The UN Takes Action?!?

I confess myself totally amazed by this.  How is it possible that the UN could dawdle for nearly 20 years on the much more dangerous and cruel Saddam Hussein, and then act so quickly with respect to Ghaddafi?  There's something going on here that I just don't understand. 

The French leadership in the UN was notable, both for its difference from French anti-leadership with respect to Iraq, and for its clarity and principled basis compared to what the U.S. had on offer.  The French had huge financial entanglements with Saddam's Iraq, and that may explain much of the former.  The latter is simply shameful.

Now I wonder, like the rest of the world, what we are actually going to collectively do about Ghaddafi...

Earthquake Liquification Video...

One of the most under-appreciated effects of earthquakes is soil liquification.  In certain areas (including many in California), this phenomenon is actually the single largest risk factor to man-made structures.  This video shows one of the visible symptoms: surface water appearing out of nowhere.  What it doesn't show is damage-causing mode – the loss of stiffness in the soil, turning it essentially into a liquid, removing all support for structures built upon it.

The most interesting stuff starts about halfway through the video, so be patient:

RSA Hacked: Not Good...

But not catastrophic, either, if I choose to believe this message.  I'm looking for Bruce Schneier's take on this.  Meanwhile, here's the best analysis I've seen so far.

The RSA SecurID system is, I believe, the most widely deployed two-factor authentication system.  I've worked at several companies that use it (including my current company), and many of our customers use it as well.  Any practical compromise of this system would be quite a large security hole...

MESSENGER Is Looking Good!

I stayed up (late for me) last night, listening to the webcast of MESSENGER's orbital insertion burn.  When I heard the operations team cheering and applauding, I went to bed.  This morning I woke up and scanned the news – and it was all good.  Every report I read says that the orbital insertion burn was “nominal”, which is NASA-speak for “perfect”.  All systems appear to be operational, and MESSENGER is now going into it's week or so of preparation for science operations.

Woo hoo!  And congratulations, MESSENGER team.  This has to be a happy morning for all of you...