Fixed: No VPN connectivity with Asus RT-N56U with firmware 1.0.1.8b

After upgrading to the latest firmware on my Asus RT-N56U router, I was unable to connect to my work VPN through the wireless or wired connections at home.  I tried all possible wireless encryption combinations, disabled encryption, dmz'd my laptop's ip, but none of that work.  I was able to connect to the VPN on other networks, so I knew it was my router or my ISP.  I called my ISP to see if they were blocking any ports - they do not.  The helpful tech support fellow pointed me to the PPTP Passthrough setting, which had been moved around on the router's GUI with the new firmware.  This is where I found it:

It was enabled as it should've been.  It turns out that I had to enable the IPSec Passthrough setting.

Economic Numbers

Interesting:
http://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/sp150611.pdf

This stood out to me: Chart 17: Housing affordability looks less favourable using interest rates
at long-term norms

Tells me that it's actually not a good idea to buy right now, since these rates will increase.

String vs StringBuffer

The following article explains with simple examples when it is more efficient to use the + operator vs StringBuffer.append to concatenate Strings.  It explains that the choice depends on the nature of the strings.  Use + if they are all resolvable at compile time.  Use StringBuffer if they are only resolvable at run time.

http://www.precisejava.com/javaperf/j2se/StringAndStringBuffer.htm

Callable vs Runnable

Difference between Java's Callable and Runnable interfaces:
http://geekexplains.blogspot.com/2008/05/callable-interface-vs-runnable.html

Growing companies

Great list for those looking for growing companies.  This could be used to compare companies while doing your research for stock investment. http://list.profitguide.com/rankings/profit200/2011/Default.aspx?sp2=1&d1=a&sc1=0

Distributed Java EE Approach to Collatz Problem

I found this to be a very interesting article.  It tests the Collatz Problem through a distributed solution utilizing many Java EE related technologies.  It measures the performance of different combinations of hardware and software solutions.  Would like to recreate this on a my own distributed network.

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CollatzProblem.html
http://wiki.eclipse.org/EclipseLink/Examples/Distributed

Hope, optimalism, perfectionism, positive psychology

I just read the wikipedia articles on hope and optimalism; I'm going to read the ones on positive psychology  and perfectionism later.  So far, I think optimalism is better than perfectionism because it creates less anticipation.  Less anticipation means less disappointment when facing failure.  Less disappointment translates to better mood and a quicker ability to learn from failure.  Combined with hope, optimalism can lead to betterment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimism#Optimalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope#Use_in_Psychology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfectionism_(psychology)