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Work has been going slow on the next installment of my retro-malware article. Right now, I've got an itoa function written in assembly, but real life has been kinda kicking my ass and I'm not making much headway in writing as I would like. As of right now, I know exactly what I need to write and code, but making the code flow.

Bleh. It doesn't help right now I'm travelling cross-country.

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?

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.

I'm absolutely stocked with the response the first bit of original content I've written for SN has gotten over 80 comments (even if a fair number are my own). It's very good motivation to keep going with it, and I've started working on outlining and planning the next section which I think will cover the following.

• The Stack
• SI/DS registers
• Terminate and Stay Resident
• (Maybe) DOS memory layout

I'm targetting ~2000 words in total, not counting the prelude section of the article. This will serve as a prelude to looking at the DOS memory map as a whole as well as get our first taste of how segmentation and relocation work under DOS since we will have to manage CS/DS/SS when we're in TSR mode. I'm currently writing out some demo code but its been fairly slow going since I got tripped up by the fact a pointer is 2 bytes (16-bit), and a lack of free time until this weekend. I'm hoping to have the code half of this cranked out by Friday to write up over the weekend.

I've decided for the time being to continue using NASM. While NASM is not a period specific assembler, its very easy to use, free software and has excellent documentation, and its the only assembler that can target x86_16 from Win64 and Linux64 that actually works. I wouldn't mind using the OpenWatcom assembler except its essentially undocumented. If I was going for period specific, I would need a 16-bit copy of LINK.EXE and MASM. Both are in the Windows DDK but extremely unfriendly to setup, or use Turbo Assembler and code in VirtualBox (pass; I like Notepad++ on Windows).

I've had some hangups on figuring out where to go beyond the basics of TSR programming. Unfortunately, non-IP based stuff appears to have dropped off the face of the internet. LANMAN client on Microsoft's FTP is completely MIA, and I can't find a freeware stack available anywhere that supports anything !TCP/IP. I could write something using Layer 2 protocols, but even then I'm kinda "eh" since that really doesn't go into the history of early networking or stuff. As best I can tell, at least for IPX, the actual Novell NetWare client was TSR, but its essentially non-existent. LANMAN in theory is free on Microsoft's FTP, but no developer documentation that I can find.

One idea I had though was perhaps reviving my ham radio stuff, and plugging the whole thing into AX.25. KA9Q for DOS is open source and implements KISS, and I can emulate another AX.25 host over the serial port (or go full turkey, and plug the other side into an actual radip using Linux as a glorified BNC). That would get me a period specific way of getting the data out of a target system in a targetting attack. (obviously, real NSA would use something beside amauter radio bands, but the concept exists. You could easily hide a micro-radio in a PC case wired up to an ISA slot or something, using the case itself as an antenna).

Trump To Meet With Mexican President Ahead Of Immigration Speech

Now that's interesting.

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.

Not refined enough for a submission, but the spirit is there:

When Molecular Nanofactory is realized then a desktop Whiskey Machine will produce spirits at less than 36 cents per bottle

The Whiskey Machine: Nanofactory-Based Replication of Fine Spirits and Other Alcohol-Based Beverages (139 pages)

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.

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 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.