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Monday, August 6, 2018

Web Traffic Creator Script, Random Stuff, and More

- load testing capabilities are increasingly being sent online and many offline are limited in capability so I decided to build my own. Download it from here:
- description is as follows:
# From time to time you just want to test some basic stuff like 
# network/website performance, bot and counter-bot systems,
# logging, configuration, etc...
#
# This script allows you to do most of the basics such as change
# of user agent, change of utility, change of time, etc...
# Modify variables as you see fit (it's reasonably well commented).
#
# Obviously, isolating/benchmarking is more difficult the more
# variables are involved and certain types of devices/products
# may/will interfere. Please factor this in.
#
# Use tail command against relevant log file for live checking 
# or micro-SIEM capability. etc...
# tail -f /var/log/apache2/access.log
# tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log 
#
# Can also be used a traffic generator obviously. Ability to detect
# such function is dependent on endpoint logging capabilities.
#
# 1.00 - created curl_gen and lynx_gen
# 1.01 - got rid of useragent bug in lynx section. Created http_gen,
# wget_gen, and aria2c_gen. Split off user agent coding into global
# variables and increased total number of variables
# 1.02 - added more documentation
# 1.03 - code cleanup
# 1.04 - added nikto like capability for multiple web pages and to
#        minimise impact of upstream caching
#
# As this is the very first version of the program (and I didn't have
# access to the original server while I was cleaning this up it may 
# be VERY buggy). Please test prior to deployment in a production 
# environment.


Random Stuff:
- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
- latest in science and technology
free sql training program
- latest in finance and politics
- latest in defense and intelligence
- latest in animal news
- latest in music and entertainment

Random Quotes:
- A radio antenna, which will be transported with Queqiao, will be stationed some 60,000 km behind the moon. Scientists are hoping that the radio antenna will reveal clues about the early universe, the time after the Big Bang when stars began to form from an ocean of hydrogen.
Signals have different wavelengths, and those in lower frequencies are harder to catch from a place with a lot of interference like the earth, according to Heino Falcke, professor of astrophysics from Netherland’s Radboud University, which led the effort to design and build the antenna, known as the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer (NCLE).
The antenna is designed to catch ancient signals with frequencies below 30 megahertz, Falcke told Quartz. Signals occurring in those frequencies might help to study the universe’s pristine beginnings, which scientists often call its dark ages.
“Underlying the strong humming sound from the Milky Way, there are some emissions from the early phase of the universe and it will recur at certain frequencies,” said Falcke. “If you don’t have much background noise you may be able to see some certain frequencies and that tells us something about the universe. It requires an extremely quiet environment.”
The far side of the moon can provide that environment, said Falcke. So far only a set of ground-based antennas in Australia has claimed to detect signals of the ancient dark matter, Falcke said, which could offer a reference point to what the NCLE catches.
The radio receiver will only start collecting data after Chang’e-4 arrives on the moon, Falcke said. Both the Dutch scientists and China’s teams will have equal access to the data.
- Bronk explained that unlike the US’s F-22 and F-35 stealth jets, the J-20 doesn’t have all-aspect stealth. This means that from some angles, the J-20 isn’t stealthy. A senior stealth scientist previously told Business Insider the J-20 is stealthiest from the front end.

If China was flying the J-20s in any direction besides towards India, the Su-30MKI radars could have been spotting the jets from their more vulnerable sides.

“Also, it is possible that the Chinese are flying the J-20 with radar reflectors attached to enlarge and conceal its true radar cross section during peacetime operations – just as the USAF routinely does with the F-22 and F-35,” said Bronk.

For safety and training purposes, stealth aircraft often fly with markers that destroy their stealth during peacetime maneuvers.

If this is the case with the J-20s, then India may be in for an unpleasant surprise next time it tries to track the supposedly stealth jets.
- Alan Thompson, who spends his days coaching gifted children, says his work is inspirational, not exhausting.

He agrees the sheer scale of a gifted child's talent can be confronting and even "jarring'' when encased in such a precocious package.

But, more than anything else, he says a gifted child gives him faith in the future.

"These kids don't want to show off. All they want to do is learn and absorb as much as they can,'' he said.

"These prodigies really are the peak of humanity. They've got the empathy, the courage, the ethics, the drive and the vision to pull us into the future. These could be the children who could take us to Mars or ensure we have equitable distribution of income or program our robots or redesign our leisure time.''
- The news that the staff at NBN Co are paid handsomely from the public purse comes in the same week that a study showed chief executives' pay in the US to be up to 5000 times that of an average worker in the companies they headed.

It is symptomatic of the era of greed that we live in, an era when people really have lost their sense of shame.

First reported in The Australian, the figures showed 2% of NBN employees, or 120, took home about $300,000 yearly while the chief executive Bill Morrow managed to get by on $3.56 million.

Eight percent of staff, or more than 480, were paid more than $200,000.

How are these fancy wages justified? Well, as far as NBN Co was concerned, it paid out sums like these because it was recruiting the best people.

You would think that that would be reflected in their work, wouldn't you? At least to some extent? Find me a dozen random people who are happy with what NBN Co has wrought in this big, brown land and I will stop complaining.

If we assume that the average NBN Co employee is paid $100,000, then Morrow takes home something like 35 times an average employee's pay.

Which puts him much below the titans of the game who are in the US, his home country: 225 companies were surveyed and in 188, the chief executive's pay could be used to pay more than 100 workers. And at 219 of those companies, the average worker would need to work 45 years to make one year's wages paid to the chief executive.

If NBN Co spent less effort on spin and activities that have little relevance to its prime task - rolling out the best broadband network possible under the existing constraints - one doubts that anyone would fault them for being paid princely amounts.

But the main activity of everyone from Morrow downwards seems to be the disclaiming of responsibility - and that extends even to the TV ads they run.

As the years tick by and the end of the rollout nears, one can be sure that bonuses will also be paid to these superlative workers for their accomplishments.

And what of Morrow? One is pretty sure that he will hang around in Australia after he finishes up with NBN Co, looking for the next company where he can continue his exceptional leadership. Telstra beckons.

Saving Money (without Sacrificing), Random Stuff, and More

- use price matching when you can to get an extra discount. Note, a lot of companies advertise low prices just to get you through the door. ...