December 2005 Archives

So I am cleaning up my laptop hard drive and I stumbled across these directories...

C:\WINDOWS\Installer C:\WINDOWS\Downloaded Installations

What are these files - do I need to keep them?

FreeBSD 5.x Mount

# mdconfig -a -t vnode -f image.iso -u 0 # mount -t cd9660 /dev/md0 /mnt/whatever

FreeBSD 5.x Unmount

# umount /mnt/whatever # mdconfig -d -u 0

FreeBSD 4.x Mount

# vnconfig -c vn0c image.iso # mount -t cd9660 /dev/vn0c /mnt/whatever

FreeBSD 4.x Unmount

# umount /mnt/whatever # vnconfig -u vn0c

So I've been drinking the Microsoft Koolaid in a big way lately. First I migrated from Firefox back to Internet Explorer, then I purchased a phone (Audiovox SMT5600) running Windows Mobile, then I installed Microsoft Exchange (to better sync with my phone of course), and now I am in the process of installing Microsoft CRM. Now before you get in a huff and start to explain to me why Firefox/Thunderbird/Linux is better than the Microsoft version don't bother. Microsoft has two things that these products don't have now - and won't have for a long time. The first is integration with productivity applications, i.e. Microsoft Office, Outlook, Exchange, CRM, Windows Mobile all work together exceptionably well. Outlook Web Access is a great thing to be able to "see" exactly what is in your Outlook and have changes sync across all of your platforms. The second is third party support, let's face it Microsoft still dominates these verticals which means the majority of third party software is going to be written with Microsoft as the primary platform. All that being said there are a few things that I miss from my old systems that I would love to see in the Microsoft version - and some things that I think would make the Microsoft software so much better from a users perspective. They are: Internet Explorer

1. Tabbed Browsing - because it just rocks.
2. Direct Downloads to disk (bypassing cache) - I can't tell you how annoying it is to download a 600MB ISO only that when it finishes it has to copy the file out of the IE cache to wherever you selected on the filesystem.
3. Download Manager - again it just rocks, being able to have a single window with a list of all of your downloads is incredibly convenient.

Windows Mobile

1. Resort contacts after syncing to phone (i.e. in Outlook I sort by Company Name (Lastname, Firstname) but on the phone I want just Lastname, Firstname).
2. When I call a contact with an extension I would like the phone to prompt me to auto dial the extension.

And to think - Britney didn't want a pre-nup.

According to America's In Touch Weekly magazine, during this tempestuous period of his marriage former dancer Kevin consulted lawyers to ask whether he could demand a "$125 million settlement" if the marriage ended.

Converting Watts to Amps

The conversion of Watts to Amps is governed by the equation Amps = Watts/Volts For example 12 watts/12 volts = 1 amp

Converting Amps to Watts

The conversion of Amps to Watts is governed by the equation Watts = Amps x Volts For example 1 amp * 110 volts = 110 watts

I found this information here: How to Convert Watts to Amps Simplified -- Converting Amps to Watts the easy way

See: Schneier on Security: Titan Rain, and Time

There seems to be a well-organized Chinese military hacking effort against the U.S. military. The U.S. code name for the effort is "Titan Rain."

I can tell you that if a foreign military tried to break into a government/military installation it would be viewed as an act of war. Is hacking really any different? With penalities for hacking becoming more and more severe how long will it take before an organized effort lead by a government is viewed an act of war?

A passenger who claimed to have a bomb in a carry-on bag was shot and killed by a federal air marshal Wednesday on a jetway to an American Airlines plane that had arrived from Colombia, officials said.

And because this is the United States - tomorrow it will be announced that his family is sueing the Government for wrongfull death. I'm sorry, if you are in an airport and claim you have a bomb and are running you are going to be shot. See Airline Passenger Who Made Threat Killed - Yahoo! News for the full story.

So this video has been making the rounds across the Internet. I'm curious about two things...

1. What does his neighbors think?
2. How many accidents has this caused?

Honestly if I was driving down that street it's guaranteed that I would rear end the car in front of me.

Never use and online "convenience" system to pay your credit card - there is nothing convenient about it. My wife and I have a credit card that we use for random things just like anyone else on this planet. This card has been carrying a balance since our wedding in 04 - and we decided to just go ahead and pay off all of our debt over the next six months. Phase 1, pay off this credit card. So I issue a payment online using the company's payment system. Today my wife goes to use the card and it returns declined - confused I call the credit card company and ask what is going on... Well it turns out that in our cardmember agreement there is some fine print that if I pay over $1,000 dollars they will put the account on hold for two weeks to protect against terrorists money laundering. WTF kind of bull is this - I hate it when I am being screwed and people make up some stupid excuse instead of just saying - yes we are screwing you. Here's the kicker - not only is the amount that we just paid on hold, but the remaining balance available has been placed on hold as well. What do they get out of it? They get to hold my money for two weeks and make interest, and they get to charge me two full billing cycles of finance charges. So what evil company is this you ask? None other than Chase. Not exactly a small player in the credit card world. Note to self - enjoy canceling this card when they "release" my payment.