Update - at last!
Geez, so I haven't updated this thing since April? Okay, so I've been busy.
The last posts I started to work on but never completed were a review of a variety of dystopian novels and films I had recently experienced and an exploration of misguided demographic findings of correlation. But from there, I got side-tracked onto a couple of projects that I have put off for a while, and those resonated with things that have been going on in my professional life. For one, I finally got around to renewing an interest in linux. My laptop is now a dual-boot system.
The first time I tried it out many years ago, it was still at the "linux is so cool, if you can't find a driver you can write your own and you can even rewrite and recompile the kernel if you want to!" stage. Sorry, I want to use the computer for other ends, not as an end in itself. Open Source is almost there, perhaps the latest release of Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) puts it over the top. I see where even Dell is selling a laptop with Ubuntu installed.
The next thing was to finally read some Neal Stephenson right after Richard Feynman's Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman. After plowing through Cryptonomicon, I went down to the local book exchange and pulled off the entire shelf, consisting of Snowcrash, Diamond Age, Zodiac, and Quicksilver. Unfortunately for me, one result of these (especially Feynman and Cryptonomicon) was to resurrect a childhood interest in cryptography.
The interest in crypto has tied in to an unfortunate but ongoing relationship with computer security policy. Unfortunately, the more you learn about this type of thing, the more paranoid you become. Yeah, having to memorize lots of strong passwords is difficult, so difficult that many people resort to writing them down and storing that within arm's reach of their computer, but without those and other seemingly overkill measures, you might as well be running a wide-open system. But then again, even if you have the strongest crypto around, the weakest link is usually the human factor, as illustrated by the common knowledge that most password's are within arm's reach of their computer. Comcast recently learned this lesson the hard way. And while it may be hard to pity Comcast, anyone who has read Cliff Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg should understand that hacking pranks like these create a sense of alarm and lost innocence, sorta like when the residents of a small town have to start locking their doors because someone thought it would be fun to vandalize one house with unlocked doors. But this hardly excuses the overbearing stance of corporate security, who would really rather that you didn't have a computer at all.
Speaking of small towns, photos from our recent visit to Lake Wobegon.
The last posts I started to work on but never completed were a review of a variety of dystopian novels and films I had recently experienced and an exploration of misguided demographic findings of correlation. But from there, I got side-tracked onto a couple of projects that I have put off for a while, and those resonated with things that have been going on in my professional life. For one, I finally got around to renewing an interest in linux. My laptop is now a dual-boot system.
The first time I tried it out many years ago, it was still at the "linux is so cool, if you can't find a driver you can write your own and you can even rewrite and recompile the kernel if you want to!" stage. Sorry, I want to use the computer for other ends, not as an end in itself. Open Source is almost there, perhaps the latest release of Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) puts it over the top. I see where even Dell is selling a laptop with Ubuntu installed.
The next thing was to finally read some Neal Stephenson right after Richard Feynman's Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman. After plowing through Cryptonomicon, I went down to the local book exchange and pulled off the entire shelf, consisting of Snowcrash, Diamond Age, Zodiac, and Quicksilver. Unfortunately for me, one result of these (especially Feynman and Cryptonomicon) was to resurrect a childhood interest in cryptography.
The interest in crypto has tied in to an unfortunate but ongoing relationship with computer security policy. Unfortunately, the more you learn about this type of thing, the more paranoid you become. Yeah, having to memorize lots of strong passwords is difficult, so difficult that many people resort to writing them down and storing that within arm's reach of their computer, but without those and other seemingly overkill measures, you might as well be running a wide-open system. But then again, even if you have the strongest crypto around, the weakest link is usually the human factor, as illustrated by the common knowledge that most password's are within arm's reach of their computer. Comcast recently learned this lesson the hard way. And while it may be hard to pity Comcast, anyone who has read Cliff Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg should understand that hacking pranks like these create a sense of alarm and lost innocence, sorta like when the residents of a small town have to start locking their doors because someone thought it would be fun to vandalize one house with unlocked doors. But this hardly excuses the overbearing stance of corporate security, who would really rather that you didn't have a computer at all.
Speaking of small towns, photos from our recent visit to Lake Wobegon.
Labels: book, change, culture, Open_Source, security
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