This is something that got jotted down in my note book a few weeks back. I have just stumbled on it again and I rather like it so I thought I would share.
"You do not write stories. You grab them by by the horns and force them, quite unwillingly, onto the page. There it struggles constantly to be free of it's tormentor, taking chunks from itself and of you during the melee. It is only when you both lie breathless, and quite often lifeless, that you can survey wreckage and try to discover what manner of beast that now stains the page a bloody black"
Wednesday 25 August 2010
Monday 23 August 2010
Ultimate Security System
As a writing exercise I ask myself hypothetical questions and try and devise a perfect answer for it. At the weekend I gave my self this question: If I am an evil genius or a member of spy organisation what measure would need to be taken to make the security system unbeatable.
The first thing I concluded was that no system can be unbeatable but you can try to make it as secure as possible.
Each guard has a bullet proof/knife proof vest, this extends up to the neck reducing the risk of a choke hold or downward strikes. Also designed in such a way to make it incredibly difficulty to use standard techniques for breaking necks. Lining the inside of this jacket is heart rate sensors, and therein lies the crux of our defence.
These sensors should wirelessly feedback to a central server but also feedback to two other remote locations. The central and one of the remote servers are manned and monitored continuously. If one of these is compromised then the automated back up should catch it, other wise the other human monitored system can be used to compare against the other two for compromises. If one of these systems is compromised then the other two can be used to ensure that if one is hijacked then it is not fatal to the system. These systems talk to each and compare each others signal inputs. A final system should on top of this that is not connected to the others in any way but the signal. This is so that if the system is truly compromised and it is spread through them all it can be checked against the others still.
Finally a physical wire from the vest should be plugged into terminals around the complex. This relays the information in real time, comparing against the wireless signal and what is received at the servers.
All of these servers run analysis on the heart rates supplied to them. This goes against the mean supplied by the guards at monthly and irregular intervals in a variety of exercises. Even a slight variation to the numbers sent should prompt investigation. First through radio contact, if no response is given on the FIRST attempt of asking a 'swing' team should be sent consisting of a minimum of three guards who are regularly changed. This swing team should check on the heightened heart rate guard even if they answer afterwards. All of this is double checked via video cameras all of the guards carry. These should have similar redundancies to the heart rate monitors. This camera are monitored constantly and all grounds should be check by two individual separate parties prior to commencement of assignment and all signal issues rectified before acceptance.
The video should be interlaced with an encrypted stream that would render a repetition of the same feed easily identifiable. Guards should also be asked to produce predefined hand signals at irregular intervals and the swing guard should confirm at a distance in at even more irregular periods. This video should be reviewed on a 24 hour delay by a third, uninterested, party for any discrepancies.
That is what I came up with. It is not unbeatable but designed in such a way to cause the maximum amount of effort on behalf of the person who is trying to break it. If one guard is taken out then the system, if working correctly, will immedietly put the attack into lockdown. Of course other systems such as motion detectors should work in conjunction with the guards so that the criminal does not just slip by them.
Thats it, that was a fun writing exercise :D if any goverment agency, or evil genius, would like to hire me you have my email.
The first thing I concluded was that no system can be unbeatable but you can try to make it as secure as possible.
Each guard has a bullet proof/knife proof vest, this extends up to the neck reducing the risk of a choke hold or downward strikes. Also designed in such a way to make it incredibly difficulty to use standard techniques for breaking necks. Lining the inside of this jacket is heart rate sensors, and therein lies the crux of our defence.
These sensors should wirelessly feedback to a central server but also feedback to two other remote locations. The central and one of the remote servers are manned and monitored continuously. If one of these is compromised then the automated back up should catch it, other wise the other human monitored system can be used to compare against the other two for compromises. If one of these systems is compromised then the other two can be used to ensure that if one is hijacked then it is not fatal to the system. These systems talk to each and compare each others signal inputs. A final system should on top of this that is not connected to the others in any way but the signal. This is so that if the system is truly compromised and it is spread through them all it can be checked against the others still.
Finally a physical wire from the vest should be plugged into terminals around the complex. This relays the information in real time, comparing against the wireless signal and what is received at the servers.
All of these servers run analysis on the heart rates supplied to them. This goes against the mean supplied by the guards at monthly and irregular intervals in a variety of exercises. Even a slight variation to the numbers sent should prompt investigation. First through radio contact, if no response is given on the FIRST attempt of asking a 'swing' team should be sent consisting of a minimum of three guards who are regularly changed. This swing team should check on the heightened heart rate guard even if they answer afterwards. All of this is double checked via video cameras all of the guards carry. These should have similar redundancies to the heart rate monitors. This camera are monitored constantly and all grounds should be check by two individual separate parties prior to commencement of assignment and all signal issues rectified before acceptance.
The video should be interlaced with an encrypted stream that would render a repetition of the same feed easily identifiable. Guards should also be asked to produce predefined hand signals at irregular intervals and the swing guard should confirm at a distance in at even more irregular periods. This video should be reviewed on a 24 hour delay by a third, uninterested, party for any discrepancies.
That is what I came up with. It is not unbeatable but designed in such a way to cause the maximum amount of effort on behalf of the person who is trying to break it. If one guard is taken out then the system, if working correctly, will immedietly put the attack into lockdown. Of course other systems such as motion detectors should work in conjunction with the guards so that the criminal does not just slip by them.
Thats it, that was a fun writing exercise :D if any goverment agency, or evil genius, would like to hire me you have my email.
Friday 20 August 2010
A-Level Results - Why exams are not getting easier
What most commentators are seemingly missing from this debate is the reason why students are getting better grades in the first place. Two things become apparent with the passage of time. A teacher will refine their own skills and knowledge of examination procedure, therefore making their lessons more informative. Or as I often remarked when at a-level myself, 'We are learning to pass an exam, not the subject'.
The other much more important reasoning behind this increase in student pass grades is a shift in culture. Students are exposed to a whole different set of complexities that were not even dreamed of when I was in school. Lets think on this a moment, I am not that far out of A-level myself – some five years. Courses offering tuition is media studies were just taking off then, I think in fact that I remember one of my friends remarking that they were the first to go through the subject at the sixth form I attended. When we were in our formative years, discovering the world and all that was interesting in it, well there was not all that much to discover. Television was still bound to four channels, going to the cinema was considered a treat rather than something to do to fill time. Even reading was considered only acceptable to age appropriate books. Basically parents pushed their children to do three things.
The other much more important reasoning behind this increase in student pass grades is a shift in culture. Students are exposed to a whole different set of complexities that were not even dreamed of when I was in school. Lets think on this a moment, I am not that far out of A-level myself – some five years. Courses offering tuition is media studies were just taking off then, I think in fact that I remember one of my friends remarking that they were the first to go through the subject at the sixth form I attended. When we were in our formative years, discovering the world and all that was interesting in it, well there was not all that much to discover. Television was still bound to four channels, going to the cinema was considered a treat rather than something to do to fill time. Even reading was considered only acceptable to age appropriate books. Basically parents pushed their children to do three things.
Hello! Look New Blog!
Hello!
After two years of maintaining my squarespace blog I have made the transition to blogger, I would be lyng if I did not say that this decision was not partly based on financial reasons but I said a lot of things on that blog that I was proud of but I am at a new place in my life and as such felt that a new blog would be appropriate.
On this blog I will continue to post writing tips as I did on my previous blog but they will not be as regular as my previous posts. I want this blog to be more a reflection of myself than me droning on about what you should be doing. So I will be offering more encouragement rather than instruction. And lets not forget I will be be posting examples of my creative work when I write them!
As I said with the previous blog and I will repeat here, When I first started as a writer I would often need someone to talk to or give me feedback on my work but did not really have anyone in my life to take up that role, so if anyone wishes for an honest opinion of any of their work or just general guidance then feel free to contact me
Cheers,
Peter Michael Kerr
After two years of maintaining my squarespace blog I have made the transition to blogger, I would be lyng if I did not say that this decision was not partly based on financial reasons but I said a lot of things on that blog that I was proud of but I am at a new place in my life and as such felt that a new blog would be appropriate.
On this blog I will continue to post writing tips as I did on my previous blog but they will not be as regular as my previous posts. I want this blog to be more a reflection of myself than me droning on about what you should be doing. So I will be offering more encouragement rather than instruction. And lets not forget I will be be posting examples of my creative work when I write them!
As I said with the previous blog and I will repeat here, When I first started as a writer I would often need someone to talk to or give me feedback on my work but did not really have anyone in my life to take up that role, so if anyone wishes for an honest opinion of any of their work or just general guidance then feel free to contact me
Cheers,
Peter Michael Kerr
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)