2015-05-31

#NSA owns #linux even without #monolithic arch

2.19: cyb/sec/#NSA owns #linux even without #monolithic arch:
. I once thought the creator of linux
must be part of the NSA's conspiracy to
put vulnerabilities in open source:
he spurned the idea of a securable microkernel,
promoting instead the efficiency of a monolithic OS
written in the C programming language
which is notoriously difficult to secure .
. but if you look at all the other vulnerabilities
(such as USB support, and firmware rewritability),
a microkernel written in a safe language
would not have really mattered much .
. just look at what Chrome OS did with linux:
it removed many of the other vulnerabilities
and the linux core remains a survivor .

2015-05-28

#encryption export controls #Logjam

5.27: news.cyb/sec/encryption export controls/Logjam:
arstechnica:
The new attack has been dubbed Logjam,
( the name is a pun on the "discrete log"
math operation used to break the weak keys.
But the name is also an allusion to the fact that
these '90s-era export ciphers are part of an
immense amount of technical debt
that's built up in our crypto protocols,"
"There's just too much dead wood that's accumulated over the years."
)
The weakness is the result of export restrictions
the US government mandated in the 1990s
to enable less secure encryption for foreigners
so the FBI and NSA could eavesdrop on them .

2015-05-26

solar cycles affecting economy

2.16: web.pol/solar cycles affecting economy:
economyandmarkets`The Power of the Cycle:
Do sunspot cycles affect the stock markets?
. the sunspot cycle is reputed be 11 years;
but over the last hundred years,
the real average of this cycle is 10.3 years.
. months of research into sunspot cycles
has shown that 88% of the major crashes,
came in the down cycle,
and most of the rest came close on either side.
The worst crashes come around
the first 2.5 years after a peak;
and, the cycle peaked February 2014;
so the greatest crash should happen
between mid-2015 and late 2016.
[ consider too the 7-year shemitah cycle:
the next one is sept 2015 .]

manage bermuda grass with chickens

2.15: co.nextdoor.com/apt`yard/manage bermuda grass with chickens:
Arthur Thomson:
Dan we had Bermuda grass, then we got about 10 chickens,
now no more Bermuda grass, just lots of fresh eggs.

drug use #childcare

2.15: co.nextdoor.com/Crime & Safety
/health/childcare/drug use in the neighborhood:
"This is not the first time that I have witnessed
students openly smoking dope on the street and sidewalk."
-- JH
me:
. we see from how much society uses drugs
that the ethics of drug use is debatable;
but what is not up for debate
is that childhood is an efficient time to learn
and also an urgent time to learn
(the ignorant get hurt!)
so I thought we should pay kids to learn;
and insist that be their only source of income .
. teach kids not only what is hurting kids
(suicide, car accidents, teenage pregnancy)
but how health choices cost you later .
. when you develope academic skills
you learn to love yourself and are less prone to
letting social troubles lead you to suicide .
. we pay you more for higher grades
because we value your life .

rodeo is getting more dangerous #childcare

2.15: news.health/rodeo is getting more dangerous:
kids in rodeo:
"Cody Custer ... won the 1992 Professional
Rodeo Cowboys Association World Championship,
... He says 11-year-olds are now getting on
the kinds of bulls he rode in college."

The New Yorker mag`Bilger 12.10:
. bulls are being bred to be buckier than before;
only the steers (castrated) are safe to ride now;
at "futurities" bulls get rode by dummies .
. the more aggressive bulls sometimes gore each other;
often this starts when they try to hump each other .

anti-semitism from Islamic panic #wwIII

2.15: co.fb/pol/purges/wwIII/anti-semitism from Islamic panic:
. much of anti-semitism is really anti-zionism,
and the realization that WWIII is inevitable .