December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Kooks and their Kookies
by ichudov＠Algebra.COM 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

I have just looked into my cookies file, and noticed an interesting kookie (pun intended): www.netscum.net FALSE / FALSE 123456789 visited the%20Home%20Page%2c%20Name%20Q.%20Deleted (Name Deleted is the name of one of the well known USENET personaes, and there is a number instead of 123456789). This is really interesting. If netscum.net ever comes up again, do not view it except through the anonymizer or the crowds, and filter out the kooks' kookies. - Igor.

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FC: Getting caught on the Net, by Rebecca Eisenberg
by Declan McCullagh 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

>X-POP3-Rcpt: declan(a)relay.pathfinder.com >Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 16:10:15 -0800 (PST) >From: Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> >To: politech(a)vorlon.mit.edu >Subject: FC: Getting caught on the Net, by Rebecca Eisenberg >MIME-Version: 1.0 >Sender: owner-politech(a)vorlon.mit.edu >Reply-To: declan(a)well.com >X-Loop: politech(a)vorlon.mit.edu >X-URL: Politech is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ > >********** > >http://www.examiner.com/skink/skinkJan25.html > >San Francisco Examiner -- Net Skink > >Jan 25, 1998 >Getting caught on the Net > >A wave of shock has washed over the Net population in the >past two weeks. What you write on the Internet, people >realized, can actually get you fired. > >First came the news that Timothy McVeigh, not the bomber >but a 17-year Navy veteran and crew chief on a nuclear >submarine, was recommended for honorable discharge by the >Navy for describing himself as gay on his AOL profile. > >[...] > >For better or for worse, there is not much privacy on-line. >That is the benefit of free expression -- the free >expression we won when the Supreme Court overturned the >overly broad and unconstitutional Communications Decency >Act. However, freedom of expression does not come with a >guarantee that everyone will like what you say. > >"Privacy is not a right, but a preference," writes Declan >McCullagh, 26, Internet expert and journalist in >Washington, D.C. "Some people want it more than others." >Although we are protected from intrusions by the >government, the free exchange of information between >private parties drives the marketplace and the media. > >"The best solution to harmful disclosures is to avoid them >in the first place. Patronize banks, hardware stores and >Internet providers with strong privacy policies," McCullagh >says. "Privacy advocates who call for new government powers >are missing the point. The government intrudes more on our >privacy than corporations ever can. > >"On a more practical note," he continues, "technological >solutions are the only ones that have half a chance of >working globally. Maybe after years of lobbying, you get a >privacy law passed in the U.S., but the Web site you want >to shut down moves to Anguilla 30 minutes later." > >[...] > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- >POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology >To subscribe: send a message to majordomo(a)vorlon.mit.edu with this text: >subscribe politech >More information is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- >

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No Subject
by Zooko Journeyman 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

(A letter to Andy Patrizio of TechWeb, www.techweb.com, Cc: to cypherpunks(a)toad.com, malda(a)slashdot.org and gnu(a)gnu.org. May I remind the audience to use the technique which will benefit your goals rather than harm them: politeness.) Sir, I beg to differ regarding your assertion in "http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19980126S0015" that open source code has little value. While your article makes the very good point that a higher level of abstraction (the API level) is a better platform for most "interoperation" or "extension" uses, you omit several important considerations. I will attempt to describe three of those considerations here. The first consideraton is that open source code is of unparalleled value in ensuring security and stability of a complex system. Witness the fact that when the Pentium "F00F" bug was discovered last year, the Linux operating system had a fix distributed within 7 calendar days, while Microsoft took more than twice as long to issue a fix. This is doubly important for mission-critical systems and triply so for security-critical systems which may be subject to hostile attack. Indeed, many computer security professionals of my acquaintance say that they _will_ _not_ use a system to protect valuable data unless they and their peers are able to examine the source code. The second consideration is that an open software development model can (sometimes) generate a surprising amount of quality code at high speed. The pre-eminent example of this phenomenon is the Linux operating system, which in many ways has outstripped comparable proprietary operating systems in performance, features, stability, _and_ in time-to-market. The third value in open source code is more controversial-- it gives your users more control over the product. An all-too- common business tactic in the software industry is, as Scott McNealy calls it, "proprietary lock-in", in which a company deliberately makes their product incompatible with competing products in order to ensure that the customer can't use that product in conjunction with a competitor's product. With the current trend towards a convergence of interoperating software products, this tactic is becoming increasingly oppressive to customers. This tactic is not possible with open source code, because competitors, customers, or free-lance hackers can use the open source in order to make the two products interoperable. Needless to say, not all in the business community would consider this last feature to be a benefit. (Although I think that all in the business community would consider the first two features to be a benefit.) I hope that this letter has been of interest to you. I have been a software developer, industry-watcher, and open-source- code enthusiast for years, and I was grieved to think that your article might deter open-minded readers from considering the full implications of an open source code strategy. The idea of open source code has been a "fringe" concept for decades (see seminal open-source advocate and hacker Richard Stallman, www.fsf.org) and I'm delighted to think that with Netscape's move, and with the rumored possibility that Sun will open some of its Java source, that this idea could finally get a fair hearing before the business community. Regards, Zooko, Journeyman Hacker P.S. Among software professionals that I know, the only ones who make USD 100K/year or more are the ones who consider themselves to be "hackers". :-)

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Re: State of the Union Address
by Anonymous 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

>Does anyone happen to know how to figure the energy requirements or yields >for a reaction? Just to make sure I'm not misinterpreted, I mean how much energy is required or is liberated by a given reaction. I don't mean "...figure the energy, requirements, or yields," or "figure the energy requirements or products it yields."

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can you believe the Bulgarians?
by Attila T. Hun 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- can you believe it? a site dedicated to declaring they believe Bubba is innocent! --and have a petition. you can join Jack The Ripper, Ted Kaczynski, Ted Bundy, JFK, and a host of others in support of free oral sex in the Whitehouse. just type your nym and vote early and vote often. 1300+ hits and less than 100 marks. Monica was quoted as saying she was "going to Washington to get her presidental knee pads." enjoy... http://faith.digsys.bg/prj/clinton/clinton.html attila out again... in disbelief that "the Creep" is still President! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3i Charset: latin1 Comment: No safety this side of the grave. Never was; never will be iQBVAwUBNM9leLR8UA6T6u61AQHYMwH/Sge0rVd2cYoE6gJyPCXBxf8kpNdvogB8 bsYdhV5/zwQJIdSVX+fGRLl6fdi+Qugdiii6dMP/2Y2jFDFIpYzHIg== =/k4R -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Response to ticket 012398-6918-403
by kozmo killah 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

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Interesting Chemical Reaction
by ichudov＠Algebra.COM 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

An interesting experiment is to mix the ordinary ammonium nitrate (a fertilizer) with room temp. water. Try to put in as much ammonium nitrate as it is possible to dissolve. You will see the temperature of the mixture DROP to below the freezing point (for pure water that is). Wow. I did that 12 years ago and was amazed. A really easy way to get cold water if no freezer is available. - Igor.

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Re: State of the Union Address
by Anonymous 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

>I guess those high school students aren't the only ones with no clear >idea of the way the world works. While salt water does not ordinarily >explode, in this case salt water is the ultimate product -- but massive >heat released when acids and bases join and recombine to produce salts >(in this case table salt) and water. Interesting thread. While we're on the topic of chemistry and heat: Does anyone happen to know how to figure the energy requirements or yields for a reaction? My college chemistry book doesn't say a whole lot about it. In fact it doesn't say enough to actually be useful at all; it gives energies for four or five different bonds in a table and then launches into a really bad explanation of how to calculate this. If I have to use a table of bond energies is there one available online? Or is there a simpler way to just calculate the bloody things? I really ought to take more chemistry courses before I get my diploma. Or at the very least audit them.

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Re: State of the Union Address
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

Another Anonymous writes: >>Does anyone happen to know how to figure the energy requirements or yields >>for a reaction? > >Just to make sure I'm not misinterpreted, I mean how much energy is required >or is liberated by a given reaction. I don't mean "...figure the energy, >requirements, or yields," or "figure the energy requirements or products it >yields." It has been fifteen years since I even opened a chemistry book, but I think what you're looking for is called the "heat of enthalpy." You could find this in most any intro-level chem book, and there's probably a whole shitload of reactions listed in the _CRC Handbook Of Chemistry & Physics_. Since HCl+NaOH is an acid-base reaction, you could also use something called the "heat of neutralization." IIRC, that's something like 57 KJ/mol for strong acids. But don't take my word for it; I'm Not A Chemist Any More. P-Chem gave me a great appreciation for math and computers.

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Re: Planetary rovers, SETI and other musings, was Re: update.356 (fwd)
by Jim Choate 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From: Eric Cordian <emc(a)wire.insync.net> > Subject: Re: Planetary rovers, SETI and other musings, was Re: update.356 (fwd) > Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 22:58:28 -0600 (CST) > > Of course one needn't stop there. If entangled states could be stored > > for several years, instantaneous communication with neighbooring stars > > is a real possibility. > > And in whose local Lorentz frame would such communication be > "instantaneous"? Actualy, if we are talking about instantanious events the event itself is not frame relevant, thought exactly when and where the event occurred may be. Consider an electron when it changes orbitals does so in zero time. So the question that the photon was emitted is not at issue, now where that photon came from and at what clock tick may in fact be. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The most powerful passion in life is not love or hate, | | but the desire to edit somebody elses words. | | | | Sign in Ed Barsis' office | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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