Yes, I'm mirroring a /. story, but this is something that really hits home for me, since I grew up in Minnesota.
It turns out that the Minnesota GOP has been distributing a CD that contains a Flash-based poll system. However, what they don't tell you is that should you run the CD, it phones home to the GOP, along with your name, address, and political opinions! And, to make things worse, this is done without any type of notice in the packaging or the program itself.
Clearly, this is Not A Good Idea. As for myself, I'd put it in the same bin as all the spyware and malware that is floating around the Internet and otherwise infesting Windows machines. (As an aside, I wonder whether an outbound-blocking firewall such as ZoneAlarm would be capable of detecting this mothership-signaling behavior?) Let's hope that this is treated with the same type of legal classification (illegal) that malware deserves.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Knocked Offline
Things have been very busy lately, largely due to my work at Pegasus. I've been in the process of establishing a link between the DIII-D PCS, the Pegasus data archive system, written primarily in LabVIEW, and MDSplus. Substantial progress has been made in the last few days, so I'm glad to almost be done at this point! I've certainly learned a lot about LabVIEW programming, and how to interface it to external libraries in C -- and will be glad to be done with passing data types between one another shortly!
I have been trying to write, but unfortunately my Internet access which provides access to this site has been very spotty over the last few weeks. With any luck a technician will be fixing things early tomorrow morning. And, with further luck, I'll be continuing to write sporadic updates, mixed with technical updates on some of the features I've been working on. First up on the list of things to write about: I've figured out a way to export recorded programs from my MythTV box to DVD, in a straightforward manner. (With a GUI, too!)
For now though, it's back to circuit analysis and MHD. At least I got a chance to go swing dancing this weekend!
I have been trying to write, but unfortunately my Internet access which provides access to this site has been very spotty over the last few weeks. With any luck a technician will be fixing things early tomorrow morning. And, with further luck, I'll be continuing to write sporadic updates, mixed with technical updates on some of the features I've been working on. First up on the list of things to write about: I've figured out a way to export recorded programs from my MythTV box to DVD, in a straightforward manner. (With a GUI, too!)
For now though, it's back to circuit analysis and MHD. At least I got a chance to go swing dancing this weekend!
Saturday, February 4, 2006
Checking In
It's probably been a bit longer than it should have been between my last post and now. However, the life of a graduate student often precludes the mythical 'free time' you need to write these entries!
I had the good fortune to spend the Christmas holiday with my family. Over New Years, I drove from Minnesota to Chicago to see my cousin get married. (Kristen and I took advantage of the weekend as well; she came into town via an Amtrak commuter train the day my family flew out, and we spend the day on the town, ending up at her family's place outside Milwaukee.) Aside from that, there isn't really much else going on.
I'm still working hard, most recently on a project that only true computer programming types can appreciate: creating an interface library to pass data types between different programming languages. Specifically, between LabView and MDSplus, a data storage and retrieval system that has become the de facto standard in the fusion science research community. It turns out that MDSplus is a requisite component of the PCS system I will be using for my Ph.D thesis research. It's been straightforward, and exceedingly dull, work.
To make things more fun at home, I've been working on my homebrew PVR as well. I am working on a way to export the TV shows I record to DVD's playable on any player. It's been a fun challenge, and when I have a solution I like, I'll write more about it in my PVR section.
For now, it's back to my new theory course of the semester -- Magnetohydrodynamics. (It's fun to say, not to do!)
I had the good fortune to spend the Christmas holiday with my family. Over New Years, I drove from Minnesota to Chicago to see my cousin get married. (Kristen and I took advantage of the weekend as well; she came into town via an Amtrak commuter train the day my family flew out, and we spend the day on the town, ending up at her family's place outside Milwaukee.) Aside from that, there isn't really much else going on.
I'm still working hard, most recently on a project that only true computer programming types can appreciate: creating an interface library to pass data types between different programming languages. Specifically, between LabView and MDSplus, a data storage and retrieval system that has become the de facto standard in the fusion science research community. It turns out that MDSplus is a requisite component of the PCS system I will be using for my Ph.D thesis research. It's been straightforward, and exceedingly dull, work.
To make things more fun at home, I've been working on my homebrew PVR as well. I am working on a way to export the TV shows I record to DVD's playable on any player. It's been a fun challenge, and when I have a solution I like, I'll write more about it in my PVR section.
For now, it's back to my new theory course of the semester -- Magnetohydrodynamics. (It's fun to say, not to do!)
Checking In
It's probably been a bit longer than it should have been between my last post and now. However, the life of a graduate student often precludes the mythical 'free time' you need to write these entries!
I had the good fortune to spend the Christmas holiday with my family. Over New Years, I drove from Minnesota to Chicago to see my cousin get married. (Kristen and I took advantage of the weekend as well; she came into town via an Amtrak commuter train the day my family flew out, and we spend the day on the town, ending up at her family's place outside Milwaukee.) Aside from that, there isn't really much else going on.
I'm still working hard, most recently on a project that only true computer programming types can appreciate: creating an interface library to pass data types between different programming languages. Specifically, between LabView and MDSplus, a data storage and retrieval system that has become the de facto standard in the fusion science research community. It turns out that MDSplus is a requisite component of the PCS system I will be using for my Ph.D thesis research. It's been straightforward, and exceedingly dull, work.
To make things more fun at home, I've been working on my homebrew PVR as well. I am working on a way to export the TV shows I record to DVD's playable on any player. It's been a fun challenge, and when I have a solution I like, I'll write more about it in my PVR section.
For now, it's back to my new theory course of the semester -- Magnetohydrodynamics. (It's fun to say, not to do!)
I had the good fortune to spend the Christmas holiday with my family. Over New Years, I drove from Minnesota to Chicago to see my cousin get married. (Kristen and I took advantage of the weekend as well; she came into town via an Amtrak commuter train the day my family flew out, and we spend the day on the town, ending up at her family's place outside Milwaukee.) Aside from that, there isn't really much else going on.
I'm still working hard, most recently on a project that only true computer programming types can appreciate: creating an interface library to pass data types between different programming languages. Specifically, between LabView and MDSplus, a data storage and retrieval system that has become the de facto standard in the fusion science research community. It turns out that MDSplus is a requisite component of the PCS system I will be using for my Ph.D thesis research. It's been straightforward, and exceedingly dull, work.
To make things more fun at home, I've been working on my homebrew PVR as well. I am working on a way to export the TV shows I record to DVD's playable on any player. It's been a fun challenge, and when I have a solution I like, I'll write more about it in my PVR section.
For now, it's back to my new theory course of the semester -- Magnetohydrodynamics. (It's fun to say, not to do!)
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