Selil

I decided I wanted to ride the 2013 Iron Butt Rally. I had been selected to ride in the past but was unable to do so for a variety of what long distance riders would call excuses. Deciding to ride is kind of like deciding you want to have a root canal without anesthesia. Like so many others I waited to be told and waited to be told and hoped that I’d get in and finally I got a nice notice saying I was an entrant. Send in my application fee and keep my mouth shut out of respect for the other riders who were not selected. [Read more →]

I’m in the process of updating the electronics and equipment on my BMW R1200 GS Adventure. In that process, I’ve been looking for a neat tidy solution that will allow me to run various devices. The solution I chose was a solid-state electronic solution from Rowe Electronics called a PDM60. In a later post I’ll get into just how MUCH I’m adding but it is a lot. In the past I’ve build relay based switch blocks that allowed me to put anywhere from 4 to 8 circuits off a separate power system. That is important when you are dealing with the CANBUS or other similarly odd electronics farkle from an OEM. [Read more →]

Water cooler talk can be an interesting diversion if you do not apply too much critical thinking skills to the topic. Today, I am going to go ahead and work through a discussion that comes up every year at universities. Is it ethical for a graduating student to accept a job offer and then rescind the acceptance to take another job offer? For some this is a binary where you gave your word so like it or not you should take the first job. For others this is a market-based decision where you should keep shopping until the last-minute taking succeeding better offers as they come along. There is a bit more to this issue we can parse. [Read more →]

The cybernetics academic community is a rich and varied area of research, but in my opinion it is death to the academic career. The principles of cybernetics were developed and co-opted by what would later become computer scientists. In other disciplines the principles of command and control (which are only one aspect) further eroded the discipline. Much like cyberspace there are many definitions of cybernetics but much like cyberspace they exist as biased by the founding discipline of the viewer. The basic principle is that of feedback loops (which influenced Boyd’s OODA loop and most of decision sciences), and the human as systems (Man machine interface and much of computer science), and finally dynamics of systems (feedbacks, security, etc.).   [Read more →]

For regular readers just skip this. I’m working something out with a vendor on my bike.

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There is a reason the first mass media movie on cyber warfare has the computer WOPR playing games than war. To the technical well-informed individuals who make up the information technology discipline war is a game. WOPR though existed in a cold war period where nuclear Armageddon was always a choice. It represented an advance in command and control of large-scale arsenals and was able to respond to adversarial threats faster than the human operators. [Read more →]

These are some articles I’ve written on the topic.

Liles, S., “ A unified generational warfare model”, The Handbook of 5^th Generation Warfare, 2010

Liles, S., “The issues of non-state actors and the nation state”, Threats in the Age of Obama, 2009

Liles, S., Dietz, J.E., Rogers, M., Larson, D., “Applying traditional military principles to cyber warfare”, Fourth Annual International Conference on Cyber Conflict, Cooperative Cyber Defence, Center of Excellence, June 5 – 8, 2012, Talinn Estonia

Liles, S. ”Cyberwarfare: A form of low-intensity conflict and insurgency”, In proceedings Conference on Cyber Conflict, Cooperative Cyber Defence, Center of Excellence, June 16-18, 2010, Tallinn Estonia

Liles, S., “Cyber warfare compared to fourth and fifth generation warfare as applied to the Internet”. In proceedings of International 2007 International Symposium on Technology and Society: Risk, Vulnerability, Uncertainty, Technology and Society, June 1 – 2, 2007, University of Nevada Las Vegas

Blog posts (less serious) not always as on topic.

Why a cyber Billy Mitchell/Hyman Rickover won’t fix this…

The collision of small wars and cyber wars is not a wikileaked Internet

How to wage cyber warfare: The super empowered individual, Part 8

Cyber Warfare as Low Intensity Conflict

There are lots of doctoral programs in many different disciplines. The doctorate signifies your ability to engage in fundamental research and that you are preeminent expert on some topic. People often get into the game of getting a doctorate for ego, financial, or personal reasons. By far, the number one reason is to get into academia. With the traditional tenure-track academic career field shrinking quickly that is a losing bet. In my field I can mint a dozen PhDs a year and they would all be employed. That doesn’t mean they would be hired into academia. In fact I tell my students that I don’t care if they go into academia as long as they do cool stuff. In many ways that is my primary goal for taking on PhD students. Doing cool stuff.  [Read more →]

Cyber is a short hand for something we don’t understand but we’ll lump it under the word cyber because it is sexy. Cyber can be networks, processing, storage of information, the information itself, cognition, social interaction, and so much more. Technophiles like to think they own the domain of cyber, but really, it is about human use of information. I like to think of cyber as short hand for cybernetics. The reason is that cybernetics is about the information and understanding the input and output of systems. The systems can be technological or human along with hybrids of both. With the understanding of cybernetics as being technological hybrids with human components you start to understand why it appears to be a huge issue. The systems are exceedingly complex. Cyberspace becomes the tool-mediated exploitation of an environment of information. [Read more →]

Just a debacle. Over the last two weeks I’ve watched quietly as a process played out here in my neighborhood. She drives a Cadillac, has blue hair, and wears expensive clothes. She doesn’t belong in the neighborhood though likely lives down in the ramshackle area. My street has the largest houses in the neighborhood and likeliest costlier homes. Yet the haughty seasoned citizen isn’t from this street. I don’t know her. I’ve never talked to her.

It was a brown four door mid 80s beater with no hope of ever hitting the street again. Last fall they pushed it out of the garage and the more toxic former lubricants slowly leaked out of it. It must have meant something to the guy who owned it. The dejected look and the slumped shoulders of despair were evident. All the body language including the shaking hands showed the absolute sadness. They loaded that car I most remember from seeing in old gangster flicks onto a flatbed to send to the crusher.

Any story I gave to the reason for him keeping it would be made up. Perhaps it is the car he brought his kids home in, perhaps it is the car he won in a raffle decades ago, or perhaps it was just a treasured object. The soul wrenching sadness of watching it towed away was obvious.

Ms. blue hair didn’t see that. She drove by our house like a Macy’s pirate checking out his property with a critical eye. Twenty minutes later the code enforcement guys would show up and ticket the car. A few days later she’d walk down our street with her face best described as a pinched crab and she’d be on the phone again. A little while later a police car or code enforcement car would show up. Maybe one of the neighbors was calling her and complaining. Perhaps she is the self-appointed queen of codes and old cars. Protecting us from the wraith of cinder blocks.

I watched this drama play out. I hate people who can’t mind their own business. Sub-divisions are little pits of hell.

There have been requests for my menu for Easter Dinner. So, I am posting it here. (Warning: this is not vegetarian!)

Our family loves a good feast. We have a feast on Thanksgiving (turkey and all the trimmings and way too many pies), Christmas (ham and lots of yummies and more pie), and Easter.

Easter Dinner normally includes lamb, asparagus, and other side dishes. This year I am trying some new recipes – I will post the links to them, but I can’t tell you how good they are yet.

The menu:

Breakfast

Cinnamon Roll Bunnies (http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cinnamon-Roll-Bunnies)

Appetizers

Mustard Dill Tortellini Skewers (http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/mustard-dill-tortellini-salad-skewers-10000001879924/)
Fruit tray
Veggie tray

Dinner

Garlic Roasted Lamb with Apple Mint Jelly
Steamed Asparagus with butter and parmesan cheese
“Everything Stuffing” (although it should be called dressing because it isn’t going inside anything) (http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/-Everything–Stuffing)
Roasted Fingerlings and Green Beans with Creamy Tarragon Dressing (http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-fingerlings-green-beans-with-creamy-tarragon-dressing-10000001723321/)
Apricot-Glazed Carrots (http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/apricot-glazed-carrots-10000000257693/)
Cheddar Bay Biscuits (this is a mix from Red Lobster)

Dessert
Hazelnut Cookies
Pie – flavor still to be decided

The Lamb Recipe

This is something I learned from a friend many years ago and I have adapted a bit.

Ingredients:
1 boneless leg of lamb
8-12 (or more) cloves garlic
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 2-3 springs fresh thyme)
1 Tablespoon dried rosemary (or 4-5 springs fresh rosemary)

Method:
Start with a boneless leg of lamb. Remove it from any packaging but leave it in the string net holding it together.

Rinse it. Place it in the baking pan.

Peel several cloves of garlic (how many depends on how much you like garic and how big the lamb is. I try to include 8 -12 cloves)

With a paring knife make one crosswise cut (stab the knife into the lamb once then a second time perpendicular to the first cut) for each clove of garlic and press the clove into the hole you made. Repeat for each clove of garlic.

Rub the lamb with olive oil (2-3 tablespoons). Sprinkle with course ground sea salt, fresh ground pepper, thyme (~ 1 teaspoon), and rosemary (~ 1 Tablespoon). If you have fresh thyme and rosemary use 3 – 4 springs of each and place across the top of the lamb.

Roast in a 325 degree oven. I always have to look up the time (http://www.bhg.com/decorating/roasting-rules/?page=2)  and it varies depending on the size of your lamb. You want to take it to an internal temperature of 145-170 and this will take between 2 and 4 hours. Use a meat thermometer to make sure. I usually stop the cooking at about 160.

When the internal temperature is reached, remove the lamb from the oven and let sit for a few minutes. Then slice and serve with mint jelly on the side.

Mr. Lewis Shepherd of Microsoft came to Purdue to give a talk for CERIAS awhile back and he talked about how equating the Manhattan Project to the world of cyber security is completely wrong. I liked his talk quite a bit, and it aligned closely with something I’ve been talking to people about for awhile. Talking to people is important. I know my impact on the world is going to be negligible but I’ve dedicated my life to infecting the youth of the world with a few stray ideas. They call it teaching, and it doesn’t pay much. I think Mr. Shepherd was making a good case that scope, and cause and effect, and process of one program might no align realistically with another program. The secrecy, single mindedness, and type of problem that was the Manhattan project has almost nothing to do with the quite different project of cyber security. Much like I’ll never be able to equate my teaching to Socrates, the cyber security community shouldn’t really think “Manhattan Project”.

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My family loves pasta! All kinds of pasta and lots of different pasta sauces. Some of our favorites have always included meat. As we have moved to meatless meals, I have been experimenting with ways to adapt our favorites into meatless alternatives.

One of our favorites is Rachel Ray’s Penne with Classic Bolognese Meat Sauce. It is a nice, light, slightly spicy sauce over yummy penne pasta. I have tried making the recipe but leaving out the meat. It isn’t bad, but it was missing the texture and substance that made it a favorite.

My latest experiment is the best so far.

Ingredients:
8 ounces baby bella (cremini) mushroom – ground
cracked black pepper to taste
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 pinches allspice (the secret ingredient)
½ medium Spanish onion, minced
1/3 cup red wine
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce (if you want to be vegan, make sure this sauce is too because they sometimes contain anchovies).
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound penne pasta

Method:

Start by grinding the mushrooms to the consistency of ground beef. I used a food processor for this task and chopped until the mushrooms were small crumbles.  I use the same food processor to mince the onion so it is very, very small.

Sauté the mushroom crumbles, minced onion, minced garlic and pepper in the olive oil over medium heat until the onion sweetens (about 2 minutes). Add the crushed red pepper and allspice and sauté another minute.

Add the wine and crushed tomatoes. Cover loosely (with the lid slight off the pan) and simmer while you cook the pasta. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and toss it with the sauce.

Serve with a salad and yummy bread. Delicious!

Vacation. It’s one of those words that caused me as a kid to tremble a bit. To understand you’d have to have a clue about how I grew up. From around junior high school through high school graduation I lived on a boat with my family in the Pacific Northwest. My lifestyle was basically one long vacation with bouts of school tossed in the middle of the day. Party? I lived where everybody went to party. So, as a family when we went on vacation it was usually an adventure type of vacation.

Consider most years when school let out at the end of the year for Christmas break (or for me a few days earlier) we’d hoist sail, spin up the engine, and head north. In winter. A sailboat is like a little bit of outdoor paradise. And, we were heading north. We’d head from the Seattle area into the great northern zone of Canada to spend Christmas wherever we’d find snow. Lots of snow. Standing at the wheel of a sailboat with 20 knots of wind coming across the deck with freezing salt water (think about that for a second) hitting you in the face and coating the decks. It builds character. I was 13. That’s how I spent almost every Christmas vacation growing up. So as an adult my vacations aren’t like a lot of other peoples.

For Sydney, she hasn’t had a vacation in 9 years. Sure, we’ve gone places. Yes we’ve spent time on lakes, or traveled around the country. While I drove she graded her students work on her laptop. We chose hotels and destinations based on reviews of the quality of the bandwidth. She did seminars (lectures) on line with her students at all hours of the day with the bottle of Corona just out of webcam view. For my kids and I, we did sort of vacations. Sydney got to do a work as you vacation. Until this year Sydney and I were both academics. Now, I’m the last academic standing in the family. Her new job though comes with an added bonus. Vacation time. So we just took one. [Read more →]