Fox News commentator Shepherd Smith said that use of the old Windows XP operating system by the IRS led to the recent break in and identity theft on millions of taxpayers.
I don't agree. Windows XP is test tested, and Microsoft has been patching it for some12-15 years. That's enough patches to plug many holes. The newer Windows are fatter, slower, and flakier than well proven XP.
The real problem at IRS is the use of Windows in any form. Windows is like Swiss cheese, full of holes that let hostiles in, and it's so big that no one understands it. The IRS ought to be running some form of Unix (Linux is a good one) which is infinitely more secure than any flavor of Windows.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Followon: Airbus A400M crash blamed on engine control software
According to Ars Technica, an airbus executive said that the engine control software was "misconfigured" during engine installation at the factory, and was responsible for the crash. We think this means that some program changes that were supposed to be made at installation (for instance "remember this engine serial number" or "set engine hours to zero") were not made, or were not made properly. The executive claimed that this was not a bug in the code.
Oh really. Code that crashes an airplane ain't right. Good code will keep the plane flying even if it is "misconfigured". Aviation Week's report of a couple of weeks ago suggested that the engine control software shut off fuel to all four engines. That should never happen, no matter what.
I wonder if the Ariane 5 software hackers were allowed to work on the A400M. The Ariane 5 crash, some years ago, destroying the rocket and its expensive satellite payload happened when the engine control software suffered an arithmetic overflow and the program simply halted. In the after crash investigation, it was revealed that the software spec required the program to halt after overflow. The excuse was made at the time that this helped troubleshooting. The programmers in the Ariane case did what they were told to do, with disastrous results.
Oh really. Code that crashes an airplane ain't right. Good code will keep the plane flying even if it is "misconfigured". Aviation Week's report of a couple of weeks ago suggested that the engine control software shut off fuel to all four engines. That should never happen, no matter what.
I wonder if the Ariane 5 software hackers were allowed to work on the A400M. The Ariane 5 crash, some years ago, destroying the rocket and its expensive satellite payload happened when the engine control software suffered an arithmetic overflow and the program simply halted. In the after crash investigation, it was revealed that the software spec required the program to halt after overflow. The excuse was made at the time that this helped troubleshooting. The programmers in the Ariane case did what they were told to do, with disastrous results.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Diehards, aka "the base"
There are three kinds of voters in the US. Diehard democrats, Diehard Republicans, and independents. The diehards, often referred to as "the base", will vote for their party no matter what. No amount of campaigning, TV advertising, door-to-door campaigning, parades, rallies, whatever, is gonna change their minds or their votes. Only the independents can be wooed by a good candidate, or repelled by a bad one.
So, candidates that want to get elected, appeal to the independents. The base will vote for them no matter what they do.
Occasionally I hear TV newsies explain a candidates actions as intended to "secure the base". This is malarkey, the base is secure, it's the independents that a candidate needs to secure.
Right now, about 40% of the voters are diehard democrats, and 35% are diehard Republicans. The other 25% are the independents, who control the election utterly.
I have never seen a breakdown of the independents, by age, sex, education level, employment, marital status, or those other things that categorize voters. So it's hard for me to figure out just what any of the herd of Republican hopefuls can do to attract independent votes. If you don't know what your target looks like, it's hard to find it.
There is general agreement on some things. Everyone wants a stronger, growing economy, with more jobs and better wages. Nobody likes ISIS. Everyone is in favor of a college education.
There is no agreement on other things. What to do about immigration and illegal immigrants. How much economic activity can we allow the greenies to stifle with regulations? Are we willing to commit American troops to straighten out the middle east? How tough can we get with the Russians over Ukraine? Can we rationalize the US tax system? Citizens should not have to hire H&R Block to file their federal income tax. Can we straighten out the patent and copyright law which suppresses innovation and enriches patent trolls?
Where do independents stand on any of these issues? Does anyone have a clue?
So, candidates that want to get elected, appeal to the independents. The base will vote for them no matter what they do.
Occasionally I hear TV newsies explain a candidates actions as intended to "secure the base". This is malarkey, the base is secure, it's the independents that a candidate needs to secure.
Right now, about 40% of the voters are diehard democrats, and 35% are diehard Republicans. The other 25% are the independents, who control the election utterly.
I have never seen a breakdown of the independents, by age, sex, education level, employment, marital status, or those other things that categorize voters. So it's hard for me to figure out just what any of the herd of Republican hopefuls can do to attract independent votes. If you don't know what your target looks like, it's hard to find it.
There is general agreement on some things. Everyone wants a stronger, growing economy, with more jobs and better wages. Nobody likes ISIS. Everyone is in favor of a college education.
There is no agreement on other things. What to do about immigration and illegal immigrants. How much economic activity can we allow the greenies to stifle with regulations? Are we willing to commit American troops to straighten out the middle east? How tough can we get with the Russians over Ukraine? Can we rationalize the US tax system? Citizens should not have to hire H&R Block to file their federal income tax. Can we straighten out the patent and copyright law which suppresses innovation and enriches patent trolls?
Where do independents stand on any of these issues? Does anyone have a clue?
Monday, June 1, 2015
NSA snooping, shall it go on?
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause supported by Oath or affirmation , and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Notes:
1. Papers and effects in the modern age includes phone calls.
2. Oath or affirmation language supported the Quakers who refused to take oaths.
3. Particularly describing, means no blanket warrants for vast groups of people.
Right now NSA is recording every cell phone call made in the US, and over a good deal of the world. They are recording the billing information ("metadata"), number called, date, and call duration. At least that's the NSA's story. Nobody has accused them of recording the contents of phone calls, yet. NSA does this routinely without a warrant.
I think we ought to go back to the old system, where the government must obtain a warrant from a real court in order to tap a phone, demand billing records from the phone company or credit card companies. The "FISA" court is not a real court, they approve every application made to them and they don't do real legal work. They are a rubber stamp. The government should get a warrant from a regular federal court, not the "FISA" rubber stamp.
As of this minute, this might happen. The original Patriot Act passed right after 9/11 expires today. The Senate failed to pass an extension yesterday. It may well come to pass, the the Patriot Act will just quietly expire. So far no one has claimed that NSA phone snoopers have actually captured any terrorists.
Notes:
1. Papers and effects in the modern age includes phone calls.
2. Oath or affirmation language supported the Quakers who refused to take oaths.
3. Particularly describing, means no blanket warrants for vast groups of people.
Right now NSA is recording every cell phone call made in the US, and over a good deal of the world. They are recording the billing information ("metadata"), number called, date, and call duration. At least that's the NSA's story. Nobody has accused them of recording the contents of phone calls, yet. NSA does this routinely without a warrant.
I think we ought to go back to the old system, where the government must obtain a warrant from a real court in order to tap a phone, demand billing records from the phone company or credit card companies. The "FISA" court is not a real court, they approve every application made to them and they don't do real legal work. They are a rubber stamp. The government should get a warrant from a regular federal court, not the "FISA" rubber stamp.
As of this minute, this might happen. The original Patriot Act passed right after 9/11 expires today. The Senate failed to pass an extension yesterday. It may well come to pass, the the Patriot Act will just quietly expire. So far no one has claimed that NSA phone snoopers have actually captured any terrorists.
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Picking College Courses
Well, first you want to steer clear of courses in underwater basket weaving and the like, courses that don't teach anything useful or even interesting. Figure each semester course soaks up $1250 of your college tuition. You want to spend that kind of money on stuff you can use or stuff of general utility. You can learn a lot about the course by checking the course textbook. College bookstores have all the textbooks for all the courses in stock. You can flip thru them and get a fair idea of what the course is about.
No textbook? That's a down check on that course. A number of know it all professors don't assign a text book, they expect students to sort of inhale the course contents out of the air. Which is hard. In two college educations, I never learned to take useful notes. With a textbook to study, and review before the test, I did all right. Without a textbook, forget it, instant flunk out.
No textbook? That's a down check on that course. A number of know it all professors don't assign a text book, they expect students to sort of inhale the course contents out of the air. Which is hard. In two college educations, I never learned to take useful notes. With a textbook to study, and review before the test, I did all right. Without a textbook, forget it, instant flunk out.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Active Duty.
The Army is denying burial at Arlington to a soldier killed in a helicopter crash. Army claims the soldier "was not on active duty" at the time. Which is shameful. A man dies in an Army aircraft crash, that's active duty as far as I am concerned.
We ought to find the Army bureaucrat who issued this disgusting ruling, and get him fired (if snivel service) or dishonorably discharged, if military.
We ought to find the Army bureaucrat who issued this disgusting ruling, and get him fired (if snivel service) or dishonorably discharged, if military.
Navigable Waters of the United States
The original Clean Water Act gave jurisdiction to the EPA over all the navigable waters. This was intended to limit EPA enforcement to sizable bodies of water, not every puddle in the land. Water is very common, and you can find small amounts of water, puddles and such pretty much everywhere. If we allow the EPA jurisdiction over every puddle in the US, we have given them control of most of the land across the country. Maybe Death Valley is dry enough to avoid EPA control, but few other places are.
The EPA just issued 100 or more pages of new regulation which claims jurisdiction over pretty much everywhere.
Congress ought stop this land grab. A simple law, which declares that EPA jurisdiction is limited to waters deep enough to float a boat, all year round. Such a law could be written on one side of an ordinary 8.5 * 10 inch sheet of typing paper.
The EPA just issued 100 or more pages of new regulation which claims jurisdiction over pretty much everywhere.
Congress ought stop this land grab. A simple law, which declares that EPA jurisdiction is limited to waters deep enough to float a boat, all year round. Such a law could be written on one side of an ordinary 8.5 * 10 inch sheet of typing paper.
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