In the mind of the Drygerskunk

Best laid plans of Drygerskunks...

2020-05-19T20:02:39Z

Well, COVID-19 hit, the death of my mother hit as well, so things are... a mess.

So...

New laptop is a Lenovo Flex 14... which I'm tempted to swap out the PCIe Wifi card (an RTL8822BE). Seems to be working partially but I'm whittling away at it.
The NUC i7 ESX server won't be enacted for a while.
May reuse the ICSen for cheap display duty
VR rig soon.

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Tech Plans of 2020

2020-01-04T16:28:48Z

Some plans for 2020

New laptop, ether a Dell Latitude 13 or XPS 13.
New NUC, i7 this time, for a VMWare ESX "VM lab" system. Some of the VMs:
- Linux jump box
- LLMP stack (Linux Lighttpd MariaDB PHP)
- MacOS clone (we'll shrink down some drives)
- Maybe virtualize Dad's Xubuntu PC.
Toss out the Intel Compute Sticks (maybe sell them?)
VR part of the gaming rig.

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An iOS redesign wtih a serious flaw

2019-05-30T10:47:35Z

So I came across a redesign focused on simplicity: https://www.behance.net/gallery/79280905/iOS-13-phoneOS

However, it has a serious flaw. It does not address the question of old users that have been yelling "WHERE'S MY STUFF?!?"

Simple is fine, but it must be fast. Apps should follow a Unix philosophy of "doing one thing and doing it well."

So...

The lock screen: I can disable notifications on the lock screen already with iOS 12, from all notifications down to app-level granularity. Permanently disabling this breaks existing work flows.

The home screen: Once again, "WHERE'S MY STUFF?" When I'm switching to the home screen, it's because I need to jump to another app. This stuff was on a separate screen in iOS 12. Now I have to add a swipe to get anything. That's slow.

Overall styling/concept: You're adding padding. Why are you adding padding? You're just making the phone look fat, and causing me to swipe/tap more. That's also slow. You're also hiding stuff I use on a regular basis. Where's my stuff?!?

Safari: Keep the name "Safari". I have "Firefox" and "Chrome" on my phone for various functions. Bring back page titles. Compact that URL card a bit more. You have the room. USE IT.

Music/TV: You're still following the broken model that I want to listen to music that is not on my phone. Nobody has unlimited bandwidth for that. We load our phones with music and video because flash memory is cheap. Follow the Unix philosophy: Split Apple Radio out to it's own app, and default Music to pre-loaded music. It's what we have iTunes for! (Also split "TV" out in a similar fashion.)

And one more thing: Give power users some love. Give us options to turn on and off and tweak. We love that Apple's iOS just works. It can work better by being much more customizable.

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Conventions and convicts

2019-05-19T00:16:29Z

I have questions.

First, are we sure the person in question *is* a convicted child sex offender (aka paedofile)? From what I could dig up, the answer leans (if not topples) into “Yes” — he has a public criminal record. So make that assumption and lets continue.

Does ether:

The law in the state he was convicted in, or in the state he is in now (Nevada) say that all convicted child sex offenders has to maintain a minimum distance between them and a child (a minor in legal terms)?
Or a court order exist requiring the person maintain said minimum distance between himself and a minor?

If ether one of the two exist, then not only is he violation the law/court order, but also the convention may be liable for enabling him to violate said law/order, given that they have been notified of the problem well in advance.

In other words, I doubt BLFC has consulted their lawyer on this... if they have one.

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If I Ran: Topics

2019-02-24T14:17:42Z

Just some areas of interest I should touch on (links if I have covered them):

Illegal Immigration
Economy
Medicine
Telecommunications
Transportation
Security - Physical
Security - Online/The Internet
Taxes and Tax Reform
Power
International Relations

If there's any others that should be covered, let me know.

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If I Ran: Immigration

2019-02-24T14:01:32Z

From Twitter, but I'd like to start a series called "If I Ran":

Some folks wonder why I (carefully) pick some political posts to retweet. It's because the latest trend is to forget history and forget investigating into the real causes of issues. #thread time again. I'm going to take Illegal Immigration for an example first.

Lets first get down to the actual numbers coming out from the US Customs & Border Patrol. They say that the amount of illegal immigration is actually dropping over the decade. They also say that an abundant majority of illegal immigration isn't folks jumping the border.

No. They say it's people overstaying their visas, by a factor of 6 to 1. So why is Trump building a wall through private property when we can't enforce the front door?

Now lets drill down to the "crisis" at the Mexican border, where folks are lining up to claim asylum from Honduras, due to gang violence and government corruption. That sounds like an international problem to me, not a local problem.

I have more faith in the court system, as bad as it is, over any Congress critter or Presidential figure head. This is America. You will get sued. Get over it.

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Redline fanfic from 2013

2018-12-26T23:59:10Z

I keep watching the second half of RedLine... and keep thinking of a fan fic sequel.

The TransAm is gone, but JP hooks up with Sonoshee (here as Soni), bring Frisbee and Pops along. A new TransAm is bought, beefed up, and they test it at Green Line... and it passes clean.

But the Mob still wants their money, and puts a bounty on the team. Lynchman & Jonny Boya is tasked for this.

Meanwhile Machinehead's gone through another iteration of "self-improvement". The SuperBoins push out another record. Trava and Shinkai perfect their SpeedMaster. However, Gori-Rider's been convicted of corruption and the Miki/Totoroki team didn't qualify.

Little Dayzina defects from Roboworld and finally does things right -- by racing into the field. But Roboworld's pissed at this and at RedLine, and have vowed to "stop this nonsense at all costs."

That puts the field at: JP/Soni, MachineHead, SuperBoins, Dayzina, Lynchman, and three other contestants. Two slots are filled, but the RedLine committee holds slot 8 for a "representative" of RedLine 9's host world... WolfSkunk RedWolf.

(Really, I said it was a fan fic, right?)

RoboWorld isn't having any of this, of course... so they plan a full assault on the racers, keeping a bioweapon as their ace-in-the-hole. Meanwhile, Lynchman sneaks onto Soni's garage where the TransAm is at. RedWolf is also visiting after showing JP and Soni to a good, high-class restaurant... and notices (along with Pops) Lynchman attaching a bomb to the Transam. Everyone notices RedWolf removing the bomb, mistakes RW as planting it... until Pops speaks up, and Frisbee pulls the video. Yep, Lynch is sloppy. RW keeps the bomb, strangely enough.

The day of the race, and they drop. Course is split in three, and follows a similar setup. Of course, RoboWorld also hyperjumps (having figured out how to do it) but is immediately noticed by Canmephian ground forces. The racers are caught in the crossfire, and are able to speed out. Lynchman of course plays with JP/Sono. RedWolf hangs back some, and even though shi takes fire, the Black Hole Express' shielding redirect it to it's ASC power supply (with a codename)... and uses it as fuel.

RoboWorld gets frustrated, unable to catch Dayzina or exact revenge due to Canmephian forces. They drop the bioweapon, FunkyVolton. This causes commotion until RedWolf arrives, the bioweapon fires, launching the BHE into the air... which RedWolf opens up the ASC codenamed "Can of Whup-Ass" on and sucks the thing down whole.

BWWWARRRRP! CRASH!

The racers recover; Canmephian forces mop up. MachineHead is back in the lead, Trava/Shiykai is second, RedWolf crashes into 8th, JP/Soni 6th, and Lynchman 7th. JP/Soni hit their second gold nitro and pop into 2nd. Lynchman follows in 3rd, and tries to hit the bomb... but RedWolf's pops in 4th and notes shi's reprogrammed the detonation code for it.

MachineHead pops a Platnum Nitro "to make it interesting again." JP/Sono does the same, but Lynchman tries to hook them like last time. Ooops, the deceleration allows RedWolf to catch the hook, attach the bomb (with a timer this time), and send it back... taking care of Lynchman and having it be MachineHead, JP/Soni, and RedWolf.

It's a tight three-way, but the TransAm's engine is pushed too far, exploding into another win. MachineHead's GodWing disentigrates into third, pushing RedWolf into second place. Credits scroll, and while JP and Soni celebrate, RedWolf's mate Sandra comes over. "You did it!!!" "What did..." "You didn't win!" "Yeah, but..." "I bet that you'd come in second or third." "You didn't!" "I did! Cost the mob some scratch but then you should see the raid the police did..."

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President Trump, investigations, and lawsuits

2018-12-16T13:12:39Z

I want to put all these investigations and lawsuits that affect President Trump into context here. I'm leaving out anything relating to Executive Orders or duties as President. Aka this is stuff that should of disqualified him from appearing on the ballots.

The Muller Probe: Still investigating. Hitting lower-level people. Michael Flynn is cooperative; David Cohen is not. This will take a lot longer than anyone realizes.
The Emoluments Lawsuits:
- DC and Maryland are in discovery for if the Trump International Hotel in DC is being used as a front to funnel money to Trump, which is a violation of the Constitution.
- A group of US Senators and Republicans are suing as well, and are waiting for initial filings to be ruled on before discovery.
- An investigation into if Trump's daughter (and advisor) Ivanka's actions in negotiating payments to the hotel for lodging in the Inaugural Ceremony also violated the Constitution.
New York State v. Trump Foundation: NY State filed suit against Trump and offspring Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr, alleging using the Trump Foundation (currently blocked from being dissolved due to the investigation) for fraudulent purposes (and that's putting it simply). This includes not being licensed to solicit large donations in NYC. Currently going through the legal system.

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Coffee thought: the TARDIS in Canmephian Realms

2018-09-22T14:17:02Z

*shlrps a medium roast*

Around 5977 (Canmephian time) the first "Jump Drive" was invented. This traveled galaxies by "jumping" into an alternate plane of existence where distances between the two were much shorter. Jumping was done by opening a wormhole between the two planes and traveling through it. The power usage in opening the wormhole twice is great if you compare it to a regular car, but easily handled with then modern generators. The concept of a five year mission was borne, as well as the Canmephian Space Command (or CMSC). Opening (and closing) of these wormholes requires two 11-space coordinates, with three constantly being updated (X/Y/Z) and one incremented (time) on both sides... and the remaining locked down inside the drive's controlling circuitry.

In 5995 scientists have found a way to transport an object between two places and fixed point of time by completely locking the 11-space coordinates down and initiating a modified drive. The effect was a fade-out. However, the power requirements to perform this were greater than a regular jump drive so much that it was highly impractical. The maximum size was of that of a phone booth in London.

In 6000 Dryger "pocket dimension" technology was introduced; in 6009 "transportal" technology was discovered/reinvented by the CMSC's Admiral RedWolf and Lt. Commander Caspian.

In 6012 a physics student combined the three, and built a "TARDIS", where a London police box containing a pocket dimension's portal was transported through time. Power generation as well as control and living quarters were in the pocket dimension.

One day, the student, having been granted hir doctorate in both physics and engineering, took hir TARDIS out for a spin... and never came back. Hir notes and previous technology have been seized by the CMSC and Canmephian government under current "High Security Risk" laws. Rumor has it that a note was left, one not of anyone's handwriting, saying "Your Engineer will be well taken care of."

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On transit maps.

2018-05-05T18:12:51Z

So transit map designer Cameron Booth pulled together a World Cup of Transit
Maps here... which was, what I think, promptly gamed by some transit and
government agencies... and I kinda not liking some of the choices that
passed by.

So I'd thought I'd go through each one, try to rank or rate them. At least
I can try to give points on:

* First impressions (how immediately confused I am, with low marks for very)
* Graphic layout/density
* Color/contrast use
* Information presented

But as I went through and looked at each map... I realized I needed only one
metric: how quickly I could match them to reality.

Unfortunately, most of them flunked. You can have station names and
whatnot, but with little or no landmarks to say "Oh, there's a museum here
and a national monument there and a stadium over yonder..." means the map is
next to useless without *another* map.

To me, a transit map is very much a key part of a tourist's tool as it is a
functional part of a commuter's navigation. If I'm visiting and want to
save cash, I should be taking transit... but if I can't relate to where I'm
going, I'm might as well be lost. It's useless, and the government or
agency that made the map has failed in bringing in tourists.

Out of the list Cameron Booth has presented, the best would be New York,
followed by Washington DC and Bejing being third. Everyone else would be
very distant.

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On the death penalty

2018-04-23T21:48:42Z

I'm going to put this out there.

I'm for limited application of the death penalty, with reforms to ensure justice is properly done.

Limits, you say? Yes. And I'll put it in plain text.

The following crimes should be eligible for the death penalty.

Mass murder (duh)
Murder by explosive device (duh)
Repeated immigration w/o approval -- aka if a person gets back INTO the USA without going through Customs & Border Protection, no visa or green card, after getting expelled out of the USA... then all bets are off, the expelling the person again will only make them come back in, so lets nip that in the bud, shall we? Besides, if the country they came from is *THAT* bad, they should be applying for political asylum.
Any combination of crimes that would require that the person serve beyond a normal life span of 150 years to be considered for parole.
Any combination of crimes that have the possibility of multiple "life without parole" sentences.

The first two are "You have shown a grave indifference to life in general, with no hope of reform. Why should we let you live?" The third one is similar, a "You've shown that you will not obey a lawful order. Why should we trust you with your own life?" Once the sentence of death is proclaimed in these situations, the case should be automatically appealed for a multi-judge review.

The rest is a case of being real. We're essentially yanking any freedoms away, giving them three "hots" (hot meals) and a cot to sleep on, until they pass away... for what? A combination of crimes so outlandish but proven to be committed? If a case like that lands a "lock up and throw away the key" sentence on several orders of absurdity, it should be automatically appealed as a Constitutional violation. I mean, seven life sentences, plus 400 years, for several cases of murder and attempted murder via explosive devices? No, the person must be put to death. I don't care what state you are.

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This New Year 2018 (politics)

2018-01-01T14:53:07Z

All right, time to get serious. 2016 and 2017 have punched us down. 2018, we're not letting it throw a punch.

In the United States, this year is a mid-term election year. That means it's time to be active in voicing your grievances against your elected Congress critter. He or she is responsible for this mess along with Trump.

So here's my platform:

Term Limits on Congress: If a Congress critter has been in Congress for longer than 12 years, vote them out. They're out of touch with your issues, and have been far too long away. Put someone fresh in there. A productive Congress is one that's changed often.

Transit and Transportation: The roads are clogged and falling apart. Trains of all types are getting delayed or canceled. Buses are packed. But nothing is getting done because nobody wants to fund the right projects. Thus, require any road expansion project getting Federal Transportation Administration funding to list all road and bridge repair, and transit projects that are currently unfunded. Direct the FTA to fund REPAIR efforts first, then TRANSIT repair and expansion. Transit projects that take people completely off the road should be emphasized (and I don't mean buses on the very same clogged roads -- I mean completely separate "rights of way").

This is why I don't like my governor, Maryland Governor Hogan. Getting people off the road and into buses means they're still on the road!

Related is fully funding the Hudson River tunnel project called Gateway. NY and NJ identified their part of the funding, but the Trump administration effectively canceled it. This affects people trying to get in and manage the financial capital of the world. If your Congress critter doesn't want to support that, vote him out, because what happens in New York reverberates across the nation. Remember 9/11? I do.

Commit to a Federal Reorganization: Want to cut down the deficit? Reorganize the entire Executive branch of the government! It should fall under three categories: Internal to the US, External to the US, and Both(Global). Departments that affect only the US go in Internal (USDA, FDA, etc). Stuff that only affects international affairs goes in External (State Department, CIA, NSA), with the rest being Global (FCC, CDC, all Military branches, Immigration and Naturalization, FBI, Justice Department). Create a Research and Development department combined from all other department's groups to consolidate all R&D efforts and cut down on overissuing of grants.

The overall goal is to reduce the actual cost of government. Once we get to the bare minimum, we can set a proper budget.

Require all spending bills to identify income sources: This is the biggest bug-a-boo right here, and it's what is giving us a ton of trouble. Money doesn't grow on trees, you know!

Reform the tax code again to age out most corporate tax breaks: A good chunk of tax breaks can be aged out because the company has no trouble affording the extra taxes, and it's been more than five years. Identify tax breaks that can be "claimed for up to five years", and plug any holes that would allow abuse (like a subsidiary company is claiming it for a parent).

Besides, I'm hearing that corporate taxes should never be more than 28% of all income.

Require any funding for telecom services, including Internet services, be audited to ensure they are being used properly: Right now, the Universal Telecommunications Fund is unaudited, and reports of funding being used for other things are rampant. If the telecom and backbone providers aren't expanding, they have no right to the UTF.

Related, make all telecom providers get all their intended tax breaks if they commit to network neutrality principles.

Commit to Single Payer Health Care: Senator Bernie Sanders is right, in terms of cutting paperwork, which saves a TON of cash and would pay for itself.

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Caller ID Spoofing.

2017-12-31T19:45:35Z

The fatal "SWATting" of an innocent bystander caused by a $1.25 bet off of a Call Of Duty session could of been prevented had the Caller ID not been spoofed.

How could it happen? Well, the caller used a VoIP provider that can spoof a Caller ID. The police assume the worst in any case... and given they were told "hostage situation with weapons" shot someone.

So the question really comes down to how do you detect if the Caller ID is spoofed? Well...

In this day and age, all calls go digital and get sent over digital lines. It doesn't matter if it's over fiber, POTS, VoIP, or cellular. The solution here is to add more metadata and a call-back to verify the call is coming from where it's supposed to be.

With fiber optic service, it's "what line is associated with what location." The same goes for POTS. Record which port at the telephone facility goes to which house. Keep that info (assign it a unique ID). That can't easily be spoofed.

With cell phones, that "port" is the IMEI code, possibly with more info off the SIM or device itself to make it hard to spoof.

With VoIP calls, it's the caller's IP address and Ethernet MAC address off the router or otherwise Internet-accessible device (if it's behind a firewall, the IP and MAC is the firewall).

So, with that number and port, we can look up the provider and ping it's verification system securely. If it comes back saying "Yes, that person is legit." then you can trust the caller ID. Anything else should be considered spoofed (including if the verification service is down).

What would emergency services do if they get a spoofed call? Well, the caller should have given them a location. Locate any other buildings around and call them, as well as dispatch an officer. If the neighbors say "Nothing's going on" then it's likely a SWATting's happening, and the officer should calm down.

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Anthrocon... but when everyone is anthro?

2017-11-13T02:55:05Z

Shower Thought: What would happen to Anthrocon if... everyone became anthro?

To be honest... I think it'll grow bigger, but reinvent itself:

Arts
Nourishment
Technology
History
Rapport
Oration
CONvention

In other words, it becomes a World's Fair and Congress On International Affairs combined.

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Hardware consolidation project

2017-10-01T15:38:39Z

So I got things together on the financial front, which helps out a lot.

My next step is consolidating hardware. You see, I got drives all over the freakin' place. I think it's time I did something about it. So, I'm building a proper, rack-mount NAS/VM host/misc server.

Yes, I'm rebuilding my occlan server, essentially. My sidney server will still be around, but will be a testbed and print server. Mail can go to occlan and I can put all the spare Raspberry Pi's there as well for a bit of a cluster. It also kills a *)@#( old Drobo, which was expensive to get at the time, and only does USB 3.0 shared by four drives. I'd like some more speed please. I'll RAID 5 the whole mess and toss the old Drobo. It's not worth the time to deal with it.

Plus, 8 TB drive to back it all up on just came in. I'll mess with that later.

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iPhone 8/X and the Keynote

2017-09-14T02:06:05Z

So I got through the Keynote, which of course has some fluff in it and two products I really don't care about -- the Apple Watch (LTE? Really?) and the 4K Apple TV (don't have a 4K display, it's a waste of pixels).

What was my true interest was the iPhone series: The 8/8+ and the X.

In a nutshell, the iPhone 8/8+ has a better CPU/DSP/GPU, better sensors (photo/light/IR/etc), and Qi wireless charging. The iPhone X ("ten") adds to that by dropping the Home button for high-dpi OLED-ish edge-to-edge-with-ears screen, adding face recognition via neural network processing and IR based face mapping... and for fun gives you FaceRig style emoji animation. Oh, and two extra hours of battery life while you relearn how to use your phone.

The iPhone 8 and 8+ are the regular pricing ($700 and up). The iPhone X... starts at $1000.

Yeah. That's hard to justify. You see, the pricing for all the components is usually around $280-ish, aka under half the price. Custom chips I can see eating up a bit of that. Custom screen? I will be shocked if that bumped the actual hardware price to $500 or more. I really don't see it, and I really can't justify paying twice more.

That said, I don't see if it's worthy to jump ship from an iPhone 7/7+ to the 8/8+ ether. I think plunking $99 on Mophie's Juice Pack Air will get you wireless charging plus an extended battery, and the charging hardware will transition over to next years models (9 and 11, maybe?). I'm in that loop myself -- I gotta find a case that has 3600 mAh battery AND Qi charging.

It also means that the wireless charging standards war has been won by Qi, with Apple the one making the decision.

If you got the older model, you maybe got a year left of usable battery anyway before it'll force you to upgrade... so go for it anyway. It's a nice revbump that's a bit future proof.

In short: 8/8+ good for older phones, adapt your 7/7+, the X is too damn expensive to consider.

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Alt Right/Far Right/Fascism/etc.

2017-09-04T14:06:59Z

Before I go too deep, some ground rules:

I'm going to swear. So shut the fuck up about it.
There is no TL;DR. Read the entire thing or get the fuck out.
I prefer that if you counter me with an argument, that you counter with proof that will pass muster in a court of law. Not any back-water just-pulled-together rigged setup, but an established court like the US Federal Court System. So take your time, get your coffee, I can wait.

Let us begin, shall we?

( Read more... )

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Fixing the DMCA

2017-07-04T22:59:52Z

So as I am reminded of every so often, I see the DMCA being abused. Just taking items down for even a short while and marking up an account, maybe even causing it's removal, is disruptive if the report doesn't match the actual item it's reporting down. Remember, you can DMCA any Youtube video down, and it goes down... until the counter-claim is sent. There seems to be two groups that are doing this: big corporations and small fraudsters.

The issue though is how to fix it such that it makes it expensive to abuse the DMCA... and yet let small frys like independent artists with a legit complaint through. That is the big issue that I'm racking my head against.

My main idea... would only truly work in the big corp situation where DMCA complaints are robo-filed. The solution there is that past a "velocity threshold" your complaints must be followed up with a written and signed-by-a-lawyer notice that is faxed or mailed to Youtube within 5 business days. The notice must state that the writer is the owner of the copyrighted work that the complaint is for, and has been reviewed by a lawyer to verify it is a violation. This will slow down if not stop faulty DMCA complaints.

But what about the small fraudsters, and the indie artists with legitimate complaints?

First, the context of the work should be taken into account. Youtube's parent, Alphabet (aka Google), has the means to detect if the work in question is being used in a review or commentary. Others most likely will need human review. But action or inaction taken as part of a DMCA investigation should never be considered "editorial" or "curation" and should always fall under the "safe harbor" provision.

That said, a reputation system could help here. Should the fraudster be detected with a high amount of illegitimate complaints, the person should be subjected to require the paperwork, just as in the case of the high-velocity complaint system.

The indie artist who has a high reputation in this regard would still be allowed to issue regular (aka current) DMCA notices. Should the artist be found truly to be wronged on a massive scale, requiring bulk take-downs, then a human on the provider's end will be required.

I doubt this is perfect, but it definitely shaves off a ton of issues with the DMCA.

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Secure group chatting coffee-thoughts

2017-06-25T12:06:18Z

Reading the happenings of having a (MTA Maryland) MARC train set being leased to (NYC MTA) Long Island Railroad (aka LIRR) to help with summer crunches... got me thinking about exclusive local communications though cell phones, and eventually onto secure group communications. I'll try to put it in laymans terms for those non-geeks, using some old standard-ish terminology.

Alice and Bob want to send letters back and forth, but know Craig (that NSA narc) is snooping around. What do they do?

Well, they encrypt their messages. To make it hard for Craig to snoop, they use what is called Public Key Encryption. Alice makes two keys, one she keeps herself (private) and one she gives to Bob (public). Bob does the same, giving a key to Alice. When Alice encrypts a message, she uses her private key and Bob's public key. When Bob gets it, he uses his private key and her public key. The algorithm used allows this scheme to work.

Of course, I'm simplifying the issue, especially in cases where Craig may of dressed up like Bob and got in the middle of things. But that's the essence of secure encryption. SSL/TLS connections (used in that HTTPS connection you go to Amazon or your bank with) use PKE with a few administrative levels to make sure Craig isn't going to steal out of Bob's bank.

But what if Alice has more friends with a similar interest? What if they want a group chat with Elen, Frank, George, and Helen about their dearly departed friend Zoe?

They could swap public keys, and have every push out every message... but that wastes time and bandwidth.

They could go though one person, like Xavier.... or is that Craig in disguise again?

Or... Alice could make another pair of keys for the group, and send both to everyone (but Craig, because he's a dick) via the existing secure messaging. Everyone would send using their personal private key but the group chat public key, and decrypt using the sender's public key and the group chat's private key. All they would need is someone to relay the chat to save bandwidth... and Xavier volunteered for that (the geek -- he doesn't even save connection logs). Craig would have nothing because he wouldn't even see the group chat key being sent.

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On Keureg machines

2017-05-29T13:04:20Z

So after a year and change with owning a Keureg machine (ether OEM or a Mr. Coffee licensed machine) I have a few good thoughts about it. Namely...

The difference in savings between using a Keureg vs just brewing your own with a regular drip brewer is dependent on how much coffee you and others drink, and what blends you and others drink. If it's just you and you drink massive amounts, the regular drip is best. But if you're in a household that doesn't drink a lot of coffee, and some even drink tea... the Keureg may be better off.
That said, a larger (but still small) Keureg that can take the K-Mug cups is worth while.
OMG HOT WATER FOR CUP OF NOODLES AND RAMEN!!!
A small version (like the Mr. Coffee built one I have) that heats the water and brews on demand, or gives you hot water, would be perfect for hotels. I can actually see a smaller than Mr. Coffee version with a two-digit LCD display. You pour in what you want (up to 16 oz), put in your K-cup (or a dummy cup for hot water), tell hit how much with the up-and-down buttons, and hit brew. LCD display will animate to indicate heating (raising up lines), brewing (going around in a circle), and done ("OK").

Needless to say, the Keureg's are here to stay.

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Baltimore at 4:45am last year

2017-05-23T12:42:49Z

Baltimore at 4:45am

Unlike most folk my age, I am cursed with a job that requires the occasional odd-hour service. A function I do not like but carry it out dutifully.

I'm a programmer. I solve digital problems. Like how are you going to release and test a new set of software and web site that the world has never seen except in previews for a major Internet Services company, with an overseas team at the same time? Oh, and you can't drive and you need to be in the office to do it?

You overnight in Baltimore and get into the office by 5am.

I stay at a half-decent hotel for the night, a few blocks away from the job site. Check in, sleep fitfully, check out.

Baltimore at 4:45am. It is quiet. It is dark. There are few people around, namely waiting at bus stops to be picked up by the first runs. Blacks. No hookers. No nightlife. No owls. One looking out around a set of tour buses blocking a stop for the 3. I go up and make my right onto Baltimore Street. A lone Asian, walking alone, destination unknown. I don't stop to ask. I don't need to know. I have to get to work.

The subway isn't open, and I doubt the light rail is ether. I know there's no MARC service. It's why I overnighted in Baltimore. The air is crisp and dry and cool, verging on cold. I haul my backpack and overnight bag down the street. Around the closed station. Blacks waiting. Not many, but keeping to themselves. A bus rumbles up Charles. Waiting, waiting, waiting. I hit the intersection and cross with the light.

Nothing is open. Chinese place is lunch and dinner only. Rebooted New York buffet and grill doesn't open until 6. Coffee shop doesn't open until 7. I keep moving. Starbucks isn't open. The McDonalds closed while construction was going on next door. It can go. I cross Baltimore and then St. Paul. I can use coffee. I have to be at work at 5am. They have coffee.

I make it up to the office at 4:54am, and two coworkers are there with the boss. The boss passes a peice of paper around for breakfast orders. I scratch down my order after looking it up online. Everyone puts theirs in. I hunker down with a cup of decent coffee and say a silent prayer to St. Offrans.

We let the site fly. The core is good and proven, but the visible parts fumble and falter. I push a change through. Off shore team pushes changes as well. Test, fix, push, retest. It stablizes around 2:30pm. We call it a release and go home at 3.

I grab the first train home. It is light. I get off at the airport, meet my ride, and get a late lunch. I am tired. I am hungry. I chow on Burgerking and suck down Coke. Forget beer. That is for tomorrow. Today I am spent. Tomorrow, fire fighting. I collapse into bed early. A drone of a fan that is constant, never changing, never giving up or giving in. Never taking orders from something too close to be useful.

Baltimore can have 4:45am.

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Finally, a Special Prosecutor.

2017-05-18T00:34:59Z

With enough shenanigans coming out of the White House, the Department of Justice broke down and finally appointed a special prosecutor. And this one's a good one, someone who even President Obama kept around as FBI Director for two more years past his 10 year term w/Congressional approval before having to appoint Comey.

About time!

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THRONG: On the Road

2017-05-07T19:24:20Z

In the middle of the night, on the road, a horse calls back to the back of the bus.

"LIGHTS!" the horse yells. "GET UP!"

"whaaaaa...." a voice moans... "Hauler? What is it..."

"I'm almost out of time for driving."

"Oh... yeah... Okay, pull over somewhere, and let me get a cup of coffee in me..."

"We're out, but there's a 24-hour McDonalds ahead. I think I got enough time to get there."

"Yeah, just don't speed while I'm getting out of the bunk. I gotta get dressed..."

-----

A cabbit woke up to the door of the bus closing....and the smell of coffee and some food. Shi got up out of hir bunk, and carefully moved over to the front of the bus.

"Wha..." shi said, noticing Hauler on the couch and Lights up and dressed, about to take the seat.

Lights noticed hir and said, "Killer, you want to know before coffee or after?"

"What time is it..."

"5am. We're near the venue but I have to take over. Hauler here ran out of FTA time."

"Oh, okay. Coffee first. Then... um..."

"I paid for breakfast."

"Give Jade the receipt when she wakes up."

"All right. Get dressed, I'll get Bessie the rest of the way."

"Okay." Killer went back, pulling hir drawer open, before turning again and saying "Lights?"

"Yes Killer?"

"Thanks."

"Your welcome, hon."

Like this? Tip me a Ko-fi then?

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On RMFC's demize...

2017-04-11T01:14:06Z

This was forseen and repeated before. We know the pattern by now, but this time it's deeper than that.

As you can guess, Rocky Mountain Fur Con cancelled it's 2017 event. The reason? History, documented history, has come back to bite them.

I could rehash everything, but there's an excellent, well researched article up on Dogpatch Press: http://dogpatch.press/2017/04/10/rocky-mountain-fur-con-threat/ RMFC backs neo-nazis, sex offender to intimidate critic for reporting threat. The title could be called sensationalist... but read into it. It steps you through the fact-finding through public government sources.

The furry community is tolerant of the weird and eccentric. But the hateful, fascist, anti-inclusionist? The line is drawn there.

And what do you do when your management and security goes beyond that line? And actually includes the staff there, thinking it knows better? And it gets called out because of it?

I bet the hotel got antsy, and required more security plus a ban on the "Furry Raiders." The problem is, they're part of RMFC... so https://twitter.com/RMFC_Denver/status/851594433468526593 they cancelled the con.

Didn't we see this before? Yes, with Rainfurrest. That one was a solid mismanagement from RAiN, the organizing group. RAiN ended up killing Rainfurrest after a protracted battle with public perception.

RFMC goes even deeper, in which it goes all the way to it's organizer Midwest Anthropomorphic Arts Corp (MAAC). At least they shut down early... but this time, they may still be in hot water as one party to this story has lawyered up...

Edit 9:31pm EDT: Turns out they were behind on their filing of taxes, and an accountant spotted the error. It jived with how MAAC was being operated. https://www.flayrah.com/6903/rocky-mountain-fur-con-canceled-following-neo-nazi-associations-tax-irregularities Flayrah has coverage on this angle.

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An opinion on fake news...

2017-01-01T03:26:12Z

2016 came and had numerous problems. A disenchanted population picked a radical candidate for President... and slowly it's biting into people's butts.

One of the reasons why is the concept of "fake news," or reports with little or no proof to back them up. In other words, if they were pulled into the courts, the writers and "news organizations" would be liable for damages. It would be parody or opinion, but without all the indicators that it was.

And there's already a court case to test that theory, Mann v. CEI and National Review. It's about climate research and two columnists efforts to discredit it despite tons of verification about the research (namely, that temperatures that were steady in centuries before has risen drastically in the last century, aka the 1900's). It's going to go to trial, because of one question: The article were written as fact, but are they really true? The appeals court thinks no, but wants a ruling in a trial that would probe the articles first.

That's how you would attach the fake news problem: Fact check the articles of fake news, verify that there's no obvious disclaimer, and then sue them for fraud. The more evidence you have that says the article is fake means the writers have to present their sources... or pay up.

Will this pass the 1st Amendment? Well, since Pizzagate turned into real gunfire at a DC area pizza shop, there is considerable interest by the government to tap it down. But this means ethical reporters have to keep their sources on hand, in case the lawyers come knocking. It's going to take time and several court cases to create a compromise.

The kicker? You don't need to government to even legislate this. A few well funded groups may be able to pull together a class action lawsuit that'll take care of the mess... and may even make a profit. Can you say "Put your money where your mouth is?"

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