Lexicon Additions: FITAD

Let's face it, there are just days that work has you bent over. As good a phrase as BOHICA is, I thought it's 2006, we need a new word. So I submit to you the netizens out there:
FITAD (and two variants)
FITAD (Default): Fucked In The Ass Day

FITAD (Extreme): Fucked In The Ass Dry

FITAD (Repetition): Fucked In The Ass Daily

Your thoughts?

The Ecchi and the Sketchy: Anime Review of DearS

OK so I admit, I like fanservice now and then. So out of morbid curiosity I rented DearS. Please note that this anime title is definitely not for children. An anime title based on manga by the girl-duo known as Peach Pit. Now I'll be frank, if you had asked me if the art style was done by two girls I would have said "Are you kidding me?" but I have to admit they have a definite sense of softness when it comes to their style and they seem to have created a cute and enjoyable little plot.

DearS is about as oversexed as it gets but there are genuine moments of comedy interwoven in a lot of fanservice. Like most ecchi titles sexual humor abounds and sometimes you can't help but laugh in spite of yourself. Episode titles are a great blend of double entendre and ambiguity. Though some elements of the cast go too far, such as an exhibitionist high school teacher who tends to teach english wearing lingerie, the cast of characters isn't so convoluted that you'll lose yourself.

Sometimes the lead voice actors (dub) will grate on your nerves but not so much that you'll be turned away immediately. If you're the sort who is squeamish about nudity don't watch. I doubt there are two episodes where someone isn't scantly clad or in the buff.

The plot is overly condensed and at 12 episodes you don't really get to understand much of the DearS world. In a nutshell, an unfortunate high schooler winds up becoming master to a naive alien girl (Ren). Throughout the story we see how they interact with eachother and others. Takeya (Ren's master) changes from the alien-wary high schooler to an accepting human. If you've watched Ah My Goddess you have a general idea of the premise. For what it's worth though the series does give you a cavity-sweet ending that makes sense. It won't win any awards but then again I doubt the artists ever thought it would. I rate this 6.2/10

Main Site Downtime: Vraxx.com

Well for reasons unknown it looks like uploads to vraxx.com are acting up so I'll be doing updates mostly here in Vraxxism Live!

Coming up this month, I hope to have a few reviews up for several anime releases including the conclusions of Area 88 and the somewhat sketchy DearS. My thoughts on the new Core Duo MacBook Pro's and some general observations about the way 2006 is shaping up.

UPDATE: Well my hosting service has some pretty craptacular customer support but they're fairly good about uptime. Anyway found a fix for the issue I was having so expect a few more reviews and updates soon.

Death of 35mm: I for one hope not

Announcement from Nikon UK

I for one found this very disheartening. Let's face it these days for the average user a digital camera can provide a lot of flexibility. No need to develop film and considerably less fuss with "film". But for those of us that have known the joys of working with a full frame 35mm, you have to admit, there's just nuances to photography that digital won't capture. There's an organic feel to a processed roll of 35 that is difficult to explain.

While I may be a predominantly digital darkroom type of guy these days, I realize that's for the truest form of photography you have to keep your roots. I don't really agree with this particular choice by Nikon's UK unit to discontinue 35mm all together. I can only hope that other vendors (Canon, Konika Minolta, Hasselblad, et al) do not follow suit.

Blogging Versus Journalism

There's something which has been gnawing at me for quite a while. ZDNet has folks that post blogs in sort of an editorial fashion. However unlike conventional print media the results are often that the blogger himself will be inundated with responses both positive and negative. Here's where we get to my sticking point.

When I read ZDNet's bloggers like George Ou, I pretty much throw out the idea that this is an edited piece. It's his opinions and his assessment of something. Do I consider it journalism? Not entirely and here's why. I tend to view journalism as having slightly more structure and often 'oversight' from someone (editor, publisher etc). A blog is just an open forum. Like BBS's and Usenet before it, Blogs these days seem to teem alive with flame and anger. I have to remind myself of this when you see the replies by both the blogger and the blog readers. I'd like to think the IT community is composed of literate, thinking human beings. Let's face it, that's a lie. Most folks that post back to those types of blogs are biased in one fashion or another or just want to see their name in print.

Now I'm not saying I haven't been taken aback by some of the ZD blogs, but at the same time I treat it for what it is, opinions. Everybody is entitled to them. Nobody's forcing you to read them. Much in the same way that I view my blog as my personal journal of odd-ball thoughts and opinions. You're entitled to comment, but I'm not about to hold back any jabs in my replies since this isn't journalism.

Linux/Unix has more vulnerabilities... Or not

CERT Year End Summary

Saw this article posted on Slashdot and thought I'd add my opinions.
The basic gist of the article is as follows:

There were 5198 reported vulnerabilities: 812 Windows operating system vulnerabilities; 2328 Unix/Linux operating vulnerabilities; and 2058 Multiple operating system vulnerabilities.

Noting that Linux/Unix has nearly 3 times the number of flaws. Now is this something unexpected? Does it prove what Windows pundits have been saying for years? I don't believe the answer is quite that black or white.

A raw count is less important than the nature of the flaw and its accessibility. One thing I'd like to see is a break down between local or remotely exploitable. The vector of the flaw is really what to me, defines how severe a flaw is these days. If you're talking about something in which you already need local access first, then exploit, you can most likely lock this down a bit more. A remotely accessible flaw on the other hand or something which cannot be filtered through system change (IP rules, intercepted), security policy or configuration changes is to me a more severe issue.

If you look at the MS exploits, the key problem is the vector is often something that cannot be easily locked down. With Linux/Unix the problem is the myriad of applications written for the OS that can be exploited and a sometimes limited accountability for the application. Neither software model is fool proof, rather there's a pro/con to each. MS generally has fewer known Kernel flaws (yes I'm sure I'll take flack for this statement). While Linux/Unix apps tend to have shorter turn around once the flaw is found.

Everything has flaws, it's a question of how the user is able to deal with it. *steps off the soap box*

WTF is the BFD with TCO

OK so that's a lot of 3-letter phrases in a title. While browsing through /. as I am apt to do on a night where I can't sleep. I happened to find a few articles discussing the merits of switching from an AS/400 system to one hosted on Windows.

Opinions were of course fairly biased against Windows in this particular discussion but I think there were a lot of good points brought up. From my vantage point having worked the Linux/UNIX vs. Windows side I'd have to say there is no black and white answer.

While people can toss around theories and studies saying that in a basic setup Windows outperforms and undercuts Linux/UNIX or vice versa in the end it boils down to some very basic design decisions and management.

Experience of your administrators. Let's face it there's no making up for experience. You can have one good administrator or three mediocre ones but you aren't going to get the same quality of service from the lesser experienced team. Now I am not talking about something as basic as familiarity with the system. I'm talking about down to earth, troubleshooting. When a system is functioning normally day to day operations are going to usually be easier with a Windows system. However the catch-22 is that when things go horribly wrong it is often the Windows admin who is left with two options. Vendor support services or rebuild/refresh.

Flexibility of product in my eyes is something that cuts both ways. Linux/UNIX solutions provide a lot of leeway to the developer and the system administrator but sometimes that myriad of choices makes things harder to debug or optimize out the gate. In comparison the relatively close-ended structure of most Windows solutions mean that you're only going to get a narrow window of movement out the box. The decision about where you want to go with the resources is a sticky subject these days.

Security is the last major factor I wanted to take a look at. Let's face it nobody is perfect. Be it a Windows flaw, a structural issue (network hardware) or a Kernel problem in a Linux/UNIX system there are always going to be issues faced by administrators. With patch management I think Linux and Windows are just about at the same level of work effort required to maintain a current system. There are some subtle differences however.

With Windows you're going to find that nearly every MS Update that gets released will wind up on your box in one form or another. As a Windows admin sometimes I find it irksome that even though I intend to never open IE from one of my servers I know its better to have the update than not.

Linux on the other hand is a bit more selective. A lot of times unless it's the kernel level issue the question is really, do I have this package installed and if so, am I using it at all? In that regard it's nice that I won't necessarily need ALL the updates that I see posted to somewhere like Bugtraq. Of course that just means that I need to provide a little more scrutiny.

So is there a holy grail when deciding which platform/solution to go with? Oh heck no, there's just a series of guidelines about what to factor in when making your decision. As someone who tends to tread lightly in both camps, I think there's times when Linux is a perfect fit while other times Windows clearly has its advantages. Sometimes the best way to win a war, is knowing which battles to fight where. Let me know your thoughts.

New Years -- Same Old Vraxx

Well a heart felt Happy New Years to everybody out there. Not a lot is going to be changing here at Vraxxisms Live! other than more quotes, more photographs and a good healthy doses of Vraxx logic.

I hope to post a few more anime reviews and some of my musings about the IT industry in general. Feedback is always welcome.