Bandit, My little lovable monster

Well, Life continues to present some of the most difficult obstacles in my way, so I’m working quite hard to just let the difficult things be what they are, and put more of my energy into being positive, and getting back to whatever my “new normal” is going to be… but in the meantime, life isn’t meant to be alone… and well… i’m perfectly happy being single, for the rest of my damn life. I won’t go into more, because that’s not the point… the point is This.. I got myself a Ferret last month, named Bandit.

It has been over 10 years since i had my last ferret, and this time, he’s going to more spoiled than he knows what to do, and because of my current life circumstances he’s getting a TON of “bonding” time with me, and we’re already pretty inseparable the only problem is…. we’re both monsters…. he’s just a little one…

He’s a monster, because he refuses to try new things.. like actually pooping in his litter-box.. at this point, i figure he’s doing it simply to be a dick.. so we’re working on litter training, and just made the whole bottom of his cage his current litter-box… When he does his business, the door to the cage opens, and he gets to run.. if he remembers to go back into the cage to do his business he gets to stay out.. if he goes on the carpet, he goes back in the cage… he’s already getting the point quite well, and every morning now, goes to the bathroom when we wake up, so that he gets to play.

He’s also a people magnet, I bring him with me places, and so many people are curious about ferrets, it’s so much fun to educate people, socialize him to be used to everything and everyone.. it surprises most people that ferrets are a) not rodents, and b) SUPER smart, and trainable.. it can lead to really fun conversations.

anyway, I couldn’t sleep last night, been playing with Bandit, and wanted to take a minute to write down some thoughts about it. Owning pets is one of the most beneficial things for the soul, just make sure it’s the kind of pet you actually want, understand, and enjoy.

Back… ish

Okay… so i’m gonna be working on this blog again… I am currently dealing with a lot of things in my personal life… and having a blog will honestly be a good for me to catalog not only, my to-do list… but keep track of the major life insights I have from time to time.

 

Those of you who have known me, for a long time… will know i’m a very shy person who doesn’t SHARE details too often.. .not sure that will be the case going forward, at least, not to the same extent.

GAH!!!!! – a rant

 

Okay, fair warning… this will be a stream of thought, and frankly I don’t care if you can follow it or not… I have to vent it out…. so here you go

<Rant>

I’m so tired of everyone whining about shit, when they continue to do EVERYTHING in a public setting (Online). Growing up in the Wild Wild West days of the Internet I was taught, and KNEW, never… NEVER to use my REAL information on anything online. Since my first computer, I have played with programming, and networking, and have been horrified at how easy it is to glean information from ANY program, yet you all use your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and fucking every other site, not to mention all of the online shopping sites that you enter your name, address, phone number, credit cards, and fucking social security numbers… what the FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL!!!!!!

yes, some sites you have to, but do you even take the time to look to see if you should use those sites at all? have you looked at any kind of security settings on your account to limit the people who even have access to your information? have you looked at their privacy policies to make sure they don’t SHARE your information or worse yet, use it for profit by selling it to whomever wants to buy it?

god damn. My kids are already smarter than most of you, and they understand the idea that once something is online, that it is NEVER going to go away. Yes, I understand that in today’s world you almost HAVE to use the internet, but what i don’t understand is why the fuck you need to make an account on every site you visit.

I don’t have Facebook, I don’t have Pintrest, or Instagram, and you know what? I don’t even miss having it for one second. nope… and my using ad-blockers is currently making it impossible to even go to some sites (as they are now restricting traffic if you have your ad-blocker enabled) but guess what? Yeah, still don’t care, those are now sites I’ll never use again. so not a big deal to me.

Take your time, and enjoy things that matter. stop obsessing about fucking news from anywhere outside of 50 miles outside of your home, because guess what…. it’s probably not going to affect you…. I left Michigan nearly 10 years ago, and to be honest, I haven’t cared to read ANY of the news about Michigan even though I still have family there… if something earthshaking or world-changing happens there, My family can tell me when we are on the phone… yeah that fucking thing we used 30+ years ago before the Internet.

let the other places in the world burn, and take initiative in your own life, because that is ALL you have control over. This planet is doomed, because nobody stops to THINK about what they are doing, or saying anymore. Complaining because shit’s not fair…. WHEN IN FUCKING LIFE HAS ANYTHING BEEN FUCKING FAIR?!!??!?!?! If you’re worried about people knowing too much about you, don’t put it online! if you’re not worried about it… you deserve EVERYTHING that comes your way. Just be smart, and use common sense (which i know you can’t because you likely don’t have any anymore) but FUCK… stop complaining, and stop playing the fucking victim. Take responsibility for yourself because now we face a world, where Bathrooms are the most important issue in our 1st world fucking society…

on that note, let me just be 100 percent fucking clear… I give absolutely ZERO fucks about what bathroom you want to use, however, if you go into that bathroom and cause a scene or act a fool, YOU are the problem… walk into the damn stall, mind your own business and get the fuck out…. like every other person on the planet. what a bunch of fucking whining sissies and fuckwits we have…

anyway, my time is up…

</Rant>

Lots of things – looking for a new format

Since I do this blog for the love of things that I enjoy. When I started it I wanted to only focus on hacking and security, however that doesn’t nearly cover ALL the projects that I enjoy doing.

So what I’m thinking is that I want to possibly expand the things I am willing to write about. For instance I firmly believe that every single person should be able to defend themselves. That means physically, emotionally, and digitally, so I will be covering projects and stuff that mean something to me.

Upcoming topics:
Making weapons from scratch.
Dealing with emotions
How to know if something is trustworthy

Hopefully I can get some new content here, and I’ll likely be hoping to start working on my YouTube channel for some of the weapons tutorials.

Not that anyone but me will ever see it, but it’ll be here.

Rant Post: WHY DID EVERYONE STOP LEARNING!!!!!!??????

Everywhere I look nowadays, too many people are whining because something isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. They don’t even take the time to learn WHY something might not work. HEAVEN FORBID THEY ACTUALLY LEARN HOW SOMETHING WORKS!!!!!!!

people continue to accept “dumbed down” versions of applications because they don’t know how to do anything similar. Case and point, the acceptance of the term “The Cloud” which has no fucking meaning, but everyone just assumes things work because “The Cloud”. People, its the internet. Everything people are chalking up to “Cloud” services, have existed in one sense or another since computers had to “Call” each other with a modem to establish a connection.

Dropbox, Drive, OneDrive (basically any “Cloud Storage”) services are all basically fancy “Shared drives” like one would have used in windows or Samba servers in linux. You allocate a certain amount of storage space on a drive on the network and give a specific user rights to see their drive. that user can assign other’s rights to see some of or all of their share, but it still is the same place on the damn network. 

Where the problem comes in, is when everyone starts whining about “Privacy” or “Security” when some online service fails, or gets hacked, or uses what you upload to create some profile about you. HERE’S A FUCKING IDEA: IF YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT PRIVACY OR SECURITY OF THE INFORMATION YOU ARE STORING, KEEP IT ON YOUR OWN FUCKING COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Roll your own private cloud, or a VPN, or hell even your own server. if you don’t want to do that, you have no business complaining when Google indexes your email, YOU ARE THE ONE WHO OPTED IN TO THEIR SERVICE! If you don’t like it, DON’T USE IT!

Stop thinking everything is fucking magic, stop thinking your data is “safe” simply because some company says they keep things secure. Learn how to do things for yourself, or be at the mercy of those who DO learn.

there… rant over, now go learn something.

Embrace your strengths (even when you’re told they are weakness)

As a hacker, I’m often looking for more efficient ways to do things; better tools for the job, if you will. I don’t approach situations the same as everyone else, and the scary secret is there is no “perfect” solution to most problems.The best way to solve a problem is to use the right tools, right? In the world of computers, that makes a lot of sense because everything is logic; but what about life?

I have always had a problem with impulsivity, rudeness, anger, and completing what I start. I could blame that on my bipolar, and ADHD… But that doesn’t help me FIX anything. Truth be told, neither do medications (at least in my case). What everyone sees as a weakness, ADHD, I absolutely am learning to use it as a strength. For instance I have a very short attention span, but my job allows me to change tasks often enough that my full attention can focus on a problem, then, when my attention has faded, I’m ready to start the next task.

But what about looking at who you are, as exactly who you are supposed to be? For me, that means embracing my chaotic nature and realizing it’s also okay to not always play by the rules. I do things unexpectedly on a regular basis, I look at things different than most people, and that allows me to be very good at finding weak points in things and show how they can be broken.

I’m not nearly as good at organization, or fixing things, but I’m not afraid to work with someone who is better at fixing, because together we can accomplish much more than we could alone.
I’m purposely not making this article simply about hacking, because it’s so much bigger than that. When you’re at work, are you REALLY being yourself? Or are you simply going through motions, just to make it through?

I played that game for too long. Everyone told me to focus, and pay attention… To what THEY thought was important, so I tried to be “good”, and I was so incredibly unhappy. I tried to be what friends, family, bosses, and “experts” said would bring happiness. I ignored the one person who knew what would make me happy, me.
Listen to the voice in your gut, everyone has their own strengths, build your friends, job, activities around what drives you, and you’ll succeed in finding peace. Don’t worry so much about what others are doing.

If you’re unhappy, or not being yourself, the only one to blame is yourself!

Is social media sucking your life force?

Well, I’ve been trying to find time to write something for my blog. The longer the time goes that I don’t get to write, the more empty I feel. Writing is a way for me to let out all that is on my mind (there is no shortage of topics for me to weigh in on) but for my blog, I like to keep it technology related.

Today, I finally get to start on my new series about social media, and its affect on life. Today I’ll start with a broad brush, and discuss ways that social media is sucking your life force, and limiting how people are able to recharge their batteries so to speak.

Even as recently as 5 years ago, people would have a time away from the internet (sounds wierd) but we would focus on things that we enjoyed, and ACTUALLY do them. We would find time to sleep, boredom is actually a signal your body is telling you to rest. Fast forward to today however, and we are endlessly plugged into an overload of information. 

Our phones, be they Android, iPhone, Blackberry, or Windows phone, have a 100% connection to the internet, and thus constant updates bombard us from ALL our social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Google+) our Email, Instant Messages, Text Messages, phone calls, and any number of other updates that those networks and services think are “important” to us.

I noticed a little while back, I was getting severely stressed out over things that were essentially meaningless. Simply taking time to play with my kids, or talk to my wife felt like it was a burden because there was always something else coming that I would need to respond to, someone trying to get a hold of me. I finally had a sort of “digital nervous breakdown” and deleted my Facebook pages. I stopped logging into Google+, and only responded to “urgent” email or voicemails.

I have one simple question for you to consider; Why are you investing so much time, and effort on social media? It comes with the idea that it will make communication with friends and family easier, but does it really? the level of communication has suffered as the ease of “small talk” has increased. 

Nobody seems to have anything important to contribute anymore, because they’d rather sum their thoughts up in 140 characters or less. Kids attention spans are worse than mine, and I’m severely ADHD. Everyone seems to take content on social media way to seriously. You get offended at what someone says online, but then don’t confront them because it wouldn’t be “nice” or “Politically Correct” and that would get everyone else on your case, harrassing you, simply because your opinion differs..

The solution is simple. Unplug, Don’t give a single fuck about what anyone else thinks, Own your life. If you still decide to use social media, do it intelligently. Hold yourself to a higher standard, and don’t allow yourself to get sucked into the “need” to post things. or the worry that someone will be offended if you don’t respond to a “birthday” reminder on facebook. seriously if its my birthday, the LAST fucking thing i want is another “happy birthday” post on my wall… if its not important enough to just call me, or email me.. fuck off.

If you don’t have anything of value to say to me: Fuck off. If you want to hate on me, for not buying into your “facade” … you guessed it… FUCK OFF.

I use twitter, and VERY VERY occasionally Google+ but that is ONLY to speak to people that ADD something to my day.

THINK! Use your Mind, remember to take time to unplug and focus on what really matters before you find yourself alone, and miserable with a handful of “online” friends but nothing in life that actually MEANS anything.

Sorry I’ve Been away so long!

Sorry I’ve been away from my blog for so long, i’m working on a few new projects that will be posted here shortly, but I’ve been dealing with some drama. I will return with some EPIC goodness shortly.

 

Getting wireshark working on xubuntu

Okay, so re-installing Xubuntu this week, I spent a lot of time crawling the interwebs to find a solution to a problem I had solved a long time ago, but lost the instructions, so I wanted to blog it.

In Xubuntu when you install wireshark, and run it as admin (bad idea) it will work, for about 10k packets or 5minutes whichever comes first then blow up and need to be force closed. the solution is to modify the settings to allow you to run packet captures as your current user and not need root access to capture.

there is a post on the wireshark blog about it, but there are some problems with the commands, and they don’t work. But I found my solution over at here.

essentially once you have wireshark installed, you will need to run the following commands, then logout, and back in for it to work.

$ sudo su - root
# sudo apt-get install libcap2-bin
# groupadd wireshark
# usermod -a -G wireshark <your-user-name>
# chmod 750 /usr/bin/dumpcap
# chgrp wireshark /usr/bin/dumpcap
# setcap 'CAP_NET_RAW+eip CAP_NET_ADMIN+eip' /usr/bin/dumpcap

Nexus 7: first impression

So today is that horrible holiday where a fast jolly elf comes in and raids our homes km leaving us goodies in exchange for cookies and milk. Yes, today is Christmas. Amidst all the horrible joyful gnashing of children’s teeth over toys and candy and food, I opened my lone present, a gift of fairly small size, compared to the doll houses, Lego’s, and found in my hands a wonderful Nexus 7.
This blog post is being written with the tablet’s WordPress app, and will be a review of my first thoughts and impressions.
So I started reading about it back in July and knew the rooting process was easy, but that unlocking the bootloader would wipe the entire device so anything stored on it would be gone. so I decided to root it right out of the box. I had to let it charge for about two hours before the battery was full, but then routing took only about five minutes.

I have been very impressed with the features and speed of the device. The swipe keyboard input for jelly bean, is amazing. I’ve been using the sale this whole post and its only messed up three times. The app switching and multitasking is fast and responsive.

Overall, I have not played with a better tablet and couldn’t be happier with my choice of computing device, and this will for the most part take the place of my laptop.