Bruce Schneier on Cyber Warfare

Bruce Schneier on Cyber Warfare.

"Cyber weapons beg to be used, so limits on stockpiles, and restrictions on tactics, are a logical end point."

Beg to be used? Only if the aggressor thinks they won't be caught. Same with restrictions on tactics - if they don't feel the act can be traced back to them, then the limits are moot.

I don't understand the limit on stockpiles comment either. Aren't digital copies the miracle of the internet and computer age?

I'm usually agree with Mr. Schneier, but he lost me on this one.

Trade IP Addresses for RF Spectrum?

I had no idea that AMPRNet existed. (No surprises there - lots I don't know!)

AA6E asks the title question. I would guess the spectrum would be worth more money. Spectrum is finite and with IPv6 becoming more of an option everyday, IP address should be easier to come by.

Emergency Car Kit

Tis the season... for bad weather. We may get some this week-end if the weather guessers are right.

I don't have anything as complete as this Emergency Car Kit, but every time I come across something I toss it in the car.

I usually have a flashlight, a pocket knife, and a multi-tool on me. I've got some gloves, a hat, and a poncho in the car, but need to add a lot more items as you can see to be even remotely prepared. The good news is I don't wander to far from civilization.

940 BC: EmComm

A few days ago it started getting really cold and one local community suffered a power outage.

I was in the car on the way to work; listening to the 940 Breakfast Club. The usual rag chew was well underway when a lady's voice could barely be heard coming through the repeater. She sounded pathetic and was asking about the power outage. She was on her husband's radio. He was at work, but she knew he used it to get info on the weather. (I don't know it was an HT or if he had something more sophisticated setup in case they lost power.)

The guys quickly decided this could be considered EmComm traffic, since it was so cold. One ham dropped off to call the power company to get some info. Another offered to drop by her husband's work. Others offered to make phone calls for her. She said she was okay - in fact she went to check on some elderly neighbors.

While there may be some doubt about this meeting the standard for emergency traffic, I think everyone made the right decision to err on the side of caution. It also was amazing to see how quickly everyone adjusted to the situation and offered help. Providing aid is part of the mission of ham radio. You hear about it during large disasters like in Hati, but I think it happens a lot more on a smaller scale.

Scary World

These things make for a scary world.



Seriously... hurting someone for a cheap (quality and cost) TV.

And I don't know all the details about the tuition hikes, but I don't have any sympathy for rioters in the UK - especially since I am still paying off a student loan.

Billions

I, like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and now Mark Zuckerberg, agree to give my billions* to charity.

* Assumes my net worth grows a smidge.

Antenna Install Video

My father-in-law helped* me install four antennas in my attic and terminate them in a outlet box in my bonus room. I've passed both my Technician and General exams this year, but have zero practical experience, so I learned a lot. (I would draw a parallel between my General license and those guys that go to a MCSE boot camp to get certified. They spend a week to pass several exams and become what we call a "paper MCSE." They've got the creditials, but no experience. That's me when it comes to ham radio.)

We were lucky that the back side of the wall in the bonus room was unfinished. It made it easy to mount the box and run the cables into the attic. It was interesting to me that my father-in-law didn't use a lot of fancy, single-purpose tools. He scored the drywall with an exacto knife and did all his cable striping with his pocket knife.

He had made the 2M quarter wave ground plane antenna some time ago. He brought the PFC pipe and just trimmed it to fit. He also made the termination fixture from aluminium angle he had in his workshop.

He had some insulators laying around that he gave me for the HF antennas. He pulled the wire from his collection of random bits he has acquired over the years. We went to the ARRL Handbook (1999 Edition) and got the formula to calculate the lengths for the dipoles on the three bands. It was simple math (468 divided by the frequency to get the length of the antenna), but it was neat to do the calculation along with the hands-on work.



I really made out like a bandit since he provided everything... wire, connectors, outlet box, outlet cover, coax, insulators, solder, etc. He even loaned me his wattmeter and SWR meter. (More on those later.)

* Helped = means he did most of the work and had all of the know-how.

Uranium 500

Someone on the 2M repeater described the traffic coming out of Oak Ridge as the Uranium 500. Given the South's love for NASCAR and the history of the Secret City, that's a dang funny line.

Bang x 60 (or 100)

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

60 Round Magazine from SureFire for your AR-15.

Parenting and Texting

With all the concern about kids and sexting (or other inappropriate messaging), why don't the mobile phone companies offer a service to parents that delivers a report via e-mail of all text messages and images sent from a child's phone? It seems like an easy way to keep tabs on the kids. It also might encourage the older ones to get a job and pay for their own phone service.