Ammo Day

I almost forgot, today is Ammo Day -- the national ammo BUYcott. Thanks to the wonder of the Internet, I was able to participate by ordering 500 rounds of CCI Blazer Brass 9mm 115 grain FMJ from Natchez Shooters Supply.

Go order some ammo.

Silly Internet Quiz Results

(Tip o' the hat to Geek With a .45.)

Which soldier type are you?


Which soldier type are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Hooah!

What action here are you?


Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

Yes!

Busy week

I took off Monday after Judith took Alexandra to the E.R. early that morning. Alexandra appears to have a case of bronchitis but it's much better now, since she went on Zithromax. This is the first time in two years she's had to go on any meds.

Yesterday and today I was over in Mt. Laurel, NJ, attending training on BelAir's wireless mesh networking equipment. This is some really neat gear, using a combination of 802.11a for backhaul, plus 802.11b/g for client access. The units can have multiple SSIDs, which in turn can be matched to different VLANs. I'll be back in the office tomorrow.

I've also been doing some experimenting with FreeBSD 6 and Qmail, setting up a "Mail Toaster" inside a VMWare virtual machine. This is for my private client with the SUSE/CommuniGate Pro mail server. I've been looking into replacing this combination since upgrading and maintaining it has become a royal pain in the ass. E.g., updating ClamAV's engine has become impractical due to dependency hell. Also, it's running SUSE 9, for which support is being dropped next month.

While FreeBSD of course rocks, and the Mail Toaster is rather neat, I don't think it's the right replacement for this client. If it was an entirely new setup I might go with it, but from what I've seen, migrating their existing hardware is going to take too long, due to the necessity of downloading and compiling from source the toaster bits.

What I may do is upgrade the box in steps. First, get them on OpenSUSE 10, then look at moving from CommuniGate Pro to Postfix + Qpopper (since they insist on using POP3 instead of IMAP.) We'll see.

Cracked Iver Johnson .30 Carbine Bolt

I got this email today:

"I had an IJ Carbine in the early-mid '80s. I had to send it back to the factory because the bolt was too soft, and the locking lugs began to peen. It's my understanding that many IJ Carbines had soft parts."

This is a quote from your 17 Sept 2004 post on "THR". I am emailing you because I need some advice.

I bought two former Missouri police dept Iver Johnson Enforcer pistols. I haven't put too many rounds through them, but on one, the bolt cracked. Upon further inspection, I saw some of the peening you described. I could buy a replacement IJ carbine bolt from Numrich, but was their rifle bolt different from their pistol bolt? I'd be better off with a GI or M-1 GI type M-1 carbine bolt, of course (no soft metal in the GI bolts) but upon inspection, the IJ design for my Enforcer was different. Simpler, easier to clean, but different than the GI design.

How did you resolve your soft bolt problem?

And my reply:

I had purchased an extended warranty from the store where I bought my IJ Carbine, so when I noticed the locking lugs starting to peen, I took it back to the store, who shipped it back to IJ. I got it back with a new bolt. Unfortunately, IJ went out of business awhile ago.

What I'd do in your case is to replace the bolt with a USGI M1 or M2 Carbine bolt. I'd prefer the later round style over the earlier flat bolts. The round bolts are stronger, and have more mass. I would not buy an IJ bolt from Numrich, since there's a good chance you'd end up with the cracked bolt problem again.

No matter which bolt you get, I suggest having a gunsmith familiar with M1 Carbines check the headspace. I wouldn't count on it being a drop-in part.

Of the M1 Carbine clones made for the US civilian market after World War II, the Plainfields and Iver Johnson (after they bought Plainfield) were generally the best. Quality deteriorated towards the end of production in 80s, however, as demonstrated with my IJ Carbine, and the two Enforcers mentioned above.

Universal Carbines were generally not too good, and in fact are not true clones. While the Plainfields and IJs will take USGI parts, Universals won't.

More recently IAI made some Carbines down in Texas, but has since gone out of business. From what I've read, they had a lot of problems. The only current manufacturer of M1 Carbines is Auto Ordnance, which is owned by Kahr. I've heard mixed reports about the Kahrbines (pardon the pun) but IMO, they'd be worth a shot (groan) if you are in the market for an M1. I find it neat that the AO Carbines are being produced in WW2 format, i.e., without the bayonet lug and with the "L"-type flip rear sight.

I sure like my original Underwood M1, though. :-)

"WiFi Scoop"

This is neat. Some students down in New Zealand combined USB WiFi adapters and Chinese cooking implements to greatly extend the range of WiFi networks. Huh? Just check out the link.

More network fun

Saturday I went back to my client and did more work on their new webserver. Specifically, I added the SCSI interface card so that I could then hook up their Dell automatic tape loader. Since the special application they are going to run isn't installed yet I (the vendor will be coming tomorrow) the only test backup I could do was of the C:\ drive. I'll check the results on my next site visit.

The other thing I had to do was some troubleshooting of the owner's Thunderbird installation. I wound up removing 1.0.6 and loading 1.0.7, at which point I thought everything was working OK. However, she called me today and told me about some continuing issues. Something is really borked on her system and it looks like I'll have to return and eradicate every trace of Tbird, then reinstall. The other thing that leads me to believe the there's an underlying Windows problem is that all of a sudden her PC isn't seeing the network share where her Quickbooks data gets backed up to. I just love XP Home in a networked office environment. :-|

Sony sued over its DRM malware

They sure had it coming.

Suit targets Sony BMG anti-piracy technology

By Reuters

Story last modified Thu Nov 10 05:18:00 PST 2005

LOS ANGELES--Record company Sony BMG Music Entertainment has been targeted in a class-action lawsuit in California by consumers claiming their computers have been harmed by anti-piracy software on some Sony BMG CDs.

The claim states that Sony BMG's failed to disclose the true nature of the digital rights management system it uses on its CDs and thousands of computer users have unknowingly infected their computers, according to court documents.

The suit, filed Nov. 1 in Los Angeles Superior Court asks the court to stop Sony BMG from selling additional CDs protected by the anti-piracy software and seeks monetary damages for California consumers who purchased them.

A spokesman for Sony BMG declined to comment.

Full story here.

Google Desktop

One of my favorite features in Mac OS-X Tiger is Spotlight, Apple's killer desktop search tool. It blows away the Find feature in Windows for usability and speed. Earlier this year, Google introduced Google Desktop, which offers similar functionality for Windows users.

After installing Google Desktop, it offers you the opportunity to configure it. You can set it to integrate with your Taskbar, as a floating searchbox, or as a sidebar. I have GD installed on Bagend and my Dell at work, and am currently using it as a sidebar. In the sidebar I have subwindows for Email, News, Web Clips, Scratch Pad, Maps, Quickv View, local weather, and a Todo list.

Following configuration, GD needs some time to index your hard disk. It does this when your PC is idle, so you won't see a performance hit due to GD running in the background.

One advantage of GD over Spotlight is that it will search and index Thunderbird email, even IMAP folders. Spotlight will do this for Mail.app, but not Thunderbird. GD can also be setup to index a Gmail account. GD will also index your Outlook email, whether it's on an Exchange server and cached locally, or in a .PST file, and adds a plugin for searching from within Outlook. I find this very valuable because Outlook's built-in search is weak, in my opinion.

As with most other things from Google, Desktop is free. Based on my use of it the past couple of days, I definitely recommend it for Windows users with a lot of data.

Armed Citizens and Rioters

In reply to RBT's comments about possible American reaction to French-style rioting, Jerry Pournelle wrote:

Mr. Thompson may find himself facing BATF and Federal Marshals. It is likely that the federal authority will support the rioters, who will only be demanding their rights. ...

... And to jail anyone who defends himself, as a number of Korean shopkeepers found during the last riots here.

I have the greatest respect for Dr. Pournelle, but have to agree with Bob on this issues. In my opinion, the reaction Jerry envisages is more likely in the "Blue" liberal enclaves (IOW, the big cities and states like MA, NJ, NY, MD, CA, or IL). I don't see it happening in the "Red" areas.

After Katrina, a Federal court issued a restraining order in New Orleans to stop the NOPD from disarming civilians who were guarding their own property. While it is apalling that such an order would ever be issued by the chief of police, we do have here a recent example of where the Feds actually came to the defense of citizens' Second Amendment rights against local officals.

For what it's worth, I live in a subdivision in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA. I am aware of at least three other well-armed homes on my block within a stone's throw of my house. I have reason to believe that if rioters/looters were to threaten my neighborhood, the amount of firepower they'd meet would give people like Feinstein and Schumer the vapors.

Perhaps mass riots could take hold in urban areas in the US. It's happened before. I can see the politicians who run large cities like Philly trying to disarm their subjects citizens. But neither mass riots nor disarming civilians will fly in the "Red" areas.

Edited to add the following...

Dr. Pournelle replied:

What about Waco, Texas?

The political climate has changed. Waco was what, 1993? That was during the heyday of the most antigun administration in US history. While W's administration is hardly made up of Second Amendment absolutists, it isn't as actively antigun rights as the Clinton administration.

We are now at a point where a majority of states have "shall-issue" carry permit laws, when the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 was allowed to sunset, and a law restricting abusive lawsuits against gun manufacturers was just signed into law by Bush.

There may be isolated incidents of ATF disarming Americans in the wake of French style rioting, but I don't think the current political climate will support widespread civilian disarmament.

RMAed the R1A1

Before I go hacking on the R1A1 FAL I want to give Century Arms the chance to fix it. So, this morning I called them up and got an RMA number, then shipped it out (I'm off today). They should get it Wednesday and hopefully will be able to turn it around fairly quickly.

Assuming all is well when I get it back, I'm looking into a couple of customizations. First, I'll probably replace the R1 gas plug with the grenade launcher sight with a standard metric gas plug. The R1 gas plug is a big PITA to remove for cleaning.

Second, the Century plastic STG-58 style handguards look cool and feel good in my hand, but look like they'll heat up after shooting a couple of magazines. Over on the Fal Files, I've seen several good comments about Tapco's T-48 style handguard, and may spring for one, along with their SAW style grip. I'm debating whether to go for the whole set -- handguard, grip, and SAW style buttstock -- since it's about $100. But one of the guys on the FAL Files pointed out that the SAW style butt has a larger buttplate than other FAL stocks, which spreads recoil out over a larger area. If I go for the whole set I may get it in OD.

I'll post a follow up when I get the rifle back.

Sony's malicious software

You may have heard by now that at least some of Sony's recent audio CDs contain a "rootkit," which can lead to your PC being compromised if you use it to listen to one of their discs.

In his brief Wednesday post, fellow Daynotes Gang member Rick Hellewell addressed the Sony rootkit issue. He gives a good overview of the problem along with some links to follow. Rick defines the problem thusly:

Here's the problem: if the root kit is installed, then any other process similarly named will be invisible to the user or system administrator. Great opportunity for the virus/worm writers. Or the "Rats" (the guys that install keystroke loggers via virus/worm/"drive-by attack" to gather your bank login keystrokes.

Go follow the links from Rick and get yourself edumacated.

This is especially egregious corporate behavior. Malware -- including spyware, viruses, worms, and rootkits -- is one of the major causes of system instability. It appears that it is very diffcult to get rid of the Sony rootkit without reformatting you hard drive and reinstalling Windows and your apps.

Sony has a legitimate interest in protecting its intellectual property rights. This doesn't give them the right to violate your property rights to your system by using underhanded tactics to get you to install malware on your PC. I would love to see Sony and the company which wrote the rootkit get the shit sued out of them. It would seem to me that Sony is setting itself up for liability for trespass to chattel, unfair trade practices, and possibly worse, depending on actual damages.

I can tell you that I sure as hell won't be putting any CDs from Sony in my computers, and the odds of my buying anything from them ever again (I have a Sony digital camera and camcorder) are basically zero.

FAL problems

It figures. I discovered last night that the gas piston on my Century R1A1 FAL is binding in the hole at the front of the receiver. Based on responses gleaned from posts to AR15.com, THR, and the FAL Files, one of two things is likely the case: 1) the barrel is improperly-timed, i.e., either over- or under-torqued, of 2) the hole in the receiver is off-center. I submitted the following ticket to Century today:

I purchased a new Century R1A1 FAL a couple of weeks ago from Surplus City in Feasterville, PA. I purchased the rifle new, and have not shot it yet.

While doing an initial checkover of the gun last night, I removed the gas plug for the first time and discovered that the gas piston does not move freely through the hole in the front of the receiver. The piston binds in the receiver. When I removed the gas plug, the piston remained in the rifle instead of springing forward. To remove the piston, I had to push it forward, towards the muzzle, using a Lyman gunsmith's punch. I am unable to replace the gas plug with the piston in place, without jamming it back in and binding the piston in the receiver hole.

Based on some research, it looks like the barrel timing is slightly over- or under-torqued or the hole in the receiver through which the piston passes to contact the bolt carrier is off-center. I do not have the tools or expertise to fix the problem myself.

Will Century fix this problem under warranty? If so, please send me shipping instructions.

If Century pushed back I'll look into reaming the hole, but I'd rather have them fix it. Updates as I get 'em.

SMC switch issue finally resolved

Several months ago I started working with an SMC6752AL2 managed Ethernet switch. Our hospitality team has an upcoming installation with Ethernet in each of the rooms of a very large hotel. One of the requirements we have for any installation is that a host on one port cannot be allowed to see traffic from a host on another port.

SMC includes a "private VLAN" feature in their managed switches which provdes the host-to-host security we want. However, I discovered when I first tried implementing it that the private VLAN feature also cuts off any remote IP connectivity to the switch. With the private VLAN enabled on VLAN2, I couldn't connect via telnet, ssh, or http to VLAN1 for management.

After going back and forth with SMC's engineers for a couple of months, trying umpteen different configs, we determined that having the management and host VLANs separate just flat out won't work. Since the management IP is on a different logical subnet than the IPs that will be handed out to client hosts via DHCP, we decided to ignore VLAN1, make VLAN2 a private VLAN, and assign the management IP to VLAN2 with an ACL allowing IP connections from only the LAN's default gateway.

That's where we ran into another snag. Something was causing the connections to the switch that went through the gateway to time out. If I had my laptop configured with the gateway's IP and connected directly to the uplink port of the switch I could get in, although the time to setup a telnet or http session was s l o w.

Today, SMC sent me some new opcode for the switch. I tftped to the box, rebooted, and FINALLY, I was able to remotely manage the switch. Now I can move on to other things.

What a relief!

Echolink conference

Yesterday I mentioned that I picked up a webcam with a built-in mic on Sunday for use with various IM and ham-related VOIP programs. Last night I participated in my first Echolink conference.

In a nutshell, Echolink is one way to extend the reach of VHF ham radios by connecting them to the Internet. Much ham activity on VHF (e.g., the 2M band) is via local repeaters. Repeater typically receive on one frequency then retransmit on another. I try to get on a MARC net at least once a week.

However, even though a repeater can greatly extend the usable range of VHF communications, VHF cannot compete with the HF bands for true long range commo. Unless, of course, you throw the Internet into the mix.

There are several systems which connect VHF repeaters to the Internet to allow world-wide communication using low power handy talkies, including IRLP, eQSO, Yaesu's WIRES, and Echolink. The access Echolink, even from a PC, requires you to hold a valid amateur radio license. eQSO on the other hand, does permit non-licensed operators to participate in "rooms" with no radio link.

The official Echolink software is for Windows, but there are Macintosh and Linux clients as well. There are two basic ways to access Echolink.

First, if there's an Echolink-capable repeater in your area you can connect to it with your radio, dial up another Echolink node, and talk to people on that node, who may be on a radio or a computer.

The second way to is to use the Echolink client and a computer with a sound card, speakers, and a mic to connect to a node. This is what I did last night.

The organizer of last night's conference scheduled the time and the node, and participants logged in. We had a couple who connected via radio, others used their PCs, while the organizer himself didn't have a mic on his PC, so he used a radio to connect to a repeater while simultaneously logged on at his PC, so he could read text messages and see who was in the conference.

I was impressed with the overall audio quality. Everyone was quite clear, better than some other VOIP programs I've tried AAMOF. The guys connected via radio did breakup sometimes, but those using their PCs and a mic were crystal clear.

Since this was the first time for most of us, last night was largely devoted to figuring the whole system out. Future conferences with this group will probably have a topic list for each meeting.

Firefox 1.5 RC1

The more adventurous among you may be interested in trying out the first release candidate for Firefox 1.5. I loaded it on my iBook this morning and so far haven't run into any major problems. It did break the "downloadthemall" and Bookmarks Sync extensions, so unless I go back to 1.0.7, I'll have to wait until they're updated. Likewise, it broke a Mac-only theme I was using (I disremember the name), so it dumped me back with the default theme. So, I installed the Aquatint theme, which looks nice and makes Firefox look more like a regular OS-X app.

I noticed that the Preferences box is a bit more Mac-like than in previous releases. Also, the delete key now serves as a "Back" button, a feature I've always liked on the Windows ports of Firefox, Mozilla, and Netscape. For some reason this has been absent from prior Mac (and Linux) builds, without a way to implement it.

Logitech webcam

On Sunday I picked up a Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX for use on Bagend with various IM programs as well as ham-related VOIP systems like Echolink and eQSO. Installation was pretty straightforward, although it seemed to hang the box during the initial audio calibration. I've seen this on another XP machine with Logitech's software.

Last night after my Echolink account was validated I connected to the test server, which plays back to you anything you say to it. I had to adjust placement of the webcam so that the built-in mic was able to pickup my voice, but aside from that didn't have to tweak it at all. I'm planning to participate in a 'net tonight with some of the Arfcom SF guys, so we'll see (or hear) how well it works for real.

Partial server install

This morning I made a site visit to one of my clients. They are going to start using Ideal Planroom for their customers and so needed a new server installed. They got a nice Dell Poweredge dual 3.0 GHz Xeon box with a bunch of SCSI disk space. I'd been expecting to setup all the hardware today, but the tape autoloader and equipment cabinet, including the rackmount keyboard and LCD monitor, haven't arrived yet.

In the meantime, after doing my regular maintenance on their file and mail servers, we got the new Dell out of the box and temporarily hooked it up to their LAN so I could verify its hardware configuration and complete the initial Windows 2003 Server config, including installation of IIS.

The tape autoloader and cabinet are supposed to arrive Monday. Assuming they do come in, I'll go back in a week to finish the installation.

Federal Govt. Recognizes the Second Amendment as an Individual Right

Amid all the hoopla regarding the passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act (S.397), passed last week by Congress and signed this week by the President, largely overlooked are the Congressional findings included in the law:

(a) Findings- Congress finds the following:

(1) The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

(2) The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the rights of individuals, including those who are not members of a militia or engaged in military service or training, to keep and bear arms.

As pointed out at the Volokh Conspiracy, courts are not bound by Congressional findings when interpreting constitutional provisions, however, such findings may be influential in a particular case. This is a Good Thing, and hopefully gets us a bit closer to the time when courts routinely recognize the 2A's status as an individual right on par with free speech, etc.

In contrast with Louisiana ...

... at least one Floriday legislator thinks that citizens should not be disarmed due to the declaration of an emergency. Found in Arfcom's General Discussion forum:

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bill Johnson
October 25, 2005 (321) 984-4848


REPRESENTATIVE MITCH NEEDELMAN FILES LEGISLATION TO PRESERVE
CITIZENS' RIGHTS DURING EMERGENCIES

TALLAHASSEE - Representative Mitch Needelman (R-Melbourne) today announced the filing House Bill (HB) 285 to preserve the right of citizens to lawfully possess weapons during an officially declared state of emergency.

"Recent events in the New Orleans area during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina demonstrate that citizens' right to keep and bear arms are especially important during a state of emergency," said Representative Needelman, a retired State Law Enforcement Officer. "The very basis for the Second Amendment is to empower citizens with the right to self-protection-and when is self-protection more critical than in a time of disaster?"

HB 285 clarifies the authority of the governor during a declared emergency by asserting that "nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to authorize the seizure, taking, or confiscation of
firearms that are lawfully possessed."

The New York Times reported in early September that legally possessed firearms were being confiscated from law abiding citizens, quoting the superintendent of police that "only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons." A Louisiana state statute allows the chief law enforcement officer to "regulate possession" of firearms during declared emergencies.

"HB 285 will ensure that the unconstitutional stripping of citizens' rights does not occur during emergencies in Florida," said Representative Needelman. "We have an opportunity to reassert the right to bear arms and avoid the clear violation that occurred in Louisiana."

HB 285 has been filed for consideration in the 2006 Session of the Florida Legislature. The Legislature is slated to convene on March 7, 2006.

It would be nice to see something similar at the Federal level.

Brazilians reject gun ban!

By a margin of about 64 to 36%, Brazilians have rejected a civilian disarmament scheme. Obviously something needs to be done about their violent crime, but disarming victims isn't it.