Minutes of the SIPB Meeting of 2012-06-04


The meeting was called to order at 19:30:00 by dwilson.

In attendance were 
        Voting members: dwilson leonidg kaduk | adehnert
        Associate members: jhawk | tlyu
        Prospectives: glasgall
        Guests: 

Administrivia
	'()

SIPB Projects Report:
	leonidg: davidben and cesium are making Webathena; it's kind of crazy.
	glasgall: So far, they've implemented a javascript kerberos module
		with a proxy that can talk to the KDC.
		They have a zwrite.js that proxies to a zhm running on the
		server.
	jhawk: You realize that this makes possible kerberos's first
		cross-site scripting vulnerability, right?
	glasgall: I think they're working on that.

Office Report:
	jhawk: I have three items:
		(1) The '8' key on coleco-sidewinder's keyboard is
		    non-functional.  It does not appear to be an issue of a
		    broken keycap; I suspect that fixing it involves replacing
		    the keyboard.  I move for $100 for that purpose.
	dwilson: Second and white ballot.
	<passes by white ballot>
	jhawk:
		(2) I borrowed lola-granola on Friday night; I'm not sure that
		    I went about this in the optimal way (actually, I'm pretty
		    certain it was not optimal).  I'd like to mention it here
		    to give anybody the chance to beat me up about it or make
		    me bring it back before my intended return time of Sunday
		    night or Monday morning.
	kaduk: We should probably mention that you've offered to bring it back
		on 12 hours' notice.
	jhawk: (Preferably shorter.)
	[crickets]
	dwilson: I have not heard any more objections than were in email.
		It does not seem too outrageous.
	jhawk:
		(3) I have once again noticed that we don't have a
		    variable-voltage power supply in the office.  I'm not sure
		    if this is something that we should have; I kind of feel
		    like it is, but maybe not.  I haven't priced anything out,
		    but I wanted to mention it.
		    What are people using for the DEFCON sign?
	dwilson: I assume they have a dedicated supply.
	jhawk: In retrospect, tabbott had provided a power supply on loan
		for the prior incarnation of the project.
	adehnert: I have no interest in things that involve hardware.
	tlyu: Could you modify an existing PC power supply?
	jhawk: I've never tried; what are potential issues?
	tlyu: As long as there's a big enough load, it should be okay.
	[talk of resistors for load and expected currents]
	jhawk: Of course, the obvious problem with that is that it's not
		variable.  Do we have unused power supplies, anyway?
	kaduk: Well, we have unused machines....
	tlyu: I hear there is this mailing list called 'reuse'...
	jhawk: It sounds like there is speech against, so I'll drop it.

	kaduk: I did a little looking, and as a rough estimate it seems that we
		have about $7800 left to spend this fiscal year.
	jhawk: What's the deadline?
	kaduk: I guess we should probably allocate by next week.
	jhawk: Oh, really?  I thought we had to have non-eCat^3 stuff by the end
		of May, and [...].
	kaduk: I think that your sense is out-of-date.
	adehnert: Have you talked to achernya yet?
	kaduk: Not in any functional sense.
	glasgall: Is he looking to get new machines for Scripts?
	adehnert: I feel like he always wants more servers.

	jhawk: Given that, I will change my mind and suggest that we spend $100
		on a variable-voltage power supply, since we have all this
		money.  So moved.
	dwilson: The exact model TBD?
	jhawk: Yes.
	glasgall: What are we going to do with it?
	jhawk: Put it on the shelf with the oscilliscope and and the signal
		generator and ...
	[]: We have an oscilliscope?
	kaduk: I second.
	<motion passes 4-0>

	tlyu: In case it hasn't been remarked upon recently, the carpet is
		really sticky.  When was the last time the carpet has been
		shampooed?
	kaduk+jhawk: I think it was within the past year.
	kaduk: The stickiness is usually worse when people track in rainwater.
	tlyu: That implies that there is a lot of deeply ground-in dirt.
		It's worse in the back of the office, which could be related to
		Cokecomm's presence there.
	jhawk: It could be that the shampoo schedule is too slow.

	adehnert: A FY2012 closing schedule deadline for payment cutoffs is
		Friday June 22nd at 5pm.
	kaduk: As long as we take delivery by the end of the fiscal year and
		we don't surprise anyone with unannounced purchases, it will
		probably work out.
	jhawk: But with servers, the taking delivery by the end of the FY part
		can be challenging.
	kaduk: Yes.

Other:
	'()

Other Other:
	dwilson: The transit of Venus is tomorrow night.
	glasgall: The forecast is rainy and cloudy.
	dwilson: Though I hear there is a webcast.
	jhawk: FROM VENUS!!!

The meeting was adjourned at 19:40:42.


        Minutes taken and submitted by kaduk.