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mik1998

504 karma · joined November 19, 2022

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mik1998··on Alpine Linux Security Advisory: OpenSSH-server password authentication bypass
Constant time strcmp doesn't fix it. The problem is that the user doesn't have a password at all (the hash is *). But which hashing algorithm is used is encoded in the password. So they pick a different user's hash to not leak the information that there is no password. Alternate solution would be to hardcode a specific algorithm, but that could also leak info in many cases, I guess.
mik1998··on School has given straight-a grades to the student, who can't do masic math
Why assume that bad students are from a "disadvantaged neighborhood"? Why not just orient this charity towards good students?
mik1998··on The case of the 9 bit AES key
Handbook of Applied Cryptography is a good reference for implementing classic cryptographic algorythms.
mik1998··on IBM CEO says open weight models are now good and cheap on-prem
It's pretty easy for a reasonable person to determine when to call 911 and when to ask an LLM. Typically when I ask an LLM, it is for something I am not willing to escalate further at the moment.

Anthropic has a significant interest in reducing liability, which in this case means mostly blocking this use case.

mik1998··on The 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement is no longer viable
Calcium, iron, zinc, et al. To avoid deficiencies on a plant-based diet, you have to carefully manage your diet around them.

Anecdotally, my sister in law has been vegetarian for over a decade and just recently been diagnosed with anemia.

mik1998··on The 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement is no longer viable
It's a fun metric the author carefully crafted to justify his vegan/animal rights ideology. Personally, I value food that can provide the necessary micronutrients and macronutrients (including fat, which apparently the author thinks is inherently bad), so I'll continue eating meat and cheese.
mik1998··on U.S. Supreme Court to review 1868 federal ban on home distilling of liquor
The heads only contain a slightly higher proportion of methanol than the rest of the distillate. They're discarded because they taste bad, not because of safety. Though it has the result that distilled beverages generally contain slightly less methanol than not-distilled beverages.
mik1998··on Passkeys are not a trap
These are very damning. Pretty straightforward about removing all software freedoms in favour of some sense of security. It really is already happening:

> I have a sneaky suspicion that some of our failures with various RP's is because they are only accepting certain authenticator GUIDs.

This comment from the KeepassXC maintainer makes me feel like the whole spec is already completely flawed if such a situation is even possible.

mik1998··on Passkeys are not a trap
So: currently, the cauldron is cold, therefore ignore the fire below it and hop right in.
mik1998··on Improper redaction reveals Google Data Center water and electricity usage
That’s not entirely correct. Overall water is preserved but local sources of freshwater can be depleted or contaminated, which raises the cost of water.
mik1998··on Everybody’s home. No one’s coming over
Avoiding everything that is a drag is almost an axiom for most young people in the modern world... any sort of discomfort is obviously wrong and something to avoid. It's almost a sin to suggest someone should do something that might bring them temporary discomfort even if it's good long term.
mik1998··on We're gonna need a lot more mathematicians
Not exactly. The input to produce commodities is labour-power (the potential to perform labour). Education or study is the process of producing the commodity of labour-power, the potential labour of a mathematician who can do some sort of specific work.
mik1998··on Claude discovers a novel enzyme system with CRISPR-like repeats
That's an absurdly selfish position. You're taking a stance that not existing is superior to living in the future, all the while living in the world yourself. Might as well advocate for nuclear genocide.
mik1998··on Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says
Let's cut out the middleman of grass here and just directly eat dirt and sunlight.
mik1998··on Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says
"strict vegan diet" AKA supporting industrial byproducts made into ultraprocessed food made on the other side of the globe rather than consuming vegetables, fish & meat produced locally and ecologically.
mik1998··on Fish bad, sugar good, and other medieval ideas about food
This article seems unusually misrepresenting of the theory of humours, which was prevalent in medieval Europe, at least in the catholic parts. This theory stated that no food was explicitly bad or good; rather, you should eat food that is suitable for your temperament. In that sense, they did not believe any food is necessarily (at least in terms of the humours) unhealthy; rather, it may be unsuitable or suitable for your temperament and the balance of humours within you. The hesistance of wet was mostly of its association with diseases; but it was recommended to cholerics, whose temperament needed to be balanced with it. In a sense, it sometimes produces better results (by chance) than modern dietary practices which often held up some types of (seemingly innocent food; like animal fats) to be categorically unhealthy.
mik1998··on Creepy Crawlies
The cache gets evicted between the times the old commits are revisited.
mik1998··on I'm becoming AI-blind
New and interesting mathematics is done by inventing new definitions and fields, not just combining old theorems to prove new ones.
mik1998··on Asus Bike Booster
There are a lot of teenagers stealing bikes and other stuff for fun. It's common, and in many circles very "cool". Doesn't have to be inherent, really.
mik1998··on Asus Bike Booster
There is a large amount of people who go around stealing bikes for fun and some cash; and often "street cred" or something akin to that.
mik1998··on Government sponsored study on alcohol doesn't stand up to scrutiny
Vast majority of adults consume alcohol in moderation, so clearly it is possible. It's really not that addictive if you don't have some physical or psychological predisposition to alcoholism.
mik1998··on Government sponsored study on alcohol doesn't stand up to scrutiny
USA deaths: mean estimate for obesity-attributable death was 324 940 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10546692/ USA deaths: About 178,000 (about 5% of all) yearly deaths from excessive alcohol occurred in 2020 and 2021 in the United States https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-to...
mik1998··on Government sponsored study on alcohol doesn't stand up to scrutiny
It's not bad in moderation. Sugar is much more addictive and harmful than alcohol, and it's also fine in moderation.
mik1998··on Asus Bike Booster
No one relies on bike theft to "survive".
mik1998··on Grok 4.5
They don't "naturally" lean left. It's not a wild animal. They lean left because every other corpo makes them.
mik1998··on Grok 4.5
All models are political. The rest of them are just sufficiently woke for you.
mik1998··on The Minecraft Code (2024) [video]
This was fine when N = 28. Now it's life of the author plus 95 so there is almost no possibility of anything released in your lifetime to be a part of the public domain before you die.
mik1998··on The daily life of a medieval king
There's nothing intolerable about pickled vegetables. I eat them all the time
mik1998··on AI Saved My Company from a 2-Year Litigation Nightmare
Every language is ambiguous. There's a gap between language (description) and reality. No formal logic can bridge this.
mik1998··on The scientific “unit” we call the decibel
You would use it if it was useful or convenient
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