Author Archives: Buck

Occupy Movement and Your Rights

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Lately I have been both amazed at the tenacity of the American people and disgusted at the apathy of the American people. I am, of course, referring to the Occupy movement. I am amazed, proud and impressed by the tenacity of the protesters. People who have been clubbed with batons, shot with rubber bullets/bean bags, had flash-bangs thrown amongst them, maced, punched and had tear gas grenades/canisters thrown amongst them. They continue on. An Iraq war veteran among them was just shot in the head by one of those projectiles fired from police shotguns and is in critical condition with a fractured skull and swelling of his brain. He did two tours in Iraq and survived only to be critically wounded by a domestic police force using excessive force.

On the other hand, I am also utterly disgusted at the apathy of so very many Americans toward all this. Whether or not one agrees with the ideology of the protesters, it boils down to a simple fact. The first amendment which, as you know, is supposed to protect the right to free speech and peaceable assembly is being utterly destroyed right before our eyes. I have been shocked to hear and see such complete and utter apathy regarding this.

To those of you who value your second amendment or any other amendment yet show nothing but apathy and even disdain toward the protesters’, I can only say this, Do not expect anything but apathy in return when your right to own guns or your right to freedom of religion or any other right is trampled upon as well. We are supposed to have these basic rights in America, but when we try to exercise them, the mace, tear gas, batons and other weapons come out to squash them.

It’s not about ideology. It’s about rights. So if you are one of those showing apathy and disgust toward the protesters simply because you disagree with their ideology but do not even consider their rights, don’t cry and whine and expect sympathy when your own rights are trampled upon. This is how government gets away with steadily eroding our rights. The American people complain about the incompetency of government to do anything, yet it is the American people themselves that seem utterly incapable of joining together to create change for the better because they are too busy belittling those they disagree with. If we could put our differences aside, and simply acknowledge that we need change, then we could make that change happen. I haven’t heard anyone from any side deny that we need change in this country. But as long as we are busy bickering and belittling one another then the power-hungry in government are free to go on with “business as usual”, which is eroding our rights, allowing the economy to go down the drain, destroy even further our credibility abroad and so on.

What Happened to Compassion and Sanity?

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There have been some really disturbing events develop over the last few days and weeks. So disturbing, to me at least, that I just had to write about some of them and bring them out in the open in case anyone has not heard of them.

First, let’s start off with the last two GOP debates. Given that (a) Christianity is the predominate religion in America and (b) professed Christians make up the vast majority of the Republican and Tea Party base, I find it odd that at the last two debates the crowd has cheered death over executions and at least one person screamed, “YEAH!” at “let him die” over a proverbial uninsured man. I wonder if Jesus, whom these people claim to follow, would be loudly cheering executions and encouraging the uninsured to just die.

Whether one is for or against the death penalty here really seems irrelevant. It’s the applauding and cheering of these executions that is really rather disturbing. Even more disturbing, the seemingly growing consensus among a certain group that if a person is uninsured then that person should not receive healthcare, even if it means that person will clearly die. Compassion seems to be completely disappearing on the American landscape among some prominent and powerful groups and their base, or followers.

Then there is the news that the FBI had been teaching, yes actually teaching, it’s agents that mainstream Muslims are dangerous, that Muhammad was a “cult leader”, that most American Muslims are likely to be sympathizers to terrorist groups and that Muslims are more violent than Jews or Christians. (Ever heard of the Crusades? The Inquisitions?) The FBI claims it has stopped teaching this and perhaps they have, but I’m quite sure they say they have stopped simply because they were found out and embarrassed by the obvious stupidity of their actions. I am not Muslim, but it makes me want to drive around with a Koran in plain view on my dashboard to see if I’m singled out by law enforcement, especially in this backward town, for simply having a Koran.

Then there is the case of Troy Anthony Davis. Almost 20 years ago he was convicted of murder and put on death row. Since then, however, seven of the witnesses have completely recanted their testimony and some have even implicated another man at the scene as the shooter. If this does not constitute reasonable doubt, I don’t know what would! Even after cries and petitions from prominent leaders, both political and religious, Davis is still scheduled to die. After all, as Supreme Court Justice Scalia pointed out regarding the case, there is nothing unconstitutional about executing the innocent. How ridiculous is that?!

What has happened to sanity and compassion in America? If I were to take a guess, I would say it began with the unspeakably tragic events of 9/11 and the aftermath. Now we have hate speech everywhere. Anger is rampant. Paranoia is the norm. We have TSA agents doing “pat downs” on children and adults that would in any other scenario be seen as excessively invasive and even sexually assaulting. We have FBI agents being taught that if someone is Muslim, they should automatically be seen as dangerous or even a terrorist. We are still bombarded with “terror watches” and “alerts”. Fear and paranoia. Paranoia and fear. Isn’t that exactly what the terrorists wanted to invoke? Yes, it is! Unfortunately, it seems all too clear they have succeeded.

More on TCM

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I’ve been saying how well TCM has worked for me, helping me overcome years of depression where Western medicine utterly failed. Now it seems that a herbal mixture used in TCM is just as effective, if not more so, than Tamiflu when it comes to treating flu. There were three control groups in the study. One group received the TCM remedy, another group received Tamiflu and the last group only Tylenol. All participants had the flu. The group that received the TCM remedy had their fevers resolve the fastest. Faster even then those that received Tamiflu.

There is a lot that gets ridiculed and dismissed as pseudo-science that, in truth, actually works and can benefit a lot of people. Unfortunately, TCM is too often one of those things that gets dismissed by Western doctors and scientists. It isn’t until they are faced with undeniable proof that they will even consider it, if even then. A shame, really. Not everything can be explained. What ultimately matters is if it works or not, regardless of whether science can explain it or not.

Note:
The study can be found online, I saw it on Reuters. I would link to it but it seems some sites do not like to be linked to. I never understood that as it only helps drive traffic to their site, but if they don’t want to be linked to, I won’t link to them.

Memories

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It’s an old song, by Enigma, but it’s still one of my favorites and it pretty much sums up, in simple terms, my philosophy on life. The only part I don’t really relate to is the “destiny” thing. Other than that it’s pretty spot on. The lyrics are below. I am realizing now that every day I am making memories, right now is the best time of my life! I am surrounded by people I love and who love me back. I also realize that every day they are making memories too, and I want to help make those memories as good as possible!

Return to Innocence by Enigma:

Love
Devotion
Feeling
Emotion

Don’t be afraid to be weak
Don’t be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself
The return to innocence

If you want, then start to laugh
If you must, then start to cry
Be yourself, don’t hide
Just believe in destiny

Don’t care what people say
Just follow your own Way
Don’t give up and use the chance
To return to innocence

That’s not the beginning of the End
That’s the return to yourself
The return to innocence

New Life, New Hope

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I’ve been struggling of late with what to write, hence the extended periods between posts. It is difficult, if not impossible, to explain what it is like to come out of 9 years of severe clinical depression and convey via words the experience of freedom. Freedom to move on with one’s life. The ability to finally forgive oneself of things long past and to forgive others as well. The realization that one can indeed feel happiness and contentment again. The adjusting to these new and wonderful experiences. New after 9 years of indescribable sorrow and darkness. The excitement (and at times, confusion) that comes with finding a whole new direction for one’s life. To have and achieve goals. To be free to express the person you have now become without fear of disapproval from others. How does one put such subjective experiences into words? Trying to figure that out has been a challenge.

I wrote about my experience with depression and what has healed me in my book, “Too Sad to Even Cry”, but now, writing about my life after depression is a completely new thing. I am very passionate about what has given me my life back… or to be more precise, given me a whole new life. It is not one single thing, it is many, but taken as a whole it is, to me, nothing short of “miraculous”. TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) has done wonders for me but it’s not just the acupuncture, it’s the whole change in lifestyle that goes with it. Changing my diet to one more healthy and eliminating foods that are harmful. Exercising instead of being sedentary. Putting wholesome things into not only my body, but my mind as well. As my TCM doctor told me, “The mind controls the body. You will be well soon.” So it is not just needles and acupuncture, it takes following the instructions of a well-trained and experienced TCM doctor. It takes willingness and effort on the patient’s end too. Just as putting unhealthy things in your body will cause illness, so will putting unhealthy things in your mind. One has to replace unhealthy foods with healthy ones, and unhealthy thoughts with healthy ones. It reminds me of the Buddha being described as a physician, in that he saw the human condition and prescribed a course of action to alleviate the pain and suffering of that condition. It is up to the individual to follow that course. Sort of like an armchair quarterback, one can watch the action day in and day out and yet his/her body receives no benefit because he/she is only a spectator and never actually engages in physical activity.

Writing about my life after depression is a new thing for me. I’m still trying to figure out some areas of my life, where I want to go and what I want to do now that I am free, so this will be a work in progress. It was relatively easy to write about my depression and what healed me. Trying to put into words the experience of freedom after depression and pain is something else entirely. Some things that seemed so important before now seem trivial. Now I have a whole new set of priorities, a whole new set of of goals… and as someone once said, The question isn’t who’s going to let me; The question is who’s going to stop me!

New Direction

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I think this is the longest I have gone without posting since I started this blog. There are several reasons for this, but the primary reason is an ongoing complete change of lifestyle (at least health-wise). I have been seeing a different TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) doctor and the results have been amazing. This has started me re-thinking my approach to life… the way I think, the way I eat and the way I take care of myself physically. Up to this point, the posts have been pretty random ranging from topics as varied as Linux to religion/spirituality.

I think it’s time to give the blog a more definitive direction so I will be writing mostly about TCM and other natural healing methods/healthy living and Buddhism (and other spiritual paths as well from time to time). I may still throw in a post or two about Linux if something really interesting comes up. I realize this may cause a loss in readership since the highest read articles to date have been about Linux, but I need to write about something I’m passionate about. Not that I’m not passionate about Linux, but I use it every day, day in and day out so other than comparing different distros, I don’t really have a lot to say about it that hasn’t already been said here or somewhere else. Besides, Linux speaks for itself via reliability and security.

So, from this post forward the blog is headed in a more definitive direction. I hope that the information will be of use/interest. As always, feedback is welcome!

Namu Amida Butsu

Site Security

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I don’t know what it is with certain individuals always trying to gain unauthorized access to a site. I understand the motivations of some, such as political activists gaining control and/or defacing their target site, but to just go around trying to gain access to sites randomly is beyond me. Rarely a day goes by that at least one attack isn’t attempted on this site. The vast majority of these are automated and easily thwarted. Others, however, are more determined and extremely annoying. Some are fairly clever while others amaze me with the trail they leave that makes it easy work to find where the attacks are coming from. I now always report these to their ISP. Others use methods that make them harder to find, such as Tor, but even Tor isn’t foolproof as it is rather easy to find their (many) exit nodes and blacklist them so they cannot even connect to your site (if you host your own site or if your hosting provider provides you with an IP deny tool, which they should). There have been several cases where I have blocked a single IP only to find that the attackers simply use another IP within that range… so I block the entire IP range. In one case, they kept coming, all from the same country. I finally had to block every IP range in that country which greatly increased the size of my deny list, but it stopped the attacks from that area completely.

Blocking entire IP ranges (or countries) definitely has it’s downside since it not only blocks the attackers, but also people simply interested in visiting your site. It’s a drastic measure, but one I feel I have to take to keep the site safe. Here are a few tips on how to keep your site safe. I won’t disclose the particular names and versions I use (for security reasons) but you can find the same or similar easily. Since I am using WordPress as my platform, some of this will be specifically for WordPress deployments.

Limit login attempts.
Allowing infinite attempts is like inviting disaster. Eventually your credentials will be compromised, especially if the attacker is using a powerful service like a cloud that allows them to throw truly amazing amounts of combinations per second at your site. You should be able to set how many login attempts before lockout and how long the lockout lasts. I personally allow only one try. If that try fails the attacker is locked out for a time that I have set and I am notified via email that an attempt was made. I then use whois to find information on the IP that the attack came from. I then report it to the abuse contact provided by the ISP.

Don’t use the default user name
This is, in my opinion, especially true of platforms such as WordPress and Joomla. In the case of WordPress, if you are already using the default username you can easily change it in your WordPress user database. Make it something unique and not the same as your “author” name.

Use strong passwords
I am constantly amazed at how many people use names or other easily cracked passwords such as words that can be found in any dictionary to protect their data. Never use a name, a word, or a number such as your birthday, phone or social security. These are easily cracked, even by a novice. An example of a strong password is to think of a sentence and then use the first letter of each word in that sentence, being sure to alternate upper and lower case. Also throw in special characters and numbers. For example, the sentence, “I use a Sony laptop seven days a week” would be IuASl7daW. Notice that I replaced “seven” with “7”. Throw in some special characters at the beginning and end and you have then have #@! IuASl7daW!@#. That’s a pretty strong password. It’s in no dictionary, and seems completely random. The longer, the better. One of my passwords is over 25 characters long. It may seem like this sort of password would be hard to remember but it’s not. Just remember the sentence. Once you have used it a while it becomes second nature, which leads to the next step in security.

Change your passwords at least fairly frequently.
Again, for security reasons, I won’t disclose how often I change my passwords. Changing them frequently helps keep you secure in the case someone has been working at gaining access to your site and have gleaned at least part of your password. Changing the password makes them start all over again. Also, don’t use the same password for all your accounts. Doing so can be disastrous because if you use the same password for each account, then once it is compromised it is like a master key to your entire online life.

Block repeat offenders
If you notice that a particular IP is repeatedly taking whacks at your site, block them. They obviously have no interest in your site other than to cause you trouble so blocking them is no loss to you. I both report and block them.

The bottom line is that most would-be attackers out there really have no skills at all. They use automated scripts and only succeed in gaining access to poorly protected sites. However, there are some individuals and groups out there that are very talented. The sad news is that there is no way to make a site completely bullet-proof, but you can sure make it very, very difficult to gain access to your site. But if one of those really talented individuals or groups really wants to get in your site, they will probably will. So back up frequently just in case!

Namu Amida Butsu

Linux, Linux Everywhere!

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Do you use Linux? Even if you don’t use Linux as your Desktop or laptop operating system, chances are good you are in fact using it in some of your devices and not even be aware of it. The complete list of things that run Linux would be far too long to list here so I’ll list some of the things many people use, some of which daily, that have Linux inside.

Mobile phones. You’d be surprised at just how many different phones use Linux. Some IP phones use it as well.

WiFi routers such as some Linksys and Netgear models

Some GPS devices

TIVo

Playstation 3

That’s a very shortened list, but if you include how many of the phones, GPS devices and entertainment devices are actually using Linux you might be shocked. Then there is the news that the LHC worldwide computing grid consists of somewhere around 20,000 servers using primarily Linux, the USPS and a book worth of different universities, governments and so on. The FAA uses it, as does the Navy submarine fleet, large banks… Linux is everywhere.

There are reasons for this, known to all Linux fans, such as security and reliability. With all the bombardment we get from the media, we have been conditioned to think expensive is better. With kernels and operating systems this is clearly not true as Linux itself is free. Anyone is free to download it and use it, at no charge. Linux is here to stay and is being employed in more varying methods all the time. It has most definitely proven itself to be capable of performing extremely complicated tasks to something as simple as me using it to type up this post. I still cannot get my head around paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars for some other system when I can do everything I need to do on a computer for free.

Namu Amida Butsu

A Short Survey

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I’m hoping you can help me out here by participating in a short survey. There are only 3 multiple choice questions. It’s about happiness… what makes you happy, what makes you unhappy and the things you feel are most important to happiness. It’s something of a sociology experiment to find what makes people feel a sense of happiness.

If you would like to participate, Click here to take survey.

Thanks in advance!

Namu Amida Butsu!

Goodbye Ubuntu!

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After using Ubuntu 11.04 a while, it became clear that it was time to part ways with Ubuntu and move on. I tried to like it, I really did. At first it seemed like it was going to be OK, but it wasn’t. The inability to suspend or hibernate the laptop was unacceptable. The Unity Desktop Environment became nothing less than an annoyance, what with having to “bump” the upper panel with the mouse to access menus for programs being run and the inability to configure the dock (or “launcher”). It seems to me just poor design to have to move the mouse to the top of the screen to access the menu of a program running in the middle of the screen. Then there was the random error at boot about cryptswap1 not being ready, which I thought I had dealt with but was mistaken. Fan speed/control was also a problem as the laptop ran hotter than ever before. Far too hot. So, I am typing this post on Linux Mint 11 (RC).

Even though it’s only a release candidate (RC) it already out-performs Ununtu’s latest release. In fact, it runs circles around it. I became fed up with the slowly but surely degrading performance of Ubuntu 11.04 right after I wrote the “Ubuntu 11.04 Revisited” post and decided to give Mint a try so I downloaded the RC and said goodbye to Ubuntu. Mint is a derivative (or fork, or spin-off… whatever you want to call it) of Ubuntu like Ubuntu is of Debian. However, Linux Mint has not taken up Ubuntu’s bold (and disastrous) Unity Desktop. They therefore don’t have the nuisances that Ubuntu now has. To make things even better, you can install codecs and upgrade to the DVD versions with a couple of clicks of the mouse. This is really good for those that don’t like the console. With Linux Mint 11 you also get the latest versions of the software that counts, just like in Ubuntu, but without all the problems. Suspend still has some issues but hibernate works perfectly under Linux Mint. I’m beginning to think this is a problem with the kernel version 2.6.38-8, so this may be an issue in any distribution running this kernel. But is odd to me that hibernate works in Linux Mint but not in Ubuntu 11.04. An operating system should not get in the way of computing and Ubuntu 11.04 was doing just that, or at least it’s Unity Desktop Environment was. So here’s a look at something clearly better:

Linux Mint comes with GNOME (but not GNOME 3 or GNOME Shell), so none of that annoying “bump the panel” nonsense to get a program menu. As you can see in this screen shot I have moved the panel to the top and installed and placed the Cairo dock on the bottom. I really like the Cairo dock, especially the hardware accelerated version, because of the mouse-over effects and especially because of it’s configurability.

The menu is nice and has a search utility. If you prefer a simpler menu, just install the Cairo dock and use it’s menu. That way, you can access the full menu easily no matter where your mouse is positioned.

 

A screen-shot of the Cairo dock on mouse-over.

 

 

 

 

Gwibber is a really handy tool if you use Facebook or Twitter as you can see feeds and post without even opening your browser. It’s not installed by default in Linux Mint 11 but is easy to find in the repositories. (I blurred a name for their privacy, so the blur is not a defect :-) )

Firefox actually looks like Firefox again in Linux Mint whereas in Ubuntu it looks like a Google Chrome clone. Even though they are the same versions in both Mint and Ubuntu, Mint keeps the original look.

 

Linux Mint 11 also comes with LibreOffice which was another big plus. Ubuntu 11.04 also uses it but at least with Mint you don’t have all the other annoyances that are everywhere in Ubuntu now.

 

 

So, long story short, I’m done with Ubuntu. Unless they do away with the nonsensical “bump the panel” business, straighten up their Desktop environment and fix all the annoyances I won’t be going back. I think it says a lot that a release candidate (Linux Mint 11 RC) is out-performing them by leaps and bounds. I look forward to the actual release and upgrade to the official release version of Linux Mint 11. I’m very impressed!

Namu Amida Butsu!