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Interests and Activities
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Internet Issues
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I am an avid Internet user. As part of my work, I use the Internet every day. One significant difference
from most other people, though, is that I rarely use the Internet for "entertainment" purposes. To me,
the Internet is almost exclusively used as a tool. Most people around me know that I spend a fair amount of time
online; however, they're often suprised to find that I know very little about "what's out there"
beyond what I need to know for my job or what bumps into me along the way. I simply don't surf.
That said, however, I'm certainly very aware of some of the "problems" the Internet is currently experiencing.
Under the umbrella of a "right to free speech", far too many people are making far too many things accessible to
far too many people. While I'm not against the right to free speech, I've seen far too many examples of the
damage caused by people that don't have the ability, responsibility, or self-control to avoid making poor
decisions. These people, typically children, need some assistance along the way - and the standard infrastructure
of the Internet provides no means to do so.
So, what am I doing about this? Well, I've been actively building a solution called
NetiSafe that, I think, is
a step in the right direction. As well, here's a brief list of some other resources that I personally use
and/or recommend to others who would like to know more about how to protect themselves, their kids, their
employees, etc. If you have any suggestions for additions to this list, please
contact me.
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HyGuard NetiSafe
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Currently designed for corporate networks of any size, HyGuard NetiSafe is a product designed from
the ground up to provide Internet Content Filtering, Antispam, and Antivirus functionality to
protect employees from undesirable Internet content.
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Norton Internet Security
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Simply a must-have tool for any parent with a computer at home, connected to the Internet. NIS
provides personal computer firewall services to block out would-be hackers, protects from viruses,
an email spam filtering/alerting tool, and parental controls to protect your children while they're online.
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NetMaster Gateway Guardian
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If you have a corporate network, or a small-office / home-office network, GG can be used to protect
your internal network from unwanted intruders. GG provides many additional features including
virtual private networking and sophisticated firewall configuration options.
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DansGuardian
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If you aren't afraid to get to get your hands dirty and have access to a Linux, *BSD, Mac OS X, or
Solaris machine, you can use DansGuardian to quickly and easily implement a fully featured web content
filter that uses phrase matching, PICS filtering, and URL filterting to control access to web content.
This product is distributed under the GNU Public License so it's completely free other than a few
restrictions regarding commercial use. It's a great product and is far cheaper than any competitive,
commercial product (i.e.
HyGuard NetiSafe,
WebWasher,
SurfControl,
Websense,
etc.) Of course, like I said, you'll have to "get your hands dirty" as this requires a lot of knowledge
of how DansGuardian works, Linux System and Network Administration, setting up firewall rules, etc.
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SpamAssassin
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If my description of DansGuardian above didn't scare you off, then take a closer look at SpamAssassin.
This is also a freely available application that can be installed on Linux, Solaris, and other non-Windows
operating systems and is used to filter incoming email, looking for "spam" and taking user-defined
actions against those messages.
SpamAssassin uses a combination of methods to determine whether any given message is spam or not.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of patterns (heuristics) are monitored and each pattern is given a weighting.
If a message matches enough patterns to bring the total weighted score above a certain level, the
message is considered spam and is filtered to a separate list, bounced, and/or forwarded elsewhere.
I receive dozens, if not hundreds, of spam messages every day. SpamAssassin saves me a lot of
time by automatically deleting all obvious spam and dumping all "possibly spam" messages into a
separate folder which I can quickly process separately from my regular mail.
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If you are interested in any of the above products and have any questions, please don't hesitate to
get in touch with me. I'm also available
(for a reasonable fee) if you would like some more directed assistance in getting one (or more) of these products
implemented at your location.
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Wolf Cub Scouts
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I am a volunteer leader of a local Scouts Canada wolf cub pack.
My son is a Cub and how better can I find time to spend with him than to volunteer as a leader
of his Pack? It's a lot of fun and I find it incredibly rewarding to work with kids and teach
them valuable skills and life lessons that will shape their future.
Growing up, I was a Cub as well and the things I learned back then have stayed with me. I have
confidence in the outdoors and great experiences camping with my family "today" that would not
have been so rich and rewarding had I not had the skills I learned as a Cub. "Coming full
circle" by being a leader now and contributing back is the least I could do!
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My Church
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I am a babtized member of Promontory Community Church, where I've been attending
since moving from Broadway Mennonite Brethren back in early 2001 to assist with starting this church on Promontory.
While we've since stepped back, I and my wife were once nominated members of the Church Leadership Team where I
held the position of Church Secretary. I have also served as Lead Technical Manager; responsible for
administrating and maintaining audio, video, computer, and other technical equipment and resources and for
recruiting, training, and coordinating volunteers to operate this equipment during Sunday morning worship services.
Promontory Community Church meets 3 times per week (Saturday evening and twice Sunday morning) in the gym at
Promontory Heights Elementary School (PHES).
For the past two years, I have been the liaison between our church and the school (and school district) and
the Promontory Heights Elementary Community School Association (PHECSA). I meet once per month with PHES
Principal Mr. Krahn, PHECSA Coordinator Michele, and PHES Head Custodian Lawrence to communicate,
discuss, and resolve the various issues that sometimes arise through our use of the school.
Promontory Community Church is a great place to come and meet people and, through the great teaching of our
Pastor, Brian Weibe, learn a little more about God, ourselves and the world around us. We meet in the Promontory
Heights Elementary School gym, so things are pretty casual. Feel free to drop by any time to check us out - and
be sure to say "hi"! (If I'm not at the back near the sound board, you'll find me over by the coffee machine. ;-)
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Linux
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As you've probably figured out by now, I spend a lot of time working with Linux.
Simply put, Linux makes my life
easier. Linux makes it very easy to automate almost any task having to do with computers - and task automation
is a Very Good Thing. 1) You don't forget to do "it" (i.e. backups). 2) You don't get bored
(i.e. complacent) doing "it" (over and over and over again...).
If you know anything about
Linux at all, you'll know that there are many "versions" of Linux from a variety of commercial and/or non-profit
organizations. So, to dispense with any ambiguity, I'll let you know right up-front that my favourite
distribution, by far, is
Debian GNU/Linux.
Now, I'm not going to try to convince you that this is the "right" choice. It very well may not be - for you.
While all Linux distributions are very similar in many ways, Debian caters more towards advanced users. However,
there's no doubt that most other distributions are easier to use - especially for those new to Linux.
(If you're new to Linux and wanting to give it a try, I'd personally recommend
Ubuntu Linux.)
There are many products and applications that are a part of
Linux.
and that I find especially useful and are a part of my everyday life - work or play.
Things that immediately come to mind include:
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Linux Kernel
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The core part of Linux itself. The part that "sits" between the hardware and all of the software that
runs on a Linux system. Many thanks to Linus Torvalds who originally conceived and wrote the Linux Kernel
and who continues to play a very major role in it's continued evolution.
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GNU
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Linux - as an OS - wouldn't exist without GNU! And neither would BASH - my favourite Shell.
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VIM
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Being a programmer, I spend a lot of time editing text files - source code, web pages, etc.
VIM is a "vi clone" on steroids and I use it almost every day. (VIM, not the steroids! ;-)
For instance, this web site was 100% written using VIM. (And, yes, I am very familiar with
Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver, and other WYSIWYG web site development tools.
I just find that my familiarity with HTML, CSS, etc. makes using VIM easier and faster.)
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(Open)SSH
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I use the Secure Shell (ssh) and Secure Copy (scp) every day to work on remote systems, knowing
that all my information and file copies between the systems are encrypted to protect them from
"prying eyes".
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Apache
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The best (and
most popular)
Web Server on the Internet!
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(Open)SSL
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I use Secure Sockets Layer (ssl) extensively for websites that require a secure data
connection between the web browser and the server.
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PHP
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A server-side web scripting / programming language used to build dynamic web sites.
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PostgreSQL
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The best open-source database that I know of. And, while it's not as fast as the more-popular
MySQL (which, like Oracle, I sometimes use), it supports triggers, transactions and foreign keys
(to use as constraints to enforce referential integrity) - features I can't live without! Of
course, Oracle also provides these features (and much more!) but... who can afford it? ;-)
Update:
MySQL
4.x now includes
support for transactions and constraints
using the
InnoDB
storage engine.
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DansGuardian
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See the section above for more information.
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Squid
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Web Content Caching software. A must-have for anyone with a network connected to the Internet.
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SpamAssassin
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See the section above for more information.
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Samba
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Ever wanted/needed a Windows NT/2K/2003 Server for file/print sharing or Domain Authentication
but couldn't afford it? Get Samba! 'nuff said!
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OpenVPN
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SSL-based Virtual Private Networking (VPN) software that's also available for Windows
and Mac (OS X) systems. OpenVPN is used to create encrypted and/or authenticated "tunnels"
through the Internet between two locations. This ability is absolutely critical for
organizations wanting to securely pass information between remote locations over the
Internet. Why pay for expensive leased lines between offices when the Internet (and
VPN) is available so cheaply?
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ReiserFS
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Windows (NT4, 2K, XP, etc.) only supports two types of filesystems - FAT32 and NTFS. Of these,
NTFS is definitely the way to go. Linux has a far greater number of choices and, in my opinion,
the best one of the bunch is ReiserFS.
ReiserFS is a Journaling filesystem. In lay man terms, this means that it's pretty hard to
corrupt the filesystem or lose any data - even if the system crashes (which very rarely
happens in Linux) or the system is unexpectedly rebooted (reset button, power loss, etc.). And,
in the event that a filesystem check is required, it takes but a few seconds to verify everything
is in place and ready to go - unlike most other Linux filesystems or FAT32/NTFS under Windows.
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Well, that's quite a list but, with that, you should now have a pretty good idea as to what I use Linux
for and why I like it so much.
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