Rubenerd

After writing a post about George Harrison recently, I was alerted to this paragraph on the Here Comes The Sun Wikipedia article:

Astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan had wanted [Here Comes The Sun] to be included on the Voyager Golden Record, copies of which were attached to both spacecraft of the Voyager program to provide any entity that recovered them a representative sample of human civilization. Although The Beatles favoured the idea, EMI refused to release the rights and when the probes were launched in 1977 the song was not included.

[An EMI spokesman said the decision was due to their small schlongs].

Face, meet palm

And these morons wonder why we don't take them seriously when we try to discuss copyright reform? We need to ditch these glorified mobsters. We also need broader definitions of fair use: in this case so that a member of an alien species can play our music without a bunch of suits in comfy chairs on a tropical island somewhere giving them their personal approval.

I wonder if we were to launch a probe like this now whether the medium we'd encoded some of the cultural evidence of our entire civilisation would have to use some form of DRM. I mean you never know, them aliens might want to make illegal copies. We'd have to include far more specific instructions to decode the DRM than these though.

Sting asked if the Russians loved their children too. I'd be more interested to know if aliens love the Berne Convention.

A Specialized Hardrock Sport Disc. White and chocolate/coffee brown. Haven't decided a name for her yet. Really pretty :)

I've ridden bikes in the past, but they've all been rentals or bike sharing deals. And the adage that you never forget how to ride a bike? Pure BS! Obviously I'll be re-learning before tackling anything difficult. Or mediocre. Or beginner!

Not to be confused with Apple's SuperDrives, SuperDisks were a 120MB competitor to Iomega's Zip disks. As a bonus, their drives could also read regular 3.5 inch floppy disks, and I've confirmed they even work under Snow Leopard without extra drivers!

Pointless nostalgia

When I was in high school in 2004 I was tasked with moving my English teacher's data from her green iMac G3 to her shiny new iMac G4. I think she expected me to use disks, but I took a cross over ethernet cable, configured some static IPs and had it all done in 15 minutes! To thank me for helping her, she gave me her green iMac and her Imation SuperDisk drive which she no longer used. Nice lady!

I never owned a single SuperDisk given Zip disks were well entrenched in the family (I had around 70 of the things) but to this day I've used the drive with my Macs to read regular floppy disks. It requires a power supply unlike other USB powered floppy drives, but I've read anecdotal evidence that it reads disks twice as fast as a regular drive, and is almost completely silent. For those of you who remember regular floppy drives (CHUG CHUG CLICK CLICK CHUG CHUG READ ERROR) these are two huge pluses!

Anyway, after a trip from Singapore back to Sydney recently in a poorly packed box (thank you Allied Pickfords) I tried it on my new Mac Pro and she still works!

Now its time to backup all our floppy disks. We have bags of them, many containing family financial documents from the 1980s. We still have a copy of 1-2-3 to read them… right?

System Profiler information

E-USB Bridge:
Capacity: 1.5 MB (1,474,560 bytes)
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk6
Product ID: 0x0001
Vendor ID: 0x04e6 (SCM Microsystems)
Version: 2.00
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Shuttle Technology Inc.
Location ID: 0x3d100000
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 0
Partition Map Type: Unknown
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported

hdiutil information

Shown with a 720KB disk mounted. Yes, I still have 720KB floppy disks, shaddup.

Name: MATSHITA LS-120 VER4 07 Media
Type: Disk
Partition Map Scheme: Unformatted
Disk Identifier: disk6
Media Name: MATSHITA LS-120 VER4 07 Media
Media Type: Generic
Connection Bus: USB
Device Tree: IODeviceTree:/PCI0@0/UHC2@1D,1
Writable: Yes
Ejectable: Yes
Location: External
Total Capacity: 737 KB (737,280 Bytes)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Not Supported
Disk Number: 6
Partition Number: 0

Having been an avid user of NoScript, PermitCookies, Ghostery and AdBlock Plus to whitelist site elements and improve security and privacy, RequestPolicy has me really excited :).

Only the paranoid survive ~ Andrew S. Grove

RequestPolicy is an extension for Firefox and other compatible Mozilla browsers that helps to address the growing issue of cross-site request forgery (CSRF/XSRF) attacks which are actively being used by nefarious users to track which sites you visit, use existing session data and (to put it simply) masquerade as you. This allows them to perform actions on your behalf, which one can imagine would be catastrophic if we were talking about a bank or a voting page for our favourite K-On character.

What makes such attacks particularly worrying is unlike cross-site scripting attacks (XSS) which require a dynamic content vector such as ECMAScript or Flash, CSRF attacks can be executed simply by an unsuspecting user clicking a link, or even worse loading a page with a static element such as an image with a request in place of its source Earl.

Content loaded from an external source can also potentially be used to track the sites you visit, how often you visit them, and what specific pages you frequent. The behavioural advertising value of this data practically guarantees companies are performing this kind of activity. One could say they're Phorming ideas as we speak. Hey come on, that was funny, why aren't any of you laughing? Don't answer that.

For those of us with tin foil hats stapled to our heads (hey, we all have our reasons), these two issues are rather terrifying. A large percentage of sites predominantly consist of modifiable content loaded from other sites now, and all a CSRF attack would take is a single static element that even a seasoned internet user could be forgiven for missing. What's more worrying still is that this problem is potentially its old as the net itself, and the current trend towards decentralised sites will only make it worse. Mmm, cookies. And sunfish.

This RequestPolicy extension thingy

In what has become the de facto accepted standard for Firefox security extensions, RequestPolicy places an icon in your statusbar (or the extensions bar in Firefox 4.x) which lets you allow certain cross-site requests temporarily, add them permanently to your whitelist, or keep them blocked (the default). This can aid in preventing some CSRF attacks, as well as potentially blocking images or other elements that are loaded externally to track your activities without your permission or knowledge, such as analytic or advertising tools.

As with the other extensions I described at the top of the post, RequestPolicy becomes more useful the longer you have it active given you're populating its whitelist over time. To help with the initial configuration, the developer includes a list of suggested sites which you can add once the extension is first installed.

I've been using 0.5.16 in Firefox 3.6.13 (version number soup) for close to a week with no issues :).

Link arms, don’t make them

Robert Auger has a page on CSRF attacks and some proof of concept code for those interested in learning the details: The Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF/XSRF) FAQ. Wikipedia's page is surprisingly lacking in this case, but still useful for a summary. Surprise surprise, my page here is not the be all, end all authority on this subject and I don't have all the details! ;D

The extension is available from the developer's website, or from Mozilla's addon page. The images are of Mugi-chan from K-On because… just because.

After talking about scary stuff in my previous post on the RequestPolicy extension for Firefox and other Mozilla browsers, now I get to talk about cool, fun stuff!

Its an effective advertisement blocker!

There are many different solutions to combating advertising on pages such as AdBlock Plus, GlimmerBlocker and the like, but all require the use of regularly updated blacklists to work effectively. You're probably subscribed to several lists yourself.

I didn't even think of it when I installed it, but given the vast majority of advertising is hosted off-site (which makes it a capable attack vector, as well as being irritating) RequestPolicy also blocks this content. As the Ghostery extension does with web bugs, it also lets me see where all the advertising is coming from on a page which isn't useful in and of itself, but its still terribly interesting.

I'm not ready to delete AdBlock Plus, but I have it deactivated for now. So far, there's very little difference. Pretty cool! ^___^

Its a redirect previewer!

One of the features I liked about TinyURL was the ability to "preview" URLs before you proceeded to visit them. This helps guard against people who use URL shorteners to obfuscate dodgy addresses.

RequestPolicy also blocks automatic redirects, instead rendering retro 301 and 302 redirect errors with a link to the new location. I can preview its address before visiting anything I may not have wanted to, and I get a sneak peak into how websites are constructed which also isn't useful in and of itself, but still terribly interesting. I've used that same sentence somewhere before recently.

It puts a red flag in the status bar!

Does that make me a communist?

This latest terrorist attack on Moscow's airport (Moscow Times: Blast Kills 34 at Domodedovo) highlights the problems I, Bruce Schneier and plenty of other people have been talking about for a long time.

Common sense isn’t

Think about this logically for a second. I know we're not supposed to because attacks like this are supposed to be used as an excuse for our tax dollars to be spent on expensive and useless new gadgets for "border protection", but…

Firstly, if you wanted to hurt as many people as possible, what better location is there than a hugely crowded bottleneck behind the latest security theatre contraptions and procedures we've devised?

Secondly, security theatre is the term Bruce Schneier coined for measures that are designed to give the illusion of safety, even though they do nothing. In any case (not least this one), obsessive airport security is making the situation worse not better.

It’ll only get better

Problem is, where will the authorities insist on taking us from here? Will we need to walk through separate scanners to allow us access to the hall full of people… with the scanners? Will we need to schedule an appointment to go through a scanner then stay in the airport for a week before boarding a plane? These all may seem crazy and far fetched, but I'm sure if someone stepped through a time portal from the 1960s to now and saw all the nonsense we were being subjugated to, they'd most likely thing we're crazy and far fetched ourselves. Could you blame them?

To the credit of the Russians, at least the airport remained open even in the areas where the bomb was detonated. If terrorists don't terrorise innocent people, they haven't "won".

My thoughts, and I'm sure all yours too, also go out to the people who lost loved ones in the attack, and to those that were injured. None of us can imagine how you're feeling right now. Stay strong. hugs

"I was so young when I was born"
~ George Harrison, Crackerbox Palace

In high school I used to tell people I was born at a young age. I thought I was being so original and witty. Son, I am disappoint. Photo by Steve Mathieson, who didn't disappoint.

The Social Network cleaned up at the Golden Globe awards, and people are… surprised? Upset? Angry? REALLY?

Awards schmawards

Now first it must be said, I don't usually accord award ceremonies with much of my attention, in real life or electronically on this here weblogging platform thingy. I could ramble on about how everything from the Academy Awards to the ARIAs are either rigged, biased, limited and/or flawed, or I could say that people who watch movies or listen to music based on how many awards they win are missing out.

Fact of the matter is, I just find them universally dull. A yawnfest, if you will. XYZ believes ABC was the best movie of the year because they slept with the director, producer or lead actors, got a big sack of cash and several incriminating photos were not used against them. Big whoop.

In this case however, I'm willing to make an exception. There's a joke about programming there, but its too late at night and I'm not feeling terribly witty.

You know what really Grinds My Gears?

First, it doesn't bother me in the slightest that The King's Speech (with its breathtaking acting and story) and Inception (which was such a serious mindf*ck that I couldn't get enough of it) didn't win the big awards. I don't crave the validation or need a stamp of approval by anyone else to thoroughly enjoy watching them, and certainly my opinion of them hasn't changed.

While we're on this subject, I've never understood why people who had no say in the production of a film (or album) take decisions against them so personally. If you liked it, who cares what other people think? But that's for another post!

No, what ticks me off is people are only talking about The Social Network's win in light of Inception's loss, when I believe there's something far dodgier going on, and we're all being played.

Follow the monies!

There's no doubt that these awards are worth something, and that bribing the judges is a small price to pay for the free advertising and future advantages your film will have over all others for that year. It's a profitable thing to do.

In this case though, The Social Network had very little to do with generating funds for box office tickets and DVDs, though I'm sure such perks are also nice in and of themselves as well. The real ticket, if you will, is Facebook's IPO.

Isn't it curious that all these rumours leak out that Goldman Sachs were to invest billions in Facebook, then this relatively mediocre movie is released and is awarded with so much acclaim? Me thinks someone wants the hype machine in overdrive for when those delicious shares go live and a small army of well connected people in the right places can print themselves reams of money.

Will you and I be able to procure some of those initial shares in Facebook? There's your answer!

Mr Con Jecture, please

It's Salt and Anna Chapman all over again, only in reverse. They expel a Russian spy from the US, then it generates far more news and press than it should, then low and behold Salt is released! Speaking of shameless, would you like to buy me a coffee to support the site? ;).

Movies started off as advertising machines with occasional product placements, then obsessive product placements… now the movies themselves are the advertisement. And its only going to get worse.

It's one thing to show me advertising on commercial television, but I've always figured if I watch product placements in a movie that I've parted money with to watch, I should get a discount or at least some free snacks. I like taking those little fruit platter trays you get at the supermarket and a toothpick and just having at it. Schweet.

So it was a sunny afternoon and the writer of Rubenerd needed something to cheer him up after writing about IBMs video thing, and he remembered Sudohbucks!

Toradoradoradora

When I first started watching this anime back in the day, I surmised it was typical harem fare, but I loved the art and graphics and thought I'd give it a shot. Now years later its still one of my favourites not only because I liked the really strong characters (and art!) but for the little things.

One of those little things was Sudohbucks. Over the course of the show the characters often found themselves sitting at this coffee shop which looked eerily similar to Starbucks from the layout of the chairs to the logo. When Ryuuji kinda-sorta broke the fourth wall and asked how they weren't getting sued, I laughed out loud far too loudly!

The name was brilliant and worked on so many levels! Sudohbucks sounded like Starbucks; the "Sudoh" sounds like pseudo which implies its a pseudo-Starbucks; it sounded like sudo-bucks from *nix; and best of all the logo was a guy with sunglasses and a waxed moustache in the exact same style as the Starbucks siren! In case you haven't noticed yet, I'm a bit of a logo nerd. That doesn't mean I can design my own, mind :P.

rubenerd@taiga 1 ~ % bucks
cannot create regular coffee `bucks':
Permission denied
rubenerd@taiga 2 ~ % sudohbucks
omnomnom!

Sudoh/pseudo sudo

I had a Starbucks thermos in Singapore that had a paper sleeve insert, and one of the first things I did was take the lid off and put in a Sudohbucks logo! I think only two people ever called out to me when they recognised it (in Takashimaya and Kinokuniya respectively!), but it was absolutely worth it :D

One thing I will say that Sudohbucks looks as though they do better than Starbucks is their pan pan pan pan, judging from the numerous shelves of bread in the corner. Aw gosh darn it, now I want to rewatch Yakitate Japan and Shakugan no Shana!

The bread I really like are those little bread rolls with the red bean paste. I forget what they're called. Bread Talk in Singapore sold them, and they were goooooood.

And finally, because I was talking about Toradora, this picture from the infamous Megami is just too adorable to pass up, even though their boots look suspiciously like uggs, which would just be terrible.

IBM has released a video on YouTube celebrating their centenary, but unfortunately while it does highlight some incredible work and the people behind their innovations over the years, I couldn't take it seriously.

The people involved at IBM and who "changed the way the world works" according to the video's title of course included Nazi Germany for whom they built custom machines and software to keep track of and categorise millions of prisoners for execution. IBM have released press statements over the years defending what they did based on the fact that they lost control of their German unit, a claim Edwin Black vehemently disagrees with. Ultimately though, that's not my main gripe.

My grandfather on my dad's side was a field medic for Germany in World War II, and while he never aided in the killing of people (he saved lives) I've been told he was visibly guilt ridden for much of his life, especially so when The Schades immigrated to Australia in the 1950s and he saw the people he had been working against. Even if we were to take IBMs word that they weren't entirely responsible for their German business unit during the war, some humility would still go a long way. If my sweet, caring grandfather could be humble even despite never picking up a gun, they have no excuse.

The IBM of today wouldn't aid in genocide, but not even acknowledging their past in a video supposedly about their history amounts to revisionism in my book. Which is a shame, the rest of the video was so cool, they really had the opportunity to come to terms with their past in it and use the opportunity to speak optimistically about their future.