Visualizing search results

Thursday, May 09, 2002

Ken sent me this link to the Kart00 Metasearch engine. It uses Flash to an almost pathological extreme, but you can choose the HTML interface (and be careful—once you choose, there doesn't seem to be a way to change short of removing any cookies you have for their domain).

It is an interesting concept and I think I know what they're doing. When you do a search (and yes, the Flash interface is nicer; the HTML interface crashed Mozilla 0.9.9 in an endless series of message boxes) the result is a graph of the results. The size of a node (search result) is apparently directly proportional to the relevance of the search, and the connections between the nodes (the edges) are similar terms between the two pages.

For instance, I did a search for “sean spc conner” and the two largest results (one for www.classiccmp.org and www.conman.org) are linked by the terms “captain” and “napalm” (wonder why?). You can also remove terms from a list on the side.

All in all, it is an interesting view into search results and the ability to remove terms is quite nice (and can give dramatic changes—for instance, I removed the terms “captain” and “napalm” and the resulting graph was completely different with no one node dominating and the big result from the last search, www.conman.org isolated and not connected to any other node).

More vans in black, a bank, the State of Virginia and still too much imagination

Drove by the bank again today and they're still there, although there were noticably fewer cars from Virginia in the parking lot.

I think they know I'm on to them.

Does that mean they're on to me now?

And to tell you the truth, I haven't seen any unmarked white vans in a while …

Telling time

I've gotten so used to the 24-hour analog clock that normal 12-hour analog clocks look wrong to me. I had thought the clock on my computer was wrong (since I have a window open that displays an analog 12-hour clock for the time) that it took me a several minutes of tinkering to realize that it wasn't six hours behind.

Sigh.

Friday, May 09, 2003

Photo Friday: Urban

Sunday, May 09, 2004

Word to the wise

Word to the wise: Requesting a password reminder is not hacking an account.

I normally try to avoid online drama, but events between two people whom I read got pretty much out of hand, and while I avoided leaving any comments in their respective websites, one point is still gnawing at me. So I'll comment here, in neutral ground (and I know both of them will read this) and (probably against my better judgement, but that's never stopped me before) give my two bits worth.

A bit of the backstory: Alice and Bob (obviously not their real names) were an item (albeit a long distance item) and during the time they were together, Alice helped Bob register a few domains, and setup one or two web-based communities. Life happened, and several moons ago Alice and Bob broke up. But contact and billing information for the domain hosting and community sites were not updated. Or updated correctly. Or something to that effect.

This brings us up to Friday.

Alice notices that she's still listed as a moderator on the community site run by Bob. Curiosity getting the better of her (and I suspect, a desire to fix the problem right then and there and remove her information), she requested a password reminder.

Which Bob was notified of:

Word to the wise: When you request a password reminder on XXXXXXXXXXX, it goes to the e-mail address on record for that account. So the person associated with that e-mail address now knows that you tried to hack [the] account.

Okay. Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to fail to change the e-mail address and password on a community I now moderate?

How stupid does that make you? *laugh*

It was that comment that struck me badly.

Yes, accessing a computer you are not allowed to access is a Federal offense (not that I totally agree with it, but that's the law as it is currently). But note that in order for it to be a Federal offense, one has to actually access the computer in question. Attempting to gain access? That's a different question. And attempting to gain access to a computer that at one point you had access to? That might not even be a Federal offense.

Case in point. My account at FAU lasted way past my last days there. For all I know, I may still have an account there. Let's see …

[spc]linus:~>ssh spconner@XXXXXXXXXXX.fau.edu
spconner@XXXXXXXXXXX.fau.edu's password: 
Permission denied, please try again.
spconner@XXXXXXXXXXX.fau.edu's password: 
Permission denied, please try again.
spconner@XXXXXXXXXXX.fau.edu's password: 
Permission denied (publickey,password,keyboard-interactive).
[spc]linus:~>

Hhmmm … guess I no longer have access there, but I know that this will show up in the logs; something like:

May  9 23:25:11 XXXXXXX sshd[22328]: Failed
password for spconner from 10.0.0.2 port 36180 ssh2

But will FAU (or the department this machine was in) do anything about it?

I doubt it. It's a one time thing. Now, had I tried multiple times, say, five, ten, a hundred times, then yes, that would definitely be a hacking attempt. Once? Just seeing if the access is still there.

Other examples of hacking?

May  9 13:48:25 janet kernel: IP fw-in rej eth1 TCP 69.70.115.31:1343 69.167.102.16:2745 L=48 S=0x00 I=26379 F=0x4000 T=107
May  9 13:48:25 janet kernel: IP fw-in rej eth1 TCP 69.70.115.31:1345 69.167.102.16:1025 L=48 S=0x00 I=26381 F=0x4000 T=107
May  9 13:48:25 janet kernel: IP fw-in rej eth1 TCP 69.70.115.31:1347 69.167.102.16:3127 L=48 S=0x00 I=26383 F=0x4000 T=107
May  9 13:48:25 janet kernel: IP fw-in rej eth1 TCP 69.70.115.31:1348 69.167.102.16:6129 L=48 S=0x00 I=26384 F=0x4000 T=107
May  9 13:48:34 janet kernel: IP fw-in rej eth1 TCP 69.70.115.31:1348 69.167.102.16:6129 L=48 S=0x00 I=30400 F=0x4000 T=107
May  9 13:48:34 janet kernel: IP fw-in rej eth1 TCP 69.70.115.31:1347 69.167.102.16:3127 L=48 S=0x00 I=30401 F=0x4000 T=107
May  9 13:48:34 janet kernel: IP fw-in rej eth1 TCP 69.70.115.31:1345 69.167.102.16:1025 L=48 S=0x00 I=30403 F=0x4000 T=107
May  9 13:48:34 janet kernel: IP fw-in rej eth1 TCP 69.70.115.31:1343 69.167.102.16:2745 L=48 S=0x00 I=30405 F=0x4000 T=107

Someone trying to get into my home network. Well, rather, mutiple someones. 51 different sources for 166 attempts (18 from one IP address alone).

And that's just today.

That's a hack attempt.

Requesting a password be emailed?

I'm sorry, that is not a hack attempt.

I suppose Bob's comment hit me rather hard since I've been on the receiving end of hacking attempts multiple times (and still am, as you can see above). After a while, it simply becomes noise and the only hack attempts that are worth consideration are those that actually break in and do damage.

I'm not trying to slight Bob here—after all, I doubt Bob has much experience with being hacked, but I do think that the schadenfreude is misplaced in this instance. Alice did not attempt a hack, nor is she stupid:

With regard to [the] allegation, I have this to say: Yes, I triggered the password retrieval function of the community. Here's why—

The userinfo page on … the community in question still list me as the community moderator. About two days ago, I sent … a politely worded e-mail asking [Bob] to take my name off the userinfo page for … the community in question. I did not think that this is an unreasonable request, particularly since we broke up over five months ago.

I noticed earlier today that the userinfo pages had not been changed, and I idly wondered if my e-mail address was still listed on the community. I was pretty sure that this was not the case, since I was pretty careful to remove myself when I handed it over to [Bob] back in November, but I was curious, so I hit the password retrieval tool.

Just curious. And had I been in a similar situation as Alice, I would have done the same.

Guess that would make me stupid then …

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Notes about a cold call received on a tech support line

“Hello, technical support,” I said.

This was followed by a two minute schpiel extolling the benefits of obtaining, free, for 30 days, a special hands-free phone that allows one to walk up to 300′ away from the base unit and all they need to do is confirm out mailing address at such-n-such a street.

“We're not interested,” I said.

This in turn was followed by two more minutes imploring me to consider the benefits of a hands-free phone and that yes, truely, we can try it out for 30 days and return it no obligation if we so care to, and we were located in Boca Raton, right?

“Still not interested,” I said.

I was then subjected to two minutes of a hard sell, imploring us to accept the unit least the employers will release the hounds upon them least they fail to send us the special hands-free phone that works up to 300′ away from the base unit and to confirm that we are indeed located in Florida.

“Still not interested,” I said.

This in turn was followed by much wailing and sobbing and then the caller thanked me for my time.

“You're welcome,” I said. I could have sworn I hear baying in the background as I hung up the phone.

Can't I just sleep until next week?

It turned out to be the cable after all.

Sigh.

Now I just need to figure out how to get OSPF to communicate over the DSL link (which it isn't) and that will be that.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

But I have to ask, “What exactly is the appeal?”

For Spring (and maybe possibly Gregory who loves this type of stuff)—how to make your own drive-in movie theater (link via Instapundit).

How to make a film in just eight hours

If Hoade and I had access to this film school (link via news from me—and yes, I'm still reading his blog) then we might have actually made a film!.

It doesn't sound like a bad deal actually, and if (and that's a big “if”) I lived in southern California, I might actually do it just for the novelty of it all.

Because I'm told to do these things.

Well, it wasn't broken.

So of course, I fixed it.

This time, I managed to phase out the “old” router for the new “router” (even though they were nearly identical) without a hitch.

Woot.

Update on Thursday, May 10^th, 2007 at 10:03 am

Not so woot.

I forgot to update the routing information for one customer (technical explaination: I forgot to add their interface to the OSPF cloud).

At least it was an easy problem to fix.

Saturday, May 09, 2009

“Star Trek”

Bunny and I went to see “Star Trek,” the “reboot” of the Star Trek universe with the characters from The Original Series but played by younger actors.

Overall, it was a wonderful movie that (I feel), successfully cast aside the existing continuity of the Start Trek universe so we can bring back the characters we all love. It was spooky to watch Karl Urban's Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy that was so close to DeForest Kelly's portrayal that it felt like I was watching DeForest Kelly's McCoy. Nice job there.

Zachary Quinto as Spock was also well done, but it wasn't quite the same take as Leonard Nimoy's Spock (although, never having seen “Heros,” I can't say one way or the other how much of Quinto's Spock is like his “Heros” character Sylar, which is one complaint I've seen of his performance). I also liked how the different circumstances that brought Spock and Kirk together are leading to a different dynamic between them than in The Original Series. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

I think they did a great job of hiring Simon Pegg as Scotty—it was like watching a younger James Doohan do a more comedic take on Scotty. I could, however, do without his smaller sidekick.

Chris Pine as James Tiberius Kirk was good, but different from William Shatner. Sure, he's a womanizer, brash, head strong and always willing to cheat death, but he's not quite as hammy as Shatner; Pine is a bit more … restrained. And less … awkward … pauses than … Shatner.

I'm really happy to see Lt. Uhura not only get a first name (it's Nyota) but also see her character being expanded. Zoë Saldaña does a good job with the role, but if you are expecting someone who looks similar to Nichelle Nichols, don't.

And then there's Chekov, played by Anton Yelchin who's only passing resemblance to Walter Koenig is a thick Russian accent. It was such a departure from the original character that I'm still pondering if I like this incarnation of Chekov. It's different. It's more Wesley Crusher, but not as annoying.

Now, overall, I loved the film (so did Bunny), but I do have a few gripes about the film.

The first one, the frenetic cinematography—the rapid cutting during action sequences that 1) makes it hard to follow exactly what is going on, and 2)is all too common in today's films. I'd be surprised if there was any shot longer than two seconds in any of the action sequences. Then again, I may not be “hip” to modern action film asthetics, but it still bugged me.

My second gripe (warning—very small spoiler): Kirk is wandering alone on a frozen planet when out of nowhere one creature is running towards him. As Kirk is running away, that chase is interrupted by yet a larger creature that start chasing him until he safely gets away in a cave. This bugged me as this whole sequence just seems gratuitous—like the screen writers said, “You know, it's been ten minutes since the last action sequence, we need a large spider!” It doesn't propel the plot, doesn't advance characterization, it does nothing but waste about two minutes of screen time and could have easily been cut without affecting the film one bit. We know Kirk won't get killed. It's just fake peril (and from what I'm reading, it appears that the script was affected by the Writers' Strike from a few years ago, so it may not have been tightened up properly, so this might explain this rather bad scene).

My third gripe (warning—very small spoiler): Kirk and Scotty beam aboard the Enterprise (and I must say, I love that new beaming effect) but due to a miscalculation, Scotty ends up in a very large water pipe and is being sucked towards certain doom, but of course, Kirk is able to save Scotty. Again, it's a scene that doesn't serve any purpose other than to mark a ten minute segment (whoever wrote that scene should die, in my opinion).

And that's it. The other flaws in the film (and there are some) do serve to propel the plot along (however clumsy, and basically, you'll know them when you see them) so I have less problems with them. And I do think the film is worth seeing overall.

Saturday, May 09, 2015

The Dymaxion Car

The Dymaxion Car, designed by Buckminster Fuller. It wasn't pretty. It could seat eleven. It was difficult to drive. It killed one of its first drivers. But it got 30mpg and could travel at 90mph. Kind of a mixed bag for a car built in 1933.

Still, it might be somewhat fun to ride in it, as long as there's a trained driver.

Saturday, May 09, 2020

It's out!

About 50 months ago [It's only been 51 days. —Editor] [What? Really? Only 51 days? It feels longer. —Sean] [Yes, only 51 days. I know the COVID-19 thing has warped your sense of time but get a grip on yourself. —Editor] [Sigh. —Sean] 51 days ago, I reported a bug with Firefox, which took about a week to fix but wasn't slated to be released until version 76 of Firefox. Well, I just downloaded version 76 and yes, the bug is truly fixed.

Huzzah!

Now if only the Oligarchist Cell Phone Company we work with at The Corporation could work as fast.

The Boston Diaries

Thursday, May 09, 2002