My Public Key

Some of you have wondered what "public_key.asc" was all about in my recent emails. This is my public key:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (GNU/Linux)
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=habX
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

The good news is that some of you are already using this (and for that I'm pretty impressed). The bad news is that the rest of you should already be using it too. Sending emails (or any data for that matter) so that only the intended recipients can read them is something many folks think they are getting but unless you are intentionally encrypting your data, you are not. If you're not a geek and are interested in learning more about this, check out this primer as well as PortableThunderbird with Enigmail/GPG.

"Baby"

Over the past couple of days Danny has been saying what appears to be "baby". Strange thing is, Inna and I don't really use that word so we think we're hearing things. This morning however, Inna is certain he's saying "baby" as it comes out very clear and he repeats it often. Well, it turns out that all the other kids at daycare (all quite older than Danny) call him "baby" in their interactions with him. So maybe "baby" is what he's saying after all?

Photos Uploaded

About time, I know!

My Cancer

Here's a journalist who's got cancer and blogging/podcasting about his experience:

After that day, your life is never the same. "That day" is the day the doctor tells you, "You have cancer." Every one of us knows someone who's had to face that news. It's scary, it's sad. But it's still life, and it's a life worth living. "My Cancer" is a daily account of my life and my fight with cancer.

My next scan is set for July 25. Looking forward to some good news...

BIOS Blues

Lately I feel like I've been cursed when it comes to roll-your-own computers. My nicer machine went dead a couple of months back. Today, I reboot my Ubuntu system to find it will no longer boot-up. What the hell? Why does this keep happening to me? The box surviving POST, hung when it was supposed to launch GRUB. After some analysis, it turns out that if I unplug my SATA hard-drive, all is well. Anyway, to cut a long story short, after a couple of hours of trying to find a way to boot my system with the SATA hard-drive connected so that I could low-level format it (thankfully, I do keep backups), I figured out that if I don't plug the keyboard into the PS/2 socket but rather the USB socket, my system boots up with the SATA drive - no problems. Holy cow, this box is temperamental. A little while later I discover there is a newer BIOS for my motherboard that's still in beta (and has been for the last three years). After flashing the mobo I'm now able to boot up with my keyboard in any of the two sockets. To think I was this close to thinking my SATA drive was a brick. I also learned that my Athlon 900 should fit into my mobo that died a few months back - I wonder if I can bring that back from the dead?