Swobodin v Brně

It was an unpleasant surprise to me to find out for the first time that passwords on my favorite instant messaging client, Gaim, were stored in a plain text file, and the only “security” the software offers is the native Unix privilege rights, thus very invulnerable, was hoping things would change with Pidgin, but in vain: the same “feature” is used in Pidgin and all OpenSource programs based on purple library, this includes Finch, Adium for Mac OS X, … and non purple based, such as Licq and Psi.
According to Pidgin developers, to “obscure a password” is to

do something to store the password in some format other than plain text, but we automatically convert it for you. This is security by obscurity, and is a Very Bad Thing™ in that it gives users a false sense of security that we (Pidgin, Finch, and libpurple developers) believe would be worse to have than to let informed users deal with the password issue themselves. Consider that a naive user might think that it is safe to share his or her accounts.xml, because the passwords are “encrypted”.

They add that not more secure are the other proprietary IM software, such as ICQ, AOL IM, Triton, Yahoo!, MSN, Gtalk, Miranda, … Well I believe that: once you find out about the algorithm used you can decrypt back the so called encrypted password.
The best thing not to make an illusion of security according to Pidgin developers, and to really secure one’s password, is to encrypt the config.xml file once the software is closed, using OpenSSL or GnuPG or whatsoever.
However the method above can be unsecure as well in case you forget to encrypt or to delete the original file (yeah “to forget” happens to the security gurus too), that’s why the only thing I recommend is to never save your password if you want your data secure.

At the 40th birthday of the Assassination of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, a Catholic priest was accused in a series of deaths and kidnappings during Argentina’s Dirty War was convicted and sentenced to life in prison Tuesday in a historical court in Buenos Aires.
Any connection between the two events? Is the president Néstor Kirchner willing to make a revolutionary action during the famous celebration to highlight the left “power”?
 

 
Justicia nunca hecha …

You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, The Swiss hold the America’s Cup, France is accusing the US of arrogance, and Germany doesn’t want to go to war.

Via Dismalden

  I do respect Greenpeace and I consider it as one of the rare non-governmental organizations that make me feel that there’s still a hope to save the planet. But when those beautiful girls come to ask you 7 times per week about your bank account number to donate to the organization, I start to wonder whether Greenpeace does not have other ways to increase their income aside from begging people, which, in my opinion, harms to its reputation and gives people bad ideas about their activism.

“If brains were dynamite, you wouldn’t have enough to blow your nose”
Some people are abusing the privilege of the right to be stupid. First it was funny and it was enough to ignore, then it became interesting, the situation evolved and became irritant, damn it’s getting an obsession and taking a part of my preoccupations.
The problem itself is not making mistakes or lacking of neurons in the gray matter storage, but insisting on making the same mistake again and again, closing one’s control center of the central nervous system in order not to accept other points of view. I finally realized it was not related to intelligence, but to ego: too proud to be a human.
I’m really pissed off, need a break before they break me down.

El amor me lleva hacia ti
Con impulso arrebatador
Yo prefiero mejor morir
Que vivir sin tener tu amor
La inconstancia de tu querer
La alegría mató en mi ser.
 
Y el temor de perder tu amor
Hoy mi canto será dolor.
 
Malagueña de ojos negros
Me estoy muriendo de pena
Por tu querer.
 
Malagueña de ojos negros
Malagueña de mis sueños
Si no me quieres me muero
Te quiero besar.

First press conference of the controversial French President in the G8 summit.
It’s interesting to know that Putin wants to stay healthy and avoid drinking, however, Mr. Sarkozy drank all the vodka it seems, or was it German beer? If it’s the case, I recommend him Budweiser, he will like it.
 
Here’s the video of the event, sent by Kaiser.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x27pao

It’s interesting to see an Aboul-Qacem Echebbi’s poem translated into English. No wonder that Wikipedia makes such an effort.
I have already translated the same poem into English and French one year and half ago, but I don’t have the skill of writing in poetic English.
In the poem “To the Unfair Tyrant”, the Tunisian young poet (1909-1934) denounces the crimes of the French colonialism, threatens the occupants and predicts a revolt, yet without mentioning them directly.
Here’s the text from Wikipedia
 

To the unfair tyrants…
To the lovers of the darkness…
To the enemies of life…
You’ve made fun of innocent people’s wounds; and your palm covered with their blood
You kept walking while you were deforming the charm of existence and growing seeds of sadness in their land
 
Wait, don’t let the spring, the clearness of the sky and the shine of the morning light fool you…
Because the darkness, the thunder rumble and the blowing of the wind are coming toward you from the horizon
Beware because there is a fire underneath the ash
 
Who grows thorns will reap wounds
You’ve taken off heads of people and the flowers of hope; and watered the cure of the sand with blood and tears until it was drunk
The blood’s river will take you away and you will be burned by the fiery storm.

As a reply for the question I received “What’s the crap you are writing”, nobody forces you to read my blog, I am just not in mood of writing. Meanwhile, my flickr gallery is often updated and you can have a look at it if you don’t like what’s here. If finally you don’t find it interesting, here’s a good link I recommend.

It has been a long time I haven’t posted about chess, although I have been continuously playing online. What is interesting in the following game, is that it’s not interesting at all, at least, from technical point of view.
I was in a very bad position and my opponent thought he would beat me in few moves, but too excited, he could not calculate all the possibilities; I rather played on psychology, answering quickly with a fake self-confidence, and surprise, it worked!


1. bxc4?? Bad move! White should have protected c3 1. … Bxc3 2.Qd6 Take away everything 2. … Bx31 3. Qxe6+

A total disaster, could not believe I played in that way.

3. ...Kh8 4. cxb5 Qxb5 5. Bxh6 Bxf2+ 6. Kh1 Qe2


And last desperation act …

7. Bxg7+ Kxg7 [Kh7] 8. Rd7+ Kh8 9. Qh6#


How were the dinosaurs developed and what do the Bible think about the evolution?
Crazy speech with an evangelist who tries to explain how much the scientists are lost, and unexpected comment from Christopher.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQxuuCt_cLQ

And it’s just a beginning!!
 

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