Blog of Bermanism

This is so scary.

Basically what the article is saying, to those who don’t have the appropriate number of geek points, is that the entire infrastructure that secure websites are based on (like credit card companies, banks, online shopping, etc) can be spoofed so that you could be viewing a valid secure site, but it is under the control of someone who is trying to steal your information. And, you would have no idea that you aren’t viewing a valid site because your web browser would tell you that the site is secure and trusted (the little padlock on the browser).

The thing that I don’t get is, why do companies write these incredibly complicated algorithms to hack through infrastructures that are well in place only to publish the vulnerabilities online where all the hackers can get wind of exactly how to exploit these issues? I’m one for open information, but I would have a solution in place before pointing out that PKI has a big-ass hole in it and writing the program that can make your fake certificate authority so that the identity theft can ensue. Seems a little backwards to me, but what do I know?

I do know that in the linux server world, having people work hard to break through security protocols has resulted in very fast security updates that are released at the same time as the vulnerability itself. This method has resulted in the generation of a VERY secure system. Apple and Microsoft have also adopted this methodology. My problem with this case is that they released the vulnerability with no fix ready to be implemented. I think this is a bit like lighting off fireworks over your super-secret army camp in Baghdad, hoping that none of the enemy will see where your super-secret encampment is, then asking them not to hurt you because you’re cute and lit off pretty fireworks. It is a little silly.

Still though, the problem that they pointed out is scary as hell. I no longer trust the internets.

Oh, and this:

Oh my God! He does exist!

Yes, I’m actually posting in my blog for the first time since July.

What can I say? A lot has been going on. I’m going to keep this short in the spirit of posting a lot more, but here’s a bulleted synopsis of the last six months in the land of Bermanism, in order of stream of consciousness:

• Sasha is now eight months old. (!!!!) Time sure does fly. She’s huge. She’s turned from a weird alien-human hybrid to full on small person. She’s crawling, sitting up, pulling up on and standing next to almost anything, eating solid food, babbling up a storm, and not sleeping. She’s pretty incredible and a blast, despite the recent rash of not sleeping. It seems that she’d rather stand up and jump around in her crib than sleep. See her latest pictures and movies to get the gist of what I mean.
• Sasha has now been to five states (Alaska, Ohio, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania) and on 15 flights. She’s better traveled at 8 months old than most people are when they’re 20 years old.
• Sasha had her first Chanukkah, which was cute. She got a ton of gifts, which has forced us to reorganize and get rid of some of her younger-months favorites (at least put them in storage). She’s really good at ripping gift wrap and immediately putting whatever was inside in her mouth. As far as that goes, she likes Chanukkah. I’m sure it will carry more meaning next year. We went to Union Square last night for the last night of Chanukkah to see the giant Menorah lighting. It was really cool and nice. Check out our pictures to see if Rachel has posted them yet.
• Rachel returned to work, but figured out that she only needs to work part-time for us to make ends meet. So, I stay home with Sasha in the morning (until 12:30) while Rachel works, then I go to work from 1pm until 8-10pm. It is a hard schedule, but it does two positive things and two negative things. On the positive side, it allows me to be an active part of Sasha’s life and to spend a lot of time with her, which I absolutely love (and I think she does too), and it avoids the $2000+/month cost of having a baby-sitter or day-care, both of which are not great for Sasha in general. On the negative side, Rachel and I spend about 15 minutes/day with each other Mon – Thur and I’m freakin’ exhausted by Thursday night. Friday is a normal day for me because Rachel doesn’t have to work, so that is nice. The bottom line is that this schedule is temporary until I get a job that can actually support the family and Rachel can stop working, which is what she wants. So, it is hard, it is a big sacrifice, but the rewards seem to be greater than the sacrifice, in general, so we’ll keep doing this.
• I’ve raced at the Masters National Championships (and came home with three medals), and at the Head of the Charles Regatta, where our boat came in 4th out of 32 boats and came home with a medal, the first ever for me at that race. At the same time, we lost our coach right before Nationals, I happened to be the captain, and I spent an enormous amount of time trying to fill the giant vacuum left by Jim for the next four months before we hired a new coach who seems to be working out quite well. To be quite honest, the majority of my free time went into maintaining our team and planning and organizing the Head of the Charles for the team. This is why I haven’t blogged (or anything else) in forever. The captain’s duties, taking care of Sasha, and work took up all of my time. Luckily, my team pulled through really well and we’re still as fast, if not faster than we were before. I’m no longer captain, so I can just row, which is nice.
• I’ve now lost a collective 55 pounds since graduate school. I decided to lose my last 15 pounds before Masters Nationals, and now weigh 155 (from 210). Actually, I weigh more like 158 after the holidays, but I’ll be erging a lot over the next two weeks and it will come right back off. I’m actually almost back to my college weight, which is crazy. I never thought I’d be there again.
• I’m officially in the last 6-12 months of my postdoc in San Francisco. This means that I have to actively start looking for my first “real” job after the 1st of the year. It also means that I have to put my nose to the grindstone to really get my papers finished and out so that I can actually be marketable for people to hire. It also seems that my graduate papers may actually get published sometime in the near future, which would be awesome for me and would really help out with the whole career thing. I’m not sure if we’ll stay in the Bay Area or not. It would be much easier to live closer to family, so I’m going to look in Texas as well. Actually, I’m looking everywhere. I’m not sure whether I’ll be looking at Biotech or Academics. It is open, and I’ll look at both.
• I’m still really enjoying brewing beer. It is really fun. I’ve brewed a Honey Wheat, an Imperial Red, and a Pale Ale since I last wrote in the blog. The Pale Ale was brewed for my friend Tyler’s wedding, so I didn’t get much of that batch. It was a hit at the wedding though. The Honey Wheat wasn’t my favorite and I probably won’t be making that again. The Imperial Red is awesome. I made it really strong and pretty hoppy, on purpose. It balances nicely. I recently brewed my version of a holiday lager. For now I’m calling it an Egg Nog Lager (no, there are no eggs in it). Most people wince when I tell them the name of the beer, so I need to come up with a new name for it. But, it is a pale lager with vanilla, nutmeg and allspice in it. It should taste like beer with a hint of the main flavors from egg nog. But, maybe I should just call it a spiced vanilla holiday lager so that people aren’t grossed out by the thought of it. I’ve gotten more than a few visceral reactions to the name. Next I want to remake my Chocolate Raspberry brown ale or my lager, which tasted a lot like Sam Adams, but stronger. I may also make a Dopplebock. I haven’t decided. I really need to brew two beers at once to be truely happy. I may try it. (yikes!)
• I’ve rekindled my love of cooking. I’ve been baking and cooking a lot recently, much to Rachel’s advantage (or disadvantage, if you look from a caloric perspective). It has been fun to get back to that.
• I turned 34 in November. That was exciting.
• We elected a black, progressive president in an attempt to clean up the giant mess that is our government and its affairs, but you probably already knew that. I hope he can accomplish what he’s capable of accomplishing.
• We lost a TON of money in the recession. But so did everyone else. It still sucks though.
• People started driving their huge SUVs again once gas prices returned to 2004 prices. That sucks too. I’m happy to say that I drive a fast sports car that gets 32mpg. Yay Toyota.

I’m sure there’s  a lot more to post here, but those are the major events. As I always say about now, I’m going to try to start posting more. I’m going to try to post shorter things that take around 15 minutes to write, rather than my previous novellas. I think I’ll get more out this way. We’ll see. I missed you, I hope you missed me and come back to read more often again.

Peace.