Population control



  • This week I was tracking down how a combo box was populated. Ok .. the code loads a connection string, accesses a database, runs a query and uses the results to fill in the selection list. Hmm .. next I want to peer into the DB and see what I can do to modify the list. But then I find out that I don't have any login credentials to the DB that allow me to see what I want. Next thought: "the combo box code has credentials to at least see what I want to see, so lets track them down and use them to log into the DB". The connection string comes from an ini file, I find the actual file in use, look at it .. and go WTF?!?!?!?!?!?

    The credentials in the ini file that are used to load the combo box are the sa account and the sa password .. both sitting there in plain text.



  • Please, please tell me this was the QA version you were poking around at.  I mean even there it should be using narrow credentials, but it would be less bad.



  • @locallunatic said:

    Please, please tell me this was the QA version you were poking around at.  I mean even there it should be using narrow credentials, but it would be less bad.

    Sorry .. the industry I work in doesn't have the concept of QA or any test bed system. We work live on the actual production code. While this will shock a few people here, I work with industrial systems and thats the way we typically roll.



  • @OzPeter said:

    The credentials in the ini file that are used to load the combo box are the sa account and the sa password .. both sitting there in plain text.
     

    TRWTF is that the combo-box SQL statements weren't generated in client-side VB and sent to the server to be executed (to save resources on the server).



  • Don't you see the half-full glass:

    @OzPeter said:

    I find out that I don't have any login credentials to the DB that allow me to see what I want. [...] The credentials in the ini file that are used to load the combo box are the sa account and the sa password .. both sitting there in plain text.



  • In case someone didn't know: the "sa" account is the master "can do everything" account.



  • @henke37 said:

    In case someone didn't know: the "sa" account is the master "can do everything" account.

    ... on database servers run by dumbshits.



  • @Ronald said:

    <blink>

    </blink>

    Don't lie. Nobody voted for Romney.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @Ronald said:
    <blink>

    </blink>

    Don't lie. Nobody voted for Romney.

    Doesn't matter. There's a simple algorithm to determine the next president of the US:

     

    1. Can the current president be re-elected?

    Yes: Four more years!

    No: Goto 2.

     

    2. What party is the current president?

    Republican: The Democratic candidate becomes the next president.

    Democrat: The Republican candidate becomes the next president.

    Other: Lies. Go back to 2.



  • @MiffTheFox said:

    Doesn't matter. There's a simple algorithm to determine the next president of the US:

     

    1. Can the current president be re-elected?

    Yes: Four more years!

    No: Goto 2.

     

    2. What party is the current president?

    Republican: The Democratic candidate becomes the next president.

    Democrat: The Republican candidate becomes the next president.

    Other: Lies. Go back to 2.

    That's only held true the last counts on fingers 21 years. GWHB was never re-elected. And then 4 years prior, GHWB was elected after Ronnie Reagan, all while being a complete moron!*


    (*To be fair, Dukakis was an even bigger moron. See? We've been producing really, really shitty Presidential candidates for a very long time. It's not just an Obama/McCain or Obama/Romney thing.)


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @morbiuswilters said:

    We've been producing really, really shitty Presidential candidates for a very long time. It's not just an Obama/McCain or Obama/Romney thing.
    It goes back a long way. Warren Harding is generally reckoned to be the worst by scholars.



  • @dkf said:

    @morbiuswilters said:
    We've been producing really, really shitty Presidential candidates for a very long time. It's not just an Obama/McCain or Obama/Romney thing.
    It goes back a long way. Warren Harding is generally reckoned to be the worst by scholars.

    Eh, I can think of worse: Polk, Buchanan, Grant, Wilson, Roosevelt (either)... In fact, it would be shorter to list the ones I like: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Reagan.



  • (Playing 'Trivial Pursuit')

    - What was the first name of General Eisenhower?

    - Sheesh... Eisen !?


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @morbiuswilters said:

    In fact, it would be shorter to list the ones I like: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Reagan.

    Coolidge!



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    Reagan.
    As usual, you're the real WTF.



  • @TGV said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    Reagan.
    As usual, you're the real WTF.

    Eh his ghost is pretty cool.



  • @boomzilla said:

    @morbiuswilters said:
    In fact, it would be shorter to list the ones I like: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Reagan.

    Coolidge!

    I admire his taciturnity.



  • @TGV said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    Reagan.
    As usual, you're the real WTF.

    You're an idiot. Please tell me your retarded favorites so I can laugh at you.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @boomzilla said:
    Coolidge!

    I admire his taciturnity.

    You fail.



  • @Ibix said:

    @morbiuswilters said:
    @boomzilla said:
    Coolidge!

    I admire his taciturnity.

    You fail.

    No.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @Ibix said:
    @morbiuswilters said:
    @boomzilla said:
    Coolidge!

    I admire his taciturnity.

    You fail.

    No.

    Why are you talking to that goat?



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @MiffTheFox said:

    Doesn't matter. There's a simple algorithm to determine the next president of the US:

     

    1. Can the current president be re-elected?

    Yes: Four more years!

    No: Goto 2.

     

    2. What party is the current president?

    Republican: The Democratic candidate becomes the next president.

    Democrat: The Republican candidate becomes the next president.

    Other: Lies. Go back to 2.

    That's only held true the last counts on fingers 21 years. GWHB was never re-elected. And then 4 years prior, GHWB was elected after Ronnie Reagan, all while being a complete moron!*


    (*To be fair, Dukakis was an even bigger moron. See? We've been producing really, really shitty Presidential candidates for a very long time. It's not just an Obama/McCain or Obama/Romney thing.)

    Maybe we need to score president quality relatively instead of absolutely. For example, if W got 3 Mbps, but Obama gets 10 Mbps, Obama would be a relatively worse president because W was black.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Chris Matthews said:

    Maybe we need to score president quality relatively instead of absolutely. For example, if W got 3 Mbps, but Obama gets 10 Mbps, Obama would be a relatively worse president because W was black.</blockquote>

    More black people support? Makes boring presidential speeches? Manufacturing bad policies? Man bear pigs?





  • I wonder if there is a relevant XKCD for when people find it relevant to post an XKCD.



  • @Zecc said:

    I wonder if there is a relevant XKCD for when people find it relevant to post an XKCD.

    At one point I considered writing a bot that scans sidebar threads for keywords and posts a semi-relevant XKCD.



  • @MiffTheFox said:

    @Zecc said:
    I wonder if there is a relevant XKCD for when people find it relevant to post an XKCD.

    At one point I considered writing a bot that scans sidebar threads for keywords and posts a semi-relevant XKCD.

    At one point I considered posting that at one point I considered doing something but I figured that unless the thread went to a third level of wishful thinking it would be lame.



  • @MiffTheFox said:

    @Zecc said:
    I wonder if there is a relevant XKCD for when people find it relevant to post an XKCD.

    At one point I considered writing a bot that scans sidebar threads for keywords and posts a semi-relevant XKCD.

    At one point I had a team of snipers ready to take you down in a hail of gunfire.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @MiffTheFox said:
    @Zecc said:
    I wonder if there is a relevant XKCD for when people find it relevant to post an XKCD.

    At one point I considered writing a bot that scans sidebar threads for keywords and posts a semi-relevant XKCD.

    At one point I had a team of snipers ready to take you down in a hail of gunfire.


    what

    Why would it take more than one bullet?



  • @Ben L. said:

    @morbiuswilters said:
    @MiffTheFox said:
    @Zecc said:
    I wonder if there is a relevant XKCD for when people find it relevant to post an XKCD.

    At one point I considered writing a bot that scans sidebar threads for keywords and posts a semi-relevant XKCD.

    At one point I had a team of snipers ready to take you down in a hail of gunfire.


    what

    Why would it take more than one bullet?

    You really don't want to take a chance when so much is at stake.



  •  76 snipers on the roof of one, maybe two building(s).



  • @dhromed said:

     76 snipers on the roof of one, maybe two building(s).

    Have you ever hired 76 snipers? It gets expensive, son. Especially when they insist on hazard pay and matching outfits.

    I just sent four snipers after Miff. Not even top guys, just some guys I found in the back of an old Soldier of Fortune classified.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    You really don't want to take a chance when so much is at stake.
    Pro tip.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    I just sent four snipers after Miff. Not even top guys, just some guys I found in the back of an old Soldier of Fortune classified.

    The joke's on you, I took your threat seriously and reported you to the FBI. Now you're on the no-fly list.



  • @MiffTheFox said:

    @morbiuswilters said:
    I just sent four snipers after Miff. Not even top guys, just some guys I found in the back of an old Soldier of Fortune classified.

    The joke's on you, I took your threat seriously and reported you to the FBI. Now you're on the no-fly list.

    The joke's on you, I work for the national security leviathan. What I'm doing is completely legal.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @MiffTheFox said:
    @morbiuswilters said:
    I just sent four snipers after Miff. Not even top guys, just some guys I found in the back of an old Soldier of Fortune classified.

    The joke's on you, I took your threat seriously and reported you to the FBI. Now you're on the no-fly list.

    The joke's on you, I work for the national security leviathan. What I'm doing is completely legal.


    PATRIOT ACT'd



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    The joke's on you, I work for the national security leviathan.

    What? A living spaceship?


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