CISSP

I've decided to start studying for the CISSP exam. I've decided the first step will be to memorize the ten domains that comprise the Common Body of Knowledge as defined by International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC)^2 before I start reading some e-books on the subject. Here we go from memory using a new trick I learned today:

1) Access Control
2) Application Security
3) Business Continuity and Disaster Recover Planning
4) Cryptography
5) Information Security and Risk Management
6) Legal
7) Operations Security
8) Physical and Environmental Security
9) Security Architecture and Design
10) Telecommunications and Network Security

Amazingly I got them all correct in the right order just by studying for a about 5 minutes. I swear I didn't peek. What's funny is the words my brain was spitting out felt so wrong but they were precise (WTF is Operations Security??)

The trick is to say the first item in the list out loud, read the second item, say the first and second item out lound, read the third item... and so on.

I can't believe I just learned this trick today.

Skills Assessment

The art of war teaches us to protect ourselves from all sides. And although I've produced brilliantly at the workplace by designing new tools that make our jobs easier, I haven't really learned any new skills. I've just further honed existing tools already in arsenal. With so much uncertainty in the near future it's in my best interest to add some new skills. This will be a long and comprehensive list in the end.

Business Processes
RFI
RFP
RFQ

Secure Protocols
Diffie-Hellman
IPsec
Kerberos
L2TP
PGP
PPTP
S/MIME
SET
S-HTTP
SOCKS
SSH
SSL/TLS
WEP

Networking
TCP/IP Model
OSPF
BGP
IGRP
EIGRP
MPLS

Windows
Samba

Network Management
NAGIOS

Database
SQL
Oracle
OCFS

Firewalls
CheckPoint
PIX

Programming
Python
C (need to master)
C++
Perl (need to master)
Expect
PHP
AJAX
RSS
XML
Fuzz Testing

Wireless
802.11i
RADIUS

Storage
LVM
SAN
GFS

Pen-Testing
Netstumbler
Wireshark (formerly Ethereal)
NMap
Nessus

Compliance
SOX
HIPAA

Virtualization
Xen

Reverse Engineering
IDA Pro

General Security
IDS
IPS

Memo From Child to Parent

Memo From
A Child To Parents

1. Don't spoil me. I know quite well that I ought not to have all I ask for. I'm only testing you.

2. Don't be afraid to be firm with me. I prefer it, it makes me feel secure.

3. Don't let me form bad habits. I have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.

4. Don't make me feel smaller than I am. It only makes me behave stupidly "big".

5. Don't correct me in front of people if you can help it. I'll take much more notice if you talk quietly with me in private.

6. Don't make me feel that my mistakes are sins. It upsets my sense of values.

7. Don't protect me from consequences. I need to learn the painful way sometimes.

8. Don't be too upset when I say "I hate you". Sometimes it isn't you I hate but your power to thwart me.

9. Don't take too much notice of my small ailments. Sometimes they get me the attention I need.

10. Don't nag. If you do, I shall have to protect myself by appearing deaf.

11. Don't forget that I cannot explain myself as well as I should like. That is why I am not always accurate.

12. Don't put me off when I ask questions. If you do, you will find that I stop asking and seek my information elsewhere.

13. Don't be inconsistent. That completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you.

14. Don't tell me my fears are silly. They are terribly real and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.

15. Don't ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible. It gives me too great a shock when I discover that you are neither.

16. Don't ever think that it is beneath your dignity to apologize to me. An honest apology makes me feel surprisingly warm towards you.

17. Don't forget I love experimenting. I couldn't get along without it, so please put up with it.

18. Don't forget how quickly I am growing up. It must be very difficult for you to keep pace with me, but please do try.

19. Don't forget that I don't thrive without lots of love and understanding, but I don't need to tell you, do I?

20. Please keep yourself fit and healthy. I need you.

Don't Praise Innate Ability

From what is becoming my favorite blog:

* Praise for effort:
- imbues kids with a greater sense of control over their lives
- leads to improved study habits and grades

“When we praise children for their intelligence," explains Dweck, "we tell them that this is the name of the game: Look smart, don’t risk making mistakes . . . Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control. They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child’s control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure."

Something my wife needs to read. Here in its entirety: http://geniusblog.davidshenk.com/2007/02/interesting_pie.html

Formula For Genius

According to this thought provoking post, genius is "a massive aggregation of distinct qualities, each critical". This is the formula:

GENIUS = curiosity + persistence + flexibility + resilience + risk-taking + passion

I swear those qualities seem very familiar...

Top Ten Reasons Why We Hate Oprah

From this highly educational site.

(1) Power Abuse and Influence - Spiderman's guardian said it best, "with great power, comes great responsibility". Oprah abuses her power and influence over her audience to sell materialistic items, unhealthy foods, hollow weight loss diets, etc.. all for her own personal gain. These items in no way help people. What's even worse is during the same week, Oprah usually has a show which completely contradicts her advice and promotion. She claims America is falling further in debt because of the expensive things we should not buy, ie. designer clothing, etc... that America is getting fatter (if you go to Oprah's web site, you will see ads for Oreo cookies, and other fattening foods), bottom line, Oprah is a hypocrite, who wears expensive clothing, promotes it, then tells you not to wear it, all the while keeping her ratings and profits up. Stupid house wife stormtroopers rush out and buy whatever Oprah says. Poor husbands all over the globe have no choice but to succum to the dark side and give in to their the brainwashed wife.

(2) Personal Attacks and Shallow Tactics - When Oprah is put in her own place, she uses her show and influence to attack way below the belt. Take the fashion clothing company Hermes. Oprah wanted in after hours to shop. The store was closed. So she called the store and company racist. She devoted a whole show on the subject and attacked the company. Of course because of her influence, sales suffered, so the CEO of the company had to come on and publicly apologize for something they never did wrong. THE STORE WAS CLOSED. Oprah is not better or special then anyone else. Using the race card to reduce a companies profits because of bitterness is PATHETIC and IMMORAL.

(3) Arrogance - Just because Oprah's show is popular, she thinks she is always right. Oprah does not have any degree(s) of education in psychology. She imposes her poor advice always on people, and what's unfortunate is most people that watch her show believe it because, well it's Oprah, and she is rich and famous, so she must be right. How pathetic.

(4) Deception for Personal Gain - Do you remember that show were Oprah "gave" away all those cars?! People thought she was the best! So generous! After all, 276 cars is a lot of cash to give away! 8 million to be exact. Guess what. Oprah never paid for them, she just wanted it to appear that way. General Motors wanted to launch the new Pontiac G6 in a big way, so they stuck a deal with Oprah, yet another clever product placement deal, GM gets themselves a massive market, and in turn, Oprah's image is better than even. Clever deception indeed. Watch her show closely, and you will see all the product placements and clever lines and tactics she used on her viewers to buy her promoters products.

(5) Cultural Bullying - Oprah pushes her promoters culture and her guest's products onto everyone else. She always displays someone's new clothing line, or book, or some product, that rarely provides any relevant use or help to someone's life. Oprah preaches how everyone wants in and that you need it this product, thus of course many brainwashed viewers rush out and buy whatever Oprah recommends, helping you once again thrust deeper into debt. But don't worry, Oprah will soon have another show on American poverty, and debt diet plans!

(6) Celebrity Worship - Actors and Singers are at the top of the American social ladder, despite the fact that they don't actually do anything. Oprah's show used to actually have relevant topics, now its just celebs appear to boost Oprah's ratings, and interject commercial products.

(7) Child Exploits - Usually once a week a child is brought on the show and tells their tales of physical or mental abuse, sexual abuse, etc... What never happens is no real professional help is given to this child. They come on the show, Oprah imposes her poor advice, her ratings are up at the expense of the child, because of such a shocking story, and in the end, Oprah wins in the ratings, and they child never receives any real help. Oprah has even brought on children that have received death threats, i.e. Web cam teen porn kid, where the child's life was threatened if he went on the show, but that didn't seem to stop Oprah from having him come on.

(8) Oprah Morphing Ability - Oprah is so fake. When an African American women or man is on the show, Oprah talks like "Yo, what's up girl", or "Aight ya'll" but when theirs a white guest, she morphs into Jackie Kennedy and is composed and talks so conservative. Just be yourself, and stop changing into different people to fit your demographic audience.

(9) Oprah is a Proven Liar - Oprah said on her show she never did drugs. Then a media company finds out and is about to expose her. So Oprah does a 180 and confesses her drug (crack) use. Then blames it on her boyfriend. Talk about shallow.

(10) Hypocrisy - Oprah is a total hypocrite. One show is about poverty, and how everyone is going into debt, or we're all getting fatter, then the next show its the latest fashion, what to wear to make you look skinny and popular, and of course the $50 dollar brownies to buy, and all your favorite goodies that can be flown, yes by airplane, to your doorstep. Unbelievable.

Jus' Bought a Cadillac

Man i can't stop bumpin this joint. Rich Boy's delivery is hard as fuck.

Fighting the Cold or Flu

Nice post from Crash on TMMB on how to fight a cold/flu:

I choke down as many vitamin C (or, even better, Emergen-C drinks), beta carotene, and echinacea/golden seal pills as I can. This usually kills it within 12 hours; then I take Mucinex to get the mucus out.

I think they only make Mucinex for kids (to be honest, I've never looked for it in the regular cold&flu aisle), but it's a decongenstant that loosens mucus in the chest and actually induces coughing, to help you get the nasties out faster. Otherwise, you can feel great, but still be coughing up strands and strands of mucus for days. Loogies; yum.

Oh, and also - for those of you who are big on taking the spicy food route to rid yourself of excess mucus and congestion - STOP. That is a terrible idea. I know it provides temporary relief, but in the long run, it makes your problem much worse. Capsaicin,* which is the compound in peppers and some other foods that makes them spicy, opens your blood vessels, which is why you seem to feel better - it eases headaches, makes your nose run, gets the mucus out, and can relieve (temporarily!) sinus pressure. However, once the effect wears off, and the capillaries in your now-dry sinuses constrict, your body senses the need to moisturize that very sensitive tissue, and then sends mucus production into overdrive. You'll end up with twice as much boogery mess than you had before you downed all the Texas Pete-laced chili.

*Capsaicin is not found in wasabi, however (the spicy green asian horseradish paste served with sushi), so it's ok to use that to try to turn yourself into a drippy human faucet; you won't get the nasty side effects.

Raising High Acheivers

I came across this this book at B&N yesterday. I found the title interesting yet stereotypical and automatically assumed what was contained in it was probably dangerous. Despite my instinct to call bullshit I made a mental note to read about it anyways. I mean, who doesn't want to give their kids a scholastic edge? Besides, I promise to read it with slight skepticism and tweak it to incorporate some of my own beliefs.

Asian parents secrets in raising high achievers:

1) Instill a love and need to learning and education
2) Instill a sense of family pride and loyalty
3) Instill a respect and desire for delayed gratification and sacrifice
4) Clearly define your child's role as a student
5) Cultivate a respect for elders and persons in positions of authority
6) Play an active role in your child's education
7) Determine and develop your child's individual talents
8) Set clearly defined short-term and long-term goals
9) Teach your child the art of valuing academic success over social status or popularity
10) Reward positive school performances and devise a plan of attack for poor school performances
11) Forget the "Do whatever makes you happy" mentality and strive for professions with financial security and intellectual fulfillment
12) Keep your money in perspective
13) Limit extracurricular activities that interfere with schoolwork
14) Promote an environment of healthy competition
15) Surround your children with similarly minded friends and role models
16) Accept responsibility for your children for their failures at school