Josh the Aspie’s Blog

For those not in the know, Stargate SG-1 is one of the most successful and long running science fiction shows of all time, rivaling in popularity such Sci-Fi staples as Star Trek and Star Wars. It is based on the movie “Stargate.” Unfortunately, the series is in it’s final days, and seems to have definitely jumped the shark. One of the reasons for this is the increasingly improbable explanations for interacting with the rest of the world.

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Welcome back to Josh the Aspie’s Blog for the fifth installment in the ‘Wares series, where I explain the meaning behind different terms that include “ware” used to describe software and hardware.

Bloatware is software where more and more features have been added over time, causing the storage, memory, and processing requirements of simply loading the program to grow, and grow, and grow.

Synonyms include “featuritis”, “feature creep”, “software creep” and “creeping featuritis” among others.

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Some of you may remember the post I made a while back regarding the Virginia Tech Shootings. A few of my friends have actually commented on this post on other forums, and one of them, Harsan Ronyo, replied on his own blog. Harson’s focus in the wake of this tragedy is on people that he says pollute the memory of the victims by using the Virginia Tech shootings to justify additional gun control.

Given that there is all this discussion going on about gun control, a subject I feel is an important one, I feel I should weigh in on the subject. While the discussion of gun control these days has been tied inextricably to the latest of the School Shootings. I shall try to be respectful to the diseased and their families, but with school shootings being a rallying point for both sides, I will make mention of them occasionally.

What I will not pull punches on are stupid, deranged murderers, or people that condone them. People who commit suicide are cowards, and those that shoot others, then themselves are worse than cowards, they are deranged murderers who either kill because they don’t want to go alone, or because they want publicity in death that they could not achieve in light. Giving any sympathy or attention to a given coward like that will only encourage them. Anyone seeking attention that way deserves to be buried in an un-marked grave, if at all, and have all record of their name expunged.

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For those of you that are not aware, in the Anime “Bleach” a lot of attention is payed to the relationship between the living, the dead, and beings from the afterlife, called “Death Gods” or “Soul Reapers”. In fact the series revolves around a Soul Reaper Rukia Kuchiki, and a young man, who’s family has long cared for the living, with incredible spiritual powers named Ichigo Kurosaki. In the current arc, Ichigo and his friends Yasutora “Chad” Sado, Orihime Inoue, Uryu Ishida, and a cat named Yoruichi Shihouin have traveled to the afterlife, which is called the Soul Society to attempt to save Rukia from being executed.

In the next episode we will find out more about the pasts of Rukia and Renji.

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About a month ago I went to a group interview at Lockheed Martin. About two weeks ago, I accepted a job offer to work for them as an Associate Systems Engineer, in a position that requires a Security Clearance.

As a part of this process I will be taking lie detector tests, and my fingerprints will actually be taken and placed on file in a federal registry. Some people who know me locally, and know my strong support of the right of Americans to protection against search and seizure were surprised that I was fine with giving up my fingerprints. I’m fine with it because it was my choice. There isn’t a bill requiring me to give up my fingerprints against my will.

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Approximately One Third of Americans adults are Overweight. Obesity, especially extreme obesity, has long term health effects, reduces enjoyment of lifestyle for many people, and causes increases medical costs, medical insurance costs and… of course… food bills.

On the morning of April 22nd I weighed 278 lbs, placing me on the lower edge of the “Extreme obesity range” for my height. I’ve been putting off trying to loose weight for a while. Any time I make a resolve to do something this big when I don’t have the time, I inevitably fail. I’ve spent a lot of time getting other things out of the way, finishing commitments, performing tasks that I’ve been meaning to forever, and now I’ve begun working on this very important health issue.

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I am currently doing a series of posts defining certain terms that are often used to describe certain kinds of software and hardware - collectively known as ‘ware when used in these terms.

Malware is short for “malicious software” and refers to any software that harms the performance, confidentiality, integrity, or accessibility of the machine on which it runs.

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Simply put, a Virus is a piece of software which makes copies of itself and spreads itself across the internet. In some circles of the Information Security field, people insist that a virus also requires some level of user action in order to propagate, such as opening an e-mail or running a program.

This ability of a virus to copy it’s self is called self-replication.

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A “darknet,” or “dark network” is a collection of computers that is in no way connected to the internet.

Two computers connected only to each-other form the simplest form of darknet. Another form would be one or more routers connected to each-other, with other computers connected to them, but no router or computer having a connection to the internet.

-Josh the Aspie

The hacker is a computer or electronics savvy person who uses their skill to test or alter the performance and function of a system.

Hackers may be those who build HAM radios from components, those who build custom systems from the board up, or people who improve their system performance by altering the software packages on them. Hackers may also test the security on an online system as a part of improving that system.

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