Author: Tony

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I finally gave in

I couldn’t stand it any longer. Today I cancelled my dial-up account and switched back to a cable modem.

I’m paying twice as much, but my connection speed went from around 30 Kbps to about 1000 Kbps.

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The Secret's Out

The Internet was abuzz this weekend with talk about the leaked (stolen?) source code to Microsoft Windows. There are two different files circulating on the file-sharing networks. One contains code for Windows NT 4.0 and the other contains Windows 2000.

covering the investigation into how the code got out. In the article they also mention the fact that the source code is “riddled with hidden notes and profanity”

I have not looked at the source code, and I don’t want to see it. I’m sure all developers of open source software feel the same way. Examaining this code would legally “taint” any programmer so that Microsoft could then sue them for copyright violation if any of the ideas from the code were reimplemented in another program.

Of course this hasn’t stopped the crackers. According to SecurityTracker.com an exploint based on the leaked source code has already been released. Proof once again that “security throught obscurity” (i.e. hiding your source code from the public), is a terrible way to run a software company.

Finally, just in case anyone feels safe because they’re running Windows XP, keep in mind that Windows XP is just the latest evolution of this same family of code. Windows 2000 is actually version 5.0 and Windows XP is version 5.1. Exploits discovered in this code will most likely affect Windows XP as well.

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Happy Valentine’s Day

We had a great Valentine’s Day today. First of all, it snowed. Paige and I had a snowball fight, and we made a snowman:

Me and the snowman

And, we joined Aerofit. Ben and Paula have been bugging us to do it for a while now. We worked out for about 45 minutes this morning. There’s nothing like lifting weights and then walking out into the freezing cold.

Also, we got Valentine’s cards from Geoff. The interesting thing about them is they’re vintage super hero cards from when we were kids. Very cool.

I’ll post a few more snow pictures once I get them sorted out and resized.

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I’m so proud

One of our star students, Zach Clifford, has set up his own web server. Why am I proud? Because he’s running Debian Linux, of course. I would love to take some of the credit for this site, but Zach did it all on his own. Actually, I just started visiting about a week ago.

It’s a great site. He as an active message board, games, picture galleries, etc. There’s only one thing wrong with his site – Google has never heard of it. A Google search for Zach Clifford doesn’t even list his site on the first page. Looking at the stats for his site, I realized that Google’s bot wasn’t even indexing his page.

Since Google is rather found of our little site, I though I would help him out by posting a few links to his site. So if there’s anything you want to know about Zach Clifford, be sure to check out his website at http://www.zachclifford.com.

We’ll see what this does for his page rank…

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Happy Birthday To Me

I just thought I’d mention that today is my birthday. I’m 29 today. If you forgot all about it and you’re feeling guilty for not getting my anything, there’s a link to my Amazon wishlist in the bar on the right side of this page. Actually, even if you’re a complete stranger and don’t care whether it’s my birthday or not, the link is still there…

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Cory Doctrow’s New Book

Cory Doctrow, who also runs the Boing Boing weblog, has just released his second book – Eastern Standard Tribe. I haven’t finished reading his first book (Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom) yet, but I will say that I like what I’ve read so far.

Not only are Cory’s books available to buy in stores, he has also released them for free download from his website. Although this seems like it would be economic suicide for an author, he has in fact been selling books “hand over fist”.

Cory has also written a page called What’s this site?, where he explains his reasons for releasing his books for free. This page and the discussion that follows provide a great insight into the mind of an author who really “gets it” when it comes to modern distribution of artistic work.

As always, here’s a nice quote to convince you that you really should go read this now:

There are 70 million Americans engaged in file-sharing today, violating a copyright law that hasn’t kept pace with technology… No author is going to turn those downloaders into customers by calling them thieves. By contrast, the author who figures out how to capitalize on that activity will find himself sitting pretty

It will be interesting to see how that quote holds up 5-10 years from now…

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Pictures are back

All of the picture galleries are working again. It took a little longer than I would’ve liked to get everything moved over, but it’s finally done. While I was moving files around, I found some great pictures that somehow never got posted.

Here’s Sam playing with some ribbons:

Sam playing with ribbons

And here he is napping on the back of our old couch:

Sam taking a nap

That should give you an idea of how old these pictures are, we got rid of that couch months ago.

I also have a few more good pictures of me and Max that I’ll post in the next few days.

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Get Categorized

I finally broke down and added categories to the site. You’ll find them in the navigation bar on the right side of the home page. So if you’re just here for the technical stuff, like this post, you can go to the Technology Category and read all of it at once.

I’m not really happy with the names of the categories yet, but they’ll do for now. The only problem with this system is when I ramble on about several different things I’ll have to assign that post to multiple categories.

In other news, I just learned how to spell the word “category”. I think I’ve been spelling it “catagory” for my entire life. A Google search for catagory turns up about 503,000 pages, so I guess I’m not alone…

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Soup Recipe

I didn’t get home last night until about 10:30pm, so I had to put off posting this recipe one more time. Sorry to everyone who’s been asking for it for the last few months. Finally, here it is.

All of these ingredients should be readily available. The wonton wrappers are usually in the produce section or near the tofu. Be sure to check the date. Refridgerate the wonton wrappers and use them within a few days of buying them. They will turn green if you leave them sitting around too long.

War Wonton Soup

Wontons:
1/2 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons minced ginger
2 teaspoons sliced green onion
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
24 wonton wrappers

Soup:
6 cups chicken broth
1/4 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 carrot, sliced
1 cup chinese cabbage, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup snow peas, trimmed
1/2 cup mushrooms
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons sliced green onion

This soup cooks very quickly, so be sure you have all of the ingredients ready to go
before you start.

First, prepare the wontons by mixing the pork, rice wine, soy sauce, cornstarch, ginger,
sesame oil, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.

Place a teaspoon of the mixture in the middle of a wonton wrapper. Brush the edges the
wrapper with water and fold the bottom corner over the filling to make a triangle. Fold
the left and right points of the triangle in to the middle of the wonton, then fold the top
point down.

In a large pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add the wontons and cook about 3
minutes. Add the shrimp and cook for about 1 minute. Add the carrot, cabbage, snow peas,
and mushrooms and cook 1 minute.

Everything should be done at this point. The wontons should be white and the shrimp should be pink. Simmer a little longer if needed.

Add the pepper and sesame oil to taste and garnish with the sliced green onion.

The following ingredients are also sometimes added to the soup:
1/4 cup sliced chicken breast
1/4 cup sliced barbequed pork
1/4 pound fresh scallops

To me this is like chicken noodle soup on steroids. Nothing makes me feel better when I’m sick or just feeling run-down.

If you can only buy ground pork in 1 pound packages, you’re probably wondering what to do with the other half-pound. It’s great added to sauce with pasta, or you can do what I do – make egg rolls.