You have to watch this.

Nolan is doing it right. Can’t wait to see this. I didn’t think anyone could beat Nicholson as the Joker - but this looks to be giving it a good run.

It turns out that HMV is now shipping white bags, instead of the traditional black ones. Upon further investigation, they’ve followed MEC and now only hand out bio- degradeable bags. While the bags aren’t perfect, they sure are a step in the right direction, and I applaud any company making an effort to keep the waste down.

Now they just need to get rid of the bloody plastic wrapping around every CD/DVD. And replace them with magnetic fields. Yes, that’ll work. Or maybe they could just keep the CDs/DVDs in the back of the store, and when someone wants something, the clerk could go and get the nicely unwrapped product and give them that. I mean, it’s not like it’s food or anything. Sealed for your safety? I think not.

I seem to be going off on a tangent. So …. yay, HMV!

You remember Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat, where a Cat shows up to entertain some kids on a rainy day. That book was written in 1957. This is how things might go if it was made today …

Here is my list of favorites tunes for 2007. Hope it was a good year for everyone.

1. Mad Caddies - Keep It Going

This was my favorite album of the year, it just fits perfectly with summer. You should really give it a chance.

2. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

Another great album from Modest Mouse. I love the addition of Johnny Marr, Smiths guitar legend.

3. Bad Religion - New Maps of Hell

Perennual punk favorites, back with more of the same, which is a good thing.

4. Thrice - The Alchemy Index Vol. 1 & 2

Experimental? Yes. Self-produced? Yes. This had all the makings of a trainwreck, yet, Thrice pulled if off.

5. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Even though their last album was a huge success, they didn’t compromise their sound.

6. Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild (Soundtrack)

I haven’t seen the movie, but I love this soundtrack. It’s all acoustic, but it’s great.

7. Guster - Ganging Up On the Sun

My brother is really into this band, I got into it cause of him

8. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

This was a new band I first heard about on an NPR podcast. I really like their retro sound.

9. Teddy Bears - Soft Machines

A vert eclectic album, this thing covers a lot of ground.

10. Radiohead - In Rainbows

What would a favorite albums list be without Radiohead? Incomplete, that’s what.

Honourable Mention - Tiger Army - Music from Regions Beyond

This would have cracked my top 10 with 1 decent song….so close.

Disappointments

Beck - The Information
Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight
Straylight Run - The Needles The Space

Hearbreaker of 2007
Jimmy Eat Wolrd - Chase this Light

This album was nothing like their past 3. What I have come to love about Jimmy Eat World was their ability to write catchy yet unpredictable songs. This album was just one big pop music cliche.

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I have a server that I maintain.  I give accounts to various friends when they need a server to use.  You know, for whatever people do with server accounts.

Anyway, I know a bit about security, so I like to think I look after these machines.  But realistically, I don’t pay that much attention to them.  I mean, they’re automatically updated, and really don’t do much.  The biggest hole is someone on my server not setting up an adequate password.  What are the odds someone would choose a weak password?!

It took me about a week to realize that my server was compromised.  A friend of mine had a very weak password.  You know, something like “12345″ … if the account name was “12345″. 

Someone figured that out, and ran some malicious software on the server.  Did I catch it?  Nay!  But, my ISP did, when some people my machine decided to attack complained.  So, they shut down my account, and let me know about why they would do such a thing.  Of course, I’ve switched phones since I hooked up with them, so they had the wrong number, and so it took a day for me to call and bitch at them, but after that, we were all good.

Anyway, I’ve cleaned off the server and it should be happy again.  I’ve changed the offending users password, then disabled the account ’cause I was mad at it.  ”Stupid account!  Go lay down!”  Obviously I’ll pay very close attention to it, until I get bored and once again ignore it.  Maybe I’ll get around to writing a learning program to tell me when things change that I might care about.  Probably not, but hey, it’s a good idea.

Jeff was good enough to pass along this little firewall change to keep these nasty little buggers at bay.  Here it is, for those of you with servers - I think it’s a great addition!

iptables -N SSH_CHECK
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp –dport 22 -m state –state NEW -j SSH_CHECK
iptables -A SSH_CHECK -m recent –set –name SSH
iptables -A SSH_CHECK -m recent –update –seconds 60 –hitcount 4 –name SSH -j DROP

This will block anyone trying to connect to 22 more than 3 times a minute.  Thanks, Jeff!

And so, here’s a friendly reminder to make sure you don’t use weak passwords.  Eventually the script kiddies will hit your account.  Might as well close that door.