Georges St. Pierre (170) vs. B.J. Penn (168)
Lyoto Machida (206) vs. Thiago Silva (206)
Karo Parisyan (170) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (171)
Nathan Diaz (156) vs. Clay Guida (156)
Stephan Bonnar (206) vs. Jon Jones (206)
Jon Fitch (171) vs. Akihiro Gono (171)
Manny Gamburyan (155) vs. Thiago Tavares (155)
Chris Wilson (170) vs. John Howard (171)
Jake O'Brien (205) vs. Christian Wellisch (206)
Matt Arroyo (171) vs. Dan Cramer (171)
Saturday, January 31, 2009
UFC 94 GSP vs Penn 2
The UFC throws together something that could be very interesting, or very boring...
Matt Arroyo Vs. Dan Cramer (Welterweight)
Matt ended up eating punches from the other Matt from TUF (Matt Brown) to loose his last fight by KO.
Dan Cramer... nearly impossible to find any information on him at all. Dan is an ATT fighter who is 3-0, two decisions, one split, and one TKO.
Matt should wipe the floor with Dan... BUT Matt has only won by submission, Dan comes from ATT where you know they are doing some submission training... I still think that Dan has too little experience to come through. Matt by KO first round.
Jake O'Brien Vs. Christian Wellisch (Light Heavyweight)
Jake has dropped his last two by KO first to Andrei Arlovski (did he wake up yet? Fedor seriously scrambled his brains with that right hand) then to Cain Velasquez. Before that Jake looked good beating Heath Herring by decision then knocking out Kristof Midoux.
Christian is coming down in weight after getting knocked out by newcomer Shane Carwin back in May. Cristian is 2-2 in the UFC. His other loss was to Cheick Kongo by KO. He bounced back with a decision win over Anthony Perosh, then caught Scott Junk with a heel hook.
Jake likes to knock people out. Cristian is more well rounded, and boasts a wrestling pedigree. Cristian also works out at AKA, where many good fighters are coming from nowadays. I think that this one is decided on the ground. Christian by RNC second round.
Chris Wilson Vs. John Howard (Welterweight)
Chris is 1-1 in the UFC, beating Steve Bruno by decision after loosing to Jon Fitch by decision. Guy likes his decisions. The word is that Chris trains out of Matt Lindland's (Is Matt awake yet? Belfort nearly killed him with that left hand.)
John "Doomsday" Howard is making his debut in the UFC. He really has not fought any very stiff opposition.
Chris has been there and done that. John makes his debut in the big show against his first real opposition. Should be an easy win for Chris.
Wilson by RNC first round.
Manny Gamburyan Vs. Thiago Tavares (Lightweight)
Manny dropped his last fight by KO to Rob Emmerson. It was a surprise. Manny is tough to submit and works a very solid G&P game.
Thiago Tavares is on thin ice after loosing two in a row first a KO loss to "Handsome" Matt Wiman then he dropped a decision to Kurt Pellegrino. Not good if you want to stay in the UFC.
This should be an interesting fight. Tarvares needs a win badly. Manny needs to get back on track. Styles make fights, and I think that the UFC made this match to get Manny a win over a very impressive looking fighter.
Manny by decision.
Jon Fitch Vs. Akihiro Gono (Welterweight)
Fitch fought very hard in his last outing but was ultimately decimated by GSP. GSP was not able to finish Fitch, but it really was no contest. Fitch is very good on the ground with solid stand up skills.
Gono is another one of Japan's exports that has been doing very well against the Western fighters. He lost his last fight by split decision to Dan Hardy.
This fight should go Jon's way pretty quickly, because, despite how much I like Gono, he is a very one dimensional fighter. If Gono does not go to the ground, he does not win. I very much doubt that Fitch will want to play Gono's one and only game, and why would he? Fitch by KO second round.
Nate Diaz Vs. Clay Guida (Lightweight)
Nate is riding high, going 5-0 in the UFC. His last fight was a very tough split decision win over Josh Neer.
Clay has grown out of his lightweight division gatekeeper role with his last decision win over Mac Danzing. After that, we all have to look at Clay as a potential contender someday.
Wow. This one should be fun. Styles make fights, and stylistically we have Nate Diaz who is cold and methodical. On the other hand you have Clay Guida who is all fire and go. If Nate can keep the fight at his pace he should cut off Guida and finish him on the feet. If not... Clay overwhelms Nate and finishes it with a G&P win. In order to do that, however Clay will have to break Nate's spirit. I just don't see Clay breaking Nate's spirit. Nate by thrid round KO.
Karo Parisyan Vs. Dong Hyun Kim (Welterweight)
Karo was destroyed by Thaigo Alves in his last fight. So much so that Karo has had trouble training because he has been getting panic attacks. Not good.
Kim is now 2-0 in the UFC after knocking Jason Tan out, then taking Matt Brown to a decision. He shows all the qualities of a guy on the way up.
This is a very tough fight for Karo on his first fight back from such a harsh loss. Kim seems to be building in to a powerhouse and is not a great guy to face if you are having panic attacks during training. Kim by decision.
Stephan Bonnar Vs. Jon Jones (Light Heavyweight)
Bonnar is looking very strong after defeating Eric Schafer by KO in his last fight. Bonnar showed he was able to keep the fight standing, and stuff whatever takedowns Schafer threw.
Jones won his last fight, his UFC debut, by decision over IFL vet and new comer Andre Gusmao. Jones is a guy who likes to win standing up with 5 of his 7 wins by KO.
This should be the fight that gets Bonnar's ground game back. It would not make sense for Bonnar to engage Jones on the feet, so I look for Bonnar to take Jones down and end it there. Stephan by Triangle Choke first round.
Lyoto Machida Vs. Thiago Silva (Light Heavyweight)
Machida has beaten every single one of his previous opponents. He knocked out Rich Franklin, and Stephan Bonnar. He choked out Sokoudjou, and beat Tito by decision. Statistically, he has been hit fewer times than anyone else in the UFC. His style is a mixture of several traditional martial arts, and solid BJJ.
Silva has also beaten everybody in his way. He hasn't had a decision win since 2006. His record reads KO, KO, KO, KO, KO, KO, KO, KO, Heel hook, decision, KO, KO. The guy is a wrecking machine. On top of that he is a BJJ black belt.
This will be the fight of the night, or it will put everybody to sleep. Machida has a tendency of being unwilling to engage. If that happens this fight will be three rounds of watching Machida backpedal and Silva advancing. Still I think this fight will finish before the bell. Silva by KO by strikes on the ground second round.
Georges St-Pierre Vs. BJ Penn (Welterweight Championship)
GSP is one of the most complete fighter to have ever stepped in to the UFC octagon. His wrestling is top notch. He can stand and fight with anyone. His ground game is at the top levels of the sport. His only weakness is his head. GSP has a tendency to let his nerves get the better of him, and gets caught.
BJ Penn IS the most complete fighter to have ever stepped in to the UFC octagon. He has fought and won in several different weight classes. His BJJ is second to none in MMA, and his stand up is nearly unstoppable. His weakness is, again, his head. BJ does not like to train very much and tends to get discouraged if he does not put his opponent away in the first or early in the second.
In their first fight, BJ Penn dominated the first round. He broke GSP's nose and cut him under his left eye. Penn's jab was able to sneak through GSP's guard and bust him up horribly. Then BJ gased. That lost him the fight. If BJ comes to the fight in good condition, he should be able to finish GSP late in the second or early third, BUT if he does not, GSP will finish the fight in the forth or fith.
I think that BJ learned his lesson last time, and will be in great condition for this fight. BJ by KO third round.
Matt Arroyo Vs. Dan Cramer (Welterweight)
Matt ended up eating punches from the other Matt from TUF (Matt Brown) to loose his last fight by KO.
Dan Cramer... nearly impossible to find any information on him at all. Dan is an ATT fighter who is 3-0, two decisions, one split, and one TKO.
Matt should wipe the floor with Dan... BUT Matt has only won by submission, Dan comes from ATT where you know they are doing some submission training... I still think that Dan has too little experience to come through. Matt by KO first round.
Jake O'Brien Vs. Christian Wellisch (Light Heavyweight)
Jake has dropped his last two by KO first to Andrei Arlovski (did he wake up yet? Fedor seriously scrambled his brains with that right hand) then to Cain Velasquez. Before that Jake looked good beating Heath Herring by decision then knocking out Kristof Midoux.
Christian is coming down in weight after getting knocked out by newcomer Shane Carwin back in May. Cristian is 2-2 in the UFC. His other loss was to Cheick Kongo by KO. He bounced back with a decision win over Anthony Perosh, then caught Scott Junk with a heel hook.
Jake likes to knock people out. Cristian is more well rounded, and boasts a wrestling pedigree. Cristian also works out at AKA, where many good fighters are coming from nowadays. I think that this one is decided on the ground. Christian by RNC second round.
Chris Wilson Vs. John Howard (Welterweight)
Chris is 1-1 in the UFC, beating Steve Bruno by decision after loosing to Jon Fitch by decision. Guy likes his decisions. The word is that Chris trains out of Matt Lindland's (Is Matt awake yet? Belfort nearly killed him with that left hand.)
John "Doomsday" Howard is making his debut in the UFC. He really has not fought any very stiff opposition.
Chris has been there and done that. John makes his debut in the big show against his first real opposition. Should be an easy win for Chris.
Wilson by RNC first round.
Manny Gamburyan Vs. Thiago Tavares (Lightweight)
Manny dropped his last fight by KO to Rob Emmerson. It was a surprise. Manny is tough to submit and works a very solid G&P game.
Thiago Tavares is on thin ice after loosing two in a row first a KO loss to "Handsome" Matt Wiman then he dropped a decision to Kurt Pellegrino. Not good if you want to stay in the UFC.
This should be an interesting fight. Tarvares needs a win badly. Manny needs to get back on track. Styles make fights, and I think that the UFC made this match to get Manny a win over a very impressive looking fighter.
Manny by decision.
Jon Fitch Vs. Akihiro Gono (Welterweight)
Fitch fought very hard in his last outing but was ultimately decimated by GSP. GSP was not able to finish Fitch, but it really was no contest. Fitch is very good on the ground with solid stand up skills.
Gono is another one of Japan's exports that has been doing very well against the Western fighters. He lost his last fight by split decision to Dan Hardy.
This fight should go Jon's way pretty quickly, because, despite how much I like Gono, he is a very one dimensional fighter. If Gono does not go to the ground, he does not win. I very much doubt that Fitch will want to play Gono's one and only game, and why would he? Fitch by KO second round.
Nate Diaz Vs. Clay Guida (Lightweight)
Nate is riding high, going 5-0 in the UFC. His last fight was a very tough split decision win over Josh Neer.
Clay has grown out of his lightweight division gatekeeper role with his last decision win over Mac Danzing. After that, we all have to look at Clay as a potential contender someday.
Wow. This one should be fun. Styles make fights, and stylistically we have Nate Diaz who is cold and methodical. On the other hand you have Clay Guida who is all fire and go. If Nate can keep the fight at his pace he should cut off Guida and finish him on the feet. If not... Clay overwhelms Nate and finishes it with a G&P win. In order to do that, however Clay will have to break Nate's spirit. I just don't see Clay breaking Nate's spirit. Nate by thrid round KO.
Karo Parisyan Vs. Dong Hyun Kim (Welterweight)
Karo was destroyed by Thaigo Alves in his last fight. So much so that Karo has had trouble training because he has been getting panic attacks. Not good.
Kim is now 2-0 in the UFC after knocking Jason Tan out, then taking Matt Brown to a decision. He shows all the qualities of a guy on the way up.
This is a very tough fight for Karo on his first fight back from such a harsh loss. Kim seems to be building in to a powerhouse and is not a great guy to face if you are having panic attacks during training. Kim by decision.
Stephan Bonnar Vs. Jon Jones (Light Heavyweight)
Bonnar is looking very strong after defeating Eric Schafer by KO in his last fight. Bonnar showed he was able to keep the fight standing, and stuff whatever takedowns Schafer threw.
Jones won his last fight, his UFC debut, by decision over IFL vet and new comer Andre Gusmao. Jones is a guy who likes to win standing up with 5 of his 7 wins by KO.
This should be the fight that gets Bonnar's ground game back. It would not make sense for Bonnar to engage Jones on the feet, so I look for Bonnar to take Jones down and end it there. Stephan by Triangle Choke first round.
Lyoto Machida Vs. Thiago Silva (Light Heavyweight)
Machida has beaten every single one of his previous opponents. He knocked out Rich Franklin, and Stephan Bonnar. He choked out Sokoudjou, and beat Tito by decision. Statistically, he has been hit fewer times than anyone else in the UFC. His style is a mixture of several traditional martial arts, and solid BJJ.
Silva has also beaten everybody in his way. He hasn't had a decision win since 2006. His record reads KO, KO, KO, KO, KO, KO, KO, KO, Heel hook, decision, KO, KO. The guy is a wrecking machine. On top of that he is a BJJ black belt.
This will be the fight of the night, or it will put everybody to sleep. Machida has a tendency of being unwilling to engage. If that happens this fight will be three rounds of watching Machida backpedal and Silva advancing. Still I think this fight will finish before the bell. Silva by KO by strikes on the ground second round.
Georges St-Pierre Vs. BJ Penn (Welterweight Championship)
GSP is one of the most complete fighter to have ever stepped in to the UFC octagon. His wrestling is top notch. He can stand and fight with anyone. His ground game is at the top levels of the sport. His only weakness is his head. GSP has a tendency to let his nerves get the better of him, and gets caught.
BJ Penn IS the most complete fighter to have ever stepped in to the UFC octagon. He has fought and won in several different weight classes. His BJJ is second to none in MMA, and his stand up is nearly unstoppable. His weakness is, again, his head. BJ does not like to train very much and tends to get discouraged if he does not put his opponent away in the first or early in the second.
In their first fight, BJ Penn dominated the first round. He broke GSP's nose and cut him under his left eye. Penn's jab was able to sneak through GSP's guard and bust him up horribly. Then BJ gased. That lost him the fight. If BJ comes to the fight in good condition, he should be able to finish GSP late in the second or early third, BUT if he does not, GSP will finish the fight in the forth or fith.
I think that BJ learned his lesson last time, and will be in great condition for this fight. BJ by KO third round.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Plane Crashed, I'm Alive, How Much You Gonna Give Me??
Well, the passengers of the US Airways flight that ended up in the Hudson are starting to line up to sue the company. Wonder why plane tickets are so expensive? Ask these morons.
US Airways has sent each passenger a refund of their ticket, and a check for $5000 to help with immediate costs of lost luggage. That is $1500 over what they are liable for each checked bag. Yet the whining begins:
You are already whole. Your body has already replaced the blood lost from the nose bleed and the bruises.
Bitchboy goes on to say:
Translation: I am a bitch, so I want to screw other passengers and contribute to already expensive airline tickets by forcing the airline to ether settle with me or go through costly litigation with me, because I am a bitch.
You are alive. No negligence on the part of the airline, or crew caused the accident. Be happy, kiss your wife, kiss your kids, and go about your business. Help the rest of us out by not being a bitch. You can look yourself in the mirror every day and say: "I am not a bitch." You want that don't you Mr. Hart?
Story
US Airways has sent each passenger a refund of their ticket, and a check for $5000 to help with immediate costs of lost luggage. That is $1500 over what they are liable for each checked bag. Yet the whining begins:
Joe Hart, a salesman from Charlotte who suffered a bloody nose and bruises, says he "would like to be made whole for the incident."
You are already whole. Your body has already replaced the blood lost from the nose bleed and the bruises.
Bitchboy goes on to say:
He says he was tense, sweated and "felt every bit of turbulence" on a Los Angeles-to-Philadelphia flight last week, though it wasn't that turbulent a flight.
Hart says he has talked to a lawyer in North Carolina but hasn't decided whether to take any legal action.
"I want to see how things play out with US Airways," he says. "I'm hopeful US Airways understands the significance of the incident."
Translation: I am a bitch, so I want to screw other passengers and contribute to already expensive airline tickets by forcing the airline to ether settle with me or go through costly litigation with me, because I am a bitch.
You are alive. No negligence on the part of the airline, or crew caused the accident. Be happy, kiss your wife, kiss your kids, and go about your business. Help the rest of us out by not being a bitch. You can look yourself in the mirror every day and say: "I am not a bitch." You want that don't you Mr. Hart?
Story
Monday, January 26, 2009
Beer
Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. -- Benjamin Franklin
I love beer.
I love beer.
I love beer.
It is unfortunate that such a rich subject as beer, is so little understood in many countries, my own included. The U.S. has only itself, and the hated 18th Amendment, to blame.
The horrible truth is that most people know very little about beer. So, they walk in to a brew house, and order a Bud Light bottle. It is not their fault. I forgive them, because they know not what they do. Those I can not forgive are the ones that believe that American Macro Brews are the end all and be all of beer. They are not. In actuality, American Macro Brews are a study in how little you can brew beer and still call it beer.
I have two links set up on the right side. One goes to Beer 101. A good site for learning about the varying styles of beer. This site is mainly concerned with education and the drinking of the many varieties of beer out there.
If Beer 101 is the beginner class, the other link, How to Brew Beer, is the advanced class. This site goes over how to brew your own beer, from your first kit, to your first full grain brew. In order to brew great beer you have to know all about it, and this site delivers.
If you are at all interested in Beer, take a look at these sites and then take a walk down to your local brew pub. As if the brew master is busy and see if you can take a tour of the facilities. Have a few tasters with the brew master. Talk to him/her about what they were trying to accomplish with the various brews, and ask what you should be looking for in the beer. Most of the time, the brew master is simply happy that someone is interested in his work. I have yet to meet a brew master, that did not work at a macro brewery, they want to kill themselves, that was not happy to discus his craft.
I love beer.
I love beer.
I love beer.
It is unfortunate that such a rich subject as beer, is so little understood in many countries, my own included. The U.S. has only itself, and the hated 18th Amendment, to blame.
The horrible truth is that most people know very little about beer. So, they walk in to a brew house, and order a Bud Light bottle. It is not their fault. I forgive them, because they know not what they do. Those I can not forgive are the ones that believe that American Macro Brews are the end all and be all of beer. They are not. In actuality, American Macro Brews are a study in how little you can brew beer and still call it beer.
I have two links set up on the right side. One goes to Beer 101. A good site for learning about the varying styles of beer. This site is mainly concerned with education and the drinking of the many varieties of beer out there.
If Beer 101 is the beginner class, the other link, How to Brew Beer, is the advanced class. This site goes over how to brew your own beer, from your first kit, to your first full grain brew. In order to brew great beer you have to know all about it, and this site delivers.
If you are at all interested in Beer, take a look at these sites and then take a walk down to your local brew pub. As if the brew master is busy and see if you can take a tour of the facilities. Have a few tasters with the brew master. Talk to him/her about what they were trying to accomplish with the various brews, and ask what you should be looking for in the beer. Most of the time, the brew master is simply happy that someone is interested in his work. I have yet to meet a brew master, that did not work at a macro brewery, they want to kill themselves, that was not happy to discus his craft.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Barack Obama's Inauguration Day
I wanted today to be like any other Inauguration Day. Welcome a new President, and wish him well. I wanted to say that this is something we as a nation have done every 4 or so years for 44 men. I wanted to feel indifferent, even upset, because a guy that is nearly my political opposite takes the oath of office.
But it isn't like any other day. I don't feel indifferent. Even though race is a non-issue for most people in the U.S. nowadays, inaugurating a black man as President of The United States of America is a big freaking deal. It is the absolute culmination of Madison's dream. It was the reason he phrased the Constitution as he did, and refused to define slaves.
It is the realization of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. It is the fantasy come reality of those oppressed by Jim Crow.
This one time the U.S.A. will show the world that a nation of mixed people, one without a class structure, one without a monarchy, one without warlords, one without regard for race, stands together as the son of a divorced immigrant from the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder assumes the most powerful position in the world.
Today is a victory for freedom. Today is the reason all those men died on the Union side of the American Civil War. Today I can not help but join with the masses in utter hero worship. Today I look at Barack Obama as a symbol of what America can be. Today is a great day.
I am proud to be an American. Many others today will feel the same pride, some for the first time.
Barack has said that he stands for hope. That is true. Today I hope against hope that those who have never felt included in what the U.S.A. stands for now feel included. Today I hope that those people who scoff when I talk about freedom, look upon that man while he takes the oath, and believe. I hope that after today, people look at their hyphenated American name and think, I don't need that qualifier anymore.
I hope.
Go get 'em!!!!
But it isn't like any other day. I don't feel indifferent. Even though race is a non-issue for most people in the U.S. nowadays, inaugurating a black man as President of The United States of America is a big freaking deal. It is the absolute culmination of Madison's dream. It was the reason he phrased the Constitution as he did, and refused to define slaves.
It is the realization of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. It is the fantasy come reality of those oppressed by Jim Crow.
This one time the U.S.A. will show the world that a nation of mixed people, one without a class structure, one without a monarchy, one without warlords, one without regard for race, stands together as the son of a divorced immigrant from the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder assumes the most powerful position in the world.
Today is a victory for freedom. Today is the reason all those men died on the Union side of the American Civil War. Today I can not help but join with the masses in utter hero worship. Today I look at Barack Obama as a symbol of what America can be. Today is a great day.
I am proud to be an American. Many others today will feel the same pride, some for the first time.
Barack has said that he stands for hope. That is true. Today I hope against hope that those who have never felt included in what the U.S.A. stands for now feel included. Today I hope that those people who scoff when I talk about freedom, look upon that man while he takes the oath, and believe. I hope that after today, people look at their hyphenated American name and think, I don't need that qualifier anymore.
I hope.
Go get 'em!!!!
Monday, January 19, 2009
UFC 93 Recap
Dennis Siver def Nate Mohr TKO (Spinning Back Kick and Punches) 3:27 rnd 3
My Pick: Silver by RNC first round.
Spin kick?? really? I have to see this one.
Tomasz Drwal def Ivan Serati TKO (Punches) 2:02 rnd 1
My Pick: Tomasz by KO second round.
Tomasz comes through for me.
Eric Schafer def Antonio Mendes TKO (Punches) 3:35 rnd 1
My Pick: Eric by Decision
Ok, so maybe Schafer can punch a little bit...
Martin Kampmann def Alexandre Barros TKO (Punches) 3:07 rnd 2
My Pick: Kampmann by KO first round
The only surprise here is that Barros made it to the second.
John Hathaway def Tom Egan TKO (Elbows) 4:36 rnd 1
My Pick: John by KO second round
This was really not a very good fight. Both guys did a good job of keeping the action going, but the level of fighting wasn't very high. John did a good job of working the elbows from the top position though.
Marcus Davis def Chris Lytle Decision (Split)
My Pick: Davis by KO late third round
This was a back and forth slug fest. Davis did a great job working his kicks and for some reason Lytle just did not take him to the ground. By the time it became an absolute necessity for Chris to get the fight to the ground, he was so beat up he could not get the shot in.
I thought that it should have been an easy 29-28 decision win for Davis, but the judges were watching some other fight in the stands or something.
Alan Belcher def Denis Kang Submission (Guillotine Choke) 4:36 rnd 2
My Pick: Kang by RNC first round
Kang looked dominate until he gassed... then he made the mistake of not respecting Alan's ground game. Kang was the better fighter, but that does not win fights. Very smart and gutsy performance by Alan. Kudos.
Rousimar Palhares def Jeremy Horn Decision
My Pick: Palhares by triangle first round
Palhares dominated Horn like I have never seen anybody dominate Horn before. It was tough to watch.
Mauricio Rua def Mark Coleman TKO (Punches) 4:36 rnd 3
My Pick: Rua by KO first round.
Both guys gassed in the first round, and pitter patted each other for the rest of the fight. Rua had Coleman in the Mortal Kombat "Finish Him" pose at some point in the first two rounds, and kept him there for the entire third round. Rua was just too gassed to finish him off. Terrible fight.
Dan Henderson def Rich Franklin Decision (Split)
My Pick: Rich by decision
Dan kept his right hand working and clearly won the fight. BUT if the fight goes two more rounds I think Rich might have pulled it out at the end. Who knows?
Dan now goes on to coach TUF against Michael Bisping. The Bisping/Henderson fight should be an easy pick. Hendo will destroy him.
I go 8 of 10 in one of the hardest UFCs to watch in a long time.
My Pick: Silver by RNC first round.
Spin kick?? really? I have to see this one.
Tomasz Drwal def Ivan Serati TKO (Punches) 2:02 rnd 1
My Pick: Tomasz by KO second round.
Tomasz comes through for me.
Eric Schafer def Antonio Mendes TKO (Punches) 3:35 rnd 1
My Pick: Eric by Decision
Ok, so maybe Schafer can punch a little bit...
Martin Kampmann def Alexandre Barros TKO (Punches) 3:07 rnd 2
My Pick: Kampmann by KO first round
The only surprise here is that Barros made it to the second.
John Hathaway def Tom Egan TKO (Elbows) 4:36 rnd 1
My Pick: John by KO second round
This was really not a very good fight. Both guys did a good job of keeping the action going, but the level of fighting wasn't very high. John did a good job of working the elbows from the top position though.
Marcus Davis def Chris Lytle Decision (Split)
My Pick: Davis by KO late third round
This was a back and forth slug fest. Davis did a great job working his kicks and for some reason Lytle just did not take him to the ground. By the time it became an absolute necessity for Chris to get the fight to the ground, he was so beat up he could not get the shot in.
I thought that it should have been an easy 29-28 decision win for Davis, but the judges were watching some other fight in the stands or something.
Alan Belcher def Denis Kang Submission (Guillotine Choke) 4:36 rnd 2
My Pick: Kang by RNC first round
Kang looked dominate until he gassed... then he made the mistake of not respecting Alan's ground game. Kang was the better fighter, but that does not win fights. Very smart and gutsy performance by Alan. Kudos.
Rousimar Palhares def Jeremy Horn Decision
My Pick: Palhares by triangle first round
Palhares dominated Horn like I have never seen anybody dominate Horn before. It was tough to watch.
Mauricio Rua def Mark Coleman TKO (Punches) 4:36 rnd 3
My Pick: Rua by KO first round.
Both guys gassed in the first round, and pitter patted each other for the rest of the fight. Rua had Coleman in the Mortal Kombat "Finish Him" pose at some point in the first two rounds, and kept him there for the entire third round. Rua was just too gassed to finish him off. Terrible fight.
Dan Henderson def Rich Franklin Decision (Split)
My Pick: Rich by decision
Dan kept his right hand working and clearly won the fight. BUT if the fight goes two more rounds I think Rich might have pulled it out at the end. Who knows?
Dan now goes on to coach TUF against Michael Bisping. The Bisping/Henderson fight should be an easy pick. Hendo will destroy him.
I go 8 of 10 in one of the hardest UFCs to watch in a long time.
Friday, January 16, 2009
UFC 93 Weigh In Results
Rich Franklin (203) vs. Dan Henderson (202)
Mark Coleman (206) vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (205)
Alan Belcher (186) vs. Denis Kang (184)
Jeremy Horn (185) vs. Rousimar Palhares (184)
Marcus Davis (169) vs. Chris Lytle (171)
Martin Kampmann (168) vs. Alexandre Barros (170)
Eric Schafer (205) vs. Antonio Mendes (204)
Tomasz Drwal (203) vs. Ivan Serati (204)
Thomas Egan (169) vs. John Hathaway (171)
Dennis Siver (155) vs. Nate Mohr (156)
Mark Coleman (206) vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (205)
Alan Belcher (186) vs. Denis Kang (184)
Jeremy Horn (185) vs. Rousimar Palhares (184)
Marcus Davis (169) vs. Chris Lytle (171)
Martin Kampmann (168) vs. Alexandre Barros (170)
Eric Schafer (205) vs. Antonio Mendes (204)
Tomasz Drwal (203) vs. Ivan Serati (204)
Thomas Egan (169) vs. John Hathaway (171)
Dennis Siver (155) vs. Nate Mohr (156)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
UFC 93 Franklin vs Henderson
Or, UFC 93 Let's Get Shogun A Win, or UFC 93 Yes Mark Coleman Is Still Alive, or UFC 93 Coleman After Steroids... Lots of different names for this one.
Dennis Siver Vs. Nate Mohr (Lightweight)
Silver won once and lost twice in the UFC. Dennis is a German fighter with lots and lots of submissions to his name (7 of 12).
Nate Mohr is also 2-1 in the UFC loosing his last fight to Manny Gamburyan by ankle lock. Nate likes to KO people with most of is wins coming that way.
Dennis likes to submit people, while Nate likes to be submitted. ALL of Nate's 5 losses come from submissions. Nate has a puncher's chance, but not much of one.
Silver by RNC first round.
Tom Egan Vs. John Hathaway (Welterweight)
Tom Egan... I know nothing about him. The UFC web site has him at 4-0, Sherdog has 3-0. UFC web site says that he is a BJJ blue belt and a kickboxer. This will be his first fight in the UFC.
John Hathaway is 9-0, and this will also be his first fight in the UFC. Hathaway comes from England's biggest production, Cage Rage, and seems to amassed a respectable record. He likes to keep the fight standing winning 6 by some form of KO, but he has a RNC win to his name, so he may have some ground skill as well.
I don' think that Tom really has a chance here. John has fought the better opposition in the bigger show. John by KO second round.
Tomasz Drwal Vs. Ivan Serati (Light Heavyweight)
Tomasz was knocked out by Thiago Silva in his last fight in the UFC. No real fault of his own... Thiago knocks everybody out. Tomasz is a Polish fighter with mostly KOs to his name.
Ivan Serati is an Italian fighter, making his debut in the UFC. He is 2-1 in Cage Rage, and his only loss comes to Vitor Belfort.
Interesting match up. Ivan certainly has the big show experience, but Tomasz has been in the UFC before, fighting a top level opponent. I think that Tomasz wins this one.
Tomasz by KO second round.
Eric Schafer Vs. Antonio Mendes (Light Heavyweight)
Red Schafer after defeating many opponents in the BJJ tournament circuit is back in the UFC. Eric won in impressive fashion over Houston Alexander by arm triangle choke last time he was in the UFC. Eric is a BJJ guy and wins his fights by dominating the ground position.
Antonio is yet another one of Thiago Silva's victims. Silva knocked Antonio out in Antonio's last fight in the UFC. Antonio is a Brazilian guy who trains with *cough* European Top Team.
Schafer needs to get his guy to the ground to win, and it seems as if Antonio can handle himself on the ground. I think that Schafer will be able to control the ground game, but I don't think that he will be able to submit Mendes. Eric by Decision.
Martin Kampmann Vs. Alexandre Barros (Welterweight)
Kampmann looked great in the UFC in his first four fights... then he ran in to Nate Marquardt and a big head kick. Nothing really you can say about that other than Kampmann, who is a great kickboxer, got caught.
Barros makes his debut in the UFC coming out of the Gracie Barra Combat Team. Barros has been fighting mainly in Brazil, and looks to win or loose by decision....
Kampmann is looking to redeem himself after a disappointing loss. Barros has his first fight in the UFC. Both will be very motivated to win. The advantage here, I think, is Kampmann's. The guys out of Gracie Barra are really known for their BJJ, not really anything else, including take downs. I think that Kampmann will easily stuff Barros' takedowns keep the fight standing, and finish it there.
Kampmann by KO first round.
Marcus Davis Vs. Chris Lytle (Welterweight)
Marcus Davis is 7-1 in the UFC with 5 of his wins coming before the final bell. Marcus is winning by submission, and KO showing that he is not the boxer that showed up at the TUF house so long ago.
Chris Lytle won his last fight in the UFC by decision over a very well matched Paul Taylor. Taylor and Lytle threw leather and smacked the living crap out of each other. While the fight did not end decisively, Chris walked away with the "W."
This should be an interesting fight. Both of these guys like to stand up. I think that the edge goes to the Mark Dellagrotte trained Davis. His kickboxing has just been super sharp lately. The edge on the ground, if it goes there, I think goes to the better wrestler Lytle, however I don't think that Lytle will be able to submit Davis. At most Lytle will control the position, preventing Davis from getting to his feet.
I think this fight will go with an exchange on the feet, and a take down by Lyte. The first round will end with Lytle on top, but not having done much damage. Second round will go much the same, but I think in the third the ref will get tired of the lay and pray, and force stand ups. That is when Davis will take over.
Davis by KO late third round.
Jeremy Horn Vs. Rousimar Palhares (Middleweight)
Jeremy has looked very bad in his last few fights. He lost by Guillotine Choke to both Dean Lister and Nate Marquardt. I don't know if the fire is gone, of if Jeremy just can't get the training that he needs, but he just does not look like the same fighter ever since he moved to Salt Lake City.
Rousimar Palhares lost to Dan Henderson by decision in his last fight. Before that he retired my friend Ivan Salaverry. Palhares is a good BJJ guy, and very tough.
I don't know if the UFC just wants to kill Jeremy or if they just want him to retire. After loosing two fights by choke, they throw him to a monster like Palhares??? Dana hates the Omaha boys.
Palhares by triangle first round.
Alan Belcher Vs. Denis Kang (Middleweight)
Alan won his last fight in the UFC by split decision over the on again off again Ed Herman. Alan wins all sorts of ways, but mostly by KO. Alan also finds interesting ways to loose... He was the guy Kendal Grove choked out with a Brabo Choke.
Denis Kang finally makes the switch from the Japanese/Korean circuit to the UFC. Kang is an ATT fighter that has made his name with decent stand up and a very aggressive go for broke ground style. Will he retain this in the UFC where winning is so much more important than in Japan? I hope so. Denis knocked out Marvin Eastman in his last fight in his native Canada.
This is a neat fight that could have big potential for the UFC IF Kang wins. Denis is a huge draw in Korea, and he could headline a show there if the UFC wants to get in to the Asian market. If Kang looses, we could just see him fade away.
I don't think that Kang is loosing here though. Kang by RNC first round.
Mark Coleman Vs. Mauricio Rua (Light Heavyweight)
Mark Coleman was one of the first wrestlers to use the new strategy of "Ground & Pound." His style has not changed since.
Rua lost his last fight to Forrest Griffin way back in 9/2007. A long time ago. Before the Griffin fight, where he looked slow and awkward, Rua's style was in the standard Chute Boxe mold, SMASH SMASH SMASH. Rua was seen doing crazy kicks and huge stomps. In the Griffin fight, he looked like he did not want to be there.
This fight is a rematch of one that was held in PRIDE back in 2/2006. Mark hit Rua with a huge take down and Rua landed on his arm. The arm broke at the elbow leaving it in a very strange position. So Coleman won that fight. That should not be the case here. I don't know what Joe Silva, the UFC match maker, was thinking. Bring Coleman back???? What the hell for?? I can think of three fighters of this MMA generation who would be willing to fight Rua. Matt Hamill would be a good comeback fight for Rua. What would be better for Shogun than a guy who only throws straight punches and drops his hands after ever one?? A Machida/Rua fight would be awesome. Even a Rua/Tito Ortiz fight would be fun. Seriously Coleman?? They must want Rua to win. That, and I don't think that Coleman can do anything anymore with out the steroids.
Rua by KO first round.
Rich Franklin Vs. Dan Henderson (Light Heavyweight)
After a successful return to the 205 division with a KO win over Matt Hamill, Rich Franklin is back for more. Rich is a good stand up fighter, with OK, but rarely seen ground skill. Rarely seen because the last time Rich won by submission was way back in October of 2004 with an armbar win over Jorge Rivera.
Dan Henderson has had his share of problems in the UFC. He lost his first two fights right off of the bat, a decision loss to Rampage Jackson, then loosing by RNC to Anderson Silva. He came back to win a decision over Rousimar Palhares.
Dan likes to keep the fight standing, and that is good news for Rich. Rich loves the stand up game and has the solid boxing skill to win the majority of his fights there. Dan has a huge right hand that he throws early and often. I don't think that Rich will take Dan down, and I am pretty sure that Rich will use his reach advantage to keep Dan from taking him down. That just leaves the stand up game, and Rich should win that one. I don't think that he will be able to finish Henderson, but I don't think that he will loose either.
Rich by decision.
Dennis Siver Vs. Nate Mohr (Lightweight)
Silver won once and lost twice in the UFC. Dennis is a German fighter with lots and lots of submissions to his name (7 of 12).
Nate Mohr is also 2-1 in the UFC loosing his last fight to Manny Gamburyan by ankle lock. Nate likes to KO people with most of is wins coming that way.
Dennis likes to submit people, while Nate likes to be submitted. ALL of Nate's 5 losses come from submissions. Nate has a puncher's chance, but not much of one.
Silver by RNC first round.
Tom Egan Vs. John Hathaway (Welterweight)
Tom Egan... I know nothing about him. The UFC web site has him at 4-0, Sherdog has 3-0. UFC web site says that he is a BJJ blue belt and a kickboxer. This will be his first fight in the UFC.
John Hathaway is 9-0, and this will also be his first fight in the UFC. Hathaway comes from England's biggest production, Cage Rage, and seems to amassed a respectable record. He likes to keep the fight standing winning 6 by some form of KO, but he has a RNC win to his name, so he may have some ground skill as well.
I don' think that Tom really has a chance here. John has fought the better opposition in the bigger show. John by KO second round.
Tomasz Drwal Vs. Ivan Serati (Light Heavyweight)
Tomasz was knocked out by Thiago Silva in his last fight in the UFC. No real fault of his own... Thiago knocks everybody out. Tomasz is a Polish fighter with mostly KOs to his name.
Ivan Serati is an Italian fighter, making his debut in the UFC. He is 2-1 in Cage Rage, and his only loss comes to Vitor Belfort.
Interesting match up. Ivan certainly has the big show experience, but Tomasz has been in the UFC before, fighting a top level opponent. I think that Tomasz wins this one.
Tomasz by KO second round.
Eric Schafer Vs. Antonio Mendes (Light Heavyweight)
Red Schafer after defeating many opponents in the BJJ tournament circuit is back in the UFC. Eric won in impressive fashion over Houston Alexander by arm triangle choke last time he was in the UFC. Eric is a BJJ guy and wins his fights by dominating the ground position.
Antonio is yet another one of Thiago Silva's victims. Silva knocked Antonio out in Antonio's last fight in the UFC. Antonio is a Brazilian guy who trains with *cough* European Top Team.
Schafer needs to get his guy to the ground to win, and it seems as if Antonio can handle himself on the ground. I think that Schafer will be able to control the ground game, but I don't think that he will be able to submit Mendes. Eric by Decision.
Martin Kampmann Vs. Alexandre Barros (Welterweight)
Kampmann looked great in the UFC in his first four fights... then he ran in to Nate Marquardt and a big head kick. Nothing really you can say about that other than Kampmann, who is a great kickboxer, got caught.
Barros makes his debut in the UFC coming out of the Gracie Barra Combat Team. Barros has been fighting mainly in Brazil, and looks to win or loose by decision....
Kampmann is looking to redeem himself after a disappointing loss. Barros has his first fight in the UFC. Both will be very motivated to win. The advantage here, I think, is Kampmann's. The guys out of Gracie Barra are really known for their BJJ, not really anything else, including take downs. I think that Kampmann will easily stuff Barros' takedowns keep the fight standing, and finish it there.
Kampmann by KO first round.
Marcus Davis Vs. Chris Lytle (Welterweight)
Marcus Davis is 7-1 in the UFC with 5 of his wins coming before the final bell. Marcus is winning by submission, and KO showing that he is not the boxer that showed up at the TUF house so long ago.
Chris Lytle won his last fight in the UFC by decision over a very well matched Paul Taylor. Taylor and Lytle threw leather and smacked the living crap out of each other. While the fight did not end decisively, Chris walked away with the "W."
This should be an interesting fight. Both of these guys like to stand up. I think that the edge goes to the Mark Dellagrotte trained Davis. His kickboxing has just been super sharp lately. The edge on the ground, if it goes there, I think goes to the better wrestler Lytle, however I don't think that Lytle will be able to submit Davis. At most Lytle will control the position, preventing Davis from getting to his feet.
I think this fight will go with an exchange on the feet, and a take down by Lyte. The first round will end with Lytle on top, but not having done much damage. Second round will go much the same, but I think in the third the ref will get tired of the lay and pray, and force stand ups. That is when Davis will take over.
Davis by KO late third round.
Jeremy Horn Vs. Rousimar Palhares (Middleweight)
Jeremy has looked very bad in his last few fights. He lost by Guillotine Choke to both Dean Lister and Nate Marquardt. I don't know if the fire is gone, of if Jeremy just can't get the training that he needs, but he just does not look like the same fighter ever since he moved to Salt Lake City.
Rousimar Palhares lost to Dan Henderson by decision in his last fight. Before that he retired my friend Ivan Salaverry. Palhares is a good BJJ guy, and very tough.
I don't know if the UFC just wants to kill Jeremy or if they just want him to retire. After loosing two fights by choke, they throw him to a monster like Palhares??? Dana hates the Omaha boys.
Palhares by triangle first round.
Alan Belcher Vs. Denis Kang (Middleweight)
Alan won his last fight in the UFC by split decision over the on again off again Ed Herman. Alan wins all sorts of ways, but mostly by KO. Alan also finds interesting ways to loose... He was the guy Kendal Grove choked out with a Brabo Choke.
Denis Kang finally makes the switch from the Japanese/Korean circuit to the UFC. Kang is an ATT fighter that has made his name with decent stand up and a very aggressive go for broke ground style. Will he retain this in the UFC where winning is so much more important than in Japan? I hope so. Denis knocked out Marvin Eastman in his last fight in his native Canada.
This is a neat fight that could have big potential for the UFC IF Kang wins. Denis is a huge draw in Korea, and he could headline a show there if the UFC wants to get in to the Asian market. If Kang looses, we could just see him fade away.
I don't think that Kang is loosing here though. Kang by RNC first round.
Mark Coleman Vs. Mauricio Rua (Light Heavyweight)
Mark Coleman was one of the first wrestlers to use the new strategy of "Ground & Pound." His style has not changed since.
Rua lost his last fight to Forrest Griffin way back in 9/2007. A long time ago. Before the Griffin fight, where he looked slow and awkward, Rua's style was in the standard Chute Boxe mold, SMASH SMASH SMASH. Rua was seen doing crazy kicks and huge stomps. In the Griffin fight, he looked like he did not want to be there.
This fight is a rematch of one that was held in PRIDE back in 2/2006. Mark hit Rua with a huge take down and Rua landed on his arm. The arm broke at the elbow leaving it in a very strange position. So Coleman won that fight. That should not be the case here. I don't know what Joe Silva, the UFC match maker, was thinking. Bring Coleman back???? What the hell for?? I can think of three fighters of this MMA generation who would be willing to fight Rua. Matt Hamill would be a good comeback fight for Rua. What would be better for Shogun than a guy who only throws straight punches and drops his hands after ever one?? A Machida/Rua fight would be awesome. Even a Rua/Tito Ortiz fight would be fun. Seriously Coleman?? They must want Rua to win. That, and I don't think that Coleman can do anything anymore with out the steroids.
Rua by KO first round.
Rich Franklin Vs. Dan Henderson (Light Heavyweight)
After a successful return to the 205 division with a KO win over Matt Hamill, Rich Franklin is back for more. Rich is a good stand up fighter, with OK, but rarely seen ground skill. Rarely seen because the last time Rich won by submission was way back in October of 2004 with an armbar win over Jorge Rivera.
Dan Henderson has had his share of problems in the UFC. He lost his first two fights right off of the bat, a decision loss to Rampage Jackson, then loosing by RNC to Anderson Silva. He came back to win a decision over Rousimar Palhares.
Dan likes to keep the fight standing, and that is good news for Rich. Rich loves the stand up game and has the solid boxing skill to win the majority of his fights there. Dan has a huge right hand that he throws early and often. I don't think that Rich will take Dan down, and I am pretty sure that Rich will use his reach advantage to keep Dan from taking him down. That just leaves the stand up game, and Rich should win that one. I don't think that he will be able to finish Henderson, but I don't think that he will loose either.
Rich by decision.
It Finally Came!!
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I, George W. Bush, President of these United States of the Americas, pursuant to that pardon power thingy conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of that Constitution I keep hearing people go on about, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Natto Ninja — or as I like to call him, Umber Butt — for the crime of getting caught for domestic spying. The aforementioned — not to mention the beforementioned — shall not be subject to any punishment for this crime, including a small fine, tar and feathering or waterboarding. Well, maybe a little bit of waterboarding, but just for fun, ya know? Heh heh. Being The Decider in Chief, I have hereby used my Decidering powers to declare that Natto Ninja is a faithful devotee of liberal, amoral atheism and is, as such, a technically decent but godless citizen of this great nation. To punish this person would really anger Vice President Cheney. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand today, on January 14, in the year of our Lord 2009 — which I totally cannot believe is actually here, and I still haven't gotten my hovercraft — and of the Independence of the United States of America. God bless, George W. Bush |
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Tuesday, January 13, 2009
'Scuse Me While I Geek Out or How To Set Up WCF With Windows Message Security In a Load Balanced Environment, Using wsHTTP Binding
I am a computer geek. My job is very diverse so I get to delve in to all sorts of fun topics. My office is basically a Windows shop, so some of the things I deal with are Windows OSes, IIS, Load Balancing, Web Security, and Development.
I don't like to come in on nights and weekends, so I have set up our environment such that all vital web sites and services live on multiple Windows 2008 servers behind a F5 BigIP Local Traffic Manager. Enter in the DotNet Framework 3.0, 3.5, and 3.5 SP1, and the wonderful world of the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).
Unlike previous versions of IIS, IIS 7 was specifically built with WCF in mind, and the ideal platform for any IIS hosted WCF Services. What's better is that in our environment, anything that goes on our IIS servers, are load balanced.
Before we get in to that, let's first talk a little about security. First it is my opinion that no unauthorized person should be able to connect to ANY web site, especially if that web site is in a corporate intranet. Therefore you need to have some form of user authentication on anything that hits your web server. My preference is to use Windows Authentication, because, well you have a domain for a reason, and I don't want to mess with creating any separate user databases. What's more is that I like to use Windows Kerberos so that I don't have to worry about authentication over multiple hops.
So how do you do you set up IIS to use Kerberos? It is easy, but a bit involved. First EVERYTHING involved must be trusted for delegation, and I do mean everything (your client account, the IIS server, any third tier server, and the database server all must be trusted for delegation in Active Directory).
Second if you are using a DNS name, this post is about load balancing, so I assume you are, you need to create a Security Principal Name (SPN) for your DNS name. Since we are load balancing, you will need to pick some service account, trusted for delegation of course, and create the SPN for the DNS name with that account.
If you are going to connect to a database server with your client credentials, you will need to create a SPN for that specific instance of the database server. This will need to be done under a domain account. Before you even ask, yes the account must be trusted for delegation.
Finally, all web sites that you want to secure with Kerberos need to have Windows Authentication enabled. Also in IIS, if you want to do ASP.NET impersonation, that must also be set to enabled.
You should be Kerberosing around the room now.
All that said, we go back to setting up WCF service to live in the load balanced environment with windows security. Remember all that stuff I said about Kerberos? All of that applies to web sites and traditional web services, NOT to WCF. WCF handles its own security, so we have to do things just a bit differently. If you are using a web site to call your WCF service, you will need everything that I mentioned above working, as WCF will still use Kerberos to authenticate the client user.
For IIS hosted WCF to work the way I will describe, you will first need to violate one of the rules for Kerberos Authentication in IIS, you will have to enable Anonymous Authentication and disable Windows Authentication on the service virtual directory in IIS. WCF will still be using Kerberos, it just hates it when IIS steals its glory.
I am not going to go in to WCF bindings and their pros and cons. I want to use Kerberos security, so I use the wsHTTP binding.
Setting up the your client and the WCF service now simply becomes a shell game of setting the right configuration settings in the system.servicemodel section of your service and client configuration files.
To get WCF to use Kerberos we set the security mode to "Message." We then have to set the message security to use Windows. Easily done. Set the clientCredentialType equal to "Windows" in both the transport and message sections.
In its default state, the client using wsHTTP will attempt to create a stable session with its service. This is NOT what we want. Remember, we are in a load balanced environment, and we could switch servers at any time. Stateful connections will error out when the client makes a connection with Server1, then is balanced over to Server2 on the next request. We have to disable this so we set the establishSecurityContext="false" and negotiateServiceCredential="false." This forces WCF to authenticate every connection it makes, and prevents the WCF service from forming a stateful relationship with the client.
The last thing that you need to do is to update your client configuration file to use the proper credential. Since you are now doing an authenticated call for each connection you set the identity tag to servicePrincipalName. This account should be the trusted for delegation account that you used to set up the application pool for your service.
The rest of the client configuration should be such that you can connect to your service.
So what do the config files look like? I am glad you asked.
Service config:
<system.serviceModel>
<bindings>
<wsHttpBinding>
<binding name="wsHttpBinding">
<security mode="Message">
<message establishSecurityContext="false" negotiateServiceCredential="false" />
</security>
<reliableSession ordered="true" inactivityTimeout="00:10:00"
enabled="false" />
</binding>
</wsHttpBinding>
</bindings>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior name="mexBehavior">
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" httpsGetEnabled="false" />
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true" />
<serviceThrottling maxConcurrentCalls="200" maxConcurrentSessions="200" />
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
<services>
<service behaviorConfiguration="mexBehavior" name="YourService">
<endpoint address="" binding="wsHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="wsHttpBinding" name="EndPoint" contract="Your Contratct" />
</service>
</services>
</system.serviceModel>
Client config:
<system.serviceModel>
<bindings>
<wsHttpBinding>
<binding name="EndPoint" closeTimeout="00:01:00" openTimeout="00:01:00"
receiveTimeout="00:10:00" sendTimeout="00:01:00" bypassProxyOnLocal="false"
transactionFlow="false" hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard"
maxBufferPoolSize="524288" maxReceivedMessageSize="65536"
messageEncoding="Text" textEncoding="utf-8" useDefaultWebProxy="true"
allowCookies="false">
<readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringContentLength="8192" maxArrayLength="16384"
maxBytesPerRead="4096" maxNameTableCharCount="16384" />
<reliableSession ordered="true" inactivityTimeout="00:10:00"
enabled="false" />
<security mode="Message">
<transport clientCredentialType="Windows" proxyCredentialType="None"
realm="" />
<message clientCredentialType="Windows" negotiateServiceCredential="false"
algorithmSuite="Default" establishSecurityContext="false" />
</security>
</binding>
</wsHttpBinding>
</bindings>
<client>
<endpoint address="Your End point.svc"
binding="wsHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="EndPoint"
contract="Your Contract" name="EndPoint">
<identity>
<servicePrincipalName value="Your user@yourdomain.com" />
</identity>
</endpoint>
</client>
</system.serviceModel>
That's it! Several weeks of work and many headaches later, we finally have a stable WCF service that is load balanced.
I don't like to come in on nights and weekends, so I have set up our environment such that all vital web sites and services live on multiple Windows 2008 servers behind a F5 BigIP Local Traffic Manager. Enter in the DotNet Framework 3.0, 3.5, and 3.5 SP1, and the wonderful world of the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).
Unlike previous versions of IIS, IIS 7 was specifically built with WCF in mind, and the ideal platform for any IIS hosted WCF Services. What's better is that in our environment, anything that goes on our IIS servers, are load balanced.
Before we get in to that, let's first talk a little about security. First it is my opinion that no unauthorized person should be able to connect to ANY web site, especially if that web site is in a corporate intranet. Therefore you need to have some form of user authentication on anything that hits your web server. My preference is to use Windows Authentication, because, well you have a domain for a reason, and I don't want to mess with creating any separate user databases. What's more is that I like to use Windows Kerberos so that I don't have to worry about authentication over multiple hops.
So how do you do you set up IIS to use Kerberos? It is easy, but a bit involved. First EVERYTHING involved must be trusted for delegation, and I do mean everything (your client account, the IIS server, any third tier server, and the database server all must be trusted for delegation in Active Directory).
Second if you are using a DNS name, this post is about load balancing, so I assume you are, you need to create a Security Principal Name (SPN) for your DNS name. Since we are load balancing, you will need to pick some service account, trusted for delegation of course, and create the SPN for the DNS name with that account.
If you are going to connect to a database server with your client credentials, you will need to create a SPN for that specific instance of the database server. This will need to be done under a domain account. Before you even ask, yes the account must be trusted for delegation.
Finally, all web sites that you want to secure with Kerberos need to have Windows Authentication enabled. Also in IIS, if you want to do ASP.NET impersonation, that must also be set to enabled.
You should be Kerberosing around the room now.
All that said, we go back to setting up WCF service to live in the load balanced environment with windows security. Remember all that stuff I said about Kerberos? All of that applies to web sites and traditional web services, NOT to WCF. WCF handles its own security, so we have to do things just a bit differently. If you are using a web site to call your WCF service, you will need everything that I mentioned above working, as WCF will still use Kerberos to authenticate the client user.
For IIS hosted WCF to work the way I will describe, you will first need to violate one of the rules for Kerberos Authentication in IIS, you will have to enable Anonymous Authentication and disable Windows Authentication on the service virtual directory in IIS. WCF will still be using Kerberos, it just hates it when IIS steals its glory.
I am not going to go in to WCF bindings and their pros and cons. I want to use Kerberos security, so I use the wsHTTP binding.
Setting up the your client and the WCF service now simply becomes a shell game of setting the right configuration settings in the system.servicemodel section of your service and client configuration files.
To get WCF to use Kerberos we set the security mode to "Message." We then have to set the message security to use Windows. Easily done. Set the clientCredentialType equal to "Windows" in both the transport and message sections.
In its default state, the client using wsHTTP will attempt to create a stable session with its service. This is NOT what we want. Remember, we are in a load balanced environment, and we could switch servers at any time. Stateful connections will error out when the client makes a connection with Server1, then is balanced over to Server2 on the next request. We have to disable this so we set the establishSecurityContext="false" and negotiateServiceCredential="false." This forces WCF to authenticate every connection it makes, and prevents the WCF service from forming a stateful relationship with the client.
The last thing that you need to do is to update your client configuration file to use the proper credential. Since you are now doing an authenticated call for each connection you set the identity tag to servicePrincipalName. This account should be the trusted for delegation account that you used to set up the application pool for your service.
The rest of the client configuration should be such that you can connect to your service.
So what do the config files look like? I am glad you asked.
Service config:
<system.serviceModel>
<bindings>
<wsHttpBinding>
<binding name="wsHttpBinding">
<security mode="Message">
<message establishSecurityContext="false" negotiateServiceCredential="false" />
</security>
<reliableSession ordered="true" inactivityTimeout="00:10:00"
enabled="false" />
</binding>
</wsHttpBinding>
</bindings>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior name="mexBehavior">
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" httpsGetEnabled="false" />
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true" />
<serviceThrottling maxConcurrentCalls="200" maxConcurrentSessions="200" />
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
<services>
<service behaviorConfiguration="mexBehavior" name="YourService">
<endpoint address="" binding="wsHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="wsHttpBinding" name="EndPoint" contract="Your Contratct" />
</service>
</services>
</system.serviceModel>
Client config:
<system.serviceModel>
<bindings>
<wsHttpBinding>
<binding name="EndPoint" closeTimeout="00:01:00" openTimeout="00:01:00"
receiveTimeout="00:10:00" sendTimeout="00:01:00" bypassProxyOnLocal="false"
transactionFlow="false" hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard"
maxBufferPoolSize="524288" maxReceivedMessageSize="65536"
messageEncoding="Text" textEncoding="utf-8" useDefaultWebProxy="true"
allowCookies="false">
<readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringContentLength="8192" maxArrayLength="16384"
maxBytesPerRead="4096" maxNameTableCharCount="16384" />
<reliableSession ordered="true" inactivityTimeout="00:10:00"
enabled="false" />
<security mode="Message">
<transport clientCredentialType="Windows" proxyCredentialType="None"
realm="" />
<message clientCredentialType="Windows" negotiateServiceCredential="false"
algorithmSuite="Default" establishSecurityContext="false" />
</security>
</binding>
</wsHttpBinding>
</bindings>
<client>
<endpoint address="Your End point.svc"
binding="wsHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="EndPoint"
contract="Your Contract" name="EndPoint">
<identity>
<servicePrincipalName value="Your user@yourdomain.com" />
</identity>
</endpoint>
</client>
</system.serviceModel>
That's it! Several weeks of work and many headaches later, we finally have a stable WCF service that is load balanced.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Shooting the Kahr CW 4543
New hotness. Kahr's CW4543. Big bullets, small, light, thin frame.
I took the Kahr to the Bullet Hole for some much needed practice.
I had with me 100 rounds of CCI Blazer Aluminum Full Metal Jacket ammo. The stuff is cheap, about $16 a box, and you pay for it later. I never usually shoot more than 100 rounds at a time, but I don't know if I COULD shoot more than 100 rounds of this stuff at a single time. It is DIRTY!! I spent almost an hour after the range cleaning. The sick part is that I can take a little grime, but, holy crap, this stuff seemed to permeate all the important nooks and crevices. Yuck. Anyway, I bought 2 new boxes of Remington UMC Full Metal Jackets to use next time. That should give me better results.
Anyway, I wanted to work on grouping and precision at distances of 25 yards. That may not seem like much, but with a 3.6" barrel it can be challenging. The longer the barrel the more accurate the pistol, rifle, whatever shoots a projectile.
Most typical full size pistols have a 4" or better barrel (the standard US Government issue Sig Sauer 229 has a 3.9" barrel and the most beloved 1911 has a 5" barrel.
I have two magazines, one a 6 round (7 total, one in the pipe), the other a 7 round(8 round total). In keeping with its very thin design Kahr uses a single stack magazine. Great for keeping things thin and light, but not so good for spray and pray. After a few mags it makes me wish for my Smith 5906 and its awesome 15 round double stack high capacity magazine. That thing weighed almost 3 lbs fully loaded, so really out of the question for CCW.
The good old days. Smith and Wesson's 5906 in 9mm
My first 8 shots were right on the money. I was pleased with a very tight grouping right around the center mass X on my target. My next 7 were on target as well just above the X on the 9 exactly where I placed them.
Then a funny thing started to happen. My shots started to drift left. I couldn't understand it. I was in a standard Weaver combat stance :
Thanks Sheriff Weaver! You rock.
So I was stable, but my shots continued to drift left. I shot to the right to compensate, but I was having a hard time telling just where I was putting my shots. It was then I discovered an interesting fluke to the CW 4543 that let me know several things about what was going on.
First, a little on how to shoot... You stand in your stance and focus on the front sight. Very important. The rear sight and the target should be a little out of focus, but that front sight should be very clear. You match up the rear sight and the front sight so that there is and equal amount of space on either side of the front sight and match the top of the rear sight and the front sight so that it appears that they are flush straight across. Most pistol manufactures make this easy for you by adding colored dots on either side of the rear sight and right in the middle of the front sight. Line up the dots and you are on target.
After you have your sights lined up on target you squeeze the trigger with steady pressure until the gun fires. It is important to squeeze, and not pull. Squeezing with steady pressure will keep the sights lined up on target, pulling will jar the gun downward and put the shot off target. The actual firing of the gun should surprise you.
Anyway, the Kahr has a little ideosincracy that I discovered by accident. After the gun has fired you must return the trigger to the starting position OR leave it in the fire position before the rechambering process ends. If you don't it leaves the trigger in some kind of limbo position and the gun will not fire again until you cycle the trigger fully, all the way back and all the way forward.
I had left the trigger in the half pulled position and when I went to fire again, the pistol did not shoot, because of said procedure. What I did find out at the same time was that I was tightening up my left hand just as the gun fired throwing the shot left. Idiot. I was anticipating the shot and flinching, throwing my shot off.
Of course as soon as I realized I was doing it I concentrated so much on the flinch that I lost the sight picture and the shots went off. Of course as soon as I put my sight picture back together I was flinching even worse.
By now I was done with my first box of 50 rounds and I walked back to my pile of stuff to get a new target and a fresh box of bullets. I used the time to clear my head and go over how to shoot.
When I got back I used my first four magazines (30 shots) to clear my head and shoot slowly and properly. I had nice groupings each time. I cured my self of my flinching issue.
My last 20 rounds I just decided to have some fun and try to put my best double taps in to the paper.
A double tap or an "Accelerated Pair", if you are using the new P.C. lingo, is when you put two shots on a target as quickly as possible. Using the mantra, "Anything worth shooting once is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap, life is expensive.", you try to put your two shots right next to each other on the target. It should look like a double O (OO) or a figure eight (8). I need more practice, because mine looked like... well two unrelated shots. I learned that I need to work on getting back on target after the first firing.
Guns are fun.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Why I Hate Plastic Surgery
Why Nikki??? Why?? You were so freaking HOT:
Why would you do that to yourself????
The horrible thing is that she has the money for a "GOOD" surgeon. What the hell kind of butcher can the rest of us afford???
Monday, January 5, 2009
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