In the last installment, I discussed ways to make ssh keys as convenient as possible without sacrificing the security of a passphrase. But, unfortunately, there are some situations that require automation during which the entry of a passphrase is not feasible.
Sometimes, you need to accomplish something -- running a command, transferring a file, etc. -- in a scriptable manner. Traditionally, there are two methods used to solve this problem:
Thomas Lang, from The American Prospect, attended an event sponsored by the Heritage Foundation where Rick Santorum was delivering a speech and provides his account.
The benefits of marriage, Santorum said, can be demonstrated via empirical evidence. He noted that children living with two parents are less likely to be physically abused and less likely to suffer emotional neglect than those living in other arrangements. He went on to say that children in two-parent families are less likely to drop out of high school and tend to stay away from alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.
Lang then posed a question designed to highlight the inherent contradiction in advocating "marriage protection" but simultaneously condemning gay marriage:
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This release isn't one album. You probably know that. It's two albums packaged together. Andre 3000's solo effort "The Love Below" and Big Boi matching it with his "Speakerboxxx". Let's talk about what we expect from these albums. We have a tendency to polarize duos. Brains and Braun. Pinky and the Brain. From what I understand, most expected Andre 3000's effort to be the Brains to Big Boi's solid braun. Andre's intellectualism would lead him into an experimental departure highlighting him as the real brains behind the phenomenon of Outkast. Or Big Boi's irreverent attitude and big beat enthusiasm would demonstrate that he's the driving force behind Outkast. Maybe. Whatever.
Neither of these are the case. What we have, here, are two unique albums, worlds apart, that together represent very well what we know of the Outkast universe. Both are spectacular. It wouldn't be fair to review these albums strictly in comparison with one another. But, they were packaged together, so comparison is inevitable. I'll do both.
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So, I've already discussed the more physical element of my key management. So now let's talk about passphrases and ssh-agent:
I just got back from traffic court. Note: the traffic courts are no longer in the Ben West building, but rather, at Metro Center. I discovered this after a pleasant half-mile jaunt through the pouring rain. In any event, once I got there, all the charges were dropped. Booyah. The ticket was for speeding, expired registration, and lack of proof of insurance. I fixed the last, and the registration is still in fact expired, since I am trying to sell it. I guess the judge was feeling generous and threw in the speeding violation as well. A $12 court appearance fee and I was out of there.
A humorous display, though, before it was my turn: Another judge was there, defending a speeding violation. He was not guilty, he said, because although it was marked as a school zone, the sign technically said "15 mph when children present". And, since he didn't see any children physically present, he was justified in going 40mph, or whatever. Of course, the other, presiding judge couldn't agree more! The sign is obviously poorly worded, and badly marked, to begin with! And who really pays attention to school zones anyway?! All charges dismissed, etc!
Then they winked at eachother on the sly and met for mint juleps later at lunch. (I assume.)
As he was walking out, he leaned over to the nearest person and muttered "That's the first case I've won in 22 years!", which was pretty funny. Everyone laughed a little too long and hard, though, until he was out of the room, at which point everyone resumed scowling and waiting to take it up the ass from The Man.
I love small court sessions. There's always something entertaining going on.
You see some neat shots sometimes on the skycam if you watch long enough:
On a day like today, with a sky like that, you half-expect to see the eye of Sauron in between those spires on the Bellsouth building.
I am currently reading Secrets and Lies, by Bruce Schneier. Bruce is the well-known author of Applied Cryptography, which is considered the de facto "bible" of cryptographic applications. In the foreword of Secrets and Lies, he describes his inspiration for authoring the book: following the publishing of Applied Cryptography, he was inundated with stories of grotesquely designed security systems, rife with cryptographic acronyms, but lacking in any of the careful design of procedure and process that truly define security. So, he wrote Secrets and Lies from this angle, issuing a warning that cryptography does not make security, and providing a framework for understanding truly security systems.
With this in mind, I have recently re-evaluated some of my own security practices, and finally remedied some of my bad habits, which I will post in a series of posts, beginning with my key management practices below:
No, this isn't about government fiscal policy. It's about corn. But the two aren't as unrelated as you might think. These days, our corn production has a lot in common with our production of money -- that is, we can make about as much of either as we so desire. And we make a lot of it. In the NYT magazine, Michael Pollan addresses the problem of corn overproduction and its ramifications on both the global economy and on the health of our nation. He first draws a parallel between the current overproduction binge and an earlier agricultural boom in the 19th century, the result of which was an excess of corn and a boom in production of alcohol (whiskey):
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Did anyone else see Justin Timberlake on SNL this week? I was actually sortof impressed with his first number. Amanda said he cites guys like Michael Jackson and Donny Hathaway (whose album Live is the single best live R&B album ever recorded, period) as his influences and it shows.. The second song was a much more stale and boring dance-pop type thing. I find myself wondering if his album is more like the former or the latter (I can only assume the latter). Anyone know?
Over at Rebel Yell, Stoney laments his body's ever-increasing storage space and then praises his discovery of bagels (and Bruegger's, to be specific):
Several years ago, I discovered that I like bagels. They're not near so full of bad stuff as a regular breakfast, you can eat them any time of the day, and there was a bagel shop right close to work. My favorite was an onion bagel with olive-pimento cream cheese.
Bagels aren't so full of bad stuff as a regular breakfast? Maybe 30 years ago. There was a time when a bagel was a little hunk of fiber and carbs. These days they are giants the size of your head loaded with sugar: a glorified donut. Don't believe me? Check this out:
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