asciilifeform: massive capacitors in dc power supply.

asciilifeform: sure it can. wondering why pc doesn't die in 200msec?

asciilifeform: for that you need a soviet-style massive 1:1 transformer

asciilifeform: does nothing against little spikes

asciilifeform: for 200msec.

asciilifeform: i've one, like everybody else

asciilifeform: ups is relay-based. it does entirely nothing except if mains cuts out for 200 msec or so.

asciilifeform: go figure.

asciilifeform: moves into a small house. previously in a flat, where no such problem.

asciilifeform: lol

asciilifeform: just tired of snow crashing pc when neighbours turn on their electric chairs (or whatever it is they've got in basement)

asciilifeform: 30kg of ferroresonant pleasure.

asciilifeform: listened to it. screw audophiles. bought 'Sola EPC 210-60.'

asciilifeform: why?

asciilifeform: curious then

asciilifeform: kakobrekla: on account of the 'bzzzz' or other reason ?

asciilifeform: ;;later tell mircea_popescu this'd be the pill against your smoking hdd controllers, as i gather.

asciilifeform: they knew.

asciilifeform: apparently i should've asked 'audiophile' fanatics.

asciilifeform: e.g. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sola-Constant-Voltage-Transformer-Harmonic-Neutralized-Ferroresonant-Conditioner-/281051274263?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item416ff61c17

asciilifeform: outfit called 'SOLA.' still exists. ☟︎

asciilifeform: re: conundrum from last night: i did find out who was the original maker of ferroresonant transformers - which the box that hummed under classical soviet tvs was copied from.

asciilifeform: Mats_cd03, benkay: jvm.

asciilifeform: re: truecrypt audit touching none of the interesting stuff: i thought this was well-known.

asciilifeform: pankkake: what is the expected enemy?

asciilifeform: pankkake: buy a pistol lockbox and be done with it.

asciilifeform: also a mechanical lock, if i recall.

asciilifeform: if machine was used recently - the ones with fingerprints.

asciilifeform: answer to keypad riddle, since nobody bothered attempting it: the dirtiest and most worn keys are the numerals in the code.

asciilifeform: 'Your iStorage datAshur is supplied with a built-in rechargeable battery.' << translation: key is kept in sram.

asciilifeform: consecutive times), the current encryption key is deleted...' << translation: passcode is not the prng seed.

asciilifeform: 'Each time hacking is detected (i.e. the wrong PIN is entered a total of 10

asciilifeform: generated encryption keys.' << translation: keys produced from prng.

asciilifeform: from manual: 'The iStorage datAshur, unlike other similar drives, is preloaded with an unlimited number of randomly

asciilifeform: (hint: principle is the same regardless of whether keypad is electric or mechanical.)

asciilifeform: pankkake: ever 'pick' a keypad lock?

asciilifeform: there we go.

asciilifeform: ;;google ashur

asciilifeform: pankkake: re: dataAshur:

asciilifeform: i've no idea whether it is possible to build an unmolested autarkik village in modern ar.

asciilifeform: (there being - in argentina)

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: as for what the germans did there - if i recall, they built self-contained villages and had little to no contact with the locals.

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: where, as a boy, right before leaving, i traded a shoebox full of toilet paper money for 1 usd.

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: re: 'la florida' etc << looks exactly like '90s russia.

asciilifeform: http://cryptome.org/2014/05/truecrypt-forensics.htm

asciilifeform: in other news,

asciilifeform: ^ where they traded a captured great master for a nobody

asciilifeform: http://garypowers.org/1962-spy-exchange-of-powers-for-abel

asciilifeform: re: u.s. exchanging five taliban for one grunt: there is precedent.

asciilifeform: it can in principle be done - like inertial confinement fusion - but go and try.

asciilifeform: artifexd: anyone who collects fiat from the 'unwashed masses' is a candidate for 'having problems' eventually.

asciilifeform: TheNewDeal: re: elevator locks: a few years ago, a photo of a new york elevator key was posted on the net. people promptly rushed to their cnc lathes...

asciilifeform: TheNewDeal: nope. just read a little about the lock.

asciilifeform: missile lock is ceremonial item. in both american and russian procedural manuals, one turn-key is instructed to compel the other by force of arms if he refuses to carry out his half of the ritual.

asciilifeform: the lock, as all locks, 'keeps honest man honest'

asciilifeform: correct

asciilifeform: also found in chicago elevators.

asciilifeform: apparently, this is a famous lock.

asciilifeform: and eyes.

asciilifeform: because now we have the net.

asciilifeform: https://www.google.com/patents/US3035433?dq=3035433

asciilifeform: and...

asciilifeform: (from http://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=A37956F8-155D-4519-3E9920D57BA0886A# - 'minuteman' lock)

asciilifeform: http://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/photogallery/mwr/park/mimi/420B3C81-155D-4519-3E9D3013478486BF/420B3C81-155D-4519-3E9D3013478486BF.jpg

asciilifeform: TheNewDeal: dark secret: mp studied maths, physics

asciilifeform: (if you can't see how, think for a minute)

asciilifeform: you can do logic (inefficiently) with a rom.

asciilifeform: decimation: the most basic 'jungle fpga' is just your ordinary ROM.

asciilifeform: nope. just sorted.

asciilifeform: (with the 'card knife,' which came with the reader.)

asciilifeform: card sorter - so you don't have to kill the fellow who dropped a deck.

asciilifeform: (not discrete switches, at the end, naturally - rather, 'bit-slice' logic)

asciilifeform: decimation: until the late '70s, all cpu designs were of this kind

asciilifeform: afaik they still have it in a closet somewhere.

asciilifeform: my uni's first computer was a d-17b

asciilifeform: mp provided a reason why to do it. and useful tips on related subjects.

asciilifeform: *side

asciilifeform: (small blue rectangle in bottom right hand size of first photo)

asciilifeform: TheNewDeal: http://www.loper-os.org/?p=1475 << mp, other friends, and an rng

asciilifeform: TheNewDeal: i built the rng. yes, it is only one of the components.

asciilifeform: TheNewDeal: it's about the basic question of what it means to trust a machine

asciilifeform: just as not all things which aren't poisonous are good to eat for dinner

asciilifeform: (not that anything which passes this test is automatically worth using)

asciilifeform: decimation: i'll helpfully point out where this line of thought ends: if you can't re-create the device in its entirety from the published docs, it isn't worth using.

asciilifeform: undergrad-level project.

asciilifeform: decimation: there is no arcane secret in building a decent analogue rng.

asciilifeform: $100k if you know a fellow who owns the above and trust him.

asciilifeform: (electron microscope, ion beam machine, etc.)

asciilifeform: decimation: now the cost of auditing device becomes $10mil.

asciilifeform: decimation: pretty much everyone fucks the goat right off the starting line - by using a vlsi rng

asciilifeform: decimation: if it did, i'da bought it, and wouldn't be trying to build

asciilifeform: aside from this, even a hypothetically impregnable seal is an attack against the owner (he cannot examine the package either)

asciilifeform: seals don't even keep poor buggers from fucking with electric meters.

asciilifeform: if it's a crypto gizmo and has seal - which i didn't put there - i've no interest in it.

asciilifeform: 'doctor it hurts when i do that. -- don't do that.' ☟︎

asciilifeform: decimation: rng design that involves the purchase of an active volcano is probably expensive too.

asciilifeform: decimation: lol.

asciilifeform: your simulated annealing turd won't converge, you'll sit & curse the gods

asciilifeform: even for simulation purposes (actually the original source of my interest in rng design, years ago) lfsr is crap. you get creeping periodicities.

asciilifeform: why? ask the builders, not me