Sunday, March 20, 2011

COINS-EH

SANS has issued a promotional code for the Computer Forensic Investigations - Windows In-Depth class that I’ll be teaching at SANS New Jersey 2011 in May. Use the code COINS-EH for a ten percent discount on the class. If you are a state or local law enforcement officer, you can use the code locallaw50 for a fifty percent discount.

Windows Registry Analysis

I posted my five star review of Harlan’s Windows Registry Forensics book on Amazon. The executive summary is that if you couple the book with his previous Windows Forensic Analysis, 2nd Edition, you get Windows Forensic Analysis: The Director’s Cut. It’s a fine book and will make for a great addition to your digital forensics library. I’ve added it to my “Learn Digital Forensics” Amazon guide.

Digital Forensics Framework

Version 1.0.0 of the Digital Forensics Framework has been released. I wasn’t even aware that there was a Digital Forensics Framework until I read on my Twitter feed this week that this version had been released. It looks fascinating and I’m looking forward to downloading it and seeing what it can do.

EnCase Version 7

The Guidance Software marketing machine has been spinning up in support of the next version of EnCase. Guidance is offering sneak peaks at a variety of locations around the world over the next couple months. I’m going to try and make the event that will be held in NYC on April 15th. Joseph Shaw attended one of these sessions recently and put out a considerable amount of great information on his Twitter feed.

Must. Watch. The. Footy.

Okay, so you can stop reading at this point if you came here, oddly enough, expecting just to read about digital forensics. I know I have quite a few international readers as well as quite a few people in England who read the blog so I’m going to engage in some wanton self-indulgence and talk a bit about football. It won’t be something you’ll have to endure on a regular basis, I promise.

For whatever reason, I’ve recently fallen under the spell of English Premiere League football. Since I played both as a full back and a goalkeeper competitively during school, I think it was a latent and pre-existing condition that has been inflamed by some of my English digital forensics friends. To be frank, I place the blame squarely on the heads of Simon Steggles and Lee Whitfield of Disklabs because of they tend to Tweet while watching their favorite teams play. I resisted as long as I could, but after becoming curious about what all of the fuss was that caused them to Tweet so much about it, I became hooked.

Here’s why I am bringing this out on the blog. I’m very curious about how people come to support their favorite football club.  I figure in England, it’s just like it is here in the United States when it comes to NFL football. I love the NFL and I’m a Chicago Bears fan. I’ll be a Bears fan for life and that’s partially because of family and geography. I’d love to hear from my English readers to see if it’s the same for them when it came to picking their favorite club. I’d especially like to hear from are the people outside of England who have a favorite English football club that they support and how they came to pick that club. Feel free to respond via my email that you can find on the right hand side of the blog.

Personally, I think if you are new to watching a league like the EPL, you can’t just arbitrarily pick a team. Well, you can, but it’s just not something I can see myself doing. I think you have to have a team pick you. It’s also apparent to me that the wonderful promotion and relegation system means if you are an international fan and are serious about picking a club to support, you have a limited number of teams realistically available.  Fox Soccer has offers a small number of EPL games each week and if your team gets relegated, you are unlikely to be able to see their games on television until they get promoted again. Thus, if you are serious about being able to watch and support your club, you’re going to want to select one that has a low chance of being relegated. Let me know if you disagree and why.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Eric,

    As usual, interesting post.

    On the subject of the EPL, despite growing up within fifteen minutes of Arsenal and Tottenham I happened to hear a Leeds United match on the radio when I was five and I have supported them ever since. Back then Leeds were a great side but it has been pretty downhill since!

    However, as you say, your Team picks you and despite being the only Leeds fan in my school, once you have made your choice that is it for life.....

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  2. While I am neither English (though my mom's bloodline is) nor do I watch much soccer, I have grown fond of fútbol. Living in South Florida (large Latin influence), the particular suburb I live in has a strong fútbol presence. After coaching my son's team and participating in 3 coaches game (in which I scored a goal somehow), I have managed to discover an appreciation for the diligence, athleticism and patience involved in the sport. If the fútbol marketing team was as good as NASCAR's it could surely overtake baseball's rank, at least in this town.

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  3. I'm a life-long soccer (football) fan, and my team of choice is Arsenal. For my money, they have the best playing style in the EPL. You're right about our viewing options being limited. That never ceases to frustrate me.

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  4. The EPL is unique in that it doesn't appear to have any sort of salary cap or other controls that prevents team owners from spending whatever they want on purchasing talent. That means there isn't all that only a handful of teams are really competitive for winning the league and also essentially buying themselves out of being relegated.

    So, sure, it's fine that you were inspired by plucky Leyton Orient fighting the mighty Arsenal to a draw in the FA Cup (I know I certainly was), but you aren't ever going to see the O's play here in the US unless they're playing one of the giants in a tournament like that.

    I don't have a burning desire to pick a club to support so I'll let it happen naturally if it does happen. I'm just really enjoying watching all of the various teams play to see how their play styles match up.

    I do have to admit that I've become a fan of Edwin Van Der Sar. It's his last season so I'm glad I'm getting to watch him play. He's an amazing keeper.

    However, picking a club based on your favorite player doesn't strike me as a wise idea. If you had picked Everton because you liked Wayne Rooney, you'd have gotten burned on that since United bought him not long after he was there.

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