Will Chatham is the Security Assessment Engineer for Arbor Networks. Since Netscape 2.0, he has worked in a wide array of environments including non-profit, corporate, small business, and government. He started as a web developer, moved into Linux system administration, and ultimately found his place as a security professional. Having most recently conquered the OSCP certification, Will continues to hack his way into various things in an effort to make them more secure.
Many of you will happy to know that at the brand new GrayChatham.com I have relaunched the Gray Gallery as it was on the former Geekamongus.com site. This means only one thing: new pictures will be coming very, very soon. Tonight, if you are lucky.
The fine people at the Red Ferret Journal have collected a list of sites that offer free music for download. There are over 1,000,000 songs available – all without a hitch!
So grab your iPod or whatever device you store your MP3’s on and head over to the WikiM.
Feel like reading some heavy material? Check out the next big (or is it little?) thing: Quantum Computing.
What’s that? You like the free stuff? If you are in the US, you paid for the Hubble Space Telescope, so why not take advantage of it and grab some cool Hubble Wallpaper for your desktop. There are some really neat images of Thing In Space.
And this is just too weird to pass up. I’m not entirely sure this is sanctioned by Burger King, but you must check out the Subservient Chicken. Type in some instructions and it will do what you ask. This is just…well, eerie.
For the last year and a half or so I have been using Quicken Quickbooks for managing the finances of my home-based business, Asheville Technologies. I bought the software originally thinking it would take care of all the stuff I’m bad at: remembering to send recurring invoices, preparing taxes, and keeping track of my checking account.
Last night, after Quickbooks crashed for the umpteenth time, I decided it was time for a change. The program was just too complicated and obfuscated for my needs, and I found myself not even wanting to open it when I needed to.
I searched high and low on Google, and finally discovered a gem of an application. It is called CG Invoicer, and is produced by a company called Chicken Girl Software. Being a fan of barnyard animals, I knew it was the app for me. The simplicity and ease of use is exactly what I was looking for.
It’s unfortunate that Quicken doesn’t offer something that is watered down for those of us who don’t need to generate projected earnings in 10 years with customizable bar graphs. Quicken comes with a 200 some-odd page manual and has volumes of books written about it. CG Invoicer was so simple to use and easy to figure out, no manual or help file was included.
The point of all this is that these big companies spend all this money to pack a program with features, while a small outfit can make something simple and functional and charge a fraction of the cost. This concept translates into many other areas too.
The ‘kewl’ news of late for me is that my employer is buying me a G4 Powerbook. That’s a Mac laptop for all you moms and dads 😉
Oh, the mobility!
The bad news is that the fender bender my wife had in a parking lot last week was her fault and totalled the other person’s car.
Grrr…mobility can bite you in the butt!
Even though Allmusic.com’s new web site was released this week, by taking a look at it, one would think it was created in 1998. A warning message to users of non-Internet Explorer browsers is at the top:
Notice: You are accessing allmusic.com with a browser that is not currently supported. The appearance and functionality of the site could be impacted. allmusic.com is optimized for Internet Explorer 5.5 and above for Windows.
It makes one think they took a time machine back to 1998 to find a web development team. This one wins the “Missed The Bus to 2004” award.
Last night marked the first time in nearly 4 years that I played music with Ty and Lance, both of whom were in the bang-tango Second String Bluegrass Band with me. We met up at Asheville’s Shindig On The Green, a weekly pickin’ party and bluegrass concert attended by a couple thousand people.
It took a few songs for me to dust off the cobwebs from my fingers, but I quickly found myself back into the flow of playing my Banjo. We were graced by the presence of Wayne Erbsen, old-time/bluegrass musician extraordinaire, who accompanied us with his award-winning fiddle playing. It was a great 3 hours, and made me want to start getting back into the banjo again.
We were asked to get onstage and perform for the crowd, but we all felt a little iffy about that, so we declined. Maybe next week 😉
For those of you who wish to check out some infamous Second String recordings, I have them posted at my free Mp3 page, Hober.tk.
In continuation of the Free Music theme, I found a link to the 100 Song CD. This CD contains 100 songs, an amazing feat in and of itself. True, they happen to be short songs, but they are by good bands.
You can even download the cover artwork and jewel case inserts to print out.
And in other news, as soon as I figure out how to upgrade to gdlib 2 on my web server without screwing up every site I host, I will have the new picture gallery up and running. Anyone have any suggestions?