Ferry Mulyono

Easy Steps Bypassing "Internet Positif" Web Filtering

Sun, 28 Dec 2014 20:45:00 +0700

This article is written for educational purpose only. You alone will take responsibility for your actions should you decide to try these steps.

This holiday I spent considerable amount of time on the Internet using 5peedy or F4stnet, and I got annoyed by this so-called “Internet Positif” filtering that supposedly prevent you from browsing p0rn-sites. I often got this when I tried to access Vimeo.

How-to

Here’s simple steps to bypass that filter without having to install other apps (in Mac):

Open up Terminal
Type this command:

sudo nano /etc/hosts

PS: You might need to enter your password if you have any
Add this line at the bottom

107.162.132.45 vimeo.com
Hit Ctrl + X, and then type Y, and ENTER

Now you can open Vimeo without seeing the stupid web filter.

This steps are for Mac only, but the basic principle can be applied to Windows or other OS too. In Windows, you can open the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts using Notepad, and enter the same lines.

Theory

I suspected that it’s improbable they filter the whole web traffic and find the filtered specific words. It would be very heavy to perform such operations. Besides, I verified this assumption too by accessing random site and add several banned words.

The most probable option is by performing DNS filtering, whereby they could just intercept all TCP requests to port 53 (port number used by DNS servers).

Notice that the IP Address is quite similar (in networking terms, lies within the same subnet masks).

And, I’m using Google Public DNS, not the default ISP DNS Server. That’s why I suspect they intercept all outgoing traffic on that specific port.

My Take on this Internet Filtering

Without much disrespect to whoever makes the call, I found this method is not effective. If you have a child and try to forbid them to do something,you’ll know that sooner or very much sooner, they will do it anyway in the light of curiosity. To make it more effective, you would need either a punishment mechanism, or other (higher) ways to hold their accountability. If you’re a parents, try this app Covenant Eyes (I am not, in any way, affiliated with them).

Easter and Christmas

Sun, 20 Apr 2014 19:28:00 +0700

(Image credit: Crazy Frankenstein)

Easter is the most important celebration of the year; yes, even more important than Christmas. It may not look like it though. Retail industries tainted Christmas with Santa Claus and other fads to boost their revenue in holiday-season shopping. Contrast that to Easter season. You don’t see whole lot of people shopping for new clothes for Easter, do you? It’s cute to notice that some, if not all, calendars, listed only Good Friday as a national holiday, and not the Easter itself, even though it’s always on Sunday.

Christmas celebration welcomes some-One, who came on a mission. Easter celebrates the accomplishment of the mission once and for all. That some-One happens to be a God, the-God, to be exact.

So, Happy Easter 2014 all!

Note to self: How to Read Business Books in an hour

Fri, 21 Feb 2014 09:04:15 +0700

(Photo: Flickr)

Inc. has an article that suggest a system to read business books in an hour or less. The concept is somewhat simple. I definitely will try this on the next book.

Guidelines

Many business books are broken into thirds. The first third focuses on the context and core ideas, the second third provides an application, and the final third give examples and case studies.

Take only 3-5 interesting ideas from it since you won’t remember more within about a week.

System

1. Read the front and back of the book jacket as well as the introduction.

2. Skip the acknowledgements and foreword.

3. Read the table of contents looking for “hooks”.

4. Read the first and last paragraphs of every chapter.

(.contd)

Full steps and system on Inc.

Facebook to Acquire WhatsApp

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 08:37:29 +0700

Facebook announced that they have reached an agreement to acquire WhatsApp for a total of $16 billion (composed of cash, and stocks).

Full statement at Facebook.

Things to Optimize at the Office to Maximize Creativity

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 00:31:00 +0700

(Source Buffer)

Sound

Ambient noise levels are best for creativity. Moderate noise levels increase processing difficulty which promotes abstract processing, leading to higher creativity.
Or, in other words, when we struggle just enough to process things as we normally would, we resort to more creative approaches.

Temperature

Set to 21°C to promote optimal productivity.

Lighting

Turn down the lights for more creativity. But an important point to remember when you’re optimizing for creativity is that the process of creative work goes through different stages.

When it comes to lighting, keeping the lights down low can be beneficial for generating creative ideas, though you might want to adjust the brightness when you need to focus at a later stage of your work.

No wonder some creative people I met prefer working in the dark.

Space

Keep a separate, messy desk.

Research has shown that a messy space is more conducive to creativity than a tidy one, so separating your clean and tidy work desk and a messy creative space could be optimal for switching between the two modes of work.

Hm, good to know that both my desk at the office and home isn’t the tidiest desk at all! Maybe what happened was, I’m always in my “creative mind” at all times.

Full article on Buffer.

Scientific study why most major creative breakthroughs happen in late thirties

Wed, 19 Feb 2014 08:45:00 +0700

(Source Quartz)

Scientific study reveals that most innovators achieve their major breakthrough in their late thirties. This made sense, because they usually have accumulated adequate knowledge and experience in their field.

But as the 20th century progressed, innovators has been peaking later in life!This quite made sense too though, in part, because they would have to learn all of the accumulated knowledge their predecessor had. What’s more, the rule might be different for people in abstract fields, like art or physics.

Full article on Quartz.

Soon, Facebook will be able to predict if two persons will enter a relationship

Tue, 18 Feb 2014 13:23:00 +0700

(Source Facebook)

Interesting fact from Facebook’s data science blog:

100 days prior to a relationship, there’s a noticeable slow but steady increase of posts shared between the two. But when the relationship starts, posts begin to decrease.

Full article

The truth about straightforward

Thu, 06 Feb 2014 12:19:00 +0700

Did you know that, even as of today, over a century after cars first invented, driverless-car is still considered one of the challenges remained unsolved by mankind?

Yet, we, human, have been able to drive it from our teen age. One activity that would require super-computers with years of training is mediocre enough for underage nowadays. This is one example of “straightforward” things which is nothing even remotely close to simple to do. We, human, are normally good at seeing broad-picture rather than small details per pixels, thus enabling us to process information with small amount of data at extremely fast rate.

Did you know on NASCAR driver’s brain processes around 100 trillion instructions per second! It’s faster than any computers in the world (Discovery Channel - Brain Power).

Another example would be recommendation. We recommend things, whether it’s books, foods, movies, songs, articles, etc, to our friends. And most of the time, it requires minimum amount of effort on our part. Why? Because we “know” which one is the better than the rest. But, imagine computer program recommending articles for us to read. How would the computer know which is better? On what basis? They can’t even taste the food the way we do. They can’t even listen to the songs the way we do.

Sure, there are other benchmark to produce reliable recommendation, such as peer-reviews, contextual or interest proximity calculation, etc. But the point is, next time you see something and say to yourself that it’s simple enough and should be quite straightforward, stop for a second and think it through. Sure it’s doable, but writing a detailed procedures might not be that straightforward after all.

Inside the Brain of a Leader

Mon, 27 May 2013 10:09:16 +0700

Inside the Brain of a Leader:

What Brain Science Says About Leadership

At moments of insight, the brain experiences 40Hz oscillations (gamma waves) over the right anterior temporal lobe and just above the right ear.
Inspiring leaders use less metabolic energy in the right temporal lobe and cingulate gyrus, which are associated with creativity and speech, among other functions. This may give them moreresources to allocate to specific tasks.
Individuals high in testosterone and low in cortisol are more likely to be seen as dominant and confident. Low testosterone and cortisol levels are linked with nervousness and hesistancy.

Biblical-style Poking

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:02:04 +0700

Sometimes we nudge or poke our friend to reminder or warn them if they’re doing something wrong, or to warn them about something lies ahead. Like when you’re crossing the road, and your friend was messing around with his mobile phone along the way, you poke them to warn them the possible of imminent dangers.

When I was reading a book about Ignatian discernment, I came across one of my favorite verse of God’s way of poking us, which is in the book of Numbers chapter 22.

²¹Balaam got up and saddled his donkey and set out with the chiefs of Moab.

²²His going kindled Yahweh’s anger, and the angel of Yahweh took his stand on the road to bar his way. Balaam was riding his donkey and his two servants were with him.

²³Now the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, and she turned off the road into the open country. Balaam then struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road.

²⁴The angel of Yahweh then went and stood on a narrow path among the vineyards, with a wall to the right and a wall to the left.

²⁵The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh and scraped against the wall, scraping Balaam’s foot against it, so he struck her again.

²⁶The angel of Yahweh then moved and stood in a place so narrow that there was no room to pass either to right or left.

²⁷When the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, she lay down under Balaam. Balaam flew into a rage and struck the donkey with his stick.

²⁸Yahweh then gave the donkey the power to talk, and she said to Balaam, ‘What harm have I done you, for you to strike me three times like this?’

²⁹Balaam answered the donkey, 'Because you have been making a fool of me! If I had been carrying a sword, I should have killed you by now.’

³⁰The donkey said to Balaam, 'Am I not your donkey, and have I not been your mount all your life? Have I ever behaved like this with you before?’ 'No,’ he replied.

³¹Yahweh then opened Balaam’s eyes and he saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed his head and threw himself on his face.

³²And the angel of Yahweh said to him, 'Why did you strike your donkey three times like that? I myself had come to bar your way; while I am here your road is blocked.

³³The donkey saw me and turned aside because of me three times. You are lucky she did turn aside, or I should have killed you by now, though I would have spared her.’

³⁴Balaam said to the angel of Yahweh, 'I have sinned. I did not know you were standing in the road to stop me. But if what I am doing displeases you, I will go home again.’

Had it not been the donkey to lead him astray, Balaam would be faced with severe punishment. We plan things and expected that it turned out just the way we want it, but many times it ended up with different outcome, or even the exact opposite. One thing that I always keep in mind, is that God cares and wants the best for each one of us. Like a good, loving Father, He knows what’s best for us, despite what we want for ourselves that aim for short-term pleasure, He has long-term and the best plan that we have yet to grasp. Jesus Himself taught us to pray and express our desire, but in the end, Thy will be done.

Always remember, when your plan didn’t go as you want it, it could be a gentle way of God poking you to lead you to another path. Gotcha Father!

Finally, We Have Passed Marriage Canon Law Investigation

Thu, 16 May 2013 21:49:18 +0700

As the final phase of my holy matrimony preparation in the Catholic Church, me and my fiancé had to meet with her parish priest for Canon investigation. As the day gets closer to the appointment, we’re getting a little nervous having heard testimonies of several couples having hard times, and some even have to rearrange the appointment because they couldn’t answer the question properly.

On the appointment date, we came early and prayed for a moment in front of the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle praying for wisdom, and we went to the administration office to see if the priest is ready. Having waited for almost half hour (because we’re early), the priest greeted us and asked us to come with him. It was Fr Agustinus MSC, but I forgot his full name though.

He began by explaining that this session is a formal investigation according to the Canon law of the Catholic Church to check the validity of the marriage to be celebrated. To my curiosity, canon came from Greek word kanon, meaning “straight”, rule. He mentioned that it is “Canon” because the rule is fixed and undeniable. We proceed by making the cross-sign, and making vow on the Holy Bible that we will tell the truth. If my memory serves me well, the word goes like, “I, Ferry, shall tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God”. Kinda cool phrase, like the court witness oath. Then, the investigation began. The first three questions are to make sure that we acknowledge the characteristic of Catholic marriage, which are monogamy (one man and one woman), fruitful (open to the possibility of having children), and indissoluble (one for a lifetime and cannot be separated for any reason). Having answered this question, he asked us why we want to have Catholic Marriage? Our answer were quite similar, that we believe in a marriage, there are not one, not two, but three aspects - that is - man and woman united by God, under God, where Christ reigns and become the head of the local Church (Family is often related as local/small Church).

The next question was emphasized by the priest, so much, that he even asked us to explain our answers. The question was: Do you acknowledge that in the Catholic Church, marriage is a sacrament? He then asked us each the meaning of a sacrament. I went first to answer, that a sacrament is concrete God’s presence in our life through the Church through the participation of priests as the God’s minister on earth according to what Jesus verbally instructed his disciples to do. My fiancé described that there are 7 sacraments in the Church divided into three category: Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist), Service (Matrimony and Holy Order), and Healing (Anointing of the Sick and Penance or Reconciliation). Each person has unique calling on how they suppose to serve with their lives. Some are called to be priests and serve God’s kingdom by being the ministers; these men are called to receive the Sacrament of Holy Order. Some are called to marriage lives, and ran God’s tasks to build families and became His tool to bring new life to the world; these couples (one man and one woman) are called to receive the Sacrament of Matrimony.

It seems that he was quite happy with our answers, and he went on to ask, usually in a sacrament, there is a sign or a medium; water in Baptism, host (unleavened bread) in Eucharist. The question was: what is the form of sacrament in Matrimony. Our answer was, that in Sacrament of Matrimony, the husband and wive become sacrament to one another; the husband to the wive and vice versa. There you have it, the hard part of the interviews is over. The rest of the questions is quite basi, ensuring that the marriage is done with full consent, without force from other parties, and we were qualified to receive this sacrament, that is, having no mental illness, capable of making decisions, and meet the physical criteria.

All and all, we think that the Canon investigations are highly over-rated by many couples. In our opinion, the most important thing is to prepare mentally and spiritually, and ultimately, pray for wisdom and courage =)

Pope Francis Look-alike Personally I found astounding similarity...

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:27:29 +0700

Pope Francis Look-alike

Personally I found astounding similarity between His Holiness and Jonathan Pryce (Thanks to this article).

*This images were taken from Wiki pedia.

How to Work More Efficiently — The Eisenhower Matrix

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:16:09 +0700

How to Work More Efficiently — The Eisenhower Matrix

"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,”..."

Wed, 08 May 2013 09:01:34 +0700

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in hell chose it. Without that self-choice there could be no hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened. ””

- C.S. Lewis - The Great Divorce

Reference:

Would God Really Send Someone to Hell?

Hell? Yes!

How Google Glass Works [Infographic]

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:42:06 +0700

How Google Glass Works [Infographic]

What INRI stands for. Taken from FB.

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:08:00 +0700

What INRI stands for.

Taken from FB.

Startups, this is how design works

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:52:03 +0700

Startups, this is how design works

The election of Pope Francis. “And now we take up this...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 23:44:42 +0700

The election of Pope Francis.

“And now we take up this journey…
Let us always pray for one another.
Let us pray for the whole world.”
- Pope Francis

Why Rome?

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 23:30:00 +0700

Catholic comes from Greek katholikos / katholou, which literally means one, whole, universal. Everywhere in the world, at the exact same time (considering the timezone differences), Catholic Churches celebrates the same mass (in different languages), and reading the same scripture passage, with the same format. Naturally, the name speak for itself. The whole Catholic Church is one spread into thousands (if not millions) of churches around the world gathering ~~one-billions~~ 1.2 billions of people. Of all places on earth, why Rome is considered as the home of the Church? Why not Israel, the holy land, where Jesus himself grow-up and hangs out?

In the book of Matthew, in the last chapter, also known as The Great Commission, Jesus sent His disciples to go to the whole world and spread the good news. At that time, Rome was the capital of the known world. So, Peter, the one that Jesus gave the authority to run His Church and made as the first Pope, came to Rome and start the journey from there until his last breath upon his death (martyred by crucifixion upside-down), and eventually buried there. Eventually, the tomb of Saint Peter is where the heart of Vatican City is built on, hence, it is called Saint Peter Square and Saint Peter Basilica.

Reference: Why Do We Have a Pope?

Top 10 reasons why you want and don’t want to be Pope by...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 10:31:43 +0700

Top 10 reasons why you want and don’t want to be Pope by Fr Jim Martin