Browsing all posts in December, 2011.
Software bug fingered as cause of Aussie A330 plunge
In Die By Wire, I talk about the software and hardware vulnerablities inherent in fly-by-wire computer systems. In that book, the villain, through a series of corporate shells, buys a reliability testing company that services airliner computer systems. His aim: even if you can’t eliminate all the bugs (like the Aussie A330’s) you can exploit […]
The Prelude To Fictional (And Real-Life) Aircraft Disappearances: Unencrypted GPS:
“Civilian Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers are vulnerable to a number of different attacks such as blocking, jamming, and spoofing. The goal of such attacks is either to prevent a position lock (blocking and jamming), or to feed the receiver false information so that it computes an erroneous time or location (spoofing). GPS receivers are […]
John Orser: The English Professor Who Changed My Life
Die By Wire is dedicated to John Orser, my freshman English professor at Corning Community College. John was first person ever to tell me I had a future as a writer. This was bizarre. After all, I was a science and math geek. What’s more, I had always been a weird science wonk (International Science […]
Quantum Theories Of Consciousness Get More Likely (And The Idea Of Determinism Less Likely)
In Perfect Killer, I write about the emerging theories of consciousness being rooted in the quantum levels of the brain. One of the issues that the “meat is everything scientists have with this is their belief (belief — not scientific evidence, mind you) that quantum coherence cannot exist at the temperatures where organic cells function. […]
Don’t Buy My Book If …
If you’re going to buy only one book this holiday season, don’t buy any of mine. Buy one from Peter Winkler who makes me ashamed ever to think again that writing us a struggle for me. In fact, you should buy a lot of copies of his book and give them as gifts. From the […]
First Non-Racist Gov. Of Mississippi & My Former Boss Dies
From the New York Times today: “William L. Waller, who as a prosecutor in 1964 twice tried to convict the segregationist Byron De La Beckwith of murdering the civil rights leader Medgar Evers, and who in 1971 forged a coalition of poor whites and newly enfranchised blacks to become governor of Mississippi, died Wednesday in […]
