FROM THE ENCRYPTION-IS-OVERRATED DEPT: Feds Crack Encrypted Drives, Arrest Child Porn Suspect. “The authorities did not say what type of encryption Feldman used. But the case illustrates that encryption isn’t foolproof and that the authorities are making headway cracking encryption.”

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I’m ironically writing while traveling for an advanced computer forensics class. I’ve been in digital forensics and information security for over 15 years.

I can tell you that good encryption cannot be feasibly beat by anything but the most outrageous computer resources as of this day. The issue is the keys – which are passwords. Too many people will utilize the very best encryption mechanisms and then lock it with passwords that are easy to guess, compute, or more often than not, are re-used on other Internet-based systems where they are easily captured with the help of corporations not willing to get on the wrong side of the Feds. It’s like having a heavy duty bomb-proof vault and setting the combination to 1-2-3-4 (SpaceBalls reference).

I recommend TrueCrypt using an extremely long password (24 characters, it can actually be English words that you can easily remember, but obscure and long enough that no one else can guess). In addition, use a key file – an obscure file that may not even be on the computer in question, but on a USB disk This can even be a common Windows program, so long as it is not updated and doesn’t change in any way. This key file adds additional entropy to the encryption.

Most of all, don’t re-use any part of this password elsewhere! This is how hackers get in, this is how Feds get in. While it does not break my heart to see a child pornographer go down, I think we’ve all seen enough to know that the power the Fed has to day can and will be abused under FISA and the irresponsible leadership that follows all the way to the White House.

One of the best reasons to encrypt your hard drive is that it makes it harder for them to plant evidence. . . .

DISASTER EVALUATION: The Waffle House Index.

SPACE: Private Space Race Heats Up With Some Key Breakthroughs.

The Grasshopper test is a big deal because there aren’t, at the moment, any rockets in use capable of the kind of lateral maneuvers SpaceX showed off Tuesday. Some smaller rockets have done it, but none of them even approaches Grasshopper’s size. The ability to make significant corrections to the trajectory is a key part of developing a reusable rocket, as the first stage will return to Earth at hypersonic speed. The only way to decrease its lateral speed, and guide it to a landing site, is through such moves.

“The test demonstrated the vehicle’s ability to perform more aggressive steering maneuvers than have been attempted in previous flights,” the company said in announcing the news. “Grasshopper is taller than a 10-story building, which makes the control problem particularly challenging.”

The braking and steering tests performed by Sierra Nevada Corporation are far less dramatic, though they are crucial to preparing its lifting body spacecraft for the company’s first glide flights in the coming months. After all, before you can fly to space, first you have to be sure you can come to a complete stop before unbuckling your seat belt.

The Dream Chaser is Sierra Nevada’s entry into the NASA competition for delivering astronauts to the International Space Station (and elsewhere in low Earth orbit). Unlike the entries from SpaceX and Boeing, the Dream Chaser is not a classic capsule. Instead, it’s a flying vehicle that would land like the space shuttle orbiters, rather than falling back to Earth under parachute.

Faster, please.

THE SCENE YOU WON’T SEE in The Butler. Actually, I doubt I’ll see any scenes in The Butler, since I doubt I’ll see it at all. And Oprah’s purse-related hissy fit certainly didn’t make me more likely to go.

CHANGE: Gen. Wesley Clark Leaves His Wife of 46 Years.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Why should Men be Stuck in Marriage because of Fear of Divorce and Unfair Family Laws?

#WARONMEN: Orange is The New Black’s Creator Doesn’t Seem To Be a Big Fan of Men.

ADVICE TO AMERICA’S YOUTH FROM STACY MCCAIN: “Get In Touch With Your Inner Patriarch.” I don’t think Stacy understands the dynamics in this relationship, though.

TEST-DRIVING THE 2013 Volkswagen Jetta TDI.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Concealed Carry At The Office.

DON’T COPS HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO? Deputies Bust Gays With Unconstitutional Sodomy Law.

THE POWER OF THE Kindly Brontosaurus.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: The New Normal in the Job Market for New Lawyers.

FASTER, PLEASE: A potential cure for Alzheimer’s? Scientists discover new culprit behind brain-wasting disease.

NEED HELP GETTING PREGNANT? There’s an app for that.

YESTERDAY’S POST ON ENCRYPTION PRODUCED THIS LINK: XKCD: Encryption in the real world.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Want To Know If You’re Good In Bed? There’s An App For That!

SPACE: SpaceX’s Grasshopper Steers Side-to-Side in Cool New Video.

READER BOOK PLUG: From reader C.H. Parker, Little Civil Wars. Currently 99 cents on Kindle.

TO ME IT LOOKS KINDA LIKE A MAZDA: The newly revealed Mercedes GLA250 looks pretty good.

ED DRISCOLL interviews Ben Shapiro about his new book, Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans. No rodeo clowns were harmed in the making of this interview.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: The World’s Tallest Building Is A Stupid Contest.

THE RULING CLASS TAKES CARE OF ITS OWN: Corrupt former mayor right at home teaching at Harvard. “Antonio Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles who racked up countless ethics violations and used taxpayers money to refurbish his yacht, will lecture at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in the fall.”

A key role of the academic sector is to provide landing pads for retired/disgraced politicians, as well as holding areas for those waiting out an election cycle. Related: Politico: Hillary Clinton considering academic options. “Hillary Clinton is fielding offers from colleges and universities — including Harvard and her law school alma mater, Yale — to give her a formal academic role, a move that would give her a platform outside her family’s foundation. . . . The advantage to Clinton of an academic platform, beyond the scope of her policy interests, could be huge for someone considering a presidential run. It would provide her with a credible backdrop for speeches and events that would take her outside of a hotel ballroom or something sponsored by her family’s foundation or another outside group.”

If elected President, she’ll no doubt find a way to return the favor.

GEORGE SHULTZ: LOSING THE WAR ON DRUGS.