coffeebreath.org

The project:
Create an automated, incremental, remote, encrypted, backup system for use with an “untrusted” remote data store server.

The tools:
RHEL/CentOS/Scientific Linux based local data store
Remote, untrusted data store with SSH access
Rsync (http://rsync.samba.org/)
Encfs (http://www.arg0.net/encfs)

Andy's no-bean bean soup

1 ham hock with meat or ham bone plus 1 lb. ham scraps
3 qts. water
4 med. potatoes, cut in cubes
3 onions, chopped
vegetables to preference (carrots, celery, corn)
salt to taste
1/4 tsp. black pepper (to taste)

After (re)discovering the joys of pickled eggs, I've decided to try my hand at making my own. I've found two recipes that sounds like what I'll like as well as being simple and straight-forward. Over the course of my experimentation, I'll likely settle on a combination of these two.

-=One=-
3 parts vinegar
1 part water
3 bay leaves
salt (1 tsp. per dozen eggs)
eggs

Cross browser, cross platform, cloud-based... could be good. Storing all my passwords on a server I don\'t control makes me nervous, but I'll just have to check it out.

https://lastpass.com/

UPDATE:
They claim to en/decrypt locally, and transmit/store the encrypted blob only. I've been using LastPass now for a while and am totally in love!

http://www.clearfoundation.com/ (Based on RHEL... Yay!!)
http://www.zentyal.org/
http://www.resara.org/

One of these will be a component of the new Linux home VM cluster.... but which?

Built on the Malicious Software Removal Tool, the Microsoft Safety Scanner is a stand-alone scanner for post-infection problems. Now a happy member of my PC Tool Kit.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx

Microsoft has followed up their Safety Scanner with their "System Sweeper." This bootable tool scans for rootkits and other nastiness.
http://connect.microsoft.com/systemsweeper

Companies all over teh internets are testing their IPv6 deployments as we speak (http://www.worldipv6day.org/). In general this is a good thing, but one of the many changes in the Internet Protocol destroys something near and deer to my geeky child hood. Let me explain with the following IRC re-enactment that played out over and over in my youth.

Some_D-Bag: You're such a n00b, you suxor!
Me: Whatever, go away.
Some_D-Bag: I'll show you, I'm 1337!
Me: I told you, go away.


The most recent episode of one of my favorite podcast just reinvented how I think about secure password design. Which of the following two password is stronger, more secure, and more difficult to crack?

lh.=su^\f%C}+v
or
h!M0m---------

Built on the Malicious Software Removal Tool, the Microsoft Safety Tool is a stand-alone scanner for post-infection problems. Now a happy member of my PC Tool Kit.

http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx

I manage several Linux servers from (among others) a Linux desktop. Running X apps on a remote server locally via SSH is cool, very cool.

If you\'ve every tried this with firefox, you\'ve likely noticed that the firefox launching script is too smart for this kind of malarkey. Execute the script $/usr/bin/firefox on a remote ssh session with X11 forwarding enabled and it will cause the local firefox install to launch... and they call this a "feature."

Well, one can disable this "feature" with the counter-intuitive flag -no-remote.