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Welcome to my digital home! There are lots of articles you might find helpful buried in this site on topics such as modifying an Alfa Romeo 159, rebuilding a Lotus 7 (Robin Hood 2B), not to mention a ton of stuff on technology in general. It’s all here somewhere, so use the search function or navigate using the menu structure. if you want to talk, reach out via the contact function, I usually do answer!

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RH2B Build DiaryAnother big issue with the hoody was the tune. It was all over the shop. really rough and just a bit shit. This was an easy fix though, I just needed to add a 14point7 Spartan 2 Lambda to the Megasquirt ECU and get some help! Lambda ready to go in! The main issue with the current engine setup is the horrific ITB’s (f you can actually call them that). They are difficult to balance and will eventually be replaced with a whole new setup I am building on a new engine. That said, they needed to work for this summer so I called up a guy called Shaun who runs MS2 Tuning and knew the car from its previous owner. Shaun is awesome. A really friendly guy that gave me, a total stranger, support and advice over the phone and then came over to help me to a basic setup tune on the car for beer money. You dont get much better than that in this game. After about 3 hours playing, diagnosing and fixing some earthing issues, we had the ITB’s balanced, the AFR dialled in, and the engine was purring. This was exactly what I had hoped for and the potential I knew was in the car when I bought it. I do love an underdog! Related Images: [...]
GeneralWell, its been a while, but after nearly a full year of ownership I thought I would share my thoughts…….. I bought a pair of Rokit RP6G2 Limited Edition (Yellow) Speakers nearly a year ago now and after a lot of use I can confirm they are truly an awesome sounding set of speakers. The honesty of the reproduction is not sacrificed to provide a “decent” sound from multiple digital sources. In fact, they sound just as good playing an Mp3 encoded at 192Kbps as they do outputting a raw track from Ableton, yet do not loose the accuracy or quality required to pick out the levels and sound scape….. truly an accomplishment. The acoustics of your room is of course a variable…. I had them initially in a small room and that increased the low frequency response ten fold, vs now, when I have them in a much larger room, where the bass is sacrificed somewhat, but not to the extent that its a problem I might add. If money was no object (and they are on my Christmas list), the icing on the cake for these speakers is clearly a KRK 10S and the acclaimed ERGO system. The addition of these items would make the overall sound from this configuration truly something to be reckoned with. Related Images: [...]
InfoSecPersonally, I think this is one of the most important concepts of today. Its simple enough to grasp and illustrates the point very well. Consider these examples: From an effort perspective, the effort required to secure a system is significantly less than that required to exploit it. From a cost perspective, it is less expensive to prevent a serious data breach than it is to clean up and recover from one. Point 1 above was illustrated very clearly to me on the IISP’s TopGun event I attended recently, and is a scenario that you have to step back from to fully appreciate. Eg. If you have a smallish network, with most modern services such as web, email, mobile, databases, websites etc, then the effort to secure that is quite mammoth. You have to consider the perimeter, the information, how its stored and used, what services are on offer and the impacts etc. Then you have to consider every conceivable vulnerability, patching strategies and stay on top and at least up to speed with the curve of change. All of these efforts equate to a team of people, but all it takes to break in, is 1 person with a brain, motive, and a few freely available tools. Point 2 of course, was illustrated very well by a study by the Pnemon Instutue LLC in conjunction with PGP and Vontu (Symantec), this study evaluated the true cost of a breach of data security and considered factors such as direct and indirect costs, and has trended the data over the last few years with enlightening results. Despite both of these points clearly illustrating that the best way to tackle the security conundrum is head on and proactively, those of us in the industry will all surely testify that getting the right backing, funding, and often, even the right audience with the business, is still a hard task. From my perspective, I will keep on trying, and keep on flying the flag in the hope that one day reality sets in and my job / life gets easier! Related Images: [...]
InfoSecOpen post to see coverage: North West Insider – August 2007 – IT Security North West Insider – August 2008 – BERR Survey Related Images: [...]
LiveMixeshttps://jabawoki.com/wp-content/mp3/Jabs_20102001_Progressive_House.mp3 Podcast: Play in new window | Download Related Images: [...]
RH2B Build DiaryI was hoping when I rebuilt the suspension that the brakes were ok. Well they looked ok, and the car seemed to brake fine so I didn’t think I needed to do anything to them until the winter. Well, turns out that they were a little less than perfect and caused an MOT fail! According to the Brake test, there was a 46% difference between NSF and OSF, whcih was a bit of an issue! I am a little unsurprised though as during the suspension rebuild, suspending a caliper on cable ties and occasionally knocking it off was more than likely to have upset a 15 year old braided hose! The fix was simple, rebuild both callipers with new seals and pistons, put new brake lines on, and flush the whole system. Calliper Rebuild Kit First up was a “Bigg Red” Calliper rebuild kit, cheaper than expected, coming in at £27 delivered! This gave me a new set of seals and a new piston for each calliper. The pistons that came out were pitted so a rebuild kit that included pistons was key. While the callipers were apart is was an ideal time to spray them with my favourite Auto-K Calliper paint, so I set about doing that. While the wife was out one day, I took advantage of the oven and decided to cure the paint to 200c (needed for the paint to harden) off the car and before I rebuilt everything. My version of a happy meal Before paint, I put the pad carrier in a vice and filed smooth all the pad glide surfaces to remove many years of corrosion and paint. After I painted them again, I removed the overspray with a file on this area and before putting the pads in coated the entire slide area in copper grease. Filed pad glides The new braided lines were supplied by GBS through Kit Spares, and again, were great value for money. A full set (4 lines) was around £60 delivered, which considering they were branded Goodridge and very high quality, is excellent Value for Money. I have only installed the front lines for now as the rear callipers were fine, but i’ll do the rear end in the winter! Braided lines The brake fluid was old and had lots of corrosion in it. When I flushed the system through the furthest calliper tons of black floaty bits came out. I am pretty sure this fluid had been in the car for several years! It took about 1.5l of fluid to fully flush & bleed the system, but boy was it worth it. The final product went back together very easily and an MOT retest showed perfect front brake bias so I cant argue with that! Another job I wasn’t expecting ticked off! Related Images: [...]
Alfa 159Daily Power is a work in progress but boost is at 3500mbar and fuel is flowing at 130mm3 so it should be good for a solid 800NM+ as a daily driver 🙂 #noSmokenoPoke Power: Base Model: 2008 159 TI 2.4 JTDM QTRONIC (Diesel) Base Power: 200bhp / 400nm @ the flywheel Dyno Power: 317WHP / 793NM @ front wheels (with Water/Meth 500cc) @ 3200mbar Daily Power: TBC WHP / TBC NM @ front wheels (with Water/Meth 1000cc) @ 3500mbar The run above had a faulty water/meth controller which is why its a little jumpy! Old Dyno Runs of when it was around 250bhp: Dyno run 1 Dyno run 2 Dyno run 3 Dyno run 3 alternative angle Dyno run 4 Dyno run 4 alternative angle Engine Mods: Blow back Recirculation Breather System re-routed to exhaust via E-Vac Scavenger and one way morroso valve Swirl Valves fully blanked in the Manifold Straight through Wizard exhaust with no CAT’s, no DPF and no mufflers on 4″ tails 600 x 300 x 76mm core High Flow, Front Mounted Inter-cooler with custom pipework and mounts 18 row Mocal oil cooler (235mm) Hybrid GTB2056 Turbo (BMW 530D Gt22 Turbine Conversion, 62mm Extended tip billet Compressor Wheel with 4mm extended tips and 49.60mm inducer “62 trim”, Blueprinted, staggered gap oil seals on exhaust side, 15 degree cutback / clipped turbine wheel and 63mm custom  intake adapter) 4bar TMAP sensor 80mm BMC CDA direct to turbo on custom 2ft pipe run for maximum de-restriction Water Methanol System (AEM Pump & 1000cc/min nozzle + Devils Own 100psi/7bar Progressive Controller) Inline OIL sensor reservoirs on Engine and Gearbox Inline Mocal thermostatic control valve on gearbox oil cooler All ECU Mapping work courtesy of Jacekowski and Jabawoki. Handling Mods: 255/40/19 Vredestein ULTRAC Vorti Tyres Spacers on wheels to stance / prevent rub! Autolusso Braided Brake Lines Performance Friction Brake Pads @ Front EBC Yellow Brake Pads @ Rear MTEC Groved, Vented & Dimpled Discs with Black Treatment all round ATE TYP200 Racing Brake Fluid Bilstein B12 Pro Suspension Kit (B6 Shocks & Eibach Springs) Powerflex Front Upper and Lower Bushes Modified upper arms with greese nipples New 330mm Brembo calipers Lighting Mods: H7 LED’s for Driving & Main Beam including custom dust caps Full External LED Conversion Full Internal LED Conversion Cylon High Level LED brake light Project Halo – Tri-Halo DRL Conversion Electrical Mods: 16v 83.333F Super Capacitor Bank on primary electrical system 230v AC Socket in Glovebox Twin Digital Temp Gauge (Engine and Gearbox Oil) in air vent mount secondary fused distribution boxes under dash and in engine bay for ancillaries All wiring and ancillary systems wrapped to look stock. Gearbox Radiator Cooling System 100Amp Shunt and Volt / Ammeter from Capacitor Bank to Battery Multiple 2.2amp USB sockets and feeds for general convenience! Under Bonnet Temperature Sensor / Gauge  Audio Mods: Custom Sub Enclosure with 12″ Infinity KAPPA Perfect 12VQ M3D Sub Fully Soundproofed Modified Alpine MRV-T420 Amplifier Custom Wiring Pioneer AVH-X5700DAB FM/AM/DAB+/GPS Aerial Mod Visual Mods: Fog Lights removed from front bumper and re-grilled for greater air flow to additional radiators Latest Gen Badges all round Some stickers: Cloverleafs …because race car. Nurembergring Sticker …because she’s been 🙂 “Built Not Bought” …because she is. ” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″] Related Images: [...]
InfoSecThere is often a lot of talk about this concept, specifically in the white hat vs black hat debate that has gone on for what seems like forever now. I have, as you would expect, my own take on this. Lets start with a history lesson and the basics. White Hats are the “good guys” and Black Hats are the “bad guys”, why? because back in the good old days of spaghetti westerns, good guys always wore White Hats and the bad guys wore Black Hats, it’s that simple! Of course, in the scripted world of the western, it was that simple, the bad guy was that easy to spot and the good guys rode off into the sunset, but back in the real world it’s a little more difficult to identify. The line between Black and White is often understood to be the law itself, i.e. if you’re a hacker, cracker or even a “skidie”, your hat changes colour the minute you go from having permission to do something to not having permission.  I however wager that if we were to exact that understanding on every security expert in this field of expertise, today, it would be a near 100% perfect sea of Black Hats. So the question becomes, if that’s the case, are we all really the “bad guys”? I put to you a different concept, I different way of thinking about this that, personally, I think fits much better. First of all let’s forget about hats and the law and look at a couple of basic concepts. Motivation is the activation or energization of goal-oriented behaviour and  is defined as intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation comes from rewards inherent to a task or activity itself – the enjoyment of a puzzle or the love of playing whereas Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the performer. Money is the most obvious example, but coercion and threat of punishment are also common extrinsic motivations. Another point of consideration is Goal orientation, often seen as an aspect of an individual’s motivation. An individual’s goal orientation describes the goals that they choose and the methods used to pursue those goals. One of the most common conceptualizations of goal orientation is the three factor model, that is, individuals can be described in terms of goal orientation based on three factors: mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoid. Individuals with a mastery goal orientation seek challenging tasks and value learning. Highly performance-approach oriented individuals seek tasks that allow them to demonstrate the skills they already possess, and highly performance-avoidant tend to avoid tasks where they may fail and thus appear incompetent. The final aspect to consider in this equation is an agent’s intention in performing an action. In so much as his or her specific purpose in doing so, the end or goal that is aimed at, or intended to accomplish. In recent years, there has been a large amount of work done on the concept of intentional action in experimental philosophy. This work has aimed at illuminating and understanding the factors which influence people’s judgments of whether an action was done intentionally. For instance, research has shown that unintended side-effects are often considered to be done intentionally if the side-effect is considered bad and the person acting knew the side-effect would occur before acting. Yet when the side-effect is considered good, people generally don’t think it was done intentionally, even if the person knew it would occur before acting. The most well-known example involves a chairman who implements a new business program for the sole purpose to make money but ends up affecting the environment in the process. If he implements his business plan and in the process he ends up helping the environment, then people generally say he unintentionally helped the environment; if he implements his business plan and in the process he ends up harming the environment, then people generally say he intentionally harmed the environment. The important point is that in both cases his only goal was to make money. While there have been many explanations proposed for why the “side-effect effect” occurs, researchers on this topic have not yet reached a consensus. So now we understand a little about motivation, goals & Intentions, what really makes the “bad guy” bad? Well its worth adding into themix that the “good guys” and “bad guys” all have the same level of skill, they all learned it the same way and they all have the same aptitude (loosely speaking of course). In fact during the learning process its probably fair to wager that on occasion everyone ended up, purely through exploration, somewhere they shouldn’t have been.  Does this make us all “bag guys”? I certainly do not think so. In my opinion, motivation, goals & intent are what separate the good from the bad, and in this context the “White Hats” from the “Black Hats”. Let’s look at an example. the CERT Coordination Centre came up with an interesting classification matrix, which I have provided below as a diagram: In the above diagram, we see six types of attacker (as well as a virtual 7th type that could be all 6 in a different context), six types of motivation and four goals.  It is assumed in  this classification, as insinuated by the word “Attacker”, that we are dealing with the “bag guys” or Black Hats here, however, I would argue that the first type, “Hacker” has a motivation and goal that is not negative or in fact malicious in any way, so should they also be considered a “bad guy”?  Its fair to say, someone hell bent on the quest for knowledge in that particular classification may take a devil may care approach that could have a negative impact on the systems they are exploring, but again, is this malicious intent, or just carelessness? In summary I put it to you that there are no White Hats, or Black hats in the world today, just Shades of Grey, and that only motivation, goals and intent separate those of us trying to help from those who have a more nefarious purpose. Related Images: [...]
LiveMixesMore Progressive sounds for Easter….. Fatboy Slim vs Koen Grownwvald – Rackafeller Skank (Original Mix) Felix Baumgartner & Juan Kidd – Now Your Gone (Club Mix) David Penn & Rober Gaez – Our Darkness (Original Mix) Funkagenda – Breakwater (EDX Ibiza Sunrise Mix) Milk & Sugar – Let the Sunshine (Milk & Sugar Global Mix) Paul Gardner & Hugh Gunnell ft Marcella Woods – Come Get My Lovin (Plastik Funk Remix) Faithless – Music Matters (Mark Knight Remix) Sandy Rivera – Whatever (Andy Daniell Digital Edit) Ou Est Le Swimming Pool – Dance The Way I Feel (Armand Van Helden Club Mix) Richard Grey – One More Time (Chris Moody Remix) Kim Fai – Good Life (Original Mix) TV Rock – In the Air (Axwell Remix) Young Rebels & Fransico Diaz – 1998 (Original Mix) Funkagenda – Nobody Listens To Techno Feat. Mc Flipside (Original Mix) Muzzaik – Going Underground (Original Mix) DCA Project – Sandcastles (John Dahlback Remix) Pryda – Waves (Original Mix) Dankann – Genesis (Original Mix) https://jabawoki.com/wp-content/mp3/Jabawoki_Easter_Progressive_06042010.mp3 Podcast: Play in new window | Download Related Images: [...]
LiveMixesIts been a long time coming, but here it is… a fresh mix on a totally new rig, so excuse the flaky mixing 🙂 https://jabawoki.com/wp-content/mp3/Jabawoki_Rolling_House_Beats_15082009.mp3 Podcast: Play in new window | Download Related Images: [...]

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