New video camera!

Hey, I just got the new Flip video ultra HD! This thing is cool, mostly for just the darn simplicity, size, and light weight all combined with that much HD capacity.
Yeah, I still want some video camera with every possible feature, option, bell, whistle and you-name-it, but for now this is perfect.

High-Availability Considerations Article at The Email Admin

I've got an article out there on the factors affecting geographically distant clusters that I think is worth a read. It's vendor and platform neutral, so it should be of use for any of you out there, and is (hopefully) a good starting point to present the information to those that aren't familiar with the concepts.

FireKing's MediaVault 500 Surprise

Well, there were two surprises when I got the MVHD-500 to review. One, when I discovered that the 500 GB were provided via two 250 GB hard drives. Separate drives, with separate USB ports. So, it's really a "dual-250". No ability to span or combine the drives into a single volume.
The second surprise was better: the drives are enclosed in great portable USB enclosures that have SATA as well as USB interfaces and support external power via a wall-wart if you want it. I've used them before and they are great.
Check out my review here, and my comparison of it with the ioSafe here.

Excecutive MBA Preparations

School starts for my eMBA at Kennesaw State University soon: Sept. 26th. I'm excited and preparing for the changes to my schedule as well as the changes in my day-to-day focus.
...OK, so it's actually starting on October 3rd, but who's counting?

Application Reliability Techniques

I'm going to be doing some advanced research (and surely testing and implementation) on reliability of certain applications. Even up to a near-real-time disaster fail-over configuration for a very complex application infrastructure.
What's interesting about this particular situation is that the current production deployment is so complex that is is almost certain that we won't find some of the possible problems until we've tried the simulated failure. Some things are just likely dependent on the current infrastructure configuration, from load-balancing, routing, application tier configuration, certificates, and so forth. Given the recent denial of service (DoS) attacks on Social Networking sites that have very large distributed Internet presences (presumably HA), and the success of those attacks, I'm curious to dig in and see what we can learn and apply in practice for our services.

Security Risks and the Near Future

So, I started a new job today. It looks very challenging and rewarding as well. I'll be in an architecture and production support role for the customer-facing Single Sign On (SSO) infrastructure of a company that provides HR services.
While considering the security concerns that may be on the horizon for this type of service-oriented business, I'm still amazed at the sort of continuing security risks that anyone can run into every day just using a credit card or accessing MySpace.

Lots of Options for Back Up These Days

So, I've been doing lots of investigation, research, and testing of backup solutions for individual computers lately. PC disaster recovery these days can be much simpler than in the past. For the newbie, though, it can be perplexing.
The move toward more and more online storage of files, media, and information makes much of the hassle go away, in my opinion (and experience). If you use Gmail, Google Docs, Flickr, or other options for your info, when you get a new PC or upgrade your drive, etc. all you have to do is connect to the net and you have your data again.
This isn't the way some things are dealt with, though. Program backup is still a PITA, IMHO. The specific configuration of everything from Windows options and settings, driver configurations, plug-ins for browsers, add-ins, and of course the specific setup of all your programs takes time, effort, or a really good backup solution.
For just files and data I've found options like Mozy are working well. Check out my article on the best three free backup solutions I've found so far.

If you've forgotten a Windows password

If you have, you know it can be frustrating. I had a laptop that my dad left me and we had no idea what the password was or what was on it. We thought there might be some programs and information that we wanted. I was ready to try to crack the passwords using the "old" method with a bootable Linux CD and cracking tools, but I tried the Windows repair method first.
You can see how to use this method in my article here.

My Lasik Surgery Is a Success

Well, my surgery was an incredible success! I'm seeing better than I ever did with contacts, and every day now my vision is clearing up after the surgery (there was/is some expected haziness and "glow" around lights that is fading).

I'm Getting My Eyes Fixed

I'm going in for Lasik surgery this afternoon. I'm excited about it. Piedmont Better Vision in Atlanta is performing the work. Wish me luck.

Worthy of Note if You Need a Free Firewall

So, recently I reviewed PC Tools Firewall Plus 5.0 for Windows. I'm mentioning it here because I found someone yesterday who had a less effective firewall on her PC on a trial basis, and was going to need to update both because the trial was running out, and because I informed her that somehow she had still managed to become infected with some sort of spyware or malware despite the AV and firewall software she did have installed. I wasn't impressed much in the past with PC Tools' firewall offerings, but I like this one a bit better. Since I've been around the field so long, I'm jaded and expect firewalls to be incredibly feature rich, but when I consider the needs and abilities of the average user I realize they can't really be expected to understand and configure them.

The Confirmation of Sotomayor Begins

If the confirmation hearing is anything like the infamous Clarence Thomas episode...oh, wait; surely it won't be anything like that. Or will it? Well, the parties are on different sides. Here is an opportunity for us to see how each party conducts itself when the tables are turned. Which party will take the high road, and which the low road? Or will both rake muck, or will they stick to their supposed principles?
You can probably guess what I think.

70th Article for Bright Hub Published!

Moving right along, I just finished my 70th article for Bright Hub!

60th Article for Bright Hub completed

And today marks the completion of my 60th article for Bright Hub!
http://www.brighthub.com/members/lclemmer/articles.aspx

55th Article for BrightHub by Lee!

I recently completed my 55th article for Bright Hub. I love writing these articles, and I hope you love reading them.

Obama's Supreme Court Justice Nominee's Policy Opinion

Obama announced his first potential appointment to the U.S. Supreme court, Sonia Sotomayor. She will surely come to regret the day that she said that: "[The] court of appeals is where policy is made."
Now of course, she followed that up with: "[a]nd I know, I know this is on tape and I should never say that because we don't make law." But, it's clear from the context of the entire quote from that session that she does know that although law is not made there, that she's sure that policy is made there.
The courts are not a place to make policy. I'm sorry, but they're not. The court should enforce the law. Sometimes in application of the law, even "Justice" does not get a fair shake. In those cases it is, under our current system of government, the role of the legislature to repeal the law or create new law to ensure that in application, justice can be served.
Policy has no place in the courts.

Two Plus Two Still Not Equal to Five

Abraham Lincoln once asked an audience how many legs a dog has if you count the tail as a leg. When they answered "five," Lincoln told them that the answer was four. The fact that you called the tail a leg did not make it a leg.

Warming? Um...no.

So, despite continual, solid, independently verifiable evidence of various sorts, the politicos with something to gain still harp away on the MMGW issue. (Man Made Global Warming). Funny thing, I think--since it's an easier sell to me if you just say you want to reduce pollution, NOT asserting any particular catastrophic consequence.

From an article by C. Booker:

the latest satellite information from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (passed on by the Watts Up With That blog) shows that, after the third slowest melt of April Arctic ice in 30 years, the world's polar sea ice is in fact slightly above its average extent for early May since satellite records began in 1979...[and]
a DC-3 carrying an international team of scientists, using the latest electro-magnetic induction equipment [discovered] rather more efficiently that the ice was in fact "twice as thick" as they had expected.

As usual, real evidence keeps making enviro-fascist freaks look ever more ignorant.

Tax day rallies and tea parties give me hope

Seeing the number of tax day rallies gives me hope. Fair tax protests, (for The Fair Tax) and the Tea Parties as general tax protests, really seem to be getting some momentum. Hopefully they will continue and not lose momentum after tax day has passed.

20th Article Published for Bright Hub

I've just written my 20th computer security article published on Bright Hub. I really enjoy writing these. There should be 10 more done by the end of April ('09).

Proposed Cybersecurity Advisor a disaster in the making

In this article we find that there is a proposed advisory position for Cybersecurity, that would have the power to "disconnect federal or critical infrastructure networks from the Internet if they were deemed to be at risk of attack." I don't know if I like the idea of an appointed government bureaucrat having the power to disconnect parts of the Internet based on their opinion.

The bill also suggests creation of other entities that are essentially duplicates of services and functions already available in the free market system, that are currently in place, and don't need governmental interference.

I don't want a government position to squeeze out potential growth in the information security field, and I surely don't want them creating regulated or bureaucratic boondoggles & hoops to jump through whenever I want to work for a client.

/end rant

Boom! Headshot! x3

Justice is served. While we might want to believe that all conflicts can be resolved without violence, unfortunately for the idealistic, that's simply not true.
We don't want to encourage or reward undesirable destructive behavior.
Swift, decisive, incontrovertible action saved the day. (Granted, "swift" is in relative terms; ~5 days is swift compared to 30 days, 5 months, etc.)

Kudos to the captain, and the Navy.