Daily Archives: May 20, 2008

Ted Kennedy has malignant brain tumor,

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From MiamiHerald.com

BOSTON — (AP) — Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat say tests conducted after Sen. Edward Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumor in his left parietal lobe. His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.

The 76-year-old senator has been hospitalized in Boston since Saturday, when he was airlifted from Cape Cod after a seizure at his home.

His wife and children have been with him each day but have made no public statements.

His doctors said in a statement released to The Associated Press that he has had no further seizures, is in good spirits and is resting comfortably.

Entropy reduction and its consequences

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From Technology Review…

In technical terms, a programming error reduced the amount of entropy used to create the cryptographic keys in a piece of code called the OpenSSL library, which is used by programs like the Apache Web server, the SSH remote access program, the IPsec Virtual Private Network (VPN), secure e-mail programs, some software used for anonymously accessing the Internet, and so on.

In plainer language: after a week of analysis, we now know that two changed lines of code have created profound security vulnerabilities in at least four different open-source operating systems, 25 different application programs, and millions of individual computer systems on the Internet. And even though the vulnerability was discovered on May 13 and a patch has been distributed, installing the patch doesn’t repair the damage to the compromised systems. What’s even more alarming is that some computers may be compromised even though they aren’t running the suspect code….

On this day…

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… in 1961, a white mob attacked a busload of “Freedom Riders” in Montgomery, Alalabama, prompting the federal government to send in United States marshals to restore order.

Strange to think, then, that Obama won the Alabama Primary.

May 22nd

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Something overheard and uncorroborated. At a London dinner party last Saturday evening a prediction was made that if Labour loses the Crewe and Nantwich by-election on Thursday, Gordon Brown will resign. Seems unlikely, you say — and so did I. But then I am told that the party allegedly included two very senior Labour ministers.

As I say, I have no way of confirming this. Still…