Sameer Ahuja

Passwords

sameer — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:09:20 +0000

Why Plenty Of Fish Stores Passwords in Plain Text

When a user enters text in a password field and the browser turns that text into unrecognizable symbols, there is a subtle, unsaid contract being negotiated between the browser and the website on one side, and the user on the other. The user is agreeing to reveal a secret to the website and the browser, and by masking what she is typing, the browser (and the site) are telling her that it’s okay, her secret is safe with them.

Website owners have, time and again, proven themselves to be too irresponsible to enter into this contract. Most of them don’t, but some of them always will, store user passwords in plaintext. Most of them don’t, but some of them will, get hacked.

So my plea to the browser makers of our times is this: Please come up with a standard to perform a one-way hash of passwords with the site domain name (Or some other salt) before the bits ever reach a website. Or, please stop implying that passwords are in any way more secure than any other field on a site’s registration form, and stop masking them.

2010

sameer — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 01:07:22 +0000

Dave Barry:

Elsewhere on the disaster scene, Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull (literally, “many syllables”) volcano erupts, sending huge clouds of ash into the atmosphere and forcing airlines throughout northern Europe to ground all flights. Greece, although not directly affected, announces that it will take six months off, just in case; France, as an added precaution, surrenders.

Long, but worth it. For added kicks, read through the fact-checking, position-debating, completely-serious comments.

Research advice

sameer — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:34:50 +0000

Find a way to do your research with as little contact with non-technical people as possible, with one exception, fall madly in love! That is my advice, my friend.

Feynman to Wolfram, via lettersofnote.com

Sal Khan's Khan Academy

sameer — Sun, 16 May 2010 02:04:06 +0000

“When you read that, you’re like, okay, screw the hedge fund world.”

Maria's Story

sameer — Sun, 09 May 2010 01:24:28 +0000

In other words, the “default” body plan is female, and a fetus will go down this path unless diverted. It is as if the God of the Bible, in a departure from the usual story, actually made Eve first, then took one of her ribs, added some testosterone and other male hormones, and presto: Adam.

via medhelp.org

The Last Answer by Isaac Asimov

sameer — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 12:16:17 +0000

For what could any Entity, conscious of eternal existence, want – but an end?

via scritube.com

Movies and cultures

sameer — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:52:00 +0000

Here’s the trailer for a movie about an overweight girl trying to find her soulmate:

And here’s the trailer for a movie about a girl whose love life gets muddled with a series of murders:

Embracing the digital book

sameer — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:28:47 +0000

So consider this: 10,000 of us reading the same Kindle book, each of us highlighting and taking notes. Would the aggregate of this not be illuminating? If I want to publicly share my notes with fellow Kindle or iBooks readers, shouldn’t there be a system in place to do this?

via craigmod.com

FSJ on Gruber

sameer — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 06:15:29 +0000

I keep telling him, John, dude, I love you like a son, but you’re letting this get to you, it’s getting under your skin, you need to let it go

via fakesteve.net

•••>

sameer — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:44:00 +0000

The dots are permutations of system settings, and the ghosts are possible resolutions. Finish the dots before meeting the ghosts, and you get to eat them again on Level 2. IT Support is the perfect antithesis of PacMan.