Fix Your Code

Something a little fun to add to your day.  Think of the melody to the American Christmas song “Jingle Bells” as you read the lyrics below.  Credit goes to a friend for the overall inspiration and partial lyrics of the chorus.  As an otherwise original adaptation, I do like the way it turned out.  Geek humor.  Enjoy.

“Fix Your Code”

Sung to the tune “Jingle Bells”

Scanning through the code

Using all the tools today

O'er the fields we go

Tracing flows all the way

Bad coding practice brings

Dashboard colors bright

What fun it is to laugh and sing

A scanning song tonight

Oh, fix your code, fix your code

Fix your code today

Oh what fun the assessors have

In the team doing SCA

Oh, fix your code, fix your code

Fix your code today

Oh, no WAF can ever provide

A one fix to open SIAs

Checking all the vulns

Finding needles in the hay

O'er the source we go

Rating findings 'long the way

Bad coding practice brings

Dashboard colors bright

What fun it is to laugh and sing

A scanning song tonight

Oh, fix your code, fix your code

Fix your code today

Oh what fun the assessors have

In an ethical hack today

Oh, fix your code, fix your code

Fix your code today

Oh, no WAF can ever provide

A guarantee for your SLA

Keep Your Eyes Open

Often after a Windows cleanup or conversion to Linux the question comes up - "Is my PC secure/safe now?"  What is usually meant is "Am I safe to surf the web now?"  There is a distinction.  The short answer is no.

A relatively short and excellent example of why, written in layman's terms, was posted by Jeremiah Grossman.   Note that (at the time of this writing) visiting this site will put a harmless link in your Google history by way of demonstration, if you're logged in.

No operating system (Linux, OS X, Windows), full patched, loaded down with watchdog applications like anti virus, anti spyware, ad blockers, firewalls, etc will protect from browser based exploits.  No browser (Firefox, Safari, IE) or combination of plugins (NoScript, AdBlock) will make surfing totally secure either.  Content filtering and reputation based services (OpenDNS, SiteAdvisor) don't close the door.  Browser based exploits rely on vulnerabilities in the web sites you visit.

There are valid analogies between owning a computer and owning a car such as both requiring maintenance.  The key is that where and how you drive both can make a real difference in how safe you and your assets are.  Knowing what website to trust is very difficult, even for security professionals.  How do you make the selection - company size, market share, revenue?  Remember the exploit above - it was on Google - which ranks pretty high in each of those categories.

There is no easy single answer.  I've listed some suggestions previously for safe PC usage.  Secured operating systems, browsers and addons can help.  They just don't make things completely safe so you can close your eyes while driving web surfing.

A Big Savings

Everyone thinks their dog is the best in some way.  I recognize that when I say that we thought our Yorkie-Poodle mix was too.  Last October, after thirteen plus years of companionship, we had ample opportunity to reflect on that when she passed on.

We knew we'd get another one.  It was only a question of when.  There were a couple of months of contacting shelters, rescue operations and private breeders.  That odyssey itself is enough material for another post, particularly the rescue operations that required more paperwork to just talk to us than I've signed buying some cars.

The question was finally answered when my wife visited the Petland Arboretum location.  The frustration of the previous months and the irresistible nature of holding anything small, warm and furry won out.   A full AKC Yorkie, now named "Oscar" resides with us.

This many months later, while organizing some files, I ended up handling the receipt for Oscar.  These little dogs are in demand.  We learned that from the private breeders.  We really learned that at Petland.  Such is a free market economy.  Nobody forced us to buy him, but he was well over our original target amount.  What struck me fresh today was at the bottom of the receipt:

"You Have Saved:  $13.10".  Hmmm.  What exactly was the cost comparison here?  This wasn't a commodity purchase.  No mass market comparison shopping is possible on individual dogs that I know of.  Possibly on the "free" stuff that was thrown in as part of the package?  So what is the amount - an automatically added random number designed to induce customer loyalty?  If it wasn't for the seemingly random and inconsistent pricing on the dogs we've seen there since while buying supplies, it probably wouldn't have struck me this way.

Oscar is a good dog, although a bit of a rascal since he is still a puppy.  All in all I'd have like to have paid less, but we did get what we paid for.  Most importantly, my wife loves the little dog so I guess it was a big savings.

Eating My Own Dog Food

I've written about "needs based computing" before as part of the decision process in buy vs clean in the Cleaning an Infected PC post.  This last week I had an opportunity to eat my own dog food when the integrated video failed on our home desktop.

This desktop is over six years old.  The power supply failed first a few years ago, which I replaced.  Then the integrated NIC failed a year later, which I disabled and added a 3Com PCI card to restore.  Lately the power supply has been running warm and I'd started to think that the over 52K hours that this machine has been in service had taken its toll.  When the video failed I was sure of it.

So what were the family computing needs?  Had they changed?  Increased?  Not really.  Basic web surfing, document creation, money and photo management, podcasts and music.  Pretty pedestrian stuff that the old 3.0Ghz system handled well.  Given the chance, I'd like to swap the desktop for a laptop, but this isn't the time to spend the significant money it would require to get comparable laptop performance.

Therefore, I decided to find a used system compatible with the known good components from my current system.  While there was some risk of transferring age related problems to the next machine, the immediate value equation seemed balanced.

So began checking Craigslist and the local computer shops for systems with comparable performance and compatable hardware to my current system.  The memory would be the biggest concern and the detailed specs at MemoryStock really helped speed the identification process.  The third leg the stool was insuring that the new target system was hardware compatible with my OS of choice - Linux Mint.  The Linux HCL is the definitive single source, plus Googling never hurts.

In the end, I purchased a Dell mid tower system from a local computer shop (Best Tek Support) and added in the working parts from the old machine.  Besides offering a 30 day warranty, they were incredibly flexible in configuring and pricing the system with only what I needed in it.

There's probably a "never say never" lesson for me in here too.  I stated when I bought the last desktop new, that I'd never build another custom system, piece by piece.  This came close, but I had a little fun with it too.  It has every kitchen sink media component I own installed (3.5", 250M Zip, 6-in-1 media reader, CD-RW/DVD-RW, IDE, SATA and more USB ports than I can count).

All in all a good value.  So far, we're enjoying it.  It meets our needs.

A New Front Porch

The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed for Halloween that focused on the apparent lack of real physical danger to children participating in trick-or-treat.  I'm a little behind in my news feeds (what else is new?) but jumping through the articles I'd missed, this one gave me pause with two different thoughts.

First of all, the guilt release after allowing our youngest to consume the confections he brought home.  Not all at once mind you, even now there's more to go than already consumed.  Just that it might not have been the risk we may have been led to believe (except for the dental issues).  Turns out that through statistical analysis there might be merit for claiming Halloween: The Safest Day of the Year.

The second I almost missed toward the end of the article.  Its a little more subtle.  The author states that "...trick-or-treating is building the very thing that keeps us safe: community."  If this had been a typical year where we simply responded to the doorbell's ringing at random intervals, I wouldn't have thought this applied to us.  With a combination of grown kids and those old enough to be tour with friends and their parents, it would be easy to isolate ourselves from the day's tradition.  Instead, this year we choose to put ourselves directly in the middle of it.  We created a new front porch at the end of our driveway, as shown below.

This purposeful setup allowed us the opportunity to connect with the adults who typically stay at the curb.  The flags, fall produce and heart carved pumpkin all provided conversation points.  Keeping a safe distance for the little ones, the fire pit proved very popular as the evening turned out to be fairly chilly and people would linger a while to warm up.  Closer to tradition, we did give out "goodie bags" my wife assembled of nominal value with candy, school supplies and novelty million dollar bills.

It seemed to be a good combination of purely social and outreach elements.  We talked to people who lived only blocks away, but yet we haven't talked to in years.  There was catching up on kids, jobs and the small things that when combined, weave the fabric of life.  We also met new neighbors that similarly hadn't found or made an opportunity for expanding their neighborhood connections.  A truly unexpected event was when a tractor pulled hayride pulled into our village and most of the riders jumped off to visit.

So while it might not bring back a 1950's front porch atmosphere year round, it did provide a re-union of sorts among neighbors that have drifted into benign neglect.  We have a great neighborhood with all the superlatives you'd hope for in suburban America or most anywhere.  However, that sense of connection can't help but further increase the sense of community in our neighborhood.

Besides, we enjoyed it and are already thinking of how to create the same experience again.  Hmmm, BBQ....?

In God We Trust

The American Family Association (AFA) commissioned Christian songwriter/singer Eric Horner to write a moving patriotic song to honor our national motto, "In God We Trust."

A very nice song with great lyrics. Enjoy.

Windows XP Security - Linux Alternatives

This is the fourth and (intended) final article in a series on Windows XP security. The first three focused on cleaning malware, preventing malware with software and preventing malware with defensive computing habits. This article will identify how to prevent operating system level malware by switching operating systems.

There are a lot of reasons why Windows in all its versions, has the predominant market share in desktop computing. Discussion of those reasons would branch into the depths of marketing practices and technical merits. Without going there, I'd submit that at the end of the day it is due to preloading. Virtually every retail PC sold has Windows preloaded. Not many consumers will take time to research alternatives, learn new skills, potentially spend additional dollars - when they have something that works. As long as it works for you, I agree. For those that find it not working, at whatever threshold that is for you, continue reading.

For the vast majority of home users, at least those that I deal with that don't make their living in some form of technical field, it doesn't matter what they're running. Any device that allows web surfing, web mail, plays video and handles file attachments (documents and spreadsheets) will do just fine. With that market segment in mind, major PC manufacturers have started offering alternatives such as Dell does with Ubuntu (a distribution of Linux), often at reduced fees - because most all distributions of Linux are free.

The good news is that PC owners don't have to buy a new system to try a new operating system. It can be downloaded for free, tried without any risk or changes to the current operating system, then installed in a variety of co-existent or replacement modes. All at your own pace and comfort level.

Many choices exist for free and open source operating systems. Most will be some base form of Linux assembled into a bundle of applications called a distribution. The selection of which distribution is "best" or "right" is subjective, however all will offer security advantages over *a default* Windows XP installation. This is primarily because Linux distributions, like all Unix variants, are designed to work with the principle of "least privilege". Users do not run as system adminstrators. If elevated level of access is required, the user is prompted for their password, the task is completed then the default level of privilege is restored. All applications will run within this security model without additional steps. As described in earlier articles, it can be implemented in Windows XP, but not all applications will run seamlessly with this change. There have been modifications to the architecture of later versions of Windows, but this series focuses on XP.

For the majority of Windows users looking for alternatives, I believe Linux Mint will make for an extremely smooth transition. Linux purists will howl at this statement, but it is the most "Windows like" right out of the box. What it means to the "average" PC user is that it provides full multimedia support without any extra effort, meaning that you can listen to MP3's watch DVD's and view web pages that require Flash technology right after install. Wireless internet connectivity and printing will work seamlessly as well.

As many Linux distributions do, Linux Mint combines both the installation CD with a Live CD that will run the full operating system straight from the CD, without modifying the hard drive. Download the "Live CD, 32 bit, The standard version" from http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php The filetype of .iso you've downloaded is a CD image, meaning it must be opened by a CD burning program that can use it to make a CD. This is different than simply burning a file to CD. If you need a CD burning program for Windows, a good free one is CDBurnerXP from http://cdburnerxp.se/ The same site describes how to burn an ISO image to CD at http://cdburnerxp.se/help/Data/burn-iso

Boot from the CD for a couple of sessions and see how things work.  Recognize that the boot from the CD will be much slower than from an operating system installed to the hard drive because of the orders of magnitude speed difference in the two different disk technologies.  When you're ready to install to the hard drive, for the speed improvement and ability to save your customizations - backup your data!  Then you have several options:  installing under windows as any other application; installing in dual boot mode; completely replacing Windows XP as the sole operating system on the hard drive.  There are advantages to each.  Booted from the CD, selecting the Install icon on the Desktop and installing in dual boot mode may be the most comfortable choice for those starting out.

Additional information is available in the excellent Introduction to Linux Mint document, the Ubuntu (on which Mint is based) community documentation and many sites with guides to getting started using Linux for persons whose only experience is Windows.  If you want a system that runs clean and fast - and stays that way - it may be worth your time do do a little reading.  Don't be afraid to experiment either, with computers it can be the best way to learn.

In this series, I've attempted to cover the short course on tools and techniques I use when pressed into service to assist someone with a malware problem on Windows XP.   The articles have covered cleanup, two types of prevention and my recommended alternative to almost everyone (especially anyone I've helped more than once).  There are other similar articles around, written for there own purposes.  This series provides the answer for when I'm asked "what would you do?".

Now you know.  Enjoy.

Edited 2010.10.04 - Added Ubuntu community documentation reference.

Windows XP Security - Safe PC Usage

This is the third in a series on Windows XP security. The first two focused on cleaning malware and preventing malware with software. This article will identify how to prevent malware with defensive computing habits.

The lists below are terse. Quick soundbites, easily digestable. Not so easily explained. The rationale behind some, including attack vectors, exploits and countermeasures could fill volumes. There are many blogs by security experts that cover vulnerabilities and exploits extremely well.  In this space we'll just focus on practical security measures, again for the "average" PC user.

 Safe Computing

• Don't login with Administrator rights. Make yourself a standard user and Run As... a separate Administrator privileged account only when needed. At least run applications that connect to the internet with reduced privileges via programs such as DropMyRights
• Don't install programs unless they're absolutely necessary. Screensavers, wallpaper switchers, video players, system "upgrades" and other freeware utilities often have a hidden (malware) reason they're free.
• Install programs only from trusted sources such as SourceForge at http://sourceforge.net/ or those reviewed by reputable third parties such as Gizmo at http://www.techsupportalert.com/  (yes, the name - I know) or to a lesser extent CNet at http://download.cnet.com - read the user reviews, not just the editor rating.

Safe Surfing

• Select websites from Favorites/Bookmarks or manual typing
• Never click on links in email, even from a sender you believe you can trust
• Search for websites instead of guessing the URL or risking a typo
• Use different passwords (and userids) for each website (use an encrypted password database like KeePass)
• Heed the warnings provided by McAfee SiteAdvisor in searching for websites
• Examine SSL certificate security warnings, don't just click through them
• Close popups via the taskbar vs clicking anywhere in the popup - right click on the taskbar, select Close
• Consider carefully entering personal data on a site that has a "This page contains both secure and nonsecure items" warning when visited
• Understand unexpected program launches caught by the outbound firewall
• Log out then close all browser windows after done using any site with financial transactions
• Keep only one browser window or tab open when performing financial transactions, don't multi task by general surfing
• Remember "Google is your friend" - search for file names, program names, virtually anything that you encounter that you don't understand. You don't need to be a computer genius to understand most results and make decisions.

Notes

• Firefox will not make you invincible.
• Even trusted websites can be compromised by partner content or bad programming
• NoScript is good, but actually makes you more susceptible (by default) to ClickJacking
• No one security program can do it all - think before you click

Windows XP Security - Protecting a Clean PC

Part two in a series on Windows XP Security. This article focus on keeping a clean PC clean - from malware. We're going to start with the assumption that we have a newly loaded Windows XP machine, preferably from the manufacturer's recovery CD, not yet connected to the internet. Possibly even from a cleanup on an infected machine, using techniques described in the first article in the series.

The steps below can be done in virtually any order, however do not place the clean machine directly on the internet without having installed a hardware router.  Don't wait to do it later, you're not as fast as the bad guys - they're automated.  Also, some may question the necessity of installing this many tools.  Each covers primarily one space and together they implement what is known as "defense in depth".

As with the first article's selections, the tools chosen may not represent an absolute best in breed, but focus on tool availability (aka "free") and potential acceptance for the "average" Windows PC user.   Based on personal experience with these recommendations, I believe they are within the grasp of all moderately experienced computer owners.

1. Install a hardware router in between your home network and the cable modem. Even if you only have one machine. Even if that machine is wired. Even if you don't think you can do hardware. This will greatly remove threat and network load on your PC because of the firewall implementation in the router. One I've recommended and installed for friends and family which is absolutely foolproof is the Cisco - Linksys E1000
2. Install all updates from http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com   Configure automatic updates to occur on a scheduled basis, using the link on the site. Note the firewall warning below.
3. Set a system restore point following the instructions at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/getstarted/ballew_03may19.mspx . This can be done multiple times when known good configurations are achieved and in theory reverted to in the event of system corruption.  This is a good point to make the first one.  Learn how to restore from one too, before you need to.
4. Install a firewall that blocks outbound connnections. This is noisy at first because each first time you start an application the firewall will ask you if you want to allow the connection. If you can be certain that the requested action is the direct result of an an application you started, create a rule for it and you won't be asked again. One caveat is that you may have to manually run system updates as the firewall can block this process. Well worth it. My recommendation here is: Comodo - http://www.comodo.com/home/download/download.php?prod=firewall 
5. Install Microsoft Security Essentials. This contains anti-virus and anti-spyware from the mother ship, for free. http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/  Note that the vast majority of anti-virus applications on the internet are frauds. They themselves are malware. Choose from a major vendor or a trusted freeware evaluation.  These protections focus on free software tools. Particularly in the anti-virus space, there are excellent paid alternatives such as (in alphabetical order) Kaspersky, McAfee, Nod32, Symantec and Trend Micro.  Your ISP may provide one as well.
6. Install a monitor that watches when applications are added to one of multiple startup areas on your PC. You will be asked for permission before the application (or malware) can imbed itself there. Don't just say "No" to malware attempting to install an auto-start however, you'll still need to deal with the malware running somewhere on your machine.  One warning to this is that some programs that have auto-updaters will attempt to have their "Check for updates" program install each time they're loaded. It can be a nuisance, but the trade off is improved performance and free memory. You choose. My recommendation here is:  Startup Monitor  http://www.mlin.net/StartupMonitor.shtml 
7. Switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox. I'm not going to wade into the fervor that surrounds this one, however there are several add-ons to Firefox that I feel make the difference for the average user. Install Firefox from Mozilla, then the following add-ons: AdBlock Plus and optionally NoScript. NoScript may disable valid functionality on sites that you want to re-enable on a per-site basis (the discussion can get complicated quickly on this one). Like the firewall, this activity will be less over time, but helps reduce some browser based exploits on untrusted sites.  http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/products/download.html 
8. Install McAfee SiteAdvisor to provide a first level threat rating of sites returned in Google searches. http://www.siteadvisor.com/  This ties directly to a safe computing recommendation (for the next article) - never type a url directly - search for it, then click the correct result.
9. Install Microsoft DropMyRights and configure to be able to run Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Outlook Express for example, with non-administrator icons. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms972827.aspx The following article de-mystifies implementation http://cybercoyote.org/security/drop.shtml  An alternative which is even better is to run everything as a non-admin, as described below.
10. Run as non-administrator.  This really should be first (second behind the hardware router/firewall) but is last because of the amount of software to be installed listed above.  In daily computer usage, new programs are almost never installed and so administrator rights are not needed and in practice are almost always a bad thing. Open the Control Panel, start the User Accounts applet and create a new account.  Give it administrator level rights.  Log in as the new administrator account, open the User Accounts applet again and drop your original account to a standard User.  Insure that the Guest account is disabled.  Insure that all accounts have non trivial, different passwords.  Log in to the original account.  You're done, start surfing.  If you ever find the need to run as an administrator, don't login to the administrator account, instead right click the program and select Run As... choosing the created administrator account.

One step not listed in above because it isn't really a preventative step is backing up your data.  Select a program and process that is workable for you.  Then execute it on a regular basis.  How often depends on how frequently your data changes and how much you can afford to lose.   I would personally recommend backing up to an external hard drive.  Others favor a burning to DVD's with offsite storage rotation.  Just do something.

While we're at it, if you're using a constantly on desktop PC, consider investing in a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS).  Not only will they provide battery backup in the case of power failures, they can condition line voltage to extend the life and reliability of your equipment.


Additional information on protecting your Windows PC can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/security/pypc.aspx and many more places on the web.  Remember "Google is your friend."

Disclaimer - no warranty is expressed or implied by this article.  Proceed at your own risk.  Understand all directions and consequences before using any tools or making any system modifications.  I have no affiliation with any product, service, or retail establishment listed above as they are given for illustration purposes only.

Windows XP Security - Cleaning An Infected PC

Every so often I'm asked for advice on PC's. Usually running Windows XP. Typically running so slow that the owner is ready to buy a new one. The question then usually comes in one of the following two flavors: "What computer should I buy?" or "What would you do?". To avoid keeping anyone in suspense, my two answers are "The computer you can afford, which you can test running all the applications you want to use." and "Backup all data, reload an operating system, prevent it from happening again." respectively.

So for those adventurous souls that want to remain on Windows XP and control their own PC destiny, I've decided to write what will likely be an article series on my recommendations for the following Windows XP Security topics: Cleaning an Infected PC; Protecting a Clean PC; Safe PC Usage; Linux Alternatives.

The series will cover malware software issues on marginally running machines. Not software boot errors. Not hardware problems. Not Windows versions other than XP.  Not using tools I personally haven't had some measure of success with.  Let's get started.

Like most who find themselves in their circle of family and friends as the designated "computer expert" I have my own answers to both questions in the first paragraph, using my own set of preferred tools and techniques. While this is not part of my current professional role, in the past I have been part of infrastructure support teams. That experience guides some of my choices but really isn't reflected directly in the tools and techniques chosen. Mostly because I've chosen to focus on tool availability and comprehension for the "average" Windows PC user. For this reason as well, some tools and techniques might not be the choice of the experienced technorati, but should be well with the grasp of most and still provide good results.

If you're unsure if this is what you want to do, those with virtually unusable PC's have the following options:

• Pay a computer tech to fix the problem. The well known Geek Squad charges fees that start at $149 for in store service.  I've personally known friends that have paid close to $300 when everything was said and done. Too expensive for me.
• Buy a new computer. A decent laptop will still set you back around $600.  This is the most expensive option, and does have advantage of temporarily having a new machine. If the problem machine still exceeds specs for the applications you need to run, I'd rather make sure its truly hopeless before going this route.
• Fix it yourself. Obviously where this article comes in. The financial cost of this route is minimal, limited to a blank CD or two and possibly a USB flash drive. It's likely that most people already own both. The real cost here is time, potentially lots of it.

Realize that in order to save hundreds of dollars in support fees or for a new system, you are becoming your own computer expert.  You don't have to be an expert in every computer domain - that's impossible for anyone. You just have to become enough of an expert this one time to fix this one problem. Another thing that is impossible is for this article to contain enough prescriptive advice to cover every situation and every tool usage scenario. As an aside, its primarily for that reason that I've resisted writing an article like this before now. Therefore, the instructions provided assume some level of computer usage (not support) proficiency and leave it up to the reader to Google specific questions regarding a tool or technique recommended.

Having a cleanly running second computer available to search for information, download utilities, burn CDs and other tasks can make this odyssey a whole lot faster and easier, effectively determining the success of the effort.

Backup Data

Backing up data at this stage, before any changes are attempted has the risk at this stage of potentially backing up infected files, such as malicious macros contained in the above filetypes, but do it anyway. If something goes wrong later, it will be worth every second spent.  You can always make a second known good backup later.

1. Create a bootable CD from a Linux live cd distribution on a working system. Linux Mint is a good choice.
2. Boot the suspect system from the CD. You may need to set the boot order in the BIOS of the system to select the CD ahead of the hard drive.
3. Copy all data to a USB flash drive. USB 8Gb drives under $20 can be found on sale.  Booted using Linux Mint, select Menu then Computer. Those who have used copy and paste file operations with Windows Explorer should be comfortable copying directories to the USB device.
4. Make sure that data for all users is backed up. Look in "C:\Documents and Settings" to see the profiles of each user on the machine. Under each, good starting choices for backup would be "My Documents" and "Favorites".
5. Only backup data files such as documents, spreadsheets, presentations, financial, music, photos, etc. Don't backup the actual applications themselves.
6. Backup your product keys, especially for Microsoft products such as Windows and Office. Product key finders can make this easier. Some applications will list their keys under the menu items Help / About.

Set Limits

Don't skip this step. Even for experienced PC technicians, cleanup can take hours of research, utility execution and experimentation. Professional support teams usually have limits they'll expend in investigation on unknown problems - some as short as 10 minutes for a unusable machine - then they reimage (reload) the operating system on the machine. Its faster (and more enjoyable) to reconfigure a clean, fast machine once reloaded, than to spend more time trying to clean a painfully slow infected one.

Clean Up

Download the tools below on a known good machine. Malware may block and/or infect these as the download and attempt to run. Plus the performance will likely be terrible - why you started this in the first place. Burn to a CD - not a USB flash drive, but a device that malware can't corrupt. Boot the suspect machine in safe mode with networking by pressing F8 once a second or so, after the BIOS spash screen (the first screen of any type) displays. Login as administrator, insert the tools CD you just burned, run or install each one at a time, according to directions on the download site. Some may not run in Safe Mode and will tell you so. Its still best to try first.

1. McAfee Stinger - http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/  Follow the steps on the download site.
2. Ad-Aware - http://www.lavasoft.com/  Install the application and all updates. Run a full scan.
3. Spybot-S&D - http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html  Install the application and all updates. Run a full scan.
4. CCleaner - http://www.ccleaner.com/  Install and run the application. Use the Tools to investigate and Disable any suspected malware that is set to Autostart.  Google Tools you don't recognize by File, initially disabling (vs deleting) ones that are suspect.  Analyze and clean the system with the Cleaner. Scan and clean the Registry.  Reboot after usage.
5. Malicious Software Removal Tool - http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.aspx  Install the application and run a full scan.  Note that the tool itself is updated the second Tuesday of every month, with additional threat removal capabilities.
6. Browser Hijacks - For Internet Explorer, follow the steps at http://www.microsoft.com/security/spyware/browserhijacking.aspx  For Firefox, follow the steps at http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox  You may want to have a clean download of Firefox on the CD.

The next set of tools are actually built into the Windows operating system.  No download needed.

1. Task Manager - Ctrl-Alt-Del, choose Task Manager. Choose the process tab and look around. Columns can be sorted by double clicking on the header. Start with Googling "Image Name"s that have high CPU utilization, either constantly or in spikes. Stop any that you believe are malware by Right Clicking, then choosing End Process. Choosing the wrong one may de-stabilize your system.
2. Service Management - Press the Windows Key + R, type services.msc, press ENTER.  Focus initially on items that show Startup Type as Automatic. Google ones you suspect, then Disable by right clicking, selecting Properties... and using the dropdown for Startup Type.

The next tool isn't for downloading and burning to CD, but for execution on a machine that is running to the point where it can reliably bring up a browser to connect to the internet.

1. Trend Micro Online AV Scan - http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
   

Deep Cleaning

Can't get the anti-malware programs to launch from the CD? Perhaps a window or splash screen opens momentarily and then goes away? You no longer own your machine - a malware supervisor program is controlling what loads. Seriously think about reformatting the drive and reloading everything. If you're still in the game, these next two bootable CD's may keep you going. Focus initially on populating only the anti-malware tools. Be sure to have your original Windows CD handy. Building these is another task to perform on a clean machne.

1. BartPE - http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
2. UBCD - http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

A good summary of bootable utility CDs is available on LifeHacker.  Another good summary, including using PhotoRec to recover deleted files, is from CGSecurity.

Investigate

These can be used at any time. Check for high CPU utilization, strange file/process names, listening ports open to sites you don't recognize, etc. This is the truly deep dive territory, but remember - "Google is your friend".

1. Process Explorer - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx  Lists all running processes and open files.
2. CurrPorts - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/cports.html  Lists all process and applications which have open connections (ports) to the internet, potentially sending out information or waiting for instructions
3. HijackThis - http://download.cnet.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html  Lists all locations on the PC that process are started from.
4. WinDirStat - http://download.cnet.com/WinDirStat/3000-2248_4-10614593.html  Graphically displays disk space utilization

So in closing, manage your time carefully and consider my original advice: "Backup all data, reload an operating system, prevent it from happening again." Backup was covered in this article, we'll get to the rest later.


Disclaimer - no warranty is expressed or implied by this article.  Proceed at your own risk.  Understand all directions and consequences before using any tools or making any system modifications.  I have no affiliation with any product, service, or retail establishment listed above as they are given for illustration purposes only.


Edit 2010.09.28 - Added specific browser hijack advice.  Clarified a few lines.
Edit 2010.10.04 - Added product key backup.
Edit 2010.10.15 - Added bootable CD links

Struts 1.x Logical Flow

Java programmers should be familiar with Apache Struts as an extremely popular free and open-source framework for creating web applications. Although the 2.x branch of the project is the one currently being developed, the 1.x version continues to be widely used for a variety of reasons.

At one point a couple of years ago I found myself needing to explain the control flow through Struts 1 and was unable to find a visual representation that illustrated what I was thinking. Therefore I created the logical control flow shown below.

It does bear some resemblance to a spaghetti chart, but does illustrate several elements of a simple Struts control flow. While originally created for a single purpose, uses for it still surface occasionally in various forums, so I thought there may be some value in posting it for those learning or teaching Struts 1.

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this graphic is freely granted, provided that the original authorship notice is preserved.

One more thing out of my GTD "Someday" category. Enjoy.

Collected Entropy - 2010.09.25

Collected Entropy since the last post with this title. No particular order, rhyme or reason. Mostly too long to tweet

Special limited time only, while they last, small town edition. 

• Marshville is the home of Randy Travis, poultry processing plants and the annual Boll Weevil festival of Union County held last weekend. Even based on the erradication of tiny bugs...you just gotta love small town celebrations. Seriously. Charlotte may be think they've outgrown them, but here are a few more small towns that haven't.
• Unionville is having it's annual BBQ in a little over a month. Don't let the fact that the event is held at an elementary school fool you. These folks are serious about BBQ and on a large scale.  Check out the photos from last year, then mark your calendar for the first Friday in November.
• In keeping with the small town trend of this post, here is a calendar of other small town festivals coming up in Union County including the BBQ cookoff in Waxhaw on October 8-9th.
• Finishing off with a small town that has a big reputation...the 27th annual BBQ festival will be held in Lexington, NC on October 23rd.    Be sure to sample some of the Monk family's BBQ from Lexington #1.

Collected Entropy - 2010.09.22

Collected Entropy since the last post with this title. No particular order, rhyme or reason. Mostly too long to tweet.

• "Do you prefer murder, misogyny or simple undirected anger?" Why does this question from the Sept 9th 'Zits' comic strip seem a little too close to real life.
• Memorials are to help people remember, even keep them motivated. Apparently there are still people in federal agencies that understand that.
• The Charlotte Observer started a public insight network to provide a structured way to obtain reader opinions. If they listen to views that differ from the editorial desk, this might be a blended media experiment that seems worth watching.
• Cambridge MA may have Harvard, MIT and now parking tickets with yoga positions printed on them. To reduce the stress of the ticket. You can't make this kind of news up.
  

Collected Entropy - 2010.09.10

Collected Entropy since the last post with this title. No particular order, rhyme or reason. Mostly too long to tweet.

• Parental fears and reality don't always line up very well. As a parent, are you worrying about (defending against or preparing for) the right thing? Analysis by the NPR, citing independent sources, might help with the decision.
• Comedians typically find easy pickings from the world of politics, at the expense of the politicians. Now it seems some politicians are taking their message directly to the comedians. What happened to reasoned analysis and debate?
• The next time that someone trots out the old "bear in the woods" footrace analogy to belittle some problem, try explaining the prairie dog ecosystem to them as described by Robert Hansen. You'll get a business security perspective and an executive evaluation in the same article as a free bonus.
• An example of where gun control worked, in Miami of all places, from the SunSentinel.

Capitol Tour

Fascinating perspective on what the Founding Fathers believed and what the meaning behind their words as they framed the documents which formed the United States. I'll let David Barton do the rest of the talking.



A hat tip to B.T. for sending this my way.

Android App Picks + Playlist Solution

A quick update on life with the Android, specifically a few application picks and one solution to a problem stated back in May. Not exhaustive and excludes the ones auto installed with the phone distribution. There's still a balance to keep in mind, it's not a laptop, but these work for me.

Essential

• Seesmic - If you use Twitter, you need Seesmic. Everywhere.
• Facebook - I know, but its essential to stay connected to dispersed family.
• Advanced Task Killer - One stop application termination to cleanup all the apps you've opened and switched away from.
  

Fun

• Google Sky Map - this has been an fun/impressive app when camping at the beach. Like any astronomy, not so much in the suburbs.
• Barcode Scanner - can be used to scan SKU labels for quick price comparisons
• Guitar Chords Lite - clean, lightweight UI for quick chord reference
• Reversi, Chess, Checkers, MeteroLite - probably haven't played a full game of any, but work well when I hand the phone off on long car trips
  

In Progress

• EverNote - The "Evernote GTD How To" (don't change a thing, trust me) took my favorite desktop app one step up. However, Saved Searches don't translate to the Android app so full GTD is out, but the text and audio notes do allow me to get things out of my mind.
  

Not For Me

• NewsRob - Just not the same as Google Reader
  

Future

• Kindle - My firmware doesn't support it, but this is one I really want to like. Not sure I want to go rogue just to try this either - at least not now.
• Any automated task killer - for the apps that auto restart that I don't (think) I need. Need to learn more about why some auto start first. Edit 2010.09.09 - Task Manager does this well. Ignore and Auto-kill lists, plenty of options, don't have to be an Android internals expert.
  

Playlist Solution

• Banshee pulls down and syncs podcasts plus my music just fine, but it nor any Linux app will transfer playlists. Turns out Android will read any .m3u file with a directory structure as a playlist.
• So mount the SD card, switch to music/ and issue "find . -name "*.mp3" > PlayListName.m3u", then gedit as needed. Once the file is saved and the SD card unmounted, the installed Music app will now automatically find and use the playlist. Not perfect or automatic, but good enough for me.

If it helps someone...Enjoy!

Linux FLV to 3GP Conversion

A short how-to post for Android owners who want to run Adobe Flash video they've saved on their Linux system.

The music player on the Samsung Moment handles WMA, AAC, MP3, WAV, MIDI, and OGG format music files. The video player will handle MPEG4, H.264, and XVID formats. A fairly wide range of choices that have all worked right out of the box. The YouTube application works well for streaming video but doesn't have an option to open archived .flv Flash video. They need to be converted to 3GP to be played in the Gallery app.

The tool of choice to convert flv to 3gp is ffmpeg, however Ubuntu ships a version without the required libfaac codec due to licensing differences. To add the support, install the following packages from the packages.mediabuntu.org/non-free repository:

• libav*-extra-52
• libav*-unstripped-52
• libamrnb3
• libamrwb3
• libavutil-extra-49 (will be added automatically as a dependency)

Once those packages are installed, the following command will produce a video that can be played on the phone:

ffmpeg -i input.flv -s qcif -vcodec h263 -acodec libfaac output.3gp

Valid frame sizes (-s) at 4:3 are 128x96, 176x144, 352x288, 704x576, and 1408x1152. The qcif value is an alias for 176x144, more are listed in the video options linked below. You may want to experiment depending on the ratio of the original source.

Some useful resources if this doesn't work just right for you:

• The ffmpeg docs, particularly the video options
• The ffmpeg faq
• A ffmpeg how-to (very informative on cropping)
  

Like a lot of things, not too difficult in the final analysis. Just took a little time to find the right pieces and assemble them. Hopefully this will save someone some of that time.

Enjoy.

Memorial Day Observance

It's difficult to comprehend the debt owed to the men and women who have served in the military. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. Others are changed in ways that won't be reversed in this life. Yet the majority of those service men and women made their choices knowingly and willingly.

As the first generation of my family to not have served in some branch of the military, I have a direct but still second hand appreciation for part of that cost. Not a romanticized or glorified account, but of the cost in daily life and continual sacrifice. Every day is a good day to say "Thank You" to those that you know who served, today especially. Consider taking time today to contact the veterans you know - or their widows - and thank them for what they've given.

While you're considering doing so, reflect on the following poem, attributed to Charles M. Province:


It is the Soldier

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

Thank you.

Rhyme For Christ

Regardless of where you stand on television, pop culture - or Christ - I think you'll smile at the rhyme/rap that Tamara Lowe presented at Christ Fellowship.



A fun audible collage of images of the world, yet focused on the Truth - in 1 minute 42 seconds. Enjoy.

Hat tip goes to Tanner of WSOC FM who aired this during the morning drive time show today.

A Fair Comparison

WBTV reports that "A report from the watch group American Forests and commissioned by the City Council found between 1985 and 2008 Mecklenburg county lost 33% of its tree canopy; the city of Charlotte lost 49%."

In response, the city is reported as studying a increase in the required percentage of trees to be saved during construction, from 10% to 15%. Developers have stated that it would make development too costly.

A justification to the increased cost is then presented: "The city doesn't require private developers do anything it doesn't do. Each year the city plants and maintains tens of thousands of trees along city streets, in the right of way."

Wait...is this a fair comparison? Developers, who are responsible for profit and loss in meeting their payroll, based their response on cost. What is the basis the city used? Probably not the same profitability standard.

Don't get me wrong. I really like the tree canopy myself and would like to see it preserved. However, free market solution and logical reasoning would be nice too.

Collected Entropy - 2010.05.31

Collected Entropy since the last post with this title. No particular order, rhyme or reason. Mostly too long to tweet.

• Two West Charlotte Lions softball players show compassion and faith in an unexpected way - by offering to pray for an opposing team mate during a game. A heartwarming example of putting feet to faith, even in this seemingly small way.
• Sarah Dyvig of Oakdale Elementary was honored as Char-Meck's Teacher of the Year. Having a family full of exceptional teachers, has provided an appreciation of the dedication and hard work required for this profession. I also have an appreciation that even while in the spotlight, Mrs Dyvig wouldn't give away her husband's special fishing spot. Is there an award for that?
  
• The WSJ published a nice opinion piece on what we owe to the soldiers currently on the battlefield and to those in the future. The one line summary: "Look ahead, not back. If we commit soldiers to battle, we must support them unstintingly." Well said.
  

Collected Entropy - 2010.05.14

Collected Entropy since the last post with this title. No particular order, rhyme or reason. Too long* to tweet.

• Buying local and talking directly to growers are just some of the reasons to visit a farmer's market (several times) this season. The Charlotte Observer created an interactive map of all the Charlotte area markets to help find one nearby.
• The phrase "world class city" is starting to be tossed around again as Charlotte has simultaneous events with the NRA, MAC and NASCAR happening this week. The list of comparisons to features of other "world class cities" such as New York or Los Angeles for example inevitably follow. Funny how the first light rail mugging recently isn't included in the list.
• USA Today reports taxes are at the lowest levels since the 1950's. The key is the how "level" is defined. In late 2009 the US passed the tipping point where over 50% of the citizens don't pay taxes, due to our progressive tax system. Taxes are higher for those that pay taxes but for the larger number who pay no taxes, they're (obviously) lower. Fun with statistics - and your money.
• "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." -- Margaret Thatcher
• This is not a late April Fools joke: YouCut A proposal to text your vote to the government on which spending programs to cut. I think the House has lost sight that our system of government is a republic. Then again, for a culture that knows more about American Idol than American election candidates, it might get more people tuned in.
• The end is beginning for the US Space Shuttle program. Only three more launches remain for this program. I've seen Saturn V launches from across the Banana River. There is nothing like it. If you've ever wanted to see one of these launches in person, time is almost up.

(*) OK, so one was short enough. But it fit here better in context. Have a great weekend.

Audio Sync - PC to Samsung Moment

About two months ago I was fully assimilated into all things Google with the purchase of an Android phone, specifically a Samsung Moment. Overall the upgrade has been very smooth, opening up a whole new (to me) world of mobile communication options. One thing that was initially elusive to track down, was how to sync podcasts and music from a PC to the phone. This post contains the key elements of making it work, to maybe save others some time.

Initially, connecting the phone to a PC produced absolutely no action no the PC side. All my home PC's are various Linux distros so I thought that might be a problem, but attempting on a WinXP box produced the same results. While the following steps defy logic at some level, they are the only known - and repeatable - solution I've discovered:

- Select: Menu / Settings / Application settings / Development / USB debugging
- Toggle USB debugging on, then back to off. Reboot the phone. Connect the phone to the PC.
- The notification bar will show "USB Connected". Select the notice, then choose "Mount"
- The phone will now be available as a 2GB removable drive on the PC

At this point the SD card is mounted, but no music player (Rythmbox, Banshee, Windows Media Player, etc.) will recognize the device. The final puzzle piece is to place the a file named .is_audio_file at the root of the mounted drive. I found a site with documentation on the file format, and using it as a guide, created the following configuration which seems to work well.

audio_folders=music/,media/
folder_depth=2
output_formats=audio/mpeg,audio/ogg,audio/x-ms-wma,audio/wav,audio/x-aac
cover_art_file_type=bmp
cover_art_file_name=cover.bmp
cover_art_size=100

The music/ directory was created just to keep it separate from the media/ directory which was present already. Sync will only use the first directory in the list. Additional entries will allow the PC side player to search all supported media on the SD card. One last tech note - make sure to do a software eject / unmount before on the PC, then turn off USB storage on the phone, before disconnecting your phone when all sync'ing is done!

A few caveats though. Rythmbox shows the device simply as "2.0 GB Filesystem" while Banshee identifies it as "SAMSUNG_Android". Also, the cover_art settings above are effectively ignored as cover art transfer is a known problem with Android. There seems to be some online consensus that a paid app named "Album Art Grabber" will correct the problem, but I haven't tried it personally. Lastly playlists will not transfer as such, but must be recreated on the phone itself - not so good.

That sounds like a substantial list, but to stay current with a few podcast subscriptions and have a relatively small music collection for use during commutes, it works well enough. Those wanting to sync a more substantial collection or that would prefer a more complete experience may disagree.

As stated at the start, there is relatively little info available on this specific phone regarding sync features. The tech support for the carrier wasn't particularly helpful either. If anyone has a better configuration or complete solution for the Samsung Moment, particularly in Linux, feel free to post a comment.

Collected Entropy - 2010.05.07

Collected Entropy from the previous week. No particular order, rhyme or reason. Too long to tweet.

Quote from Brig. Gen. H.R. McMaster "If you divorce war from all of that, it becomes a targeting exercise" when speaking of how using PowerPoint removes interconnected political, economic and ethnic forces from military decisions.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster times release of ten month long investigation the day before elections. Probably just conicidence. That and McMaster's candidacy for governor. Good coverage from the Observer, likely since it showcases a Republican rift.

Quote from a political commentator's radio program on Tuesday: "There is not a solution to every problem, but there is a villian". Made in reference to the nature of politicians to address only problems which further their agenda.

Stephen Hawking claims time travel possible and aliens may have existed. His belief that we cannot currently "...know the mind of God." apparently still unchanged. (A Brief History of Time, pg 175)

Escaped emu runs loose in Rock Hill, SC. Seems Rock Hill is using a string of animal antics to stay in the news. About two weeks ago it was one man assaulting another with a snake.

GTD with Evernote

If you Google the title of this blog post, you'll probably get a significant amount of results. I've waded through more than a few of them, selected one that I thought fit my mindset and way of working, then implemented it with changes as noted below. It works for me, may not work for anyone else, but should create ideas for everyone interested in maximizing their productive time.

As a little background, I've been a paid Evernote user since 2005. I have no stake in the company or their products, but found their note taking software to be exactly what I was looking for to capture and tag my notes. The original 2.x versions did everything I thought I needed, especially logical intersection of tags (AND, OR and NOT) plus synchronization to USB devices. Then 3.x came along and provided began multiple platform support and synchronization to the web. It all seemed good at the time, but I didn't need it. The synchronization to the web I especially didn't want, given the nature of my work. Lastly, the tag intersection controls changed dramatically, all but removing the functionality. So until a few weeks ago, I've stayed at version 2.2.x.

The number of projects I have been managing lately in my professional life was overwhelming my simplistic usage of ToDo checkboxes and tags that I was using as a task management system in Evernote. The note taking and tagging was still nearly perfect, but something more was needed. I've used Franklin-Covey and Day Timer systems in the past but didn't want to go back to those for various reasons. I've known and skimmed the David Allen's GTD system, even been aware of Evernote implementations, but never really worked with it. Now seemed like the time.

In my web searching, two GTD Evernote hits stood out, from authors I don't know beyond the articles they've written. One article series by Ben Anderson captured the overall mindset of task management and prioritization through lists, tags, etc. but didn't really capture the how-to essence I was looking for. That essence was captured at just the right level for me in an "Evernote GTD How To" article by Ruud Hein. Effectively, I've implemented Ruud's GTD system with my own modifications as documented below. Read his article first, then come back to this one, or nothing from this point will make sense.

Did you read it? Really? If not, the rest of this will not make sense (as if any of the rest has).

Changes

• Changed @wf tag to @wait. More descriptive and still short.
  
• Changed sd to @sd. More consistent with "GTD tags" all having a prefix.
  
• Changed all saved searches accordingly.
  
• Various minor title changes to saved Searches
  
• Added/separated "@ Project List" saved search into " - Work" and " - Non Work" versions

Notes

• Search criteria takes firewall approach. I.e. tag:@* followed by -tag:@sd works correctly.
• Single task notes, unrelated to projects are OK
• Keeping tasks in project notes until ready to work on keeps task list manageable
• Restrict task levels to one deep (i.e. no task lists in task notes) to maintain project summary view
• Saved Searches naming convention:
• "@ nnnn" - key searches to flip between while working
• "@nnnn" - context views
  

Usage

• Notebooks
• Create one for GTD only
• Project note creation
• Three tags: "@project" literal, context ("@nnnn") and project ("_nnnn")
• First line contains checkbox (Ctrl-Shift-C) and "Project: " literal prefix
• Actions in bullet lists with checkbox
• Action note creation
• Three tags: context ("@nnnn"), project ("_nnnn") and timing (05/15/30/45/60)
• First line contains copy/paste from bullet list in project note
• Action note completion
• Mark the checkbox in the action note done when finished
• Mark the checkbox done in the project note, datestamp (Alt-Shift-D) the line
• Copy detail task notes back into project note, or
• View all project notes by using project tag (more Evernote like)
• Project/Action note updating
• Use outline style bullet lists for all line entries
• Datestamp first bullet (Alt-Shift-D) of a note entry session, indent following bullets
  

Limitations

• No priority system other than two: MIT and Next
• Due dates must be entered into a separate calendar application
  

As shown above, the system has a least two limitations in what I originally envisioned for a task management system. Otherwise it has been working extremely well for me now after several weeks. The first "limitation" may not be a bad thing however, as it could enforce a GTD style prioritization and task grooming discipline. Also, there are things I still haven't decided how to handle yet. Some of those questions include:

Questions

• Separate notebooks per context? One for GTD makes sense, but the others are then limited to a single context.
• How to create a "pure" completed search? "Completed" search picks up any note with one or more completed checkbox
• When one project creates a task for another - tag for both projects?

A footnote on Evernote itself. Before this GTD implementation, it had bothered me that I wasn't running the "latest" of one of my favorite applications. Periodically as I received newsletters, I'd make my own personal tests of the releases. In my opinion, and that of may others on the Evernote blog version 3.5 is a step backward. Many features like HTML import, print preview, portable version and more are gone or broken in the 3.5 version. Evernote the corporation must agree since they're keeping 3.1 available. Version 3.1 is the minum version to implement this system, since Saved Searches are required. I'd suggest getting (and archiving) it.

Even without the GTD implementation made possible by the combination of Saved Searches and tagging, Evernote would still remains a must-have application for me. It did finally provide me with a compelling reason to start using 3.1 though.

This overly wordy description of how to use Evernote as a GTD task manager might not make sense by just reading it. Implement it. Experiment with it. Change it to the way you can get (more) things done.

You don't have to be a type "A" personality to give this a try. And besides - Evernote, like this article, is free!

Update: 2010.05.07 ----------------

Based on additional usage of the system and reflection on Ruud Hein's comments, I've made the following changes/updates to the original article above.

• Priorities - I have embraced the Someday tag (overcoming my misguided thought that it was akin to procrastination) and now have effectively a three tier priority system: MIT, Next and Someday. Projects are reviewed weekly for additions to the Next pool. The Next pool is reviewed not quite daily to insure nothing critical is being overlooked and needs MIT status. The Someday pool is reviewed on an as needed basis when/if the Next pool becomes small enough to warrant doing so.
• Calendar - Google calendar with it's multiple reminders works very well and is not that much of an "extra step" in actual usage. For some tasks, I have taken to prefixing the task name with a due date so a "Next Action" review keeps the dates visible. Mostly work tasks get the prefix and tasks for other context get Google, but not always.
• Cross Project - Tasks get at most one project tag. Any additional benefit for later project review would have been overshadowed by the overhead and maintenance required. Voids the frictionless principle.
• Work/Non-work - the duality was created to manage what was too long of a Next Action list. The use of Someday described above made it no longer useful. That change also violated the lean nature of the system's original design.
• Notebooks - One for GTD (obviously), the rest don't matter
• Completed - The dual nature of the Completed search can be useful. Working as designed.

Net - except for some usage notes, this is full circle to Ruud's implementation with a few wording changes. Therefore, I'll close with his quote: "Here is my list but you can do this any which way you need it."

He Is Risen

"He is risen" -- Matthew 28

Those three words are at the center of the Christian faith and the celebrated by the holiday known as Easter. What do they really mean on an individual level?

Jesus Christ came to earth to provide atonement for man to God. He lived a perfect life, then fulfilled God's plan by going to the cross and dying in place of all men, by taking their sins upon Himself. Three days later He demonstrated His victory over death through His resurrection. Death now holds no power over us and we can now be justified to God by placing our trust and faith in Jesus Christ.

Christ's death was not an accident. It was part of a larger redemptive story. A plan of love and compassion that God has for all men. For you.

No matter what we've done or where we've been, how large or small the failures to meet God's perfect standard are, the gift of forgiveness of sin and having a right relationship with God is available for all. We can be certain of it because - He is risen.

Dumbing Down Our Kids

The "rules" below are attributed to Charles J. Sykes, author of the book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add. The cheapest used copy on Amazon is only $1.15 plus shipping, so I suppose it would be inexpensive to verify, but that would take too long. Regardless of the original source, its a good funny-but-true list of lessons kids probably won't learn in school. So here it is.

Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager uses the phrase "It's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule No. 1.

Rule No. 2: The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as much as your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain that it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule No. 3: Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.

Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he's not going to ask you how you feel about it.

Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule No. 6: It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not the boss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it, or you'll sound like a baby boomer.

Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn't. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone's feelings be hurt. Effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4.)

Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on. While we're at it, very few jobs are interested in fostering your self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead to self-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)

Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston.

Americanism

We just got back a little while ago from the first night of the Real Evangelism conference, being hosted again this year at FBC Indian Trail. These conferences are always excellent and this year Mike Huckabee was the keynote speaker.

If you're thinking "here comes a political rant"...wait. This is simply a collection of observations from Huckabee's speech, which will have a conservative Christian viewpoint, but will not be political. A semi random collection of thoughts from memory. Now decide to click "Jump" in your RSS reader or not.

Bailey Smith (of the conference name) provided the introduction for the Governor. One of the points he made was in providing several definitions of "Americanism" from the latest Webster's dictionary. It provided an appropriate segue for the main elements of Huckabee's speech.

Mike Huckabee spoke for almost an hour on Biblical values and morals in America, from the perspective of those values. To my recollection, he did not mention any sitting politicians by name, nor did he label any current directions in government.

What he did do is identify that our hope can not be in elected officials - and - our blame therefore cannot be either. Two points were identified that would collapse society: consolidate power into the hands of a few; release individuals of responsibilities and risk. Each individual was charged with the responsibility to live according to their beliefs.

There were a set of parallel structures in society he identified, which further illustrated personal responsibility, that went something like this:

- Parents equip their children to live independently
- Pastors equip their congregations to perform ministry
- Leaders should equip people to need less government, not more

There were many other historical points about America, parallels drawn from Judges 9 to current mindsets, the changeable nature of current society and many more topics. Overall an engaging, sometimes funny and overall excellent presentation.

So back to the original definition - Americanism: loyalty to the United States and its institutions. It was clear to all in attendance tonight that Mike Huckabee is most certainly a loyal American and an unashamed Christian.

Speed Flying

If the Olympics could add ski cross this year, it might not be too far fetched to think this combination of paragliding and skiing might be included in 2014. Apparently its called "Speed Flying" or "Speed Riding":

An Amusement Park Ride?

This video of a train going through a flooded underpass in Argentina seemed humorous to me on a couple of levels, not the least of which are the people with umbrellas in the center of the picture.



However, I didn't notice them until the second time I watched it. The first time I watched it, I immediately thought of the Whitewater Falls ride at the Carowinds amusement park near Charlotte. If you watch this second video, you'll know why.



Maybe I'm just anticipating Carowinds opening with a new owner, new rides - and a new season - Spring! Yep, all of the above.