Monthly Archives: April 2005

Interesting paper (pdf) on the history of solid rocket fuels. Link.

My main computer at home died the other evening; there had been subtle signs of illness (disk errors, mysterious freezes, blank screens and poor scores in Diablo II), but I was in denial. It quit for good while I was … Continue reading →

Two penguins. Going through airport security. (from Bruce Schneier’s blog: link)

                                  2005         Monday                 Yingle-Yangle               Shitstorm  Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo Mo      Su We Mo Tu Th Fr Sa      Ka Ta Bu Ty Ga Pu Wa                   : 1:            1  2  3  4  5             1  2  3  4  5   2  3  4  5  6  7  8       6  7  8  9 10 11 12       6  7  8  9 10 11 12   9 10 11 12 13 14 15      13 14 15 16 17 18 19      13 14 15 16 17 18 19  16 17 18 19 20 21 22      20 21 22 23 24 25 26      20 21 22 23 24:25:26  23 24 25 26 27 28 29      27 28                    :27:28:29 30 31        30 31                                                                                                      Tween                            Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa                                            1         Barfbag                  Eenee-Meenee                 Pork  Su Mo Tu We Th Sa Fr      Su Mo We Tu Th Fr Sa      Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa                     A       1  2  3  4  5  6  7                1  2  3  4   B  C  D  E  F  G  H       8  9 10 11 12 13 14       5  6  7  8  9 10 11   I  J  K  L  M  N  O     :15:16:17 18 19 20 21      19 20 21 22 23 24 25   P  Q  R  S  T  U  V      22 23 24 25:26:27 28      12 13 14 15 16 17 18   W  X  Y  Z AA AB AC      29 30 31                  26 27 28 29 30                                                                                       Embolism                 Barge-Butt                 Hangnail  Su Tu Mo We Th Sa Fr      Su Mo Tu Th We Fr Sa      Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa                  1  2          1  2  3  4  5  6                  30 30 30   3  4  5  6  7  8  9       7  8  9 10 11 12 13      30 30 30 30 30 30 30  10 11 12 13 14 15 16      14 15 16 17 18 19 20      30 30 30 30 30 30 30  17 18 19 20 21 22 23      21 22 23 24 25 26 27      30 30 30 30 30 30  24 25 26 27 28 29 30      28 29 30 31                 31                                                                             Harrison                KROWWWW-W-WHACK!             Friday  Mo Su Tu We Th Fr Sa      Su Mo Tu We Fr Th Sa      Fr Fr Fr Fr Fr Fr Fr                     1             !  @  *  &  ?                  16 21:26   2  3  4  5  6  7  8       /  \  >     9 10 11 12 13 14 15      ||  ~ ++ —  #  )  {      1   5  9 13 18 23 28  16 17 18 19 20 21 22       }  ]  . -> ?:  _  `      2   6 10 14 19 24 29  23 24 25 26 27 28 29       ‘  ”  ;  ,               3   7 11 15 20:25:30  30 31                                                                    Yes, I will get … Continue reading →

I used to work with (well, more accurately, next to) James Bach, who has a web log. (Son of “Jonathon Livingston…” yeah, that Bach). Here’s an entertaining post on the insecurity of windows-based kiosks (link).

A Security Analysis of the SAURON Command and Control System Abstract In this paper we describe an effective attack against SAURON, a distributed, heirarchical command-and-control system with unique user interface features. Given access to a master key, a procedure is … Continue reading →

Rules during the “vacancy” at the Vatican, and for filling it. link

I dress the Gibber in the morning: A onesie underneath, then some kind of shirt and some kind of pants. I know enough not to put stripes and plaids together (though one morning I did do this), but I do … Continue reading →

ACM Queue has a (posthumous) article by Jef Raskin on documentation. He wraps up by saying: Prior, clear, and extensive documentation is a key element in creating software that can survive and adapt. Documenting to high standards will decrease development … Continue reading →

Quick summary of the foo-fah-rah: (1) Linus starts using BitKeeper to maintain Linux. BK is a proprietary revision control system that has various proprietary whizzy features, and is free (for Linus) as long as (2) the author (well, CEO of … Continue reading →