Archive for August 30th, 2007

Sonicwall Avoidance 101 - Getting around political BS blocks

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

So, lets say you have a job.

Its in front of a computer, doing, oh, lets say, local government work. For a county. And your employer, well, they’re dicks about what websites you go to. Sure, you don’t need to be going to jigglygirls.com, or poopchute.net, but lets say you, in the interests of fair discourse, want to go to a local forum, or the website of a local government official.

But man, damned if those rat bastards, those pig fornicating administrative assistants and IT goons aren’t trying to keep you down. Sure, they want you to go to some websites, like the personal ‘news’ website of one of the head honchos, where the news is conveniently pre-filtered and pre-slanted, or maybe to a forum on a local newspaper, where, well, there are other issues, but they’re keeping you down, and not letting you get to where the ACTION is.

Lets just assume that they’re using a content filtering system. Like, say, Sonicwall. Yes, they’re used for filtering bad out of the school websites, so its just natural that you, the grown up working for the .gov, is going to end up being on the business end of the filter stick. Why? Because dammit, these local people just KNOW that they know better than you, they’re doing you a favor and keeping you from going places where you’ll see DISSIDENT opinions.

Hell, if we’re lucky, we might even get into seeing some of these Beijing internet cops that have been in the media lately, looking all cute and cuddly, but all set to handcuff you to a pipe and beat you in the kidneys with FAH Q sticks if you wander down the wrong internet corridor.

Well, don’t say I never did you no favors.

Because circumventing dumbassery is a hobby of mine, and IT is a profession, and dammit freedom is a GOD GIVEN RIGHT, particuarly freedom from political bullshit, I offer you the linked suggestion for a fix.

Now, I preface this by saying there are two fixes here. This is essentially a proxy, and the use of it will surely be viewed as a transgression on IT policy, so they might strap you to the table for it if they catch you, but truth is, they probably won’t. Because the IT guys think the administrative assistant and the political stuff, as we do, is a load of crap, they’re probably not going to bend over backwards to bust you.

Still, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.

Now, if they block that first little linky thing, theres another link with instructions on creating your own proxy on your home (non-work) computer. I neither suggest nor, uh, don’t suggest that you follow instructions and modify computers around, and will under no circumstances fix problems caused by this or comfort you when your computer explodes.

However, I will say “Welcome, pilgrim, to the promised land. The land where the geeks rule, and the good old boys with their power craving weird goat sucking fetishes don’t even realize it”.

Or, I might just say “give me a beer.”

What the hell is wrong with David Beckham?

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

Beckham attacked by flying monkey, 2005Now, with my kids starting soccer (which is another story alltogether), I’m starting to see the dollar signs popping up in my eyes.

Hells yes, people, ol’ AT isn’t one to shy away from exploiting hitherto unknown talents in the children for personal financial gain. Not that I’m planning to sell them to a circus or something (how profitable is that, anyway?) but that I won’t say no to big soccer money. So, in that vein, I’ve started trying to pay attention to soccer, to find out who I’m going to need to network, or off, or whatever.

So it is with dismay that I find out that David Beckham, whom I last saw crying like a baby during the final match of the 2006 World Cup, has managed to injure himself, AGAIN.

In researching his problems, from that little crying incident during the World Cup, to his marrage to one of England’s skankiest washups, to a broken ankle in 2002, to a flying monkey attack in 2005, its easy to see that Becks just isn’t doing too well. Maybe that kind of weenie behavior works out in England, where they say “oi” instead of “hay”, but dammit, the boy lives in the US, and he needs to straighten up and fly right, dammit.

Which leads me to my point.

Uh.

Anyway, Beckham sucks.  I mean, seriously.