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Kevin McCurley

@tragiccommons.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy

Retired from Google. Now I work on computer science projects, mostly involving publishing. [bridged from https://infosec.exchange/@tragiccommons on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]

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Latest posts by Kevin McCurley @tragiccommons.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy

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National Proofreading Day – March 8, 2026 National Proofreading Day, celebrated each year on March 8, is a day to promote error-free writing. We all make typos, grammar mistakes, and spelling errors when we write, especially if we are moving too fast! National Proofreading Day is an opportunity to slow down, proofread our work, and then proof it again. And if you’re lucky enough to work with an editor who proofs your work for you, National Proofreading Day is a great opportunity to thank them for always ensuring that your writing is free of mistakes.

Heads up: March 8 is National ProofReding day. https://nationaltoday.com/national-proofreading-day/

05.03.2026 19:29 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

oh yeah. mastodon. I forgot about that.

24.02.2026 03:04 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

@dangillmor It's particularly ironic since the super bowl is not being held in San Francisco.

07.02.2026 05:39 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

No, I'm not going to enable 2FA on my infosec.exchange account. I think I'd rather just have fewer accounts than have more authentication requirements.

15.09.2025 00:48 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
The original poster did not indicate the origin of this image. To my eye, it looks like a new Banksy - it shows a workman removing the Lascaux cave paintings with a pressure-washer.

The original poster did not indicate the origin of this image. To my eye, it looks like a new Banksy - it shows a workman removing the Lascaux cave paintings with a pressure-washer.

This!

10.09.2025 17:02 👍 16 🔁 111 💬 3 📌 1

@adamshostack hopefully it won't blow up today. 😐

02.05.2025 02:12 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Original post on infosec.exchange

I recently purchased a #Google #Pixel9a phone to replace my failing phone. So far I have to say that I'm not impressed.

1. The AI features are just crap.
2. The thing has good battery life, but at the expense of being heavy as hell.
3. the case that google sells is incredibly bad. It's […]

30.04.2025 02:37 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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How I improved my #mastodon user experience.

26.04.2025 15:45 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is working to get Goleta’s furry tourist home. UC Santa Barbara sent an alert to the campus community saying that Fish and Wildlife and university police were planning to trap and relocate the black bear that has been wandering around Goleta and Isla Vista. The bear has been the talk of the town this week, with photos and videos on social media showing the bear visiting neighbors in Goleta and wandering around UCSB. As of Friday morning, the bear had left campus, university officials said in an alert update. “Although the bear is believed to be off-campus property, please continue to be aware of your surroundings,” the alert said. Reader Udo Gyene saw the bear strolling on More Mesa Beach on Friday morning and sent in a video. The bear was also reportedly seen near the ocean bluffs at the border between Hope Ranch and More Mesa. As of Friday afternoon, the bear had not been captured. #### Sign Up for the A.M. Report Keep up with Noozhawk's daily news coverage, delivered at 4:15 a.m. right to your inbox. Sign up This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. > The California Black Bear on the UC Santa Barbara campus yesterday has left the school grounds. It has been spotted this morning on More Mesa, the beach and going east towards Hope Ranch. The public has, for the most part, given it space. (video: Miguel Penebella) pic.twitter.com/vqHHUivsit > > — John Palminteri (@JohnPalminteri) April 18, 2025 Anyone who comes in contact with the bear is advised by the California Fish and Wildlife Department to make themselves large, wave their arms, and yell. Do not run or try to feed the bear. Residents can report bear sightings to the California Fish and Wildlife South Coast Region headquarters at 858.467.4201 or online here. To avoid potential conflicts, the Fish and Wildlife Department warns residents to bring pets inside at night, block access to potential den sites such as crawl spaces under decks, remove bird feeders from the yard, and keep livestock in secure pens at night.

Maybe this can make up for declining attendance at crypto. https://www.noozhawk.com/fish-and-wildlife-works-to-capture-bear-roaming-ucsb-campus-goleta/

20.04.2025 20:06 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Got it

20.04.2025 19:42 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Bob McEliece was a friend of mine. The Classic McEliece team is certainly no Bob McEliece.

18.04.2025 15:58 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I'm overdue to buy a new phone since my phone is over seven years old. Every time I look at new phones they are either a) filled with AI crap, or b) too big, or c) too expensive. There are times when less is more.

11.04.2025 01:11 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Little known fact: the author of this paper was a target of the Unabomber. It's odd to think of computational number theory as a threat in this world. https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/321281.321290

08.04.2025 04:57 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Original post on mastodon.social

I want a browser add-on like an ad-blocker, that doesn't block sites, but marks domains in search results with things like:

- pay walled
- requires email
- pop-up modals
- AI written

So that I can choose whether or not to visit that domain, depending on what else is in the search results […]

02.04.2025 03:44 👍 1 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
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Yeah I'll pass.

02.04.2025 02:11 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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IACR Communications in Cryptology

There is a deadline of April 8 for submitting to volume 2, issue 2 of Communications in Cryptology (see https://cic.iacr.org). The papers for volume 2, issue 1 are going through copy editing.

31.03.2025 06:33 👍 4 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
Text message app, message reads:
"Txt STOP to opt out of updates on war plans."

Text message app, message reads: "Txt STOP to opt out of updates on war plans."

25.03.2025 07:13 👍 49 🔁 86 💬 1 📌 0
🆘Bill Cole 🇺🇦 (@grumpybozo@toad.social) @jwz@mastodon.social The stats we collect for the #SpamAssassin project (mass-scan results from participating sites) have long shown that spammers are more consistent at making SPF, DKIM, and DMARC correct than are legitimate senders. DMARC in particular has no discernible benefit for most senders, so it is a useless signal. Rejecting mail based solely on authentication failures of those deeply flawed authentication methods does more harm than good.

Attendees at Real World Crypto take note. Email is an application area that is sorely lacking in useful applications of cryptography. DKIM addresses one corner case of spam, but the problem remains unsolved. See https://toad.social/@grumpybozo/114213600922816869

25.03.2025 10:56 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Free shipping. Huh. https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/17-stories-cast-iron-anvil-132-lbs60kg-single-horn-anvil-with-large-countertop-and-stable-base-high-hardness-rugged-round-horn-anvil-blacksmith-for-bending-shaping-w113145822.html

17.03.2025 22:46 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

admin@yourdomain.com is just a honey pot now.

13.03.2025 15:43 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Original post on infosec.exchange

It turns out that the #Portico agreement for #DigitalPreservation was inconsistent with simply having authors put a creative commons license on their article. They wanted us to make assertions about copyright instead. I guess they are designed for commercial publishers instead of […]

11.03.2025 15:44 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.

* Attributed to Clarence Darrow.

03.03.2025 21:00 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

The line from the David Bowie song "smiles like a reptile" always reminds me of Donald Trump.

02.03.2025 06:30 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Open Access Tracking Project (@oatp@fediscience.org) 7.12K Posts, 3 Following, 1.68K Followers · Crowdsourced alerts & news feeds about #openaccess to research. See http://bit.ly/o-a-t-p for info on how it works & how to help. Founded & managed by @petersuber. ISSN 2578-7020. Sorry, I'm a bot. You can like, boost, or reply to my toots but I can't do the same to yours.

@oatp Notice of the irony of this demanding personal data (an email) in payment for downloading.

18.02.2025 21:37 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
NSF Award Search: Award # 2311521 - Frameworks: arXiv as an accessible large-scale open research platform

@MartinEscardo arXiv has a five million dollar grant from NSF. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2311521&HistoricalAwards=false and I assume that it has the usual NSF-demanded DEI section in it.

15.02.2025 21:20 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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2024 To-yota Co Rolla Cross Hybrid 2.0l New Car Luxury High Speed Made In China Gasoline Car Suv Fwd For Toyota Corolla Cross - Buy Toyota Corolla Cross auto Co Rolla Cross 2023 Hybrid 2.0l Pioneer Edition 5 Door 5 Seats Compact Suv cheapest Price New Cars Toyo-ta Coroll-a Cross Left Hand Car 5 Door 5 Seat Petrol Vehicle Suv Almaty best Price Toyota Corolla Cross Car 2022 2023 Hybrid Gasoline Fuel Vehicle / Toyota Corolla Cross Compact 0km Used New Car Product on Alibaba.com 2024 To-yota Co Rolla Cross Hybrid 2.0l New Car Luxury High Speed Made In China Gasoline Car Suv Fwd For Toyota Corolla Cross - Buy Toyota Corolla Cross auto Co Rolla Cross 2023 Hybrid 2.0l Pioneer Edition 5 Door 5 Seats Compact Suv cheapest Price New Cars Toyo-ta Coroll-a Cross Left Hand Car 5 Door 5 Seat Petrol Vehicle Suv Almaty best Price Toyota Corolla Cross Car 2022 2023 Hybrid Gasoline Fuel Vehicle / Toyota Corolla Cross Compact 0km Used New Car Product on Alibaba.com

There might be trouble importing this. https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/2024-to-yota-co-rolla-cross_1601196073003.html?spm=a27aq.rank_detail.6622646540.3.366e43bflI8WtO&cardType=101002745&cardId=10001328643

14.02.2025 19:48 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
CVS Will Make Shopping Slightly Less Annoying If You Download An App, Consent To Being Tracked I don’t know if it’s the same where you are, but all the pharmacies here in South Seattle have a decidedly… apocalyptic feel. Many shelves are empty. A lot of goods have been locked up to address a retail theft epidemic that didn’t actually happen. And understaffed stores are usually overseen by one fifteen year […]

One more reason not to shop at CVS... https://www.techdirt.com/2025/02/04/cvs-will-make-shopping-slightly-less-annoying-if-you-download-an-app-consent-to-being-tracked/

12.02.2025 05:51 👍 1 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0

@BeAware I started writing such a tool (for search) but then I realized that some people like having the fediverse hard to use. I've since completely lost faith in the fediverse - particularly after trying to engage on the standards.

06.02.2025 14:39 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Street art titled "Elon Mask" by Evyrein, condemning Elon Musk’s Nazi-style salute during Trump’s 2025 inauguration and his later appearance at a German far-right AfD event. The artwork shows Musk pulling a black mask over his face, mimicking Hitler’s mustache, with bold red graffiti text "Elon MASK.

Street art titled "Elon Mask" by Evyrein, condemning Elon Musk’s Nazi-style salute during Trump’s 2025 inauguration and his later appearance at a German far-right AfD event. The artwork shows Musk pulling a black mask over his face, mimicking Hitler’s mustache, with bold red graffiti text "Elon MASK.

“Elon MASK” by #evyrein.
-
If you like that, you love this: Australia’s journey with Elon Musk has escalated quickly: https://streetartutopia.com/from-meme-to-controversy-the-elon-musk-doge-mural-in-australia/

27.01.2025 19:55 👍 19 🔁 38 💬 1 📌 0

TIL that Itchykoo Park was a real place.

27.01.2025 17:25 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0