At work, I am working on retiring not one but two servers - a snapserver and a sparc20. We are rsyncing all of the data over to the new server that Brian built - and I am re-learning all the subtleties of nfs mounts, smb mounts, and other tidbits that keep cropping up. Once the data is moved, we can change the home folder assignments and hopefully everything will go smoothly...
posted by MikeM at 12:13 PM    

 
I am currently reading The Mole People, by Jennifer Toth. This is so far an incredibly interesting book - the kind you will try to read at one sitting, even though the subject matter is tragic and horrendously sad. A good read - and highly recommended. Read the reviews at the link above - they give a very good overview. There are also several pages from the book available at the link.
posted by MikeM at 12:04 PM    

 
Blogger hacked... Looks like someone hacked into one of the Blogger.com servers and did some mayhem. Supposedly no information was leaked, but lets be careful out there.
posted by MikeM at 8:50 AM    

 
We're back.

Thursday evening we got a call from Patty's sister that they had just put her brother Danny back into the hospital and that he wasn't coming out this time. Danny has been fighting lung cancer since it was discovered about two years ago - he has never smoked, by the way. When they found it, he had pneumonia and was hospitalized and nearly died then, but they pulled him through. The cancer was already quite advanced, and had progressed into his lymph and adrenal glands. Last weekend we visited him after a bout in the hospital with a blood clot in a lung, and he was looking better. Looks can be deceiving however, as the doctors say that the cancer had spread throughout both lungs and moved undetected into his spine and brain. From what he said, he never felt pain, just tired and weak - bad enough for someone that was always working. Right until the moment of his final collapse he was working on remodeling his mother's kitchen - the walls are now half-finished, unpainted drywall, exposed wiring in some places. His sister's boyfriend will complete it.

The ceremony was fairly short, very moving, and was a good moment of closure for his family. He leaves three brothers, three sisters, a wife and three children, and an ex-wife and daughter behind. He has only been married to his widow for just over two years. She stuck by his side throughout the progress of the disease, without care for money, as there was every possibility that there would be nothing left - she simply loved him and wanted to keep him healthy. We had a nice wake/repast after the funeral ceremony, and many people told stories of Danny - he was a great guy.

Well, we are home again, after a four-hour drive to Jersey at night, in the rain, to arrive 20 minutes after his passing at 1:40 am friday. It would have been nice to have been able to say goodbye, but those that were with him say that he asked everyone to leave just before midnight, because he wanted to rest. Rest in peace, Danny.
posted by MikeM at 5:36 PM    

 
Looks like they got the sniper and his cohort!

This is really great - everyone is relaxing and breathing a huge sigh of relief! I just hope these nuts didn't have any followers and that nobody decides it would be a good idea to copycat them. There are whackos all over, seems like.
posted by MikeM at 4:08 PM    

 
I am currently reading 'Counter Hack' by Ed Skoudis - and it has taught me more about the TCP/IP protocol and other networking mechanics than any other book has (including the MCSE books)! While it is tough going at times, it does a great job of explaining things so that I can understand them.
posted by MikeM at 9:04 AM    

 
Computers! I got the link between Rasputin and Trotsky working - all is well in LANville! It was permissions. All I had to do was change the permissions on the folders I wanted to access from the W2K box - they were set to 700, which disallows anyone but the owner (which was set to nobody, btw). I changed the owner and the permissions as well, and now all is beautiful.

I backed up all three partitions on Trotsky to separate folders on Rasputin, then Ghosted all three partitions to GHO files and copied them to Rasputin as well. It feels good to have backups once more. Rsync would not work between the units - I think perhaps SMB just doesn't support it.
posted by MikeM at 8:54 AM    

 
Wow! Eventful night. After getting no sleep the night before, and being sick all day, I was up again past midnight, this time watching the events unfold regarding the sniper.

Here is a summary:
Police got a call from someone claiming to be the sniper and bragging about another hit in Alabama.
Police checked, and found that during the investigation of that other hit, they found a note with a fingerprint - this print was of Lee Malvo, a citizen of Jamaica, 17.
They traced him to a house (rented by John Allen Muhamed, aka John Allen Williams) in Tacoma, WA, and searched both it and a high school in Belleville (sp?). While searching the backyard, they found a tree stump riddled with holes - they cut it down, as well as another near it, and then searched the yard for other evidence - 2 u-haul trucks of evidence were taken away.
The next door neighbor called the press for some reason, thus risking alerting the sniper to the investigation. I think some legal action should be taken here.
The police later released the names of two men that they 'wanted to speak with', explicitly NOT naming them as suspects.
The police announced live on the news the names, description of the car, as well as tag number and state. This resulted in a citizen tip that allowed the police to locate and detain the men at a rest stop on I70.

Other notes: John Allen Muhamed, aka John Allen Williams, is former Army, posted at Ft Lewis near Tacoma, and lived at the home that was searched. Neighbors reported hearing shots fired - but as it was a military town, not much was done or investigated.

This all is very promising, but everyone is still claiming that the two men are not suspects in the sniper attacks, but may have information or otherwise be connected. They were arrested on federal weapons charges unrelated to the sniper attacks.

I sincerely hope that these guys are the snipers, and that police have an airtight case against them. They are both on record as being anti-american, al-queda sympathizers, and generally sick individuals that need to be put down like rabid dogs. I want to see them dance in the electric chair for this.
posted by MikeM at 8:51 AM    

 
I'm home sick today - been fighting some intestinal bug for several days and last night it got the best of me. I got nearly no sleep at all last night and this morning I am still suffering. I did manage to work the bugs out of my connection to work, so I can at least check my email and work with the servers a bit if needed.

On the home front, I have managed to get Rasputin to show up in My Computer on Trotsky, but I still cannot copy files back and forth. I can see the samba shares I created, but not access them. I'll likely tinker with that some more after I grab some much needed sleep - if this bug allows me any sleep, that is.

As for the Sniper, more and more details come out every day - about his letters, notes, demands, threats, etc. This guy should quit ranting and raving and just shoot himself if he is so upset that he has to kill people to express himself. I'll post more on the new details later, but CNN has great coverage.
posted by MikeM at 9:14 AM    

 
Another Sniper attack - and another death. This one hits closer to home, because I work with the Ride-On bus people occasionally, and know many of them.

Last night there were dozens of news shows and interviews with 'experts' who are all guessing wildly about the motivations of the sniper and his next move. We have precious few facts about him. He apparently called the number he had left the police, but used a voice-changing device that in combination with his broken english and strong accent made most of his side of the conversation very hard to understand. The police want him to call again so that they get it correct. I have heard rumors that he asked for money and made other threats. These threats were taken seriously enough that all of the schools in Northern VA are closed today.

This guy is by definition a terrorist, and is spreading fear throughout the nation - expanding his reach with every attack. Now he is reinforcing the fear in the center of 'his' territory, where he began. Possibly the police request to call again because his message was incomprehensible may have angered him - I recently read that the letter was in broken english.
posted by MikeM at 12:09 PM    

 
There are reports now that there were two men arrested at that gas station, but unfortunately, it appears that they were not connected to the sniper slayings. I'm not sure what happened, but apparently they just 'happened' to be at a payphone when the sniper was talking with police. I would have thought that they could trace calls more effectively.
posted by MikeM at 4:06 PM    

 
It looks like they arrested a man in a white van, and have searched the van and the perp and taken the man into custody. The van was pulled right up against a payphone... I think he was using the payphone to call the number he had left the police, possibly another payphone, and got busted when he underestimated the speed with which they could trace and respond to such a call. Here's a prayer that they got the right guy!
posted by MikeM at 10:18 AM    

 
Over the weekend, we visited Patty's mother and family in New Jersey, got to see everyone and visit for a little while. While there, we heard the news of the most recent sniper attack in Ashland, VA.

Apparently the victim survived, but has undergone several surgeries and needs still more. He was shot at around 8pm Sat night, in the back parking lot of a Ponderosa Steakhouse. Something different this time, however, was that authorities found a lengthy letter to them, possibly from the sniper. He left a number to be used in contacts, and in a news conference late Sunday evening the police asked the sniper to contact them at that number.

I have heard several commentators wondering why the police said in a short news conference "To the person who left us a message at the Ponderosa last night. You gave us a telephone number. We do want to talk to you. Call us at the number you provided. Thank you." . Only one commentator theorized that the number in the letter was a payphone, selected so that the sniper could call a neutral number to reduce the chance of tracing. I believe that he gave them the number of (most likely) a payphone, intending to call them on a cellphone from perhaps the immediate area, where he could watch the police official he was speaking too - and thus get his jollies by outsmarting them directly.

This just in (9:55am Monday) - Police have cordoned off a major intersection near where the city of Richmond meets Henrico County. According to media at the site, police surrounded a white van at a gas station and arrested a man sitting in the van a short time ago.

:) I can only hope that he outsmarted himself, by relying on 'knowledge' gained by watching too much TV, and underestimated the ability of the police to trace and locate a call. I sincerely hope that they got the right guy.
posted by MikeM at 10:01 AM    

 

Curious about viruses, worms, and trojans? If you are, then click on the previous sentence - the article is a good basic primer on the subject. Also of interest, the CIAC HoaxBusters website explains what hoaxes are and includes a large database of them to help you weed out the hoaxes from the real concerns. Here at the NSA Security website are a fairly complete list of Security Recommendations for various software applications and Operating Systems.
posted by MikeM at 11:09 AM    

 
There were no sniper killings today, tuesday or wednesday. The sniper has changed his routine. Here is a Current map of the sniper attacks so far. Perhaps he is laying low because the police are watching him?
posted by MikeM at 2:43 PM    

 
On another subject, I have seen several copies of nimda and magistr popping up in emails recently - all stopped cold by Norton Anti-Virus, of course. It is very important to keep your anti-virus data files up to date. Never open any attachments - unless you are POSITIVE that it is one you requested, are expecting, and has been cleared by your anti-virus. Some of these viruses are very sneaky, and pretend to be patches, games, screen savers, or pictures so that you will be curious and open them. If you have Outlook set to open a preview window in your inbox, you are begging to be infected. I usually retype or cut and paste things inline into emails as opposed to attaching them to an email, simply because it can be dangerous to open attachments, and some people won't open them no matter who sent them. Safety first!
posted by MikeM at 9:55 AM    

 
Another sniper attack yesterday, a woman was shot at a Home Depot in Falls Church, in a covered parking garage. This guy/guys is/are doing their best to make sure we all know that the attacks can come anywhere, no matter the perceived security of cover.
posted by MikeM at 11:21 AM    

 
At last! I have some pictures of the landscaping results for you! First, the backyard, with before and after shots :




Now the front yard, also before and after:



And finally, the new bench we had installed in the family room:

posted by MikeM at 3:28 PM    

 
This story was just published confirming that the attack in Fredericksburg this morning was indeed another attack by the same sniper. That makes 8 dead, 2 injured and 1 attack with no injuries.
posted by MikeM at 3:28 PM    

 
Another killing - they have not yet verified that it is another sniper killing, but it looks that way. This one in Frederickburg again. This time the police have a huge area roadblocked, and are stopping all traffic in and out, checking cars, etc. They even closed off all but one lane on the interstate so they could watch every car as it passed. Good work - hopefully this guy will get careless and end up being shot resisting arrest.
posted by MikeM at 12:42 PM    

 
Sniper update - a man was shot and killed at a gas station Wed in Manassas by the same sniper. When he shot the little boy at the school on Monday, he apparently left behind a tarot card (death card) and of course some genius consultant then made the asinine comment that the shooter is likely "into weird mysticism. If he's into tarot cards, he's into mysticism and possibly (the role-playing game) Dungeons & Dragons. He's into being fascinated with the unusual.". What an idiot. Making a comment like that on such slim evidence. Tarot/occult have NOTHING to do with any role-playing games (like D&D). Such stupidity just ticks me off.

That is tantamount to making a claim that since the sniper claimed he was God, he must be a genetic engineer, 'cause they play God. These so-called experts should avoid speaking and exposing their idiocy. Like my daddy always said "It is better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt."

Here is a listing of the victims so far.
posted by MikeM at 8:41 AM    

 
We have had several sniper attacks in the area over the past few days. They began Wed night, continued through the day Thursday, and there were more attacks Friday and Monday.

You tend to be more aware of your surroundings, scanning the horizon just to be sure nobody is acting suspicious. This latest episode at the middle school was really heinous. This SOB is targeting children now. The boy is stable, but has lost pieces of his internal organs and will forever have to deal with the fact that someone tried to kill him for no particular reason.

Brian, who just moved to this area, lives about two blocks from the school where this last shooting occurred. Welcome to Maryland, Brian, here is your body armor and trauma kit.
posted by MikeM at 10:11 AM    

 
Had a great Saturday - three old friends from my past came up to visit! Went out for dinner and chatted and caught up a bit. I miss all my friends I left behind when I moved up here, it's nice to be able to see them once in a while.

Today promises to be another relaxing Sunday of playing mechwarrior and perhaps a bit of shopping - we shall see.

I have been reading a fantastic online comic for years now - Real Life Comics. I added a link to it at the left. There are complete archives of all the previous comics - and you really need to read them all - they are great!
posted by MikeM at 11:47 AM    

 
I have the day off as Patty won a radio contest (MIX 107.3 WRQX) for a tour of the NSO Decorator Showhouse.

You and a friend can win a special MIX 107.3 VIP tour of Houghton Mansion, on Embassy Row at the 30TH annual NSO Decorator Showhouse October 1ST - 31ST! You'll see the work of 25 of the area's top designers. Join Stacey Williams and Chilli Amar from the Jack Diamond Morning Show on Thursday October 3RD for a special VIP tour of the mansion followed by a gourmet lunch at Neyla, a Mediterranean Grill in Georgetown with transportation provided by Magnolia Coach Limousine and Sedan Service.

Rasputin: Red Hat 8.0 installed perfectly - the 'everything' install took 35 min and 4.6gb. This machine is nice! 1200 Celeron, 128mb ram, and dual 80gb drives! I still couldn't play TuxRacer or Maelstrom. FAR too slow. Framerates in the single digits. I think the video card is the culprit, but c'est la vie. I'll be exploring this new Linux install for a while - haven't had a chance to just tinker with it before.
posted by MikeM at 7:01 AM    

 
It's here! The Dell! I think I'll leave both 80gb drives in it and use RH 8.0 to combine them into one volume, then share it across my LAN so I can access it from my other computer! Unless, of course, the lights dim when I have them both on, or the heat load is simply too much - then I need to reconfigure a bit.

Rasputin will be a fitting name for this box, as it is currently mindless, and I will be installing Psyche on it, which is an insane thing to do from the Microsoft mindset!
posted by MikeM at 6:53 PM    

 
After getting RH installed on Stalin, I was discussing the problem with a co-worker, and the subject of the 2gb limit came up. As the last install I did was only about 1gb total, it was not a valid test! The other installs were all 4.5 gb or so, and seemed to fail about halfway through... I think that this original pentium MB and BIOS are too old to be used with large disks. This is the original P133 mb, bleeding edge when I bought it, upgraded later with an Evergreen 240MMX cpu that boosted the speed to 240 and added MMX processing. There is no bios option to boot from CD, and several other clues that perhaps this machine may be incompatible with RH on a large disk. Is it worth stacking multiple small drives in the unit and trying to make it all work?

Even working as it is right now, it is dead slow ahead in Gnome or KDE. 30 sec+ to open anything. Too slow.

Anyone want a P240 with 128mb EDO ram and a random assortment of drives? Make me an offer. :) Time for Stalin to go back into the closet, I think.

posted by MikeM at 10:33 AM