I've seen a couple of episodes, always good for laughs... and firearms fun.

"Let's go remind the neighbors that we're here." *Uses M203 Grenade Launcher*

Because it wasn't really for a navy of anykind, the whole show is total BS and i would recomend for anyone with anu gun knowledge to stay far away from it. For crying out loud the first episode has a "local SWAT-team" order something to make breaching easier then having a one man carrying a shotgun. At witch point the owner introduces him the concept of masterkey, an underbarrel breaching shotgun. After this he goes to his team of "professional" gunsmiths and explains to them what their gonna build, as naturally none of them know what a masterkey is . Then they start designing and the owner starts raving on how cool it is and how noone has ever made anything like it, because it's not like KAG masterkey has been standard armament for SWAT for the last 20 years or anything

edit:Fixed the nices "fixes" my Android phone did to the post:silly:

Yeah, well, it's not like I can run down to my local shooting range to talk shop, can I?

There's only one in the whole city, and it's well past the perimeter. And I'm surprised it's still there, honestly.

I actually saw that one; he was making the master keys for a SWAT team, right? He had to sell a certain amount or his daughter was gonna make him sell the M203 he just purchased...

That's like saying you can't look at hot girls unless they're smarter than you are. The show is about the guns, not the rednecks who run the shop.

Besides, I think the narrative actually works. The uninformed can be fascinated at all the exciting new stuff and creativity the shopowner displays, while the informed can feel good about himself for spotting errors and getting confirmation in how much smarter he is (either than the gunsmiths, or the mainstream audience, depending on much he thinks the show has been dumbed down).

just gonna leave this here: http://www.boingboing.net/2011/06/30/overb...ed-finnish.html

That is Entertaining...

Hell, it lead me to discover that the Finnish army use a homegrown variant of the AK-47.

Why not? It's a good design in a lot of ways.

EDIT: And in Soviet Russia, Copyright owns YOU!

I just found it a interesting mix, as i think their airforce flies FA-18. quite the patchwork of east and west. Still, it appears their AK variant is only in limited use (making its appearance on that photo even more intriguing).

Then again, Israel has the Galil Assault Rifle.

That are based on our RK-62 and hobgoblin it's not in limited use, it's our troops main weapon.
Edit: Oh sorry he's holding the RK-95, yes that one is only in limited use.

Never bothered looking into the history for what the Israeli use, thanks for pointing that out.

It was mostly a case of looking at the photo, going "hey, that looks like a AK" and firing up wikipedia for a quick check.

Designed by Galil Uzi if I recall correctly, who's other namesake gun is, shall we say, slightly more recognisable...

Those were two different people:

Uziel Gal
Yisrael Galil

Let's just say that Israelis make some damn fine weapons.

When two systems communicate in a secure network, they send encrypted data. The sender never UNENCRYPTS the data for the target, authorized or not. A predefined decryption key is passed to the target when the encrypted network is setup, and never passed across the network in future communications.

This means IRL, if you get a valid account and pull encrypted data, you are still going to have to decrypt that data once you download it, unless you have ALSO hacked one of the Encrypting systems valid partners, who has a decryption key to use.

Kudos to Catalyst for getting this right!

Ugh, ever heard of public-key cryptography?

Both are fairly lame examples, as they are methods of encrypting communication, while a second look at sabs post I realize he is speaking of File level encryption within a system.

No one uses Public-key or private key encryption for storing files on their local system.

Public-key encryption is often used to work securely with remote clients (actually, almost uniformly so).
However, if a client is working with an encrypted file system, he's bound to have a way to decrypt what he receives on the fly, do you think providing each client with the secret key (which is the same for everyone) is a better idea than decrypting the stream for every legitimate client on the server side then transmitting it over an encrypted channel?

Public/private keys encryption only serve to protect against communication eavesdropping and superficial intrusion. Currently decent encryption requires key that are hundreds or even thousands bits/characters long. Unless picking your favorite Shakespeare monologue as a pass-phrase, such length is way beyond what the average people can memorize. So these keys are themselves stored on a filesystem, which can be hacked. Common sense teach you that if an intruder can get into one of your secured system, it can get into a second one. At least, not labeling the key file as "key.pgp" may slow down your cracker a bit (while he searches the logs for any files that are systematically accessed before an encrypted file is).

While still not perfect, using biometric data as a key may provide a solution (better with some unusual biometric data you mustn't provide at every border control).

Hey, Shakespeare is used far too often. I suggest Terry Pratchett. "Buggerit, Millennium Hand and Shrimp I told 'em!" is probably used too often, however.

And, um, what does that have to do with firearms?

I'd also like to note that using too much RL logic in SR Matrix only brings pain. Treat it like a puzzle, or like you treat astral - it is its own world that works by the laws written in the books because it does so. Otherwise, an incredible number of uneasy questions arises.

You can't really apply RL logic to SR encryption anyways, because they flat-out told us in Unwired that all previous encryption schemes can now be broken easily. Just because.

Actually because it was finally proved that P = NP and nobody was able, so far, of getting a new encryption method that doesn't use non-deterministic polynomial algorithms.

Not, what happened was:


In other words, Heinrich-wavium.

This seems like a P=NP hint without actually going so far as to say it so people who don't know what this is will get lost, but people into computer sciences may figure it out.

I dunno. Proving P = NP is far, far more than just an algorithm.

I think they just decided they wanted encryption to be of limited strength, so they just handwaved it; they didn't actually pay any attention to how encryption works.

Well, sure, there is that whole set theory and deep mathematical stuff involved in proving it, but in the end, you do need an algorithm that actually resolves a NP problem in polynomial time.

Anyway, back on topic.

Guns, guns, guns.

You need far more "magic math" than that, since one time pads are nowhere used in the security-starved SR world. Maybe the Handwavium Maneuver can break those too?

Well for general usage they are damn impractical. This thanks to their reversible nature, so that the distribution usually happens by either gathering in one spot or via bonded courier (a typical event in spy stories). Public key encryption have changed this, as they allow the encryption key to be different from the decryption key. This means that one can distribute the encryption key far and wide at little risk.

Also, SR needs the hacker to be able to do his thing without having to turn to the group trog and tell him to apply the rubber hose all the time. With effective encryption, the role of the hacker become pointless.

Still, there is the optional "dramatic encryption" on page 66 of Unwired.

Yeah, I understand that they needed to put some limits on encryption to keep hacking possible, but I'm not wild about the way they did it.

I think OTPs are great. Sure, currently they're impractical compared to public-key systems, but if public-key is truly cracked, then OTP becomes the only real solution. And that in turn is a good reason for Johnny-Mnemonic style data couriers, which I have no problems with in SR

The current system of encryption really strikes me as lamest of all worlds.. it isn't really secure, but it's quite annoying nonetheless. If it's used right, it still makes hacking during a mission nearly impossible, but on the other hand you can't really rely on it for long-term security either.

well if your dealing in data that have long term viability, you do not really want to transport it over a public channel in the first place (again, couriers). I suspect that all the AAAs and national agencies all maintain private networks that only make contact with the matrix at highly controlled and monitored points. What is likely to be communicated over encrypted connections are things that may have high value right now, but is virtually worthless in a short time. I think earlier edition had hard rules for paydata that would drop in value over time.

"While the number-field sieve is the best method currently known, there exists an intriguing possibility for a far more elegant approach. Here we would find a composition of extensions, each Abelian over the rationals, and hence contained in a single cyclotomic field. Using the Artin map, we might induce homomorphisms from the principal orders in each of these fields that z by f z. These maps could then be used to combine splitting information from all the fields…" -Sneakers, 1992






-k

lets tech the tech with the tech

Ok, so I'm not a gun nut. but i saw the masterkey episode of Sons of Guns (i really only watch it cuz the daughter is umm, good lookin' ) But my question is, are there any technical reasons that you couldnt have the guns connected to the some trigger mechanism?

Connecting them to the same trigger mechanism would require a redesign of the entire weapon system, drastically increasing the complexity of both. In doing so, it would greatly increase the probability of malfunction while offering no functional benefit.

You consider not having to move your arm from one trigger mechanism to another "no functional difference"?

Given that you generally fire them with your reaction hand, you don't have to move your hands to use it. And I said benefit, not difference.

Well, in the episode, the breachman on the SWAT team had to switch from the shotgun trigger handle, to the m-16 (?right gun?) trigger handle, a movement of oh, 6-8 inches i'd guess

Better than shouldering and shifting to a sidearm, that's for sure.

The Masterkey system, opens every door. (Warning: Not applicable in Israel.).

I really hate it when ID10T TV teaches people about firearms, or has some local yokel SWAT guy ask for a toy cannon based on spurious tactics.
1. If you are going into a potential CQB situation a submachinegun would be preferable.
2. The guy blowing the lock should under no circumstances be the first man in.
3. For the price of this silly toy you could have had a nice short carbine with some bells and whistles instead of a heavy piece of junk.
4. Mixed caliber weapons should never have a "Death Blossom" option because one round is intended for long range and the other has no range.

A real SWAT team knows all of the above, however after 9/11 the US Gov gave local townships money to have their very own SWAT Club. Need I say more.

Explains why my hometown had a SWAT team.

...

That and the sniper downtown that had the whole area evacuated except for the call centre with over a thousand employees. But that was in the building where the sniper was, so they were safe.

As I'm prone to reminding people at work, one user's bad technique does not constitute a design flaw. He's misusing the equipment handed to him if he's moving his weapon hand forward to fire the breaching shotgun, and wasting movement in the process.

Then again, it's Son of Guns. The mouth breathers in the shop were in awe of an idea that dates back to at least the 1980s, and the SWAT team's buyer didn't bother to look around for the nine seconds it should have taken him to discover that someone already made exactly what he was looking for. Based on that, it's no shock that they'd misuse the tool they got.

Hmmm, but what do you do once the sniper is done with the "I has speshul gunz" whackers?

Well, considering that he had a reagular, ordinary hunting rifle (IIRC at least), ammo was easy enough to be had.

I do come from Northern Ontario, ammo is just a Canadian Tire away.

In my games, long random strings attract nasty Dissonance stuff.

no, because nobody gives a flying fuck about call centre agents . .

Oh, $Deity how I know that to be true.

...

Damnit, now *I* want some of those firearms in the book!