Visiting With Friends

This weekend, I visited my friends Jason and Leni in Connecticut. They have the cutest purple house I've ever seen! It dates back to the 1600's, and when they first bought it, it was a crumbling, falling down, heap of rubble. They restored the entire place by hand. Leni told me that they even re-glazed each individual window pane, so as to restore them to their original lustre. This process could take up to 8 hours per window.

Jason is in a rock band, and they played a concert in the center of town.

Leni collects McCoy pottery.

That Chester is one cool cat. And there's a memento to dear Ooz-Cat next to him.

Their friends had this adorable female Calico cat. Did you know that it is extremely rare to find a Calico cat that is not female? Yup, most Calico's are ladies.

Now that's Mennonite!

From there it was onto The Berkshires, where I visited my distant relatives, The Shakers.

What a lovely quilt!

The famous round barn.

This photo reminds me of one of my favorite paintings, The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks.

And here's a member of The Pittsfield Elms vintage baseball team. The baseballs were a little bigger back then, and the gloves had very little padding.

NYPD Police Athletic League

During the school year, I volunteer with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and their after-school kids program. I was looking for volunteer opportunities in technology, and had read they'd just opened a new computer lab. When I phoned to inquire if I might volunteer, I was told the computer lab was ready to go, but currently closed because they had no one to run it. Need I say more?

What I found, however, was once we got the digital center up-and-running, kids weren't necessarily asking questions about computers, they were needing help with algebra, writing, college and scholarship applications, and general homework assignments. Fortunately, I'd just purchased an algebra book of my own because I was growing concerned that I hadn't used those skills in a while and didn't want to lose them.

It is my experience that they teach me as much as I learn from them.

The Director of the center is really creative, and she came up with the idea for us to have the kids put together a newsletter. I helped them name the paper, and oversaw the layout and design, but my co-volunteer Pat and I really wanted this to be the handiwork of the kids themselves, and not some "Photoshopped" piece. Here's an excerpt from our most recent edition.

Here's a shot of Julio, the coach of the basketball team, and his players. One of the kids had taken some team photos for our newsletter and when Julio saw them, I could tell he was really excited. The next week, I surprised him with a couple really nice ones that I'd framed for him which he now displays in his trophy case at the PAL Center.

Birding in New York City?

I've followed the "Pale Male and Lola" Web site (about a pair of red-tailed hawks in Central Park) for a long time, so when I read recently that owls had migrated here, I decided to see for myself if it was true that rare birds inhabit Central Park.

Red-Tailed Hawk

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Great Egret

North American Cardinal

Blue Jay

Turtles

SANS San Diego

Photo Credit: Kathy Northcutt/SANS Institute

It pays to dream and never give up! In April of 2007, I had one of my dreams come true. I had heard about The SANS Institute for several years, and had always wanted to attend one of their Computer Security "Boot Camps." SANS is a traveling university, setting up intense 10-day classroom sessions in a different city each month. They are the best of the best, the Top Gun of computer security, and employ the highest caliber of teachers in the industry. Above is a photo of me from SANS San Diego with my class, several of whom are involved in cybercrime investigative work.

Photo Credit: Kathy Northcutt/SANS Institute

My first SANS “Boot Camp” was in Orlando, Florida (photo of team above), where I was blessed (and I really don’t believe it was by chance), to be assigned to a gentleman whom the industry regards as the brightest person in the intrusion detection sector. He was my introduction to SANS, my first “face with the name,” and it is a privilege and an honor to call him “friend” today. He has a wonderful character, a wicked sense of humor, and is able to relate the material in a way that everyone can learn.

At my second SANS (San Diego), I literally learned computer crime forensic analysis from the instructor of the team who oversaw the hard-drive dissection of the Virginia Tech massacre. Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not into blood and gore, but I have always had an intense interest in solving mysteries and following a chain of events to recreate what happened. Combined with an intense curiosity with all things digital, that’s a pretty good fit for computer forensics.

During SANS San Diego, I was in the middle of a job search and was exploring digital forensics possibilities. Although I didn’t end up in that end of things for my career, I may pursue it on a volunteer basis in my local community as our instructor told us there are so many crimes being committed digitally, and the technology is still so new, that law enforcement can always use a hand from those who possess the right skills.

Betty Daena

Photo Credit: Alfonso/Hudson Valley

Those who know me are familiar with the amazing rescue that my friend Mary and I performed together-right after witnessing a pitbull being beaten on the head with a scrub brush, while awaiting a car inspection at a garage. We moved quickly and got her to the Vet who stitched up the bloody gash. Betty went on to lead a full, happy and wonderful life, even becoming a modern medical miracle.

Betty went on to defy modern medicine with a will to live that defeated death for over six years. I could write a book about Betty, in fact, there actually has been a short story and magazine article published about her, in addition to her being mentioned in the New York Times. However, I believe this plaque I made for each one of her Vets and their assistants, sums things up quite nicely:

To Betty's handlers, Doctors and technicians,

Thank you for your extraordinary care of Betty on Sunday March 11, 2007. Although she was too sick to stay with us, we believe she’s in a better place.

Betty got sick all at once. We had a Vet tell us she's seen this many times before as she feels dogs are so loyal that they see it as their duty not to show signs of illness in front of their loved ones.

Six years ago Sunday, the day she crossed over, we had had seven vets tell us that Betty had nothing but scar tissue left for kidneys and didn't have more than a few weeks/months left. It was then that we found an herbalist protege of Juliette de Barcly Levi who immediately began treating Betty with herbs. Betty bounced-back almost instantly, and miraculously Sunday was SIX full years to the date.

Betty went with all the dignity, character, spirit and life that she gave to all who met her, and she will remain in our hearts and with us, forever. I can tell you that Betty changed my life and made me a better person, so if you ever see any good qualities in me, they probably came to be thanks to the beloved "Miracle Dog."

It wasn't her time six years ago, but only a few knew it. Sunday there was no question.

We’ve attached two articles that ran in major publications because of Betty. What a force of nature she was. Enjoy, and thank you for allowing us to share this and to be open to it. We've been crying for almost two days non-stop, and compiling this has been very healing.

Back To My Roots

This weekend, I split my time between driving to Lancaster, PA (on Saturday) to tutor my 86-year-old aunt (in high-German) on her computer that I built for her from scraps I found on the streets of NYC a few years ago.

Then on Sunday, I spent the day with my Kung Fu brothers and sisters in Chinatown, performing Lion and Dragon dances to ring in the Year Of The Pig (in Cantonese). This was such an interesting weekend, that I decided I simply had to have a blog.

Beware Of These Bank ATM Scams!

One of my friends went to Washington Mutual on Second Avenue at 8th Street a few months ago, and remembered seeing a hand-written (scribbled) note placed over one of the ATMs with an arrow pointing to the other "good" machine, stating: "Out of order, use other machine." She didn't think twice about any of this until the bank informed her the next day of several thousands of dollars that had been siphoned out of her account. One of the things she learned to look for moving forward, was any sort of indication of tampering, and sometimes they will place a reader strip over the regular magnetic strip that is visibly different, so anything that appears out of the ordinary, alert the authorities. She was able to recover all lost funds, but that's not always the case.

SCAM ALERT #1 (Compiled by University of Texas)

A team of organized criminals is installing equipment on legitimate bank ATMs in at least two regions to steal both the ATM card number and the PIN. The team sits nearby in a car receiving the information transmitted wirelessly over weekends and evenings from equipment they install on the front of the ATM (see photos). If you see an attachment like this, do not use the ATM and report it immediately to the bank using the 800 number or phone on the front of the ATM.

The equipment used to capture your ATM card number and PIN is cleverly disguised to look like normal ATM equipment. A “skimmer” is mounted to the front of the normal ATM card slot that reads the ATM card number and transmits it to the criminals sitting in a nearby car.

At the same time, a wireless camera is disguised to look like a leaflet holder and is mounted in a position to view ATM PIN entries.

The thieves copy the cards and use the PIN numbers to withdraw thousands from many accounts in a very short time directly from the bank ATM.

Equipment being installed on front of existing bank card slot.

The equipment as it appears installed over the normal ATM bank slot.

The PIN reading camera being installed on the ATM is housed in an innocent looking leaflet enclosure.

The camera shown installed and ready to capture PINs by looking down on the keypad as you enter your PIN.

SCAM ALERT #2 (Compiled by ordep44@ hotmail.com)

The thug jury-rigs a piece of black magnetic tape so that it becomes a booby trap for your card, and then inserts it into the card-slot, of the unsuspecting bank, rendering it virtually invisible.

You walk into the bank, don't notice anything, insert your card but it gets stuck. A nearby "Good Samaritan" suddenly appears, ready to assist. This "helpful" person convinces you that by entering your PIN at the same time you hit the "Cancel" key, your card will be released. When that doesn't work, you give up and move on.

After you have exited the ATM, the "Good Samaritan" fishes out your card, and now "owns" both your card and your PIN, you do the math; warning, the answer will be a negative number!