Technical Writer

Home-Made WiFi-Sniffing Drone a Viral Smash Hit

Everyone is a critic.  After Mike and Rich spent about 5 months building a fine little machine in their garages, painted it yellow and even topped it with googly eyes that signal friendly interest and harmless intent, they paid their entry fees and took that little baby out for a spin to Las Vegas for the annual DefCon gathering a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly, the lads and their 13-pound, 76-inch long drone named WASP (WiFi Aerial Surveillance Platform), all three full to bursting with capabilities, are media magnets. Look at their WASP site and click the links they've added to media coverage. 

What's not to like?  Wouldn't you want to know that a couple of bright fellows in their off time have built a machine that can swoop in and grab your data and spot its (and your) movements? Wouldn't you want to know if your data is not safe?  We should prefer that our vulnerabilities are exposed by our friends, and in fact, this is a social feature found in communities of top predators. 

Instead of relying on those outside the pack to take us down, let's spar and jab, probe and develop, as training to remain on top.  If we have freedom to think and act independently, then all the benefits of outlier thinking  and behavior remain available to us, and we need this critically in a government, military and business environment that in our culture is trimmed to the bottom line.

There are naysayers.  Instead of celebrating human accomplishment and especially blind to the significant good fortune that Mike and Rich, both United States citizens, are on the side of freedom and security, an English aeromodelers' association asserts, "What they hope to get out of this project is not known. " 

Further, the aeromodelers' association continues,

"Loss of freedoms for traditional aeromodellers is already on the cards as authorities around the world realise what the largely ignored group is now capable of. ...  Actions of groups that claim to be defending freedoms or rights might lead to less for more."  

Are the aeromodelers making a case for the evils of overreaching?  The opposite is true and further, our friends in relevant industries and at DARPA need to be alert to the WASP’s potential and what it represents.  By now, I am certain they are.

Animal Control Officer of Whitman and Abington, Massachusetts

Don't spend the $400 that a private firm will charge you to remove that skunk from the basement.  Besides, the skunk may come to harm in the process.  Instead call Bob Hammond, who has been catching critters in trouble of all kinds in Whitman, Massachusetts since 1972.  He'll enter the basement, grab that skunk by the tail, lift him up and carry him outside.  He'll release him in the woods for good measure, with no harm done to skunk, house, or himself.

On Monday, Mr. Hammond was taking the first vacation in many years, a few days away with his large family, and I met him on the Valley train that runs out of North Conway.  I am on vacation myself, and so the Pullman dining car we were seated in seemed especially festive.  Mr. Hammond was at our table across the aisle from his family--his wife and daughter, and two of the grandchildren.  The others, many others, had stayed behind for kayaking.  But Mr. Hammond was also at the ready to return home by himself at any moment should the citizens of Whitman and nearby Abington, two- and four-legged, require his assistance. 

Learning to Pick Locks

My potential for a life of crime took an uptick today.  Not only can I point to my instance of driving through a red light in my CJ-5 with the top down one dark night on Rt. 125 northbound in New Hampshire 30 years ago, a memory that still warms me with its daring-do, I have spent the morning quietly learning by practicing how to pick file cabinet and door locks in the office.  My pal the cybersecurity geek has a nice set of Southord picks in a little leather case, and he pointed me to a few sites of information on the Internet.  I recommend the MIT lock picking guide, which is easy to read to grasp the concepts you must know to begin.

I have just ordered my own small set of tools so I can continue to practice.  It's a skill worth having, and I will never look at a lock again except as a puzzle to solve.

http://www.lockpickguide.com/MITguidetolockpicking.html