The Airplane Gods Didn’t Just Hate Me

When I was a consultant and traveling all the time I seriously thought the airplane gods wanted to mock me.   Especially the time I got stranded because of an overbooked flight in Buffalo for 8 hours.    The Consumerist has a list of the top 10 worst airports for delays – I’ve been to most of them.   From their list here is where I’ve been:

Chicago, IL (MDW)

New York, NY (LGA)

Atlanta, GA (ATL)

Philadelphia, PA (PHL)

New York, NY (JFK)

Newark, NJ (EWR)

Chicago, IL (ORD)

So for all the rest of you that have been stranded out there waiting for your flight to take off, I take great sympathy for you.

Launched journeytogetpaid.com

I opened up my newest online diary that’s targeted, journeytogetpaid.com.  The whole point of the site is to document the trials and tribulations of becoming a professional blogger.   Will I be able to attain that goal?  Probably not, there is a very good chance that it is a pipe dream.  I would probably make more money registering spam sites based off typos then I would  making money as a professional blogger.   It does come down to the fact that a fellow has to dream.

I have a few more websites that will be launching soon giving me a variety of sites to work with different people and attempt to capture my little slice of pie.   Journeytogetpaid.com is to document them all.   The failures and successes are to be shared with the readers.   Why should I profit without sharing the insight.

I do plan on crossposting all my work on whatever sites I work on back to creeva.com.   My faithful readers will be able to get all of the information always here.   Though it is suggested you go to the other sites so you can keep up with the latest and greatest – also on the sites I’m not going to be alone so on creeva.com you are only going to get part of the picture.

To read the launch synopsis on Journey to Get Paid go here.

Cheap and Dirty Windows Log File Archiving

So your company has a requirement to maintain log files for a year?

You don’t know how to go about it and you need to implement it now?

I have a solution for you and best of all it’s free. This solution however is not supported by me, there will be no bug fixes by me, and any damages you cause to your own servers is your own fault. That is my one sentence disclaimer to tell you that you truly are on your own.

For this solution or temporary fix (depending on your organization) you are going to need the following helper programs:

Info-zip – we’ll use this to compress down files and save space specifically we need the zip.exe file

MD5SUMS – this allows us to generate MD5 checksums to verify if any file tampering has taken place after the fact. Specifically we need the md5sums.exe file.

Dump Event Log (Dumpel.exe) – this is a tool offered by Microsoft to dump your event logs to a text file. Though this link is part of the Windows 2000 Resource Kit I have tested and it does work with the Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 log files.

We take these 3 programs and wrap them to work together via a batch file. All 3 of these programs MUST be in the same directory as the batch file for it to work as designed. Here is the batch file:

@echo off
REM Sets date variables for file name
for /F “tokens=1,2″ %%d in (‘date /T’) do set day=%%d & set date=%%e
set yyyy=%DATE:~6,4%
set dd=%DATE:~3,2%
set mm=%DATE:~0,2%
set startDate=%yyyy%-%mm%-%dd%
REM Adds Computer to prefix the date
set outputname=%computername%-%startdate%
REM Cleans out previous zip files from a bad run
del %outputname%.zip
REM Dumps each of the log files going back for 2 days
REM allowing for overlaps we may miss due to time changes
dumpel -f %outputname%.sec -l security -d 2
dumpel -f %outputname%.app -l application -d 2
dumpel -f %outputname%.sys -l system -d 2
REM creates an MD5 hash for verification checking
md5sums %outputname%.sec >%outputname%.md5
md5sums %outputname%.app >>%outputname%.md5
md5sums %outputname%.sys >>%outputname%.md5
REM Compresses the 4 files
zip %outputname%.zip %outputname%.*
REM Cleans up the unneeded files to save
del %outputname%.sec
del %outputname%.app
del %outputname%.sys
del %outputname%.md5

I’ve included my comments in the batch file – but let’s go through it a section at a time so you can fully understand it.

@echo off

If you don’t know @echo off supresses everything from your screen in a batch, I wouldn’t suggest modifying my script since this is batch file programming 101.

for /F “tokens=1,2″ %%d in (‘date /T’) do set day=%%d & set date=%%e
set yyyy=%DATE:~6,4%
set dd=%DATE:~3,2%
set mm=%DATE:~0,2%
set startDate=%yyyy%-%mm%-%dd%
REM Adds Computer to prefix the date
set outputname=%computername%-%startdate%

This section adds the prefix to the files we are going to be using on all of your files – these allows us to work with files that include the computer’s name you are running this on and the date on which it was run.

del %outputname%.zip

This verify actually cleans up the zip file if this script has already been run during the current day. Mine is modified to delete the zip file completely since at the end of my script I move my files to a remote location and don’t need archived logs filling up my hard drive quickly.

dumpel -f %outputname%.sec -l security -d 2
dumpel -f %outputname%.app -l application -d 2
dumpel -f %outputname%.sys -l system -d 2

This area does the physical dumping of the logfile. Dumpel is the command. The -f switch allows us to specify a file name. If you notice I used the %outputname% as the first part of the file with the file type of which log file it is as the suffix. The -l switch let’s us specify which logfile we are dumping from the event log (security, application, or system). the -d switch allows us to specify how many days we wish to save. I chose 2 days to allow some overlap on the log files which is good for security reasons since we shouldn’t miss any events if you change the time of the day the script is run. It also give us two more logfiles to verify the authenticity of the log data we are looking at.

When this section is done running you should have three files. If your computer’s name was BOB-SERVER and the date you ran this was one January 3, 2007 the file names would read like this; BOB-SERVER-2007-01-03.sec for your security log, BOB-SERVER-2007-01-03.app for your application log, and BOB-SERVER-2007-01-03.sys for your system log.

md5sums %outputname%.sec >%outputname%.md5
md5sums %outputname%.app >>%outputname%.md5
md5sums %outputname%.sys >>%outputname%.md5

This section generates an MD5 Hash of the logfile data allows you to see if the data was tampered from when it was originally generated. It is next to impossible to edit a file and maintain the same hash data. This allows you some security that your log files are authentic. For those wondering “well can’t I just rerun the md5 program and generate a new hash and save that after modification?” – I have your answer. I didn’t include how to store these files after they are generated and we will touch upon that question under “What do you do now?” at the bottom. The command outputs your three BOB-SERVER-2007-01-03 files and output it to a single BOB-SERVER-2007-01-03.md5 file that includes a section with each of the above files. I decided personally that I didn’t need an md5 file for each of them – feel free to modify this if your needs differ.

zip %outputname%.zip %outputname%.*

This compresses the dumped events logs down to a manageable size. I managed to get a 60 MB log file that I generated during varying testing phases down to just over 6 MB. I also manged to get 480 KB of log files down to 14kb. At this point you should have a BOB-SERVER-2007-01-03.zip file which includes your three event logs and you md5 file.

del %outputname%.sec
del %outputname%.app
del %outputname%.sys
del %outputname%.md5

This section cleans up the files outside of the zip. I manage t0 get these files down 90% in size I don’t need these to eat up extra space.

What do you do now?

From here I would add in a line at the end to move the logs to another server where you can store them for length your organization deems necessary. To help combat the MD5 re-engineering I mentioned above I would copy the compressed archived to two locations on your network. This will help make having an MD5 meaningful. Another option is adding a script that e-mails you the MD5 hash so you have it saved for reference. Having the MD5 and collecting 2 days of information from the logs and would mean an attacker may have to edit 2-4 archives and regenerate md5’s for them – double that if you store a second set of archives in another location.
While this may fulfill your needs for log file capturing and an easy way to store them, it does not address the fact of easy log file auditing and tracking down events. There are all in one solutions out there for you to use and I don’t say in any terms this a solution to those. You need to address your own needs and decide what works for you. This is to give you sometime until your decide what you are going to do.

The HTML is Easy Myth

For years there has been a myth going around online.  The detrimental  myth that hurts many and makes them feel inferior.   The myth that HTML is very easy.  I read many books on the history of technology and most of them going into the HTML revolution.   The fact that HTML allows everyone to participate online and create their own content.    The fact that it is so easy that even the family dog can do it.

Before I get much further I would like to say that I know enough HTML to get myself by.   The learning though has been more from the sense of need then actually looking at a book and having it all “click”.  Usually I’m looking to do something specific and I find the answer.   There is a few commands that I know about that I haven’t even used.   I prefer CSS though over HTML.

Most people that interact online use very little HTML.   They use WYSIWYG editors that do all the formatting.  Adding links is as simple as highlighting a line, clicking the link button, and typing in the destination of the link.   I don’t use HTML for this.   For some reason all technology books and classes preach the long lasting myth that HTML is what you have to learn.    This unfortunately is a lie.

Web Architects – they do have to know HTML, but content providers have been long past the time where HTML skills were required.   If my sister wanted to start a blog, she wouldn’t bother to learn html.  If my grandmother got the point where she decided that she wanted to post her recipes online she would be discouraged by ever looking at HTML code.

Knowing HTML is a benefit but not a necessity.  It also is not simple pie publishing that anyone can learn and understand.   It’s understanding the logic and taking the time to learn the codes.   This time takes away from the ability to actually create content for a creator (if there creation is not strictly or primarily HTML).   People waste time on things they don’t need too when learning a good CMS system would  be sufficient.   The next step if you had to learn something would be CSS to style the CMS system the way you want it to look.   Then at this point learning HTML may be a benefit.

The teachers however train you that HTML is the first thing you have to learn.   They waste time for skills that may never be relevant.   Unfortunately these skills are a complete waste of time and are lost in relevancy immediately when they start to put those skills into practical use.   The similar scenario that I can put into the educators false belief in this system is similar to how programming was when I was in school.   When I went to college in the 1995 school season the major programming language at the time was C++ for the computing community.   The highest level of programming my college taught CS majors was PASCAL.   PASCAL was on the way out as a programming language at the time.  Already it had seen it’s hey day and was in decline.   I’m not arguing that it wasn’t an important skill to learn, I am however wondering how that skill would have gotten me a job.

Needless to say I never took a computer programming at college.   I also have never taken an HTML class, but I’ve used the web successfully and created varying levels of content on it since 1994.    These skills are also not in my skill set for work either.   Though I work in computer security I’m not a programmer nor do I ever plan to be.    I started programming with the origina “anyone can learn it” programming language, BASIC.

I hated BASIC on my VIC-20 with a passion.  Anything to do with typos took hours to correct after taking hours to input in the first place.   This early interaction made me hate programming with a passion.   My brother however at least embraced HTML and web design technologies.   This will help make him a web architect, but not a content provider.   HTML is for the rigid people that like order.  They make sense out of the chaos.   Content creators on the other hand learn enough web languages to make their content viewable.   Creators are much more chaotic then designers.

I am a creator and I say HTML is overhyped.   It does allow me to be more flexible in some areas, but that’s only to bring some order ot the chaos.   I prefer to start with the chaos and work from there.

We could always  go back to the myth that you need to understand math to use computers, but that’s a rant for another day.

The Fire I Didn’t Face

This morning on my drive to work I passed by a house in a very small town that was ablaze. The flames were sprouting 2-3 feet of the window and people were just driving by. I thought briefly of stopping and seeing if I could help, the fire department had not yet arrived. If I would have stopped I would be late for work and hold the self righteous it is not effecting me directly view point of many Americans.

For a few moments I fought the feelings of wondering what i would do. Should I risk my life to try to run through a burning house to help people, possibly risking my own life and making my wife a widow? I would go out doing a good deed, but the house was so far gone on the main floor that I’m not sure I could have made it to the second story on my own. It may have just been a task of self sacrifice that may not do any good.

The house ironically was 2-3 doors down from being almost directly across the street from a fire station. Unfortunately it is a volunteer fire station that was currently unmanned. All of these thoughts and worries passed through my head as I drove a couple hundred feet passed the house. I was unsure what I should or could do to help. At this point a volunteer fireman came around the corner in a pickup with his lights blazing. For some reason at that moment it calmed me to think that help was only moments away.

I only don’t know to this moment if I should have stopped or should have tried to help. It’s a gnawing feeling in your stomach that just won’t seem to go away. What if I could have made a difference, what if I could have saved a life. What would have happened if I would have died. The answers to all of these things is that I don’t know.

I don’t know if I could have saved a life. If I would have known that I would have acted without hesitation. If I could have made a difference I would have acted without hesitation. If I would have died – now that’s an answer I would have preferred not knowing. It’s one of those flashes that happens in your life that gives you uncertainty and dread. Hopefully the next time I will be quicker or more decisive to act. My first trip through the flames though I can’t help but think I have failed.

The missing pictures of our lives

Have you ever noticed that you seem to always want to find a picture of a certain person or certain event and it just doesn’t exist. I have cars I’ve owned that somehow I don’t have pictures of. People I knew and hung out with for years that I don’t have pictures. Events that somehow were photographically free.

It’s odd how we are becoming more and more photogenic in our normal lives but yet we don’t capture what matters.

I’m sure that I am not alone in these thoughts – we can all mourn the lack of photographic evidence that we existed in a certain time or place is lost.

Syncing Photo Sites

Currently I’ve managed to disseminate my blog articles to several different blogs (coming in how creeva.com works part 3).  One thing I’m looking for is a way to sync photographs from multiple sites.    Like using wordpress as my front end to multiple sites, I truly love flickr and it’s tools and plan on always using it as my primary photo storage site.   I could manually upload to other sites I use, but what fun is that.   Making everything work behind the scenes by itself is one of my sick little pleasures.

We have two possible solutions to make this work – client side or server side.

Client side I could download and manually upload all the photos to each site I possibly use and use third party tools to manually sync all the photos to each individual site I could possibly want the data to be uploaded to.  This option I may break down and do, but like I said I don’t want to.

Server side – what I want.

I want to be able to upload the data to Flickr and set the data to automatically be synced to other sites across the net.   Some of the sites I would like to sync data with is photobucket, myspace, facebook, and anything where I can get a use out of it.

Does anyone know of a tool that exists that can sync form flickr to other services.

What’s Wrong With My Shoes?

The other day at work I had mentioned my 9th wedding anniversary coming up and of course as per custom my co-workers congratulated me. After the first sentence you are probably wondering what the title has to do with this post. Well let’s get into that.

Coming back from lunch one of my co-workers clarified that I was going to be married for nine years. I confirmed his statement. He then asked me why I where shoes like I’m a high schooler still. For a moment I was taken aback.

Let’s get some things out of the way, this gentleman may not be old enough to be my grandfather, but he is older then my father. He has long hair in a pony tail. probably in in his mid 50’s maybe pushing early 60;s – all in all age doesn’t matter to me much, he is a man like any other.

For a moment I was just dumbfounded. I look down at his feet and he had brown wingtips on, but they were scuffed and aged for a few years. Something with dress shoes that I would never wear anything that beat up out in public for that shoe style. I used to always wear dress shoes when I was consulting, but since I’m in the office all day I wear something more befitting to my work and being on my feet more often then I was when I was consulting.

How do you explain to this gentleman that I value my personal comfort when occasions allow for it then any false bravadoes of style? That generationally the wing tips don’t fit most people in their late 20’s early 30’s like they did twenty to thirty years ago. That fashion slaves no longer need to exist to the level in business that the older generation once believed. Even IBM employees don’t wear suits and ties to work any more.

I left it with that line that they were comfortable and that’s why I wear them. I didn’t add that my dress shoes don’t look like they are falling apart and 4 months past the need a good polishing.

In the end – I don’t understand what that has to do with being married for 9 years.

I assume these would be a more fitting style according to him for a guy married 9 years then the shoes pictured above (the style I normally buy):

 

 

Ug.

Anyways I’ve been happily married now for 9 short years and hopefully will stay that way into I’m just a memory in everyone’s eye and someone’s whose thoughts only exist in the archive.org wayback machine.

I love my wife with all of my heart, there are the trials and tribulations that go with any marriage and being the same person for over a decade. However we persevere and go one (though we still argue about copyright law – HEATEDLY). We will manage to get through and stay in blissful debate and wonderful marriage until our dying day.

I will however still wear the shoes I like and not the ones befitting a certain age or social economic structure.

Spokeo – The Interesting, Exciting, and Scary

Spokeo is one of the latest Web 2.0 services I have tried here is how it works:

First you sign up and it asks if you want to look for friends from your address book (gmail, yahoo, AOL, etc,) it then spends time going through all the addresses and see which services they belong (Amazon, Myspace, Last.fm, Digg, Twitter, Etc.) – at this point it shows you all of their public activity on these services.

You also have the option of linking your myspace, linkedin, or other accounts where it doe the same searching as before. This is interesting since it allows you to track your friends without hunting them all down and searching them out. You know what they are up to without actively going to all these different sites online for hours at a time. You may never log into your normal sites to keep up with your friends, it all coming to you.

Now the scary – you can put in any e-mail address and look up someone the same way. You also receive hits from your address book of someone you may have had one quick e-mail exchange with but no relationship. Because of this you are infringing on their privacy.

More people need to be aware of Spokeo so they understand the implications of their online activities and how easy they are to track and monitor. I’m well aware and have been for awhile, I use teh internet and post information knowing this and expecting it. Other people I know are not nearly as aware.

I would recommend trying it out just to see what you can find. If your worried about your e-mail address becoming part of the beast i would advise to sign up with a throw away e-mail address.

I find it odd

That two of my posts that go in spurts are the ones that deal with the government. Reversing the Netflix database (which was publicly announced as a major threat after I posted about it) I’m not taking credit the guys I pointed to in the original article are the ones that deserve any and all credit. I just hope I caused a little more rumbling.

The other is on Palantir and there analysis platform which after worrying about my posts because of all the Washington D.C. hits and the hits from Palantir had me very curious. The reason is I didn’t put out anything that was more technical or more scathing then some other sites I saw after the fact when I wrote that.

It seems some of my hits seem to be from people more interested specifically in Palantir and looking for more information. I would assume that the Palantir hits were part of a bot program – but it seems some of these links originated from e-mail accounts – so they are sharing my humble story.

I do applaud Palantir on updating their screenshots – it seems they are showing off some of what they have accomplished now. The only thing I have to say to Palantir is the website has moved and some articles are now cross-posted – but I haven’t written anything new and it’s the same article you were tearing through months ago when I originally wrote the article.

The other posts that are huge is my review on the Symantec Endpoint Protection, my “Hulu – Another good Tv-Links Replacement“, and My link to TV-Links replacement sites.

I’m hoping with the launch of my new site in the next 24 hours that I start to receive a wider variety of people reading a wider variety of stuff. Until then welcome those in public servant space, in the need for Symantec help, and those looking for online video. You help keep up my readership.