In the future, and a not too distant future at that, we will have quantum-entangled computers that work alongside or as add-ons to our existing computers.

Entangled quantum processors are good at the very class of computing problem that traditional CPUs suck at. And the reverse is also true, so we won't all be switching to quantum computers, we'll be merging the two technologies into a single box capable of tackling both classes of computing problem efficiently.

The issue to society is that current encryption technologies rely on the difficulty of calculations of precisely the type that quantum computers are good for. In the quantum era, it will be effectively impossible to encrypt data in a secure fashion. If you vary your keys fast enough, you might be able to maintain some semblance of security for a specific communications link to another node on the internet, but that would be about it.

That means that all the information on all the centralized data servers running behind every major business or website on the internet is readable.

I realized this years ago. It's one of the reasons I post publicly -- because I know the futility of trying to conceal or limit the access to what I post on the internet.

And it will happen in my lifetime, of that I have no doubt.

I contend that the only way to secure personal data in that future is to have personal servers located at your own home, with maintenance scripted so thoroughly that all the user has to do is pop in a backup cartridge each evening to receive the daily incrementals and weekly full backups of their life.

Instead of you entering in your information to a shared server somewhere, you would grant that shared server's processing systems read-only access to the relevant parts of your information, identified by some sort of unique id code/string (maybe even just a UUID) and the specific IPv6 address of the single host that is being granted that read permission.

Just for safety's sake, every time the application server read your personal information, an access entry would be logged.

It would be forbidden for any application server to retain the data. The sole source of your personal information would be your home node itself.

Sure, some might choose to contract the hosting of that node out to something akin to an ISP or a Google or a MicroSoft, or even an IBM node in a data center/cluster some where, but the key point is that the IPv6 address of each and every individuals information be assigned to one particular node.

I can not imagine any other way of protecting your personal data in the quantum future.

And that's the future I'm building towards.

Your node would assign each application server a corresponding signature, the UUID. The unique id number generator. Basic, simple, effective, and in production for a long time. But hardly anything akin to a password.

Maybe you'd want to look into how the data center at the host is physically architected to protect the token.

Just remember that with the quantum capabilities, passwords will be easily cracked and stolen by anyone with access to a backbone link that can have a good old fashioned network sniffer attached. You're rely relying on the request coming from that particular IPv6 address with the assigned UUID as the unique signature of the authorized request.

Implementing such a system means implementing common data structure standards across all platforms and all systems in due time. You'd choose your hardware/node provider based on your faith in the quality of the system they deliver as a whole.

So you could buy an IBM stack, an Oracle stack, a MicroSoft Windows stack, an Apple stack, or any one of the many Linux and BSD stacks.

Or even smartphone and tablet OS stacks.

Similarly, you'd choose your database service provider from the supported RDBMS vendors, your file system, and so on. Some stack vendors don't let you choose some options, but that's part of what you get when you buy into their stack.

When a snare drum is struck, you should hear the rattle of the wires underneath the bottom drum head, not a tissue paper crackle.

When a triangle is struck, you should hear a bell-like ring soaring above the field of music, not a digitally compressed buzzing sound.

Pat Benatar's high register should soar with authority, not break up into digital noise.

When a cymbal is struck with a stick, it rings with a brassy tone; it does not break up into distortion.

But the past two generations have spent their entire lives listening to 44.1KHz/16bit samples or even more highly compressed MP3s. Their neural pathways have been trained to filter out the digital noise, and now they can't even hear the higher frequencies.

Back when vinyl was king and CDs had just came out, double-blind study after double-blind study proved that analogue was superior, and that the average person could hear the difference.

20-30 years later, the double-blind studies were repeated comparing 192KHz/24bit studio recordings to 44.1KHz/16bit CD quality audio.

Sadly, modern subjects can't hear the difference any more.

They've been robbed of their hearing, and they don't even realize it. Worse, they point to the new study as "proof" that I'm "delusional" and have even come up with some fancy name for the "delusion."

I thought I saw a class-action lawsuit against the *AA and the audio industry in the making for the loss of hearing by the general population, but people are in such denial of the issue that they modded every single one of my posts on the topic down to zero.

How sad. You've all been robbed and you'd rather claim I'm delusional than realize the new study proves you've been robbed.

My number is on the do-not-call list for Canada.

I received one of the robocalls trying to send me to a non-existent polling station, presumably a call made by Racknine.

As Racknine has been unable to identify a political party as approving and being responsible for those calls, Racknine did not perform due diligence and therefore the call made was illegal under CRTC telemarketing restrictions. Only someone who is a duly authorized representative of a political party can contract a robocalling company to call someone who is on the National Do Not Call List.

I believe the penalty for violating the Do Not Call List without proper authorization or exemption status is on the order of $20,000 per call if I recall correctly.

Being able to provide a "burner" cell phone number and an obviously fake name as the "authorization" for these calls means Racknine engaged in wide spread illegal calling of OTHER people who are also on the national do not call list -- I will NOT be the only one who was called an on the NDNC.

I STRONGLY encourage any other Canadian who received such a robocall to contact the CRTC and register a complaint against Racknine. THEY are responsible for ensuring that their business operates within the guidelines of Canadian law.

https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/pfac-fcca-eng

I finally have some hard oranges-to-oranges comparison numbers between MSS Code Factory 1.8 and 1.9.

With the addition of the GEL compiler and runtimes and other performance tuning, 1.9 takes 1m25s to create MSSBam110 as of 2012.02.18.

The 1.8 release takes 3m25s to produce idential code for 1.9.

That's a 68% reduction in the execution time. Not bad. Not bad at all.

MSS Code Factory

I guess what really strikes me about Whitney Houston's demise is that she was only a year older than me.

I've faced some of the same problems she did in life, including addictions.

It could easily have been ME that died today instead of her, whatever the cause of her death was, and that hits home.

Hard.

RIP Whitney.

The Singularity One Systems, Inc. corporate website is now available. Here you'll find information about the services we offer, our billing rates and policies, and information about the company itself.

http://www.singularityone.ca/

The website has gone through three design iterations at least during the past week while I've posted a proposed design, waited for feedback from friends and interested parties, and tried to address their concerns.

I think this might be the website, finally!

It's been a busy morning. I've been updating and editing my "To Do" and "Done" lists for my personal website and for the Singularity One Systems, Inc. pages. I had been keeping them as a merged list because I'm the one who has to work on them, but realistically a huge part of my "To Do LIst" is business stuff and shouldn't have been on the personal list in the first place.

Just click on the "To Do List" or "Done List" links on the left to see what's in the pipe right now.

The idea is to let people go to the company website instead of me having to post updates through other sites to let people know what's happening. The way I do it right now is kind of a hassle for everyone, including those who aren't interested in what I'm doing with the business.

Now I don't need to use forums and email lists to do my diligence on informing future customers and shareholders about what the business is doing. I'm sure that will be a relief to everyone who was on the "SingularityOneInterest" email list I keep.

When Slashdot added the journals, one of the features was the ability to submit journal entries for stories.

But other than that, I've never read any guidelines for what goes in your journal. It's up to you what story you want to tell in your journal.

• You could complain about work.
• You could post about exciting programming challenges.
• You could talk about your personal life.
• You could talk about the challenges of starting a new business.

Really, you could talk about just about anything that isn't actually degrading and insulting to others. (Not to say that there won't be chip-on-the-shoulder types who look for something insulting in what others say, so you will offend people unless you say nothing of interest.)

The key to me is a journal like a business plan: It should be about you. It's your story.

Tell it to the best of your ability, and if you can, give people a laugh along the way. Everyone needs a daily giggle to keep their sanity.

The proper corporate website for Singularity One Systems, Inc. is now up with the old content at

http://www.singularityone.ca/

As soon as I can get the redirect taken off from singularityone.ca, I'll have the old prototype website at my personal account deleted.

Mark Sobkow, CEO
Singularity One Systems, Inc.
A registered Saskatchewan corporation.

Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

The corporation was registered with Saskatchewan's Information Services Corporation on 2012.01.27, and the articles of incorporation were received back on 2012.02.01.

Under Canadian copyright law and over 50 years of precedent cases held by the Supreme Court of Canada, I, as a Canadian, have the RIGHT to preview media. I have the RIGHT to format-shift media I have purchased. I OWN my media, not "license" it.

The US system is dramatically and drastically different, despite the use of the common term "copyright" in reference to the related IP legislation. Canada is a Commonwealth country, and most of our law is based on the UK system heritage, not "starting from scratch" as the US did. I expect MOST Canadian interpretations on copyright and patents would apply ANYWHERE in the Commonwealth.

The US does NOT get to dictate that the rest of the world implement their screwed up IP legislation, no matter how much the media lobbyists cry that the "system is broken."

They cried it was broken in the 1970's when people were granted the right to make cassette copies of LPs in Canada.

They cried it was broken in the 1980's when it was confirmed people could make cassettes for use in portable music players.

They cried it was broken in the 1990's when it was AGAIN confirmed that people can make cassettes from CDs.

Never mind the companion arguments in support of VCR's and PVRs for recording and time-shifting TV movies and shows.

And then the recording industry shot itself in the foot, by ratifying the levy charged on blank media, which effectively put into Canadian law the right to make backups.

The DMCA-style legislation tabled as part of C-11 goes contrary to that 50 year history of Canadians being allowed to back up media they own. This clause MUST be struck for the legislation to be valid.

It would also be a good idea to make clear EXACTLY what the media companies have to submit as PROOF that someone is violating copyright legislation. It's important that such clauses are based on the CANADIAN interpretation of copyright, not the US assumption that their interpretation is going to be acceptable to the planet. Just because we use the same legal term "copyright" does NOT mean we're talking about the same draconian restrictions the US media companies have successfully lobbied for in the United States.

I use my torrents to preview media, as I'm allowed to do at any store in Canada when I slip on a pair of headphones to check out a new CD, or toss a DVD into a player to check it out at the store. All I'm doing is saving myself the hassle of going TO a store to do it. So I'm comfortable that ACTA will not apply to my torrent downloads, but I am VERY concerned about the DMCA-like clauses.

Here are some supporting discussions from experts on Canadian IP legislation (Michael Geist) and international aspects of ACTA (Electronic Frontier Foundation):

Michael Geist: Copyright Is Back: Why Canada is Keeping the Flawed Digital Lock Rules
Micheael Geist: Canada Signs ACTA: What Comes Next
Electronic Frontier Foundation: 2011 in Review: Developments in ACTA

Some people say I post "Anti-American" rants, so I thought I'd oblige by posting EXACTLY THAT.

Dear United States of America:

I really love the technology created by your industries for the most part, especially in the IT realm. There's no denying that without American inventiveness, I wouldn't have a career in computers.

However, as a proud Candian, I have to object to your snake-oil salesman approach to trying to "fix" the Canadian system when it's not broken in the first place:

1. We LIKE our copyright laws. We LIKE being able to make backups of the media we OWN instead of lease. We LIKE being able to do format shifting, time shifting, and montage edits of video and audio. We DO NOT want YOUR copyright system in our country, despite the occasional bleating by Canadian media conglomerates who echo the "sky is falling" sentiments about the Canadian right to preview and prelisten to media to decide whether it's worth buying or not.

2. We LIKE our medical cannabis. Sure your DEA has their head stuck so far up their ass they can't see that over a dozen states have PROVEN cannabis has medical use, and continue to deny that nearly 75% of the "pharmaceutical" medications prior to prohibition of cannabis WERE based on cannabis preparations, but really, your DEA is just afraid of being unemployed more than anything else. So kindly take your jack boots, your riot gear, your SWAT teams, and all the rest of your "drug war" nightmare and keep it to yourselves.

3. We LIKE our system of government. Sure we bitch, whine, and complain (I'm a BWAC Expert!), but when it comes down to it, we know our politicians aren't sold out to corporate lobbyists and special interest groups. We have no interest in importing your "Bribery First" model of government.

4. We DON'T like going to war. While we have and will continue to assist nations in trouble who are under oppression by violent dictators or who are being invaded by their neighbours, we fundamentally disagree with killing people for having the audacity to interfere with our corporation's revenue streams. As you can see from our budget, it's a LOT cheaper to try to get along with the world than to invade it.

So please, America, take your fucked up legal system and SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!

The final version of the Singularity One Business Plan 2012 and the Corporate Ethics Manual are now available for your consideration from the Singularity One prototype website.

I've been feeling rather mournful since last night because I was moping about probably having to give up my Slashdot postings as well as general public postings.

But I realized after a discussion about database tuning that not only don't I have to give up posting to Slashdot, I SHOULDN'T give it up. The younger generation may snicker and think of me as a geriatric dinosaur, but we do have good discussions about issues like performance tuning, algorithms, and other such topics.

I may need to avoid posting on inflammatory issues like SOPA/PIPA in the future, but I can still share my experience with those who are breathing down my neck in search of their turn at the best jobs programming has to offer as a career.

I'm even PROUD to be called a "dinosaur." Like the my mainframe ancestors whom I teased in the '80s and '90s, I'm confident in my skills and experience, and MOST people show me the respect I've EARNED as long as I try to explain and to teach instead of to insult and berate.

Thank God.

I've got a Slashdot UID under 50,000. A five digit member, which means I've been there since the first year or two after the site was started. A literal ETERNITY in internet terms. Many far more popular sites have come and gone over those years, while Slashdot has continued to harbour the technocrati -- the programmers and technologists who "make things go" in the modern business world.

If you don't mind spending a lifetime learning and adapting, it's a fun career, and very challenging.

Chris Dodd: [Security issues have] to do with what they call the Domain Name Systems, or DNS systems, and the filtering or blocking of those DNS systems. I think 25 or 30 countries have imposed that. The industry itself has. But in response to the criticism a week or so ago, the two chairs of the committees, respe...ctively, in the Senate and House dropped the DNS provisions of the bill entirely. So it doesnâ(TM)t exist any longer. And even when it was in the bill, it was completely misrepresented as something new that was going to break the Internet. If that was the case, the Internet would have broken a long time ago given that DNS filtering has gone on all over the world for years.

You sir, are comparing DELETING DNS entries to DNS filtering, and it is NOT the same thing at ALL.

The issue with SOPA and PIPA is the heavy-handed decision that the US and the US alone would be able to DELETE DNS entries on nothing more than the say-so of some fucktard with the *AA claiming it was a pirate site.

No charges filed.

No one arrested.

No due process.

No chance to defend yourself.

THAT's the problem with your latest round of abusive legislation to protect your profits, when your profits are down because you produce SHITTY MOVIES LATELY.

I download EVERYTHING that hits the Top 100 Movies on The Pirate Bay, and periodically give a few 10-15 minutes of my time to prove they're worth watching.

I've added a whole FOUR DVD/Blu-Ray movies to my "to buy" list by doing this. Out of HUNDREDS of samples from around the world.

You think I'm going to buy your crap, unpreviewed, with a reputation like that and such horrible odds that I'm even going to want to WATCH the movie? SOPA and PIPA are NOT legislation to implement DNS filtering or blocking by US-based ISPs. It's an attempt to do an end-run around the rights of sovereign foreign nation's rights to force the MPAA and RIAA members to go through the "hassle" of filing charges in the countries that host .torrent and counterfeit product websites by DELETING THE DNS ENTRY COMPLETELY with NO input from the nation involved.

It makes the entire United States of America look bad to allow these bastards to try and lobby their way to such abusive powers.

Man I'm mad at the blatant LIE you've tried to spin, as if a no internet-aware techie would call call you on your bullshit.

If all you want is DNS filtering for US citizens to stop them from accessing certain sites, by all means, have at it. Convince the US government to force ISPs to implement filtering, over the objections of US citizens.

But STOP trying to fuck the world to line your own pockets.

Prick.

Fuck YOU!