you *MIGHT* regret it... yeah right

I thought about explaining how one should stop worrying and start living, but this comic can says it better than I ever will...

Of course, it doesn't mean you should something stupid, it just means that worrying is waste of time, and a another stressing factor which we don't need. Worrying in itself does nothing. It solves nothing. It changes nothing. It just bring more stress.

The basic rule is simple: put things in perspective. Ask yourself: what CAN I do? What will it change? It is that bad?

Don't worry about getting sick: You WILL get sick at some point in the future. Do something positive to solve that: Wash your hands. Stay in shape. Eat right. It's not hard and it's not rocket science.

Don't worry about your future, plan for it. And if things don't go as planned, at least you are more prepared than someone who simply worried and do nothing.

There is a web site that explain several possible 'end of the world' scenario. You could start to worry right now about any these scenarios, but it won't change anything. If a comic is due to hit the earth in 5min, what can you do? It is really going to happen? Do you really have to worry about it? I know it's a far-fetched scenario, but some individuals worry about the silliest things, it's not funny anymore.

Worry about the things that matters, not about something that might be important. In other words: "it's not the end of the world is it? Why do you worry, then? Live!"

Monowall VS Pfsense

I did a little research on Monowall vs Pfsense features. I really need to choose between the two, because since Monowall only needs 64 MB of memory and Pfsense 128MB, it will be the deciding factor in my purchase. The cheaper board from PCengine tend to have less memory, while the pricier and more potent boards from Soekris Engineering can have up to 256MB of memory, and thus be more future, and feature ready.

Since Pfsense is based on Monowall, it has the same features, namely:

• Everything a Linksys WRT54G can do...
  
• IPsec VPN tunnels
• wireless support (WEP, WPA in the near future)
• SNMP agent
• SVG-based traffic grapher
• serial console interface
• 802.1Q VLAN support (useful for a separate wireless network)
  
• and more features, that are less usefull for me...
  

Pfsense has all that, plus:

• SSH support
• CARP!
• Traffic shapping
  
• pf (openbsd's packet filter)
• packages! (Even if they are not supported on embedded platform for now)

The packages (including doorman, snort, nmap, squid, etc...) are the most attracting features of Pfsense, but are disabled on the embedded edition...

Going to do a cost-analyst for the hardware solutions and post my results later...

Next Project

So I built a MythTv box a couple. It was cool while it lasted (especially the emulator part), but it had a couple of problems:

• We don't watch that much TV to beign with, so the recording features, while impressive, were rarely used
• We mostly used the emulator part, and we don't need an entire Mythtv box to do that
• We now have a Wii, so the emulator saw less and less use with time (combined with the fact that the Wii has a virtual Console
• My roommates wanted to play Flight Simulator on the new 37' LCD we have as a TV, and that doesn't run on Linux
  

So it became a solution in search of a problem. The computer became little more than a media File server. We have since installed Windows XP on that machine and wipe the partition by error. (even if we planned for a NTFS partition at the start, it wasn't the first one created, and Windows didn't like that.) And I have little incentive to completely re-install the machine. It turned into a costly machine, but it was worth it as I learned a lot.

I have thus decided to invest my time into a new project. I'm still undecided as to which exact project I will do... I have a couple of ideas:

1. I could update my old school project. It was basically a proof-of-concept application to control any machine without installing anything on the server itself. It used SSH to connect to remote server, and used the command-line to issue command. (could be simulated on Windows using Pstool)
2. I also have another unfinished project about a simple security guide. Something my parents could read and understand what are the securities and privacy problems on the net, and plan accordingly. Of course, the problem is big and constantly moving, but the idea behind how and why, tend to stay the same. (The ideas behind virus and malware in general haven't changed in year. A security hole, whatever the type, still has the same kind of effect.)
3. The third idea I have for a project is making my own router. I'm not talking about taking some old computer and installing linux, or modifying a Linksys router, I'm talking about buying hardware like the Soekris net4801 motherboard and installing pfSense or M0n0wall. Really nice idea because since it's a full-fledge computer, I could make it do more than just Routing and firewalling
   

Of course, I could just spend more time with Eve-online and C&C:the first decade....

YouTube - Bunnies don't milk cows

If you ever get a chance to try a Wii, you HAVE to try this game:
Rayman Raving rabbits

It's very funny... and make very good use of the Wii-mote...

New MMO in dev...

I see things like this and I have to pinch myself to see if I'm dreaming...

Fallout is one of my favorite RPG of all time (Chrono Trigger is another) and to hear a new MMO and that a new game is coming out in november of next year I feel like I'm dreaming...

Of course, it's still a years off, but since the original was release in 1997 and the last sequel in 1998, I've already waited more than 7 years for this game... so a year or two doesn't sound all that bad...

Wii have a winner!

I've always liked gaming, but consoles have always been a sort of 'nope' for me. I never felt that the consoles where an irreplaceable thing, that you couldn't have has much fun with a good computer game. And it was mostly true. Simcity, Civilisation, Starcraft and the recent MMORPG are just a couple of title off of my head that I find more enjoyable on a computer than on a console (if they are even available).

Well... What I experienced monday changed all that...

I got to try the new Nintendo Wii.

I have heard of it and was intrigued, so when I had the opportunity to try one, I took it... I have to admit, I was surprised... very surprised.

30 sec was all it took me to understand the basic of the tennis in Wii Sports. I lost, but it was fun... a lot of clean simple fun...

The Wii-mote change the entire relation you have with the machine itself. The idea of movement instead of buttons tend to make the game feel more natural. You don't have to think about which button to hit, you act, and the character on screen follows you. It's a big step up the learning curve. A First Person shooter is the perfect example for this: you don't to explain the controls, you just point the Wii-mote at the screen, and shot!

It's so simple, my mother actually liked trying the thing this morning...And she never played any video game before...

I'm not sure I'm going to actually buy one, but I am sure to keep an eye on it...

Sick

I've been sick for the past couple of days. It's this bizarre condition where I dizzy spells several times per day, yet I'm still able to stand on my 2 feet. I mostly feel OK throughout the day, but it's really annoying..

The doctor wasn't even sure exactly what I had...

Anyway, I feel a lot better now that I did the 'ultimate natural treatment':
-Lots of sleep
-Eat well, at least one orange or apple or banana a day
-Cut back coffee to minimum dose (Small instead of Large)
-Multivitamins every morning
-Tylenol and more sleep when things go ugly.
-Workout when able to..
-NO alcohol (well, not sure if it helped a lot, but I did it anyway)

I know it's mostly all common sense, but we, as human being, tend to be too lazy to actually do all those things...

But that i've tried it for a week, I feel great... I think I'll try and keep that treatment all winter, to try to prevent the flu. Or at least keep the symptoms to a minimum.

Anyway, I know It's superficial information but I challenge you to try it for a week... It's not easy, But I think it's worth it..

Security Absurdity.com > Security Absurdity; The Complete, Unquestionable, And Total Failure of Information Security.

Take the time to read the The Complete, Unquestionable, And Total Failure of Information Security. It's a worthy read. Then, read part 2: the comments from the security community, The good, the bad and the Ugly.

Product (RED)

Living in Montreal, I had never heard of Product (RED) before. I think it's a simply, yet impressive idea.

Since it doesn't ask people to change their habits, it might actually work pretty well, especially in this holiday time.

So how about a (RED) shirt? Perfect for the holiday season!

Hacking Democracy

I have watched this video and I am shocked. Of all the databases they could use, Diebold use Ms Access to tally the votes! It's a joke! Ms Access was never design with the necessary security in mind required for an election. It's a small application to drive development for small database uses. I can only guess what the other companies uses but I hope it's better than that.

I am so glad that my own government choose to ban these machines. These machines are the worst thing that could happen to a democracy of any kind: They do things in secret. They can easily fail. It's hard to prove they haven't been tempered with. It's impossible to guaranty the results.

Yet they were used in 80% of the polls in the US. Why?

Because they are the only one-stop-shop systems that satisfies all the requirements in the HAVA (Help America Vote Act). They also represents millions of dollars in contract for the private industries that supplies them. There is no economic incentive to produce a really good voting machine, and there is little political pressure to ensure that these machines worked as advertised.

They are only there to give the people the illusion of democracy. But there is no conspiracy. It's not malice that gave America those machines. It's a combination of tough requirements lobbied in by the manufacturers of those machines and a general "I don't care" attitude by the elected official as long as the public opinion doesn't change much (no scandals).

As long as people don't care about this issue, big corporation will continue to get multi-million dollar contract to build less-than-adequate voting that fails to protect the will of the people. Someone in the US really new to crack those machines on the night of the election. It may be a federal crime to do so, but if it is the only way to prove democracy is dead, it may be a worthy sacrifice.