So I start messing around with some code and think of how I am going to do it. I started programming some sockets calls and C and was just going to connect and then just go ahead and send over a GET request then put it into an array and parse the valuable information ( in this case it was the mac address and the device name). Well about thirty minutes in I was getting annoyed. I blame the terrible combination of sleep deprivation and time restraints. So I saved what code I had for later use and started to make it in Python. Well short story short I made it in Python in no time. It isn’t the ideal solution but it works and that’s all he cared about. His type of router was a WRT400N.

# DHCP Table POP
# Requests device name + mac address
# LogicKills.org
# Made for *****1979@yahoo.com (you creepy bastard)
# 5/4/2010

#blah blah imports
import urllib
import re
import json

#define username and password (he wanted to keep his default fml)
password = "admin"
user     = "admin"

#combines credentials with URL. Yes I hardcoded the URL, suck it.
website = urllib.urlopen("http://" + user + ":" + password + "@192.168.1.1/Static_dhcp.htm")

#looks for the fragment of code that stores DHCP clients
for lines in website.readlines():
if re.match("var myData", lines):
clients = lines

#cleans up the json object
clients = clients.strip("var myData =  ")
clients = clients.replace(';','')

#loads json object
jsonList = json.loads(clients)
for x in jsonList:
print x[0] + " " + x[3]

So I am working on project that will eventually need to output some temperatures so I was looking for an LCD to buy. Being a long time Sparkfun customer and buying everything from resistors to soldering iron tips from them I can say that  I have never had a problem with them. It just so happened they had exactly what I was looking for.  This LCD does exactly what it needs to and isn’t cheap quality by any means. The only thing I didn’t think of was buying headers with it. So I HIGHLY recommend buying some headers with this LCD for easy prototyping. I got some at RatShack but Sparkfun has them too. If you are going to buy this LCD from them why not pick up some headers with it?

Anywho, here is the code. I made this in a very small amount of time – so it isn’t super efficient or awesome. It gets the job done. Oh and notice the new “Code” tab

Find the code here.

Very good news from over in Geneva. The Large Hadron Collider is showing some positive vitals signs. This is wonderful news for CERN, who have had a hard time getting the LHC to even relieve itself of quantum flatulence since its failure last year.  The LHC propelled photons successfully around half the circumference of the accelerator. So if all goes well and the mysterious mishaps stay at a minimal we should see progress real soon!

I will keep you posted with quantum news and such. Make sure to check out CERN’s website also.

My first tutorial up and ready is an introduction to lock picking. Find it here.

Make sure to stay tuned and check up on the tutorials section!

Well it seems that some interesting things have been happening over at Large Hadron Collider.  Now if you haven’t heard of  the Large Hadron Collider or even CERN you need to forcibly remove your head from whatever hole it has been stuck in. If that doesn’t help check out this link.

Anyways back to the story. Apparently the LHC is supposed to start back up in December after many technical issues plagued the endeavor to try to produce an environment comparable to a few billionths of a second after the Big Bang. Some of the strange things that the LHC could find once started range anywhere from extra dimensions as narrated by String Theory – all the way to  micro black holes that evaporate almost instantaneously.  If you think that dimensions and microscopic black holes are crazy you haven’t heard anything yet.  According to Holger Nielsen and Masao Ninomiya  , two renowned Physicists, all these events and technicalities that are halting LHC and further study are the result of  the LHC being destroyed from the future. However this kind of destruction isn’t from a 6ft Govenater.  They hypothesize that the destruction is the result of the the Higgs Boson. The Higgs Boson is the prize  Physicists are looking for over at CERN.  This particle would explain how mass has been distributed in the Universe.I will write a detailed overview of the Higgs and it’s importance a little later.

For more information check out this article.

So lately I have been coming upon articles written by  experienced creation scientists. I recently read that one of the miracles of our existence is how far our planet is from the sun. Apparently they think that the chance of an orbit being life supportive to be quite high. Is this true? No.

Let us first outline a neat little scientific finding called The Habitable Zone .  What exactly is a habitable zone or HZ?  Roughly speaking the HZ was originally conceived as a zone, or area in space, that would allow planets to support life.  A more detailed explanation is that the HZ is the area in space that is far enough from the Sun  so that water will not be boil off the surface and organic compounds will not be destroyed – however close enough to provide energy for all the reactions to create and maintain life.

Originally the HZ extended from the orbit of Mars to the orbit of Venus. This is a substantial distance even when the elliptical orbits are at their closest.  However their has been much dispute over the limitations of this zone. The new zone may expand to Jupiter and even to Jupiter’s Moons ( especially Europa ) .

Another fun little propaganda filled statistic is that the chance of a celestial body staying in orbit with our sun is phenomenal. Now to understand the basis of this presumption you may want to know a little bit about how a solar system is actually formed.  It starts out with this colossal cloud of gas and dust.  This gas and dust is usually the result of a supernova explosion.  Thanks to gravitational attraction this huge cloud of dust and gas begins to rotate around a central point. Think of cookie dough being mixed with an egg beater. The cookie dough spins around that central point. During this mixing random masses of cookie dough ( or gas and dust) are scattered to random regions. Some regions have more dough than others. These areas with more mass achieve a sort of snowball effect, collecting more and more material. The areas with less mass eventually succumb to the larger areas. These larger areas are the early forms of Earth and Venus and all the other planets.

All these would-be planets eventually fall in line , or orbit, with the larger central point. This central point eventually gains enough mass which makes tons and tons of pressure. All this pressure gives way extremely high temperatures. This in turn provides an ideal environment for hydrogen fusion which means the formation of our Sun.  Any material left after the formation of our solar system that isn’t traveling at just the right speed is either catapulted into deep space  because it is traveling too fast, or collides with our Sun because it is traveling too slow.

Now what exactly is the chance of a celestial body achieving this ideal speed? Instead of what some think as a very small and rare chance, it is actually quite large. The different variations of orbital speed, distance, and mass are actually unlimited. We see millions of variations when we look out into space.  You can look at some of Kepler’s equations to see this in math. Also no minimum  mass exits for a star to be able to hold onto a satellite.  Little Pluto has some satellites orbiting around it.

So in conclusion is it so amazing that our planet is where it is? No it isn’t. The HZ shows us that our proximity to the Sun isn’t that miraculous. Kepler and a little information on gravity showed us that the Sun and other stars are not too picky when it comes to orbiting bodies. I hope this straightened some information out for some.

Not to long ago water was found on the Moon. This discovery has prompted space agencies around the world to figure out a way to get back to the lunar surface before the other guys. NASA is just excited as the rest and they are hoping for some backing. In a world going through economic depression the validity of such an lunar adventure is coming under fire. Much controversy surrounds whether we should concentrate on the Moon or shoot for Mars and the outer reaches of space.

If we do chose to go to the Moon what would we seem to gain from it? What we  can do on the Moon will directly correlate to how much water is actually there. If a fairly substantial amount exists we could use the Moon as a launch base for deeper space  missions. We could colonize and learn much about what it would take to live on other space bodies besides Earth.

Regardless of what goes down, this is an exciting time in history. One thing is certain. We won’t get anywhere if we are all selfish with out findings and our ideas. It will take a global effort to get anywhere. Lets hope we work together in such a way.

Moore’s Law has been telling us for years that integrated circuits are rapidly being produced smaller and smaller. This is no doubt good news for consumers. The price to produce these micro-components is going down, and the advancements in technology are going up. However at some point in time these components are going to become so minuscule that they will be molecule sized. As soon as this happens these chips will no longer be governed by Newtonian Physics.

What will happen when these tiny electrical components surpass the realm of macroscopic and tumble into the world of molecules and other atomic structures? When this happens they will be controlled by the quantum world. A realm in which quantum tunneling allows particles to show up in places where they most certainly shouldn’t be. A realm in which the quantum version of bits, or quibits can exists as both 0 and 1. This is a spooky realm that is governed unlike anything you have ever heard of.

So I am sure many are interested in what kind of advancements will be capable with this new quantum computing revolution. With quantum computing computers would have incredible calculating capabilities. However in order to see any difference in the efficiency of solving problems, special quantum algorithms would need to be produced. These algorithms would need to find a way to utilize the stranger aspects of quantum theory to formulate results.

Many, many tasks and technologies could be made better by quantum computing. Everything from Quantum Encryption to Quantum Artificial Intelligence. Once we reach the point at which we can utilize this quantum behavior the results will be tremendous.

The keyword in the above statement is when. At this point in time we have not been able to produce such a quantum computer. Completing this is not as simple as many may think. The quantum principal says that when a quantum system is affected by it’s surroundings it collapses.

Hope is high however. We are constantly coming up with new finds. I think quantum computing will be propelled forward by the cooperation of many different professionals around all parts of the world. Until our toasters have an intelligence ideally named Skynet 1.0 we must wait and watch the progress of the quantum revolution.