Computers ⁽¹²⁸⁾

Brian Bilbrey April 12, 2015

All About Security

I spent my weekend attending talks at the inaugural BSides Charm City. BSides puts on several regional security conferences, and I'm glad they expanded into this geographic. Two full days of security talks has made my head explode, and now I'm a full week behind the curve on getting the yards ready for spring, but all good. I learned a lot! The conference sold out this year, but I am given to understand that they're moving to a larger venue next year, so if you're in the area and want to spend a little bit of money on a whole…

Brian Bilbrey March 1, 2015

Ice

The weather liar says this is the first day of meteorological Spring. The weather itself says, "ICE!" They've been treating the roads and such, but there's an eighth to a quarter inch of ice on lots of the rest of our area. Trees are deeply unhappy, with branches coming off due to weight. Lovely, really. And such a pleasure when taking the dog for a walk. Today: Patching systems remotely for work, weekly food shopping, roasted coffee: I generally roast early enough that the beans have enough time to rest for at least three days (and outgas most of the…

Brian Bilbrey January 18, 2015

Rainy Days and Sundays

Well, they don't get me down, but when it's rain drops with little ice spears embedded in each one, it's not a pleasant thing to be walking in (or loading the groceries into the car during, for one executed example). We had about 2cm of rain today - at peak, the sump pump was running every two minutes. Today was productive on the home front: Shopping, Laundry, cleaned up my office. I also opened up Serenity, the home server, and replaced the back panel fan with one that has manual speed settings, so that I can knock down some of…

Brian Bilbrey December 14, 2014

Year Winding Down

We're about two weeks out, and at 36"+, just a little under eight inches shy on precipitation compared to annual normal. Of course, the tree abutting the deck has put on some bulk in the last couple of years, and it's entirely possible that the current siting of my rain gauge is in tree shadow part of the time. I'm thinking of re-siting it (or even getting a more comprehensive weather thing) in the next year. But that's a project for another day (month?). But this year certainly has flown by. * * * If you saw what I was…

Brian Bilbrey December 7, 2014

"A date which will live in infamy"

So said Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, after the attack at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Here is a transcript of his speech, courtesy of GMU. This important historical even seems barely mentioned by big media these days. I was pleased to see that the flags in Maryland are at half staff today to honor those who died in the attack. * * * Along with finishing up Marcia's quilting cabinet (see the December 4 post), and getting some house cleaning done, I managed to spend some time working on building a sump pit monitor…