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hubskier for: 3172 days

recent comments, posts, and shares:
squirvel  ·  3039 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: I'm posting this using the w3m text based web browser. Edit: Now with Screenshots!

How's w3m for mouse usage?

I've tried lynx, elinks, links, and so much more. All of them need more love, but could be REALLY great in the end imo.

squirvel  ·  3039 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: To Encrypt or Not?

As big as an advocate for encryption I am, full system encryption is only useful if the computer isn't connected to the net, or you want to prevent the average Joe from accessing your files. (Note that this is for personal computers, servers are a VERY different story.) If it is connected to the net, malicious code is far more likely to compromise your system than someone cracking your password.

Tor and VPNs are more privacy related than anything else, and for the most part any major VPN provider will log the connections for government agencies. Tor is a bit harder to crack, but assuming one can control a good portion of entrance and exit nodes, one could potentially de-anonoymize a certain percentage of connections.

PGP is a great example of secure messaging and is one of the many things that I should, but don't have a firm grasp on, or use at all. For me that's pretty surprising, especially with the alarming amount of surveillance in these days. One thing to note though is that PGP usually uses RSA encryption which is based on modulo functions with very large prime numbers as a result. One thing to note is that smaller sized RSA keys such as 256bits are (<--- Note the publishing year) completely insecure due to advances in factoring technologies. If you looked at the last link it also talks about the equation for the "number n, there exist prime numbers p and q such that n = p × q." Reversing the equation we get the P versus NP problem, which I'd recommend reading the consequences if p = np or not. As a side note google in 2012 began using 2048bit RSA keys, although I'm pretty sure they now use 4096bit, but I can't find any articles on that.

Outside of factoring, there are also other mathematical methods of encryption, such as elliptical curve. (Which I have far less knowledge of) However, encryption isn't everything. For example, you can crack any password for 5 dollars. Along with that, encryption can be made insecure due to malformation of keys, non-truely-random code, OS caching (ex: paging file, assuming you're not running full disk encryption), and potential spies.

In the end however, I believe that encryption is important to privacy, security, and our freedom. Keeping your data safe from outsiders can only be done by securing not only your hardware, but the far more vulnerable software. Encryption is needed in communication, transactions, and privacy as without, so many things would be in the eye of the public.

As an ending note, I think it is far more important to tie both encryption and anonymization together, as if either is broken, then the other becomes far easier to break and hence your privacy, freedom, and security become compromised.

squirvel  ·  3043 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: This Old Hubski: What is, and what could be

Random 4am musing:

Allow for users to temp-ban themselves? (Please, I need to get this paper done! (>_<) )

This could be looked at in a few ways:

1. allows users to step back and not post. Might give super active posters to stand back and watch discourse without their interference.

2. way to allow users to give themselves a block from the site for a short amount of time. Allows for them to accomplish "x" pressing task.

3. gives users a chance to distance themselves from the community for one reason or another. (Perhaps they need to kick a bad web browsing habit, or want to see how hubski might change over a period of time.

Might be interesting, might not. Probably better that I end this idea here and get back to my paper.

I'm not surprised.

Thinking back I remember there was something on the news about allowing ultra-sonic audio for animals watching tv a few years ago. Wonder if this was one motive that got that heavily pushed for.

squirvel  ·  3056 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: NASA EmDrive tests still positive, after eliminating more errors

So, like, can we make a hover board out of this shit if it actually works? I'd buy one if they were cheap enough.

squirvel  ·  3056 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Microsoft Admits Windows 10 Automatic Spying Cannot Be Stopped - Forbes

I don't know the specifics, but ubuntu has had better compatibility for me out of the box on specific things such as media keys and driver installation. For most users though, its probably the same in terms of hardware compatibility.

squirvel  ·  3058 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Microsoft Admits Windows 10 Automatic Spying Cannot Be Stopped - Forbes

Ubuntu is going to have the best compatibility out there. Period. Mint is great too and a little less sketchy, although some of its recent cinnamon updates have driven me away from it as my go to. Ubuntu is also a bit more beginner friendly imo.

My personal recommendation would probably go to manjaro, which is based off of arch. Basically manjaro is quickly becoming what ubuntu is to debian. (Although debian isn't a bare bones install either, and a bit more user friendly, but you get the point) Be warned though, last time I checked its a little rough around the edges on things such as bluetooth.

squirvel  ·  3065 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: My 8th grade room

You guys are making me feel like my childhood and high school experience sucked. (Well, that's something I already knew though, but you get the point...)

squirvel  ·  3092 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: September 30, 2015

I've been busy recently, but I feel like I've finally gotten into the swing of university. Now I just need to get back into going to the library as often as I was the past few weeks. I feel like if I let that habit slip, I'll be doing myself a major disservice.

I accidentally hit my head against the brick wall next to my bed relatively hard a few days ago, so I've been taking lots of naps and been (trying, and succeeding for the most part) to go to bed early. I don't think I have anything major, but its probably worth it to take it slow. Also getting into the habit of going to bed earlier really doesn't have any negatives either.

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of WipeOut! I've really come to appreciate the games in recent years, and I'm particularly sad that studio liverpool was disbanded by sony. However, a portion of the core team has been working on Formula Fusion independently which seems pretty promising. A fan group has also been working on SlipStream GX which also looks pretty promising. If any of you guys have a ps3 and or vita, hit me up! I'd love to play with anyone here who's a fan.

squirvel  ·  3099 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: ANIME CLUB: SERIES 2, Psycho Pass -- Midpoint Discussion

I put the mid-point at episode 11. Anything before or including that episode is fair game.

squirvel  ·  3108 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How "normal" people use the internet, and how can we fix that behavior?

So create a mass replicating malware that puts facebook.com and its IP addresses into the hosts file and re-direct them to a webpage that teaches them how to fix it? Yeah.... That'll go over REAL well.

squirvel  ·  3110 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, have you ever been on anti-depressants? What was it like?

Interesting the way you explain it as being out of sync with reality for a second. I'm not on any medication, but occasionally I do in a sense lose synchronization with reality. It lasts for a few seconds, and while I can hear and see during it, it feels like I'm watching a movie of some sort and I can effectively ignore ALL my senses, including sight.

I'd love for you to elaborate on what your 'zaps' feel like to compare if they're the same thing that happens to me.

squirvel  ·  3111 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hey, Hubski! What games would run on an old HP2000 Windows 7 laptop I'm using?

Sanctuary RPG is pretty fun! :)

squirvel  ·  3124 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: ANIME CLUB -- Voting

Running voting till Wednesday.

squirvel  ·  3124 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive

Other than four words I actually managed to read that. I feel relatively accomplished.

squirvel  ·  3124 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: ANIME CLUB -- Voting

Yeah. I'll probably end up closing the vote in a few days, next Wednesday to be exact. If it does end in a tie, we can do one series, then the next, back to back.

squirvel  ·  3125 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Flash is dying a death by 1,000 cuts, and that's a good thing

So I own an intel atom tablet, and flash is absolutely faster than html5 for video streaming. Most notably, YouTube is SIGNIFICANTLY slower on their new player.