US military gets its own secure version of Windows

The US Air Force has had enough of Microsoft's security problems. But rather than switch to an alternative, it has struck a deal with CEO Steve Ballmer for a specially configured version of Windows to be used by all its 525,000 personnel and civilian support staff.

This does not leave a warm and fuzzy feeling! Perhaps the Air Force (their CIO is named Gilligan !!!) should have talked to the Navy. It wasn't that many years ago the Navy floated an Aegis-class missile cruiser, completely operating on a Micro$oft OS. During an early battle test it BSOD'd, leaving the cruiser dead in the water, adrift, for several hours.

I used to have a poster on my college dorm room wall -- a very old, toothless geezer, dressed in a WWII flight jacket and helmet -- the caption read:

    Sleep Well Tonight -- Your Air Force is Awake

Do Not Call Except List

The National Do Not Call list is about to be opened up to telemarketing spam. Yes, the very reason most of signed up in the first place is about to be struck down by the FTC. Read the article printed in the "Chicago Sun-Times" (linked here), and then visit the FTC's Comment Form and let them know how you feel about this change. Public comment is accepted until 10 Jan. 2005.

Browser Security Check

How safe are you? Really? Sure?

I'm running Mozilla's Firefox 1.0 -- very recent stuff. I discovered that the JRE I just installed a month ago had a leaky sandbox. Luckily Sun has a patch for it. This web site spotted the leak and pointed me to the patch.

Live-Shot

LIVE-SHOT is similar to a trip to the rifle range with one very notable exception. Everything is done through a computer and the internet. A paid membership will allow for access to the range viewing camera(s) at any time. Members can then schedule a reserved session time which allows exclusive control of the shooting system to fire at a choice of various reactive targets. Please note that the shooting range is an outdoor facility located on a secluded ranch in the Texas hill country. Please take this into consideration while shooting is taking place, as weather can affect accuracy.

Sorta boggles the mind, huh? This guy is planning to offer game hunting options next, if the Texas Parks and Wildlife folks don't step in. What's next? Internet sniper? Let's make the weapon/camera platform mobile and hook it up via WiMAX! Beats the crap out of Playstation or Xbox!

Pain From Above

A kinder, gentler, type of warfare. Now comes a (hopefully) non-lethal flying microwave oven that boils the water in the targets' skin.

I can't help but wonder how many tax dollars could have been saved if rather than allowing the Air Force to develop this weapon system we had outsourced it to Amana or Westinghouse.

Drive-by Scanning

Our Office of Homeland Security has been playing with this technology with an eye towards use in airports. This appears to be a solution looking for a problem. Backscatter imaging is sexier than simply beeping, however. The price? If you have to ask, you probably can't afford it.

Notice that in each of the images the vehicle's operator isn't exposed to the x-rays. I wonder if anyone has bothered to investigate the effects such equipment might have upon the frequent flyer...

Fraud in Florida... ?

In Baker County, for example, with 12,887 registered voters, 69.3% of them Democrats and 24.3% of them Republicans, the vote was only 2,180 for Kerry and 7,738 for Bush, the opposite of what is seen everywhere else in the country where registered Democrats largely voted for Kerry.

In Dixie County, with 4,988 registered voters, 77.5% of them Democrats and a mere 15% registered as Republicans, only 1,959 people voted for Kerry, but 4,433 voted for Bush.

The pattern repeats over and over again - but only in the counties where optical scanners were used. Franklin County, 77.3% registered Democrats, went 58.5% for Bush. Holmes County, 72.7% registered Democrats, went 77.25% for Bush.

[source: Dan Gillmor's eJournal ]

Take a look at the voting results in Florida. They have the numbers by precinct, by type of voting machine, with expected and actual results. Take a look at the variance in those precincts with optical scanners. This page also includes links to other Florida data analysis.

Bots With Guns

PackBot (linked here) has been modified for service in Iraq. It now carries a pump action shotgun. I think the jack-booted model is still in development.