Category Archives: Science

MarsEdit with WordPress

Ranchero Software just introduced MarsEdit which is in 1.0beta. It’s a competitor to other blog posting utilities like ecto.

It was a charm to get working with WordPress after I found instructions online. In fact, this post was written in MarsEdit

Let me quote the instructions for posterity:

In the (excellent) online help there are special instructions for a number of different blogs but there is not one for WordPress.

To get wordpress to work, the rpc url will be the home url plus “/xmlrpc.php”.

The blog-ID should be set to ‘default’ – it seems to hang if you set it to a number (like 1).

Also note that future posts will be retrieved even though they are not yet visible on the blog (in other words the xmlrpc is not filtering – this is not a MarsEdit problem).”

MarsEdit

Pens as Lock Picks

As I saw today on Boing Boing, you can open expensive U-Locks using simple Bic pens. I was skeptical, but there were numerous reports that it was possible as well as few videos showing that it could be done.

I still doubted that it could be that easy.

Using a bic pen as a lock pick

Well, it wasn’t that easy, but I managed to do it on the 3rd pen I chose (the first two bic pens had diameters too small.. the 3rd was a freebie pen that the U gave out).

Resnet

Resnet at the University of Minnesota recently added a new login procedure to get on the network every time you turn on your computer. It uses a login mechanism similar to logging into the wireless networks on campus. First you enter your username and password. Then it scans your computer for known vulnerabilities. The scan takes about 2 minutes to complete. After the scan is complete, the network will allow you to make outgoing network connections.

The system is not without flaws, namely

  • During periods of heavy load, I’ve seen random error messages that have prevented me from getting on the internet for as long as 30 minutes.
  • The system is inconvenient, as 2 minutes is a long time to do the scan.
  • Computers that shouldn’t have any vulnerabilities that it scans for (ie, Macs, Linux/BSD boxes, etc) still have to go through the same time consuming procedure.

Some ways of bypassing the login mechanism:

  • Keep your computer on 24/7
  • Buy a PowerMac and put it to sleep — this is a mode where the computer uses very little power (~10 watts) to only allow the computer to wake up quickly to a full powered on state. A nice side effect is that it keeps network connections open, which saves you from having to login again.

Added Math 5385

I added Math 5385 – Computational Algebraic Geometry to my schedule. I’m hoping that the class is pretty easy as now I’m signed up for 19 credits, which is 2 more than what I did last fall with Marching Band. I’m sure I’ll still have a little free time, but the homework load this fall could be extreme (as every class I have has required/graded homework).

Look for class updates in a few days.

Dropped Pharmacology

I decided I was unqualified to take Pharmacology 4001 when they said that the prerequisites are upper division chemistry and biology. I’m not worried as much about the chemistry part as the biology part. Also the teacher didn’t seem that good, therefore I quit.

Down to 15 credits this semester.

Although now I’ll probably add a 4 credit math class (maybe Topology — it’s with Don Kahn — or Computational Algebraic Geometry with Moeckel).

Time to go try out some math classes!