Is It Time to Throw Up Our Hands?

Trey Smith

I bet the US government isn't as upset as they let on in regards to the recent revelations about their massive spying programs. I'm not saying that they are particularly overjoyed about being exposed and I'm not suggesting that they don't have some legitimate concerns, but all in all, the vast majority of the world that uses the internet is now on notice that the leading governmental spy agencies are bound and determined to get their grubby hands on as much of our information as they can and there is not much we can do to stop them. While these continued revelations are politically messy, they do impart a chilling effect on a lot of people.

In conversations around my community, most of the folks I have talked to express a feeling of utter impotence in the face of this onslaught. One fellow said he was ready to throw up his hands. "I will just assume that the government is watching my every move," he lamented.

I, for one, don't think we should give in. While we might not be able to stop all of the unwanted government (and corporate) intrusions, there ARE ways to make such intrusions more difficult on the intruders. Writing in the Guardian, Bruce Schneier offers 5 such tips.

1) Hide in the network. Implement hidden services. Use Tor to anonymize yourself. Yes, the NSA targets Tor users, but it's work for them. The less obvious you are, the safer you are.

2) Encrypt your communications. Use TLS. Use IPsec. Again, while it's true that the NSA targets encrypted connections – and it may have explicit exploits against these protocols – you're much better protected than if you communicate in the clear.

3) Assume that while your computer can be compromised, it would take work and risk on the part of the NSA – so it probably isn't. If you have something really important, use an air gap. Since I started working with the Snowden documents, I bought a new computer that has never been connected to the internet. If I want to transfer a file, I encrypt the file on the secure computer and walk it over to my internet computer, using a USB stick. To decrypt something, I reverse the process. This might not be bulletproof, but it's pretty good.

4) Be suspicious of commercial encryption software, especially from large vendors. My guess is that most encryption products from large US companies have NSA-friendly back doors, and many foreign ones probably do as well. It's prudent to assume that foreign products also have foreign-installed backdoors. Closed-source software is easier for the NSA to backdoor than open-source software. Systems relying on master secrets are vulnerable to the NSA, through either legal or more clandestine means.

5) Try to use public-domain encryption that has to be compatible with other implementations. For example, it's harder for the NSA to backdoor TLS than BitLocker, because any vendor's TLS has to be compatible with every other vendor's TLS, while BitLocker only has to be compatible with itself, giving the NSA a lot more freedom to make changes. And because BitLocker is proprietary, it's far less likely those changes will be discovered. Prefer symmetric cryptography over public-key cryptography. Prefer conventional discrete-log-based systems over elliptic-curve systems; the latter have constants that the NSA influences when they can.

I have two other tips: 1) Switch from Windows to a Linux distro and 2) Use as many open source software programs as possible.

While reports indicate that Microsoft works closely with the NSA, Linux is community-driven. People from all over the world work on it OUT IN THE OPEN. Without a centralized corporate structure, the NSA has no singular person or group they could go to in order to try to bribe or compel them to allow for backdoors or other kinds of embedded vulnerabilities. If the NSA figured out how to introduce one, my guess is that it would be discovered darn quick and eradicated. The very same is true for open source software programs as well.

This is not the time to allow apathy to sweep over us. If people simply throw up their hands and do nothing, the NSA wins by default. It might look like a case of David vs. Goliath, but don't forget, David won in the end! (Yeah, I know. That's a biblical reference. So, sue me!)

Not Exactly a Saint Bernard, But...

Trey Smith

In the wee hours of this morning, I got an idea (which often is a sign of impending doom). I've been using the same windows manager for some time now and I thought I would try out some different ones. I downloaded three of 'em and, after trying each one out, I decided the one I'm using ain't so bad!

After trying the third one, I rebooted my computer to go back to the default -- Gnome. But a funny thing happened when I rebooted: nothing. The GRUB bootloader kept freezing up. It froze up so quickly that it quit loading BEFORE I could get to rescue mode.

Aaah! Now what am I going to do? Fortunately, I have live cds of two different versions of Linux Mint. By this point, I had surmised that the last windows manager I had tried had somehow screwed things up. So, my plan was to load Linux Mint via my cd drive, then find the offending files and delete them.

It seemed like a sensible and reasonable plan...except it didn't work!! Since I signed in to each session as a guest, I didn't have root privileges and, without those privileges, I couldn't delete the files!

I was very fortunate that I had recently downloaded the latest version of Puppy Linux (the distro I had used back when I first switched to Linux). Since Puppy runs solely in RAM, I was able to finagle root status (though I can't remember how I did it) which allowed me to find the offending files and delete them.

Holding my breath, I rebooted and it worked like a charm. My system was back to normal. In order not to have to go through this again, I created a GRUB rescue CD -- something I had put off doing.

This was one of those times when it was quite beneficial to be OCD, though going off to bed at 5:30 am is a bit late...even for a night owl like me :-D

Real Life Tao - Upside Down and Inside Out

Trey Smith

Back when I still used Microsoft Windows as my computer's operating system, one of my favorite diversionary activities was playing word games. I had a wide variety of them and spent many hours playing with words. When I switched over to Linux, I quickly discovered that, while there are scads of games to download, very few of them were word games. In fact, I only have two words games on my computer today: Tanglet and Pynagram.

Since playing the same games day after day can get a bit boring, I was forced to branch out to find other games to challenge me [that don't involve violence]. Since I use the Gnome Desktop on my Linux Mint, I decided to try out Gnome's version of solitaire Mahjongg. I liked it immediately and it is now one of my favored games.

Here's a brief summary of how the game is played from the Gnome Library:

You start with five levels of tiles which are stacked so some are covered up by the tiles on top. The harder the level you set in the Preferences dialog, the more tiles are covered when the game starts. The object of Mahjongg is to remove all the tiles from the game. To remove tiles you have to find matching pairs which look alike.

Well, there is a bit more to it than that, but that should provide you with the basic framework.

Here's what I have found to be the interesting part. There are 9 different board configurations from Easy all the way to the most difficult level. I complete the puzzles in the least amount of time for the hardest level. I am not sharing this as a way to boast about my obvious effing brilliance and you folks should feel honored that I am willing to share a small bit of my effing intellect with you. ;-)

While I seem able to breeze my way through the puzzle configuration that external sources have identified as the most challenging and difficult, I struggle mightily with the puzzle configuration that these same external sources have identified as the easiest! There have been several occasions in which I have the completed the most difficult level in under 3 minutes, but I typically struggle to complete the elementary level in 5 minutes. More than one-half of the time I end up with a hung board.

This upside down and inside out proficiency/deficiency perplexed me for quite some time. Why is it that the configuration which hides the identity of a greater percentage of tiles ends up being easy for my mind to navigate, while the configuration which hides the identity of the fewest number of tiles stumps me again and again?

After much consideration, I think the Taoist concept of wu wei holds the answer!

I am a very analytical fellow who tends grossly to over think things. I don't simply weigh options; I weigh them countless times and then weigh what I've already weighed!! So, the board configuration that is most out in the open provides my mind with a staggering number of variables to consider.

Since Gnome Mahjongg is a timed game, I'm trying to analyze a large amount of information as well as formulate educated guesses as quickly as possible. These bits of information are streaming so fast that they invariably start bumping into each other. In no time at all, the bits of information become scrambled and so I need to take the time to step back to unscramble them.

Unfortunately, a good deal of the time, the bits of info become so scrambled that I end up frustrated with my inability to unscramble them. Frustration -- even when playing a silly computer game -- can lead to desperation. As I frantically try to get my head on straight, I become blind to what my eyes are seeing and either it takes me an inordinate amount of time to complete the puzzle or I reach a dead end.

But I rarely encounter ANY of these problems when playing the game at its most difficult level. Since nearly 50 percent of the tiles are partially or completely hidden at the start, there truly is no way to know or even make an educated guess about the identity of most of them. So, I don't even try.

Instead of my penchant for analysis and over thinking, I play far more by intuition and simply react to the tiles as they become uncovered. By not beginning the game with any preconceived notions or expectations, I don't set up hurdles that I must deal with later. Due to the fact my analytical mind is turned off, I easily flow with the game as the tiles present themselves.

Put another way, non-action -- not over thinking the process -- allows me to undertake effortless action which, in my mind, is the very essence of wu wei.

~

Just let me note that it is often overlooked that the lessons contained in philosophical Taoism (or any belief framework, for that matter) can be found in almost everything we do in life. So often, people look for dramatic epiphanies or bolts of lightening from the heavens to serve as a celestial neon sign that reads: Look at this! It's damn important! But if we keep our heart-minds open, we can glean these valuable lessons from something as trivial as a computer board game.

That's the whole point of this ongoing series.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.

I Love Linux Mint, But...

Trey Smith

I really am a BIG FAN of Linux Mint. For the most part, this system has been a breath of fresh air compared to Windows. I've had few problems with Mint EXCEPT in one case: when I go to upgrade it from one version to the next. At that point, all hell breaks loose!!

The last time I did an upgrade, I lost all my data and files because -- for unknown reasons -- the new versions simply couldn't read any of the backed up files. It was maddening.

This time around, I backed up my important files in three different ways and even emailed to myself the most critical files (a 4th backup plan). However, when I switched from Mint 11 to Mint 12, data wasn't an issue. All my important data transferred seamlessly.

The problem this time was with the grub boot loader. Showing some learned wisdom, I didn't simply reformat my hard drive and load the new system. I installed it along side of version 11. That way, I thought, if I don't like version 12, I can stay with the version I'm familiar with.

Well, I didn't like version 12 at all -- it utilizes Gnome 3 and the new Gnome removed several of the tools I really liked in Gnome 2. So, I tried to reboot back to version 11 and it wouldn't allow me to do so. I kept receiving strange messages that "no file system could be found." This was not true, because I could see the files on the version 11 partition from the version 12 partition!!

I won't go into all the histrionics I've gone through over the past 24 hours. Needless to say, as a person who is OCD, I haven't slept more than 2 or 3 hours. I haven't eaten much either.

After a lot of rigmarole, I was finally able to get Mint 11 reinstalled and the vast majority of my key files and data back into their proper places. Of course, I've spent the last 3 hours reloading programs and fine tuning it to my exacting preferences -- it's still not there yet.

I don't think I will be upgrading my operating system ANYTIME SOON.

Oh well, another day and another lessoned learned.

One More Computer Update

There are times when being OCD is beneficial!! I haven't slept or eaten much the past 2 days as I have been trying my darnedest to figure out a way to retrieve some of my lost data. Early this morning I succeeded in reclaiming the most important data: the family's accounting and bank book.

I'd love to tell you that I completely understand HOW I was able to resurrect it, but that would be a bit of a fib. It involved several very convoluted strategies that, by luck of the draw, somehow worked. A program that I had downloaded kept aborting when I tried to install it. I would get the same error message each time and then I'd scream, "@@$#%^$%!"

About 2:00 am this morning, I thought I would try one last time in order to write down the lib file that was causing the conflict. I went through the usual paces and, when I got to the point in which the install repeatedly had aborted, something different occurred -- it didn't abort. I was able to install an old version of KMyMoney (a Linux version similar to Quicken and MSMoney) and, even more amazingly, this old program read the data files!! I was then able to resave the data as an xml file.

I uninstalled the old KMyMoney and then reinstalled the current version. With my fingers crossed, I tried to import the xml file and it worked like a charm!! So, our bank book is back up to date. Whew!

I still can't seem to access any of the other important files, but I'm not giving up completely. I will continue to work on a few of them here and there, but I'm not going to commit to their salvation 24/7.

I Have Had This Nightmare Before

Last night I finally got around to switching from Linux Mint 10 to 11. As I always do, I first copied my most important files to CDs and then verified the file integrity of each one. Once this was completed, I put in the cd with the iso image of Mint 11 and installed it over my one partition.

Everything looked good. The newer Mint was a bit faster than the older version and a lot of the programs had been updated. I only needed to do one more thing before I would be back in business: copy my important data into my home folder. I completed this task in about 3 minutes.

That's when the nightmare began. When I tried to access the data, nothing would open!! I tried file after file after file and found the same result. In my home directory, it showed the proper file size and format, but each time I tried to access a file, a dialog box would pop open to inform me that the file format was unknown.

I tried a variety of gambits to no avail. In desperation, I reloaded Mint 10. Same result. I can't access ANY of my most crucial data.

I'm at my wits end. All of my text files appear gone as well as our family's accounting files. I can't figure out why all the files I dutifully copied (as I have before when switching Linux systems or updating Linux Mint) are now somehow corrupted.

It's like struggling through a desert dying of thirst and hearing water trickling somewhere, but being unable to find it. All of my important data is on these cds, but I can't seem to access any of it.

I am feeling a tremendous sense of loss right now.

Better to Leave Well Enough Alone

One of my maternal grandmother's favorite sayings was "Better to leave well enough alone." If something is working for you, why tinker around with it? Often, when we try to improve or enhance something that is meeting our basic needs or desires, we unwittingly screw everything up. That's precisely what happened to me yesterday.

As noted previously, I had a major computer malfunction which caused me not to be able to reload my Windows XP operating system (OS). After trying out several alternative systems, I found one that met my basic needs: Puppy Linux. While the learning curve for switching from Windows to Linux is high, I was starting to get somewhat of a feel for my new OS.

Generally speaking, I'm a very loyal person. When I find something that meets my needs or desires, I tend to stick with it come hell or high water. I've been with the same woman (Della) for 26 years. I've eaten the same brand of peanut butter (Jif) for over 45 years! I wear my clothes until they are threadbare.

So, since the Puppy was meeting my basic needs, I find it a bit surprising that I actually was willing to try a different Linux distro.

I suppose the explanation is that, while Puppy indeed was meeting my basic needs, there were some aspects of it that I was having a difficult time getting a handle on.

For example, the file structure is altogether different than the Windows environment and so I was having a devil of a time finding specific files. They never seemed to be in the folders that seemed most logical to me. I would download a package (a program) and then not be able to find it, so that I could access it.

In addition, the Help Files left a lot to be desired. Most of the time, they offered no help for a Linux novice. Instead of explaining procedures in plain English, all I found was a bunch of programming gobbledygook.

So, since I had set up a separate partition in order to try a different Linux system, late Friday night I downloaded and began the install of Debian GNU/Linux OS. I made absolute sure that I loaded this second OS onto my smaller partition, so that Puppy would be left unmolested.

Saturday morning I tried out the Debian version of Linux. As with Puppy, it immediately found and connected with my modem. The file system was laid out in a more familiar manner, it was easier to locate specific files and the Help section provided much more detail.

On the downside, it is slower than Puppy. It's certainly faster than any Windows system I've ever used, but it is nowhere as fast and streamlined as the Linux distro on my other partition. I thought it would be good to work with both of them and then decide which to go with.

So, I rebooted my computer and restarted Puppy. To my absolute horror, all the modifications I had made to Puppy over the previous week and all my downloaded emails had vanished! Poof! I can't figure out the why: I placed Debian on a different partition. Being that it's on a different partition, it should have no effect on the data on the Puppy partition.

With all my data gone, I decided to switch to Debian full-scale. So, I reformatted partition #1 and installed Debian GNU/Linux. As this OS is much larger, the whole process took three hours. When it was finally completed, it wouldn't allow me to log in. I could type in my user name, but when I went to type in my password, nothing happened. Arghhh!!!

I ended up repeating the entire install again, this time choosing a slightly different configuration. It worked and, as of late last night, I was back in business. Just to be sure there were no surprises left, I rebooted it several times and logging onto the system worked in each instance.

So, I think I'm back. I also think I'll heed my grandmother's advice!!

Real Life Tao - Be Prepared

I'm sure a good many people are familiar with the Boy Scout motto, Be Prepared. In general terms, it's not a bad concept. A person who is prepared for all types of situations and circumstances generally will fare better than those who encounter the same scenarios and are unprepared.

I use this preface as a backdrop to a particular circumstance I find myself in today. Owing to a similar situation nearly one decade ago, I changed the way I do things so as to be better prepared. Unfortunately, preparation can only take a person so far.

Back in 2001, I experienced a crash of my computer. I lost nearly 8 years of data as it was quickly determined by computer technicians that my hard drive was irretrievably dead. This represented a catastrophe of epic proportions for me because I was the archivist and treasurer for several organizations. A lot of organizational history, brochures, a plethora of templates and assorted key information was lost in the blink of an eye.

I vowed never to let this happen again. When I purchased a new computer, I added a second hard drive to the package. I utilized this second drive as my insurance policy by performing daily backups of my system and key data. In a way, it became sort of like the double entry system used in accounting. Any important piece of data was housed in two locations.

When I began experiencing computer problems earlier this month, my mind was put a bit more at ease because I knew that, if one drive failed, the other drive could be utilized quickly to resurrect the data. So, as I realized the time had come to reformat my main hard drive, I rested assured that I could put all the data back onto the cleaned drive.

For all this preparation, I stand before you today with hat in hand. I find myself in the same situation as before -- years of data appear lost. My back-up of this blog is gone. I no longer have many of your email addresses. Years of family financial data is not accessible.

How could this happen, you ask. Well, I've figured out my chief computer problem -- the back-up drive was failing. This, it turns out, was the chief cause of all the freeze ups and rebooting.

I discovered this by accident. As I scrambled to figure out the woeful state of my computer two weeks ago, I tried numerous strategies. One was to disconnect the slave drive. Since I did this one small act, there have been no more freeze ups. Not one.

My suspicions were confirmed after I successfully loaded Puppy Linux as my new operating system. Four days ago I reconnected the second hard drive for the sole purpose of pulling the data out of it to see if I could save it back to the master drive. When I booted up, I received a flashing message: Drive B in imminent danger of failure!! What Windows couldn't seem to discern, Linux picked up on immediately.

Despite my daily practice of backing up my data, it now appears I've lost all of it, nonetheless. (I say appears solely because there is an outside possibility that folks at a local computer shop may still be able to extract some of it.) I wiped the data off of one drive and, unbeknownst to me, it was my second drive that was about ready to crash.

The lesson here is painfully obvious: preparation doesn't prepare us for every given situation. While it is a good practice to follow, we must be ever mindful that there are some circumstances we adequately can't prepare for. More importantly, the appearance of preparedness can give us a false sense of security. We may think we're prepared for each and every eventuality when, in fact, we aren't.

While I am yet again aggrieved at losing my key data, I am not as devastated as before. I now realize that data isn't life itself and it can always be reconstituted in some form. It won't be as it was before, but life is about change and this is a change I will simply have to deal with as best I can.

(I think I'll get some sort of zip drive.)

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.

Little Things Make Me Smile

As I've been documenting in this space, I'm trying to get a handle on the Linux operating system. Each time I'm able to locate a file I'm looking for or I start to get the general gist of how a particular program works, I let out a whoop. Tonight, however, I'm especially giddy. While I certainly do not dislike the default Puppy Linux background image -- it's very bright and cheerful -- I must confess that I missed my Tao-infused background.

Well, I just figured out how to employ it and I now have my Taoist theme back in its proper place!!! If you're interested, a fellow by the name of Robert Friedler runs a site that features Taoist Desktop Themes, Wallpaper & Screensavers, and even Daily Tao software for FREE download.

I simply like the fact that every time I approach my computer screen -- which is quite often -- I see the Yin Yang sign and it reminds me to stay centered.

The Rest of the Story

Back on Sunday (March 14), I reported to you my difficulties with trying to perform a repair install with Windows XP. Once I f-i-n-a-l-l-y got it to work, I thought there would be smoother sailing ahead. Of course, this false sense of security was a certain indication that a calamity was lurking around the next corner!

I continued to suffer from freeze ups and this led me to listen to the advice of several of you -- I decided to reformat my main hard drive and then reinstall the operating system. I backed up all my crucial data to my second hard drive (what I call my backup hard drive) and then proceeded to erase everything from my main drive.

Once it was reformatted, I began to reload Windows XP. Unfortunately, about halfway through the process, my computer AGAIN froze up. I was forced to reboot it and that's when the calamity struck. I had forgotten that my XP CD was an upgrade and, now that the main drive had been wiped clean, the installation program was unable to find a previous version of the Windows operating system (OS)!!

In other words, it wouldn't load!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I sat there for several minutes -- maybe an hour -- staring at my blank monitor. I had a clean hard drive with no OS. Needless to say, I became very depressed (for a short time) because my daily routine had been altered in a serious way.

A great deal of the time having obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is not a positive thing. In this situation, however, it proved to be beneficial. I spent the better part of the next 9 days trying to figure out an alternative. I tried numerous strategies; most of which failed to meet my needs. Each time one strategy didn't work, I immediately set off to try a different one.

I realized that, if I couldn't use Windows as my OS, I needed to find a different one and there are lots of open source systems available for download. So, I hooked up our DSL modem to my wife's dinosaur of a computer and started surfing.

I downloaded and tried out Ubuntu, React, and Haiku. I was unable to get ANY of these three systems to recognize my modem! While each had its pluses and minuses, my inability to connect to the internet doomed all three. In addition, since I've been wedded to Windows for over a decade, I often couldn't make heads or tails out of their meager help files.

I was about ready to throw up my hands to admit defeat when I ran across an OS that looked promising. I was able to boot up my computer with this OS by creating a Live CD. The first time I used it, it recognized my modem and I was back on the internet in short order. This convinced me to install it and it is running on my computer right now.

It's called Puppy Linux.

I still have a long way to go in understanding how it works since Linux is an OS I've never successfully used before. Still, I'm happy to be back writing on this blog and, in all honesty, I kind of like the idea of breaking my addiction to Microsoft (the evil empire).

Even better, since I performed a major cleaning of my motherboard, my computer has not frozen up. So, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that I can slowly learn the Linux system and that some of my hardware issues are behind me.

Of course, such confidence probably means a new catastrophe awaits around the next corner... ;>)

The New Puppy

We have a new puppy in our household! This puppy, however, has no head, legs, tail, or fur. In fact, while it does possess a keen brain, it does not have lungs, a heart, blood, skin...or a digestive tract (no poop to clean-up in the back yard).

Intrigued? I will fill you in on the new puppy this evening. For now, I've got to get ready to go see the doctor because, I fear, my diseased left hip is giving out. I'm guessing X-Rays and the like will be the order of the day.

In one other note, my computer is running again. Yippee!!!!!!!