Thu, 31 Jul 2008
More SF "Hacker" Stuff
Infoworld continues to have the best information on the Terry Childs case (new article)
(page 3) entering the VPN information into the court records made them public -- the San Francisco district attorney's office committed a significant security breach, opening up VPN access to anyone who cared to look at the document. Although the passwords alone were not enough to provide complete access to the city networks, they did constitute one part of the VPN's two-phase authentication configuration.And then later on the same page:
Nearly two days after the DA's office divulged these passwords to the public, DTIS changed all the passwords, locking everyone out of the city VPN services until they had reconfigured their client to the new passwords. Ironically, this was the first time the city network failed since Childs' arrest.
... there's more to read here ...
31 Jul 15:34 | /rants_and_raves | 0 comment(s)
Out at Training
I know some of you have been missing my online musings as of late. I've been in San Jose at a Cisco phone training course. And fortunately, I've been able to stay at Cory's pad in MV to make it a 5 min commute to the training center. Plus staying in MV lets me live "the South Bay lifestyle"-- ie shorts and flip-flops (as opposed to the jackets needed in the SF "summer"). Anyway, I thought you'd like to see what I was learning in the course. This video will explain it: Yes, basically I'm learning to fight dinosaurs. 31 Jul 13:25 | /tech | 1 comment(s)
Thu, 24 Jul 2008
I Miss MTV Too :(
B&U has a good post up today abut MTV
In our lifetimes, MTV has popped up out of nothing, cut its own place in the world and sat in that place until they completely ditched the M and stuck mostly with the TV.The post is here and it's more a rant about movies and Viacom and biz. But it's a good read. 24 Jul 13:50 | /rants_and_raves | 0 comment(s)
Viacom's teenaged cash-baby has grown stale to those of us that have been through one too many reinventions. We keep crying out: "Show more videos, you're MTV!." and they keep responding with the very rational argument that they have study after study proving that no one watches videos on MTV no matter what time they air them, and MTV needs to make money as a brand. Videos are no longer financially viablefor Viacom's flagship property.
Wed, 23 Jul 2008
What About The DVD Reviews
Someone asked me recently why I haven't posted a DVD Roundup in a while. Well, the answer is that I haven't really seen anything worth writing about.
I'm not sure if it's because I've been caught up in other things (Euro2008 in June?, work?, tech crap?) or if I was just watching more TV from the DVR. Or maybe I've just been negative about everything. . . I have a theory about the movie-watching-slowdown, but I'll save that for a future blog post. But I tell you what, I've gone through my Netflix rental history and my stack of borrowed items. Here's what I've seen recently:... there's more to read here ...
23 Jul 23:42 | /movies | 3 comment(s)
Even More . . .
Inforworld has great column up with more details about teh Sf h4x0r if you're interested. Some key points/quotes:
.As for the impact of [Childs'] actions to the rest of the City, the mayor's statement basically has it right. The network is completely up and running. No servers that I'm aware of are affected. No one has had any downtime (yet). But until they get back into those routers, they can't make any changes. I don't know yet if Terry's lockout applies only to the FiberWAN or also to the other routers, firewalls, switches, etc. in the City network..Wheeee 23 Jul 13:53 | /rants_and_raves | 0 comment(s)
.Terry's area of responsibility was purely network. As far as I know (which admittedly is not very far), he did not work on servers, except maybe VoIP servers, AAA servers, and similar things directly related to the administration of the network. My suspicion is that you are right about how he was 'monitoring e-mail'; it was probably via a sniffer, IPS, or possibly a spam-filtering/antivirus appliance. But that's just conjecture on my part..
A key point made in the e-mail is that Childs' managers and coworkers all knew that he was the only person with administrative access to the network. In fact, it was apparently known and accepted in many levels of the San Francisco IT department. Again, quoting from the e-mail:
"This is where it gets tricky for the prosecution, IMO, because the localized authentication, with Terry as sole administrator, has been in place for months, if not years. His coworkers knew it (my coworkers and I were told many times by Terry's coworkers, 'If your request has anything to do with the FiberWAN, it'll have to wait for Terry. He's the only one with access to those routers'). His managers knew it.
"Other network engineers for the other departments of the City knew it. And everyone more or less accepted it."
sf h4x0r (again)
So . . . Batman wannabe Newsom just goes down to the jail, talks to "teh h4x0r" and gets the passwords, no problem. Wow. sfgate story here. No press conference needed, no talking to the DA first . . .he must've wooed him w/ his Bruce Wayne looks and a pack of cigs . . . I like this part:
"He gave the mayor the codes, and then we went over to (the Technology Department)" and gave the codes to computer engineers, Ballard said. "And when we got back to City Hall, we were each separately questioned by the (police) inspector, because we are now witnesses in the case."I can see them calling back-- "uh, can we talk to the prisoner again? yeah, hey, that pw didn't work . . .what? no, I put gnewsom@sf.gov, what? take out the @sf.gov part? Hey, that worked! Thanks! Kbye!" And the last paragraph of the story let the defense attorney get in a dig:
But there was a snag, Ballard said - the code that Childs supplied to Newsom didn't function immediately. Newsom had to call back the attorney, who provided more information, and the system started working, officials say.
Referring to the felony computer-tampering counts, Crane said, "Mr. Childs intends to not only disprove those charges, but also expose the utter mismanagement, negligence and corruption at (the Technology Department) which, if left unchecked, will in fact place the city of San Francisco in danger."I gotta get a job with the city . . man, 6 figures!? Wooo . . . 23 Jul 11:46 | /rants_and_raves | 0 comment(s)
Mon, 21 Jul 2008
No More Ebert & Roepert?
I saw this on a Cinematical.com rss feed, but it's from CNN originally:
Ebert and Roeper leaving 'Ebert & Roeper'This news came after Roeper announced that he wasn't renewing his contract. :(
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert says he's cutting ties with the television show that he and the late Gene Siskel made famous.
21 Jul 13:01 | /movies | 0 comment(s)
Again With The BO Records?
I (still) wish theaters and movie production companies would report the number of tickets sold over a given weekend, not the amount of sales of tickets. It annoyes the crap out of me. Well, not too much really . . .
21 Jul 12:36 | /movies | 0 comment(s)
Fri, 18 Jul 2008
Babysitting
I'm babysitting this weekend. You can see the kid in the pic to the left.
I also plan on being selfish too and using Dustin as a chick-magnet in the park.
Hey, he needs a place for the weekend, and I need his magnet-services. It's all fair, right?
So far, he's yet to barf, pee or poop on any of my stuff. So, so far, he's doing better than I am.
As an aside, he's a living alarm clock-- I forgot about that.
18 Jul 12:06 | /general | 6 comment(s)
Wed, 16 Jul 2008
omg teh sf h4x0r
That SF-city worker network guy story seems to be getting weirder, to me at least. There's another story up today. Two things stick out-
-$5MM bail? Isn't that like 5 times higher than what an average murder suspect has their bail set at in SF?
-The original insubordination suspension from work was probably mentioned at the end of the article:
On June 20, authorities said, Childs started taking photographs of the Technology Department's new head of security after she began an audit of who had password access to the system. The woman became frightened by Childs' behavior and locked herself in an office, authorities said.I can't imagine any IT Security staff that I've worked with locking themselves in their office when staff took their pic w/ a cellphone. That part just seems weird. And the bit about creating a way to spy on his bosses' emails? Shoot, every Exchange admin I know does that on occasion. I'm not trying to justify it, it's just that it's not very creative or new. And you don't need anything special to do it. In fact, if your boss leaves his/her computer unlocked you could just set up a new filter in their email client to bcc you on their emails. And if you had server access, you could do the same. . . 16 Jul 13:02 | /rants_and_raves | 3 comment(s)
His supervisors' concern grew when it became clear that Childs had not only given himself exclusive access to the system, but had created a way to spy on his bosses' e-mails related to his conduct, authorities said.
Tue, 15 Jul 2008
Pandora on the iPhone
I use Pandora now and again- (sorry, I never got into last.fm although I still play with it on occasion). For the most part it's pretty cool, and as long as my work laptop isn't slowly dying under the weight of my trouble ticketing system, I get some groovy tunes playing. But Pandora now has an "app" for the new 3g iPhone (not out for my 1st gen until the 17th). That's kind of cool But the reason I'm posting their announcement vid below is because I chuckled when I saw who the founder of Pandora was listening to. Check it out- it's Jodi and Tessa's favorite artist evar: edit-- the vid's iframe doesn't embed right on my site due to css. Just click here. If you're a Pandora user already, share one of your stations with me so I can check out what you're listening to. 15 Jul 22:26 | /tech | 3 comment(s)
zom No Password?!
When I first read this article I thought "ha ha"(nelson voice). Then 5 minutes later I thought, "126K+ a year?! Shoot, I need to go work for the city" 15 Jul 14:53 | /rants_and_raves | 0 comment(s)
Mon, 14 Jul 2008
You're the Man now, Dog!
I have all these unfinished blog posts that I keep meaning to flesh out and post on the site, but I keep forgetting to do so. But recenlty I saw that the WSJ had a mention of two sites I like to visit- 4chan and YTMND (you're the man now dog). I've written about YTMND before and had been working on a top 10 list of my favorites recently because some friends of mine and I were discussing this on IRC. But then again, my non-IRC friends think YTMND is stupid. Hopefully this list will change your mind (take the time to let the sites load, oh and wear headphones). My top ytmnd sites in no particular order: Tom Jones alarm simple and funny Latarian (2) great how fast they turned that news story into two quick sites (I can't find the other one I was looking for). Also, after that incident Latarian beat up his grandmother over some chicken wings in Target (I think). nedm inuit NEDM is it own ball of wax, but that one cracked me up. 300 roof is on fire There were more than 300 parodies of 300, and they burned out quickly, but that one's good. Cosby Bebop to this day, cosby's famous speech to parents continues to provide fodder- and that one is pretty creative for the source anime material . . . Excalibur (let the boy try)this one is just too great 60 minutes Slayer warns us of a tornado, not that original, but there's something about those short and simple ones. . . . And there's also the medieval meme that cracks me up on occasion (1 2) What are your faves? I know Errick, if he's out there, loves the Raptor Jesus sites. . . Add your links to the comments. 14 Jul 12:43 | /humor | 2 comment(s)
Wed, 09 Jul 2008
Small Rant- SFGate.com
I've ranted about my hometown newspaper's site a lot. God knows my friends and I could go off at a moment's notice about that "blog" on the homepage (no I won't link to it). But it makes me more mad when the SF paper does it too. It makes me wish that Ms. Norman (AHHS Journo teacher) would fly out here with a billy club and "talk" to some of the editors. Do people even know the difference between an article, an editorial, and a column any more? No, I'm not going to rant about the ridiculous story on today's front page on the print edition about the cost of suicide barriers on the GG Bridge (that's ridiculous enough as it is). btw- front page? isn't there a war on? isn't Cali on fire? No, what set me off is this "piece" which seems more suited for
Homophobic, or just edgy? Parsing language at a popular San Francisco bar. What's annoying to me (aside from the loss of focus in the story) is that other sites/blogs picked up on that piece like it's a news article. It's not. Anyway, I'll let it go.. . the commenters to the story picked apart the piece enough anyway:
camperdudeI didn't mean to go off about that particular bit so much, my original point was that news sites are frequently mixing in their articles, editorials and columns as links on their main pages with equal weight. And I'm not sure that's a good thing. Anyway, as it says in there, the guy still went in, met his friends and got drinks . . . 09 Jul 13:41 | /rants_and_raves | 1 comment(s)
7/8/2008 1:14:49 AM
okay... as someone who worked many years in a bar exactly like the one you described... back in the days when people still used to go to rock shows... let me guess what happened. It was probably a busy day - exceptionally busy. The only time they have bouncers at bars like that (I'm guessing its name starts with a Z- and ends with an -eitgeist) is when its really busy or the weekend. The bouncers are required by law to card everyone, and the patrons - guided by some hidden law - all seem to be required to give them grief about it. If you look at the window of Fat City on 11th Street, the sign says, and I quote... "I am sorry that the city is making me make me card you. Just let me see it and don't be an *sshole about it." While I understand that bouncers can be gruff (a rude bouncer?!? who would've thought it?!?), their job is to stop problems (and problem people) before things get inside. Usually their instincts are correct.
prettyvacant
7/8/2008 12:41:19 AM
This is just absurd. If a straight man had that experience and complained, the entire gay community would respond with a "honey, just get over it...." What a ridiculous article, and what a waste of time.
nkfarnsworth
7/8/2008 2:03:44 AM
What an inane, non-story. "Ryan" describes his own outfit as "totally faggy" and then is conflicted over whether or not he was the victim of a homophobic comment? First of all, the bouncer's comment was vague enough so there's nothing that can be proven one way or another, so overly-sensitive "Ryan" needs to stop whining and get on with his life. Secondly, don't describe your own clothes as "totally faggy" and then desperately look for homophobia in others.
mickdog
7/8/2008 3:38:29 AM
if the responses to this "article" are taken as a vote, it's a landslide victory for those who say "buck up and get over it". Who hasn't been offended in some way at any public area, let alone gruff bar?
Mon, 07 Jul 2008
B&B
Just a quick bar review for you today-
For Cory's Bday, Jen reserved the private room at Bourbon and Branch on Jones (near Geary). I had checked out their site before the event and was excited about going, but a bit apprehensive about the bar. I love bourbon, but I was worried that the bar and their house rules would be annoying or that it would be too shiishy. But nope- we had Yanni the bartender in the party room pouring some of the best cocktails I've had in a long time. I didn't even have a manhattan- I had one of their "Revolver"s which was bourbon, orange bitters, and tia maria (yes, that sounds weird, but I swear it was really nice and the orange wasn't overpowering but really well balanced). Later, Angie bought me a "Red Hook" which was really nice as well but I wasn't at the bar so I'm not sure what was in it other than bourbon (and rohypnol). The bar might not be what a lot of you like- but for a one or two drink before he disappears kind of guy like me, it's quite nice. I just need to go back and try the main bar on a weeknight. Who's with me?07 Jul 14:52 | /food_and_drink | 4 comment(s)
Tue, 01 Jul 2008
Raccoons in my trash bins!
This is for Jim C- The SF Gate has an article about crews of recycling bandits in SF. As the article says -
Though the men didn't knock over the bins or leave other trash in their wake, some San Francisco residents say they know when the recycling bandits are on the march when they see tipped-over cans and litter strewn on the ground and hear clanks of bottles and cans at 3 a.m. One waste company says it has received 20,000 complaints of curbside recycling theft in San Francisco.In my hood, it used to be that one older woman would go around and get the bottles and cans out of the recycling on Thursday evenings (not 3am). But the past few months, I have noticed the "crews" running through. Maybe there will be a gang war of recyclers. They can organize the gangs based on which kind of glass they recycle- brown glass, clear, or green. But so help me god, if they start singing at 3am and wake me up again I may have to get a pellet gun. . . 01 Jul 13:15 | /humor | 4 comment(s)
