Dropbox+Bittorrent trick
I don't particularly like cloud type things, it's my data and i want it completely under my control and I don't particularly like dropbox as I don't think I actually trust them. However, I do have a dropbox account because they were offering extra storage from the default for doing a quiz and we all know I like quizzes. When I finished building the new VM I suddenly remembered that my upstream bandwdth is kind of yukky even on my remote server, which had problems with hits last week anyway and although it seems to be coping now after a couple of tweeks, a few hundred attempts to download the VM might make it melt or at least go on strike for better working conditions so I decided that i'd actually use my dropbox account and publish the public url. i was about 25% of the way through uploading it and I suddenly had a horrible thought dropbox probably has a GB/Day limit and that publishing the public url might not be a good idea. So what to do? I could just give the public link to a couple of people and hope that it doesn't escape or I could see if it was possible to use dropbox as a seedbox for a public file.
After a bit of googling I found the following webpage describing exactly how to do it using uTorrent.
https://sites.google.com/site/torrenttricks/use-dropbox-as-a-free-webseed-for-your-torrents
It's actually pretty good however I think it works better with smaller than 2GB files as i still got an automated suspension email about 10 minutes ago but it looks like it was up long enough for a few people to be able to start seeding it. Once my account suspension is over i'll take a look at the process and limits more closely.
In a bit of a funk
Last April (2011) I had to spend a few weeks in hospital due to a reoccurance of some health problems I had between 2006 & 2008. To cut a long story short, and to avoid upsetting anyone's breakfast with the grisly details I had Pancretitis, Gastritis & Duodenitis with complications and had to go NPO for several weeks which is a right PITA especially when you have 2 pounds of Red Leicester that are begging to be eaten in the fridge.
Since then I have been in a bit of a funk. I had several new toys to play with, a couple of programming projects to complete, blog posts to write up and some other miscellaneous projects on the back burner but I just couldn't face them. I did a lot of reading, 574 ebooks and counting, hanging out in IRC & MUC and forum visiting but I just couldn't work up the energy or enthusiasm to deal any real work.
I have decided that this situation can't continue so I am taking a couple of days break from the various forums, irc channels and muc rooms I visit and hiding my nookcolor while I try to shake myself out of this funk by forcing myself to finally setup my work area again and setup my UberTooth One, CyberCortex AV & Hercules eCafe netbook, finish up the various programming projects I have on the go and by writing a few blog posts. Hopefully this will work as otherwise I will have to take the drastic measure of turning off the Internet and going outside 
and it's a little bit cold, wet and windy out there at the moment.
Update to the Christmas Quiz
All the winners now have their prizes in their sticky mitts so the quiz is now officially over. However, I was quite pleased with the response so i'll probably do another quiz in a couple of months. If I have enough stuff in my odds and sods box i'll offer prizes again otherwise it'll be one just for fun and I promise no almost impossible number sequence questions (unless I can think of a really evil one) as no one got within 500 yards of the correct answer although one person (David Ross) was almost on the right track as he did guess it was something to do with prime numbers.
The winners were (in order).
1. Stephen Christie (Brand New Zipit Z2 + Spare battery)
2. David Ross (Timex1000)
3. Vincent Hyde (2 x Palm Z22 + assorted cables and palm psu)
Answers to the Christmas Quiz
I received about 10 entries into the Christmas Quiz and I'll go through them in a day or so and let those who won know and get their details. In the meantime though here are the answers.
- The Camputers Lynx
- There were lots but TRSDOS, NEWDOS, LDOS are three of them.
- It was exactly the same size as a 1DM coin and fit and worked in all vending machines but was worth a lot less than 1DM.
- Pascal
- It's the Z80 mnemonic for load, decrement, repeat e.g. a block move
- "Beating the system: Hackers, Phreakers and Electronic spies" by Owen Bowcott and Sally Hamilton (Bonus Point: The Groucho Club)
- Althh, M&T, RUB..... (I was on retty much all of the german chatsystems so hard to get wrong)
- Corrupt Computing UK aka CCUK
- Types of hop
- This one was what most of you will consider a bit of a cheat although it was possible to workout if you are into things like prime numbers. The correct answer is 391 As that is the number of carmichael numbers in the range of number with 9 digits. You can read more at http://www.kobepharma-u.ac.jp/~math/notes/note02.html -- 1 person actually got that right
- Althh and acorn.com -- they were/are IPSS nua's
- Gartree High school & Gartree Prison
- 1810 & 1814
- The series was called Science Fiction, The Episode was called Spycatcher, The director was Derek Jones, The producer was Susie Gautier-Smith and the book it was based on was Clifford Stoll's The cuckoo's egg.
- Equations of uniformly accelerated linear motion
A hint for question 10
I've had a few emails and a couple of pings via IM that Question 10 is really hard It is supposed to be but maybe it is a little too hard after all. It is possible to work it out but you probably do have to know something about a certain branch of mathematics and probably just happen to know the answer.
So here is a clue to help you on your way. ROT13'ed so that people who don't want a hint can ignore it.
--rot13--
Gur frdhrapr vf eryngrq gb n cebcregl bs n pynff bs vagrtref engure guna gur vagrtref gurzfryirf orvat vzcbegnag.
--end-of-rot13--
Hopefully this hasn't made it too easy.
I’m in a Quizzy kind of mood
I'm in a Quizzy kind of mood so for the hell of it I thought i'd set a couple of questions. No prizes this time just the right to be a smug wotsit for a couple of hours.
Answer in the comments section.
Q1. What's the next number in the sequence and why? 2, 10, 18, 36, 54, ...
Q2. What's the next number in the sequence and why? 9, 17, 35, 53, ...
Should be easy and Good Luck
Christmas Quiz
I've decided to set a Christmas Quiz, there will be at least one prize (something zipit related) for the person who gets the most answers correct and if I can find anything suitable in my bits and bobs boxes then i'll have a couple of runners up prizes too.
[Update: So far I have decided that the prizes will incl. A Zipit Z2 with extra battery, A Timex 1000, An unidentified PCB that has a Rabbit Z80 clone on it. More updates as I go through the boxes and find stuff that is suitable.]
[Update2: I decided to add the Palm Z22's to the available prizes as i haven't got around to doing anything with them, i have a couple of other old pda's too and if i can find them i'll add those to the pile as well. So it looks as if i have prizes for 5 people so far.]
Rules:-
- No one related to me can enter.
- My decision is final.
- Closing date for entries is December 24th @ 00:00 -5GMT.
- If more than one person has the most correct answers I will ask a tie-breaker question. If it is still tied then I will flip a coin or roll a dice.
- My decision is final!!!
- Entries are to be sent via the contact page but you can whine about the questions in the comments of this post.
Ok on to the questions. Some of the questions are computer related, some are about me (so have you been listening?) and some are just random things that popped into my head when I was thinking of the questions. Some can be found via google, bing.... and some you'll just have to know and a couple I hope are impossible.
- In the early 1980s (1983ish) there was a British made home micro that's BASIC had floating point line numbers. Name that micro?
- Name three operating systems that ran on the Tandy TRS-80 Model3 micro computer?
- What was special about British 5 pence pieces when going to West Germany in the 1980s?
- What programming language is named after a French philosopher and mathematician?
- What does LDDR do?
- In the late 1980s I helped with a book about hacking & phreaking. Name the book and the two authors? (Bonus points if you can name the location of the launch party).
- In the 1980s I used several chat systems in West Germany. One was called Altger. Name two others.
- In the 1980s I was co-sysop of the hacking section of a BBS in England. Name the BBS? (Thanks to it's sysop and his sense of humour it became quite famous).
- What are Fuggles, Goldings and Bullion?
- What is the next number in the sequence? 0, 1, 6, 9, 27, 62, 150, ...
- Where would 026245400050233 and 023422230016102 take you?
- I went to high school at a school that had the same name as a maximum security prision. Name the school and the prison?
- When were Foxton Locks built? (start and end date)
- In 1990 I was a consultant and actor in a 30 minute documentary for YTV (part of a series). Name the series, the episode name, the director, the producer and the book it was based on. (Bonus points if you have a copy on VHS or DVD and can make me a copy)
- Final question and i'll make it an easy one. what are the SUVAT equations?
The physics in Guiness
One of the courses I studied in college was physics. I actually voluntarily went to the physics lectures rather than skiving off to the pub down the road or 'chillin' in the SU lounge which I could have done because I had an exemption as I had already passed all my physics exams during high school and couldn't improve on the qualifications unless I had done an actual Physics degree at Uni or Poly which I didn't want to do as I was too interested in the other sciences (except biology which is a sucky science apologies to any biologists out there but it is really it is!). Chemistry, Computers and Catering (cooking)* are my true passions but I do like to mess about with physics especially the SUVAT equations which for some warped reason just seem to appeal to me, not sure why but I just have a thing for them. As an aside it was my Physics teachers and lecturers that introduced me to "Cooke's Variable Constant" which is surprising as it's normally Chemist's that have a liking for purple prose. So today I decided that my procrastination skills needed a bit of a workout and went looking for interesting Physics websites and stumbled on a blog post that links to a youtube video that talks about the Physics going on in a glass of beer Guiness. It was pretty interesting and I think i'll do some more reading on the subject.
* For some reason the letter C seems to crop up in my life alot. I've never been quite sure why or what the probability of a single letter being so previlant but it does seem to. One day I should try to find out why and if there is anything to it other than coincedence.
Hunter’s ebooks are on sale at smashwords for the rest of the week
Hunter Davis is having a 75% sale on his ebooks, Live For Free - The Chronicles of A Nerd Saving For A Startup , Hacks.. , Build Your Own Distributed Compilation Cluster - A Practical Walkthrough at the smashwords store until midnight sunday. I have two of the three books and really like them, so if you were planning on buying copies now would be the time to do it. You can find more information on Hunter's blog http://hunterdavis.com/archives/2161
44Con — Information Security Conference and Training Event in the UK — Finally
Many years ago in a previous life, yes dinosaurs did roam the earth. They had names like IBM 4381 Rex, DEC VAX-osaurus, Prime-adon, CDC Cyber-tops and so on. I was involved with several groups of individuals who were interested in computer and network security and I was sysop/co-sysop of several security related bbs's. Anyone else remember CCUK, Lightfinger's Palace, RUB, Mehlbox, Altger, Althh.....? Towards the end of the 80s A group of us tried to publish a British version of 2600 called 1200/75, we published about 6 issues before RL stuck it's nose in and we all had to go our seperate ways (i've recently managed to get back in touch with a few of them but still wonder what happened to some of the others and one day i'll put a bit more effort into tracking some of the others down). As well as publishing the magazine we also tried to start a conference too and got quite alot done in organising one but unfortunatly lack of time and lack of money to pay the initial costs just shut the idea down. We ended up scrapping the idea and just going to Hack-Tic instead, it was a pity as we had managed to get provisional agreement by some big names in the industry and community to sign on to give talks and lectures.
Anyway enough about our failures, it looks like that there will finally be a decent Information security conference and Training event in the UK. I just found out that two of the UK based DEF CON goons are running an event in London from the 30th of August to 2nd September. It looks very interesting and i'd love to attend but that just isn't possible but I wish them all success and hope it runs for many years. http://www.44con.com/index.html