Designing a Secure Authentication System

A nice article which tells you how to design a Secure Authentication System, through dialogs of characters Athena and Euripides.

Designing an Authentication System: a Dialogue in Four Scenes

Through the dialogues the characters design the fictitious open network authentication system called 'Charon'. The charon has striking resemblences to the Kerberos System...

Kerberos

Tail Piece:
Dan Brown has popularized the Bergofsky Principle in his book Digital Fortress. It states that any encrypted message can be decrypted if a computer tried enough keys; atlest it is mathematically guaranteed!
But the issue of time is the constraint here; with the key length increasing it may take years to decrypt the message and by that time, the message may become irrelevant.

Is there something called Bergofsky Principle, or is it just a fictitious principle? Well, googling tells that there is no such principle!

Pluralistic Ignorance

Recently I came across news of David Sharp, a British who died in bone freezing climate of Himalayas. He was on his way to reach the top of the world, the mount Everest.
So many climbers have noticed him in the death zone (zone above 26,000 ft); he was almost dead (physically) and nobody was willing to help him. At a moment when people are trying to conquer the world, nobody had time for David Sharp.
More than 40 climbers crossed him and continued their ascent. Most of them are reported to be found him on descent as well. Many talked to him, many discussed what to do, but done helped him, Sharp's fate was to succumb to death.
Sir Edmund Hilary had said that humans have become too selfish to let the colleague die and still continue to reach the top; the one stop destination for fame and glory. Does this state what he said or is it an instance of bystander effect - When there is an emergency, the more bystanders there are, the less likely it is that any of them will actually help?

Bystander effect and Pluralistic Ignorance are psychological phenomenon. There is only less chance of a person to get involved in an emergency situation if there are lots of bystanders and the chances are more if he is alone.
Each and every one assume that somebody is going to intervene. Next assumption is he / she is different from others and hence their thoughts are different. They also think there may be a more qualified person in the group to offer help and hence he / she can carry on. All human beings think this way and finally nobody offers help.

There are instances of goodness and humanity in the Mt. Everest; people helping others struggling to be alive...
Australian climber Lincoln Hall was taken back from the claws of death by an expedition team who were ascending the peak. Hall was in a state of what can be called semi-unconsiousness, the brain being deprived of oxygen for longer durations.

Up above the world so high!

The view from sky is truly mesmerizing (Thanks to google earth)! Wish I could fly like a bird!

Finally I could locate my native place in Google Maps satellite view :)
Since the location is in low resolution view, I couldn't make out any landmarks.
I followed the railway line and then located Olavara puza, Edayilakkadu islands, Payyanur town and Trikarpur.

Click here to view (You have to click the satellite button in the page)!
In the top center is Trikarpur town. The Edayilakkadu Island the bund connecting it to Trikarpur can also be seen.
The Payyanur town can be located in the bottom-right.

Urban Legend?

Longtime back I heard that the fate of the rider can be made out from the position of horse's feet in equestrian statues!
What I had heard is quite interesting: a statue that has all four of the horse's hooves on the ground means that the rider survived the battle without a scratch. One foot raised means the person was wounded but survived, and both forelegs raised indicates that the man was killed.

Little bit of googling said that all of the statues at Gettysburg Battlefield infact follow this 'rule'.
Though it may feel that the choice of the pose of the horse is purely an artistic one, the sculptors might have been influenced by the so called rule!

The giant in the sky

The giant is a superjumbo jet, which will carry 555 passengers (when configured for three classes of seating), with a wingspan stretching nearly the length of a football field—50 feet (15 meters) and wider than any commercial plane in the air today. It is Airbus A380, called "green giant" by Airbus itself (green since it is environment friendly as claimed by Airbus).



The 555 seat, double deck Airbus A380 is the most ambitious civil aircraft program yet. When it enters service in March 2006, the A380 will be the world's largest airliner, easily eclipsing Boeing's 747.

Airbus began engineering development work on such an aircraft, then designated the A3XX, in June 1994. Airbus studied numerous design configurations for the A3XX and gave serious consideration to a single deck aircraft which would have seated 12 abreast and twin vertical tails. However Airbus settled upon a twin deck configuration, largely because of the significantly lighter structure required.

Key design aims include the ability to use existing airport infrastructure with little modifications to the airports, and direct operating costs per seat 15-20% less than those for the 747-400. With 49% more floor space and only 35% more seating than the previous largest aircraft, Airbus is ensuring wider seats and aisles for more passenger comfort. Using the most advanced technologies, the A380 is also designed to have 10-15% more range, lower fuel burn and emissions, and less noise.

Several A380 models are planned: the basic aircraft is the 555 seat A380-800 (launch customer Emirates). The 590 ton MTOW 10,410km (5620nm) A380-800F freighter will be able to carry a 150 tonne payload and is due to enter service in 2008 (launch customer FedEx). Potential future models will include the shortened, 480 seat A380-700, and the stretched, 656 seat, A380-900.

On receipt of the required 50th launch order commitment, the Airbus A3XX was renamed A380 and officially launched on December 19, 2000. In early 2001 the general configuration design was frozen, and metal cutting for the first A380 component occurred on January 23, 2002, at Nantes in France. In 2002 more than 6000 people were working on A380 development.

On January 18, 2005, the first Airbus A380 was officially revealed in a lavish ceremony, attended by 5000 invited guests including the French, German, British and Spanish president and prime ministers, representing the countries that invested heavily in the 10-year, 10 billion+ ($13 billion+) aircraft program, and the CEOs of the 14 A380 customers, who had placed firm orders for 149 aircraft by then.

The out of sequence A380 designation was chosen as the "8" represents the cross-section of the twin decks. The first flight is scheduled for March 2005, and the entry into commercial service, with Singapore Airlines, is scheduled for March 2006.

Apart from the prime contractors in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain, components for the A380 airframe are also manufactured by industral partners in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. A380 final assembly is taking place in Toulouse, France, with interior fitment in Hamburg, Germany. Major A380 assemblies are transported to Toulouse by ship, barge and road.

On July 24, 2000, Emirates became the first customer making a firm order commitment, followed by Air France, International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Virgin Atlantic. Together these companies completed the 50 orders needed to launch the programme.

Later, the following companies also ordered the A380: FedEx (the launch customer for the A380-800F freighter), Qatar Airways, Lufthansa, Korean Air, Malaysia Airlines, Etihad Airways, Thai Airways and UPS.

Four prototypes will be used in a 2200 hours flight test programme lasting 15 months.






Weight

A380-800 - Operating empty 277,000kg (610,700lb), max takeoff 560,000kg (1,234,600lb).
A380-800F - Operating empty 252,000kg (555,600lb), max takeoff 590,000kg (1,300,700lb).

Dimension

A380-800 - Wing span 79.8m (261ft 10in), length 72,75m (238ft 8in). Height 24,08 m (79ft)

Capacity

A380-800 - Flightcrew of two. Standard seating for 555 passengers on two decks in a three class arrangement. Qantas plans to fit its aircraft with 523 seats (in three classes). A380 has 49% more floor area but only 35% more seats (in 555 seat configuration) than the 747-400, allowing room for passenger amenities such as bars, gymnasiums and duty free shops. Cargo capacity 38 LD3s or 13 pallets.

But not the biggest!

While it is the largest passenger airliner ever made, it is not the biggest airplane in the world -- this honor belongs to the Ukrainian An-225 Cossack.

The Cost of Greatness

Airbus has spent an estimated $13 billion on the development of the A380. The price for a single plane is listed at $285 million! Industry experts point out that airlines rarely pay full list price, especially if they order large numbers of planes, so it is difficult to determine exactly how many planes Airbus needs to sell to recoup the development costs.