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(We have an old copy---the kids love the "pink cookies" Martha offers George instead of pea soup!)
Sampling:
George doesnt want to eat Marthas pea soup, so he pours it in his shoes
George knocks out his favorite tooth. Which is your favorite tooth?
George gets tired of Martha looking at herself in the mirror all the time; she even wakes up in the middle of the nite to do it. So he pastes a silly picture of her on her mirror....
There are George and Martha stuffed animals out there, too.
Any relation to George and Martha Washington?



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Hacking Linux Exposed covers security administration issues such as FTP, sendmail (but for some reason, not POP3/IMAP servers) and web server setup; it also discusses local user security issues and touches lightly on Linux firewalling and other network access controls (TCP wrappers).
The book includes a big section on keeping your system updated, which outlines methods used by several popular Linux distributions (rpm from RedHat, apt-get from Debian and pkgtool from Slackware). This information is essential to the security of any Linux machine, whether a home workstation or company server.
The focus is Linux, but the book also covers some other important security areas. It attempts to offer a total solution for Linux security, starting with general infosec philosophy (such as proactive security), and moving on to physical security, social engineering, Trojan programs, access control, user security and server setup. Each security problem is rated for global risk on a 1 to 10 scale, factoring in frequency, simplicity and impact. In general, the book is more encyclopedia than detailed guide, as it strives toward breadth over depth.

All the stuff to this point assumes the hacker is on the outside. Part three takes over and shows you what the hacker will do once they've gotten on, such as attacking other local users including root, and cracking passwords. It becomes obvious that you need to protect things from insiders as much as from the outsider, because the outsider will usually get in as a normal user first, and if you can prevent him or her from getting root access, the damage cannot be nearly as severe. A lot of books don't cover this angle at all, and it's done superbly here.
Part four covers common problems in internet services. First they discuss mail servers. Sendmail, Qmail, Postfix, and Exim each get covered in detail - it's nice to see more than just Sendmail discussed in a security book. Of course, it'd be even nicer to see something other than Sendmail installed on a Linux machine by default. Next they cover problems with FTP software and problems with the FTP protocol. I'd never seen "beneath the hood" and realized how wierd FTP really was, and why it's not supported by firewalls very well, and the authors show you the inner workings of it so anyone can understand the problems. They continue with Apache and CGI/mod_perl/PHP/etc problems, both from a coding standpoint and how to secure against outsiders and your own web developers. Next it's on to Firewalls (iptables and TCP wrappers) and lastly (distributed) denial of service attacks. The countermeasures for the DOS problems are excellent, and a must for anyone with a server.
Part five covers everything a hacker can do once they've broken in. They describe trojan programs, trojan kernel modules, and configuration changes that can be used to keep root access, or hide the hacker activity, or let them get back in should the computer be partially fixed. This was not only complete, but scary in how many different things they showed. It works both as a blueprint for what you need to defend against, how to clean up after a hacker has gotten in, and also how you could back door a machine if you get in. I'll leave the ethics up to you.
Lastly we have part six, which is the appendicies. While most times I ignore appendicies, these are really an integral part of the book, and are referenced throughout the book all over. (This very good, because it keeps the book from having too much repeated countermeasures.) They discuss post-breakin cleanup, updating your software and kernel, and turning off daemons (both local and network ones) and a new case study. The book is good about covering Linux from a distribution-agnostic standpoint (it doesn't assume you use RedHat, unlike everything else out there) but in these appendicies they cover the differences you may encounter. They show you how to use dpkg/apt-get as much as RPM as much as .tgz packages, discuss both inetd and xinetd, and even svscan/supervise. They are extreemly complete.
Hacking Linux Exposed 2nd Edition is required reading for anyone with a Linux machine, period.

Well, I was not disapointed. This book covered aspects of Linux and network security that I had not ever thought of. It makes very appropriate use of source code to illustrate problems, and shows you the attacks in both manual and automated forms so you can actually see what's going on, rather than just saying "run the blah program" as so many other books do.
This book has information that will be useful for the newbie, but excells in including detail appropriate for all audiences. In that respect, this book almost reads like a textbook on how to hack and secure. If you're a new Linux user, you'll find good starter information, and want to come back to this periodically as you learn more. If you think you know Linux security, then this is the book against which you should test yourself. I doubt most folks have tried half the things listed in chapter 10.

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The price of this notion, is, of course, massive death, but because the massive death does not happen to the nobility, nobody important really minds. This is one reason the Charge of the Light Brigade, with which _the Reason Why_ primarily deals, was so different, and worthy of eulogizing in prose and song (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, by the way, appears absolutely nowhere in this text)--those dying, those paying the price for the Army's obsession with aristocracy, were aristocrats themselves.
Woodham-Smith manages to trace the careers of two utterly unsympathetic characters--Cardigan and Lucan--in a fascinating manner. This is no small feat, considering the reader will probably want, by the end of _the Reason Why_ to reach back in time and shake both of them, and maybe smack them around a bit.
Again, Cecil Woodham-Smith proves herself a master of the historian's craft, and produces a well-researched, thorough and driving account of what is probably the stupidest incident in modern military history.
The Crimean War changed so much about how war is waged--the treatment of prisoners and wounded being tops on the list of reforms brought about in the wake of the debacle. _The Reason Why_ is an excellent account, and should be required reading for anybody with even a remote interest in military history, or European history in general.

The heart of this book concerns the relationship between society at large and the military. Military leaders feared nothing so much as public scrutiny, for widespread discontent could lead to political interference and, indeed, political control of the army. Whether in dealing with the incorrigible personalities of Lords Lucan and Cardigan or in covering up the series of blunders that resulted in the sacrificial ride of the Light Brigade, the military leadership acted with the overriding principle of preserving the Army from governmental control.
The embarrassments of the Crimean campaign proved uncontainable. A great source of difficulty was the incompetence of the Army staff; rank and privilege were held to be superior to actual experience. When these difficulties led to humiliation and defeat, the commanders' concern was not with the men they had lost nor the future of the war effort; to the exclusion of these, their main concern was that bad publicity would appear in Britain, that the public would hear of the lack of success, that the House would begin to ask questions of the military leadership, that the press would begin to criticize the Army. This great fear of political interference was realized in the aftermath of the Crimean War. The author portrays this as the one positive effect engendered by the War effort. A new era of military reform was born in Britain, Europe, and America. Experience now became a prerequisite for command, and officers were trained in staff colleges. The author's final point is that, above all, the treatment of the private soldier changed as the military system was humanized to some degree. Her assertion that at the end of the Crimean War the private soldier was regarded as a hero seems rather bold, but it is clear that he was no longer seen as a nonhuman tool of his commanders' designs.

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Thom has done a superb job of showcasing George Rogers Clark in this book. It's an outstanding read and could well set the reader on an adventure for more historical fiction from this fine author. Be sure to check out 'From Sea to Shining Sea' as well.


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The personal journey recounted here amounts to a fantastic tale that happens to be (for the most part) completely true. By turns, bleak and hopeless - then joyous and brimming with a kind of spiritual joy, The Enormous Room takes the reader to extremities of all sorts in its relatively short span of chapters.
Though it takes place during a three month stint in a French concentration camp during the latter parts of World War One, it could just as well be set on another planet, for all of its fantastic characters, settings and behavioral interactions that never cease to alternately amaze and confound the reader.
Even if it seems a cruel statement to make, after having the pleasure of experiencing this world through the prose of E. E. Cummings you will be thankful that he found himself in this squalid and vile place so that we now have the honor of sharing in it.

The Enormous Room is the story of Cumming's three month incarceration at La Ferte Mace, a squalid French prison camp. Cummings is locked up as accessory to exercise of free speech, his friend B. (William Brown) having written a letter with some pro German sentiments. What Cummings experienced in those three months and the stories of the men and women he met are, despite the straits of the polyglot texture of the book, never other than fascinating. At moments touching (the stories of the Surplice and The Wanderer's family), hilarious (the description of the Man In the Orange Cap is hysterical), and maddening (the smoking of the four les putains), this is a brilliant weft of memorable characters and not a little invective for the slipshod French goverment.
Something I noticed. Though the book claims as its primary influence Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, I noticed a similarity with Thoreau's Walden. In both books, there is the idea of self-abnegation breeding liberty and peace of mind. The idea is to shear away all luxuries, all privileges. But Thoreau had one very important luxury to his credit: Free will. Whereas Thoreau chose his isolated and straitened existence near Walden Pond, Cummings' was involuntary. So, if the touchstone of freedom both men share is valid, is not Cummings, by virtue of the unrequested nature of his imprisonment, the freer of the two men?
This is a fascinating, thought provoking, ribald and intelligent book. I only regret that the Fighting Sheeney was never given commupance...

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Although Wendy seems a little prim, she is sweet and motherly. John was offhand and brave, Michael was tiny and believing. My favourite character was, however, Peter. The author really outdid himself on this one. Peter's innocent cockiness and love for dangerous adventures endeared him to me at once. He still has all his first teeth, and his first laugh - what more could we ask of him? His frightful happiness in danger reminds me of my seven-year-old self.
The book retains a magical quality right up to the last page. The midnight scene where Peter coaxes them out of the window has always stood out in my mind; there is a kind of magic in an ever-young boy, small and innocently cocky and always up to some mischief. The ending of the book is very sad, for only those who are gay and young and light-hearted can fly.
Definitely a book worth reading. Adults, trust me on this one: you might think you're too old to read this book, but once you do you'll find that a piece of Neverland still resides in your heart.


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In fact, it demonstrates conclusively that the American people suffered a collective fit of halluciantion when they voted this incompetent man into office.
The book has some nice information about Crawford, Texas and the Bush's dogs -- but it does not tell us anything about the psychology of the Boy Emperor. Perhaps this is becuase the BE has no particular psychological nuance to display? Perhaps.
Leadership, as Fred Nietzsche once opined, is about breaking the rules when others think that rule breaking would be a mistake.
Bush's "leadership," as noted by the author, consists of learning the rules and efficiently applying them with charm and gingerly worded disinformation. Then again, maybe the book isn't half bad. I learned how to be manipualtive and nice at the same time.

If you want to enhance your ability to lead - read this book. Mine is covered with notes and I bought one for each of my staff!

Then after reading the first few chapters, I realized that this book was not about President Bush's politics (although there was some strategies revealed) or about his faith (although his personal convictions are the heart of his core values) or even about his IQ level (his emotional intelligence is recognized as highly intuitive). This was a book was about how an average person can become the leader they want to be.
I finished the book quickly from a purely biographical point of view and now am going back over each chapter to concentrate on the leadership competencies and how I can learn from the examples. The authors know what they are talking about but they also made it real easy for the reader to put into practice the lessons that need to be learned.
After reading this book, I also came to appreciate and admire President Bush and how his personal discipline is one of the timeless principles of his leadership. I am glad that I read this book at this time in history.