魔法少女プリティジューリャ

Need to leave me a message, that is unrelated to any other topic?

Stick it on this one. [Comments are screened.]

Oh hey, I should announce: I'm going to be in Seattle this weekend. So if you're in Seattle too, and want to visit me, or me to visit you, or however these things work, then let me know.

I'm trying to plan out my schedule for the next few months. Some of you may find this a useful reference. It'd be really neat if someone were to enter all this info into a public Google Calender or something (like ConThingy, but that looks a little bit broken at the moment).

CFP Final Deadlines:

Black-Hat Vegas       : May 15
Recon                 : May 15
BruCON                : May 15
DefCon                : May 27
ToorCon Seattle       : Jun  1
hack.lu               : Jun  1
OWASP AppSec USA      : Jun 14
TakedownCon Vegas     : Jun 30
HashDays              : Jul  3
HITB SecConf Malaysia : Jul 15
Source Barcelona      : Jul 15
SecTor                : Aug 15
Black Hat Abu Dhabi   : Sep 15

Ever Conference I Can Find:

May 12-13 : Internet Security Operations & Intelligence 9 [Dulles,VA,USA]
May 17-20 : HITB Security Conference                   [Amsterdam,NH,NLD]
May 18-19 : Takedown Con                                  [Dallas,TX,USA]
May 27-29 : ph-neutral 0x7db                              [Berlin,BE,DEU]
May 28-29 : LayerOne                                     [Anaheim,CA,USA]

Jun  7-10 : OWASP AppSec                                   [Dublin,L,IRL]
Jun 10-12 : Summercon                                   [Brooklyn,NY,USA]
Jun 15-16 : Source-Seattle                               [Seattle,WA,USA]
Jun 17-19 : ToorCon-Seattle                              [Seattle,WA,USA]

Jul  8-10 : RECON                                       [Montreal,QC,CAN]

Aug  2- 4 : Black Hat Briefings                        [Las Vegas,NV,USA]
Aug  4- 7 : DEFCON 19                                  [Las Vegas,NV,USA]
Aug 10-14 : CCC Camp                                   [Finowfurt,BB,DEU]

Sep  8- 9 : Sec-T                                      [Stockholm,AB,SWE]
Sep 19-21 : BruCON                                    [Etterbeek,BRU,BEL]
Sep 19-21 : hack.lu                             [Luxembourg District,LUX]
Sep 22-23 : OWASP AppSec                             [Minneapolis,MN,USA]

Oct 10-13 : HITB Security Conference                [Kuala Lumpur,KL,MYS]
Oct 18-19 : SecTor                                       [Toronto,ON,CAN]
Oct 26-29 : HashDays                                     [Lucerne,LU,CHE]

Nov 14-18 : Source-Barcelona                            [Barcelona,B,ESP]

Dec  6- 7 : TakedownCon Vegas                          [Las Vegas,NV,USA]
Dec 12-15 : Black Hat Abu Dhabi                           [Abu Dhabi,ARE]
Dec 27-30 : 28C3                                          [Berlin,BE,DEU]

Not listed: BayThreat, San Diego ToorCon, various BSides.

Is there anyone near Mountain View, CA with a Table Saw that I could use? I don't want to have to buy one just to cut a few two-by-fours; Nor sign up for a communal workspace; Nor rent one for a day. Basically I want to make some wood smaller, and I don't want to spend money to do so.

Let's see... Where was I? Ah yes, in Washington DC. However, currently I'm in Rockville, MD

I've been meaning to write something here for a while, but you know, life keeps on happening. I was going to announce that I'm going to Sweden, but now I've left Sweden. I was there speaking at Sec-T, got interviewed by the press, and was randomly invited to a rave out in the middle of the woods — but still within public transit access, since this is Sweden after all. (It was basically just like the renegade parties in the bay area if you were wondering.) So, then I took a train from Stockholm to Malmö and crashed with my old friend atavist. We took the bus to Copenhagen (yes, over the sea) and I hopped onto a night train to Leuven, by way of Köln and Liège-Guillemins. On this trip, I've encountered quite a few people who didn't speak English. Switching rapidly between English, Swedish, German, French, and Dutch/Flemish has got me so that I'm totally saying the wrong words whenever I try to speak to someone. (I mean like mixing words and syntax from three languages in the same sentence.)

Friday I presented a seminar at COSIC, and spent most of the day there talking to people. (More news later…) And Saturday I got my breakfast, and lunch at the farmer's market here in Leuven. Then explored the city for a while. (The Fonske statue is missing from the Fochplein!) And I'm about to head to Brussels tomorrow to catch a flight back to Arlanda via Riga - to catch my return flight to the US. I'll be wandering around in the streets of Brussels tomorrow afternoon — it's a no-car-day tomorrow. (Speaking of which, I have not been inside a car since I left California.)

Oh, and I'm also going to be speaking at SecTor in Toronto next month.

So, I'm signing up for Google Voice. It's possible to query a database of available phone number nationwide. So these are some interesting numbers which are available now. (You can go get one of these yourself if you want.)

Anyway, which number do you think I should use? All of the really simple patterns have already been taken (repeating, ascending, and descending digit sequences), and most dictionary words. It's as bad as the top level ".COM" namespace.

Poll #1565793 Phone Number
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 37

Which phone number should I use?

And these are some others I noted for some reason(s) that I now forget why:

 801 477 4337
 619 800 0068
 707 500 0053
 507 550 0007
 401 300 0070
 401 300 0050
 401 300 0060
 707 500 0040
 202 455 4321
 773 234 3210
 352 234 3210
 707 654 3232
 707 654 3221
 707 654 3223
 707 654 3207
 773 234 567[52]
 762 233 222[489]
 573 213 678[01387]

I caught a sinus-cold/flu/infection/something; It seems that I only post on LJ when I'm ill. [Probably because it's the only time when I have time.] Well, actually that's not entirely true. Other than a few outings, I've been being a hermit the last few months. I'm just emotionally burnt out, or it's seasonal depression, or (as I believe) hibernation. (Seriously, when the weather is cold, I just want to eat lots of food and sleep.)

Speaking of food. I've been completely vegetarian so far all year¹. Not quite vegan, because I've had eggs twice, and dairy a few times (which I really shouldn't as my body doesn't react to dairy well). Mostly I wanted to see if I could do it, and it's something I've been considering for a long time. My diet was already mostly vegetables anyway for the last few years, so I just stopped eating chicken and fish last month. I've noticed the more raw vegetables I eat, the healthier and more energetic I feel. Aside from this cold/flu/thing I just caught, I've been feeling very physically healthy for the previous month. No so mentally healthy however; I've just really been wanting to be alone for a bit. I need to pull myself and my life back together, figure out who I am, who I want to be, and what I want to do. (And I can't really be myself when other people are around.)

I'm also not flying out to DC for Shmoocon this weekend. The last time I flew with a sinus infection I ended up in the ER with a ruptured sinus cavity. (It was one of those, "Why am I coughing up blood?" situations. Not fun.)

And speaking of conferences. I'm giving a talk at PH-Neutral in May. It'll be something interesting about the PDF format, and the horrible things you can do with it. And I haven't heard back yet to know if I'm speaking at CSW this year or not. (It would be on the [approximately] twelve Acrobat 0-days in the last [approximately] twelve months.) I'll probably drop by the RSA Expo for a day too. If anyone wants free Expo passes I've got a marketing code for one.

(Also for those that know, I've gotten that big financial problem sorted out, and even got a refund.)

---

¹ I should go have a steak to celebrate this achievement!

The year 2009, I believe that I speak for everyone when I say: What the fuck just happened?! This has been one of the craziest fucked up years ever, what the hell was that all about? I'm glad that's over.


[My metaphysical explanation for 2009 is that it was the year of dealing with all the crap from one's past that one had been putting off dealing with.]

What? It can't be Christmas eve. Christmas isn't for at least a few weeks!

1. If you see a photographer in public, don't go up to them and ask/demand money for taking pictures. The next person who does this to me I'm going to consider to be a mugger and treat accordingly.
2. If you see a photographer in public, don't put your hand in front of or on the lens as they're trying to shoot, and whatever you do don't try to grab the camera from their hands. The next time someone does this to me I'm going to consider them an assailant and react accordingly.
3. If you see a photographer in public, don't demand that they give you the film from their camera, that's theft and coercion. The photos belong to the photographer; The law is very explicit about this.

For the last year or so, it's been becoming psychologically more and more difficult for me to take photos. Between the above sorts of things, and lots of people going "OMG!OMG! Don't take my picture!" whenever I'm anywhere nearby. It's just not fun anymore, it actually kinda hurts a little to even photograph now. I'm refusing to let this stop me, but photography has become an effort of willpower.

Twice this year¹, I've been physically assaulted. (Yes, reported to the police, people arrested.) So far I've fought my way out of these situations, with only a split lip, mild concussion, and lots of bruises. And I've had several other close calls. I'm really really starting to get a hair trigger in certain situations. Particularity if I sense I'm about to be violated in some way. For many years, I've just shrugged this sort of stuff off, which has always ended up badly for me — probably why I kept getting into abusive relationships. Really, I've got to take a stand to not let people get away with hurting me anymore.

---

¹ Edit: Twice in the past FOUR MONTHS.

So, so sleepy. I don't know why, but for the last week or so, every time I close my eyes I want to fall asleep. I'm going to bed early, and waking up late, so it's not just sleep-dep. Hopefully it's not mono or something. My guess is that it's some kind of hibernation instinct, now that's it's gotten freezing cold here. That and I'm constantly hungry now, mostly for carbs and fats.

Speaking of eating, I think Thanksgiving is soon, isn't it? Who's doing stuff? I'm going to go to VW's party, and possibly two others. Who else is having a party? (And Sara's party on Sat.)

Oh yeah, I also submitted a talk and a half for Shmoocon.

So, New Years Halloween is upon us again. And I don't have any plans. There's all this stuff: http://twitter.com/sfslim, and a rave up in the woods near Los Gatos (different from the one on Treasure Island), and a party at a friend's place in SF, and Yaoicon, and a zillion other things I'm probably forgetting. I'm leaning towards going out into the wilderness and doing spooky stuff, as I've done the previous two years. So, quick! Someone suggest an activity!

I have one day left in Belgium, before I return to the states. What should I do with it? I've already stomped all over Brussels and Leuven. I suppose I could go over to Gent, or Antwerp, or even visit Paris, FR or Amsterdam, NL. I'm tempted to just buy a ticket, and randomly jump on whatever train leaves next, and jump off wherever it looks interesting. (And I've consumed all the standard things one consumes in Belgium: Frits, Waffles, Chocolate, etc. I wanted to do something that does not have anything to any form of consumption.)

So, I'm not going to Burning Man this year. I'm sinking all of my time and money into traveling to Belgium soon. I mean I could possibly make it to BRC for the weekend, but I can't really justify dropping a big pile of money on it right now. (Unless someone has a spare ticket they can give me.) (Also, I don't really want to go without Nyah, which would require me to get two tickets.) (And I'm sure it's going to be the best year ever, and I'm feeling homesick now, sigh.)

I'm thinking of going to Balsa Man on Saturday, September 5th, if I'm not at Black Rock City.

I recently got a UV LED flashlight, and now I play the What-here-is-florescent-game wherever I go. So, chlorophyll is not, but dust and mold are - mold fluoresces bright yellow (I'm having a bit of a problem with blight at the moment). But one of the stranger things I noticed, was that my tomato seedlings fluoresced red. And on the larger tomato plants, the undersides of the leaves and the newly growing ones also fluoresced red. And on the green onions, the bottom part of the stalks, that area glows red too. So, I'm guessing that it's areas of the plant which have little chlorophyll where this is occurring - or that the chlorophyll is not blocking the light. Most of the other plants I have examined don't fluoresce red. So does anybody know specifically what is fluorescing? I speculate that it might be another pigment like anthocyanin, but that's totally a wild guess.

Update: Oh I should also mention that I have not yet found any flowers which fluoresce. So maybe it's not anthocyanin - if I had an apple I could test this.

Are avocados safe for feline consumption? I have discovered that the big orange kitten in my care, really likes them.

Is anyone driving down to Defcon on Thursday-ish, and going from or through the SF Bay Area? I have a dear close friend who needs a ride down. I'm leaving for Black Hat today, so I can't provide one.

1. Is it just me, or does Coriander/Cilantro smell like an old cat litter box to anyone else? (It tastes unpleasant too.) Edit: If Cilantro is not unpleasant to you, what does it taste like?
2. My birthday is coming up in a few days, I want everyone to NOT give me any presents. I have too many physical objects in my life right now, and I don't need anymore — except hard drives. (Or certain specific camera lenses, which I don't think anyone is going to buy for me.) (I'm considering going up to Harbin to celebrate.) Edit: Oh yeah, and there's a campout rave thing Jul 10-12.
3. For the last several months I've been saving tomato seeds from the various heirloom varieties that I find at various vegetable markets, and planting them, and waiting, and waiting, and being disappointed that none of the seeds sprouted. Except that in the last few weeks, all of the seeds sprouted. I now have at least 200-300 seedlings of many unusual and delicious heirloom tomatoes. So does anyone want any tomato plant seedlings? Also, I still have mimosa tree seedlings too.

Edit: Speaking of weird sensory things, do you find that most glass is slightly green colored. I mean like car windshields and stuff. It's very noticeable when looking at red light through it, most of the red color gets filtered out. My camera lenses don't seem to cut out the red when I look through them, so the terrible red fidelity of my photos is probably just from the sRGB colorspace or something (or the IR bandpass filter cuts off too high). It's kinda frustrating, because I can't get red things to look right. (Kodachrome is much better at this.)

Stuff D700, photo, October 2008, Janurary 2009, Berlin, Germany, Brussles, wedding, 25C3, Maastrict, Liege, Further Confusion, furry, Belgium Julia Wolf Julia Wolf image/jpeg 2008 ( Read more... ) ( Click Here for 32 Photos )

Stuff D700, photo, October 2008, Janurary 2009, Berlin, Germany, Brussles, wedding, 25C3, Maastrict, Liege, Further Confusion, furry, Belgium Julia Wolf Julia Wolf image/jpeg 2008 ( Read more... ) ( Click Here for 10 Photos )

Stuff D700, photo, October 2008, Janurary 2009, Berlin, Germany, Brussles, wedding, 25C3, Maastrict, Liege, Further Confusion, furry, Belgium Julia Wolf Julia Wolf image/jpeg 2008 ( Read more... ) ( Click Here for 48 Photos )

Stuff D700, photo, October 2008, Janurary 2009, Berlin, Germany, Brussles, wedding, 25C3, Maastrict, Liege, Further Confusion, furry, Belgium Julia Wolf Julia Wolf image/jpeg 2008 ( Read more... ) ( Click Here for 30 Photos )

Stuff D700, photo, October 2008, Janurary 2009, Berlin, Germany, Brussles, wedding, 25C3, Maastrict, Liege, Further Confusion, furry, Belgium Julia Wolf Julia Wolf image/jpeg 2008 ( Read more... ) ( Click Here for 55 Photos )

Let's see, there's "Fourth of Juplaya", Toorcamp (kinda late to go now), Anthrocon, "Skeleton Key: A Steampunk Cabaret", a rave somewhere, and a party at veedub's. What else am I missing?

Completely unrelated, a friend of mine's startup needs to hire a backbone networking person. Someone who know about BGP, and how to diagnose major network problems, and knows who to call at what providers to get things fixed. You don't have to be in the bay area for this one.