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Comment: Valmeyer, IL (Score 1) 172

by edbob (#45913423) Attached to: How Do You Move a City?
Valmeyer, Illinois was moved after the flood of 1993. I think that a lot of these communities that are mentioned are somewhat smaller than Kiruna. The linked article seems to say that they intend to move the town center farther west, but it is the west end of the town that is in danger of collapse. I would think moving the center farther east would make more sense in this case.

Comment: Route around (Score 1) 384

by edbob (#45796465) Attached to: Internet Commenting Growing Away From Anonymity
Ever since my local paper went to Facebook comments (and even turns off comments for certain stories), I have wondered how difficult it would be to set up a website that simply has links back to the stories and allows anonymous comments. A browser extension would allow the associated comments from the commenting website to appear beneath the story when one browses to it. Maybe such a thing already exists, but I don't know about it.

Comment: Re:The root problem - Crappy wiring and stupid use (Score 2) 148

by edbob (#45790591) Attached to: Tesla Updates Model S Software As a Precaution Against Unsafe Charging
The operating temperature rating of the cable would likely mean that it is perfectly safe, but would be uncomfortable to hold. For example, THHN cable is rated for 90C. The cable itself is safe (the insulation won't melt), but I sure wouldn't want to hold it. Hopefully, the 2 AWG cable you are using is at least rated for 75C, otherwise it is likely undersized according to the 2011 NEC.

Comment: Re:Programming suite != PLC (Score 1) 106

by edbob (#37410702) Attached to: Italian Hacker Publishes 0day SCADA Hacks
I agree, although I have been unable to determine what the two .dat files are for. I think that Rockwell is on the right track as far as securing the data tables in the PLC is concerned. They just need to come up with a way for one to define which devices can change tag values (and exclude all others). Since v18, it has been possible to deny access to a tag by defining its "external access". It's really all a matter of scale. A piece of simple equipment that sits off in the corner of the plant is unlikely to ever be connected to the internet and therefore doesn't need the level of security that one would use on a PLC that is controlling an entire plant process. The equipment that my company manufactures uses PLCs and operator interfaces from Rockwell. I recommend to customers that they NOT connect these to the internet or phone line unless there is a problem where we need to make a remote change to the logic and once we are completed I tell them to unplug. SCADA software is a steaming pile that is going to take a massive rethink to fix. IDEs are buggy and inconsistent. (Is it a "screen", "display", or "graphic"? -- I don't care what you want to call it, just call it the same thing throughout the IDE!) I have seen these packages eat up 70% of CPU usage even when they are supposedly idle. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that they are just checking to make sure that the license is valid every millisecond.

Comment: Re:Seriously? (Score 3, Insightful) 157

by edbob (#31747664) Attached to: Making Closed Software Act Like It's Open
This sounds like the same sort of attitude that software writers have had for ages. Just write bloated, inefficient code and let processing power eventually catch up to run the software. I think that this needs to be a legitimate concern or we will wind up back to the point where a new version of Windows would come out and barely be able to run on the technology available. Yes, this may not add much to a computer running a Core i7 with 6 gigs of memory, but that sort of system is pretty rare in the real world. Most people use computers that are a few years old.

Comment: Re:comodo (Score 1) 896

by edbob (#31528114) Attached to: What Free Antivirus Do You Install On Windows?
I have been using this too. I used to use AVG and ZoneAlarm, but I got tired of all the nags to purchase. At one time, I actually gave ZoneAlarm money, but switched back to the free version since I didn't really see much difference. Since Comodo includes both antivirus and firewall functions it really seemed to be natural to replace both. I also switched my parents when they switched from dial-up to DSL last year. I haven't noticed much of a performance hit, but it does tend to update (and require a reboot) at the most inopportune moments.

Oh, so there you are!