Month: February 2006

Although it probably took many days to complete construction of this awesome Difference Engine made from Lego.

This Difference Engine was constructed by Andrew Carol and is apparently capable of computing 2nd or 3rd order polynomials to 3 or 4 digits. Charles Babbage’s design for Difference Engine No.2, which was finally constructed by the Science Museum in 1991 as Nineteenth century machining wasn’t quite up to the task, could evaluate 7th order polynomials to 31 digits of accuracy.

Even so Andrew Carol has managed an astounding feat I believe. If only I had the time and blocks to construct one of my very own.

Tags: LEGO

According to the tech new site The Register Government ministers are evading the acknowledgement that British ID cards will include RFID chips.

Home Office Minister Andy Burnham:

There are no plans to use radio frequency identification tags in ID cards… suppliers were asked for their views on the durability and costs of contact, contact-less, dual interface and hybrid cards. This survey concluded that a 10 year life for a contact-less card, incorporating a secure smartcard chip with a radio frequency contactless interface, was feasible.

Got that? So the Home Office isn’t using RFID tags, but is using a “chip with a radio frequency contactless interface”.

A commenter at the NO2ID website writes

Because if you think about it, 3rd party readable RFID-enabled ID Cards are *heaven* for identity thieves…

I couldn’t agree more.

Bruce Schneier has a very detailed analysis of the security of RFID in identity documents.

Tags: computer security, ID cards, security

The nominees for the 2006 Academy Awards have been announced.

As you would expect some films received the nominations they were expecting but there were a few surprises.

The Constant Gardener was pretty much overlooked with only the screenplay and Rachel Weisz receiving nominations.

George Clooney has received multiple nominations both as an actor in Syriana and as the director and writer of Good Night Good Luck.

Biggest surprise to me was the nomination of William Hurt as Best Supporting Actor for A History of Violence. I didn’t believe this when I first heard it because for me the one thing about the movie that made it less than perfect was his performance. I thought he was awful in that role.

Tags: movies

Thanks to Murky.org for the following quote

“The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgement of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist.”
Winston Churchill, Nov 21, 1943

And for reminding me that Pledgebank has another pledge for people who wish to resist the introduction of Identity Cards but cannot directly refuse to register because of professional or family responsibilities.

Tags: politics, totalitarian