Convert .ISO to File/USB Drive on Mac using dd

Using dd

NAME

     dd -- convert and copy a file

SYNOPSIS

     dd [operands ...]

DESCRIPTION

     The dd utility copies the standard input to the standard output.  Input

     data is read and written in 512-byte blocks.  If input reads are short,

     input from multiple reads are aggregated to form the output block.  When

     finished, dd displays the number of complete and partial input and output

     blocks and truncated input records to the standard error output.

Plug-in your USB stick and find what "/dev/diskN" it is mapped to by opening Terminal (where "N" stands for "disk0", "disk1", "disk2" etc). To do so, please execute:

# diskutil list
or
#df

Unmount USB Stick
Unmount the USB stick

# diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN
Where /dev/diskN is the one you have found in previous step as per our example it would be "/dev/disk2".

Write ISO to USB or
Write the content of the ISO file:

# sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.iso of=/dev/rdiskN bs=1m
/dev/rdiskN is the same disk you have found previously, with an r in front. r is for raw disk, as writing to /dev/rdisk2 is much faster than writing to /dev/disk2. You will be prompted for the administrator's password.

Change Windows Server Product Key on command line

1.  Clear the current key

Open Powershell with admin rights then enter:

slmgr -upk (this removes the current Product Key)


2.  Add the new(Correct Key)

Add The New (or Correct Key)
Now that the key is cleared you can either stay in Powershell and enter the new key with the following:

slmgr -ipk XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX (with the X's of course being the Key )

or

Go the the activation GUI and you will now be able to enter a Key

Planting our own food and be relaxed

Vegetable fruits are now ready to pick from the backyard. Home grown foods are the best and healthiest because we are sure that there are no insecticide and pesticide.

As I arrive home from the office, first thing in my todos are to check the plants/vegetables, watering, weeding, putting some nutrients.  By just watching this vegetable grow day by day help me relax and be calm. The experience it provides make us in connection with nature, as if magic always happen.

In gardening its not always green, sometime they become white or pale which indicate there is a problem with the plant. Presence of insect like white flies/aphids is the most and common problem with my vegetable, they suck the nutrient of the plant. This challenges can be prevented using nature and some insect like  the lady bug that can  prevent the spread of pest. Another challenge is the weather, during the summer the plants turns yellow and if you miss to water the plants they dries easily. The hotness of the temperature can also stress the plants and wither them. We need to improvise by  putting a shade or cover to lessen the impact of the sun.


With all the challenges seeing them bearing fruits is most enjoying part and it culminates when you prepare them for food to be serve in the table. Thus, it helps us economically and  have safe, healthy food to consume. And some time sharing the produce with neighbour gives us joy.


Happy Gardening

 

 

Strong and courageus boy

On my way home travelling from cagayan valley to manila i sit beside this littel boy, he is just 9 years old travelling alone with his backpack and two boxes of chicken.

I saw his relative sending him off from the bus terminal at jct luna abulug cagayan and then leave him alone.  So i offered him to sit next to me.  I bought rice cake(bibingka local term) from ballesteros and give him some slice but he politely decline he said he wanted to buy tupig at gattaran unfotunately all tupigs are sold out. 

At the  bus stop at Tumawini Isabela i wake him to have a dinner and i offered him to buy his food but he wanted to do it alone, so he proceeded at the counter to  buy his own food then we share the table.  During our meal we are conversing and ask him if he has traveled alone before and he said Yes he did traveld alone. After our meal,  I asked him if he wanted to make pee then he gladly said yes so i told him not to bother with comfort room payment.

Along  the way i noticed hes feeling cold and i pull out my  blanket and shares with him, i can see in his face the comfort of having to feel little warm till he falls asleep.  Near the mountanous area of nueva vizcaya he woke up and whispered me he wanted to make pee. Then I asked the conductor and driver if they can stop for a while and they gladly stop on some safe area. 

As we are approaching metro manila at north luzon express way he woke up and  I can see in his face that hes already excited to reach his destination.  At our destination in sampaloc manila i asked him if his relatives is already at the terminal or does he have the phone number but he just said i dont have,  he told me he will just wait here at the bus terminal. I assisted him to retrieve his baggage carry some and instruct him to just stay at the waiting area till his relative will arrive. I can see in his face that hes just cool and he can manage on his own so i get back at the bus and headed to fairview. 

What a strong courageous boy, hope he is safe. 

Mr frugal boy

I am thrifty in terms of luho like fancy dress, savvy gadgets, technological accessories and other small accessories that I don't really need.  You may see me wearing clothes that are give away as long as i am  comfortable and look decent.
I am thrifty in going to high end restaurant and  fine dining.  But i make it sure we have food on our table and food to prepare from our freezer,  I like going to  the  market every weekend to replenish our supply for the week. We cook the food that we like and enjoy to eat, also i love to drink a couple of beer at the end of the day.
I am thrifty in going to movie houses, i rather download  movies on the internet and watch with the family.
I am thrifty spending postpaid plans on  my phone, data, cable tv and other subscription like Spotify  because it hurts me financially, I use prepaid instead.  I barely keep my bill to a minimum and only  necessary utilities like electricity, water and gas.
I am thrifty in a gym membership or buying sport equipment like treadmill, i rather run on a community oval or community sport complex its free and  had the opportunity to  see other people and catch a fresh and cool air.

These are my reasons to be thrift:
To save enough for the education or our children.
To put aside a fund for  our health care in case emergency happens.
To save money to increase my investment portfolio and achieve financial confidence.
To retire from financial burden and enjoy the good things in life.
To live comfortably based to my earning capacity.
To travel more on different places.

Learning Notes on: "Rationality and Self-Interest in Peer to Peer Networks"

Rationality and Self-Interest in Peer to Peer Networks

By: Jeffrey Shneidman and David C. Parkes

Paper Abstract:

Much of the existing work in peer to peer networking assumes that users will follow prescribed protocols without deviation. This assumption ignores the user’s ability to modify the behavior of an algorithm for self-interested reasons.

We advocate a different model in which peer to peer users are expected to be rational and self- interested. This model is found in the emergent fields of Algorithmic Mechanism Design (AMD) and Distributed Algorithmic Mechanism Design (DAMD), both of which introduce game-theoretic ideas into a computational system. We, as designers, must create systems (peer to peer search, routing, distributed auctions, resource allocation, etc.) that allow nodes to behave rationally while still achieving good overall system outcomes.

This paper has three goals. The first is to convince the reader that rationality is a real issue in peer to peer networks. The second is to introduce mechanism design as a tool that can be used when designing networks with rational nodes. The third is to describe three open problems that are relevant in the peer to peer setting but are unsolved in existing AMD/DAMD work. In particular, we consider problems that arise when a networking infrastructure contains rational agents.

Learners Notes and Synthesis:

In our social environment every human being tends to protect its own self interest and survival at all cause. In order for a society to grow we should learn to be govern by protocols and rules. So with peer-to-peer network we cannot assume that every nodes will follow desired  protocols establish by the central authority or the developer of the application.

Some peer to peer application are govern by rules  and protocols:

* Routing to reach other peer

* Resource management

* Decision making based on facts and environment behavior

* Distribute load among other peer

Rationality vs  Self interest

Based on the example on this paper, running the auction on a large peer-to-peer network, initially you will. Be announcing the bidding for the auction and you are waiting for a lot of bids. But unfortunately there are only three bidders only to find out that they are your direct neighbors, for their self interest  of this neighbor they did not forward the advertisement for the auction.  This example illustrates basic problem  of peer-to-peer network  for rationality vs self interest.

Rationality in peer-to-peer network

Free rider problem:

“A free rider receives the benefit of everyone else's cooperation without having to cooperate himself. Think of a single person in the community who doesn't pay his taxes; he gets all the benefits of the public institutions those taxes pay for—police and fire departments, road construction and maintenance, regulations to keep his food and workplace safe, a military—without having to actually pay for them.” [1]

Tragedy of the commons  problems:

“A Tragedy of the Commons occurs whenever a group shares a limited resource: not just fisheries, but grazing lands, water rights, time on a piece of shared exercise equipment at a gym, an unguarded plate of cookies in the kitchen. In a forest, you can cut everything down for maximum short-term profit, or selectively harvest for sustainability. Someone who owns the forest can make the trade-off for himself, but when an unorganized group together owns the forest there's no one to limit the harvest, and a Tragedy of the Commons can result” [1]

In peer-to-peer system nodes that do not produce the same level of their consumption are considered leechers, while peers that  share the their resources to provide a better performance.

Another example peer to peer clients that deflect from protocols for their own interest are the user that develop their own client program that will deflect on the protocols and will circumvent the network for their own self interest.