The Chaotic-Neutron

A few days earlier, me and some friends from my department were talking about the general driving system and specifically why the British chose to drive on the left while most of everyone in Europe and America drive on the right. We could not come up with any possible reason whatsoever to convince ourselves the necessity for such a discrepancy.

Now, accidentally, i came upon an article that solves the puzzle. The article answers the reason on why do the British drive on the left ?

Here’s the excerpt from the article that was relevant to the discussion i went through.

In the Middle Ages you kept to the left for the simple reason that you never knew who you’d meet on the road in those days. You wanted to make sure that a stranger passed on the right so you could go for your sword in case he proved unfriendly. This custom was given official sanction in 1300 AD, when Pope Boniface VIII invented the modern science of traffic control by declaring that pilgrims headed to Rome should keep left.

The papal system prevailed until the late 1700s, when teamsters in the United States and France began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver’s seat. Instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team. Since you were sitting on the left, naturally you wanted everybody to pass on the left so you could look down and make sure you kept clear of the other guy’s wheels. Ergo, you kept to the right side of the road. The first known keep-right law in the U.S. was enacted in Pennsylvania in 1792, and in the ensuing years many states and Canadian provinces followed suit.

Cool isn’t it ?!

Yup. I didn’t make this up. Mathematicians in many places are celebrating the PI day.

Notice the time and the date of the post and see if you get it ?!

Well if you don’t, not a problem. Here’s a brief explanation …

The number PI to first 6 digits is given as

which in terms of time (in a very crude way) would be March 14, 1.59.20 PM. So in memory of this beautiful number, i dedicate this post to PI.

And here is another trivia about PI which most people would not know.

Alright then. Off to do some more reading now …

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Max-Planck Institute/P. Appleton (SSC/Caltech)

This false-color composite image of the Stephan’s Quintet galaxy cluster clearly shows one of the largest shock waves ever seen (green arc), produced by one galaxy falling toward another at over a million miles per hour. It is made up of data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and a ground-based telescope in Spain.

Four of the five galaxies in this image are involved in a violent collision, which has already stripped most of the hydrogen gas from the interiors of the galaxies. The centers of the galaxies appear as bright yellow-pink knots inside a blue haze of stars, and the galaxy producing all the turmoil, NGC7318b, is the left of two small bright regions in the middle right of the image. One galaxy, the large spiral at the bottom left of the image, is a foreground object and is not associated with the cluster.

The titanic shock wave, larger than our own Milky Way galaxy, was detected by the ground-based telescope using visible-light wavelengths. It consists of hot hydrogen gas. As NGC7318b collides with gas spread throughout the cluster, atoms of hydrogen are heated in the shock wave, producing the green glow.

Spitzer pointed its infrared spectrograph at the peak of this shock wave (middle of green glow) to learn more about its inner workings. This instrument breaks light apart into its basic components. Data from the instrument are referred to as spectra and are displayed as curving lines that indicate the amount of light coming at each specific wavelength.

The Spitzer spectrum showed a strong infrared signature for incredibly turbulent gas made up of hydrogen molecules. This gas is caused when atoms of hydrogen rapidly pair-up to form molecules in the wake of the shock wave. Molecular hydrogen, unlike atomic hydrogen, gives off most of its energy through vibrations that emit in the infrared.

This highly disturbed gas is the most turbulent molecular hydrogen ever seen. Astronomers were surprised not only by the turbulence of the gas, but by the incredible strength of the emission. The reason the molecular hydrogen emission is so powerful is not yet completely understood.

Stephan’s Quintet is located 300 million light-years away in the Pegasus constellation.

One thing to remember is that because galactic distances are so vast, even though galaxies frequently collide, the actual stars in them almost never do. The pictures make it look like there should be millions of individual collisions, but in fact, collision means just passing though one another.

The gravitational effects of course can totally rip the smaller galaxy apart. There are small satellite galaxies being sucked into the milky way as we speak! Cool huh ?!

	Power supply switched on.		The power supply performs a self-test – When all voltages and current levels are acceptable, the supply indicates that the power is stable and sends the Power Good signal to the processor. The time from switch-on to Power Good is usually between .1 and .5 seconds.
	The microprocessor timer chip receives the Power Good signal.		With the arrival of the Power Good signal the timer chip stops sending reset signals to the processor allowing the CPU to begin operations.
	The CPU starts executing the ROM BIOS code.		The CPU loads the ROM BIOS starting at ROM memory address FFFF:0000 which is only 16 bytes from the top of ROM memory. As such it contains only a JMP (jump) instruction that points to the actual address of the ROM BIOS code.
	The ROM BIOS performs a basic test of central hardware to verify basic functionality.		Any errors that occur at this point in the boot process will be reported by means of ‘beep-codes’ because the video subsystem has not yet been initialized.
	The BIOS searches for adapters that may need to load their own ROM BIOS routines.		Video adapters provide the most common source of adapter ROM BIOS. The start-up BIOS routines scan memory addresses C000:0000 through C780:0000 to find video ROM. An error loading any adapter ROM generates an error such as: XXXX ROM Error where XXXX represents the segment address of the failed module.
	The ROM BIOS checks to see if this is a ‘cold-start’ or a ‘warm-start’		To determine whether this is a warm-start or a cold start the ROM BIOS startup routines check the value of two bytes located at memory location 0000:0472. Any value other than 1234h indicates that this is a cold-start.
	If this is a cold-start the ROM BIOS executes a full POST (Power On Self Test). If this is a warm-start the memory test portion of the POST is switched off.		The POST can be broken down into three components: The Video Test initializes the video adapter, tests the video card and video memory, and displays configuration information or any errors. The BIOS Identification displays the BIOS version, manufacturer, and date. The Memory Test tests the memory chips and displays a running sum of installed memory.
			Errors the occur during the POST can be classified as either ‘fatal’ or ‘non-fatal’. A non-fatal error will typically display an error message on screen and allow the system to continue the boot process. A fatal error, on the other hand, stops the process of booting the computer and is generally signaled by a series of beep-codes.
	The BIOS locates and reads the configuration information stored in CMOS.		CMOS (which stands for Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) is a small area of memory (64 bytes) which is maintained by the current of a small battery attached to the motherboard. Most importantly for the ROM BIOS startup routines CMOS indicates the order in which drives should be examined for an operating systems – floppy first, CD-Rom first, or fixed disk first.
Fixed Disk
	If the first bootable disk is a fixed disk the BIOS examines the very first sector of the disk for a Master Boot Record (MBR). For a floppy the BIOS looks for a Boot Record in the very first sector.		On a fixed disk the Master Boot Record occupies the very first sector at cylinder 0, head 0, sector 1. It is 512 bytes in size. If this sector is found it is loaded into memory at address 0000:7C00 and tested for a valid signature. A valid signature would be the value 55AAh in the last two bytes. Lacking an MBR or a valid signature the boot process halts with an error message which might read: NO ROM BASIC – SYSTEM HALTED A Master Boot Record is made up of two parts – the partition table which describes the layout of the fixed disk and the partition loader code which includes instructions for continuing the boot process.
MBR	With a valid MBR loaded into memory the BIOS transfers control of the boot process to the partition loader code that takes up most of the 512 bytes of the MBR.		The process of installing multiple operating systems on a single PC usually involves replacing the original partition loader code with a Boot Loader program that allows the user to select the specific fixed disk to load in the next step of the process
Partition Table	The partition loader (or Boot Loader) examines the partition table for a partition marked as active. The partition loader then searches the very first sector of that partition for a Boot Record.		The Boot Record is also 512 bytes and contains a table that describes the characteristics of the partition (number of bytes per sectors, number of sectors per cluster, etc.) and also the jump code that locates the first of the operating system files (IO.SYS in DOS).
Operating System
Boot Record	The active partition’s boot record is checked for a valid boot signature and if found the boot sector code is executed as a program.		The loading of Windows XP is controlled by the file NTLDR which is a hidden, system file that resides in the root directory of the system partition. NTLDR will load XP in four stages: 1) Initial Boot Loader Phase 2) Operating System selection 3) Hardware Detection 4) Configuration Selection
NTLDR Initial Phase	During the initial phase NTLDR switches the processor from real-mode to protected mode which places the processor in 32-bit memory mode and turns memory paging on. It then loads the appropriate mini-file system drivers to allow NTLDR to load files from a partition formatted with any of the files systems supported by XP.		Windows XP supports partitions formatted with either the FAT-16, FAT-32, or NTFS file system.
NTLDR OS Selection BOOT.INI	If the file BOOT.INI is located in the root directory NTLDR will read it’s contents into memory. If BOOT.INI contains entries for more than one operating system NTLDR will stop the boot sequence at this point, display a menu of choices, and wait for a specified period of time for the user to make a selection.		If the file BOOT.INI is not found in the root directory NTLDR will continue the boot sequence and attempt to load XP from the first partition of the first disk, typically C:\.
F8	Assuming that the operating system being loaded is Windows NT, 2000, or XP pressing F8 at this stage of the boot sequence to display various boot options including “Safe Mode” and “Last Known Good Configuration”		After each successful boot sequence XP makes a copy of the current combination of driver and system settings and stores it as the Last Known Good Configuration. This collection of settings can be used to boot the system subsequently if the installation of some new device has caused a boot failure.
NTLDR Hardware Detection	If the selected operating system is XP, NTLDR will continue the boot process by locating and loading the DOS based NTDETECT.COM program to perform hardware detection.		NTDETECT.COM collects a list of currently installed hardware components and returns this list for later inclusion in the registry under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEHARDWARE key.
NTLDR Configuration Selection	If this computer has more than one defined Hardware Profile the NTLDR program will stop at this point and display the Hardware Profiles/Configuration Recovery menu.		Lacking more than one Hardware Profile NTLDR will skip this step and not display this menu.
Kernel Load	After selecting a hardware configuration (if necessary) NTLDR begins loading the XP kernel (NTOSKRNL.EXE).		During the loading of the kernel (but before it is initialized) NTLDR remains in control of the computer. The screen is cleared and a series of white rectangles progress across the bottom of the screen. NTLDR also loads the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL.DLL) at this time which will insulate the kernel from hardware. Both files are located in the \system32 directory.
NTLDR Boot Device Drivers	NTLDR now loads device drivers that are marked as boot devices. With the loading of these drivers NTLDR relinquishes control of the computer.		Every driver has a registry subkey entry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SYSTEM\Services. Any driver that has a Start value of SERVICE_BOOT_START is considered a device to start at boot up. A period is printed to the screen for each loaded file (unless the /SOS switch is used in which case file names are printed.
Kernel Initialization	NTOSKRNL goes through two phases in its boot process – phase 0 and phase 1. Phase 0 initializes just enough of the microkernel and Executive subsystems so that basic services required for the completion of initialization become available.. At this point, the system display a graphical screen with a status bar indicating load status.		XP disables interrupts during phase 0 and enables them before phase 1. The HAL is called to prepare the interrupt controller; the Memory Manager, Object Manager, Security Reference Monitor, and Process Manager are initialized. Phase 1 begins when the HAL is called to prepare the system to accept interrupts from devices. If more than one processor is present the additional processors are initialized at this point. All Executive subsystems are reinitialized in the following order: 1) Object Manager 2) Executive 3) Microkernel 4) Security Reference Monitor 5) Memory Manager 6) Cache Manager 7) LPCS I/O Manager 9) Process Manager
I/O Manager	The initialization of I/O Manager begins the process of loading all the systems driver files. Picking up where NTLDR left off, it first finishes the loading of boot devices. Next it assembles a prioritized list of drivers and attempts to load each in turn.		The failure of a driver to load may prompt NT to reboot and try to start the system using the values stored in the Last Known Good Configuration.
SMSS	The last task for phase 1 initialization of the kernel is to launch the Session Manager Subsystem (SMSS). SMSS is responsible for creating the user-mode environment that provides the visible interface to NT.		SMSS runs in user-mode but unlike other user-mode applications SMSS is considered a trusted part of the operating system and is also a native application (it uses only core Executive functions). These two features allow SMSS to start the graphics subsystem and login processes.
win32k.sys	SMSS loads the win32k.sys device driver which implements the Win32 graphics subsystem.		Shortly after win32k.sys starts it switches the screen into graphics mode. The Services Subsystem now starts all services mark as Auto Start. Once all devices and services are started the boot is deemed successful and this configuration is saved as the Last Known Good Configuration.
Logon	The XP boot process is not considered complete until a user has successfully logged onto the system. The process is begun by the WINLOGON.EXE file which is loaded as a service by the kernel and continued by the Local Security Authority (LSASS.EXE) which displays the logon dialog box.		This dialog box appears at approximately the time that the Services Subsystem starts the network service.

A farewell mail from one of Apple’s security professionals. Derrick Donnelly, in his farewell mail, made these very interesting suggestions for choosing a good password.

My final words

Remember security starts at the keyboard in front of you:

A 6 character password has about fifty six billion (56,800,235,584) possibilities and the average computer (the G5 is even faster) can try all combinations (crack them) in 2.5 hours.

A 7 character password has about three and a half trillion (3,521,614,606,208) possibilities and a computer can try all combinations in about 1 week.

An 8 character password has about two hundred trillion (218,340,105,584,896) possibilities and a computer can try all its combinations in about a year.

A 9 character password would take about 70 years for a computer to try all combinations.

They say the chips coming in about a year could half these times! Now if you do not want to wait for next year’s chip, you can always put 2 computers in parallel and half the time. In theory you could put 365 computers in parallel and break 8 character passwords in just over a day (Virginia Tech just put 1100 G5s in parallel). Do you think hackers have friends?

Computers have a lot more time on their hands than we do and most of the bad guys don’t have jobs. The next person asking for your social security number could be just a few clicks away from your stock options.

If you just got a chill down your back or just got a little paranoid; good, my work is done.

Use an 8 character password (9 characters is better)… You would make this security professional very happy if you would change your passwords after you read this e-mail : )

You can learn more about choosing good Passwords. And hey, do follow them !

On a sidenote, I remember learning to code during the under grad years just for the thrill of cracking passwords. I can still feel how beautiful it was when i did manage to do it. Sheer bliss. I understood then, on why people take so much effort to hack into classified sites and just play around with files until they make one stupid mistake and get caught.

It is the sheer satisfaction of the EGO … The Ego Trail that keeps us going.