GregLedet.net Adventures in networking, security, and other things

Thanks for all the help folks, but the Evil Empire has stuck

Due to a NDA that I evidently agreed to, I can't tell you much, but I can say that an evil empire has come and taken a lot of money out of my pocket due to what they perceived as an unfair practice.  I'm sure many of you can pick up on what I'm talking about, but that's about as far as I can go with it.

I'm going to ask all of my readers here, that if you can, there's a tip jar located to the right of the page.  That has become the only way I'm going to make anything off of this site; so if you can donate, even a dollar or two, please do.

A climate refugee!

That's what I've been called... a climate refugee.  And I guess it's true.  As much as I love South Louisiana, I wasn't going to stick around for round 3 of these damn hurricanes. Here's how this happened.

I got back to Louisiana on Saturday the 13th, just in time to do the 3 Drunk Guys Aftermath Special.  I went to NOLA and spent the day there with my best friend for his b-day, spending the night there because we were still under a curfew.  On Monday morning, I went into work but had to leave early due to FEMA coming by and doing an inspection.  That afternoon, I decided I was giving my 2 weeks notice and I was going to move up to Ohio to be with my wife.

I ended up going out again on Monday night and I did some thinking.  My apartment still didn't have electricity, everything in my house was covered in mold, and I really didn't want to deal with all the rebuilding yet again, so I made a snap decision to come up here to Ohio permanantly. I put things together on Tuesday, went to work on Wednesday morning to turn in my stuff (laptop, badge, etc) and left on Wednesday afternoon to drive up here.

I fit whatever could fit in the car and left the rest.  Basically I grabbed the clothes that weren't ruined, my server, and a few pictures and stuff.  I already miss home, but I can't let myself continue to do that.  I need to get into the mindset that Ohio is my home now and I need to make my life here.  I went to a job interview yesterday where the guy asked me to shave my goatee.  That really pissed me off, but if it's something I have to do to get a job, I may just have to do it.

Well, now you know why I left and came here.  I needed to get away from Hurricanes and I needed to be with my wife.  That's it in a nutshell!

-Greg

Goodbye Louisiana, hello Ohio

Well, I did it.  I got fed up with all of the Hurricanes hitting South Louisiana and I left.  I am now a resident of the state of Ohio.  Hell, I already opened a bank account here.  I'll post a full story once I get settled down, but right now I just wanted to let everyone know that I made it up here safe.

-Greg

PS: To all you guys that are getting here from Blackhat Security, there's a reason that I'm listed on their blogs.  Go back in my history and you'll see that this blog was originally my place to post Cisco security.

NEW URL FOR THE SHOW

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/3-drunk-guys%3A-aftermath-special

We're live now

Watch Ike on the HurriCam page

I just updated the HurriCam page with live feeds from Houston and Galveston. Scroll down below the maps and you'll find 4 from Houston and 4 from New Orleans. You have to press play to start the streams.

-Greg

The pot calling the kettle black

I'm watching CNN, basically because I don't have the Weather Channel in Ohio (guess they don't have "weather" here), and I'm already seeing video of the Coast Guard having to rescue people that didn't evacuate ahead of Ike.  I didn't evacuate Houma because I sat down and looked at the topology of the land between myself and the Gulf, I looked at past storms and the damage they did, and I made plans with others to be able to get out if the water came up.  These people stayed behind on a barrier island directly in the path of the eye of a storm that the National Hurricane Center called "certain death".

I know it's the pot calling the kettle black, but these people are idiots.

These people decided to ride out the storm and now they are getting scared and want out.  But because the water has already risen over the roads, they have no way out.  So they have to call and put EMS, Fire, Police, and Coast Guard at risk to save them when they made the decision to stay put.  I'm sorry, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for people that stay behind for a storm and have absolutely no backup plan should it get worse than they are prepared to deal with.  A MANDATORY evacuation was issued for Galveston days ago.  I feel that Texas should implement the same plan Louisiana did after Katrina when it comes to mandatory evacuations.  If you stay behind, you are 100% on your own.  Don't call police, don't call EMS, don't call Fire, don't call anyone.  YOU made the decision to stay behind after you were told to leave.  You're the one that needs to deal the the repercussions of your actions.  Don't put other people's lives at risk to save your own.

When I got up here to Ohio, I got to read a lot of what was said about Ron, Dan, and myself and our 3 Drunk Guys webcast.  I saw so many "darwin at work" posts and posts from people saying "they deserve to die".  I want those people to understand that staying behind was an educated decision.  Had I lived on Grand Isle, LA for Gustav, there wouldn't have been a HurriCam, unless someone wanted to look outside the window of an apartment in Bellefontaine, OH.  I was on high ground, surrounded on all 4 sides by protective barriers from flying debris, and I had a backup plan should the worst happen.  These people knowing stayed behind on a barrier island; the highest point of which is 17 feet above sea level; in the face of a storm that is packing a 25 foot storm surge.  My math added up.  Their math is flawed.  If anyone deserves a Darwin Award, it's them... not us.

He comes Ike!

I haven't posted an update this morning because I've been watching Ike VERY closely.  Even though Galveston Island is about to get destroyed by this storm; Terrebonne Parish is going to get some effects from it as well.  Becasuse of the size of Ike, Hurricane force winds will be felt over more than 200 miles of the Gulf Coast, and the Hurricane Warning extends all the way to Morgan City, LA.  Houma sits in the Tropical Storm warning, which extends all the way to the Mississippi/Alabama line, but we're only a 30 minute drive from Morgan City, so we may very well feel some of those Hurricane force winds.

I'm still in Ohio, and to be honest with you, I'm kinda upset about that.  Houma is sitting in a Tropical Storm warning and lower Terrebonne Parish is under a mandatory evacuation due to the storm surge that is already being felt there, and I can't be there. My flight back to New Orleans is tomorrow and I'm kinda afraid that I'm going to be stuck here due to flights possibly getting canceled going into New Orleans.

My heart is with those people from Houston and SE Texas right now.  Especially one of my readers that I posted about earlier... Karen from near Beaumont, TX.  They are staying behind (last I heard from her) and I'm telling you now, it's not gong to be fun.

On a lighter note...  I've heard a lot of crap coming out of Houston since Katrina about all the ecavuees from New Orleans that stayed behind there, raising the crime rate and completely screwing up Houston.  Well Houstonians; if you wanted them to leave, there's no better way than to make them evacuate BACK to New Orleans!  Actually, from what I see on TV, it looks like they are being evacuated to Dallas and Austin.  Maybe they will keep them.

Some people in New York are complete idiots

I've been watching TV today and of course there's a ton of stuff about 9/11.  All of the news channels are talking about both the 9/11 memorials and Hurricane Ike.  Then I saw something that made me want to actually punch a TV.

They were interviewing a gentleman from New York that was at the memorial service they were having near the WTC site.  He was talking about how 9/11 changed his life and all, then the reporter asked him his opinion on Hurricane Ike and the evacuations that are going on during the 9/11 memorials.  This man came out and said, and I'm going to paraphrase here because I don't remember the exact words that he used, that if the people in the Gulf Coast can't handle hurricanes then we should all move.  He went on to say that the US Government was "stupid" to pay $80 Billion to rebuild New Orleans just to have it flood again when the next storm comes and that it's been 3 years since Katrina and we haven't gotten anything accomplished.

Not only did it piss me off that this guy sat there and said something so stupid on national TV, but he had the audacity to do it while standing in front of a 7 year old, $20 Billion hole in the ground.  Now don't get me wrong, 9/11 was a horrible thing, but 80% of New Orleans was under water; whereas the attacks on 9/11 destroyed a mere 8 city blocks.  8 city blocks and the people of the United States have dumped $20 billion into the project already.  And you want to really talk about not getting anything accomplished?  How about the fact that after 7 years, the city of New York hasn't even built the permanent memorial to the people that lost their lives on that day?

Mr. New Yorker, please don't sit there on live TV and tell the world that people who live in hurricane prone areas are stupid.  If you'd climb down off your high-horse and turn on the Discovery Channel every now and again, you'd know that one of FEMA's biggest fears is the very real threat that a hurricane could destroy New York City in the near future.  So when that hurricane comes up there and puts half of your city under water (including the WTC site that is below sea level), don't come evacuate to Louisiana.  There's a lot of alligators in the swamp and I'm sure they would love to get a taste of New York City.

Terrebonne Parish under a Tropical Storm warning

From NOLA.com:

Hurricane Ike's wind field continued to expand overnight, forcing the National Hurricane Center to extend its tropical storm warning area all the way to the Mississippi-Alabama line, including New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain and the Northshore. The tropical storm warning now also includes Terrebonne, Livingston, Ascension, St. James, St. John and northern St. Charles parishes. A hurricane watch remains in effect from Cameron Parish south to near Brownsville, Texas. A tropical storm warning means tropical storm conditions are likely within 24 hours. Ike's hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles from its center and tropical storm force winds greater than 39 mph extend up to 255 miles from its eye.

A coastal flood warning remains in effect for all of southeast Louisiana. According to the National Hurricane Center, the chance of storm surges greater than 5 feet are between 40 and 50 percent for Lake Borgne, extending down the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway towards the Industrial Canal; between 50 and 60 percent south of St. Bernard Parish along the east side of the Mississippi River. On the west side of the river, the chance of surges greater than 5 feet are 5 to 20 percent throughout West Bank communities in Jefferson Parish outside levees and in St. Charles and St. John parishes. Surge also is possible all around Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas.

At 5 a.m., the Slidell office of the National Weather Service said coastal storm surge flooding of 3 to 5 feet above normal tide levels, accompanied by large and dangerous battering waves can be expected across the warning area today through Saturday. Tide levels of 2 to 4 feet above normal are expected by Thursday afternoon in Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas, rising to 3 to 5 feet above normal along their north shores on Thursday night and Friday, as winds shift southeast.

Ike will also drop between 1 and 2 inches of rain across southern Louisiana, with localized flooding from torrential rain possible. Closer to the coast, rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches are possible.

In southeast Louisiana north of tidal lakes, east to southeast winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 45 mph in squalls is possible. A bit farther south, east winds of 25 to 35 mph with higher gusts this morning, increasing to 30 to 40 mph with gusts to 55 mph by late Thursday morning and continuing to Friday morning. Isolated tornadoes also are possible in outer rainband squalls moving onshore today through Friday afternoon. Waterspouts are possible along the shoreline, with seas just offshore expected to reach 20 to 25 feet with random waves of 30 feet today. Long-period swells could produce battering waves of 12 to 15 feet near shore.

Ike remains set to make landfall just west of the Galveston and Houston areas at Freeport, Texas, after 1 a.m. Saturday as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 127 mph.

In a discussion message accompanying their 4 a.m. forecast, Senior Hurricane Specialists Richard Pasch and Jack Beven said Ike continued to have a tiny eye of just under 10 nautical miles in diameter, surrounded by an unusually large field of hurricane-force winds. Ike is expected to move just north of several eddies of warm water as it moves west northwest through the Gulf of Mexico towards landfall. Computer models continue to predict the storm will turn north and then northeast around the western edge of a ridge of high pressure, but differ on when the turn will take place.

"In this case, it is particularly important not to focus on the exact forecast track, since damaging winds extend so far from the center," they said.

The constant screw-up that is the government…

I checked my email this morning and read one that was pretty interesting, so I thought I'd share it with all of you.  Karen from SE Texas writes:

Looks like I'm going to be in need of a good caution stick within the next few hours.    Talk about a cluster...  We had to evac because of Gustav which ended up being nothing for us.  Now they've evacuated S. Texas too early and they can't/won't issue evacuation orders up here in SE Tex because they don't have the resources.  They're basically telling us it's too late now and to shelter in place.  But anyway, that's another story.

Well, wish us luck!

Karen

Yup.  Looks like the Texas government really dropped the ball on Gustav and got everyone out of there for no good reason, and now that Ike is about to crash into the Texas Gulf Coast, they don't have the resources to get the people out.  Looks like Louisiana isn't the only state government that screws up storms.

My best wishes go out to Karen and her family.  I know it sucks to shelter in place and I hope you can get to the store before Ike gets there to get some supplies.  Living on the Gulf Coast, I'm sure you know what to get in preparation of a Hurricane, so get out there and get it.  It looks like Ike may reach Category 3 before making landfall, so depending on your exact location, you may be dealing with the same crap I just dealt with.  Take my advice and if you can get out, then get the hell out!  If you can't afford to leave on your own, borrow some money from a friend or family member.  You may be thinking to yourself "Ahh... it's just a thunderstorm", but when you start seeing your neighbors roofs fly off, you'll get a whole new respect for the power that is a Hurricane.

-Greg