WTF *Nix

It is not a secret for anyone that casinos do not like blackjack counters and frequently ask them to leave or to play another game. Here, we will describe how casino management detects counters and how to act when caught. We also describe the countermeasures that casinos use against skilled players but most of all we show you how to count cards while not getting caught.

Do Casinos Object?

Most casinos have strict policies that ban any player from counting cards when playing blackjack, but some like those in New Jersey do not pay any attention to such players.

How Do You Know Whether A Casino Minds?

You do not. But you had better act as if they all do and thus save yourself the embarrassment of being shoved out if they do mind and if they catch you red-handed.

How to Count Without Getting Detected?

Always keep in mind that since card counting is something that one does silently, the only method to detect it is through observing you and the manner you play. Thus, look out for the following:

1) Do not stare at the cards of other players. Glance once, count, and then move on.

2) Do not stare at the cards that have been discarded. Look quickly and then slowly move away by shifting your gaze nonchalantly from player to player.

3) Change your pattern of betting occasionally.

4) Change the amount of betting money each round.

5) Even though you know it, loose a round or two. Do not bet big on those rounds. But likewise do not bet too small too. If the casino notices that you are always winning big and losing small, they might get suspicious.

6) Buy chips of different colors and then mix them around while playing to confuse the dealer.

7) Talk to the other players while playing, but this is especially difficult so practice this at home before trying it at a casino.

Pick your seat carefully: either the first chair or the third one so that you won’t have to twist your head around as the cards are dealt.

9) Dress casually because smart and elegant clothes cause the dealers to think you are intelligent and they might watch you more closely.

10) Order an alcoholic drink and pretend to sip it because they are looking for those non-drinkers who are staying sober to count the cards.

The common denominator of all these is that you must never forget that the casino si watching you and how you play. Act accordingly!

Supposing that the Casino Catches On, What Should you Do?
Stay calm if the casino catches you counting cards and abide by their wishes quietly. Do not make a fuss. If they ask you to leave, do so. The faster you leave, the easier it will be for you to return later. Remember that if you make a fuss, they will all remember you, so desist from any unfriendly behavior. Note that after shifts change, the new personnel won’t know you so all you have to do is wait for that and then you can start playing again. You could also just enter the next casino and start earning money there instead of risking casino personnel from recognizing you.

Are you one of those people that never throw anything away?  If you are then you may be one of the smart ones.  There is a new market that has emerged here of late and that market is demanding to have vintage clothing.  Actually more to the point they want vintage T-shirts.  This is something that has started to boom in recent years as the old style of clothing is starting to make a major come back for the youth of this country. So that means that all of the people in the world that have saved all those old clothes and successfully fought their mothers from throwing them in the donation box may be sitting on a gold mine.  Who would have ever thought that some of the horrible things that we used to wear would ever come back into style.  It may seem like a nightmare to some but it is a dream come true for many.

The dealers of vintage T-shirts are having a ball with this market.  They know that there is a lot of stuff out there that can be sold and that there is even more people that want it.  The demand for these items has tripled in the past six months making them one of the most sought after clothing items in the market today. The problem is that there is not a lot of places where one can find such items to resell.  In the very beginning of the boom there was more than enough of these vintage T-shirts laying around resale shops the world over, but since the surge there is a shortage as most of the shops now know the value and they are taking advantage of the boom like the rest of the population.

If you are lucky enough to have one of these items then you have paid the price that somebody would want for it.  The price range is rather high right now because the demand is so high and the supply so low.  There is some hope though that you may be able to pick something like this up without having to pay too high a price.  That is if you do not mind wearing something that is not technically vintage but it has all the right looks and such.  This is how many of the people are getting around the supply problem and they are making the best of it.  This stands to reason because not everyone can afford the price that the vintage T-shirts are commanding right now.

For most the vintage T-shirt is a dream.  The most popular styles are the concert T-shirts from the seventies and eighties.  The most well known bands are commanding prices of nearly one thousand dollars or more.  A record was set recently when an original Rolling Stones concert T-shirt sold for almost ten thousand dollars.  This is something that was bound to happen eventually but those of us who were there for these shirts when they were new are no less amazed.  This is taking into consideration that some of these clothes were less than ten dollars when they were brand new.

Right now the vintage T-shirts market is very hot.  If you are looking for the best deals then you need to get going.  These items are flying off the shelves and people are hungry for more.  If you happen to find one at a tag sale or what have you then you should certainly pick it up as it may very well be worth it’s weight in gold.  This is only the beginning and you should hold on to see what the next big thing is.

WTF I’m off topic of *nix but oh well, it’s about the ole vintages that are out there

Since by now you may or may not have the NTP package installed and ready to go, I highly recommend to install it via RPM if you can find one for your *nix flavor. Check with your vendor or better yet Google.com, rpmbone and etc… =)

It is TIME for the /etc/ntp.conf file and getting NTP started:

As we know, 99.9% of the time the conf file is better known as the configuration file of a certain program within *nix, and we can’t go wrong unless we set a setting or two wrong… Well here we will do a basic setup as such:

First you want to find your way over to Finding some local time servers, and by doing this the fastest way is here: http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Servers/WebHome#Finding_A_Time_Server

• Now you need to first open up your ntp.conf file in your favorite editor such as vim, nano, or whatever one you use. Then specify your first set of NTP servers as an example:

1. • server    somentp.serverat.org     #A stratum 1 server at serverat.org
   • server    ntp.research.gov              #A stratum 2 server at research.gov

• Then you will need to restrict a bit of access and allow these servers. In the example, the servers are not allowed to modify the run-time configuration or query back your Linux NTP Server that’s running, it would be a nightmare trust me on a DSL connection

1. • restrict    somentp.serverat.org    mask 255.255.255.255    nomodify notrap noquery
   • restrict    ntp.research.gov    mask 255.255.255.255    nomodify notrap noquery

The mask 255.255.255.255 statement is really a subnet mask limiting access to the single IP address of the remote NTP servers.

• If this server of yours is also going to provide time for other computers on your local network or other networks, such as PC’s, Linux servers, and certain types of networking devices, then you will HAVE TO create and define the network(s) from which this NTP server of yours will accept NTP sync requests. You can do this by simply using a modified request type of statement which with the noquery replaced with the notrust keyword that’s accepted by ntp. This will allow the certain network you are allowing to query the LOCAL NTP server, but it will not be trusted to be a “SOURCE” type of NTP synchronization data, so the proper way of doing this is as follows: (i.e. our local network is 192.168.0.0, which our DHCP server is assigning IPs as such: 192.168.0.100, 192.168.0.101 and etc…)
  • restrict    192.168.0.0    mask    255.255.255.0    notrust nomodify notrap
• Make sure that your CORE NTP server that’s acting as the central “BIG BEN” A.K.A. localhost (which is the universal IP Address used to refer to a *nix server itself) has full access without having any restricting keywords as follows:
  • restrict    127.0.0.1
• Save your ntp.conf file and it’s time to restart the NTP server daemon for the settings to take immediate effect.

Right now you are wondering since all the other *nix servers on this local network can sync up to this server now? Well yes, because all you need to do is create the same scenerio as you did above but in a shorter fashion by simply replacing the “server   somentp.serverat.org” and restrict statements to reflect your local “BIG BEN” NTP server in lieu of having to always keep calling out on the net for time if you have one server that allows connections to sync up with. Remember port 123 is used for NTP and this can only happen if your firewall allows NTP through this port using the UDP Here is your answer to allowing this through if you are using IPTABLES:

iptables -I INPUT -p udp –dport 123 -j ACCEPT

Enjoy and get’r done, we will touch basis some”TIME” soon in regards to how to troubleshoot NTP, but if you have problems in the meantime, feel free on posting a comment here in this blog thread.

WTF Get’r Done and it’s TIME for lunch 12:10:25

It’s NTP Server Time!

So what is NTP you may ask? It’s what we call Network Time Protocol, which helps us all synchronize our *nix system’s clock with an accurate time source. There are a number of websites that allow the public to access and sync up with them. They are divided into two types Stratum 1 and Stratun 2

What are these so called Stratum’s you may ask?

Stratum 1 = NTP websites using an atomic clock for timing

Stratum 2 = NTP websites with slightly but accurately LESS time sources (NOT ACCURATE to the REAL ATOMIC CLOCKS)

You may get a list of available NTP Stratum type servers from: www.ntp.org

It is only a valid and good practice to keep at least one *nix server on your local network be tthe “local time server” for all of your other devices… This only makes and keeps the correlation of system events on different systems much easier to maintain a “central but local” time. It not only helps there but also helps in bandwidth usage, due to the NTP traffic and reduces the need to manage firewall rules for “EACH” of the NTP clients that you have running if you have more than one on your network…

Sometimes, (majority of the time) not all of your servers will have NET access which in such cases you’ll need a central “TIME SERVER” / “SERVER” that any and all can access off your local network. That being said you can have a “Gateway” server to do all this for you if configured properly and accordingly.

That’s all for now on the NTP servers, it’s time to head out and party in Seattle it’s 9:56:44PM PST per my NTP server, and I will be back later to discuss on how the ntp.conf file works But you need to get ntp yourself from a reliable source if you don’t have it installed on your server already… Use Google.com to find it for your *nix flavor.

Well, well, well, I guess it’s time to release yet another helping hand to the Newedge Community!!! WOOHOO they say? Heck no! I say WTF Get ‘r Done!

Here you have a release of a full fledged “by the book” (HAHA NOT REALLY) manual by I myself from the Newedge Community Forums epctechno

I would like you to know, I’m not wanting you to read this off my website, I have uploaded the the PDF which is 9.1+ MB BIG in low compression in zip, tar.gz, .rar, and .7z here:

zip

tar.gz

rar

7z

You pick the format to download, it’s up to you.

Hope you enjoy this and if you find it in your heart to donate, please do! Took sometime on putting all of this together in a two-day span of time.