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	<title>mario a. spinthiras</title>
	<link>http://www.spinthiras.net</link>
	<description>a weblog about unix,networks,computers,aviation,life and all the rest.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:20:40 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss092</docs>
	<language>en</language>
	
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		<title>for s.k</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I wish you could talk too much now&#8230;

Hello&#8230;
Can you hear me
Am I getting through to you
Hello&#8230;
Is it late there
Is there laughter on the line
Are you sure youre there alone
Cuz im
Trying to explain
Somethings wrong
You just dont sound the same
Why dont you
Why dont you
Go outside
Go outside
Kiss the rain
Whenever you need me
Kiss the rain
Whenever Im gone too long
If [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/11/16/for-sk/</link>
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		<title>Sick bandwidth!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[You might be wondering what kind of an Internet connection I might have? Well consider this : I worked for ISPs for the majority of my career thus speeds as close to the backbone as one can get. This is what I have at home in London.
P.S For all you that are jealous , please [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/11/07/sick-bandwidth/</link>
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		<title>cultural difference or cultural experience?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[As many might know London is a multicultural city. It&#8217;s society is built on people&#8217;s culture as it was brought by them or the generations before them. London is pure proof of how a multicultural society functions without discrimination of what ever kind. Recently I met this guy from Turkey. Now obviously back home this [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/09/30/cultural-difference-or-cultural-experience/</link>
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		<title>anything but abuse</title>
		<description><![CDATA[As I was entering a tube station the other day , I walked up to a person behind the tilt. I topped up my oyster card to be able to travel and took out a 20 pound note. Out of natural courtesy I asked the guy if he takes twenty pound notes. His reply simply [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/09/25/anything-but-abuse/</link>
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		<title>my first lecture</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I originally felt I was about to blog this , then thought that it shouldn&#8217;t be any of your business but then I thought why not. This is to share my enthusiasm of what could be the very change I was looking for that gave me an optimistic view of everything. Many of you might [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/09/22/my-first-lecture/</link>
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		<title>Ubuntu and the Ralink rt73 chipset.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m sure that those who deal in wireless know the existence of four tear old Ralink. Ralink does some amazing chipsets with a refined version of what we should have had yesterday and not today. Never the less as I mentioned in a previous post recently , I have bought an Edimax wireless chipset. In [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/09/20/ubuntu-and-the-ralink-rt73-chipset/</link>
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		<title>Quick way to install Ubuntu from a USB stick/thumb drive</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I needed to get Ubuntu 8.04 running as fast as possible on my EEE PC 1000. There were quite a few options such as buying myself a USB dvd-rom drive or converting an IDE to USB drive , etc&#8230; The easiest way is to use a thumb drive / usb stick and about five minutes [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/09/20/quick-way-to-install-ubuntu-from-a-usb-stickthumb-drive/</link>
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		<title>Extending your wireless range on the go.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[While moving around lately I needed something that could boost up my wireless range a little to help the neighbors offer me their wifi services a little easier. So I figured since I was in London I should shop around and pickup a few basic ingredients to make it happen for me. Here are my [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/09/20/extending-your-wireless-range-on-the-go/</link>
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		<title>My new sub-notebook!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Heads up , new geek toy in the house. I pre-ordered an Asus EEEPC 1000 from Amazon about a month ago and as soon as I arrived in London I found it ready for me. For those of you not aware of the EEE series , they are ultra portable notebooks from Asus that have [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/09/20/my-new-sub-notebook/</link>
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		<title>longing for the left seat in the skies</title>
		<description><![CDATA[To those of you who know me in real life you will probably know about my obsession regarding aviation. I usually blabber about it sometimes with such enthusiasm to a point where I can bore airline pilots if I ever had the chance  Going through endless documentaries , documents , websites , ebooks and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/08/16/longing-for-the-left-seat-in-the-skies/</link>
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		<title>the world&#8217;s human face</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Laugh in a subtle grin as if this were a joke. We presume they do to. Why is it we feel the need to demonstrate power in such a large scale?  Is it because we don&#8217;t have enough nuclear weapons to start blowing up planets and other large objects in deep space? Is it because [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/08/15/intergallactic-war-to-save-humanity/</link>
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		<title>the bundled up thoughts of a human being</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I couldn&#8217;t think of a better title for this article since I didn&#8217;t want to break up each and every individual ponder into a blog post which will be as time consuming as pulling an airbus with my teeth across the 130 mile span island I live on.

First off look at this new theme. Away [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/29/the-random-thoughts-of-a-human-being/</link>
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		<title>4400 stopped at season 4</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I recently started watching the 440 series on DVD. Its a well thought sci-fi series , way better than heroes and lost. The effects are not the average adobe stuff , they are very impressive yet subtle enough to keep you glued. I just read that due to budget cuts and other beaurocratical stuff , [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/20/4400-stopped-at-season-4/</link>
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		<title>Ubuntu resume from sleep slow problem fixed!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Who would have thought that something so simple could mess things up so bad? I had a serious problem with resume from sleep with my Toshiba running Hardy 8.04. It turned out just by editing one line I fixed it. Here&#8217;s how.

Nothing clever , but a word first. NetworkManager (gnome) handles my network connections. This [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/20/ubuntu-resume-from-sleep-slow-problem-fixed/</link>
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		<title>Proper DVD playback with Ubuntu 8.04</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Ubuntu by default can play non-encrypted DVDs however the majority of DVDs today are encrypted. To get around this here is a three step procedure to get your DVD playback going. You won&#8217;t find CSS decryption in the repositories and this is why I want to share why it took me more than 30 seconds [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/19/proper-dvd-playback-with-ubuntu-804/</link>
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		<title>The google approach to your DNA</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Made simple , 23andme is a company founded in 2007 by Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki (Google Co-founder Sergey Brin&#8217;s Wife) in an attempt to offer a personalized service to the analysis of your DNA. This meaning that you provide a sample of your saliva (yes you spit in a tube) and ship it to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/19/the-google-approach-to-your-dna/</link>
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		<title>Network Monitoring</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It seems as though this topic has tormented my mind for quite some time now. It is an excellent topic for R&#38;D and something that can keep any system admin troubled. I believe &#8220;effective&#8221; would have been an ideal prefix to the post&#8217;s title since what I have seen so far today is nothing close [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/17/network-monitoring/</link>
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		<title>Can Psystar beat Apple in court?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Psystar is being sued by Apple Inc due to infringing the EULA agreement regarding MAC OS X. This is due to Psystar&#8217;s OpenComputer which comes preinstalled with MAC OS X and appeals since it is a cheap and stable version of a MAC. Apple is also buzzing &#8220;recall&#8221; which is quite an issue. Never the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/16/can-psystar-beat-apple-in-court/</link>
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		<title>Script kiddies caught hacking</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This afternoon I was checking the referrals to this site and I stumbled across something odd. Naturally as a tech-curious person that I am I dug further to exploring the strange URL that referred to my site. Unbelievably enough I found something hilariously serious.This is how I found the script kiddies and it was quite [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/08/i-caught-a-script-kidddie/</link>
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		<title>Creativity and stale ideas</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Sometimes I tend to enjoy listening to the liberated views of individuals that believe that something is irrevocably wrong with the world , society , technology or any other hot topic (excluding politics because I honestly have nothing to do with) that oppose the general public opinion. Now as much as we would like to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/08/creativity-and-stale-ideas/</link>
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		<title>Mysql password reset</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is not something new. Nor is it something super difficult. If you get super lost with mysql passwords , consider this a reminder on how to get your root password back (the mysql root password).


Stop the mysqld daemon process.(/etc/init.d/mysql stop)
Start the mysqld daemon process with the &#8211;skip-grant-tables option (/usr/sbin/mysqld &#8211;skip-grant-tables &#38;)
Start the mysql client [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/08/mysql-password-reset/</link>
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		<title>Chaotic ground services at Larnaca airport</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It seems as though since the acquisition of the Larnaca airport from private hands, things have become  extremely disappointing when it comes to the end customer&#8217;s satisfactory services. Specifically referring to the ground crews which have been privatized (previously the government handled these services) , it also seems that the stories and complaints that have [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/03/chaotic-ground-services-at-larnaca-airport/</link>
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		<title>Learning tools</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve been up to a few things lately. One is a constant called performance learning. Its where I push myself to the limits to learn new things every day in my line of work. Two things that always keep my busy is Cisco and Unix based OSes. Here are two valuable learning tools that will [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/03/learning-tools/</link>
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		<title>Link bandwidth testing</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently it was required to test a 40Mbps link between two cities. In the past testing of such links was suggested to be done with iperf. Iperf is a wonderful tool to handle such tests and it successfully displays a lot of data on the link&#8217;s throughput , loss , jitter , etc&#8230;
This is a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/07/03/link-bandwidth-testing/</link>
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		<title>Which operating system will save you?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If you have ever been round the operating system neighborhood and knocked on every platform door then you know that like most things in life with cars being a good comparison , you can&#8217;t get everything out of an operating system. This is unreasonable for a particular number of reasons and I hate it.

First off [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/06/26/which-operating-system-will-save-you/</link>
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		<title>Vista does Load balancing!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For the first time I&#8217;m impressed with Windows Vista. I wanted to get load balancing running on a Vista machine and I thought it would require a relevant amount of programming amongst other things. None of that! Though it&#8217;s not a visible setting in a dialog box , you can still activate it.

First off some [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/06/26/vista-does-load-balancing/</link>
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		<title>I feel stupid</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After a Saturday filled with everybody else&#8217;s issues other than my own (studying and relaxing , being with people and away from machines) , I suddenly feel stupid. Not because I feel mentally challenged in any way or have a doubt that the intelligence given to me by God has anything to do with my [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/06/21/i-feel-stupid/</link>
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		<title>Hiding Problems</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I recently found this story on a friend&#8217;s blog (in a comment) and I decided to share this with you. It shows you sometimes that real problems do exist within silly things and the only thing stopping us from identifying and resolving problems (especially ones that seem silly to us) is the fact that we [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/06/20/hiding-problems/</link>
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		<title>Taking apart a deb package</title>
		<description><![CDATA[*.deb packages are well known from Debian and the later on Ubuntu. They are packages which contain software and automated instructions on the installation of that software on your computer. The extension deb comes from the Debian&#8217;s maker&#8217;s wife which you can guess her name is Debora.
Today after a long time I decided to take [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/06/18/taking-apart-a-deb-package/</link>
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		<title>Thoughts on future tripleplay broadband</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Before I spit my words of justice it would be fair to mention a very interesting belief of mine. When CyTA originally came out with a 640Kbps DSL service , take my word for it when I say that was NOT a revolution. I stayed with POTS for quite a while before moving on to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/06/17/thoughts-on-future-tripleplay-broadband/</link>
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		<title>HP/ATTO SCSI drivers anyone?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I got around to setting up a backup project. The original plan was a Microsoft Windows 2003 deployment with HP Openview Storageworks and complicated (needlessly) deployment design. It also consisted of an HP MSL2024 tape library (I hate tapes) , an HP DL380 G5 server and an annoying ATTO SCSI card (dual channel , u320 [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/06/16/hpatto-scsi-drivers-anyone/</link>
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		<title>A bunch of network admin&#8217;s applications (Linux)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After considerable thought I decided to let you know on some tools I use for troubleshooting , auditing and analyzing networks. I truly cannot work without these tools. This is a Linux only set of applications. For any windows ports you will have to do your own digging. I have used most of these over [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/06/15/a-bunch-of-network-admins-applications-linux/</link>
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		<title>Essential Ubuntu Desktop Apps</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Ubuntu always had a super challenging task of proving worthy to desktop users. This task is Ubuntu&#8217;s burden twice as heavy as any other operating systems simply because there weren&#8217;t enough believers in the world to back it up. Now that Ubuntu has been proven to be the nicest of things Linux has given us [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/06/15/essential-ubuntu-desktop-apps/</link>
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		<title>My Ubuntu 8.04 finally</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Other than the fact that I finally found time to update my blog , I also found the time to install Ubuntu 8.04 hardy heron on my Toshiba. I honestly didn&#8217;t like the brown stuff again so I gave it a facelift. This is what it looks like and I&#8217;m also including a list of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/06/14/my-ubuntu-804-finally/</link>
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		<title>Project deb-raptor is alive</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Finally after a lot of planning and designing I have managed to get the show on the road. I am currently working on a project to make life easier for deb package management across multiple machines. The project is now alive and it is called deb-raptor (raptor comes from remote-apt and it sounds like raptor)

For [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/05/11/project-deb-raptor-is-active/</link>
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		<title>Ethics in Computer Software Licensing</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I wouldn&#8217;t call this ethics than I would comparing the lines of my beliefs and others to the lines of the law which address computer software crackers and unlicensed software users. This is as clear as it gets and if you don&#8217;t like it , use free software 

I recently had a conversation with someone [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/05/10/ethics-in-computer-software-licensing/</link>
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		<title>Design flaw causes side cracks! Attention macbook owners</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is to the attention of all macook owners. A little story that might interest you on a design flaw with the adorable macbook.


To make clear what I am talking about&#8230; look at this&#8230;

I spend quite a lot of time using my mac. I use it at the office , in data centers , in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/05/03/attention-macbook-owners/</link>
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		<title>When people matter</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Sometimes , somehow , people have the most amazing ability to mess up how you feel , tangle your train of thought into a very wrong bumper car like drive. This usually happens when people care , when people matter. This is my story on such a person , such a person that was here [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/05/01/when-people-matter/</link>
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		<title>Cyprus Football Hooliganism</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Its Easter here in Cyprus and a very soothingly calm one it is. Ive been meaning to write earlier but I was busy with real things such as socializing , going out ,  staying away from the puter , trying not to think about the puter , trying to deny the puter , but apparently you can [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/04/27/cyprus-football-hooliganism/</link>
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		<title>Your computer is old</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Its not old. Its very old. Its almost time to throw it in the bin and buy a new shiny new mac book pro. Its time you smashed it into a million pieces because its slow , noisy and dirty. What a fantastic reason to buy a new computer? Or is it? When you say [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/04/23/your-computer-is-old/</link>
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		<title>The blogger revised</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is how I think I have reached the next level of an Internet presence and what thinks look like from the angle and height of a new perception.

The term blogger reminds me more of someone writing endless words and words on something not very cool or interesting. I tend to avoid technical posts since [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/04/23/the-blogger-revised/</link>
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		<title>Ignorance on wireless network security!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I don&#8217;t tend to go into the office on a Saturday but network engineers on standby are a little worse than doctors on call  When I left the buiding I decided to keep my macbook out of my back pack and held it open with a little application called &#8220;KisMAC&#8221; . It is the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/04/20/export-ignorancemax-encryptionorly-greet-wardriver-kiddie/</link>
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		<title>Job Jumping Jacks , the ISP story</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is how I &#8220;grew up&#8221; in ISPs. I mean no disrespect to any other ISPs from the content of this blog post, including the ISPs that employed me in the past and my current employers. Try and think of it as a spiritual insight of what things are supposed to be and where people [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/04/18/job-jumping-jacks-the-isp-story/</link>
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		<title>machines are as bad as their makers</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Unfortunately I am here for a regular trash session. I believe the best thing I ever do on my blog is speak of an enlightment with regards to technology that people cannot see happening since they are happy with their current status , their lives and everything else that makes them irrevocably human (see architect [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/04/17/machines-are-as-bad-as-their-makers/</link>
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		<title>How to successfully waste 101 minutes of your life</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Greetings,
I just thought I&#8217;d let you know that after quite a while passing that I have it laying on my computer , I finally managed to get round to watching a movie called Bug which was released in 2006.

The movie portrays the loneliness of a mid 30&#8217;s woman in the states. Along comes some psycho [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/04/13/how-to-successfully-waste-101-minutes-of-your-life/</link>
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		<title>Real Time IOS with QNX</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I know this is not anything new but it is never the less exciting and breath-taking. It is very true that Cisco announced a real time based IOS in 2004 for use with their mind blowing CRS-1 routing systems and the 12000 series routers which are both carrier grade and carrier usage systems.

The IOS XR [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/04/13/real-time-ios-with-qnx/</link>
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		<title>Static routes with Linux</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a mental sidenote for all of us. All techs tend to forget commands sometimes , this is me trying not to. Playing about with static routes on Linux.

To easily view your routing table do a route -n command. The output is examplified below.
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway   [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/04/13/static-routes-with-linux/</link>
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		<title>Re-generating RSA/DSA Keys with OpenSSH</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The other day I thought it was going to be a quiet peaceful afternoon where I could sit down at my office and finish off some pending tasks I had in the way. My foot I did!
A machine I had went all nasty with one of the two drives in an o/s dependant RAID (1). [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/04/10/re-generating-rsadsa-keys-with-openssh/</link>
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		<title>Get rid of your PIX&#8230;and get an ASA</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Most of you out there that have a PIX know how frustrating the CLI is and how obnoxious the PIX Device Manager is. Luckily enough for all of you PIX owners out there Cisco has a technology migration program where you can give in your PIX for an NFR (Not For Resale) and get an [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/04/10/get-rid-of-your-pixand-get-an-asa/</link>
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		<title>MTN: Just when you thought they couldn&#8217;t get any worse.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Well they did. If you remember I had a story on MTN clearly displaying the poor procedure paths they follow to get the final result ; the service promised to the customer. They did a poor job out of that. But what happened a few weeks after that is really nasty.
     [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/04/05/mtn-just-when-you-thought-they-couldnt-get-any-worse/</link>
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		<title>./mario &#8211;vv (Recap)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[    Theres not much to day. Its currently 11:21 PM after a very pleasing and relaxing Sunday. Today it was more or less a quiet day , family gathering in Larnaca and the yada yada family associated stuff that comes with it.  Theres more though :)&#8230;..

I did manage to study for my first CCNP [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/03/23/mario-vv-recap/</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Letting go of the sysadm&#8217;s frustration</title>
		<description><![CDATA[                   If you are a sysadm/netadm/neteng or any kind of tech geek and you are reading             this then you probably know what admins occasionally go [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/03/17/taking-a-step-back-admins-fffffrustration/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Recovering Windows Vista Boot Records</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is how I got into a lot of trouble. I have a Toshiba notebook. A fine machine with a very ergonomic and easy to use keyboard , enough touch pad space when not using a mouse , a very nice and glossy 15&#8243; wide screen monitor , enough battery time for most mobile users [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/03/16/recovering-windows-vista-boot-records/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Gaining Constants</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Tonight I will be weaving words out of a purpose so greatly known to human beings throughout their lives without themselves even realizing they are in need of such a purpose and some , which foolishly choose to deny while as the cherry on the top fool always chooses to defy such purpose.
No no no [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/03/10/gaining-constants/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>A bit about growing up</title>
		<description><![CDATA[    When I was roughly eight years of age I was a knee-high young lad with not much to worry about in the world. A full spec BMX , my-dog-ate-my-homework kind of boy - All I really wanted to do was waste my time playing with Lego or watching cartoons at the time. This all [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/02/25/a-bit-about-growing-up/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Operating Systems &#038; Marketing Research</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Let us take Ubuntu into play here for a minute. Why does Ubuntu look so ugly? It honestly without doubt looks like a TGI Friday&#8217;s Jack Daniels steak digestion outcome on a Friday night. Why? Perhaps the best excuse is the lack or marketing research? Or better yet the fact that Linux users get to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/02/09/eyecandy-from-a-new-installation/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Site&#8217;s New Home - spinthiras.net</title>
		<description><![CDATA[    As you can apparently see I moved my blog from blupenguin.com to spinthiras.net as I felt it would be more appropriate.  	A few things I have done lately:Reading a book about fiber optic cabling technologies

Read about Charles Manson
Read about the &#8220;Residual Self Image&#8221;  - This became famous from the Matrix.
Writing a couple of articles that [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/02/09/sites-new-home-spinthirasnet/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>RAID1 on Ubuntu 6.06.1 Server - Part II - Replacing &#038; Rebuilding</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In my previous article I explained the process in both theory and implementation on how to go about having a setup where you have an OS dependent RAID (Soft-RAID) while as the motherboard having features to assist Soft-RAID we still implement it the same way as we would without such pseudo-features.
In this article I will [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/02/05/raid1-on-ubuntu-6061-server-part-ii-replacing-rebuilding/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>MTN is worse than CyTA</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In Cyprus , being the tiny dot on the globe that we are without a hope of any potential GSM providers doing the right thing , we get two choices. MTN (formerly known as Areeba) and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority GSM service.
I recently became a customer of MTN&#8217;s &#8220;Pay-Monthly&#8221; service and boy-o-boy that was a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/02/05/mtn-is-worse-than-cyta/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>unbelievable stupidity - bash.org</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#60;Cthon98&#62; hey, if you type in your pw, it will show as stars
&#60;Cthon98&#62; ********* see!
&#60;AzureDiamond&#62; hunter2
&#60;AzureDiamond&#62; doesnt look like stars to me
&#60;Cthon98&#62; &#60;AzureDiamond&#62; *******
&#60;Cthon98&#62; thats what I see
&#60;AzureDiamond&#62; oh, really?
&#60;Cthon98&#62; Absolutely
&#60;AzureDiamond&#62; you can go hunter2 my hunter2-ing hunter2
&#60;AzureDiamond&#62; haha, does that look funny to you?
&#60;Cthon98&#62; lol, yes. See, when YOU type hunter2, it shows to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/02/05/unbelievable-stupidity-bashorg/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>I.T Education vs. Certification</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a topic that I have engaged into endless conversation with. The humor in it is that there is no one person that will give you both sides to the story or trust in half of each when going through an issue such as this. It is true I.T is a complexity of it&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2008/01/16/it-education-vs-certification/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Welcome to my miserable Christmas spirit</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I wish there were some function that would override the need to speak , to feel and to provide output for no given reason to others. I wish humans were a little less deep thinkers , perhaps droplets in a mindful of rain. It seems as though passion for thought is something that only progresses [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/12/24/welcome-to-my-miserable-christmas-spirit/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Cyprus Linux User Group Meeting!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Hello there. This is to inform you all that there will be a very exciting meeting of the Cyprus Linux User Group which has not been active for quite some time now. Hundreds of people have shown interest in our meet and it seems that many people want to listen to what we have to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/12/22/cyprus-linux-user-group-meeting/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Dual master MySQL replication</title>
		<description><![CDATA[You might have searched high and low on the net to find a method of properly deploying a twin machine setup with mysql databases where you want to replicate one to another and vice versa. Well the truth is that when I searched around nothing spectacularly working was found ; and if found it had [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/12/22/dual-master-mysql-replication/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Dusty Blog , Rusty Blogger</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I would like to apologize on my absence here. I honestly visited my blog today after a while and actually forgot what it looked like (I humor you not). I started out with a new job at CableNet and I am putting in a lot of concentration in order to focus while the adjustment period [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/12/19/dusty-blog-rusty-blogger/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Airport Wireless Network Playtime</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently I was on a business trip to the world&#8217;s finest engineering country ; Germany. As I was sitting in the lounge waiting for my first flight I couldn&#8217;t help taking out my notebook. I hooked up on the first wireless network I found there which was CytaNet&#8217;s WIFI zone service they offer around the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/12/19/airport-wireless-network-playtime/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Pure Evil in a white plastic chassis</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Reading from my blog you should know by now that I am a Linux lover ; probably the biggest Linux lover I know. But then again when pure evil hits you in the face and begs you to be a simpler desktop user because you can achieve more by doing less&#8230; Then you really start [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/29/pure-evil-in-a-white-plastic-chassis/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Software RAID1 on Ubuntu 6.06.1 Server</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a complete walk through of installing Ubuntu 6.06.1 Server with the use of software RAID1 which is configured prior to the installation of your system. Sometimes RAID with SATA drives are usually referred to as Fake-RAID or O/S dependent RAID. Indeed this is not a viable solution to some practical applications but this [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/27/software-raid1-on-ubuntu-6061-server/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Pretty open source desktop</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is my desktop. My Linux desktop. Not the crappy vista stuff. The beautiful open source super duper desktop. I have screenshots with many different moods and actions. Enjoy but most of all understand that Linux is the solution to the problem described as the constraints of a commercial closed-source desktop. No freedom , no [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/24/pretty-open-source-desktop/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>VPN via tunnel interfaces</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A while back I had a VPN which had to be implemented a little different to how we would traditionally set them up using crypto maps and corresponding access lists. Those of you out there that have implemented VPNs this way know that there is an overhead called hassle when something goes wrong with these [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/24/vpn-via-tunnel-interfaces/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Mozilla Firefox Password Recovery</title>
		<description><![CDATA[So you have your password saved in your firefox browser but do not remember it so you can use it elsewhere. That pretty much makes you feel frustrated don&#8217;t you ? I am sure your about to google the hell out of a password revealer or some sort of other application to retrieve your password [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/24/mozilla-firefox-password-recovery/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Do not use the &#8220;BLARS.ORG&#8221; DNSBL!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently I had an issue with the titled blacklist. I didn&#8217;t feel that I had done anything to be blacklisted as spam nor do I have any hidden tendancies tlo send unsolicited email in any way. To add to that , I do not have a virus either , I am a Linux user for [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/24/do-not-use-the-blarsorg-dnsbl/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Apple&#8217;s Humor!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[You really cannot beat this. My next puter has to be a mac. This is Apple&#8217;s fine humor and minor kicks n sticks for a better o/s 

]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/24/apples-humor/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>CCNP</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I am actually considering taking all exams (4 of them) in 1 day. Ive been studying for 10 hours daily for two weeks now. Don&#8217;t any of you dare to say I can&#8217;t do it. I will&#8230;because I can.
Mario
]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/17/ccnp/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Unbelievable Parents</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve always been a very liberal child being allowed to do as I please , make mistakes and so on. One thing my parents (especially my father) made clear is that it is human to make stupid mistakes with no driven logic to the thoughts that caused them and that in the case of advice [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/17/parents-and-their-unbelivable-crap/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Human imperfection - fear</title>
		<description><![CDATA[According to Charlie Greer &#8220;the National Science Foundation put out some very interesting statistics (&#8230;) the average person thinks about twelve thousand thoughts per day. A deeper thinker (&#8230;) puts forth fifty thousand thoughts daily.&#8221;  Many  years ago it has been less than that (around a tenth of what it is today) and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/15/human-imperfection-fear/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>R&#8217;n&#8217;R</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I am currently studying for an exam lately and I&#8217;m resting to prepare for my new job on Monday. It&#8217;s all good so far , I met the people I&#8217;m going to be working with and there is a vein of positivity which makes me glad. The CTO was more than thrilled to have me [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/15/rnr/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>New blog , migrated and finished</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Finally I got the new blog up and running perfectly in no time at all. I switched hosting provider to JoomLinux and I must say the guys do know what they are doing. Migration took me a total of 5 minutes and that is late night time where my brain functions are mostly sleeping!
For hosting [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/13/new-blog-migrated-and-finished/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Books have arrived!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I got my books today. CCNP books , a book on fiber , 2 books on triple-play services , 1 book on VoIP and one book on QoS. Have to get my A+ out of my way in order to dig into the books. Also SK promised to lend me a book on some really [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/13/books-have-arrived/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>New domain. New site design , the blog remains intact! hooray!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Something will go here&#8230; I am sure.
]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/13/new-domain-new-site-design-the-blog-remains-intact-hooray/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Youtube monkeys</title>
		<description><![CDATA[You just have to love what Google has done with Youtube. This is their 500 Error.

]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/11/youtube-monkeys/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Royaltee free music - Jamendo.com</title>
		<description><![CDATA[So ever since I found this site (thanks to Dinos) it seems as if I have never listened to any stupid tune any famous commercial singer / DJ anymore.
Jamendo seems to have some very nifty lounge music (which I mostly listen to) that is perfect stuff. Torrents available and many sources for a quick download [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/05/royaltee-free-music-jamendocom/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Swift transitions , trophies to snatch</title>
		<description><![CDATA[    Greetings once again
I am currently studying for the BCMSN exam for my CCNP , studying for my CompTIA A+ , changing job and in between tons of studying trying to catch some shut-eye for recharging.
I know there hasn&#8217;t been much to say lately but I&#8217;m sure there will be some pics from some serious [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/11/05/swift-transitions-trophies-to-snatch/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Bookworm!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[    Please be quiet. A bookworm is currently studying&#8230;.
        1        &#8220;Introduction to Fiber Optics, Third Edition&#8221;
John Crisp; Paperback; $28.45
Sold by: Amazon.com
1     &#8220;Broadband Network Architectures: Designing and Deploying Triple-Play Services&#8221;
Chris Hellberg; Paperback; $59.99
Sold by: Amazon.com
1     &#8220;CCNP ONT Official Exam Certification Guide&#8221;
Amir Ranjbar; Hardcover; $37.79
Sold by: Amazon.com
1     &#8220;IPTV Crash Course&#8221;
Joseph W. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/10/31/bookworm/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Motivation - Human function at work?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[    In human beings motivation is a mechanism of which the mind uses in order to inform us of a need and initiate desire effects upon us which in due turn enable us to complete a certain task or goal. While motivation is the mechanism that drives us it also serves as a thin line [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/10/31/motivation-human-function-at-work/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>./myLinux. Tux kicked out the door</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Many of the people around me that are geek-aware to acknowledge my Linux loving nature. There is not one thing that can be done with any other O/S that cannot be accomplished with Linux a lot easier (this being in all areas except specialization with graphics and design). I have found myself a Linux user [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/10/30/mylinux-tux-kicked-out-the-door/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Allergic to idiots</title>
		<description><![CDATA[    Yes it&#8217;s true. I am allergic to idiots. Note this is not my diary where I post all the luvy duby incidents. This is my blog and I state clearly and firmly that idiots give me headaches. Idiots give me the following problems both in business and pleasure:


They are non productive
Prone to lies
Bring their [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/10/29/allergic-to-idiots/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Blog Attempt No.5 - Inevitability in practical application</title>
		<description><![CDATA[    Here we are again. You , me and the rest of the web population out there. Luckily there are ignorant individuals which choose to ignore the existence and power of the Internet by automatically thinking that a newspaper can beat google news. Never the less these are the individuals which will not be here [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/10/27/blog-attempt-no5-inevitability-in-practical-application/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>God has logged on.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Once again , found somewhere on the Internet and saved for humorous purposes so it doesn&#8217;t die out. No Offense to anyone&#8217;s religion or anything of the sort ; this is part of my religion too I guess.
In the beginning there was the computer. And God said
%Let there be light!&#8230;
#Enter user id.
%God
#Enter password.
%Omniscient
#Password incorrect. Try [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/2007/10/19/god-has-logged-on/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>The ABC&#8217;s of Unix</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I didn&#8217;t think I knew the alphabet in such a &#8220;*nix&#8221; way until I ran across this somewhere on the Internet. This is priceless for all the UNIX lovers out there.

A is for awk which runs like a snail, and
B is for biff which reads all your mail.

C is for cc as hackers recall, while
D [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/1800/10/19/the-abcs-of-unix/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Politically Correct UNIX</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The following upgrade to UNIX System VI was posted to a Usenet newsgroup, the original author is unknown to the poster.Of course sys admins the world over know that Post-Modern Politically-Correct BSD has already had these features for years.In order for UNIX(tm) to survive into the nineties, it must get rid of its intimidating commands [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/1800/10/19/politically-correct-unix/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>101 things you DON&#8217;T want your sysadmin to say</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is quite old yet I chose to keep these here from time to time since they will vanish slowly off the net as do prehistoric things. But like the kind person that I am I choose to preserve them for humorous purposes naturally. So here it is &#8220;101 things you do NOT want your [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.spinthiras.net/1800/10/19/101-things-you-do-not-want-your-system-administrator-to-say/</link>
			</item>
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