_Lark_ /again/ in Opua, actually. Their windvane broke on deployment a few hours (?) after departure "Monday". (_Their_ Monday, presumably.) Sea-state was rough, so they decided against 10 days of hand steering (or using battery in their electric auto-pilot).
Back to NZ while awaiting a part from Germany.
Mark_
22:00 21 June 2011
21 June 2011
20 June 2011
16 June 2011
Rescue Tape
I thought this sounded somewhat like the rigging tape that sailors use, so I watched their promotional video. At about 2:56, notice the scenery behind the "military" vessel. (It's probably only "stock" video footage, but even so....)
Even if one is not going through Deception Pass, the stuff may be worth having along. Local big-chain hardware places have a generic version.
Mark_
Even if one is not going through Deception Pass, the stuff may be worth having along. Local big-chain hardware places have a generic version.
Mark_
15 June 2011
Dick's Pix
Dick S. (Maggie Rose) has had some of his regatta pictures published in The Anacortes American.
Mark_
16:34 15 June 2011
Mark_
16:34 15 June 2011
13 June 2011
TV as Computer Monitor
Someone asked me recently about using a TV as a computer monitor.
We have been enjoying our gen-2 Apple TV (which streams from a number of Internet sources via Wi-Fi), but before that we connected our MacBook to the television. The aspect ratios of Macintosh and the TV were slightly different, but all-in-all it worked well enough.
Lifehacker article: Computer to TV.
Mark_
14:22 13 June 2011
We have been enjoying our gen-2 Apple TV (which streams from a number of Internet sources via Wi-Fi), but before that we connected our MacBook to the television. The aspect ratios of Macintosh and the TV were slightly different, but all-in-all it worked well enough.
Lifehacker article: Computer to TV.
Mark_
14:22 13 June 2011
12 June 2011
_Lark_ departed?
Linda's computer was online (Skype) today, so perhaps they have not yet effected their departure.
I didn't speak to her, but Skype showed her machine as being "available". I can think of no way that this could be the case except that it actually was within a hundred feet or less of a wi-fi station <i>on land</i>.
Mark_
22:00 12 June 2011
I didn't speak to her, but Skype showed her machine as being "available". I can think of no way that this could be the case except that it actually was within a hundred feet or less of a wi-fi station <i>on land</i>.
Mark_
22:00 12 June 2011
11 June 2011
_Lark_ is off for Tonga!
I have just had a brief text iChat with Linda. They have tanked up, provisioned up, and they expect to depart their berth in Opua in about 1/2 hour (as of 14:00 PDT) for their 10-day passage to Tonga.
She had just completed a Skype session with her mother. Isn't this all great?
Mark_
14:04 PDT 11 June 2011
She had just completed a Skype session with her mother. Isn't this all great?
Mark_
14:04 PDT 11 June 2011
07 June 2011
Macintosh "Hardening" (from NSA)
Our National Security Agency (NSA) has some rather tech-y advice for making Macintosh as secure as possible from intrusion or manipulation by outsiders. Some of this is easy, some is obvious, and some is extremely technical and/or not actually reasonable or even possible for ordinary users.
The information is in the form of a downloadable PDF that your browser will either display to you or put wherever it stows its downloads. If display, you can use save to keep it for later reference. Once saved to your local disk, Preview can open and show it to you.
My advice would be to read through it--with the intention of understanding it--today and again tomorrow. Some of it is pretty technical, so pay close attention to the parts that do seem understandable, and don't worry about the rest. Implement anything you are certain you understand, ask me about anything you like, and don't sweat the rest.
• Cult of Mac: Introduction to the NSA document
• NSA: Information Assurance > IA Guidance > Security Configuration Guides > Operating Systems > Apple Mac > Apple Mac OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard' > Hardening Tips for MAC OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
• Apple document (also linked from that NSA page): Mac OS X Security Configuration (Snow Leopard). There are several useful sections here (amid quite a lot of information that only professionals would either understand or care about). This is PDF that can be viewed in browser or downloaded.
The important message is this: Be careful (vigilant, methodical), but do not sweat this issue. With the single exception of Mac Defender (or whatever its most recent name happens to be) there are no threats out there for us. This one doesn't threaten our computers (our data); it intends to get our credit-card information. If you don't provide that, the worst we know of now that can happen is nuisance. After you have deleted the installed malware (following instructions elsewhere), there is no danger.
At present. That we know of.
Mark_
12:30 07 June 2011
The information is in the form of a downloadable PDF that your browser will either display to you or put wherever it stows its downloads. If display, you can use save to keep it for later reference. Once saved to your local disk, Preview can open and show it to you.
My advice would be to read through it--with the intention of understanding it--today and again tomorrow. Some of it is pretty technical, so pay close attention to the parts that do seem understandable, and don't worry about the rest. Implement anything you are certain you understand, ask me about anything you like, and don't sweat the rest.
• Cult of Mac: Introduction to the NSA document
• NSA: Information Assurance > IA Guidance > Security Configuration Guides > Operating Systems > Apple Mac > Apple Mac OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard' > Hardening Tips for MAC OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
• Apple document (also linked from that NSA page): Mac OS X Security Configuration (Snow Leopard). There are several useful sections here (amid quite a lot of information that only professionals would either understand or care about). This is PDF that can be viewed in browser or downloaded.
The important message is this: Be careful (vigilant, methodical), but do not sweat this issue. With the single exception of Mac Defender (or whatever its most recent name happens to be) there are no threats out there for us. This one doesn't threaten our computers (our data); it intends to get our credit-card information. If you don't provide that, the worst we know of now that can happen is nuisance. After you have deleted the installed malware (following instructions elsewhere), there is no danger.
At present. That we know of.
Mark_
12:30 07 June 2011
06 June 2011
Blog Updates & Pix from _Lark_
Linda has posted updates and pictures. Excellent! (Apparently they still haven't departed for Tonga. Less excellent.)
Mark_
12:20 06 June 2011
Mark_
12:20 06 June 2011
04 June 2011
01 June 2011
More on Macintosh Malware
MacRumors has some information about how fast this issue is developing. (Still no reason for panic, however.)
@ MacRumors
More:
@ Apple
@ AppleInsider
@ The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
@ ZDNet: Malware spreading via Facebook
@ Huffington Post (video)
While on the subject of computer security: Facebook Scams.
I have said this to several friends:
The thing that makes this age seem new & different (not in a good way), is that for more of our lives most of us more or less never came into direct contact with overt criminality. Now, it's inside our very houses, right on our desks, at least once every day. That nice, Christian, Nigerian who has family or client money for which he will pay for help with [whatever], the traveling friend who is stranded in a foreign city after [whatever misfortune], the helpful Facebooker who will give you code so that you can see who is looking at your stuff--these are all criminals [unconvicted = a mere technicality], and it requires rather an act of will not to get the willies when their garbage infests the Inbox. Even when it seems only to involve an attempt at commerce, why do they think you would buy V1@gr@ from someone who isn't respectful of your wishes not to see their spammy come-on? (They respell their products' names to get past anti-spam filters.)
Couple that with attempts to break into our business, government, infrastructure, and defense computers, and one wonders what the next decade will be like. We may find that little by little, our stuff will have been so completely subverted that the only things (utilities, tools, weapons) that work are things that have no moving parts (physical or electronic). The childish and the sociopathic will have broken everything else.
Crud.
Mark_
10:36 01 June 2011
@ MacRumors
More:
@ Apple
@ AppleInsider
@ The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
@ ZDNet: Malware spreading via Facebook
@ Huffington Post (video)
While on the subject of computer security: Facebook Scams.
I have said this to several friends:
The thing that makes this age seem new & different (not in a good way), is that for more of our lives most of us more or less never came into direct contact with overt criminality. Now, it's inside our very houses, right on our desks, at least once every day. That nice, Christian, Nigerian who has family or client money for which he will pay for help with [whatever], the traveling friend who is stranded in a foreign city after [whatever misfortune], the helpful Facebooker who will give you code so that you can see who is looking at your stuff--these are all criminals [unconvicted = a mere technicality], and it requires rather an act of will not to get the willies when their garbage infests the Inbox. Even when it seems only to involve an attempt at commerce, why do they think you would buy V1@gr@ from someone who isn't respectful of your wishes not to see their spammy come-on? (They respell their products' names to get past anti-spam filters.)
Couple that with attempts to break into our business, government, infrastructure, and defense computers, and one wonders what the next decade will be like. We may find that little by little, our stuff will have been so completely subverted that the only things (utilities, tools, weapons) that work are things that have no moving parts (physical or electronic). The childish and the sociopathic will have broken everything else.
Crud.
Mark_
10:36 01 June 2011
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