May 2007 - Page 2 of 2 - Stay N Alive

Month: May 2007

My Dad, the CIA Agent

Posted on by jessestay

I have a theory my Dad is a CIA Agent. There – I said it. If this post is not here tomorrow you’ll know why. Oh, and all your minds are going to be erased after reading this.

You see, I had a friend in Thailand whose Dad was a CIA agent growing up. He posed as an Accountant, even worked for an Oil company in Thailand, and his family, as far as they were concerned, thought he worked for the Oil company.

One day his Dad never came home from work. After some worry and searching, the family came to find out their Dad was not at work at all, but was actually captured in the Killing Fields of Cambodia over the Thailand border. This guy also lived in Houston where I grew up, and I actually got to hear the story from the Dad while there. The Dad has an entire story of using Urine for mosquito repellent, eventually escaping from a hole in the ground, and running naked through the jungle escaping over the border into Thailand. Pretty cool, if you ask me.

You see, my Dad growing up would often spend up to a month oversees. He would travel to countries such as Nigeria, Kuwait, Egypt, Syria, and we even lived in Indonesia for three years. It was while living in Indonesia that the Libya bombings took place. He was actually in Soviet Russia just down the street while the Coup was knocking on the Kremlin walls. He was there multiple times before that (we have in our possession a Soviet General’s uniform, among several coins, Soviet memorabilia, etc.).

Then, in the US, he was working for another “oil company” in Houston during the entire time the whole Enron scandal was going on. He later moved to Virginia, and lo and behold 9/11 happens while over there. Not to mention the company he was working for at the time happened to have its own accounting scandal. He’s now in Boston – I wonder what’s going to happen there.

My Dad never talked about work much growing up. He was somewhat muscular. Maybe it’s the whole “superhero dad” thing, but I think I am left with no other conclusion. My dad is in the …. wait, I seem to be forgetting what I was typing about.

Frequent Password Changes a Security Flaw?

Posted on by jessestay

Several places I have worked have implemented a security system of requiring employees to change their passwords frequently. The idea is simple. If your users change their passwords frequently, it is less likely someone might find their password and be able to get into the system. It makes a lot of sense when you think of it that way.

I tend to think the practice is counter-productive however. I personally have a couple passwords I like to use, can remember, that are very long, have multiple character-sets in them, numbers, letters, etc. However, at each company I have worked at I have come to realize I find myself using shorter and shorter passwords that I can remember and not forget, because I run out of the long ones I know and use regularly. I can almost guarantee no one will be able to break easily any of the long passwords I use. I cannot guarantee the ones I change frequently at the companies I work at won’t be cracked. I think it’s time companies like Microsoft rethink their frequent password-change strategy that they allow companies to deploy throughout the network. I think it encourages bad security.

Comments

Posted on by jessestay

I just realized I had a ton of comments awaiting moderation. In switching to WordPress lately, I didn’t realize I had moderation turned on. In noticing I wasn’t getting any comments lately, I went and checked, and sure enough, there were over 50 comments awaiting moderation. My apologies to those who commented to get no response from me. I will go through all the moderated comments now and try to respond to any pending questions. I need to decide now if I want to leave moderation on or just turn it off and risk a little spam here and there.

Why Can’t Lawyers Just Get With the Times?

Posted on by jessestay

Back in college, my minor was E-business. As part of that minor, I was required to take a “Law for E-Commerce” class. I found the class very interesting, and I learned quite a bit that I still use today. However, I would cringe whenever the Professor, also a Lawyer in Northern Virginia, would try to explain technical topics such as MP3 file sharing (still very primitive back then), the DMCA, and what laws protect things such as domain parking, among other things. I remember defending my answer on a test, in which she claimed MP3 file sharing was illegal to do on a personal level. I argued it was covered under Fair Use policy, and that no successful case that I’m aware of has successfully made it through court with a guilty conviction placed upon a single file sharer (most have been settled out of court). She argued MP3 file sharing was illegal based on the DMCA! I challenged her to show me where in the DMCA it was deemed illegal and she could not come up with a clause that supported her statement. I got an A on that test.

I came across a great article today by John Dvorak, one of my favorite technical commentators on the web. In the article, he ratifies my point that Lawyers are behind the times. He talks about the recent fiasco on Digg.com in which someone posted the cracked HD DVD key (09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0), and Digg received a cease and desist to remove the article. Digg promptly removed the article, and the public Digg.com community responded furiously, with at one time the entire front page of Digg consisting of nothing but the above key. The public had spoken, and Digg decided not to censor the key any more. Funny thing is, now the key was even more popular than ever before.

Dvorak has it right – the lawyers of today just don’t get it! I’m not sure what they need to do in order to get it, but maybe hanging out with their kids or something might help. Talk to a computer geek, maybe join a social networking site or something. What lawyers thought was a simple cease and desist, something law school taught them to do, ended up being a PR nightmare for the company defending the HD DVD key. Now it is more known than ever, and there’s no going back.

As for my college professor, when I finished the class she was defending an MP3 sharing case. Oh the poor soul she was defending!

My Review on “The Mormons” (PBS)

Posted on by jessestay

Recently, PBS released a Frontline Documentary entitled “The Mormons” (note the Mormon church now has a sub-path on pbs.org). Produced by Helen Whitney, the film strives to provide an unbiased viewpoint on the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and what has gotten the Church to be as large and magnificent as it is today. Controversial topics such as Polygamy, the Mountain Meadows Massacre were covered thoroughly, with viewpoints from all sides presented, providing a generally unbiased viewpoint on the topics.

I thought it was fairly well done. While it would not be a missionary presentation the Church would use in teaching about their beliefs (why spend 1/4 of the first half on the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and why so much time on the Fundamentalists, and what about the whole excommunication part?), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints put it best by saying, “At a time when significant media and public attention is being turned to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and when news media is so often accused of superficiality in its coverage of religion, this serious treatment of a serious subject is a welcome change.” The documentary was certainly a welcome relief to the biased accusations and anti-Mormon rhetoric presented to counteract Mormons in the public domain such as Mitt Romney running for President.

I only hope those not of my faith could feel the touching influence of the Holy Spirit reflecting truth as I did throughout the documentary.

Mormon Guy to the Other Mormon Guy: Thank You!

Posted on by jessestay

Ken Jennings, King of Trivia, I bow to you. You said my thoughts exactly. Perhaps it’s just because we both grew up in foreign countries, or maybe because of the geeky tech world we live in, but some how the anti-Mormon rhetoric and slurs seem worse than I remember growing up, and only seem to get worse as we move on. I wish they would all just stick to telling me what they believe. I can vouch for my own religion and beliefs, thank you.

Frankly, if others want to convert us, I suggest they try to find ways to make us happier, not try to take away from what already has made us happy. The continued jabs and stabs at our beliefs only offend, confuse, and hurt us. Our religion teaches us to inheritantly seek happiness. Most of us, especially myself, feel happiest when studying our beliefs. I have no doubt that if someone were to show us something happier and more joyful than what we have, we would seek it – I have only found that complete happiness in my Mormon faith though. There is nothing that has brought me more joy than the teachings of my faith.

As another Mormon Guy to the Internet: If you have something that will make me happier, please, teach that to me. Otherwise, please, as Ken Jennings said, shut up and think a minute!

“The Mormons” on PBS.org

Posted on by jessestay

I’ve mentioned my thoughts based on the trailer to the PBS Documentary, “The Mormons” that aired its first half tonight. My thoughts still remain the same – I think it’s an amazing documentary that remained pretty unbiased, a true educational tool for all types to learn about the Mormon religion. I felt the Spirit while watching.

I’d like to point out that pbs.org has made public a website devoted to the documentary today. There are Frequently Asked Questions, a forums area, and other items of interest that further explain the documentary. On Tuesday, you’ll even be able to watch the full program online. I encourage all to get on and participate in the discussions on there. I’ve heard plenty of reviews on the documentary itself. What are your thoughts on the website?