The DMZ

Scott Pack

01:48

Looks good, eh?

Iszi

04:21

Wow. It's amusing to see how some questions got their start. This one was originally on Christianity.

4

Q: Cross breeding of men and orcs in Lord of the Rings

A question was asked in the Science Fiction SE: Why is breeding men and orcs considered evil? Specifically it's described as Saruman's greatest evil, and since Saruman committed many appalling acts the questioner wondered why it was his "greatest evil". My suggestion was that Tolkien was looking...

sin

Stack Exchange

Screw these 36-degree angles. I'm converting to Judaism.

Iszi

Well, this is odd. I just signed up to Biblical Hermeneutics and my account is currently "user477".

It seems to recognize that I have other SE accounts, but hasn't pulled the data quite immediately to that site.

Iszi

06:18

Apparently, this is a known bug.

21

Q: Just created an account on a new SE site, where's my +100 rep?

I just created an account at outdoors.SE (via MyOpenID) to answer a question migrated there, and noticed that I had 1 rep, despite having over 200 rep on several other StackExchange network sites, which should let me start from 101 rep. My user profile does list several linked accounts (includin...

bug status-reproduced reputation linked-accounts

AviD

12:12

@Iszi and that was the second episode of "Guess That Site!"

wooot just got my highrollers package.

@Jin excellent shirt! also the torch/flashlight is very cool.

now I can finally see what everyone was talking about the stickers, and I concur.

Scott Pack

@AviD Finally made it through customs, eh?

No bombs?

AviD

it kinda looks like someone took a picture of the logo, and printed that.

@ScottPack heh, yeah.

had some weird name printed on it, though - my wife was worried that it might be anthrax

must be the name of the printers, or whatever

Scott Pack

heh

Did it have a note in it? "This parcel brought to you by invasive manual searches." ?

AviD

@ScottPack ha! no, thats only when you get on the airplane yourself.

Scott Pack

Good to know.

AviD

12:17

@ScottPack so tell me, cute as they are, I couldnt figure out the purpose of those question cards.

Scott Pack

@AviD I think we're able to hand them out as site promos. You know, "Oh, check out this cool place. This is the type of stuff we talk about."

AviD

@ScottPack that was my first thought - but 6 of them aren't going to go very far.

and, not sure those are the best / most representative questions to draw new users in...

dont get me wrong, as you said - it's all very cool, and im not really complaining.

Scott Pack

We chose them.

You missed your chance what with your absenteeism.

Bitch.

AviD

LOL

really? missed that.

here or on meta?

Scott Pack

here

AviD

12:21

ah, i see

Scott Pack

I could troll through the archives and find it, but that sounds like work, and I just poured my first cup.

AviD

hehe

no, nevermind, no need

Scott Pack

good

AviD

I just figured they were semi-random choices (over a certain vote/view/answer threshhold)

Scott Pack

The satellite one was a bit of a humor question. Intended to show our full breadth.

AviD

12:23

not they're bad, but... I mean....

@ScottPack ah, see thats the one that was tripping me up.

Scott Pack

The one about privacy when you're not doing anything wrong was probably the most agreed upon one.

AviD

makes sense, if thats the intent

yeah, I can see that.

Scott Pack

It's probably the most common question I end up hearing from non-security people.

AviD

and I guess the password one, kinda a no-brainer.

Scott Pack

Yeah

AviD

12:24

now be quiet, I'm reading about orc breeding.

Scott Pack

If you really think about it, those questions cover passwords, privacy, and pen testing. Three very big parts of the field

Oh, good call. I meant to look that one up

It's hilarious that started out on Christianity, though.

AviD

@ScottPack hmm, yeah I guess. and this site.

the satellite one still is a bit kooky, though

as a question, I think its amazing what we (the site) were able to do with it, it really shows off how great the site is, that we were able to grab such quality answers there. Even without having many experienced sat-pen-testers here.

I just meant that its not the typical thing to draw people in, as something practical they'll be needing next week. on the other hand, its just crazy enough that people may come for the humo(u)r and stay for the quality.

Scott Pack

Oh, right, that was my thought exactly. It is a pen test question at its core. It's also the kind of question that everyone wants to read just to see!

Ladadadada

12:47

Speaking of which, could someone post links to all these questions? I think I might want to read them myself.

Scott Pack

If I remember, I'll do it at lunch.

AviD

13:14

21

Q: Who is responsible for the strength of user's passwords?

Who is responsible for a user's password's strength? Is it us (developers, architects, etc.) or the user? As a web developer, I've frequently wondered whether I should enforce the minimal password strength on my websites/applications users. I frequently meet regular people (not geeks or IT pro...

passwords password-policy

32

Q: Why do law-abiding citizens need strong security?

The layman's counter-argument I run in to for any complaint about inadequate security seems to always take the form: You don't need security if you aren't doing something illegal. This kind of response is frustrating to say the least. In part because it's not constructive, but also because ...

defense user-education

36

Q: What would one need to do in order to hijack a satellite?

I realise this borders on sci-fi, but there's been some interesting demonstrations regarding security of various satellites. What would be required to hack a satellite (in general terms, any hack really)? Are they all basically connected in the same way, or would I need different equipment, sof...

hardware protocols wireless

at your pleasure

Iszi

14:08

Morn'

Jeff Ferland

@Iszi mourning that i'm awake

oh, sleep, why must you die with the rising of the sun?

2

woe, woe

ZzzZZz

Scott Pack

I miss waking up to sunshine.

Iszi

14:30

@ScottPack Is that 'cause you start work early, or just the DST blues?

Scott Pack

@Iszi Depends on your definition of early. My alarm goes off at 6:45. I had one week of waking up to sunlight before DST happened.

Jeff Ferland

14:51

Corollary: Rules are meant to be followed; living organisms are designed to break rules.

AviD

@JeffFerland cmon, dont be... yknow... well, dont be this guy:

aeneus

1

certificate-authority certificates ssl

Lucas Kauffman

@JeffFerland or at least bump em once in a while

Jeff Ferland

@AviD What?

Lucas Kauffman

btw anyone of you guys familiar with machine learning?

and decision tree algorithms

AviD

@JeffFerland okay, how would you pronounce his name??

Jeff Ferland

15:02

@AviD Alright... wasn't sure if it was pronunciation or something about the user's actions.

AviD

I'm sorry, that was overly childish of me.

Jeff Ferland

@AviD Well, the statement wasn't meant to be me being ass, but rather that developing burdensome rules is foolish. Put somebody in a locked room with food and water on a table and the only rules that they can't touch the food and water. What happens?

AviD

@JeffFerland they sh*t in the potted plants.

2

Iszi

15:18

@JeffFerland What's the table made of?

Jeff Ferland

@Iszi Ricin :D ... really, though... hyperbole that eventually trickles down to corporate policy

AviD

Is the water in like a bowl or a cup, or just running everywhere?

why are we putting him in this locked room? and why is he agreeing to this, what's his motivation?

Iszi

@AviD Who said he's agreeing to it?

Scott Pack

What the fuck is happening here?

AviD

15:33

@Iszi well, how are we coercing him? guns, knives? overwhelming mob rule? threat of jail|gaol time? kidnapped loved ones?

Iszi

@AviD I wouldn't call that so much agreement as concession.

AviD

@ScottPack I'm not sure, but I think we're conspiring to lock @Jeff in a room with nothing but food and water spilled all over a table. Oh, and potted plants.

2

@Iszi agreed, but how? what's the background?

Iszi

@AviD I thought we were asking @JeffFerland. It's his hypothetical situation.

Oh, do we have a mirror? I've got an answer for that.

AviD

@Iszi it's a one-way mirror, with a window on the other side.

why is it called that, anyway? aren't all mirrors one-way?

Iszi

Well then, as the riddle goes... You look in the mirror and see what you saw, take the saw and cut the table in half. The two halves make a whole, so you escape through the hole.

AviD

15:41

ouch.

@ScottPack I demand you kick @Iszi from the room. talk about pun-ishment.

or rather, perhaps we should lock him in a room.

or were you just pun-testing?

2

Iszi

17:07

I just had a thought, about how the 100-rep account-linking bonus should be handled. But, it's probably a bit too complex to be worthwhile implementing.

Once you've created a new account on a site, and that account is associated with another SE account where you have 200+ rep, you're automatically given a 100-rep bonus that brings your total on the new site to 101 rep.

However, that "free" rep currently just stays there forever. You didn't really do any work (that the new site's community will see much benefit from, at least) to get that rep, yet it's yours for all perpetuity.

What should be done, is that the 100 rep bonus should be a form of "temporary rep". It should be replaced by actual rep that you earn on the site, until you have enough to naturally go beyond 101. At that point, the "temporary rep" will be gone.

This serves the purpose of allowing experienced users to exercise basic privileges with which they're already familiar (and, presumably, proven to be responsible elsewhere) on new sites, while still not actually giving out any un-earned rep in the long run.

Rory Alsop

I quickly check before heading home and find chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/151/conversation/…

amused and confused, dat's me

ttfn

Jeff Ferland

@RoryAlsop LOL... of COURSE that's a saved conversation

Rory Alsop

17:46

I only just learned how to do bookmarks:)

Did you see:

brandenwilliams.com/blog/2010/02/16/…

Have pinged him the link to our question

makerofthings7

18:17

Happy "pi day" everyone 3.14

AviD

@JeffFerland lol, who did that?

Jeff Ferland

@AviD Rory

AviD

@RoryAlsop and what topic was the conversationist referring to?

@makerofthings7 how very imperialistic of you.

3

ignoring the 84% of the rest of the world that write their dates differently.

@makerofthings7 on the other hand, if you were to say "Happy pie day", I'd be all for that.

Every day should be pie day.

5

makerofthings7

18:32

I'm hungry now. mmmm pie.

I think I'll have two, ...no three pieces.

Perhaps slightly more than three pieces of pie would be perfect.

Iszi

@RoryAlsop et. al.: Is QotW 20 going to be posted this week?

AviD

18:47

dang it, I'm getting tired of upvoting all of D.W.'s posts lately.

I guess he stepped in to fill @Thomas's void...

Iszi

@AviD Yeah, where'd Big Bear go anyway? So involved in his new baby, Cryptography, that he can't hang out with us anymore?

AviD

I guess he doesnt want them to think he's not cool, cuz he sits with us at lunch.

Hey, wait, we're the cool kids! Those guys are the brains, the nerds!

4

oh great, way to go - half the starred posts on the sidebar are mine. makes me a little self conscious.

lol, now you guys are just doing it on purpose.

STOOOP STAAAAARRRIING MEEEEEE!!!! I KEEEEL YOUUUU!!

2

oh, right, I forgot what @RoryAlsop said - anytime you mention stars, you get starred.

5

Rory Alsop

19:07

heh

@AviD If you keep doing that he's going to overtake me in about a month :-)

AviD

oy

3

@RoryAlsop hehe. about the same time @JeffFerland passes me.

Rory Alsop

we'll just hear the whooosh as they go by

@AviD yeah, PI day is 31st of April - oh, wait

AviD

@RoryAlsop heh, I was filling out some IRS forms today, and accidentally wrote the date backwards (for them, or forwards for me). since they dont like having corrections on the forms, I had to get creative with fixing it...

makerofthings7

@RoryAlsop I like that Americans can have their pie. Come on over to NYC an have some. Come to think of it, 3/14/15 isn't too far away

AviD

@makerofthings7 hah! thats like, super pie day. pi day squared.

@makerofthings7 isnt the academic community moving more to tau lately, anyway?

makerofthings7

19:20

@AviD I'll celebrate Tau if, and only if, I can have two pies every June 28th

AviD

hehe

makerofthings7

@AviD .. unless there is an edible alternative. "What does a tau taste like"

Scott Pack

@makerofthings7 July?

AviD

@ScottPack he meant june, dont be that guy

makerofthings7

@ScottPack Whoops .. thanks That Guy. Keep me on my game. Of "months" ;)

Scott Pack

19:22

I would give you the evil eye for that, but I feel as though it loses approximately half it's significance.

makerofthings7

@ScottPack That wouldn't be half bad. Approximately half bad.

Scott Pack

So about quarter-ish bad?

AviD

@ScottPack so not really evil eye, more of a slightly-annoying eye?

@makerofthings7 getting back to the pies thing - you should check this out:

3

Q: Special Weekly Topic Contest: March 13 - April 3, 2012 (Pies, Cakes, Cookies!)

I'm going to be on vacation March 18 - 28, and without internet access for much of that time - which overlaps with what would be three separate weekly contests. In order to keep these running, questions coming in, and all of you eligible for prizes, I'm changing the contest slightly for the next...

discussion featured asking-questions site-promotion

Scott Pack

I went to make some Madelines last night. I had the eggs and butter all up to room temperature. Then realize I'm out of sugar. :-(

AviD

@Iszi this one's for you:

►

Iszi

19:41

@AviD Sad, innit?

AviD

yeah, especially when put in that context

"we stopped dreaming"

okay, gorramit all... they are now ALL MY STARS.

2

all your stars are belong to me

2

Scott Pack

blog.thehigheredcio.com/2012/03/14/…

I'm glad we're not on the bracket.

Well, except for the possible funding bump that may follow.

Iszi

@AviD And, perhaps worse, why? Because the competition stopped pushing forward - we were never really self-motivated.

AviD

@Iszi yeah, I learned that from the clip. I mean, had I thought about that, I should have known it, but the sputnik / nasa founding detail was interesting.

Lucas Kauffman

20:14

0

Q: Erasing a hard-disk, encrypting it as alternative?

I was pondering about this, sometimes people ask me to erase data on their drive. So I use a shredding program, which takes a long time. However what if instead of shredding all the files, I'd just use truecrypt to encrypt them. The disk would be useless then no? Would the data still be recoverab...

truecrypt shredding

is the question within the scope of sec.stack?

Scott Pack

@LucasKauffman I think it is, yes.

Scott Pack

20:54

@RoryAlsop Are you saying that your data should already be encrypted anyway?

Rory Alsop

@ScottPack no, I'm saying if you use full disk encryption, losing your key is the same (effectively) as wiping the disk

(but it is a good idea, yes :-)

Scott Pack

@RoryAlsop Ok, I can live with that statement. The initial premise of the question was that the data was in clear text :)

makerofthings7

@Iszi Now capitalism is pushing space innovation forward? (mining the moon, space flight tourism)

Rory Alsop

@makerofthings7 Yay for Richard Branson et al

makerofthings7

@Iszi If the old "competition" was the USSR, does that mean the new competition is terrorists and the new innovation will be in cyber and physical defense/offence?

AviD

21:15

@makerofthings7 I think if NASA does make it to mars, it will only be to ensure that they get there before Facebook.

Rory Alsop

@AviD Nah, Zuckerberg will be there first, even if he has to buy NASA

AviD

yaknow, mebbe thats why NASA is not succeeding. They're not social.

I know thats why they dont have funding.

Rory Alsop

for those with edit/review rights on the blog - I have quickly drafted up the (late) QOTW 20

security.blogoverflow.com/2012/03/…

@Ninefingers - I'll see how I can go with a backup procedures one to go alongside your one

Ninefingers

21:52

@AviD Yeah, they should try kickstarter. Want to send us to mars? Donate now!

@RoryAlsop Ok cool. On their ideas board they have "tips to secure your computer" as an unassigned idea. I've hinted we might be interested in doing it - after all, kinda our area, really :)

Rory Alsop

22:08

@Ninefingers what sort of level are they looking at

Ninefingers

@RoryAlsop No idea. Might ask them in their editor room tomorrow.

Transcript for