Jan18

A question…

by phlll on January 18th, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Posted In: activism, apple, computers, editorial

So if SOPA ever passes, will I have to be more clever in getting my pirated materials?

Anyhow, as funny as the Wikipedia page was the first two times I went to it, it was really getting annoying later in the day. It turns out that I use that site for reference several times a day.

Although normally it’s to find out things like what the highest charting songs (U.S.) were from “Huey Lewis and the News”.

I’ve read through three of the seven Harry Potter books now. My bud James says they actually get good from the fourth book forward. To be honest, if I don’t like the first three books, I can’t imagine staying at the show for the next four loooong books.

On a totally different note, I’ve learned more about iOS forensics in the last week than I knew as a whole beforehand. Some hints (if you follow the computer security scene).

  • In order to get an image from a phone with a backup password, you kind of have to hack it (it’s probably a SOPA violation even mention this.)
  • iPads without a password are a dream to work with
  • The iPhone 4S seems to be the device to have right now if you don’t wish for people to be able to examine your stuff. I’m positive that this will change before too much longer.

I didn’t bother contacting my Congressman or Senator about the whole “you’re going to break the Internet” thing, because frankly they are probably too corrupt to even care. I’ll bet they also drive drunk, and pass school buses that are unloading children at nursery homes. While voting in session via text message from behind the wheel.

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Jan10

Harry Potter (Book One)

by phlll on January 10th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Posted In: books

For a few years I’ve had Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Book 1) on my “To Read Before I Die” list. One of the main things keeping me from doing so wasn’t the fact that it was a “Children’s Book”, but was actually the length.

For the record, you shouldn’t let the length bother you. (That’s what she said! HAR!) I got through the book in just a few hours of reading, and found it to be pretty enjoyable. From what I remember of the movie, this was a far more quality use of my time.

To be fair, I’d paid about 60% attention to the first movie, about 50% attention to the second, and was totally baffled at the last movie. So even though I have a general idea of how everything shakes out for Harry, it’s still a good read.

One also should ignore all the websites out there that claim the series is akin to devil worship. Some people would prefer you read nothing at all. At least kids read this series and enjoy it, rather than just wasting time watching TV. It’s just good, escapist fun.

Maybe it’s just me, but I liked it better than The Hobbit, which I finally read last year for the first time. And I liked the Hobbit.

Although it didn’t have Fluffy the three-headed dog in it.

If you read the review right before this one, it’s also about a dog.

But I digress. Read this book if you haven’t already. Since it’s been out so long, you probably already have. That’s fine.

I’m catching up with you.

 

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Jan05

A Dog’s Purpose

by phlll on January 5th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
Posted In: dogs

My brother-in-law recommended that I read “A Dog’s Purpose” by W. Bruce Cameron, telling me that if I wasn’t moved at least twice in the book I “wasn’t human”. I took that as a challenge, and failed.

I don’t really want to give away any parts of the book for you, other than he has multiple lives (much like his feline cousins) so we will stick with the very general features of the story.

It’s told from a dog’s perspective, although it kind of has a 3/4 perspective so that you as a human can also pick up on things that blow by the dog that he just dismisses as babble. He also doesn’t much care for cats, although most of my dogs actually like my cat.

They probably would agree that they’re smarter than the cat though (which would probably be inaccurate.)

It’s mostly humorous, with some more dramatic and suspenseful portions. You could easily read the book in 2-3 sessions, and will definitely prove you to be human or not.

And it’s written by the “8 Simple Rules” guy. No, not the one that died, the other one. I haven’t read that book, so don’t hold it against me.

 

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Nov14

PFIC Goodness!

by phlll on November 14th, 2011 at 11:43 am
Posted In: computers, Uncategorized, work

Last week I went to the PFIC Conference in Park City, Utah. Mainly I went to take a boot camp on incident response, because I’m the only one who does it at my workplace and I wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything I could be doing better or differently.

If you’re in the computer security field, this is a conference I’d recommend for a couple reasons:

  1. It’s very inexpensive. If you only want to go for the seminars and not the boot camp, it’s cheaper yet.
  2. You will see some wild stuff from the vendors hall that you may not even know exists (but you are looking for)
  3. If you get really lucky, you may actually find a ski resort open on Thursday after everything is over.

One of the parts I enjoyed most was how down to earth the people at Paraben are. I spoke with both of the CEOs, they are very accessible, friendly people. All the staff I spoke to were very cool.

When I first saw Amber (one of the CEOs) she was working the desk getting people registered. I can’t imagine the CEO where I work at (well, anywhere I’ve worked at) getting in the trenches. You have to respect that. Her husband Greg also has perhaps the coolest job ever: futurist.

If half of what he says comes to pass we’re going to look at the current age like we currently look at steam-powered train engines. It’s going to be cool. At least for our grandchildren.

Park City is also a cool town, especially if you’re into art galleries. It’s also FAR more genteel than it used to be, according to people who are in the know (and who used to run around the town in their college days.)

It's covered. So you can't vandalize it.

They take their vandalism seriously in Park City.

I’m already psyched for next year, a rare feat for any conference. Until then, I guess I’ll practice drinking shots from a glass mounted on a ski.

Because they do that sort of thing in Utah.

 

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Aug26

Where were you when the big one hit?

by phlll on August 26th, 2011 at 10:35 am
Posted In: dogs, work

Yes, it’s been four days.. but people are STILL talking about the massive earthquake that hit the eastern United States.

Everyone has a story about where they were, what they were doing and the immediate panic that ensured.

Here’s my story:

I was in my office. I didn’t feel anything. Someone from the next building asked if a big truck was idling outside.

Then I got a text from my wife about the earthquake. So I hopped on to usgs.gov and sure enough we had one.

Oh, and one of the dogs was freaked out when I got home.

My life will never be the same.

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