Friday, June 4, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Quotations regarding veganism
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
"I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol-lowering drugs for the rest of their lives.”
"There's no reason to drink cow's milk at any time in your life. It was designed for calves, not humans, and we should all stop drinking it today, this afternoon."
If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons.
"About 2,000 pounds of grains must be supplied to livestock in order to produce enough meat and other livestock products to support a person for a year, whereas 400 pounds of grain eaten directly will support a person for a year. Thus, a given quantity of grain eaten directly will feed 5 times as many people as it will if it is eaten indirectly by humans in the form of livestock products.”
"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men."
"Of all the creatures that were made he [man] is the most detestable. [...]He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain."
http://veganunderground.com/joomla/content/view/15/44/
http://www.bizarro.com/vegan/vegan_quotes.htm
- Mahatma Gandhi
"Caesar's armies marched on vegetarian foods.” - Will Durant
Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
- Albert Einstein
"I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol-lowering drugs for the rest of their lives.”
- Dean Ornish, M.D.
"There's no reason to drink cow's milk at any time in your life. It was designed for calves, not humans, and we should all stop drinking it today, this afternoon."
- Dr. Frank A. Oski
former director of pediatrics
Johns Hopkins University
former director of pediatrics
Johns Hopkins University
If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons.
- C. S. Lewis
"About 2,000 pounds of grains must be supplied to livestock in order to produce enough meat and other livestock products to support a person for a year, whereas 400 pounds of grain eaten directly will support a person for a year. Thus, a given quantity of grain eaten directly will feed 5 times as many people as it will if it is eaten indirectly by humans in the form of livestock products.”
- M.E. Ensminger, Ph.D.
"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men."
- Alice Walker
"Of all the creatures that were made he [man] is the most detestable. [...]He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain."
- Mark Twain
"The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of 'real food for real people,' you'd better live real close to a real good hospital.”
Link patch:- Neal D. Barnard, M.D.
President
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
President
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
http://veganunderground.com/joomla/content/view/15/44/
http://www.bizarro.com/vegan/vegan_quotes.htm
Monday, May 10, 2010
million dollar idea: anti-virus application that allows for 3rd party signatures.
One of the biggest reasons in my mind that snort/sourcefire has dominated the the IDS market for as long as it has is that if you are a security researcher/analyst/geek and you know what kind of traffic you are looking for you can create your own signature and start detecting threats and malware chatter very quickly ON YOUR OWN... without waiting for your vendor to release signatures a who knows how much later.
Now... All I'm asking for in this scenario is a detection tool/engine that security geeks can use. Here are some ideas for criteria:
* hashes - good for the first pass just to save time if you have a specific known malicious file. (consider ssdeep for fuzzy hashing)
* file size (fixed or range) - never anything definitive but can be suspicious none the less.
* file name - using a pcre to detect if the file name is part of a scheme of generated file names. ( pcre )
* packer - this can also be a sign of some malware authors using home rolled packers or just the use of a generic on rather than something more exotic. (peid/peinfo?)
* mime type/magic number - this should better assist in verifying the actual type of file regardless of file name. (handling for gifars?) (file -i )
* strings - like running strings -a looking for tell tale text. (gnu strings?)
* libraries - perhaps a list of libraries being called to match against. (strings -a file.ext | grep -i ".dll")
* compiler/language - this can also be a decent clue to pointing out specific threats and variants of that threat. (peid/peinfo?)
* hex - a sequence of hex values that appear in the file. (xxd?)
* asm - a sequence of instructions that are indicative of a particular piece of malware. (windasm?)
Naturally this would simply be for detection and just like IDS signatures one would have to keep tuning signatures to get the most accurate results and the tool would have to have more options/features added to make more accurate signatures.
PROBLEM:
* this tool doesn't fix anything (just as IDS doesn't).
* chances are no big vendor is going to do this just to hold you hostage for their (often craptastic) signatures
***UPDATE: check out the yara project. This doesn't have all of the things I have been looking for but it's the same idea.
Now... All I'm asking for in this scenario is a detection tool/engine that security geeks can use. Here are some ideas for criteria:
* hashes - good for the first pass just to save time if you have a specific known malicious file. (consider ssdeep for fuzzy hashing)
* file size (fixed or range) - never anything definitive but can be suspicious none the less.
* file name - using a pcre to detect if the file name is part of a scheme of generated file names. ( pcre )
* packer - this can also be a sign of some malware authors using home rolled packers or just the use of a generic on rather than something more exotic. (peid/peinfo?)
* mime type/magic number - this should better assist in verifying the actual type of file regardless of file name. (handling for gifars?) (file -i )
* strings - like running strings -a looking for tell tale text. (gnu strings?)
* libraries - perhaps a list of libraries being called to match against. (strings -a file.ext | grep -i ".dll")
* compiler/language - this can also be a decent clue to pointing out specific threats and variants of that threat. (peid/peinfo?)
* hex - a sequence of hex values that appear in the file. (xxd?)
* asm - a sequence of instructions that are indicative of a particular piece of malware. (windasm?)
Naturally this would simply be for detection and just like IDS signatures one would have to keep tuning signatures to get the most accurate results and the tool would have to have more options/features added to make more accurate signatures.
PROBLEM:
* this tool doesn't fix anything (just as IDS doesn't).
* chances are no big vendor is going to do this just to hold you hostage for their (often craptastic) signatures
***UPDATE: check out the yara project. This doesn't have all of the things I have been looking for but it's the same idea.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
million dollar idea: centralized electronic receipts
I can't get past the fact that if I buy an earth day sticker from ANY store, I am going to get a piece of paper (in many cases nearly a 10 inches long for one item) that will only end up being filed, trashed or recycled. If you file your receipts you are probably more organized than I am, if you don't file them then the chances are that the paper receipt will be added to the already overwhelming amount of refuse that we as a species have been stockpiling.
***** If I owned a business this is what i would do *****
Instead of wasting the money and paper it takes to issue a foot long receipt for a stick of gum, create a centralized repository for all a person's receipts.
Each person can have an account that the eReceipts can be sent to from various participating companies. It seems like it would work best if eReceipt accounts could be tied either to a preferred customer card account or a credit card.
Benefits:
* electronic filing/management
* can't lose receipts
* easy querying for old receipts
* trending
* paperless product returns
* better management for RMA numbers
* NO PAPER WASTE
* NO MONEY WASTED ON PAPER
Precautions:
* user registration is anonymous. (the username is a number or hash)
* each user creates a password with strength enforced.
* preferably there will be a form of 2-factor auth (not realistic but a thought to kick around)
PROBLEM:
* if a person's profile is hacked it presents a pretty significant breach or privacy. (anonymous registration should help prevent some of this)
* companies have to participate and there will probably be some implementation costs incurred to offer this system instead of or in addition to their existing paper based systems. (but how much are they shelling out on paper and printer maintenance/replacement?)
***** If I owned a business this is what i would do *****
Instead of wasting the money and paper it takes to issue a foot long receipt for a stick of gum, create a centralized repository for all a person's receipts.
Each person can have an account that the eReceipts can be sent to from various participating companies. It seems like it would work best if eReceipt accounts could be tied either to a preferred customer card account or a credit card.
Benefits:
* electronic filing/management
* can't lose receipts
* easy querying for old receipts
* trending
* paperless product returns
* better management for RMA numbers
* NO PAPER WASTE
* NO MONEY WASTED ON PAPER
Precautions:
* user registration is anonymous. (the username is a number or hash)
* each user creates a password with strength enforced.
* preferably there will be a form of 2-factor auth (not realistic but a thought to kick around)
PROBLEM:
* if a person's profile is hacked it presents a pretty significant breach or privacy. (anonymous registration should help prevent some of this)
* companies have to participate and there will probably be some implementation costs incurred to offer this system instead of or in addition to their existing paper based systems. (but how much are they shelling out on paper and printer maintenance/replacement?)
Annoyances: treating people like the spokesperson for an entire demographic
I can't stand it when I am listening to the radio and i hear a DJ/host ask someone "what is your opinion as a ____________?". I can't stand that.... I am a firm believer that any opinion that is held privately or publicly is formed because of the experience and knowledge of the person that forms them (as a whole). These opinions vary wildly within any one specific demographic and yet people still ask "what is your opinion as a man?" as if I have suddenly become the spokesperson for every man everywhere.... I don't have opinions "as a man", I have opinions that are mine as a person.
Admittedly this is a bit of a rant, but when I hear some inarticulate half-wit seize the opportunity to liven up an otherwise hum-drum life by exalting themselves to spew ignorance as the self appointed spokesperson for an entire demographic (whether it includes me or not) I feel the need to scream!
Admittedly this is a bit of a rant, but when I hear some inarticulate half-wit seize the opportunity to liven up an otherwise hum-drum life by exalting themselves to spew ignorance as the self appointed spokesperson for an entire demographic (whether it includes me or not) I feel the need to scream!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)