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- March 17, 2017
- The Approaching Singularity
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Futurist Ray Kurzweil says by 2029 our brains will fuse with machines making us infinitely more capable across the board than we are now.
This technological singularity will apparently make us super humans some time in the next 12 years as a cybernetic society with implants and enhancements in the best Johnny Mnemonic tradition ...
This time will bring us to an era of machines which are smarter than people and that fusion of person and those machines will cause a synergy which will result in the proverbial "super human" with all bells and whistles that go with it.
Personally, I view it all as a bit of a stretch from the phone fanatics of today to the cyborgs of tomorrow ... but who am I to question Mr Kurzweil's 86 percent accuracy rate over 147 predictions since the 90s ? He indicates that this fusion will cause more neocortex (that "thinking" part of the brain) resulting in more abilities in every aspect of human life from intellect, musicality, sexuality, the full gamut of human existence is said to improve.
As for me, I was likely born too soon to benefit but I hope its everything for which the rest of you could ever wish.
Mr Kurzweil has no apparent fear of AI or machines out to take over the world and control humanity. His vision is one of benefit for all mankind with the advent of this technological fusion of people and machines.
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- March 16, 2017
- Fat Fingering
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The incredible omnipotent, omnipresent typo. Cause of massive Amazon cloud server farm outages. Cause of failed keyboard tests. Cause of applications being down for extended periods when somebody fails to test software.
fcuk typo minimal by jazzle on DeviantArt
jazzle.deviantart.com
Yes I have had my share of episodic fat finger boo boos at home, at work, at large ... but I'm proud to say I've been working on it and my code output has been fairly bug free for the past spate of time ... ever since the Amazon cloud farm outage got me thinking about it.
It is not enough to code, but to code with good design, control structures, and without error. I have decided that if I'm going to do this "plan b of plan b" as it were I need to at least TRY to do it well ... or at least "satisfactorily".
Therefore I have redoubled my efforts to recheck my code and test that module before walking away from it. My the end results have been astounding from all the compliments I'm getting for tighter work.
Anyway, I guess careless and stupid aren't exactly the same thing but they're entirely too close for comfort as far as I am concerned.
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- March 15, 2017
- YouTube, LiveLeak, et al
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I spent a short while yesterday evening looking at internet videos. YouTube on the Roku and later LiveLeak on the workstation. There is a distinct divide between those cultures involved in both.
Whereas YouTube is aimed more at the "G Rated" audience LiveLink is more "R Rated" and those associated videos consist of genre which most likely would be pulled by YouTube's staff of google tards in a heartbeat.
So ... if mainstream and informational stuff is to your liking I suppose YouTube is your cup of tea. If you're like me and tend to "push the envelope" in entertainment tastes or have a thing for the vulgar, obscure, violent, or heavily risque ... then it's certainly LiveLink for you.
Something about a poor fellow atop an electric train in India getting char broiled before your very eyes is mildly stimulating compared to the never ending parade of regurgitated kitties and kiddie pranks to which you might also be immersed otherwise until you drown in cutesey cuteness.
There was a time when YouTube had videos with relevant true life adventures including the absolutely required fisticuffs ... but those have eluded me of late. LiveLeak has a contrastingly no holes barred approach but you're likely to see something in the mix that is shocking beyond your ability to cope graciously.
Many will find aspects of LiveLeak politically incorrect or vulgar, or any combination of derrogotory descriptions.
I remain glad that political correctness has never fazed my existence. I recognized it as the frank BS it has always been since that day I was at Schneider Electric giving a dBase III+ class talking to a little idiot girl who worked there with her penchant for circular logic and total irrelevance. It's difficult to care about hurting the feelings of someone obviously incapable of understanding anything beyond the most basic interaction and nothing of nuance or referential meaning.
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- March 14, 2017
- Petty Crap
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I loaded an old configuration file into my mail server yesterday with disastrous results ... figuratively speaking.
This text based file lacked the few corrections required for the new version of the mail server and of course, were not reported at build time — only during runtime operations.
Anyway; I just caught these 24 hours later and (after TWO configuration replacements) fixed them — but I really should have been monitoring a whole lot better than I have been even during the reconfig process.
The worst part of it all is the fix was an entry in the host file with the server config being primarily a recovery operation.
Perhaps I've simply reached that juncture where it's not as important to me as it once was.
The occasional persistent bug in applications, tiny configuration errors, and not even bothering to look are portends of the fact that perhaps I should just shut down the servers and stop pretending that I want to operate a cluster on prem. Perhaps, I simply grow weary of embarassing myself or feeling stupid regardless of how trivial the issues are in reality.
Duh.
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- March 13, 2017
- Webcam Spying Problematic
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It's fairly common knowledge about the various exploit vectors which enable others to spy on you through your webcam.
Yes, that innocuous appearing little eye on the lid of your notebook can be activated by various malware payloads and controlled remotely without your consent or knowledge.
I have a number of acquaintances whom I consider on the 'perv' side of things that find this titillating ... however, my neurotic privacy seeking persona will thwart this at each and every move.
There are a number of very inexpensive masking devices which simply clip over the lens and prevent viewing of anything. They come in a number of decorator colors and can coordinate with your wardrobe quite nicely.
The bottom line in the entirety of the matter is "tape". Tape is the lowest cost alternative and is as effective as anything else on the market to keep those prying eyes off you as you enage your hing on that webporn thing.
Me ... after a couple of embarassing questions from others regarding various boo boos and such which should not be visible to the general public; I opted to remove all internally facing web cams because I simply have too many of them to track all the time. I simply decline to ever show off my package again if you don't mind.
So ... if you're less technically proficient and don't think you may effectively keep all the malware and exploits at bay; do as I do and tape that webcam away. Just because someone may have an open port doesn't mean you have to give them a clear view of anything and everything.
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- March 12, 2017
- Yes, it snows
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So I'm having fairly large snowflakes falling to the ground whereupon they mostly melt ... with a slight amount of accumulation in various patches of the yard.
I thought those rain drops were looking mighty big in the cameras.
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- March 12, 2017
- Snow Possibility in the Area
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Yeah, the news outlets are claiming the possibility for snow Sunday. Me ... I'm more inclined to believe we "may" get some light flurries which don't stick then rain to remove all traces shortly thereafter.
Sure. I'd like to believe that it's still winter and yes today was considerably colder than it's been recently but the thought of snow is simply too much to hope for given the high 80s of the recent past.
I already cleared out the bird houses and am preparing to set out the first set of hummingbird feeders shortly forthwith.
Pipe dreams are nice but I live in the real world these days.
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- March 11, 2017
- Adventures in CLI
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The command line interface is a feature of operating systems and some applications where you key commands rather than choosing them from some menu or launching an icon in a GUI environment.
It is a feature of my favorite families of operating systems such as Unix, Linux, Debian, and so forth and I utilize them because they break the chain of GUI addicts who cannot function in the old style in which I was initially trained whereby you entered the command and verified it prior to pressing the ENTER key which resulted in immediate execution.
I'd like to take this opportunity to reiteriate my opinion that all of these operating systems are "Unix based" even though colleagues may disagree calling "Debian" some entity of it's own design.
However, the parallel command structure begs to differ and I retain my view on the matter.
Terminal operations were once part and parcel to the utilization of computers which were large complicated machines requiring rooms full of equipment and resulting in much less computational power than many find on their desk tops these days.
My origins are in the 8 bit region on the PDP series of Digital Equipment Corporation machines with proprietary hardware peripherals and wire wrapped interface cards which occupied a "backplane" which too was a separate piece of hardware:
PDP-8, PDP-11/23, PDP-11/73, MicroVAX
I miss the old days of text based everything for it's simplicity. The advent of graphics on Unix boxes was a treat indeed, but nowadays I save the GUI stuff for windoze and stay at the command line on Unix based servers which are innocent of a single graphical module.
Servers really don't need the overhead of the GUI environment which I feel is a pitfall of the entire windoze line ...
The power of Unix and operating systems like them lay in the command line, accessed by a program called "terminal" or a "terminal emulator" running on a client to that host.
Errant commands could once be catastrophic, and indeed they may still be. However, if you know what you're doing prior to pressing that ENTER key you should be able to predict the results of any command.
Contrast this with my young nephew who once told me that a computer was "broken" because the mouse wouldn't operate therefore rendering the entire machine "unusable". I simply hit the keyboard and entered those shortcuts which enabled me to shut down the machine. I then reseated the mouse connection (which was PS/2 and therefore not a "hot swap" device) whereupon the entire machine automagically began "working" again.
The sophistication of too many users has become obscured by a company which would enslave everyone with few people challenging the environment or the company's ability to deliver a product ready for market.
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- March 10, 2017
- Mein Straßenwut
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Road Rage. Said to be violent behavior exhibited by drivers while negotiating traffic. It is also supposedly a manifestation of stress in conjunction with failed anger managment skills in real time behind the wheel of a personal conveyance.
Now me, I grit my teeth and yell at people but that's pretty much it with the road rage thing. I fear hurting someone else more than I care to be angry. Yeah, I might call you names or glower at you from behind the wheel.
I'm afraid that overt confrontations don't go beyond that because the bulk of those I encounter with varying degrees of failed driving ability also get the "stupid" connotation ... and along with that goes my consideration for "special needs" cases.
So when you read of some violent ending to a road rage incident, rest assured that it was not me. For I am simply going to grit my teeth at you and get on down the road because I ABSOLUTELY don't have adequate time to be messing with some moron doing 20 in a 45 texting at the wheel as happened yesterday morning on the way to work.
It's "life" and we're just playing the game.
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- March 9, 2017
- WikiLeaks hits the CIA Again
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Tuesday, WikiLeaks dumped a massive collection of classified CIA hacking documents stolen from from the CIA Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley.
I don't know about you, but given the repeat nature of this and the impotence of the CIA to do anything about it I wouldn't hardly be using the word "intelligence" anywhere in the facility.
Said documents describe an international hacking program repleat with malware collection and zero-day weaponized items designed as exploits against a range of international product lines in the area of personal communications.
The source of the leak indicates that the reason behind the betrayal is to raise policy questions about the CIA hacking program, ostensibly to open communications regarding the agency's power and lack of government oversight.
Seeing how we are no longer a constitutional government but an oligarchy run by the military industrial complex may I please point out that NOBODY is doing their job effectively anywhere in the government by any of those directing this pitiful show or in any of it's security branches.
Boo!
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- March 8, 2017
- Life before Obamacare
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When I was unemployed or underemployed or the prisoner of a tyrant I simply went without health insurance of any kind.
No job. No premium money. No group plan.
Marginal job. Crappy coverage. No need to participate.
$10,000 deductable. Might as well not have insurance. What's the use.
I did not take to the streets whining about how "unfair" life was and how I thought that coverage was some divine right like the people are now.
I sucked it up and took my medicine in the capitalist economy in which I found myself and obtained health insurance at the first viable opportunity.
I remember the smile of the evil persian when I opted out of his ten thousand dollar deductable coverage ... then departed a scant 90 days later.
You see, some problems are not everyone's problem. We are a Republic, not a socialist welfare state. In the 21st century you get in there and "get it" or you do without.
I grow weary of what too many feel are "owed" them. Get a grip and do what I did which was the best I could in the prevailing economy. Taxing everyone to cover the masses of those who choose to lay around and breed and draw some entitlement check just won't work anymore.
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- March 7, 2017
- Another alleged black cube UFO in Texas
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Well, how about the giant black cube ufo above the White Sands military base in Texas ...
Witnesses said that the skys became abruptly stormy appearing in the area of the sighting. The cube was said to appear to drop through what was characterized as a 'black hole portal' and this is the second such appearance in recent history. The first occurrence shook me up too.
Forgive me if I forego the unqualified rambling regarding it. Now ... is it one of OURS or one of THEIRS ??
Only time will tell.
The bulk of the comments I have read in the threads appear amused at it all making references to elements of science fiction theatrics. Perhaps I've seen one too many episodes of Unsealed: Alien Files to find it laughable myself.
Spookage.
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- March 6, 2017
- National Security is NOT Paranoia
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I'm seeing a lot in the news threads regarding town meetings and the boos received by Republicans defending the Trump administration.
This contempt is directed by the administration's attempt at adequate national security and the protection of the United States from elements in countries with adequate numbers sworn to annihilate us.
I had similar contempt for the Obama administration but I did not force it upon the entirety of the population as these narrow focus supporters of the enemy do.
Indeed, I feel they should be exposed to the threat more "up close and personal" that they might see exactly from what they're being protected.
Muslims in the country make no attempt to improve the situation with viable plans to stop their numbers from the incursion bragged upon Muammar Qaddafi who was both deposed, sodomized, and executed by the very subjects over whom he once ruled.
The muslims want to emigrate and breed us out of existence as stated in numerous sources of propaganda while the bleeding heart liberal whiners who have no inkling of what awaits them welome them with open arms.
Personally I will not apologize for the Trump administration. There are enough of us who support him and he won the election.
Let the stupidity continue and the photo opportunist kowtowing Republicans like Lindsay Graham go right on trying to appease the dissenting masses as though he will ever succeed. There are too many of us who totally agree with what is happening after 8 years of the Obama abomination.
National security is not paranoia. The fact that the mistake which was the Obama administration is over has residue of those who would hand over everything to the enemy which are the insurgents being thwarted by a strong policy of deportation.
When they are finally able to come here and kill you dumb "disagree" and "resist" morons I hope I am still around to shove your stupid noses in it.
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- March 5, 2017
- Foreign Owned Buildings in the United States and National Security
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Just when I thought some semblance of sanity was returning to government; I read in the Washington Examiner about the DEA, FBI, Social Security Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, and other fed agencies with both classified operations and sensitive data storage in foreign owned buildings making them vulnerable for any manner of intrusion and espionage the likes of which make me shudder to the core.
It seems that the General Services Administration has been placing FBI agents and other officials supposedly with security sensitivity work being handled in buildings owned by China and other governments foreign to The Republic.
These are highly coveted assets for exploit and just what part of STUPID IDIOCY is our government failing to recognize here. We need to rid ourselves of these foreign invaders out to exploit anything and everything in the United States by expelling each and every one of them.
The cybersecurity vulnerabilities that exist in foreign-owned buildings couldn't be ignored to this degree by a government that knows what's going on.
Given the time frame of the announcement this has the appearance of remnants of the Obama administration with his penchant for undermining the security of the country and socialist "foreign nationals first" agenda.
Those responsible for this situation need to be held accountable with consequences that matter for a change. Where is our government's oversight that SHOULD be intercepting such nonsense BEFORE it happens?
I can't believe this has happened and the powers that be simply permitted and supported it.
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