Red-Tailed Hawk Pale Male Bathing

After what seemed like months of rain, Manhattan was finally blessed with a gorgeous day, and I finally logged-off! I met up with some birding buddies, and we headed into Central Park to see what we could see. We came across a Red-Tailed Hawk (that we believe was Pale Male), taking a bath in a stream. I didn't get to the camera in time to tape the bath, but you can see him drying off in these video clips:

Catching Up

2009 was a busy year, both personally and professionally. Since I can't discuss the details of my professional work, I will do my best to fill you in on the rest of what I've been up to.

In the second half of 2009, I stopped blogging so that I could spend that time contributing to a new SANS course, 565 Data Leakage Prevention. The course debuted last month in New Orleans, and will be offered again in Baltimore (June 2010). I had a great time creating a ton of PowerPoint slides and a couple of the labs used in the course. If you are at all concerned about DLP, this course is for you.

2009 was a challenging year for many families, so I ramped-up the number of machines that I refurbish for give-away. Thanks to street-finds and donations from a growing network of friends and colleagues who heard about the work that I perform, I donated about 8 PC's and laptops in 2009 to needy families (all drives were wiped to former DoD standard).

I just began planning my next project, an annual fund-raiser for our church's soup kitchen, so if you're a fan you should be getting an invitation soon.

Bookworm Frolic

Don't miss the upcoming "Bookworm Frolic Used Book Sale" at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society on August 12-15, 2009. I recently hauled a trunkful of very old Mennonite hymnals, texts in German and other historical books. The lot was a donation from the Manhattan Mennonite Fellowship, along with a few of my own thrown in for good measure. The load filled the trunk of Frank Shirk's Buick, below, with more boxes lining the back seat:


Photo Credit: Frank Shirk (2009)

Baby Hawks Fledge

Forget the computer, there are baby hawks jumping around in the nest! Check out what I saw today!

My "Hakin9" Magazine Article

I hope you enjoy my article in this month's "Hakin9" magazine, I stopped by the bookstore today and I noticed it on the stand. You can get it at Barnes & Noble or direct from the publisher.

Mennonite Bytes

One of my relatives picked up computing a bit later in life, in her 80's. I remember cobbling together an old CPU from some spare parts I had in my lab and driving it down to Lancaster, PA to get her started.

Recently, she compiled a daily devotional book with a digital theme. Again, I helped her with some of the technical pieces. I think it's a clever way to incorporate some daily words of inspiration into the diet. Only 6-bucks, get yours here:

H@ckers Take Back Their Name

NYC Resistor was mentioned in "The New York Times" today. My favorite part of the article was where Diana Eng, booted from "Project Runway" because her designs involved electronics, sounded like Charlie, the jack-in-the-box from The Island Of Misfit Toys:

“My designs were too nerdy for ‘Project Runway,’ ” Ms. Eng said with a giggle. “But here they fit right in.”

Check out the full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/nyregion/thecity/28tink.html