Sign language
Did you know I speak sign language? It's true! And here's the proof.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
eBay update
I was on my computer to watch the end of the auction. Questions had been posed by people who had obviously not read the auction write-up, and had a negative ebay rating. And I was getting bids from people who had less than 3 rating points. As the auction grew near its close, I was afraid I'd be dealing with newbies who had no intention of consumating the deal. Then, with a couple of minutes to go, I received a slightly higher bid from someone with a credible rating. Even though I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the bid, there was still time for this buyer to get sniped.
Fortunately for me, that didn't happen, and I was happy to see an experienced ebayer win the auction. However, my mood changed when I got the email from ebay informing me of the win, and realized that the winning bidder was NOT a local resident. My listing had made it clear that the TV had to be picked up in person. It turns out that the winning bidder, while living several hundred kilometres away, was raised here, and still has family in the city. They will be making a trip next week to pick up the set. In the meantime, full payment has already been received.
All's well that ends well.
I was on my computer to watch the end of the auction. Questions had been posed by people who had obviously not read the auction write-up, and had a negative ebay rating. And I was getting bids from people who had less than 3 rating points. As the auction grew near its close, I was afraid I'd be dealing with newbies who had no intention of consumating the deal. Then, with a couple of minutes to go, I received a slightly higher bid from someone with a credible rating. Even though I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the bid, there was still time for this buyer to get sniped.
Fortunately for me, that didn't happen, and I was happy to see an experienced ebayer win the auction. However, my mood changed when I got the email from ebay informing me of the win, and realized that the winning bidder was NOT a local resident. My listing had made it clear that the TV had to be picked up in person. It turns out that the winning bidder, while living several hundred kilometres away, was raised here, and still has family in the city. They will be making a trip next week to pick up the set. In the meantime, full payment has already been received.
All's well that ends well.
Monday, March 20, 2006
TV or not TV
A bit more than a week ago, my wife and I visited Future Shop and looked at HDTV sets. We've been teasing ourselves for years, but always managed to resist the temptation. The closest we ever came to taking the plunge was a year ago, when we saw the new Samsung HDTV on the built-in pedestal, and were ready to take the plunge. The only factor holding me back at that time was the possibility of losing my job. That job loss actually happened, so we were glad we didn't buy the set.
Anyway, during the trip last week, we saw a gorgeous set, a floor model, and were offered a deal we just couldn't refuse. So we didn't ... refuse, I mean. The new set came home this past Tuesday, and by Saturday afternoon, the living room had been completely arranged to incorporate the new set.
The old set, meanwhile, had been placed on ebay on Tuesday, and yesterday, the auction ended. Now, we're just waiting for the successful bidder to respond to our emails / invoice. Once the old big-screen TV is cleared out of our kitchen (where else could we put it), all will be well with the universe.
A bit more than a week ago, my wife and I visited Future Shop and looked at HDTV sets. We've been teasing ourselves for years, but always managed to resist the temptation. The closest we ever came to taking the plunge was a year ago, when we saw the new Samsung HDTV on the built-in pedestal, and were ready to take the plunge. The only factor holding me back at that time was the possibility of losing my job. That job loss actually happened, so we were glad we didn't buy the set.
Anyway, during the trip last week, we saw a gorgeous set, a floor model, and were offered a deal we just couldn't refuse. So we didn't ... refuse, I mean. The new set came home this past Tuesday, and by Saturday afternoon, the living room had been completely arranged to incorporate the new set.
The old set, meanwhile, had been placed on ebay on Tuesday, and yesterday, the auction ended. Now, we're just waiting for the successful bidder to respond to our emails / invoice. Once the old big-screen TV is cleared out of our kitchen (where else could we put it), all will be well with the universe.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Whew, sure glad we cleared that up!
Sometimes, luck is more important than skill. Last week, I read some news I wanted to blog about, but forgot. This morning, I remembered and decided to blog anyway. So excuse me if this sounds like the "laugh a week after the punchline".
The U.S. has been involved in several armed conflicts since the time of my birth, and one conflict (WW II) just prior to my birth. I believe that the U.S. and its allies came very close to losing WW II, and that it was only luck - a few missteps by the Axis forces, that swayed the results. That, and an intelligence coup that put the decoder for the Enigma machine into Allied hands.
The Enigma machine, a cypher generator built by the Nazis, was way ahead of its time. With it, secret military messages could pass over open channels without any possibility of them being broken by the enemy. The "base" codes for the machine were changed frequently, so even if you were told what a given message meant, that did not help you decode any other messages. In fact, there were three messages from 1942 known to exist, encoded with Enigma, that had NEVER been decoded.
Using the power of distributed computing - volunteers around the world that allowed the power of their personal computers to be harnessed to solve a single problem - one of those messages was finally decoded. At first, I thought sarcastically - gee, it only took 63 years to break the code - that's not very secure. Then I realized it only took a month to accomplish, once the decoding project started.
You need to understand just how difficult this problem actually was to solve. The enigma machine had a whole bunch of dials on it. Each dial had several positions. And the code generated by the enigma machine was different for every combination of those dials and switches. Any one of the switches could be on or off (that's two choices per switch). And the dials had so many combinations, that to express that number in English, it would be "10", followed by 145 zeros. So, to analyze all possible Enigma codes, you'd need to multiply "2 x 2 x 2 x 2 ...." over 100 billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion times.
The Nazis thought that was an impossible task. Today's computers can do the job in under a month - which brings me to the point of all this preamble... today's encryption methods have been freely placed into the hands of the average citizen, and the average criminal. Today's encryption methods make the Nazi code seem like child's play. Messages encrypted with today's methods cannot be broken for a period of time that is longer than the length of time the universe has been in existence (if you happen to believe in the scientific explanations of the current age of the universe).
The intellectual dilemma I face is one of mathematics vs. morality. Should we stop innovation in the area of cryptography because it gives powers to criminals that - without an intelligence coup - renders law enforcement officials unable to cope with the technological problem; or should we view every innovation as a step in the right direction, and take the attitude that NO CODE is unbreakable, and perhaps 50 years from now, someone else will be writing about how it only took a month to decrypt "unbreakable" messages from the early 21st century.
OK, I've got to stop before I give myself a headache!
Sometimes, luck is more important than skill. Last week, I read some news I wanted to blog about, but forgot. This morning, I remembered and decided to blog anyway. So excuse me if this sounds like the "laugh a week after the punchline".
The U.S. has been involved in several armed conflicts since the time of my birth, and one conflict (WW II) just prior to my birth. I believe that the U.S. and its allies came very close to losing WW II, and that it was only luck - a few missteps by the Axis forces, that swayed the results. That, and an intelligence coup that put the decoder for the Enigma machine into Allied hands.
The Enigma machine, a cypher generator built by the Nazis, was way ahead of its time. With it, secret military messages could pass over open channels without any possibility of them being broken by the enemy. The "base" codes for the machine were changed frequently, so even if you were told what a given message meant, that did not help you decode any other messages. In fact, there were three messages from 1942 known to exist, encoded with Enigma, that had NEVER been decoded.
Using the power of distributed computing - volunteers around the world that allowed the power of their personal computers to be harnessed to solve a single problem - one of those messages was finally decoded. At first, I thought sarcastically - gee, it only took 63 years to break the code - that's not very secure. Then I realized it only took a month to accomplish, once the decoding project started.
You need to understand just how difficult this problem actually was to solve. The enigma machine had a whole bunch of dials on it. Each dial had several positions. And the code generated by the enigma machine was different for every combination of those dials and switches. Any one of the switches could be on or off (that's two choices per switch). And the dials had so many combinations, that to express that number in English, it would be "10", followed by 145 zeros. So, to analyze all possible Enigma codes, you'd need to multiply "2 x 2 x 2 x 2 ...." over 100 billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion times.
The Nazis thought that was an impossible task. Today's computers can do the job in under a month - which brings me to the point of all this preamble... today's encryption methods have been freely placed into the hands of the average citizen, and the average criminal. Today's encryption methods make the Nazi code seem like child's play. Messages encrypted with today's methods cannot be broken for a period of time that is longer than the length of time the universe has been in existence (if you happen to believe in the scientific explanations of the current age of the universe).
The intellectual dilemma I face is one of mathematics vs. morality. Should we stop innovation in the area of cryptography because it gives powers to criminals that - without an intelligence coup - renders law enforcement officials unable to cope with the technological problem; or should we view every innovation as a step in the right direction, and take the attitude that NO CODE is unbreakable, and perhaps 50 years from now, someone else will be writing about how it only took a month to decrypt "unbreakable" messages from the early 21st century.
OK, I've got to stop before I give myself a headache!
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Cool gift!
My wife got me a couple of polo shirts for Valentine's Day. In the box, there was a mock-up of an embroidered "Safe & Secure Computing" phrase, done in a nice script. I finally took the shirts in to be embroidered, then decided I'd rather have my logo, instead of the script.
I got the shirts back on Tuesday. Here's a photo of the logo, as embroidered onto my white polo shirt. I also have a black shirt with the same logo (although the phone number on the black shirt is embroidered in white thread).
My wife got me a couple of polo shirts for Valentine's Day. In the box, there was a mock-up of an embroidered "Safe & Secure Computing" phrase, done in a nice script. I finally took the shirts in to be embroidered, then decided I'd rather have my logo, instead of the script.
I got the shirts back on Tuesday. Here's a photo of the logo, as embroidered onto my white polo shirt. I also have a black shirt with the same logo (although the phone number on the black shirt is embroidered in white thread).
Thursday, March 02, 2006
An update
February ended with a flurry of activity - a saving grace because the month in general was slow vis-a-vis service calls. I did have an opportunity to work on marketing material, which, if I may say, really rocks! I've produced a number of unique flyers - with a central theme but geared to specific audiences. And I've prepared artwork for insertion into a local magazine. I'm looking forward to the response from that ad, although it won't be appearing until the April issue. My luck that February-March was a double-month issue, and the insertion deadline had passed by the time I had even been prepared to think about placing an ad.
A fellow "classmate" of mine opened up a café in downtown Windsor. It's called the Pause Café. Last night, I was called there to remove a very serious set of viruses, spyware, and other weirdnesses from two computers. He was set to open his doors today, but needed the computers for bookkeeping and recipe management. I finished working on his computers around 10:30PM, but then decided to set up his brand new Business High-Speed DSL connection, and once that was done, I downloaded security patches for one of the computers. There were 57 patches, not including Windows XP SP2 (which was not yet on his computer). By the time the downloads and installations were complete, it was around 3:30AM.
Those last five hours were not part of my contract, and I didn't ask for payment. But today, I visited his restaurant, and was treated to a three course lunch that was to die for!!! I started out with a salad (cucumber, red onion, greens, and a secret dressing). It was delicious, and filling in its own right. The next course was a deep bowl of home made chicken soup. I've never had soup from a bowl this large... it was probably about a litre of soup. Stocked with vegetables, fresh pasta, and chicken so fresh, I think I saw some twitching in the bowl. It was accompanied by fresh-baked bread for dipping. Finally, I finished with the third course: a salmon-salad sandwich, made from baked salmon and other ingredients I can't recall, served on multi-grain bread. It was different from any salmon-salad sandwich I'd ever had before, but thoroughly delicious.
If anyone happens to be downtown during breakfast or lunch hour, don't forget to drop by. You'll love the food and the ambience. The address is:
Pause Café
74 Chatham West
(519) 255-7288
February ended with a flurry of activity - a saving grace because the month in general was slow vis-a-vis service calls. I did have an opportunity to work on marketing material, which, if I may say, really rocks! I've produced a number of unique flyers - with a central theme but geared to specific audiences. And I've prepared artwork for insertion into a local magazine. I'm looking forward to the response from that ad, although it won't be appearing until the April issue. My luck that February-March was a double-month issue, and the insertion deadline had passed by the time I had even been prepared to think about placing an ad.
A fellow "classmate" of mine opened up a café in downtown Windsor. It's called the Pause Café. Last night, I was called there to remove a very serious set of viruses, spyware, and other weirdnesses from two computers. He was set to open his doors today, but needed the computers for bookkeeping and recipe management. I finished working on his computers around 10:30PM, but then decided to set up his brand new Business High-Speed DSL connection, and once that was done, I downloaded security patches for one of the computers. There were 57 patches, not including Windows XP SP2 (which was not yet on his computer). By the time the downloads and installations were complete, it was around 3:30AM.
Those last five hours were not part of my contract, and I didn't ask for payment. But today, I visited his restaurant, and was treated to a three course lunch that was to die for!!! I started out with a salad (cucumber, red onion, greens, and a secret dressing). It was delicious, and filling in its own right. The next course was a deep bowl of home made chicken soup. I've never had soup from a bowl this large... it was probably about a litre of soup. Stocked with vegetables, fresh pasta, and chicken so fresh, I think I saw some twitching in the bowl. It was accompanied by fresh-baked bread for dipping. Finally, I finished with the third course: a salmon-salad sandwich, made from baked salmon and other ingredients I can't recall, served on multi-grain bread. It was different from any salmon-salad sandwich I'd ever had before, but thoroughly delicious.
If anyone happens to be downtown during breakfast or lunch hour, don't forget to drop by. You'll love the food and the ambience. The address is:
Pause Café
74 Chatham West
(519) 255-7288