Short Takes – 9-23-24

As elections loom, key US cyber policy goals still unfinished, Cyber Solarium report says. NextGov.com article. Pull quote: “One area that’s yet to be fulfilled is the creation of House and Senate select committees on cybersecurity, the report says. It’s been an inconsistent miss each year the CSC’s findings have been produced, and Montgomery said that it likely won’t move anywhere soon because there’s no motivation in either chamber or political party to do so.”

Johnson’s government funding plan B disappoints conservatives. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “Now, House Republicans are set to face the deadline that hardliners wanted to avoid, jammed up against the Christmas holiday at the end of the 118th Congress. House GOP leadership aides, though, said the December stopgap date “does not necessarily mean we will be doing an omnibus in December,” forecasting another funding battle.”

Florida company's space balloon takes big step toward 1st human flight. Phys.org article. Note: That should be “not quite space balloon”, only reaches about 100,000 feet (18.9 miles). Pull quote: “Space Perspective, though, taps into a market that doesn't require training and can fly much more frequently. Plus, the company touts the carbon-neutral aspect of the trips that only need hydrogen gas for the balloon to take flight.”

Electronic Warfare Spooks Airlines, Pilots and Air-Safety Officials. WSJ.com article (free). Pull quote: “GPS spoofing has disrupted operations in Europe but hasn’t endangered flights, said Florian Guillermet, executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. Pilots have had to divert to airports they weren’t intending to land at, and earlier this year an airline temporarily halted operations to an Estonian airport that wasn’t equipped with ground-based navigation as a backup for GPS.”

Explainer: The chemistry of autumn. ChemistryWorld.com article. Pull quote: “Ethylene, the simplest alkene, is a gas that accelerates fruit maturation, but decreases leaf growth and promotes abscission. Ethylene is produced from the amino acid methionine via a long chain of biochemical reactions. As darkness stimulates the biosynthesis of this gas, plants increase their ethylene production in autumn and winter, causing their leaves to drop.”

‘One pistol clip can change the balance of power’: Congress is wholly unprepared for a mass casualty event. Politico.com article. Pull quote: “Despite the lack of real progress over the years, there is some movement. The House Administration Committee’s subpanel on modernization held a hearing on continuity of Congress in mid-September.”