Matthew Kocsis

SOPA Sucks (and PIPA too)

mkocsis — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:28:56 +0000

I am writing to you as a voter in your district. I urge you to vote “no” on cloture for S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act, on Jan. 24th. The PROTECT IP Act is dangerous, ineffective, and short-sighted. It does not deserve floor consideration. I urge my representative to vote “no” on SOPA, the corresponding House bill.

Over coming days you’ll be hearing from the many businesses, advocacy organizations, and ordinary Americans who oppose this legislation because of the myriad ways in which it will stifle free speech and innovation. We hope you’ll take our concerns to heart and oppose this legislation by voting “no” on cloture.

Beyond the commonly understood ramifications of these bills, there are also some very dangerous technological worries. An explanation from Tom Daly explains it well below. If you don’t understand the material I’m including, then that’s another reason why you shouldn’t be legislating on it!

Explanation from Tom Daly (http://dyn.com/sopa-breaking-dns-parasite-stop-online-piracy/):

ISP-based DNS query manipulation — is the most hazardous to the health of the global DNS.

Implementing such a solution breaks the distributed tree of authority concept used by the DNS by “injecting” U.S. nationalized pieces of DNS policy into the system. ISPs around the United States would become responsible for implementing, maintaining and monitoring these SOPA feeds into their DNS infrastructures, creating an additional layer of operational complexity for their DNS operations. Additionally, since not all DNS systems permit the inclusion of external data feeds to support local policy, many operators would be required to upgrade the recursive DNS infrastructures in significant ways.

There’s a number of conditions that could occur where a SOPA-fed recursive DNS server could hand back incorrect DNS data or be circumvented all together. If an ISP were to have issues pulling the SOPA feed or clearing domains from the SOPA list, a single domain could be blacklisted in the United States when it is perfectly legal to be used. If the source of a SOPA feed were to ever be compromised, an attacker could take critical Internet infrastructure domains offline by adding them to the feed (i.e. root-servers.net).

Savvy users could simply bypass a SOPA-enabled recursive DNS server by pointing their DNS settings to an off-shore recursive DNS server. Technically savvy networks might respond by blocking port 53 externally or by hijacking port 53 traffic on their network to their SOPA-enabled recursive DNS resolvers. Anyone want to bring Net Neutrality into this discussion? What would happen to users if an infringer decided to setup a “free, non-SOPA” recursive DNS server for users to use – one that additionally hijacked legitimate banking, ecommerce and business websites, too?

Thank you for your time,

Matthew Kocsis

mkocsis — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 19:24:29 +0000

December 3, 2011

Senators Bennett, Udall,

I am appalled to learn that you voted on December 1, 2011 to support S.1867, also known as the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. This bill, as I’m sure you’re aware, contains many provisions to keep our armed forces operating for the next year. Unfortunately, I’m sure you are also very aware that this bill includes provisions to hold US citizens indefinitely without access to the US legal system, which we absolutely must have the right to. I ask you today, why do you not respect the lives and rights of your constituents and fellow Americans? Establishing the prescient for a police state is absurd, and your vote paved the way for just that.

In case you are interested in my specific concerns, here are some parts of the bill you voted to pass that I believe are unjust and illegal:

Subtitle D—Detainee Matters
SEC. 1031. AFFIRMATION OF AUTHORITY OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES TO DETAIN COVERED PERSONS PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Congress affirms that the authority of the President to use all necessary and appropriate force pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107–40) includes the authority for the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons (as defined in subsection (b)) pending disposition under the law of war.

(b) COVERED PERSONS.—A covered person under this section is any person as follows:
(1) A person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored those responsible for those attacks.
(2) A person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.
(c) DISPOSITION UNDER LAW OF WAR.—The disposition of a person under the law of war as described in subsection (a) may include the following:
(1) Detention under the law of war without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

Senator, I’m completely confused why you have voted to let the United States of America hold a US citizen without trial for an undetermined time? You have stripped our constitutional rights with this bill and you personally should be ashamed at your actions. With your vote on this bill you have done your Colorado constituents a great disservice.

You vote on this bill will directly influence my vote and campaign contributions in the 2014 and 2016 Senate elections.

Respectfully,

Matthew Kocsis

For You

mkocsis — Fri, 20 May 2011 02:27:38 +0000

Si mi amor es grande,
Si mi amor es fuerte
Si es inmenso, Lo es asi
por ti

Si mi amor es libre
Si mi amor es fiero
Infinitamente Lo es por ti

Y abriremos puertas
Abriremos más.

Si te echase en falta
Viajaría Un quiero
La distancia entre tu amor
Y mi morir

Si te faltase algo,
Yo sería ese algo
Lo que no haga yo por ti
Por ti

Y abriremos puertas
Abriremos más
Mientras haya fuerza
mientras haya fe
En ti

Cuando todo acabe
Como dicen que, ay ,si
En el tiempo yo estaré
Aquí

Sea lo que sea
Lo que tenga que
Que la vida nunca aparte de mi amor

Por ti

Nada es tan difícil
Ni tan delicado
Nada como oir decir por ti
Por ti

-lyrics by Miguel Bosé

Chicken Paprikash

mkocsis — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 05:48:39 +0000

Chicken Paprikash
-Dee Dee Kocsis

4 Chicken Breasts
1 Onion, chopped
1/2 stick butter
3 Cans Chicken broth (@16 oz ea.)
Ketchup/tomato sauce/salsa
1 bay leaf
4C flour
3 eggs
1C sour cream
teriyaki sauce
Paprika
Garlic Powder
Salt + Pepper
Seasonings

-Cut Chicken Breasts into 1 inch pieces, season with salt+garlic + teriyaki sauce. Set aside
-Sautee chopped onion in 1/2 stick of butter until tender
-Add 1C chicken broth, 2T+ paprika. Stir in pan until paste forms (doesn’t have to be too thick though)
-Add Seasoning (Ketchup, tomato sauce, whatever, about 2T each, or whole can of tomato sauce). Add Bay Leaf
-Add Chicken, the rest of the broth (2 cans + remaining of first can)
-Cook Med-High for 45 minutes

Dumplings:
-Bring large pot to boil – halfway full of water + salt to taste
-Take 4C Flour, 3 eggs, 1.25C Water, some salt. Mix well. Needs to be pizza dough consistency (gooey, but not runny – add more flour as necessary)
-Using small spoon, fling scoops of batter into water.
-Boil for 15 minutes
-Strain

Note: If you want the Paprikash to be thicker, add dumplings straight to main pot. Otherwise, rinse them to remove excess starch so it does not thicken the paprikash excessively.

-Add Dumplings to main pot.
-Turn off burner, add 1C sour cream

Let sit for a bit. Can be made ahead of time and refrigerated + heated up.

My Enemy

mkocsis — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:30:14 +0000

One day I will find you
and I’ll finally know what I’ve been searching for.
One day you will see me
like no others looked upon this face before.

dreams
beneath the surface there’s a world that no one sees
a hideaway where I’ve got everything I need.

You’ll shine a light and I’ll be brave enough to breathe
to believe to be free.

You fill these spaces
your weakness strengthens these walls
crawling out from the darkness
my enemy falls.

Making noise through the silence
hearing your call
crawling out of the darkness
my enemy falls.

Crawling out of the darkness…

my heart grows stronger
piece by piece
whole again.

You fill these spaces
your weakness strengthens these walls
crawling out from the darkness
my enemy falls.

Making noise through the silence
hearing your call
crawling out of the darkness
my enemy falls…

Crawling out of the darkness
my enemy falls

crawling out of the darkness…

-Julie Thompson and Super8 & Tab

Still Here

mkocsis — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 07:26:30 +0000

Some days your back’s against the wall
some days you trip and drop the ball
There are days you lie to save face
and other days your soul is out of place

And no matter how many cigarettes you smoke
no matter how many books you read
no matter how many rosaries you pray
your heart won’t belive

Because you’re still here
you’re still here
caught up in the middle of it

and you’re still here
you still cry
walking through the middle of it

Still Here
You’re still here

You’re still here
still here

This day’s designed for you to fail
the wind ignores your chance to sail
you can’t seem to get away from you
you look around infront to wear the truth

No matter how many cigaretters you smoke
no matter how many books you read
no matter how many rosaries you pray
your heart can’t concieve

Why? Cause you’re still here
you’re still here
caught up in the middle of it

And you’re still here
you still cry
walking through the middle of it

Still Here…
Walking throught the middle of it…
You’re still here…

Caught up in the middle of it

I’ll get through……(translate please?)

And you’re still here
you still cry
caught up in the middle of it

You still cry
walking though the middle of it

- Aural Float (lyrics)

Frequency Friday: September

mkocsis — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:33:00 +0000

www.djrfbt.com

Downpipe

mkocsis — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:29:33 +0000

To the music of falling water
and I don’t mean rain

Don’t give me that pain
don’t corner me with that poetry thing

I’m sitting on a rock
at the edge of the world
the red earth and ocean are below me
locked in a distance of erosion
put a rock on me to stop me blowing away

I’m gonna make you shake
I’m gonna make your hand shake

It’s a new day it’s a new day
and my face vibrates with anticipation

I’m gonna make you shake
I’m gonna make your hand shake

And the sky comes down to the ground
letting go with love
and a cell phone rings, rings, rings

Las Vegas in my head
tattoo on my mind
black break black break walls slide
past your, past your tired eyes
I’m on a short fuse
I’m on a good day, but
I’m on a short fuse,
I’m sure that you who guess see me
woman with a small vise saying
shall we have a coffee
somewhere sometime somehow
when you come, come, come, come with me
sounds like I, sounds like I
found my mistake

I’m gonna make you shake
I’m gonna make your hand shake

-D. Ramirez, Mark Knight, Underworld

How to get as far from roads as you can

mkocsis — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 04:10:22 +0000

In planning a backpacking trip, my friend Brian came across some information that there’s a location in the south part of Yellowstone National Park that is farther from a road than any other point in the lower 48. This of course intrigued me, so I looked into it further. This is what I’ve found:

The USGS recently created a dataset called NORM-ED (http://rmgsc.cr.usgs.gov/trip/data/) that calculates the distance in meters from any location in the US to the closest road. Of course the definition of road might be debatable, but for now let’s assume they picked a good one.

Loading the dataset in ArcMap shows us something that looks like this:

Adding some extra geo-data to identify what we’re looking at (and changing Colors):

Zooming in quite a bit, and changing colors again shows this:

Zooming up on the “high” data points gives us this (note the shapes of the mountains):

Plotting these coordinates on google maps gives us something a bit easier to look at:

The google maps pin puts the spot at 44.146862802512736, -110.07588386535645, however this is a reasonably rough estimate, however I expect it to be accurate within several hundred feet. (NORM-ED Data is only calculated every 30 meters). The value from the NORM-ED data is roughly 34941 meters.

Well, looks like I have a destination to go find!

Google Maps Link

The Bucket List

mkocsis — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:20:58 +0000

Learn to tie a bow tie
go sky diving
go scuba diving
have a conversion with a local in a foreign language
drive a jeep with the top and doors off
fly an airplane (solo)
save someone’s life
see a bear in the wild – Accomplished, Saturday July 18, 2009 on Big Game Ridge, Yellowstone.
hike part of the Appalachian Trail
climb a 14,000 ft mountain
play a song on a radio broadcast station (AM, FM)
meet a head of state (former or current)
travel to the entire “This is not Miami” list
touch a big cat (wild or captivity)
cycle “Ride the Rockies”
run a marathon
go sailing
be quoted in something published
apply for a patent
write/make a song of any genre (must be original)
visit every state in the United States
visit every inhabited continent (Antarctica not included)
experience 24 hours of darkness (outside)
experience 24 hours of daylight (outside)
see a VC-25 (or replacement)
attend Sensation White
visit the Vatican
see Mount Everest
touch an Egyptian pyramid
get an advanced degree
walk through “the wave”
bench press 150% of my weight
go up in a hot air balloon
solo water-ski (one ski)