Dive into the archives.
- Impolitical science
Last week’s Economist featured three articles detailing how domestic politics has held America back in the space race. The punditocracy maintains that we may be headed into a Cold War 2, and the issue for those interested in science is whether or not the US will champion scientific research and science education as it did [...]
- The Extinction of Rinderpest
Rinderpest, an animal disease that plagued livestock and their human keepers across Eurasia and Africa for millennia, may be on the verge of joining smallpox as the only viral diseases to have been eradicated in human history.
The virus never became established in the western hemisphere. In the 1920s, Europe eradicated it by controlling animal [...]
- Computer warfare conference vids online
A buddy notified me that the Technology in Wartime conference has released online video for each of its panels. Here is the lineup:
Introduction and Bruce Schneier Keynote on “Dual Use Technologies”
Panel I: When Robots Commit War Crimes: Autonomous Weapons and Human Responsibility
Panel II: Surveillance, Secret Police, and Software: Defending Digital Liberties and Human Rights in [...]
- Message or Creative Solution
With China’s not so subtle attempt to deter the US from weaponizing space by blowing up a satellite last year, one must view the current “problem” as an opportune moment to answer back:
US Plans to Shoot Down Broken Satellite
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush decided to make a first-of-its-kind attempt to use a missile to bring [...]
- The Zimmermann Telegram Feasability Study
Most Americans know that it was the Zimmermann Telegram, sent by Germany to Mexico at the height of World War I, that brought US into the war in Europe. Frustrated with blatant US support of Britain, Germany solicited Mexico to invade the southern United States and offered aid and assistance. However, the telegram [...]
- Computer warfare conference
I really wish I could make it to this conference:
Technology in Wartime
This conference will explore how computer technology is used during war—both for the purposes of combat/defense, as well as for human rights interventions into war-torn regions. Topics will include high tech weapons systems, cyberwarfare, autonomous aircraft, mobile robots, internet surveillance, anonymous communication, and privacy-enhancing [...]
- You’re 65 years late, thank God
...and very lucky for us.
In an ironic twist, a British team operating a World War II code-breaking computer has been beaten in a cipher-breaking contest by a German.
In the Cipher Challenge, a competition run by the U.K.’s National Museum of Computing on Thursday and Friday, the cipher-breaking computer Colossus had to decode encrypted radio communications [...]
- A Victorian blogger’s dream machine
Wired is featuring a gallery of steampunk which includes the wonderful creation above. Check out the Steampunk Workshop to see how the infamous Jake von Slatt (alias) built this wonderful creation. I would love to hook this thing up to a modded Macpro!
I have been passively following the steampunk craze on Gizmodo and Engadget over [...]
- Wikiwars
Many thanks to Marmot for what must be the awesomest wiki article ever: Wikipedia:Lamest edit wars. Happy reading!
- Bottom up Big Brother
This is a very neat idea. Bring counter terrorism to the people.
DHS Wants Cell Phones to Detect Chemical, Radioactive Material
American cell phones can already check e-mail, surf the Internet and store music, but they could have a new set of features in coming years: the Department of Homeland Security wants them to sense biological, chemical [...]
