Yeah, that Notepad. It has a feature that few know about, and I’m not talking about word wrap. You can actually use it as a log file. By typing “.LOG” on the first line of a Notepad file and then saving the file, you automatically add a current date and time stamp every time you re-open the file.…
Archives for August 2008
101 Atheist Quotes
A great collection of quotes from Atheist Blogger. Here’s one of my favorites that I’d not seen before: If I look over my life, every single step of maturing for me, every single one, has had the exact same common denominator, and that was accepting what was true over what I wished were true. — Julia Sweeney Links…
Facism: “I Don’t Think That Word Means What You Think It Means.”
Many, especially in the blogsphere, are fond of saying, “This country is becoming fascist.” Or, “We’re on a path to fascism.” That sounds cool, and it certainly will get some attention, but I wonder if most using the word “fascism” actually know what it means. A Little About Facism First a test. What’s the difference between Facism and…
Ever Wondered How “Fyodor” (Nmap) Got His Name?
He was a fan of another Fyodor—Fyodor Dostoevsky—and used his first name around the Internet early on. The name stuck, and now he’s known as Fyodor. And Google confirms that he’s doing pretty well in the battle for the first name “fyodor”.
The Best Retort for the “Atheists Are Arrogant” Argument
Atheists are always being accused of being arrogant by the religious. This is my common counter, which is usually effective: Let me get this straight. You think the Creator of the Universe cares personally about your life, and that you know, with absolute certainty, what he wants for all of humankind. I, on the other hand, think we’re…
The Simple, Effective Way to Track What’s Said About You on the Internet
You don’t have to be an ego-freak to wonder if others are talking about you online. Egosurfing, i.e. the act of looking yourself up in search engines, is something most regular Internet users have done at least once. It’s very human to want to know if we’re affecting the world we live in. So the old way to…
A Summary of New Nmap Features from Blackhat/DEFCON 2008
At Fyodor‘s talk last week at Blackhat he talked about the research he’s been doing, and the ways that research has helped him to improve Nmap. I was lucky enough to attend, and even got to chat with him briefly and get a signed copy of his new book. Anyway, after receiving numerous complaints over the years regarding…
End of an Era: It’s Time to Stop Making Fun of Microsoft Security
A lingering feeling that I’ve had for roughly the last year was solidified for me last week at Blackhat/DEFCON. Making fun of Microsoft’s security program is now passe. In fact, it’s so far gone that the opposite is now en vogue. And for good reason. I’ve been doing a lot of work on risk assessment, threat modeling, and…