Random Rants 91 - Semiprimal Rage

[amadeus]

Hey subway lady with the perfume, my mask isn’t a gas mask. Tone it down a little!

 

[The_J]

Apparently the technician made some error while sorting through the data in our pipeline.
Means I have to re-do all my analysis, since it's based on only partial data.
Great .

 

[Sarin]

F*ck.

Just got back from eye checkup after a long time. Early stage of glaucoma. Looks like it's very early, no vision loss yet (wouldn't have found it if it wasn't for OCT), but it still means that at the very least I'll have to use eye drops every day for the rest of my life.

 

[The_J]

Sorry to hear .

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I just missed snagging the next Random Thoughts thread.

 

[Samson]

5 quid to just drop someone off at Heathrow, which took me ~30 seconds. Also I have had nothing to do with airports for ~two years, and they introduce the charge today, the one day I have to go there.

 

[Kyriakos]

5 quid to just drop someone off at Heathrow, which took me ~30 seconds. Also I have had nothing to do with airports for ~two years, and they introduce the charge today, the one day I have to go there.

Does this also apply to ubermench?

 

[Samson]

Does this also apply to ubermench?

Ah, I had to read your post in the corona thread to get it. Actually it seems to be pretty much automated, so it probably does unlike if it actually relied to the filth to enforce. As usual, the rich and poor alike have to pay a fiver for 30 seconds, so it is "fair". Of course this is a trivial cost on the whole thing of air travel, but it just seems such excessive gouging.

 

[Kyriakos]

Ah, I had to read your post in the corona thread to get it. Actually it seems to be pretty much automated, so it probably does unlike if it actually relied to the filth to enforce. As usual, the rich and poor alike have to pay a fiver for 30 seconds, so it is "fair". Of course this is a trivial cost on the whole thing of air travel, but it just seems such excessive gouging.

Thanks, although I didn't mean it in that way (rich- poor), though it'd be in character too. I meant it in the Arakhor level poor pun, regarding Uber paid-drivers

 

[Zkribbler]

Yiiiiiiiieeeee! McD's was delivered. I hurried to my table in the TV room, pivoted, and CRASH!
Bruised shoulder bruised hip . My cook and Irish muscled me back up to my feet. Owie!

 

[Samson]

Thanks, although I didn't mean it in that way (rich- poor), though it'd be in character too. I meant it in the Arakhor level poor pun, regarding Uber paid-drivers

I was actually looking around for an alternative kerb to drop them at. There was no obvious taxi place, so I suspect they are not exempt. It is quite possible you can buy for a period so it is not a fiver every time. There is a Valet Parking bit, I thought about pretending I was one of them.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Yiiiiiiiieeeee! McD's was delivered. I hurried to my table in the TV room, pivoted, and CRASH!
Bruised shoulder bruised hip . My cook and Irish muscled me back up to my feet. Owie!

 

[Samson]

I have just had to do yet another IT security online training thing. I had to install insecure closed source DRM codex to do it, which is a bit of a security risk. The quiz at the end has these questions:

Which of the following passwords is most secure?

1. Dolphins are the greatest
2. B.{(x*g>P{:uc~8>kEmQ<Wl.s
3. sWhN!Ms2
4. dolphins

Strictly speaking 2 is the answer, but that will fail in many login implementations as they badly try and keep out code insertion attacks and restrict length (which is itself broken IMO). Both 1 and 3 are pretty good, as long as there is not some context that they can be tied back to you (and the implementation accepts spaces). I put 2 but I am not sure it is what they want.

Which of the following links for Microsoft’s website would you feel most secure clicking on?

1. https://www.microsoft.com/
2. https://www.Windows.com/Microsoft
3. https://www.Micr0s0ft.com/
4. http://www.Microsoft.com/

I guess they want 1, and that is what I said, but as Windows.com is registered to microsoft corporation 2 should be just as good.

It’s acceptable to post things on social media that I wouldn’t say in public.

1. Infrequently
2. Never
3. Sometimes
4. All the time

I guess they want 2, but I talk about things here that I would not say in public at work all the time, and it is acceptable both to me and others here.

When you do this on your mobile device, you put yourself at greatest risk from malware?

1. Install updates to apps and operating system.
2. Tweak system settings to improve performance.
3. Install apps from a third-party app store.
4. All of these actions put you at great risk.

I guess they want 3, but as long as you only install GPL apps that you have personally checked it is probably better than closed source apps from google play or whatever.

Which of the following is the least risky topic to post about on social media?

1. The vacation you just got back from.
2. The amusing tricks your cat Tucker does.
3. The food you ate last night.
4. Your upcoming trip for work.

Obviously your upcoming trip has a certain amount of risk, but when your work trips are scientific conferences that you are presenting at (like almost all work trips here are) then posting about them before to get eyeballs on your work is kind of half the point. I am not sure about the threat profile of the holiday you have just had, but I suppose it allows a certain amount of human engineering. I guess the problem with your cat tricks is if you use your pets name as a security answer, but is not the risk there using public information to secure services? Your cats name should not have to be kept secret to secure your works IT. I put 3, as I think that is what they want, but I bet if you are always posting about the ethnic cuisine of your native land, and that land is considered "terrorist" or "$%&*hole country" then it puts you at risk of profiling by the TPTB.

 

[Kyriakos]

I have just had to do yet another IT security online training thing. I had to install insecure closed source DRM codex to do it, which is a bit of a security risk. The quiz at the end has these questions:

Which of the following passwords is most secure?

1. Dolphins are the greatest
2. B.{(x*g>P{:uc~8>kEmQ<Wl.s
3. sWhN!Ms2
4. dolphins

Strictly speaking 2 is the answer, but that will fail in many login implementations as they badly try and keep out code insertion attacks and restrict length (which is itself broken IMO). Both 1 and 2 are pretty good, as long as there is not some context that they can be tied back to you (and the implementation accepts spaces). I put 2 but I am not sure it is what they want.

Which of the following links for Microsoft’s website would you feel most secure clicking on?

1. https://www.microsoft.com/
2. https://www.Windows.com/Microsoft
3. https://www.Micr0s0ft.com/
4. http://www.Microsoft.com/

I guess they want 1, and that is what I said, but as Windows.com is registered to microsoft corporation 2 should be just as good.

It’s acceptable to post things on social media that I wouldn’t say in public.

1. Infrequently
2. Never
3. Sometimes
4. All the time

I guess they want 2, but I talk about things here that I would not say in public at work all the time, and it is acceptable both to me and others here.

When you do this on your mobile device, you put yourself at greatest risk from malware?

1. Install updates to apps and operating system.
2. Tweak system settings to improve performance.
3. Install apps from a third-party app store.
4. All of these actions put you at great risk.

I guess they want 3, but as long as you only install GPL apps that you have personally checked it is probably better than closed source apps from google play or whatever.

Which of the following is the least risky topic to post about on social media?

1. The vacation you just got back from.
2. The amusing tricks your cat Tucker does.
3. The food you ate last night.
4. Your upcoming trip for work.

Obviously your upcoming trip has a certain amount of risk, but when your work trips are scientific conferences that you are presenting at (like almost all work trips here are) then posting about them before to get eyeballs on your work is kind of half the point. I am not sure about the threat profile of the holiday you have just had, but I suppose it allows a certain amount of human engineering. I guess the problem with your cat tricks is if you use your pets name as a security answer, but is not the risk there using public information to secure services? Your cats name should not have to be kept secret to secure your works IT. I put 3, as I think that is what they want, but I bet if you are always posting about the ethnic cuisine of your native land, and that land is considered "terrorist" or "$%&*hole country" then it puts you at risk of profiling by the TPTB.

B.{(x*g>P{:uc~8>kEmQ<Wl.s was actually my password.

 

[Samson]

Bloody unapologetic slum landlords. I am getting older without owning any property, and vaguely keep an eye on possible property bargains. I came across this listing:

• Guide Price £65,000 (very cheap for most of the UK)
• Two-bedroom ground floor flat
  
• Advertised as :
  • Readymade investment
  • Current income of £9,824 pa
  • Current gross yield of 15.10%
• The photos show that is based on "slum landlord" business model:
  • There are people in both bedrooms AND the living room (so 3 unrelated people in a 2 bed flat). Perhaps someone is sleeping in the living room and they are using a bedroom as storage, but that makes no sense to me.
    
  • They have not provided sufficient furniture as everyone has to keep their stuff on the floor
  • At least one is sleeping in two sleeping bags, which indicates there is not enough heating
    
  • I am not quite sure what is going on on the table in the living room, it is defiantly a lighter refill canister which is a drug of abuse, I think he has been skinning up. I suspect the landlord did not give sufficient warning to the tenants before going in to take the photos, which is illegal. Something similar in the bottom left corner of the main bedroom, though it could be something legit.
    
  • At least two plain lightbulbs with no light shade. Just another sign of cheap landlord.
  • A curtain that looks like a sheet, ditto as above.

Spoiler Photos :

 

[Kyriakos]

"Slum landlord" is a nice expression

And yes, that apartment doesn't look very pleasant. Let alone that it is on the ground floor.
What is the size? Around 50 square meters?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I have just had to do yet another IT security online training thing. I had to install insecure closed source DRM codex to do it, which is a bit of a security risk. The quiz at the end has these questions:

Which of the following passwords is most secure?

1. Dolphins are the greatest
2. B.{(x*g>P{:uc~8>kEmQ<Wl.s
3. sWhN!Ms2
4. dolphins

1. #3 reminds me of some safety training thing my dad had to take several decades ago that would allow him to work up north - has to do with sour gas.

Strictly speaking 2 is the answer, but that will fail in many login implementations as they badly try and keep out code insertion attacks and restrict length (which is itself broken IMO).

#2 isn't allowed on a lot of websites as they only want numbers and letters.

Posting about your vacation? If you ever have reasons to access health care or have an insurance issue, some twit might use your vacation photos to claim you're not really sick. Posting about an upcoming vacation is an invitation to thieves to figure out exactly where you live and when you'll be gone, so you'll come home to an empty/trashed house.

My vacation photos stay in the physical photo album, and in any case, the last time I had any taken was in 1987 (unless you count the few taken at various science fiction conventions by other people who just wanted my photo because of my costume; I can't control whether they were ever uploaded, but I doubt it).

 

[The_J]

I think that they put these pictures online should tell you everything already...

B.{(x*g>P{:uc~8>kEmQ<Wl.s

Don't forget that this is aimed at the average user, and not at IT-savy people .

For this PW, I normally put for the accounts which I rarely use a random string of letters, digits, and special signs, but I normally also take care to not use <>, %, / \, quotation marks brackets, commas and semicolons, since these might not be allowed for exactly these reasons.
So that basically leaves the dash, underscore, point, !, ? and :

For the last question, I guess it's the cat too.
The upcoming trip tells when you're not at home.
The last trip and the food can be used for social engineering n stuff, and allows some profiling.

 

[Samson]

#2 isn't allowed on a lot of websites as they only want numbers and letters.

That is what I was trying to get at. The problem with that is the rubbish website authentication implementation, but it is something you have to deal with.

Posting about your vacation? If you ever have reasons to access health care or have an insurance issue, some twit might use your vacation photos to claim you're not really sick.

If you are actually pulling a sicky to go on holiday then yes, do not post about it online.

Posting about an upcoming vacation is an invitation to thieves to figure out exactly where you live and when you'll be gone, so you'll come home to an empty/trashed house.

They specifically say upcoming work trip, not holiday. The work trips at this place are almost always scientific conferences, and you want to drum up interest before so you can get the most out of it. The only social media account I have that is easily link-able to me is twitter where I talk about science meetings to try and get people to come to my poster or talk or whatever.

I think that they put these pictures online should tell you everything already...



Don't forget that this is aimed at the average user, and not at IT-savy people .

But they are making me do it

For this PW, I normally put for the accounts which I rarely use a random string of letters, digits, and special signs, but I normally also take care to not use <>, brackets and commas, since these might not be allowed for exactly these reasons.

For the last question, I guess it's the cat too.
The upcoming trip tells when you're not at home.
The last trip and the food can be used for social engineering n stuff, and allows some profiling.

I think the cat is not the answer, because many sites ask for the name of your pet as a "security" question. I think they want the answer of the food. I only got that I passed (so >80%), they do not give answers to individual questions.

 

[Samson]

What is the size? Around 50 square meters?

Exactly, 50.9 Sq. M. You have a good eye for slum property It is bigger than my place, but there is only me living here.