According to this Reg article, using horribly complicated mathematical algorithms, a PIN can be produced in an average of 15 guesses. The full paper from University of Cambridge researchers is posted here.
Month: February 2003
French Rifles
It’s amazing to me that the French had such nice looking rifles back in the early 19th century. But I guess you can make them nice when you’re not going to use them and just plan on dropping them and running away.
Two systems in one box…who cares?
As featured on the SlashDot front page, ExtremeMHZ has crammed an AMD and a P4 system into the same case.
Whoopty frickin’ do.
So now ExtremeMHZ gets a bunch of traffic for something that really isn’t all that spectacular. Yes, it’s cool, and probably hard to do, but what practical purpose does it server to have a PC and another PC in the same box? I just loved this exchange of comments:
Captain Galactic: I always dreamed of this…Play a game on one system, when boss/parent/spouse walks in,push a button & pretend you are working…
Anonymous Coward: Yeah, like some sort of… Windowing… system… Using “windows”, we could quickly and easily switch between two (OR MORE??) different programs all together! Maybe by pressing special key combonations, too! (That way we wouldn’t have to modify our keyboards, too.) Like, ALT-TAB on Windows… maybe COMMAND-TAB on Mac. That sure would fool them! Now if only we could get some techy-type person to make and mass market this! (Or are we just dreaming here??)
Put a Mac and PC in the same box or Sparc/Solaris and a PC, then I’ll be interested, but having two PCs in one box — unless they have a unified disk subsystems and can share more than just the cooling, display, keyboard and mouse, or they can cram it in a small, rack-mountable case — is just over kill. I mean, the case they have it in is huge, and you can get some pretty powerful PCs in pretty small cases.
I really need to find a way to get linked on SlashDot. I think if I (convincingly) setup a site that showed me putting a Mac inside a PC, then I’d get some traffic. Anybody want to help ;-)?
Microsoft Bloggers
In case you were curious about what Microsoft employees are thinking, here’s a list of known Microsoft-employee blogs.
How does a 100mhz system compare to a 3066 mhz system?
Find out over at Tom’s Hardware, where they tested 65 different x86 processors in over three hundred hours of benchmark testing. CPUs range from the Intel Pentium 100 from 1994 to the latest AMD Athlon XP 3000+. They, amazingly, got Windows XP running on a 100mhz Pentium — with 512 megs of RAM and a GeForce4 on a super Socket 7 board. Some other stats:
- On the Audio-Encoding MP3 test (converting a 117 MB WAV file to VBR MP3), an Intel Pentium 4 3.06 GHZ processor completed the test in 72 seconds, whilst the Intel Celeron 400 MHz performed the task in 922 seconds.
- On the MultiMedia PC Mark 2002 test, our trusty Intel Celeron 400 got a score of 1060, whilst the Intel Pentium 4 3.06 GHz got an impressive 7571.
- In the WinRAR test (compressing a 178mb file), took 53 seconds with the Intel Pentium 3.06 GHz, while the Intel Celeron 400 MHz took 255 seconds.
Gas prices are soaring
And according to this chart, Oregon is the 5th highest in the nation. Luckily I was able to find it for below the state average last night, but the $1.71 I paid is still obscene. Luckily AAA and the FTC are looking into it. Thankfully I get 38 miles-per-gallon in my old Honda, but my 50-miles per day commute add up quick. Fuel cell cars like this can’t become a reality soon enough.
Woman gets fake breasts, disappears
“She took her breasts and left,” says plastic surgeon. If he can’t find her, I’d be looking to see if she’s modeling her new chest anywhere.
Navajo Message
Joke my parents just sent me:
When NASA was preparing for the Apollo Project, it took the astronauts to a Navajo reservation in Arizona for training. One day, a Navajo Elder and his son came across the space crew walking among the rocks.
The Elder, who spoke only Navajo, asked a question. His son translated for the NASA people. “What are these guys in the big suits doing?”
One of the astronauts said that they were practicing for a trip to the moon. When his son relayed this comment the Navajo Elder got all excited and asked if it would be possible to give to the astronauts a message to deliver to the moon.
Recognizing a promotional opportunity when he saw one, a NASA official accompanying the astronauts said, “Why certainly!” and told an underling to get a tape recorder . The Navajo Elder’s comments into the microphone were brief.
The NASA official asked the son if he would translate what his father had said. The son listened to the recording and laughed uproariously. But he refused to translate. So the NASA people took the tape to a nearby Navajo village and played it for other members of the tribe. They too laughed long and loudly but also refused to translate the elder’s message to the moon.
Finally, an official government translator was summoned. After he finally stopped laughing the translator relayed the message:
“Watch out for these pricks. They have come to steal your land.”
Comics for Pink Floyd Fans
Only a Pink Floyd fan will truly appreciate today’s Get Fuzzy.