Good Luck, NOLA

Gustav has cleared Cuba and is heading across the Gulf of Mexico, intensifying as it goes. As of right now, it looks like landfall in Louisiana sometime Monday. The latest computer guidance is showing a slight westward drift of the track, which is good news for New Orleans.

The city has obviously learned some lessons from Katrina, and evcautions began yesterday and appear to be proceeding well. Hopefully, if Gustav hits the city there won't be a large loss of life. I expect that the damage in the city could be catastrophic if the levees on the east side of the city fail. That said, the Army Corps of Engineers has said that the levees should hold a Category 3 storm surge. Let's hope that is correct and they perform as they are designed. And while Gustav shifts farther and farther west, the probability of the New Orleans levees seeing a Cat 3 or Cat 4 storm surge drops.

But even if New Orleans stays mostly dry, wherever Gustav comes ashore is going to see heavy damage.

So, to everyone looking down the barrel of Gustav, good luck and God bless.

Caption Contest!

Yes, I know that I probably have about three readers... but this photo (from McCain's Official Website) just made me chuckle. There's something on Cindy McCain's face that makes me wonder what was just said as the photo was snapped.

If you've got a caption, post it in the comments. Keep it clean!

I am a Moderate. Mostly.

Politically, I'm pretty middle-of-the-road. You're going to have to take my word on that, because I'm not going to start listing my stances on every issue you can think of. Suffice it to say, I really can see a lot of different points of view.

That said, I'm voting for Obama. It has very little to do with what his views on taxation, government roles, or civil liberties are (okay, that's a small fib - I'm huge on civil liberties, and Republicans of late are not), and more about what needs to be done about the U.S. relations with the rest of the world. When we were overseas this summer, it was pretty clear that McCain is viewed as another Bush, and that isn't going to help our standing in the international community.

Many conservatives will say that what the rest of the world thinks shouldn't matter. But I don't agree. We are living in a time where our range of influence is shrinking, due to both our internal policies (Iraq) and other spheres of influence growing (China). To be a safe, successful nation, we need to look hard at this trend. More of the same, a la Bush/Cheney isn't going to improve that.

We watched Obama accept the Democratic nomination last night. It was a good speech, and he hit some high notes that I agree with wholeheartedly. That's not to say that Obama is right and McCain is wrong across the board, but I think his ideas for what needs to happen across the world are more in line with what I want to see.

Holly and I had some spirited discussion regarding the two candidates (and Hillary) and I'm sure we will have some more in the weeks to come. I'm looking forward to it.

Forgot Your Password? Someone Else Might Not

MSNBC is running an article (more here) talking about the weakness of the typical 'forgot your password' routine. You know, the one were you answer a question like "What is your dog's name?" and they email you a new password.

It seems, that with minimal social engineering and the help of Facebook and MySpace info, this guy got into his friends bank accounts. With their permission of course.

It's worth a read, and is something to think about.

Computer Virus on board ISS

BBC The BBC is reporting that a laptop onboard the International Space Station is infected with a (trivial) virus.

The virus, Gammima.AG, is designed to steal passwords for a list of rather obscure (in the U.S. at least) online games. Since the ISS laptops don't have a 'net connection, this is n't a critical item, but still, it raises the issues of having proper A/V in orbit.

And it's kinda funny.

Forget Plug and Play, this is Play and Plug

Teddy Bear USB Drive.

Just rip off it's head and plug it in. You know you want one of these in your backpack. Imagine the looks you'd get in the airport/library/hotel business center.

"I have an entire app suite on this bear. It's great, everywhere I go, I have Firefox, Thunderbird, Open Office, and a sleeping companion..."

Via Boing Boing

Railhead, TIDE, and Government Terrorist Databases

The National Counterterrorism Center is running a program called 'Railhead' to upgrade the government's mater list of terrorists. Yes, there is a centralized master list, which is then used to create more targeted watchlists like the TSA's infamous no-fly list.

There are problems with the Railhead program, however. Rep. Brad Miller, D-NC, has authored a letter (here) pointing out some serious issues with the NTC program.

Miller, who chairs the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee, cited "severe technical troubles, poor contractor management, and weak government oversight," which he said had brought the Railhead program to the "verge of collapse."

Railhead is supposed to replace the aging Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE), originally built by Lockheed Martin. TIDE may have been functional and effective when it was delivered, but ad hoc developemnt practices and shoddy program management have seriously degraded its effectiveness.

Data tables have been added to the original TIDE database, without concern for duplication of data fields or proper indexing. As a result, over half of the 463 tables are not documented or indexed. What does that mean? Without a data dictionary (something that lets users know what is stored where, why, and how, in a database) it is nearly impossible for new users and admins to grasp just exactly what is stored in those ad hoc tables. This will result in data not be returned during database searches and a lack of database integrity.

Without a detailed index of the data stored in each table in TIDE, the SQL search engine is blindfolded, unable to locate or identify undocumented data.

For a mission as important as TIDE, seeing reports that the technology side has been so poorly managed just makes me shake my head.

So Railhead was supposed to come behind and fix everything, right? Well, in theory. But there are problems, of course.

First and foremost, there are accusations of financial misconduct and a lack of oversight within the Railhead project. But more concerning to me is that decisions are being made at a technical or program level that may render Railhead even less effective than TIDE.

Many of the undocumented tables in TIDE have been added over the years as 'enhancements' to the system, with the overall goal of improving effectiveness. As mentioned before, that has resulted in data being stored in multiple places, what I call 'data fracturing'.

The Railhead program cannot make sense of all this fractured data, and it appears that project managers have decided to just disregard it out of hand.

"Pocket liter [sic]," for instance, the scraps of information obtained when law enforcement, military or other officials empty a suspect's pockets, including phone numbers, addresses or credit card information, is contained in 23 seperate tables in TIDE, rather than one single uniform table. But as problematic as the current TIDE system is, counterterrorism analysts may lose access to key data if the new Railhead system comes on line as planned at the end of 2008. "Specifically, users will no longer have access to data that will not be migrated [to the new system], such as pocket litter and border summaries," another recent Railhead document warns.

So, Railhead will not migrate everything from TIDE? Why not? Is that a technical decision? A policy decision? Whatever it is, it seems to be a step back from where we are now.

TIDE is built in Oracle, one of several industry standard relational database management systems (RDBMS). It has (well, it had, prior to the creation of the ad hoc tables) a defined relationship structure, which lays out which tables are related to which other tables, and how. That is what relational databases are designed to do. Railhead is abandoning an RDBMS approach in favor of storing the data in an XML format. XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a method of marking up data to describe what the data is and what it does. It can be like a database... but it isn't a database. There are concerns that the new Railhead will have inflated storage requirements and poor performance due to the decision to use XML. I tend to agree with those fears.

XML is a fantastic tool to transfer data in a neutral format from system to system, since it carries with it an internal description of what the data is. However, it does not contain, necessarily, a descriptor that explains how that data relates to other data.

So we have a deployed IT system that is a technical mess (TIDE), being replaced by a new system that is having serious development problems and is suffering from some questionable policy decisions (Railhead). Where does that leave us?

References:
Ars Technica Article
Rep. Miller Letter
Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight Staff Memo
CNET Article

There Is No Terrorist Profile

Well, it would appear that Britain's own MI5 has determined that there is no way to accurately profile people for being a terrorist.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/aug/20/uksecurity.terrorism1

It concludes that it is not possible to draw up a typical profile of the "British terrorist" as most are "demographically unremarkable" and simply reflect the communities in which they live.

In a world gone crazy, where "Islamic extremists" are practically the bogeyman, this is a refreshing look on the real world of terrorism.

Crucially, the research has revealed that those who become terrorists "are a diverse collection of individuals, fitting no single demographic profile, nor do they all follow a typical pathway to violent extremism".

Rational actions. That is the important thing to understand. Terrorists are people who are rationally acting on perceived slights or political motives, and they can come from all types of people or populations. And stereotyping undermines the capabilities of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to effectively identify and classify threats. This research should only reinforce that simple fact.

Here comes Fay

Work has been hectic this week... because it's going to rain. I've got a good little rant worked up for MerrickFamily. I'll let you know when I get that up.

Another Star Wars Movie

Seems I'm in a content rut... been busy this week, haven't had any time to write.

Here's a spoof of Luke and Han fighting off Tie fighters after their escape from the Death Star.

Death Star Over San Francisco

Here's a cool video showing how Fleet Week might look in San Fran if the Imperial Forces showed up, rather than the U.S. Navy.

Oh, what's Fleet Week? Read about it here.

Musharraf Resigns

President Musharraf of Pakistan has resigned.

Another article.

Okay, this bit of news hit me this morning, but I didn't have time to comment on it. Still don't really, so here's the highlights.

Pakistan scares the crap outta me and it should frighten you too. They are having stability issues, internal political violence, and they can't seem to shake the Taliban in their tribal frontier. All that isn't terrible... but they also have nuclear weapons. Sleep on that.

Musharraf wasn't the best game in town, but at least he played ball (to a point) with the U.S. That may have actually hurt him politically.

The ISI (Inter Services Intelligence), which is the Pakistani intelligence agency, has historical ties to fundamental Islam, ties to assassination plots (both against enemies and internally) and generally does whatever it wants. Without a strong hand guiding the ISI, or at least in collusion with it, they concern me. A lot.

I repeat, Pakistan has nuclear weapons.

As I was reading reports in Musharraf's resignation, a quote jumped out at me: 'Local media reports said he had been granted "safe passage" out of the country.' This is like saying, "President Bush resigned today, and was granted safe passage out of the country." That tell you anything?

I'm not a complete expert on counter-terror or counter-proliferation, but I certainly wish for more stability in any nation with a nuke arsenal.

File all that away in your happy box. I hope to have some more on this topic as I find some time to do some reading.

TV 'Storm Trackers'

Oh please. I'm so sick of The Weather Channel's and other news outlets 'storm trackers'. These are the idiots who go stand in the wind and rain to bring 'depth' to live reports about hurricanes, etc.

This morning, while watching a live TWC report from Key West, I see this fellow over there, talking about tides, storm surge and rainfall. Fine. But why is he wearing a rain jacket... with the hood up? It wasn't raining, and I know it's not cold, so what's the point? Here's a link to another report by him. Note that it isn't raining.

To make it even more ludicrous, while talking about the rainfall, with his storm jacket zipped all the way up, a couple strolls through the background - wearing shorts and t-shirts - with their Labrador Retriever frollicking in the surf. Busted!

All we needed was for him to be hanging onto a light pole to help him stand up in the 'wind'.

Jeez.

Star Wars: Clone Wars

Headed out to see Star Wars Clone Wars tonight. It was a lot of fun.

I posted about it on Merrick Family, go check it out.

What do you do?

This is why I usually don't talk about what I do in casual conversation.



Click to enlarge. I received this from a friend of mine (also in IT), but I can't attribute it to its source. Suffice to say, I didn't create it.

Using Databases

As you advance your career, you learn things. Some of these are insignificant, and some are monumental, should-be-carved-in-stone-for-all-to-see important. Here is one of my 'programming truths'. It's mine, remember, not everyone will agree.

Databases are for storing data. Period.

They are not for writing code, they are not for manipulating data. There are big boxes in which you can put your data. I'll allow them to index that data, but not much else.

A few years ago, I realized once and for all the stored procedures were evil. They were a pain to maintain, and generally unnecessary. And a year ago, I swore off the crutch that is 'identity' columns or 'auto-increment' columns for creating primary keys. Yes, these things are terribly convenient... but they can cause serious havoc later on if you are migrating to a different database engine, or (more likely) combining two databases into a single instance.

And since I just discovered a bug in MSSQL 2005 which relates to Identity columns, I've found another reason to despise these datatypes. (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952111)

So. Take my advice, I know of which I speak, and use databases for storage, put your data manipulation code where it belongs, in your data access layer. You will thank yourself for that decision in the future. I promise.

Astronaut Blasts Off on Coast-to-Coast Bike Ride to Educate Kids | Geekdad from Wired.com

Astronaut Blasts Off on Coast-to-Coast Bike Ride to Educate Kids

Green Camping and Scouting

We are about to kick off our 2008-2009 Scouting Program Year, and as Cubmaster of Pack 112, I have a very important goal for our camping trips this year: Green Camping.

Many of the boys in our pack have already earned the BSA Leave No Trace award. This patch shows that the boy is aware of the need to keep our frontcountry (parks, campgrounds) and backcountry (trails, rivers) natural areas free from trash and harm. This award is fantastic, and one of my goals is to see every boy in Pack 112 earn it this year.

When we go camping as a pack, we traditionally server Saturday night dinner as a Pack function. The Pack purchases food and supplies, and we all eat together. When we are done, the boys and leaders ensure that all our trash is picked up, and put where it belongs.

However, we are generating too much trash. We use disposable plates, utensils, and cups, and we throw it all away at the end of the meal. While simple for us and the boys, it's a horrible practice.

What I would like to see is for every Scout, and Scout family, to provide their own, reusable, eating utensils, cups, plates and bowls. I don't want to put a financial burden on families, but I think that this is very achievable, and will greatly reduce the amount of trash we produce while camping.

Since the Pack purchases plates, utensils, etc. this will also serve as a cost saving measure for us.

I'm going to present this at the next Pack Committee Meeting, and we'll see how it goes.

Jordan's Wheel of Time Novels Move to Film

Part of me is pretty excited. But then I wake up and realize this could be really horrible. Really.

You try to take those very very dense novels and make them into 120 minutes movies. That make sense. Go. Try.

LucasArts Embargoes "Clone Wars" Reviews

Surprise! It seems that Clone Wars might stink. :) I fully expect it too, honestly, but I also expect my kids are going to love it. And therefore, I'll have a good time watching it with them.

Slashdot | LucasArts Embargoes "Clone Wars" Reviews

That's How You Get Grey Hair

I just spent two hours replacing the power supply in my work PC after the old one exploded. No kidding, complete with a flash of light and a loud bang. I'm pretty sure it took about a year off my life, right there.

The power supply was simple to replace, but it appears that it damaged the USB controller in my monitor when it went *POP*. Oh well. That's what warranties are for.

In all my years working with computers, I've never seen one fail quite so... spectacularly.

Just for the record, it was a 400w power supply manufactured by Zumax. It's the second such PS that has failed in the past two months, though the first one died over a weekend, so we didn't witness if it was as exciting. All of these power supplies are less than 18 months old, and all (five of them) were installed at the same time to support bigger/better video cards in our workstations. Not a great track record.

Godspeed

I've never *quite* felt this way, but close.

'xkcd' commentary on Google Maps

Digging Out

Well, due to some communications issues with my phone last week, I was out of touch with just about everyone for about four days. That made for a wonderful pile of NIRTS* projects this morning. Love that.

Monday is almost over... yeah for all of us. Tonight is our annual Sausage Sizzler for the Cub Scout Pack. We all get together, grill something, and take the boys on an easy trail ride through a local park. Weather looks good, and I'm looking forward to it.

*NIRTS : Need it right this second

Scouting Kickoff

I cannot believe that the school year starts in a week. That means that scouting is ramping up, with Recruiting, Cub Scout Roundup, etc. As the newly elected Cubmaster of Pack 112 here in Tallahassee, I'm starting to feel some pressure.

Tonight I worked on the Recruiting flyer we will hand out in schools on Friday, as well as some administrative details for the forty or so boys we already have. It's looking to be a great year, and I can't wait to get started.

If you are interested in getting your son involved in Cub Scouting in Tallahassee, I'll tell you that Pack 112 is probably one of the best around. We've got a great group of boys and parents, and we do a lot of fun stuff during the year. Check us out at http://tallyscouts.com/112.

In addition to my Pack duties, I will be attending Woodbadge this spring. I'm pretty excited about that, even though it means committing to to three day weekends at Wallwood Scout Reservation. I know that I will get a lot out of the experience, both personally and in Scouting.