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Summer CampJames D. CorderI must admit that Summer Camp at Chief Logan was great fun. We had 15 youth in attendance. This was a lot more than I had expected. However, the more the marrier:-) I would like to say how proud I am of Roy Niedzielski (a past member of Post 369) and & Brian Tomko. The repelling tower that they build was most impressive. |
Netscape 4.01BJames D. CorderFirst I must admit by the time this article was written, a later version of Netscape was out. However, this was the first time that I was disappointed at Netscape. In my opinion, they must have hired the programmers that Micro$oft laid off. Netscape 4.01B looks like a Micro$oft product. Moreover, it responds like one: slow and sluggish. Running Netscape 4.01B on an IPC 48MB pegged my CPU to 100% 100% of the time. Ok, I was less than 4 on load. I have heard that Netscape 4.06B is soupier. Until I try this one out I have taken my network back to 3.01 Gold. |
DES CrackedJames D. CorderIn the last month's issue of the ExpNews we covered the alleged breaking of the DES Code. Several letters came in about the definition of "Breaking." Ok, the code or Encryption Algorithm was not broken. A full force frontal attack against the unknown key was undertaken. In other words, they tried over a trillion keys until they found the correct one. Understand, that security through encryption is not a method of protecting valuable information. Encryption is an attempt to make it more expensive to spend the necessary time on braking the encryption than the value of the data. In short: If I had the combination of my foot locker with my Scouting Equipment in it encrypted with PGP and a 1024 bit key, would you spend the resources necessary to break the encryption? No, why not cut the lock off. Would a company's competition spend $20,000,000.00 on breaking the encryption for a $2,000.00 secrete. Of course not. Therefore, our Government needs to find a better way to protect its secretes. It has been proven that with no money one can get the Keys to DES. I suggest moving to 3DES. I think they are in that process. |
Men In BlackJames D. CorderThough somewhat predictable this was a most enjoyable motion picture. Hay I might have even splurged for a soft drink along with the price of admission. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith where typed cast. Mr. Jones' character is identical to the one he portrayed in "Witness". While Will Smith's acting is simply a continuation of his "Independence Day" character. The twist of plot is extremely unique: America is allowing Extra Terestials to VACATION on our planet unbeknownst to the rest of the population. This brings about a new division of immigrations and illegal aliens. |
Batman & RobinJames D. CorderI hate to say that you must go see this flick if you saw the other two. For it was a said disappointment. Batgirl is no longer Commissioner Gordan's daughter and in "love?" with Batman, she is now Alfred's niece and in "love?" with Robin! The sections of the movie that try in vain to explain the background of Batgirl is meaningless and would improve the movie greatly if left out. The Batmobile in the Tohellavision series was a two seater and therefore gave ample room for Robin to join the capped crusader. The 1997 model has room for only one passenger and forces Robin to fight crime on a motorcycle. No wonder he has such a high level of admiration for the automobile. Moreover, the movie spent far to much time on the dynamic duels arguments over women. However, in a Sady Hawkins bidding of young ladies for charity it was an irony of hummer to see Batman bid a million dollars on Poison Ivy. Mr. Freeze was sadly played. His character was not up to Arnold' Schwarzeneggers capabilities. I believe that Arnold could have ad-libbed a better portrayal of a arch enemy than the ones that the director developed for him. George Clooney and Chris O'Donnel made a good Batman & Robin. Uma was not a femfital. As in other Batman episodes the masked villains are frumpy until they dawn their costumes. All in all, if you are a Batman fan you will have to see this flick. But make sure that it is at a matinee and bring your own popcorn. It just isn't worth the price of admission. |
Intellectual PropertyJames D. CorderThe following is a copy of the Intellectual Property Agreement that I refused to sign for a company that I use to work for. They stated that it was mandatory. However, they waved it upon my threatening to quit. Intellectual Property Agreement for Casual Employees and Nonemployees In consideration of payment for the performance of work or assignments for [COMPANY] or any of its affilitates (hereinafter "X"), and other good and valuable consideration, including the use on behalf of X of its material, private or proprietary information, or facilities: A) I hereby assign and agree to assign to X all my right, title, and interest in and to all inventions, discoveries, improvements, ideas, computer or other apparatus programs and related documentation, and other works of authorship (hereinafter each designated "Intellectual Property"), whether or not patentable, copyrightable or subject to other forms of protection, made created, developed, written or conceived by me during the period of such work or performance of assignments, wether during or outside of regular working hours, either solely or jointly with another, in whole or in part, either 1) In the course of such work or assignment, or 2) relating to the actual or anticipated business or research or development of X, or 3) with the use of X's time, material, private or proprietary information, or facilities; B) I will, without charge to X but at its expense, execute a specific assignment of title to X and do anything else reasonably necessary to enable X to secure a patent, copyright or other form of protection for said Intellectual Property anywhere in the world; C) I further agree that I will keep in confidence and will not, except as required in the conduct of X's business or as authorized in writing on behalf of X, publish, disclose or use, during and after the period of my work or assignment, any private or proprietary information which I may in any way acquire, learn, develop or create by reason of such work or assignment; D) I further agree that this agreement does not constitute a contract of employment, nor does it confer any rights by license or otherwise in any Intellectual Property to which I may have access; and E) I acknowledge that the copyrights in Intellectual Property created within the scope of my work or assignment, belong to X by operation of law. F) In the event that either my company or I have previously executed an agreement with X relating to the work which I am about to undertake, it is understood and agreed that nay terms and previous of this Agreement will be superseded by any conflicting terms and conditions of such previously executed agreement. Ok, why this topic? In the Thursday, July 10, 1997 issue of the Columbus Dispatch an (AP) article titled Food for thought" Does an employer own a worker's ideas? (McKinney) brought nightmares of my own life when I would not sign an Intellectual Property Agrement. My brother attempted to council me in the ways of corporate America. He passionately informed me that there was no way that a large company would yield to my wishes not to sign such a restrictive agrement. My mother attempted to persuade me to give in and go after a "good" job. My attorney thought my attempts to sway the corporate giant was futile. However, I prevailed. In short the above agrement would own everything that I would ever create, even if created on my own time with my own money even after I quit would belong to company X. yea right! Why would anyone sign such a thing. However, most do:-(I didn't! My friends and associates thought that my interpretation of the document was completely wrong. They stated that no company would ever do such a thing. Well, In the article Even Brown, after he was fired, was sued by his x-employer for an idea he has yet to develop. Mr. Brown has a concept of a way to convert old computer code into an easier-to-use higher-level computer language. His former employer contends his automated translation program "would be worth many millions of dollars because numerous other telecommunications and technology companies are similarly struggling to translate or convert their old computer code." His employer alleged in its suit that Brown signed a 10-year employment agreement that gives the company ownership of all his ideas. A federal judge ordered Brown to start giving his former employer what they ask for until ownership of the idea is decided, saying he would be paid $45 an hour for his time. Brown refused and has appealed. It has always amazed me how many people/employees grazing in the companies pastures give in like cattle. They know what they are asked to do is wrong however, they want that almighty dollar. I guess that is the difference between an Employee and an Entrepreneur! Another company that I worked for did not require you to sign such an agreement as a condition of employment. However, they slipped it into an InterNet access request form. To get access to the InterNet you needed to sign the form and therefore gave away any Intellectual Property associated with such usage of the InterNet... In short, if you are not in a situation where you are capable of refusing to sign such a document at least make sure that the document is null and void after termination of employment by either party. If you have enough clout make sure anything you create on your own time is yours! |
Matt Curtin, Chief ScientistJames D. CorderI would like to thank Matt Curtin, the Chief Scientist of Megasoft Inc. for his discussion on DESCHALL and other security related topics to the members and guests of Explorer Post 369. I received many kind words about Mr. Curtin. It was interesting to see some of the "non-computer oriented dudes & dudets" guests in the building not related to our meeting wonder in and sit down. Several stated their fascination with Mr. Curtin's topics. I hope Matt will come back. I have had the extreme pleasure of knowing Matt for almost a decade now, and I must admit that Matt was in rare form Tuesday July 29, 1997. Matt's talk covered Bit Slicing, how DESCHALL utilized utp-to-tcp conversions & HTTP proxies to enable their software to transmit data through firewalls. Mr. Curtin also titillated us with the impact that the ability to figure out keys for DES encryption will impacted Bank Transactions, ATM, Medical Records, etc. Mr. Curtin also covered the true story behind the Wall Street Journals' article on the DESCHALL. I found it fascinating that no money was spent on the DESCHALL project. After Mr. Curtin finished his topic he open the floor for discussion. The topics ranged from PGP to Key Escrow... Moreover, Mr. Curtin stated that with all the systems in place that it would only take about 56 seconds to break the next code: Instead of the 4 months it took this time. I understand that the US Government is looking into 3DES to make it harder to do this frontal assault. |
More About Mr. CurtinHis Home Page Mr. Curtin is a self proclaimed hacker, with particular area of expertise in computer and network security. Mr. Curtin has a real passion for making systems bulletproof: "for technology to become the basis of all of our businesses, personal lives, etc., it must provide some degree of security. Because of my love of technology and desire to give everyone the power that comes from the possession and use thereof, I am continually looking for ways to make things secure against attack, in addition to new ways of doing things entirely." Previously, Mr. Curtin held the position of "Chief Hacker" for Fahlgren, an advertising agency which he helped move into the realm of interactive media such as the Internet and World Wide Web. Additionally, Matt acted as the primary architect for their Internet gateway and firewall, as well as for their intranet. "Another part of what I do is advocate openness and freedom in computing. Having many computing platforms in an organization is a Good ThingTM, as far as I'm concerned, because you can leverage the strengths of all the platforms against their weaknesses, leaving you with an aggregate computing environment greater than the sum of its parts. You just can't do that by running some boring, barely functional, marketing-driven, closed, insecure quasi-OS like Winblows NT all over the place. I'm also into programming languages. I was poking around with Smalltalk recently, and came across an old FAQ, but it was so badly formatted, it was almost unreadable. So I reformatted it with LaTeX, and the result can be seen on my web page." Mr. Curtin's experience with firewalls and secure web servers was greatly enhanced during the time he spent at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio. "Right about the time that Bob Allen hit the Big Company go Boom button, I decided that I had enough of hacking for mega-corporations with gobs of money and an inversely proportional amount of clueful people. I worked in a great group, doing really cool things, but I didn't exactly get a warm-fuzzy that gave me much reason to believe that this would continue to be the case, so I bolted." |
New Java Features Solaris 2.6Sun Developer News The JavaTM Virtual Machine and HotJavaTM Browser will be bundled with the Solaris 2.6 operating environment. The Java Virtual Machine 1.1. integrates the Java platform with the Solaris operating environment. It uses Solaris native threads, which enables multiprocessor support for native threads, improving Java application scalability and integration with native methods. Included are the Java Developer Kit (JDKTM) 1.1. from JavaSoftTM, the standard Java compiler, the Java interpreter, the Java class file disassembled, the C-header and stub file generator, and the just-in-time (JIT) compiler for improved performance. The HotJava Browser provides an easy-to-use, customizable user interface for exploring the Internet and corporate intranets. Features include:
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Solarishttp://www.sun.com/software/solaris/new/facts.html Did you know:
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LEADERSHIP:Solaris was voted "Best Internet Platform" by Network Computing in February, 1997. Solaris was named "Best Unix OS" by Network VAR in January, 1997. Solaris is the first vendor to post best TPC-C numbers on each of the leading database vendors: 23,143 tpm/C (118 $/tpmC) on Oracle supporting 19,000 users 15,461 tpm/C (134 $/tpmC) on Informix supporting 13,000 users 18,438 tpm/C (139 $/tpmC) on Sybase. Solaris is now branded UNIX 95 (aka Spec 1170). PARTNERS:Sun has partnered with ISVs to create a single source code for direct implementation of applications on both SPARC and Intel platforms. Oracle and Informix develop, test, and tune their products on Solaris in order to get the best performance and reliability. |
ProgrammersCharles M. Strauss Mostly, when you see programmers, they aren't doing anything. One of the attractive things about programmers is that you cannot tell whether or not they are working simply by looking at them. Very often they're sitting there seemingly drinking coffee and gossiping, or just staring into space. What the programmer is trying to do is get a handle on all the individual and unrelated ideas that are scampering around in his head. |
Floor Plan UpdateJames D. CorderThe City of Columbus will only accept plans drawn up by a licensed architect and the finished product must have the seal of a licensed contractor. The City of Columbus judges a Church as a comercial building. So far the cheapest architect I have found is asking for $500.00 to draw the plans. Surly somewhere out there is an Eagle Scout that became an architect and one that is now a contractor. I am now in the hunt to find these individual. It is my opinion that one of them will be more than happy to draw up our plans for free! [That is my favorite price:-] |
Lost ExpNews in AustraliaJames D. CorderSorry to our readers down under. I heard from about 18 subscribers that they did not receive the ExpNews last month. Therefore, we will be including the May issue of the ExpNews with the July one for our Australian readers. |
Quote of the MonthA friend is someone that walks in when everyone else walks out! Up-an-Coming Post Expenses12/01/97 Post Charter $30.00 12/01/97 Post Insurance $85.00 Monthly ExpNews $75.00 |
Up-an-Coming Member ExpensesRegistration 11/01/97 $15.00 Post Finances
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Web Stats, For July---------------------------------- Items Pages Served Title ---------------------------------- 277 65 exploring 2520 604 ExpNews 1276 119 links 4989 664 post 127 43 1997.calendar 1974 209 members 840 82 Adults 256 70 Toadies 370 61 Youth 537 95 program 45 31 project 451 91 scouting 175 82 bible ---------------------------------- |
Calendar of Events:August 14 Fall Kick Off Meeting August 22-24 Campout August 22 ExpNews Deadline September 12-14 Canoeing Campout September 26 ExpNews Deadline October 24 ExpNews Deadline October 24-26 Campout November 28 ExpNews Deadline December 12 ExpNews Deadline December 30 Leave for Australia January 2-10, 1998 Australian Jamboree |
Our Creed:Exploring: Enthusiasm, Energy, & Excellence. The Explorer CodeAs an Explorer-
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Our Principals:
Explorer Post 369:Explorer Post 369 was chartered on December 31, 1994 to the Reformation Lut hern Church. Explorer Post 369 specializes in UNIX for Programmers while emphasizing a d eep theme of Engineering Computer Information & Science Membership in Explorer Post 369 is open to young men and women between the ages of 14 [and in high school] and not yet 20. Annual Membership fees are $15.0 0. |