Abolish Anti-Discrimination Laws
Today, I read an article on LewRockwell.com about attempts to open an all women's health club to men. I think Wendy McElroy puts it well for men. Are you more interested in revenge against women who forced their way into all men's clubs, or are you more interested in justice.
If you disagree with all-(insert sex, race, religion or whatever) clubs, then refuse to associate with them, let them know you are refusing to associate with them and why, and show your disapproval with people who join these clubs.
Forcing people to accept members can ruin businesses and causes more bad feelings than the original exclusivity ever did.
Why did I go to work on Monday?
Ash posted on No Place Like Home about my little oopsie this week. The short story is that I went in to work on Monday when I had the day off. I didn't realize it until I pulled into the deserted parking lot. I was not looking forward to going in on Monday anyway because I was feeling sick, but I hauled my tired ass out of bed (more on that later) and dragged myself in.
I stopped at Starbucks first for a wake up call (Venti Latte, which means Large Latte). While I was in line, I saw that they had the cups Ash was looking for! I told someone a month or so ago that I was looking for these cups, and they told me they didn't have them and couldn't get any. Someone else was listening in and I guess they took it on themselves to order some. When I got in, there were only two left. I got one because I knew that we already had one.
So, I was feeling like the day wouldn't be a total loss, since even though I had to work I got a cup for Ash. Check out No Place Like Home for information on the cups and why we like them.
When I finally got to work and saw no one was there, my first instinct was to just turn around and go straight home. Instead, I decided to go in. I brought my laptop back to my desk and was thinking to myself that I could get in a couple of hours of work today, when I finally said "To hell with this!"
I didn't do any work, I didn't even turn on my computer. I just hooked it up for easy startup the next day, and went home. When I got home, it turned out that Ash had already locked the top door lock, which you can only open from the inside (this is one reason we can't leave Morgan alone for a second inside our apartment). When I unlocked the bottom lock and tried to open the door, it didn't budge. Morgan heard it and came up to the door. He was upset because he couldn't let me in, so I tried to get him to open the top lock.
"Morgan! Unlock the door!"
Clicking sound of the lock. Morgan has re-locked the lower lock.
"No! Morgan, unlock the door!"
This time it worked and I could walk into the apartment. As I was walking in, Ash was getting up and starting to yell at Morgan for unlocking the door and opening it. I explained to her that I didn't have to work that day after all. She seemed a little confused at first, but it finally sunk in and she said "Good.", then went to bed.
So, I got a day off I wasn't expecting, Ash got to sleep in another day, and Morgan got to have his daddy home with him all day. Overall, win-win-win.
Wireless security problem I didn’t know about
Wireless Security problem I didn't know about
I use a wireless router for my laptop connection. On my iBook, I have an Airport card. My son, Morgan, has an Airport Extreme card for his connection, while Ash connects with a cable to the router. I learned a couple of things the other day while listening to the Security Now podcast.
First, I learned that disabling SSID broadcast doesn't work for security. It also makes your network run slower because the router is invisible. That makes it not worth the supposed benefit. The other item I thought was good, but isn't, is Mac Address filtering. On most routers, you can tell the router which Mac Addresses are allowed to connect to the router. This means I can tell our router that only my iBook, Morgan's Mac Mini, and Ash's G4 can connect. The way it can tell is by looking at the Mac Address the computers tell the router they have.
So this doesn't work at all. Why? The mac address of a computer is in the packets of data being sent back and forth between the router and computer. All you have to do if you are a hacker is sniff and collect the packets. You now know the mac addresses that are allowed to connect to the router. The kicker is that most any computer these days can report any mac address you tell it to. By default, they report the correct one that is actually assigned to your computer, but you can change it.
What can you do? Encryption. Almost all routers can do WPA encryption. Note that this is different from WEP encryption, which is better than nothing like closing a door without a lock is better than nothing. You want WPA encryption, which is basically unbreakable by hackers. You just use the same password for the router and your computer and you are all set. Remember that this means the password is your weak link in the security chain. You absolutely must pick a good password. WPA passwords can be up to 63 characters, and you should use them all. The 64th character is automatically a dollar sign, so you can't use it.
Find a good random password generator that will handle a 63 character password. I know, you're saying "I can't remember a 63 character password!" Remember that you don't have to. Put the password in a text file. You only have to type it in once on the router and once on the computer and you're done. You won't have to type the password every time you want to connect. Once you have the password in, you can copy and paste it from the text file if you need to set up a new computer. If you do this, set up a really really difficult password, your network will now be as secure as you can get it while still being connected to the internet.