Jun 2008
Collection of Random Topics
21-Jun-08 09:38 AM Filed in: Current Events|General Interest|Technology|Politics|Religion|Apple Computers
There are many topics worthy of discussion, but not really worthy of a dedicated post by themselves. Some of these topics have been building up in my brain lately, so allow me to release the pressure valve and spew some of them forth herewith. I reserve the right to come back at a later date and embellish any of these topics further as warranted by current events or stupid actions by people who should know better. So, in no particular order of importance or interest:
Gay Marriage Rights
Conservative and religious right leaders in California are chomping at the bit to try and pass a state constitutional amendment this November to nullify the recently acquired rights of gay couples from marrying in the state. They are spreading false information about marriage statistics and trying to convince everyone that by allowing gay couples to marry that the very institution of heteosexual marriage is somehow jeopardized and in danger of being eradicated off the face of the earth. Normally, this topic alone is worth an entire post by itself, but i have neither the energy nor the will to further debate this topic as it is so completely juvenille and senseless that it is exasperating to even try to and expend brain cells to debate it. Other than all of the arguments I have already posted on this blog about this topic, suffice it to say that the misinformation about marriage and the alarmist concerns of the destruction of heterosexual marriage is completely senseless and unwarranted. I stop short of calling it stupid (although it is) but I maintain that nobody but nobody can adequately explain how by allowing a group of people (gays and lesbians) to enjoy the same legal protections of marriage that that is going to jeopardize heterosexual marriage. It is a myth and one without any merit. Next topic.
Apple Goodies - iPhone 3G and Mobile Me
There is a wealth of techno goodies about to shower forth from the techno gods in Cupertino in early July, now only a few short weeks away. You’d have to be living in a hole in the sewers of London not to have already heard this news by now. Twice the features and half the price of the original iPhone, faster speeds, more third party applications, GPS, Microsoft Exchange support for enterprises and business users, and the best user interface ever designed for a mobile device make this a must have techno gadget for the masses. Notwithstanding all the goodness, to keep this journalistically pure, I will point out that there is much concern over the pricing plans with AT&T and who will be eligible for the lower prices. The $199 and $299 prices quoted during the WWDC Keynote address will not be available to everyone, depending upon existing cell phone contracts. This is nothing really new in the industry, but I can see a lot of people being disappointed to find out that they don’t qualify for the lower prices. But, like a good Republican, I know I qualify for the rates so I don’t really care if anybody else does or not. Tough luck.
Mobile Me is the replacement of the Dot Mac web service from Apple of which I have been a member for a few years now. While I have generally been pleased with Dot Mac, I am looking forward to the new push email, contacts and calendar capabilities that will be offered by the new service. As billed during the WWDC, this is exchange service for the rest of us. Dot Mac did have a few bugs and quirks in it and I am hoping that this new service will resolve some of those annoying glitches that would creep up from time to time. It is going to be so nice to be able to add calendar events or contacts to my laptop or Mac and then have that automatically sync up to my iPhone. This service also debuts in early July and I am ready for it.
Eletrical Loadbanks and Short Circuits
DId you know that the quasi-technical definition of an eletrical short is when electrical current flows unintentionally and uncontrolled between two conductors? In other words, it is when electricity goes where it’s not supposed to go and the consequential results are usually fried or charred electrical equipment.
An electrical loadbank is a piece of electrical equipment that simulates electrical load generated by equipment when the equipment is not present. It is used for testing such things as uninterrupted power supplies (UPS) and battery back up systems. With a loadbank apparatus you can simulate all different kinds of electrical events for the express purpose of testing out your emergency back up plans to deal with such emergencies.
Now you may wonder what is so important or interesting about this last bit of information and the answer is absolutely nothing. I said this would be a post on random topics and that’s what I just delivered.
Gay Marriage Rights
Conservative and religious right leaders in California are chomping at the bit to try and pass a state constitutional amendment this November to nullify the recently acquired rights of gay couples from marrying in the state. They are spreading false information about marriage statistics and trying to convince everyone that by allowing gay couples to marry that the very institution of heteosexual marriage is somehow jeopardized and in danger of being eradicated off the face of the earth. Normally, this topic alone is worth an entire post by itself, but i have neither the energy nor the will to further debate this topic as it is so completely juvenille and senseless that it is exasperating to even try to and expend brain cells to debate it. Other than all of the arguments I have already posted on this blog about this topic, suffice it to say that the misinformation about marriage and the alarmist concerns of the destruction of heterosexual marriage is completely senseless and unwarranted. I stop short of calling it stupid (although it is) but I maintain that nobody but nobody can adequately explain how by allowing a group of people (gays and lesbians) to enjoy the same legal protections of marriage that that is going to jeopardize heterosexual marriage. It is a myth and one without any merit. Next topic.
Apple Goodies - iPhone 3G and Mobile Me
There is a wealth of techno goodies about to shower forth from the techno gods in Cupertino in early July, now only a few short weeks away. You’d have to be living in a hole in the sewers of London not to have already heard this news by now. Twice the features and half the price of the original iPhone, faster speeds, more third party applications, GPS, Microsoft Exchange support for enterprises and business users, and the best user interface ever designed for a mobile device make this a must have techno gadget for the masses. Notwithstanding all the goodness, to keep this journalistically pure, I will point out that there is much concern over the pricing plans with AT&T and who will be eligible for the lower prices. The $199 and $299 prices quoted during the WWDC Keynote address will not be available to everyone, depending upon existing cell phone contracts. This is nothing really new in the industry, but I can see a lot of people being disappointed to find out that they don’t qualify for the lower prices. But, like a good Republican, I know I qualify for the rates so I don’t really care if anybody else does or not. Tough luck.
Mobile Me is the replacement of the Dot Mac web service from Apple of which I have been a member for a few years now. While I have generally been pleased with Dot Mac, I am looking forward to the new push email, contacts and calendar capabilities that will be offered by the new service. As billed during the WWDC, this is exchange service for the rest of us. Dot Mac did have a few bugs and quirks in it and I am hoping that this new service will resolve some of those annoying glitches that would creep up from time to time. It is going to be so nice to be able to add calendar events or contacts to my laptop or Mac and then have that automatically sync up to my iPhone. This service also debuts in early July and I am ready for it.
Eletrical Loadbanks and Short Circuits
DId you know that the quasi-technical definition of an eletrical short is when electrical current flows unintentionally and uncontrolled between two conductors? In other words, it is when electricity goes where it’s not supposed to go and the consequential results are usually fried or charred electrical equipment.
An electrical loadbank is a piece of electrical equipment that simulates electrical load generated by equipment when the equipment is not present. It is used for testing such things as uninterrupted power supplies (UPS) and battery back up systems. With a loadbank apparatus you can simulate all different kinds of electrical events for the express purpose of testing out your emergency back up plans to deal with such emergencies.
Now you may wonder what is so important or interesting about this last bit of information and the answer is absolutely nothing. I said this would be a post on random topics and that’s what I just delivered.
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Solution to Encrypted Message
14-Jun-08 12:09 AM Filed in: Encoded Messages|Entertainment
Ok, so no one else is too much interested in the playfair cipher. That’s OK - I realize not everyone is intrigued by such geekish hobbies - but, for those who might happen to be interested anyway, here is the solution.
A playfair cipher cannot be decoded without the keyword. The keyword can be a single word or a phrase of words. In this example I gave a clue and then the keyword was to be guessed. The clue was “You are reading it now.” The correct answer, and keyword was “TD3k Speaks”. The other trick here is to remember that when entering a number, it must be spelled out - actual number symbols are not allowed. In keeping with the other requirements of the cipher, that is that letters may only be used once, the final keyword looks like this: “TDHREKSPA”. When applied to the encoded cipher text, the decoded message reveals the following:
th is bl og en tr yi se nc od ed us in gt he pl ay fa ir ci ph er if yo uc an br ea ki tx th en yo ua re am os tc ap ab le te ch ge xe ka nd sh ou ld be pr ou dx
A playfair cipher cannot be decoded without the keyword. The keyword can be a single word or a phrase of words. In this example I gave a clue and then the keyword was to be guessed. The clue was “You are reading it now.” The correct answer, and keyword was “TD3k Speaks”. The other trick here is to remember that when entering a number, it must be spelled out - actual number symbols are not allowed. In keeping with the other requirements of the cipher, that is that letters may only be used once, the final keyword looks like this: “TDHREKSPA”. When applied to the encoded cipher text, the decoded message reveals the following:
th is bl og en tr yi se nc od ed us in gt he pl ay fa ir ci ph er if yo uc an br ea ki tx th en yo ua re am os tc ap ab le te ch ge xe ka nd sh ou ld be pr ou dx
And in final form, the message reads:
“This blog entry is encoded using the playfair cipher. If you can break it then you are a most capable tech geek and should be proud.”
Even though computers can easily break the playfair cipher it is still a relatively secure method of encrypting messages provided the keyword is secure. The longer and more difficult the keyword or keyphrase, the more secure the message. This is why many playfair ciphers have resorted to additional clever puzzles and clues that must be solved in order to discover the keyword. Once the keyword is broken, the message is simple.
So ends the lesson.
Encrypted Message
12-Jun-08 01:17 AM Filed in: Entertainment|Encoded Messages
Can you decode this blog post? Please leave your decoded translations in comments and good luck. The keyword clue is: “What you are reading now” (Note: this is a clue and not the actual keyword).
The encoded message is:
DR FA LU XO DU DE RQ BD MF NH TH NB FQ CH RT BG IR IS QA FL GP TE LG XQ ML SQ AE RB AC HV DR DU XQ QB ET KQ NP KM BA BK UB DT GT LH ZH SB WS PD QM FE LB AH QM HW
This idea was inspired by the movie National Treasure 2, which introduced me to the concept of the playfair cipher. Back in it’s day it was an extremely powerful and effective means of encrypting messages from unintended viewers. Now with the advent of computer technology, the code can easily be broken and so therefore is no longer used. It was used extensively during World Wars 1 and 2. I was so fascinated with the concept of this encryption method I did a google research and taught myself how to employ the system. It takes about 15 minutes to learn and master. For additional reading on the subject, I found this wikipedia post to be the most helpful at actually explaining how to understand the cipher, and this link is an excellent on line tool that will help you to encrypt your own messages or decipher messages from others. Things like this really intrigue my robotic skull jelly.
I will post the decoded message in the next day or two for those interested.
The encoded message is:
DR FA LU XO DU DE RQ BD MF NH TH NB FQ CH RT BG IR IS QA FL GP TE LG XQ ML SQ AE RB AC HV DR DU XQ QB ET KQ NP KM BA BK UB DT GT LH ZH SB WS PD QM FE LB AH QM HW
This idea was inspired by the movie National Treasure 2, which introduced me to the concept of the playfair cipher. Back in it’s day it was an extremely powerful and effective means of encrypting messages from unintended viewers. Now with the advent of computer technology, the code can easily be broken and so therefore is no longer used. It was used extensively during World Wars 1 and 2. I was so fascinated with the concept of this encryption method I did a google research and taught myself how to employ the system. It takes about 15 minutes to learn and master. For additional reading on the subject, I found this wikipedia post to be the most helpful at actually explaining how to understand the cipher, and this link is an excellent on line tool that will help you to encrypt your own messages or decipher messages from others. Things like this really intrigue my robotic skull jelly.
I will post the decoded message in the next day or two for those interested.
2008 Election Prediction
I will admit that I am voting for Obama and I am hoping he will win. I realize this may persuade my prediction making abilities slightly, but I can also state that I am happy that John McCain is the Republican candidate out of all of the other people who were running against him. Should my prediction flounder and McCain is able to get elected, I will be at least happy it is him and not the likes of Huckabee or Tancredo or some of the other far-right ultra conservatives. McCain is by far the most liberal (or moderate) of the bunch that was running and I think it may be why he won. There is an expectancy of change in the air and people are instinctively rejecting the failed policies of the Bush administration and are looking for new leadership. The only way Senator McCain could possibly win in November is if he were to completely reject the current Bush policies and present a solid, unified, well thought out strategy that addresses the dire probelms facing the country today. Any semblance of serving up the same old hash that has been served for the last seven years will send McCain to the back of the line and Obama will be the man.
Just remember, you read it here first on TD3k Speaks. I have already established a precedent by making a reasonably accurate prediction with my earlier announcement of 2008 being a sucky year. $5 per gallon gas will probably be here by the end of the year, and that my friends, sucks!! So, let’s put the conservative agenda away for awhile and let’s break out some good old progressive, forward thinking ideas and let’s plan on some big improvements starting in 2009!!