One of the toughest problems in Internet security is attribution. The distributed and decentralized system allows traffic to come from virtually anywhere and it is impossible to know a packet’s true origination. Every so often I hear a suggestion that users of the Internet should have to register themselves in order to send traffic. The … Continue reading Mail Return Addresses, Not Required
A study in ScienceDirect argues that slave-making ants prefer larger, better defended host colonies Slavemaker colonies showed increased raiding activities when the slave to slavemaker ratio inside the slavemaker colony was low. Slavemakers did not favour host colonies with more pupae, but preferentially attacked colonies with more workers. These represent riskier raiding targets, but as … Continue reading Ant Slavemakers Target the Strong
An agency responsible for parking tickets has a budget deficit. What will they do to balance the books for the year? The San Francisco Examiner says the SFMTA is about to go on a meter warpath. [Chief Operating Officer John] Haley said the agency, which has a total budget of $775 million, will be putting … Continue reading Economics of Parking Tickets
Mahindra once said they would deliver light diesel-powered pickup trucks to America at the end of 2009. Then they went silent. Now they have written to say the trucks may still come early next year if they can get through the EPA process, find enough parts, and have any left over from domestic sales. Why … Continue reading Light Diesel Trucks Coming to America, from India