Yann D.
Just an average geek.
Location Dublin, Ireland
Activity
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Yann D. made a comment
- Are you more aware of your style of communication?
Not particularly.- Do you prefer to communicate one-on-one or in a group?
Either (I think)- Are you someone who gets right to the point or chooses to build a narrative around the topic?
I tend to build a narrative, telling a whole story rather getting straight to the point; this is a communication... -
Yann D. made a comment
I've seen many situations in which people let their ego take over, and therefore reacted. The outcome was never constructive, and often led to heated arguments. And no one was any wiser afterwards.
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Yann D. made a comment
"[...]could generate a Google result[...]" why not encourage learners to step out of the G-box? Is an entrepreneur not supposed to think outside boxes?
DuckDuckGo, Qwant, and others are good alternatives; and they have more respect for your privacy...... Just sayin' -
Yann D. made a comment
The message that stood the most is how we are "programmed" to avoid risk, and how such a risk-averse attitude can be detrimental to a business.
This doesn't come as a surprise; entrepreneurs built something where there is nothing. They take the biggest risk there is in our society: the risk to "fail". (quotes because it never really is a failure for an... -
Yann D. made a comment
I'm thinking Elon Musk. Not that I particularly admire him but I have to admit he is quite impressive.
Persistent: kept going despite the challenges of setbacks encountered by the SpaceX projects.
Adaptable: I'm assuming all his (many) business ideas have required a lot of tweaking and modification.
Constantly learning: He must do that to be able to create... -
Yann D. made a comment
In French we use the word "entrepreneur" the same way it is used in English. It has the same etymology as the verb "entreprendre" which means "to take initiative".
And this is what being an entrepreneur mean to me: taking initiative, bringing in and/or promoting change, leading. -
Yann D. made a comment
I particularly liked the historical review of cryptography, and the explanations on how vulnerabilities were/are exploited and forced/forces cryptography to progress.
The "hacking" activities were fun!
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Yann D. made a comment
I believe that given sufficient time AND computing power, every algorithm will eventually fail..... So keep going cryptographers! (Please)
Thank you for this course, Coventry University!
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Yann D. made a comment
Cryptographers might be winning but cryptanalysts are only half a step behind.
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Yann D. made a comment
As explained in the article, one big limitation is that a unique set of OTP booklets needs to be issued and distributed to each individual, and sufficient and timely supply of new OTPs has to be guaranteed.
I believe this is what is used as part of the recovery method in many services when you have two-factor-authentication enabled. Upon activation of 2FA...
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Yann D. made a comment
I found these examples of usage:
- Sending an e-mail with a password reset link that is valid only for a certain time and can only be used once. The HMAC ”magic” allows for this without any added server state.
- Verifying e-mail address in order to create or activate an account
- Authenticating form data that has been sent to the users’ web browser...
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Yann D. made a comment
I used https://hashes.org, and it cracked 8 hashes out of the 14:
MD5PLAIN 15b29ffdce66e10527a65bc6d71ad94d:swordfish
SHA256PLAIN b4a56bf00b08345100e8f6562e4c43b95ccb34f6687a3d9f97f8e6bab403235c:nomoresecrets
MD5PLAIN 0d107d09f5bbe40cade3de5c71e9e9b7:letmein
SHA1 c62d2eeb5c2e9f47a74e4459301e416d3d677c63:coriolos
SHA1... -
Yann D. made a comment
"using something annoying as a cue to practice gratitude may help you build even more positivity in your life."
So if I managed to get myself to see practising gratitude as something annoying, then it'll be an infinite gratitude loop, right? :p
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Yann D. made a comment
I'd most likely try the "gratitude jar", and meditation.
Another practice could be: Regularly calling people I love, and taking a few minutes after the call to express gratitude for being able to speak with them.
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Yann D. made a comment
Something that could get in the way is that the effects are not immediate. Just like any practice, it takes time to do it "right", and to start feeling the benefits.
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Yann D. made a comment
1) It seems actually easier to find out someone's mother’s maiden name than their password. A casual conversation and clever questions could do the trick.
2) Don't put all your eggs in the same basket. A multi-factor authentication process is one way to avoid such a situation.
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Yann D. made a comment
Knowing that a technological advance in the next 10 years could make industrial or military secrets suddenly accessible, can boost innovation and creativity.
Maybe it also encourages responsibility and transparency at governments level, as people know they could be held accountable for shady deeds that would come to light. -
@DrChhayaSualy, I didn't know that poem. I did a search using the verses you shared. It's beautiful. Thank you!
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Yann D. made a comment
I'm of the opinion that, given sufficient time or computing power, any algorithm can eventually be cracked. Vulnerabilities in the protocols the encryption algorithms use are discovered every day.
The consequences depend on the intentions of the people who discover them. -
Yann D. made a comment
Conversations with loved ones.
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I feel it goes further than "anything done but not related to work". It seems that anything that is not quantifiable is seen as lost/wasted time.
We are swamped with apps that measure everything and anything, pushing us to always "do something".
We rarely allow ourselves to "do nothing", to let our mind breathe and process the backlog. And when we do,... -
Yann D. made a comment
I've always believed gratitude was important, but I've worked in organizations where it didn't matter at all to executives and other managers.
I've also worked in organizations that gave gratitude an important place in the company.
It does make a world of a difference on the company's culture, on the way employees perform and work together, and ultimately on... -
Yann D. made a comment
I learnt about early ciphers and their weaknesses. I learnt about how war was a boost for cryptographers and cryptanalysts, as it always is for any technology.
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Yann D. made a comment
I'd say cryptographers, but it's more wishful thinking.
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Yann D. made a comment
Finance, health, voting, energy, communication... Everything in the modern world relies on information security. If cryptography failed, it would all crumble down.
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Yann D. made a comment
There was a lot more going on than "just" secret messages being exchanged. Of course, many of the Nazis plans were thwarted thanks to the codebreakers work but the effort and sacrifice of the Resistance, the involvement of the Red Army and the the technological progress played the bigger part.
So at most, cryptanalysis "just" hastened the outcome of the...
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Yann D. made a comment
EIWEMOTRLNZGAUWSC
(key: cryptanalysis) -
Yann D. made a comment
Al-Kindi most significant contribution seem to be the development of cryptanalysis by frequency analysis. He could be credited as the first-ever code breaker!
Using a different shift for each word or even each letter would most likely make it more difficult to crack a code with frequency analysis.
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Yann D. made a comment
Using Atbash followed by Caesar shift (or any combination of double encryption) would make it harder... but not impossible.
"Brute force" is about trying all possibilities, so given enough computing power it would only be a matter of time. -
Yann D. made a comment
I mostly give words of appreciation, as it comes more naturally. It usually happens "in the moment"; either at the time someone helps me, or when I eventually find out they helped me.
Acts of service is my second most used type of gratitude expression; it can be by doing a favour to the person whom previously helped me or by helping others in the same way I...
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Yann D. made a comment
I easily express gratitude to other people. Perhaps because I'm aware of how great t feels when others express their gratitude to me.
That said, there are times when I might not notice that someone went out of their way to help me; and in such a case I'd fail to express gratitude.
I guess taking the time to appreciate the things in my life I should be...
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Yann D. made a comment
Although prior to taking this course I didn't know about all the positive impacts of the practice of gratitude on physical health, I had already heard or read about the benefits related to mental wellbeing.
Our world is crazy. And I genuinely believe most people (especially in so-called "rich countries") are in need of improving their mental wellbeing.
I...
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Yann D. made a comment
The effect on telomeres length is quite surprising!
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Yann D. made a comment
The one impact that surprises me is "recover from stress faster". I guess grateful people are less likely to dwell on whatever negative situation caused the stress in the first place(?)
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Yann D. made a comment
I rarely stop and recognize how lucky I am for being born in Europe, in a country where there was no war, no shortage of food, education or healthcare.
We "western-people" too often indulge in our first-world problems. Of course, they still are problems and cause some level of worry, even anxiety. But we should take time to appreciate what we have compared...
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Yann D. made a comment
I think gratitude is being able to see and appreciate all the good people, and good things we have in our lives. We tend to take things for granted, so it takes effort to express gratitude.
I'd like to learn how to include the "practice of gratitude" in my daily routine.
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Yann D. made a comment
The main similarity in those methods is the use/need of an encryption key. Also, almost all of them (apart from the scytale) use a fixed substitution: one letter will always be encrypted in the same way within a given message; which can be "easily" cracked with frequency analysis.
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Yann D. made a comment
It seems that in the case of Mary, Queen of Scots, it didn't make much difference to her fate; because of the Act of Association (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babington_Plot#Mary's_imprisonment) she would've been executed anyway, as she clearly would have benefited from the death of the Queen. So history might not have been very different if the letters had...
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Yann D. made a comment
Rather than a battle, I feel it's more a case of coevolution.
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Yann D. made a comment
I don't think it's possible to make an unbreakable code. It's only a matter of time (and computing power) until someone breaks it, or finds vulnerabilities that if left unresolved could lead to being able to break the code.
Many vulnerabilities in protocols are regularly discovered requiring a fix before they can be exploited. It's a game of cat and mouse. -
Yann D. made a comment
I selected "Analysis".
It kind of makes sense that it's the most selected option, as most of us probably think being able to analyse a problem, is the first step to understanding it properly; which lays the groundwork of appropriate resolution.
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Hi everyone,
I'm taking this course to understand how to make an idea more than just that. My whole life, I've always had ideas... mostly inapplicable , unrealistic and plain silly, ones.
But it did happen that a couple of those ideas became a reality. Some people made them real; but I didn't.
So maybe, not all my ideas are trash can material, after all.... -
Yann D. made a comment
I just found out about Dropbox Paper. It feels like a mix between Medium and Google Docs.
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Yann D. made a comment
I'm looking into Airtable's Kanban view...
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Yann D. made a comment
@Sophie Pendrell,
In the previous quiz, there's one "be" too many in the first suggested answer to the first question (Not safe and should be only be used with precautions.) -
You could also have random or scheduled virtual coffee breaks via a Skype/Zoom/Webex meeting...
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Yann D. made a comment
I believe there's a typo on this page.
Instead of:
"Change often makes employees feel uncomfortable, as does the concept of loss of control."Shouldn't it say:
"Change often makes employers feel uncomfortable, as does the concept of loss of control." -
Yann D. made a comment
To the list of websites specialised in remote jobs, I'd like to add:
- jobspresso.co
- remoteok.io
- nodesk.co (this one also offers plenty of resources for remote workers)And for the true digital nomads, "nomadlist.com" will help you choose your next destination(s)
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Yann D. made a comment
From experience, I know that another challenging aspect of remote working is the blurred line between work and life. At times, it can be difficult to switch off. Maybe, having to take care of her children will help Lillian avoid that problem.
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Yann D. made a comment
Hello,
I'm Yann. I've worked in Tech for many years, and had a couple of experiences working remotely. Although it's a great way of working, it also has its challenges.
As I'm now starting a new (remote) job, I'm looking forward to learning how to better handle those challenges, and to sharing stories and tips with my fellow learners. -
Yann D. made a comment
The space aliens did it! I'm telling you.... we are not alone...
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Yann D. made a comment
I once saw a post on Facebook promoting veganism and exhorting people to stop eating eggs as they are the result of a hen’s periods.
The message was accompanied by a photo of a woman's underwear in a frying pan; there was a bloodstain on a specific part of the underwear (sorry about the graphic description). There was also a question, along the lines of...
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Yann D. replied to Kristjan Vulaj
I completely agree. Although I'd put it more like this:
P1→ The Auckland Council granted Auckland Transport the right to fell six 80-year-old Pohutakawa trees on Great North Road
P2→ By the laws of New Zealand the trees over 80 years should not be cut.
P3→ The Pohutukawa trees on Great North Road are older than 80.
Therefore,
C → The decision of...
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Yann D. made a comment
Even though I totally embrace Lisa's cause I don't see an argument in her letter.
She gets readers to "dislike" the Auckland Transport, the Auckland Council and the project developers by giving statements about their bad actions in order to discredit them (looks like an Ad Hominem or ‘At the Person’ Fallacy).
And the last sentence (A Widespread Auckland...
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Yann D. made a comment
Reading the description of all the types of fallacies reminds me of Arthur Schopenhauer's book "The Art of Always Being Right" --the use of several of the fallacies mentioned here is suggested in order to win arguments.
Definitely not a perfect guide for the good critical thinker but still a very interesting read.
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Yann D. made a comment
Hi. I work in tech support; my mind is my work tool.
I'd like to make it sharper. It'll also come in handy when I negotiate a pay raise ;) -
Yann D. made a comment
Hi,
I just started the course and I'm really looking forward to learning about critical thinking.Now sorry about this comment not related to the actual content of the course: the "tips" link on this page (week #1 - step #1) takes us to the site of another university.
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Yann D. made a comment
I'm a bit puzzled by your choice of the Panama Papers case as an example....
Yes indeed it shows how data leaks can have worldwide repercussions and cause a huge law firm to shut down because of the economic and reputational damage. But it also shows how hackers can expose people and companies involved in various illegal activities.
So in this case, the...
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Yann D. made a comment
And for those who are struggling with procrastination and distraction-proneness, check out these apps: http://alternativeto.net/software/macfreedom (some of them are free or at least with a freemium option)
The Pomodoro technique can be another way to stay focused on the current task and to manage distractions (http://cirillocompany.de/pages/pomodoro-technique) -
Yann D. replied to Jessica Petrovich
And in case you really really have to keep those tabs open, try this https://www.one-tab.com ;)
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@Ropafadzo Nyandoro: try and save the document on an online drive (box.com or dropbox.com or google drive) then you should be able to open it and edit it there.
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Yann D. made a comment
Maybe one could argue that low levels of anxiety are also very helpful to the advertising industry.
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Yann D. made a comment
The "feelings of unreality" is an "interesting" one
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Yann D. made a comment
Fast heart rate, tremors, sweating, hyperventilation, tense muscles
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Yann D. made a comment
I did gt that answer right but I was still surprised to learn that North and South Asia countries have the lowest rates! Talk about prejudice....
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Yann D. made a comment
I particularly liked finding out about the "hot cross bun approach" which I think can be useful in many situations whether or not it involves depression.
And thanks for the www.time-to-change.org.uk and www.mind.org.uk. Lots of useful information there. -
Yann D. made a comment
Negative interpretation:
- She's mad at me because she thinks the stressful situation in work today was due to something I did or said.
- I feel bad and guilty (though I'm not sure why). I'm feeling tense.
- I get clumsy and drop and break something. I just can't do anything right!
- On the longer term I might become apologetic towards her. I'll probably... -
Yann D. made a comment
She thought she was a bad person, she felt ashamed, unworthy which led her to isolate herself and even hide to eat.
Being on her on, no one could challenge her thoughts about herself and the only voice she'd hear would be hers telling very negative things which in turn would reinforce her "decision" to withdraw from all social interactions.
A vicious cycle,... -
Yann D. made a comment
Both Mick and Pete felt anxious and started worrying about the future and how the would financially cope. They both became low after being told they would lose their respective jobs. Also for both individuals sleep patterns are disrupted.
Mick felt numb, isolated and unmotivated.
Pete felt humiliated and worthless. He also has very low self esteem and has... -
Yann D. made a comment
What strikes me in this clip is how clearly she sees her depression and the symptoms.
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Yann D. made a comment
Indeed this shows how numb a person with depression feels throughout the day.
However I'd be interested to understand why the average trend shows a slight increase for the person with depression?
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Half of my family is from Togo and it's the same mentality in that community (even for those who've lived for decades in Europe). When it's not white people then it's voodoo.
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Yann D. made a comment
As it is the case with many other issues in this world, ignorance this difference in perception. Also there is no X-ray or numbers on a sheet of paper showing any abnormalities and some people will not believe or understand unless they see some "conventional evidence".
Unfortunately there are still too many cases when it's only after someone commits suicide... -
Yann D. made a comment
I got many wrong. This quiz shown how frequent depression is and the lack of awareness. And once again it's unfortunately those who are already struggling with other health issues, age or poor socio-economic environment who are more at risk.
Courses like this one should be taught in every high school. -
Yann D. made a comment
During the 1st week of this course, I learnt about abilities that I never thought of as senses and that I definitely always took for granted.
I also realized how true the old adage "life is what we make it" is considering how we process information from the world and interpret events depending on our psychological state. Which in turn makes the CBT approach...
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Yann D. made a comment
You might want to check these out:
http://ed.ted.com/on/znBOqy9U
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-is-depression-helen-m-farrell -
Yann D. made a comment
This test was interesting in the way it "fooled" us into giving importance to the rating when it was in fact trying to assess what kind of words we would remember.
I recalled 9 positive words and 7 negative ones. But I have to admit that most of the negative words resonate a lot stronger. -
Yann D. made a comment
Thanks. Definitely useful advice!
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Yann D. made a comment
I'd like to learn how to live in the present
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Yann D. made a comment
I believe the last 3 points refer to the confirmation bias. Correct?
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Yann D. made a comment
3 ticks: most of the sight and sounds. The weather, definitely, as a bright sunny day in Ireland can't go unnoticed.
Not aware of the temperature, position, physical sensations and smell.I'm not surprised as being constantly aware of all the information received would just be unmanageable and would render us unable to do anything but process all that...
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Download the Word version (DOCX) and you should be able to fill in the worksheet
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Yann D. made a comment
- The importance and influence of context
- The way our brain learns to fill in missing information and create coherence
- Honey is bee vomit :-D -
Yann D. made a comment
Our eyes provide the raw input which is then processed and interpreted by our brain to give that input meaning.
It's similar to IT coding: you enter raw input via the keyboard which only becomes meaningful once it's been interpreted by the computer processor. -
Yann D. made a comment
I never thought of the aforementioned as senses but it makes...sense. This shows how much we just take for granted.
Someone I know had their ear crystals (I think they're called otoliths) dislodged after an accident and since then they often lose their equilibrioception and endure terrible migraines for several days. -
Yann D. made a comment
Sight: the screen displaying this. But also many objects in my surroundings that I see even though I'm not looking at them. All of which allow me to assess my position in the room.
Hearing: The sound of my laptop's fan and the broken speaker white noise. Different sounds coming from other apartments.
The smell and taste of the tea I'm having
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Yann D. made a comment
I had never heard of the methane emissions problem caused by hydroelectric plants' reservoirs! It seems to be a very tricky one to fix.
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Yann D. made a comment
The almost-zero pollution impact. The longevity of such installation. The low maintenance cost. The fact that the energy can be stored for later use.
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Yann D. made a comment
I'd say #1 (constant availability) with #2 (reserve energy store) a very very close 2nd.
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Yann D. made a comment
Using phase-change materials like wax to collect and store the energy/heat.
The Earthship although controversial has some good concepts http://earthship.org/ -
Yann D. made a comment
I really enjoyed this course! I'd never looked at this topic from the usability-security-privacy point of view before. It was enlightening!
Thanks. -
Yann D. made a comment
One way to find out about vulnerabilities on your devices/systems is to use a vulnerability scanner. Nessus (https://www.tenable.com/products/nessus-home) is one of them. There are many others which also offer a home version for free.
You can also browse the National Vulnerability Database: https://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search
Or find information on...
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Yann D. made a comment
I think using bio-metrics (iris/face recognition) is a way to provide a good level of security and usability with a limited impact on privacy.
Or maybe a specific facial expression, like the smile or the laugh of a person. Imagine an authentication system that would tell a joke to the user and then try and match their smile/laugh with the one previously...
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Yann D. made a comment
Most likely off topic but I don't think it's only about the confidentiality, integrity and availability related risks. It's also about the impact on our common sense.
There seems to be some sort of global hysteria going on around connected devices. Many tasks are easier to do "manually" than with the "help" of some sort of connected device.And there are...
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Yann D. made a comment
Always check the SSL certificate on the payment page.
Use a VPN client on all your devices.
Set up a multi-factor validation method with your bank for payments (confirm by using a code sent via SMS or by specifying additional pre-registered info) -
Yann D. made a comment
Hi guys,
I just came across this password manager https://www.dashlane.com/. They have extensions for Chrome and Firefox as well as apps for iOS and Android. -
Thanks for sharing this article, Cecile. Very interesting! There are indeed no 100% secure solution but as you mentioned the users' attitude is the main weakness.
I personally don't use the auto-fill feature. I give up some usability to get more security.
However it's also reassuring to know that there are many "white hat" hackers out there willing to... -
Yann D. made a comment
In France it seems that the owner of the card is liable up to 150€ if the PIN was used but they are not liable if their card was forged or if someone managed to retrieve and use the card's details.
They have up to 13 months to report the fraud to their bank if the payment was made inside the European Economic Area and up to 70 days if the payment was made... -
Yann D. made a comment
Regarding heating, phase-change materials are also a good option