My friend betabug posted a nice review of a camera he recently bought from a department store (yes! your eyes are just fine...). He used to be a photographer and I guess he knows what he is talking about as much as a Polish plumber knows what a waterpipe is.

Before getting this camera, betabug used to take pictures with his phone. wildweasel, a fellow OpenBSD developer and a friend of both of us, used to complain about the "sucky" nature of those pictures, as betabug clearly states in his review:

but since wildweasel has burned a hole in my ears whining about my lousy phone camera pix, I had a look at the digicams.


Well, truth is ... I prefer the "sucky" phone pictures or more exactly the Photoshopped ones!

Here is a picture shot by the new camera:

Well, it's ... normal.

And here is a picture shot by the phone: (and photoshopped)


And another one:


Feel the strange, hazy, verging on the eery atmosphere of these pictures? It's like they have been shot in another space-time continuum. Give betabug a crappy phone camera, he'll produce true art (I really like those pictures a lot), give him a digicam he'll turn into your normal guy taking normal pictures in a normal World.

Phone pictures produce real emotions to their viewer. wildweasel hates them, I love them. The new camera pictures produce almost none, save for a *yawn* ;-)

Do you want betabug's phone-shot pictures back? Then sign the online petition I set up. The more signatures, the better.

I've noticed this morning that Haloscan offers the possibility of rating blog posts. I don't know if it's really useful at this time, maybe it allow me to quickly spot the kind of posts that you like more. Anyway, I activated the feature and you can now rate my blog posts, past, present or future. To do that, simply select the number of stars (on a scale of 5) and that's it.



Note that you need Javascript activated on your browser if you want to use this functionality. Moreover, if you have a FireFox filtering extension such as NoScript, you may need to temporarily or permanently allow Haloscan.

I will let this functionality activated on my blog for a few weeks/months to assess its usefulness. If proven completely useless, I will turn it off.

Je serais cette année sur le stand du projet OpenBSD à Solutions Linux 2008, salon dédié (si on peut dire) au monde du logiciel libre. J'ai prévu d'y être durant toute la durée de l'événement, soit du 29 au 31 janvier inclus. Le stand sera tenu par votre serviteur ainsi que de nombreux autres membres du projet tels que Wim et Marc Espie. Venez donc nous rendre visite et nous faire part de vos idées, questions et commentaires concernant notre projet.

En principe, je m'absenterais le mercredi 30 janvier matin car je ferais une présentation intitulée Virtualisation et sécurité avec jail dans le track Sécurité des conférences payantes. Lors de cette présentation, je couvrirais la fonctionnalité jail du système d'exploitation FreeBSD et les nouveautés introduites par la version 7.0 de cet OS (qui est en RC1 à l'heure où j'écris ces lignes).

En tant qu'intervenant, j'ai la possibilité d'inviter deux personnes à cette présentation payante. Si vous lisez ce billet et que vous souhaitez assister à ma présentation gratuitement, je vous prie de m'envoyer un courriel à mon adresse email (que vous trouverez derrière le hyperlien Contact de la présente page). Les premiers arrivés seront les premiers servis.

I had a knee surgery in March 2007 due to a damaged meniscus. Before that I used to play Basket-Ball quite extensively and when my left knee started hurting me, I converted to Running. Looking backwards, this proved a very silly move. Though I enjoyed Running a lot, it has only made the problem worse until I couldn't run without feeling a strong pain in the knee. My surgeon made me stop by the end of 2003.

By June 2007, I felt ready to go back the way of Sports and Health in general. But Running was not really an option. So I converted to Power Walking, Nordic Walking and Swimming. It proved to be an excellent combination. I will give you a more detailed account on an upcoming post to this blog.

Being an ex-runner, I knew that shoes were paramount and I didn't want to feel joint pain anymore. So I decided to put as much money as required for the sake of comfort and painless effort. I bought a pair of New Balance 1091 Nordic Walking shoes.



First, let me answer the question "Why New Balance and not an another brand?". At the time I used to practice Running, Asics was my Church. I worn off many pairs and I was satisfied overall. I looked for Walking shoes from Asics and they weren't many. But NB has a lot of models to choose from. My mom and my brother who are seasoned Walkers also told me all the good things their feet think of NB shoes. One of my coworkers, a Marathoner, who tried both brands told be that NB was excellent for his activity but less solid on the long term than Asics.

I started my "path" with a basic NB model (I can't recall the model exactly at this time and they are out of my reach in the basement). I was amazed how much comfort I got for a so low a price (I bought them for less than 30 EUR). But after a 45 mins session, my feet were sore. They were also a bit awkward to walk with at a reasonable speed. So I went to Au Vieux Campeur and bought the NB 1091.

These shoes are pretty expensive. At least when I got them (131 EUR). They now sell at half that price. But even with this hefty price tag, they proved excellent. Weighting approx. 425 g, they are heavy but you get an amazing stability and cushioning. My feet never felt sore with these shoes. And I can walk for more than 2 hours at very interesting speeds (8.7 Km/h Power Walking) with no problem. The upper fabric is made of Gore-Tex®. At first, I was afraid this might be problematic in hot/mild temperatures. But hey, it wasn't ... well almost. The fabric is breathable enough to be able to practice your favorite Sports in all weather. The only serious problem I had with it is its initial rigidity. I had problems for bending correctly my feet during the effort but after 5 sessions, the rigidity was not a problem anymore. Of course, the Gore-Tex® proved very efficient during my Power/Nordic Walking sessions under a rainy sky. This happens rather often in Paris. And I had quite a number of 1.5h+ sessions under a heavy rain during which my feet were kept perfectly dry. The Strike Path technology participates a lot in stabilizing the foot during the Walking gait cycle.

After more than 7 months of using the NB 1091 extensively two to four times a week, they started to be worn off. The Gore-Tex® fabric has broken a bit on the sides where it connect to the Toe Protect band and I decided to get two new pairs of NB shoes which I will review after a few months of usage.

If you are looking for excellent shoes for Power/Nordic Walking in all weather conditions even for extensive periods and you don't mind paying a Premium, look no further ... The NB 1091 are simply amazing!

The Shock Doctrine : The Rise Of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein

A few months ago, a coworker of mine highly recommended The Shock Doctrine, the new book of Naomi Klein, a famous journalist known (to me at least) for her excellent investigation of the brand (as in Nike) World that she transcribed in No Logo, a very interesting piece. So I ordered the book and I started reading it as soon as I received it. I read it from cover to cover. Slowly. Going through the shock therapy Naomi has in store for her readers. Digesting all the arguments, theories and historical facts. Does Capitalism profits from Disasters? If so, how? Are there any recipes for the successful Disaster entrepreneur? Can an organization creates havoc for the sake of shareholders' satisfaction? Though highly controversial, the book is backed with very solid arguments and the conclusions are very sound. Naomi's words went down to my bowels and made me feel sick, disoriented and shocked. Some things are stated over and over ad nauseam. But I think this is necessary to make the reader grasp all the implications of such unbelievable revelations and hypothesis.

This is one of the best books I read in 2007 and maybe in the last decade or so. The author has some cool stuff about the book on her website. Make sure to check them out before clicking on that order button.

I gave an account of the hack.lu 2007 security conference during the SUR (Sécurité Unix et Réseaux) group of OSSIR in December with co-worker and fellow DocIslander Jérôme Léonard a.k.a. Mitch. There were many interesting presentations and a few boring ones. But the funniest and the weirdest was Injecting RDS-TMC Traffic Information Signals by Andrea Barisani and Daniele Bianco, two Italian hackers from Inverse Path. The hack.lu slides are not available yet. But this presentation was already given in other security conferences around the World such as CanSecWest for which the slides have been published.

This is a perfect illustration of Alternative Thinking.

If you read French, make sure to check our detailed account of this presentation and all the others we found interesting.

[Afrobeat] Insurrection by The Souljazz Orchestra
From the album Freedom Go No Die.


I discovered this band a few weeks earlier thanks to Radio Nova, a radio I listen to quite often. And I had quite a hard time finding the album in France. As a last resort, I got it from iTunes Store.

I've never heard something as innovative in the Afrobeat landscape as Insurrection, save for Antibalas. It has a very Funky tone made of an elaborate intertwinement of African and Occidental Drums with warm Saxophones. The Musical genre created by Fela Kuti is alive and kicking! Freedom Go No Die features other excellent songs such as Mista President and The Blind Leading The Blind. While these songs are very solid and serious Afrobeat, they didn't sound as new and challenging wrt to the Afrobeat sound I am used to hear elsewhere as Insurrection. My buying advice? get a look at the rating, you don't need me to tell you that you can get this one without further thinking. And if you don't like the Music, maybe you can't resist the beauty of the cover art which I just find awesome!

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
• Label: Do Right!
• Release year: 2006
• Related Artists: Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, Antibalas, The Souljazz Orchestra, Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators, Kokolo, Akoya, Fela Kuti, Tony Allen, Budos Band, Nomo

Extra links:

• The Souljazz Orchestra Official Website
• Insurrection 57 seconds sample (MP3)
• Live "mini" footage on YouTube
• Insurrection (full-length) on YouTube

J'ai assisté à la conférence Hack.lu 2007 au Grand Duché du Luxembourg en décembre dernier avec mon collègue et ami Jérôme Léonard. HAPSIS, notre employeur, nous a permis d'y participer et l'OSSIR nous a sponsorisé pour une partie des frais engagés pour le déplacement. A cet effet, nous avons présenté un compte-rendu de cette sympathique conférence sécurité lors de la réunion du groupe SUR du mardi 08 janvier 2008. Les slides de la présentation sont disponibles en ligne sur le site de l'OSSIR. Vous y trouverez aussi un compte-rendu détaillé de l'événement. Je vous en recommande vivement la lecture.

Je tiens encore à remercier HAPSIS et l'OSSIR.

In 1998, I went to work in Japan for a 6 months period. It was my first real job in the computer industry. A year earlier, I was fresh out of the Engineering School (Ecole Mohammedia d'Ingénieurs, Rabat, Morocco). I sent a truckload of resumes to the local companies and landed an interview at The Casablanca Stock Exchange's IT department. I arrived there pretty early and the receptionist made me sit in a corner. I can't remember exactly how long I waited. But I am sure it was more than 45 minutes. You can imagine my frustration and it only got worse after the manager I had the interview with came down and took me to his office. He asked questions that didn't really make sense while answering many phone calls and reading the newspaper! I felt humiliated. This was more than enough for me to start looking actively for a way to escape the Moroccan "professional" World.

Was it my ka or something else when my long-time friend Fayçal came back to Morocco that summer? He has just finished his Engineering studies in Lyon, France. And he told me about his plans to study business. He happened to have a spare subscription form set for I.A.E. Poitiers, France. The interesting thing about that school was their strong relationships with Asia and Japan specifically. My father was often talking about the Japanese intelligence, the Japanese innovations, the Japanese processes... He had great respect for these people while not meeting one in his whole life. It was the challenge I needed. I wanted to check for myself. Are they more intelligent than anybody else on this Planet? If so, are there any obvious factors to learn from?

Subscribe. Go to France. Pass exam. Come back to Morocco. Gather what's needed for the travel. Go back to France. Study. Land a traineeship at Towa Elex Co. LTD, Tokyo, Japan.

In April 1998, I took the plane to Tokyo. I won't delve into how much of a shock I had, mainly due to the cultural differences. It felt like landing in an Alien planet, full of borgs (joking here to illustrate the shock's force. Nothing to do with how I really do feel about the Japanese) with different customs, different public transportation system ... and different everything! Well, I'll stop short here before starting to write uncontrollably about how much of an experience it was.

But i'd like to tell you one thing. It's about Tea. The very first cup of Tea I was offered there, as a sign of hospitality (or so I guessed), was a green sort that tasted...terrible! I made myself drink it not to offend my host. While I was used to drink Tea on a regular basis, it was the Green Powder Chinese sort that you can find everywhere in Morocco, used as a basis for the sugar-heavy Mint Tea. The Japanese Tea I was offered had no sugar, felt salty and had that my-hair-stands-straight-on-my-head taste of Algae. My goodness! What did I do to deserve this?

Adapt. I strongly wanted to adapt to this weird environment. And if it takes drinking some badly tasting fluid they called tea, so be it! More cups of it when down my throat without causing nausea or sudden death. I adapted to it but without really enjoying it. My mind simply started ignoring its taste.

A few years later, back to France, I surprised myself when ordering some at Japanese restaurants in Paris. I surprised myself even more when I started really enjoying it (and yeah, I even stopped drinking Mint Tea with sugar, it's all natural sugar-free now). I adapted to it very well, as I did for a whole range of food and drinks. The algae taste is not a problem anymore, quite the contrary.

Oh! By the way while I am writing this post I am drinking a wonderful cup of Sencha Fukuyu, the Tea I used to hate ;-). Kanpai!

[Afrobeat] Musicawa Silt by The Daktaris
From the album Soul Explosion.

Musicawa Silt is an excellent Afrobeat/Funk piece. I stumbled upon this 1998 album by chance while browsing pretty much at random eMusic's collection. At first, I didn't believe what I heard. This is exactly the kind of Music I am currently looking for and enjoying. It sounds a lot like Fela Kuti's material with a more Funky tone to it. As always, I often listen to this kind of superb Music with closed eyes (not when I cross the streets of course) because it has that mysterious power to transport me into the comfy realms of my imagination. The Daktaris give me just the right mix of Afrobeat alchemy to lead me to believe I am back to the seventies, a time period I didn't know for real ( I was born in 1974) and the only "solid" references I have about it is from the movies I watched, mainly blaxploitation. Transcendental Music is excellent Music. And that's it. Wanna do your ears a favor? Get Musicawa Silt. Oh and you know what? Get Soul Explosion and travel back in time for about 40 mins. For a time machine, it's quite a bargain.

Meta information:

• Rating: 5/5
• Label: Desco Records
• Release year: 1998
• Related Artists: Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, Antibalas, The Souljazz Orchestra, Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators, Kokolo, Akoya, Fela Kuti, Tony Allen, Budos Band

Extra links:

• The Daktaris at Myspace
• Full-length song (FREE) from tighttunes.com

Well, it's this time again! I'd like to wish you an excellent year 2008 full of every good thing your heart may desire.



And it's about time I come up with new resolutions for this year. But first let us take a quick look at my last year's resolutions.

Well, if you've read my HNY entry from last year, you knew that I made three resolutions:

• Give more love to the people I cherish and care for.
  
• Practice sport seriously and lose (many) extra kilos I've been carrying for too long.
  
• Get a driver license.

As for the first resolution, there is no "scientific" method I can measure with if it's a success or a failure. But from what I see, I consider it done. Don't get me wrong. It doesn't mean I gave a certain "quantity" of love to my loved ones and I'll just stop there. No way! I am always looking forward to give as much love and care to them as I can. And I will make sure I stick with it. Basically, this is now kind of an implicit resolution on the very very long-term until my body hits its grave.

What about the second one? Glad you asked (*cough*), this is one of the areas where I obtained awesome results. I went down from about 89 Kg to barely 74. There is almost no diet involved, besides avoiding eating between meals. The real reason is sports! I have a damaged meniscus that required surgery and this gave me enough of a kick to start on the right path. I regularly practice Power Walking, Nordic Walking and Swimming. I will give you more details about this on a later post.

As for the third one, I didn't make any progress. It's a total failure. This makes me rather sad but now ... it's my top priority for 2008!

I know you can no longer wait ;-) ... So here are Saad's Resolutions 2008:

• Get a driver license. (déjà vu ?)
  
• Re-engineer my "career". The idea behind this is very simple but requires heavy thinking to correctly implement. I need to isolate my top skill weaknesses and make them strengths. The goal here is to seek a better overall equilibrium in my skills as an infosec consultant.
  
• Learn Spanish. I currently speak three langages.

As always, three resolutions are more than enough to keep me busy a full year, besides my other duties.