Archive for the 'Off Topic' Category
‘The Last Pictures’
October 3rd, 2012Via: Computerworld: The problem: You want to send images into space and you want them to last 5 billion years. The solution: A gold-plated disc. That’s the idea behind The Last Pictures project, which is scheduled to blast off in the next few months. The project involves attaching a silicon disc encased in gold to […]
The Rockwell International Integrated Space Plan
October 1st, 2012Via: Grist: Sean Ragan of MAKE magazine just posted this amazing graphic, which he tracked down after being mildly obsessed with it for more than a decade. It’s an “Integrated Space Plan” drawn up by Rockwell International, a conglomerate of manufacturing companies in the aerospace, electronics, and truck component industries. The plan was created in […]
Warp Drive Might Be Possible
September 19th, 2012Via: Space: A warp drive to achieve faster-than-light travel — a concept popularized in television’s Star Trek — may not be as unrealistic as once thought, scientists say. A warp drive would manipulate space-time itself to move a starship, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics that prevent anything from moving faster […]
SSD Performance with TrueCrypt
August 25th, 2012Using CrystalDiskMark, I checked the speed of my OCZ Vertex 4 before and after I applied full disk encryption with TrueCrypt. I used AES-256 with no wipe. The performance hit is pretty substantial. The full disk encryption makes the SSD run between 18% and 39%[!] slower, depending on the metric. I know that some of […]
Khan Academy Offers Javascript Tutorials
August 15th, 2012I don’t know about calling this, “Computer Science,” but it might be useful for Cryptogon homeschoolers out there who are teaching kids about computers. In case you’re curious about what a no-joke introduction to computer science looks like, or if you have older children, see: MIT: Introduction to Computer Science and Programming. Via: Khan Academy: […]
FastStone Image Viewer
August 9th, 2012I’ve recently gotten back into photography a bit. I bought a Sony RX-100 (which I think of as producing results akin to a pocketable DSLR) and a Canon PIXMA iP4950 photo printer. The print quality that’s available to people at home is just amazing with these tools. One thing I was missing was a fast […]
Possible Egyptian Pyramids Found Using Google Earth
August 8th, 2012Via: Archeology News Network: Two unidentified, possible pyramid complexes have been located with satellite imagery from Google Earth. One of the complex sites contains a distinct, four-sided, truncated, pyramidal shape that is approximately 140 feet in width. This site contains three smaller mounds in a very clear formation, similar to the diagonal alignment of the […]
NASA: Mars Curiosity Livestream
August 6th, 2012Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Captured Image of Curiosity During Parachute Descent Via: NASA: An image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance orbiter captured the Curiosity rover still connected to its 51-foot-wide (almost 16 meter) parachute as it descended towards its landing site at Gale Crater. — They did it. […]
Full Disk Encryption on Solid State Drives
August 3rd, 2012I’m planning a system build and I want to use a SSD this time. TrueCrypt advises against using their crypto system with SSDs because SSDs use wear leveling routines to prolong the life of the memory modules. The problem is that, theoretically, the drive could write multiple versions of information, some of which could be […]
Curiosity’s Seven Minutes of Terror
June 23rd, 2012Via: JPL / YouTube: Team members share the challenges of Curiosity’s final minutes to landing on the surface of Mars.
