Saturday, August 30, 2008

FAA outage reveals odd computing practices


"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Normally I don't put the hold article in rather a link, but you need to know how inportant your lives are to your Goverment









And yes, it's paying. I know the P is missing



By JOELLE TESSLER and JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writers
Fri Aug 29, 4:08 PM ET
WASHINGTON - When a computer glitch at a Federal Aviation Administration center caused widespread airline delays this week, it served as a reminder that the U.S. flight system is waiting for a modernizing overhaul. But it also appears the FAA's management of its existing technologies falls short of standards in other vital sectors.


By using computing practices that would be considered poor in credit card networks or power plant operators, for example, the FAA was vulnerable to a problem caused when new software was loaded at the Atlanta center that distributes flight plans.

Because the FAA relies on just two computing systems, one in Atlanta and one in Salt Lake City, to handle that chore for the entire nation, the software glitch all but sank the system Tuesday. The Salt Lake center remained up and served as a backup, but it became overloaded by information coming from airlines. More than 600 flights were delayed from Atlanta all the way to Boston and Chicago.

A failure at the same Atlanta center caused major delays across the East Coast in June 2007.

Such breakdowns often can be prevented with sufficient redundancy, or enough different computers and communication channels to handle the same workload in an emergency.

Redundancy is so critical for power and water utilities that they can be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars a day if they're found insufficiently prepared — and $1 million per day if they're found to be willfully negligent.

"In the industries I work in, if you have something that critical, you generally build more redundancy," said Jason Larsen, a security researcher with consultancy IOActive Inc. who previously spent five years at Idaho National Laboratory examining electrical plants' control systems. "If this (FAA outage) happened at a power plant, I'd be telling them to open up their checkbook and expect to be fined."

FAA spokeswoman Tammy Jones stressed that these types of problems "don't happen on a mass scale or a regular basis," and noted that the FAA handles 50,000 to 60,000 fights a day. And flying on U.S. airlines has never been safer.

"The system is working," she said. "We are making sure people are getting from one place to another."

Basil Barimo, vice president of operations and safety for the Air Transport Association of America, a trade association that represents the nation's largest carriers, says the fundamental problem is that the FAA still relies on outdated technology, including a radar-based control system designed in the 1940s and '50s. Barimo is optimistic that the FAA's NextGen modernization program — a $15 billion-plus upgrade to satellite-based technology that will take nearly 20 years to complete — will help make more efficient use of the nation's airspace and safely allow more planes in the sky.

At the Atlanta center that saw this week's failure, the National Airspace Data Interchange Network computer has been owned and operated by the FAA since the 1980s, after the Dutch company that developed it went out of business. The network is being upgraded, and will have much more memory, process data much more quickly and be more robust and "fault-tolerant."

"We should see significant improvements by the end of September ... which should prevent the type of problem we had on Tuesday," said FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown. The agency also is considering adding a third backup site for that and other systems at a technology center in New Jersey, but no final decisions have been made, she added.

However, Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association — a union that has been locked in a contract dispute with the FAA since 2006 — argues that the agency has tried to focus on future technology to deflect its lack of diligence in maintaining its current systems.

Not only did Church cite the agency's lack of a "safety net of redundancy," but he also pointed to its "fix-on-fail" policy of waiting for something to break before addressing a problem.

Indeed, in December, the agency exempted its computer maintenance personnel from having to perform some periodic certification checks as required by government handbooks for technical equipment. The FAA said that would eliminate unnecessary certifications that historically had little or no effect on total system performance and safety. And a 2006 report from the Government Accountability Office had found support for the idea in some instances.

But computing experts say they often advise private companies to reject that approach.

"It's common, you see it in retail too — it's the whole `don't fix it if it ain't broke' thing," said Branden Williams, director of a unit of VeriSign Inc. that assesses the security of retailers' payment systems. "It's unfortunate because it's very reactive, and it typically winds up costing you more. If you do fix-on-fail, it usually costs you more."

Of course, there's a difference between a private company's outage that delays your DVD order, and one at the agency administering airline traffic. And such events have happened to the FAA multiple times.

Communications between an air traffic control center in Memphis, Tenn., which directs planes passing through a 250-mile radius from the city, and an unknown number of airplanes were disrupted this month when a car struck a utility pole, severing a fiber-optic cable. Last September, the same center lost all its communications and some air traffic controllers had to use their personal cell phones to route planes out of the seven-state area. The FAA blamed that outage on the failure of a major AT&T Inc. phone line.

In May, the FAA system that issues preflight notices to pilots about runway, equipment and security issues went down for about a day when a server crashed and the backup operated too slowly to be effective. The database was not able to issue updates or new notices, but pilots continued to receive relevant information from local air traffic controllers and through alternate systems.

After this week's outage, Paul Proctor, a Gartner Inc. analyst focused on security and regulatory compliance for large corporations, said it appeared that the FAA didn't deploy the flight-plan computers with nearly as much redundancy as big companies generally have in systems critical to their operations.

"You need to do a good analysis about whether this is acceptable risk," Proctor said. "One of the things the government is betting on is the fact that if there's ... a failure, it's not a safety issue."

Sid McGuirk, associate professor and coordinator of the air traffic management program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., believes that given the budget realities facing the FAA, the agency has maintained a good balance. It keeps the system running efficiently without compromising safety, said McGuirk, a former air traffic controller and FAA manager for 35 years.

"From time to time, we are going to have a glitch, but it's a tradeoff," he said. "Would I like to see more modern equipment in the system? Sure. But most folks would not want to see their taxes tripled to pay for new technology every two years."



D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/


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Friday, August 29, 2008

Just in case you missed this Goverment is never very good at what it does.


"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Phreakers seize government phone system
Department of Homeland (in)Security
By Dan Goodin in San Francisco, Published Thursday 21st August 2008 18:41 GMT

Information technology workers at the US Department of Homeland Security are busy scraping egg off their collective faces after unknown hackers broke into their telephone system and racked up $12,000 in calls to the Middle East and Asia.

The hackers made more than 400 calls by accessing the voicemail system of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a subagency of DHS, according to the Associated Press. The system had recently been upgraded, and it appears a "hole" was left open by the unidentified contractor who performed the job. A spokesman didn't identify the hole but said it has been closed.

One of the older tricks in the annals of so-called phone phreaking is breaking into private branch exchange systems by using passwords that are set by default during initial setup. Security-minded admins will see to it that those passwords are changed, but bureaucracy and inertia being what they are, that doesn't always happen.

Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, India and Yemen were among the countries that received calls from the hacked FEMA account. Most of the calls lasted for about three minutes, but some were as long as 10 minutes.

Ironically, DHS, which is responsible for securing US infrastructure against terrorists, issued a warning in 2003 that unsecured PBXes were wide open to intruders.

"This illegal activity enables unauthorized individuals anywhere in the world to communicate via compromised US phone systems in a way that is difficult to trace," the bulletin read.




D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/


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McCain pick a woman as V.P. I guess the Republican arin't thou with us.


"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

Till now I thought the Republican did really want to win this election. Now I'm thinking again,

DENVER - John McCain tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate, two senior campaign officials told The Associated Press on Friday.
For the rest of the story



D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/


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From "Michael Moore", A Note I Sent to You -- Three Years Ago Friday.


"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

From my email

Friends,

I'm am speechless after listening to Barack Obama's speech last night. So I'm sending you something I wrote to you two weeks after Hurricane Katrina. It remains every bit as relevant today, on Katrina's 3rd anniversary, as when I wrote it on September 11, 2005. Please give it another look. Here it is in full:

A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush... from Michael Moore

Dear Friends,

On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?

How does it feel to know that, the man you re-elected to lead us AFTER we were attacked, went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?

That's right. Horse shows.

I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.

I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.

Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that, after the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have... zero experience in emergency preparedness (!), do you think we are safer?

When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?

When men who never served in the military, and have never seen young men die in battle, send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?

Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?

Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?!

With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?

Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.

That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him at some fundraiser with John McCain. All this while New Orleans sank under water.

It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a "flyover" in his jumbo jet, peeking out the widow at the misery 2,500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!"

My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?

And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?

Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.

Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?

I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?

I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MichaelMoore.com
MMFlint@aol.com


(And my idea now, some three years later, is that they seek forgiveness and redemption by voting for Barack Obama -- or just stay home on November 4.)

P.S. An excellent film on Katrina, "Trouble the Water," is currently playing around the country. Go see it!



D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/


send comments via Email to me





Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Arctic Sea Ice Drops to 2nd Lowest Level on Record


"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

By The Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Arctic Ocean sea ice has melted to the second lowest minimum since satellite observations began, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Sea ice melt recorded on Monday exceeded the low recorded in 2005, which had held second place.

With several weeks left in the melt season, ice in summer 2008 has a chance to diminish below the record low set last year, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Environmental groups said the ice melt was another alarm bell warning of global warming.

"It's an unfortunate sign that climate change is coming rapidly to the Arctic and that we really need to address the issue of global warming on a national level," said Christopher Krenz, Arctic project manager for Oceana.

"This is not surprising but it is alarming," said Deborah Williams, a former Interior Department special assistant for Alaska. "This was a relatively cool summer, and to have ice decrease to the second lowest minimum on record demonstrates that global warming's ongoing impact is profound."
For the rest of the story




D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/


send comments via Email to me





Monday, August 25, 2008

A link to a post from someone I can believe, John C. Dvorak


"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin

"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain

http://www.dvorak.org/blog/

Biden’s Son, Brother Sued
Published on August 25th, 2008
Posted by John C Dvorak

During the years that Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. was helping the credit card industry win passage of a law making it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection, his son had a consulting agreement that lasted five years with one of the largest companies pushing for the changes, aides to Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign acknowledged Sunday.
For the rest of the story, http://www.dvorak.org/blog/



D, AKA Lets, Advising at keen as The Webster. Read my other blog, http://letslets.blogspot.com/ and or http://the-webster.blogspot.com/


send comments via Email to me