You might be asking: why would you want to chroot ssh? Why use ssh anyways? Here are the quick answers: FTP usually isn’t great. Unless sent over SSL, all information is sent cleartext. SSH usually is much better. SSH sends all data over an encrypted channel – the main drawback is: you can often browse around the system, and if permissions aren’t set right, read things you shouldn’t be able to. Chroot’d SSH rocks. The solution to both the above problems. So, let me tell a quick story. When I started uni in 2001 I was a nerd. Still a nerd, I guess. I was cramped in my apartment on campus with like 5 boxes, most of them old p100s running Linux or OpenBSD. Life was good. I started a …

For one of my webapp projects I’m needing to layer two images. This isn’t a problem on my laptop – I just fire up GIMP, do some copy ’n pasting, and I’m done. However, since everything needs to be automated (scripted), and on a server – well, you get the point. The great ImageMagick toolkit comes to the rescue. This is highly documented elsewhere, so I’m going to be brief.

I have the pleasure of owning an old T23 laptop. To show you how old this puppy is, the current T series is at T60, and those have been out for over a year. This laptop was made in 2012, and I picked it up somewhat discounted late in 2003. It is now March 2007, and this puppy is still rock solid.

This weekend I went to CKS Memorial Hall and saw my first Taiwanese opera. I had expected powerful singing to dominate the performance, but instead there was plenty of dancing, staged swordplay, and elaborate costumes. Although I went mainly at someone else’s urging, I genuinely enjoyed myself. If you are in Taiwan and have a chance to see an opera, don’t miss it!

It should come as a surprise that I enjoy using Linux. For the record, the first time I booted into Linux on my own was 1997, this was just before entering high school. So, while some of my tech friends played with NT, I was rumbling with the Penguin. Starting in 2000 I was using Linux as my main operating system, sometimes supplemented by OS X, and only using Windows when the gaming urge surfaced. In 2004 I mostly dropped playing any games, which resulted in dropping Windows – and besides for work, I haven’t used it since.

Back in the day the barrier to entry for the Internet was quite high. The technology used required a steep learning curve, the equipment extremely expensive, and sometimes even hard to acquire. Fast forward to 2007 and things have certainly changed. If you know any tech people you can likely get free hosting for a small website, and even more demanding websites can be hosted for not much. The cost of dedicated servers has dropped even more. And the final kicker: web services. I’ve started to think of some web services not as a service, but more like outsourcing requirements.

My life has slowed down to a pleasant pace. Almost every day I wake up, have breakfast at home, then head to Mr. Brown’s Coffeeshop. So, why Mr. Brown’s? Because it offers free internet. Throughout the day, I read, study, and work on the web, trying to build something successful. While it should be obvious, I thoroughly enjoy technology and travel. One of the things I plan to add to my list next is an MBA, although I want to achieve this goal with a little pizzazz.

For one of my projects I need to generate thumbnails for a page. And lots and lots and lots of them. Even though I can generate them via a python script and a very light “gtk browser”, I would prefer to mitigate the server load. To do this I’ve decided to tap into the Alexa Thumbnail Service. They allow two methods: REST and SOAP. After several hours of testing things out, I’ve decided to toss in the towel and settle on REST. If you can spot the error with my SOAP setup, I owe you a beer. I’m using the ZSI module for python.

As some of you may know, I have some projects cooked up. I don’t expect to make a million bucks (wish me luck!), but a few extra bills in the pocket wouldn’t hurt. Plus, I’m seriously considering further education, which will set me back a few-thirty grand. That said, one of my projects will rely heavily on Amazon Web Services. Amazon has, for quite some time now, opened up their information via REST and SOAP. I’ve been trying (virtually the entire day) to get SOAP to work, but seem to get snagged on a few issues. Stay tuned.

I’ve been playing around more with Hamachi, and have decided that it officially rules. Since I’m a big Linux guy I don’t have access to some features, but the program seems to be a gem. It is brainlessly easy to install (even when doing 20 things at once), and works quite well. Thanks to Ben and Sean for helping me test it out.