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Wind and Solar Potential

Which countries have the most potential for wind and solar power? PV Potential Based on data from https://globalsolaratlas.info/., here is a map of the best countries for solar: Unsurprisingly we have the deserts in Africa, the Middle East, and Chile. The map on the source website has much more precise intra-country data, so it is definitely worth checking out. Wind Potential Based on data from https://globalwindatlas.info/, here is a map of the best countries for wind:

  • Wind
  • Solar
  • Energy
  • Renewable Energy
  • Climate
  • Green
  • Desertec
  • IEA
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 | 2 minutes Read
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Is it MECE? Use a Venn

MECE is one of the most well-known acronyms in consulting. Standing for Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive, it is a principle used when doing any form of segmentation, to ensure no duplication (ME) or missed items (CE). This exists in a bunch of scenarios, such as solving problems, writing documents, and preparing presentations. There are countless articles explaining what it is, so I won’t go into too much detail. These often include a Venn diagram or two to show ME and CE, but I haven’t seen them used to demonstrate the whole MECE concept - so that’s what I thought I’d do. Using examples, we can see how a Venn diagram can be used to check your segmentation is MECE.

  • MECE
  • Consulting
  • Segmentation
  • Analysis
  • Structure
Wednesday, January 25, 2023 | 6 minutes Read
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Fallacies, Politics, and ChatGPT

I thought I’d have a play with ChatGPT, to see if it could help me write about, and refresh my knowledge of, logical fallacies. I also wanted to test some of the various “bugs” I’ve been reading about (for example, it’s terrible with numbers). I asked it for a list of common logical fallacies, then asked it to provide definitions and real examples from political debates. The answers are copy-pasted from ChatGPT with minimal editing. My thoughts on the entire process are further down.

  • AI
  • Argument
  • ChatGPT
  • Logical Fallacies
  • Politics
  • Reasoning
Wednesday, January 18, 2023 | 7 minutes Read
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GMAT Quant Notes

I’m not planning on taking the GMAT any time soon, but was curious to see what would be involved anyway. These notes are far from exhaustive - they’re just a few things that I want to remind myself of. Book: GMAT All the Quant by Manhattan Prep. Data sufficiency A. Statement (1) does allow you to answer the question, but statement (2) does not. B. Statement (2) does allow you to answer the question, but statement (1) does not.

  • Maths
  • GMAT
Saturday, January 14, 2023 | 6 minutes Read
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Applying Core Mental Models to Strategy Consulting

As a Farnam Street post states: Mental models are how we understand the world. A mental model is simply a representation of how something works. The page provides a long list of mental models, with summaries, and books that go into further detail. According to FS, there are nine “core” mental models: The Map is Not the Territory Circle of Competence First Principles Thinking Thought Experiment Second-Order Thinking Probabilistic Thinking Inversion Occam’s Razor Hanlon’s Razor Given I’m a consultant, I thought it could be fun to invent a consulting scenario utilising all these. Note this is entirely a creation and has no relation to any client I or my company have worked with (not that I know of anyway!)

  • Mental Models
  • Energy
  • Farnam Street
  • Strategy
  • Consulting
Wednesday, January 11, 2023 | 4 minutes Read
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The Three Cs: Consumption, Creation, and Contemplation

Summaries ChatGPT The writer is considering how they should spend their free time, and divides actions into three categories: consumption, creation, and contemplation. Consumption is about taking in media for entertainment or education, creation is about putting something out, like creating art or building something, and contemplation is deep thinking. The writer argues that many people spend most of their time on consumption, and that true value comes from the other two categories. They suggest that consumption is appealing because it can present itself as accomplishment, because the education system focuses on regurgitating facts rather than creativity, and because it is easier than actively creating or contemplating. They also argue that the constant availability of media to consume denies people the opportunity to have “dead time” for creative thoughts to arise, and that true education requires creativity and contemplation in addition to consumption.

  • Productivity
  • Time Management
  • Creativity
  • Contemplations
  • Education
  • Learning
Sunday, January 1, 2023 | 7 minutes Read
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Cyber Security Notes

My notes on Notion (backup link) I take notes using Notion. Lots of commands, tools, hints, and tips. Over 72,000 words so far! Screenshot as of October 2021:

    Monday, March 7, 2022 | 1 minute Read
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    MITRE D3FEND - Security BSides London Talk

    Back in November I gave a talk at Security BSides in London about MITRE’s D3FEND framework. Audio is a bit off until 1:27, then it’s fine. Watch it here:

    • Conference Talk
    Monday, January 10, 2022 | 1 minute Read
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    Creating an HMI in CODESYS

    Introduction Learning CODESYS Temperature Control HMI Code Variables HMI Simulation Comments? Introduction Until now I’ve used OpenPLC for all my PLC (ladder logic) projects, as it’s very user-friendly and it makes using an Arduino as a PLC very simply. However, as I was studying LL and ST, another piece of software kept being mentioned - CODESYS. According to CODESYS, they are “the leading manufacturer-independent IEC 61131-3 automation software for engineering control systems”. Compared with OpenPLC, it is much more feature-rich (and more complex), able to interface with a large number of PLCs. However, the reason I was interested in it is for one particular feature it has that OpenPLC doesn’t - you can make your own basic HMI (human-machine interfaces) with it.

    • CODESYS
    • Operational Technology
    Monday, October 18, 2021 | 3 minutes Read
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    HoneyBOT (pcap Analysis)

    https://cyberdefenders.org/labs/45 Contents Description Tools Questions 1. What is the attackers IP address? 2. What is the targets IP address? 3. Provide the country code for the attackers IP address (a.k.a geo-location). 4. How many TCP sessions are present in the captured traffic? 5. How long did it take to perform the attack (in seconds)? 6. No question 6 . . . 7. Provide the CVE number of the exploited vulnerability. 8. Which protocol was used to carry over the exploit? 9. Which protocol did the attacker use to download additional malicious files to the target system? 10. What is the name of the downloaded malware? 11. The attackers server was listening on a specific port. Provide the port number. 12. When was the involved malware first submitted to VirusTotal for analysis? 13. What is the key used to encode the shellcode? 14. What is the port number the shellcode binds to? 15. The shellcode used a specific technique to determine its location in memory. What is the OS file being queried during this process? Comments? Description A PCAP analysis exercise highlighting attacker’s interactions with honeypots and how automatic exploitation works. (Note that the IP address of the victim has been changed to hide the true location.)

    • CyberDefenders
    Monday, October 11, 2021 | 5 minutes Read
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    Structured Text in OpenPLC

    Introduction Structured Text Project Examples Two-Button Latching Circuit One-Button Latching Circuit with Emergency Stop Playing with Timers Steady(ish) State (e.g Temperature) Comments? Introduction After playing around with ladder logic (LL) in OpenPLC, I wanted to get a basic grip of structured text (ST). While LL is a visual method of programming PLCs, ST is a C-like language for programming PLCs, featuring well-know coding functions such as IF and WHILE. Fortunately, OpenPLC also allows you to program PLCs using ST! There is one minor difference; with Ladder Logic, OpenPLC can simulate the circuit and get a pretty visualisation based on the LL design itself - see the images in my previous post. With ST, because there is no design, there is no pretty visualisation. However, the Debugger does give a timeline of the states of the various variables, and it can be used to force a value, so you can still simulate a circuit.

    • OpenPLC
    • Operational Technology
    Monday, September 27, 2021 | 7 minutes Read
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    Arduino as a PLC with OpenPLC and Ladder Logic

    Introduction Getting It All Working Installation First Project Video Walkthrough Project Examples Two-Button Latching Circuit One-Button Latching Circuit with Emergency Stop Playing with Timers Steady(ish) State (e.g Temperature) Comments? Introduction PLCs (programmable logic controllers) are used within the operational technology (OT) space, such as in the industrial control systems (ICS) that manage manufacturing, energy generation, and robotics. PLCs are often integrated into SCADA systems, where a PLC is used to monitor inputs (e.g. temperature) and adjust outputs (e.g. motors) of a control system.

    • OpenPLC
    • Arduino
    • Operational Technology
    Monday, September 20, 2021 | 5 minutes Read
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