Table of Contents

Our Web Page:

ExpNews

Calendar of Events:

Summer Camp

DES Cracked

Men In Black

Intellectual Property

Batman & Robin

Netscape 4.01B

Quote of the Month

Up-an-Coming Post Expenses

Up-an-Coming Member Expenses

Post Finances

Matt Curtin, Chief Scientist

More About Mr. Curtin

New Java Features Solaris 2.6

Solaris

Programmers

Floor Plan Update

Lost ExpNews in Australia

Summer Camp

I must admit that Summer Camp at Chief Logan was great fun. We had 15 youth in attendance. This was a lot more than I had expected. However, the more the marrier:-)

I would like to say how proud I am of Roy Niedzielski (a past member of Post 369) and & Brian Tomko. The repelling tower that they build was most impressive.

Netscape 4.01B

First I must admit by the time this article was written, a later version of Netscape was out. However, this was the first time that I was disappointed at Netscape. In my opinion, they must have hired the programmers that Micro$oft laid off. Netscape 4.01B looks like a Micro$oft product. Moreover, it responds like one: slow and sluggish. Running Netscape 4.01B on an IPC 48MB pegged my CPU to 100% 100% of the time. Ok, I was less than 4 on load. I have heard that Netscape 4.06B is soupier. Until I try this one out I have taken my network back to 3.01 Gold.

DES Cracked

In the last month's issue of the ExpNews we covered the alleged breaking of the DES Code. Several letters came in about the definition of "Breaking."

Ok, the code or Encryption Algorithm was not broken. A full force frontal attack against the unknown key was undertaken. In other words, they tried over a trillion keys until they found the correct one.

Understand, that security through encryption is not a method of protecting valuable information. Encryption is an attempt to make it more expensive to spend the necessary time on braking the encryption than the value of the data. In short: If I had the combination of my foot locker with my Scouting Equipment in it encrypted with PGP and a 1024 bit key, would you spend the resources necessary to break the encryption? No, why not cut the lock off. Would a company's competition spend $20,000,000.00 on breaking the encryption for a $2,000.00 secrete. Of course not.

Therefore, our Government needs to find a better way to protect its secretes. It has been proven that with no money one can get the Keys to DES. I suggest moving to 3DES. I think they are in that process.

Men In Black

Though somewhat predictable this was a most enjoyable motion picture. Hay I might have even splurged for a soft drink along with the price of admission.

Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith where typed cast. Mr. Jones' character is identical to the one he portrayed in "Witness". While Will Smith's acting is simply a continuation of his "Independence Day" character.

The twist of plot is extremely unique: America is allowing Extra Terestials to VACATION on our planet unbeknownst to the rest of the population. This brings about a new division of immigrations and illegal aliens.

Batman & Robin

I hate to say that you must go see this flick if you saw the other two. For it was a said disappointment.

Batgirl is no longer Commissioner Gordan's daughter and in "love?" with Batman, she is now Alfred's niece and in "love?" with Robin! The sections of the movie that try in vain to explain the background of Batgirl is meaningless and would improve the movie greatly if left out.

The Batmobile in the Tohellavision series was a two seater and therefore gave ample room for Robin to join the capped crusader. The 1997 model has room for only one passenger and forces Robin to fight crime on a motorcycle. No wonder he has such a high level of admiration for the automobile.

Moreover, the movie spent far to much time on the dynamic duels arguments over women. However, in a Sady Hawkins bidding of young ladies for charity it was an irony of hummer to see Batman bid a million dollars on Poison Ivy.

Mr. Freeze was sadly played. His character was not up to Arnold' Schwarzeneggers capabilities. I believe that Arnold could have ad-libbed a better portrayal of a arch enemy than the ones that the director developed for him. George Clooney and Chris O'Donnel made a good Batman & Robin. Uma was not a femfital. As in other Batman episodes the masked villains are frumpy until they dawn their costumes.

All in all, if you are a Batman fan you will have to see this flick. But make sure that it is at a matinee and bring your own popcorn. It just isn't worth the price of admission.

Intellectual Property

The following is a copy of the Intellectual Property Agreement that I refused to sign for a company that I use to work for. They stated that it was mandatory. However, they waved it upon my threatening to quit.

Intellectual Property Agreement for Casual Employees and Nonemployees

In consideration of payment for the performance of work or assignments for [COMPANY] or any of its affilitates (hereinafter "X"), and other good and valuable consideration, including the use on behalf of X of its material, private or proprietary information, or facilities:

A) I hereby assign and agree to assign to X all my right, title, and interest in and to all inventions, discoveries, improvements, ideas, computer or other apparatus programs and related documentation, and other works of authorship (hereinafter each designated "Intellectual Property"), whether or not patentable, copyrightable or subject to other forms of protection, made created, developed, written or conceived by me during the period of such work or performance of assignments, wether during or outside of regular working hours, either solely or jointly with another, in whole or in part, either

1) In the course of such work or assignment, or

2) relating to the actual or anticipated business or research or development of X, or

3) with the use of X's time, material, private or proprietary information, or facilities;

B) I will, without charge to X but at its expense, execute a specific assignment of title to X and do anything else reasonably necessary to enable X to secure a patent, copyright or other form of protection for said Intellectual Property anywhere in the world;

C) I further agree that I will keep in confidence and will not, except as required in the conduct of X's business or as authorized in writing on behalf of X, publish, disclose or use, during and after the period of my work or assignment, any private or proprietary information which I may in any way acquire, learn, develop or create by reason of such work or assignment;

D) I further agree that this agreement does not constitute a contract of employment, nor does it confer any rights by license or otherwise in any Intellectual Property to which I may have access; and

E) I acknowledge that the copyrights in Intellectual Property created within the scope of my work or assignment, belong to X by operation of law.

F) In the event that either my company or I have previously executed an agreement with X relating to the work which I am about to undertake, it is understood and agreed that nay terms and previous of this Agreement will be superseded by any conflicting terms and conditions of such previously executed agreement.

In the Thursday, July 10, 1997 issue of the Columbus Dispatch an (AP) article titled Food for thought" Does an employer own a worker's ideas? (McKinney) brought nightmares of my own life when I would not sign an Intellectual Property Agrement.

My brother attempted to council me in the ways of corporate America. He passionately informed me that there was no way that a large company would yield to my wishes not to sign such a restrictive agrement. My mother attempted to persuade me to give in and go after a "good" job.

My attorney thought my attempts to sway the corporate giant was futile. However, I prevailed.

In short the above agrement would own everything that I would ever create, even if created on my own time with my own money even after I quit would belong to company X. yea right! Why would anyone sign such a thing. However, most do:-(I didn't!

My friends and associates thought that my interpretation of the document was completely wrong. They stated that no company would ever do such a thing.

Well, In the article Even Brown, after he was fired, was sued by his x-employer for an idea he has yet to develop. Mr. Brown has a concept of a way to convert old computer code into an easier-to-use higher-level computer language.

His former employer contends his automated translation program "would be worth many millions of dollars because numerous other telecommunications and technology companies are similarly struggling to translate or convert their old computer code." His employer alleged in its suit that Brown signed a 10-year employment agreement that gives the company ownership of all his ideas. A federal judge ordered Brown to start giving his former employer what they ask for until ownership of the idea is decided, saying he would be paid $45 an hour for his time. Brown refused and has appealed.

It has always amazed me how many people/employees grazing in the companies pastures give in like cattle. They know what they are asked to do is wrong however, they want that almighty dollar. I guess that is the difference between an Employee and an Entrepreneur!

Another company that I worked for did not require you to sign such an agreement as a condition of employment. However, they slipped it into an InterNet access request form. To get access to the InterNet you needed to sign the form and therefore gave away any Intellectual Property associated with such usage of the InterNet...

In short, if you are not in a situation where you are capable of refusing to sign such a document at least make sure that the document is null and void after termination of employment by either party. If you have enough clout make sure anything you create on your own time is yours!

Matt Curtin, Chief Scientist

I would like to thank Matt Curtin, the Chief Scientist of Megasoft Inc. for his discussion on DESCHALL and other security related topics to the members and guests of Explorer Post 369. I received many kind words about Mr. Curtin. It was interesting to see some of the "non-computer oriented dudes & dudets" guests in the building not related to our meeting wonder in and sit down. Several stated their fascination with Mr. Curtin's topics.

I hope Matt will come back.

I have had the extreme pleasure of knowing Matt for almost a decade now, and I must admit that Matt was in rare form Tuesday July 29, 1997. Matt's talk covered Bit Slicing, how DESCHALL utilized utp-to-tcp conversions & HTTP proxies to enable their software to transmit data through firewalls.

Mr. Curtin also titillated us with the impact that the ability to figure out keys for DES encryption will impacted Bank Transactions, ATM, Medical Records, etc. Mr. Curtin also covered the true story behind the Wall Street Journals' article on the DESCHALL. I found it fascinating that no money was spent on the DESCHALL project.

After Mr. Curtin finished his topic he open the floor for discussion. The topics ranged from PGP to Key Escrow... Moreover, Mr. Curtin stated that with all the systems in place that it would only take about 56 seconds to break the next code: Instead of the 4 months it took this time. I understand that the US Government is looking into 3DES to make it harder to do this frontal assault.

More About Mr. Curtin

His Home Page

Mr. Curtin is a self proclaimed hacker, with particular area of expertise in computer and network security. Mr. Curtin has a real passion for making systems bulletproof:

"for technology to become the basis of all of our businesses, personal lives, etc., it must provide some degree of security. Because of my love of technology and desire to give everyone the power that comes from the possession and use thereof, I am continually looking for ways to make things secure against attack, in addition to new ways of doing things entirely."

Previously, Mr. Curtin held the position of "Chief Hacker" for Fahlgren, an advertising agency which he helped move into the realm of interactive media such as the Internet and World Wide Web. Additionally, Matt acted as the primary architect for their Internet gateway and firewall, as well as for their intranet.

"Another part of what I do is advocate openness and freedom in computing. Having many computing platforms in an organization is a Good ThingTM, as far as I'm concerned, because you can leverage the strengths of all the platforms against their weaknesses, leaving you with an aggregate computing environment greater than the sum of its parts. You just can't do that by running some boring, barely functional, marketing-driven, closed, insecure quasi-OS like Winblows NT all over the place. I'm also into programming languages. I was poking around with Smalltalk recently, and came across an old FAQ, but it was so badly formatted, it was almost unreadable. So I reformatted it with LaTeX, and the result can be seen on my web page."

Mr. Curtin's experience with firewalls and secure web servers was greatly enhanced during the time he spent at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio.

"Right about the time that Bob Allen hit the Big Company go Boom button, I decided that I had enough of hacking for mega-corporations with gobs of money and an inversely proportional amount of clueful people. I worked in a great group, doing really cool things, but I didn't exactly get a warm-fuzzy that gave me much reason to believe that this would continue to be the case, so I bolted."

New Java Features Solaris 2.6

Sun Developer News

The JavaTM Virtual Machine and HotJavaTM Browser will be bundled with the Solaris 2.6 operating environment. The Java Virtual Machine 1.1. integrates the Java platform with the Solaris operating environment. It uses Solaris native threads, which enables multiprocessor support for native threads, improving Java application scalability and integration with native methods. Included are the Java Developer Kit (JDKTM) 1.1. from JavaSoftTM, the standard Java compiler, the Java interpreter, the Java class file disassembled, the C-header and stub file generator, and the just-in-time (JIT) compiler for improved performance.

The HotJava Browser provides an easy-to-use, customizable user interface for exploring the Internet and corporate intranets. Features include:

• Java applet support
• Network security- Signed applets are supported, enabling fine-tuning of the desired level of security.
• Multithreaded applications support
• External viewer applications
• Fully Configurable user interface
• Extensible Support for content and protocol handlers

Solaris

http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/new/facts.html

Did you know:

• Solaris supports more than 12,000 applications on SPARC, and more than 2,500 applications on Intel.
• Solaris on Intel was first introduced in 1993. Both the SPARC and Intel versions are based on an identical code base.
• Solaris is the only implementation of Unix that is the same on both platforms.
• New revisions for both architectures ship on the same day.
• Solaris has over 9 million lines of code. Solaris provides an easy, seamless, multivendor computing and resource sharing environment, supporting clients based on Solaris, Java, Windows, Apple, and Netware Server/LANs.
• Solaris includes a one-button push, point-and-click browser installation.
• Solaris can handle more than a quarter of a million hits per minute.
• Solaris allows web access to 10 million NFS servers today.
• Solaris 1 (SunOS 4.x) applications continue to run on the new web-enhanced Solaris.
• Solaris is Year 2000 compliant by design.

LEADERSHIP:

Solaris was voted "Best Internet Platform" by Network Computing in February, 1997. Solaris was named "Best Unix OS" by Network VAR in January, 1997.

Solaris is the first vendor to post best TPC-C numbers on each of the leading database vendors: 23,143 tpm/C (118 $/tpmC) on Oracle supporting 19,000 users 15,461 tpm/C (134 $/tpmC) on Informix supporting 13,000 users 18,438 tpm/C (139 $/tpmC) on Sybase.

Solaris is now branded UNIX 95 (aka Spec 1170).

PARTNERS:

Sun has partnered with ISVs to create a single source code for direct implementation of applications on both SPARC and Intel platforms.

Oracle and Informix develop, test, and tune their products on Solaris in order to get the best performance and reliability.

Programmers

Charles M. Strauss

Mostly, when you see programmers, they aren't doing anything. One of the attractive things about programmers is that you cannot tell whether or not they are working simply by looking at them. Very often they're sitting there seemingly drinking coffee and gossiping, or just staring into space.

What the programmer is trying to do is get a handle on all the individual and unrelated ideas that are scampering around in his head.

Floor Plan Update

The City of Columbus will only accept plans drawn up by a licensed architect and the finished product must have the seal of a licensed contractor. The City of Columbus judges a Church as a comercial building.

So far the cheapest architect I have found is asking for $500.00 to draw the plans. Surly somewhere out there is an Eagle Scout that became an architect and one that is now a contractor. I am now in the hunt to find these individual. It is my opinion that one of them will be more than happy to draw up our plans for free! [That is my favorite price:-]

Lost ExpNews in Australia

Sorry to our readers down under. I heard from about 18 subscribers that they did not receive the ExpNews last month. Therefore, we will be including the May issue of the ExpNews with the July one for our Australian readers.

Quote of the Month

Up-an-Coming Post Expenses

Up-an-Coming Member Expenses

Post Finances

Explorer Post 369 has	-$1,018.00

Floor Fund Need		 $1,200.00

Floor Fund In Hand	 $  820.00

Pledges Outstanding FF,	 $  200.00

Room Fund Needed	 $3,800.00

Room Fund		 $    0.00

Computer Fund Needed	 $    0.00

Computer Fund		 $    0.00

Web Stats, For July

----------------------------------
Items	Pages Served	Title
----------------------------------
277	65		exploring      
2520	604		ExpNews        
1276	119		links          
4989	664		post           
127	43		1997.calendar  
1974	209		members        
840	82		Adults         
256	70		Toadies        
370	61		Youth          
537	95		program        
45	31		project        
451	91		scouting       
175	82		bible          
----------------------------------

Calendar of Events:

Our Creed:

Exploring: Enthusiasm, Energy, & Excellence.

The Explorer Code

As an Explorer-

• I believe that American's Strength lies in her trust in God and in the courage and strength of her people
• I will, therefore, be faithful in my religious duties and will maintain a personal sense of honor in my own life.
• I will treasure my American heritage and will do all I can to preserve and enrich it.
• I will recognize the dignity and worth of my fellowmen and will use fair play and goodwill in dealing with them.
• I will acquire the exploring attitude that seeks the truth in all things and adventure on the frontiers of our changing world.

Our Principals:

• Honor before all else.
• The difference between a winner and a looser is that the winner tried one more time.
• K.I.S.M.I.F.

Explorer Post 369:

Explorer Post 369 was chartered on December 31, 1994 to the Reformation Lut hern Church.

Explorer Post 369 specializes in UNIX for Programmers while emphasizing a d eep theme of Engineering Computer Information & Science

Membership in Explorer Post 369 is open to young men and women between the ages of 14 [and in high school] and not yet 20. Annual Membership fees are $15.0 0.