"In Baltimore, they’ve been using this since 2007, and it’s only been in the last several months that defense attorneys have learned enough to start asking questions," he said. "Our entire judicial system and constitution is set up to avoid a ‘just trust us’ system where the use of invasive surveillance gear is secret."
via Baltimore Police used secret technology to track cellphones in thousands of cases – Baltimore Sun.
I was showering this morning when I realized that the water pressure isn’t what it used to be. There is no cut-off valve for the shower (or at least, any accessible valve), so I began to wonder what might account for the weak water. It’s true that a pipe from our water heater busted last fall but that was fixed up better than new by our ace plumber, Allen Baker. There was no other water running in the house at the time, so what is left?
Then it hit me (an idea, not the water). Last year, we were on the end of Tonsler Drive and the end of the water line. When the new Oakwood North subdivision went in, it extended this water line. I didn’t notice any drop in pressure initially since the homes were only slowly becoming occupied. Now that the neighborhood is almost built out there are now a lot of morning showers competing for the same water pressure.
It reminded me of the scene from There Will Be Blood: the new neighbors are drinking my milkshake!
Too close for comfort!
Driving an EV longer distances requires one to do a little math, particularly if one is unsure a charging station can be found at the destination. I figured with my top range of about 75 miles, I would have more than enough to get there. The PlugShare app showed a ChargePoint charging station in the parking deck across from the hospital, so I figured I would be good to go.
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This guy is a liar and a nutcase to boot.
It’s rare that a man is lost at sea and returns home looking even healthier than before he disappeared.
But that’s exactly what skeptics of Louis Jordan have pointed out as they question the 37-year-old’s miraculous account of surviving 66 days adrift in the Atlantic Ocean.
Scott Greenough
I have been preoccupied for over a week as my close friend Scott Greenough has been battling for his life. He’s in the hospital now with terminal liver failure and everyone is concerned that he might not make it.
I set up a Caring Bridge site for Scott last night for his friends and loved ones to share their thoughts and follow his progress. You can check it out here.
Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers!
Update: I have created a separate blog for updates on Scott. See the Scott Greenough page.
Google Fiber wants to slow things down a bit, so they’ve added Dialup Mode to Google Fiber.
Happy April 1st!
Today (or maybe tomorrow? I’m still not sure) is the day that the hours change for those of us on Duke Energy Progress’s Time Of Use (TOU) electric billing plans. When you’re a grid-tied solar electricity provider like we are, Duke puts you on a TOU plan so that you are encouraged to use most of your electricity off-peak. The change in electric season is like Daylight Saving Time for our electric bills.
Peak hours in winter are from 6 AM to 1 PM and from 4 PM to 9 PM. Summer peak hours are from 10 AM to 9 PM. This means we can run our dryer or charge our electric car in the morning, rather than hold off until after 9 PM, which is a good thing.
I made a handy chart to help keep track of these schedules but haven’t shared it yet since I want to incorporate suggestions that Kelly made. Hopefully I’ll get it posted soon.
The family and I were spending a few hours trekking around Raven Rock State Park yesterday when we encountered three senior citizens who were obviously NC natives. They had made their way down the steep stairway to the base of Raven Rock and were looking for someone to take their picture.
“I’ll be happy to take y’alls picture,” I said as they handed me their iPhone. “Y’all just stand together right there.” I snapped two photos of them and grinned as I handed their phone back to them.
When we had climbed the stairs and were out of earshot, Hallie gave me a quizzical look and said, “you were totally Southern back there!”
“Well, that’s how I was raised!” I said as I shrugged and laughed. It doesn’t occur to me that that’s not how I act all the time. I see good country folks and can’t help but slip back into my Southern accent.
I guess the South our kids are growing up in is different than the one I grew up in. I suppose that’s a good thing, them being around people from different backgrounds. Even so, I sure hope I never forget where I am from, and how to speak properly with the good folks who’ve called North Carolina home far longer than I have.
NSA planting spyware on a Cisco router
The photo that disturbed Cisco so much, the one showing the NSA tampering with a Cisco router, actually does not concern me as much as previous reports of NSA spying. The photo shows NSA doing what it should be doing, going after the bad guys. They have a specific router going to a specific customer and they’re using good old-fashioned hard work to gain their access. I can only assume that the target of this investigation is worthy of such attention and its targeting has been duly legally authorized.
The other thing this photo shows me is that NSA opted to plant its spyware using physical means rather than network means. If NSA has some sort of super-secret backdoor into Cisco firmware it certainly isn’t apparent from this photograph.
Cisco can of course decide it wants to make it difficult for these NSA operations to succeed and that’s the company’s prerogative. Certainly this photograph can cause the company’s customers to question Cisco’s security and can hurt its business. Even so, if NSA wants to load its firmware on boxes one by one and hands-on in a legally-authorized pursuit of a true intelligence target, I suppose I’m ok with that.
Cisco became an inadvertent (and very unwilling) co-star in the NSA Antics: Snowden Edition when its logo was splashed across the web by a leaked document detailing the agency’s interception of outbound US networking hardware in order to insert surveillance backdoors.
It moved quickly to mitigate the damage, sending a letter to the President asking him and his administration to institute some safeguards and limitations to protect US tech companies from the NSA’s backdoor plans. To date, there has been no direct response. So, Cisco has decided to handle the problem itself.
via Cisco Shipping Hardware To Bogus Addresses To Throw Off NSA Intercept-And-Implant Efforts | Techdirt.
