Diary of a Network Geek

You know, sometimes my silly Friday Fun Links have themes.
Lately, it’s been a casemod theme. I guess, I’ve been feeling creative lately or something and the way cool casemods have caught my imagination. In any case, my freakish, albiet subconscious, obsession is your gain. This week, two links to freaky, fun casemods, both of which come to us via Gizmodo.
The first is cool because, well, it just is. I don’t quite know where this is from in the many worlds of science-fiction, but it would fit right in on almost any Kubrick set. And, you can even buy it! “It”, in this case, is the ACON 5 Limited Edition Isotope system from 3XS Systems. It looks like something right out of “2001: A Space Oddessy”.
The other casemod is a little more, well, whimsical. It’s my favorite robot, Bender from Futurama. The Bender CaseMod Project page is in some Nordic language that I don’t speak, but the pictures are cool. Still, if you’re put off by the language barrier, you can always go to the Gizmodo Bender CaseMod page and see a picture there.

And, hey, they’re all fun links, so, go ahead and click on them. It’s Friday, you deserve it!

No, that is not what I’m doing these days.
But, as you regular readers know, I do love computer security. So, when I saw this article on WiredNews about the U.S. Military’s l33t hacking unit, I had to blog it. There was a time when I thought I’d love to do this kind of work. Who knows, maybe I still have a chance to get in, though I think I’m a little too old for that now. And, I have to admit, I’m no where near being the kind of computer geek that they’d most likely be looking for anyway. I certainly haven’t done anything even close to illegal in years. In fact, lately, I haven’t even done much normal security work around the office! Though, that may be changing soon.
You know, this article got my juices flowing so much about hacking and security that I might just build myself a Linux security box. You know, something with NMap on it and some other tools for scanning and testing network security. I could run it against my own, personal home network and, if I can get permission, I can test the security at the office, too. It would be fun, and it might just show a little bit of initiative on my part. These days, everyone is worried about data security, or they should be, so having a methodology for testing security where I work could be a Good Thing, as Martha Stewart would say.
Well, a neat article and something to think about. Enjoy!

Not sure how this slipped by me last month, but, well, here it is now.
Brent Spiner of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, and Houston native, has signed on to a new science-fiction series called “Threshold”. The series, according to this link on TVTome, is about a group of scientists, led by a female “government contingency analyst”, whatever that is, who encounters an alien lifeform. No details on what part Spiner will play, but somehow I doubt he’s the alien. Details are, of course, somewhat sketchy, but I think it’s great that Mr. Spiner is working again.
(Oh, and I got the original story from this link at TrekWeb.)

Wow, German engineering at its finest.
Okay this came to me via Boing Boing and I translated it via Babelfish, but here’s a cool link to the German CaseMod Contest. These are some intense cases. Everything from the all wood case, which looked like a winner to a simple collection of colored, lighted exhaust fans, this article had some really cool pictures of casemods. The best, though, was not in the article, but on the Boing Boing page that referenced the article.

Really cool stuff. I’m so inspired I might just do a casemod of my own!

Maybe I should have saved this for Halloween…
Nah! For those of you who know me, you know that I love Clive Barker. As an author, you pervy freaks, as an author! Anyway, when I first read his stuff in college it was a startling eye-opener. It was truly like nothing I’d ever read before. And, when I saw the Hellraiser movies, well, you can imagine the impact it made on me.
I felt similar impact when I saw this casemod: PuzzleBox. The bizarre, translucent case with the infamous “Pinhead” looking out is just way too cool for words. You have got to see it for yourself! (Here’s a link to the completed project, by the way.)

Anyway, it’s some freaky fun for a Friday, so click the link! You know that morbid curiosity will get to you sooner or later!

I collect everything.
And, I throw virtually nothing out, either. I came across pictures that I couldn’t even date because they were so old yesterday. Earlier this evening, I was printing out e-mails from 1998. I have half-finished stories that go back to the early 90’s or late 80’s. Text files of mysterious and unknown origin.
Why?
Who knows. In some cases, I hold on to them “just in case they’re usefull one day”. In other cases, it’s a sense of impending nostalgia. And, in some cases, it’s a freaky sense of “I’m going to need to re-read this one day, just to remind myself what I was thinking.” It was mostly this last reason that I found myself printing e-mails tonight. Things I’d predicted, which have since come to pass, even though I tried hard to believe in another outcome. I’m continually amazed at mankind’s skills at self-deception, especially when I’m that particular “mankind”.
Well, live and learn. I cried a little tonight, for the things I’ve lost since moving down here in 1998. Things I think I was always meant to lose. But, then, I’ve gained so many things, too, so, it’s not all bad.
My advice to you, faithful readers? Keep those old files. Save them on CD-Rs or on tapes and look back at them years from now. See how their meanings have changed and reflect on what that means to your life. Change is inevitable, but direction is optional.

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"Everyone deserves to be happy, but not if that happiness is dependent on imprisoning or enslaving another human being."
   --Unintentionally ironic comment left on a blog

Well, I just sent a friend home with leftovers.
A friend of mine was feeling out of sorts today, as his wife has been out of town for a bit and will be for a bit more. So, he came over and we ordered Domino’s. He brought cheesecake and fancy root beer from Whole Foods. We just sat and watched some “true crime” drama on A&E that my therapist had thought I’d find interesting, which I did. It was adult subject matters, so I won’t discuss it here. (And, no, it wasn’t any deviant behavior that I actually performed, just stuff I knew a little too much about!)
Mainly we talked and were companionable. And, of course, he tried to get my poor, nervous dog to trust him. She’s even more skittish than she was before she left me for a bit. Poor thing. I think that plane flight really messed her up. But, she sure is devoted to me. Even Paul, my friend, had to mention that. She noticed every time I got up or left the room or entered the room. And, most times, she followed me. She’s a good dog. It was good for her to interact with some other people this week. I hope to do that more in the coming months. She really needs to be socialized more. And, so do I.

Ever wonder what’s on that magnetic stripe on your credit card?
Well, there are ways of finding out. Or, as they say in Wilwauke, “we have ways of making you talk”! (That’s an old joke from Boy Scout camp in Pierson, Wisconson.) Interestingly enough, a gentleman with the prestigious name “Billy Hoffman” has developed a little project called StripeSnoop that is all about getting at the information. The link first came to my attention via an article at Slashdot, so if his site is down, give it a couple of days for the “new” to wear off and the Slashdotters to get over it, then go back. Mr. Hoffman’s site has information on everything you’ll need from the software to building the hardware reader. Pretty cool!
Now, some of you may be asking, “Uh, isn’t this illegal or something?” Well, as far as I know, no, it’s not. Reproducing what you read off these magstripes would definately be illegal, but just read ing it shouldn’t be a problem. Of course, the credit card companies might not want you to know what they encode on their cards, but I doubt that it’s illegal. And, what is encoded on those cards is pretty interesting. For instance, did you know that your ATM card has your PIN encoded on it? That’s why you have to go get a new card and reassign it a PIN when you lose your old one. Now, that may have changed recently, but I doubt it since banks generally fear change. And, I have to admit, I’ve always wanted to know just what that magstripe on the back of my driver’s license has on it.
In any case, it’s an interesting project and I thought I’d post it. Oh, by the way, this project is not connected with either my father, William F. Hoffman, Jr., my brother, William F. Hoffman, III, or my eldest nephew, William Thomas Hoffman. Just thought I’d clear that up. Though, you can see why the name caught my attention!

Well, isn’t that interesting.
Our un-named someone at IP 68.106.38.39 apparently had a change of heart. Some unkown person at that IP address changed one of my web account passwords back to what it had been. I wonder why? Well, whatever the reason, it was uncommonly civil of them. Thank you, it saves me a small bit of hassle.
Curiouser and curiouser.

Wow, classic, retro computing!
Hey, this brings back memories…. I was in high school when the Apple first hit significant production. In fact, we had an Apple I in our fledgling computer lab when I was a Freshman, though it was quickly replaced with an Apple IIe. (Yeah, I’m poor-folk, but I grew up in a pretty affluent neighborhood. Thanks, Mom and Dad!) That was back in the days when there weren’t such things as “floppy drives” or “CD-ROM drives”. Nope, you loaded your programs from tape. Audio tape! Yep, it was the Dark Ages, allright. And I was there to see it. God I feel old all of a sudden….
Anyway, now you can relive those glory days of yesteryear with your very own, home-built AppleI. Yessirree, according to this article on Wired News, there is now a book out that teaches you how to build your very own Apple I. It’d be a challenge for most of us, now that we’ve gotten used to all the fancy bells and whistles, but it could be fun. A neat learning project, or even a science fair project for someone. And, you never know, it might just inspire someone to invent the Next Big Thing in computing!

Besides, it’s Friday and if you’re reading this blog you’re geeky enough to think building your Apple I is cool. Just like me. So, go ahead, indulge your guilty geek pleasure and click the link.