- Joye’s “moreutils” collection – http://joeyh.name/code/moreutils/. Contains following:
- chronic: runs a command quietly unless it fails
- combine: combine the lines in two files using boolean operations
- ifdata: get network interface info without parsing ifconfig output
- ifne: run a program if the standard input is not empty
- isutf8: check if a file or standard input is utf-8
- lckdo: execute a program with a lock held
- mispipe: pipe two commands, returning the exit status of the first
- parallel: run multiple jobs at once
- pee: tee standard input to pipes
- sponge: soak up standard input and write to a file
- ts: timestamp standard input
- vidir: edit a directory in your text editor
- vipe: insert a text editor into a pipe
- zrun: automatically uncompress arguments to command
- num-utils – http://suso.suso.org/programs/num-utils/. Contains:
- average: A program for calculating the average of numbers.
- bound: Finds the boundary numbers (min and max) of input.
- interval: Shows the numeric intervals between each number in a sequence.
- normalize: Normalizes a set of numbers between 0 and 1 by default.
- numgrep: Like normal grep, but for sets of numbers.
- numprocess: Do mathmatical operations on numbers.
- numsum: Add up all the numbers.
- random: Generate a random number from a given expression.
- range: Generate a set of numbers in a range expression.
- round: Round each number according to it’s value.
- Scylla and Charybdis, Tools – http://www.scylla-charybdis.com/tool.php. Contains:
- checkrun: Program watchdog to terminate a program with starving output)
- cmpfast: Fast compare two files binary)
- count: Copy lines, shows progress)
- dbm: A little tool to access gdbm files from shell.)
- dirlist: Primitive directory lister, quicker than ls, find and echo *)
- diskus: Disk geometry checking and repair tool)
- getrealpath: Print realpath to stdout)
- histogram: Count bytes in file)
- kdmktone: Make the console beep)
- keypressed: Nonblocking, nondestructible test for waiting data on TTYs, sockets and probably pipes)
- killmem: Protect some memory against paging until you need free memory)
- lockdir: Create a directory for locking purpose)
- lockrun: Exclusively run something by placing a file lock)
- md5chk: Create md5sums for easy shell usage)
- minicron: This is a program which starts other programs after some time)
- mvatom: Move files by atomic rename instead of copy.)
- printansi: Like /bin/echo but ANSI-escapes the output)
- printargs: Like “hello world” but dumps the argc array)
- ptybuffer: daemonize interactive tty line driven programs with output history)
- runningfor: Return true until the given time periode is reached.)
- slowdown: Slowdown processes or pipes.)
- socklinger: Execute quick hack shell scripts connected to a socket.)
- sq: SQLITE3 query tool for shell usage)
- timeout: Execute a command or pipe only for a given duration.)
- timestart: Start a program N-M times in parallel by running it it each A-B seconds)
- tinohtmlparse: Simple HTML parser to extract information from HTML files by shell)
- tinoseq: An integer seq implementation)
- udevraw: Dump udev events for bash usage)
- unbuffered: Copy stdin to stdout and stderr, unbuffered)
- watcher: A Python2.6 script to watch files, pipes or Unix domain sockets)
2012.06.25
More unix tools
2012.05.21
Disabling MS Windows updaters and other unwanted features
Disabling MS Office Upload Center
Options:
- To disable the Office 2010 Upload Center you can run msconfig, click Startup and remove the check next to “Microsoft Office 2010” that references MSOSYNC.EXE.
- Go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14 (or whatever your program files folder is) and rename MSOUC.exe and MSOSYNC.exe into something non-execeutable (e.g. MSOUC.exe-original and MSOSYNC.exe-original).
- Open regedit > Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run > Delete the entry for MSOSYNC.
- Use Autoruns to disable use of MSOSYNC (HKCU\Software|microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\OfficeSyncProcess) at the boot time
Sources:
- “disable upload center via OCT 2010” – http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/officesetupdeploy/thread/79e88e72-e9a2-4740-a41e-dbec4511ec59
- “Remove Office Upload Center From Taskbar System Tray” by Nakodari (addictiveTips; 2009.11.15) – http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/remove-office-upload-center-from-taskbar-system-tray/
- “Windows 7 – I Want to REMOVE Upload Center from 2010” – http://www.sevenforums.com/microsoft-office/142835-i-want-remove-upload-center-2010-a.html
Other update and fast starter pests
- Adobe:
- Adobe updater: AdobeARM: c:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\arm\1.0\adobearm.exe
- AdobeARMservice: c:\program files (x86)\common files\adobe\arm\1.0\armsvc.exe
- Flash player update: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil10q_ActiveX.exe -update activex
- Adobe Flash Player Updater service: c:\windows\syswow64\macromed\flash\flashplayerupdateservice.exe
- Google:
- Google Installer:
- GoogleUpdateTaskMachineCore: c:\program files (x86)\google\update\googleupdate.exe
- GoogleUpdateTaskMachineUA: c:\program files (x86)\google\update\googleupdate.exe
- Google update service:
- gupdate: c:\program files (x86)\google\update\googleupdate.exe
- gupdatem: c:\program files (x86)\google\update\googleupdate.exe
- Google Installer:
- Microsoft Office 10 Sync: BCSSync: c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 14\bcssync.exe
- MozillaMaintenance: c:\program files (x86)\mozilla maintenance service\maintenanceservice.exe
- Oracle Java Update scheduler: SunJavaUpdateSched: c:\Program Files\Common Files\java\java update\jusched.exe
2012.05.16
Law-vs-technology
Sites
- ArsTechnica: Law & Disorder – Tech Policy News – http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/ | Intellectual Property – http://arstechnica.com/discipline/intellectual-property/ | Privacy – http://arstechnica.com/discipline/privacy-2/
- Berkman Center – http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/
- Center for Democracy and Technology – https://www.cdt.org/ | Blog – https://www.cdt.org/blog
- COMMERCE AND TECH LAW blog – http://www.bna.com/ecommerce-tech-law-blog/ | RSS – http://www.bna.com/rss.aspx?fid=12884902166
- FOSS Patents – http://www.fosspatents.com/
- Groklaw – Digging for Truth – http://www.groklaw.net/
- Lauren Weinstein’s Blog – http://lauren.vortex.com/
- Michael Geist’s Blog – http://www.michaelgeist.ca/
- NXT – Internet policy and governance dissected – http://news.dot-nxt.com/
- ITU and WCIT (World Conference on International Telecommunications) watch – http://news.dot-nxt.com/United%20Nations/ITU
- Policy by the Numbers – http://policybythenumbers.blogspot.com/
- Techdirt – http://www.techdirt.com/
- The Technology Liberation Front – http://techliberation.com/
- The Volokh Conspiracy – http://volokh.com/
- Web Policy blog by Jonathan Mayer (Stanford University)- http://webpolicy.org/ – “a blog about technology, policy, and law“.
- World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) leaks – http://wcitleaks.org/
Related here: Information disclosure sites – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/information-disclosure-sites/ | WikiLeaks – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/wikileaks-2010/ | ACTA – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/acta/
2012.05.05
Shell-In-A-Box
- Project page – http://code.google.com/p/shellinabox/
- Shell In A Box implements a web server that can export arbitrary command line tools to a web based terminal emulator. This emulator is accessible to any JavaScript and CSS enabled web browser and does not require any additional browser plugins.
- http://www.freshports.org/www/shellinabox/
- Shell In A Box is a web server that can export arbitary command line tools to a
web based terminal emulator - “Shell In A Box Gives Your Browser Terminal Status” by Ken Hess (2010.09.19) – http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7864/
- Shell In A Box gives you simple web-based terminal access to your Linux system.
- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/shellinabox
- “How to install Shell In a Box” – http://www.acmesystems.it/shellinabox
- “shellinabox With Apache Authentication Over HTTPS 443” (scottlinux.com; 2010.12.15) – http://scottlinux.com/2010/12/15/shellinabox-with-apache-authentication-over-https-443/
- “Shellinabox” by BobJunior – http://bobjunior.com/linux/shellinabox/
- http://freecode.com/projects/shellinabox
- Shell In A Box implements a Web server that can export arbitrary command line tools to a Web-based terminal emulator. This emulator is accessible to any JavaScript and CSS enabled Web browser, and does not require any additional browser plugins. Most typically, login shells would be exported this way: “shellinaboxd -s /:LOGIN”. This starts a Web server at http://localhost:4200 that allows users to log in with their username and password and to get access to their login shell. The connection will be encrypted if SSL/TLS certificates are available.
- “Installing Shell In A Box – Ubuntu Server 11.04” (YouTube video) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4sgJY7-_r0
2012.05.04
Firewalls
- FirewallBuilder – http://www.fwbuilder.org/
- Firewall Builder Tutorial – The Basics (YouTube) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5GPrkwyGxw
- YouTube tutorials on firewalls:
- Linux – Setting up iptables firewall rules (Video 2 of 4 for setting up Linux RouterGateway) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq2FwaT9yRQ
- IPtables, NAT, firewall en linux – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqYTfSrS_6k
- Basic IPtables configuration walkthrough – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkEsTEvHaLs
- Example IPtables RuleSet – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnXU3WzqjhM
- 09-Iptables.avi – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnIpznJ7K0k
- Iptables (Firewall Linux) – http://www.jeffersoncosta.com.br – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDqSZLNlJ_A
- Firewalling in Linux using IPtables Sp8scorp – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDkFxdjzWQs
- How to Configure IPtables in Ubuntu – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7rpCha1lTY
- Configuring and Implementing Linux’s iptables – Part 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PsTYAd6MiI
- Configuring and Implementing Linux’s iptables – Part 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCmSybYFbgY
- Configuring and Implementing Linux’s iptables – Part 3 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLQn7cpwnak
- Configuring and Implementing Linux’s iptables – Part 4 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TicONyWnjpI
- Mastering IPTables, Final Installment – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JojqHKcSxpo
More on this blog: IpTables – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/iptables/ | Personal Computer Security > Personal Firewalls – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/personal-computer-security/ | Port Knocking – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/port-knocking/
2012.04.27
2012.03.14
Pretty little tables
Recently I have seen in an math forum this:
and just a few days later this one, too:
Pretty little tables, aren’t they? How could they be so regular? Can they be generalized somehow?
Answers are: yes, you will see, and yes.
Wonder #1
Let’s first take a look at the first table:
Table 1 |
|
In order to understand it one has to work not with the specific numbers (digits), but with their abstract representations. For this, we will work with a number system of base (), which in the orginal tables is . Then we can rewrite several first members of the Table 1 as follows:
- ,
- ,
- ,
- etc
Ok, we see some regularity here. To proceed further, rewrite the row of that table in the form a mathematical equation , transforming the first beautifully looking number () into second beautifully looking number .
Here the series is:
- ,
- ,
- ,
- …
- .
A side note: Note that . It can be explicitly summarized as follows:
For example, for that formula yields : , , …, , etc. |
Let’s go back to the main line of discussion.
Now we are interested in the following derivative series . The straightforward manipulation leads to the anticipated result:
.
i.e. . The initial pyramid of simple results holds for every base .
Example: for we have , so , , etc. Then, for example .
Wonder #2
Let’s look at the Table 2:
Table 2 |
|
Here the first (i.e. the independent) variable is the exactly same as the one used for Table 1. The second (i.e. the dependent) variable is new one, determined by defining equation:
-
,
Then, using steps similar to these used in analysis of the Table 1, we get:
,
where there are copies of digit 1.
Nice. Easy.
Wonder #3
Table 3 |
|
Table 3* |
|
Wonder #4
Table 4 |
|
Option Explicit Sub sortIP() 'sorts IP addresses Dim i As Long, j As Long, k As Long Dim IP Dim rg() Dim RangeToSort As Range Dim IPaddress As String Dim IPColumn As Long IPaddress = "#*.#*.#*.#*" Set RangeToSort = Selection 'If just one cell selected, then expand to current region If RangeToSort.Count = 1 Then Set RangeToSort = RangeToSort.CurrentRegion End If 'Check if row 1 contains an IP address. If not, it is a header row 'first find column with IP addresses. Check row 2 since row 1 might be a Header IPColumn = 1 Do Until RangeToSort.Cells(2, IPColumn).Text Like IPaddress If IPColumn > RangeToSort.Columns.Count Then MsgBox ("No valid IP address found in Row 1 or Row 2") Exit Sub End If IPColumn = IPColumn + 1 Loop If Not RangeToSort(1, IPColumn).Text Like IPaddress Then Set RangeToSort = RangeToSort.Offset(1, 0). _ Resize(RangeToSort.Rows.Count - 1, RangeToSort.Columns.Count) End If 'one extra column for the IP sort order ReDim rg(RangeToSort.Rows.Count - 1, RangeToSort.Columns.Count) For i = 0 To UBound(rg) For k = 1 To UBound(rg, 2) rg(i, k) = RangeToSort.Cells(i + 1, k).Text Next k IP = Split(rg(i, IPColumn), ".") For j = 0 To 3 rg(i, 0) = rg(i, 0) & Right("000" & IP(j), 3) Next j Next i rg = BubbleSort(rg, 0) For i = 0 To UBound(rg) For k = 1 To UBound(rg, 2) RangeToSort.Cells(i + 1, k) = rg(i, k) Next k Next i End Sub '------------------------------------------- Function BubbleSort(TempArray As Variant, d As Long) 'D is dimension to sort on Dim temp() As Variant Dim i As Integer, j As Integer, k As Integer Dim NoExchanges As Boolean k = UBound(TempArray, 2) ReDim temp(0, k) Do NoExchanges = True For i = 0 To UBound(TempArray) - 1 If TempArray(i, d) > TempArray(i + 1, d) Then NoExchanges = False For j = 0 To k temp(0, j) = TempArray(i, j) TempArray(i, j) = TempArray(i + 1, j) TempArray(i + 1, j) = temp(0, j) Next j End If Next i Loop While Not NoExchanges BubbleSort = TempArray End Function |
Related here: Excel to text – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/excel-to-text/ | Excel files processing – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/excel-files-processing/ | IT tips pages – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/it-tips-pages/
2012.02.06
Skills acquisition
- “Why Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule is wrong” by David Bradley (BBC Future; 2012.11.14) – http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20121114-gladwells-10000-hour-rule-myth
- “Zap your brain into the zone: Fast track to pure focus” by Sally Adee (New Scinetist; 2012.02.06) – http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328501.600-zap-your-brain-into-the-zone-fast-track-to-pure-focus.html
- “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” by Amy Chua (Wall Street Journal; 2011.01.08) – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html
- Can a regimen of no playdates, no TV, no computer games and hours of music practice create happy kids? And what happens when they fight back?
- … What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you’re good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences. …
Books
- “Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success” by Matthew Syed – http://www.amazon.com/Bounce-Federer-Picasso-Beckham-Science/dp/0061723754/
- “The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life – Master Any Skill or Challenge by Learning to Love the Process” by Thomas M. Sterner (Author) – http://www.amazon.com/The-Practicing-Mind-Developing-Discipline/dp/1608680908
- Book’s home page – http://www.thepracticingmind.com/
- Derek Sivers review of the book – http://sivers.org/book/PracticingMind
- “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell (2008) – http://gladwell.com/outliers/ | @WikiPedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_%28book%29 | @Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017930
Related: On importance of practice – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/on-importance-of-practice/
2012.01.27
2012.01.24
Quacks everywhere
Bruce Lipton
- “Bruce Lipton, quack” at Atheist in a (Metaphorical) Foxhole blog – http://inafoxhole.livejournal.com/83321.html
Dr. Joseph Mercola
- “FDA Orders Dr. Joseph Mercola to Stop Illegal Claims” by Stephen Barrett, M.D. (at QuackWatch; 2012.02.01) – http://www.quackwatch.com/11Ind/mercola.html
- “9 Reasons to Completely Ignore Joseph Mercola” by Joseph Albietz (Science-Based Medicine) – http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/9-reasons-to-completely-ignore-joseph-mercola-and-natural-news/
- Postings on Dr Mercola at Science Blogs
- “Dr. Oz defiantly embraces The Dark Side” – http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/01/dr_oz_finally_unequivocally_embraces_the.php
- As 2011 dawns, there is no doubt in my mind that Dr. Oz has now inevitably crossed the Woo-bicon, gone over to the Dark Side, betrayed the cause, gone woo, or whatever you want to call it. I say again: Stick a fork in him. He’s done, as far as science-based medicine goes. That’s because he featured one of the biggest promoters of quackery on the Internet on his show in one fawning segment after another. I’m referring, of course, to Dr. Joe Mercola, who was the main guest on The Dr. Oz Show yesterday in segments entitled The Alternative Health Controversy (part 1, part 2, part 3), coupled with another segment entitled The Surprising Supplement You Need. Let’s just say that Dr. Oz’s journey to the Dark Side is now complete. He has controlled his fear but released his woo, and it is strong woo indeed.
To give you an idea of just how bad this is, take a look at the introduction to the show before the credits. Dr. Mercola is described as a “pioneer in alternative medicine” and “a man your doctor doesn’t want you to know.” I don’t know about you, but hearing that made me think instantly of Kevin Trudeau and his now-infamous book of quackery Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You To Know About.
2011.12.06
C|Net’s Download.Com trojans
- “C|Net Download.Com is now bundling Nmap with malware!” by Fyodor (nmap-hackrs email list; 2011.12.05):
From: nmap-hackers-bounces@insecure.org On Behalf Of Fyodor Sent: Monday, December 2011.12.05 17:36 To: nmap-hackers@insecure.org Subject: C|Net Download.Com is now bundling Nmap with malware! Hi Folks. I've just discovered that C|Net's Download.Com site has started wrapping their Nmap downloads (as well as other free software like VLC) in a trojan installer which does things like installing a sketchy "StartNow" toolbar, changing the user's default search engine to Microsoft Bing, and changing their home page to Microsoft's MSN. The way it works is that C|Net's download page (screenshot attached) offers what they claim to be Nmap's Windows installer. They even provide the correct file size for our official installer. But users actually get a Cnet-created trojan installer. That program does the dirty work before downloading and executing Nmap's real installer. Of course the problem is that users often just click through installer screens, trusting that download.com gave them the real installer and knowing that the Nmap project wouldn't put malicious code in our installer. Then the next time the user opens their browser, they find that their computer is hosed with crappy toolbars, Bing searches, Microsoft as their home page, and whatever other shenanigans the software performs! The worst thing is that users will think we (Nmap Project) did this to them! I took and attached a screen shot of the C|Net trojan Nmap installer in action. Note how they use our registered "Nmap" trademark in big letters right above the malware "special offer" as if we somehow endorsed or allowed this. Of course they also violated our trademark by claiming this download is an Nmap installer when we have nothing to do with the proprietary trojan installer. In addition to the deception and trademark violation, and potential violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, this clearly violates Nmap's copyright. This is exactly why Nmap isn't under the plain GPL. Our license (http://nmap.org/book/man-legal.html) specifically adds a clause forbidding software which "integrates/includes/aggregates Nmap into a proprietary executable installer" unless that software itself conforms to various GPL requirements (this proprietary C|Net download.com software and the toolbar don't). We've long known that malicious parties might try to distribute a trojan Nmap installer, but we never thought it would be C|Net's Download.com, which is owned by CBS! And we never thought Microsoft would be sponsoring this activity! It is worth noting that C|Net's exact schemes vary. Here is a story about their shenanigans: http://www.extremetech.com/computing/93504-download-com-wraps-downloads-in-bloatware-lies-about-motivations It is interesting to compare the trojaned VLC screenshot in that article with the Nmap one I've attached. In that case, the user just clicks "Next step" to have their machine infected. And they wrote "SAFE, TRUSTED, AND SPYWARE FREE" in the trojan-VLC title bar. It is telling that they decided to remove that statement in their newer trojan installer. In fact, if we UPX-unpack the Trojan CNet executable and send it to VirusTotal.com, it is detected as malware by Panda, McAfee, F-Secure, etc: http://bit.ly/cnet-nmap-vt According to Download.com's own stats, hundreds of people download the trojan Nmap installer every week! So the first order of business is to notify the community so that nobody else falls for this scheme. Please help spread the word. Of course the next step is to go after C|Net until they stop doing this for ALL of the software they distribute. So far, the most they have offered is: "If you would like to opt out of the Download.com Installer you can submit a request to cnet-installer@cbsinteractive.com. All opt-out requests are carefully reviewed on a case-by-case basis." In other words, "we'll violate your trademarks and copyright and squandering your goodwill until you tell us to stop, and then we'll consider your request 'on a case-by-case basis' depending on how much money we make from infecting your users and how scary your legal threat is. [...]
- “Does CNET Download.com’s new installer install malware?” (HighTechReality.com blog; 2011.08.30) – http://hightechreality.com/2011/08/cnet-downloadcoms-installer-install-malware/
- “Download.com wraps downloads in bloatware, lies about motivations” by Lee Mathews (2011.08.22) – http://www.extremetech.com/computing/93504-download-com-wraps-downloads-in-bloatware-lies-about-motivations
- There was a time long, long ago when Download.com was the place I went for software. It’s been years, however, as the site repeatedly showed signs of devolving into a site every bit as bothersome as the many third-tier software repositories that hide genuine links below clever-placed advertisements and bundle toolbars with their “certified” local downloads.
- Download.com Caught Adding Malware to Nmap & Other Software – http://insecure.org/news/download-com-fiasco.html
Related: “SourceForge has lost its common sense” – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2015/06/03/sourceforge-has-lost-its-common-sense/
2011.11.29
Oh well
- “How Republicans are being taught to talk about Occupy Wall Street” by Chris Moody (Yahoo! News; 2011.12.01) – http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/republicans-being-taught-talk-occupy-wall-street-133707949.html
- “The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy” by Naomi Wolf (The Guardian; 2011.11.25) – http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/25/shocking-truth-about-crackdown-occupy
- The violent police assaults across the US are no coincidence. Occupy has touched the third rail of our political class’s venality
- DHS coordinated violent attack on Occupy Wall Street protests in 18 cities.
- The mainstream media was declaring continually “OWS has no message”. Frustrated, I simply asked them. I began soliciting online “What is it you want?” answers from Occupy. In the first 15 minutes, I received 100 answers. These were truly eye-opening.
- The No 1 agenda item: get the money out of politics. Most often cited was legislation to blunt the effect of the Citizens United ruling, which lets boundless sums enter the campaign process.
- No 2: reform the banking system to prevent fraud and manipulation, with the most frequent item being to restore the Glass-Steagall Act – the Depression-era law, done away with by President Clinton, that separates investment banks from commercial banks. This law would correct the conditions for the recent crisis, as investment banks could not take risks for profit that create kale derivatives out of thin air, and wipe out the commercial and savings banks.
- No 3 was the most clarifying: draft laws against the little-known loophole that currently allows members of Congress to pass legislation affecting Delaware-based corporations in which they themselves are investors.
- “Reporters Meet the Fists of the Law” by Michael Powell (The New Yrk Times; 2011.11.21) – http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/nyregion/nypd-stops-reporters-with-badges-and-fists.html
- “Poet-Bashing Police” by Robert Hass (The New Yoirk Times; 2011.11.19) – http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/opinion/sunday/at-occupy-berkeley-beat-poets-has-new-meaning.html
- “Caught on Camera: 10 Shockingly Violent Police Assaults on Occupy Protesters” (AlterNet; 2011.11.19) – http://www.alternet.org/story/153134/caught_on_camera:_10_shockingly_violent_police_assaults_on_occupy_protesters/
- Probably 97 percent of police act professionally toward protesters. But the other 3 percent are armed and dangerous, and know that they’re unlikely to be held accountable.
- “Retired NY Supreme Court Justice Karen Smith Roughed up by Cops for Intervening in Brutal Beating of ‘Occupy’ Protester’s Mom” (Moral Low Ground blog; 2011.11.17) – http://morallowground.com/2011/11/17/retired-ny-supreme-court-justice-karen-smith-roughed-up-by-cops-for-intervening-in-brutal-beating-of-occupy-protesters-mom/
- “Homeland Security Coordinated 18-City Police Crackdown on Occupy Protest” (Washington’s Blog; 2011.11.16) – http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/11/homeland-security-coordinated-18-city-police-crackdown-on-occupy-protest.html
- Remember when people were freaking out over the Patriot Act and Homeland Security and all this other conveniently ready-to-go post-9/11 police state stuff, because it would obviously be just a matter of time before the whole apparatus was turned against non-Muslim Americans when they started getting complain-y about the social injustice and economic injustice and income inequality and endless recession and permanent unemployment? That day is now, and has been for some time. But it’s also now confirmed that it’s now, as some Justice Department official screwed up and admitted that the Department of Homeland Security coordinated the riot-cop raids on a dozen major #Occupy Wall Street demonstration camps nationwide yesterday and today.
- “Did Mayors, DHS Coordinate Occupy Attacks?” by Allison Kilkenny (In These Times; 2011.11.16) – http://inthesetimes.com/uprising/entry/12303/mayors_dhs_coordinated_occupy_attacks/
- “Raids on OWS coordinated with Obama’s FBI, Homeland Security & others” (News from Undeground; 2011.11.15) – http://markcrispinmiller.com/2011/11/raids-on-ows-coordinated-with-obamas-fbi-homeland-security-others/
- “Journalists obstructed from covering OWS protests” (CPJ [Committee to Protect Journalists]; 2011.11.15) – http://www.cpj.org/2011/11/journalists-obstructed-from-covering-ows-protests.php
2011.11.25
Life writing
- “The Life Reports” by David Brooks (New York Times; 2011.11.24) – http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/opinion/the-life-reports.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general
Books
- “The Authobiographical Consciousness of Aging” by Edmund Sherman (Morris Publishing 2000; ISBN 0-9701446-0-1′ LCCCN 00-91343)
- this book is out of the print
- “For All Time: A Complete Guide to Writing Your Family History” by Charley Kempthorne (Boynton/Cook; 1996; ISBN-10: 0867093811; ISBN-13: 978-0867093810)- http://www.amazon.com/All-Time-Complete-Writing-History/dp/0867093811/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322280896&sr=8-1
- review: [DEARMYRTLE-L] BookShelf: For All Time: A Complete Guide to Writing Your Family History (1999.03.02) – http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/DEARMYRTLE/1999-03/0920384853
Sites, People
- Charley Kempthorne’s “The LifeStory Institute” – http://www.thelifestoryinstitute.com/LifeStoryMagazine.html
- Capturing Memory site – http://www.capturingmemories.com/reading.html
2011.11.21
Implementations of programming languages in other programming languages
- BicaVM – Javascript implementation of JVM – https://github.com/nurv/BicaVM
- This project is an implementation of a JVM in JavaScript. At the moment it runs Java code, but is more like a proof of concept than a real JVM. A lot of work is required to make this JVM run Java code
(including writing an entire runtime enviroment).
BicaVM can interpret a big chunk of the JVM’s bytecode (probably around 60%). However, it is wildy incomplete. It has a JNI interface that maps to JavaScript functions. It has no JIT compilation.- “BicaVM: JVM in JavaScript – Why?” by Artur Ventura (Surf The Edge blog; 2011.11.20) – http://www.surf-the-edge.com/2011/11/15/bicavm-jvm-in-javascript-why/
- “JavaScript JVM Runs Java” (SlashDot; 2011.11.21) – http://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/11/21/0454254/javascript-jvm-runs-java
- article – “JavaScript JVM runs Java” by Mike James – http://www.i-programmer.info/news/167-javascript/3360-javascript-jvm-runs-java.html
- “JSava: a Java bytecode interpreter in JavaScript” (at “Things I’ll Forget In A Month”) – http://blog.zortrium.net/archives/96
Firefox GUI inside Firefox data frame
This is a fun stuff. One can open another instance of FireFox GUI inside the browser area where content of web pages is displayed.
Source: “JavaScript JVM Runs Java” (SlashDot; 2011.11.21) – http://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/11/21/0454254/javascript-jvm-runs-java
2011.11.18
Reality of wave function in quantum mechanics
- “Quantum theorem shakes foundations” by Eugenie Samuel Reich (Nature; 2011.11.17) – http://www.nature.com/news/quantum-theorem-shakes-foundations-1.9392
- The wavefunction is a real physical object after all, say researchers.
- “The quantum state cannot be interpreted statistically” by Matthew F. Pusey, Jonathan Barrett, Terry Rudolph (arXiv; 2011.11.14) – http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/1111.3328
2011.11.15
New Facebook machinations
- Facebook Privacy section at EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) – http://epic.org/privacy/facebook/
- Facebook and the Facial Identification of Users – http://epic.org/privacy/facebook/facebook_and_facial_recognitio.html
- “Facebook to alter privacy practices following FTC ruling” by Greg Masters (SC Magazine; 2011.11.29) – http://www.scmagazineus.com/facebook-to-alter-privacy-practices-following-ftc-ruling/article/217775/
- Users were deceived by Facebook, and now the social media giant is paying the price.
- “Facebook is obligated to keep the promises about privacy that it makes to its hundreds of millions of users,” Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the FTC, said in a statement. “Facebook’s innovation does not have to come at the expense of consumer privacy.”
- The FTC charges chronicle a number of misleading or untrue assertions about privacy that Facebook made, but did not keep, including: not warning users when a change to its “Friend List” allowed private information to be exposed; stating that third-party apps would not access personal information beyond what they needed to operate; claiming that the “Verified Apps” program certified the security of participating apps; promising users it would not share personal data with advertisers; and insisting that it complied with the U.S.-European Union Safe Harbor Framework that governs data transfer between the United States and certain European nations.
- “Facebook Settles FTC Charges That It Deceived Consumers By Failing To Keep Privacy Promises” (FTC; 2011.11.29) – http://ftc.gov/opa/2011/11/privacysettlement.shtm
- In December 2009, Facebook changed its website so certain information that users may have designated as private – such as their Friends List – was made public. They didn’t warn users that this change was coming, or get their approval in advance.
- Facebook represented that third-party apps that users’ installed would have access only to user information that they needed to operate. In fact, the apps could access nearly all of users’ personal data – data the apps didn’t need.
- Facebook told users they could restrict sharing of data to limited audiences – for example with “Friends Only.” In fact, selecting “Friends Only” did not prevent their information from being shared with third-party applications their friends used.
- Facebook had a “Verified Apps” program & claimed it certified the security of participating apps. It didn’t.
- Facebook promised users that it would not share their personal information with advertisers. It did.
- Facebook claimed that when users deactivated or deleted their accounts, their photos and videos would be inaccessible. But Facebook allowed access to the content, even after users had deactivated or deleted their accounts.
- Facebook claimed that it complied with the U.S.- EU Safe Harbor Framework that governs data transfer between the U.S. and the European Union. It didn’t.
- “24 year old student lights match: Europe versus Facebook” by Kim Cameron (Identity Weblog; 2011.10.13) – http://www.identityblog.com/?p=1201/li>
- Europe vs Facebook – http://europe-v-facebook.org/EN/en.html
- Facebook’s Data Pool – http://europe-v-facebook.org/EN/Data_Pool/data_pool.html#Target
- europe-v-facebook.org YouTube channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/europevfacebook#p/c/8ED10AB2E76CD62E
- “Facebook Ireland accused of creating ‘shadow profiles’ on users, nonusers” by Laura Locke (CNet; 2011.10.21) – http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20123919-93/facebook-ireland-accused-of-creating-shadow-profiles-on-users-nonusers/
- “Facebook Patent to Track Users Even When They are Not Logged In to Facebook” by Bruce Scheier (2011.10.24)- http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2011/10/facebook_patent.html
Related here: Facebook privacy? What Facebook privacy? – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/facebook-privacy-what-facebook-privacy/ | Facebook foolies – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/facebook-foolies/ | Unending stream of Facebook privacy news – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/unending-stream-of-facebook-privacy-news/ | More Facebook news – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/more-facebook-news/ | Facebook monkeying again with user trust model – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/facebook-monkeying-again-with-user-trust-model/ | Scan for your Facebook privacy – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/i-want-you-to-scan-for-facebook-privacy/ | Facebook leaks users IDs to advertisers – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/facebook-leaks-user-ids-to-advertisers/ | Facebook mulls U-turn on privacy – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/facebook-mulls-u-turn-on-privacy/ | Mark Zuckerberg’s birthday present: Facebook in crisis – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/mark-zuckerbergs-birthday-present-facebook-in-crisis/ | Temptest in a teapot – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/05/15/1202/