Category Archives: Security

Food, Security

Bluegills enlisted in the war on terror(able water)

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Here is a fine example of how allow-list strategies are far superior to block-list:

Since Sept. 11, the government has taken very seriously the threat of attacks on the U.S. water supply. Federal law requires nearly all community water systems to assess their vulnerability to terrorism.

Big cities employ a range of safeguards against chemical and biological agents, constantly monitoring, testing and treating the water. But electronic protection systems can trace only the toxins they are programmed to detect, Lawler said.

Bluegills — a hardy species about the size of a human hand — are considered more versatile. They are highly attuned to chemical disturbances in their environment, and when exposed to toxins, they experience the fish version of coughing, flexing their gills to expel unwanted particles.

Nice. The fish monitor the quality of water by living in “known good” conditions. It’s usually an impossible race to try and keep up with detection of all the latest attacks, or known bad conditions, which is why an allow-list such as this is the preferable approach when possible.

I am reminded of fish I caught on a line when I was growing up. When I was older I returned to some of my favorite spots only to find warnings posted by the government about toxic levels of poison that had resulted from pesticide and herbicide runoff. I was told the infamous Agent Orange of Vietnam was still legal if you sprayed it on the backs of cattle to keep insects away. The rain would then wash the poison into the ground and rivers which fed our ponds and lakes. The areas had become toxic to fish and thus humans due to weak regulation of agricultural industries.

More information about the bluegill system can be found here:

The iABS monitors fish behavior using a pair of non-contact electrodes mounted above and below each of eight bluegills. As the fish move in the chamber and ventilate their gills, muscle contractions generate electrical signals in the water that are monitored by a computer. When abnormal fish behavior is identified, the iABS provides immediate alarm notification and can start an automated water sampler to permit follow-up chemical analysis.

So if local fish die as a result of weak environmental regulations, and the water quality has already been ruined by an environmentally hostile department of agriculture, the worry about terrorists putting toxins in the water and killing bluegills seems well-intentioned yet a little less pressing than the already present problems.

Should community water systems assess their vulnerability to all toxins, as I mentioned back in February, or just the ones from “terrorists”? Will homebuyers start to demand air and water quality records and tests prior to home purchase, to ensure a functioning security system that will protect their health?

Security

F-22 Canopy Design

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A few months back Flight International had an interesting story about an F-22 Raptor canopy that jammed, trapping the pilot for five hours until he could be cut out by power-saw. I have been thinking about this recently:

The Raptor stealth fighter, heralded as the most technologically-advanced fighter in the world, entered service in January after 19 years of development. Each jet costs around $134 million per unit.

The canopy became stuck in the down and locked position and could not be opened manually after the pilot cycled the mechanism several times, following a pre-flight warning that the canopy was unlocked.

The cause of the malfunction has not been determined. The cost of replacing the canopy, which belongs to an aircraft from the 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley AFB, Virginia, is estimated at more than $180,000.

This seems pretty bad at first glance, but if the pilot had to eject and the canopy was jammed shut the results would be tragic. Interesting to note the software terminology used to describe the situation:

On 10 April 2006 at approximately 08:15, aircraft 03-041 had a Red Ball for a canopy unlock indication. Attempts to clear the problems by cycling the canopy failed. The final cycling of the canopy resulted in it being in the down and locked position.

“Tower to 03-041. Please press ctrl-alt-del on your keyboard. Over.” My guess is a manual override might next be implemented.

Security

Heat sensitive surfaces and safety

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This is one of the better uses I’ve seen of heat-sensing materials:

The swamp thing

It’s a tub painted by Alsacorp. Now, instead of this disgusting radioactive-waste colored thing, imagine a tub that turned from white to an attractive shade of azure blue when it was just the right temperature to step into. Or perhaps we could get some cooking pots that would show their temperature by color. For example, don’t touch a handle that has turned red. Even better would be servers and racks, or similar heat-sensitive equipment, painted to show current heat-levels. (you saw it here first) Anything running red, for example, would need more localized cooling. Immediate improvements would be realized as the paint changed its shade.

More information is good, and choosing the right color is probably important if you don’t want to bother with specialized training. I figure most people (including me) see lime green water as a rather unattractive sign for a bathtub no matter how helpful it is to know the temperature.

Energy, Security

EROI of Alternative Energy

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Jeff Vail puts forward a compelling, albeit rather limited in scope, “Energy Theory of Value and the EROI of Alternative Energy“.

The problem with analysis like this, as one of his commentators pointed out, is that it does not account for the larger impact of shifting to alternative methods of producing energy, let alone new sources. In other words, if you can fuel your conversion system with waste or by-products then you are essentially performing a clean-up operation. Ethanol has this capability, as does bio-diesel. In fact, bio-diesel could be seen primarily as a recyling process that generates a new fuel source from extant waste.

I also must make the point that new forms of energy may involve significantly more efficient engines and technology that is less centralized and therefore more resiliant. Diesel is known to run longer and require less maintenance than gasoline, so the total energy formula can actually show that alternative energies have a higher ROI, as Rudolf Diesel himself predicted.