All of my kids are great. But I really have to brag on my second daughter a bit. There is a very good article about her in the Kansas City Star today. The heart of the story is not about her, her stats, or her accomplishments. Rather, the story focuses on how her self-confidence has transformed her from being a good athelete into a great basketball player. Man, doesn’t that teach me a lesson or two!
-CyclingRoo-
As I type these words, I am overwhemed with a sense of accomplishment. OK, it really isn’t a big accomplishment. And it’s not like I’ve done anything important. But most of us know how good we feel when we’ve cleaned out the garage or gone through the attic. With that in mind, I’ll let you know that I feel satisfied/content because I’ve gone through the musical attic, dusted off all the old boxes, sorted their contents, and re-arranged them in nice, neat rows – I’ve cleaned up my musical metadata.
Over the years, I’ve collected quite a few CD’s. I’ve ripped MP3’s files from these CD’s for the past five years. And in the last few months, I’ve converted some old cassettes into MP3 files. I’ve even spent the time assembling album art wherever I could. But I hadn’t ever been thorough in cleaning up my MP3 metadata. But last Sunday, I got motivated to start the cleanup. And what I thought would take a few hours is finally complete – after a few days.
So what did I do and how did I do it?
After all of this, my digital music cabinet is now labeled and sorted quite nicely. Too bad the actual CD’s aren’t as neatly sorted and stacked!
-CyclingRoo-
I love innovation. In today’s modern world, innovation can be every bit as important as invention. HTTP has been around for over a decade. XML has been around for several years. Google Maps was an innovation based upon previous inventions. And now, folks are taking Google Maps to new heights.
The folks over at Frappr have combined Google Maps and social networking concepts into a unique little tool. They have created a tool whereby folks can identify themselves with others in a very visual way. Frappr allows people to put “push pins” in a Google Map. In this way, you can learn how geographically diverse a particular social group is. For example, the folks at Mozilla have created a group/map for Firefox users.
Given the recent joy that Sony has brought me (and many others), I thought I’d create a Frappr group/map for folks who have been infected by the Sony XCP rootkit/spyware. I’ve lovingly titled the group Sony XCP Victims). Right now, I’m the only pin on the map. If you’ve been affected by the Sony XCP rootkit, stick a pin in the map.
-CyclingRoo-
The drumbeat of outrage against Sony is still growing. You don’t have to look very far to see a plethora of links that vary from apologetic to derisive. I won’t link to all of them, but I did find one worth noting. The Washington Post is now reporting that the Sony removal tools (both the patch and full removal tool) install an ActiveX control (called CodeSupport) that is inherently unsafe. Ed Felten (from Freedom to Tinker) recommends that no one should use the Sony uninstall tools.
Well, I didn’t even wait for confirmation. I decided that I didn’t need CodeSupport before I installed the Sony rootkit. So I figured I wouldn’t need it after I uninstalled the roottkit. I used Spybot S&D to remove it (using the Advanced Mode -> Tools -> ActiveX widget).
And then the good news came… According to USA Today, Sony will also replace the “infected” CD with a new (and hopefully uninfected) CD. It’s never too late to show sincere remorse and take the necessary steps to remedy the injury that has been caused. Let’s hope that Sony seeks out the injured customers rather than trying to hide from them.
-CyclingRoo-
It’s been an extraordinarily busy couple of days in the malware detection business. Sony has been all over the news – and the news isn’t so good for them. [Sony BMG Kills Daft DRM CD Rootkit Scheme, Sony Learns a Hard Lesson, Microsoft will identify the XCP software as malware, Sony halts production of CD’s] In an effort to protect the intellectual property of Sony BMG musicians, Sony has embedded some pretty nasty software on the computer systems of their consumers – including me.
If you want to know the grim details, you should read the recent posts over at Sysinternals (Mark Russinovich’s blog). But here are the highlights. Sony has contracted with a DRM technology vendor to “protect” its music from computer piracy. The DRM scheme they have chosen does not allow the customer to use customary PC tools to listen to the music. Instead, the software requires the consumer to install a special player. And along with that player comes a whole bunch of other stuff – including rootkit technology that can be exploited by others for even more nefarious purposes.
My viewpoint is simple. I bought an album from a band I truly love. And in the process, I have been exposed to some very nasty exploits. But it is not the fault of the artists. In fact, the bassist for Switchfoot even went so far as to describe how to defeat this DRM scheme. He didn’t do this to anger his label. Rather, he did this so that his fans could put their music on their iPods. The band and I have both been used. If a vendor places hidden technology in a product, and that technology monitors customer behavior w/o first informing the customer of the monitoring, then that technology should be classified as spyware.
Fortunately, I have removed the spyware from my system – at least, I think I have. I went through Sony BMG’s multi-step process to remove the software. I gave them my name, my email address and I gave them system identifying data – just so I could get their spyware off my system. It took almost three days to get everything off, but I think it’s gone. But I now have so little trust for Sony BMG that I will use any scanning tools at my disposal to ensure that this thing is gone. I’ve used RootKitRevealer. And I will use the Microsoft Windows Anti-Spyware tools when they become available. And I’ll use whatever else I can find to ensure that this stuff is gone.
Why? It’s simple. Sony lied to me. They invaded my system because they felt they couldn’t trust me. Worse still, they eventually relented and “offerred” a means to fix the problem. But they only offered half-steps. They wanted me to install a “service pack” for their spyware – so that it couldn’t be exploited. But I chose to decline that offer and requested complete removal instead. In the final analysis, they forced me to jump through a Cheerio to solve the problems they caused when they invaded my system.
There is nothing that I have done to warrant this treatment. Indeed, I’m one of the good guys. I bought the CD. The funny thing is that I thought about getting it from iTunes first. But I wanted to send a message that people still buy CD’s from stores. Well, I got punished for sending that message. And now, I no longer trust the record labels. I still love Switchfoot. But Sony BMG just lost future business from a good customer.
P.S. If you want to learn more about rootkits, I recommend Greg Hoglund’s book at Amazon.com.
-CyclingRoo-
Eighteen years ago, my wife was still pregnant with our second daughter. I never would have imagined that I could ever call that daughter a “dawg.” Now I can. And I can do it with a grin and a heart full of pride. As of yesterday, my daughter has signed her National Letter of Intent (NLI) for the 2006-2007 academic year. She will be a proud SIU Saluki.
Like always, there were a couple of hiccups in the process. Apparently, the staff at SIU expected the paperwork right after 7:00 AM. But Dana didn’t sign until 3:00 PM. I think she was supposed to sign the originals in the morning and sign a copy later. But since no one gave us that guidance, we probably gave the coaches at SIU some unintended fear, uncertainty and doubt. But once Dana signed everything, it was faxed by her high school coach. And everything turned out well.
Dana was surrounded by her family, her coaches, her teammates and her friends. I can’t think of a better way we could have told her just how proud we are. We are proud of what she has done. And we are proud of what she will do – both in high school and in college. And we are proud of the confident woman that she has become.
As I thought about everything that was happening, I knew God had His hand on her heart and her spirit. She is a dedicated and extraordinary young woman. And I hope she knows just how much we love her and support her. I pray that she will dedicate all that God has given her to His service.
Congratulations, Dawg!
-CyclingRoo-
God is so awesome! For the past couple of days, I’ve been on an emotional roller-coaster: big highs and big lows with lots of speed in between. But in the midst of all the noise and activity, God really spoke to me with that still, small voice of His. Here’s the preamble and the message:
Last week, my bicycle lighting system died. I use a NightRider TrailRat 2.0. It’s a rechargeable battery connected to a halogen bulb. It sure is bright – when it works. But it stopped working a few weeks ago. After trying to figure it out on my own, I realized I just needed to bite the bullet and buy a new system. So I bought a replacement system and installed it.
I’ve been riding with the new light for a week and it’s worked out fine. But I wanted to see how long the charge would last. I had successfully ridden for two days w/o recharging. And since I was out of town this past weekend, I didn’t recharge it on Sunday night. That was a big mistake!
I rode in yesterday morning with no problems. So I didn’t even give my light a second thought. I started riding home last night and the very first thing that happened was that I accidentally disconnected the light from the battery. It was a stupid mistake. I leaned my knee against the top tube while waiting at a stoplight. When the light turned green, i dropped my knee and dragged it across the connector, thus dislodging the connector. Once I crossed the intersection, the connectors and wires pulled free of one another – and the light went out. Arghhhh! But it was a very easy fix. I just pushed the connectors together and I was on my way.
But about halfway through the ride, my light started to fail. I made it across the big intersection just as my light faded to darkness. So I rode on the sidewalk instead of the street. No big deal, right?
Well, it was a lot harder than I thought. It became dark – very dark. And the sidewalk was very uneven. People were walking on the sidewalk – and I nearly hit them. I barely missed a couple of potholes in the sidewalk. And it was very difficult to navigate around the sections of the sidewalk that were under construction and roped off with orange mesh wiring (or whatever that four-foot plastic fencing is called).
And then God spoke to me. His message was simple: do you need My light? And then He asked me if I had prepared myself to use His light. And then He stepped me throught the last couple of weeks.
– I had a battery, but it failed and needed to be replaced.
– I replaced that battery, but it failed when the battery got disconnected from the light.
– I risked my safety on a limited battery charge. I could have charged it the night before. It isn’t hard to do. But I wanted to see just how long a charge would last (btw, it’s a little over two hours).
– I could see the sidewalk only when a car passed by on the street. But the light of other cars was not sufficient for me to be fully safe and confident.
– I had to move very slowly and carefully when I did not have a fully charged light. I hit a couple of potholes – even though I later remembered that I had seen them there on previous rides.
The underlying application of this message is simple: if you want to ride safely, take the time to charge your battery. Don’t risk it. Even if you know the path, you won’t be completely safe. Even if you have the light of others around you, it is hard to see what is directly in front of you without your own light.
If you want to live safely, always recharge your light by reading God’s Word on a regular basis. Even if you know the path, you can still fall into temptation w/o a bright light to guide you. And you can’t rely exclusively on other people’s lights (their understanding of God’s Word) to guide you. You must recharge your own light.
And you don’t miss the light when you’re in the sunshine. But you really miss it when you’re in the dark. Dear God, may I always remember to be prepared for the dusk. May I always have a fully charged battery. May I always greet your light with joy and thanksgiving.
-CyclingRoo-
Today was another wonderful day in Carbondale. Alright, you caught me. Like Friday’s post, I’m really not blogging this in real-time. So I should really say that yesterday was great. The day was full of meetings and events.
We started by watching a normal practice. And it was pretty normal. Women were running. Women were setting picks. Women were shooting. Women werre sweating. I’ve seen this drill for eight years. Fortunately, I don’t think D will have any problem with the intensity level. These women are working quite hard – and D will be able to keep up. She’ll be challenged, but she won’t fall behind.
After morning practice, we got to tour the new athletic complex. And it is fabulous. They call SIUC a “mid major” but you wouldn’t know it based upon the facilities and the staff. This program is top notch. And they are very interested in D’s total well-being – even before she starts next June.
After a brief tour, we went to visit the staff doctors. Last weekend, Dana injured her left thumb. The doctor took X-rays and didn’t see any skeletal problems. But he doesn’t have a sports medicine specialty. So we asked if we could take the X-rays with us. We wanted to make sure that the coach and the staff would have all the information they needed. After all, they are making a huge financial and personal commitment to our daughter. So I wannted them to have full inforamation – and I wanted a sports medicine specialist to tell us if there were any problems. So our family doctor gave me a CD with the X-ray on it.
The CD is pretty cool. It has an autostart program that launches a viewer program. The viewer then decodes and displays the X-ray. There is nothing inventive about this process. But it is hellaciously innovative. I could bring the X-rays with me and show them to the staff trainers and doctors. And they were able to confirm that there were no broken bones. And she does have all the bones she’s supposed to have. So the doctors poked and prodded a bit and told us that her thumb was “tight” (and that’s a good thing). In fact, he has given D the confidence to start working on strengthening the thumb. So she may be a bit off during tryouts, but I’m confident that she’ll be fine before games start this season.
And now that I’ve yammered on about D, I am thoroughly impressed with X-rays on CD. Of course, the next step is X-rays on static memory sticks. I can see that very soon, we will be able to carry X-rays and medical information along with us wherever we go. And we may even get to the place where such information will be kept on a universal identity card. The technology is both wonderful and frightening. But as of now, this technology preview has allowed the SIUC doctor’s to be happy. And it’s made my daughter more confident. These are good things.
Finally, the Saluki men’s football team won a great game. I may blog on it a bit tomorrow. But they came from behind and powered through the second half to win a share of the Gateway conference title. They may win that title outright next week. I sure hope they do. SIUC has over 21,000 students. But it has such a midwestern, small-town feel to it. I could love coming to this school!
-CyclingRoo-
It’s Friday. And we’re on the road from Overland Park to Carbondale, Illinois. Well, alright. We’re not on the way. As I write this, I’m in a hotel in Carbondale. And it’s not Friday. It’s Sunday. But let’s willingly suspend our disbelief – just for a moment.
When we drove across Missouri, CJ and D wanted to stop at the Gatewar Arch in St. Louis. Since we knew we were going to be way ahead of schedule, I thought the Arch would be a great rest stop. So before we left, CJ bought tickets for the tram ride to the top of the Arch.
When we arrived, the weather was beautiful. the sun was shining and the park was lined with trees in their full autumn colors. It was magnificent. That’s when I played stupid at the entrance.
Since the Arch is a major monument in America, they have installed sensors and detectors to prevent terrorist incidents. Well, I forgot to consider this an airport. So I walked through the sensor array without even giving it a second thought. The fact that I did this is amazing. It means that I fully trust the gizmo in my chest. Actually, it means that I mostly forget about it. That’s a great place for me to be (vis-a-vis my defibrilator). Of course, I really shouldn’t walk through magnetic sensors. The alarms sounded and the guards assembled while they gave me a pat-down search. Oh well. That’s the price of not paying attention.
Fortunately, there was no harm done – although I got extremely nervous. I thougght about what might have happened. And my last thoughts as I fell asleep were meandering thoughts about my ICD. So when I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, I thought I felt a shock. I didn’t. But phantom shocks aren’t unusual. And the mind plays some funny tricks on you if you’re not careful.
Back to the story…
We rode to the top of the Arch. CJ and D were impressed – at least, a little bit. And the ride and view made me remember when I first rode the tram to the top of the Arch over thirty-five years ago. The view was beautiful – albeit through tiny window slits. CJ and D got a little claustrophobic on the ride down as there were five of us crammed into the little tram car.
When we got to the bottom, we took pictures and goofed around a bit. And I started musing. With the fall leaves on the trees, I thought about changes. And since we were going to D’s official visit at SIUC, I thought about the changes in her life. As she stood under the Gateway Arch, she truly was at a “gateway” moment in her life. She will be moving from high school to college in a matter of months. And the St. Louis Arch was an immense metaphor for the decisions that she will be making.
On Wednesday, she will sign her NCAA Letter of Intent. And then she’ll be committed on a path for the next four or five yealrs. And just as she walked under the arch, she will pass through her other transition point. The change will be almost unnoticeable. She may never even recognize it as a “point in time” event. But the Arch made me see a fleeting point in time in a very graphic way.
-CyclingRoo-
How many of you remember Steve Martin’s first movie? It was titled “The Jerk.” And it was pretty darned funny. Well, in the opening few scenes, we saw Mr. Martin running around screaming with glee that “The new phonebook’s here. The new phonebook’s here.”
Today, I awoke to glee-inspiring news. “The new browser’s here. The new browser’s here.” Firefox 1.5 is now available as a release candidate. That’s right. All those features I’ve been proclaiming for months are soon to be available to anyone and everyone. This is just so cool! Great new security features, a new rendering engine, a new automatic update facility – and SVG! Wow. Follow the links from the Mozilla product page to get your bits ASAP.
-CyclingRoo-