Nostr notes by Steve Bellovin

Hard for me to compare, given the temporal differences, but ...

2026-08-10T01:32:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…ekhr
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Hard for me to compare, given the temporal differences, but I'll list four: Nantucket (2000), where Maria Mitchell was born and did her early astronomical work (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Mitchell), and which can have very clear skies, despite being a small island; Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah (2001), where the night sky view from the rim is spectacular; Death Valley National Park Nevada (2026), a formal dark sky area; and, circa 1980, a rural area south of Chapel Hill, NC, where I lived for a few years when in grad school. One winter evening, I don't recall just when, there was supposed to be a good meteor shower, so several of went out to watch it. The sky was spectacular, and one didn't have to look hard to see *lots* of meteors.
(Aside: when my kids were in elementary school, there was supposed to be a good meteor shower. For assorted reasons, including timing and park operating hours, none of the nearby parks were suitable. I was living in a densely populated area of New Jersey, with lots of light pollution, so the best available spot was the local schoolyard. When we got there, we saw that at least a dozen others had the same idea. A cop stopped by, wondering why there were so many people in lawn chairs in the schoolyard at that hour of the evening. I was far back, so I didn't get to hear the conversation, but I'm sure he drove away muttering about these weird people…)

Sounds bad, though perhaps not as bad as the time one flew into ...

2026-07-27T17:16:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…gegm
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Sounds bad, though perhaps not as bad as the time one flew into my mouth while I was bicycling and stung my tongue…

You are in a maze of twisty little hyperlinks, all broken.

2026-07-21T18:14:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…set7
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You are in a maze of twisty little hyperlinks, all broken.

I'm not listed, but I translated the C version to PL/I for ...

2026-07-21T17:47:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…mt6z
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I'm not listed, but I translated the C version to PL/I for IBM OS/360 TSO. It caused such a crunch on terminals at the computer center that I was asked to add time-of-day restrictions on when it could be played.

Yup. Let me put this in quantitative terms. As far as I know, in ...

2026-07-06T14:01:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…dc9k
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Yup. Let me put this in quantitative terms. As far as I know, in all US research universities every CS PhD student is fully funded. This might be by a student's own fellowship, from their employer or home country, but considerably more often it's via research grants. The funding has to cover all of tuition plus a stipend to cover (subsistence-level) living expenses, plus necessary research travel and equipment, e.g., laptops. (There's also "overhead", a separate complex topic I won't go into.) At Columbia, where I taught before I retired, that meant that every PhD student required $80-100K per year. A typical faculty member had a group of about 5 PhD students. This meant that we had to bring in an average of $400-500K per year in new research funding, every year, plus more if you needed specialized lab equipment or money for cloud services or the like. And I was not allowed to admit PhD students unless I could show that I had money in hand for their first several years.

Trump's research funding cuts and shenanigans have resulted ...

2026-07-06T12:53:43Z

Trump's research funding cuts and shenanigans have resulted in a noticeable decrease in PhD enrollments, risking the future: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/us/research-universities-fewer-phds-science.html

We can approximate it, in principle, by the size of Wikipedia ...

2026-07-05T17:05:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…j9je
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We can approximate it, in principle, by the size of Wikipedia plus the size of the Google Scholar cache plus the sizes of the databases of the various journal publishers who lock up their wares behind paywalls that exclude even Google. We can approximate it by counting pages of journals and multiplying by the size of each page, by era—modern, born-digital pages are likely to be much smaller than older, scanned pages, and for that use you wouldn't want to rely on sketchy OCR, especially for all-important equations, tables of constants, etc.
Not that I know what any of those sizes are, but it is, at least, calculable. And in Project Hail Mary, we're dealing with a planet-wide effort on what is literally an existential crisis. (That laptop was one of the less incredible parts of the book, with astrophage being first…)

I would add: the courts have long held it's perfectly legal ...

2026-06-26T19:57:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…5rmu
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I would add: the courts have long held it's perfectly legal to spy on other countries abroad—that's simply military-type activity, or at worst part of foreign policy, and can be carried out under the inherent authority of the president. Courts have also held that within the US, the full protections of the Fourth Amendment apply, i.e., a warrant is needed for, say, a wiretap. But what if someone within the US—for simplicity's sake, assume a citizen—is believed to be spying for a foreign power? Would a wiretap be foreign intelligence (no warrant needed) or a criminal investigation (warrant required)? FISA tries to draw that line, with special courts (FISC, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and FISCR, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, an appellate court) to approve warrants as needed.

June 6 >> January 6…

2026-06-06T22:03:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…3rk6
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June 6 >> January 6…

In honor of June 6, International Antifa Day. ...

2026-06-06T21:26:02Z

In honor of June 6, International Antifa Day.

ihnp4 and harpo were Bell Labs machines, the former at Indian ...

2026-05-23T19:14:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…skm7
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ihnp4 and harpo were Bell Labs machines, the former at Indian Hill in Naperville, IL, and the latter in Whippany, NJ. Decvax was at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), ucbvax was University of California Berkeley, lbl was Lawrence Berkeley Labs, and randvax was, of course, at Rand. The vortex!lauren@LBL-CSAM is especially notable. First, it's pre-DNS — note the lack of a .edu or .org or what have you. Second, it says "send to a mail system at Lawrence Berkeley Labs, which will then relay it to vortex via UUCP.
(Aside: this is why I never liked the Twitter use of @ before a username — it's ahistoric, at least for US networks and the Internet. It should have been !username…)

My lab once bought an off-brand machine to run their variant of ...

2026-02-05T02:05:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…vceh
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My lab once bought an off-brand machine to run their variant of 4.xBSD. Their compiler and/or hardware set the result to zero on an integer overflow—which is acceptable for int but not for unsigned, and the latter was causing me problems: the C language definition was quite explicit about what the result should be. I filed a bug report; their response was, in essence, WONT FIX. I forwarded the correspondence to Dennis—and a patch came out in a very few days…

And I translated it into PL/1 to run on TSO.

2026-01-20T16:52:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…fyh7
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And I translated it into PL/1 to run on TSO.

That was my thought (both parts…)

2026-01-16T03:30:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…5typ
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That was my thought (both parts…)

Anyone know who came up with the phrase "spicy ...

2026-01-16T03:19:38Z

Anyone know who came up with the phrase "spicy autocomplete" for LLMs?

It won't happen, given the heavyweight process for amending ...

2026-01-11T14:01:56Z

It won't happen, given the heavyweight process for amending the US constitution (¾ of the states must ratify!), but I keep wondering what a reasonable amendment or tranche of amendments would be necessary to keep MAGAism from happening again. Out of scope: something like switching to a parliamentary system, since that would take a constitutional convention and a whole new document. Anti-gerrymandering? Strengthening the Fourth Amendment to seriously constrain ICE-like tactics? Change some "should appoint" to "must appoint" for various offices, with backup mechanisms in case the president doesn't act? Clearer assertion of Congressional control over the budget and war-making?

RE: https://flipboard.social/@newsguyusa/115850233260885949 ...

2026-01-06T21:34:16Z

RE: https://flipboard.social/@newsguyusa/115850233260885949

Denmark says that if the US attacks Greenland, it will be the end of NATO. Of course, to Trump, that's a feature. Better yet, to him, his BFF Vladimir would love it.

quoting
note159h…v0xs

President Trump is considering using military force to acquire Greenland, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tells CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/06/trump-greenland-military-white-house.html

For some reason, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFvxqQTh3m4 is ...

2026-01-03T12:57:42Z

For some reason, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFvxqQTh3m4 is on my mind this morning. Also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB4xpqNSYpk and lots of disgusting history.

And take care of your students, both your advisees and classroom ...

2025-12-20T02:07:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…yjmp
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And take care of your students, both your advisees and classroom students. I've heard some truly horrific stories to accompany requests for short extensions on something. My response is always the same: take care of yourself, don't worry about the deadline, I'll do everything I can to support you if you have to appeal to the dean's office for an exception, and TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF—that's far more important than an arbitrary academic deadline. On more than one occasion, a student has asked for a one week extension due to a family tragedy that I knew was going to require them to get an Incomplete while they processed what happened and grieved—and I made sure that the dean's office knew how strongly I supported the request. People are important. Family is important. Close friends are important. Academic work? Much less so—and apart from anything else, you can't possibly do good academic work when your head and your heart are elsewhere.
I can't make their pain go away. I can make sure I don't add to it.

In the UK, at least, checks are apparently all but ...

2025-12-07T01:31:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…p36q
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In the UK, at least, checks are apparently all but extinct—everything seems to be done by EFT (or so I've been told by an American who lived there for about 10 years).

An Alice's Restaurant Photo Tour: ...

2025-11-27T15:09:51Z

An Alice's Restaurant Photo Tour: https://urbandinosaurs.org/blog/2024-12/2024-12-07.html

Yes! Make it easy for users to do the right thing.

2025-11-25T17:36:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…htwh
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Yes! Make it easy for users to do the right thing.

The Trump regime wants to start making a list of Jews ...

2025-11-22T20:37:04Z

The Trump regime wants to start making a list of Jews (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/us/eeoc-university-pennsylvania-antisemitism-jewish.html). Now where have I heard that one before?

I'm waiting for him to threaten states that don't issue ...

2025-11-10T22:09:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…2ces
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I'm waiting for him to threaten states that don't issue their own pardons for these people—a move like that would be entirely consistent with his MO.

This! I've been saying for >30 years! ...

2025-11-09T22:21:13Z

This! I've been saying for >30 years!
https://infosec.exchange/@boblord/111364179503219142

Apart from anything else, the known technical problems facial ...

2025-10-29T14:48:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…rkym
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Apart from anything else, the known technical problems facial recognition apps have with darker-skinned faces is itself cause for worry. Also, all such algorithms are inherently worse at a one-to-many match, as opposed to a confirmation match ("this face really does belong to John Doe").

I was driving through Baltimore recently and I saw signs tacked ...

2025-10-23T21:12:57Z

I was driving through Baltimore recently and I saw signs tacked to poles saying "Cash for Diabetic Supplies". Everything about that makes me ill.

Damn, you saw the secret hyperspace portal? Careless of them.

2025-10-22T00:07:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…nwpy
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Damn, you saw the secret hyperspace portal? Careless of them.

I loved that album—and never listened to it again after Kennedy ...

2025-10-21T23:11:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…dw7a
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I loved that album—and never listened to it again after Kennedy was shot.

Best sign I’ve seen thus far: “United we ribbet. Divided we ...

2025-10-18T15:13:50Z

Best sign I’ve seen thus far: “United we ribbet. Divided we croak.”

There are fairly disgusting, not to say dishonest, recruiting ads ...

2025-10-01T14:45:24Z

There are fairly disgusting, not to say dishonest, recruiting ads for ICE on DC-area TV programs. They're aimed at current law enforcement officers, playing on their oaths of office (sanctuary cities require you to not protect the people you were sworn to protect) and saying that ICE only arrests "the worst of the worst", which in reality seems to mean anyone brown-skinned, as opposed to the "predators" the ads talk about. And there's a $50K sign-up bonus, student loan forgiveness, etc.
Are these ads showing elsewhere?

Also see ...

2025-09-26T14:15:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…lcny
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Also see https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10346/ids-not-that-easy-questions-about-nationwide-identity-systems, a short 2002 report from the US National Academies on questions that have to be answered before one can even intelligently discuss a national ID card system. (Disclaimer: I was on the committee.) Note the stress on uses of the card—and the varying that Wendy has pointed out.

I never saw the movie but long ago, I read the book.

2025-09-25T17:23:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…7ucc
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I never saw the movie but long ago, I read the book.

The raptor is coming tomorrow. ...

2025-09-22T21:47:58Z

The raptor is coming tomorrow.

For some reason, this Doonesbury cartoon, from 1982, keeps coming ...

2025-09-16T17:55:35Z

For some reason, this Doonesbury cartoon, from 1982, keeps coming back to me: https://www.washingtonpost.com/doonesbury/strip/archive/1982/8/26

Providing IDs to every voter is a really hard problem. But the ...

2025-09-01T02:57:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…etyl
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Providing IDs to every voter is a really hard problem. But the Supreme Court has upheld the right of states to require it.

The evidence is considerably more nuanced—and if you want to ...

2025-08-24T19:38:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…68he
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The evidence is considerably more nuanced—and if you want to disagree, please bring footnotes. Early quotes here are from Hasegawa's "Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan" (paperback edition) (though I've read the same in other books in my library).
First: Japan was attempting to use the USSR as an intermediary to negotiate with the US (p 189, among many other places). After the invasion, the emperor said "The Soviet Union declared war against us, and entered into a state of war today… Because of this, it is necessary to study and decide on the termination of the war." (P 198). "The evidence is compelling that the Soviet entry into the war had a strong impact on the peace party. Indeed, Soviet attack, not the Hiroshima bomb, convinced political leaders to end the war by accepting the Potsdam Proclamation." (P 198). Army Deputy Chief of Staff Kawabe on Hiroshima: "With this development the military situation has progressed to such a point that it has become more and more difficult. We must be tenacious and fight on." (P 200). Also, from Gen. Marshall: "What we did not take into account… was that the destruction would be so complete that it ould be an appreciable time before the actual facts of the case would get to Tokyo." (Rhodes, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb", paperback edition, p 736.) On the other hand, the Emperor's surrender message to the Japanese people spoke of a "new and most cruel bomb". (Rhodes, p. 745).
Oh yes—there was a quasi-negotiation. The Potsdam Proclamation (which the Soviets were not signatories to) called for unconditional surrender. The Japanese reply, after the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, accepted that as long as the emperor could remain. Henry Stimson, Secretary of War, thought that Truman would go along (Rhodes, p. 742.) On the advice of Jimmy Byrnes, Truman's domestic advisor (and a strong anti-communist), the US gave an ambiguous response: "The ultimate form of government shall, in accordance with the Potsdam Proclamation, be established by the freely expressed will of the Japanese people". (Rhodes, p. 743.)
And that's not even getting into the whole question of how much longer Japan could hold out, given the US blockade and the food and general economic situation. But that's a whole separate question.

Just think—if we hadn't switched to semiconductor RAM, ...

2025-08-21T02:30:13Z

Just think—if we hadn't switched to semiconductor RAM, memory management could have been done by a core daemon, as opposed to the demon core. Gives new meaning to a process's storage requirements blowing up…
#obscureReferences

The article spoke of unsanitary conditions during processing. ...

2025-08-20T22:50:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…mj69
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The article spoke of unsanitary conditions during processing. I'm trying to figure out just what seafood processing plant would need to have Cs-137 around…

We now have a new definition of chutzpah… ...

2025-08-19T18:18:05Z

We now have a new definition of chutzpah…
https://flipboard.com/@newyorktimes/u.s.-6tjik97dz/-/a-zAHZ1lmBQrKXHqdRYRueAw%3Aa%3A3195393-%2F0

They may not have had a choice. Corporate moves at a higher level ...

2025-08-18T17:20:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…kg8e
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They may not have had a choice. Corporate moves at a higher level have separated them from NBC; it may be a requirement that they change (but I don't know for sure).

I use Nikon gear, not Leica (way out of my price range—Nikon is ...

2025-08-18T14:18:07Z

I use Nikon gear, not Leica (way out of my price range—Nikon is bad enough, given the lens I need for bird photography), but this linked-to article, about Leica's efforts in the 1930s and 1940s to help protect Jews from Hitler, was fascinating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leica_Freedom_Train
https://wandering.shop/@cstross/115048999830402514

Looking back at the proceedings of Usenix '84, the first time ...

2025-08-13T19:46:01Z

Looking back at the proceedings of Usenix '84, the first time I was on a program committee (https://archive.org/details/1984-proceedings-summer-salt-lake-city/page/n3/mode/2up). There were two program co-chairs and *four* PC members… This year, Usenix Security has >400 people on its PC. ( Lauren Weinstein (npub1lq6…nf7e), I see that you were at that conference, too.)

Some years ago in January, I had a morning meeting in the White ...

2025-08-11T21:44:23Z

Some years ago in January, I had a morning meeting in the White House complex. Walking from my hotel to the gate, I, too, was disturbed by the homeless people I saw. Why? It had snowed lightly overnight, and from the snow on their blankets it was clear that these people had spent the night outside.
*That's* what disturbed me—that in a country as rich as this one, people had to sleep outside in the snow, within blocks of the White House. (I don't remember for sure which park it was, but it was either Farragut Square, McPherson Square, or Lafayette Park—and the latter is literally across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.) The solution is *not* to deport them to West Hellhole, to avoid bruising 47's (or his enablers in the Cabinet or Congress) delicate eyes.

The State Department wants to kill the tourism industry: bonds of ...

2025-08-04T19:07:24Z

The State Department wants to kill the tourism industry: bonds of up to $15,000 for (certain) applicants for tourist or business visas.
https://apnews.com/article/state-department-visa-bond-d532b186abf6e39c621d1bd0995d7509

A lesson I learned many years ago: when doing a difficult cable ...

2025-08-03T18:06:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…a28f
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A lesson I learned many years ago: when doing a difficult cable snake, pull a string or even a looped string through, to make it easier to pull new ones through.

I bet that EMP attacks could knock out multiple ones at a time.

2025-08-02T00:14:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…c3xr
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I bet that EMP attacks could knock out multiple ones at a time.

Yup. (Years ago, I was at a NANOG (North American Network ...

2025-07-25T21:47:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…awrr
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Yup. (Years ago, I was at a NANOG (North American Network Operators Group) meeting where a nearby street had a line of backhoes parked. I think it was a warning.)

Oh, my—look what I just found unpacking a box after my move. ...

2025-07-20T01:02:22Z

Oh, my—look what I just found unpacking a box after my move. It's a bit anomalous, in that I never used a IBM 1401, though I did have a bit of experience (though not in assembler) with the 1410. Note the columns labeled "assembled instruction"—on some systems, including the IBM 1130 that I had a *lot* of experience with, the assembler could punch the binary into a card—useful on diskless or low-disk systems. Yes, you'd have to use fresh source cards when you changed the program, but that wasn't hard; the programmable—and by "programmable" I mean "changing wires on a plugboard"—card duplicators of the time could easily reproduce just the source lines and omit the binary from the last run.

Remember what happened when Pete Seeger was supposed to sing ...

2025-07-18T20:27:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…trmv
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Remember what happened when Pete Seeger was supposed to sing "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy"? (Aside: I first heard him sing that song on Channel 13 in New York City, now one of the flagship PBS stations. To the best of my recollection, neither the world nor the presidency ended as a result of that performance.)

Baking bread is so much fun. I started back in grad school, for ...

2025-07-12T21:02:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…c8h8
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Baking bread is so much fun. I started back in grad school, for the joy of creating something with my hands. I made some ciabatta yesterday, and have tentatively decided to make a loaf a week or thereabouts.

And by a curious coincidence, the president of the university is ...

2025-07-11T14:36:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…jmc8
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And by a curious coincidence, the president of the university is a Black man.

That was my thought, but the NYT says that the resignation has ...

2025-07-09T18:38:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…k353
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That was my thought, but the NYT says that the resignation has been in the works for weeks.

TVPLB? I saw Paxton live about 6-7 years ago, and his web site ...

2025-07-04T15:20:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…awz0
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TVPLB? I saw Paxton live about 6-7 years ago, and his web site lists performances as recently as last November.

For some reason, this Tom Paxton song from ~60 years ago is going ...

2025-07-04T15:08:59Z

For some reason, this Tom Paxton song from ~60 years ago is going through my brain these days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DULNTNQ5-G0 (warning: use of the N-word in one verse, but quite likely a historically accurate simulated quote for that time, place, and nominal speaker).

I swear, as I was scrolling I thought this was an Onion headline. ...

2025-07-03T19:57:22Z

I swear, as I was scrolling I thought this was an Onion headline.
https://flipboard.com/@newyorktimes/science-jpuunj5gz/-/a-KhzVHy5QRYm-yk515emFNQ%3Aa%3A3195393-%2F0

From a technical perspective, I know how to build ...

2025-06-27T19:19:47Z

From a technical perspective, I know how to build privacy-preserving age verification systems. That's the good news. The bad news is that the solution requires universal browser changes, an identity verification industry that doesn't exist, possession of strong ID documents (which we know from voter ID litigation rules out many people, including the rural poor) by all would-be users, a payment that is likely unpleasant for poorer families, and (perhaps) noticeable tech sophistication.
In other words, tech bros can still watch their porn; others can't. And per Mahmoud v. Taylor, I'm sure that Texas et al. will decide that that anything they don't like (1984? Fahrenheit 451? Dreams From My Father?) is adult-only and will require this hard-to-get credential.

Your first guess is close enough that I'll give the answer ...

2025-06-21T01:14:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…yu9d
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Your first guess is close enough that I'll give the answer now.
Take a close look at the tab on a phone cable (or on an Ethernet cable, which you're more likely to have lying around…). There's a wider part closer to the body of the jack, and then a narrow part. The wider part is what holds the plug in the jack; the narrow part sticks out, so you can push the tab down and remove the jack. That implies that if you cut off the narrow part, you can insert the plug into the jack but it will be hard to remove—unless you have something narrow enough (like the tip of a nail clipper lever) to reach into the slot and depress the tab.
As it happened, some hotels did truncate the tab, though I'm not 100% certain why—perhaps they thought that guests were going to steal the phones. But some of us really needed to plug our own gear into the phone line, back in the days when hotels didn't have Ethernet, let alone WiFi, and you had to carry a modem with you. (Some laptops had built-in modems, or you could carry a PCMCIA modem, a now-obsolete technology I won't bother explaining tonight…)
So: you can't unplug the phone from the wall, because of the truncated tab on the plug. But if you had a screwdriver in your travel kit (which of course I did), you could unscrew the jack from the wall, attach your own jack to the wires, and you're in business. (I'll let Matt Blaze (npub1jsl…93xu) describe the hardware in his own travel kit. Let it suffice to say that he carried far more than me.)

Very close—but what was my routine use for that? (And it had ...

2025-06-20T22:25:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…e9qp
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Very close—but what was my routine use for that? (And it had nothing to do with wiretapping.)

If you understand the functional purpose of this getup, you’re ...

2025-06-20T21:55:43Z

If you understand the functional purpose of this getup, you’re an old-timer like me who was willing to work around stupid restrictions. (Hint: often, the lever part of a nail clipper could achieve the same ultimate goal.)
Oh yes—that’s an RJ-11 phone jack, not an Ethernet port.

What’s it for!

Unpacking after a move is like one of those 15-sliding-pieces in ...

2025-06-14T17:08:43Z

Unpacking after a move is like one of those 15-sliding-pieces in a 16-square frame puzzles.

What are the odds it's carrying an IMSI catcher?

2025-06-08T22:40:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…ct2n
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What are the odds it's carrying an IMSI catcher?

As usual, I'm enjoying #PLSC. But I worry that I violated ...

2025-05-29T20:27:51Z

As usual, I'm enjoying #PLSC. But I worry that I violated some Los Angeles municipal law by walking the mile from my hotel to the venue—walking that far definitely seems to be Not Done around here…

"Asked in the documentary what message she had for people ...

2025-05-23T03:28:06Z

"Asked in the documentary what message she had for people today, she replied, “Be engaged. And don’t accept any order that your conscience could not approve.”"
https://flipboard.com/@washpost/world-gmn4hl27z/-/a-8UoEXyGEQZKc_WsruU73Fw%3Aa%3A419161690-%2F0

But that was real: ...

2025-05-21T16:48:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…q9lr
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But that was real: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chrome_Dome

He designed the first H-bomb, but kept his role secret for many ...

2025-05-19T19:52:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…dsjw
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He designed the first H-bomb, but kept his role secret for many years.

During college, I worked for a year at an IBM facility right next ...

2025-05-19T19:35:13Z

During college, I worked for a year at an IBM facility right next to the Columbia campus. Garwin had an office there with a big safe. The safe had a sign on it saying "Capacitance-Operated Alarm—Keep 4 foot distance". Now I know why… https://flipboard.com/@newyorktimes/home-page-91uottdbz/-/a-6XJ6S70-SUy-3LkCQAGhkg%3Aa%3A3195393-%2F0

I translated the C source to PL/1 to port it to TSO.

2025-05-16T18:29:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…46zy
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I translated the C source to PL/1 to port it to TSO.

Plugh

2025-05-16T17:57:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…0pce
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Plugh

So what is a RealID? In CS terms, it's a cache of information ...

2025-05-07T13:11:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…yfs7
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So what is a RealID? In CS terms, it's a cache of information from so-called "breeder documents". If you don't have a cached item, bring the breeder documents instead…

I object to your language — clowns are well-respected ...

2025-05-06T18:18:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…7l98
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I object to your language — clowns are well-respected professionals who have learned a difficult trade. Don't compare them to the Orange Chaos Monkey.

Sounds vaguely familiar, but if memory serves, that was the ...

2025-05-01T23:15:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…2u4c
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Sounds vaguely familiar, but if memory serves, that was the admin's userid. Of course, back then the password might have been the same, but back then you generally had an operator logged in full time.

Yup. Some years ago, after a cascading failure blacked out a good ...

2025-04-28T13:33:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…8hdr
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Yup. Some years ago, after a cascading failure blacked out a good chunk of the US, several people asked me if "hackers" had done it. My response was that power grid dynamics were so complex that there was no way attackers could predict what would happen. Sure enough, the eventual investigation showed that a series of improbable events had coincided; that plus the cascade effect did it. To quote myself, "complex systems fail in complex ways".

There may be companies with poorer customer service than Comcast ...

2025-04-18T22:10:57Z

There may be companies with poorer customer service than Comcast Xfinity, but right now I can't think of any.

This is an utterly insane (and worrisome) story. ...

2025-04-15T13:01:48Z

This is an utterly insane (and worrisome) story.
https://flipboard.com/@npr/politics-v8m4p3ukz/-/a-ZuNbzm5DTL-gmf8RK8N8Jw%3Aa%3A3195441-%2F0

He’d have preferred to use cattle cars, in homage to the Third ...

2025-04-09T18:43:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…hcgd
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He’d have preferred to use cattle cars, in homage to the Third Reich, but I don’t think the US rail system has them anymore.

Saying that Signal is "pretty secure and private" depends ...

2025-04-07T16:53:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…mhlr
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Saying that Signal is "pretty secure and private" depends on your definition of security. I discussed all of this on my blog two weeks ago (https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/blog/2025-03/2025-03-24.html); Matt Blaze (npub1jsl…93xu) has also made this point numerous times. Yes, the Public Records Act is important, but it's not the root of the security failure here.

There's an interesting Guardian article on the Signal chat ...

2025-04-07T15:34:38Z

There's an interesting Guardian article on the Signal chat fiasco: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/06/signal-group-chat-leak-how-it-happened (h/t Wendy M. Grossman (npub1gsa…q4wj)). I won't try to summarize the article; read it yourself. But we have a combination of an AI failure (the phone decided that it was Hughes' phone number), a UI failure (the phone did not make it crystal clear whose contact information was being updated, a user error (Waltz didn't read the phone screen carefully enough because of the second error), a technology problem (there's no official secure text message system, a policy issue (picking Signal even though it lacks important features to secure such exchanges), etc. To quote myself, "complex systems fail in complex ways."

During the Vietnam War years, there was a chant at protests: ...

2025-04-06T13:03:16Z

During the Vietnam War years, there was a chant at protests: “Hey, hey, LBJ / How many kids did you kill today?” Now, we can substitute "RFK" for “LBJ”.
https://flipboard.com/@newyorktimes/science-jpuunj5gz/-/a-GMRBEyibREO7w0YuunnECQ%3Aa%3A3195393-%2F0

Be strategic in your questions. They're not going to tell ...

2025-03-31T15:57:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…c6wt
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Be strategic in your questions. They're *not* going to tell you what's going on, nor will they say if it's a traditional “spying for China" investigation. They may be willing to say if the situation is related to the current ICE nonsense. No idea if they'll explain why they memory-holed his web page, etc.

The story would have been much more believable in that sense if ...

2025-03-24T20:26:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…usut
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The story would have been much more believable in that sense if it had been Hegseth who first invited the journalist…

Many years ago, I was on the Internet Architecture Board. The IAB ...

2025-03-22T00:21:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…8us4
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Many years ago, I was on the Internet Architecture Board. The IAB and the Internet Engineering Steering Group were about to issue an RFC on cryptography policy. Looking at the RFC numbers published around then, I sent a note to Jon Postel, the RFC editor, and asked if we could have RFC 1984. He replied, "We never reserve RFC numbers—but coincidences can happen." Guess what number the eventual RFC had…

I don't think EO numbers restart with each presidency. See, ...

2025-03-21T19:41:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…8us4
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I don't think EO numbers restart with each presidency. See, e.g., https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/executive-orders/joe-biden/2025 — but I wouldn't bet against Trump (or Musk…) wanting that number in particular for this order.

Or the military threats to Greenland and Panama. Plus all of the ...

2025-03-03T15:43:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…pewh
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Or the military threats to Greenland and Panama. Plus all of the millions who will die because of cuts to USAID, Medicaid (and maybe social security), public health in the US in general, and more.

This is stupid even by MAGA standards. I'd say that the ...

2025-02-11T17:13:36Z

This is stupid even by MAGA standards. I'd say that the proper place to hold a rally protesting such nonsense is Avenue of the Americas in New York City, but I fear that you have to know NYC to know what I'm talking about. Maybe I should post the answer with a spoiler warning… (I was pleased yesterday to see that United Airlines flight map is still showing Gulf of Mexico—but their US home page does not.)
https://journa.host/@w7voa/113986214111221662

In some of my CS lectures, I've had to say things like ...

2025-02-10T17:25:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…qhl7
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In some of my CS lectures, I've had to say things like “must avoid statistical bias—which isn't the same as, but can be related to, legal bias." In other words, I can't even teach straight CS without using forbidden words and concepts.

Waiting for the Orange Chaos Monkey to ban smartphones because ...

2025-01-31T17:08:51Z

Waiting for the Orange Chaos Monkey to ban smartphones because the original ARM chip they run on was co-designed by a trans woman, Sophie Wilson.

Well, you know what this administration thinks of facts…

2025-01-29T14:14:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…yccx
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Well, you know what this administration thinks of facts…

See 18 U.S.C. §2703 ...

2025-01-28T21:12:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…7uxp
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See 18 U.S.C. §2703 (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2703). Briefly, email requires a search warrant. Non-content information requires an order issued by a "court of competent jurisdiction”, as defined in 18 U.S.C. §2510(3) (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2711#3). Non-content information can be given or sold to anyone except a government entity (18 U.S.C. §2702(c)(6)) but content cannot be.

Whether or not they would like to, I can't say, but at least ...

2025-01-28T20:59:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…qek2
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Whether or not they would like to, I can't say, but at least for US users they're generally not allowed to give it to the government, by law and the Fourth Amendment. (Exception: the statute permits handing over email older than 180 days, but there's pretty strong agreement that that exception is unconstitutional.) They're not even allowed to hand over non-content data without a court order.

I worked part-time for PCLOB for a year—I resigned in ...

2025-01-23T01:20:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…asee
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I worked part-time for PCLOB for a year—I resigned in mid-January 2017, before the inauguration. (Full disclosure: for assorted legal reasons, I couldn't have stayed on past mid-February 2017, and since the Board didn't have a quorum (thank you, Mitch McConnell) there was nothing for me to do anyway—but I'd have resigned in any event.) It is instructive to read 42 U.S.C. §2000ee(h)(2) on the qualifications for being a board member (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/2000ee):

"Members of the Board shall be selected solely on the basis of their professional qualifications, achievements, public stature, expertise in civil liberties and privacy, and relevant experience, and without regard to political affiliation, but in no event shall more than 3 members of the Board be members of the same political party. The President shall, before appointing an individual who is not a member of the same political party as the President, consult with the leadership of that party, if any, in the Senate and House of Representatives.”

In other words, other than party affiliation, political party is expressly ruled out as a reason to appoint someone. At most, it's a disqualifier for someone in the president's party. But there's no way to force Trump to appoint people at all, three Republicans can constitute a quorum, and he could always choose to appoint people who are members of the AfUSA party or the remnants of Strom Thurmon's States' Rights Democratic Party.

Timeline cleanse ...

2025-01-08T18:53:27Z

Timeline cleanse
https://flipboard.com/@newyorktimes/home-page-91uottdbz/-/a-uoFdJB_SSiKb7su9eZdp2w%3Aa%3A3195393-%2F0

Agreed. I don’t know when I read it, but I think it was before ...

2025-01-03T04:51:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…fs7k
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Agreed. I don’t know when I read it, but I think it was before I knew you, and that’s been more than 40 years.

Did you ever read E.M. Foster's story “The Machine ...

2025-01-03T03:42:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…9nxz
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Did you ever read E.M. Foster's story “The Machine Stops”? That's what your post reminded me of.

Umm—1964 isn’t old for a water main…

2024-12-28T18:17:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…ssug
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Umm—1964 isn’t old for a water main…

What was missed in the public alarms was that Y2K problems showed ...

2024-12-28T18:14:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…lnsc
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What was missed in the public alarms was that Y2K problems showed up when the device first encountered the date, not at the stroke of midnight Jan 1, 2000. The much-maligned US Social Security Administration fixed its systems in the early 1990s, for example.

Just when I think he can't be any stupider or crazier… ...

2024-12-23T00:40:39Z

Just when I think he can't be any stupider or crazier…
https://journa.host/@w7voa/113699331548957332

A rant in two parts. This is part one… The discussion earlier ...

2024-12-21T23:15:57Z

A rant in two parts. This is part one…
The discussion earlier today about systemd replacing /var/log with some dedicated facility and a special command, journalctl, to query it impelled me to write up just what I think is wrong with a lot of Linux. Basically, they've given up on the Unix philosophy of small, composable, generally usable but simple tools in favor of a mass of large, specialized tools. "They've paved Paradise and put up a parking lot.”
Why specify a pager instead of just piping the output to a pager? Being able to search on a specific field is nice, but grep can do that. Maybe grep should be enhanced to say “apply the RE to fields m..n” (which is easy enough with awk anyway), and arguably it could take a file giving mappings of a fieldname to a field number. That's a generally useful tool; why limit it to systemd log files? Searching by time is nice, but it's nice in other contexts, e.g., the output of 'ls -l' on a large directory. The same goes for json-style output: why limit it to this context? (I won't even rant about why there has to be a single-line vs. multiline json option—that could also be a pair of simple, general commands.)
Too many Linux subsystems (or rather, their authors) have decided that they are the world and have to provide lots of functionality specific to that subsystem, rather than building general tools. Steve Jobs once said of Windows, “The only problem with Microsoft is that they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste.” That's what's going on here.

That’s the problem—auditing is so hard, even with full ...

2024-12-20T02:59:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…nwcf
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That’s the problem—auditing is so hard, even with full source. If nothing else, all it takes is one obscure bug that will let some attacker inject malware. Let me tell a true story to illustrate things…
Many years ago, I was working on a project when I learned that one team member had just been arrested and charged with hacking. I went to management and told them this; for my pains, I was told to organize an audit team. The first hole I found, and it was a serious one, was inadvertently introduced by an audit team member. (We had commit logs, but on top of that she remembered writing the code.) The next was worse. There was a bug that, coupled with a common configuration error, led to root compromise—and the comments didn't agree with the code, but for understandable reasons given the exact situation.
On even days, I think it was a subtle back door, but today is an odd day, so I think it was just an ordinary bug—and the hardest-to-locate bug I've ever found, at this point in almost 60 years of programming.

Hard to say. Our analysis tools are much better, but today's ...

2024-12-20T02:48:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…txdq
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Hard to say. Our analysis tools are much better, but today's systems are far more complex and techniques for obfuscating malware are far better, too.