Thornton 2 Library : List of Journal Entries

January 5, 2012: So Much Is Wrong with the World

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:08:18 -0800

Where do I begin? I'll just start dumping links.

Surrounded by the distraction that was New Year's Eve celebrations, our President of hope and change signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Among its provisions are some that legalize the indefinite detention of United States citizens within the borders of the United States, if the United States government suspects that citizen of plotting a terrorist act.

Terrorism is crimethink. It is now legal for the government to lock up law-abiding citizens indefinitely, and without ever charging locked-up citizens with a crime.

The right to due process: suspended.

The right to habeas corpus: suspended.

The right to an attorney: suspended.

The right to a trial by a jury of your peers: suspended.

With a stroke of a pen in the hand of the President of the United States, the terrorists we vowed to defeat on the eve of That Day have won.

Some lawmakers see at least a glimmer of the unconstitutionality of this law and are working to repeal those provisions, but we need a majority of them to, and we need to tell them all.

Tell Congress to Undo the NDAA, Ban Indefinite Military Detention of Americans - Demand Progress.

Feds Want Judge to Force Suspect to Give Up Laptop Password - Threat Level, Wired Magazine.

Basically, the government has no solid evidence in the financial fraud case it's prosecuting against a Colorado woman. They were expecting to find it when they seized a laptop PC during a search warrant, but the woman wisely used full-disk encryption to protect its contents. Now they're arguing that she should be forced to give up the encryption key so that the feds can then search its contents and find evidence they don't have now.

The problem, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued, is that the act of giving the key is an act of testimony and thus compulsory self-incrimination, a violation of the Fifth Amendment.

How Copyright Industries Con Congress - Cato @ Liberty, the Cato Institute.

The Stop Online Piracy Act, commonly known as SOPA, is just the latest foray into our elected Congressmen being bought, bullied, or conned into passing legislation that hurts us all. There's still time to oppose it (along with its equally evil sister in the Senate, the PROTECT IP Act or PIPA), but it's a hard fight.

In that fight, President Obama dispatched a former diplomat to mend Hollywood ties (The Hollywood Reporter). If Obama does the right thing and vetoes SOPA and PIPA if they pass, then he'll alienate his so-called friends (who are just big-money contributors buying power through him) and likely lose re-election. His record is one of so much hopelessness and so much staying-the-course to tyranny that, if there's any justice, he will lose re-election anyway.

But how about this nail in the coffin of the claim that so-called piracy hurts copyright creators? Keyser Report: The MPAA and RIAA lies to defend failed business model [sic] - YouTube copy of a Russia Today news broadcast in English. Comedian Louis CK gave a live, Internet-only performance that was completely unencumbered with DRM, which meant that nothing could stop anyone from copying and sharing the video if anyone wanted to.

What ended up happening was he got so much more money than he expected that he is giving away more than half of it to charity, about $1/2 million. The reason this didn't go as the MPAA and RIAA (together the MAFIAA) routinely say it would? Simple: By using a free middleman, the Internet without restrictions, to reach consumers, he made it easier, more convenient, and more affordable for people to pay him directly than to get his content from a third-party free sharing source.

Customers who buy something are a lot happier and more willing to pay than customers who are sold the same thing.

Also on the copyright front: AP and 28 News Groups Going after Aggregators - TechZwn.

Just look up the one-word search term Righthaven or the two-word search term copyright trolls. The greedy and their gullible supporters want it to be illegal to do so much as what I'm doing here, merely linking to news stories, because you're reading news for free instead of paying a digital toll booth for the "priviledge" of reading what's happening in the world around you.

US Threatened to Blacklist Spain for Not Implementing Site Blocking Law - TorrentFreak.

Isn't it funny how Hillary Clinton, our former First Lady, Secretary of State, and would-be President, is telling every nation in the world to embrace freedom of expression on the Internet? Every nation but the home nation? Well, our nation was caught bullying other nations into adopting liberty-squashing copyright laws like what the MAFIAA want for the US.

If you think I'm lying or exaggerating, the RIAA have said they must take a shoot first, ask questions later apporach to censorship (TechDirt).

It's actually SOPA's sponsor, Representative Lamar Smith who's lying about, insulting, and dismissing opposition to his law, opposition which is growing by the minute as people learn how unconstitutionally bad SOPA and PIPA is.

It Is Time to Stop Pretending to Endorse the Copyright Monopoly - TechDirt.

Bank of America Nearly Forecloses on Home over 80-Cent Typo - ThinkProgress.

BOFA has a very long history of part-evil part-stupid banking practices, and it's time we stopped using that bank. Switch to a local bank (not a local branch), or better yet to a credit union where you'll have an ownership stake.

Eighty cents. Less than one dollar, and an otherwise forgivable fat-fingered error at that, and the bank wants to call it an unforgivable act worth easily 500,000 times that amount.

Man Convicted of Murder Gets Retrial after Virus Eats Transcripts - The Register.

This is just all kinds of stupid right here, and not a bit of it has to do with the convict, who must now endure the likely hell of being convicted again. Still, that's the way due process works.

The stupidity is, first, having only a single computerized copy of something so important. Backups, people, do them. Save early, save often, make backups. Second, they relied on a system and configuration so inherently prone to viral attack: Microsoft Windows, a sure bet, and running with its user(s) having full administrator rights, 100-to-one odds.

The biggest of the idiots was fired for her mistake, the story says, but there's enough stupidity to go around that allowed this stupidity to escalate into a failure.

Speaking of stupidity: PayPal Tells Buyer to Destroy Purchased Violin Instead of Return for Refund - The Consumerist.

Ah, PayPal, will you ever stop giving us a neverending army of reasons to say you suck? People, stop taking PayPal for payments. If you absolutely must send a payment by PayPal, send it by credit card so that, if something stupid happens, you can have your credit card issuer do a chargeback to rescue your money.

Also, here's what ought to be a frightening PayPal vulnerability. If an attacker tries to take over your PayPal account, then even if your account is locked out, even though PayPal won't let you withdraw any money tied up in your PayPal account, they are still quite happy to keep allowing deposits into your PayPal account. That means you, your account hijacker or would-be hijacker, and everyone. That means an attacker can use every bank account tied to your PayPal account to deposit every cent you have into your PayPal account, draining every account you can touch into one you can't for at least half a year!

Occupy Congress - YouTube, 3:50.

A group of Anonymous who are sympathetic to the Occupy Wall Street movement is going to protest Congress on Tuesday, January 17.

I know who Anonymous is. I know what makes them legion. I know why they don't forgive. I know why they don't forget. If I were you, I'd expect them.

Stop! That's Money, Not Junk Mail - Credit.com News.

Payment from Class Action Case Arrives without Warning and Looks Like Junk Mail - The Consumerist.

If you're due a settlement from a class-action lawsuit, expect the settlement check to look like the sort of scammy junk mail you'd easily throw away without a second thought. This concerns anyone who paid for anything with a credit card while abroad and had to pay a currency conversion fee to have the payment rendered in the local currency.

Finally, something positive, haters gonna hate. Let the animated picture load. That's about the most fun thing I've seen a wheeled robot do.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
NDAA

Fifth Amendment

SOPA

PIPA

RIAA

MPAA

MAFIAA

Copyright

Pirate

DRM

Banks

You Can t Fix Stupid

Malware

PayPal

Anonymous

Junk Mail

That Day

add/edit

January 5, 2012: So Much Is Wrong with the World+discussion

October 2, 2011 - A 2007 AMD Dual-Core PC vs. a 1986 Macintosh Plus

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 17:36:22 -0700

You won't believe who wins

It's a few years old now, but a then-modern PC was pitted against an ancient Mac in a test of simple and common user tasks, basic word processing and spreadsheet calculating. Statistically, very few people use a computer productively for much more than that, so it's a fair comparison. The result: With both PCs comparably tuned and installed with comparable versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, they performed identically well with the Mac winning just over half the tests, with one notable exception, despite the thousand-fold disparity in the raw computing power statistics. The one notable exception was that System 6 booted to a usable and responsive desktop in one-fifth the time Windows XP did.

The takeaway is exactly what every user who's ever upgraded a home computer has always suspected: With all the advancements in storage capacity, processing speed, presentation hardware, and user interfaces, actual computing productivity hasn't changed in more than 20 years.

And the Internet, which wasn't figured in the tests, is an amazing distraction.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
Macintosh

add/edit

October 2, 2011 - A 2007 AMD Dual-Core PC vs. a 1986 Macintosh Plus+discussion

October 2, 2011 - More about the Incredible Self-Bricking Cell Phone

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 17:13:04 -0700

September 15, 2011 - The Incredible Self-Bricking Cell Phone

The replacement arrived much sooner than expected (the next morning). It's a refurbished thing bearing Verizon's certification seal thingy, and it's just the phone shell. They needed me to swap the battery and cover from the brick to the replacement. It also has ominous red letters telling me to return the brick within five days.

It's a good thing they left a return label still unused in the box, because they stuck another return label to the inside of the box as if it were trivial to tear the box apart, flip it inside out, and put it back together. It's a good thing because it's not trivial at all.

Activating the phone was pretty straightforward. But since I have SMS notifications set up from select sources, customization the phone wanted me to do wasn't. I had to wait until the backlog was cleared, and the default text alert sound is annoying!

So now we get to see if the replacement bricks itself or breaks some other basic feature.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
Verizon

LG

Can You Hear Me Now

add/edit

October 2, 2011 - More about the Incredible Self-Bricking Cell Phone+discussion

September 15, 2011 - The Incredible Self-Bricking Cell Phone

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 22:39:01 -0700

That's right, a cell phone that bricks itself after less than eight months of good care and gentle use. My LG Accolade somehow managed to brick itself while it was closed, sheltered in a nice breathable pocket, and not having its side buttons mashed. It still turns on, on occasion, but when it does it doesn't show anything but the Verizon Wireless logo on both screens, and it shows that at full brightness until the battery drains or until the battery's removed. It is completely useless as anything other than a brick now, and it's barely useful as that. Worse, everything that was saved in it is lost.

I've still got a fully functional LG VX3300 clamshell that was starting to show its age, and I think I can still dig up the Kyocera prepaid block that was my first cell phone. I bet even that ancient Kyocera would still work if Verizon's network supports it.

On the off chance that there would be some way to unbrick it, I took it in to the local Verizon authorized store today. Mistake.

The clerk tried to sell me an upgrade almost before I asked if there was anything that could be done to save it. If I wanted an upgrade, I would have asked for one and spared you the useless sob story, jackass. An upsell during a call for help is an insult.

NOTE TO ALL CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES FOR ANY PRODUCT SOLD OR LEASED BY ANY COMPANY: IF YOU WANT US TO HATE YOU FOREVER AT THE START OF ANY CALL FOR HELP, WHETHER IT'S BY PHONE OR IN PERSON, PEDDLE ANYTHING RESEMBLING AN UPGRADE WITH AN UPGRADED PRICE TO MATCH -- DURING A CALL FOR IN-WARRANTY OR UNDER-CONTRACT HELP -- BEFORE PROVIDING ANY HELP AT ALL!

He then asked if I had insurance on the phone. Insurance. On a phone under contract. On a phone still in warranty. Oh, I'm sorry, my bad for not buying insurance that the provider's obligations under a legally binding contract would be honored. How foolish of me.

After failing to get into my account, since apparently account access is required in order to determine whether a phone can be unbricked, and with me being on Verizon's family plan, he said there was nothing he could do. Fair enough. He also said that Verizon corporate wouldn't be able to do anything, either, because they could only do something if the phone malfunctions. According to him, and in spoken words, the fact that my phone became an ex-phone without any physical or electrical contact was not a malfunction. The conversation went something like this:

Clerk: "They can't do anything either, because contracts only cover malfunctions."

Me: "I'd sure classify this as a malfunction."

Clerk: "Well, it isn't."

Me: "My. Phone. Bricked. Itself. Sir."

Clerk: "It's not a malfunction."

I know who I'm not getting any phones or accessories from now! Holy crap, I support things far more complicated than a cell phone (Internet access and services), and I give straighter answers than I got today.

Fortunately, my family dug up phone and account info for me, and a phone call to Verizon (depressingly from another phone) went smoother. I'll know by Friday afternoon, when the replacement arrives.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
Verizon

LG

Can You Hear Me Now

add/edit

September 15, 2011 - The Incredible Self-Bricking Cell Phone+discussion

June 12, 2011 - Finally made a backup of my Sega CD game

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:35:38 -0700

I finally made a backup copy of my Sega CD game, Keio Flying Squadron.

How to Copy Sega CD Game in Linux

By:

ArielMT
Tags: Add +tags

June 12, 2011 - Finally made a backup of my Sega CD game+discussion

Fixed broken script code in the article; cause was the need for HTML escaping despite using <pre> blocks.

--ArielMT.....Sun Jun 12 21:59:18 -0700 2011

May 24, 2011: Franklin's 13 Virtues

Tue, 24 May 2011 18:06:31 -0700

I've started carrying around and using the Franklin Virtue Chart add-on to the DIY Planner.

In 1726, Benjamin Franklin created a list of thirteen virtues to regulate his personal conduct. He did this by creating a small book, each with the description of a virtue at the top and a grid of seven days and 13 virtues for the rest of the page, and he kept this book in his pocket. At the end of each day, he looked at the column for that day and made a mark on each virtue that he felt he failed to uphold or came short in fulfilling. The goal was to better himself by recognizing his personal shortcomings that he could correct and, of course, correcting them.

The thirteen virtues are:

[ T ] Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation.
[ S ] Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.
[ O ] Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time.
[ R ] Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
[ F ] Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e. Waste nothing.
[ I ] Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions.
[ S ] Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
[ J ] Justice: Wrong none, by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
[ M ] Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
[ Cl ] Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation.
[ T ] Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
[ Ch ] Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; Never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
[ H ] Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Each letter or pair in brackets above represents what was written as an identifier on each virtue row.

Franklin tracked his progress through a book of 13 charts, each describing a virtue, and each book representing 13 weeks or one season. At the conclusion of each, he repeated this course, completing four per year. Eventually, as the need lessened and he found himself marking fewer faults, he went through the series progressively less frequently until he stopped altogether. But he still carried the book as a reminder.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
What should this be tagged with?

add/edit

May 24, 2011: Franklin's 13 Virtues+discussion

Finally fixed?

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 19:01:22 -0700

I think I finally fixed everything that was wrong.

The problem was complicated by the fact that I decided to install StatusNet on my host without realizing how memory-intensive the application is. It wound up killing Rails, causing this wiki to fail to start almost every other access or worse.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
StatusNet

Wiki

add/edit

Finally fixed?+discussion

Testing

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:47:51 -0800

Derp.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
You Can t Fix Stupid

add/edit

Testing+discussion

Derp.

--ArielMT.....Mon Jan 17 15:50:17 -0800 2011

Derp. Noxish suits.

--Derpy Hooves (Not signed in).....Tue Jan 25 20:18:34 -0800 2011

Finally fixed?

Maybe some CSS left.

Ningfil system.

--Derpy Hooves (Not signed in).....Thu Apr 07 12:56:15 -0700 2011

More derpin'...

--Derpy Hooves (Not signed in).....Tue Apr 19 15:15:04 -0700 2011

The site still needs some obvious fixing

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:40:14 -0800

By:

ArielMT
Tags: Add +tags

Add +discussion

The site obviously needs fixing

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 07:53:23 -0800

It still needs some fixing up, but things are working again well enough to edit cards.

What happened was that I was forced into an upgrade I wasn't ready for on Tuesday, January 4, 2011. It was a learning experience, but a rewarding one.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
Wagn

add/edit

The site obviously needs fixing+discussion

MLP-Dr. Who Fanshopping

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 16:29:23 -0800

Not really fan-art, because most of this is a screen capture of the My Little Pony episode "Winter Wrap Up" during the Winter Wrap Up song.

The pony in the center is a generic space-filler pony, one of many that Lauren Faust's team created for the Friendship Is Magic series. However, he bears a striking resemblance to David Tennant, who played the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who, and his cutie mark is (randomly, we're told) an hourglass.

I couldn't help but photoshop a tardis into the scene.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
My Little Pony

Doctor Who

add/edit

MLP-Dr. Who Fanshopping+discussion

Confound these ponies! They drive me to derp!

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 18:27:50 -0800

FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT THE PONYVILLE POST OFFICE

Official Christmas Letter

Dearest friends, relations, valued customers, well-wishers, respected comrades, and also Snips and Snails,

On behalf of the entire staff of the Ponyville Post Office, I would like to extend my warmest thanks to you for all the very kind gifts and letters you left at your mailboxes this Christmas Eve. It fills me with such joy to know that you all appreciate me so much, and I want you all to know how much I appreciate every one of you. Some of you I hang out with all the time (Pinkie, why does everything I say make you laugh so hard? Oh well, thanks for being such a sweetheart) and some of you I would love to get to know better (Twilight, your house has wonderful acoustics. Can I hijack it sometime for a poetry jam?), but I feel like I know so much about you just by delivering your mail.

I know sometimes we have trouble communicating. I say this with the greatest respect, but nothing any of you ponies say makes any sense to me. I try to talk to Cloydes about it, but she says it's my fault for always being mentally in twelve places at once, and then she starts asking when we're going to get back together, and it all gets very dramatic from there. Hopefully she'll never find out about the time I cheated on her with pineapples.

But that's okay. You are all awesome anyway. And you all seem to really love my writing, and I love the letters all of you send me. In those, you guys make sense. In fact, I think letters make more sense than the world in general, you know? Maybe that's why I'm the mailmare.

In any case, I wanted you all to know how much I've enjoyed the past year. Between Night Mare Moon's attempted coup, the Parasprite Invasion, the Ursa Major attack, and that whole thing with the dragon smoke, this town's been pretty busy, to say nothing of my own time-travel adventures with that brown colt who lives in a box. And I'm sure there's going to be even more craziness next year!

Come to think of it, crazy seems to follow me around. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Merry Christmas! I love you all.

Sincerely,

Derpy Hooves

Letter source: Adapted from >>22147086 and >>22147100 on 4chan/co/

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

add/edit

Confound these ponies! They drive me to derp!+discussion

Windows 7 can't print to a network printer. Would you like Windows 7 to troubleshoot this problem?

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 10:20:38 -0800

So we print to a network printer in our office via TCP, and we changed that network's IP addresses. (We're on a new Class C subdivision.) We can print from every single Linux and Windows system except one: a notebook running Windows 7.

Windows offered to troubleshoot the problem, and it ran through its battery of tests. The tests it spent the most time performing were connectivity tests. After Windows 7 went through the battery of tests, the lone solution it proposed was to make the printer the default printer.

Problem: Can't print to a network printer.

Proposed solution: Set it as default.

"I'm a PC, I can't print, and Windows 7's troubleshooter was my idea."

I double-checked the port setting, and it was trying to print to an IP address instead of a DNS name. We changed the IP address to a name, and all the backed up jobs printed without a hitch.

For grins and giggles, I started up Windows XP's troubleshooter, renowned as the most ineffective troubleshooting system ever, to simulate the exact same problem:

Printing Troubleshooter
What problem are you having?
- My document doesn't print at all.
Can you print other documents from the same program, and can you print from Notepad?
- I cannot print any files, even in Notepad or WordPad.
Are you printing to a network printer or a local printer?
- Investigate
  - Message from webpage
  - The troubleshooter was unable to investigate the necessary settings. Follow the remaining instructions on this page to complete the task manually.
- I am printing to a network printer.
Can you print from another computer on your network?
- Yes, I can print from another computer on the network.
Do you have a printer installed?
- Investigate
Is your network operating correctly?
- Investigate
The troubleshooter was not able to ping (detect a connection with) your print server. This might be the cause of the problem. Verify that your network is configured correctly and that you are connected to the network.
- Yes, my network connection is working.
Is printing paused?
- No, this does not solve the problem. Or, these commands don't appear in the menu for my printer.
Is the printer port set correctly?
- To verify which port that you are using for a local printer...
  - [Ah, there's the problem.]
- Yes, this solves the problem.
Thank you for using the Printing troubleshooter.

That's right. The Windows XP troubleshooter was not only effective, but it would've solved the very problem that the Windows 7 troubleshooter couldn't.

Thanks, Microsoft.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
Microsoft

Microsoft Windows

Windows XP

Windows 7

add/edit

Windows 7 can't print to a network printer. Would you like Windows 7 to troubleshoot this problem?+discussion

Passwords you should never, ever use

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 18:26:58 -0800

Why? Because they're idiot easy to break, and they're at least partly responsible for the fallout all over the rest of the Web from the Gawker break-in and account info leak a few weeks ago.

Source: The top 50 passwords you should never use - Graham Cluley, Naked Security, Sophos Labs, 2010-12-15.

I took the liberty of adding some commentary on certain passwords.

Truthfully, these are passwords that shouldn't have been used even before the Gawker break-in, let alone after.

123456
password
12345678
lifehack
1. Believe it or not, this was a password used on Life Hack, one of the Gawker sites compromised. Hang your head in shame.
qwerty
abc123
111111
monkey
consumer
12345
1. The Spaceballs luggage combination wasn't #1 but was in the top 10?? Color me shocked!
0
letmein
1. Oh, the attacker got let in, all right.
trustno1
dragon
1234567
baseball
superman
iloveyou
gizmodo
sunshine
1234
1. There we have every combination of serial numbers 4-7. Pure genius.
princess
starwars
whatever
shadow
cheese
123123
nintendo
football
computer
fuckyou
1. You'd be surprised at the number of people who choose profane passwords. They're certainly surprised when IT cracks them and it shows up in the list of weak passwords given to their bosses. They're also surprised when they have to update their resumes after such an embarrassing disclosure.
2. Profanity does not add to password complexity at all. Yet another reason not to use it.
654321
blahblah
passw0rd
1. This trick is not clever. It's old hat now, and the technique is as easily broken as pure dictionary words.
master
soccer
michael
666666
jennifer
gawker
Password
1. Capitalization used to help, but computers and network connections are fast enough now that it's as weak as all-lowercase dictionary words, for all intents and purposes.
jordan
pokemon
1. Hackers catch 'em all~
michelle
killer
pepper
welcome
1. Those who broke in certainly were.
batman
kotaku
internet

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
You Can t Fix Stupid

Internet

Passwords

add/edit

Passwords you should never, ever use+discussion

New Year's Resolution

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 16:10:39 -0800

It's getting there, the end of one year and the start of the next. I did way too much procrastinating when I wanted to get back into drawing (even if everything I draw is total crap).

So I'm resolving to draw just one image a day, even if it's just a crap doodle, and upload it if it's appropriate. I will upload in at least one of three places: DA, FA, and T2.

By:

ArielMT
Tags: Add +tags

New Year's Resolution+discussion

Geeking out on Rubik's Cube

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 15:54:41 -0800

I pretty much have to put this online now because of my family. Both of my nephews got Rubik's Cubes for Christmas, and everyone is frustrating themselves accidentally scrambling them.

Before I migrated this site to Wagn, I wrote a cheat sheet to solve the Cube.

http://thornton2.com/comments/thecube.php

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
Rubik's Cube

Magic polyhedron

Puzzle toys

add/edit

Geeking out on Rubik's Cube+discussion

AT&T Blocks Linux Configuration of DSL Service

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 07:12:38 -0800

Apparently, there's a great deal for DSL Internet service in AT&T's service areas: $14.95 a month for a two-year contract. That's not a bad deal at all, if not for a hidden gotcha. The gotcha is, you must be running a supported version of Microsoft Internet Explorer -- excuse me, Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer, because a Web browser certainly can't be anything but essential to an operating system's function -- which means you must be running a supported version of Microsoft Windows.

In other words, one of the taxes, surcharges, and other fees they don't tell you about is the Microsoft Tax.

Now, you think you can just bypass the modem's set-up CD and access the modem's Web-based control panel to configure it, right? Have it all done and ready to go before the CD has the chance to spin up? Wrong. This requirement is to access the modem's Web-based control panel.

In order to configure Internet service on AT&T's new modems, you must download and install an ActiveX control on your personal computer from the modem. You must install and run untrusted software on your personal computer.

This rules out customers using Linux and MacOS. That rules out the increasing number of business customers who are abandoning Windows for Linux in ever increasing numbers. AT&T say they support Macs, but since Macs haven't been able to run a new version of Internet Explorer in 10 years now, I don't see how.

And stories are appearing about users not using Windows having their service speeds drop.

Internet access should be operating system agnostic.

Unix made the Internet, the Internet made Linux, and they all support an amazing variety of hardware and connections. Windows supports only one variety: Microsoft's flavor of the month.

Source:

AT&T Blocks Linux Configuration - The Blog of Helios, 2010-12-13.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
Linux

Internet

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Internet Explorer

add/edit

AT&T Blocks Linux Configuration of DSL Service+discussion

This is why airport security isn't

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 06:51:05 -0800

You'd expect airport security screeners to screen everything going to board a plane, but they're so busy trying to protect the American public from imaginary threats that they're missing accidents that could very easily turn into real threats.

Take the case of Mr. Farid Seif, who took a commercial flight from George Bush International Airport in Houston. TSA screeners made him take his laptop out of his carry-on bag, then they ran him through the full-body scanner. While they stood there ogling his penis, they let his carry-on effects through, and then he was on his way. When he landed, he discovered that had mistakenly travelled with a loaded .40 caliber pistol in his carry-on baggage during the flight. Allow me to repeat that: He travelled with a conspicuous handgun, loaded, in a nearly empty carry-on bag.

Allow me to state what should be obvious: TSA, the Transportation Security Administration, whose sole duty is to protect the travelling American public from itself, and who routinely boasts how effective the suspension of our Fourth Amendment rights is, missed a bloody obvious handgun in a carry-on bag!

"I mean, this is not a small gun," Seif said. "It's a .40 caliber gun."

Seif says it was an accident which he didn't realize until he arrived at his destination. He says he carries the glock for protection but forgot to remove it from his bag. He reported the incident as soon as he landed, shocked at the security lapse.

"There is nothing else in there. How can you miss it? You cannot miss it," Seif said.

And this isn't an isolated incident, either.

Authorities tell ABC News the incident is not uncommon, but how often it occurs is a closely guarded government secret. Experts say every year since the September 11 attacks, federal agencies have conducted random, covert tests of airport security.

A person briefed on the latest tests tells ABC News the failure rate approaches 70 percent at some major airports. Two weeks ago, TSA's new director said every test gun, bomb part or knife got past screeners at some airports.

Gee. Thanks, TSA. Thanks for not enhancing our transportation security at all. Stupid stuff like this is why I won't ever fly commercial again, and it's just a part of why everything I've ever hated about flying has only gotten worse since That Day.

Sources:

TSA misses enormous, loaded .40 calibre handgun in carry-on bag - Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing, 2010-12-17.
Man passes through TSA security with loaded gun in carry-on bag, boards plane - Kevin Quinn, KTRK-TV/DT Houston, ABC News, 2010-12-17.

Also, let's not forget what one of our nation's founding fathers wrote:

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

No government before or since has ever made good on the offer to exchange essential liberties for public safety.

Source: Memoirs of the Life and the Writings of Benjamin Franklin - Page 270, as cached by Google Books, accessed 2010-12-20.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
TSA

Liberty

Safety

Air Travel

Constitution of the United States+Amendment IV

That Day

add/edit

This is why airport security isn't+discussion

Some notes about the Internet

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 17:10:26 -0800

In an interesting case of two very uninteresting Internet companies going at it, a judge thankfully ruled the obvious. Wildcarding subdomains is OK, but reverse domain name hijacking isn't. The two bland companies duking it out are Goforit and Digimedia. Both run search engines of the boringly irrelevant kind you find on cybersquatted domain names, but Digimedia does it by wildcarding one of their domains, "com.org." This would include "goforit.com.org," which Goforit claimed infringed on their trademark. But Goforit went beyond by namelocking, not just com.org, but all of Digimedia's domain names. Two mistakes.

'Net Neutrality came under attack this month, not from any government, but from a pair of big media companies. Level 3 Communications, one of the Internet's backbones in the US, said that Comcast want a fee from Level 3 for carrying movies and other digital media to Comcast's customers. Discrimination against bandwidth based on its content, type, and purpose -- which this is -- is not a neutral Internet. I brand it as a legitimate attack on Net Neutrality, but some are branding it as nothing more than a peering dispute. My answer to the latter is that peering does not and ought not depend on the sequence of data bits within any sequence of TCP and UDP packets. One of the interesting bits of trivia brought up is that Level 3 is Netflix's streaming partner; this matters only so far as Comcast compete directly against Netflix within Comcast's market.

Level 3 Communications Issues Statement Concerning Comcast's Actions - Level 3 Communications, 2010-11-29.
Level 3 Communications Issues Response to Comcast Statement - Level 3 Communications, 2010-11-30.
How to discredit Net Neutrality - CircleID, 2010-12-02.
Level 3 Releases Statement to Clarify Issues in Comcast/Level3 Interconnection Dispute - Level 3 Communications, 2010-12-03.

I'd link to Comcast's statements, but I can't find any on their corporate Web sites.

A german ISP association called eco reported that 100,000 PCs were cleaned remotely through its "anti-botnet" center. This is interesting, especially in light of the botnet-based backlash against Wikileaks' opponents.

Also, because of the U.S. unilaterally removing access to dozens of domain names worldwide and the backlash occurring within the DNS, including the unilateral removal of domains having nothing at all to do with counterfeiting, a co-founder of the Pirate Bay has gone public with a peer-to-peer based DNS project to ensure that no government anywhere in the world can act beyond its borders as the United States did.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
Internet

DNS

add/edit

Some notes about the Internet+discussion

Workaround to block contacts in Windows Live Messenger 2011

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:58:03 -0700

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2010/10/07/workaround-to-block-contacts-in-windows-live-messenger-2011/

While Windows Live Messenger 2011 brings a lot of new features such as integration with external social networks and HD video chat, it also removes quite a few useful features that make the instant messaging platform stands out among competition and popular since era of MSN Messenger. One feature that lacks in Windows Live Messenger 2011 is block list.

Wait, what?

Block list allows a messenger user to ignore contacts, friends, buddies, colleagues, college mates, co-workers or persons forever, and user will not see the online or offline status of the blocked contacts, nor the blocked contacts will know that the person who block them has already online. In addition, any instant messages (IM) from the blocked contacts will not get delivered.

The block list has been removed in Windows Live Messenger (WLM) 2011. The removal of the feature causes all blocked contacts or persons to be suddenly visible and can see the online status of users who upgrade to Windows Live Messenger 2011.

I facepalmed so hard when I first learned this that I nearly broke my nose. I have no earthly idea what would possess Microsoft to even joke about this being a good idea. Yes, the most critical usability feature of Microsoft's instant messaging client, second only to the ability to send instant messages, has been deliberately removed. This is the most boneheaded thing to come out of Microsoft since Bob.

Now, you have to now choose to appear offline to every contact you already blocked in previous versions, and this is only a partial workaround.

Stupid.

Get another IM client, and get an account on another IM network. Tell your MSN contacts that this unbelievable thing is why you're leaving MSN.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
Microsoft

You Can t Fix Stupid

add/edit

Workaround to block contacts in Windows Live Messenger 2011+discussion

Yeah fafperson.
That's sad.

I already use many other IMs, but I also didn't upgrade my MSN.
I still can block.
and I won't upgrade it!

--FAF's Meme Guru (Not signed in).....Fri Oct 22 14:15:45 -0700 2010

I have an MSN account, but I use other clients (mainly Pidgin). I'm still lost for words at how stupid this is.

Also, might be related, I do use Windows Live Mail on my Win7 test system, and I decided to install the update, which came through as a recommended update in Windows Update. It upgraded Windows Live Messenger even though I don't recall ever installing it.

--ArielMT.....Sat Oct 23 20:54:16 -0700 2010

DRM content protection does not protect content

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:45:56 -0700

Media companies have long been keen on restricting how media content is accessed, and the most popular means today is DRM (Digital Restrictions Management, I call it). Media traveling over high-bandwidth digital connections, such as HDMI, are DRM'd with HDCP. As with the AACS HD-DVD key fiasco a few years ago, the HDCP master key was leaked and Intel, the creator of HDCP, confirmed that it's the real McCoy.

Intel also said that no one would be able to easily write a hack or crack to exploit the HDCP master key's leak.

As with so many DRM systems in the past, they were proven wrong within days. The HDCP decryption code proof-of-concept is hosted at Stony Brook University.

http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~rob/hdcp.html

DRM: Making things harder to use while protecting data from no one since 1926.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
Defective by Design

add/edit

DRM content protection does not protect content+discussion

A PC monitor on your glasses

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:23:22 -0700

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2010/09/18/airscouter-projects-16-inch-image-on-eye/

I want one of these.

By:

ArielMT
Tags: Add +tags

A PC monitor on your glasses+discussion

Belen woman cited for driving too SLOW

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:34:58 -0700

A woman in Belen, NM, was cited for driving too slow. You read that right.

http://www.koat.com/news/24702883/detail.html

She was driving on Reinken Road, Belen's main east-west street, when a New Mexico State Police trooper pulled her over. The speed limit in that section of road is 40 MPH; she was cited for driving 34, six miles per hour under the limit.

Now, she has to fight a $70 citation for what most people, including the State Police in their safety presentations, call careful driving. By the way, this was after 10:00 at night, when there are barely any cars out, so it's not like she was impeding the flow of traffic.

So I guess that's why everyone in Valencia County treats every street as a raceway, including residential streets with children playing. They'll get stopped and fined if they don't.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
WTF

add/edit

Belen woman cited for driving too SLOW+discussion

If You Live in the UK, Read This: Tech Support Phone Scam

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:47:04 -0700

If you live in England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, you will want to read this.

There's apparently a scam going around where people are getting called out of the blue from "support technicians" who claim that the victim's PC has viruses on it (or that Microsoft have told them their PC has a virus), and they will clean up the problem if only the victim will let the "technician" caller walk them through installing all manner of backdoor programs, and for a £185 fee that the hidden fine print says can't be charged back.

Quite obviously, they target the elderly and the computer illiterate.

The article: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/359233/the-unstoppable-tech-support-scam

By:

ArielMT
Tags: Add +tags

If You Live in the UK, Read This: Tech Support Phone Scam+discussion

Symantec have a very enlightening write-up on how this scam works, as well as an educational YouTube video of this scam in operation.

http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/technical-support-phone-scams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXdFRzkIypI

--ArielMT.....Wed Jul 07 20:17:48 -0700 2010

Pirate Party to Run Pirate Bay from Swedish Parliament

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 18:32:02 -0700

This is amazing.

After their former hosting provider received an injunction telling it to stop providing bandwidth to The Pirate Bay, the worlds most resilient BitTorrent site switched to a new ISP. That host, the Swedish Pirate Party, made a stand on principle. Now they aim to take things further by running the site from inside the Swedish Parliament.

Because of this, the Pirate Bay will gain the immunity from the RIAA/MPAA (collectively known as MAFIAA) that's afforded to everything in Parliament by the Swedish Constitution.

By:

ArielMT
Tags:
Pirate Party

The Pirate Bay

Yarr

add/edit

Thornton 2 Library : List of Journal Entries

January 5, 2012: So Much Is Wrong with the World

January 5, 2012: So Much Is Wrong with the World+discussion

October 2, 2011 - A 2007 AMD Dual-Core PC vs. a 1986 Macintosh Plus

October 2, 2011 - A 2007 AMD Dual-Core PC vs. a 1986 Macintosh Plus+discussion

October 2, 2011 - More about the Incredible Self-Bricking Cell Phone

October 2, 2011 - More about the Incredible Self-Bricking Cell Phone+discussion

September 15, 2011 - The Incredible Self-Bricking Cell Phone

September 15, 2011 - The Incredible Self-Bricking Cell Phone+discussion

June 12, 2011 - Finally made a backup of my Sega CD game

June 12, 2011 - Finally made a backup of my Sega CD game+discussion

May 24, 2011: Franklin's 13 Virtues

May 24, 2011: Franklin's 13 Virtues+discussion

Finally fixed?

Finally fixed?+discussion

Testing

Testing+discussion

The site still needs some obvious fixing

The site obviously needs fixing

The site obviously needs fixing+discussion

MLP-Dr. Who Fanshopping

MLP-Dr. Who Fanshopping+discussion

Confound these ponies! They drive me to derp!

Confound these ponies! They drive me to derp!+discussion

Windows 7 can't print to a network printer. Would you like Windows 7 to troubleshoot this problem?

Windows 7 can't print to a network printer. Would you like Windows 7 to troubleshoot this problem?+discussion

Passwords you should never, ever use

Passwords you should never, ever use+discussion

New Year's Resolution

New Year's Resolution+discussion

Geeking out on Rubik's Cube

Geeking out on Rubik's Cube+discussion

AT&T Blocks Linux Configuration of DSL Service

AT&T Blocks Linux Configuration of DSL Service+discussion

This is why airport security isn't

This is why airport security isn't+discussion

Some notes about the Internet

Some notes about the Internet+discussion

Workaround to block contacts in Windows Live Messenger 2011

Workaround to block contacts in Windows Live Messenger 2011+discussion

DRM content protection does not protect content

DRM content protection does not protect content+discussion

A PC monitor on your glasses

A PC monitor on your glasses+discussion

Belen woman cited for driving too SLOW

Belen woman cited for driving too SLOW+discussion

If You Live in the UK, Read This: Tech Support Phone Scam

If You Live in the UK, Read This: Tech Support Phone Scam+discussion

Pirate Party to Run Pirate Bay from Swedish Parliament

Pirate Party to Run Pirate Bay from Swedish Parliament+discussion