much if you
don't have sufficient savings or income to pay the premiums. Those who have
lost insurance by virtue of having lost a job are often in that situation.
CP, Connecticut
The point being that the problem is not so acute as
has been represented. Given that health care need reformation, does it need
to be done in a very great hurry? And apparently it does not. We have time
to study the situation before action.
===========
The ultimate hole-in-one.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/
news/golfer-kills-mother-in-law-on-
3rd-hole/story-e6freuy9-1225784913321
--- Roland Dobbins
============
'The scientists say these new findings support the
theory that asteroids brought both water and organic compounds to the early
Earth, helping lay the foundation for life on the planet.'
http://spacefellowship.com/2009/10/08/
more-water-out-there-ice-found-on-an-asteroid/
-- Roland Dobbins
============
'This has never been a terribly plausible view of the
man who welcomed the ruthless crushing of the Kronstadt workers and sailors
when they demanded a more pluralist system of government in 1921, and who
defended the systematic use of terror against opponents of the Soviet state
until his dying day.'
<http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/gray_10_09.html>
-- Roland Dobbins
Trotsky lives! And will never die... It has
always been easy to romanticize him so long as you don't actually look deep
into what he did. They have his character in Dr. Zhivago down pretty firmly.
The book, not the movie, although some of it gets into the movie. Of course
Pasternak was not Solzhenitsyn.
Trotsky was sincere, rather than opportunistic and
cynical. Some think that makes him a far better man than Stalin.
===========
"We've been betrayed by the government, Realtors and
those who've got. The promise has been broken."
http://detnews.com/article/20091008/
METRO01/910080431/1409/METRO/
Chaos-erupts-at-Cobo-as-thousands-
jockey-for-federal-aid
-- Roland Dobbins
Desperation. But consider the implications.
===================
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