Back in January of 1986, I was on winter break in college when the Challenger explosion was reported. In present Age of the Internet, we automatically turn to the web for news and information. In 1986 there was no Internet and network TV news was the same as it is today-- garbage.

While the Web was not available, we could surf the waves: shortwave radio. The age before the Internet was also the age before widespread digital encryption. Many things could be heard that are now a blur of white noise.

My 80s "Google" was a hand-soldered Heathkit SW-7800 shortwave receiver, and this is what it picked up: a telephone call between two staff members of the Secretary of the Air Force, Russell A. Rourke, and General Charles A. Gabriel, Air Force Chief of Staff. Secretary Rourke was traveling on a Special Air Mission flight called SAM500.

The phone call (or "patch") was a discussion of a joint press release regarding the Challenger Disaster. While portions of the call sound harsh-- the press agent on the ground insists on NASA confirmation that the Astronauts are dead-- the recent NPR debacle where they falsely reported that the living, breathing Arizona shooting victim-- Representative Giffords was dead-- -- shows the wisdom of his advice. It also reflects the desperate hope that one of the astronauts may have survived.

Special Air Mission 500 and the Space Shuttle Challenger

Passwords are one of the weakest links in computing. In the mid-90's a gentleman named Arnold Reinhold released a special dictionary used to form unbreakable passwords called the Diceware™ Dictionary.

After noticing how many languages the GNU spell checker, aspell supports, I thought it would be a good idea to to create a program that could generate Diceware™-style dictionaries for any language and any shape of dice (including the 2-sided dice called coins). I call a dictionary generated by my program a Dice Road Dictionary™

While some may find dice a "throwback" to an earlier era, there are sound technical reasons for relying on them to generate passwords for high-stakes applications.

Dice Road Dictionary™: English Password Code Books
Dice Road Dictionary™: Password Code Books in 14 other languages.
Dice Road Dictionary™ Project Homepage.

Endless Bad News...Economic Turmoil.... Wars in Afghanistan.... Sound Familiar ? Welcome to New Year's Eve, 1980. Some have suggested that most mainstream news today sounds like government propaganda-- Well, here is the real thing: Radio Moscow from 1/1/1980 with the announcement of their invasion of Afghanistan as heard with my trusty surplus AN/GRR-5.

Radio Moscow News Midnight GMT 1/1/1980

It started with an old book, Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania for the year 1829. When I opened the cover to the first issue, I read a story that could have been taken from today's headlines: the story of the impact on Pennsylvania of the first global economic crisis, The South Sea Bubble.

After numerous Google® Books downloads and several trips to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, I believe I understand the people and issues behind this story and have made it available in the in the following study: From Pennsylvania Pounds to Surveillance Money: The Bailout Debate of 1722.

PDF Version    |    HTML Version

Last winter was the worst. One of nature's compensations is that winter weather makes everything look great. Here is a photo gallery of Old City Philadelphia during the historic winter of 2009/10.

Winter of 2009-2010 Old City Philadelphia Photo Album