off by one for 2007 January

(1) Sun Jan 07 12:05:46 PST we are idiots:

We're back in LA after a 3.5 week time away. We are idiots. We don't have renter's insurance because we're slackers. I think "renter's insurance" is one of the most advanced levels of the game "Escape From Slackerdom". That game starts when you start college, and the levels get harder or more unlikely for you to complete as the game progresses. The first level is "1: Don't Skip Classes," then "2: Do the Reading For Your Classes," then "3: Get A Decent Amount of Sleep Each Night," then one of the Boss characters is "The Taxman," where you have to do your own taxes for the first time, etc. Anyway, one of the last levels is "24: Get Renters Insurance" and we haven't.

We also neglected to tell our neighbor that we would be gone for three weeks. AND there were workmen in our apartment fixing the plumbing when we left. So basically, we're idiots and worried about it all vacation.

When we got back last night, everything in the apt. was really dusty... but it looked like it was all here.

Looking around, we saw that the workmen left the kitchen window wide open. There's a screen, but still, it's the window that's above our porch, which is only 6 feet off the ground. Then last night I thought they left another window open... and... they did! Then, this morning, and this is the kicker.. the porch door was NOT UNLOCKED and was actually cracked open about a half inch!!!1!!!

At this point I'm glad the place was so dusty because it was pretty obvious that nobody had been in here in weeks, otherwise I would have started to get really paranoid.

Anyway... school starts tomorrow.

Happy new year to everyone... I hope that 2007 is a better year for us personally and also for the world.

Wed Jan 10 17:33:26 PST episode iv: a new quarter:

Well, it's time for a new quarter at UCLA. I passed all my classes and did pretty well, so I figured it was time to invest in a sweatshirt. Now people stop me in the grocery store and say things like, "Go Bruins!" which is an unsuspected downside.

This quarter, I'm taking which is a grad-level Computer Security (236) course (sort of a current topics discussion), and the undergraduate breadth requirements Networking (118) and Automata and Complexity (181). I'm also taking the grad topics seminar, CS 201. I really like my schedule so far -- all my classes are back to back on Monday and Wednesday, so that I'm done by 2PM, and then I don't have to come in on Tuesdays or Thursdays except for seminar. Then Fridays I have some discussion sections. I also have friends in every class, which helps make it more enjoyable.

The Security course is cool because it's a grad course and is focused on current stuff; my last job and my history as a sysadmin, etc. helps me feel pretty tapped in to the subject matter. Right now I'm trying to brainstorm on a project for the class. Networking looks pretty straightforward; it helps that I taught a simplified version of the course at North Park. Automata and Complexity will be my most challenging course, I think, because it is more abstract and sometimes I have trouble really getting inside formulas and the like. But I really like the subject material, and so far, the professor is great.

So I think the big challenges will be the Automata stuff in general, followed by the Security project (which should be something new, functional and hopefully interesting), and then the Networking projects, which require some sockets programming in C... I'm going to start working on some practice in that area right now.

Thu Jan 18 08:52:50 PST warning: may contain SQL:

from clickolinko

Thu Jan 18 11:12:05 PST here's one for posterity:

I use postfix with smtp auth for users who use outside clients but still use my smtp server to send out (which is considered relaying).

The standard Debian/Ubuntu way seems to be to use sasl2 along with postfix. But the saslpasswd2 man pages are pretty cryptic -- do I need a "realm"? What about an "appname"? How come no matter what I do, nothing seems to work? There are two answers -- one, saslpasswd2 requires the bare minimum from you, and two, remember that postfix is running in a chroot jail.

1. To add users, just do saslpasswd2 -c username@domain.com and enter the password twice on the interactive prompt. The changes are stored in /etc/sasldb2.

2. The non-obvious catch is that Debian/Ubuntu run postfix in a chroot by default -- so after you add or remove users, you have to remember to copy the /etc/sasldb2 file into the chroot, like this:

cp -a /etc/sasldb2 /var/spool/postfix/etc/

... then it should work!

I have to do this so rarely that every time it comes up, I have long since forgotten and it takes me an hour to figure this out... so perhaps this can be a contribution to posterity -- mine and hopefully yours.

(2) Wed Jan 24 21:45:01 PST security ideas:

So I'm in a security class with a bunch of other grad students, and my group needs a project. If you have an idea that you think I should explore and get famous for, please post it here now!

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