Infosecurity.US

ISS Terminates Microsoft Windows On-Board Use

 

Evidently, the International Space Station has terminated the utilization of Microsoft Corporations' (NasdaqGS: MSFT) Windows Operating Systems and attendant binaries on Space Station computational system.  Linux-based devices were the clear choice for implementation in orbit.

“We migrated key functions from Windows to Linux because we needed an operating system that was stable and reliable – one that would give us in-house control. So if we needed to patch, adjust or adapt, we could.” - Keith Chuvala of United Space Alliance

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XKCD, Birds and Dinosaurs

via the logic of the indomitable Randall Munroe at XKCD.

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XKCD, Einstein

via the logic of the indomitable Randall Munroe at XKCD.

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XKCD, Girls and Boys

via the comic erudition of the insuppressible Randall Munroe at XKCD.

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Daydreaming

via the comically sarcastic scientific genius of FakeScience.

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Naval Laser Weapons Slated for 2014 Deployment

Copy That... The United States Navy (USN) will deploy shipboard lasers, aka the Laser Weapon System (LaWS), in calendar year 2014; via gCaptain's typically superb reportage.

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XKCD: Stratigraphic Record

via the mathematically comic genius of the irrepressible Randall Munroe at XKCD.

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Dawkins, It Works...

 

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Liquisistors

 

Evidently, IBM Research Fellow Stuart Parkin, Ph.D. Manager  [of Magnetoelectronics]  at Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA - has re-invigorated the moribund transistor construct with the utilization of non-scale channels, electrolytes, and a bit of phase-change physics to create new, experimental liquid transistors that can be utilized for both data storage and circuitous electrical transmissions. Absolutely Phenomenal. 

“Unlike today’s transistors, the devices can be switched ‘on’ and ‘off’ permanently without the need for any power to maintain these states,” he says. “This could be used to create highly energy-efficient memory and logic devices of the future.” -  Stuart Parkin, Ph.D. IBM Research Fellow

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TED, Musk

 

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Curiosity, Self-Portraiture

via the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Curiosity Rover's own camera system [monikered the Mars Hand Lens Imager on the Mastcam], comes this superb self-portrait panorama (constructed by Andrew Bodrov).

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XKCD: Bumblebees

via the comic genius of the irrepressible Randall Munroe at XKCD.

 

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L'histoire se Répète: le Tambour

Evidence of history repeating itself provided proof to the ancient adage yesterday, with the news of the release of a new-old computational memory construct, this time targeting quantum computation. The construct? Drum memory [utilized in SEAC], this time, on a chip [see below].

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DFRWS 2013, The Challenge

In  co-operation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the ACM Special Interest Group on Security, Audit and Control (SIGSAC), DFRWS 2013 has been announced by the Digital Forensics Research Workshop (DFRWS). Interested or involved in digital forensics work in either the public or private sector? This is a MustAttend conference.

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Behold, Sunita Williams, Captain, USN - The ISS Tour Video

 

Departing ISS Commander SUNITA WILLIAMS, CAPTAIN, USN presents a superb International Space Station Video Tour [below]. Incidentally, Captain Williams is a recipient of the Navy Commendation Medal (Twice), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal; additionally, the good Captain holds the record for the longest space flight by a woman, and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vishwa Pratibha Award, presented by the World Gujarati Society. Absolutely Outstanding.

 

 

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Science

Sandia Supercomputers Modelling Cyberweapons

Along with the news of the inauguration of the Cybersecurity Engineering Research Laboratory at Sandia National Laboratories in the Great State of New Mexico, comes this astonishing bit: The Labs are executing modelling activities targeting newly developed 'Cyberweapons' on the Laboratory's supercomputer instances, in situ. Phenomenal.

"Sandia’s cyber R&D capabilities are rooted in our [nuclear weapons] mission, and specifically weapons use-control engineering and adversarial threat assessment,” said Ben Cook, a senior manager for Sandia’s research and development science and engineering group..." - Nextgov.com's Aliya Sternstein

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Orbit Bound: John Glenn, Friendship 7

Astronaut John Glenn and his Mercury spacecraft [nicknamed Friendship 7]. On Feb. 20, 1962, 51  years ago today, Glenn was hurled off into space aboard the NASA Mercury Atlas (MA-6) rocket craft.

Glenn, both the first American to enter spac, also became the oldest human ever to venture into space as a working member of the Space Shuttle Discovery Crew on October 29, 1998. Absolutely Outstanding.

John Glenn, a Marine, Astronaut and then a Senator - his duty bound focus, and incredible heroism helped lead mankind into space.

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Cyborg Foundation

 

Markstein: Decimal Point

via the editorial cartoon genius of Gary Markstein, further via Cagle

48th Largest Prime Number Discovered

 

Namely,  2^57,885,161-1, the 48th Mersenne Prime, discovered by  Curtis Cooper, Ph.D., mathematician, and a professor at the University of Central Missouri, via his particular computational device executing the Great Internet Prime Search [GIMPS] bits. Interestingly, Dr. Coopers' 48th Prime Number discovery is tabulated as the third record prime for the Central Missouri University and the good Doctor.  Their first prime discovery occurred in 2005, and the second in 2006. Outstanding.

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Quantum, Occidere Gaudium

via El Reg's Richard Chirgwin [in typically superb reportage], comes the astonishing tale of two killjoys - quantum killjoys, as it were. Essentially, after a third of a century of research, not only has quantum entanglement not been unequivocally proven, the issue taints quantum cryptography as well.

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ScienceFriday: Plasma Hypersonique le Verre Trempé

 

 

Infographic: Computer Science Professional Development

DARPA: Biologically Degradable Circuits

 

News, via The Engineer, of the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency initiative to fabricate so-called biologically degradable electronic circuitry. Fantastic.

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deGrasse Tyson

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Challenger

Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith A. Resnik, Francis R. Scobee, Ronald E. McNair, Mike J. Smith and Ellison S. Onizuka.

Take a moment and recall the fateful morning of January 28, 1986, when a booster engine failed, causing the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger [Mission Flight STS-51L] to break apart  73 seconds after launch. The Flight STS-51L Mission was the 25th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

 All were heroes, all are missed. Requiescant in Pace

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ScienceSunday: The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder

 

 

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Remembering: The Apollo 1 Crew - Grissom, White and Chaffee

Grissom, White and Chaffee (Left to Right)

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Perchance, Today's Screed of Import

Jaron Lanier's take on the Interweb we have created...

DARPA, Upward Fall

 

Meanwhile, in Defense Advanced Reseach Projects Agency [DARPA] news, comes this astonishing story. In which, the leading defense technology bureau on the planet details plans to seed the ocean depths with so-called 'upward-falling unmanned autonomous vehicles. Also known as 'Just-In-Time payloads, this is one idea that deserves to see the light of day.

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