Things that go boom!

Japanese artist Isao Hasi put together this nice 7 minute video clip showing a time lapse of when and where all the nuke explosions on earth have happened.
   

AS Peering

The guys over at Harvard Law put together an interesting diagram that maps out all the AS's, how they (mostly) peer together, and what countries they are based out of.  (Their take on this is what AS's are "controlled" by what countries, and who can filter what.)

 

(thanks to akg, for pointing this out)

GUI Solarsystem

The guys over at SunAeon, has a really nice flash map of the solar system that guides you through all the planets and their facts.  Nothing extra as far as info, but good eye candy.

Internet Defense League!

PC Mag notes that lots of folks are "gearing up to battle SOPA-like legislation via the Internet Defense League, a new organization intended to protect the open Web."  All Things D points out that the "League" has done a good job already gathering supporters.  

Check out the Internet Defense League's main page:

When the internet's in danger and we need millions of people to act, the League will ask its members to broadcast an action.  (Say, a prominent message asking everyone to call their elected leaders.)  With the combined reach of our websites and social networks, we can be massively more effective than any one organization. 

First, sign up. If you have a website, we'll send you sample alert code to get working in advance. The next time there's an emergency, we'll tell you and send new code. Then it's your decision to pull the trigger.

Credit Card Number Code

byJess.net has a nice diagram on the codes used to create a credit card:

RSA's big hole

RSA got hacked a while back (March, 2011).  Here's some notes on the incident:

• NYTimes on What Happened.
• Znet on what happened. 
• Overview of the tools, techniques and procedures used in the attack from Command5. (pdf)
• RSA tells everyone to replace SecurID tokens (RSA, Mar/2011)
• Wired discusses how F-Secure figured out what the Worm was that got into RSA.

And then slashdot points out: 

"A researcher has found and published a way to tune into an RSA SecurID Token. Once a few easy steps are followed, anyone can generate the exact numbers shown on the token. The method relies on finding the seed that is used to generate the numbers in a way that seems random. Once it is known, it can be used to generate the exact numbers displayed on the targeted Token. The technique, described on Thursday by a senior security analyst at a firm called SensePost, has important implications for the safekeeping of the tokens. An estimated 40 million people use these to access confidential data belonging to government agencies, military contractors, and corporations. Scrutiny of the widely used two-factor authentication system has grown since last year, when RSA revealed that intruders on its networks stole sensitive SecurID information that could be used to reduce its security. Defense contractor Lockheed Martin later confirmed that a separate attack on its systems was aided by the theft of the RSA data."

Monitoring your Utilities

HackaDay has a nice piece on how to monitor your utility usage via wifi.   As a natural followup, slashdot points out that the FBI says that smart meter hacks are on the rise. 

More Coffee Shop Hackary!

I love my N900!  There is a great pen tester that can run either on it or a plug-pc running Ubuntu.   Its called pwnieexpress! Both the plug-pc and (obviously the n900) will let you pen-test  wired, wireless, and 3G networks.

Murphy's Law - A History

Improbable Research has a fantastic primer on this history of Murphy's Law, were it came from, and why rocket sleds are cool. (Note that you can also buy the book "A history of Murphy's Law" that discusses this in more detail.)

Cool Weather Maps!

Couple of cool new ways to see what the weather is.

Wind Map: Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg over at hint.fm came up with a very cool way to present how the wind is flowing over the US.

Weatherspark: James Diebel and Jacob Norda have put together a fantastic (the best I have ever seen) weather site. It allows you to view combinations of graphs to better understand the data that comes out of NOAA and all the other online weather services.

Thanks to Robert Krulwich for pointing out NASA's world wind animation video (unfortunately, it's just a video, and not an interactive page. )