The Falcon's View

Greetings! The universe is this much richer, because there is another weblog in it.

I've decided it's time to get into this whole "blog" thing. :) Actually, I've felt lately like I've had things to say and no place to say them. So, here's where I'll give it a shot. We'll see what happens from here.

A few random thoughts for the week...

Invest in the Arts - Ellis' current album is underway!

Support the Arts - Ellis' is always looking for Angels to help her out.

I must be getting old. I bought an NFL-sized football yesterday and played catch with P for an hour last night. This morning my back is so sore, you'd think I'd actually played a game. I can't imagine what the old pros (in their 30s) feel like every Monday morning.

I enjoy ice skating. Work had an employee outing at the Ashburn Ice House yesterday afternoon. The rental skates pretty much sucked, but it was still fun. Perhaps it's time to see if the Fairfax rink has open skate times, too.

I'm increasingly inclined toward pursuing a PhD in Psychology. I'm fascinated by the tricks our minds play on us, and wonder if we can learn to battle those tricks to better ensure success in life. I'd love to apply what I learn about the brain to peoples' perceptions of security, as well as learn how to help professionals be successful in whatever they do (sports psychology and the like).

It's very important to be nice to people, even if you don't feel like it, or don't feel they deserve it. Tying into the psychology point above, I'm trying to learn to control negative reactions to change, people, etc., so as to be nice.

There may be actual, legitimate interest in my thesis work. I think it's time to begin writing that journal article.

Though a bit odd, the XKCD comic is one of my favorites.

Time for another miscellaneous entry in ye olde blog. Today I thought I'd focus on a few quicks hits on personal cultural exploration. Later this week: posts on upcoming travel, meeting with bright young minds of the future, and the "joys" of airline travel and the brilliant minds of airport security. Anywho...

First up, if you haven't checked out Last.fm or Lulu.com, then I highly encourage it. Last.fm is a music socialization site where you download a plugin for your mainstream media player and it "scrobbles" what you're listening to, sending the notes back to your profile and - the really interesting/cool part - it compares you profile to other profiles and defines your "neighborhood" based on listening preferences. The more you listen, the better the profile match. Kind of nifty.

Lulu.com is something that's apparently been around for a while. If you've ever thought about writing and self-publishing a book, this is the site for you. Apparently known well to writers already. Check it out!

Now onto the random entries... today's topic: books that I'm currently reading and that I have queued for reading.

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has declared today (4/20/07) an official day of mourning over the tragic event at Virginia Tech earlier this week.

Well, thank goodness, sanity and justice has prevailed. A hearty shout out to Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer for putting the spoiled brat crybaby Hilton where she belongs: behind bars. This is a textbook case of someone believing they were an elite untouchable who was above the law. I'm distinctly impressed that this judge made the decision to not give in to what is clearly an attempt at manipulating the situation because she could not accept the consequences of her actions.

This makes two victories for justice and fairness this week, with the other being the tossing out of the original case against Julie Amero. It's encouraging to see the courts doing the right thing for twice.

Now if we could only find a way to solve the current political leadership crisis...

Ooooookay. Just a bit of random housekeeping for you all. I've been busy lately and unable to get everything posted that I wanted. Here are the random topics covered today:
- RTC farewell
- Kilimanjaro and global warming
- CNN's Dobbs hits the nail on the head
- Amazon Associates and stupid iframes
- Fiction: Sara Gruen's Water For Elephants
- Bob needs a new contract
- India trip coming up quick!

Greetings! I'm back! :) I'm sure you missed me, oh so much (mom). So, I've collected a few things of interest over the past couple days (or more) and thought I'd toss them all into a single post (since technorati whines if I post more than 1 article per couple hours [which is so weird]). Anyway, a quick overview of the topics:

1) A good blogger law resource.
2) Interesting notes from groklaw on MS, SCO GPL tapdance.
3) 9th Circuit Court ruling on warrantless monitoring.

Greetings and solicitations! :) Just a couple quick notes. First, I'm now an official Dragon Door Affiliate - so please help me out by clicking on the Dragon Door link at right when purchasing kettlebells and related materials, including Qigong videos, KB videos, and health supplements. I love my 16kg kettlebell and even my wife is looking enviously enough now that I'll be ordering her an 8kg kb when we get back from vacation.

Second, I will be almost completely out of pocket until August 5th or 6th while the wife and I head out on vacation. I like to completely unplug while traveling for leisure. I might check email or make a quick blog post from an internet cafe, but don't hold your breath! Maybe I will, maybe I won't. :) At any rate, don't you worry about me... until after 8/7 anyway... :) cheers!

Just a quickie to the one person who might have wondered "hey, why no posts?" I've been:
- sick
- worn out from travel
- suffering through environment AND food allergies
- burned out on work
- sick
- in need of a break

So, I'm chilling. I'll be back after Labor Day (and a visit to the US Open in NYC). Until then, enjoy your (unofficially) last few days of Summer!

I should be back to regular blogging soon. Much afoot, just been busy. Need to get into a rhythm, among other things. This, too, shall come to pass eventually. In the meantime, hope you enjoy the cartoon!

To quote that famous Broadway darling, SPAMALOT:

I am not dead yet
I can dance and I can sing
I am not dead yet
I can do the Highland Fling

I am not dead yet
No need to go to bed
No need to call the doctor
Cause I'm not yet dead.

So, what have I been up to? Weeeeellll... let me tell you...

Going green is nothing new, but it's becoming a huge topic for the IT industry. Computers are built on a foundation of precious, and sometimes toxic, metals. The average data center consumes hundreds of kilowatts of power each day, if not megawatts. With energy costs increasing consistently, with the looming end of the oil era, and with the global climate change issue in full play, it then only makes sense that IT goes green.

To that end, I availed myself of the local PC Recycler free day. I first learned about this from Mike's blog a couple months ago. As he describes, the process was quick and painless. I dropped off 3 CPUs, 2 CRTs, 1 UPS, a laundry basket full of assorted peripherals and add-ons, and had 7 hard drives crushed in front of me after which they also shred the platters). The drive crushing was not free ($10/disk), but otherwise everything else was a freebie. This deal turns out to be better than what Fairfax County offered during their recent Fall Festival, where CRTs were $5 for disposal.

If you have a basement (or closet) full of old computer equipment that, if you're honest with yourself, will not see the light of day (and doesn't belong in a museum), do the right thing and take it to a recycler. It might just help keep the planet green a little longer. :)

My friend, who graciously hosts my web sites (including this blog) on his server for free, is in the process of upgrading Movable Type. As such, there are some bugs still to be worked out. Until they're cleared up, there may be issues with my site, and who knows what else. I'll also not be posting a lengthy review of our recent England trip until I can figure out this new interface and where all the content links went... :)

I'm feeling a bit hyper and expressive today, so part of the post frenzy. I've just read some very interesting things across multiple topics and wanted to share:
- New earphone line from Shure.
- Ford's diesel-hybrid concept car.
- And, first and foremost, a kind of funny cartoon:

Ok, this is a grab bag post, I admit it... first off, Shawn has posted a great explanation of session fixation - a little discussed or known security vulnerability. Second, our government at work... it seems the House, in a pre-election frenzy (a little early for that, don't you think?), has rapidly passed a bill that I guarantee is so poorly thought through that it will caused lots of headaches if it ever makes its way into law.

Specifically, Congress now thinks that any provider of Internet access - including free wi-fi at your local coffee shop, now must report "obscene" images to NCMEC if they're detected or seen. Now, on the one hand, this is a stupid law, because you're already required by law to report any instances of suspected child pornography. But, on the other hand, this is potentially distressing as, if read in the wrong way, could result in free wi-fi access being yanked out of most coffee shops as they may determine the legal exposure is too great. Yet another case where Congress is micromanaging where they needn't interfere. There are potential privacy implications here, too, that are of course not likely being considered by the geniuses on the Hill.

Last, but not least, as mentioned earlier today, Republican presidential wannabe Mitt Romney today mimicked JFK in giving a speech on the role of his religious beliefs in his life as a public servant. Fortunately, he erred on the side of providing space for all religions, though at the same time he seemed to imply that we should all adhere to religious values, which seemed a little off. You can decide for yourself. You can read CNN's coverage here, and the Salon has posted follow-ups here and here.

Ya know, I can't decide if it's sad or really cool that the one time of year we actually fill the grocery cart is when we buy Hanna's ingredients for baking Christmas cookies (this year we spent just about $100 on ingredients). It's become her annual tradition to go nuts the week leading up to Christmas, baking bazillions of cookies. For example, last year she baked 13 batches of 11 different cookies, with at least a dozen cookies in each batch (and sometimes 2 dozen).

Every year, cookie season is an adventure, representing a time of culinary expression and creativeness (for the wife). She always tries a couple new cookies, phases out less desired cookies, and of course continues the tried-n-true cookies. Some year I'll be adding to the mix by attempting to learn how to make Great Grandma Tomhave's honey cookies (maybe this year, since I might be on the bench next week). My Grandma Tomhave doesn't make many any more, so at most I get 1-2 while at my parents to try (they're quite intensive to make). I have the detailed directions, but simply haven't attempted yet. Better do so soon before I can't ask for clarification...

I'll be back to posting regularly again in another day or so. I've been head-down on a new project, which I should be wrapping up in the next day or two. I should also be finished soon with my current non-fiction reading (Bjorn Lomborg's Cool It) and will then post a review. It's been an easy, interesting read so far.

And that's all I know for now. :)

I'm sitting here, working on my grad school app essay, with Spike on in the background showing The Spy Who Loved Me, and a commercial came on for the "Corvette Dollar" - commemorating 100 years of General Motors. According to the ads, it's legal tender of the Republic of Palau, which has to make you think "wow, this is the collector's item for me!" :) They of course promise that this coin will never be in circulation (duh). But that's not what's totally nuts about this coin. It has a battery and LED lights in it that light up when you press the Corvette logo on the back! Totally hilarious!!!

Check it out here, if you're as curious about it as me. :)

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted for a bit... we were out of town, back to Minnesota for the holidays... well, we're back... exhausted, but back. I'll be posting some new stuff here later this week, once I get caught up on sleep, and perhaps shed a few pounds (too many cookies!). Lots of new and interesting things, so check back in a couple days for updates. :)

Here we come 2008! It's hard to believe that 2007 (or 2006, 2005, 2004, etc.) has already come to pass. We were able to get back to our traveling ways this past year, but do not foresee being able to continue these ways as we shift our plans to starting a family. It will, however, be anything but a dull year, as we buckle down financially, finally getting some old debt paid off, and beginning to put money into savings and investments. The predictions of a recession in 2008 actually play very well to our hand in this regard, providing an opportunity to reduce some of our interest load, while also reducing investment costs to below what may be their actual value.

If you're anything like me, you're probably exhausted here on the first day of the year. For me, there are a few reasons. The first reason was work-related. While AOL was very good to me, it was also extremely stressful. Since returning from vacation in August 2006, when I had a huge case dropped in my lap, things just went berserk from there, with a major restructuring, major layoffs, a complete change in executive management, and so on. That stress has been relieved by changing jobs, and I fully expect to recover.

Due to being out sick a good chunk of last week, I'm way behind on posts. As such, I'll be putting up three (3) separate posts later today summarizing some of the things I've been reading over the past week or so. The posts will be blogroll style, listing an item, with a link, and a quick summary or comment on it. So, now you have something to look forward to! :)

Starting out my blogroll styled posts (first of three)... here's a miscellaneous collection of links ranging from a cartoon salute to recently departed Sir Edmund Hillary to a few sports-related notes of interest (such as the history of the NHL requiring helmets) to a couple MacWorld-related notes. The full list of stories linked here:
* Cartoon For Jan 13, 2008 - Tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary
* NASA embosses space images for the blind
* Report: 4 major studios cancel TV writers contracts, giving up on current season
* Did "Fake" Simpson Derail Dallas? - ABC News
* North Star player's death 40 years ago changed the game of hockey forever
* Steve Jobs Speaks. Twitter Goes Down.
* Steve Jobs Finally Announces Apple iTunes Movie Rentals at Macworld
* DIGITAL DIALECTS.
* From Rif's blog: This is video of a young man setting some new records...
* It was the MacBook Air subnotebook

Just a grab bag of links across the spectrum of things I've been reading today. Enjoy!

* Best Buy recalls infected picture frames: Some Insignia-branded digital picture frames seemed to have been shipped with a computer virus. Oops!
* LEGO Brick's 50th Anniversary: It's the 50th anniversary of the LEGO brick. Check out this site with a cool graphical timeline. :)
* Disabled Spy Satellite Threatens Earth: Duck and cover! A US spy satellite seems to have lost its propulsion system and is projected to come crashing back to Terra Firma some time in the next couple weeks. It's rumored to contain sensitive data, and to be toxic. I wonder if the "toxic waste" warnings are designed to keep people away from the sensitive data? :)
* Code Red: An Economist Explains How to Revive the Healthcare System Without Destroying It: Tyler Cowen recommends this book if you're curious about the economics of health care and how to solve the problems.
* Happy Data Privacy Day!: Per SANS, the IAPP has declared today Data Privacy Day. Protect your data, identity, and shred stuff. More importantly, fight the rollback of civil liberties.
* New 4100 Lumen Flashlight Can Set Things On Fire: Looking for a portable way to fry everything in sight? Check out this new flashlight, capable of 4100 lumens. It can burn paper, melt plastic, or fry an egg. Fun stuff! :)

I'm increasingly finding that there's just too much news to share. The easiest way to follow what I'm finding interesting is to subscribe to my Google share feed. Barring that, here are a few stories of interest. BTW, I'm working on a more extensive blog post on encryption key management, which I hope to have up by mid-week, along with a retrospective on how I'm doing thus far on my new year resolutions. :)

Stories of interest (links and comments below):
* Fourth Undersea Cable Taken Offline In Less Than a Week
* Mega-D Botnet Overtakes Storm, Accounts for 32% of Spam
* SSL Is Useless.
* Tesla.
* Free Speech and Net Neutrality: Separating Fact from Fiction

Howdy folks - just a quick note that I've setup my blog subscription through Feedburner. You can use the following links to add it to your RSS reader of choice. I don't know that I'll whack the current feed, but you should still migrate over as I play with things. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for the support!

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Hopefully you haven't switched to the new Feedburner feed... it doesn't seem to be feeding very well... please stick with the original feed for now...

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I feel like I've been a slack dog when it comes to blogging substantively lately, and it's probably true. Mea culpa. The good news is that I have a few ideas that I'm working on, and will hopefully get to sooner than later. I've recently started a new consulting engagement, so my addition has been detoured by that. With a little luck, I'll get back into form and get some things together.

Reader poll: What do you consider to be cornerstone concepts in security? Please post your thoughts in the comments. Why? Because I'm thinking of starting a new line of security posts "Cornerstone Concepts in Security" - that's why. :) Right now I have "accountability & enforceability" and "data classification" and maybe a couple other ideas, but that's about it, and seem rather pathetic.

What I mean by "cornerstone" concept is this: if you strip down infosec to its foundations, removing all the tech-specific gobbledygook, what does that leave you? What are the core minimum concepts that need to be enacted in an infosec environment? Policies are a core thing, but I don't consider them conceptual. Get what I'm saying? Please let me know what you think.

I also still owe a thought piece on key mgmt... again, mea culpa, coming sooner than later! :)

Here are a few of the things that I've been reading lately (cleaning out my Google Reader starred items)... note that I'm working on the lengthy key management post, as promised, just a bit delayed... more to come after that, since I'm finally getting my energy back (it's been a long haul since I got food poisoning a year ago, followed by being terribly run-down in general).

I've been diligently working on a few articles, plus fighting a cold, over the last few days, so you'll have to excuse the decreased blog output (or not - feel free to hold a grudge for a while, if it makes you feel better:). Anyway, I ran across a few articles today that were interesting enough to make me want to talk about them. So, here's a hodge-podge of topics, ranging from politics to infosec to cool new technology, including a brief review of the latest book I've read, The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf.

I'm working on a few other posts for this week, but have not had adequate time to form them. So, until that time (soon, I hope), here are a few of the things I've read over the past week that I've found interesting. Topics range from cool new technology (a UV water purifier pen) to security solutions to risk management discussions to tips for learning guitar on the web to a scholarship opportunity from ISC2 for post-grad research.

I haven't had a lot of time the last few days to devise and compose a particularly useful post on infosec, but I had a few passing thoughts that you might find amusing. Click through to see them...

The Washington Post has a somewhat disturbing article up titled "Non-European PhDs In Germany Find Use Of 'Doktor' Verboten." It's an interesting read. If I were in academic research, I think I'd advocate boycotting research in Germany until they figured out to properly recognize legitimately credentialed professionals. Why risk the harassment? I agree with this quote from the article:

"This is a completely overdone, mad, absolutely ridiculous situation," said Barbara Buchal-Hoever, head of Germany's central office for foreign education. "We are talking about highly acclaimed researchers here. . . . The people who have pressed charges must be gripers or troublemakers who wanted to make a totally absurd point."

Ok, forgive me, but it's soapbox time. There have been a few stories that have been irking me this week and now it's time to get them out of my head.

It's Friday, I'm beat, and, well, I'm just feeling a bit lazy, to be quite honest. So, here are a scant few links to interesting stories from today, of all times. If you're curious about what I find most interesting during the week, then please subscribe to my Google Shared Items feed. Links after the jump...

Howdy folks - just a quick heads-up, we're having some mail issues this week, thanks in large part to a ton of bounce-back spam. Mostly likely someone harvested my email address and is using it as a sending address. Suffice to say, this is rather annoying, and causing a serious disruption to our little server.

In other news, apologies on the lack of posts lately. Work has been very busy, and I've also been working on a couple writing projects, neither of which are ready for publication yet, but maybe soon. In addition, we're moving next weekend (locally) and have company coming, to boot, so I may be a bit scarce over the next couple weeks.

Hope you don't miss me too much. In the meantime, work on your kettlebell swings! :)

Just had another storm blow through... this one brought pea-sized hail along with heavy thunder and lightning, including a momentary power drop... This storm seemed to be moving very quickly, too, though perhaps not as much as the storm last week. The one on Thursday was crazy. It rained so hard that I couldn't see the driveway out the window, no more than 10 feet away. Lots of trees (big, old grandiose fauna) fell or broke in various places. The rain is good, since we were in a drought last year, but it makes one wonder: what will the weather be like over the next 4 years as things continue to change dramatically?

My alma mater, Luther College, is dealing with flooding this week. Says my roommate, who works in IT there: "the 1941 flood crested at 15.2 feet the 1993 flood was a 14.3 foot crest, and yesterday was a 17.9 ft crest." That's a fairly dramatic increase. Want to see what it looks like? Check out these aerial photographs. They're very impressive. If you don't look closely, you might think it's just a big, wide river... until you realize that it's hitting the emergency flood dikes that are a good 15' or more above the normal water level. As for Luther, I'm told there is damage to the Regents' Center (gymnasium complex) in some areas. Kind of crazy.

Surprisingly accurate? Hmmm.... ;)

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