James Clerk Maxwell: The Man Who Changed Everything

Mahon, Basil (2004). The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell. Chichester: John Wiley

This is an excellent biography of an important person.

Maxwell took the first color photograph. Maxwell determined the nature of Saturn's rings. Maxwell identified the relationship between light, electricity and magnetism.

Among other things, Maxwell's work led to the discovery of radio waves. If you are reading this blog using a wireless connection, take a moment to thank him.

Maxwell was a profound influence on Einstein, and therefore on the times we live in.

Review (c) 2013 by Michael Patrick Jost

2600 has been reviewed here before, as there's almost always something of interest in it.

That's true for the Spring 2013 edition as well.

One article that may be of use (though not necessarily for the purpose used by the author) is "The Usage of the Assumption Technique in Social Engineering" found on page 51.

Many businesses these days use "phone trees" to minimize the number of people they have to hire. The truth of the matter is that with the possible exception of choosing English or Spanish, what comes next is futility. The system just does not have the answer you're looking for, and, in many cases, these systems are designed to make it difficult to get ahold of a human being.

The course laid out by the author is to determine what assumptions the person you will ultimately get on the phone is making, and take advantage of them.

In the article, the author uses this technique to get about $30.00 of free security hardware. It is easy enough to assume, though, that many people would have reached a certain level of frustration merely trying to ascertain what the right hardware even was, and be quite happy to pay for it-which is the information the author received initially.

A moral, if there is one, is that "hacking" is not always a bad thing. The "hacking spirit" is to figure out how things work, and this is sometimes the only option available to a frustrated consumer.

2600: The Hacker Quarterly

Given the increasing prevalence of cybercrime and related threats, this is a publication well worth being aware of.

It has been around for a long time, and hopefully it will continue to be published. It can be hard to find, but subscriptions are available.

It contains articles submitted by readers. Almost every issue has something quite interesting. In this issue (Autumn 2012) there are interesting articles about computers in prison (yes, prisoners DO have access to them), a cyberattack against a small bank, and some perils of using hotel wifi networks.

Even though the articles vary widely from issue to issue, one more or less constant factor is photographs of pay phones from around the world as well as a listing of hacker meetings!

Basic Electricity (Dover Publications)

This is Dover Publications reprint of Basic Electricity from the Bureau of Naval Personnel. It was originally published in 1970.

1970, you ask? How could it possibly still be relevant? Hasn't a lot changed since then?

Well, yes, a lot has changed, but a lot has also stayed the same. What has stayed the same are the fundamentals of electricity. Voltage, current, resistance, capacitance, inductance, magnetism and so on still work the same way today as they did in 1970 (and they worked the same way before 1970 as well).

This is a very thorough book, taking you from basic circuits to transformers and motors. Some may say that the technology in the book is a bit obsolete. In some respects, this may be true, but much of what you see pictured can still be found in industrial settings. After going through this book, take a trip to the electrical department of your local home improvement store-you'll be surprised at how much sense things will make!

Vladimir Rojansky: Electromagnetic Fields and Waves

Vladimir Rojansky served in the White Army during the Russian Civil War. His regiment retreated across Siberia. Rojansky continued his journey across the Pacific to America.

He was one of the first students of quantum mechanics; his thesis advisor was Nobel Prize winner, John van Vleck.

Rojansky taught for many years, and then worked on communications satellites and other projects at TRW.

This book, from Dover Publications assumes only a basic background in physics and calculus, but leads all the way up to the Maxwell equations. It is an excellent text, reflecting Rojansky's academic background and practical industry experience.

Apple OS X Lion

I finally made the transition to OS X Lion. Once the download was complete, it took about an hour.

I did not like the "new" look of Mail, so I'm very happy you can still use the "classic" look.

Many of the "changes" appear to be user interface issues, but others, such as enhanced security, go well beyond that and are worth further examination.

All of my key applications run without any problems, though not all of them support certain Lion features, such as the "full screen" view (this will probably come in time for most of the applications, and even if it does not, it is no big deal).

I do like the enhancements to Preview, which is underrated-it is much more than an "image viewing" application.

Apple OS X *is* the world's most advanced operating system, and this upgrade is well worth the price!

Review and commentary (c) 2011 by Patrick Jost

Mouse Tales

It is no secret that I love Apple products.

Their mouse (on the right) may be an exception. I have gone through two of them in as many years. What goes wrong? The little trackball stops working. The trackball is a wonderful idea, and if you fiddle with it (rub it on a piece of paper, etc.) sometimes it will work-for a while.

So, when the second one died, I looked for a replacement (sorry, Apple). I selected the Macally IceMini (on the left).

Nice little mouse, and it is little. Right and left buttons and a robust scrollwheel. You can only scroll up and down, not back and forth, but that is not a huge problem.

Review and commentary (c) 2011 by Patrick Jost

ThinkGeek: The Bag of Holding

It was time for a new shoulder bag, and, after much deliberation, I chose this one, the Bag of Holding from ThinkGeek.

It is named after a "gaming item" with (supposedly) infinite capacity. This bag WILL hold a lot of stuff…

It has several nice features:

1. A handle. The strap is nice, but there are times when you just need to grab the back and pick it up.
2. The zippers. You may not be able to tell by the picture, but they are metal and should last for a long time (unlike nylon zippers).
3. The bag uses magnetic clasps. You can see the "female" part of one to the right. These work very well, and do not seem to be magnetic enough to damage electronic equipment.

The bag has several compartments. My only complaint, such as it is, is about the front compartment, which has many small pockets in it. The pockets are almost too small to be useful (I have a flashlight in one). Heavy objects might fall out. I might have preferred more slots for pens.

All in all, though, a very nice bag, and I suspect it will last for a while.

Review (c) 2011 by Patrick Jost

Cyber Spying: Tracking Your Family's (Sometimes) Secret Online Lives

Cyber Spying, by Ted Fair, Michael Nordfelt, Sandra Ring and Dr. Eric Cole is really all about the subtitle "Tracking Your Family's (Sometimes) Secret Online Lives."

This book serves as an excellent introduction to spying and counterspying on computers.

The vast majority of the techniques described in the book, however, require what the authors honestly refer to as "intimate access" to the machine of potential interest. Some of the techniques described require the installation of additional hardware (keystroke loggers) or software in order to accomplish the task at hand.

If such access cannot be obtained, much of what is in this book is useless.

But, in cases where it is necessary to "spy" on a family member, such as a spouse or child, this book may be for you.

Interestingly, the last section of the book contains a detailed discussion of countermeasures applicable to many of the techniques appearing in the rest of the book!

Calculus: A Modern Approach by Karl Menger

It is an unfortunate reality many textbooks are quite expensive-often over $100.

Karl Menger's Calculus: A Modern Approach is a welcome exception.

This book costs less than $20 (available from Dover). It has the advantage of having been written by a noted Vienna Circle mathematician. One of Menger's areas of expertise was the "explication of [mathematical] concepts" and he also trained US military personnel in mathematics during World War II.

The book suits the needs of the absolute beginner: you can start on page one and proceed with a "miniature calculus" (which is developed into a "full calculus" in the course of the book), or, if you are using the book as a reference or refresher, the book can be used for that as well-note that it includes an entire chapter on scientific applications of calculus.

Necessary Madness?

If there is one criticism of John Monahan's They Called Me Mad, it is the length-it is not long enough.

The book begins with a discussion of Archimedes (who is probably the first person to conceive of, and maybe attempt to implement a "death ray"),it then moves on to alchemy (misguided efforts to transmute lead into gold that laid the foundations for modern chemistry), dissection (from grave robbery to modern medicine), and the work of Nikola Tesla (which includes but is not limited to radio, remote control, and alternating current; Tesla, like Archimedes, had ideas about "death rays").

The book concludes with two related discussions: nuclear energy (with an emphasis on the work of Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer) and and the development of missiles, summarizing the "space race" between the United States and Soviet Union, and the pivotal role played by Wernher von Braun.

Economics 101 (almost)

Adam Smith?

Thomas Malthus?

Karl Marx?

Thorstein Veblen?

John Maynard Keynes?

Maybe you've heard of them, maybe you haven't. They are key figures in economics.

Robert Heilbroner has brought them, and others, to life in his excellent book, The Worldly Philosophers, pictured here in a 1980 edition (many years before the bailouts, but you'll be surprised how timely the book still is).

Heilbroner teaches economics through the lives of prominent economists. You'll read about Adam Smith's absentmindedness, Karl Marx's boils, Thorstein Veblen's love life, and the fortune of John Maynard Keynes. You'll find out what the Wealth of Nations and Communist Manifesto are all about.

This book does not replace a course in economics, but it will get you started with what's important-the key ideas!

Michael Patrick Jost (March 2011).

Liquid Drain Cleaner

No, this is not a "typical" topic but it is an important one.

My sink drain connects to my shower drain. Sometimes the sink backs up.

If I plunge the drain, I usually manage to push the blockage to the shower drain, resulting in two blocked drains.

I pondered the problem, and worked out that a "one two punch" using liquid drain cleaner does the job.

First, I pour an entire bottle of liquid drain cleaner down the sink. Sure, it may result in a blockage of the shower, but at least I know where the blockage is.

Then, I''ll clear the shower drain with liquid drain cleaner as well.

There are two kinds of liquid drain cleaner: acid and alkali. You want alkali unless you have something serious down the drain. This is still dangerous stuff, so observe the safety instructions.

Alkali drain cleaner works really well on hair, soap buildup, and organic "films" that grow in drains.

It is also important to follow use of the drain cleaner with LOTS OF HOT WATER to flush the (partially) dissolved clog all the way out (or it will be like when the sink clog has clogged the shower drain).

Three bottles did the job. Much cheaper than a plumber.

Modern Chess Strategy: "Chess for the Rest of Us" by Luděk Pachman

Yes, another book from Dover Publications.

This is the one to get if you already know how to play chess (this book assumes you know how the pieces move) but are still rated below 2000.

Ludek Pachman is not the "household name" Bobby Fischer is, but Pachman did beat him-twice!

This is an excellent book, worth playing through every now and then, it seems there's always something new.

Pachman does not hesitate to criticize his own moves, and he has an interesting discussion on chess playing computers, that may seem a little dated (and he can be certainly be forgiven for that) but is well worth reading and contemplating nonetheless!

RIP Claude Levi-Strauss

Claude Levi-Strauss, widely considered the father of modern anthropology for work that included theories about commonalities between tribal and industrial societies, died today, November 3, 2009. He was 100.

He was regarded as having reshaped the field of anthropology, introducing the concept of structuralism — concepts about common patterns of behavior and thought, especially myths, in a wide range of human societies. Defined as the search for the underlying patterns of thought in all forms of human activity, structuralism compared the formal relationships among elements in any given system.

During his six-decade career, Levi-Strauss authored literary and anthropological classics including "Tristes Tropiques" (1955), "The Savage Mind" (1963) and "The Raw and the Cooked" (1964).

Bye Bye Blackberry: Part 3

My transition to the T-Mobile Android G1 is complete.

This is a wonderful phone for business and personal use.

The Blackberry excels at integration with Microsoft Exchange, but that's a non-issue for me.

The G1 is better at just about everything else, and I have had no problem with reading the keyboard (I have the "bronze" model with the black-on-silver keys). T-Mobile's clear plastic case protects it quite well, and a screen protector lasts about 2 months.

The combination of translit and anysoft's soft keyboard make Cyrillic input as easy as it could be (and of course, having a soft keyboard makes the G1 a match for both the G2 and iPhone).

The integration with Google is very clever. Keeping contact's on Google's server means that if you lose your phone, you can get everything back as soon as you get a new phone. There's no need to worry about SIM card backups.

Patrick Jost

Another Snow Leopard Update

A few minor things, all resolved now: an incompatibility between Firefox and Flash, and new a new driver was needed for a Canon scanner.

Speaking of scanners, many of the software packages that come with them have "issues" with Mac OS X; a very good alternative is VueScan. In addition to running without problems, it has many features not found in the bundled packages.

All in all-Snow Leopard was more than worth the price!

Patrick Jost

Charles Sanders Peirce: Neglected American Genius

If you are interested in mathematics, logic, linguistics, or astronomy, then you should get to know the life and work of Charles Sanders Peirce.

These books, from Dover Publications, are not only a great place to start, but there is more than enough substance here to develop a fine appreciation for Peirce's accomplishments.

For example:

Peirce's work on semiotics ("theory of signs") is key to linguistics.

He worked as an astronomer at Harvard, measuring the shape of the Milky Way.

He realized that Boolean algebra could be reduced to two operations, NAND and NOR. In addition, he recognized that Boolean operations could be performed with switches, anticipating the digital computer.

There are many more.

Patrick Jost

Bye Bye Blackberry: Part 2

Sorry about the poor scan, but there's not much you can do with a phone in a polycarbonate case with a screen protector… (look closely, you can see the green and red buttons)

UPS delivered the G1. I called T-Mobile to get them to make the changes to the data package.

That was almost instantaneous! They offered to walk me through the process. The only near-showstopper was getting the back off to put the battery and SIM card in.

The T-Mobile representative had done it, but it is hard to describe.

After that, it was very easy. I'd already set up my accounts with gmail, so I only had to add the one account, and it took care of the rest.

I had to import my contacts from the SIM, that was an small, extra, and unexpected step.

There's a program called "translit" (free!) that handles Cyrillic quite well. Type a Russian message, set up an email or SMS, paste in the Russian, send. I had expected this to be something of an ordeal, it wasn't.

I like the G1. It is not a Blackberry, but that's fine. I have to get used to minor things like the alerts and where to look for messages, but not a problem.

I like the "real" keyboard. The polycarbonate case is very nice, but I would not want to have to take it off again.

The screen protector is not perfect, but they never are. I think I'm going to find that this is the phone for me.

The issues I've seen are minor and so far it already resolves some of my Blackberry issues.

Patrick Jost

Bye-Bye Blackberry: Part 1

I had planned to end Labor Day Weekend with a review of a chess book, but the Blackberry situation demanded my attention. Watch for the chess book review though!

I've had a Blackberry for some time. I got it because I didn't like being chained to the computer.

One issue I've had is the almost complete lack of compatibility with Macintosh. Yes, there's a way to back things up, but that's about it.

I've also had a few them die, and all in the same way. The USB port used for power and data seems not to hold up, and when it starts to fail, you can't charge the phone.

So, when the current Blackberry's USB started to fail, I had a long talk with the people at T-Mobile.

I know they'd have given me a new Blackberry, but that's a hassle as I have to reload Cyrillic, and that requires Windows.

The compromise was a G1. There's no Exchange support, but I don't need it as I don't use Exchange.

If you're wondering "hm, why not an iPhone" the answer is simple-they are expensive and I don't want to have to rely on a touch screen in case I have to type something. I like keyboards.

I read up on the G1, and realized I'd need a dedicated gmail account. That's not as bad as it seems, as a gmail account can read other accounts.

Setting them up was fairly straightforward, but gmail seems to be a little balky about reading external accounts. I do like the idea of having all of my email on Google's servers, just in case something goes wrong somewhere. One of my primary accounts is hosted through Swissmail, and they are very reliable, but you can never have too much reliability.

T-Mobile advised that they have to make some settings changes for the G1. The plan is to pick up the G1 tomorrow, call T-Mobile, plug it in, and then set it up. I'm hoping this is not much more than putting in the SIM card, as email should be more or less sorted via the gmail account.

I went to T-Mobile today and bought a package of screen protectors and the polycarbonate case for it. It will be like Gort in Forbidden Planet (not the remake, please!), but, if airline inspectors want it opened, that may be a problem as I've read these cases are very difficult to get off once put on.

I should have an update at some point tomorrow.

Patrick Jost