Recent Posts

4226

Living Room / Re: Why did it never occur to me.. You can wash a keyboard in water.

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 11:45 PM »

Hmmm... I should check to see if I have an extra lying around and then give this one a try. It's pretty grimy right now. I was cleaning it with a Q-tip and hand-sanitizer the other day. Still could use a decent cleaning though. You can only get so much that way.

4227

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 11:42 PM »

Cabin in the Woods in 30 Seconds by the 30 Seconds Bunnies.

http://www.fearnet.com/shorts/30-second-bunnies-cabin-woods

Jim

-J-Mac (November 22, 2012, 10:13 PM)

That was well done!

4228

Screenshot Captor / Re: Timed capture using specified region

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 07:56 PM »

Capture > Use delay - Is that what you're looking for?

4229

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: [Possible Pledge] OMG Reminders

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 07:33 PM »

I wrote something like that before to use for myself, so there is a use out there. So why not?

4230

Living Room / Re: Off-the-wall ideas for Christmas presents?

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 06:01 PM »

TIMBER sunglasses

-tomos (November 22, 2012, 03:53 PM)

Is that some kind of joak?

-cranioscopical (November 22, 2012, 05:51 PM)

I think it's serious. If someone gave them to me, I'd think they were a real ash.

4231

Living Room / Re: Great Talk on the Social Media Economy

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 05:21 PM »

Well, I'm not so completely cynical about it, but it's darn close. There's really nothing original about it.

The most powerful thing in social media today is the web API. That's what makes it work, and that's the fundamental difference between what was essentially the same technology a few years ago.

Yep. That about sums it up.

Similar to something Noam Chomsky said in an interview a while back. He noted that the "new" way of doing science seems to be to catalog and get better "priors" - and then apply analytic techniques to the data collection in order to better predict future outcomes. Which is fine for predictive modeling. But it gets away from the more classic approach which tried to discover the underlying mechanism(s) behind the phenomena.

Today, the emphasis seems to be more on trying to accurately predict future results. In a way it's almost like saying we've abandoned the "search for truth" and settled instead for building frameworks in order to make very highly educated guesses about things.

Scary.

-40hz (November 22, 2012, 02:02 PM)

Yay for science by consensus! Now we can finally all agree on science. Heck, why don't we start a petition at the White House petition site and have the theory of gravity changed. After all, it is Wile E. Coyote's greatest enemy. Think of all the hip replacement surgeries that could be avoided when old people slip on the ice or fall down stairs! After we change the science consensus, and outlaw gravity, wow! The collective will prosper! We can even create new industries based around gravity not existing anymore!

On the topic of prediction... I've been doing some research and reading in new areas of science. You know... That fringe stuff that people scoff at and mock... Funny thing is, in one area the traditional science crowd has had exactly zero (0) predictions happen, and these "fringe lunatics" have had predictive power proven empirically. Hmmm... Then again, these "freaks" are actually doing what we used to think science is, and not what it is today - agreement.

4232

Living Room / Re: Off-the-wall ideas for Christmas presents?

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 04:55 PM »

any other off-the-wall ideas?

-tomos (November 22, 2012, 03:53 PM)

Buck the trend and make something as a gift. Used to work years ago. Might be worth recycling the idea.

4233

Living Room / Re: DOTCOM saga - updates

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 03:48 PM »

Leave no good deed unpunished - Where was that Don't Talk to the Police video again? I think we need a link to it here.

-Stoic Joker (November 22, 2012, 08:51 AM)

Just some more information about that video:

James Duane, law professor at Regent University
George Brunch, Virginia Beach Police Department

James Duane
http://www.regent.ed...ulty_staff/duane.cfm

His full profile:
http://www.regent.ed...ty_staff/duanecv.cfm

The first mention on the page of that video:

"In Praise of the Fifth Amendment: Why No Criminal Suspect Should Ever Talk to the Police. Presentation at Yale University. New Haven, Connecticut. December 11, 2008."

The video is below as well.

You can also find it here on the university law blog:
http://regentlawfacu...sor-james-duane.html

4234

Living Room / Re: Google Hack Gives Free Access to Premium Newspaper Articles

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 07:53 AM »

It's a hack. I was wondering how many people would be interested in it.

-Arizona Hot (November 22, 2012, 07:50 AM)

I've seen it work before. I think they set cookies though, and "ban" you if you've been there before. Not sure if that's right or not. Didn't work this time though.

But yeah - I'd be interested in knowing better, more reliable ways. There's no way I'm going to buy a subscription to the WSJ.

4235

Easy Screencast Recorder / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - Easy Screencast Recorder - v1.12.01 - Apr 22, 2015

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 07:24 AM »

The beta that I've been playing with seems to work pretty well. The audio there is mic, and not direct, but I just made the clip to illustrate something that irks me... videos that jump 60 dB in volume...  

0011 20121123_001134.avi (773.5 kB - downloaded 447 times.)

Very annoying.  

(Been adding in some new stuff for GDT - audio from video is one. It's not the actual video, but the waveforms and live EQ visualisations.)

But the screencasting there works very nicely so far. Can't wait for the final!

...Based on my preliminary investigation, it seems to me the best candidate backend commandline processor for this stuff is a combination of ffmpeg and avisynth.  Unfortunately while ffmpeg can be used portable, avisynth has no such easy option, but is needed if one wants to be able to process arbitrary codec encodings.

So now what's left is to decide whether it's worth me (or someone else here) writing a custom tool for this, or whether ESR should simply recommend that users install some other 3rd party converter tool for this task -- god knows there are enough of them already.

If anyone feels like writing this tool, let me know -- I'd be happy to lead the cheers from the background.

-mouser (November 13, 2012, 02:51 AM)

I'm currently actually working on some encoding and transcoding, so I'll post back later to see if I can swing something. No promises.

I've done a few things for posting multimedia before, so I'll look into that as well. Again, no promises.

4236

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 06:19 AM »

Gotta love Jesus!

4237

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: AdBlock for Chrome

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 05:38 AM »

Been a while, but to follow up...

I've been using AdBlock Plus:

https://chrome.googl...lbpkdaibdccddilifddb

That one. (Seems like there are a trillion called "AdBlock".)

It has been working just dandy with no significant issues. 

4238

Developer's Corner / Re: Going Over Old Code...

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 01:51 AM »

Simple logic, IMHO:
if (minor_fixes_only || noDevTimeAvailable) {
  keepTheOldStuffJustFixIssues();
} else {
  refactorIntoModernStructures();
}

-Ath (November 22, 2012, 01:37 AM)

True enough.

But really, I've committed major sins. Like, it's almost the programming equivalent of worshiping the Devil... I suppose if I were to quote Aleister Crowley:

Black magic is not a myth. It is a totally unscientific and emotional form of magic, but it does get results... To practice black magic you have to violate every principle of science, decency, and intelligence.

Looking at one part... cripes... But it all works beautifully. I've just violated so much encapsulation... 

4239

General Software Discussion / Re: Seeking experiences from people backing up relatively large personal data sets

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 01:42 AM »

Not sure if my experience will be helpful, but, here goes...

1: What software are you using,
Acronis True Image
FreeNAS - Dedicated NAS box (HP Microserver)

2: How often/on what schedule does it run,
Acronis runs in non-stop mode.

3: How much data are you backing up, both in terms of number of files, and total size,
Complete system. 128 GB SSD (going to up this to 256 SSD when I have time to stick the drive in)

4: How much memory does the process (or processes) use at peak and on average,
Negligible. I never even notice it. So, I couldn't even tell you. I have 16 GB RAM in this box, so memory is rarely ever an issue.

5: How much CPU does the backup process use when actively backing up.
Again, never even notice it running. I have an AMD Phenom II X6 1090T CPU, which has a good amount of power.

Here's how my hardware stacks up in the WEI:



Acronis backs up to a dedicated 2 TB external drive. This protects my system and any files I've not backed up to the FreeNAS box.

A large amount of my storage is on the FreeNAS box. It has 4 drives in RAID 5. (Not optimal, but whatever - it works.)

I periodically *MOVE* files from my system to the FreeNAS box. They have RAID redundancy there, and I also have the 2 TB backup as well for the entire system and any files I've not backed up to the FreeNAS.

4240

Living Room / Re: Google Hack Gives Free Access to Premium Newspaper Articles

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 12:25 AM »

It works like this. You first copy the web address of any news article that is behind the registration firewall and paste that URL into the Google Search box. Now click the first Google result and you’ll be able to read the full text of the corresponding story without registering or subscribing.

Try it. This is the address of a WSJ article: Drillers Begin Recycling 'Frack Water' - WSJ.com

If you use the article's title in a Google search, clicking on the WSJ link works also.

-Arizona Hot (November 21, 2012, 11:49 PM)

That didn't work for me, but using Google's cache did:

http://webcache.goog...=au&client=opera

Comment on article - Caution: opinionated

It really sounds like a serial axe murderer promising to sterilize his axes and clean up his messes with no more blood spatter on the walls. Unreal.

4241

Developer's Corner / Going Over Old Code...

« Last post by Renegade on November 22, 2012, 12:23 AM »

So, I'm back at some code that I wrote quite a long, long while ago... and it all works amazingly well. And, it's just one fast hack after another. Fast, tight, get it done code, that is so utterly not reusable. Well, unless I want to do some copy & paste & refactor... 

And I know darn well that when I wrote it, I just wanted to get it done and working, and knew that it would take me 3x as long (at least) to get things done if I'd have done it "right".

Something like the old phrase:

Good.
Fast.
Cheap.

Now pick 2.


Anyways, now I'm debating whether I should just continue on, or bite the bullet and actually do some refactoring to clean things up. Decisions, decisions... 

4242

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on November 21, 2012, 09:49 PM »

"I tried, and therefor, no one should criticize me."

-40hz (November 21, 2012, 09:36 PM)

If there world were just a tiny bit saner, that wouldn't be so funny~!

4243

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on November 21, 2012, 08:56 PM »

4244

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on November 21, 2012, 05:48 PM »

I'm putting it here to not sully the real thread:

I giggled last night at a theoretical NANY concept: The TSA Agent App!
Learn which agents are available at which airports and when they are on duty! Share your experiences of your favorite grope! Vote for your favorite agent!

-TaoPhoenix (November 21, 2012, 12:00 PM)

Heheheh!

On that topic...



And next week, casualty reports from Black Friday to laugh at!

4245

Living Room / Re: This is one really neat extension ...

« Last post by Renegade on November 21, 2012, 05:31 PM »

I found this in the description as somewhat humorous:

Browsing web doesn't have to be as physical an exercise as what you are used to.

4246

Living Room / Re: Mysteries

« Last post by Renegade on November 21, 2012, 04:47 PM »

Nah, because that's not as much fun as visiting Iraq and Afghanistan claiming to look for a guy being actively protected by the Pakistani Government. (Isn't it amazing how fast THAT became old news, after years of "Staying the Course?")

-TaoPhoenix (November 21, 2012, 08:34 AM)

Yes.  He was far more useful alive than dead, wasn't he?

-40hz (November 21, 2012, 10:34 AM)

Especially as he knew where the Fountain of Youth was, as you could see in later pictures of him, he keeps getting younger!

4247

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: N.A.N.Y. 2013 Submission - FreeNAS Brute Forcer

« Last post by Renegade on November 21, 2012, 04:36 PM »

The initial navigation is done with this string:

Code: C# [Select]

1. string _url = "http://{0}/account/login";
2. // then later like this:
3. wbrFreeNas.Navigate(string.Format(_url, txtIpAddress.Text));

So, it will accept more than just IP address octets. It's a quick and dirty solution.

The main navigation for the actual brute forcing is actually much more robust and versatile with no reliance on an address:

Code: C# [Select]

1. wbrFreeNas.Document.Forms[0].InvokeMember("submit");

You can actually drop a page into the browser to load it, e.g. Drag & drop from Chrome into the browser. That will load another page for whatever. So, if you've got your FreeNAS open in another browser, you can drag it into the program to load that page. The IP address is only used to initially load the page.

e.g.



I didn't do a lot of validation and the like because, well, like you say, if you can't use it properly, you probably shouldn't be using it.

4248

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: N.A.N.Y. 2013 Submission - FreeNAS Brute Forcer

« Last post by Renegade on November 21, 2012, 07:42 AM »

Understood ... It just struck me as odd that it (first time) started with a target already in mind. And thought that it might be leftover test data (leakage).

-Stoic Joker (November 21, 2012, 07:25 AM)

Ah... That...

Yeah, I just put in some common users and the default password then stuck in a typical IP address for a LAN. Since 1 is the router, I just stuck on a zero for .10 there. It also serves as a simple example of what to enter, making explaining it simpler. It could have been 2, but I figured that's kind of silly as after the router, other computers would likely be on the network first, and 2 would be taken. Hence, 10.

4249

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: N.A.N.Y. 2013 Submission - FreeNAS Brute Forcer

« Last post by Renegade on November 21, 2012, 07:14 AM »

Um... Is this supposed to open and automatically target a specific (private but non-local) IP address by default?

-Stoic Joker (November 21, 2012, 06:46 AM)

Well, the idea is that you'd use it on your own FreeNAS box on your own local network. You'd normally have it assigned a static IP address, or I would anyways. It doesn't target network paths like //freenas/shared/whatever.

It will work across the WAN to an exposed FreeNAS box though. Just slower...

But, it brute forces based on user names and passwords that you supply. It does not generate them. That makes it less open to abuse. Also, if anyone wanted to paste in a dictionary, well, they'll need to modify it and recompile. I've left something in there to prevent massive dictionary attacks. It will throw an error in that case. For its intended purpose, it's perfectly fine.

For automatic - it is automatic once you enter the possible user names, and possible passwords, and the IP address. From there on, it just goes.

4250

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: N.A.N.Y. 2013 Submission - FreeNAS Brute Forcer

« Last post by Renegade on November 21, 2012, 03:30 AM »

Sounds useful, but I hope I don't need it...

-Ath (November 21, 2012, 03:23 AM)

Well, I posted it over at the FreeNAS forums... then found out that if you actually connect to the FreeNAS box, you can use option 7 to reset the WebGUI admin account.

So, this utility is really only useful for 2 things:

1) You want to get back the original login, i.e. NOT reset the login. (Which I wanted.)
2) You don't want to connect a monitor/keyboard because you hate cables. (Like me.)

I had set the root and WebGUI admin passwords to be the same, so I needed to get that back. Resetting won't do that for you.

Anyways, less useful than I originally thought, but still servers *some* purpose.

With some minor modifications, it could easily work on other web sites though.