A universal truth

I don’t think it’s documented anywhere but it seems to be a universal truth that on commercial firewalls, VPN concentrators, and all network devices that “straddle a security border” (i.e. have 2 NICs one on the inside and one on the outside) they always assign Ethernet 0 for the outside connection and Ethernet 1 for the inside connection. As I said, I don’t think this is required by law or even documented in books like this one or that one but they all seem to do it. On home-brew firewalls I always did it because I always have only one outside connection any potentially many inside connections, so by putting the outside connection first, it lets me have sequentially numbered inside connections. However I recently realized that the answer is more likely to be due to the fact that it is easier to remember that Ethernet 0 is for “O”utside, and Ethernet 1 is for “1”nside.

Emergency Relief for State Medicaid: Urgent issue for people with HIV/AIDS!

Emergency Relief for State Medicaid: Urgent issue for people with HIV/AIDS!

Last month, two bills were introduced that would provide badly needed fiscal relief to state Medicaid programs. The Senate version, S. 2671, was authored by Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) and Gordon Smith (R-Oregon). If passed, the bill would give state Medicaid programs $4.8 billion over 15 months.

Medicaid is the single largest source of federal funding for HIV/AIDS.

Somewhere between 55 and 60 percent of people in the U.S. living with AIDS get their care, treatment, and medications through Medicaid. Last year, legislation passed by Congress sent $10 billion to states for temporary Medicaid relief, allowing many states to avoid drastic cuts and program changes. But that funding ended on July 1st and no further funding has been made available.

You can help secure additional funding for your state Medicaid program by asking your senators to co-sponsor S. 2671.

Click here to send a message to Washington:
New Jersey residents:
http://capwiz.com/njlgc/issues/alert/?alertid=6297851&type=CO
or if you are outside of NJ:
http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/statemedicaid

Dreams I've had this week

1. I was dead, but it was a happy dead. I was able to interact with people, but they couldn’t hear or see me (I don’t know how this makes it “interaction” but it was a dream, eh?). I was really happy to just hang out with my SO knowing that I’d be able to hand out with her like this forever.

2. This morning I got on a pre-6am train and slept as it took me to Maryland. The dream I had was that I was in a aisle at department store like K-Mart sitting there waiting for my train (it was a dream, it doesn’t have to make sense). I was very happy that I could charge my laptop while I was there, almost like I was getting away with something illegal. Well, then the scene was more like Union station and people were lining up to get onto a train, when suddenly two scantily-clad women in green outfits surrounded a woman, pulled out guns, and informed her she that was under arrest. They stood there for a moment, sort of leaning forward to hold her, their breasts sort of “hanging”, nearly falling out of their green outfits. Then they started moving again (the women, not their breasts) and took the criminal away. The dream felt so real that it was a while after I woke up that I realized that no such event happened while waiting to get on the train today.

Seattle Times endorses Kerry!

The Seattle Times today became the first paper to endorse Kerry -- “Four years ago, this page endorsed George W. Bush for president. We cannot do so again . . . Our endorsement of John Kerry is not without reservations, but he is head and shoulders above the incumbent.”

The Wall Street Journal finds that 50% of the electorate think the country is on the wrong track versus just 36% who say it’s on the right track (with the skew amongst uncommitted voters even wider).