Eric's Ideas

Prepared for Irene

2011-08-25T12:35:00.001-04:00

Gathering and doing an inventory of our emergency supplies. Freeze-dried foods, several gallons of water, communications equipment (including long range HF radios), flashlights, radio receivers (shortwave, AM (MF), FM, and NOAA All-Hazards), and extra batteries. Lots of other things completed as well including a family emergency plan.

Are you prepared?

Storm damage in Newport News

2011-06-24T17:56:00.001-04:00

This afternoon I was greeted by the following message:

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA
345 PM EDT FRI JUN 24 2011

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
EAST CENTRAL YORK COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST VIRGINIA...
NORTH CENTRAL CITY OF NEWPORT NEWS IN VIRGINIA...
NORTHERN CITY OF POQUOSON IN VIRGINIA...

* UNTIL 430 PM EDT

* AT 342 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZE HAIL...AND
DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR
GRAFTON...OR NEAR PATRICK HENRY FIEL...AND MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.
 

Which yielded the following damage:

Large limbs down in my neighbor's back yard.

Another shot at those limbs.

Damage to the garden.

Tomato plants knocked down.

Luckily nothing was broken, just bent.

Most impressively, this tree split three ways.

The storm also dropped 1.23" of rainfall and dime-sized hail.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Just finished reading "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming"

2011-02-22T23:29:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading Mike Brown's How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming. I was lucky enough to request the book from my local library before it had actually gone into circulation and so I didn't have to wait for too long before being able to pick it up.

Dr. Brown did a fantastic job writing his book. He told the story of discovering numerous Kuiper Belt objects in such a way that I swore I was standing behind him, looking over his shoulder the entire time. He shows that there is not only a person involved in the work being done but also a family (and friends and colleagues).

The depiction of the discovery of Eris, among dozens of other objects at the outer reaches of our solar system, make you realize how much work goes into such a discovery and the possible pitfalls that can appear without notice.

If you are even remotely interested in astronomy or sciences you should definitely read this book. It is a real eye-opener into the world of a planetary astronomer.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Google introduces two-factor authentication

2011-02-10T13:55:00.000-05:00

Google introduced two-factor authentication today but fell short, in my opinion, on providing support for solutions that do not include a telephony device. For years security experts have known that username and password authentication is a poor, at best, solution for authenticating a user into a computer system. Still many companies have been slow to introduce an additional layer of authentication to their systems.

Companies like eBay and PayPal now provide two-factor authentication as an option utilizing VeriSign's Identity Protection (VIP) solution. Other companies and organizations have adopted Yubico's token solution Yubikey. I'm sure there are other solutions out there but these are the two big ones and the ones that I utilize myself.

Being an open source user and developer I have relied on Yubikey for my authentication. They have many solutions for utilizing their product in many different environments and all are open source and available for free. All you have to do is purchase their hardware token and you are good to go.

I really wish that Google had provided support for the Yubikey as this has the ability to be a much more secure and available means of authenticating than utilizing a smartphone or text message. Perhaps this will be a solution they will provide in the future.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

A Trip to the Williamsburg Farmer's Market

2010-10-02T14:21:00.000-04:00

A sample of the produce purchased at the farmer's market.

We got up this morning and traveled to Williamsburg with the intent to visit the farmer's market. While not a huge market, the vendors setup their tables and tents on the closed street in Colonial Williamsburg. Goods for sale included fresh, locally-grown produce, honey, pies, and cookies. There was even a guy there sharpening knives. I'll be visiting him again soon with our kitchen knives that have been honed down to nothing.

After making our purchases we headed over to a nearby craft market which had several vendors hocking their wares of jewelry, pottery, and paintings. It was neat just to walk around seeing what everyone had brought.

We also ventured onto the the W&M campus and found a couple of Geocaches. It was so nice just to get back outside since Nicole ruined last week with copious amounts of rain. Of course the National Weather Service has forecasted rain for tomorrow so we are getting ready to get back outside to enjoy the sub-70F temperatures and cloudless sky.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Rain from ex-Tropical Storm Nicole hits Southeastern Virginia harder than Hurricane Earl

2010-09-30T10:25:00.000-04:00

When Hurricane Earl threatened the Virginia coastline, earlier this month, he left without causing much damage. According to my CoCoRaHS rain gauge Earl dropped 0.15 inches of rain over two days. With the exception of a light breeze you might not have known there was anything about. Nicole, on the other hand, is proving to be a bigger foe.

For the 24-hour period beginning Wednesday morning at 7:00AM EDT we have received 7.42 inches of rainfall. That brings the rainfall total to 10.51 inches since Sunday which is now starting to cause flooding problems all around the Hampton Roads area.

Right now strong thunderstorms are threatening the area with tornadoes and more heavy rain. I'll provide updates when I can.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Testing Twitterfeed

2010-09-28T10:05:00.002-04:00

Just testing my Twitterfeed account. This should show up on both identi.ca and Twitter.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Proposed encryption "backdoor" for the US Government and how it will fail.

2010-09-28T08:54:00.001-04:00

If you haven't heard, the President is drafting legislation that may require hardware and software developers to install backdoors in their encryption solutions and give the keys to these backdoors to the US Government. In my opinion, this is an increadibly bad idea.

This has already been tried and failed. As reported by PBS Newshour, back in 2005 Greece created backdoors into the cellular telephone networks to allow the government real-time access to this communication system. It was promptly hacked by foreign governments and Greece's own government phonecalls were monitored.
The United States Government doesn't have a good handle on this court ordered wiretapping program. As reported by National Public Radio (NPR), when the Bush administration began its wiretapping program it circumvented the US Constitution and seldom got the required warrants. While I can't say for sure, I'd be willing to guess that this project continues. Lawsuits have been filed but I haven't heard a definitive answer to these.
Open source puts the control in the public's hands. Sorry, you won't find this kind of control if you run one of Microsoft's operating systems but if you are one of millions that run open source Linux you have complete control over how your software operates. While developers of ssh may be required to put these backdoors into their software, open source users could just as easily remove the weakness prior to utilizing the tool. This could actually be a useful tool in a legal battle. The government couldn't charge you with not using "approved" encryption software unless they were trying to break into your data stream which would mean that they would have to have a warrant and have to defend the warrant. (I am not a lawyer. If this is something important to you I would recommend discussing it with your attorney.)
Wouldn't the ~~mear~~ mere threat that others could be watching your Internet traffic severely reduce the amount of ecommerce that happens? I wouldn't want to pass my personal information across an insecure link. Information security professionals have been beating the drums to get lay people to understand to look for the lock on webpages before submitting personal information. Now that will be useless.

Have I missed anything?

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Disseminating emergency information to the public.

2010-09-02T10:57:00.003-04:00

My alma mater, East Carolina University, recently completed a study on where people turn to obtain information when a storm threatens (specifically tropical storms and hurricanes?). The survey covered the Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) counties in North Carolina and yielded some interesting results. If I were an emergency management director in one of these counties I'd be pouring over my county's report and would be using this information to better my dissemination of critical information and to develop public education programs in hopes of guiding people to use more official information sources.

Most concerning, of those interviewed 64% said they never used NOAA Weather Radio. I knew that this was probably one of the less utilized resources but this is also THE resource for real-time emergency information. Besides coming from the source for all things weather, NOAA weather radio (all-hazards radio) is directly tied to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) which pushes information to the public about all types of emergencies and not just those that are weather-related.

I can understand people not gathering around their NOAA All-Hazards radio receiver listening to the computerized voice read off the local weather and waiting for information that they could easily find elsewhere but the NOAA All-Hazards system is different from other resources in that it:

is a push system meaning that it pushes emergency notifications out and doesn't wait for someone to seek the information.
is comprised of hardened radio transmitters that are designed, built, installed, and operated with emergencies in mind. Your cell phone, Internet connection, and television transmissions are not.
comes directly from the source for the information which varies significantly from what you find when you watch your local weatherman on television.

Emergency management officials have the ability to trigger an EAS alert and provide information to the public in a very timely manner that would be received over a NOAA All-Hazards radio receiver. The receiver would remain quiet until a Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) alert is received for your area.

This isn't to say that emergency managers should ignore other forms of dissemination. Social networking solutions like identi.ca and Twitter provide an easy, and free, method of sending out information to the public. This, however, requires Internet access for both the sender and the receiver and cannot be relied upon after a disaster has occurred. Some counties utilize a service that provides the ability to ring everyone's phone and deliver a recorded message which works only if you are home and only if your phone is working.

Because we don't know what will be available after a disaster has occurred you should utilize different methods of dissemination to make sure the public has the information they need to make good decisions. But the public also has the responsibility to arm themselves with the tools they need to receive this information from as close to the source as possible. For me that means having my NOAA All-Hazards radio receiver plugged in, turned on, backup batteries changed when I change my smoke detector batteries (twice a year), and tested weekly. This also means that I subscribe to a SMS service which sends emergency alerts to my cellphone and I know what radio broadcast stations are utilized for EAS alerts in my state.

Information being key to every emergency response and recovery effort, every citizen should know how to obtain emergency information and should have a NOAA All-Hazards radio receiver in their home and at their place of work.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Efficiency of turbines

2010-07-17T20:41:00.000-04:00

I wonder if there is a more efficient medium for turning electricity-producing turbines in nuclear, and other, power plants.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Memorial Day - Remembering those that gave us what we have.

2010-05-31T14:12:00.005-04:00

Memorial Day, to me, is more than remembering those that died for America. It's also for remembering those that survived and lived to tell their stories. Everyone that served in the US Armed Forces should be honored and remembered today.

Like many Americans my family has a strong military history. I'd like to take a moment to write what I remember about my family.

Father - Gene H Christensen, Capt USMC
Vietnam War, VMA-242, VMA-224 and others.

Grandfather - John F Davenport, USA
World War II, 101st Airborne Division

Great Uncle - Madison "Juddy" B Vann, USN
World War II, USS Maryland

Great Uncle - Reynold S Davenport, Master Sergeant USA
World War II, 88th Infantry Division

While their contributions each are different they all made a difference in my life and the life of every American. I solute each of you and every veteran.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Summer energy conservation tips.

2010-05-12T12:29:00.000-04:00

Thought I'd pass along a link to Dominion's summer energy conservation tips.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Spill baby, Spill!

2010-04-29T23:06:00.000-04:00

A good Q&A from the Washington Post got me thinking about the Republican's "Drill Baby, Drill". Someone hit the nail on the head... "Spill Baby, Spill!". In the past few weeks we have lost over thirty lives to coal mining and twelve lives lost to offshore drilling. We currently have five thousand barrels of oil being spewed into the Gulf of Mexico and it is threatening the coastline, now, which will adversely affect wildlife and the fishing economy. Personally, I hope BP gets taken to the cleaners for this one. After they pay back the US government and their third-party contractors for the clean up and they get judgments against them from everyone who sues them, I hope they don't have any more of their dirty profits left. Of course the Republicans will probably keep off shore drilling going for as long as it makes heavy profits and keeps padding their pockets.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Left Facebook

2010-04-27T21:23:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I left Facebook. You probably didn't notice. As of today I've only had one person ask me about it which means that either a) people didn't notice, b) people don't care, or c) people don't feel like asking questions.

I feel it is probably a combination of the above, really. Most of my "friends" weren't really and I also feel that people just don't really care enough to ask questions and be inquisitive. I'm not exactly sure why that is, either. My neighbor used to watch me walk out to a thing in my front yard every morning but never asked what the thing was and why I went out there. He died a few months back never knowing that it was a rain gauge.

Anyway, I left Facebook because I felt like I was learning too much about my "friends". I couldn't believe how cold, heartless, and self-centered many of my "friends" were.

There were also some serious privacy concerns with using Facebook so I felt it easier to just delete my account versus trying to mitigate the risk.

There is a downside, however. There were some "friends" whom I had gotten used to communicating via Facebook and I didn't grab their email addresses before vacating.

So I'll be trying to reconstruct my list of email addresses...

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Camping and Caching at Northwest River Park

2010-04-26T00:32:00.000-04:00

I got back from a camping and geocaching event at Northwest River Park early this afternoon. The main purpose of the trip was to do some work at the park which we finished around 12:30P on Saturday afternoon. After that I did some hiking around the park and picked up a few caches along the way.

The threat of rain was constant but held off until a little after midnight Sunday morning. By morning, though, the sun was peeking out through the clouds and the day turned out to be good for a short hike and a few more cache grabs.

The weekend wasn't all about the cache finds, though. I had fun with friends I hadn't seen in a while, too. I had a blast just sitting around the campfire chatting and laughing.

Unfortunately Amanda stayed home to study for her exams so she didn't get to experience all the fun. I'm sure she'll enjoy the upcoming September event, though!

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

McAfee Anti-Virus + Microsoft Windows + poor implementation proceedures = Dead computers

2010-04-22T16:05:00.000-04:00

In light of the recent snafu by McAfee I believe I can sum up all the problems in a simple bullited list:

Don't use Microsoft products for mission-critical systems. Come on, why would you want to use software that has the worst track record on earth for being security liabilities waiting to happen?
Test ALL updates in a test bed before rolling them out to the enterprise. Had the Kentucky State Police been practicing this very basic method of configuration control their computer systems wouldn't have shutdown on them.

Seriously, thought, why are we not using Linux more in mission critical systems? Or maybe we are and we just don't know it. Maybe they are just using a different anti-virus solution. All I know is I'm glad I run Linux and don't have to worry about such problems. It's your money, spend it how you like. Linux is always going to be cheaper, though.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Senate Bills S.1134 and S.1856

2010-04-17T23:14:00.001-04:00

I just sent the following letter to my Senators, Senator Mark Warner and Senator Jim Webb regarding Senate Bills S.1134 and S.1856. I hope to get a response from their offices soon.

I am writing in reference to Senate bills S.1134, Responsible Use of Coal Act of 2009, and S.1856, A bill to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to clarify policies regarding ownership of pore space. Both of these bills attempt to make coal, natural gas, and oil safer to the environment while ignoring the main problems of using these non-renewable resources.

While storing carbon dioxide underground sounds like a solution I see this as more of a problem. Carbon dioxide, being a gas ~~and being lighter than the surrounding air, naturally rises~~, will try to find a way out once under pressure and there is little one can do to stop it. What kind of accountability do either of these bills put on companies to make sure that what they are putting underground doesn't seep up through the ground and escape into the atmosphere anyway? Unfortunately there is no way to prove that the carbon dioxide is staying underground and that is a problem. This is similar to the current problem we have with the toxic chemicals that are released when coal is burned. Nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, lead, and other heavy metals are all bi-products to burning coal. These chemicals cause health problems, including cancer, and are all extremely hazardous plants and trees. Of course there is no way to put blame on a particular plant because everyone is burning coal meaning the problem only gets worse and no one has to pay to clean up the aftermath.

Think coal is a cheap fuel? When you consider all the externalized costs, from harvesting the coal to burning the coal, this fuel is one of the most expensive! Physically harvesting coal does extreme damage to the environment. Not only by releasing poisons and toxins into the air near mines, but they also make the nearby soil unusable for farming due to leaching of chemicals, and the people that work there are exposed to a nearly uncountable number of toxins. If the workers don't die while working in the mines, like we recently saw in West Virginia, then they die afterwards from one of a number of horrible deceases that the companies fight tooth and nail to keep from having to pay reparations.

Think coal companies are providing jobs for depressed areas? Why is it that coal areas of West Virginia have the lowest median household income in the country and a literacy rate that puts them on par with Kabul, Afghanistan? If the coal companies weren't there other businesses might be there or those people would be somewhere else doing work that wasn't so deadly. And it is so deadly because coal companies put more emphasis on profits than safety and certainly that of environmental impact.

The same could be said about oil and natural gas. While natural gas isn't quite as toxic to burn, when compared to coal and oil, it still has problems especially when you consider the damage to the planet that comes about strictly from harvesting the coal and oil.

I'm tired of my tax dollars being given to these companies to fix problems they created themselves. We should be leaving the coal, oil, and natural gas in the ground, where Mother Nature put them because they were so dangerous to all living things, and spend our money on energy sources that won't kill us all.

Senate bill S.1134, itself, is giving almost $4 Billion away to help companies fix problems they brought upon themselves. I think that this money would be better spent on wind, solar, hydro, and other renewable sources that won't end up killing us and our planet. By investing in these renewables, we can drive the price down clean energy and drive the price up on dirty energy which makes it better for all of us involved, except for those that got us here in the first place.

To quote Albert Einstein: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” And by wasting our tax dollars on bandages instead of switching directions with energy production we are simply using the same thinking we used to when we created the problems we have.

Thank you for your time.

Edited to correct a misstatement.

Eric's Ideas Blog by Eric H. Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Yahoo Beats Feds in E-Mail Privacy Battle

2010-04-17T13:42:00.000-04:00

A win for the good guys (the American public). As reported by Wired, Yahoo Beats Feds in E-Mail Privacy Battle.

As a summary, a warrant is required to gain access to email less than 180-days old and a subpoena is required for email 180-days or older. A warrant is harder to obtain, requiring probable cause, which increases security around those younger messages. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has an excellent guide to privacy and is definitely worth the read.

Eric's Ideas by Eric H Christensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Well said!

2010-04-12T14:20:00.000-04:00

Another stupid thing Sarah Palin has said...

2010-04-12T13:58:00.000-04:00

Wow, I knew that Sarah Palin wasn't the smartest but now I'm wondering how dumb she really is. She recently spoke at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference where she spoke about energy and global warming. If you didn't see her speak you can watch the video. Basically she says everything we are doing now shouldn't be done and that we should wait for an American to come up with a better option and in the mean time we should just go with fossil fuels.

So let me get this straight, we shouldn't be paying attention to what the rest of the world does because we invented the telephone? We shouldn't try because a couple of scientists said some dumb things that didn't actually break any of their research. Forget global warming for a second. All the toxins shipped, poisons released into the air, and environmental damage that is done to get oil is okay but if someone is providing clean energy from wind or solar then they should stop.

I wonder about Sarah Palin and I wonder more about the people that follow her. If this isn't a clear depiction of the brain damage that is done by the use of all these toxic chemicals that are put into products then I don't know what is.

Nice weather to stick around for a while!

2010-04-02T18:53:00.000-04:00

If you live in the NC southeast you are probably enjoying the same weather I am... warm, cloud-free, and beautiful! I plan on staying outside and enjoying it as much as possible!

North Carolina can generate 20% of its electricity using the wind.

2010-03-24T19:09:00.000-04:00

According to an Earth Techling article, North Carolina could generate 20% of its electricity by using off-shore wind farms. North Carolina already has plenty of incentives for individuals to go green with renewable energy. Gathering wind energy would help everyone in North Carolina green up their act! I can't wait to see this project get built!

SciFri on Jon Stewart show

2010-03-24T18:37:00.002-04:00

Just saw this on the Science Friday website. Jon Stewart makes mention of one of my favorite programs!

Pen Pal with Manuel Noriega

2010-03-22T19:33:00.001-04:00

I just got finished listening to the podcast of "My Pen Pal" from This American Life. I believe the word is dumbfounded. The generosity, sincerity, and openness that General Noriega gave to this little girl left me awestruck. Not that he didn't have it in him to do those things but that she got the opportunity to do those things. It's a great story and I recommend listening to the podcast!

Privacy risk in your email client?

2010-02-02T17:25:00.000-05:00

Clean up ("Expunge") Inbox on Exit

That was a switch in my email client Thunderbird 3 that I did not have checked because I wasn't sure what it was doing and I certainly didn't want my Inbox to be cleared every time I exited the software. So I decided to do a search for it to see what I could find out. Here's what I found:

When you delete messages in an email program ("email client") or move them to another folder in the program, they are not yet physically removed - even emptying the Trash does not remove them. Instead, Thunderbird and other email programs simply hide the "deleted" messages and mark them as ready for physical removal. The process of physically removing such no longer visible messages is called "compacting". This means that messages that you think you have deleted are not actually physically removed until you manually or automatically compact the folder they were (are) in.

This, to me, is a privacy and a security concern. If you are following a policy of deleting sensitive messages after you have read them, you may only be hiding them from yourself and not actually deleting them. This means that the messages are still out there and available for discovery.

So do some research and make sure your email client is doing what you want it to do.

Hiding shortwave broadcasts to Haiti

2010-02-01T10:16:00.006-05:00

Glad to see that the BBC has learned, once again, that sometimes the best way to get into an area is using shortwave.

"BBC World Service has ended its broadcasts in short wave to the Caribbean. However short wave broadcasts in English were reinstated due to the situation in Haiti."

What I don't understand is why the BBC and the VOA don't want to be known as shortwave providers. Bruce Sherman, with the BBG, posted a comment on a blog story saying "We’re not using shortwave for Haiti; we’re using FM and some AM." This was clearly incorrect because Joan Mower, VOA Public Relations, said

"While television and new technologies like Internet and cell phones are the focus of strategy at the Broadcasting Board of Governors that oversees the U.S. government’s international broadcasting assets, shortwave radio remains by far the most effective means of reaching audiences around the world, particularly in the developing countries. It is far from an outdated technology, as is sometimes allleged. A highly relevant case in point is earthquake-stricken Haiti, the poorest and most underdeveloped country in the Americas. Since the earthquake on January 12, Voice of America has expanded its broadcasts in creole to 10.5 hour a day during the week and 9.5 hour during weekends."

In addition, Macon Dail, chief engineer at VOA Site B (in Greenville, NC), said

"On a normal day, VOA Site B transmits around 2 hours of Creole to the Caribbean. Since the quake, that air time has increased to more than 15 hours."

So why lie about it? Is there a PR reason why you want to hide this wonderful service that you are providing?

Snow in Newport News

2010-01-30T13:29:00.001-05:00

Just made a video, with awful narration, showing the snow in Newport News. Feel free to check it out.

Congress - Senate = Efficiency

2009-12-21T10:03:00.000-05:00

Anyone else feel like if we removed the Senate from Congress that the House of Representatives would... represent us better? If for no other reason, there are too many Representatives to pay off to get a bill passed with a pet project in it.

Of course removing parties from the political system would probably have similar results. Political parties do nothing more than tell people how they should vote even if their constituents don't want them to vote that way. "I'm a Republican and I follow the herd no matter what" is a bad way to legislate.

Missed the snow...

2009-12-21T09:56:00.000-05:00

We went to the beach last weekend (yeah, I know it's December) and missed all the snow at home! Of course we didn't get as much as snow as they did in Maryland/DC. According to the National Weather Service we got 1.2 inches while areas in Maryland received 14 inches of snow. Starting Thursday and ending this morning (Monday) I received 1.45 inches of liquid precipitation.

NASA: Colliding Auroras Produce Explosions of Light

2009-12-17T12:36:00.000-05:00

Wow, this is pretty cool. I wonder what it looked like to the naked eye on the ground!

Congress or the EPA, which is better for us?

2009-12-17T10:55:00.000-05:00

Companies are now trying to figure out if they want to throw their support behind Congress for a "Cap and Trade" model which allows them to continue to pollute while passing along the cost to their customers or the EPA's potential rules on curbing polution. I'm going to side with whichever stops the polution all together.

We need a solution that makes coal (which is the absolute worst thing on earth) and other non-renewable, fossil fuels more expensive than more responsible energy sources.

Tired of the Senate and Republicans

2009-12-17T08:40:00.000-05:00

I awoke this morning to news coming across my radio. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the Republicans broke democracy, again, by forcing a 700+ page amendment to be read on the floor of the Senate, yesterday. The amendment would have provided a Medicare-like coverage to any American who wanted it. There's nothing like providing freedoms and choices to the American public that fires up Republicans in Congress to want to shut it down. And I understand why they wouldn't want such a thing. I think Senator Sanders said is right when he said "The day will come, although I recognize it’s not today, when the U.S. Congress will have to vote to stand up to … all those who profit every single year off of human sickness.” Yep, Republicans are all about the backwards Robin Hood plan. Take every last cent from the middle and lower class and give it to the upper class. That's America for you.

Ever get the feeling that if we just removed the Senate from Congress we'd be much better off? Heck, the House of Representatives (properly named as they are actually representing the people) have already passed a healthcare bill and have moved on to more things. When will Congress learn? When will we learn not to put these people into office?

Christmas Movies

2009-12-16T08:15:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year, again. And what would Christmas be without the movies that we all love. Personally, I've only seen one of my three Christmas movies this year which is a bit disappointing. But it appears I get to see one of them on Christmas Eve. Here are my favorite Christmas movies (in no particular order):

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
A Christmas Story
Scrooged

The first I've seen (but would definitely see again), the second one is running for twenty-four hours on TBS Christmas Eve, and the third I haven't really seen advertised. I know I can get it "On Demand" for $2.99 on FiOS so I might just do that. Anyone want to add on to my list?

Protecting your email from disclosure

2009-12-06T20:32:00.001-05:00

Climate talk, Alaska government business, and Dave Briggs. What do these three things have in common? Each of these subjects had more light shown on them by someone cracking email messages and releasing those messages to the public over the Internet. Of course there are many more of these events that happen on a daily basis but those three were the bigger ones that I could think of right off hand.

So, the bigger question than why did I choose those three examples is how do we prevent such disclosures in the first place. The answer is actually simpler than you might think.

So let's break this down into a couple of different categories. We'll start with authenticating a user into their email messages, go to protecting your message while it's enroute, and end with protecting the message while it's being stored.

So, if our email providers would provide its users with better ways of authenticating then many of these problems will go away. Multi-factor authentication is an absolute must! Something you know (a password), something you have (a token), and something you are (biometrics) make up multi-factor authentication. When you hear two-factor authentication they are talking about using two of those to authenticate you into the system which makes guessing your password much more difficult.

A good example of a company that gets it would be Paypal. They provide an option to use VeriSign Identity Protection in addition to a username and password. This is an excellent example of two-factor authentication in action. A good example of a company that doesn't get it would be AOL. They allowed their customers to use RSA SecurID tokens to provide that second authentication factor but recently have decided to stop the use. Apparently they feel that their customers are too stupid to push a button, see a number, and type it into a computer. Bottom line is you should take your business to someone who takes authentication security seriously.

For those who use passwords (and we all do) make sure you use passwords that don't include words that are in the dictionary, family or friend names, or things that other people could guess. Dictionary attacks against passwords are common because they work! Oh, and your favorite football/baseball/hockey/whatever team's name is in the dictionary used to crack passwords... trust me. And the longer the password the better. You can exponentially increase the strength of your password by using twelve characters instead of eight, but don't let that make you stop at twelve characters.

Okay, so we are using strong passwords and we have a token... that's all I need, right? Not quite. What would you think if I told you that your message can be read at any point along the route to its destination? I've always been told that sending an e-mail is like sending a postcard but it's actually worse. Imagine sending your message on a postcard and then handing it to someone else for delivery. Do you trust that unknown someone who is going to deliver your message? Well, e-mail is exactly the same way. So what can you do? Easy... use encryption!

Oh, I know you don't think you know anything about encryption and the mathematics that goes along with it but it's really easy! There are basically two different styles of e-mail encryption: S/MIME and GPG (or PGP). While S/MIME is more hands off, it costs money to get a certificate from a Certificate Authority and then you are basically trusting their trust model taking you out of the trust equation. I'm not impressed. GPG, which is the open source implementation of PGP, is my choice.

I'm not going to get into how to setup GPG because their are lots of instructions already out there. I have helped with documenting how to setup GPG in a number of email programs and even for Gmail, though, and will say it's in the Fedora wiki.

Anyway, what makes GPG my choice is that not only is it easy to use but it is also completely free. You generate your own keys and can upload your public key to one of the public key servers (like MIT's key server) which makes your public key available to all. This doesn't make your encryption vulnerable because this is public-key cryptography and not symmetric cryptography.

So by using GPG (or S/MIME or PGP) you are protecting your message enroute to its destination. So now we have to protect the message now that it has arrived and is being stored on someone else's server. The great thing is that because you encrypted before transmitting it can only be decrypted by the recipient so it should be left unreadable to anyone cracking into your email account. So if the cracker does get into your mail account then all they will find is scrambled up characters that they won't be able to understand.

So by using multi-factor authentication and encryption you can remove most risks of using e-mail and keep your information yours. Think you don't need to protect your information because no one would want to see what you write? Think about the three subjects we started with and remember those are just some of the more recent, public examples. It happens every day.

Dell Inspiron Mini 10

2009-12-01T08:06:00.001-05:00

I just spec'd out a Dell Inspiron Mini 10 laptop. Dell will load Ubuntu instead of any Windoze variant so I'll get around the Microsoft tax and that meets my criteria. I'm curious if anyone has one of these laptops and how you like it.

Amateur Radio in January's LINUX Journal

2009-11-30T11:51:00.000-05:00

I just received the January 2010 issue of LINUX Journal and was surprised to see a penguin with headphones, a microphone, and a amateur radio callsign! Awesome! There is a four page article which starts to show the relationship between open source software and amateur radio and how one can benefit from the other. There are so many options for amateur radio operators within the Linux community and the price is definitely right... free!

The kitchen is almost back to normal...

2009-11-29T19:57:00.001-05:00

This was the third year we have hosted Thanksgiving for our family and we have got cooking everything down to a science. Everything cooks based on a schedule and everything just goes like clockwork. We also have near-real-time dish washing occurring. This is where the only problem in the entire process begins. No one else knows where things go in my kitchen so once items are washed and dried they end up in odd places. I think I've straightened everything out now and can successfully cook a meal without having to search everywhere for my kitchen tools.

Another reason to steer clear of Microsoft

2009-11-29T12:26:00.001-05:00

Apparently Microsoft's new search engine Bing is costing consumers money. Some products listed using their Bing Cashback search engine actually quotes prices higher than if you just went directly to the seller's website. I think I'll just stick to Google.

Mutt's tls_socket_read

2009-11-13T14:13:00.001-05:00

Is anyone else getting a "tls_socket_read (A TLS packet with an unexpected length was received.)" error? I'm seeing this almost constantly when connecting to Gmail via IMAP. I've already filed a bug but I'm trying to do some additional research.

Piano Steps...

2009-11-13T12:52:00.001-05:00

VW turn steps into a Piano

Amateur Radio in next month's Linux Journal

2009-11-06T17:20:00.001-05:00

I just pulled down the December version of Linux Journal a couple of minutes ago. I made it all the way to page 4 and read that next month's issue would be on Amateur Radio (or at least some portion there of). I'm excited to see that Amateur Radio and Open Source has been written about together because they do share so many similarities. Amateur radio operators used to build all their equipment and help mentor each other on developing better communications stations. Open source software is very similar to that. While I might not build my transceivers, I do still build many of my antennas which is something I enjoy. Amateur radio operators, also like OSS developers, are in it to help people and have some fun in the mean time. Yep, Amateur Radio and OSS... a match made in heaven.

freenode 2009/2010 fundraiser

2009-11-06T10:35:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to pass along that freenode is holding their 2009/2010 fund raising. They aren't asking for much and if you use freenode IRC as often as many of us do handing them a small donation is probably worth it (tax deductible in the US).

I voted, how about you?

2009-11-03T10:10:00.002-05:00

I've visited my friendly polling place this morning and voted for the least bad candidate in all categories. At least now I won't have to deal with the annoying commercials and road signs everywhere. I swear I'm going to start voting for the candidate that spends the least in annoying advertisements.

Back to NC?

2009-10-30T14:46:00.001-04:00

Well, it looks as if I might be moving back to North Carolina next summer...

More on the Ares1-X Launch

2009-10-28T12:05:00.004-04:00

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL - At approximately 15:30 UTC today NASA launched their Ares1-X rocket from Launch Pad 39B. This is the first test of the Ares-1 rocket and all seemed to go well. Watching this kind of a launch was certainly different than viewing the space shuttle launches. The Ares1-X rocket seemed to leap off the launch pad instead of the somewhat slower space shuttle launches.

After some minutes the first stage of the rocket disconnected sending the capsule and second stage of the rocket spinning slightly. After splashdown of all stages the launch center director was heard saying to all those involved how proud he was of everyone's actions. It was pointed out that the launch delays were not that of the rocket but of the weather. The launch was originally scheduled for Tuesday, October 27 at 12:00 UTC.

Ares1-X Launch

2009-10-28T11:34:00.002-04:00

Well, NASA finally got the window they were looking for and at approximately 15:30UTC the Ares-1X rocket launched off the 39B pad at Cape Canaveral this morning.

...and this is what I get for coming to work.

2009-10-27T09:22:00.002-04:00

NASA's launch of the Ares-1X was scheduled for 8A this morning. I pulled it up on NASA TV this morning and was going to watch it from home before going into the office but the launch was delayed. It was delayed again and I figured I could make it into the office and watch it there. I walk into the office and was greeted by numerous strange faces meaning big meeting and I'll have to watch the launch from my laptop. :(

How can McDonnell be ahead in the polls?

2009-10-26T12:45:00.007-04:00

I'm seriously wondering what is wrong with the people in Virginia. This November we will be going to the polls to vote for, among other things, Governor. We have two candidates running for Governor: Creig Deeds and Bob McDonnell.

Here's the basic problem with each of these candidates:

Creig Deeds ran a bunch of ads that were basically negative from the beginning. It's hard to tell what he stands for unless you listen to his interviews and read his webpage. If I were to talk to him before November 7th I'd tell him that he needs to start running commercials that talk about what he plans on doing and what he stands for. Unfortunately I cannot.

So he doesn't sound like a good candidate to me but wait to you hear about Bob McDonnell. He's let his religion overshadow the needs of the citizens of Virginia in the past and has written papers that basically say he doesn't like people. He's for big business and is basically against the people. He's against real environmental change and says he wants to drill off the coast of Virginia, support coal companies, and is against cap-and-trade.

I'm sorry but he's absolutely worse than Deeds and while I usually don't support candidates that produce negative ads there is no way I can support McDonnell.

I'm basically for maximum freedoms for all individuals and for protecting this great Earth that we call home. I simply can't understand people that are so greedy and self centered that they would actually want the very short term gain of helping to destroy our environment just for a quick buck.

And of course McDonnell is ahead in the polls. That has nearly sealed my opinion of Virginians and I can't wait to leave.

Expiring PGP/GPG keys...

2009-10-19T12:11:00.001-04:00

A discussion was had on one of the Fedora IRC channels months ago about the "proper" way to handle expiring GPG keys without breaking the web of trust. It was my opinion that by generating new keys every so often (yearly?) that it would increase the security of the overall system because keys can be cracked and the longer the key is in the wild the higher the chances of the key being exposed. You may not even know that they key has been cracked or being used.

Today I went searching for answers and found them in a keysigning HOWTO. The HOWTO explains, what I would consider to be, a valid reason to regenerate your keys along with a proper method for not necessarily breaking the web of trust.

Opinions?

Ride Without Limits

2009-09-19T08:49:00.000-04:00

For the second year in a row I'm volunteering at the "Ride Without Limits". This bicycle event benefits the United Cerebral Palsey. I work with a team of volunteer amateur radio operators to provide communications for this large event.

This year is a little different from last year. First off, the weather is forecasted to be a lot better than last year. There are also three different tracks each day for riders who want to do 34 miles, 64 miles, or 100 miles. No doubt that most will probably aim for the 100 mile trek.

We had to get a little creative this year because our repeater we were using to provide coverage for the entire route didn't cover the extreme northwest portion of our 100-mile course. This led us to get creative with some crossband repeaters and all should be right come Saturday morning when I put all the gear in place.

I'm praying for not so much rain and no one crashing or otherwise getting hurt.

Survival and Camping books...

2009-09-15T11:04:00.004-04:00

My dad was a serious survivalist. Not the paranoid anti-government folks you read about in Utah (and elsewhere) but more of a one-with-nature kind of guy.

I think I have all of his books on camping and survival on my bookcase and I think I've read most of them cover-to-cover over the past few years. One thing made me pause, though, as the availability of these books are in jeopardy.

The wife, a friend, and I are planning a hiking trip in November. The friend hasn't ever really been camping and even though we'll be staying in a primitive cabin I still wanted her to have some information about survival just so she'll have a little background. Since she is a reader I figured I could point to some books that she might peruse that would be available at her local library. I did a quick search on Worldcat and I was surprised that some of these books aren't available in libraries! One in particular which I was quite surprised to not find is Richard Graves' "Bushcraft - A serious guide to survival and camping". The book is a bit dated but still holds relevance. Another good book is Les Stroud's "Survive!" which is much more recent and is found in most libraries (around my area, anyway). Les's book is more about immediate survival in the short and mid term and not so much in the long term although you could extrapolate on his techniques as necessary.

I hope private collections of these books end up in libraries somewhere so they will be available to generations to come.

Summer edition of NWS's Aware

2009-07-31T21:24:00.002-04:00

The National Weather Service (NWS) issues quite a few publications throughout the year to target various groups with information. One that I started following a number of years ago is Aware which is published to enhance communications within the Agency and with the emergency management community.

It is a really good publication that comes out about four times a year and contains good information that is useful to everyone.

The Summer edition just came out so I'm passing along the link.

http://www.weather.gov/os/Aware/pdfs/09summer-aware.pdf

As heard on Car Talk...

2009-07-19T15:19:00.002-04:00

Two atoms are walking down the street when they accidentally run into each other. The first atom asks the second if he's okay. The second one responds "nope, I lost an electron". The first one asks "Are you sure?" The second one responds "yes, I'm positive".

Profitting from other's illnesses and injuries.

2009-07-14T17:00:00.004-04:00

Apparently tomorrow on NPR's Morning Edition an insurance company spokesman will be interviewed at how his company wouldn't be able to compete with a government-provided healthcare plan because the current health care plans (Medicare and Medicaid) already pay so much less to hospitals and doctors already.
Gosh, sounds like a reason to go with a government-provided healthcare plan to me. Why should we let insurance companies keep pushing up the cost of healthcare to the point where there are people who have to suffer because they cannot afford to go to the doctor? At what point do we, as citizens, say that we don't want for companies and corporations to profit from us being sick or injured?

You know, that's a good point. When did we, as a society, decide that we wanted to do something because it will make us money instead of because we want to provide a service to our fellow citizens? I'm not saying that making money is bad, as a person, but for corporations to report a $3 billion profit all that does to me is make me NOT want to buy their over-priced products because they are apparently cheating us all. We should all make enough money to live well but we shouldn't have to pay the billions of dollars extra that companies trick us into paying.

Not enough hours in the day for radio.

2009-07-13T15:04:00.002-04:00

I've discovered there are not enough hours for me to listen to all the programs on that are being broadcast from around the world. From NPR to the VOA to the BBC to other shortwave broadcasters worldwide there simply isn't enough hours in the day. What am I to do?

Morrow Mountain State Park

2009-07-05T09:57:00.002-04:00

We decided to visit Morrow Mountain State Park for a little R&R over the Fourth of July weekend. What a better way of showing your patriotism than to go out and enjoy this great country of ours. What better way of enjoying this great country of ours than to visit the best state in the country!

We spent two days hiking every trail that we felt like we could easily handle in the 80 to 90 degree weather. There are still a couple of trails out there that I'd like to hike but we'll get those next time. I did get GPS tracks of the trails we did hike and plan on mapping those to Open Street Map as soon as I get them downloaded.

The weather was absolutely beautiful, with the exception of the heat, and I think it would be a really great place to come back to. There are hike-to-campsites and cabins that I'd be interested in visiting one day. And although not as high as the Blue Ridge Mountains the views were spectacular. (This might also be a good place to shoot a microwave link towards those Blue Ridge Mountains to test some radio gear).

I'll post more pictures later. For now it is time to get on the road and head back north.

Virginia Drivers

2009-05-25T18:08:00.002-04:00

Just want to get this rant out of my system...

Attention Virginia drivers... If you want to drive like a complete idiot and come close to killing a few people while you are on Virginia roadways I'll just shake my head and blame the general selfishness I see around here. But when you take those bad habits of speeding, passing in a no-passing zone, careless and reckless, and trying to take out five other vehicles to another state (North Carolina) you are just plain stupid. Do me and everyone else a favor and don't come back.

A waste of my time...

2009-04-17T09:36:00.001-04:00

I'm lucky enough to work a couple of days from the home office which saves me from having to add to the already horrible traffic conditions that is Hampton Roads. I was reading an article on how many hours (and gallons of gas) were used by people commuting and I thought I'd figure out what my numbers are:

6 hours, 40 minutes: The average amount of time spent commuting to and from work every week. (5 days a week)
51 miles: The average daily commute. (255 miles per week)
2.5 gallons: The amount of gasoline burned in a daily commute. (12.5 gallons per week)

Of course those numbers don't take into consideration traffic which can add time and gallons burned.

When security isn't.

2009-04-06T18:46:00.000-04:00

I had an inward view of my job this morning and learned several things:

Most private companies want security because it will save them lots of money down the road and maybe, just maybe, they respect their customers enough to protect their information.
Governments don't want security because it costs them time and money and they want what's easy. They don't respect their customers (tax payers).
I am not a documentation creator. I am a Information System Security Officer and I will lead you down the path of secure computing.
I get very "disgruntled" when I do months of work only to have my work undone in a matter of weeks by someone who wants to take the easy path based on decisions made with a limited view of the actual resources available.

Feeling international this week.

2009-02-21T14:20:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine in the Fedora Project reminded me how much fun Ham Radio really is. That was at the beginning of February and since then I have put almost 300 new contacts in my logbook. I have also logged more hours on the nets I used to frequent and listened to more foreign broadcast on shortwave. I remember when my mailman expected to either pick up or deliver a letter with an overseas address on it but until recently I had no reason to use my airmail stamps. But with just that little nudge on the lower portion of 80m I am getting back in the saddle.

Anyone know of a good 10m-20m beam that I can pickup?

USB Drives are Evil

2009-01-30T10:26:00.002-05:00

Okay, maybe not evil, but people who don't get information security should definitely be removed from the gene pool. Case in point, when you decide to take military information home from work so you can do work there... not a good idea. Especially when you don't use encryption.

Why we still need shortwave broadcast in this world.

2009-01-22T09:24:00.001-05:00

The BBC is reporting that China censored Obama's speech on a number of websites. This is yet another reason why the Internet does not, and cannot, replace shortwave broadcast. Shortwave broadcast is very difficult, if not impossible, to block. Governments have tried in the past to keep their citizens from hearing stations like the BBC, VOA, and others but these attempts have largely been unsuccessful. The Internet, however, can easily be censored by governments which allows them to control the information their citizens receive.

It is also important to note that the Internet is not everywhere. While we may have access to the Internet in our homes we may not have that same access away from home. The speeds and reliability of that home connection may also not support "streaming audio" to listen to the BBC or VOA or other news outlet.

It is disappointing to see shortwave transmitters going silent. In a time when it is easier for governments to control information coming into their countries, it is more important to turn these shortwave transmitters on and push the truth into these areas than rely on a medium that we cannot predict or control.

Thunderstorms and Camping Safety

2009-01-18T19:59:00.001-05:00

I found a good thunderstorm safety and camping webpage that I thought I would pass along.

Last year Amanda and I were camping just north of Oregon Inlet and had a thunderstorm come through in the night that had a lot of lightning. It got to the point where I got Amanda up and we ran to the truck (about 20 feet away) where we stayed until the storm passed. Lightning and camping makes me nervous. I think we did the right thing by taking cover.

We were greeted with waterspouts the next morning in the inlet no more than a half-mile away.

Baby it's cold outside...

2009-01-16T23:13:00.001-05:00

Anchorage, Alaska got up to 45F today. We didn't even make it above the freezing mark. Talk about a change in the weather. It is supposed to get down to 8F tonight so I'll be watching the thermometer closely.

I'm getting a little excited about the weather forecast. The National Weather Service is calling for snow showers for my area beginning Sunday and going through Tuesday! I'm sure we won't get much but I still love to see it come down and I don't think I'd mind more than a few inches. I'm just a kid at heart...

Weekend Goals

2009-01-10T10:30:00.001-05:00

Clean up the office.
Read the week's magazines.
Write a few letters (and get them in the mail).
Figure out why the phone line upstairs isn't working.
Hook up the phone patch.

New GPG Key

2008-12-30T18:44:00.001-05:00

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Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia

2008-11-29T21:38:00.001-05:00

On Nov 21st I was listening to WHRV's "Hear Say" with Cathy Lewis. She was interviewing someone talking about the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. We made a trip to the other side of the water this morning to visit the museum as well as some Revolutionary War locations around the downtown area.

Now I'm not a big art person but I really enjoy Norman Rockwell's work. The way he brought American life, especially the life of kids, to the canvas was uncanny. You can step into a different time just by looking at one of his paintings.

On display at the Chrysler Museum are original paintings, posters, and every (?) cover of The Saturday Evening Post of which were are on display along with commentary on each work. It is amazing to see all of his works in one place.

If you are near the Norfolk area, I'd definitely make a point of stopping by the Chrysler Museum of Art before the exhibit hits the road on February 1st, 2009.

USB 3.0

2008-11-19T17:21:00.001-05:00

For those that were waiting for a faster way to transfer files via USB your ship has come in. Laboratory Equipment wrote in their news that the USB 3.0 specification has been written and is now available for implementers. The specification is available at http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/. USB 3.0 has upped the transfer rate from 480 Mbps to 4.8Gbps and has optimized its power efficiency.

I, for one, can't wait to see these new devices on the street!

Virginia's "Operation Air, Land and Speed"

2008-11-17T10:41:00.003-05:00

Earlier this morning I posted a blog entry on the new "No Need 2 Speed" program in North Carolina and how I wished it would carry over into Virginia. So I wrote this message to the Virginia State Police:

I noticed that North Carolina Highway Patrol rolled out a "No Need 2
Speed" project today to try to curb speeders by putting more officers on the road in various types vehicles. I wonder when I will start to see
more than one State Police car along my daily commute along I-664 and I-64 in a week. Traffic runs 10 to 15 MPH over the posted speed limit consistently and I've never seen anyone ever stopped along my route for this. When will we see a major crack down on traffic violations on our Interstates?

I didn't think I'd actually get a response or that the response would be delayed by many days but I was wrong. It actually only took 17 minutes to get a response! So I'll pass along the response I received:

Lieutenant Colonel E.A. Stockton, Director of the Bureau of Field
Operations for the Virginia State Police asked that I thank you for and
respond to your e-mail of November 17, 2008, concerning the enforcement of our traffic laws.

Please be assured that the identification and apprehension of
individuals who violate the laws and jeopardize the safety of law
abiding motorists and our citizenry is a priority of the state police
and it's mission to promote highway safety.

It may interest you to know that during 2007, troopers issued more than 722,000 summonses for traffic violations including 93,203 for reckless driving, 220,314 for speeding, 68,127 for equipment violations, and 162,3910 for other traffic violations. Commercial motor vehicles were issued 93,693 summons for traffic violations in 2007.

There are approximately 950 troopers who have patrol responsibility for 95 counties and nearly 65,000 miles of highway in the Commonwealth of Virginia. A manpower allocation study recently completed indicates that approximately 350 additional troopers are needed to provide the professional level of service expected of the Virginia State Police.

In our ongoing efforts to identify those motorists who violate our
traffic laws the State Police utilizes both unmarked and covert vehicles to enhance enforcement effectiveness. Additionally, we utilize motorcycles and conduct aerial surveillance to monitor traffic and enforce the laws in high density areas.

The State Police has also initiated Operation Air, Land and Speed that
specifically targets speed, reckless driving and the aggressive
operation of a vehicle on all of our Interstate highways. The State
Police conduct high visibility with strict enforcement of our traffic
and criminal laws to positively effect driver behavior. Thus far 15
phases have been conducted resulting in more than 81,000 arrests. The next phase for this initiative is scheduled for December 5-6.

Please be assured that every effort is made to utilize these troopers as effectively and efficiently as possible to provide a comprehensive
enforcement program that promotes highway safety for all motorists
throughout our Commonwealth.

We will continue to maximize our available resources to address the
needs of our citizenry and respond to concerns of highway safety.

I hope this information is helpful and we appreciate your concerns for
highway safety.

Bud Cox
Business Manager
Virginia State Police
804-674-2127
Bud.Cox@vsp.virginia.gov

While I feel that most of this response is a "form letter" response, I'm happy to hear that the Virginia State Police does have a plan and I really hope that it works to curb speeding out there. It has gotten quite dangerous to even drive the speed limit out there.

No Need 2 Speed

2008-11-17T10:03:00.002-05:00

North Carolina State Troopers (and other NC law enforcement agencies) have started a new program, No Need 2 Speed, according to the News and Observer. I wonder what it would take for the Virginia State Police to start getting out to slow the traffic down on our Interstates in and around Hampton Roads.

Computer Encryption

2008-11-17T09:32:00.006-05:00

Well, the State of North Carolina has come under attack for losing laptops with sensitive information on the hard drives without that data being encrypted. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a computer operating system out there that provided full disk encryption without having to pay large sums of money to make it happen? You won't find anyone from the Microsoft camp handing out that kind of thing but you will find this on any computer running Linux.

LUKS (Linux Unified Key Setup-on-disk-format) is an open source, full-disk encryption solution which provides FIPS 140-2 level encryption absolutely free of charge. All of my personal computers, and even my work computer, are running LUKS which has encrypted my hard drives using AES-128 bit encryption. Other encryption levels are available as well. Fedora has made it easy to utilize LUKS ever since Fedora 9 hit the streets. All the user has to do is to simply check a box during installation of the operating system and the hard drive is automatically secured.

So why is it that so many governments waste our tax dollars on junk or fail to protect our information when a solution is available at our fingertips?

Interesting links I ran across this morning...

2008-11-04T10:53:00.001-05:00

Rate your election experience: http://myfairelection.com/

Up-to-the-minute poll results: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/elections/#2008_election

Why I voted for you. Why I didn't vote for you.

2008-11-04T10:39:00.003-05:00

Hey, you there! I voted for you! Why you ask? It's really simple. I went to your website and found a well thought out plan for the nation. I didn't agree with all of it but I did like a lot of it. I have downloaded it and will be looking for these initiatives to occur should you win.

Oh, and that guy standing next to you... the guy that I didn't vote for... Yeah, I never heard anything that he would do. His website had little information on it and it was apparent that you didn't have well thought out plans as your documentation was way off target, at best.

Oh and I have something to say to you both. Negative ads don't work. It has made me either change the channel, turn the volume down, or otherwise completely ignore all political ads. I don't care what you think the other person will do to make things worse. I want to know what YOU will do to make things better. Don't take to mud slinging because that only makes your face dirty.

New album in the collection... The Essential Cyndi Lauper

2008-10-22T08:48:00.001-04:00

Got my "The Essential Cyndi Lauper" in the mail yesterday! I don't know what it is but Cyndi definitely does something to me.

HF Allocations: Shortwave Broadcast v. Amateur Radio

2008-10-15T13:02:00.004-04:00

I was just curious what percentage of the HF band is being used for Shortwave Broadcast versus Amateur Radio. Here's what I came up with:

Shortwave: 6.145 MHz [1] or 22% of the HF band [2].

Start	End	Bandwidth
25.670	26.100	0.43
21.450	21.850	0.4
18.900	19.020	0.12
17.480	17.900	0.42
15.000	15.825	0.825
13.570	13.870	0.3
11.500	12.160	0.66
9.250	9.995	0.745
7.100	7.600	0.5
5.800	6.300	0.5
4.400	5.100	0.7
3.900	4.050	0.15
3.200	3.400	0.2
2.300	2.495	0.195

The 41m shortwave band is being changed. The 75m shortwave band is not used in all Regions and is shared with amateur radio.

Amateur radio: 3.75 MHz [3] or 13% of the HF band [4].

Start	End	Bandwidth
28.000	29.700	1.7
24.890	24.990	0.1
21.000	21.450	0.45
18.068	18.168	0.1
14.000	14.350	0.35
10.100	10.150	0.05
7.000	7.300	0.3
3.500	4.000	0.5
1.800	2.000	0.2

The 80m amateur radio band is not used in all Regions and is shared with amateur radio. Also, the 60m frequencies available to US and UK amateur radio operators are not included.

I wonder what the other ~78% of the HF band is being used for.

----
[1] Includes 0.195 MHz in the medium wave band.
[2] Does not include 0.195 MHz in the medium wave band.
[3] Includes 0.2 MHz in the medium wave band.
[4] Does not include 0.2 MHz in the medium wave band.

Why donating to political parties is bad.

2008-10-15T09:29:00.000-04:00

Donating to political parties funds political ads. No one likes them. No one listens to them. No one cares.

If people DIDN'T donate to political parties there would have to be fewer ads. If there were fewer ads then the ads that would be run would need to be positive fact-driven ads so that voters would know where the person stands on the issues.

Just food for thought.

Links to check out...

2008-10-14T15:25:00.000-04:00

http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-10/2007-10-05-voa28.cfm

Amtrak Auto Train

2008-10-06T17:45:00.000-04:00

I'm standing at the Amtrak Staple Mill Rd Station in Richmond waiting for my train to Washington Union Station to arrive. The southbound Auto Train destined for Florida just went by with 14 passenger train cars and 25 automobile-carrying train cars.

I wonder how many vehicles that took off the road. I also wonder what the gas mileage is on that train.

For a family I think the auto train would be a great way to travel from Northern Virginia down to Central Florida. And when you get there you have your own vehicle there to use so you don't have rent one. The kids won't be stuck in a car asking "are we there yet" every five minutes either.

A review of the Newseum

2008-10-05T23:37:00.001-04:00

If you haven't visited the new Newseum in Washington, DC then I recommend you stop on by for an afternoon. Amanda and I were initially a little reluctant to visit due to the $20 per person admission charge. I can now say that $20 is well worth the experience.

The first thing I noticed was the sheer number of super-friendly Newseum employees that are on hand to help direct you through the many exhibits. They are also extremely knowledgeable and are able to answer any questions you might have and some you hadn't even thought about.

Besides the orientation movie, there is a must experience 4-D movie that takes you through some of the history of journalism. Currently there is a special exhibit showing News and the FBI. They have seven pieces of the Berlin Wall along with a guard tower from near Checkpoint Charlie and a large display of 9-11 stories and what was left from the radio tower from the World Trade Center.

Thousands of videos and pictures, along with the front page from newspapers from every state in the US and a few countries, make the price of admission well worth it.

At the Newseum

2008-10-05T15:08:00.001-04:00

Amanda and I are at the Newseum. Will have more about the experience when we get home.

E-mail encryption costs $1,000?

2008-10-02T09:14:00.003-04:00

Wow! Someone told Sarah Palin that e-mail encryption would cost $1000 and she decided against it. Wow, someone should really point her to open source software. I use email encryption for free!

NOAA Predicts Certain Death

2008-09-12T11:36:00.002-04:00

I heard about this on the radio this morning but didn't believe it. I found the statement where it was written:

PERSONS NOT HEEDING EVACUATION ORDERS IN SINGLE FAMILY ONE OR TWO STORY HOMES MAY FACE CERTAIN DEATH.

Holy cow! That should get folks to get moving!

SSH Cryptographic Logon via PuTTY

2008-08-25T09:05:00.009-04:00

It happens. Sometimes you just have to use a Windoze box because your work place hasn't come to grips that there is something better out there. There is no reason why you have to give up security by using a password to gain access to your home system via SSH just because you are having to use PuTTY. There is a way to use your PKI credentials from your Windoze box.

First, you'll need to go back to the PuTTY download page and grab two more files. Pageant is the PuTTY authentication agent and PuTTYgen is the key generator. Get these two files and then go ahead and kick off PuTTYgen. Go ahead and make your selections and generate your key. Here's the tricky part; you need to get your public key on the system that you are planning on connecting to. Either use sneaker net or WinSCP. Depending on the type of key you generated, you need to put your public key in your .ssh directory named either authorized_keys (for RSA keys) or authorized_keys2 (for DSA keys). You can have multiple keys in each file so just append to that file if it already exists!

You've just completed the hard parts. Now start Pageant. This will put an icon in your task bar that looks like a computer with a hat on top. Double-click on this icon. A screen should pop up allowing you to add your private key.

Once you have added your key all you have to do is right-click on the Pageant icon and select "New Session" if you don't have one already saved in PuTTY or "Saved Sessions" if you do. You will be required to enter your username but you should not have to enter your password anymore.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

If you have problems with the key working, make sure the folder on the distant point is owned by you and has the permissions 755. The authorized_keys or authorized_keys2 file should have the permissions of 600 and be owned by you.

SIGINT: Hampton Roads Tunnels

2008-08-19T08:29:00.003-04:00

Figured this out while sitting at the entrance to the Monitor-Merrimack Bridge Tunnel yesterday.

453.850MHz (+5 MHz TX?)
CTCSS 156.7Hz - Midtown Tunnel
CTCSS 100.0Hz - Monitor-Merrimack Bridge-Tunnel

Station 1 is on the south side of the bridge on the northbound lane and station 3 is on the south side of the tunnel on the northbound lane.

Not sure if the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel or the Downtown Tunnel also uses this frequency pair or not.

Concert Tonight

2008-08-12T19:47:00.000-04:00

/me is sitting at the Cheap Trick, Heart, & Journey concert in Virginia Beach...

beijing2008.cn

2008-08-10T17:49:00.001-04:00

Anyone else get the willies intentionally going to a .cn website?

How to create a self-signed SSL Certificate

2008-07-27T16:14:00.001-04:00

http://www.akadia.com/services/ssh_test_certificate.html

July Vacation Day Four and Five

2008-07-08T14:36:00.003-04:00

Well, I slacked off Saturday and Sunday. But I guess better late than never to talk about the last two days of the vacation.

Nothing much different happened on Saturday and Sunday. Did a little more kayaking with Amanda and a little more swimming in the pool. All in all just relaxed.

It rained a bit more Saturday evening but not like it had on Friday evening so it didn't really spoil any of our plans.

I tried to check my mail via Winlink on Saturday but I couldn't access N0IA via 20m as I had been doing as there was a digital contest going on and the band was saturated. I did make contact with KN6KB on 30m and 40m and was able to transfer some messages but it was slow compared to the previous days I had been utilizing N0IA on 20m.

We left around noon on Sunday to come on home. We stopped in Cape Charles, Virginia to pickup the Earthcache "Chesapeake Bay Bolide". I had never been to Cape Charles before so that was quite interesting. Might have to go back to this place one day.

Traffic wasn't too bad coming home except at the normal spots (Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel). Glad I went and can't wait to go again. What more can you say than that?

July Vacation Day Three

2008-07-05T10:31:00.000-04:00

- July 4th
The day started off with pancakes and a few extra friends arriving. Games were played and the pool was occupied. All in all it was a typical vacation day. Until later that evening...

From the weather reports I had downloaded it appeared that a cold front would be coming through and stalling over the Eastern Shore area. They said that thunderstorms and showers were likely on Saturday. Around 6:30P I noticed quite a bit of lightning striking the ground on the west side of the Chesapeake Bay. Cooking had already commenced on the grill which turned out to be a bad idea. The storm hit with high wind and lots of rain. One grill was knocked over and a kayak was blown a good twenty
feet. All in all, a pretty impressive display of wind. It is difficult to estimate the winds as there are few trees and "regular" objects around to estimate from but I'd guess we were nearing tropical storm force gusts.

Added to the list of things to have available in portable, waterproof cases: wireless weather station

July Vacation Day Two

2008-07-04T10:11:00.000-04:00

- July 3rd
Day two was very relaxing. The biggest event of the day was the cooking. With so many people in the house and so many different tastes everyone wants to try their hand at cooking.

Other items on the agenda were kayaking and swimming. Lots of both occurred. I waited until sunset to venture across the cove towards the Chesapeake Bay. It was really quiet. Of course half way out there I realized that the water was so shallow that I could have walked this far without getting my knees wet. Oh well, I needed to give my kayak a workout anyway. Maybe tomorrow I'll go out a little earlier and a little farther.

Oh, and for those that were wondering... there is very little cellphone signal out here. Where are all those Verizon guys when you need them? Oh well, I wanted to escape all that anyway. Thanks to Bud, N0IA, for being my Winlink relay station. Bud is in Florida and every time I need to send and receive email from my special account I just connect to his station (via HF radio) which connects into the Winlink system and I send and receive my mail! Pretty slick!

July Vacation Day One

2008-07-04T00:34:00.000-04:00

- July 2nd
Our "summer" vacation this year was spent with Amanda's friends at a rented house in Cambridge, Maryland. On Tuesday we packed up the truck with most everything that we needed to take with us (i.e. bikes, kayaks, etc) and had our bags of groceries set up by the door so we could be on the way at 9AM Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning we woke up and put everything in the truck and left the house on time. I think this is the first time we have actually left on time.

Traffic was somewhat light as I'm guessing most people were still working so we never hit any heavy traffic. We stopped at the restaurant on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to grab a Geocache and an English Muffin. I'd like to stop by on our way back to get some pictures as this was a beautiful location in the middle of the water. Atlantic Ocean to the east and Chesapeake Bay to the west. There were lots of ships waiting to come through as well.

We made a couple other stops on the way up for caches and arrived at the house shortly after 2PM. Friends started rolling in shortly after that and we hit the pool. We are still exploring the house and the surrounding property. We were going to try to do some kayaking but the tide was low and the water was no more than eight inches deep so we would have had to have dragged the boats a distance before being able to float inside of it. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for floating.

Test

2008-06-23T21:07:00.000-04:00

This is a test blog entry.

Going Green: A new kind of wind turbine.

2008-06-14T11:20:00.001-04:00

Wow, now this is cool... A new kind of wind turbine.

NSA, VOA, and everywhere in between.

2008-06-14T10:12:00.002-04:00

It's Friday and as usual I am on the road. This time I got to select some of the activities for our DC trip. Of course Amanda will correct me on this because we aren't actually IN the District of Columbia but I figure once you are in this area you are in DC.

So our first stop of the day was at the National Cryptologic Museum at the National Security Agency's Ft Meade location. Let me say that if you have never been exposed to cryptography then you should come and take a look at all the "stuff" they have here. It would probably be good to either take someone along that can explain all the stuff to you or get one of the guides to take you through the museum. Either way you are bound to learn something. For those of you that have been exposed to cryptography (especially within the DoD) you would probably have seen quite a few pieces of familiar gear and maybe some that you have only read about. I was very surprised to see how much current stuff they had on display. The history sections were quite interesting as well.

After the museum we headed back down the B/W Parkway to the College Park Metro Station and grabbed the "green" train into the heart of DC. We grabbed a frozen fruit bar from a street-side vendor and waited a few minutes before heading over to the Voice of America's Headquarters Office on Independence Blvd. Once inside, and savouring the air conditioning, we were guided though the first floor complex showing the radio shows being produced and then to the television studios where a news program was being broadcast live.

After the regular tour we were treated to a special, behind the scenes, tour given by Art Chimes, a journalist that Amanda met a few years ago while she was still at the Reflector. Art has a technology radio show that airs each week called "Our World". The behind the scenes tour was really neat. We got to see the office spaces of other journalists, historical pictures, production studios, and even the music library. The music library was especially interesting as it contained thousands and thousands of CDs, records, and sound effects. The librarian was very nice and showed us all the cabinets filled with 33 LPs and the CDs of songs and sound effects.

We left and rode the Metro back to College Park and am now at a friend's house waiting for dinner. More on this later...

Everyone have a good weekend and remind me to tell you about the pigs.

Shortwave to FM to CD

2008-05-26T22:50:00.003-04:00

Before travelling the seven hours back to Virginia, today, Amanda reminded me to grab some stuff off the Internet that we could listen to on the way home.

I went to my favourite radio programs and downloaded their latest (and some times a few more) podcasts. I burned the files to a few audio CDs with ease and we listened to them on the way home. Great idea.

Of course this got my mind wandering somewhere around Dunn, NC. All of the podcasts that I grabbed I usually listen to over the radio. Before the VOA stopped most of its' English broadcast I could usually hear Our World on shortwave in the early morning hours. I used to listen to the BBC broadcasts as well until they stopped their shortwave service to the Americas (and now Europe and...). Radio is now FM. And that is where I usually listen to my other radio shows but listening to them without any static or that "radio" sound made me a little sad. I used to love to just listen to the AM signals coming into my receiver. The static and shifting signal was a comfort to me knowing that I was able to hear news and world events without having to rely on any other technology other than the transmitter and the receiver. And the receiver you could build yourself.

It is amazing to me that the BBC would have discontinued their shortwave service to so many parts of the earth. The BBC World Service used to be, in my opinion, the elite of the elite. But sadly they felt that the Internet and local FM radio stations would cover their listening area for them and they should discontinue their transmissions. What they don't understand is that some NPR stations do broadcast the BBC World Service over FM but it is during the hours of 0100 to 0500 when most people are asleep and that most places still don't have access to the Internet in a true fashion to make use of this service.

Oh how I long to hear the BBC come through my shortwave receiver speaker.

Glad to be back in the South...

2008-05-24T22:01:00.004-04:00

Yesterday Amanda and I decided we would come down to Charleston to see her folks and sister. So we packed our bags and left. I love being spontaneous...

Today we drove down to the Stono River and walked around a neighbourhood. It was nice to be back in South Carolina and, as Amanda pointed out, nice to be back in the south. She pointed this out as we were walking down the road and people would wave and speak as we walked by. Being a good southern boy I returned the greeting without any hesitation. Amanda still rolls her eyes when I do it but it is just good southern hospitality to me.

Why I don't trust the media...

2008-05-20T08:24:00.003-04:00

This morning I listened to three different newscasts before heading out. One of the big stories everyone was talking about was the customer satisfaction of the airlines. Everyone said that Southwest had actually improved their ratings but the worst differed. US Airways was reported to be the worst by CNN while American Airlines and United were quoted by other newcasts. Huh? Aren't we looking at NUMBERS here? If these news organizations can't read a number and be able to do basic comparisons then I'm not sure they could accurately report anything else.

The Four Tops

2008-05-14T12:29:00.000-04:00

Did I hear that The Four Tops were coming to Virginia???

What? You didn't hear it on NOAA All-Hazards Radio?

2008-05-12T13:54:00.003-04:00

I wonder how many people out there do NOT have a NOAA All-Hazards "Weather" Alert radio at their house. It is a cheap (less that $100) device that could save your life. I know there has to be quite a few people out there that either don't have one or haven't heard about them because the press keeps reporting about people that were caught off guard by a tornado or a storm. In this day of technology with lots of options like receiving the bulletins on your cell phone, by listening to your local EAS radio station, or by simply having a NOAA All-Hazards Alert radio.

I'm going to assume that most people don't have one because they used to get annoyed by listening to their old radio alert for storms that were a few counties over and weren't for them. Well, with the SAME feature you can setup your radio to alert for only your county. Now you won't have to worry about whether the alert was for your area or a different area.

Think a NOAA All-Hazard Alert radio is only for weather? Nope, that's why they changed the name from a Weather Alert radio (yes, that's an old picture) to an All-Hazards Alert radio. NOAA is part of the Nationwide EAS system that provides alerts for weather but also for civil defense and other emergencies. So hopefully you won't get caught off guard. Preparedness is no accident.

How Wal-Mart is killing America.

2008-04-30T10:10:00.003-04:00

Anyone remember when Wal-Mart stood for America and only sold American products? Well I'd be willing to bet that Wal-Mart stands more for China than America now.

This morning I was listening to the radio and heard Howard Davidowitz talk (note, the full transcripts that actually talk about Wal-Mart were not available at the time) about all the retail stores that were closing. Not just individual stores but also whole chains as well. Their biggest problem was competition from Wal-Mart. Because Wal-Mart sells the lower cost, lower quality merchandise people are flocking to purchase from them instead of supporting actual US companies for a few pennies more.

So it is a vicious broken circle that is occurring. American's are spending their hard-earned money on products that are not made in America which then means that more American's loose their jobs and then won't have any income.