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Yearly Archives: 2007
SANS Program Aims to Boost Secure IT Coding Skills
Some shameless self-promotion in Computerworld magazine:
A coalition of 360 users and vendors led by the SANS Institute last week launched a new information security skills assessment and certification program for corporate and government software programmers.
The National Secure Programming Skills Assessment (NSPSA) examinations will provide IT managers with a process for assessing the secure coding skills of their internal programmers, said Alan Paller, director of research at Bethesda, Md.-based SANS, a provider of security training and certification programs.
The program will also give companies a reliable way to measure the security skills of individuals working for their software vendors and service providers, he said.
“I can definitely see this as being very, very useful,” said Kevin Jarnot, chief technology officer at The Debt Exchange Inc., a Boston-based loan sale adviser for commercial debts.
Unlike certification programs, in which one can cram for a test, an assessment program can provide a better picture “about what your skills really are,” Jarnot said. The SANS program would “greatly help” Debt Exchange assess the security awareness of junior software engineers and force them to write more-secure code, he said.
But such assessments must be topical and relevant, Jarnot warned. “Otherwise, it can give you a false sense of security about your security.”
Posted in Personal, Tech
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Pew Survey Finds Most Knowledgeable Americans Watch 'Daily Show' and 'Colbert'– and Visit Newspaper Sites
I could have told you this… 
A new survey of 1,502 adults released Sunday by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that despite the mass appeal of the Internet and cable news since a previous poll in 1989, Americans’ knowledge of national affairs has slipped a little. For example, only 69% know that Dick Cheney is vice president, while 74% could identify Dan Quayle in that post in 1989.
Other details are equally eye-opening. Pew judged the levels of knowledgeability (correct answers) among those surveyed and found that those who scored the highest were regular watchers of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and Colbert Report. They tied with regular readers of major newspapers in the top spot — with 54% of them getting 2 out of 3 questions correct. Watchers of the Lehrer News Hour on PBS followed just behind.
Virtually bringing up the rear were regular watchers of Fox News. Only 1 in 3 could answer 2 out of 3 questions correctly. Fox topped only network morning show viewers.
Told that Shia was one group of Muslims struggling in Iraq, only 32% of the total sample could name “Sunni” as the other key group.
The percentage of those who knew their state’s governor dropped to 2 in 3. Almost half know that Rep. Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House and 2 in 3 know that Condi Rice is secretary of state. But just 29% can identify Scooter Libby, 21% know Robert Gates and 15% can name Sen. Harry Reid.
But nearly 9 in 10 knew about President Bush’s troop escalation in Iraq.
Men scored higher than women, and older Americans did better than younger, on average. Democrats and Republicans were about equally represented in the most knowledgeable group but there were more Republicans in the least aware group.
Posted in Interesting, Politics
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Scheerer's phenomenon
Wow! This is so cool…from Wikipedia:
Blue field entoptic phenomenon
The blue field entoptic phenomenon or Scheerer’s phenomenon is the appearance of tiny bright dots moving quickly along squiggly lines in the visual field, especially when looking into blue light (such as the sky). This is a normal effect that can be perceived by almost everybody. The dots are due to the white blood cells that move in the capillaries in front of the retina of the eye, near the macula.
Blue light (optimal wavelength: 430 nm) is well absorbed by the red blood cells that fill the capillaries. The brain “edits out” the dark lines that would result from this absorption. The white blood cells, which are much rarer than the red ones and do not absorb the blue light well, create gaps in the blood column, and these gaps appear as bright dots.
In a technique known as blue field entoptoscopy, the effect is used to measure the blood flow in the retinal capillaries. The patient is alternatingly shown blue light and a computer generated picture of moving dots; by adjusting the speed and density of these dots, the patient tries to match the computer generated picture as best as possible to the perceived entoptic dots. This then allows calculation of the blood flow in the capillaries. This test is important in diseases such as diabetes which can cause retinopathy.
Scheerer’s phenomenon should not be confused with “floaters” or muscae volitantes. Scheerer’s phenomenon is distinguished by the appearance of multiple, identical-looking bright dots that follow each other rapidly along the same path. Floaters are variable in appearance; although they sometimes are dots, they often have the appearance of threads or shreds of crumpled cellophane. Floaters remain almost stationary or drift slowly and do not follow well-defined paths. They are due to debris floating in the vitreous humor of the eye.
Posted in Geek, Health, Interesting
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When did America become a nation of frightened wimps?
Good essay from Steve Olson:
When did America become a nation of frightened wimps? When did we cross the line from courage to cowardice? Was it sometime in the 1990s? After the Oklahoma City bombing? After the Columbine shootings? After 911?
When did we decide to allow the police to smash into private homes without knocking and identifying themselves? Recently, in the suburb I live in, a special police force dressed in black Nazi style uniforms busted into a suburban home without warning and dragged a school teacher out of her house with an automatic weapon at the back of her head. They forced her to the ground, handcuffed her, and hauled her away while her neighbors watched. They did it without a warrant and without consequence. Why? A misunderstanding. That is precisely why we need checks in place, to avoid misunderstandings and abuses. The police chief said, “When we realized it was a mistake, we all had a good laugh.” If a group of unidentified men dragged his wife away at gunpoint, I wonder if he would still think it was funny.
Posted in DeepThoughts, Interesting, Politics
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Is Firefox maxing out your Mac's CPU? Try this!
I love Firefox. Really, I do. I can’t live without AdBlock Plus or del.icio.us bookmark support, so Safari is a non-starter. But both Firefox 1.5 and 2.0 use up 50-100% of my Mac’s CPU while idle. This kills the battery on my poor little Powerbook G4 laptop, and also makes it run very hot (ouch).
Today, I discovered an optimized version of Firefox 2.0.0.3 that is specifically compiled for the G4 processor (the site also has versions for G5 and Intel Macs). So far CPU utilization is sticking closer to 1-10%! One hell of an improvement.
Check out http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/2007/03/29/firefox-2002/
Update 20070603 – here’s a better place to find optimized builds.
Posted in Geek, Tech
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Honk Twice for Satan
From SFGate:
When Claudette Soden put up a sign asking motorists to beep for Jesus outside her business in Naugatuck, Conn., fellow business owner Phil Young took exception. He thought it smacked of religious intolerance, so he erected his own sign.
Follow-up – from the Hartford Courant:
A local zoning dispute has become for some a battle of good vs. evil.
The owner of a photo store, who says her business partner is Jesus, began Holy Week by putting signs outside her store urging passing motorists to show their support for the Christian holiday. “Easter: Beep for Christ,” the signs said.
Phil Young, owner of a neighboring tattoo store, soon after put out a sign urging motorists to honk twice for Satan.
Naugatuck officials ordered the signs removed.
While the messages are irrelevant, zoning ordinances require signs to pertain to what businesses sell, do not block sidewalks and do not create a hazard, Mayor Ron San Angelo said.
“We’ve got to follow our zoning regulations. That’s all we care about,” he said.
Claudette Soden, owner of Photos Onto DVD, had put similar signs up at Christmas when her business was at a different location and said she was continuing that tradition at Easter.
By Tuesday, Young’s sign was gone. Soden was refusing to remove hers.
“Easter has not passed yet,” she said.
Young, who did not respond to a request by The Associated Press for comment, has said he viewed Soden’s message as a sign of religious intolerance for non-Christians. He told the Republican-American of Waterbury he put his sign up because he wanted to present an alternate view.
“My main point is that we share a parking lot, and what goes on in this parking lot represents not only hers, but both shops,” he said. “What she does inside her business is her business.”
Soden, who keeps a Bible on her countertop and displays on her wall a business partnership agreement between her and Jesus, said she was not bothered by Young’s posted image of Satan.
“It didn’t offend me, but I know it offended Christ,” she said.
As if the two religious messages weren’t enough, a third business owner jumped into the fray by putting out a sign touting civic virtue.
Roger DeVack, owner of Computer Repair Tech that shares retail space with Soden’s business, said he briefly put out a sign urging motorists to honk for the American flag. The sign displayed the red, white and blue.
He saw nothing wrong with Soden’s sign and was annoyed at the fight it prompted.
“It just seems asinine why people have to turn this into a slugfest between good and evil,” he said.
Posted in Amusements
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