freemode.net

OpenSSHd + Cygwin on Windows XP    [ Software ]

Found a good HOWTO-style article on how to set up OpenSSH to run as a daemon under Cygwin for Windows XP:

http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~kscully/SSH/CygwinSSHD_W2K3.html

The quick outline is:

• Install Cygwin, make sure you include the OpenSSH package since it's not included in the default install
• Run '# mkdir -p /home/$username' and then edit /etc/passwd accordingly to create a sane home directory structure
• Run '# ssh-host-config' to generate host keys, add an 'sshd' privsep user, and install sshd as a service
• Run '# sc query sshd' to verify that the service is running
• Run '# ssh-user-config' as necessary to generate private/public SSH keys for users if desired

Framing the debate    [ Politics ]

[ written after reading a newsletter from Colorate State Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon ]

I'm glad to see at least some Democrats turn around and realize what's
going on with Republican "ownership" of issues. This is something we
would cover for varsity debaters, that you need to get your opponent
talking about the issues in the round using your language, and from
your point of view. At that point, even if they debate you to a draw
on the issues, most judges (or voters :) will still vote for you,
since the battle is framed on your terms.

This isn't something that happened overnight, either. Conservatives
have been making a concerted effort since Barry Goldwater got trounced
in '64 to carve out easily defendable positions on key issues, using
very specific language to frame the debate, and sometimes it seems
like the Democrats (generalizing at a national level) have ignored
this and let them do it. There's been some individual exceptions, but
by and large the Democrats have tacitly accepted this Republican
"ownership" and played along instead of framing any kind of national
debate on their terms.

Firefox extensions    [ Software ]

Email from a friend:

If you're using firefox, you might want to check out the following very cool and useful items:

Gmail notifier...this is especially useful for those not running windows:
http://nexgenmedia.net/extensions/

Forecast Fox: this rocks. Very flexible and useful. Not obnoxious or
obtrusive.
http://forecastfox.mozdev.org/

--lin

These are definitely worth checking out if you use Mozilla Firefox as your browser.

Another second inaugural speech    [ Politics ]

Perhaps a more readable and more prescient address than the one just delivered by the 43rd President of the United States is the speech delivered by the 34th President, Dwight Eisenhower, on January 21 1957. Replace "communism" with "terrorism", "Russia" with "the Muslim world", and you've got an amazingly current and more thoughtful and pragmatic take on America's role in the world.

Inauguration    [ Politics ]

It's been a beautiful, expensive party, but there's some gate-crashers too.   Bush's inauguration speech is interesting, but does it herald any real change in American foreign policy?   Of course, there's plenty of things to worry about on that front.