I sit here on my couch 8 hours after history has been made. Now that I have had time to fully take in and contemplate the day’s events, (and finally watch the full inaugural, without the streaming… message repeatedly appearing) i’d like to submit a few thoughts for the record. No doubt that by now all the news networks have put their spin on it, analyzed the angle of the sun, and the colors of Michelle Obama’s dress.

January 20th, 2009 will not only live on as a day when we brought the first African American president into the White House but also as a day when the citizens of this country once again lived up to the promise of our forefathers and a changing of ideologies and methodologies in the Capitol which are necessary for this country to become great again. President Obama’s election was a bold move on the part of the American people. In my opinion this event is on the same level as Kennedy with the space program, and FDR with the second world war. Maybe that is stretching the point a bit, but it seems that America is once again united with purpose on this day.

For the second time in my adult life I have witnessed a historic moment when it seems that all Americans are once again united behind a common purpose. The first being September 11th, 2001. Before that day I had not known just how united we could be as a country. Today I see that unity expressed once again. Not in the common fear or the resolve of a people scorned by despicable attacks. But in the promise of a more hopeful tomorrow and a glimpse of living up to the vision that is America.

Oh and my favorite part of the inaugural ceremony, from the benediction:
“When black will not be asked to get back,
When brown can stick around,
When yellow will be mellow,
When the red-man can get ahead, man,
and when white will embrace what is right”

I truly hope that Barrack will be as good as we have all hoped and even better.

The Constitution was eventually adopted by the delegation, and as Franklin sat watching each member sign their name on the nation’s new Constitution, he remarked to one of his colleagues that during the debates he often noticed the painting on the back of the Convention Presidents chair, where George Washington presided. It was the painting of half a sun. Franklin told his colleague that he had wondered if the sun was rising or setting, and now he was certain it was rising.

-Quoted from an article written by Margaret Byfield (because she was one of the first google hits)link

I also applaud John McCain for graciously yeilding the election to Obama and not putting the country through massive recounts and long court battles. I think McCain would have made a good president, far better than Bush. But I also think that he was not what this country needed right now, and that’s why we elected Obama.

Dozens Of Call Center Workers Walk Off Job In Protest Rather Than Read McCain Script Attacking Obama

I think all of these workers who had the balls and integrity to say ‘no’ should be commended. Bravo, call center workers, Bravo.

Titled: PIE

The dismal tone of finality asserted a fate no other than abject despair and disappointment as the dissonant syllables clashed against my eardrums…

“I’m sorry, we don’t have apple pie.” She said.


Some type of salty discharge began cascading down my face in an unrelenting torrent. “Fuck you!” I repeatedly moaned, punching my steering wheel in a convulsing fit of rage. “Every time, every fucking time, you gotta do it to me” I shouted in an indiscernible clamor.

“I wanna talk to Ronald, get me Ronald!” I demanded, stomping on the brake and throwing the gear into park. A man wearing a headset and thin clip-on tie came to the window. He was kind of greasy, thin and gaunt, and looked as if he was laboring to grow an 80′s mustache, however I suspect that this was not a deliberate attempt to be fashionable. He appeared tired and possibly hung-over, struggling to repress the frightened and annoyed look on his face.

He didn’t look like Ronald MacDonald. He wasn’t wearing any make up and did not have a spherical red nose.
He spoke:
“Can I help you sir?”

“Yeah” I said “are you Ronald?”

“Yes” he replied.

“How come you don’t have any pie?” I asked.

“I’m sorry we’re all out of apple pie today” he answered, adding “could I offer you a complimentary parfait instead?”

“Parfait? What the fuck is parfait?” I asked.

“Oh it’s really good” he said “Its yogurt, fruit, and nuts layered in a cup. It’s a much healthier alternative to ice cream or pie.
“

To which I retorted “Healthier? You don’t look like you’ve got too much to live for. What are you one of those fitness freaks? Fuck you, get me a fucking apple pie asshole.
“

Ronald sighed, looked down and said “I’m sorry sir, we don’t have any apple pie today.
“

“Yeah fine Ron, OK, gimme one of those fartpay things.
“

“A parfait?” he clarified.

“Yeah fine, just give it to me.
“

He disappeared as I sat fuming, muttering a tirade of derision “fucking corporate oppressor fascist motherfucker. Fucking pie, fucking don’t have pie…?” A horn sounded, as the patrons eagerly lined up behind me grew increasingly impatient. Unknowingly, they too stood to inherit this bitter unjust fate.

It seemed like this waiting would never end, and by now I had lost my appetite. I grew weary, awash in a sea of apathy and indifference. A wave of numbness coursed through my limbs and now I sat a heaping pile of flesh, too weak to remain cognizant. A blurry figure loomed to my left, and I heard who I now assume was Ronald say “here you go.” as I found myself holding a clear plastic cup of cold gelatinous goo and different colored geometric shapes. I loosened the cap, held the cup to my face and drew in a breath through my nose. My olfaction detected a putrid mixture of fermented milk and crappy fruit. I exhaled with a grimace, and violently launched the cup through the window, striking Ron directly in the abdomen. The fermented milk substance and supposed fruit concoction splattered all over Ron’s tie.

Now Ron was as pissed as I was.

In a mountain-man bellow he ripped the tie from his neck and threw it on the ground in a violent motion. He lowered his head, reached out in front of him and jumped through the window in a charging fashion. I panicked, and scrambled to get the car in gear, inadvertently putting it in reverse. My car jerked backwards into the car behind me denting the fender. Simultaneously, Ronald clung to my windshield pulling him out of the window onto the hood of my car. Seeing that his aggressive advance was inevitable, I jammed the gear into drive as he tumbled forward onto the pavement, subsequently running him over.

The shrill screams of terror were louder than the screech of my tires as they echoed off the drive through concrete, and continue to resonate in memory. I was gonna be damned if Ronald MacFuckinDonald was gonna get the drop on me.

It turns out it wasn’t even Ronald MacDonald. It was just some guy named Ron Cormier or something that happened to be the assistant manager on duty that day. Evidently Ronald MacDonald isn’t even the MacDonald’s CEO. He’s not even a real person. Ronald MacDonald is a corporate spokes figure. I was confused by this, disillusioned and hurt.

Anyway, this Ron Cormier a quadriplegic now, trying to suck apple pie through a straw. I’ve visited him in the hospital several times. He still wants to kill me evidently, but obviously he can’t do anything about it. I mean, I said I’m sorry and everything but he’s gotta stop living in the past. I tried to cheer him up, but he just sits there.

I guess sometimes you can’t get apple pie.

' =========================================================================
' File...... Parallel_LCD driver.bs2
' Purpose... this file will drive a paralell LCD based on a Hitachi 44780 Controller
' {$STAMP BS2}
' {$PBASIC 2.5}
' -----[ Program Description ]---------------------------------------------
' This file provides the necessary routines to drive a parallel LCD display
' This code works with the BS2, BS2e and BS2sx
' -----[ I/O Definitions ]-------------------------------------------------
'These assignments are for pins that will act as controls for the LCD display.
'They are set in an arbitrary order and must be changed during if your lcd is not plugged into the same pins
E PIN 5 ' Enable Pin For LCD
RW PIN 4 ' R/W Pin For LCD
RS PIN 3 ' LCD Register Select
' 0 = Instruction, 1 = Text
'Data pin definitions, these should correspond to where you have the Controller connected for pins D0-D7
DB7 PIN 15
DB6 PIN 14
DB5 PIN 13
DB4 PIN 12
DB3 PIN 11
DB2 PIN 10
DB1 PIN 9
DB0 PIN 8
' -----[ LCD Size ]-------------------------------------------------
Rows VAR Byte
Columns VAR Byte
Rows=4
Columns=20
' -----[ Variables ]-------------------------------------------------------
char VAR Byte ' Character To Send To LCD
index VAR Word ' Character Pointer
temp VAR Byte ' Temp Variable
' -----[ EEPROM Data ]-----------------------------------------------------
DATA " http://Heapsorandom.wordpress.com " ' Message To Send To LCD
' -----[ Main Code ]-------------------------------------------------
Main:
DIR6=%1 'use pin 6 as a visual init flag
OUT6=%1
HIGH 6
GOSUB InitStamp
GOSUB InitLCD
LOW 6

'-----------------------------[LCD Data Subroutines]-------------------------------
SendText:
HIGH RS
OUTH = char ' Send Low Nibble
PULSOUT E,1
PAUSE 100
RETURN

Saturday things really started to get rolling. Two keynote speakers, back to back conferences, sweaty geeks (myself included) clamoring to touch greatness, a gyro from around the corner and the list goes on. Actually, in all honesty Saturday kinda merges in to Sunday in my mind, but I’ll start from the beginning…

Having been up till 3AM (writing the previous entry I might add) on Friday night, we were in no mood to wake up and get going early, so we missed the first set of talks, and the second on account of breakfast.

How Piracy feeds a starving audience-Michael Perkins

This was a talk about how the music industry is screwing the average consumer into buying overpriced cookie cutter material. Well maybe it wasn’t so much a talk as a life style (manifesto, middle finger to the music industry, radical declaration of independence) for the gentleman that gave this talk. While I may not have agreed with everything he was saying I think he did make a few excellent points about the nature of the music industry and humanity as a whole, which I think was the point of the talk. Mr. Perkins also went as far as to support his talk by producing a musical albue for 12$, which I thought was an interesting approach. The problem with that approach is that I don’t think it’s scalable, it would never work for the record industry as a whole. I think this was an extremely radical talk and quite possibly unrealistic, but Hope is all about free expression in a way. A certain other colleague of mine, who happened to be sitting next to me didn’t agree one bit and proceeded to make his voice heard. Perhaps the middle ground was somewhere in between these two idealists.

Keynote Address -Steven Levy

Steven Levy literally wrote the book about Hackers. He started out as a journalist writing for Newsweek about mixed topics and even more notably the original Mac. I especially enjoyed this talk because of Mr. Levy’s perspective on a small of Macintosh history, which I find incredibly interesting. Mr. Levy pretty much outlined what it is to be a hacker. Hacker as the word is commonly used conjures up images of Acid Burn and Zero Cool from the movie Hackers. However, there are more than just those characters thought of in the movies, but now there are also, hardware hackers, phreakers, crackers etc. And if we take that a step further we can pretty much define a hacker as someone who doesn’t just see a system, but they see a system that can be altered, manipulate in to doing their wildest dreams. Mr. Levy put it far more succinctly during his talk, than I am remembering now. All in all an excellent talk.

Bagcam – How did the TSA and/or the airlines manage to do that to your luggage?-Algormor

Ever since Sept. 2001 the government has spent billions of dollars to provide the illusion of safety on our domestic aircraft, but at what cost. Now when you take a flight you have to take off your shoes, take out your laptops, no liquids, your bags may end up ripped up, things missing and just more inconveniences. Algormor said he was a victim of all of the above due to his extensive amount of air travel, and he decided to fight back. How you ask? by mounting a digital video camera and solid state recorder inside of his luggage. The result? an intimate look at how luggage gets from the counter to its destination. While I was expecting more damning evidence against the TSA it turned out that the worst they had done was stand around watching the bags go by. Can’t say I blame them for that, it wouldn’t be my idea of a good time. All the same I think it’s a good idea that citizens watch their government entities to make sure they behave. In the future there should be some fun videos on www.algormor.com

Featured Speaker – Steven Rambam

By far my most favorite (and longest) talk of the conference. Mr. Rambam titled this talk, “Privacy is dead, get over it”. An extremely sobering talk about the current state of keeping your personal information private in our ever increasing connected environment. The theory behind it is sound, there are thousands and thousands of databases out there, some with information about you in them. Once the data in the databases is connected it’s very easy to get an accurate picture of you are as a person. It’s kinda like connect the dots between different databases, or on gigantic join operation if we were in SQL world. The talk lasted for 3.5 and I was riveted almost every minute of it. I could go on for now but I will leave you with this one thought: “Privacy is dead, get over it”

Social Engineering Panel

Some of the more well known hackers/phreakers hosted a panel in which they discussed social engineering. The basic idea of social engineering is manipulating other people into giving you information that will help you exploit other systems. They had a few demonstrations of social engineering in action and plenty of humorous stories to shared with a packed crowd.

Featured Speaker – Kevin Mitnick

One of the more well known hackers whom the FBI actually arrested and sent to high security federal (“pound me in the ass”) prison because they thought he could start a nuclear war by whistling into a phone. Kevin regaled us with many stories of his older exploits and a few phone phreaking tricks to bypass caller ID. As I mentioned earlier I’m writing this post while traveling home on a bus. A short time ago, I received two text messages from his gmail address. upon receiving the first address I was a little freaked out because it didn’t make any sense, AND I hadn’t given him my phone number. Then I thought about it and realized that he is probably one of the best phreakers out there and I should have expected something like this. Good show Kevin!

After all these talks were over it was about 12 or 1 I’m not sure really, but either way we decided to walk up to times square which was lit up bright as day and almost as busy. We ended up at a bar called Mr. Biggs, feasting on nachos and sucking down refreshing beer. They also had karaoke going at the time and for the most part everyone who sang was pretty good. After the bar we went back to the hotel, by this time it was 3:00AM and decided to check out what was going on at the mezzanine, not a whole lot. But the lego table was empty and things were just demanding to be built, so we built.

I will write up day 3 very soon.

After that we cruised the mezzanine looking at the cool products and some of the areas. One of the more notable tables was hosted by Make Magazine. Not only did they have some cool make products (books issues etc) but they had some cool kits and the Arduino, which I ended up buying. Score. And if all that stuff wasn’t cool enough I got to meet one of the organizers of the Providence Geeks. So needless to say I will definitely have to go to one of their meetings now.

The rest of the afternoon was mired by long lines at the elevators, sweltering heat, pretty girls, over priced meals and the usual ilk for NYC.

We returned to the conference about 11 PM for the digital music portion of things. Most of the attendees were still going strong, camped out in the hammock area listening to different artists mix and spin their own flavors of music.


So far this has been a great experience and we’ve met some pretty cool people along the way well. I’m glad that the hacker community can be so open and allow outsiders, or maybe “hacker-curious” people such as ourselves, the opportunity the share knowledge with each other. Crap. it’s 2:42 AM and I’m finally tired well I think I am anyway.

So far I’ve sat in on a few talks bought a USB micro controller which I’ve already forgotten the name (Arduino) of and yea that’s about it. So that being said I will leave you with a picture from our room window. Till next time keep an eye on the twitter feed.

Well reading such a sign and knowing the truth I couldn’t help but open the door to his basement and this is what I found:

Brian was holding out on us! What a jerk! If I had a portal gun I certainly would have shared it with everyone else. Or I would have at least thought of it, and summarily decided that it was a bad idea. The strange part was that by the time we were done cleaning the sign on the basement door had changed, someone had defaced it…..

Very Strange….

A powerful photo essay that seems like it’s been floating around the net for awhile. I suggest you watch.