Brad Barrish

Hosting Complexities

This gets a bit confusing, so just read through the entire thing before throwing in your $.02. I have a domain that is currently parked with Go Daddy (Host 1). I would like to actually use this domain now. I was thinking about going with DreamHost (Host 2) for the web site and FastMail.FM (Host 3) for the email. I would like to keep Host 1 as the domain host because of their extensive DNS controls and don't trust Host 2 with this. I will get a static IP with Host 2 and just change the MX record to Host 3 for email. Now, here's my question: Can I just change the A record with Host 1 to reflect the IP of my site with Host 2 without running into problems? Go Daddy seems to think I can do this by changing the IP address in the A record to the static IP I get from Host 2.

I realize I could solve all of this by just sticking with one host, but I would prefer to do it this way unless it's going to cause problems. Maybe I'm just crazy (or don't fully understand how networks function).

UPDATE: I went ahead and did everything this afternoon and it all works just fine.

DNC Dean

Howard Dean is good news for the democrats. This morning he was elected chairman of the DNC and this means the party will likely regroup and reorganize. I always liked Dean during the primaries and thought he had a really good chance at being a presidential candidate. He knew how to work in the trenches, he knew how to organize and most of all he knew how to rally the troops. He always came from the heart and seemed to be his own man. I'm looking forward to a better party over the coming years.

Mac Geekery: Security

Last night I happened upon a well-written article on why and how to secure your email over a wireless network using SSH tunneling. I set it up immediately on my machine. I was also paging through the latest issue of Macworld and they had a fantastic feature on security. It never ceases to amaze me that people are so unaware of just how simple it is to secure stuff on your Mac (I'm not talking about PCs because I don't deal with them very often). I would venture to guess that 90% of my clients don't even know there is a built-in firewall in OS X. I was at a new client this afternoon and I went to make sure her firewall was on and sure enough, it wasn't (Apple turns it off by default). She said, "I have a firewall?? How cool!" Apple's built-in firewall is easy to use and there's no excuse for not using it unless you have router. A few other easy tips that I try and implement when clients are open to them:

  1. Set up your security preferences so that a password is required to wake from sleep or screen saver. You can set this up under the Security pane in System Preferences under OS X 10.3.x.
  2. Use a good password for your system. By good, I mean difficult to guess and one that contains numbers and letters.
  3. Use a separate password for your keychain. By default OS X uses the same password that you specified for the system. The easiest way for someone to get your passwords is to look in your keychain.

Marine Layer

A little over a week ago, I was at A's house getting some work done. Her living room overlooks the ocean and when I glanced up from my work, the ocean was gone. I couldn't see much of anything. In a matter of about thirty minutes the temperature probably dropped 10-15 degrees. The marine layer rolled in and made everything kinda spooky. There's not much in the way of weather in California, so it's always a treat when stuff like this happens in the middle of... umm, winter.

Still More Gmail Invites

Get this: I have 50 Gmail invotes to give away. I can't imagine there are 50 people that need them, but I'm happy to send them to anyone. Got a friend, family member or enemy that you think would enjoy a Gmail account? Great, post their email address in the comments and I will get one out to them. Don't worry, you're email address is safe with me and will be deleted once the invitation has been sent.

Remembering Auschwitz

Tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the most notorious Nazi death camp. I decided to take this as an opportunity to share a personal experience about a trip that I took to Poland.

In 1992, I travelled to Poland and Israel as part of the March Of The Living. It's an annual trip that retraces the Holocaust through the concentration and death camps of World War II in Poland and then to Israel for redemption and celebration. I was still in high school when I took this trip and it remains one of the single most defining moments of my life. A seed of hate towards humanity was planted on this trip and I still struggle with it to this day.

The two entires below are from the journal that I kept while I was traveling.

04.30.92 11.38pm

Today was a very rough day. We got on the bus at 5:30am and left Warsaw. We were headed to Auschwitz for The March. It was a four-hour ride, full of laughter and happy times with friends. It retrospect, it seemed a little inappropriate to be celebrating life. Etka Goldenberg, on of the Holocaust survivors, was on our bus. She stood up at the front of the bus and started telling us stories about her survival. Her brother, 20 at the time, as well as her father were both murdered. She told us how it had left a lasting effect on her. She couldn't take showers, she couldn't sleep very well and always thinks people are going to sneak up from behind. She explained that she survived because she didn't give up.

We lined up for The March. Thousands of people from all over the world. We started the 2 - 3 mile walk that our ancestors took. It was the very road on which so many of them had died. I was actually in Auschwitz. I couldn't believe it. As we exited Auschwitz and headed toward Birkenau, you could look ahead and behind and see the thousands of people marching.

As we got closer to Birkenau, I felt very scared. Birkenau was where I lost it. It was incredible. I saw all of the chimneys left over from the barracks. It was all that remained. The barbed wire fence was still there. I went up to it and grasped it in complete pain as I stared off into the sea of people. Tears were streaming down my face. I was sad and so angry at humanity.

05.01.92 11.55pm

Today we went back to Auschwitz-Birkenau. We visited many of the barracks that had been restored. We visited the crematoriums and gas chambers as well. Inside the gas chamber, you could make out finger nail scratches on the concrete walls. There was a small opening at the top where they would drop the canisters of Zyclon-B gas. I felt suffocated and terribly freaked out. The crematorium ovens were dark and dusty. There were ashes still in the ovens. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Hundreds of thousands of people likely died in a single oven.

Block 4 was where we saw the hair brushes, razors and other toiletries that were taken from the prisoners. There were so many! It was overwhelming and I got upset. We then went to Block 5, which was the most difficult of them all. I felt a huge lump form in my throat as I walked down a 50-75 foot hallway with a few tons of human hair on both sides of me. Much of it had been spun into cloth. This was the hair that was shaved from the prisoners' hair. I started crying again. The next room contained shoes and luggage. The number of people who died in this camp was becoming easier to actually comprehend.

The most difficult of all the blocks was the one where they did the medical experiments. It's said that the medical experiments that were done on the prisoners set Auschwitz apart from the other camps. Some of the most unbelievable and terrible things were done to prisoners. The photos on the walls made me sick to my stomach. They showed mainly women, starving to death, sterilized and tortured. I had to leave.

It is of vital importance that we, as human beings, remember those millions of people (6 million of them Jews) that died in the Holocaust at the hands of the Nazis. We must never forget their struggles. It's also important to document survivors' stories. If you have relatives that survived, I urge you to speak with them. Their voices must be heard and their stories must be told. It is essential that future generations have these experiences to study. Most importantly, we must learn from this terrible human atrocity. If we don't examine how Hitler was able to rise to power and kill millions of people, then we are doomed. Sometimes I think that it's already too late. Until we can see past skin color, sex, age, sexual orientation and most especially religion, we will continue marching toward self destruction. When will we wake up to the fact that we are all one? I hope that I live to see such a day.