borlak (u/borlak) - Readit News

borlak commented on How Copyover MUD Servers Worked jackkelly.name/blog/archi... · Posted by u/_jackdk_

borlak · a year ago

The way my mud did it, and I believe most muds (considering I took my implementation from another popular codebase), was not by forking. Sockets are just files, so all we did was save everything including players, execl() another instance of the MUD, and exit. Same port wasn't an issue with SO_REUSEADDR.

On boot as it's loading players, their file descriptor ID was saved, so it loads it up and resumes talking to the socket. It also loads the ID of the server socket descriptor. No need to send information to a new process as it just loads the previous game state.

If you're curious: https://github.com/borlak/acmud/blob/7c2442dfccfc28364fc399a...

And: https://github.com/borlak/acmud/blob/7c2442dfccfc28364fc399a...

borlak commented on MIT Students Battle State's Demand for Their Bitcoin Miner's Source Code wired.com/2014/09/mit-stu... · Posted by u/msantos

borlak · 11 years ago

Tidbit inspired me to write my own web-miner, which I open sourced. It's hacked together as I was really just trying to learn how the cryptocoin&mining stuff worked. The mining rate you get with straight javascript is truly abysmal, even with web workers (much worse than the standard cpuminer).

I found a couple examples that do the scrypt part with GPU in browser, but your browser has to support custom shaders, I think (I forget the details), and the version most browsers support doesn't allow this (again, my memory is sketchy about the details).

Anyway Here you go, NJ! https://github.com/borlak/cryptocoin_scrypt_stratum

borlak commented on Researchers find critical vulnerabilities in Yahoo site, offered $12.50 per bug geekwire.com/2013/researc... · Posted by u/aaronbrethorst

borlak · 12 years ago

Does Yahoo have a public bounty program?

borlak commented on USB Condoms usbcondoms.com/... · Posted by u/lukashed

nyrina · 13 years ago

Is it just me or is this a bit.. Over the top?

I've never put my phone into something to charge and thought "Hey, they might steal my data".

borlak · 13 years ago

You probably would if you travel, or go to conferences...

borlak commented on Which is better? Performing calculations in sql or in your application? stackoverflow.com/q/75100... · Posted by u/hartleybrody

borlak · 13 years ago

The top answer in that thread is excellent.

Basically, "it depends". having dealt with extremely DB-intensive applications, I have developed a personal motto of "be nice to the DB".

Let the DB be a secure storage of your data, not a calculating part of your application. But like the top answer says, sometimes it is not practical to do a calculation within the application. In my case, we had a few database servers set aside just for reporting, so we could slam them with difficult queries and not worry about affecting data.

borlak commented on Man who hacked Zuckerberg's Facebook account gets cash reward cnbc.com/id/100976139... · Posted by u/codegeek

smtddr · 13 years ago

Don't agree. If you attempt to communicate a security bug and get ignored or told "it's not a bug", then you can do pretty much anything you want "within reason". Posting a harmless block of text on Mark's wall isn't the end of the world. He could have posted something extremely offensive, then I would not be on his side. If someone told me there was a way to exploit my LinkedIn account, I said "no way", then she edited my LinkedIn profile to add "I really love fluffy bunnies" to my current job title - I'd correct my job title, then say "Okay. Good job. Tell me how you did it". In the same way I think it would be ridiculous to get a speeding ticket for going 66 MPH when the limit is 65mph, this guy should get the reward despite this minor technicality. He tried doing it the "right" way, it didn't work. Yes, I know he wasn't super clear & he posted on someone's wall but FB could have at least tried to clear it up with him. Imagine if hospitals worked that way, someone shows up clearly in distress but doesn't speak english. Do you just say, "Well. I don't know what you're saying, so get out". You at least try to figure out what's going on... From what I've read, FB didn't even do that... so messaging on Mark's wall is just a small slap on the wrist so FB will make more of an effort next time. At the very minimum, FB could update their TOS to highlight the important sections for this situation, give the guy the reward, tell security-staff to be more supportive in the future, then announce that they will refuse to pay out on anyone copying this guy's actions going forward.

borlak · 13 years ago

He posted on a real person's wall with the initial bug report. It says right on the /whitehat page not to do that, and he mentioned /whitehat in his bug report, so he should have known.

borlak commented on NProgress: slim, site-wide progress bars ricostacruz.com/nprogress... · Posted by u/ianstormtaylor

benburleson · 13 years ago

Am I the only one that remembers SWF load-progress indicators and how retarded they were?

borlak · 13 years ago

What do you mean? The SWF progress bars are one of the few that can actually be relied upon. A good example: http://armorgames.com/play/12141/kingdom-rush

The Microsoft installation progress bars are the ones I remember as being ridiculous. Often going backwards, showing ridiculous install times, etc.

borlak commented on Tesla Model X teslamotors.com/modelx/... · Posted by u/m0th87

timcederman · 13 years ago

Hence the explosive bolts.

borlak · 13 years ago

It doesn't have explosive bolts.

borlak commented on Tesla Model X teslamotors.com/modelx/... · Posted by u/m0th87

redact207 · 13 years ago

The falcon wings - rather the gull wings - have been around forever. The problem is that you need a significant roof height in order for them to open.

Ever tried parking in a cramped multi-storey car park? You'll be crawling out of your car via the foot well. It's the main reason they've never taken off, but I'm guessing only the rear doors are like this.

borlak · 13 years ago

Also a bit problematic if you happen to roll your car over on its top...

borlak commented on Kids can't use computers, and why it should worry you coding2learn.org/blog/201... · Posted by u/mikeevans

borlak · 13 years ago

It sounds like you want everyone to be a system administrator. That is not going to ever happen.

The human history of inventing has one very consistent theme: making things easier for ourselves. "Computers" will only become easier to use, and require less knowledge of the humans that are using them.

When "computers" go wrong, a human with that specialty will fix it. You have that specialty. Why can't everyone fix their own cars or HVACs or bake their own bread?