U.S. Mint Runs Out of 2013 Silver Coins, Suspends Sales
January 18th, 2013Via: Reuters:
U.S. Mint has suspended sales of its 2013 American Eagle silver bullion coins after running out of stock due to soaring demand for the newly minted coins in the first two weeks of the year.
Sales will resume on or about the week of January 28 after the U.S. Mint has replenished its inventory, it said in an email to authorized dealers on Thursday.
A Mysterious Patch Of Light Shows Up In The North Dakota Dark
January 17th, 2013Via: NPR:
What we have here is an immense and startlingly new oil and gas field — nighttime evidence of an oil boom created by a technology called fracking. Those lights are rigs, hundreds of them, lit at night, or fiery flares of natural gas. One hundred fifty oil companies, big ones, little ones, wildcatters, have flooded this region, drilling up to eight new wells every day on what is called the Bakken formation. Altogether, they are now producing 660,000 barrels a day, double the output two years ago, so that in no time at all, North Dakota is now the second largest oil producing state in America. Only Texas produces more, and those lights are a sign that this region is now on fire … to a disturbing degree — literally.
Six years ago, this region was close to empty. The few ranchers who lived here produced wheat, alfalfa, oats and corn. The U.S. Geological Survey knew there were oil deposits underground, but deep down, two miles below the surface. It wasn’t till this century that the industry developed a way to pull that oil to the surface at a cost that made it practical. Fracking, as you probably know, means pumping water and chemicals down pipes, fracturing the rock, releasing the oil. The technology is hugely controversial, in part because of those lights.
When oil comes to the surface, it often brings natural gas with it, and according to North Dakota’s Department of Mineral Resources, 36 percent of the natural gas now extracted in North Dakota isn’t captured. Gas isn’t as profitable as oil, and the energy companies don’t always build the pipes or systems to carry it off. For a year (with extensions), North Dakota allows drillers to burn gas, just let it flare. There are now so many gas wells burning fires in the North Dakota night, the fracking fields can be seen from deep space.
Inspection Team Headed to Pa. Nuclear Plant
January 16th, 2013UPDATE: MALICIOUS VIRUS SHUTTERED U.S. POWER PLANT
Via: Reuters:
A computer virus attacked a turbine control system at a U.S. power company last fall when a technician unknowingly inserted an infected USB computer drive into the network, keeping a plant off line for three weeks, according to a report posted on a U.S. government website.
The Department of Homeland Security report did not identify the plant but said criminal software, which is used to conduct financial crimes such as identity theft, was behind the incident.
It was introduced by an employee of a third-party contractor that does business with the utility, according to the agency.
DHS reported the incident, which occurred in October, along with a second involving a more sophisticated virus, on its website as cyber experts gather at a high-profile security conference in Miami known as S4 to review emerging threats against power plants, water utilities and other parts of the critical infrastructure.
In addition to not identifying the plants, a DHS spokesman declined to say where they are located.
Interest in the area has surged since 2010 when the Stuxnet computer virus was used to attack Iran’s nuclear program. Although the United States and Israel were widely believed to be behind Stuxnet, experts believe that hackers may be copying the technology to develop their own viruses.
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In other news, Malware infects US power facilities through USB drives:
Two U.S. power companies reported infections of malware during the past three months, with the bad software apparently brought in through tainted USB drives, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT).
In one case, the industrial control system at a power generation facility was infected with “common and sophisticated malware” apparently through an employee’s USB drive, according to the ICS-CERT Monitor for October to December 2012.
The publication did not name the malware discovered. The tainted USB drive came in contact with a “handful of machines” at the power generation facility and investigators found sophisticated malware on two engineering workstations critical to the operation of the control environment, ICS-CERT said.
Stuxnet, is that you?
Via: AP:
Federal regulators are examining a nuclear plant in northeastern Pennsylvania following three unexpected shutdowns.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent an inspection team to the Susquehanna power plant on Monday.
The most recent shutdown occurred Dec. 19 after a valve failed to open during plant startup. Officials say that temporarily interrupted the water supply to one of the plant’s two reactors.
3D Printing High Capacity Magazines
January 16th, 2013The guys over at Defense Distributed are having some success with 3D printing 30 round magazines for AR-15 type weapons.
While I wouldn’t suggest cancelling any backorders for “real” magazines, this is still pretty interesting.
Via: Defense Distributed:
Fitch May Downgrade U.S. Credit Rating
January 16th, 2013Via: AP:
The United States could lose its top credit rating for the second time from a leading credit agency if there’s a delay in raising the country’s debt ceiling, Fitch Ratings warned Tuesday.
Congress has to increase the country’s debt limit, which effectively rules how much debt the U.S. can have, by March 1 or face a potential default. There are fears that the debate will deteriorate into the squabbling and political brinkmanship that marked the last effort to raise the ceiling in the summer of 2011. The U.S. Treasury Department warned then that it had nearly reached a point where it would be unable “to meet our commitments securely.”
If Fitch does move to downgrade the US, it will join Standard & Poor’s, which was so concerned by the dysfunctional 2011 debate that it stripped the U.S. of its triple A rating for the first time in the country’s history. Another major ratings agency, Moody’s, also has a negative view on the U.S. outlook.
Low Power Thermoelectric Generator Runs on Body Heat
January 16th, 2013Via: Fast Company:
It’s no science-fiction fantasy. With wearable gadgets like Google’s Project Glass on the horizon, all that’s missing is an ultraportable power source that never needs recharging–like, say, your own body heat. A startup in Corvallis, Oregon, has developed a small chip that can turn body heat into electric energy, using the same technology found in solar panels. “We absorb the heat from your body, and that heat is funneled through a thermoelectric generator that converts it into electric power,” says Perpetua Power Vice President Jerry Wiant. The result: a single, square-inch TEGwear chip generates enough power (up to 3 volts) to power anything from the accelerometer in your pedometer to the wireless headset for your smartphone.
The physics behind TEGwear is basic: Your body is always generating heat, even when you are asleep. And heat, regardless of the source, excites electrons. The flow of electrons, in turn, generates electricity. The tricky part is harnessing enough electricity to power a small device. Wiant says TEGwear will do just that, as long as the chip is either touching your skin or separated from it by only a thin layer of clothing.
‘The Sandy Hook Shooting – Fully Exposed’
January 16th, 2013Comments open on the main Sandy Hook thread.
Via: ThinkOutsideTheTV YouTube Channel:
Some Sheriffs Warning That They Will Protect Citizens from Feds Enforcing New Gun Laws
January 16th, 2013Update: Situation in New York
Via: Daily Star:
Schoharie County Sheriff Tony Desmond and Otsego County Sheriff Richard Devlin Jr. both questioned the merits of a new package of gun control measures signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Cuomo argued the legislation will enhance public safety in New York. But Desmond said that requiring citizens to register guns that the new legislation now defines as assault weapons will not be a priority of his department.
“Nobody from the Schoharie sheriff’s department is going to be taking any weapons away from anyone unless they have committed a crime,” Desmond said. “An average law-abiding citizen is not going to have to worry about the sheriff’s department coming to take their weapon or arresting them for having a weapon.”
The legislation broadens the definition of assault weapons to include guns that had previously been described as such. For instance, a shotgun with a pistol grip is labeled by the new law as an assault weapon because of the single feature of having a pistol grip.
Although Cuomo had indicated last month that he was considering the option of having the government confiscate assault weapons, the legislation that overwhelming passed the state Senate and Assembly allowed those weapons to be kept by owners if they already have them.
Desmond said forcing citizens to register such guns is impractical and doe not enhance public safety.
“We don’t have the time to run around and tell everybody to bring their long weapons in to register them,” he said. “We’re just barely keeping up with the pistol permits we have now.”
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Sheriff Tim Mueller – Linn County, Oregon:
“Politicians are attempting to exploit the deaths of innocent victims by advocating for laws that would prevent honest, law abiding Americans from possessing certain firearms and ammunition magazines,” Sheriff Tim Mueller wrote in the letter dated January 14, 2013. “Any federal regulation enacted by Congress or by executive order of the President offending the constitutional rights of my citizens shall not be enforced by me or by my deputies, nor will I permit the enforcement of any unconstitutional regulations or orders by federal officers within the borders of Linn County, Oregon.
“In summary, it is the position of this Sheriff that I refuse to participate, or stand idly by, while my citizens are turned into criminals due to the unconstitutional actions of misguided politicians,” Mueller said.
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Sheriff Denny Peyman – Jackson County, Kentucky:
“I’m an elected official just like the president of the nation is, only he doesn’t live in Jackson County, I do. He doesn’t know these people here and what threats they live with daily, you know, I do,” Peyman said.
When asked what steps he would take to keep any new federal gun regulations from being enforced in Jackson County Peyman said “We’ll see when push comes to shove. It’s going to have to go into the courtrooms. It’s not going to be, I mean we don’t want a bloodbath in our community when they come in to take guns. It’s going to have to be taken care of in a court room before it gets to that point.”
Security Audit Finds Developer Outsourced His Job to China
January 16th, 2013Via: The Register:
A security audit of a US critical infrastructure company last year revealed that its star developer had outsourced his own job to a Chinese subcontractor and was spending all his work time playing around on the internet.
The firm’s telecommunications supplier Verizon was called in after the company set up a basic VPN system with two-factor authentication so staff could work at home. The VPN traffic logs showed a regular series of logins to the company’s main server from Shenyang, China, using the credentials of the firm’s top programmer, “Bob”.
…
After getting permission to study Bob’s computer habits, Verizon investigators found that he had hired a software consultancy in Shenyang to do his programming work for him, and had FedExed them his two-factor authentication token so they could log into his account. He was paying them a fifth of his six-figure salary to do the work and spent the rest of his time on other activities.
The analysis of his workstation found hundreds of PDF invoices from the Chinese contractors and determined that Bob’s typical work day consisted of:
9:00 a.m. – Arrive and surf Reddit for a couple of hours. Watch cat videos
11:30 a.m. – Take lunch
1:00 p.m. – Ebay time
2:00-ish p.m – Facebook updates, LinkedIn
4:30 p.m. – End-of-day update e-mail to management
5:00 p.m. – Go home
OTP22: Calling the ‘Beautiful Minds’ of Cryptogon
January 16th, 2013I’m pretty sure that OTP22 is an alternate reality game.
But, who is running this and why?
This query isn’t directed to those of you who bathe regularly and/or talk to other humans in meat space more than once every few days. You guys will just be wasting your time.
