July 2004 Archives

Just wanted to wish all the sysadmins out there a happy Sysadmin Day!

So this is it, huh folks. The key to evolution. Oh sure, they don't say it in the article, but read between the lines! This monkey got the stomach flu, then started walking upright. Stop telling your kids not to play outside in the rain and snow. If they get the flu, they'll evolve!

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

This entry talks about a San Francisco hotel censoring the WiFi connection is provides to guests. I know this opinion is going to be unpopular, but as a sysadmin I have to say that I agree with the censorship to a degree. While I agree with blocking known problematic sites, such as spammer sites, cracker sites, warez sites, and so on, I disagree with disallowing certain chat forums for other content.

So, in essence, I agree with the hotel's ability to censor their guests somewhat. Remember, this is a service they provide and are, therefore, ultimately liable for. They have to protect themselves. If they don't, they're going to have a serious problem one day.

Using hotels to perform hacks has been a standard practice for hackers since hacking became hacking. Remember that before you question the hotels for protecting themselves from Lawyers with a penchant toward yelling about due diligence.

This article, or rather brief blog posting, indicates that America Online has initiated a project to unify instant messaging.

There are quite a few reasons I hold this to be a good thing, but at the top of my list is that we're not going to have to play games with these instant messaging service wars any longer. No more being forced to use Trillian or Adium or Gaim or what have you to be on multiple networks. If I had to guess, we're going to see these companies take a cue from .mac and how it interacts with AIM. Instead of using multiple protocols, we'll see a merged protocol, webcam ready, offline message ready, and so on and so forth. We're going to see a unified service, one giant protocol in which you may use your client of choice. And usernames? Well, usernames show up like e-mail addresses. Just like .mac. You would see username@mac, username@aim, username@yahoo, and every other service that buys into it. You'd be able to choose who you want the account with, but talk to everyone.

And I can believe that this will finally happen. It's something I've wanted for along, long time. The danger I see is folks trying to get their username on every service straight off. That'll produce a massive rush, which could be hard to deal with. That will slow down, though, I'm sure.

This could be the beginning of a good new thing for instant messaging.

I want and saw King Arthur the other night. I definitely enjoyed the film. I found it to be amusing, with a catchy script, solid plot, good action, and all the trimmings. I definitely enjoyed the film for what it is.

Remember, folks, that this is supposed to be what really happened with King Arthur -- the history, not the legends. If you're going to see the legend, go read a book. But that's far from a flaw against the film. I enjoyed it thoroughly!

I watched Spiderman 2 the other night and have allowed it to sink in quite a bit. I guess I don't have a hell of a lot to say about it, other than the fact that I really enjoyed it.

Everything that was missing in the first film for me was in the second. The audience was able to get more insight into the mindset of the characters, and to understand what they were feeling more. The action scenes were far better, as were the effects. Everything was, without a doubt, better.

I definitely highly recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed comic book films.

It's been a few days since this new blog has come to exist. I wanted to wait until there was plenty of content before I went and wrote about it here. So here it is, folks. This blog appears to be about everything Boston, with multiple authors who write whatever is on their mind about whatever is going on in that great city of theirs.

Now I admit it, a good chunk of the reason I bother to read this blog, not being from Boston myself, is that several friends of mine are authors there. So I'm going to do what any good friend would do; I'm going to embarrass them. They are skadz, diosa, and smeg. Smile, you've been linked to! Oh, by the way, I updated my blogroll today.

Anyhow, I have to admit there is something about this blog that I dislike despite the many, many things that I love. First and foremost is something I have assurances that they are working hard on to fix already. The RSS feeds don't include the authors of posts. This is bothersome because I read these posts mostly in my aggregator and want to know who wrote them. As I said, they're working on it and it'll be fixed soon.

So that said, I link you to BOSTON.Metroblogging. For those of you as lazy as me, the RSS 2.0 feed is here.

Everyone seems to be in such an uproar about this court decision to let people read your e-mail. Oh the tragedy, oh what a terrible invasion of privacy! How dare they?

Wait... you mean to tell me this has been going on for years? Meet carnivore, or whatever they're calling it these days. E-mail wiretapping has been around for a very, very long time, whether people want to admit it or not. Just because this is the first it's been in the news for a while doesn't mean it hasn't been happening. The FBI has been doing it for years.

You know, I wasn't going to write about this but really I feel bad about not finding anything better. So I'll just tell you all what every other blog and news site has told you all day. John Kerry has chosen John Edwards as his running mate. They are now John Squared.