Plurrrr

Fri 15 Nov 2019

Why You Shouldn’t be Using BCrypt and Scrypt

I start by saying that this is certainly an opinion piece. However it’s not just pure opinion. My opinion on this subject is backed by a mathematical analysis of hashing algorithms. There are certainly some complicating factors that may be argued to influence the described scenario in all reality. However, given that I believe the core logic holds, a strong argument may be made against the use of B/S-crypt.

Source: Why You Shouldn’t be Using BCrypt and Scrypt, an article by Ben Prime.

Strange but True: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets

Sugar and spice and everything nice hold no interest for a cat. Our feline friends are only interested in one thing: meat (except for saving up the energy to catch it by napping, or a round of restorative petting) This is not just because inside every domestic tabby lurks a killer just waiting to catch a bird or torture a mouse, it is also because cats lack the ability to taste sweetness, unlike every other mammal examined to date.

Source: Strange but True: Cats Cannot Taste Sweets, an article by David Biello.

Why Some People Get Sick From the Flu Shot

It seems that there are two main thinking camps when it comes to the flu shot.

  1. Either you believe that the flu shot absolutely causes the flu and you should never take it, or…
  2. You believe it’s actually impossible to get the flu from the flu shot, and that anyone who disagrees probably also thinks the flat earth climate changed on 9/11.

As it turns out, the truth is more nuanced but still very simple.

Source: Why Some People Get Sick From the Flu Shot, an article by Daniel Miessler.

Debugging Software Deployments with strace

Most of my paid work involves deploying software systems, which means I spend a lot of time trying to answer the following questions:

  • This software works on the original developer’s machine, so why doesn’t it work on mine?
  • This software worked on my machine yesterday, so why doesn’t it work today?

That’s a kind of debugging, but it’s a different kind of debugging from normal software debugging. Normal debugging is usually about the logic of the code, but deployment debugging is usually about the interaction between the code and its environment. Even when the root cause is a logic bug, the fact that the software apparently worked on another machine means that the environment is usually involved somehow.

So, instead of using normal debugging tools like gdb, I have another toolset for debugging deployments. My favourite tool for “Why isn’t this software working on this machine?” is strace.

Source: Debugging Software Deployments with strace, an article by Simon Arneaud.