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Cryptographic remote desktop login
With ssh, I can have people logging into the same user account using individual cryptographic keys. I've moved to a company that's using Windows servers (for now) with remote desktop connections. I say "remote desktop" in a generic sense; I believe they are using a third party tool rather than the actual Windows Remote Desktop login system.
Whatever they are using, they are authenticating on the remote system with username/password, and multiple people are logging into one account on the destination systems. I'd like to find out if there's any sort of gui remote desktop login system that authenticates with keys like ssh instead of usernames and passwords. Does anyone know of any such system?
DUPE is my trigger warning
This submission was already run one year ago, with an extra link to the Diane Rehm show.
The Coddling of the American Mind
The Atlantic has some new coverage of the University of Chicago's rejection of trigger warnings and safe spaces that has hit the news this week.
Trump To Meet With Mexican President Ahead Of Speech
Trump To Meet With Mexican President Ahead Of Immigration Speech
Now that's interesting.
Q about math writing on SN
I've been kicking around a few mathematical ideas for a number of years and think I'd like to throw them out there similar to how NCommander is planning his development of a keylogger. Unfortunately, my current writing is very symbol heavy, though it mostly relies on normal calculus and algebra symbols. I suppose I could dump it on arxiv.org, though that has visibility to the entire math world, and their expectations are probably going to be higher than the relatively informal mess I'm planning with this project.
Anyway, to outline, way back when (back in the late 90s), I had this hare-brained idea that since I was studying some graduate level algebra at the time, adding a differential to the polynomial-style algebras I was studying would be neat. I soon realized in a naive way that I had a collection of differential equations of a complexity between what are termed "special functions", solutions of very special equations with unusual or even unique characteristics and general functions which are claims made about fairly arbitrary systems with modest restrictions on the equations and/or solutions. I thought at the time, that an intermediate system might have some of the interesting math of the special functions but with a much broader application.
I have off and on over the years read and explored this idea, slowly expanding my understanding of this subject and a number of related topics.
It has turned out to be a huge rabbit hole with all sorts of weird influences from a variety of fields of mathematics such as complex analysis, dynamical systems, algebra, geometry, number theory, and even analog computing. While I would make an attempt to make this material understandable, it would be going to some really esoteric destinations, I think. But I would try to write so that the ideas could be accessible to a knowledgeable layman who has kept up with the series.
Also, if you'd be interested in this, then please speak up.
Links in a new window :(
I was annoyed to discover just now that links in posts on Slashdot now open in a new window. How long has that been going on? Did the new owners over there instate it or has it been there since before them? I like some of the changes they've made - it would be nice if they'd get rid of this.
I have controls on my browser for opening a link in a new tab and I can decide when I want to do that or not do that.
The Whiskey Machine
Not refined enough for a submission, but the spirit is there:
The Whiskey Machine: Nanofactory-Based Replication of Fine Spirits and Other Alcohol-Based Beverages (139 pages)
Baby simulator programs don't reduce teen pregnancy
I found this fascinating: a study in Australia has concluded that school programs with (expensive) baby simulator dolls that are designed to discourage teen pregnancy are actually correlated with increased rates of teen pregnancy. My wife (a mother of 8!) isn't surprised at all; she says they are simply awakening an instinct that is built into the girls. And of course our modern concept of people waiting to have children until they are in their 20's or later is of very recent modern origin; not too many generations ago many of these girls would be becoming mothers at this age or shortly afterward.
There are so many social programs that are fighting a massive uphill battle because to a great extent they are fighting against instincts that are hardcoded into the human race at a deep, deep level. I guess that doesn't mean all such programs are fruitless, but maybe sometimes people should recognize the difficulty.
My dad was able to raise me and pass along his values and I never got involved in any of the things these programs are desperately trying to prevent. No drugs. No sex. Never touched alcohol other than a sip of champagne my dad's best friend exhorted me to take at my dad's 50th birthday party when I was 19 or so. Some parents seem to be able to accomplish this but most don't. Likewise for my wife. I really think that to a great extent, children need a particular "microcode" or "operating system" installed that is tailored for their own genetics and background and that that can never come from a social program that is designed to be one size fits all. And in the cases of that slim minority of families that are able to successfully pass that along, those social programs run a great risk of disrupting that process. So we have lots more programs and lots more things that happen in institutions and collective environments today that didn't use to happen that way, and we have lots more teen pregnancy, drug use, etc.
Correlation doesn't imply causation, but it does give rise to lots of private speculation.
BTW, if anyone thinks that news story merits submission as an SN story, I don't resent it if you grab it right out of my journal and post it.
Open container laws
I never knew until today that open container laws don't just apply to inside of a vehicle. Advantages of growing up sheltered with nearly no alcohol, I guess.
(I'll add this to the story about how I discovered Sunday morning that you can't buy alcohol in Texas - while trying to buy wine for communion. And the story about how I discovered you can't buy alcohol before some particular morning hour on weekdays in Texas, while trying to buy wine for a dish I was going to simmer in the crock pot all day.)
Backpacker stabbed to death at Australian hostel
Backpacker Mia Ayliffe-Chung stabbed to death at Australian hostel
A 21-year-old British woman has died after she was stabbed during an attack at a backpackers' hostel in Australia. The victim has been named as Mia Ayliffe-Chung, from Derbyshire. A 30-year-old British man - named locally as Tom Jackson from Cheshire - was severely injured in the attack in Home Hill, Queensland, and is in a critical condition.
A French suspect, 29, who allegedly said the Arabic phrase "Allahu akbar" during the attack, was arrested. Police are treating the incident as a murder case, not a terror attack. They are investigating a number of possible motivations, including drugs misuse, mental health issues and extremism.
Homeless woman proves Social Security owes her $100k
Homeless on D.C. streets for 17 years, woman proves Social Security owes her $100,000
She remained homeless, bedding down on the concrete in a sleeping bag. She kept a tower of three suitcases, containing her Social Security paperwork, next to her.
In 2015 social worker Julie Turner listened. Instead of dismissing Witter as crazy, Turner patiently waded through her documents and verified her story.
"She had all the paperwork there, neatly organized, in order. She was right all along. They did owe her all that money," Turner said.
