Posts by jake

Re: A new human race indeed

You forgot about the auto-updates from Bill Gates.

IMO ,,,

... his previous method of speaking to fucking idiots on the LKML was restrained.

Frankly I'm surprised that Linus was as tolerant as he was all those years ... If it was my name attached to the project, I'd have really lit into a few of the fucking idiotic prima donna drama queens.

Re: It's Not All Good

Sick of being told that if their security was up to snuff (including the use of strong encryption where needed) the attack would not have been successful. Most people don't like being told that they were compromised because they were stupid.

Re: It's Not All Good

We could use any length key or algorithm here in the US, too... we just weren't allowed to export the code that provided that functionality.

Re: I remember my PGP T-shirt well!

I wore the PGP-in-perl T-shirt out of and back into the USA on maybe a dozen flights from '91 to '93 without anybody even blinking at me funny. Later, I occasionally carried a copy of Bruce Schneier's "Applied Cryptography" book containing source examples in the text (which did not fall under the export restrictions) and the disk containing the very same source, which was bound into the cover (and very definitely did fall under those restrictions).

This kind of security theater may be worth the paper it is printed on, but not much more.

I stopped trying to get arrested on principle when I grew up and had a kid of my own to take care of. Priorities & all that. Today, she tells me I shouldn't have wimped out ... but she did take the shirt and the book into "show and tell" occasionally, as examples of governmental stupidity.

My Grand daughter (not quite 11 yet) wanted to do the same show and tell, with the same shirt and book ... and then snip off a corner of the shirt to turn into gun cotton to demonstrate how easy real munitions are to make. I nixed cutting up the shirt (too many memories), and recommended snipping a bit off of another tshirt instead. Her school nixed that option, because children aren't supposed to know such things, and IT WOULD BE DANGEROUS!!! (the school's CAPS and punctuation). Model rocketry is banned for the same reason, much to her deep dismay.

Just ten years old and she's already on "watch list" for her school district because she knows too much. What kind of useless milquetoasts are her generation going to become, anyway?

Re: Three decades

"governments still don't want us to have strong crypto."

But we already have it. It is out in the open. The cat is out of the bag. The horse has bolted. Put a fork in it. The milk has not just been spilled, it has been dumped. The worm can is empty. Etc.

The .govs of the planet are delusional if they think it can be erased at this point. It's time for them to stop wasting our tax dollars on this and move on to something else.

I vote, and I'm known to my elected officials. Can you say the same? Make your collective voices known!

Re: comp.lang.c blocked again

It's not blocked by any feed I have access to. Never was, either.

Stop using alphagoo for Usenet. It's badly b0rken, and probably always will be.

Come to think of it, stop using alphagoo for anything, it's badly b0rken.

Re: Patch a key

"A DoS is easily fixed by spinning up more capacity etc."

Frame in a new door. Or open a window. Or open Windows.

Re: Patch a key

Unless they are locking themselves in ... which, given the anti-social and often paranoid tendencies of folks with this mindset, wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Re: Patch a key

"Which is easily fixed by pouring acetone (ie; nail varnish remover) into the lock"

Really? Try it. Report back.

Re: Why do they need a warrant?

Who determins it is lost or abandoned, as opposed to intentionally placed temporarily?

To answer my own question, that would be a Judge. Thus the warrant.

Re: Why do they need a warrant?

"people are free to do anything they want, with no redress."

No, it's application of the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, as extended through modern methods of communications. In a nutshell, the .gov can't read my diary (even an electronic one) without either my expressed authorization, or a warrant issued by the appropriate court.

Once that warrant is executed, the perp will be fingered and have his time in court.

Re: Why do they need a warrant?

Things like this found on Public Land are considered "private property" until declared otherwise by a court of law. These same rules allow you to park your car in the Mojave and wander off on a hike for two or three days without somebody "salvaging" your car. The search warrant requirement is the same one that allows you to carry around nekkid pictures of your .sig-other on your camera with no fear that the cops will insist on looking at them.

Another example: That stainless steel pillar that was found in Utah was left alone by the authorities because it was private property ... EVEN THOUGH the folks who placed it would have been denied a permit, had they applied for one, and probably would have been arrested had they been caught installing it. Likewise, the twats who removed it are technically guilty of theft if they didn't have the permission of the owner to remove it.

Re: The Big Red Button

Some establishments put a gel (called a tamper dye) on the top of the fire pulls. Activating the pull gets the dye on the finger tips. Attempting to wash it off spreads the dye and turns it a rather fetching shade of blue, not purple ... the myth always says "purple spray", but I've only seen topical blue tamper dye. There is no squirter on any fire pull that I am aware of, and I've spent a good deal of my life mucking about in the wiring of schools, new and old. I've been asked to apply the dye to new kit on several occasions, but I've always declined, citing allergies[0].

https://www.american-time.com/product/syringe-tamper-dye-for-fire-alarms/

[0] 'tis true, kinda ... I'm allergic to setting booby traps. Totally uncivilized, IMO.

Re: I may have mentioned this one before...

"Take the Williamstown line train to Spotswood"

You can't get there from here.

"stroll down to Scienceworks if you want to see it in (simulated) action."

I could toggle them into my period Altair 8800 again, but somehow I think once is enough. I should have taken a video.

If you have access to an actual Altair 8800 and want to try this for yourself, here is a PDF of Dompier's article in the May 1975 People's Computer Company newsletter, as reprinted in the February 1976 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics & Orthodontia, including code for "Daisy, Daisy" and "Fool On The Hill".

_{It would seem my memory of watching the demo in 1977 was a tad off. Mea culpa.}

Re: The Big Red Button

"fire alarms in US schools and squirt you with a purple ink"

They do? I've never seen this. Cite?

Re: From the dark ages

Pretty Much the definitive history of blinkinlights here.

Here's a plaintext addrerss for those of you who quite sensibly refuse to simply click on links without having at least an inkling of where they might take you:

http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/B/blinkenlights.html

Re: I may have mentioned this one before...

I was at a meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club in 1977ish when Steve Dompier demonstrated similar music making skills with an Altair 8800. It took him about 30 minutes of toggling switches to get it to play "Fool on the Hill" or "Bicycle Built for Two" in RF picked up on an AM radio. Someone watching (Roger Melen? There were several CROMEMCO folks there that day, if I remember correctly ...) was overheard to say that it was the most useful thing he'd ever seen a personal computer do. At that stage of the game he may have been right!

I'm fairly certain that everyone witnessing this thought it was a computing first ... I found out later that the Ferranti Mark 1 had a function that would allow variable pitch operator feedback, and someone had programmed it to generate music in the very early 1950s[0]. A couple decades later I found out that the Australians had beaten us all to the punch, having programmed their CSIRAC to make music in 1949 or 1950[1].

[0] "God Save The King", of course (among others).

[1] "Colonel Bogey".

Re: Hands in Pockets!

Many moons ago I took my daughter to SLAC on take your kid to work day. At the ripe old age of 9, she had been there many times before and knew the ropes, but I figured she deserved a day out of school.

She told me as we were walking in that it'd cost me ten bucks for her to not push any buttons. I gave her the money.

On the way back out, I told her that it'd cost her ten bucks for me not to tell her mother she was running a protection racket. She made a face and paid up ... and promptly told her mother as soon as we got home. They both still laugh about it :-)

Re: Something doesn't smell right about this

"cyber weaknesses"

Yet another phrase to filter on for the bitbucket ...

Re: Ah......backdoors again...........

Still talking to yourself, I see.

Re: * The Man:

I'm still making more money yearly just from COBOL than the average newbie graduate's entire yearly salary for more modern, popular languages.

I've been recommending people buck whatever the current trendy fad language is and learn COBOL and Fortran since they started dropping the two in favo(u)r of C (and then Pascal) back in the '80s. Not a month goes by without a former student/mentee dropping me an email thanking me for the advice ... I know lots of Java, Ruby, Python, C++, C# etc. coders who are out of work, but the COBOL and Fortran folks are all gainfully employed.

Personally, I still prefer coding in good old C.

Re: Further notes from Aussie hard-copy:

"(We used to just call them Gameshows.)"

Nah. Gameshows are typically not heavily scripted and massively over-produced.

Make that "...narcissistic shitposting rich dude who is desperate for attention."

Ignore him until he holds his breath and turns blue. It is best for humanity.

Tens of thousands of people with one driver at 300km/h?

I've told you a million times never to exaggerate!

"You often drive 400 miles without stopping to discharge/recharge occupants?"

Yes. I do.

Re: I thought ...

Except Qanon and Anonymous were both started as a joke on 4chan by the same trolling skiddies.

Re: I thought ...

"Qanon is probably why Anonymous has been so "quiet". They all became Qanon instead."

When you consider that both Anonymous and Qanon started on 4chan by skiddies trolling adults for the lulz, this is probably the most accurate post in this thread. I find it absolutely mind boggling that some actual adults actually give any credence to either.

"Conspiracy Theory followers are easily swayed"

Not swayed. Duped, suckered, hornswoggled, mislead and taken would fit better. However, once they have been hoodwinked they are far more tenacious in maintaining their delusion than people not so easily snowed. I've found that the more logical the argument against their confusion, the harder they cling to it. Kind of like religion.

Re: Not holding my breath

One of them would have started WWIII by claiming to have a round of 17 after one ball wound up in the cup with no strokes at all.

The other would have later claimed that their score-card was tampered with, because they had TWO holes without taking any strokes.

Both of their sycophants would have sworn on a stack of whatever they hold dearly that they were telling the truth, absolutely, it happened exactly the way they reported it.

The rest of the planet would yawn most expressively.

_{For amusement value, eyeball wiki's "Veracity of statements by Donald Trump".}

Re: Not holding my breath

You missed one: He cheats at golf.

I've heard that can be very bad for one's health.

Re: Punishment?

Personally, I find social media mentions to be good filter material. For example, I've been dropping resumes/c.v.s that mention Linkedin into the shredder for about ten years now. IMO, it is nothing more than laziness on your part, and I don't hire lazy people.

Remember, your resume/c.v. is a paper representation of yourself. Treat it accordingly. Free hint: Have it proofread by several people who aren't brown nosers before you actually use it. I may be critical, but even I know that I can't proof my own work!

See this ancient post for more.

Lose the fourteen-year-old boy's locker-room childishness and keep it professional: "It looks like you are leaning on your keyboard."

Or you can turn on audio key-clicks. Tell her "This is only for test purposes, I'll turn them off again in a day or so" ... I guarantee she'll figure it out for herself.[0]

Both options have worked for me. The second usually gets me a giggly phone call "You're not going to believe what happened ... can you please turn off the clicks now?"

[0] Now you know why there are no such reports from the days of the typing pool. It happened, but went unreported. The Selectric tends to announce itself, no observing tech required.