Recent Posts

3301

Living Room / Re: computer cases with washable filters

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 14, 2011, 11:25 PM »

I'd say yes on doors, and no on filters. We had some white box machines with a fine mesh screen (filter) over the air inlet for the processor (P4s...) back in the service department. About the 20th time I had to clean the maddeningly clog prone screens ... I simply cut them out. It just wasn't worth the hassle.

All the newer stuff comes with fan speed controls now so it's kind of a non-issue.

3302

Living Room / Re: UK Police Test 'Temporarily Blinding' LASER

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 13, 2011, 10:00 PM »

I thought the boys in blue with pointy hats were supposed to arrest flashers!

-cranioscopical (December 13, 2011, 09:45 PM)

No I believe you're thinking a flash arrestors. But those are for hiding the location where the cops is shooting at people from.

 

3303

Living Room / Re: UK Police Test 'Temporarily Blinding' LASER

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 13, 2011, 09:54 PM »

Right up there with tasers, snapflash grenades, rubber/wooden bullets, and that perennial favorite: pepper spray. All are 'technically non-lethal.'

Sad to see how many Western police departments are being transitioned from "keepers of the peace" to "armies of occupation" thanks to failed 'representative' political parties bent on maintaining their positions of power at any cost.

All that this new 'police tech' will ultimately end up doing is start an arms race on the streets. Right or wrong, you push hard enough and people start pushing back. Fire a temporarily blinding laser at a crowd and it's only a matter of time before someone fires back at the police with one whose effects are not so temporary. It's your basic tit for tat.

The only real way to deal with civil disturbance is to get to the root of the problem rather than deal exclusively with the symptoms and manifestations that folllow from it. Because once the cop toys come out of the box, any hope for a peaceful and constructive outcome is pretty much lost.

-40hz (December 13, 2011, 06:19 PM)

Amen to that one! 

Not to mention that the 'non'-lethals tend to make the fuzz just that much (less responsible) more trigger happy. Shooting somebody is a lot of paperwork ... But if you just _____ed them a little.... (that's just an extra line on the evening's report)

3304

Living Room / Re: my website hijacked

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 13, 2011, 09:47 PM »

For what it's worth, you site works fine for me now. It is possible you may have a DNS issue - corrupt/invalid cached lookup somewhere between you and the server.

3305

Living Room / Re: Lawyer Professional Standards - HILARIOUS~!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 13, 2011, 09:42 PM »

The key here is the guy left the scene of the accident. That a major no-no here in the US. And it speaks volumes (at least to me) about his character (or the lack there of), and his skills...or the lack there of based on his behavior (nobody runs from a fight they can win).

Politicians, lawyers, judges, or cops are all part of the machine referred to as the legal system. If someones character cannot be counted on an trusted. Then they have no credibility and they're "skills" are irrelevant. I'll make this nice and simple. Say we have a lawyer, and he just so happens to be the best-est lawyer that ever was. His skills are known world wide and he bills at a rate of a million dollars an hour ... Which is a bargain (at twice the price) because he never loses. However... He's also a fickel prick, and he doesn't like you. Do you trust him to defend you? I wouldn't. Because he could go for the win-win (plea deal) which comes out as a tie (not a lose for him per se...). And a win for the prosecutor, because you gonna be locked up for awhile... All because he decided to scrape you off on a rock (because he could).

Heres another fun little ditty: How far would you trust a traffic court judge, with a bad driving record?? We've got a judge here locally that is well known as a "Hanging Judge" for DUI cases. Everyone that is convicted of a DUI must take the extremely expensive and compulsory DUI School. And you know what the fun part is?!? His daughter owns the F'ing DUI School (Don't-cha just love a good ol' fashion family business?). Did I mention he's also a notorious drunk?

Sure in the sterile light of academic debate there are many subtle distinctions. But out in the real world, when the whole shebang gets rolling...Not so much.

3306

Living Room / Re: Ground Hog Day - failed system image restoring yet again

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 13, 2011, 05:24 PM »

Looks like I can resolve this problem very quickly by hammering a 6" nail through the ssd.

-nudone (December 13, 2011, 04:59 PM)

Ah...the value of catharsis...

3307

Living Room / Re: Lawyer Professional Standards - HILARIOUS~!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 13, 2011, 04:46 PM »

Okay... So why are politicians so worried about sex scandals?? Logically who they're screwing has no bearing on their professional conduct/performance ... Yet it always seem to be such a big deal when it hits the press.

Is this because they're - on some level - expected to be "pure" before they screw us??

3308

Living Room / Re: Kicked Off the Plane for Games

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 13, 2011, 04:38 PM »

Funny though that this happened to Baldwin who's been shilling for the CapitolOne Venture Card with it's heavy airline promo theme.

-40hz (December 13, 2011, 09:17 AM)

Tehehehe ... That's the first thing I thought of when the story hit. 

3309

Living Room / Re: Ground Hog Day - failed system image restoring yet again

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 13, 2011, 04:36 PM »

It might help if you mentioned what code the BSOD contained.

The behavior does sound vaguely (I emphasize vague due to a lack of detail ) familiar. I had a batch of new Dells that exhibited much the same behavior, until I uninstalled the ATI Catalyst Control Center. No more BSODS after 2 month of 24/7 running after removal of the CCC.

Just a thought - Shit drove me (and the client) nutz for 3 months.

3310

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Download Microsoft Learning Suite Free

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 10, 2011, 09:00 AM »

Are you sure about that link?? MSE went bonkers when I clicked on it as it bounced me to a ScareWare page.

3311

Living Room / Re: Google-Funded Study Says Firefox Less Secure than Internet Explorer

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 09, 2011, 10:21 PM »

Also curious about this report: where's Safari?

That was my first question too. While I've been a long time IE user I have zero faith in Chrome.

3312

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft goes all Apple with a Kill Switch for Apps under Win8

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 09, 2011, 07:49 AM »

You could almost (but not quite) make an argument for having the capability of remotely killing an app.

But user data is the property of the user. There is ZERO justification for nuking somebody's data.

That jive move is definitely something motivated by SOPA considerations I'm sure.

-40hz (December 09, 2011, 07:02 AM)

Completely agree, especially looking at this rather open ended generalization:

"In cases where your security is at risk, or where we're required to do so for legal reasons...

I'm really not the slightest bit excited by the coming of Windows H8 ... It's actually becoming quite troubling.

3313

Living Room / Re: Quietly brilliant piece of technology - the NEST thermostat

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 08, 2011, 05:10 PM »

IF the device was actually that smart it would self destruct after "learning" what ^its New Job^ actually entailed keeping up with.

-Stoic Joker (December 08, 2011, 10:25 AM)

Amazing how someone can draw such certain conclusions with zero evidence and a complete lack of actual testing or experience to go on.   

-40hz (December 08, 2011, 12:43 PM)

Quite to the contrary my friend. My experience comes from 20 years of marriage, and in understanding the environmental requirements that the device is to be subjected to. I'm allowing the thing to opt for an honerable death, instead of forcing it to constantly fail to anticipate when one member of the household will attempt to compensate for a "Hot Flash". Google Menopause ... You'll understand then.

You share or have shared a living space with a female and still think the Nest can learn to keep things comfortable for all?

Let us know how it works out.  Something that would do that is every man's dream.

-mrainey (December 08, 2011, 01:35 PM)

^He^ knows...

3314

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: WinPatrol lifetime $5

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 08, 2011, 11:19 AM »

That's a terrific deal on a very nice security app.

-40hz (December 08, 2011, 09:07 AM)

What exactly does this thing do? The site didn't really seem to clarify how much of what (if anything) does it scan in realtime.

3315

Living Room / Re: Quietly brilliant piece of technology - the NEST thermostat

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 08, 2011, 10:25 AM »

Sorry 40, I gotta go with skwire on this one. We just got a programmable thermostat last summer for like $50. It don't "think" (e.g. guess...), it just does what it's told. M-F up a little during the day, and back down a bit at 5 until about 9 (yada yada yada). schedule is simple and don't need learned.

Not to mention (for the extra $200) you get a device that is trying to allow for every adjustment it given to by factoring it into the grand scheme ... Which is nice assuming you aren't having thermostat wars due to one party being cold (Freezing my F'ing Ass Off), and one party who is Menopausal (and sits in front of a fan running on high while outside in 40F deg weather, because it's "hot").

IF the device was actually that smart it would self destruct after "learning" what ^its New Job^ actually entailed keeping up with.

3316

Living Room / Re: Kicked Off the Plane for Games

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 07, 2011, 07:26 PM »

On the child molestation front, it's only ok if it's Uncle Sam. And nothing can change that, because then the "terrorists" win and the sun still supernovas.

-Renegade (December 07, 2011, 07:12 PM)

And after all that you gotta tell little Jonny/Sally that if they're ever in trouble they should go find a (person in uniform...) cop. Now there's a confusing message to send a child.

Truth be told, the terrorists already won. And they'll continue to win until sanity returns and all these "protections" stop.

-Renegade (December 07, 2011, 07:12 PM)

+1 - Remember the late 40's, early 50's ... That's what a "Win" is supposed to look like - This OTOH ... Not so much.

3317

Living Room / Tis the Season, to Spam

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 07, 2011, 07:04 PM »

I intentionally run an unfiltered mail server so I can soo what kind of nonsense is frolicking around out there in the wild. This makes support calls much simpler because I can simply ask if the user has received any mail purporting to be from ___ ... and know based on their response roughly what the extent of the damage is. Every now and then I get one that I truly find amusing for various reasons. I just received this one:

Code: Text [Select]

1. Los Angeles — Department of Motor Vehicles
2. TRAFFIC TICKET
3. POLICE AGENCY
4. THE PERSON CHARGED AS FOLLOWS
5.  
6.  
7. Time: 9:12 AM
8. Date of Offense: 29/11/2011
9.  
10. Description:
11. SPEED OVER 90 ZONE
12. TO PLEAD, PRINT CLICK HERE AND FILL OUT THE FORM
13.  
14.  
15.  
16.  
17.  
18.  
19.  
20. SHA512 check sum: df1a5b30e9c7d590e90eb83caf172df17df6417d590e9046e9ca59ca5b83041a59c722d5b83ca590e9ca5b83c72d5904646e9caf646417df646eb3c7d5b83c7d

Now skipping past the obvious issues like I've never been to LA, the DMV is a state agency, and Los Angeles is not a state, and that the DMV doesn't write traffic tickets... I rather enjoyed the infractions description for it's complete inability to make any sense what-so-ever:

The (completely) UnNamed Person Charged as Follows - Well if they haven't figured out my name yet I'm sure as hell not going to volunteer it.

Speed Over 90 Zone - Really??

In the 30 plus years I've been driving I've never in my life seen a 90mph speed zone - However if I had I'd have assuredly exceeded it by a fair percentage.

Is it trying to say I was traveling 90mph in excess of the posted speed limit? ...Now that's more like it (its happened before), however if I was indeed traveling that fast there's very little chance of my stopped to "discuss" it...

Strangely (according to the header) this was apparently replied to by (the nonexistant) support@mydomain - Which of course doesn't exist. Now wouldn't you thing it would make more sense to spoof a goverment address to add a bit of validity to this sham??

And of course, WTF is the checksum supposed to be for? Are long string of random characters supposed to scare people or something?

I may actually have to start a favorite spam collection, just so I can put this in it.

3318

Living Room / Re: Kicked Off the Plane for Games

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 07, 2011, 05:38 PM »

There's zero evidence to show that playing a game on a phone will cause any sort of interference with any of the planes systems, and the airlines haven't put any effort into it. Instead, it's easier to make a rule/law/mess of it and piss people off. Heck, that creates jobs because you can employ more security and put more people in prisons... But I digress...

-Renegade (December 07, 2011, 04:53 PM)

Right up there with banning the use of cellphones by a gas pump because some idiot thought they might cause a fire.

@f0dder - Yes I know you have a valid point with the older plane shielding, but iirc it was a close to a chaos theory series of events that had to fall into place before anything could be registered let alone actually affected. (that and it's more fun to rip on the airlines).

Honestly I think the electronic ban has less to do with interference and much more to do with ensuring there are no remote triggering devices on or near the aircraft.

3319

Living Room / I Remember...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 07, 2011, 04:01 PM »

I remember when it used to be considered a common courtesy to tell someone that they'd left their lights on. This prevented them from being stranded later with a dead battery. Now no one does that for fear of looking foolish because most cars have the light on a timer.

I actually just went through this mental exercise in the parking lot, and thought what else have we lost due to technology and the times we live it?

Anybody else remember this one, or something like it?

3320

Living Room / Re: It's alive, it's alive!!! mwahaha! - WinButtons and 7" touchscreen works

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 07, 2011, 12:23 PM »

Maybe it's just me, but I respond much better to mechanical technology that digital.  I like gears, metal parts, levers, buttons...mechanical devices feel much more human.

-superboyac (December 07, 2011, 10:35 AM)

ME TOO ME TOO ME TOO!!! ...I was truly amazing how relaxing it was the first time I went out work on my bike after screwing with this IT shit for months on end. I'd been a mechanic for years before getting into IT, and i'd let the bike sit for a few years. But it dawned on me one day that I truly missed the visceral, tactile sensation of being one with something. (At 100+mph you're either completely in sync with your mount...or about to die ) I dare say the old girl has indeed saved my sanity.

3321

Living Room / Re: Why aren't we using public-key cryptography instead of passwords on the net?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 07, 2011, 08:56 AM »

Seriously, why even bother (joining the race) ... The computer can spit out x thousand attempts per second, which becomes completely and instantly irrelevant when a lockout policy is enabled. 5 attempts in a minute = locked out for x minutes. How successful is brute forcing against that scheme?? ...My guess is not very.

-Stoic Joker (December 06, 2011, 06:48 PM)

...except when attackers get hold of the (hashed passwords | public key).

-f0dder (December 07, 2011, 08:22 AM)

Understood. But that's kind of a different (Typically SQL code security) issue. A way in is a way in, and once "they" are in...

Throttling verification attempts (and blocking after too many, plus raising security flags) is a very good part of a security policy. But security is one of those things that require both breadth and depth

-f0dder (December 07, 2011, 08:22 AM)

Indeed, security is something that is practiced, not installed ... and that's one of the things I feel should be hyper stressed.

Agreed, no single layer is absolute ... I just get tired of all the stress being put on encryption. It does have its place but t's not a magic bullet, and sometimes simple really is best. Solutions that is, not passwords. The pass phrase idea I've always liked ... 25 character random strings is just begging for trouble.

-Stoic Joker (December 06, 2011, 10:28 PM)

There's good reasons for focusing on (proper!) encryption, though, as it isn't just a means of authentication, it also helps a lot in regards to MITM attacks. SSL is hopeless in this regard - I'm not very confident in the CAs.

Of course the level of security required depends on the service offered. I have different demands depending on whether I'm accessing DonationCoder, my bank, or .gov services (the kind where identify fraud can really fsck with people's lives). Unfortunately, the powers that be in Denmark don't seem to grok this, and thus we're getting a fscking insecure (by design as well as implementation) "digital signature" system crammed down our throaths.

-f0dder (December 07, 2011, 08:22 AM)

Got no problems there I've actually been wanting to do a bit of research on the MITM stuff for a while now. I'd like to have a better understanding of the mechanics of exactly what is done and how these attacks work as they are indeed quite troubling.

3322

T-Clock / Re: T-Clock 2010 (download)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 07, 2011, 06:42 AM »

That's been a feature of T-Clock since the begining; bottom of alarms tab (hourly chime). Options there are Play Sound (any), Chime Hour, and Blink (which isn't really visible with Win7 and the default color scheme).

I'm hoping to get back on the project after the first of the year, but may just release the code if it doesn't pan out.

3323

Living Room / Re: NSFW: To all website developers who feel the need to have popup ad's on websites

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 06, 2011, 10:37 PM »

Mine wasn't much better. We had a $4,000 multifunction printer smashed to smithereens in a loading accident. Last one we had in stock of that model/series/configuration ... and the customer was waiting on it (read down).

There's going to be some loading protocol policy changes.

3324

Living Room / Re: Why aren't we using public-key cryptography instead of passwords on the net?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 06, 2011, 10:28 PM »

Seriously, why even bother (joining the race) ... The computer can spit out x thousand attempts per second, which becomes completely and instantly irrelevant when a lockout policy is enabled. 5 attempts in a minute = locked out for x minutes. How successful is brute forcing against that scheme?? ...My guess is not very.

-Stoic Joker (December 06, 2011, 06:48 PM)

Brute forcing isn't the only way to get someone's password. There's also phishing and other social engineering.

-Deozaan (December 06, 2011, 09:05 PM)

Which could also net the attacker the key ... No door is secure enough if "Knock Knock" works. But I leave that part up to Charles Darwin...

If all you relied on was a lockout policy and had something simple like "password3" as your password on every site you visited, that's still not very secure. Even if your password wasn't so stupid, a single breach on one site means all your accounts on all other sites are breached.

-Deozaan (December 06, 2011, 09:05 PM)

Agreed, no single layer is absolute ... I just get tired of all the stress being put on encryption. It does have its place but t's not a magic bullet, and sometimes simple really is best. Solutions that is, not passwords. The pass phrase idea I've always liked ... 25 character random strings is just begging for trouble.

You'd still want a nice strong password that makes it hard to guess. Part of being a "nice, strong password" is that it isn't the same one for multiple sites/places. The hard part about having nice, strong passwords that aren't the same one on multiple sites is remembering them all. Hence public-key cryptography where you have a single nice, strong password the protects your private key which (if I understood it correctly) is then used to make a (bunch of) public keys which are each like nice, strong passwords that are hard to guess even with the lockout policy.

-Deozaan (December 06, 2011, 09:05 PM)

A single point is a single point, the key can get accessed ... Especially if it a high value item. And if one needs to make it portable. Well... It either going to be memorable, or written down. Which take us right back to the getting hacked by the cleaning lady (I love that one).

3325

Living Room / Re: Why aren't we using public-key cryptography instead of passwords on the net?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 06, 2011, 06:48 PM »

I realize that encryption has its place in the scheme of security, But... I really thing it's overused as a magic bullet solution to the wrong problem. Computers today have the capability of spitting out thousands of password attempts per second ... And this is assumed as a complete justification for concocting passwords that are complex enough that (nobody can remember them) they will take "reasonably" close to a million years to guess. And the race begins...

Why...

Seriously, why even bother (joining the race) ... The computer can spit out x thousand attempts per second, which becomes completely and instantly irrelevant when a lockout policy is enabled. 5 attempts in a minute = locked out for x minutes. How successful is brute forcing against that scheme?? ...My guess is not very.