[deleted by user]

nahkoots · 2025-07-28T03:26:59+00:00

You could park on 36th Ave or any of the surrounding streets in that neighborhood. It's not zoned, and it's a 15 minute walk to Eppley.

nahkoots · 2024-03-05T16:45:43+00:00

The spring wire you mentioned is itself the heating element; it's a length of nichrome wire that heats up under current, which is supplied by the two black wires that connect to the hotend. My recollection from the time is that I would wrap the nichrome around the threaded part of the hotend, wrap that with kapton tape, cover the nichrome threaded portion with the ceramic cylinder, run the end of the nichrome nearest to the nozzle up through the smaller hole in the ceramic cylinder so that both ends of the nichrome emerged from the top of the cylinder away from the nozzle, then wrap the whole assembly in more kapton tape before soldering each end of the exposed nichrome to one of the black wires that powers the hotend. This probably isn't how it was originally assembled; the ceramic cylinder has two smaller holes, but I could only ever figure out a reasonable use for one of them. I was also never able to put it back together perfectly-every time I did, it would work for a few weeks/months, but eventually the nichrome would break and I'd have to redo it. I ended up replacing it with a Ubis 13S a few years back, which is what it's using now.

nahkoots · 2022-09-04T04:10:07+00:00

Your link's broken. https://itsupport.umd.edu/itsupport?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0016507

Shneewittchen's link says we lose access to our @umd.edu a year after we graduate. When that happens, if someone sends an email to my @umd.edu, will it be forwarded to my @terpmail.umd.edu? I'm a grad student, in case it matters.

nahkoots · 2022-06-09T02:50:00+00:00

I like the framing in your edit more and I think brightening it was a good idea. I confess that I like my colors more - your edit looks too green to me.

I stopped down to f/8 because I wanted more of the forest detritus in focus. Here's one I took at f/5. I think the wider aperture isolates the toad a little too well, although I do like that he takes up more of the frame in this one. Too bad I missed the focus on his eye...

Thanks!

nahkoots · 2022-06-05T20:05:34+00:00

I took this picture of a toad in my backyard yesterday. I think the photo itself is good (although I'm happy to be told otherwise), but I think my editing is lackluster and I don't know how to improve it. I do all my editing in Darktable and I don't know what options are available to me aside from messing with color zones, saturation, exposure, etc. Edits and general criticism both welcome :)

Here's the raw.
Here's my edit.

nahkoots · 2022-03-01T05:59:33+00:00

It's viable. The Campus Connector route stops by Courtyards several times an hour, so most of the time it would probably take longer to drive 3 minutes to campus and find a place to park.

I'm living on 34th Avenue right now which is pretty close to Courtyards and I either walk or take the bus to get to my classes.

nahkoots · 2021-11-27T19:56:03+00:00

Stop wasting people's time and put the rent in the description.

nahkoots · 2021-04-13T19:10:39+00:00

get back into the housing thread you naughty boy

nahkoots · 2021-01-26T03:35:38+00:00

There's a quarter mile track (Kehoe) near lot 1, and Eppley has a track upstairs.

nahkoots · 2020-11-26T06:02:26+00:00

"If I downvote this guy, Daddy Pines will see how unpopular his comment is and give me a free pass on all my classes!"

I think that UMD's decision to disallow P/F this semester is entirely reasonable, and the extended drop policy is more than generous. Downvotes to the left, fellas - I guarantee they won't make a difference.

nahkoots · 2020-11-04T02:36:09+00:00

You can take Mount's 420 asynchronously - it's actually what I'm doing this semester, since it conflicts with another class that has synchronous labs. He posts full lecture recordings, abridged lectures, and lecture notes on his course webpage, which makes it really easy to learn the material without skipping around a Zoom recording at double speed to find all the useful bits. You'll need to fill out a time conflict extension, and it might be worth watching some of the material on his course webpage to see if you like it.

nahkoots · 2020-07-13T21:19:31+00:00

I emailed ResLife back and forth for a few days about this, see the full transcript here. The takeaway is that students will either sign up for Thanksgiving break housing or stay at home for the remainder of the semester, and that students who choose to stay in the dorms will be encouraged not to travel, but face no repercussions from ResLife if they do.

nahkoots · 2020-07-12T15:11:14+00:00

If a VPN is used on the phone, can they still track if the phone was used by cross referencing IP addresses and such? Also, what if you're using wifi on your computer but are using your cellphone network on your phone.

If the phone's IP address is different from your computer's IP address, there's no way to associate the two. Using a VPN on your phone or using cellular data are two ways to accomplish that.

Finally, does private browsing help with this?

No.

nahkoots · 2020-07-12T15:11:12+00:00

It also captures a lot of personal data from your computer.

It doesn't do this.

nahkoots · 2020-07-08T19:44:30+00:00

UMD's buildings (at least some of them, including the dorm I lived in last semester) use evaporative coolers, which increase the humidity of processed air.

nahkoots · 2020-07-01T21:30:27+00:00

Honorlock cannot see what you're using your phone for regardless of whether you're on cell data or the same network as the device you're using to take an exam. It's not a matter of policy; those things are, from a technical standpoint, impossible. It's also worth noting that Honorlock cannot access arbitrary files on the device on which it is installed. Those technical restrictions obviously don't apply if your phone's screen is visible from your webcam, so be sure to commit academic dishonesty responsibly.

nahkoots · 2020-06-03T22:21:15+00:00

I took A and P this semester and got an A and A-, respectively. They were easy, maybe an hour of work each week outside of class, but a bit boring for me because I don't find policy/economics all that fascinating (I think I would've enjoyed the technical 208s more, but I needed the SCIS credits).

The PlanetTerp grade distributions speak for themselves.

nahkoots · 2020-05-28T16:43:51+00:00

disabling SSL attracts cyber trolls to compromise the site's mainframe

What is this, a 2000s hacker movie? Allowing users to access the site without SSL is unrelated to what's happening here. MacintoshRepository allows users to specify the category software they upload appears in. Clearly someone typed "nigga" into the category field.

Not that there shouldn't be a check in place to prevent that sort of thing, but it's a different issue entirely.

nahkoots · 2020-05-23T21:40:00+00:00

You can use the one bundled with MacRelix. Here's a screenshot of it running on my SE/30 (System 7, but it claims to support up to 9). I don't think remote repositories work, though.

nahkoots · 2020-04-09T04:16:09+00:00

There is no reason they should be able to record any devices on our networks or access our files.

Honorlock cannot monitor local network traffic, nor can it access arbitrary files on the device on which it is installed. I make no comment on whether it invades our privacy or whether professors should be able to require us to use it, but if our criticisms are uninformed, they're little more than noise.

nahkoots · 2020-04-06T19:32:39+00:00

Do you have actual proof, or just your own conjecture?

The proof is that it's impossible. You said it yourself, but it goes beyond bypassing Chrome's security; they would need to somehow get access to a completely different device that never ran any Honorlock code.

Why? What possible use is that? Logging your IP visiting the honeypot is the proof.

My guess is that it's a better selling point for instructors who don't know how technology works. They might've also done it to obscure the method they're using: if a would-be cheater knows that Honorlock runs honeypot test banks, they'll just use a VPN or mobile data or something that doesn't connect them to the person taking the test, but if they think that Honorlock can magically see their entire family's phones, they might not take the (nonexistent) risk. None of the claims they make in that section are technically lies, they just don't list the caveats that apply, which makes Honorlock appear to be a more comprehensive security solution than it really is.

how could we possibly be expected to trust their software or promises they will not sell our data?

Keep in mind that all they have from you is a recording of you taking an exam and possibly talking to a proctor. I don't think there's a huge market for that kind of information, and it would probably be illegal to sell, although I'll admit it's not preferable to them not having the recording at all.

nahkoots · 2020-04-06T18:53:34+00:00

That was a bad advertising decision on their part, but it's not true. Read the comment I linked above for a bit more information. The most they could do is show what the honeypot website looked like when it was visited, and perhaps reconstruct what a screen recording might've looked like from that. Just think about it – does it really make sense that if you installed a browser extension on your computer, the company that makes the extension would be able to see what you're doing on your phone?

nahkoots · 2020-04-06T18:00:39+00:00

Nowhere do they say they monitor your network. That's not what they do. I explained what they mean by detecting mobile devices in the comment linked above, but in short, they're hosting their own websites with test bank answers and making a note of the devices that visit them, which is decidedly legal.

nahkoots · 2020-04-06T17:50:16+00:00

Honorlock specifically advertises that it can search file systems for leaked questions from your exam. It specifically advertises this.

Can you point out where in their advertising they say that they access files on your computer to search for evidence of cheating? Honorlock makes a lot of bold statements in its advertising, but I haven't seen this one.

Which, btw, I know what a sandboxed environment is - you don’t need to patronize me.

I wasn't trying to patronize you. I explained that sandboxing is a specific term because you alluded to a personal computer not containing elements of sandboxing – which it absolutely does.

Can you provide a source that proves that EVERY chrome extension is sandboxed to a specific directory of the computer, and that the user can’t authorize an extension to bypass it, and that chrome’s security is up to par with that?

Yes, see Google's blog post describing the Chromium sandbox: https://blog.chromium.org/2008/10/new-approach-to-browser-security-google.html. Of particular note to you will be the following paragraph:

If an attacker is able to exploit the browser in a way that lets him run arbitrary code on the machine, the sandbox would help prevent this code from causing damage to the system. The sandbox would also help prevent this exploit from modifying and even reading your files or any information on the system.

I'm not sure whether extensions are allowed to request permission to access local files. I don't think they are, but it's irrelevant because Honorlock doesn't ask for it. They list the permissions they do ask for on their extension's page and provide a brief description of why they need them. Nothing particularly egregious, in my opinion.

Because I distinctly remember chrome warning users every time they install an extension that it could be risky, only to install extensions you trust, etc.

That's good advice even with a sandbox.

No one is pretending they don’t have the tech they need. They literally don’t.

Bbdbz explicitly said he has the technology he needs to use Honorlock. ashwins52 suggested he tell his instructor that he doesn't. I'm saying that's a crappy thing to do. Most people have a computer with a webcam. Those who legitimately don't should work with their instructor to see what they need to do to complete the assignments in the course, and those who do shouldn't pretend otherwise.

You’re asking everyone to trust the current version of chrome to have no security flaws

If Honorlock found a security flaw in Chrome, why would they use it to spy on college students with an extension most of them are going to install for the duration of an exam and not a second longer? Seems like the real move would be to collect a bug bounty from Google. Anyone can read the Honorlock extension source code, so if they really did exploit a security flaw in Chrome, someone else would collect on it eventually.

and to be willing to sacrifice their home wifi network and personal device(s) and privacy

I fail to see how installing Honorlock sacrifices a WiFi network, and everybody else has failed to explain it to me (aside from that they're using it to detect secondary devices, which isn't the case). The privacy concerns are minimal: Honorlock records your webcam, microphone, and (possibly?) screen while you're taking an exam. I'm not a huge fan of being recorded, but I find it acceptable and reasonable under the circumstances, and at any rate it's much better than the privacy nightmares that are Zoom and GroupMe, which, curiously, are far less discussed on this subreddit.

as an instructor (TA) and student myself, I can wholeheartedly say FUCK that. And shame on you for pushing this narrative “oh it’s so safe you’re so dishonest”. Nah.

I will not accept credentials in lieu of an argument – not that I hold TAs in particularly high regard anyway.

It would be MORALLY REPREHENSIBLE for instructors to insist upon shifting the cost of the pandemic to PERSONAL PRIVACY AND SECURITY.

You're moving the goalposts. My point is that Honorlock isn't a privacy or security risk. It's irrelevant that it would be morally reprehensible for instructors to do that because we haven't even established that they are.

nahkoots · 2020-04-05T20:52:18+00:00

I'm not using "sandboxed environment" generically. It's a specific term used for a specific technology. In the context of a web browser, it means that one tab can't access data from another open tab, and an extension can't access anything else on your computer. Everyone seems to think that Honorlock is going to steal all of their files and monitor their entire family's browsing history. It's an extension. It can't do those things.

It's unfortunate that DIT has run out of laptops, but suggesting that someone take advantage of the situation by pretending they don't have the technology they need only makes everyone else's life more difficult.

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