SteveBellovin

SteveBellovin, 5 months ago to random

Mastodon is growing up—I just reported (and blocked) my first porn spam, which arrived via DM.

SteveBellovin, 1 year ago to random

This is why HSMs are important: https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/110347381169632573

SteveBellovin, 1 year ago to random

Back when my kids were young, we did model rocketry. Here's a sample commercial launch pad: https://estesrockets.com/product/002215-porta-pad-ii-launch-pad/. Note the horizontal metal plate: the blast deflector. In other words, even low-powered model rockets need—and use—blast deflectors.

SteveBellovin, 4 months ago to random

No idea how or when a cold virus snuck past the N95 mask I habitually wear, but it's been so long since I've had one that I'd forgotten how unpleasant they can be. (And yes, I had a PCR test to rule out Covid, RSV, and the flu—the NYC Health Department still believes there's a pandemic going on, so PCR tests are easy to get and free.)

SteveBellovin, 1 year ago to random

I generally give open-ended exam questions. I think, if I were ever to give another exam (which at this point is extremely unlikely), I'd ask ChatGPT the question and ask the students to analyze its response for correctness and completeness.

SteveBellovin, 6 months ago to random

I'm staring at the ports on a USB-C dock and wondering where the world went wrong. Apart from five USB-A jacks (1.5A power), there are six identical-looking jacks. Three are Thunderbolt 4, but one can deliver 98W and the other two only 15W. The other three are labeled “USB-c 3.2 Gen2 (10Gb/s)”—but one front-panel jack delivers either 5V/3A or 9V/2.22A (20W), while the other two are 1.5A (7.5W, implying 5V). Huh?

https://xkcd.com/927/ for the win.

SteveBellovin, 9 months ago to random

This story implies that something about the slot machines has (I assume indirect) Internet connectivity, which poses a fascinating challenge for their security people…

https://journa.host/@w7voa/111052255988674440

SteveBellovin, 11 months ago to random

A draft version of my paper "Netnews: The Origin Story” is at https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/papers/netnews-hist.pdf. Comments welcome, especially by email.

SteveBellovin, 11 months ago to random

On Amtrak’s Empire Service, staring at the Hudson, and wondering if Amtrak has to check the tide tables when making up its schedules.

SteveBellovin, 8 months ago to random

Ooh—a review of Emily Wilson's new translation of the Iliad: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/09/21/iliad-translation-emily-wilson-review/. I've preordered it; it apparently comes out on Sept 26. (I thoroughly enjoyed her translation of the Odyssey—and I've read many others.)

SteveBellovin, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

Looking at the dependency tree for some homebrew packages on my Mac, I see that xz is required by Python 3.12, which (up a chain of dependencies) is needed by gnuplot, which I do need… I also see that netpbm, fig2dev, ghostscript, groff, imagick, psutils, and xfig also indirectly depend on xz.

I'm tempted to blow away the whole tree and only reinstall stuff when I actually need to use it, while I wait for the dust to settle.

SteveBellovin, 2 months ago to random

Read this thread! The older I get, the less I value a narrow education. You don't know where your career or interests are going to lead you. Learn to think, and learn what others before have thought and thought/taught about thinking.
https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/110390739226017146

SteveBellovin, 1 month ago to random

So I’m trying to decide if my camera saw the aurora—I certainly did not. But here’s one shot where I cranked up saturation and vibrance (whatever that is) and you can see the color bands. The lowest is clearly city lights, but the purple? You can see stars in the area, so it isn’t clouds. The control, I guess, will be going out again in a few nights and taking a similar picture. (15 seconds, f/4, ISO 200).

SteveBellovin, 19 days ago to random

Cleaning out my office and stumbled on an old RS-232 breakout box, for DB-25 connectors. I don't really want to get rid of it, but I haven't used even a DB-9 serial port for decades…

SteveBellovin, 2 months ago to random

Driving back from seeing the eclipse in Vermont, I saw a car with a license plate that said “SHA-3”. Old-timers will remember the fake “UNIX" license plates saying “Live Free or Die”, which is on real New Hampshire license plates. Someone I know saw a car with what appeared to be a real version of that… (Oddly enough, both cars were Teslas.)

SteveBellovin, 2 months ago to random

Forwarded to me: https://twitter.com/annabower/status/1776273207223312601?s=42

SteveBellovin, 9 months ago to random

There are few things more satisfying to those of a certain persuasion than successfully repairing something never meant to be repairable.

SteveBellovin, 11 months ago to random

I do not, and will not, have a threads.net account. I mean, I already don't have an Instagram or a Facebook account; why should I want one for another Meta product…

SteveBellovin, 8 months ago to random

Just waiting for someone in the House Lunatic Caucus to nominate tfg as Speaker.

SteveBellovin, 7 months ago to random

Oh, my—news reports say that Jack Smith has granted Mark Meadows immunity (https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/24/politics/mark-meadows/index.html). He knows where all of the bodies are buried…

SteveBellovin, 4 months ago to random

We've reached a state where pre-schoolers need to understand spreadsheets…

SteveBellovin, 7 months ago to random

I can never keep track of whether it's the fifth or the sixth of November I’m supposed to remember.

SteveBellovin, 6 months ago to random

I'm trying to understand the signs on this high voltage cabinet. When the sign says “GROUND SWITCH”, do they mean the physical location of the switch or its electrical earth connection? If the latter, why would you ever need to switch ground at a substation? And the second picture—is a 13.2KV switch cabinet the best place for pot heads to light up?
I'm sure there are technical explanations for both, but I'm confused… (Randall's Island in NYC.)

image/jpeg

SteveBellovin, 7 months ago to random

Shocked, etc.: https://press.coop/@nytimes/111388143387046635

SteveBellovin, 6 months ago to random

So here I am doing my normal bird photography, this time at State Line Overlook on the Palisades Parkway between New Jersey and New York, when I saw some rather unusual birds—warbirds. F-18s, I think. Here's all I know about the event: https://www.silive.com/news/2023/11/flyover-near-verrazzano-narrows-bridge-planned-for-thursday.html

(I should add: I'm glad that there was advance warning. When I was driving home from the overlook, there were at least half a dozen police cars near the George Washington Bridge and I saw at least one person being arrested. Worrisome…)