A very suitable quote for today:
“In September last year, Putin and Medvedev announced their plans to swap jobs after Medvedev’s presidential term expires in 2012. Putin said the plans were agreed four years ago when he picked Medvedev as his successor on the presidential post.”
— RIA Novosti, 2 March 2012
Well planned and executed. Duh, the democracy.… -->
continue reading →As Forbes joked, “in a country where there is an Old New Year must be an old new president too.”
On the elections:
On the “democraty”:
The unfortunate thing about the elections in Russia is that they are boring. At least in some other countries the elections are staged so that you have an illusion of a fight for power, you get excited over the process and wait eagerly for results. Russia does not bother. Boring.… -->
continue reading →In December, Microsoft apparently conceded to public pressure by quietly updating the Windows 8 logo certification requirements with a mandate that a desktop computer user must be able to control (and disable) the Secure Boot feature on any Windows 8 computer that is not based on ARM technology. This looks like a victory for free software users, as it will allow a person to install GNU/Linux or other free software operating system in place of Windows 8.
But, this is no time for celebration, because Microsoft has also added a treacherous mandate for makers of ARM-based computers — such as a tablets, netbooks, and smartphones — requiring them to build their machines with Restricted Boot technology. Such computers are designed to lock a user into only being able to run Windows 8, absolutely preventing her from being able to install a free software operating system on her computer. Since smartphones and tablets are some of the most commonly used computers, it’s vital that we get straightforward and clear information about this threat out to the public.
Already know what this is about? Then take action now:
If this is the first you’re hearing about this whole Restricted Boot vs. Secure Boot business, read the full story.
You can support this campaign and the rest of the FSF’s work by joining as a member or making a donation today.
Sincerely,
Josh, John, Matt, and Richard
Free Software Foundation
P.S. This is a verbatim copy of the FSF newsletter. I see no need to say it differently.… -->
continue reading →Plato says:
Rhetoric, it seems, is a producer of persuasion for belief, not for instruction in the matter of right and wrong … And so the rhetorician’s business is not to instruct a law court or a public meeting in matters of right and wrong, but only to make them believe.
Then the case is the same in all the other arts for the orator and his rhetoric; there is no need to know the truth of the actual matters, but one merely needs to have discovered some device of persuasion which will make one appear to those who do not know to know better than those who know.
How true, how true… The whole point of any public speaking, be it on TV or in a meeting room, is not to bring the enlightenment but merely to convince. And this simple truth takes years to discover. Some may think that reading Plato in the young age may spare us some difficulty and suffering but I disagree. One must become ready through experience to accept such simple truths.
The obvious consequence should not escape our attention: any public speaking should be seen as an attempt to convince you, not to make you better off. Simple, neh?… -->
continue reading →For those who forgot and for those who never knew: The Principia Discordia.
Remember to have fun!
And then tell about it. Or don’t.… -->
continue reading →This is about Russia and the best quote of the year is from Mikhail Zadornov:
In 2012 the rating of “United Russia” will rise faster than its popularity falls.
Applause!… -->
continue reading →The folks over at École Polytechnique of Lausanne have published a very interesting paper titled “Ron was wrong, Whit is right“. This is not too mathematical for a cryptanalitical paper and understandable even to someone without crypto background. It is more of an investigation into the properties of the public keys available publically on the internet. The guys explain how by collecting a large number of keys from the internet in very proper and official ways and analyzing them they were able to find collisions that basically allow one person to impersonate another not to mention some basically weak keys that offer no security at all. Fascinating stuff.
A cool comment is all the way at the bottom says:
“The lack of sophistication of our methods and findings make it hard for us to believe that what we have presented is new, in particular to agencies and parties that are known for their curiosity in such matters. It may shed new light on NIST’s 1991 decision to adopt DSA as digital signature standard as opposed to RSA, back then a “public controversy”.
Which is probably true, you know…… -->
continue reading →It is a very rare occasion when I want to endorse a product in a public way. However, now I am just in such a mood. I bought a WD TV Live Plus box a couple of months ago to hold my videos and photos at home. Unfortunately, it did not come with a wireless network connection so it had to stay off-line until yesterday.
And yesterday I had a crazy idea to stick a nano-WiFi (whatever that means) USB stick into it. The box has two USB slots to connect two USB hard drives. So I just put the wireless network stick into the second slot. I expected nothing, I was sure it would check that it is not a disk and then I would just put the WiFi stick back to the desk drawer whence it came. Imagine my surprise…
I open the settings menu and I see the wireless network settings staring back at me. To say I was dumbfounded does not even begin to describe my state at that point. After recovering my thoughts and a cup of tea I went about setting it up and 30 seconds later the thing was happily connected to my home network.
This is brilliant. I sincerely congratulate WD engineers on this piece of hardware. Not only it works great as a video player and a photo viewer but it recognized and used a piece of obscure hardware thrown at it without so much as a backward glance. Way to go, guys!
P.S. If you go and use it, make sure you have the HDMI interface, the “normal” video quality sucks.… -->
continue reading →Some people take security seriously by traveling light to China and Russia. An excellent routine is to erase the devices when you travel somewhere at all. Why carry all the important things that can get stolen? Keep it at home and take only the necessary – that is not only for security but a common sense too.
But you can get too paranoid. When the article mentions that “a thermostat in one of its corporate apartments were still communicating with an Internet address in China” you cannot help going like “yeah, right!” A healthy amount of paranoia is, well, healthy but this is taking the fear levels too far. Not to worry, soon your refrigerator will be reporting to China what you ate for breakfast back in California. Be scared.… -->
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