Welcome
- December 3, 2016
- Twenty First Century Power Waste
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Power. It's a commodity. It's a requirement. It's typically wasted in mass quantities by electrical products which have a lot of display implementation — typically in the form of lights and various meters which are there to provide input as to the functionality of whatever mechanism may be under consideration.
In the old days we were admonished regarding "vampire electricity" and urged to power down unnecessary electrical appliances to save this energy in use even when the device isn't being used.
I, for one have noticed the lack of total darkness in my bedroom due to the incessant twinkle of various LEDs and indicators on those electronics surrounding me. Having a profusely wired house with a gigabit backbone has contributed to that glow in which I exist.
I have also wondered periodically if my power bill would diminish should I power down all of the electronics in my midst. Alas, I really haven't considered the act as feasible due to interests beyond the homestead that originate here ... some of us have connections to maintain beyond our domiciles.
Sometimes the LEDs on the back of the cameras I have all over the place keep me awake. Alas, security remains a priority nonetheless.
I was reading in Yahoo News about a smart sensor being developed which can advise regarding devices wasting power in the home.
The device is a circuit which attaches to a power cord and has a USB interface for sensor data collection. Developed under the auspices of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Office of Naval Research it fills a need for a portable, low-cost smart sensor to optimize power consumption in their respective environments.
The progress with the device is said to be such that it may be available to consumers in time for Christmas of next year.
Bravo !
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- December 2, 2016
- The Internet of Things and Hack Attempts
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I was reading an interesting piece in CIO regarding things a CEO needs to know about securing the Internet of Things (IoT).
With the advent of things which may be networked in the home and business there are risks to take into account for each and every one of us.
Endpoints are subject to exploit on networks operated by the uninitiated and the IoT initiatives are starting to proliferate in businesses with what is becoming a "a new, massive and complex expansion of the security landscape".
Security Planning and Monitoring
Service providers are that direct link to allowing your devices to go rogue on you. My personal feelings toward the entire matter is to maintain any IoT infrastructure behind a firewall requiring encrypted authenticated access.
Anything less is asking for trouble.
Cloud solutions should be redundant with no one service providing the only access to any infrastructure. Service disruptions are a fact of life and some more likely than others. Exploit attempts happen 24/7 and range from trivial to devastating. This is why I maintain a router which detects exploit attempts and discards those packets after logging them.
Good Netizenship
The monitoring of traffic, network intrusion detection and prevention, and that oversight which enables you to thwart IoT exploits are not typically built into those IoT peripherals. Your management of these facets of network ops typically require that those hooks are embedded in the security layer traffic must traverse to get to the IoT devices on your network.
So as you can see, a layered approach is most feasible in the never ending pursuit of network security at the home or the office. While I manage these things with routing and firewall equipment expressly designed for these purposes, a person with adequate utilities can fit the bill quite nicely and indeed nothing beats a close tab on the logs generated by the systems at your disposal for the presence of that exploit or virus payload trying to find it's way into your network and devices.
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- December 1, 2016
- World AIDS Day
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Today is the first of December.
One of those things observed today since 1988 is World AIDS Day. It is a day dedicated to raising awareness of the scourge of AIDS, those characteristics of HIV infection, and remembering those who have died as the result of the devastation it causes the human body.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome was once a source of humor in my life. Nowadays I don't think it's very funny ... mainly due to the many who have succumbed to it's dreadful effects; but also due to my childhood friend, Chris who I lost some 22 years ago but did not find out until quite recently.
It is a sobering notion of that painful mechanism taking him with my understanding of it's course and outcome.
Be all of this as it may, I hope you'll take pause and say a little prayer for those suffering with the disease and contribute to those efforts to eradicate it if you can.
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- November 30, 2016
- The End of November
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The end of November finds me continuing with the sadness of January. Those holidays marking the season for which I waited so long are pretty much wasted on my downcast spirit qwelling my personal celebratory attitude with a dark melancholy I've not known in years.
I attempt a brave face for many around me and joke in the presence of an ache that won't go away. I try to be courageous and certainly redouble those efforts to perform at work.
But the hole in my life is large and will not be ignored. If I thought counselling would do any good I might pursue it but like everything else I have had to surmount in my years upon the Earth this grieving is simply another aspect with which I must contend.
Christmas and New Years rapidly approach yet I am far from that warm and fuzzy feeling I used to anticipate so long before they arrived.
It's hard for me right now. I guess that's why I just seem to want to do work related tasks presently in an effort to occupy my mind on something aside from my grief.
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- November 29, 2016
- Hybridized System Benefits
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I've been reviewing the performance of the web server after the retool I did over the Thanksgiving weekend. I've noticed a lot more control with no degradation in speed over the stats I'm viewing ...
And I've attained that ability to thwart exploits earlier and much more effectively on two fronts as well.
• I can instruct the web server to reject a remote host. • I can firewall the remote host or it's entire subnet. • None of these were effectively possible prior to the retrofit and reload because I was getting inadequate log information.
It would seem that the world could be a kinder, gentler place and forego those antics like scraping, SQL injection, and other ploys others have designed to either insert a control mechanism or damage or otherwise deface the presence of others.
Inasmuch as the elimination of this tendency by those who perpetrate such shenanagans is unlikely; I must remain content to eliminate them from the equation altogether.
This has nothing to do with the fact that web server exploiter like spammers and other netizens who are arrogant and abusive should be reigned in at each and every opportunity.
It's merely the fact that I'm going to terminate such goings on as exploits, scraping, and the like with extreme prejudice because I decline to let those perpetrators get over on me just because they would. I'm as tolerant as the next guy but BEHAVE or BEGONE !
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- November 28, 2016
- Cyber Monday
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Here we have yet another shopping notion called "Cyber Monday" which is that Monday immediately following "Black Friday" (aka Buy Nothing Day).
It just so happens that this day is also the Monday following Thanksgiving and it's a wide scale retail event promotion what are billed as exceptional bargains with the emphasis being "online" shopping ...
I don't see much in the way of shopping going down for me personally. Though I'm sure the bargains can be had I'm not one of those shoppers bent on getting over on the holiday season.
Suffice it to say that those few gifts I will purchase this year will likely be less sale items and more selections from the heart.
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- November 27, 2016
- Rise in hate crimes following Trump win
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I have been reading with amusement the many idiotic rantings in the news threads regarding a rise in hate crime following the Trump win.
With individuals like George Soros financing wide scale subterfuge in his attempt to buy the democrats, progressives, and aliens in the United States this propaganda neither surprises nor alarms me.
Fortunately there is a sector of the populace which can see through the false appearances of deplorable behavior set into motion by those on the Soros payroll and others simply out to buy votes with entitlements for illegals who shouldn't even be in the United States anyway.
Which democrat or progressive or soros employee did this ?
Suffice it to say that the letters threatening genocide, the vandalism, and other planted evidence should be investigated fully prior to being proffered as fact by the mainstream media.
However, getting the facts straight is simply something the mainstream media can't tolerate in the light of sensationalist falsehoods and therefore they will likely continue their status quo approach to fabricated news anyway.
Boo !
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- November 26, 2016
- Mission Accomplished
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I'm happy to report that my retrofit of apache on top of tomcat was successful.
The reading was somewhat lengthy and I certainly had a couple of trial and error configurations going on but all-in-all I now have all the granular controls on my web server that I have missed for so long now.
The control files ported nicely to the mail server. Unfortunately, the web server required an extended ramp up given my unfamiliar grip on the mechanics involved in making all the new distro components work harmoniously.
Now, all that safety net that I built into those previous iterations of the blog are back in full force and I'll be tweaking these more as time progresses.
You have to crawl before you can walk ... and this new version of the OS has certainly made me crawl around a lot getting to this point.
Humbly.
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- November 25, 2016
- Buy Nothing Day
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There is a rather obscure observance known as Buy Nothing Day (BND) held internationally in protest of consumerism. The primary participants are North America, Great Britain, and Sweden.
It typically goes down on the dreaded "Black Friday" that historical first and largest shopping day of the holiday season. In other locations it may be held on the day after Black Friday ... which is the last Saturday in November.
Regardless of your consumeristic bent, I hope you enjoy either day participating in your lack of consumerism ... or reveling in it along with the rest of the fray.
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- November 24, 2016
- Happy Thanksgiving
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- November 23, 2016
- Log Crunch Expansion
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I'm expanding my log crunching project to include the mail logs. Hopefully this will be an interim solution until I can get awstats configured ... most likely post apache integration which has yet to transpire.
My aim is to firewall less, but firewall smarter.
The web log crunching has proven very effective and efficient. Now if this translates directly to the mail logs I will be most happy.
Actually true nirvana occurs when I reclaim apache so I can use all of the features it has that tomcat lacks.
I spent years learning them and now they sit unused.
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- November 22, 2016
- Thanksgiving Uninvitees
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From the petty and sniveling file:
USA Today has been running an amusing piece on people being uninvited to Thanksgiving because of the presidential election ... and more importantly, who they voted for during the process.
A family gathering should not be subject to the squabbling of members fretting over the perception of electorial malfeasance regardless of how eggregious those actions may appear.
Once the deed is done serious damage occurs in the realm of relationships because voting is one of those personal things we consider rights of citizenship.
Casting them asunder in the name of some candidate is bound to have repercussions beyond the election and into the remainder of interpersonal relations in the absence of a forgiving personality.
I for one am certainly not one of those forgiving personalities. Not that I don't forgive ... but I certainly decline to forget.
However, I don't tread on a person's right to vote for any reason. If you are a person; whomever you cast your vote for is between you and your conscience.
I may ridicule your selection but it will always be alright with me that you made it. After all, you have that same right to vote as I.
It's simply a matter which should be set aside in the spirit of priorities during the holidays. Who you are is much more important than for whom you cast your ballot on election day.
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- November 21, 2016
- Sex with Robots to eclipse real thing by 2050
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Read an interesting tidbit in the news threads which has been duplicated across quite a few outlets that sex with robots will be more prevalent than sex between people by the year 2050.
Inasmuch as I will be 95 at that time I feel that the issue is pretty much a moot point given the fact that I have lost a lot of my own drive in that area ... however, we'll see how things are after I begin hormone replacement therapy in January.
Should I resume my oldie but goodie horndog state after ... say February we'll see how the robot thing goes.
Something about real human interaction attracts me much more than the thought of some subservient foam rubber fully articulated and jointed artificial courtesan. I just think there's something to be said for the real thing. Anyway, the cards are stacked against sex between people if we are to believe the various news threads circulating presently.
Hmmmm ... !! ??
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- November 20, 2016
- Transgender Day of Remembrance 2016
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Today there is an annual alternate lifestyle observance called "Transgender Day of Remembrance".
It is held by the alternate lifestyle community in memory of persons who have been murdered due to a lack of acceptance of their so-called "transexuality" aka transphobia. Transexuality is a failure to accept one's chromosomal configuration in otherwise normal individuals imparting a desire to be female in XY persons (who are male) and a desire to be male in XX persons (who are female).
There are various rationales for acceptance of this failure to thrive and despite the fact that your chromosomal makeup is ultimately determinate as to what your human sexuality is from a standpoint of somatic provisioning (body parts). This is incongruent with the thought processes of the transexual persons and there are many incidents of violance toward these so-called "transgender" individuals with a significant number of murders and other acts against their persons.
This day was founded in 1999 by one Gwendolyn Ann Smith ... who being a "trangender woman" was likely an XY person memorializing another XY "transgender woman" named Rita Hester from Massachusetts.
It is said to be a day of action whereas it was once merely a web presence and the only criticism I have for the entirety of the tragedy which is violence towards others because they are otherwise sexually oriented is the fact that the women are XY and the men are XX.
In the absence of a true mosaic (intersex) genotype I view the classifications of XX individuals as "male" and XY individuals as "female" as scientific and medical falsehoods.
This being said I am also diametrically opposed to violence towards any human being because they view themselves differently.
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