Author: Dave Farquhar

Yes, an ethical journalist protects his/her sources

Dave Farquhar Writing , ,

An anonymous reader asked why journalists protect their sources.

It’s a fair question but an easy one to answer. Part of a journalist’s role in society is accountability. When something is wrong, the journalist is supposed to raise awareness.

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Why this latest attempt to resurrect the Commodore brand will probably flop

Dave Farquhar Android, Retro Computing , , , , , , , , ,
Why this latest attempt to resurrect the Commodore brand will probably flop

The Commodore brand is back again, this time on an Android smartphone. For a premium price, you get an Android 5.0 phone with the Commodore logo on it, preloaded with VICE and an Amiga emulator, which, between the two of them, emulate just about everything Commodore ever made, except, perhaps, the products that can be emulated with the Android calculator app.

But I don’t expect this attempt to be any more successful than earlier efforts to resurrect the brand.

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Expect a rough road ahead for Flash

Dave Farquhar security , , , , , , , , , ,

Adobe has patched Flash twice in two weeks now. The reason for this was due to Hacking Team, an Italian company that sells hacking tools to government agencies, getting hacked. Hacking Team, it turns out, knew of at least three unpatched vulnerabilities (also known as “zero-days” or “0days”) in Flash, and exploits for these vulnerabilities were among the things that got breached.

That’s why Adobe is having a bad month.

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What to look for in a performance SSD

Dave Farquhar Hardware ,

The Register has a nice writeup on performance SSDs. The only problem is that performance is really a matter of diminishing returns, and The Reg didn’t report on random I/O.

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Why you can’t get to Google and Facebook on AT&T U-Verse

Dave Farquhar Servers and Networking ,

If you have AT&T U-Verse, from time to time you may have issues with Facebook or Google sites like Youtube not working, while the rest of the Internet works fine.

The solution is simple but non-obvious: Disable IPv6.

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My sons and the chiropractor

Dave Farquhar Health, Parenting

I take my sons to the chiropractor once a month. Their fame precedes them, and for good reason.

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How do you conduct yourself as a security professional?

Dave Farquhar security

At a recent job interview, the CISO asked me a really good question that I wish more people would ask.

He asked me how I conduct myself as a security professional when dealing with the rest of IT.

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Work-life integration vs. work-life balance

Dave Farquhar Health, security

I wanted to bring up another subtopic from Dr. Ellen Langer’s interview on the Social Engineer podcast: work-life integration. It’s important to consider work-life integration vs. work-life balance.

Dr. Langer stated that work-life balance is inherently unhealthy, because the idea creates a notion that you have to be one person at home and a completely different person at work. She didn’t put it this bluntly, but essentially it means living a lie at least part of the time. She did say nobody should want to live life like that.

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Why security pros still fly

Dave Farquhar security ,

Security researcher Chris Roberts has posted some inflammatory things about Boeing airplanes earlier this year, going as far as claiming to have once used the in-flight entertainment system, with a special cable, to send commands to one of the engines and affect the plane’s flight.

When I first heard Roberts’ assertions, my initial reaction was to ask why any security professional would continue to board a plane. Then last week Patrick Gray had the brilliant idea to talk to an Airbus pilot. After listening to the interview, I felt better.

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Return to Bonne Terre Mine

Dave Farquhar St. Louis , , , ,

Over the Independence Day weekend, I took my family to the Bonne Terre Mine, about 50 miles south of St. Louis on Highway 67. It was once one of the world’s largest active lead mines, and the area around Bonne Terre is still known as the Lead Belt. Mining is still the major industry in southeast Missouri, and the area is dotted with big piles of mining waste, which the locals refer to as “chat.”

Mining in the area started way back in 1720 by French settlers; Bonne Terre Mine opened in 1860. It closed in 1962.

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