This morning

This is an eerie fog this morning. It's quite rare this see a fog in these parts. And after wednesday's shooting, it does make a strange coincidence.

I had a couple of posting about security I wrote while taking the bus to work this week. I have them right beside me, but i'm not in the mood. The events on wednesday killed my all my intentions.

To see my hometown live on every major TV network in North America live for 4 hours and for a school shooting was quite disheartening.

Here almost everyone had the same reaction it's Polytechnique all over again.

By the time this will be posted, the fog will be gone. Just like the shock from the event will eventually fade away. Life will carry on. But we will never forget.

Changed the title

There!

I changed the title because I received comments about how it was a bit confusing, and I think the new one is bit better.

If I kept things static, life would be boring anyway.

The victim-counselor unwritten contract

To the ones dear to me who are in past, present or future pain,

So you are a victim. Life is hard for you. Things are bringing you down. You wake up every morning thinking how this day is the worst day in the life, even before it has even started. You feel a growing pain that doesnt go away. You feel lost and everywhere you look there is a feeling of darkness, emptiness and fear.

I know, I have been there.

Don't be afraid. You can always come to me.

I will always try to do my best to help you out. And while I cannot take the pain myself I have walk the same road, and can show you the way. I can help you find the ressources to help yourself:

If you are hungry I will teach you to fish.

If you are lost, I will teach you how to find your way.

If you are in the dark, I will teach you how to find light.

If you don't want to learn, I cannot teach you. But I am willing to help you find the great ressource of all, the one you doubt this very instant: you own strenth.

If you are willing to listening, or if you need to talk. I'll be here. Just call...

26 years

Last week was my birthday and it gave me lots to think about. Think about how things have changed since I was young. And I'm not talking about big changes, but the little subtle one that you get accustom to.

Things like Computers, the Internet, cell phones, mp3 players, etc...

Thus it is my habits that have changed the most over the years..

For one, I don't watch television anymore. I used to watch a lot of it but I don't feel the need anymore. And I don't think modern day kids watch television as much as they play video games.

I also feel like things are moving faster than I can keep up. But I have a feeling than it is more a because I have a better understanding of the world I live in, and have a better idea of the level of complexity.

Younger, I knew.
Now I know I don't.

Things are changing, as they always have. The question is: it is for better or for worse?

Free Software, Open Source and Microsoft

With a daily 2h commute, I have become an avid listener of podcasts. I mostly listen to those from the Twit network but I also like to listen to Lugradio, the U-turn cafe, BSD talk, etc...

I was just listening to the season 3 episode 23 of Lugradio, and the 4 guys talked about how they were surprised about their experience at Microsoft and how they had a hard time explaining the whole Open Source Idea to them. (Even though they seem to get the difference between Free Software and Open Source)

In my mind, it is very clear why they don't get it. Microsoft has a hard time understand Open Source (and an even harder time understanding Free Software) because they only think in terms of money, price, or value. They view software as a product, like a physical product, that you build and sell. And since they built not just a single product but an entire platform, they have a hard time understanding things outside of that model.

The FLOSS approach (especially Free Software) see software as information. Information wants to be free, thus it easier to simply accept that fact and distribute the source. And once it's out there, it's hard to make it disappear. Information them to see censoring as damage and tends to route around it. And the more popular the information is the faster and further it will travel.
It doesn't mean it cannot be sold: we buy books don't we? Aren't those simply information? What we actually pay for is the service, the easy access to a very portable and reliable form.

So explaining that to Microsoft, is like trying to explain to a book store owner what is library and how it works . He might never get it, and might even try to competition the library thinking it is his primary competition.

Microsoft cannot kill, or buy, or destroy in any way an open source project as long as there is still source available somewhere. Maybe, someday they will understand and start cooperating instead or trying to stop it...

HTPC / PVR

I found for a solution for my 'MAME arcade tv box' when I realized that MythTV hd an arcade plug-in.

For those who don't know what MythTV is, it is an application that runs on Linux and turns a computer into a PVR or HTPC. IT also include plug-ins for news, wheather, Image viewing, CD ripping, mp3 management, DVD management, even a phone plugin for SIP.

I searched the web for info, and found a couple of guides, as well as forums on the topic. From complete reviews to simple technical guide for Ubuntu, to a LiveCD, I can't wait to try and set it up... If I can find the time that is... or a spare box...

moving in

First of all: my new apartment is almost ready : Painting done, appliances delivered, Internet, phone and cable Working, Ikea Furniture built... Only my bed is missing and I can start to move in...

A big thanks to my friends and family! I was able to take the day off Sunday, and enjoy a couple of hours rollerblading. (While everyone else was watching the 2006 Mundial)

I'll be sure the reward the hard work...

Cool hardware projets to do this summer

I wish I had more time.

I have a growing list of personal projects which I can't find time to do...

I have a friend who built a mame arcade cabinet. While I find this very cool, I don't have the space for such a big cabinet. It still gave me an interesting idea: a complete home entertainment box, kind of like an Xbox or Playstation, but on the oldies side with MAME, NES or SNES Emulator (with hard-to-find legal roms) along with DVD and MP3 playback capability. While it's possible on the technical side of things, I really doubt I could easily decrypt DVD for playback... Still a Mame/Nesticle emulator on a tv set might be cool...

The second project I'm thinking of building is an Asterisk box. While it may not be very useful, have separate mailbox for each house occupant is very appealing.It might also be very interesting to combine this box with qpage and send a message to my phone each time the home network has problems. (or via Email-to-SMS bridge)

of course I have other ideas like:

• the traditionnal linksys wifi router hack to add QoS


• an all purpose listening post using special radio hardware and Gnu radio


• an open wifi mapper using a laptop, Ubuntu, a GPS and Google Maps/Google Earth


• even modify my motherboard ans install my own linux based BIOS

And thus I wish I had time...

What is Dating these days?

Dating, in my opinion, is not what is used to be...

Dating, in my mind, represent the method by which one can find a life partner. The basic idea is to meet people to find the perfect match. Thus, to meet as many people as possible maximizes the possibilities of finding the right person.

Before there was community gathering, bars, clubs, friends of friends, etc. Concepts relying on random chance or on shared interests.

But that all changed with the Internet. And cellphones. And an ever changing society.

Since don't have time anymore, we can't be bothered by the old way anymore. We also can't just leave it to chance anymore.

With the Internet came easier access to communication. With Cellphones came convenience of anywhere, anytime, as well as proximity.

The famous pickup lines was all about ice breaking, about establishing a communication medium. It was about creating a context into which you were not a stranger anymore. The new technologies are the pickup lines. The new medium by which communication is established is the change of context. You don't have to break the ice anymore, the system does it for you. It also changes the dynamics of meetings, as it creates a medium where women are more confident and contact men as often as men contact women.

are things getting better or worse? or just different?

MMORPGs, the list

I am searching. Searching for a good game I could play online with friends. We can always play the usual UT2004, or Freelancer, or Starcraft, or whatever, but it's a sort of repetitive experience.

I want to find something persistent... Some universe we can go back to... Some form of building up with competition and cooperation that never really ends...

I'm thinking of getting my own Baren Realms Elite game server! (Ha! the good old times...) But since the new craze is all about MMORPGs, I decided to have a quick look at those, and here is a list of what I found interesting (sources here and here:

• Shattered Galaxy - This is an older one in my mind because it's one of the first I played (back in 2002). Still a good game, and a rare breed of MMORPG with RTS (in other words, MMORTS). This game is free, but non-paying character suffer penalties.


• Guild Wars, another free-to-play game. You only pay the initial price of acquiring the game. I might try this one has it seems to be casual-gamer-friendly.


• Planeshift yet another free game, but this only is still in beta. This one is special, as the game engine is GPL, meaning you only will pay for things like artistic content and server access (once the game is finished)... Interesting title to say the least.


• MapleStory - Free 2D anime-like cartoon game. No comments.


• EVE Online - I could be considered a fan of this game. I played the 14 day trial, and liked it very much, but saw little incentive to pay for the game (considering I was unemployed at the time). I liked the huge skill tree that permit one to survive mostly on trading, or on mining, or fighting, etc. I also liked how you could, in theory, be a more casual gamer and only play a couple of minutes each day. (of course it always turned into an hour or two, but on some occasions, I only logged in, changed skill, and logged out.) The big downside to this game, is the fact that you aren't the pilot, the computer is: you tell it what to do, but it's more homeworld-like than space-sim, in that regard.


• Jumpgate - an older Space-based MMO. The graphic looked dated by todays standard, but I don't know about the gameplay.


• Rise - I could find little information on this game, but it seems a bit like Planetside, in which you have to fight for a planet.


• Darkspace - Space-based MMORTS.


• Vendetta Online - now this one seems interesting. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising. A real space sim with the story somewhere between EVE and freelancer.


• Infinity - Now there's a very interesting game. Problem is, it's not out yet... not for at least another year.