SOMEONE MIGHT BE LYING

The same government that claims it can't find a Boeing 777 airplane or locate emails from the director of the IRS claims absolute confirmation of the involvement of North Korean hackers in a breach of Sony Entertainment's computers. From the FBI itself:

As a result of our investigation, and in close collaboration with other U.S. government departments and agencies, the FBI now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions. While the need to protect sensitive sources and methods precludes us from sharing all of this information, our conclusion is based, in part, on the following:

• Technical analysis of the data deletion malware used in this attack revealed links to other malware that the FBI knows North Korean actors previously developed. For example, there were similarities in specific lines of code, encryption algorithms, data deletion methods, and compromised networks.

• The FBI also observed significant overlap between the infrastructure used in this attack and other malicious cyber activity the U.S. government has previously linked directly to North Korea. For example, the FBI discovered that several Internet protocol (IP) addresses associated with known North Korean infrastructure communicated with IP addresses that were hardcoded into the data deletion malware used in this attack.

• Separately, the tools used in the SPE attack have similarities to a cyber attack in March of last year against South Korean banks and media outlets, which was carried out by North Korea.

Wired Magazine (is it still a magazine?) produced an article to the contrary:

Attribution Is Difficult If Not Impossible
First off, we have to say that attribution in breaches is difficult. Assertions about who is behind any attack should be treated with a hefty dose of skepticism. Skilled hackers use proxy machines and false IP addresses to cover their tracks or plant false clues inside their malware to throw investigators off their trail. When hackersare identified and apprehended, it’s generally because they’ve made mistakes or because a cohort got arrested and turned informant.

Nation-state attacks often can be distinguished by their level of sophistication and modus operandi, but attribution is no less difficult. It’s easy for attackers to plant false flags that point to North Korea or another nation as the culprit. And even when an attack appears to be nation-state, it can be difficult to know if the hackers are mercenaries acting alone or with state sponsorship—some hackers work freelance and get paid by a state only when they get access to an important system or useful intelligence; others work directly for a state or military. Then there are hacktivists, who can be confused with state actors because their geopolitical interests and motives jibe with a state’s interests.

Distinguishing between all of these can be impossible unless you’re an intelligence agency like the NSA, with vast reach into computers around the world, and can uncover evidence about attribution in ways that law enforcement agents legally cannot.

Then Sony essentially claimed that North Korea has done the company a favor:

"The unanimous point of view here is that this (is) another misfire from the pairing," said an e-mail purportedly written by Peter Taylor, of Sony Pictures UK.

Taylor said the film was "desperately unfunny and repetitive," and "James Franco proves once again that irritation is his strong suit which is a shame because the character could have been appealing and funny out of his hands."

Taylor and other executives agreed that the first half hour of the film, which features a satirical interview with hip-hop artist Eminem, was amusing but was later overshadowed by "realistic violence that would be shocking in a horror movie"

But could it be that all be that this fluff is just a veiled effort give the federal government a reason to nuke North Korea for denying Americans the opportunity to see a straight-to-DVD feature the power to oversee cyber security?

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said the November attack has increased urgency for the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, which failed to make it to the Senate floor in July, despite winning bipartisan committee support. Feinstein, who remains the committee's top Democrat as new Republican majority takes control in January, plans to reintroduce the measure. 

Nope. Given that this whole situation makes so much sense, that's just outrageous.

RACIST RAGE EXPLAINS NOTHING

Only then does Ferguson make sense. It's about white rage.*  **

*White rage is not the same as ruling class rage. My skin color doesn't make me a member of the ruling class any more than someone else's skin color makes them athletic or prone to being a doctor.

**The systems often cited as working in favor of white rage--courts, police, legislatures, and governors--do not serve me any more than do the humble members of congress or the most serving of servants, the president of the United States. Those people exist in order to centralize power and preserve it for themselves, rather than using it to benefit people like me. If that sounds like cynicism or the ignorance of a person who happens to be white without realizing the benefits, allow me to try to explain.

GETTING PLAYED (OR: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ELECT SOMEONE)

The national peddling of the left-right paradigm was on display in Colorado this week, with school kids walking out of class in protest of curriculum changes that came from "conservative school board members" who took office last November. The Facebook comments to the Fox News-produced story were predictable, angry, and eye-opening in terms of just how well the divide-and-conquer scheme is working in America.

The walkout aside, the story presents the bold agenda being pushed by the new board members. It's bold not so much in terms of its goal, but in terms of its unveiling of what is essentially one of many versions of propaganda which are blind to their own fallacies. Those with the authority to do so call such propaganda "history."

From the story:

The school board proposal that triggered the walkouts in Jefferson County calls of instructional materials that present positive aspects of the nation and its heritage. It would establish a committee to regularly review texts and course plans, starting with Advanced Placement history, to make sure materials "promote citizenship, patriotism...and benefits of the free-market system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights" and don't "encourage or condone civil disorder, social strike or disregard of the law."

Citizenship: you will pay taxes, or you will go to jail. Or you can pay to renounce your citizenship...which is something you could do for free just a few years ago, apparently. So if you're one of those people whose intellectual contribution to these conversations is limited to angrily asking the question "If you don't like it here, why don't you just leave?", bear in mind--that solution has a cost now, too. So it's not quite as helpful as you may think.

THE VALUE OF A SHINGLE MISTAKE

While we're on the subject of roofing companies, there's an odd thing on one particular company's sign that should at least raise an eyebrow or two.

Spartan Construction and Roofing is a company which appears to be based in Texas. Since the hail storm in Norfolk, NE this past June, the company's signs have been popping up in front yards all over the area. When one looks at their signs, a few things stand out.

ANGIE'S LIST: A REVIEW OF THE REVIEWS

Homeowners sometimes have opinions after having their roof replaced. When in written form, Angie's List calls these opinions "reviews."

But reviews of roofing companies are hard to find upon visiting angieslist.com. If one looks at whose actions the reviews address, one will see that homeowners generally aren't reviewing roofing companies. They are, almost exclusively, reviewing their handler: the roofing company's salesperson. Not the professionalism of the roofing crew, not the job done by roofing crew, and definitely not the longevity of the installation.

SEXTUPLETS ON THE SMOKER

Having thoroughly solved the how-fast-can-I-light-charcoal riddle, it was time to address another issue faced by many ECB water smoker owners: capacity. With two grill grates, you're rather limited in how much food you can smoke at once. While some people get around this by using rib racks and other contraptions to make things sit at odd angles in order to make more food fit, there's another answer: add more grates.

Although it was cleaner, this is basically how my smoker looked when I bought it. A charcoal pan (which you can't see), a water pan, and two grates.

I've never tried, but I'm guessing you might be able to squeeze three racks of ribs onto those two grates. With the body of the smoker being 16.5" in diameter, it would be tight. And the body of the smoker only has holders for the two racks, so it's not like you can just set more grates in the thing without a way to hold them in place.

COOKING WITH GAS...AND CHARCOAL

On Memorial Day weekend of this year, I was with my wife's family in Orleans, NE, where I found an older Cook N Cajun water smoker at a garage sale. It was made by Bosman Industries--Bosman made this smoker before a company called Brinkmann started selling it, so it's been around a while. Fortunately, it spent all of those years in it's box.

The smoker came with exotic features like wooden handles and green paint. After it came home to Norfolk, a few vents were added, along with a thermometer in the lid.