Recent Posts

3101

Living Room / Re: Computers Outlawed in Florida

« Last post by 40hz on July 22, 2013, 12:29 PM »

^It's a bit differet here:

Library Cards

For residents

Library Cards are available free to all residents.

With your library card you are eligible to check out books, movies, magazines, museum passes, access our databases, download books & music from our website, use the Internet and more. A Library Card is honored at ... all public libraries in Connecticut. ...

Residents may apply for a library card online or apply in person.

Adult Residents: May use either 1: a current CT driver’s license or 2: a government issued picture ID with birth date AND one of the following as proof of current Fairfield street address: car registration; car insurance card; real estate tax bill, or any other business mail with your address.

Residents Under 18 years Old: May use student ID along with mail addressed to them or “to the parents of” with their resident address. Children accompanied by parents may use parent’s ID as proof of address.

Non-Resident Cards: Current hometown library card plus 1: a current CT driver’s license or 2: a government issued picture ID with birth date AND one of the following as proof of current street address: car registration; car insurance card; real estate tax bill, or any other business mail with your address.

University Students: Must show student ID plus: 1. a current driver’s license or 2: a government issued picture ID with birth date AND one of the following as proof of current street address: car registration; car insurance card; or any other business mail with your home address.

Oh...and I stand corrected on the official internet access policy here! (Oh happy day!) What I had previously mentioned was a proposed policy that never got approved. The official policy is that there is NO monitoring or nanny-style censoring of any kind - on  the part of the library - for either the library's own computers, or through their public access wifi link for laptops.

As part of its commitment to providing quality materials that reflect the needs and interests of the people ...Library provides internet access through its public access terminals. The internet is a global information network that is growing and ever changing. It provides the means of accessing a wealth of information and can be an invaluable research tool.  ...Library does not monitor and has no control over the information accessed on the internet and cannot be held responsible for its content. Internet resources accessible at the Library are provided equally to all Library users. Parents or guardians, not the Library, are responsible for internet information selected or accessed by their children. The Library does not censor nor protect your children from controversial or inappropriate resources.  

They do have an acceptable use policy that is quite rational and workable:

Internet computers may only be used for legal purposes.

         Unacceptable uses include, but are not limited to: harassment of other users; libeling or slandering other users; destruction of or damage to equipment, software or data belonging to the library or other users; changing the library’s setup of software or hardware; disruption or unauthorized monitoring of electronic communications; unauthorized copying of copyright-protected material; viewing or downloading of pornographic or potentially offensive information and images, text, videos or sounds.

          Misuse or abuse of the library’s computers will result in a warning and a one month suspension of Internet privileges. A second violation may lead to a permanent loss of Internet privileges

There's no mention of what sort of logging they do. But I assume they keep some logs for legal purposes and to support any suspension of privilege in the event of a violation of acceptable use rules.

The only problem is, anything in a log can be accessed and analyzed. So I'd hesitate to say you're completely anonymous when using my town's public internet access resources.

Real online anonymity is pretty much a thing of the past although 'stealthing' or 'cloaking' your presence is still a possibility. About the closest I think you could come to "cloaking' your internet use would be to hack into some poorly secured broadband router (there are still many of them) via wifi and browse around using somebody else's IP address.

But you'd also need to spoof your MAC address and any other identifiable machine/OS information - and make sure no traces of anything actually hit your hard drive during your online session before you could feel even semi-cloaked. That means booting a verified "stealth" Linux OS from a USB key or disk - ideally on a used PC without a hard drive - which you bought from a complete stranger or built from used parts - which you paid cash for.

Hardly be worth it to me btw. I'd rather not use the Internet at all if it ever came to my actually needing to do something like that.

3102

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on July 22, 2013, 11:42 AM »

So, why should Germany of all countries offer asylum to an American? Hochhuth writes that “more than any other, the German people are obligated to honour the right of asylum because, beginning in 1933, our elite, without exception from the Mann brothers to Einstein, survived the 12-year Nazi dictatorship purely because other countries, with the US as the greatest example, offered asylum to these refugees.”

Einstein, the Mann brothers - plus those 500 or so Nazi scientists and engineers who "emigrated" to the US with "bleached" records and amnesty from any future prosecution - provided they took the research jobs they were offered once here. And all of this is thanks to something called Operation Paperclip.

But that was only to keep them out of the hands of the Russians, who were doing the exact same thing, so apparently that made it all hunky-dorey!

These really were a sweet bunch of guys. Here's a picture of 104 of them, looking healthy and happy at the US Ft. Bliss military research facility in Texas, taken back in 1946:



-------------------

Interesting historical note: the US military detenion center operating in Cuba is not the first secret detention and interrogation facility the US military has operated in direct and knowing contravention of the Geneva Convention.

Back at the end of WWII, the US operated a similar facility dubbed "P.O.Box 1142" in Ft. Hunt, Virginia, that was used to detain and interrogate what would today be called "high value prisoners."

Although the program code-named MIS-Y secretly transferred "nearly 4000" prisoners (in a manner eerily similar to today's practice of "extraordinary rendition") to this facility from where they had been captured in Europe, the surviving camp records (and actual later accounts from those who had been "processed" and released from this facility) seems to conclusively indicate that no form of torture had ever been used on any of the detainees.

Nice to see that the Americans, who faced down something as monstrous as Nazi Germany, still remembered what the United States - as a nation - stood for when dealing with its enemies. That's something many in our succeeding generations seem to have strangely forgotten.

The bulk of P.O. Box 1142 facility, which was begun in 1942, was completely bulldozed in 1946.

There's a monument at Ft. Hunt commemorating this largely unknown bit of US WWII history:



 

3103

Living Room / Re: Computers Outlawed in Florida

« Last post by 40hz on July 22, 2013, 08:38 AM »

<*Note - my original post here contained so many errors (pays to check on what current rules are rather than go on something you remember coming up that it turns out never went into effect) that I'm redoing the whole post. Apologies. >

My town requires a driver's license, photo student ID, or other "acceptable form of identification" to get a library card. So so much for completely anonymous access.

3104

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by 40hz on July 21, 2013, 11:09 AM »

@Shades - Imaginaerum and Europa Report just got put on my "to watch" list. Thx!

(Note: apparently Imaginaerum is going to be hard to get. Seems to be out of stock everywhere I looked. And it doesn't show up for stream viewing on any service I'm subscribed to.)

3105

Developer's Corner / Re: Is it appropriate to post a prospective page for opinions?

« Last post by 40hz on July 21, 2013, 10:55 AM »

^I can't speak for the "average user," having never met one even once in my life. But FWIW, I like seeing a fairly complete list of features when I'm shopping for software. Maybe not right up front when I browse to the landing page. But I definitely want to see a link that points to a complete feature list somewhere without having to look too hard for it.

The other thing I like to be able to find quickly is the asking price.

There are a lot of people who seem to think that putting off disclosing their price sheet until the last possible moment is a sharp sales strategy. It isn't. It's just annoying.

3106

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by 40hz on July 21, 2013, 10:47 AM »

^Ok...and now that it's out of the closet, would it be possible to move the sub-discussion on anarchy and all the 'anti-everything in general' advocacy over to its own thread?  

3107

Living Room / Re: Would you want 1 Utilite or 4 Raspberry Pis?

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2013, 04:05 PM »

I see them as two different beasts. The Raspberry Pi is more a DIY hacking project or learn programming type platform whereas the Compulab product is more geared towards being a ready to go appliance or small form factor PC.

Great to have additional choices although the "starting at" price comment makes me suspect a more fully blown out version will most likely land you in the $350-$700 range before you're done.

3108

Developer's Corner / Re: Is it appropriate to post a prospective page for opinions?

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2013, 03:47 PM »

I think this is one of those products where a quick demo video and some additional videos exploring each key feature in more depth is almost a must. Seeing this in action would be worth 30 pages of static text and screenshots when it comes to getting somebody like myself interested. Because the really unique and differentiating benefit seems (to me) to be the workflow this software provides. I think your landing page needs to get that across quickly. So show it in action. Once you do that I think you'll find many people will be more willing to read more about it.

Just my 2¢ anyway.  

3109

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2013, 10:34 AM »

^From 7,000 feet it certainly wouldn't be out of the question with this administration.

But seeing battalions of uninvited guests show up wouldn't be very likely. The US doesn't really have the troops to spare right now. Hence the big interest in drones...

3110

Living Room / Re: Why you should avoid using social media

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2013, 10:25 AM »

Attempting to "be nice" can also be interpreted as interfering these days.

3111

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2013, 09:54 AM »

An unrelated but very telling news story...

It would appear that international fugitive and CIA operative Robert Seldon Lady - who was recently convicted in abstentia by an Italian court for his role in the kidnapping and illegal transport of a suspect Muslim cleric (i.e. "extraordinary rendition") - was intercepted and taken into custody in Panama - only to be released in order to board a plane bound for the United States before Italy could begin extradition proceedings to get him back. The exact role of the United States in securing his release is "not immediately clear" according to the news report. (Yeah, right.)

Still...can you believe Panama did that? What a surprise!

The Washington Post covered the story (which has gotten little US media coverage so far) here.

3112

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by 40hz on July 20, 2013, 09:21 AM »

Relocation is no longer an option. Because these policies and practices are spreading everywhere. Much like in the book On the Beach where the survivors of a global nuclear exchange soon realize that living in Australia has only bought them about a year's respite before the fatal level of fallout radiation reaches them too.

Stealthing, encryption, and related technological "privacy solutions" are not sustainable strategies. Because it will only lead to endless cycles of escalation. And the side with the deepest pockets and the most manpower will almost always triumph in the end despite any romantic illusions the hacker cult has about that "lone computer genius" triumphing over the brutal industrial state. If you want to believe that bit of fiction, content yourself with reading sci-fi books and daydreaming about it in your spare time. Otherwise you'll have plenty of time to fantasize while sitting in a jail cell should you ever seriously buy into it.

Surveillance and abuse of government power is NOT a technical problem. It is a PEOPLE problem. Romania didn't oust it's surveillance loving tyrant with software. Nor did Germany ditch it's hated Stasi with some clever computer hacks. Things got changed when the general population got angry and finally removed their oppressors from their positions of power and control.

Want to get a handle on the problem and start correcting it? Stop looking at technology and realize you will eventually need to go outside, away from your mouse and hi-def video display, and put your own precious butt on the line. That is the only way real change ever gets accomplished when the current social situation has gotten entirely out of control.

This doesn't presume violent confrontation either. Canada won it's independence without the need to fire a single shoot. As did Russia mostly, with no violence - other than the years and years of violence done by the Soviet government against its people - which led up to its being tossed out.

Mantra for the upcoming struggle: Technology is not the problem. Laws are not the problem. PEOPLE in our GOVERNMENT are the problem.

The way to get this to end is to look no further than Terry Pratchette's book Hogfather. Simply adopt the technique taught by the nanny Susan to her children, who were frightened to fall asleep because there was a monster hiding in their bedroom.

When asked by an adult if she is still afraid of monsters, one of Susan's charges says "no." And then adds: "Susan says, don't get afraid, get angry."

That's a message worth repeating: Don't get afraid, get angry.

 

3113

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2013, 07:52 PM »

@Tao - sorry for being dense. I was thinking info mapping as in "break into boxes" which is a standard methodology in intel analysis and police investigations. I didn't realize you meant game mapping. On that I'm sure you know far more than I do since I'm a very very amateur chess player at best. (I'm more the Go type.)

re:LISP

Sorry. Geek joke. EMACS is mostly written in LISP. And the bulk of its extensions are too. There are extensions for almost anything you can imagine available for EMACS - hence it can do anything hence there's no reason to code anything because it's probably already been written.

I guess it's only a joke if you use or are familiar with EMACS...

3114

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2013, 05:24 PM »

Currently working my way through all 27 episodes of BBC's Inspector Lewis series and loving every minute of it. Highly recommended. 

3115

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2013, 05:13 PM »

But there's been increasing news snips about "fighting for more transprency" at all levels of news.

-TaoPhoenix (July 19, 2013, 04:35 PM)

I'd liken those more to side games right now.

I also think that very shortly something major is going to break. I'd be very surprised if Snowden and the US (with the help of Russia as go-between) aren't negotiating something via the back channel right now.

Or as Carrol put it:

look here!

I sent a message to the fish;
I told them "This is what I wish"

The little fishes of the sea,
They sent an answer back to me,

The little fishes' answer was
We cannot do it, Sir, because ...

I sent to them again to say
It will be better to obey.

The fishes answered with a grin,
'Why, what a temper you are in!'

I told them once, I told them twice;
They would not listen to advice.
   

   
I took a kettle large and new,
Fit for the deed I had to do.

My heart went hop, my heart went thump;
I filled the kettle at the pump.

Then someone came to me and said,
The little fishes are in bed.

I said to him, I said it plain,
'Then you must wake them up again'

I said it very loud and clear;
I went and shouted in his ear.

But he was very stiff and proud;
He said, 'You mustn't shout so loud.'

And he was very proud and stiff;
He said, 'I'd go and wake them, if ...'

I took a corkscrew from the shelf;
I went to wake them up myself.

And when I found the door was locked,
I pulled and pushed and kicked and knocked.

And when I found the door was shut,
I tried to turn the handle, but.......

I say this because it's all too quiet on the public channels. The open threats have failed. As have the bluffs, spin control, threats of economic sanctions, Olympic boycotting, and diplomatic arm-twisting. Domestic popular support is dwindling for the administration. And international anger and lack of cooperation is increasingly apparent.

So now it's time to save face and work something out that everybody can semi-live with.

As many have pointed out, the damage to the secrecy of what's been going on has been done. Cat's out of the bag big time. Now that most of the moves to trigger political and social action have been played the only thing remaining is Snowden's deadman switch - which supposedly is the only thing left guarding the rest of his datacache.

Looks like something really serious is lurking in there, and the government knows it. Because they've had more than sufficient time by now to determine exactly what information Snowden has in his possession.

Good chance Snowden has already sent them a copy just to prove he has it. Because all discussion of how much information plus the number of documents he took has disappeared from the official announcements. Which seems to indicate he really has something BIG that the current administration does not want anybody to see - or even be aware of.

Snowden apparently also has enough documented technical expertise to make his threatened scorched earth option credible because (at least so far) the US hasn't tried anything too physical.

Be interesting to see who will end up laying down their king in the end.

3116

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on July 19, 2013, 04:42 PM »

Darn I'm almost ready to map this out : )

-TaoPhoenix (July 19, 2013, 04:35 PM)

You should. It would make a pretty fine looking pile of post-its and arrows on a whiteboard. I'm tempted myself - but I diagram things like that in my head so easily that I seldom ever bother to write any of it down. Also kinda hard to get a 2D drawing to adequately convey one of my linked multidimensional data stacks anyway.

(Hmm...I'm thinking of getting back into LISP programming. Just picked up a few books last weekend and the old magic with that former 'girlfriend' came back in a flash. Maybe I should....nah! EMACS probably already does it.)
 

3117

General Software Discussion / Re: Swapping Out Software?

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2013, 10:15 PM »

Next thing you know, you'll need to have your car, fridge, TV, radio, etc., all connected so that you can be checked on to see that you really own your own stuff.

-Renegade (July 18, 2013, 10:00 PM)

We'll never really know for sure about that until we see the rest of Snowden's slides. Who knows? Maybe they're doing it already.

3118

General Software Discussion / Re: Swapping Out Software?

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2013, 10:11 PM »

I've decided that my next machine will be a server. It will run a Virtual Environment (VE) with VMs running inside. No more OS bare on the metal nonsense. I'm just sick of it. (That's also when I plan on shifting to Linux as my primary OS.)

-Renegade (July 18, 2013, 10:00 PM)

When you do finally shift over, you'll be pleased to discover it works quite well. Proxmox VE is a good choice for running VMs
 

3119

General Software Discussion / Re: Swapping Out Software?

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2013, 09:43 PM »

That's an interesting theory but it has nothing to do with Adobe's decision,...

-Vurbal (July 18, 2013, 08:15 PM)

Oh wow! For a second I thought I might have actually had something there...thanks for the correction.  

3120

General Software Discussion / Re: Swapping Out Software?

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2013, 01:06 PM »

But when I told her about the cloud business, she said that she guesses that the last one was it for her.  This might change, but not having her photos in her control totally from beginning to end was what she was skeptical about.

-wraith808 (July 18, 2013, 12:36 PM)

Again (last I looked) what the online connection does for Adobe is (a) distribute their software and (b)issue a subscription authorization token to use it. It's not persistent. The apps will even work for a reasonable grace period if you can't connect, or you're just out of subscription. They'll even provide special "long term" tokens for photographers and other types who are heading off to the Himalayas for a year where they won't have any web access at all. It doesn't lock any of your data or files. And using whatever online storage comes with the subscription is optional.

The biggest objection I've been hearing is that CSS is now a subscription as opposed to a shrink-wrapped product. But it was mostly casual users I was hearing that from.

Interestingly, most graphics pros I talked to didn't seem overly concerned about that. Probably because a good number of them are already subscribing to other services like Typekit. The biggest concern was the worry that regular automatic software updates might impact their workflow. Many said they sometimes preferred to use older versions of some programs, or elected to stay behind the curve when new updates came out.

3121

General Software Discussion / Re: Swapping Out Software?

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2013, 12:32 PM »

The cloud is simply a bad idea. Period. Ahem... Snowden... surveillance... etc.

-Renegade (July 18, 2013, 12:11 PM)

Agree that how it's implemented is usually bad. But Adobe's cloud is mainly a way to distribute their software and have a subscription based sales model. You only need to connect to the web about every 30-60 days to get an authorization token. The apps themselves get downloaded and run on your local machine. It works pretty much the way Steam does - except it's not quite as obnoxious about the web connection as Steam sometime is.

Oh yeah, your data and files goes wherever you want to save them. It might be nice however to maybe store your workspace prefs up in a cloud somewhere if you need to to move among different machines much. Sorta like having a roving profile in a Windows domain. That can be handy. And it's hardly a big privacy issue (at least to me) having somebody know what fonts, tools and color pallets you want open by default - even if I would still prefer it be kept on my own server.

But I still think Adobe got it mostly right the way they did it - even if I personally don't like it..

Don't get me wrong. I'm a shrinkwrap bigot. And I'm nothing near being sold on cloud anything. I just handed a client over to another provider because I think they're making a big mistake (in this particular case) on insisting on going over to a fully cloud-based solution. But it's their call. And much as I hate to lose a client, I'll still refuse to sell somebody a broken solution.

3122

General Software Discussion / Re: Swapping Out Software?

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2013, 12:23 PM »

+1 w/cyberdiva. I much preferred WordPerfect too! Liked XyWrite even more.

For Windows (and yes, I'm still reluctantly using W7 for some things) I'll mostly stick with WriteMonkey for my text composition needs. I'll only move over to a "real word processor" when I need to share the work with somebody else. Under Linux I'll just use any installed text editor I find.

3123

General Software Discussion / Re: Swapping Out Software?

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2013, 11:52 AM »

^ I think a good deal of Adobe's motivation in what they're currently doing is to reduce the number of CSS customers (i.e casual users and non-pros) they have and focus on the hardcore graphics professionals. A market where they're firmly entrenched for many reasons both good and bad - but mostly good.

When selling complex products that require support, the last thing you want is to have every kid on the block using it badly. You can be profitable (sometimes even more profitable) with lower sales figures. Because sales don't automatically map out to better margins. Sometimes small, very fat, and happy is where it's at for a tech company.

Besides, non-professionals don't buy into those high margin support packages and add-ons that the pros do. No do they sign up for those expensive training sessions and workshops. You're lucky if they buy a book. And even luckier if they do more than give it a quick skim when they do buy one. Amateurs much prefer to tie up the support lines for ages when they need help. ("I don't know about any of that! Just tell me what I need to click on to do this...what? The tools menu? Where's that?)

Supporting unqualified users can seriously hurt the bottom line. Autocad realized that ages ago. So did the producers of most of the other heavy-duty CAD, 3D modeling, and animation packages. Many almost seem to go out of their way to try and steer the 'average joe' away from their flagship products.

No. This isn't an oversight, or hubris, or something stupid on Adobe's part. It's a very sharp and calculated business decision. I call it a "velvet rope" approach: qualified, target segment customers only, please?


You say you do this for a living?
Because your name's not on my list.


Time will tell if Adobe called it right with this one. FWIW, when it comes to CSS, I think they did.

3124

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2013, 07:31 AM »

But, it seems like there's quite a bit of debasement of the language. Lots of examples out there. C. S. Lewis walks through the example of "gentleman" in an essay and talks about how that word was debased until it had no real meaning anymore. It's rather annoying as it destroys part of your ability to communicate effectively.

-Renegade (July 18, 2013, 01:01 AM)

Yup. Orwell wrote a whole novel around that. 

Too bad it was taken to heart and is "now being used as a blueprint" as so many have have observed.
 

3125

Living Room / Re: Microsoft responds to NSA allegations

« Last post by 40hz on July 18, 2013, 07:26 AM »

@Vurbal - easily one of the best analyses ever posted here. Hope you do it some more.