Author: David

Any casual reader of this blog knows I’m a wee tad of a technophile. Moderately technogeeky, if you will. A few scraps of recent techy news I’ve found interesting, odd tips, and just oddities, etc.

1.) Blow out with canned air; dishwasher; no soap; blow out with canned air again; air dry one day minimum. Easiest way to really clean a normal, wired computer keyboard. Seriously. (I don’t recommend it for wireless keyboards only because someone would forget to remove the batteries and… yeh, you get it.)

2.) Me$$y$oft may have poohed the scrooch with Office 2007. Major academic and scientific publishers have announced they will turn down ANY submissions originally written using Office 2007, even if later saved in an earlier format. “…the power to dictate standards in the documents space may be starting to shift away from the world’s largest software vendor and toward the user community.” About time.

3.) Anyone else ignore EULAs (as I routinely do)? Biggest waste of electronic or dead tree print in the world, outside the Congressional Record or Dan Rather’s Secret Journal. All software publishers really need are the copyrights they already have. EULAs are almost always simply a means of bullying the end user, nothing else.

4.) Currently, the riskiest search engine out there, according to McAfee, is… Yahoo. Top-ranked for “red” and “yellow” flagged searches resulting in sites likely to install drive-by malware, etc. Along those lines… music and tech searches now outrank pr0n searches as riskiest.

5.) Oh, Yippee and hooray! *yawn* Mac share of web presence has reached the stellar height of… 6.46%. WTG, Macrodistas! Soon, Macs could well become a meaningful presence on the web! *heh* Of course, it’s INTEL-based models accounting for the growth… (Sadly, Macultists can no longer tout their supposed hardware platform superiority as a reason for their devotion. And since OSX is just a pretty straightjacket tacked on top of BSD, they no longer have their unique software platform to tout. ;-))

6.) Did you know that it is impossible to own too many computers? No, really. And I’m in the process of attempting to prove it… *heh*

7.) “Modding” cases. Yes, it IS possible to take this one too far. (I’ll never look at a hamster wheel the same way again… )

8.) I used to wonder how I was going to effectively catalogue and store all the floppies full of data I was generating; then it was tapes; then CDRs. I wonder when I’ll start wondering how I’ll keep track of all the DVDs full of data I’ve archived? I only have so much room for boxes full of spindles of data disks… have to save room for more computers, you know.

9.) I often wonder how folks manage to infect themselves with viruses (trojans and worms, oh my!). My only experience with an “infection” was when I intentionally infected a standalone (unconnected to any network) computer with a particularly hard to remove/clean boot sector virus for experience in removing it. (Knock on wood. :-)) Oh, I know how they can do it, but I wonder how the folks who infect themselves are also able to get to the grocery store and back without breaking a leg.

10.) I want one. Having trouble locating one to use with my old Palm m500 (the device shown attached). An OBDII-CAN reader interface (and software? firmware?) for reading with a Palm device.

Sure, I could just buy a simple OBDII reader for under $50, but this would be cool.

11.) I also need some good beer making/record keeping software for when someone finally buys me this. Yeh, I’ve lowballed my wish list. THIS is the real deal. 😉

12.) Anyone have a use for some old 30-pin memory sticks? *heh* Yeh, the stacks and boxes and bins of antiquated computer parts outnumbers the stacks and boxes and shelves full of computers here at twc central.

13.) All that said, shipping me your old computers to stockpile would probably be cheaper than paying for hazardous waste disposal… But please don’t. I have enough droipped on my as it is (quite apart from what I have… pulled from dumpsters and put online after some refurbishment *LOL*).

This has been yet another off-the-wall Thursday Thirteen at twc central, noted at the Thursday Thirteen Hub and shamelessly touted at Perri Nelson’s Website, The Virtuous Republic, The Magical Rose Garden, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, stikNstein… has no mercy, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Webloggin, Leaning Straight Up, Dumb Ox Daily News, Conservative Cat, and High Desert Wanderer, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Recently, President Bush has stood up on his hind legs and boldly denounced the civic irresponsibility, if not the actual patriotism, of those who have been inflaming the debate on S. 1348, the comprehensive immigration bill now being rushed through the senate, by calling it an amnesty bill for illegals. He has categorically stated in definite, sure and certain terms once again that it is NOT an amnesty bill for illegals.

Well, President Bush, you’re a liar. I’ve read the damned thing (speaking with theological hope), and SEC. 245B. ACCESS TO EARNED ADJUSTMENT, among other portions of the bill, outline exactly the amnesty you proposed (while denying it) last year when you said that in order to stay, illegal aliens would have to “pay a significant penalty”–that penalty being to prove they have stolen jobs from Americans and to start paying their taxes.

As I said at the time (you obviously didn’t get the message from my calls to the White House), “Gee, Mr. President, what am I being penalized for? Working and paying taxes is a penalty? That means you believe that all hard working Americans who pay taxes are being penalized. What kind of amnesty or forgiveness for illegal acts am I earning by paying my taxes?”

Excuse me a sec while I search for… there it is: throwing the bullshit flag on you, Mr. President.

Mr. President, your predecessor dishonored the office not by just screwing around in the Oval Office but by lying under oath in a formal court proceeding. You, sir *cough*, have dishonored the office by screwing the American people and lying about it to our faces. Go sit on Felipe Calderon’s lap, Fifi. That’s where you’ll find your “legacy” such as it may be.

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Trackposted to Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Right Celebrity, The Random Yak, DeMediacratic Nation, guerrilla radio, Right Truth, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, On the Horizon, The Pet Haven Blog, Webloggin, and Conservative Cat, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Senator Jim DeMint, from South Carolina, wants your help in convincing senators to kill the amnesty bill. He has a brief–eleven question–survey he wants to place before his fellow senators in an attempt to add some fuel to an anti-amnesty movement. Questions include,

1. Do you believe illegal immigration is a serious problem in the United States?

2. Do you support amnesty for illegal immigrants?

3. Do you believe we must secure our borders immediately?

4. Do you believe that Congress should pass legislation making English our national language?

And seven more. Take the survey and pass the word along. The more people take the survey, the more likely it will be to carry some weight.

h.t. regular twc commenter, Hugh, via email.

That the fake liberals (more properly known as genuine tyrannical reactionaries) of the contemporary left must lie about themselves, their views and their policy stances in order to be successful in politics is a given. After all, it’s just the extreme of behaviors needed by all politicians (lie to get the “job” and then lie to keep it). But the pretense defies suspension of disbelief when they begin discussing their religious “beliefs” as Democrappic presidential hopefuls did recently. As Kevin McCullough put it recently,

“Watching leading liberals openly discuss their faith is rather akin to thinking that porn stars are in some way serious thespians.”

Actually, that statement borders on slander… of porn stars. In comparison to most politicians *spit*–and most especially the fake liberals of the contemporary left–porn “actors” are shining examples of decency, honesty and propriety. Heck, compared to “it’s not amnesty, but my name is ‘Fifi‘ Bush (Felipe Calderon’s Lapdog),” porn “actors” are shining examples of decency, honesty and propriety.

Heck, give ’em all poodle cuts and change their names collectively to “Fifi“.

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Trackposted to Perri Nelson’s Website, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, stikNstein… has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Shadowscope, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, The Amboy Times, The Bullwinkle Blog, Dumb Ox Daily News, Adeline and Hazel, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Fred’s ride…

CLICK HERE to see the whole pic.

*heh*

It’s one thing to beat a dead horse, but it’s quite another to ride a mount that’s attempting suicide…

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THIS is an open trackbacks post. Link to THIS post and track back. 🙂

If you have a linkfest/open trackback post to promote OR if you simply want to promote a post via the linkfests/open trackback posts others are offering, GO TO LINKFEST HAVEN DELUXE! Just CLICK the link above or the graphic immediately below.

If you want to host your own linkfests but have not yet done so, check out the Open Trackbacks Alliance. The FAQ there is very helpful in understanding linkfests/open trackbacks.

Actually, the post title reflects both the fact that this is an open trackbacks post and a concept we need more of in facing issues in our society today: link up with as many like-minded folks as possible to stem the tide of surrenderism (yeh, it’s a word; I just said it, didnh’t I?) in our society today.

Thimk about it for a while, and I’ll get back to you.

Meanwhile, THIS is an open trackbacks post. Link to THIS post and track back. 🙂

If you have a linkfest/open trackback post to promote OR if you simply want to promote a post via the linkfests/open trackback posts others are offering, GO TO LINKFEST HAVEN DELUXE! Just CLICK the link above or the graphic immediately below.

If you want to host your own linkfests but have not yet done so, check out the Open Trackbacks Alliance. The FAQ there is very helpful in understanding linkfests/open trackbacks.

Just thought I’d mention that Puppy Linux 2.16 is out. The main distro still comes with the barely-less-than-crappy Seamonkey Browser (it’s a Mozilla thing), but installing other browsers is a snap. I’d suggest downloading and burning the ISO for the “full drivers” version. Then visit Puppy Linux.org for an intro to using it. Come to think of it, if you haven’t burned an ISO before, go to the Puppy Linux.org site for instructions on doing that.

The good: boots from CD or USB drive; a strong Linux distro; nice GUI; most of the apps folks’d normally need preinstalled; virtually NO footprint (a session file saving any installs, changes, etc. can be written to your hard drive when you power down, if you wish); DOES NOT make changes to your installed OS; runs in memory, fast; slick network configuration tools–easily configures every wireless adapter I’ve tried.
The less than good: may take a bit of time to locate everything; installing new apps is easy-peasy… once you get used to the install process; the default desktop is a lil klunky looking. Other than that, I can’t really find fault with it.

First thing after booting: check your network connection. JUst Click Menu>Setup>Network Wizard. CLICK on the detected network interface and then CLICK “Auto DHCP or Static IP, depending on your network setup.

Easy-peasy.

Next, Menu>Setup>Linux-Firewall Wizard. Follow the prompts.

Then, go online or CLICK on the Install icon on the desktop to explore the PET or DOtPup packages that are available for download/install.

Best thing about Puppy? No matter what your main OS is, when you eject the CD and reboot, you come right on back up with your usual OS. So, if you decide Puppy’s not for you, you’ve not done anything drastic.

It occurred to me a bit ago that the fight against irresponsible congresscritters (and Felipe Calderon’s lapdog, “Fifi” Bush) in their attempt to ram amnesty for 12-20 million criminals down our throats that most of what I see/”hear” is online chatter. All well and good, but how to reach folks that aren’t blog readers or who get their news, etc., almost exclusively from Mass Media Podpeople?

Take it outside. Make flyers, “business” cards, etc., reproducing or promoting online info that can help less plugged in folks get plugged in.

Here’s one such small (very small) offering, though I’m sure readers here can improve on it and come up with many more ideas:

Do Something Positive
About amnesty and illegal aliens

http://numbersusa.com
http://tinyurl.com/397267

The typeface, spacing and wording could be changed for your own touches, of course, but the info above all fit nicely onto “business” cards I just printed out. What to do with ’em? Why, hand ’em out to everyone I see, of course! And if some of them turn out to be illegal aliens chattering away in Spanish, well, then, I suppose they can get someone to translate it for ’em.

*heh*

Send me your suggestions for handouts via email or make suggestions in comments.

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Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, 4 Time Dad?, The Random Yak, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam’s Blog, Maggie’s Notebook, The Pet Haven Blog, Shadowscope, MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Leaning Straight Up, , Rightlinx, Right Celebrity, Allie Is Wired, The Uncooperative Blogger, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Funny thing. I dropped in on my Statcounter page the other day for the first time in many months and discovered that… it had been tracking hits to my OLD hosting (which was still technically active through… yesterday) and even though I’d moved twc to its present home by the middle of January, that old, dead site was still getting 20-30 hits a day. And, of course, for whatever reason, Statcounter had no idea what’s been going on here since January.

*sigh*

Over half a million visits in the first five months in my new digs. Getting on toward 1.5 million page loads. Not earth-shattering, but I’ll take it. With the newest (to me: there’s still 2.3 to check out) WordPress update, I’ve even been getting less of a SPAM load, for whatever reason. Hits from search engines and from links on others’ articles are about even. I could wish for a better balance there, but I’m not complaining, since this is still just a way for me to let the voices in my head have something to do besides bug the heck out of me. *heh*

TTLB has finally put me back closer to a neighborhood where I properly belong–in the 150s/160s instead of 60s-80s where apparently it had me stuck for some time. It’s at least more in tune with the Technorati ranking, even though the arcane, idiosyncratic and obscurantist TTLB weighting system is still a mystery for the ages.

Now, if only I could bring myself to let the voices in my head comment more on the passing scene, instead of censoring them with, “What would Homeland Security have to say about that?” *LOL* Maybe Ole Mose will put in an appearance for the voices in my head and start preaching, “Let my people go,” sometime soon, who knows? 😉

Meanwhile, even if y’all don’t comment all that much (hear the bleg in my voice? *whine* :-)), it’s nice to know my voices aren’t “crying in the wilderness”.

Y’all come back now, y’hear?

Suppose, in your wildest flight of imagination, “your” (definitely not mine! Never would have done such a thing!) child were to mark on your gorgeous wide screen flat panel TV with a Sharpieâ„¢ permanent marker. Destructo! Only options would be to throw out the TV and place the child in a barrel and feed them through the bung hole, right? (The Mark Twain Method of Childraising. ;-))

Another option from PC Mag’s DL.TV: mark over the Sharpieâ„¢ permanent marker with a dry erase marker, then erase that with a micro fiber cloth. Link to the video here. Watch the “Surface” video if you want, but click on the “Clean Panel” video link to see The Amazing Sharpieâ„¢ Cleanup! 😉

Oh, and need to “idiot-proof” the computing experience for someone? Check out the video on the “$99” Linux box while you’re there. Why the scare quotes? Cos it’s $99+$156/year for two year service contract. (But the service is what makes it idiot-proof.) $250 for a standalone version w/o the service. Neat lil box, a concept that’s usable in the real world by real people in real homes, unlike the Me$$y$oft Surface project that looks useful only in casinos or such.