SteveBellovin

SteveBellovin, 6 hours ago to random

This is one of (many) lessons I learned, way back when, from Brian Kernighan. His approach: first, get it right (my phrasing: there's no benefit to doing the wrong thing thing quickly); second, measure, because your guesses about bottlenecks are almost certainly wrong; third, optimize.
https://infosec.exchange/@larryosterman/112486986728658068

SteveBellovin, 6 days ago to random

If Florida becomes completely submerged, does it still get two senators?
https://press.coop/@NPR/112451055007288192

SteveBellovin, 8 days ago to random

There was a slogan when I was at AT&T of "Our Common Bond", but I didn't know they meant bail bonds…
https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/112441115030608987

SteveBellovin, 8 days ago to random

How you know I live in an academic neighborhood.

SteveBellovin, 11 days 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, 12 days ago to random

Is it true that Republicans don't like "Return of the Jedi" because "Ewok" is an anagram of "woke"?

SteveBellovin, 13 days ago to random

Well, the Brother support web pages kept me from going out and buying a new printer/scanner—their fix worked. They lost out on an immediate sale, but that (plus, of course, the fact that they don't play weird, privacy-invasive games with toner cartridges) has helped confirm that this is the ONLY brand I'll buy.

SteveBellovin, 17 days ago to random

I get the feeling they haven't updated their web site lately…

SteveBellovin, 19 days ago to random

The story about the officer whose “gun went off” gets better and better. From the NY Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/03/nyregion/nypd-columbia-shooting-hamilton.html): “The officer, who was not identified, was approaching a barricade on the first floor of Hamilton Hall when he fired his gun, which had a flashlight on it, the police said.” Apparently, the NYPD doesn't believe in stand-alone flashlights or miner's lights on their helmets, and of course safeties have to be off to use the flashlight function.
https://mastodon.lawprofs.org/@SteveBellovin/112374521412998273

SteveBellovin, 20 days ago to random

“NYPD Officer Fired Gun Inside Columbia’s Hamilton Hall, Manhattan DA’s Office Confirms”: https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/05/02/nypd-officer-fired-gun-columbia-hamilton-hall-raid/
Also note this: “Cohen said no students and only police officers were in the immediate vicinity when the shooting occurred.” In other words, the officer had their gun drawnfor no reason and used flash-bangs when that would not be normal for this sort of situation. It is lucky that no one was killed. (It's probably also why the NYPD wanted no journalists or legal observers present.)

SteveBellovin, 22 days ago (edited 22 days ago) to random

I gave a retirement/farewell talk today. Video at https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/talks/farewell.mp4; slides at https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/talks/farewell.pdf.

SteveBellovin, 22 days ago to random

Note that that is after graduation—if it occurs.
https://journa.host/@w7voa/112363347141688823

SteveBellovin, 22 days ago to random

The NYPD has closed off streets leading to the Columbia campus. I saw trucks with stand-lights going to campus, though just why isn't clear—and I can't get close enough to find out. There are several TV news copters circling around the area, though, plus there were plenty of journalists outside campus. The University has apologized for the "limited media access" on campus.

SteveBellovin, 23 days ago to random

Cats and boxes: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/us/amazon-package-cat-utah-california.html?unlocked_article_code=1.oE0.3AL3.5Qdw6kw_e6mN&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare (gift link)

SteveBellovin, 28 days ago to random

I have questions…
https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/112326402687724234

SteveBellovin, 29 days ago to random

This campus lockdown sounds like they're blaming the demonstrations on outside agitators. Somehow, I think I've heard that phrase before.
https://press.coop/@nytimes/112320871735808066

SteveBellovin, 1 month ago to random

I also found some ancient Usenet maps.

A map from April 15, 1981, showing noticeable growth, though in the same areas.
A June 1 map, with even more slow growth. It’s mostly the same areas, but more sites in each. Quite notable: a link over the ARPANET.

SteveBellovin, 1 month ago to random

Cleaning out my office, I found my old Unix licenses.

SteveBellovin, 1 month ago to random

From a science fiction book written in 2014…
https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/112298676107501073

SteveBellovin, 1 month ago to random

As many recent news articles have noted, Columbia was a hotbed of student unrest during the Vietnam War era. When I moved into the dorms and unpacked, I found that my parents had put this cartoon into a suitcase…

SteveBellovin, 1 month ago to random

There's a preprint (https://eprint.iacr.org/2024/555), not yet peer-reviewed, for what claims to be a polynomial time algorithm for breaking lattice-based encryption algorithms. I'm by no means qualified to even understand it, but it's very important for post-quantum algorithms if it holds up.

SteveBellovin, 1 month ago to random

An email from the president of Columbia says that she asked the NYPD to clear the demonstrators. This will not end well, regardless of where you stand on the issues. I suspect that the probability of disruptions to graduation ceremonies is approaching 1. I'm not even convinced that there will be in-person class for the rest of the semester—I've been through this before…

SteveBellovin, 1 month ago to random

So Columbia is apparently calling the police onto campus for the first time in >50 years. Bollinger, the immediate past president, said six years ago “the administration’s decision to call in the police in 1968 was “a serious breach of the ethos of the university” (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/arts/columbia-university-1968-protest.html). I wasn't there in 1968, but I was an undergrad in 1972, with my camera. Some scanned images… (Read the alt descriptions for detailed descriptions of the settings on campus.)
https://press.coop/@nytimes/112293077116786977

A line of helmeted police on W 118th St. outside the plywood-covered doors and windows to the International Affairs Building. There are many students facing them.
Helmeted police with nightsticks ready, and many students, on South Field. Two dorms are in the background.
The police charged into the crowd. (I apparently stopped running long enough to take this picture.) One student is on the ground, with a cop leaning over him; two plainclothes officers are watching. On the right of the image, a helmeted officer is swinging a nightstick at a woman.

SteveBellovin, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

Neat, and not a conspiracy theory: the solar eclipse caused a Doppler shift in the received frequencies for WWV (the US time standard radio)
Edited to add the link: https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=17&month=04&year=2024

SteveBellovin, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

A great article, and a worthy successor to Neal Stephenson's classic Wired article "Mother Earth, Mother Board".
https://infosec.exchange/@davep/112283134364856686