Diary of a Network Geek

Also known as “opsec for computer users”.

Though, to be fair, most computer users don’t actually need this kind of operational security. And, they certainly don’t refer to it as “opsec”, like I just did. These days, I pretty much keep my nose clean and my mouth shut, even online. I mean, look, the average troll on a message board really isn’t worth my time, especially at my consulting rates. What’s more, I have never, ever seen anyone convince someone with an argument, no matter how well reasoned, that the listener’s position is, in fact, wrong and the speaker really is the political/cultural/media genius that they both think they are and claim to be. I mean, literally, not a single time. Not even when I’ve been the one making the arguments!

Still, there are those last few idealistic “true believers” out there who continue to throw themselves against the colossus that is the internet comment board, or, worse, the government. (And, let’s face it, no matter who’s government it is, getting them to change is a pretty monumental task!) Those brave souls need to keep themselves safe. It’s for those crusaders that the Electronic Frontier Foundation created their series of tutorials which they’ve grouped together under the heading of Surveillance Self Defence. And, let me tell you what, these are some really smart people who have made some really great tutorials on staying safe, and as anonymous as necessary, on the internet while you protest against or agitate for your cause.
They’ve also been fighting for you, whether you know it or not, for years. Since 1990, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, also known as the EFF, has been fighting to keep your free speech alive, especially on the internet. They’ve fought everyone from the MPAA to the U.S. Federal Government and won often. You can read about their legal victories on their website.

In any case, the EFF is a worth cause, to whom I donated anonymously at DEFCON 20, and opsec is pretty important, too.
So, all in all, not my usual “fun” for a Friday afternoon, but still good to talk about.
Come back next week to see what else I have to share!

This post originally appeared at Use Your Words, my other blog!

I love science fiction film.

Or videos. Or books. Pretty much anything science fiction related is worth a look from me.
Once upon a time, I wanted to be a science fiction author. Not just a writer, but an author, which, to me, implies publication. I wanted to scifi’s answer to Ernest Hemingway. Instead, I became a professional computer geek and a consumer of science fiction in all its forms. Well, you win some and you lose some. At least I have that business degree to fall back on, right?

Anyway, that’s enough about my broken dreams for a Friday. How about a look at a scifi short, instead? That’s what I have for you this week, readers, via Boing Boing it’s a short titled Good Business, about an arms deal in the future that, frankly, goes about the way I sort of suspect every arms deal goes or has gone ever. But this one’s with aliens and pretty good special effects. And, it’s only about five minutes long, so you can sneak it in on a Friday while you’re pretending to work.

Have a great weekend and follow your dreams!

This post originally appeared on Use Your Words.

The Bard’s influence is deep and wide.

When people ask me why I revere writing and the written word as much as I do, I always go into long explanations about communications and the human condition and, much like John Keating in Dead Poets Society said, about using language for purposes of connecting for procreation. Or I may reference Lost Horizon by James Hilton, which was not only so popular it was the first so-called “mass-market” paperback book, but is responsible for giving us the fictional synonym for paradise, Shangri-La. When I first learned that, the idea completely captivated me. The idea that as an author, I could make a permanent mark on the English language really struck home. I don’t have children, so leaving a mark on history like that, well, it would be a kind of immortality. And, no single writer has made more of a lasting impact on the English language than William Shakespeare. Think I’m joking? Take a look at the phrases, compiled by Ed Friedlander, MD, aka “The Pathology Guy” which have become so well-used that we think of them as cliches:

* All our yesterdays (Macbeth)
* All that glitters is not gold (The Merchant of Venice)(“glisters”)
* All’s well that ends well (title)
* As good luck would have it (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
* As merry as the day is long (Much Ado About Nothing / King John)
* Bated breath (The Merchant of Venice)
* Bag and baggage (As You Like It / Winter’s Tale)
* Bear a charmed life (Macbeth)
* Be-all and the end-all (Macbeth)
* Beggar all description (Antony and Cleopatra)
* Better foot before (“best foot forward”) (King John)
* The better part of valor is discretion (I Henry IV; possibly already a known saying)
* In a better world than this (As You Like It)
* Neither a borrower nor a lender be (Hamlet)
* Brave new world (The Tempest)
* Break the ice (The Taming of the Shrew)
* Breathed his last (3 Henry VI)
* Brevity is the soul of wit (Hamlet)
* Refuse to budge an inch (Measure for Measure / Taming of the Shrew)
* Catch a cold (Cymbeline; claimed but seems unlikely, seems to refer to bad weather)
* Cold comfort (The Taming of the Shrew / King John)
* Conscience does make cowards of us all (Hamlet)
* Come what come may (“come what may”) (Macbeth)
* Comparisons are odorous (Much Ado about Nothing)
* Crack of doom (Macbeth)
* Dead as a doornail (2 Henry VI)
* A dish fit for the gods (Julius Caesar)
* Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war (Julius Caesar)
* Dog will have his day (Hamlet; quoted earlier by Erasmus and Queen Elizabeth)
* Devil incarnate (Titus Andronicus / Henry V)
* Eaten me out of house and home (2 Henry IV)
* Elbow room (King John; first attested 1540 according to Merriam-Webster)
* Farewell to all my greatness (Henry VIII)
* Faint hearted (I Henry VI)
* Fancy-free (Midsummer Night’s Dream)
* Fight till the last gasp (I Henry VI)
* Flaming youth (Hamlet)
* Forever and a day (As You Like It)
* For goodness’ sake (Henry VIII)
* Foregone conclusion (Othello)
* Full circle (King Lear)
* The game is afoot (I Henry IV)
* The game is up (Cymbeline)
* Give the devil his due (I Henry IV)
* Good riddance (Troilus and Cressida)
* Jealousy is the green-eyed monster (Othello)
* It was Greek to me (Julius Caesar)
* Heart of gold (Henry V)
* Her infinite variety (Antony and Cleopatra)
* ‘Tis high time (The Comedy of Errors)
* Hoist with his own petard (Hamlet)
* Household words (Henry V)
* A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse! (Richard III)
* Ill wind which blows no man to good (2 Henry IV)
* Improbable fiction (Twelfth Night)
* In a pickle (The Tempest)
* In my heart of hearts (Hamlet)
* In my mind’s eye (Hamlet)
* Infinite space (Hamlet)
* Infirm of purpose (Macbeth)
* In my book of memory (I Henry VI)
* It is but so-so(As You Like It)
* It smells to heaven (Hamlet)
* Itching palm (Julius Caesar)
* Kill with kindness (Taming of the Shrew)
* Killing frost (Henry VIII)
* Knit brow (The Rape of Lucrece)
* Knock knock! Who’s there? (Macbeth)
* Laid on with a trowel (As You Like It)
* Laughing stock (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
* Laugh yourself into stitches (Twelfth Night)
* Lean and hungry look (Julius Caesar)
* Lie low (Much Ado about Nothing)
* Live long day (Julius Caesar)
* Love is blind (Merchant of Venice)
* Men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water (Henry VIII)
* Melted into thin air (The Tempest)
* Though this be madness, yet there is method in it (“There’s a method to my madness”) (Hamlet)
* Make a virtue of necessity (The Two Gentlemen of Verona)
* The Makings of(Henry VIII)
* Milk of human kindness (Macbeth)
* Ministering angel (Hamlet)
* Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows (The Tempest)
* More honored in the breach than in the observance (Hamlet)
* More in sorrow than in anger (Hamlet)
* More sinned against than sinning (King Lear)
* Much Ado About Nothing (title)
* Murder most foul (Hamlet)
* Naked truth (Love’s Labours Lost)
* Neither rhyme nor reason (As You Like It)
* Not slept one wink (Cymbeline)
* Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it (Macbeth)
* [Obvious] as a nose on a man’s face (The Two Gentlemen of Verona)
* Once more into the breach (Henry V)
* One fell swoop (Macbeth)
* One that loved not wisely but too well (Othello)
* Time is out of joint (Hamlet)
* Out of the jaws of death (Twelfth Night)
* Own flesh and blood (Hamlet)
* Star-crossed lovers (Romeo and Juliet)
* Parting is such sweet sorrow (Romeo and Juliet)
* What’s past is prologue (The Tempest)
* [What] a piece of work [is man] (Hamlet)
* Pitched battle (Taming of the Shrew)
* A plague on both your houses (Romeo and Juliet)
* Play fast and loose (King John)
* Pomp and circumstance (Othello)
* [A poor] thing, but mine own (As You Like It)
* Pound of flesh (The Merchant of Venice)
* Primrose path (Hamlet)
* Quality of mercy is not strained (The Merchant of Venice)
* Salad days (Antony and Cleopatra)
* Sea change (The Tempest)
* Seen better days (As You Like It? Timon of Athens?)
* Send packing (I Henry IV)
* How sharper than the serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child (King Lear)
* Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day (Sonnets)
* Make short shrift (Richard III)
* Sick at heart (Hamlet)
* Snail paced (Troilus and Cressida)
* Something in the wind (The Comedy of Errors)
* Something wicked this way comes (Macbeth)
* A sorry sight (Macbeth)
* Sound and fury (Macbeth)
* Spotless reputation (Richard II)
* Stony hearted (I Henry IV)
* Such stuff as dreams are made on (The Tempest)
* Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep (“Still waters run deep”) (2 Henry VI)
* The short and the long of it (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
* Sweet are the uses of adversity (As You Like It)
* Sweets to the sweet (Hamlet)
* Swift as a shadow (A Midsummer Night’s Dream
* Tedious as a twice-told tale (King John)
* Set my teeth on edge (I Henry IV)
* Tell truth and shame the devil (1 Henry IV)
* Thereby hangs a tale (Othello; in context, this seems to have been already in use)
* There’s no such thing (?) (Macbeth)
* There’s the rub (Hamlet)
* This mortal coil (Hamlet)
* To gild refined gold, to paint the lily (“to gild the lily”) (King John)
* To thine own self be true (Hamlet)
* Too much of a good thing (As You Like It)
* Tower of strength (Richard III)
* Towering passion (Hamlet)
* Trippingly on the tongue (Hamlet)
* Truth will out (The Merchant of Venice)
* Violent delights have violent ends (Romeo and Juliet)
* Wear my heart upon my sleeve (Othello)
* What the dickens (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
* What’s done is done (Macbeth)
* What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. (Romeo and Juliet)
* What fools these mortals be (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
* What the dickens (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
* Wild-goose chase (Romeo and Juliet)
* Wish is father to that thought (2 Henry IV)
* Witching time of night (Hamlet)
* Working-day world (As You Like It)
* The world’s my oyster (Merry Wives of Windsor)
* Yeoman’s service (Hamlet)

It’s amazing, isn’t it? And, yes, I’ll grant you that some of these are more familiar with people that have, perhaps, read a bit more literature than others, but a lot of them come up in every-day speech. (And, yes, if we’re being completely honest here, some of these are the first verifiable attribution of the word or phrase, and may have been already in use.)

Also, as an aside, check out the Pathology Guy’s website. He’s a pretty interesting guy and his site, which reminds me of the earliest days of personal websites, is filled with amazingly fun ways to waste some time on a Friday.

This post originally appeared on Use Your Words.

Bonus points for you few who will get that reference.

I’ve always been fascinated with caves. Maybe it was my early exposure to the animated version of the Hobbit, which features some very important scenes in caves. Maybe it was too many hours playing Dungeons and Dragons. Maybe it was a National Geographic special. I honestly can’t tell you any more, but I definitely pay attention when anyone starts talking about caves. And, the biggest cave that we know of currently is the Hang Son Doong cave in Viet Nam. It’s absolutely amazing and, freakishly, only relatively recently discovered. It’s a protected site, but you can see amazing video of it. And, that’s what I’m sharing with you this week, amazing videos of the largest cave in the known world.

These videos, by the way, come to us via Boing Boing
Here’s a nice, edited version Ryan Deboodt’s video footage of the cave from YouTuber Oxalis.
And, for comparison, here’s Ryan Deboodt’s original footage, with less editing.

They’re both pretty amazing and definitely worth a quick look as a break on your Friday.
Enjoy and see you back next week!

This post originally appeared at Use Your Words.

Regular readers know how I love free.

Okay, look, I put this stuff out there week after week and I’m honestly not even sure that anyone ever reads this at all. I don’t know, maybe I just do it to keep the search engines happy, or maybe just out of habit. Worse, maybe I just keep doing it because to stop would mean that this blog and site are meaningless and so is my entire life. Yeah, so best not to think about that and keep posting. Besides, even if I just keep posting this stuff so that I can find it for my own, personal use later, that’s reason enough.
So, in that spirit, I’ve been thinking about my sad and inadequate graphic design skills and how to improve them. Naturally, as a blogger and WordPress user, I thought I might try, yet again, to make a custom theme. Specifically, a prettier child theme of the default twenty-seventeen theme that comes with WordPress. Naturally, I’d want to pretty that up a bit more than I normally do, which means adding graphics. And, until I get better at all that actual graphic stuff, that means I’d use some stock graphics. But, since I’m a cheapskate and a skinflint, according to my ex-wife, I went hunting for free stock sites. I found three that I liked. Or, I found one and then two sites that are either a list of free stock sites or an aggregated search of free stock sites.
The first is a list of 25 “sublime” sites to download free stock images by Sitepoint. And they are 25 great links to great stock photos.
The second is an aggregated stock photo search engine, that also lists some other sites, called furiouscamera.com. Their search is pretty good, though obviously limited, and will also include non-free images, for which they get a percentage, I assume, so watch what you try to use. Still, my searches brought up a good selection.
The third link actually started my search, though it’s also found in the list at furiouscamera.com and is AllTheFreeStock, but it also has a whole lot more there for you, like brand style guides and SEO tools and more. I listed it last because, frankly, there’s so much there it’s kind of overwhelming. If you’re a designer, though, especially for the web, it’s definitely worth a look.

So, there you go. Free stock graphics and photos for your work.
Come back next week to see if I delve even deeper into my existential fears and trauma!

This post first appeared on Use Your Words.

Well, there goes my dastardly scheme to sell “improved” free books from Project Gutenberg!

Okay, I wasn’t seriously thinking of that, but I do know that there are people doing it. Seriously, if you go look at the cheap ebooks on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, you’ll see quite a few that are really just repackaged books taken from Project Gutenberg. Sometimes, those repackaged ebooks have improvements to them, like a nice cover or improved typography, but often, they don’t even have that. They’re just the same basic ebook that volunteers at Project Gutenberg have made from copyright free material with a poorly made, low-end “cover” attached to it. Usually, they’re not even worth the dollar or two these repackagers are asking. Now, though, they’re worth even less.
Now, there’s Standard Ebooks, which takes ebooks from sources that include Project Gutenberg, cleans up the editing, pretties up the typesetting and adds what look like much nicer “covers” and then offers them to you for free. Yes, for free! They’re relatively new, so their library of free, open-source, public domain ebooks is still growing, but their volunteers are hard at work adding more. Frankly, it seems like the perfect place to grab some classic reading for a free beach or pool-side read!

Give them a look and we’ll see you next week with something new and exciting.
Well, at least new and probably free.

This post originally appeared on Use Your Words.

We pretty much all hate ads, right?

Especially on our favorite websites. Yes, I know, those ads help pay for the site, and I even have some, hopefully unintrusive, ads on one of my sites. But, the honest truth is that even I hate ads. In fact, I’ve been thinking about dropping the ads on Diary of a Network Geek completely and just coming up with a product to sell to try and pay for the hosting. It’s not much per month, and I love my websites, so I’d pay it no matter what, but defraying that cost would not hurt my feelings. In any case, all that said, even I hate web advertising. Adblockers have been around for a long time and there are probably thousands of browser plugins and addons to hide or remove those pesky ads. This week, though, I have a new variation on that for you; Intently.
This browser plugin for Chrome, Firefox and Safari doesn’t just remove advertising on websites, it replaces it with pretty pictures and inspirational quotes. You do have to sign up for a free account, but then you can download the plugin and get inspired instead of sold to by your favorite websites. There is a “Pro” version, which costs money, that lets you add more “premium channels” of content, so you could make the ad replacements skew heavier toward fitness or motivational quotes or puppies or whatever you’re into. I, personally, have stayed with the free account and been quite happy with it in the two weeks or so that I’ve been using the plugin.

So, there you go. Short, sweet and to the point. Free ad-blocking with a paid option for better replacements. (By the way, I don’t get any money if you upgrade to the paid version, so don’t do it thinking you’re helping me!)
Next week, maybe I’ll test my audience and share something even geekier than that!
Come back and check it out!

This post originally appeared on Use Your Words.

I’ve been sick for the past two weeks, so I’m short on thinky-talky-writey energy.

Still, trooper that I am, I’m here with a link to fabulous free things for you, like I have been every Friday for years beyond easy count. Honestly, I’m not even sure why I continue to do it most weeks, but, I suppose the habit is just hard to break. Based on my stats, hardly anyone is even coming to this sad, old site any more. Still, as Yukio Mishima once wrote, I have “[i]ncurable hope, like an obstinate case of scabies, which lodges, damp and reddish, in the infected skin, producing a constant itching, and refusing to yield to any outer force.” Hope that one day, my real and true audience will arrive and worship me as the literary deity I once hoped to be. Yeah, I have a hard time keeping a straight face when I write junk like that, too, so it’s okay to laugh. I’ve given up any literary ambition.
Still, I do like a good turn of phrase, and if it has a nice picture to go with it, all the better. And, that, dear readers, is why I’ve chosen to share with you the Library of Congress Webcomics Archive. That’s right, only the best government approved webcomics for you, dear readers. Also, in spite of that spectre of governmental approval, the collected comics are quite good, including such varied fare as “XKCD” and “Girl Genius Online Comics!” to name two of my personal favorites.

Anyway, I’m on antibiotics, so that’s all I’ve got this week. Like it or leave it.
See you in the funny papers!

This post originally appeared on Use Your Words.

Are We Becoming Obsolete?

There’s lots of talk in the news of artificial intelligence replacing humans.

I don’t put much stock in it though, because, frankly, we are a ways off from that becoming a reasonable and less expensive alternative to most jobs humans do. Not all, to be sure, but, most. And, granted, automation has replaced a lot of jobs already, but artificial intelligence has to improve a LOT before robots can replace people in positions that require critical thinking skills, like, for instance, Network Administrators. On the other hand, most banks seem to have all but replaced tellers with ever more advanced ATMs. And, there’s been more talk about having kiosks for ordering fast food, too.
Okay, so maybe, as a tech who, according to the site Will Robots Take My Job?, has just a 3% chance of being replaced by robots and, in fact, has a projected growth of 8% in the next thirteen years, I’m a little smug.
Want to know how safe your job is? Hit that link and see. Probably, if you have the critical thinking skills to read my blog on the regular, you’re going to be safe. Or, you’re already unemployed. Either or.

Have a great weekend!

This post originally appeared on Use Your Words

Ambient music with the gamer in mind.

Last week, I brought you a blog which explored the latest, and classic, MP3 music. This week, I’m bringing you a link to more music, but of a different kind.
I’m sure it won’t surprise anyone who reads my blog that I was a table-top role-playing gamer. Yes, that means Dungeons and Dragons, as well as others. Games like Traveller and Top Secret and Star Frontiers, not to mention the more obscure Gamma World and Villains and Vigilantes or Dragon Quest. (Yes, Dragon Quest was a table-top game once that had nothing to do with the more well-known video game.) Back in the day, we generally played these games in someone’s spare room or basement and, if we were lucky, there was a TV with a VHS player where we could run appropriately themed movies in the background for a little “mood music” soundtrack.
Now, though, I’d bet that pretty much everyone has a computer, of some kind, in their favorite game area. And, what with all the digital music available, means a much easier means of playing some appropriate music in the background. Which brings me to the link I have to share with you all today, Tabletop Audio, “ambiances and music for tabletop role playing games”. They pretty much have a background track for every genre and most every situation. Everything from a Wild West Saloon to a haunted House on the Hill to a Busy Space Port to the Colosseum or an Elven Glade. They also would probably make good background noise for genre writers looking to get into the right mood for their work.
And, yes, all free, though they do gently ask for free-will donations.

Come back next week to see if I even bother blogging anything at all!
And have a good weekend.

This post originally appeared on Use Your Words.