ramriot

ramriot t1_j53rjxp wrote

Reply to comment by who_said_I_am_an_emu in Ancient humans and their early depictions of the universe: “It is no exaggeration to say that astronomy has existed as an exact science for more than five millennia,” writes the late science historian John North. by clayt6

I think you just spend some time to prepare an answer where you contradicted yourself in the same paragraph

I on the other hand took only a few seconds to intimate a possibility humorously

Let's see what survival of the fittest says about that

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ramriot t1_j51rm4z wrote

Reply to comment by 3SquirrelsinaCoat in Ancient humans and their early depictions of the universe: “It is no exaggeration to say that astronomy has existed as an exact science for more than five millennia,” writes the late science historian John North. by clayt6

This is a difference between popular science & academic writing that it took me until my 3rd year in astrophysics to really bottom out.

Today I find reading popular science magazines far less enjoyable & wish they were better written, but then I also recognise I'm no longer the target audience for the magazines that got me interested in astronomy in the first place.

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ramriot t1_j4jkwt9 wrote

Reply to comment by danderskoff in Zero Days (2016) - Stuxnet, a piece of self-replicating computer malware that the U.S. and Israel unleashed to destroy a key part of an Iranian nuclear facility, and which ultimately spread beyond its intended target. [01:53:51] by Missing_Trillions

That scenario sounds pretty preposterous. Remember this was a remote secure compound. Where one key feature of their security is the air-gapped network.

Does it sound at all possible for someone to first wander onto the Natanz facility, second drop things around people's cars, & then third have those people with access to the centrifuge hall & who know how important the sanctity of the internal network is to just insert a random thumb drive?

That said it was likely a usb drive, but one designed to pass stringent inspection that came from a trusted source & was needed to update internal software.

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ramriot t1_j4j9wr8 wrote

Reply to comment by saluksic in Zero Days (2016) - Stuxnet, a piece of self-replicating computer malware that the U.S. and Israel unleashed to destroy a key part of an Iranian nuclear facility, and which ultimately spread beyond its intended target. [01:53:51] by Missing_Trillions

My opinion is immaterial here, the evidence & timing thereof though suggests a very different scenario to what a surface description would suggest.

Imagine if you will that you are a pair of nation states about to pay real money to devise a way of suspiciously attaching Iran's enrichment program. One very important factor in that is that you keep your technique secret so that should it be needed again later, say with North Korea it can be deployed successfully.

Thus when what is now called Stuxnet was first developed around 2005 it was only as pernicious as needed while being very careful to leave no traces. It's introduction to the Iranian Scada control network in summer of 2007 was reported to have been via an Iranian mole working for the Dutch intelligence organisation or via another operative under that person's control.

Now fast forward to 3 years later in 2010 when code snippets start surfacing from a virus that seem to have payloads targetting Scada control systems. The source zone of this infection appears to stem from Iran and communicating networks. The theory is that it was an inadvertent spread from an Iranian engineer who against orders took a computer previously part of the air-gapped network hone & connected it to the internet.

Within a year of public identification there were many variants of this virus, perhaps reverse engineered from samples & used by others to create further Havok.

By hey, don't trust me it's all here.

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ramriot t1_j4hj9kd wrote

Reply to comment by abitrolly in Zero Days (2016) - Stuxnet, a piece of self-replicating computer malware that the U.S. and Israel unleashed to destroy a key part of an Iranian nuclear facility, and which ultimately spread beyond its intended target. [01:53:51] by Missing_Trillions

I could be wrong but I'm guessing by the date that the development of the exploit predates the availability of modern fuzzing software.

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ramriot t1_j4gwnsb wrote

Reply to comment by persfinthrowa in Zero Days (2016) - Stuxnet, a piece of self-replicating computer malware that the U.S. and Israel unleashed to destroy a key part of an Iranian nuclear facility, and which ultimately spread beyond its intended target. [01:53:51] by Missing_Trillions

It's easy to scoff from a position of ignorance, go read the rest of thread & wikipedia & all contemporary sources before you shitpost next time.

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ramriot t1_j4gpbr8 wrote

Reply to comment by CupResponsible797 in Zero Days (2016) - Stuxnet, a piece of self-replicating computer malware that the U.S. and Israel unleashed to destroy a key part of an Iranian nuclear facility, and which ultimately spread beyond its intended target. [01:53:51] by Missing_Trillions

Specifically it would need to be to go unnoticed inside the Iranian facility's air-gapped network.

The supposition from evidence presented is that before it was ever seen in the wild it was introduced into possibly inadvertently via a single compromised thumb drive containing a required update to the windows Scada control programming software brought into the facility by a 3rd party engineer.

Later "public" appearances appear to be from proximal but unrelated sources & showed variations in code content that suggest a lower skilled operator had altered the original code.

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ramriot t1_j4gl0fi wrote

Reply to comment by IDontTrustGod in Zero Days (2016) - Stuxnet, a piece of self-replicating computer malware that the U.S. and Israel unleashed to destroy a key part of an Iranian nuclear facility, and which ultimately spread beyond its intended target. [01:53:51] by Missing_Trillions

Not off the top of my head & I'm not rewatching & rereading my research paper collection after 20 years. Just know that no documentary can tell the whole story here.

But if you push me one aspect is, I don't believe they fully describe the original exploit in sufficient detail so a viewer can understand how it was specifically targetted for release inside an air-gapped network. Only later was it altered & indiscriminately released in a way that made it look like a broader infection.

Though had it not been misused after initial targetting we would most probably have never heard of it.

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ramriot t1_j4g5wi4 wrote

Reply to Zero Days (2016) - Stuxnet, a piece of self-replicating computer malware that the U.S. and Israel unleashed to destroy a key part of an Iranian nuclear facility, and which ultimately spread beyond its intended target. [01:53:51] by Missing_Trillions

I watched this documentary & although it gives a reasonable layman's guide to the events & technology around Stuxnet & other issues, due to factors perhaps beyond the makers control it give a far from comprehensive & sometimes factually incorrect account.

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ramriot t1_j2e24be wrote

Reply to What if time is only going forward because space is expanding? by Awesomazius

Well if your assertion was true then spacetime would have near total symmetry & only our perception would make the difference.

Because, since in a collapsing universe time would then run in reverse & that looks like an expanding universe to any perception that relies on entropic increase.

But since we cannot presently model entropically negative perceptions then the question becomes a truism.

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ramriot t1_j25f1lb wrote

Reply to comment by liquid_at in TIL that the narrative that Coca-Cola designed the modern Santa Claus as part of an advertising campaign is not true, because Coca-Cola did start using Santa in advertising in 1933. But Santa had been portrayed almost exclusively in red from the early 19th century by giuliomagnifico

From what I've seen the red suit of Santa was first mentioned in 1881 when Thomas Nast, illustrated the earlier Clark poem which only mentions a fir clothed Santa from head to foot.

As to Coca-Cola it did not hurt them to present Santa to the world in their ads in their own corporate colors.

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ramriot t1_j1q647e wrote

Reply to comment by DaHotFuzz in LPT: If driving in a snowstorm and your GPS suggests taking a faster route, don’t do it if it takes you off the Highway. Backroads are usually last to be cleared of snow and you could get stuck! by Bradiator34

Yes, you may be better of in urban areas doing this. But outside of that there have been numerous incidents of people straying from the highway onto roads that are rarely travelled in winter & not surviving after getting stuck.

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