Posts with mood hungry (8)

Farewell review
Mood: hungry
Posted on 2011-09-01 11:48:00
Tags: reviews books
Words: 150

FarewellFarewell by Sergei Kostin

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is a book about the Farewell Dossier. Unfortunately, the part that I was most interested in was how we planted fake designs for technology that the Russians were trying to steal, including computer programs with hidden viruses that culminated in a giant explosion in a gas pipeline.

The book is all about Vladimir Vetrov, the KGB defector who provided the French a giant list of KGB spies as well as all the technology they were trying to steal and from where. It goes deeply into his life, eventual motivations for betraying Russia (mostly anger at the KGB over corruption and not getting promoted), and how he conducted his spying and was eventually caught.

The book was kinda long and vaguely interesting, but ultimately disappointing. If you're interested in Vetrov's life, though, I'd definitely recommend it.



View all my reviews

0 comments

Ghost in the Wires review
Mood: hungry
Posted on 2011-09-01 11:47:00
Tags: reviews books
Words: 147

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted HackerGhost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin D. Mitnick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book is Kevin Mitnick telling his story. Mitnick is probably the world's most infamous hacker, or at least he was until he was caught, served jail time, and reformed.

He's an expert on social engineering, and he talks at length about the techniques he'd use. Reading the book, you can't help but sympathize with his victims, and it's easy to see how a friendly request for information for someone who sounds like a fellow employee can both sound entirely reasonable, but lead to a security breakdown.

The book was entertaining but a bit repetitive. Also, he only alludes to this, but it's pretty clear he was addicting to hacking and having power, even if he never did any real damage.



View all my reviews

0 comments

TX voter registration deadline is monday!
Mood: hungry
Posted on 2008-09-30 12:02:00
Tags: politics links
Words: 310

Barack Obama wanted me to remind y'all that the voter registration deadline for Texas is this Monday, October 6. You can register and find more information at voteforchange.com.

"But Greg," I hear you say, "why even bother? It's not like my vote matters here in the Lone Star State!" Good point, hypothetical friend, but here's why you should anyway:


Been reloading fivethirtyeight.com a lot recently - seeing that 83% chance for Obama to win makes my heart sing!

Why is America so religious? - very strong negative correlation between country wealth and importance of religion to that country. We are the great big outlier.

Michael Lewis rents a mansion and ponders why having a big house is so important to people. As someone who recently purchased a bigish house (bigger than the other ones we were looking at, anyway), I found it interesting.

3 comments

craving greek food
Mood: hungry
Posted on 2007-12-10 11:09:00
Tags: food
Words: 13

Does anyone know of a good Greek place nearish work (Mopac and Duval)?

3 comments

wallet
Mood: hungry
Posted on 2007-08-27 12:05:00
Tags: poll
Words: 54

I need a new wallet. I feel bad because my nice current wallet was a high school graduation present from my late grandfather, but that was 8 years ago and my credit cards are starting to fall out of it, which is bad.

A geeky one would be nice. Here's one option, here's another.

6 comments

Recent local laws...
Mood: hungry
Posted on 2007-02-12 11:51:00
Tags: dodgeball taxes snow poll
Words: 316

I heard about two proposed laws around here that I thought were interesting. One, in New York, would ban using electronic devices (such as iPods) while crossing the street (in response to the death of two such pedestrians) - the penalty would be a $100 fine. The other, in New Jersey (and proposed in Washington DC as well), would ban smoking in a car with children in it.


In my opinion, the New York law is way beyond the bounds of what the law should cover. It's common sense that you should pay attention while crossing the street - why not make it illegal not to look both ways?

The New Jersey one is a lot tougher...protecting children from secondhand smoke versus legislating what you can do in your car. I voted "No", but I could probably be convinced to vote "Yes". Maybe.

Anyway, I was just interested in what y'all thought.

Dodgeball was fun this weekend, except for getting the glasses knocked off of my face (they were OK, albeit a little more bent than before...I really need to get new frames at some point!) and running into a teammate which left my left cheek a bit tender. And this was in the match where the other team didn't have enough players! (so we lent them some of ours and played for fun)

There's supposed to be a big storm coming through tonight and tomorrow. Winter weather advisories and such. Hoping we get the day off!

Finally got around to doing my taxes this weekend - it was less painful than I thought and I ended up with a smallish refund. The state taxes thing was new, but you can do them online in a mostly painless manner. State taxes are high, though, especially considering that sales tax here is 5%, which doesn't seem like that much less than 8.25%. I guess property taxes are significantly lower, too?

11 comments

quick terror post
Mood: hungry
Posted on 2006-08-15 18:01:00
Tags: terrorism
Words: 12

The post I mentioned before about terror and such. Good angry reading.

0 comments

Feingold for president!
Mood: hungry
Posted on 2006-04-05 10:53:00
Tags: politics
Words: 6

Feingold says he supports gay marriage

15 comments

This backup was done by LJBackup.