What's your problom with Wobsitos and Markoting?
Posts made by gleemonk
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Melting security standards
The company operating our neighbouring nuclear power plant has been publicly criticized by insiders over lax security standards.
One of the examples cited was the lack of oversight for administrators logging in for system maintenance. According to one source, there were 72 administrators with login permissions for this one machine. The machine concerned is responsible for collection of measurements. It feeds monitors that show plant state to operators. A well-networked machine to own for inside access, by any measure. The updates are performed from a remote location btw.
The official response was classy:
72? I think he got those digits confused, pretty sure it's just 27. Didn't check though.
So they indiscirminately gave remote login to contractors on a machine that allows manipulating apparent reactor state. A mitigating factor cited by officials is the availability of mechanical dials which operators are trained to consult and compare to the digital displays. I lack the details on how the network for the remote logins is secured and whether it is something different from what we call the Internet. They didn't share.
I can't imagine how they could have ended up with a design where anything but physical separation of networks was an option. They must have found the Stuxnet attack to have been too taxing on the attackers. The only remotely positive thing I have to say about this is that there are few moral barriers in destroying a centrifuge. An attacker that knows what she's doing might not want to go full meltdown on a reactor even when remoting in. However, relying on the goodness and common sense of
other peopleworms is still a bold move when you're tasked with the operation of a fission reactor. -
RE: Sad().stop() ; wtf().start()
Boolean.prototype.stop = function(){ console.log("ok"); }
I second this motion. I think with a concerted effort we could get this into ECMA7.
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RE: I don't need your stinking AJAX magic
I've done similar things. The only reason AJAX would make sense here, is if the data were both big and used on other pages. This would allow caching. I don't see how this one line... it's 200k of data.
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RE: Xml 2.0
@article said:
universal API aggregator
That's when you know there's a below the fold.
@article said:
So after much trial and error, the core chucks of a Relevant Card’s JSON ended up looking something like this:
Develop a language by trial and error.
They ended up with a really ugly {"_PREFIX": "syntax"}.
@article said:Possibilities are Endless
We’re excited to see REL at its full potential.I remember back when XSLT was so hip, they had to teach it at our school. I asked the lecturer whether XSLT is Turing equivalent. He blinks, says "it might as well be", and quickly moves on. He wouldn't share any enthusiasm for the concept. Now these guys ended up with a similar monster, and they are proud of it.
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RE: Application prefs, the Adobe way
As opposed to, say,
defaults write com.adobe.indesign DisableAsyncExports -bool true</blockquote>
Have users resort to a teletype interface? Never! That would be bad UI design.
It gives every impression of each version using its own prefs files and not even bothering to import existing ones.
So the location of the file was chosen with respect to consistency in config-trashing.
That goes for nearly any decision. It doesn’t make it any better, though
We must accept that their hand was forced by the adversity of the situation. What may seem like a WTF to outside observers is often a considerate response to intricate technological issues.
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RE: Application prefs, the Adobe way
in a .plist file
This may actually hint at the source of this WTF. Faced with the prospect of manual modifications to plist files, the devs might just have preferred this simple file-flag which is easy to set and clear.
Using the same folder as the program’s executable for enabling/disabling this hidden setting is also a WTF
Haha, yes it is. Unless you were to accept the reasoning that such settings are best forgotten about after an update.
I am shocked to conclude that this WTF may have resulted fom choices which are dubious but not devoid of justification.
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RE: Application prefs, the Adobe way
Keeping each config value in a separate file is not very common. I'd call it Qmail style and it's a nice way to keep configuration. Syntax is enforced by the filesystem. Very easy to automate. It does feel a bit weird because it's so rare.
The WTF here is that it's done by a desktop application in seemingly haphazard fashion. If they kept the full config that way, minus the txt extension, it would not be much of a WTF.
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RE: We have an IC department (they dropped the T)
That includes getting a so called .id file from the IC guys
There is a voice in my head asking what that is. All the other voices are screaming that I don't want to know.
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RE: We have an IC department (they dropped the T)
everybody is an admin.
install everything yourself.
progress?
the booking system for rooms which is part of IBM notes.
I've heard things about Notes.
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RE: We have an IC department (they dropped the T)
VCS are overrated. Just look at how few people manage to even use the versioning capabilities of Dropbox. And then you want something more complex? People are just going to be confused with the extra options. Will you think of the students.
On the bright side, they won't take your admin rights on the boxes you installed.
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RE: Kill compass
The ruby part didn't bother me much. I have fond memories of ruby and in this case the system package manager did everything for me. I don't think I ever entrusted
gem
with root privileges.There are few tools where not exiting immediately on ^C is acceptable. Editors maybe? Giving explicit promise to follow conventions then misbehaving anyway may have comical value in certain circumstances and be therefore socially acceptable. I do however have extreme prejudice when a machine does it.
I wanted to confirm that it wouldn't stop even if I waited two hours
$ compass watch sh: compass: command not found $
There, exits immediately. Must have been reflex debugging on my part.
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Kill compass
My first encounter with compass
$ compass watch >>> Compass is watching for changes. Press Ctrl-C to Stop. ^C^C^C^C^C^C^C^C^C^C^C^Z [1]+ Stopped compass watch $ kill %1
Two seconds in and it's already left the impression of a compulsive liar on me. Fortunately for me I don't need it.