Free DNS

Just got reminded of this....  http://freedns.afraid.org/ for free dns

Heartbleed...

This is a rare moment in time where I don't know what to say.  I'm still deciding whether or not I'm being paranoid because of the heartbleed bug (yes I think the NSA planted it) and how disappointed I am as a result of it.

I shouldn't feel that way but I do.

I get why governments do things like that, but sometimes it's better not to know.  Deep down I really am an optimist and believing that my government could do something like that just crushes my belief in my country, the constitution and the ideals I always believed we stood for.  I do believe that the NSA has lost it's way.  I can only imagine what the overwhelming paranoia that must be pervasive in its employees is like.   Maybe Enemy of the State was more realistic than I thought.

I've had people say this is just the beginning too...

Barre chords

They suck. No really they suck a lot. Nothing else to say on that

New life for my old phone

Last year I finally bit the bullet and rooted my galaxy note.  I've had two phones for what seems like forever, I don't really mind, but the note was getting really sluggish.

So I rooted and flashed aokp on it.  I didn't see that much of a difference at the time, even though it was nice to get Jelly Bean on it.

Fast forward to now and they released KitKat for the Note.  Now I see a *huge* difference in the phone's performance.  It's not like a new phone, but it is a lot snappier.  What a shame that AT&T and Samsung have abandoned a phone that isn't even 2 years old.

I'd resisted rooting it because I view the phone as a tool and need it to work 100% of the time.  Its why I have never bothered jailbreaking the iPhone or iPad, but the Note had gotten so bad I didn't really have a choice.  I even considered paying for an early upgrade.

The tough call is whether I want to upgrade.  AT&T doesn't sell phones with unlocked bootloaders so I can't flash a new phone, and don't want to have another phone go obsolete in 15 months, so I'll probably have to get the Nexus.  I've gotten pretty used to having a mostly vanilla android phone and going back to touch-wiz, or whatever samsung or HTC sticks on their phones, and being forced to keep it that way for 2 years is a deal breaker.

Creepy Google....

Even though I don't opt-out, google still creeps me out sometimes.  Don't get me wrong, I like that google checks the traffic and gives me a real time to leave for the doctor etc... it's still a little eerie that google knows where I am, where I go and keeps all of it stored forever.

1984 was just 30 years too late...

I hate to say I told you so...

For years I've assumed that the government had back doors in software, operating systems mostly, but I have to say even I'm a little stunned if the latest round of disclosures about the NSA are true.

I suppose I should have been a little more worried about it, but I always assumed that since I really don't have anything to hide, I didn't have to worry about it.  I was wrong.   My wife and three stepchildren are all foreign nationals (UK citizens) so I'm going to assume that everything that goes on in my house is monitored.

This is illegal.

They all have green cards that pre-date our marriage.  I am a US born citizen.  I am positive this is a violation of the constitution and my rights as a US citizen.

Now it comes out that the NSA has the ability to do this to hardware devices and *has* been doing so for a while.  This is going to cripple companies like Cisco and Juniper as well as HP and Dell and probably Apple.  Everyone was worried about Huawei, and I'm positive rightfully so, but I'd be willing to bet nobody in the EU will buy any of our stuff anymore.  I'm already reading online where other IT pros are looking for equipment from a different country.  Which country?  Can you assume any other country is trustworthy?

This is also illegal.

At what time is it acceptable to tear up the constitution in the name of "security"?   Maybe if we're in a state of martial law, but we're not.  At least the last time I checked.

So I wonder what I'm supposed to do.  If a liberal president like Obama can't stop it who can?  I can't see anyone further to the left here getting elected, and I suspect we're going to get another Republican next time, so we'll get more of the same.

I guess it's true.  Freedom dies with a whimper instead of a roar, and a quote from John Calhoun:

"It is harder to preserve than to obtain liberty"

I'm speechless

over this.  That judges and attorney's can rationalize and try to explain a verdict like this as appropriate...

He doesn't need treatment.  He's 16 and got drunk, everyone I know did that.  I know I did.  I just didn't get behind the wheel of a car and kill 4 people.

He's not ill, nor does he have a drinking problem, he's a criminal and a murderer.