The world’s most powerful Rail Gun has been delivered to the Navy.  32 megajoules, at 3 million amps, sending that block of metal at mach 8.

I wonder how long it’ll take to charge that thing using my 150 amp house circuit?

I hate experts-exchange.  The web site.  Because if you have a weird technology issue, it seems to always be in the top 10 google hits.

But the answers on the page are always jumbled up.  So unless you join, you can’t view the answer to your issue.  For a long time I wished there was a way to tell google to just never display the results for that because it was worthless.

Today I found a better answer.

Using the google results against ‘em.

(more…)

Would you trust people who drink Ovaltine or Sunny D? 

I sure don’t.  Something just not right about them types…

Started to write a post about VNC but found one that said all I was going to.

If you need to provide remote desktop access to your organization’s Windows machines, and care even a little bit about IT security, do NOT use VNC. The Windows built-in Remote Assistance / Remote Desktop tools are a far better choice. This may seem obvious, but I still find organizations running VNC servers all over the place, usually for the helpdesk to provide users with remote troubleshooting. This can leave an environment ripe for compromise.
VNC has a few fundamental weaknesses:

• Most implementations do not require a username for authentication, and the password is stored in the registry using a trivial hashing mechanism. VNCcrack or Cain will instantly crack these hashes.
• There is typically no client-side confirmation or acknowledgment required for a VNC session to be established between a server and viewer, which can leave a user unaware that their activity is being monitored.
• Most significantly, because there’s no simple way to centrally manage VNC servers, administrators will typically use the same VNC password for every host to facilitate configuration and deployment. So if you compromise one Windows box through local vulnerabilities and gain access to its registry, you can obtain a VNC password that will work on every other machine in the environment. Not good.

I write and support a remote access security software for Windows environments called WiSSH - Windows over SSH.  What it does is tunnel the Microsoft Remote Desktop protocol (RDP) over the standard SSH protocol.  Very fast, very easy, very secure.

I keep wanting to make a version of WiSSH that supports VNC.  VNC is also a remote desktop style protocol.  I’ve used it in the past for several reasons but it is not nearly as robust and secure as RDP.  Mainly to allow you to remote control Linux and Mac systems through the same interface used in WiSSH.  I am still actively working on this and hope to have it ready soon.  However all the security faults seem to be on the host side, not the client side.  So my part of the equation will be clean at least.

It has been a grrrrrreat day!

Lewis Black.

The Valtrex commercial-

70% of people get herpes from their partner when there was no sign of an outbreak.

Or something like that…

But doesn’t that mean that 30% of the people who got herpes said “Sure, you got flaming open sores, lets fool around!”  I’d say that the 30% of the people surveyed pretty much deserve what they got.

Look Closely…..

Keep Looking ………..

  Do You see it now??

I know you can see it now ……..

If you don’t stand behind our troops, please feel free to stand in front of them.

Not sure, but Pirate-King.com is #4 on Google for that particular search.

Ezra Levant fights the fascists.  I mean, the Canadian Government.  Same thing.

Watch the videos.  If they don’t chill you to the bone you are not a Free person.

“Mohammed is dead.”  That is the most powerful statement I’ve seen in many a year.  Ezra said that in response to the bureaucrat saying that Mohammed was offended. 

Speaking of that nameless bureaucrat, I’m sure she’s looking to file lawsuits against everyone who calls her mean names.

The nearest active galaxy to us. That’s pure raw energy shooting out right there.  Incredible picture…

Mythbusters: Firearms Folklore 2006 episode.
I have to scream when something is done so wrong, and this episode was done soooo wrong.
I do love Mythbusters, well i did, seems they have fallen down hill in a major way over the years, what a shame.

Anyhow they were testing a story from the Vietnam war where a sniper (Carlos Hathcock) shot through the enemies sites (clear through and into his head). They managed to get the correct rifle by failed to get the correct sites, they used a multi-lens scope instead. So go figure the shot could not be made as per the story they were testing.

NOTE: the sites used by the Vietnamese were tiny sites typically a 2 lens simple “scope” not a modern 10 lens hunting scope.

so they busted the story.. sigh!

Anyhow those things make me scream & I had to share! I wish they would do their research correctly seems they are doing things half arsed anymore. shame.

Tomorrow I take the CISSP test.  It’s a toughie.

Thanks to Chad for reminding me that I can still post on his site. I’m a regular reader and like to follow his enthusiasm for technology which I share.

However I’ve been getting a bit bored of late. I’m not sure if it’s due to my simply getting bored with hi tech or whether it’s something deeper - perhaps a technological plateau of sorts.

Take for instance the humble PC. Thanks to Chad - who pushed me to get A+ certified - I now “roll my own.” My latest project was about 7 months ago when I upgraded to a Core2Duo 4300, a nice mobo the Gigabyte 965p, and a 7900gs graphics card. I’ve Oc’d the rig and can play Crysis at a decent clip on low settings, although I’m working at boosting my 3DMark06 score by tweaking things more.

In my modest home I have 2 laptops, three functioning desktops plus a few obsolete machines that I fire up every once in awhile just to remember “the good old days.” These include a Power Computing Mac clone and the Macintosh Powerbook 145B I dragged to African bush and hooked up to a solar panel. I run Wireless G hooked into Comcast cable broadband, with FIOS tantalizing close (the fiber is hung but not yet lit). My Centrino Duo laptop is now a TV accessory, used as a info tool for everything from TV schedules to ClementinesfromSpain.com.

So why am I bored with all this technology?

There is really nothing out there that really gets my pulse racing. I see quad core chips, but apps that can handle dual core apps are still few and far between. I’d like a better TV, but we’re considering moving sometime over the next 2-3 years and the thought of dragging a 50″ across the country is pretty daunting. I listen to music in the car, so iPods are not my thing. I don’t watch much in the way of movies or regular TV shows - so that and the fact that I don’t have a decent TV kills Blu-ray/PS3 and Tivo.

Nothing out there gets my blood rushing. I suspect it’s me, but is it possible that there is really no new revolutionary gadget out there that everyone must have. Am I missing something?

The Differences Between Men and Women

A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and soccer games and romances and best friends and favorite foods and secret fears and hopes and dreams.

A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

What sucks:  Every certification program that tests your knowledge of the OSI model.

What’s the OSI model?  The theoretical model for how computers talk to each other.  This is the Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application layer thing.  A nice seven layer cake.  Your application such as email client or web browser would talk down the layers from application to physical on your computer, go down the wire in little bursts of electricity, and back up the layers on another computer.

And when you take many Microsoft, Cisco, CISSP, or other computer technology test, you’ll get lots of questions on the OSI model.

Why does this suck?

Because the only network technology in actual use by, well, everyone, is TCP/IP.  That’s what your home computer, cell phone, work machine, web server, email system, smart refrigerator, and everything else uses.

And the TCP/IP protocol does not do the OSI model.  All your time learning the OSI model is wasted.  Because it doesn’t exist in the real world.  Gains you nothing but confusion.

Lets talk… passwords.

Why does everyone hate password policies?  Because of the security people who write the policies.  Its the laws of unintended consequences.

Security guys would love to make you change your password every week, at least.  And have it be 16 characters long full of weird symbols and such.  So they tighten up things as much as they can get away with.  User hassle is NOT THEIR PROBLEM you see.  They’ve said that to me.  That they are proud that they work to the detriment of the user community.

And then you do the obvious thing and make really good use of the post-it notes on your desk.

I’ve been doing this tech stuff a very long long time.  And I’m incredibly well versed in security.  And I have a password or two written on a post-it note on my desk because it is impossible to remember the damn thing.  This particular password the security policy won’t let me change to something I’d know.

Now, which would you be willing to do for a good password? 

• Change it constantly, constantly forget what you changed it to, losing time while waiting on the help desk to reset your password, write it down under the keyboard. 
• Or use a nice long password, 24 characters or longer.   A pass phrase or sentence.  But one that you maybe change once a year at most.  And that every system at work will let you use.  Something you can remember easily because you don’t have to change it.
• What is 4 numbers long and is the most important thing to you?  Something much more important than any access to any system you may have at work?  Your PIN number for your bank account.  4 numbers.  That’s it.

Yeah… number 1 is your current state of affairs at just about any company.  I can easily deal with the second option.  You use a nice long password but you can remember it easily.  Or just use the third option, because if a cracker gets a hold of the password database, they’ll have every password cracked in a few days using a single computer, so its a hopeless game anyway. 

If you’re talking national security that’s one thing.  Anything less though…

This is really what I hear when I listen:

John Jackson: “It’s time someone had the courage to stand up and say: I’m against those things that everybody hates.”
Jack Johnson: “Now, I respect my opponent. I think he’s a good man. But quite frankly, I agree with everything he just said.”
John Jackson: “I say your three cent titanium tax goes too far.”
Jack Johnson: “And I say your three cent titanium tax doesn’t go too far enough.”

So don’t expect much live-blogging debates from here…

Although from what I hear, Thompson won the last debates by ganging up on everyone else… by himself!

Let’s see your iPhone do this.

Windows Mobile 6 devices can install this hack that will turn the handheld into a wifi router. 

So if you are driving along with a few friends and feel like firing up a few laptops out of boredom and cruising the Internet or gaming, with a few clicks on the handheld you’re working. 

Study sessions in the middle of a park with no public access points?  Same deal.

People may bitch and whine about Microsoft devices all the time.  And the PocketPC platform isn’t perfect by a long shot, as they need regular reboots, and the interface itself is a little clunky.  But you can hack those things like mad using pretty simple software development tools.  I’ve written stuff for it myself.

Yeah, that’s what she said!