Liquid Matrix Security has a good blog post on interview questions.  I filled out my answers because out of all the surveys that I’ve read over the past couple of years (If you read your daughter’s email, you’ll see she gets one of these every week), this one is the most fun that I have seen so far.

• Being the Resident Curmudgeon
• Caught on Tape!
• My Stalking Spammers
• Blog Statistics and Search Strings
• Some Thoughts on Comments to My Blog…

This is a joint DVD review I did with Martin Joergensen of The Global Flyfisher on The Trout Bum Diaries Volume I: Patagonia.  I likened the DVD to “fish porn”. =)

• Friday Flyfishing Post–Kiwi Camo
• Skip’s Dad
• Sunday Fish Picture
• Rag Worms
• Falling Springs Branch

I’ve been taking vacation over the past week.  I’ve been at use/lose with my vacation time since early last year, and I just can’t spend it fast enough.  So I’m taking vacation and sitting at home playing games, fishing, and being a socialite.  =)

Some of the highlights of vacationing:

• Wine-tasting at the Australian Embassy
• Vendor presentation from Verdasys and Dan Geer
• Teaching half a day with Potomac Forum
• Answering some work-related calls
• Rotting my brain and sharpening my reflexes thanks to Cedega
• Getting in some fishing

• Election Year Follies
• Milestones
• Where Have I Been?
• Data Centers and Hair Driers
• Learning GovieSpeak: The Plum Book

I just upgraded wordpress from V2.1.3 to V2.2.  The old version had some XSS problems that were announced over the past week.

It’s a nice upgrade process.  They even have a nice upgrade guide WordPress Upgrade Instructions.

• An Informal Study on the Literacy Level of Security Blogs–We All Get Pwned by Amrit
• Moving
• Being a PR Wonk is Hard
• AppSec DC Press and Themes
• Where Have I Been?

I’m making a prediction here.

Forget Avian Flu: the next pandemic will be the first wave of brain-eating zombies. I’m serious here, this is a viable threat. Otherwise, would all those movies steer us wrong?

It’s changed my thinking on pandemic contingency planning, we now are planning on building an armory next to the NOC so that we can have continuity of operations. In addition, part of our annual security training for NOC and SOC staff will involve the find points of being sure to shoot zombies in the head.

In fact, there is a phenomenal simulation of a zombie outbreak. Try changing some of the factors, there is a key on the right side of the page. Note that there is no option to kill the zombies, so well-armed survivalists are not accounted for in the simulation. Real-world infestations might be different if this happens in Idaho versus downtown DC (where firearms are outlawed).

Lessons to remember for the upcoming zombie pandemic:

• It’s hard to make an outbreak extend past one block if the population density is low. New York beware!
• Alleys are the conduit for the spread of infestations.
• Green zombies are easier to spot than white zombies.
• When the zombie pandemic starts, we all get zombified.

• Wednesday Zombie Post–The Zombies
• Training for the Zombie Pandemic
• Wednesday Zombie Post–Zombies on Uncyclopedia
• Zombies!
• Wednesday Zombie Post–The Combat Guide

I grew up in the wilds of Idaho. I love the place, the people maybe not so much (OK, I’ll pick and choose the people) but I don’t think people really know how remote some parts of central Idaho are.

Central Idaho is the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. It’s the largest primitive area in the contiguous United States. Our county has one stoplight, and the next one is 150 miles away. The last hand-crank phone was decommissioned in 1991 in Shoup, a little town about 20 miles from where I lived. The interesting thing is that the road turns into dirt just below Shoup and then dead-ends at Corn Creek. The only way to get past that is to float down the river, ride a horse, or walk.

Pictures of my hometown, as huge as it is. There isn’t much else there. I had to ride the bus into Salmon to go to school, a commute of an hour each way.

Now the reason that I consider this to be quite fortuitous is because if I had a computer and a modem growing up, I would probably have been in jail at some time. I graduated high school in 1991, which puts me at the prime age to be one of the wardialers. Knowing my psychological profile, I was very much on the fast track to being one of the hacker kids. Living in the remoteness of Idaho probably saved me in some way.

Anyway, /me shrugs. =)

• Volunteer to be Tracked
• Famous Quotes: George H
• Simple Thoughts on Simple Rocks
• Cult Crossovers Into Information Security
• Metrics, Irrationality, Sports, and Malcolm Gladwell