@SteveBellovin@mastodon.lawprofs.org
@SteveBellovin@mastodon.lawprofs.org avatar

SteveBellovin

@SteveBellovin@mastodon.lawprofs.org

I'm a computer science professor and affiliate law prof at Columbia University. Author of "Thinking Security". Dinosaur photographer. Not ashamed to say that I’m still masking, because long Covid terrifies me.
https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb

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urbandinosaurs, to Birds
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

An unhappy raven chick, wanting more food. But—in this clip, it looks like it’s eating something left in the nest. Deposited, per the previous post? Leftovers? Random pecking? I can't tell. (Aside: I was using a back-up tripod (because reasons). It reminded me of why I spent a fair amount of money on a good one…)

A raven chick, moving back and forth around the nest. At one point, though, its head movements suggest that it is eating something out of my field of view.

urbandinosaurs, to Birds
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

I spent a while this afternoon with my camera on a tripod pointed at the raven's nest on the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC. (Aside: I had thought there were two chicks, but I only saw one. Either I was wrong, the other has fledged, or it met with some mishap.) Here are two parental visits where I did not see the chick being fed—but see the video in the next post. Also note the chick playing with some dried grass.

The chick has a piece of dried grass or some such in its beak, waving it around.
An adult raven is perched on the saint’s head, bending all the way forward as if it is depositing something in the nest.
The chick looking all around, waiting for a parent to come back with food.

evacide, to random
@evacide@hachyderm.io avatar

Threat models matter.

When a platform/service/app tells you they are “private” or “secure” always ask “from whom?”

Criminals, domestic abusers, law enforcement, data brokers, and intelligence agencies are all different attackers with very different capabilities.

nminow, to random
@nminow@c.im avatar

Coming soon to the Norman Rockwell Museum, a show about MAD Magazine!

martin, to random
@martin@nondeterministic.computer avatar

Our university deployed a mail filter that rewrites URLs in emails to redirect them via a service that checks for bad websites. Somebody clever worked out that PGP-signed emails are exempt from the rewrite rule, so now people are starting their emails with "BEGIN PGP MESSAGE" even though they haven't used PGP at all, just to fool the filter 😂

Anybody sending malware links has probably also worked out that trick by now, thereby rendering the entire filter pointless

urbandinosaurs, to Birds
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

A few of my pictures from yesterday (more coming tomorrow…). The first three are from Central Park in NYC: a great egret that has just speared a fish on both parts of its beak (Harlem Meer), a spotted sandpiper (Pool), and a black-and-white warbler (also Pool). Last, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, two common raven chicks in a nest behind St. Andrew's head. They're getting big!

A sandpiper walking along, just in the water from a sandy/rocky short. The reflection of the bird in the water is visible.
There is a moderately thick branch ascending at a 45༠ angle. The warbler is on the side of the branch, facing head-down.
There is a large nest behind the saint’s head. Two ravens are visible to the right side of the head. One is mostly obscured; the other is very visible.

urbandinosaurs, to Birds
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

Oh, what the heck; let me post more now. All at the Pool in NYC's Central Park: a male and a female common yellowthroat warbler, a magnolia warbler, and a black-throated blue warbler.

A more-or-less upside down warbler on a thin stem of some plant, among many other green plants and leaves.
A right profile view of the warbler on a very thin branch.
The warbler is bathing in shallow water.

urbandinosaurs, to Birds
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

Finally: a Swainson's thrush, a bay-breasted warbler, and a water thrush—I'm not sure if it's a northern or a Louisiana water thrush.

A ¾ left profile view of the bird on a thin branch.
A ¾ right profile view of the bird on a log, with water in the background.

urbandinosaurs, to Birds
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

A lovely day at Central Park in NYC. First, female and male scarlet tanagers (with a lot of birders waiting for them to reappear). Next, a northern parula; finally, a female rose-breasted grosbeak.
1/2

The tanager is in very shallow water, with mud around. His head is turned to the right and his beak is open.
A left profile view of the parula, on a very thin branch of some coniferous tree.
A left profile view of the grosbeak. She’s on a mud bank just behind the water.

urbandinosaurs,
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

Also: a red-winged blackbird, an upside-down downy woodpecker, a grey catbird, and three double-crested cormorants.
2/2

The woodpecker is on the underside of a branch, more or less on its back. There are green leaves in the background.
A right profile view of the catbird on top of a chain-link fence.
Three cormorants perched on a rock in the water, looking in different directions.

yurnidiot, to random
@yurnidiot@mstdn.social avatar

peer-to-peer Cat6 cabling

cat connected to wire walks under floor of deck and appears at other end where person is holding treats

sundogplanets, to random
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social avatar

I am talking o a reporter about this in a couple hours: https://regina.ctvnews.ca/from-outer-space-sask-farmers-baffled-after-discovering-strange-wreckage-in-field-1.6880353

This is about an hour away from my farm, so this'll be a fun conversation, and yet another great opportunity to tell a lot of people about what a huge problem we have with unregulated commercialization of orbit. (Also I just redid my slides for my public talk next week, this is going in!)

sundogplanets,
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social avatar

I called the farmer who found the pieces! He is super mad that SpaceX is saying that this is safe, when clearly very large pieces are making it to the ground (and this kind of thing is TOTALLY ACCEPTABLE according to every launch and reentry regulating body. Wild.)

He said I could come take a look at the pieces after he's done seeding in a few days (because, Saskatchewan). He also really liked the idea of sending a bill to SpaceX for littering on his property. This could be a lot of fun!

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

FBI urges employees to “look for ways” to collect Americans’ messages

FBI must use surveillance tools to demonstrate their importance, email says.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/05/fbi-urges-employees-to-look-for-ways-to-collect-americans-messages/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

misty, to random
@misty@digipres.club avatar

Looks like the same attack that took down the British Library for so long also targeted the US Library of Congress, but good multifactor auth and fast action from their IT and security staff protected them. https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2024/05/thwarted-cyberattack-targeted-library-congress-tandem-october-british-library-breach/396399/

urbandinosaurs, to astrophotography
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

Sunspots! According to spaceweather.com, the big sunspot just below and left of center is visible to the naked eye. I don't have my eclipse glasses handy, but I did have the solar filter for my camera available.

urbandinosaurs, to Birds
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

A red-winged blackbird, two Canada geese with six goslings, a red admiral, and a yellow-rumped warbler.
#birds #wildlifePhotography

In the foreground, there is grass; behind it, there is a dirt (and puddle) area. One adult and two goslings are on the edge of the grass; the remaining geese are on the dirt. One gosling is laying down; the other five are pecking at the ground.
A butterfly with its wings spread on some dried, dead grass.
The warbler is on a ~3cm branch that has some leaves. Behind it, there is a tree trunk.

mattblaze, (edited ) to photography
@mattblaze@federate.social avatar

Shortwave "Discone" Antenna, Former AT&T High Seas Radio Site, Ocean Gate, NJ, 2009.

All the somewhat staticy pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4141766569

Robgbysea,

@mattblaze @SteveBellovin @karlauerbach I actually worked as a Shipboard Radio-Electronics Officer in the early 80’s for a few years. The tankers were just getting Inmarsat terminals then although I still had to send and receive messages via CW occasionally. The satellite antenna was a one meter dish that was pointed by servo motors linked to the ship’s gyro. Messages came over a Telex machine. Phone calls were $10/min.

urbandinosaurs, to Birds
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

A northern flicker.

kottke, to random
@kottke@mastodon.social avatar

The Flashlight Gun Is Peak WTF America. How does a police officer “accidentally” shoot his gun thinking it’s a flashlight? Because they put a second trigger on the gun for the light, right below the first trigger!!! https://kottke.org/24/05/the-flashlight-gun-is-peak-wtf-america

stevesilberman, to random
@stevesilberman@newsie.social avatar

Amazing story: For the first time, scientists have observed an orangutan applying a medicated paste that it made to heal a wound. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68942123

karlauerbach, to random
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

TCP/IP 50th anniversary event…

This ought to be interesting (I will be attending). There will also be an online presence.

https://engage.ieee.org/celebrate-i50

urbandinosaurs, to Birds
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

I spent much of today taking pictures. I first went to Richard DeKorte Park in the New Jersey Meadowlands. The park—well, let's put it like this; there are methane release pipes around the place and one gets there via Disposal Road. But there are lots of birds. So: a tree swallow, a pair of tree swallows in courtship behavior, a herring gull that has scored a crab, and a yellowlegs (but I'm not sure if it's a greater or lesser yellowlegs). 1/2

A pair of tree swallows atop a nesting box. They both have their mouths open, behavior called “gaping”.
A left profile view of the gull. Its head is turned to the left; it has a crab in its beak.
A left profile view of the bird wading in the water.

urbandinosaurs,
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

There were many red-winged blackbirds around, and in one spot I saw four great egrets (three shown here). Plus, a song sparrow on a sign and a brown-headed cowbird—I haven't seen one in quite a while, so that was nice.
2/2

In the background, there are two egrets right next to each other. In the foreground, a third has its head all the way in the water as it tries to catch something.
A right profile view of the song sparrow.
The bird is walking on some paving stones.

urbandinosaurs, to Birds
@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social avatar

A few more picture from today, at State Line Lookout on the Palisades Parkway. In one sense, it's a highway rest area. But there are a number of hiking trails and some excellent viewing areas overlooking the Hudswon River. In fact, it's so popular that there is often metered parking—which sure isn't like any other highway rest area I've ever seen.
So: an osprey eating a fish, a turkey vulture in flight, a pair of black vultures perched, and a decrepit building.

The vulture is soaring.
A pair of vultures, perched in (of course) a dead tree. They’re both looking off to the side and down.
A decrepit house in the woods, of weathered brown wood. Much of the roof is gone, and the door is missing. Inside are what appear to be shipping pallets. There are a pair of windows off to the right; the glass appears to be intact. There is a cupola on top of the roof, apparently as a ventilation area.

kodymo, to random

What do you call a secret society that blocks IPv6?

IllumiNATi

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