LebGeeks

mesa177

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

I just found out that CMC installed the da vinci Si for performing laparoscopic procedures in the late 2012... I feel like my soul's been crushed and I'm kind of envious.... I've always wanted to see that baby in action

rolf

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

I just found out that CMC installed the da vinci Si for performing laparoscopic procedures in the late 2012... I feel like my soul's been crushed and I'm kind of envious.... I've always wanted to see that baby in action

Why don't you go see for yourself then?

m_zeid

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

PS: I just found their cost calculator. It's not bad, but amazon won't accept a Lebanese credit card for a US address, and borderlinx don't seem to offer payment services...

I did it many times and all went well

m_zeid

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

yeah man this is "the thread", samer should edit the title though

Obviously

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

It's very interesting how much productivity getting a new phone yields, compared to having an old phone that did not work properly. (keeps you waiting at least 10 seconds to open each app).

Context: Recently switched from Galaxy S2 to Nexus 5.

enthralled

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

It's very interesting how much productivity getting a new phone yields, compared to having an old phone that did not work properly. (keeps you waiting at least 10 seconds to open each app).

Context: Recently switched from Galaxy S2 to Nexus 5.

In terms of productivity, I'd say get the largest full-HD screen you can fit in your pocket; especially if you browse the web.
I have the Xperia Z Ultra, it barely fits in my jeans, but in my opinion it's totally worth it.
Congrats your new phone :]

Last edited by enthralled (April 8 2014)

Rodster

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

Well, there are very important four reasons why these forums are not bothered with sometimes, none of which I think I will be permitted to discuss (smiley with tongue here).

I totally agree *hides back in his batcave from he who must not be named *

NuclearVision

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

*slaps rodster and nabs with a salmon fish*
But seriously we need such a topic just for ideas to share, ideas that don't need a whole new topic to discuss just a thought to share with people.

mesa177

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

I just found out that CMC installed the da vinci Si for performing laparoscopic procedures in the late 2012... I feel like my soul's been crushed and I'm kind of envious.... I've always wanted to see that baby in action

Why don't you go see for yourself then?

I'm not allowed in an OR where I don't have something to do (or anyone for that matter), and being a biomedical engineer, that means I have to be part of the staff to do so. But it did get me thinking about contacting the head of OR or head of biomedical engineering and asking permission to enter as a visitor.

NoReGreT

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

http://heartbleed.com/

port80

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

Does anyone know if we are allowed to ship supplements from abroad? I mean I know the Lebanese borders restrict the shipping of medicines  unless I am licensed to do so, but these are not technically medicine and are not considered so by the US. So would the "jamerik" let them in or seize them?

rolf

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

I just found out that CMC installed the da vinci Si for performing laparoscopic procedures in the late 2012... I feel like my soul's been crushed and I'm kind of envious.... I've always wanted to see that baby in action

Why don't you go see for yourself then?

I'm not allowed in an OR where I don't have something to do (or anyone for that matter), and being a biomedical engineer, that means I have to be part of the staff to do so. But it did get me thinking about contacting the head of OR or head of biomedical engineering and asking permission to enter as a visitor.

If they're friendly people, they should understand and be glad to invite you and meet you, from one engineer to another. I guess you don't have much to loose anyway.

http://heartbleed.com/

That's code reuse for you... Don't reinvent the wheel, they say... Anyway, thanks fir the link, good quality content.

Does anyone know if we are allowed to ship supplements from abroad? I mean I know the Lebanese borders restrict the shipping of medicines  unless I am licensed to do so, but these are not technically medicine and are not considered so by the US. So would the "jamerik" let them in or seize them?

No idea, but all I can say is that, from what I've heard, they're not the brightest people, so I'm not sure they would know the difference between the two.

rolf

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

yeah man this is "the thread", samer should edit the title though

The initial aim of this thread was to "keep the forums alive" even when there is nothing in particular to discuss... It is working, I guess. There is no real constraint on what you can post here, and it is OK, to some extent, I mean if everyone was doing nothing but posting here, and nobody was bothering to create new, dedicated threads anymore, then it would not be that great... I'd have succeded in turning Lebgeeks into a giant single chatroom...

Last edited by rolf (April 9 2014)

Joe

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

That's code reuse for you... Don't reinvent the wheel, they say...

Okay, I'll bite.

Do you have any idea about the astronomical of critical bug that would be introduced if it weren't for code reuse? So we found a bug in a critical application. We fix it, we publish the solution, and we ask of people to patch their systems. Security bugs in OpenSSL are not found very often, and most bugs usually lead to crashes or denial of services, not critical data recovery.

Despite heartbleed, OpenSSL is our best implementation of TLS/SSL. It's field tested, it has years of experience, that's what made it an industry standard. Encouraging devs to lay out their own implementation is a kind of "security through obscurity", a method that has been proven not to work again and again. It's the equivalent of me trying to convince you to install my home-made lock on your door, instead of an industry standard one, because "burglars aren't used to try to crack it".

TL; DR: Don't implement your own crypto library, and be sure to apply patches when they're published, that's your best bet.

rolf

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

I'll try to be brief because I'm tapping on a stupid iPhone onscreen keyboard...
Do I have any idea about the critical bugs that would be introduced...? No, neither do you!
You tell me not to write my own crypto library (no worries, I won't), but as far as I can see, I see nothing else than your opinion... And I have a different opinion.
I wouldn't know how to defend my opinion either. It's just based on seing things like this happening, and a parallel with illnesses in nature: often genetic diversity is the last line of defense...
And by the way, security through obscurity works. To understand what I mean: imagine that all the vulnerabilities and all bugs were discovered all at once, right now. Can you imagine the mayhem? I'm not saying it is s good practice; no. I am against it. I'm just saying that it does work, regardless, and a part of security relies on it, willingly or not.
And while we're at it, why don't we imagine that every software maker in the world had used OpenSSL (following your advice)?
Perfect security is most probably an unattainable ideal... Software makers keep releasing patches...
Genetic diversity, on the other hand, has already saved the human race at least once. If that's not sure, it's at least very likely, when you look at the Black Death epidemic in Europe, in the middle ages..

And finally I just want to make it clear that I appreciate code reuse and do it myself, and I am not against it! I am just against software reuse ALWAYS BEING THE RIGHT OPTION (i know, caps), and "reinventing the wheel" always being a bad idea.

Last edited by rolf (April 9 2014)

Joe

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

but as far as I can see, I see nothing else than your opinion...

But that's the thing, it's not just my opinion. It's the advice that security experts have been shouting for years with web developers completely ignoring them. Implementing a robust crypto library is an extremely difficult task, you can't just go through a spec, implement it and hope to get it right. Not that long ago Cryptocat got bitten by the same problem. I'd rather we all get our best minds together, focus them on one implementation and have them work together to fix all the problems that appear along the way.

I may have no street cred when it comes to security, so don't take my word for it. Rather here's what the experts have to say:

You can roll your own, but you probably will make a major security mistake if you are not an expert in security/cryptography or have had your scheme analyzed by multiple experts. I'm more willing to bet on an open-source publicly known encryption scheme that's out there for all to see and analyze. More eyes means less likely that the current version doesn't have major vulnerabilities than something developed in-house by non-experts.

source

"Anyone can invent an encryption algorithm they themselves can't break; it's much harder to invent one that no one else can break".

source

The number one lesson from last time is never to roll your own cryptographic algorithms. The best bet is to borrow liberally from the good ideas that cryptography specialists have invented and tested over the years.

source.

I'm not claiming at all that I came up with the notion of "don't roll your own crypto", instead I only relay advice I've heard. As a spectator and potential victim, I've witnessed too many times developers trying to outsmart their elders by refusing to reuse crypto libs.

Finally, we agree that reuse is not ALWAYS THE RIGHT OPTION, but reimplementation should be an exception, not the rule. And as such, each exception has to be thoroughly justified before creeping into your code.

Interestingly relevant

• NIH syndrom

rolf

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

I'm not saying your opinion has no value. Your opinion, or the opinion of 10 senior security experts, it's still that: opinion. Valuable opinion, yes. Right? maybe. Evidence? No!

Elied

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

Thing is, not everyone that can, should.
You're welcome for your daily dose of random wisdom young padawan

m_zeid

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

look at this:

http://www.aub.edu.lb/squid/daily/days/ … hosts.html

I was googling this: "ekt2 free delivery lebgeeks", I wasn't sure if they offer free delivery or not...

should these hosts list be public? and for google robot?

btw, look at all of these p0rn websites

m_zeid

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

Does anyone know if we are allowed to ship supplements from abroad? I mean I know the Lebanese borders restrict the shipping of medicines  unless I am licensed to do so, but these are not technically medicine and are not considered so by the US. So would the "jamerik" let them in or seize them?

y

I used to buy and ship a lot of them.
Supplements that are not evaluated by the FDA are medicines(drugs), so supplements can be bought from anywhere like the supermarket!

I bought from bodybuilding.com and used super saver shipping, I got my goods in 14 days or so. Delivered to my door by Libanpost with no import duties taxes or what so ever, i paid just what i paid on the website with visa card.

Bought multivitamins, BCAAs, fish oil, glutamine, tribulus, milatonin, ON whey protein, and a lot of NOW wonderful products!

go for it!

Tarek

Banned

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

bodybuilding.com is good , I bought whey protein and creatine from it ..

rolf

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

This is a useless post.
I am a rebel, I don't always follow the rules.

NuclearVision

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

This is dangerous

وأضاف غالانت بقوله: "يمكننا أن نبدأ بقراءة الأفكار منذ الآن إن توفرت الطرق ومعايير القياس الأنسب للنشاط الدماغي"، مشيراً إلى أن قراءة الأفكار ستصبح أمراً شائعاً خلال 50 عاماً.
...
كما يقوم العلماء بدارسة إمكانية تحكم شخص بدماغ آخر، إذ تمكن العلماء من إرسال إشارة دماغية عبر الإنترنت لعالم حاول تحريك يد عالم في مكان آخر، لكن دماغ الشخص الثاني لم يتمكن من تحليل الإشارة، ورغم أن هذه الطريقة نجحت مع الفئران، إلا أنها لم تنجح لغاية الآن مع البشر.

link

Last edited by NuclearVision (April 15 2014)

port80

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

Does anyone know if we are allowed to ship supplements from abroad? I mean I know the Lebanese borders restrict the shipping of medicines  unless I am licensed to do so, but these are not technically medicine and are not considered so by the US. So would the "jamerik" let them in or seize them?

y

I used to buy and ship a lot of them.
Supplements that are not evaluated by the FDA are medicines(drugs), so supplements can be bought from anywhere like the supermarket!

I bought from bodybuilding.com and used super saver shipping, I got my goods in 14 days or so. Delivered to my door by Libanpost with no import duties taxes or what so ever, i paid just what i paid on the website with visa card.

Bought multivitamins, BCAAs, fish oil, glutamine, tribulus, milatonin, ON whey protein, and a lot of NOW wonderful products!

go for it!

Thanks, I will order some when I am done with my combat powder. I've been meaning to ship for quite a while since the prices here are outrages really sometimes even double what it is available for online, but I just wanted to make sure the customs wouldn't confiscate it.

bermudapineapple

Member

Re: The topic for when there is nothing new

I'll just leave this here, I guess.

Russian researchers in the late 1940s kept five people awake for fifteen days using an experimental gas based stimulant. They were kept in a sealed environment to carefully monitor their oxygen intake so the gas didn't kill them, since it was toxic in high concentrations. This was before closed circuit cameras so they had only microphones and 5 inch thick glass porthole sized windows into the chamber to monitor them. The chamber was stocked with books, cots to sleep on but no bedding, running water and toilet, and enough dried food to last all five for over a month (...)

Continue reading: http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/The_R … Experiment