Thursday, May 07, 2009
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Busting your Bubble: Security is on the rise...
...perhaps because us niche Geeks are demanding it.
In a quiet and understated expose my long time Internet friend and verbal jousting opponent, Mr. Steven Hodson, in his rambling diatribe, Whining about a secure Windows, took me to task for asking "Why?" Why we can't get a secure copy of Windows XP.
He states and I agreed that Microsoft has provided a product for 'Joe Average' who "... just want[s] to be able to turn on the machine and do their stuff." Security down through the Windows ages, says the Crankster, ...
Yeah, well, I guess I am just a niche guy looking for a secure OS. Now, here is the rub - as the Cranky Old Fart was so very gracious to point out - I am a network administrator. I am the guy that people call when their instance of Windows XP doesn't allow them to blithely "do their thing and not worry about all that ‘other stuff’."wasn’t high on anyone’s priority list.
Microsoft paid heavily for this and continues to pay for it to this day. Unfortunately though Microsoft suffered from another major problem – it was too popular. While it may have had made billions from this popularity they did it by appealing to everyone and their proverbial brother. They weren’t in the market to cater to niche type users.
I am the 'Computer Police'. I am the policy enforcer who has to employ all the cobbled together bits and after-thought pieces that Microsoft finally acknowledged as necessary security "fixes". And yes, my 'Joe&Jane Average' users complain mightily when they encounter the cold hard edges of Administrator imposed limits. But you should hear how LOUD they complain when their WinXP won't allow them to work at all because of some "harmless" visit to You2CanWinMillions.com.
I do not disagree that the majority of Windows XP users just want to be able to turn on their PC and do what ever they do without having to jump through a huge number of hoops. I do not however believe that just because the average user has no more PC savvy than the plastic mouse they so delicately fondle while surfing God know where that this is a valid excuse for knowingly fielding the height of OS mediocrity.
Now, lets take a brief moment to check in on some 'average' friends of mine, XP users. On average their PC is delivered to Dave-the-PC-Guy three times a year for a Format-n-Reload. Why? Because my friends Jim&Jill Average are the typical users you described. AND... Microsoft Windows XP is sooooo vulnerable - UNLESS - you jump through all.those.freaking.pesky.hoops.
Yeah, I am the niche guy complaining loudly about security. Yeah, I am the niche guy who adopted Slackware Linux early. Yeah, I am the niche guy who has to worry about all the issues that Joe&Jane and Jim&Jill just simply ignore. Yeah, and then I read the last paragraph of the article that I quoted from earlier about the USAF...
Gilligan also said that he hopes that this project marks the beginning of the end of companies arrogantly resisting locking down their products. "They're still in the model that they want to give all the features enabled to clients," he said, "But I think we've reached a point where that model is one that is no longer effective. I'm of the opinion that all products ought to be configured with these locked-down configurations, and if the customer decides they want to undo them, then they can do that. They cannot continue fielding products where the cost that is being borne by the consumer in terms of having to maintain configurations and deal with attacks is so high." [Link to original article.]
P.S. Related Article
MCRC Blog - 2009
Apr 22, 2009How a cybergang operates a network of 1.9 million infected computers
Today we announced our recent discovery of a network of 1.9 million infected computers controlled by cybercriminals. This is one of the largest bot networks controlled by a single team of cybercriminals (or cybergang) that we found this year. In this blog post we will provide you with additional details about this network, the malware in use and how the operators are using it to make money – after all, this is the main drive for cybercrime today.
Yeah, 1.9 million infected computers running Microsoft OSs.
Okay but how about the rest of us???
My first question is, "Why can't we 'regular' folks get the same level of consideration and protection from Microsoft???"posted by Thom Holwerda on Sun 3rd May 2009 09:16 UTC, submitted by SReilly
. . .
So, the USAF talked to Ballmer, and the CEO actually got personally involved in the project. "He has half-a-dozen clients that he personally gets involved with, and he saw that this just made a lot of sense," Gilligan said, "They had already done preliminary work themselves trying to identify what would be a more secure configuration. So we fine-tuned and added to that."
. . .
So, how secure is this system? Gilligan said that 85% of attacks are blocked by the new configuration. "Turns out when you configure things properly and don't touch them, they actually work pretty well," he added. The Air Force configuration is now in use in many other departments because it has been such a success.
The only conclusion I can draw is that Microsoft doesn't care about us 'regular' folks. In their seeming lack of caring they are fielding a product that they know is substandard. They continue to sell us this substandard product because we, unlike the USAF, cannot afford to call Steve Ballmer on the carpet and demand it be fixed. So, now that it has been fixed, how about the rest of us?
When can I get my locked-down secure version of Windows XP???
Back to biscuits and blogging...
After a hiatus of more than two weeks Sunday morning finds me back in the kitchen at the keyboard...
The latest batch of biscuits are now cooling having been taken out of the oven just moments ago... hot melty goodness... flavored this time with sharp cheddar and spicy hot breakfast sausage. Here in Kentucky all I need is a little milk gravy made up from the sausage skillet and it would be a little bit of 'hawg heaven' on a plate. Iffen they aren't eaten right away they will make great hand breakfasts at least until Tuesday.
Blogging has taken a seat way in the back of my short bus. My last posting,
Words and work to live by..., was both a great observation made by Hugh ...and... prophetic. Allow me to elucidate.
I have the very great luxury of being able to work tenaciously at something I do in fact love ... Information System Management. Okay, so I'm a nerd. Sure, it doesn't have a distinctive ring, say like, "Musician" or "Artist" but it is my vocation and more importantly my avocation.
This pottering about with computers and networks and the like affords me another great reward. In addition to all the more mundane concerns I am afforded the opportunity to take time off. In this case my time began just after my last blog post and ran until last Wednesday. By the calendar it was 12 days. The first and last of those days were for travel from here in Kentucky to southern Michigan and then back again.
Albion is in southern Michigan. Shenstone's anagama kiln is in Albion. Firing of this, the largest kiln of its kind in north America, started just before midnight on Friday the 17th. 10 days later, just before midnight, the firing was declared complete and the kiln was sealed. A two week cooling period follows.
The following morning I got up and spent the day traveling back to Philpot Kentucky, back to hearth and home.
... back to biscuits and blogging.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
It was 20 years ago today...
For those of us who live in a free society ... we should remember the price that is paid. We must remember that freedom is not free.
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 culminating in the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The Cook's Biscuit
Another life lesson comes from the pursuit of the biscuit...
Once the dry and wet ingredients are combined the dough is turned out on a lightly floured counter. Absolute minimum kneading is prescribed. My objective is to bring the dough mass together incorporating the crumbly bits with the least amount of massaging. I then form the dough into a flattened layer approximately 3/4" thick.
The life lesson comes from the physics of cutting biscuit rounds from the formed dough. No matter how meticulous the placement of the cuts there are always edges and pieces. Combined and formed the pieces render one more cut round.
Once the last one is cut then there is the Cook's Biscuit. By combining the last pieces and parts there is one last biscuit, ill formed and imperfectly shaped. It is the biscuit reserved for the cook.
Didjaheartheoneabouthe...
A Jew, a Christian, a Buddhist and a Muslim all walk into a bar, and the bartender says “What is this? Some kind of joke?”Thanks Boyd @ /Ambivalence
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Pa^2 agrees with Web^2
Web^2 (Web squared) has a nice ring to it.
O'Reilly's example gives me very serious cause to consider the iPhone. (Yeah, I actually said that.)
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Big Brotha! (This makes me very sad!)
April 6th, 2009Obama Administration Embraces Bush Position on Warrantless Wiretapping and Secrecy
Says Court Must Dismiss Jewel v. NSA to Protect 'State Secrets'
San Francisco - The Obama administration formally adopted the Bush administration's position that the courts cannot judge the legality of the National Security Agency's (NSA's) warrantless wiretapping program, filing a motion to dismiss Jewel v. NSA late Friday.
In Jewel v. NSA, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is challenging the agency's dragnet surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans. The Obama Justice Department claims in its motion that litigation over the wiretapping program would require the government to disclose privileged "state secrets." These are essentially the same arguments made by the Bush administration three years ago in Hepting v. AT&T, EFF's lawsuit against one of the telecom giants complicit in the NSA spying.
Read complete article at Electronic Freedom Foundation
Great Design @ Loose Canvas
hugh macleod's NEW upcoming book, "Ignore Everybody" chapter titles rendered by Patrick Brennan
Grumpy Papa stuff...
I am not going as fast
as you need to get there.
(Thoughts on not exceeding the speed limit.)
Biscuit Redough
When I turned my latest batch of biscuit dough out on the counter I was afraid that I had created the proverbial flour hockey puck ... or as the Blues Brothers famously cited, "a rrrrrrubber biscuit." Instead of the sticky adhesive biscuit-batter that I would have to try and very gently knead I had a dry solid mass.
Immediately recriminating thoughts ran through my mind, 'two table spoons of bacon crumbles was too much' and 'a 1/3 Cup of cheese was excessive' or 'I must have mis-measured the milk'. No matter what the possible cause I have killed this batch of biscuits.
Dejectedly I patted the mass down to 1/2-3/4 inch thickness and started cutting rounds. It was a bit disquieting to twist the cutter down and feel the crepitus
of bacon bits being crushed ... but I pressed on. I kept a wary eye on them during the 10th and 11th minutes of baking. Just quick checks so as not to cool the oven too much.
Oh me of little faith...
They didn't turn out great but they were good. I was pleasantly surprised. The tribe ate every last one, even commenting on how tasty they were. A hearty compliment to my Urban Gourmand Potato-Corn Chowder.
So this is where I wanted to make some insightful philosophical or theological observation on the importance of the symbolic marriage of flour, salt, milk and leavening. I wanted to acknowledge the primal importance of the food ritual and its sustaining of life. I wanted to pay homage to the beneficence of a greater power.
All I can really say is that my faith in the biscuit remains.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Anagama Moon
Arriving for my shift I had to take a moment to marvel...
KilnMoon
Originally uploaded by william_meloney
Monday, March 30, 2009
Religion: A Convenient Belief
...and he wants his beliefs to be safe as well.
H.L.Mencken once said “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.”
I am not my work...
...any more than a potter is one of her pots or a psychologist is one of his patients.
Sadly men and I now assume a goodly number of women attempt to classify each other with the off-hand question, "So, what do you do?"
From personal experience this is a form of the age old Alpha-(fe)male-posturing behavior. Lacking, as I am, the social graces to make pleasant conversational small talk I simply fall back on to the convenience of finding my place by asking the newcomer what he or she does. I can then quickly assess how low I must bow or what subtle level of contempt I may allow myself to have for this person.
Unfortunate!
Unfortunately we have given the convenience such simple social posturing the upper hand in our lives. Now we allow ourselves to "be" what we do. Some even go so far as to obscure our real lives behind the facade of our "doing".
Breaking out of this circumstance is very difficult. I know full well the discomfort that I felt (feel) when an acquaintance that I am on comfortable speaking terms with has repeatedly refused to define himself by what he does.
The Painted Bird is a controversial 1965 novel by Jerzy Kosiński which describes the world as seen by a young boy, "considered a Gypsy or Jewish stray," who wanders about small towns scattered around Central or Eastern Europe (presumably Poland) during World War II.
Kosiński, when asked how he could speak so distantly and unaffectionately about such a intimate and seemingly autobiographical work stated simply, "It no longer belongs to me."
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