Very cool nerd-spy type of thing. Thanks to Brent Heeringa for pointing me to this story.
Check it out:
The New York Times > National > Graduate Cryptographers Unlock Code of ‘Thiefproof’ Car Key: “Matthew Green starts his 2005 Ford Escape with a duplicate key he had made at Lowe’s. Nothing unusual about that, except that the automobile industry has spent millions of dollars to keep him from being able to do it.”
Check this out, it is a very cool technique for hiding data in data, for copyright proctection, spying, et al. A UMM grad at Carnige Mellon U was working on steganography for his disseration. I’ve only had brief conversations about it, but it is some cool stuff.
Check out the article:
ACM Queue – Cyber warfare: steganography vs. steganalysis – For every clever method and tool being developed to hide information in multimedia data, an equal number of clever methods and tools are being developed to detect and reveal its secrets.: “The rise of the Internet and multimedia techniques in the mid-1990s has prompted increasing interest in hiding data in digital media. Early research concentrated on watermarking to protect copyrighted multimedia products (such as images, audio, video, and text) [1, 8]. Data embedding has also been found to be useful in covert communication, or steganography. The goal was and still is to convey messages under cover, concealing the very existence of information exchange.”
today’s Post article about Rice’s visit to London to meet with the UK Forigen Minister and the Prime Minister. I’ve copied the best paragraph from the article here. The classic good-cop-bad-cop routine. Hopefully we can transition to good-cop-good-cop and not the opposite.
Osensibly, the talks with Iran are going well in my eyes. What I’m really looking for is the spark that will send Iranians to the polls. As Barnett indicated in his Esquire article Iran could be the largest ally to the U.S. in the Middle East. Once we get one country to first tone down the rhetoric for Isreali destruction, then recognize Isreal and open formal diplomatic relations the rest of the region will fall into line.
As I see it the biggest problems in Middle East are Saudia Arabia, Syria-Lebanon, Iran. Iran in moving in the right direction. Syria is close to the biggest problem, behind the Palisitians, they cause the most trouble to thier neighbors (just ask Lebanon).
Finally, Saudia Arabia, with a Bush in the White House it gives us the best chance and least likely-hood of real changes coming to their society. The Bush family and the House of Saud could really pass for cousins with how tight they are aligned from GHW Bush and down the line. Saudia Arabia will probably be the last in the region to adopt real reforms to its system. The are proud protectors of the holiest shrines in Islam and want their society to reflect the days of Mohammed with modern conviences.
Check out Dr. Rice’s visit to London:
Rice: Attacking Iran Is ‘Not on Agenda’ (washingtonpost.com): “So far, the United States has been playing the menacing bad cop in the background as the Europeans play good cop in negotiating directly with Tehran. But now the Europeans are pressing Washington to take part in the talks, on the grounds that the essential issue is security in a region where the United States is a major military power.”
A recent Kennedy Center honoree and a great actor has died this morning in Maimi.
Actor Ossie Davis Found Dead in Hotel (washingtonpost.com): “Ossie Davis, an actor distinguished for roles dealing with racial injustice on stage, screen and in real life – and perhaps best known as the husband and partner of actress Ruby Dee – has died at the age of 87.”
This is a very intereseting paper from tow guys from MIT’s Sloan School of Mgmt and Boston Consulting Group. I’ve only checked out the stats at the back of the paper, but it seems to be very intersting.
Check it out:
Why Hackers Do What They Do (PDF, research paper)
Here we go, it looks like we may building a case to take down Kim Jong Il. Now it is really hard to argue for Kimmy. If you’ve read anything about North Korea you know that he is not being very nice to the PDRK.
After reading Pentagon’s New Map I have a greater understanding of how our military force should be used. Now the administration just has to build the case in a more meaningful way. Rather than build it on just the WMD situation, the main reasons should be that he is a bad guy. If Bush can show that, then we can add the WMD facts to say he is a really bad guy selling nuke parts to other bad guys.
Check out the story and see if you agree:
The New York Times > Washington > Tests Said to Tie Deal on Uranium to North Korea: “Scientific tests have led American intelligence agencies and government scientists to conclude with near certainty that North Korea sold processed uranium to Libya, bolstering earlier indications that the reclusive state exported sensitive fuel for atomic weapons, according to officials with access to the intelligence.”
Via Slashdot: There is a new Open Source service to developers, the Softare Freedom Law Center. The law center will connect open developers and lawyers to assist in legal matters for free.
check it out:
Software Freedom Law Center
see the C|Net news story at:
Lawyers ride shotgun for Open Source.
The larger picture on state endorsement for Howard Dean as DNC chair.
Check it out:
State Chairs Endorse Dean for DNC Chief (washingtonpost.com): “Former Vermont governor Howard Dean took control of the race for Democratic National Committee chairman yesterday by easily winning the endorsement of the Association of State Democratic Chairs and later picking up the support of one of his rivals, former Denver mayor Wellington Webb.”
MN State DFL’ers (Democrat Farmer-Labor) members are putting their weight be hind Howard Dean to be the new DNC chair. Minnesota has 6 of the 447 votes on the Feb 12 election. Nancy Larson, a DNC voting member said she will vote for Dean because “I appreciate his candor.”
Commentary:
If Dean takes this election way from the ‘conservative’ members of the DNC it will be a big shift in the role of party chairman. Typically the chairman is at most a consensus builder, but the role of chair is more akin to a “managing partner.” The chair will help keep all of the state folks informed of the party message from Washington and help keep family problems in the “family.”
I support Howard Dean for DNC chair and I think most Democrats would agree. For too long we’ve been trying to play the Repblican game by their rules. We need create a compling image of Rosevelt’s Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
American want to have faith and their leader and believe her when she speaks. If a candidate for office has to convince or tell the American people what ‘I ment was..’ then she’s lost.
Geo. Bush won the 2004 election becuase Americans couldn’t convice themselves enough to believe in John Kerry. Many were blinded by hatred for GWB that they would vote for anybody who ran for President. I know becuase that is essentially what I did.
It is time for Dean to pave the way for the new Democrats: Hillary Clinton, Obama, etc cast in the mold of Paul Wellstone and his green bus. Wellstone told Minnesota what he believed in and had a genuine desire to improve the lives of all Minnesotans. If he were alive today he would still be a senator from Minnesota.
Any who, I went a little overboard, check out the Trib story:
DFL leaders back Dean to lead national party: “‘I really appreciate his candor,’ she said. ‘I think the Democratic Party has been too timid and played it too safe, and that hasn’t been a winning strategy.'”
Interesting:
‘Famous’ Dave resigning as head of BIA: “After less than a year on the job, Minnesota barbecue entrepreneur Dave Anderson says he’s resigning as head of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to return to the private sector.
‘I felt that my calling in life is that of an Indian businessman,’ Anderson, who is part Ojibwe, said in an interview Monday. ‘I feel like I can do more on the outside than I can on the inside.'”