You can’t have your cake and eat it too

June 25th, 2012

According to Webster’s Dictionary, “Freedom is the absence of coercion or constraint in choice or action.”

The word “freedom” is both physical and mental. The physical freedoms are: to be able to physically go somewhere you choose, do something you choose to do and to pursue your own happiness. The mental freedoms are: to choose for yourself where you want to go, to choose for yourself what you want to do and, to choose for yourself what you want to pursue for your own happiness.

Of course, freedom doesn’t entail being able to do _literally_ anything you want.   Continue reading →

Treaties are Necessary But Useless

June 17th, 2012

Bruce Schneier wrote a timely article on cyberwar and the need for treaties to govern the use or misuse of these new technologies. While I agree that cyberwar is going to increasingly become a concern in our world, I hate to point out that it’s going to be impossible to come to any sort of an agreement for control insofar as its use is concerned.

With the traditional weapons arms race, regulation and enforcement are easy. It’s hard to hide an aircraft carrier from satellite surveillance; when a nation invades another it’s obvious who the parties are. This is not the case with cyberwar. The weapons are invisible, easily and cheaply bought and sold, and the parties involved are often anonymous (pun intended).

An article on c|net discusses how IPv6 could make it difficult to find criminals, and I agree. But IPv6 is necessary for the internet to continue on, so it’s a catch-22. I’m not here to prognosticate how this will all pan out and I don’t pretend to have a crystal ball. But while we’re discussing this topic and trying to find a solution, here’s a video I feel is pertinent to the conversation.

Edit 3/20/13: I’ve since discovered a good resource for criminal and sociological data at Criminal Justice Schools.  Take it for what it’s worth.

Ubuntu 12.04 for a basic home server

June 16th, 2012

I’m writing this article mainly as a resource for myself so the next time I set up an Ubuntu server I’ll have something of a checklist to go by. All this information has been gleaned from various resources on the Internet, I’m not even sure where most of the knowledge came from.

Software: Ubuntu Server (headless) 12.04 32-bit
Hardware: HP Workstation xw4400 – Core2 Duo – 2GB Memory – Two 1TB HDD in RAID1

Initial Installation

After downloading Ubuntu Server install the OS as per normal. In my case I needed to create a RAID1 array and install the OS to it. If you’re looking for a tutorial on how to do that, here’s a good one. When it comes time for selecting additional packages to install, just install OpenSSH and Samba.

checklist

Configure static IP and DNS

By default, Ubuntu will install with an IP address assigned via DHCP. Obviously this is less than ideal for a server. Once logged in to the system we’ll need to edit /etc/network/interfaces.

 sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

In a stock install you’ll see these lines:

 auto eth0
 iface eth0 inet dhcp

Change them to look like this (substitute your actual address scheme). Note the addition of dns-nameservers, in my experience this has always been required when configuring the server for a static IP address:

 auto eth0
 iface eth0 inet static
 address 192.168.1.200
 netmask 255.255.255.0
 network 192.168.1.0
 broadcast 192.168.1.255
 gateway 192.168.1.1
 dns-nameservers 192.168.1.1

Some older tutorials on setting up DNS on Ubuntu Server will tell you to edit /etc/resolv.conf directly. This will not work, and while there are a handful of methods of configuring DNS the above method I just laid out is the one I prefer.

Now we need to restart the networking service. First bring it down:

 sudo ifdown eth0

Then bring it up:

sudo ifup eth0

Configure SSH

It’s a small thing, but I always change the port SSH uses on my server. Granted, it’s a small step of security but every little bit helps.

 sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Where you see this line:

 # What ports, IPs and protocols we listen for
 Port 22

Change the port number to whatever you want below 65000, making sure you’re not choosing a port that’s already in use.

 # What ports, IPs and protocols we listen for
 Port 12345

Now, if you’re so inclined you can do the rest of the setup via SSH.

Install Webmin

There are several applications available for server management, and I like Webmin the best. Here’s how to install it.

Edit the sources.list file:

 sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Add these lines to the bottom of the page:

 deb http://download.webmin.com/download/repository sarge contrib
 deb http://webmin.mirror.somersettechsolutions.co.uk/repository sarge contrib

Import the GPG key and add it:

 wget http://www.webmin.com/jcameron-key.asc
 sudo apt-key add jcameron-key.ascUpdate the source list:
 sudo apt-get update

Install Webmin:

 sudo apt-get install webmin

Webmin will install itself and can be accessed at https://192.168.1.200:10000. You will see a login page, enter the username and password that you signed on to your server with. Right off the bat you’ll find that your username and password don’t work. It’s a common problem, here’s how to fix it:

 cd /usr/share/webmin
 sudo perl changepass.pl /etc/webmin root newpass

Substitute “newpass” for whatever password you want. Now you can go back to the Webmin login page and your credentials will work. The default username is “root”, enter the password you chose.

At this point you’ll be able to do virtually all your server management via the web interface of Webmin. I find Webmin to be ideal for managing Samba shares, software updates and everything else I need to control in a simple home server environment.

Parenting isn’t for cowards

June 5th, 2012

I’ve read the book by Dr. Dobson. I’ve studied parenting in college due to my B.S. in Family Ministries. I even served as a full-time youth and children’s minister for 7+ years at small churches. But I can assure you that nothing, NOTHING could have prepared me for my new toddler, Jonathan.

Now, before you accuse me of being a naive first-time parent, I’ll point out that Jonathan has an older brother, Thomas who’s recently turned 8 years old. Yet as you can expect, Thomas didn’t have a “terrible twos” phase while Jonathan is full-blown into just such a stage. There are all the hallmarks of the “terrible twos”: temper tantrums, throwing things, masterful use of the word “no” and screaming.

So I’ve got two children. One is mild-mannered and calm. I’ve seen him throw one tantrum, and I’ve never seen him throw a glass of milk across the table. The other child is going through an amazing period of self growth and discovery. Unfortunately this is accompanied by pushing the boundaries beyond the four walls of this home.

I believe there’s a lot to be said about a strong-willed child. I agree with Dobson that if their energy and self-sufficiency can be directed, reigned in, the child can grow into quite an individual. However, that doesn’t make it any easier when it’s 2am and your “individual” isn’t wanting to go back to bed. But I digress.

I’m here to tell you two things: 1) I would do anything for both my boys and love them equally. They both have qualities that I’ve fallen completely in love with. 2) Children are definitely “hard-wired” from birth to have a certain disposition. No one can convince me otherwise.

Christian Education Program In The Small Church

June 1st, 2012

Among the final essays I wrote in college the following was one that managed to find its way into a filing cabinet full of college-type things. There were notes on the book of Acts (thank you Dr. Julio Vena) and a picture of me in my cheerleading garb. The reason I’ve chosen to reproduce this particular work here, in this format, is because as I sit in my recliner on the long-side of a ministry career I look back at the words I wrote and realize how startlingly accurate I was. It’s startling because I had absolutely zero practical experience in a small church environment but by and large nailed the internal culture point by point. Here’s to research papers.

I’d be more than interested in any feedback on this essay. Consider this was written in 2002, I was 23 years old. That being said, the content:

Continue reading →