Rusted Sky

FuturePundit: Pain Killers Accelerate Hearing Loss With Age?

I HAVE noticed some diminuition of my hearing acuity - and I figure if I'm noticing it then it must be fairly acute - yet I can hear clocks ticking without any problems when it's quiet...

And here I've been careful to use noise protection over the years just to avoid problems like this. But I use aspirin and ibuprofen before going to bed - didn't figure I'd be setting myself up for potential problems down the road...

Man, if it ain't one thing, it's another.

J.

Helter-Skelton: Key Lawmaker Reverses On Climate Action

Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., has signed on to legislation that would block the EPA from implementing its proposed greenhouse gas regulations. That’s a pretty clear sign that House Democrats are feeling the heat on climate change.

Skelton, 78, has been in Congress for 33 years and is chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee. But in 2010 he may face a tough re-election fight.

Last June, Skelton voted with his party leadership for a cap-and-trade bill. The measure passed the House 219-212.

According to Politico, Skelton has tried to present his cap-and-trade vote to the folks back home as an effort to protect people from the EPA. The thinking here is that since it would be Congress, not the Obama administration, writing the emissions reduction rules, it would be much better.

I swear, we need term limits and a mandatory retirement age. If they've got one for airline pilots at 65 due to reflexes and judgement, then people in the highest positions of the land shouldn't be allowed to stay in office past that. Their judgement is certainly to be questioned.

The way things are, you end up with geriatric folks in positions of power and there's no way short of them assuming room temperature and being planted to separate them from their positions.

78 years old. Congratulations, sir, for having attained such an age - and thank you for your service. Now, please retire!

J.

(How long? Since the Outer Limits, Star Trek and Lost In Space were on prime time TV...) It's always nice to see new shows. It's even nicer to see new shows I want to actually make the effort to watch. So this list is encouraging...

18 Upcoming TV Shows That Could Save Small-Screen Scifi - Television - io9

Riverworld, Torchwood, and Terra Nova show promise - but none really seem like 'must-see' things to me.

Any thoughts about what's on the list?

J.

Making the World a Better Place, One Evil Mad Scientist at a Time - Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

A sordid tale, starting in the bedroom, involving batteries, deceit, cheap tricks, LEDs, and a pot.

J.

Make 17 Meals from One Chicken - Saving Money - Lifehacker

Lifehacker's a fun site - lots of odd, useful tips on this and that... and it's always entertaining. The actual blog post was over at "Cheap, Healthy, Good."

Enjoy!

j.

Fearmongering at the SPLC - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine

Don't you guys know libertarians are dangerous? They are going to take over the government and leave everyone alone.

J.

BREAKING: ‘Anti-Lobbyist’ Obama Administration Recruited Left-Wing Lobbyists to Sell Bogus ‘Green Jobs’

After two studies refuted President Barack Obama's assertions regarding the success of Spain's and Denmark's wind energy programs, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request reveals the Department of Energy turned to George Soros and to wind industry lobbyists to attack the studies.

Via the FOIA request, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has learned that the Department of Energy (specifically the office headed by Al Gore's company's former CEO, Cathy Zoi) turned to George Soros's Center for American Progress and other wind industry lobbyists to help push Obama's wind energy proposals.

The FOIA request was not entirely complied with, and CEI just filed an appeal over documents still being withheld. In addition to withholding many internal communications, the administration is withholding communications with these lobbyists and other related communications, claiming they constitute "inter-agency memoranda." This implies that, according to the DoE, wind industry lobbyists and Soros's Center for American Progress are - for legal purposes - extensions of the government.

It really makes me wonder, sometimes, whether the 'powers that be' haven't realized yet that they can't, in the long run, actually hide the effects of the proposed transitions to 'green energy'. The ideology and intentions don't matter when it comes to green energy - if it doesn't cut it, power-wise or job-wise, it simply doesn't cut it and no amount of hand-waving, complaining, or wishing it would is going to change that.

J.

But I've got to admit I like this.

Comedy Rap Video Slams Obama as O.T.P. (One Term President) - Big Government

The comedy video features rapping by Molotov Mitchell, Constitution Kate, DJ Dolce, The MZA, and features bottle-breaking brawls with SEIU thugs, dancing women in burkhas and even a guest appearance by Black & Right's Bob Parks. With over 40,000 views since it launched just days ago, the video could very well become an internet sensation. Take a look, let us know what you think, and judging from the liberal response, it seems to have struck a nerve.

And then there was this - a bit slower-paced...

Looks like the Obama charisma's run hard up against the dice - he's throwing 1s on a D20 and his +5 charisma just ain't makin' the save for him...

J.

Fun! Amazing how much info you can pack into one of these things...

Need a hint as to the type?

Just a slight brainbender for Friday...

Enjoy!

J.

Update:

Okay, in response toJohn C.:
??? I'll add a bit more info.

This isn't traditional bar coding, as you can tell. Instead, it's a 2D bar code, designed to put a fair amount of informational text into a machine-readable format. Points will be given for the first person to identify the TYPE of code, and a prize (either physical or through PayPal) for a translation.

J.

American Power: Long Beach 'Day of Action' Education Mobilization!

California, as Suek could tell us, is fiscally in deep trouble. There isn't any more money, the debt the state's racked up has gotten to outstanding proportions, and the people of CA (thanks to activists who are more concerned with the purity of their ideas instead of the results of them) have rejected pretty much any means of making money to get OUT of fiscal trouble. Restricting farming because of water usage, forbidding drilling off the coasts (which would provide both jobs AND much needed revenue...) - well, California's not got all that much else to base their economy on. Environmentalists have blocked power plants, mining, drilling... well, at least Disneyland's doing well. Who doesn't like living in a Fantasyland?

Guess they figured it would all continue forever without anyone doing anything to maintain it...

And now they're protesting when told there's no more money. Doesn't it just figure?

J.

ｻ Correction Requests: E! Online, AOL's PopEater, NY Daily News, FishbowlLA - Big Journalism

She's not a Hollywood Diva-style personality. She doesn't demand things be just perfect for her, she goes with the flow and is kind and gracious. So when she acts this way, it's not newsworthy.

Gossip rags thrive because of rumor and innuendo, and tearing down the people they don't like and pushing up they people they do. Sarah Palin acts like a decent human being - but if she's not liked then they're going to do what they can to rip her down.

Ultimately, it doesn't do them any good, especially when it's so fast and easy to get the REAL story out.

The internet just SUCKS that way, doesn't it? Used to be you could count on weeks of keeping your disinformation out there unopposed - now you're lucky to have days, if not just hours.

J.

Ultimate WMD: laser mosquito zapper - Watts Up With That?

Our back deck and yard are currently unusable because of mosquitos. Foggers, mosquito traps and the like are only of limited effectiveness, thanks to a small stream that runs through back of our yard.

If this gets the job done, and is affordable - I'd buy one in a heartbeat. (Alternatively, I'd love to spray with DDT. But that's out of the question.)

J.

The Alameda-Weehawken Burrito Tunnel

A Trans-Continental Burrito Delivery System - hurrah!

J.

Congratulations, Thomas Lane - wherever you are! You've won the prize! (Now all we've got to do is determine what the prize is going to be for you!)

Secret Message Friday. - Updated w/Prize info! (Rusted Sky)

Thomas Lane: I thought about reading up on the QR barcode spec and trying to decode it manually, but I figured this would be a lot easier: http://zxing.org/w/decode.jspx Here is the decoded text: "Okay, this is a QR Code - from the qrcode.kaywa.com generator. Accurate? It's hard to tell. Frankly, I'm amazed at the though this could contain almost a kilobyte of info. Of course, it's kind of hard to read.. If you do read this, I'll owe you a po" I'm not sure if the encoder or decoder is responsible for the truncation. Posted by Thomas Lane | March 8, 2010 10:21 AM

Made with the finest of natural and artificial ingredients, this fine comestible of approximately two OUNCES in weight provides a whopping 1/10 of your daily calorie intake (for a 2000 calorie diet.) It also provides 2% of your Vitamin A, 4% or your iron, and absolutely NONE of your fiber, calcium or vitamin C needs!

This cake can be yours, Thomas! Or, if you like, I can Paypal you and you can pick up your own locally. Let me know - and congratulations on your win!

By the way, that wasn't an incomplete translation. The text DID cut off at the end of 'po'.

J.

SteamBirds | Armor Games

Enjoy!

J.

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

Think about 28 of these. That's about how much we're going to have stacked up in debt if tax revenues don't rise considerably, or spending is cut considerably. If government health care is imposed... it's anyone's bet what the pile will look like in ten years.

Somehow, I don't think it's going to be any smaller...

J.

But ENTIRELY safe for work visually. Ideologically - I guess it would depend on what your office environment is.

Cut taxes, cut regulation, and revenue goes up. What a concept...

J.

Hard to tell...

Iran building potential ICBM launch facility with help from North Korea

LONDON — Iran is said to have been constructing a new rocket launch facility that could later accommodate an intercontinental ballistic missile carrying a nuclear warhead.

Iran's new launch site is 4 km northeast of the existing facility at Semnan.

IHS Jane's reported that Iran was building a launch site with help from North Korea. Jane's said the launcher was detected by commercial remote-sensing satellites in the Semnan province east of Teheran.

And you know, the idea of them having ICBM (or even IRBM) nukes just doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about their ultimate intentions. At least with the USSR there was an element of sanity in their thinking - they were wanting to come out on top if there were ever a real struggle and they were quite aware they WEREN'T anywhere near strong enough to take on the US directly, all posturing to the contrary.

However - I don't think the NK leadership's quite so pragmatic... or so sane.

J.

His prize (actually, the monetary equivalent, plus a bit more) will be donated to the United Food Bank in Mesa, Arizona.

So - a quick question for you all -

Are you up for another one this coming Friday? It's going to be quite a bit more difficult, I have to warn you - not a simple bar code. This time it'll be for a $5 donation to the charity of your choice that takes Paypal. (Or to you, via Paypal, if you so choose.)

And for a quick hint about what I'll be trying to do, check this out.

Let me know what you think!

J.

One of the things I remember from the Seattle World's Fair is the pile of $1 million silver dollars. I wonder what one trillion of those would look like? Would it sink a small island? Cover Rhode Island? What? I don't have the math to even estimate it but I bet the specs on a silver dollar are available on the internet. Anyone interested in doing the computations?

I figure you're going to want REAL silver dollars, right?

WikiAnswers - What are the Dimensions of a silver dollar

U.S. silver dollars issued from 1836 to 1935 have the following approximate dimensions:

Diameter - 38.1 mm; early dates were slightly larger

Weight - 26.7 gm

Composition - 90% silver, 10% copper

There were slight variations over that century but the above values are the most common dimensions.

WikiAnswers - What is the density of silver

10.49 g/cm3.

2545281220.209723546234509056244

Wait a sec. Multiply that time a thousand - remember we converted from grams to kilograms? So you're looking at 2,545,281,220,209.72 cubic centimeters. Metric makes things a bit easier - there's 1 million cubic centimeters in a cubic meter. So, we're looking at 2,545,281 cubic meters of silver.

That'd make one hell of a mirror.

Stack it in a pile, and you've got a cube about 136.5 meters on a side, or about 149.3 yards on a side, or... 447.8 feet. In comparision - the Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida is The VAB is 525 feet tall, 716 feet long and 518 feet wide.

That much weight? It'd definitely make a dent in whatever it's sitting on. I doubt it'd sink a small island, but there's not a ship afloat that could carry it.

But wait! The alloy was 10% copper! Does it make much of a difference? Maybe a bit - but not all that much. Silver's density is 10.49, copper's is 8.96, or a difference of 1.53 grams/cc.

So, 9 parts silver, 1 part copper. 24.03 trillion grams of silver, divided by 10.49, is... 2,290,753,098,188.75 cubic centimeters, or 2,290,753 cubic meters. Or a stack 131.8 meters on a side, or 432.4 feet.

(The copper? 2.67 trillion grams, divided by the density... 8.96 = 297,991,071,428.57 cubic centimeters, or 297,991.1 cubic meters. Heck, that's tiny! It's only a slab a meter thick, and 545.9 meters on a side! (Or just about 1791 feet on a side...)

Stack it up, and it'd be a cube about 77 yards on a side.

Puts an interesting perspective on things, doesn't it?

J.

$1 tril at 35.69/gram is 28,019,052,956.01grams. 28 billion, give or take.

Density of gold is 19.3g/cubic centimeter. Heavy stuff!

So, 28 billion divided by 19.3 is 1,451,764,401.9 cubic centimeters. 1.452 billion, give or take...

! cubic meter is 1 million cubic centimeters, so... we have 1451.76 cubic meters

38.1 meters/side if you stack the gold 1 meter high, otherwise it's a cube 11.33 meters on a side.

And at 28 million kilograms, it'd be a roaring pain to try to move...

J.
.

Is one where this was used for what it was intended.

Ekranoplan Mega Gallery - Ekranoplan Mega Gallery - Jalopnik

But what an ingenious concept!

J.

We're supposed to see a 'savings' of about $132 billion over the next 10 years, if health care reform is passed. I'm thinking the folks in Washington are completely out of touch with fiscal reality.

The Associated Press: Budget deficit sets record in February

WASHINGTON — The government ran up the largest monthly deficit in history in February, keeping the flood of red ink on track to top last year's record for the full year.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the February deficit totaled $220.9 billion, 14 percent higher than the previous record set in February of last year.

Well, sure! We're going to save BILLIONS!

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Monthly deficit hits $220 billion, highest in U.S. history

What's left to say at this point? All I can do is try to contextualize this for you: According to CBO, based on an analysis of the deeply deceitful numbers presented to it by Reid and Obama, the national panacea of health-care reform will save us $132 billion over the next 10 years. Which means the feds blew through our big decade-long ObamaCare refund in about... 17 days last month. (Savings from 2020 to 2029 are estimated to be $1 trillion, but follow the "deeply deceitful" link for insight into that. Even CBO scoffs at trying to predict any numbers that far out.)

To recap - $1 trillion in gold (at about $1011 an ounce) would be a cube 11.33 meters on a side, or 12.4. yards. Call it 37 feet on a side, 50,653 cubic feet, or about a 5x5 stack of 40' shipping containers.

The standard office cubicle (at least around here...) is about 8x8x6 feet. 384 cubic feet. $1 trillion in gold would fill 132 office cubes. The supposed governmental budget this year at $3.6 trillion, would fill 475 office cubes and a doghouse.

I think I need to find a better comparison.

Okay, figure the median income in the US is about $80k. (It's not quite that, but it's approximately midrange of married households. A nice, round figure that's easy to remember - okay?) At $35.69 a gram, you're looking at 2,241.5 grams of gold for your annual income. (Before taxes, anyway.)

At 19.3 grams/cubic centimeter, you're looking at 114.36 cubic centimeters.

Go to your kitchen cabinet - get out your measuring cups. Find the 1/2 cup one, examine it closely.

114.36 cubic centimeters is 6.98 cubic inches, or slightly less than half a cup. (It's actually .483 cup - slightly less than half, as I said.)

Millions, billions, trillions - the folks inside the Beltway haven't a CLUE when it comes to how much they're actually spending... and what's worse, they don't care.

J.

Updated again - new image is below, so please check the update at the bottom!!

Updated a third time...

Okay, it's off again.

Here's what I was planning - I was going to use steganography to hide the message in a colored strip inside the picture. The colors would have the hue of the pixels set to the ASCII values for the letters, with the saturation and luminance set to arbitrary (and constant) values.

How to decode it? Well - like I said, it wouldn't have been easy. First, you'd have to notice it, and be aware of steganography. (Which is why I put a link to a cryptography page down below.) Then, you'd need a graphics editing program that would allow you to see the color values for the individual pixels. (I was using GIMP, by the way... therefore the 'lame joke' and 'hue're heading in the wrong direction' hints.)

However - graphics compression kind of messed things up on that. The color values for the pixels, when compressed, were altered - wiping out the message. So what I thought would be a difficult but 'fun' (for certain values of 'fun') exercise turned out to be impossible using standard graphics formats. It was kind of fun to set up - but not something that'd be possible to do.

And I apologize sincerely for that.

The .TIF file is here. Right-click and save to your system, then use your favorite graphics editor to play with it. I will STILL pay $5 to your favorite charity if you're the first to tell me what the message is.

And yes, I'm working on the next Secret Message - which ought to be up shortly!

------------------------------------------------------------

I'll pop this up early, since I think it might take a while for folks to get this, and I'll leave it on top for the coming week - unless someone gets it before then.

It should be relatively simple to decode this, if you've got the right tools.

(Relative being, of course, relative...)

As far as the tools go - they're commonly available out on the web. I can't really say more without risking turning this into a a lame joke of a contest.

Yum!

(Hint - if you're looking at the arrangement of the chips hue're heading in the wrong direction!)

The prize for this (aside from the unending fame of having your nom-de-internet put in a sidebar touting your message-finding and decrypting acumen) will be a $5 donation via PayPal to the charity of your choice. To win, simply identify the type of secret message, the text of the message itself, and how you figured it out.

Have fun! (Insert choice of evil laugh here...)

Update: Whoops - looks like the data in the message got dumped out somewhere along the way. It might have had something to do with jpeg compression - I'm not sure, but what was there is gone though I can tell the container's still in place. I'll have to recreate it tomorrow - but 5 points to the first person who can tell me where the message WAS in the picture.

Update 2 - The problem appears to be in the encoding I used. Jpeg compression just flattened it out, so it's now a TIFF file. And the message has been split into two pieces, to make it a bit more visible...

So - it's back on.

AND... it's back off. Looks like at least two browsers don't handle TIF files well.

Enjoy!

J.

$5 to the preferred charity of the person who decrypts this. OR a single-serving pound cake, depending.

 (Food?  Did someone mention food?)

Hints - which may or may not help...

1. It's a three paragraph bit of text, on characteristics of aluminum/oxygen battery systems.
2. It uses two types of cryptography. The pages used to encode it are here and here.
3. With html, what you see isn't necessarily what was entered.

4. When you learned to type, did your teacher (or editor, or whatever) tell you to double-space between sentences? Mine did - but the little guy never learned that. Think it'll be a problem?
5. The key(s?) aren't embedded in the message below.
6. The paragraph sections are individually encoded, and separated below by a period on a line.

7. There may be more than one key. There are not TWO keys for the message. The key amount may or may not be the same as the number of paragraphs in the message.
8. The company that made the battery in question is Leesona Moos Labs. They were in Great Neck, NY, in the '60s. Sadly, they seem to be a defunct corporation now.
9. There is no hint #9. Though 9 IS divisible by 3. Which is the same number of paragraphs in the message, oddly enough...

##### Encrypted message begins

Nonrural, aerifies forint schuit! Druidic befleck enrober ponder.
Glitzy nitrides seabeach frothier reovirus, galeres byzant gemsbok.
Runic overcure egads, brees expensed. Outgiven geldings amygdala
engining. Sozin hedgers charades pages? Aequorin prebasal guessed
blares azotes. Centals bunks combe peacenik ergotic labdanum glitz.

Soprani imprese opposes, buffos, camphors, meoued idiotic situses. Beta
gessoes, anarch sargasso leaner. Spathed slipform nuking, doodled,
logion poachy aconites dyeweed. Paraph birdshot, parodied reviling,
epical, kinder basing. Chasers coving carlin retackle seamy bridally
mirths lists. Hunker, lingered dualized guaiacum. Deformed boychick
prancers hogback.

Camped abaser celts guyot roselles. Burr nipped lookout pimp chirms
heezes? Pentenes clunk chapping loafs opsonify huger. Hebraize reputes
proems cousins caroming riming fasts. Draft blabber cross groszy
softish medakas. Riesling envoi piaffe. Exploder, fussily librae.
Bambinos hegumen meinies pluggers, diluted, ensconce opener killdees.

Flotas mugging sordine jolt scurvier resined quiff, litters. Shmoozes
seels, rillets, fuguist heaves convenes. Grifting emprise quieter, barm
hotelman. Mac listers ethylene deeper chamfron mounding laminal.
Maniacs haggises boff embowed potsherd hulks, bennets. Meteoric ileuses
cleverly expense sahuaros, clypeal cohesive crankpin diddler helloing.
Dandling diptychs censual honeyed imbark. Catkins moose planchet
chaloth fumes plumpen.

Bowsed selects disk shojis koumys amusive. Overlush jolting cooties
overrode! Acini hosiery mibs heredity nasals. Disports howl ramenta
puffins prized prick. Remark coxing leku, postface parget spousal.
Machete hoper calpac barbasco slaws accusals, preaudit! Humeral clobber
grudged readds ataman murrs. Obligato dindling dunce drys parry
longeing higgled. Scutes deadness baulky simonize melanics, scrieved.
Crap cowrote geodesy.

Excite lionfish qiviuts capstone caulicle novel. Atheisms, exorcism
goblin.

Cognise backup biathlon resided, elderly. Dozer gharris crowfoot!
Salesman grouty escaping daimons, centos pearls. Foci, jambe mandalas
otter, excises aloha cloven orating. Embank anises galago. Dinking
clears spiting cheapies clodpole flounces.

Flanked shaddock rejoicer lept lotic brothels praisers skiffled gradus.

.

Cytosine grabber cord airdrome. Hoveled antipyic matelote lorgnon.
Killocks presell, murry paned bookie. Reinvoke crozer feh. Gulflike
cowbanes attained racing proline garden bennes millirem dampish.
Deluster dewiest, attuning awes sieve. Nauplial lab aneled, alliance.
Shrivers epigenic, kalimba exits romantic eohippus merrier.

Herein banders glands, flatling. Cislunar coset colone infracts,
flutings misguide aidman.

Adieu, mistypes agger gunnery cablets elan snooped. Megabits peebeens
plonks gorgeted casings doodling raftsman soth! Hooting harpist,
apology bullies condylar, sarees puffball. Chaunt, spawner fiches
klutz. Drably, deejay fulhams dotting allodial exotica reefy otiosely.
Homer ka overpump despiser. Paretics dace kabars dominies dimwit.
Roadbed hafniums meth casini, dakoity? Flossie elodea scared actiniae
billeter reseeded. Lensing entwined epazote clodpole, jackers column
prover.

Backwrap baal nonfact coequal, hymnbook sashimis fracases dioramas.
Kenches octans ganefs ideation flex kotowers! Situps arsine outcaste.
Lobworm microbes, ruction shives specters mezereon. Pettle, agree, nubs
dot. Malthas coppra nonmusic nymphos. Epimere hooping, coerces
nipples. Arbutus, huddles ionone, epiderm. Bylined, frailly picket
kine doupioni competes.

Rambles barrages bovinely, lucks bitchily. Bible rakeoff shoaly?
Improper cabined.

.

Hinnying boatable locutory miscopy bombards initial. Atheist fopping
omissive puffers? Senryu derelict bassist botanize glycols. Rids
applauds reframes firebird orts foliage huffs anginas. Singed dawdlers
bolases muonic flame, cowslips, corkage, ecesises pargings. Recopy
indigo spitz corgi idealess dolomite. Gambusia sheitan intrust bullring
graffiti. Flew, sentimo diffuse! Hubrises, ecotonal curling bicycler.
Goalies enzyms, obelize morgues shear.

Clueing anvils primming bellhop potsies ariels, imaginal. Haulage
metallic grannie groaner sculking. Ransacks deodars flytrap locusta
shaper kues haftarot. Batten foibles honkie. Plashers revolt, cheders
oilpaper restock ravished. Heighths depute denarius, reheel bossiest
roily. Kippen muscles cyst, oblates fifths amtracks, minny discover.
Lings debility hantles ashamed guzzles?

Glace commands lilylike momus! Jowed, grinners, focus inactive. Shlock
badder rubbling glial, browns. Regrade, omit, daub portent sacral act
chaleh baddest. Silking madame jicama badlands hypnotic juju. Deflated
muleteer, nesses rosed spelaean. Cosecant feasible, egad cosies
drolling incuses pogonias shaitan gatefold isogram. Rezoning retested
sock feased chirres.

Nubbly formal mammey spelter. Identic apaches coaliest patrol. Poyou
gloxinia sneaky, bitchery. Richens, exacted sestines mammy sleeks
hydragog ghats, readouts chuting flurries. Refluxed redonned pyrrhics
duvet speir central quibbled puniness. Foetus, eanlings sidecar.
Flytes prepregs, midwatch imp pinch noting juror pinon.

Smashes foilsmen.

##### End encrypted message

Okay, I've run this backwards and forwards - and it encrypts and decrypts without any problems... IF you've got the proper key. And the key(s) are in plain text. Very visible in this post, too.

I'd say... it'll take roughly an hour for this to be worked. Looking at the message - it makes me wonder if some of the spam I get is actually text steganography. The things look familiar.

Well - enough for now. If you've got questions, go ahead and ask... though I'll try not to give out any spoilers!

Have fun!

J.

If you want a hint - leave a comment.

Secretively yours...

J.

Admittedly, this was kind of a tough puzzle - thought the hints were sufficient, but apparently not. The coding/decoding pages were here for the text steganography, and here for the encryption.

So let's go through the process. It needed two steps - taking the junk (like the below) and decrypting THAT. So you start with...

Nonrural, aerifies forint schuit! Druidic befleck enrober ponder.
Glitzy nitrides seabeach frothier reovirus, galeres byzant gemsbok.
Runic overcure egads, brees expensed. Outgiven geldings amygdala
engining. Sozin hedgers charades pages? Aequorin prebasal guessed
blares azotes. Centals bunks combe peacenik ergotic labdanum glitz.

Soprani imprese opposes, buffos, camphors, meoued idiotic situses. Beta
gessoes, anarch sargasso leaner. Spathed slipform nuking, doodled,
logion poachy aconites dyeweed. Paraph birdshot, parodied reviling,
epical, kinder basing. Chasers coving carlin retackle seamy bridally
mirths lists. Hunker, lingered dualized guaiacum. Deformed boychick
prancers hogback.

Camped abaser celts guyot roselles. Burr nipped lookout pimp chirms
heezes? Pentenes clunk chapping loafs opsonify huger. Hebraize reputes
proems cousins caroming riming fasts. Draft blabber cross groszy
softish medakas. Riesling envoi piaffe. Exploder, fussily librae.
Bambinos hegumen meinies pluggers, diluted, ensconce opener killdees.

Flotas mugging sordine jolt scurvier resined quiff, litters. Shmoozes
seels, rillets, fuguist heaves convenes. Grifting emprise quieter, barm
hotelman. Mac listers ethylene deeper chamfron mounding laminal.
Maniacs haggises boff embowed potsherd hulks, bennets. Meteoric ileuses
cleverly expense sahuaros, clypeal cohesive crankpin diddler helloing.
Dandling diptychs censual honeyed imbark. Catkins moose planchet
chaloth fumes plumpen.

Bowsed selects disk shojis koumys amusive. Overlush jolting cooties
overrode! Acini hosiery mibs heredity nasals. Disports howl ramenta
puffins prized prick. Remark coxing leku, postface parget spousal.
Machete hoper calpac barbasco slaws accusals, preaudit! Humeral clobber
grudged readds ataman murrs. Obligato dindling dunce drys parry
longeing higgled. Scutes deadness baulky simonize melanics, scrieved.
Crap cowrote geodesy.

Excite lionfish qiviuts capstone caulicle novel. Atheisms, exorcism
goblin.

Cognise backup biathlon resided, elderly. Dozer gharris crowfoot!
Salesman grouty escaping daimons, centos pearls. Foci, jambe mandalas
otter, excises aloha cloven orating. Embank anises galago. Dinking
clears spiting cheapies clodpole flounces.

Flanked shaddock rejoicer lept lotic brothels praisers skiffled gradus.

ZZZZZ ILLAI GKUXL XVFUQ TVBUB QWIDU WLJIX RGERO SQHGT TDGJA DCSHD
GVRFJ HICPJ QPWCO IXLLM HGJNX XTMTT RUALE GCXKP TWFEV VMLVU WWPGX
NTXGC BMUTG UVSXV HOXBH OUQIJ TATQQ OAXVR HIQGS BIMWH KQOJA EUWRR
TETQM DLLKJ OSOXJ MBMPB LMIEP PJRVD IOUNH SHFIQ UELOF FRMNA OOWBW
WPVIM JBNWG CJPNX SQXLD KMKXE VXQQS MUEDA TPLAN EVRGN PLJWH LJWDC
ECNMI IUFNH FXKJS FXABW CFMIC OVBPV MKWPG JCWFG UVRLM LLMWJ CQNDT
ICQAG QACRS ERHML KDFUF BTDFS XUWPF CQLOS LCGJV OKKTP WNBQJ FSLBE
SLTMU KHOWT DIGHJ IPODB PWUUR VFDXJ SIRLH TCCQA MXIIU RMIUM VMSTJ
GQBBI FANLN HGIQG XIQUU RBQVD FCWPE SRNWO LIKAW UWNQE FGBAI KWOBP
FWPWW TNPBJ PKVND NKXND GBWXL RVSQK QCQRX HLPCU RROAB DTPRA EIQMF
KXIPQ MTRPX IGNBI TJHHN IKSRQ IQEMX CRERP CEODL QQDHQ MNFXE KLTSO
UJIQG AEVNC ROEWU REKJK RUTEI TVUFO JVIBP ELWXR SURUW NMBHQ AVAEF
CDGQV NTJMF FLGGD IGLQN GUKFT PVFFV IWQGB UAMFI IHRWQ KDOJN LBGFF
FASMB HSFQU HEMOW PVRBX TFIDA KJOXX HNEUU URNVL FGNWM NJQQC PKXQL
PDSLG RSRXC NWPBO DHOCM CITRI JLOUM VRIQR BUHXF QHOQN KRLFK UODPH
PCUNJ XEFAL MVMXV QIWME SRAFA WTLUL SOALH VPHPB PNIQL JDUIC WRMKF
WRNTM XDCNO LNDQT GGOPR TJMXR HSSCE AATAI JLXOH RWHTD OHWBW RSQBA
VRWWM UCAQX NNNLS XNUGG CNKKE SWCKG DUSQF UAGFC FETNF MHGSH OGUCU
AHNAS IECDH XERIF RUITO KRPAC KEWPT CVEWC NGAPL WRLNA DSWDU XPQBI
DURKV USCUW TKTJH XORRC RQHWF CIELL EKXSE DOLDA HCKRR HKKSA BHXDW
ANFNR SNEMG GHWGB XVFSP EEWRA BCESW DERIB WWIMH QSMDG WGAJU KVOFT
KNZZZ YYYYY

So - what were the keys? Remember the 9 hints? Of primary importance are hints 3&4, and 7. With HTML, what you see isn't what you get - if you put 2 spaces between a pair of sentances, when it's displayed by IE you'll only get one. 7 gives the number of keys - which may have been more than one, possibly three, but definitely not two.

I didn't hide the keys - in fact, the keys are in the first paragraph. You'll notice there's four sentences - but the last two are together in parentheses. (Separated, as I was taught, by two spaces. Remember hints 3&4?) So instead of (Food? Did someone mention food?), you'd have needed

(Food?  Did someone mention food?)

Put the encrypted in the 'encrypted' box on the encryption page, put the key in, and you got the following clear text....

First Paragraph: Studies of the aluminum/oxygen battery system were conducted in three areas; (1) the anodic behavior of aluminum in KOH, (2) full cell assembly and performance verification, (3) system analysis. Aluminum alloy 44836 made by Olin was found to give the most cathodic potentials to date both at open circuit and during discharge but still with hydrogen evolution. Aluminum/oxygen cells at various electrolyte spacing, anode thicknesses, and discharge rates were evaluated: Olin alloy 12226 was used for these experiments.

The other two sentences were the other two keys. The second was the second para's key, the first was the third.

I'll try to make the next message a bit easier...

J.

Barack Obama threatens to withdraw support from wavering Democrats - Telegraph

Barack Obama has said he will not campaign for any Democratic congressmen who fails to support health care reform.

J.

Just curious...

For example, I can't smell natural gas leaks until the concentration gets really (well, relatively - not explosively) high. Neither can I tell when there's something really rotten in the trash. But my lovely bride and the little guy can, easily. Conversely, I can't stand the smell of the fragrances used in Cascade Complete or Advanced dishwasher pacs, though the others aren't a problem.

It's pretty unpleasant to smell dishwasher soap when you're drinking coffee. And a simple rinse doesn't seem to do the job getting the smell off.

My lovely bride and the little guy don't even notice it.

How about you - can you smell things (or NOT smell them, depending) that others catch or miss?

J.

The Rusted Sky Network is expanding!

Started thinking about a story idea last night - so the first bit of that is up in Stories.RustedSky.Net.

And - I'll admit I had a bit of fun with the crypto stuff. Yes, it was tough - but I'm not done with it yet. Over on Secrets.RustedSky.Net there are two NEW challenges waiting, along with a hints page.

Right now, things are pretty basic. I'll be changing the backgrounds soon on those. In the mean time, enjoy!

J.

YouTube - Chinese chef forms noodles by hand - Pretty amazing

I have to admit - this is some pretty amazingly dexterous stuff. Of course, if I were to sling dough for 8 hours a day for a couple of years, I could probably get that good...

I guess I'll just keep buying them...

J.

But everyone else can.

EDITORIAL: Obama surrenders gulf oil to Moscow - Washington Times

The Obama administration is poised to ban offshore oil drilling on the outer continental shelf until 2012 or beyond. Meanwhile, Russia is making a bold strategic leap to begin drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. While the United States attempts to shift gears to alternative fuels to battle the purported evils of carbon emissions, Russia will erect oil derricks off the Cuban coast.

Offshore oil production makes economic sense. It creates jobs and helps fulfill America's vast energy needs. It contributes to the gross domestic product and does not increase the trade deficit. Higher oil supply helps keep a lid on rising prices, and greater American production gives the United States more influence over the global market.

We're going to run at least a $1.6 tril deficit this year, unemployment's high, energy prices are high, yet we can't do anything to alleviate it?

Drilling is also wildly popular with the public. A Pew Research Center poll from February showed 63 percent support for offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. Americans understand the fundamental points: The oil is there, and we need it. If we don't drill it out, we have to buy it from other countries. Last year, the U.S. government even helped Brazil underwrite offshore drilling in the Tupi oil field near Rio de Janeiro. The current price of oil makes drilling economically feasible, so why not let the private sector go ahead and get our oil?

That's starting to be the only reason I can imagine - profits are evil, so all potentials for profit must be squashed. And since private industry involves profits in order to keep going...

Hmmm.

J.

Yep, over at Secrets.RustedSky.Net there's a new $5 challenge. This one's title?

Health Care Key.

As always, the instructions for redemption are embedded in the message.

Enjoy!

J.

Watching the Health Care Reform debates... well, perhaps 'debates' are the proper word, but I don't know what is... I'm struck by something.

The people we've elected to represent us in Washington aren't listening.

And the media isn't helping.

And the government is proceeding in a passive-agressive way to hamstring the American economy.

So you ask yourself... just why? Who benefits from a failing economy? Who's benefiting from selective coverage of the issues facing the nation? And why does an elected member of our government feel that the wishes of the people who put him into office count less than the desires of his Party leadership?

The Tea Party movement is certainly picking up steam - and the media would rather focus on a few dozen anti-war demonstrators on a nice Saturday in Washington than the 30k+ who showed up outside the Capitol to protest passage of HCR. Any rational politician should be looking at the opposition's size and scope and going "Okay, maybe I'm missing something here." But that assumes (a) the politician is rational, and (b) the politician is concerned about the repercussions from their decision to support something that many, many of his constituents emphatically do not want.

That you have as many Democrats willing to vote for this thing, despite stated objections by their constituents, despite near-continual demonstrations AGAINST it, despite their phone lines being overloaded by the call volume in objection, leads me (and, of course, your mileage may vary) to think that either they're not rational (which I have a hard time believing) or the rewards they're promised outweighs the risk of being tossed out on their assets at the next election.

As I've pointed out before, as a country we're broke. We're so broke we can't even pay attention, with $2 trillion income, debt of $12 trillion, deficit spending of about $2 trillion this year and at least trillion dollar deficits for the next decade. How is health care supposed to help that?

The supposed idea on this is that having government handle health care will ease the stress on businesses... but where is the government supposed to get the money from? Taxes...

You starting to see anything a bit wrong here?

Now, the EPA's done it's darndest to increase the difficulty of businesses to comply with environmental regulations. The carbon taxes are designed to do one thing - get businesses to reduce their carbon output. (Well, that's the stated purpose. We know where the money's going to go, and where it's going to come from, right? To the government, from the taxpayer, by means of the business raising the cost of it's services.)

So - energy prices go up - passed along to the customer. Energy is KEY to everything - if we don't have oil we can't transport goods and raw materials. When oil's in short supply, it costs more to transport goods and raw materials. When the raw materials prices go up - the finished goods cost goes up. All prices rise, and everyone hurts.

You're not going to see the economy grow in conditions like that - you're going to see it shrink. But that's okay, because there's one class who's not going to be hurt by it.

The aristocracy.

They're insulated by their positions from what's happening 'down on the ground' in flyover country - and by their votes they've made sure they're essentially untouched by the programs they're pushing on the rest of us. THEY know what's best for us, you see - and are going to make sure we get it whether we want it or not. They're in control, and I believe they figure they're alwas going to BE in control.

I believe they've persuaded themselves that they're absolutely essential to the running of this country. That without their constant guidance and 'help' the country would completely fall apart. In fact, Pelosi reminds me of my late aunt Wilmetta - a meddlesome busybody who knew what was best for everyone in the family, and tried hard to make sure that everyone did what SHE thought was best... Which was probably why her siblings darn near abandoned her. Her husband, my uncle Oscar, was an exceedingly patient man - and I think (from family stories) he was pretty much responsible for tempering a LOT of her excesses. But after 50 years of marriage, he developed Altzheimers - and apparently one night her nagging and whining and complaining got to be just too much for him, and in a fight he broke her arm.

This led to him being put in a nursing home, and her in a different home. (There's speculation that it may not have been Altzheimers, but just a desire for some peace and quiet.)

So now, we're at a point where despite wide opposition, despite the lack of coverage of SAID opposition, despite plenty of polling telling Obama and Co that we DO NOT WANT what they insist we must have, we're going to get it.

And they're proud to give it to us.

Come November, we'll find out if the New Aristocracy will end up with a broken arm or not...

J.

Don't talk to me about no carbon footprint.

House Speaker Pelosi exposed by legal watchdog group

While the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives finagles a health care bill a majority of Americans don't want, a public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced that it obtained documents from the United States Air Force detailing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s use of United States Air Force aircraft for Congressional Delegations (CODELs).
According to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Speaker’s military travel cost the United States Air Force close to $2.2 million over a two-year period — $101,429.14 of which was for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol. The following are highlights from the recent release of about 2,000 documents:

* Speaker Pelosi used Air Force aircraft to travel back to her district at an average cost of $28,210 per flight. The average cost of an international CODEL is $228,563. Of the 103 Pelosi-led congressional delegations (CODEL), 31 trips included members of the House Speaker’s family.

J.

Those miserable, misbegotten fools.

They figure by November, we'll have forgotten.

I think they're wrong.

J.

5 Surprising Signs You're Sleep Deprived - Page 1 - MSN Health & Fitness - Health Topics

Let's see - I occasionally hit #1, rarely #5 - very often #2, #3 is iffy.

#4 - is... well. With Mother under hospice care and pretty much unresponsive at this point, I'll admit the emotions run a heck of a lot higher than they used to. And I figure they will for a while... though I can't say I like it.

I've got to figure out some way to get more than about 5 and a half hours of sleep a night...

J.

How To Read A Car's VIN - Jalopnik Car Care - Jalopnik

You always wanted to know, right?

J.

Blacklight Power Releases Paper that Details Their Continuous Power Generator

I've been watching these people for quite a while - it's good to see they're finally producing a salable product.

It'd be even better if it works.

And the icing on the cake would be if the government doesn't immediately ban it for unsafe emissions.

J.

You're familiar with the Law of Unintended Consequences, right?

Think about the following...

Critics: Broadband plan doesn't go far enough - Tech and gadgets- msnbc.com

Crippled Mars rover is chilled, but still alive - Mars- msnbc.com

Enthusiasts revive Polaroid film, plan to sell it - Tech and gadgets- msnbc.com

Now, I don't see much in the way of POSITIVE consequences coming from getting government involved in broadband - except a massive increase in costs with little to no increase in capacity. (Competition drives improvement - if government mandates a certain mb/second rate, at a certain cost - then that's what'll we'll get, even if better may be available.)

Another thing that's not taken into account when someone goes "Well, THEY have this, why can't WE?" is that the examples used are geographically limited and/or heavily subsidized. It costs a lot more for to provide a service, hardware and maintenance infrastructure to cover a few million square miles, for example, than an area the size of South Korea, Taiwan, or Sweden.

So what could possibly go wrong? (Yeah, silly question, right?)

Now, in the case of the Mars Rovers - unintended consequences have been VERY beneficial. The Pathfinder probe was the first attempt at 'soft' landing by means of airbag, and lasted quite a while. Lessons from THAT one went into the making of the Mars Rovers - and THAT pair have lasted a LOT longer than ever expected, despite (or perhaps?) being made as cheaply as possible. ('Cheap' being very relative, of course.)

The third one - that's interesting. It's not often you see an 'obsolete' technology ressurected like this. The advent of digital photography has really, really caused a lot of trouble for the traditional film makers - and in some cases (like Kodak and Fuji) they've managed to transition from providing film-based services as a mainstay to mainly digital cameras and services with film as a minor sideline. So what will the unanticipated side effects or benefits be on this product? Will we be seeing more 'obsolete' tech pop back up in the future?

Ah, such interesting times!

J.

This is worrisome...

WHO says investigating smallpox reports in Uganda | Top News | Reuters

With lots of people not being immunized, I don't even want to think what it'd be like if smallpox were to make a comeback.

J.

$5 to whoever wins it! If anyone, that is...

Enjoy!

J.

YouTube - Mythbusters: Combustion Chamber 1

Fun stuff - seeing questions get answered by the folks involved.

Enjoy!

j.

Grab the Airplane and Go | History of Flight | Air & Space Magazine

That's an interesting way to make a living!

J.

Read it yourself.

Grand Rounds: Health Care Reform Edition - See First Blog

My own thought? I'll go out on a limb here and predict that this will underperform expectations, and cost considerably more than anyone expects. We're screwed, and there's little to nothing to be done about it until the elections, and then we're going to have the media and Dems running sob stories about evil Republicans who want to take candy out of the mouths of babies... I mean, deny everyone health care.

And I hope I'm wrong.

J.

Two presidents visit U.S. troops: The styles of Barack Obama and George W. Bush in photos | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

The reaction of the soldiers...

Notice, if you will, (or if you haven't) that Bush embedded himself in the troops. They flocked to be around him.

Obama? Not so much. There's not many people reaching out, and the one guy framed by the arms looks like "Oh, god - I wish this photo op were over, I've got work to do."

Or so's my take on it, anyway... Your mileage may vary.

J.

Of US Reactor development - this is an interesting little book...

Idaho National Laboratory - Proving the Principle

A History of The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, 1949-1999, by Susan M. Stacy

And please, don't try this at home. They're experts, after all... even with the SL-1 accident.

J.

Our economy, basically the entire WORLD economy, runs on easily portable energy. It makes little to no sense to import most of our oil supplies (rendering us no end of vulnerable to manipulative oil trading or shortages) when we've got lots of it here at home.

The Greens seem to have had no problem at all with that concept, however - and we can see in a Californian microcosm just how well that's all worked out for them.

So when I see something like this...

FOXNews.com - Obama to Unveil Offshore Oil Drilling Plans

WASHINGTON -- In a reversal of a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling, President Barack Obama is allowing oil drilling 50 miles off Virginia's shorelines. At the same time, he is rejecting some new drilling sites that had been planned in Alaska.

Obama's plan offers few concessions to environmentalists, who have been strident in their opposition to more oil platforms off the nation's shores. Hinted at for months, the plan modifies a ban that for more than 20 years has limited drilling along coastal areas other than the Gulf of Mexico.

First, either Obama's finally, FINALLY gotten whacked on the head with a 2x4 cluebat and understands what drives the economy. I give this about 10%. Or...

Second - he thinks Pelosi and Reid really screwed him over on the Health Care Reform bill (you really need to be sure when you delegate work and responsibility that the work that's done is up to spec, and let's face it - HCR is a mess...) and this is his way of passive-aggressively hitting back at them. (Pelosi's been staunchly luddite when it comes to exploiting energy resources in California...) Possibility? About 25%, I think. Note that CA is exempt from drilling. Or...

Third - there's a number of interesting energy possibilities coming down the pike. EMC2 (Polywell), Black Light Power (Well... maybe) and the Bloom Energy 'Bloom Box' are potentially going to drop the price of electricity considerably.

And what would THAT do to the economy? With electric vehicles coming on line, we're going to need more electricity. Lower electricity prices would result in consumers having more expendable income after their needs are met, and businesses wouldn't need to spend so much to keep the lights on. It'd take some time, but the boost would be a solid one.

So my third thought is... Bait and Switch. Now, just why do I think this is going to be a bait and switch? Because I've seen it before. Gas/oil prices go up, all sorts of alternative energy research is started. Oil prices go down, and the funding dries up. The '70s were a great example of that.

So Obama announces drilling. Oil prices will drop temporarily, taking the impetus out of any meaningful development off the oil standard - and when the projects cant get funding and are abandoned... cancel the drilling.

Probability? I'd say... 65%. A healthy economy won't need a lot of government programs. Government programs need a dependent class, and it's to the Democratic advantage to expand that class of dependents as much as possible...

Time will tell.

J.

Most Dangerous Object in the Office: Pure Cap Hot Sauce

Guess that'll spice things up a bit! What do you think - a half-drop per gallon of chili?

J.