SimpleSAMLphp / quick&ez

Matthew Heick Leave a comment

Background: For about 5 years at my place of work we have used a software called SimpleSAMLphp to help offer identity solutions to TVE (TV Everywhere) customers. In essence I have been one of a team of 20th century cable people.

This software, in it’s current version has been heavily customized to offer quick deployment solutions for new customers. All I can say is that it’s awesome running an Identity Stack with 50+ IdPs and 5000+ SPs.

I decided to see how quick I could set up a SAML SP -> IdP relationship between two Centos 7 Virtual Computers:

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Flyleaf – Fully Alive / Down the Rabbit Hole

Matthew Heick Leave a comment

Oddly in my list of Youtube videos that are recommended to me on a daily basis happened to be an old song from a band called Flyleaf called “Fully Alive”. This was one of many songs from my youth that I had forgotten about and was overly ambitious to listen to the second I had seen it.

After enjoying the 2.5 minutes of high-pitched vocals and hard rock I had a brief epiphany: “Fly + Leaf = Flyleaf” How difficult would it be to attach an insect and a plant together and create a new band name? Whipping out the programmings I had found 3 solid references and let the computers do their workings and posted the results up on github, and further hosted it here for maximum clickability.

Alas, my curiosity of this song and the immediate conception of the “band name” program did not stop there. The lyrics needed a bit of attention to as they seemed unusually specific:

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Michael James Myers, b.20/Jan/1958, d.30/Jul/2005

Matthew Heick Leave a comment

MYERS, Michael James, 47, of Sebring, was called home by his Lord July 30, 2005. He was born January 20, 1958, in Melrose, Mass. He attended Avon Park High School and entered the U.S. Army. He returned to Highlands County and joined the Highlands County Sheriff’s Department, retiring in 2000 as a lieutenant. Mike was owner of Computers by Mike Myers, and a member of Sebring Sunrise Rotary Club and First Baptist Church, Sebring. He leaves behind a loving family, his wife, Donna; daughters, Amanda Leigh Myers of Sebring, and Linda Myers of East Flatrock, N.C.; son, David of Wauchula, Fla.; brothers, William (Joyce) of Merritt Island, Fla., Steven (Jerilyn) of West Fargo, N.D., Robert of Jasper, Fla., and Mark of Sebring; sisters, Ardelle Heick of Buffalo, N.Y., Janine (Barry) Jones of Sebring, Lisa Woltz of Jamestown, N.Y., and Anna (Donnie) Hall of Waynesville, N.C.; stepbrother, Andrew Leach Jr. of Avon Park, Fla.; three grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews; loyal employees, Phillip and Lance; and his many friends. Visitation will be 5:30-7:30 p.m. Monday at Morris Funeral Chapel. Services will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at First Baptist Church, Sebring, with Dr. James Henry officiating. Memorials are requested to Good Shepherd Hospice. Morris Funeral Chapel, Sebring.

Sourced from: https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/tampabaytimes/obituary.aspx?n=michael-myers&pid=14720786

Sourced from: https://web.archive.org/web/20130819234451/http://michael-myers.memory-of.com/About.aspx / http://michael-myers.memory-of.com / (local pdf)

LimoUSA, made in history…

Matthew Heick Leave a comment

Back in April 2000 I was young and in need of some work. I was referred to a job by a relative of mine (I’ll call her Lindsay) who thought I would be perfect for the job. I was to “fix the computers and do the networking, and set up new computers and make sure things worked.” for LimoUSA, a Limo Company in Jamestown, NY.

When I arrived there I met Kevin M. Smith, a name that I didn’t realize would carry negative connotations alongside it in coming months. He told me what I would need to do, when he would need me, how much he would pay me, and that he would pay me in Cash. The hours seemed demanding and the pay at the time seemed very well, but I didn’t own a vehicle so I couldn’t meet his schedule. Kevin responded with “No problem.” and got his mechanic to provide me a loaner vehicle, a Black 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT.

So, I drove it away that night, worked every day as I could, organizing all the desks, computers, cables, phones, working on sharing software and making it load fast with Windows 98 computers for Desktop and one for a Server. They all were networked through a 10/100 switch, and they weren’t connected to the internet back in the days. I made a couple goals, such as taking their Telephone T1 and allocating an outbound line for shared internet through a software proxy on the server so that they could use online mapping software instead of the CD mapping software they had to share. The bossman, however, didn’t think that idea. It’s cool He was the boss.

So, weeks passed by and suddenly there was a commotion. It seemed that the offices of LimoUSA were operating a business on property zoned residential. Kevin’s main argument is that he was so close to the Airport that he was not bothering his neighbors and that he should be able to take the time and operate his business while the planning board rezones his property. That failed extravagantly, and suddenly news and media outlets wanted to come inside and we weren’t allowed out.

Long story short, a memorable employment was closed up and a staple on my resume for a short period of time until I got better jobs and it faded away.

Recently my memory was deciding to take a walk down this same lane and I was a bit interested to find information about what happened. This is what I have so far:

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Seattle is Awesome

Matthew Heick Leave a comment

The usual Youtube news feed reveals the following:

26 seconds of “Seattle City Council Defunding Police, Slash Jobs and Salaries”, and that’s it. This is quoted on a display card authored by Barnini Chakraborty, of whom is a feature writer for Fox News (and a Journalist by Twitter trade).

Regardless, WE DO OUR RESEARCH!!!

Seattle city council tweets the following, in relation to the above clip:

“NEWS RELEASE: @cmkshama issued the following news release following today’s City Council vote adopting a revised 2020 budget. Sawant was the sole vote against the legislation. https://council.seattle.gov/2020/08/10/councilmember-sawant-city-council-democrats-have-approved-a-budget-that-carries-out-austerity-fails-to-defund-police-our-movement-needs-to-build-even-stronger/“

So, lets see what we got on this Seattle Government Website. It does Identify the Jobs and Salaries that were cut. Awesome!

“We won a small reduction in the police department, showing both the strength of our movement and also the imperative to continue organizing and fighting. “

It’s not specific….I’d rather it be rather specific, but I suppose it’s not saying “we killed off our entire police force”. Seattle publicly provides it’s police force statistics, so out of a city population of 747,300 (2019) with a force of “1,325 deployable, 1,433 total” (1 officer per 564 people), even if a small amount was 49% you’d still have 649 officers that were considered able to be employed because they embodied what a Police Officer was. I can be fine with that. There is always room to hire properly trained and legit people after a mass firing.

“Our movement succeeded in reducing the bloated salaries of the 13 top SPD executives, winning an amendment in Budget Committee meetings last week and then fending off a last-minute sneak attack today by the Democratic establishment.”

So they made it so that Seattle Police Executives are not paid more than Mayors in other states. I’m sure if there were stocks/options that they could offer those and might be spun a bit differently in the media, but that’s not how cities work. As an Executive, if you perform a good job, you get paid, but if you do a shit job, you either get paid less or you get told to find a new job.

So, chalk one up for the 26 seconds of statements that are true, but still completely misleading.