Geek Stuff category archive

The number of spam comments to this blog caught by Askimet has quadrupled since Thanksgiviing Day.

The optimism is heartening, but methinks she overstates the power of the twit. The net spreads lies as least as effectively as it spreads truths:

The ruling (Egyptian) National Democratic party, however, seems hopelessly out of touch with the times. It doesn’t realise that the day might come when it could be tweeted out of power. Nor is it able to understand that it won’t be able to station the country’s security forces on the information superhighway as it does on Cairo’s ring-roads.

John C. Dvorak:

Facebook is the New AOL

Follow the link to find out why he thinks so.

Afterthought:

I think he has a point. Facebook too shall pass.

Via GNC.

Means, motive, opportunity BFF–Before Facebook Frolics:

Miller, 48, who gained national attention this week when the pastor banned his church’s leaders from using Facebook because he said it is a portal to infidelity, had himself engaged in a three-way relationship with his wife and a man a decade ago, according to testimony he gave in a criminal case.

It was the subject of testimony in open court, forgotten, but not a deep dark secret.

Afterthoughts:

Pastors are human also, though we don’t want to a and many of them cannot admit it. Immorality covered with hypocrisy is far worse than the initial immorality. Give me an honest sinner over a pious hypocrite any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

If someone is of a mind to stray, Facebook and similar services are tools of convenience. The mind to stray comes first, the straying comes second.

The internet connection has been up and down all day.

I’ve had to reset the modem (“reset” is a fancy word for “unplug it, wait 10 seconds, and plug it back in”) a dozen times or more today.

The problem is outside the house and seems to affect the whole complex.

The ISP had a repairman here working on the CTV box this afternoon in response to a neighbor’s call that he was having trouble with his HBO and On-Demand services.

If the drivel is interrupted, it will be because the supply line has been interrupted; ample supplies are on hand.

Neil Gabler, writing in the Boston Globe, wonders what’s the point. A nugget:

What is the need for, say, an iPad, or any of the thousands of other gizmos that flood the market? One might conclude that the need is not so much for the device (a larger iPhone!), or the software or the website or the app (following someone’s daily doings in 140-character bites!) as for change itself. We seem to be addicted to change for its own sake.

Much of this new geek stuff isn’t even change.

It’s the same stuff with different logos. Sure, rigatoni looks different from rotini, but they are both noodles and pretty much interchangeable.

As murder mystery writers are fond of pointing out just before the Great Detective solves the case, a crime requires means, motive, and opportunity.

All Facebook provides is opportunty.

Rev. Cedric A. Miller has had it with what he says Facebook is doing to couples coming to him for help and is giving his married church leaders until Sunday to get off the social-networking website or resign their posts.

Miller, senior pastor at Living Word Christian Fellowship Church, the popular interdenominational and evangelical church on Route 35 (in Neptune, N. J.–ed.), said a large percentage of his counseling over the past year and a half has been for marital problems, including infidelity, stemming from Facebook.

For the short-attention-span generation. From MarketWatch:

What a bunch of incoherent geekledygoop.

Afterthought: Frankly, the thought of an archive of all of everyone’s conversations from the past five years is rather appalling.

On the rampage edition.

Really, folks, including the authorities, are taking twits far too seriously.

Wonder what she said?

The National Labor Relations Board alleges that American Medical Response of Connecticut Inc. illegally fired Dawnmarie Souza from her job as an emergency medical technician late last year after she criticized her supervisor on her personal Facebook page and then traded Facebook messages about the negative comments with other employees.

(snip)

Federal labor law has long protected employees against reprisal for talking to co-workers on their own time about their jobs and working conditions, including remarks that may be critical of managers. The law applies whether or not workers are covered by a union.

I’ve found that, if one only person in a work group complains about supervision while the others do not, it’s likely the employee who has the problem. If most of the persons in the work group complain, it’s likely that supervision is the problem. Most persons do not come to work in order to be miserable.

All seriousness aside, we’re probably going to see more tension between employers and employees over use of social media. Employees will contribute to this by forgetting that the internet is a public place, and employers will respond by hammering the employees, rather than by cleaning up their practices.

Given the stuff that students do and say every day, this does rather seem to be an overreaction by the school system.

In August 2009, the then 24-year-old resigned from her job at Apalachee High School after someone claiming to be a parent sent an e-mail complaining about pictures of Payne smiling while holding alcoholic drinks during a trip to Europe. Payne had also written an expletive on her page, saying she was headed to a game of “Crazy Bitch Bingo” at a Midtown restaurant.

Payne said she was pressured to resign over the e-mail; the district said she volunteered.

A suit is working its way through the court system.

A. What the external hard drive on my file server has got.

Now I know why I was motivated yesterday to order a new 2TB external hard drive from Tiger.

I use it primarily for backing stuff up. All that is uniquely stored on it is the complete F-Troop and the complete Meet the Gimp, which I put there so I could watch them from any computer on the network.

I’m downloading the Meet the Gimp right now.

Before you post that umpteenth status update about your toddler’s latest witticism or your feelings for Glenn Beck, consider this: According to research by a graduate student at the Business School at the University of Colorado-Denver, the top two reasons that Facebook users unfriend people is that they post too frequently on trivial topics or about polarizing subjects — particularly politics and religion.

“One of the interesting things about unfriending is that most real-world friendships either blow up or fade away,” says Christopher Sibona, who wrote the study with his adviser, Steven Walczak, an associate professor of information systems management. “But on Facebook, users actively make the decision to unfriend, and people often don’t know why or what’s happened in the relationship.”

How does “I keep forgetting to log in” rank in the list?

From the BBC:

Energizer reminds you to change your smoke detector batteries and to use Facebook to remind others (emphasis added):

This year, spreading the word to friends through Facebook and Twitter will help earn up to 400,000 donated batteries for local fire departments. Energizer, which helped launch the battery-changing campaign 23 years ago, will donate 3 batteries for reminders, 5 batteries for drawing your residence’s escape plan, and 1 for simply pledging to change your batteries.

The Energizer Bunny Facebook page is unclear as to whether Energizer expects you to post your escape plan. One hopes not; what one may use to get out, another may use to get in.

Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source.

What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.

Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.

Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk-Employee Cafeteria. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.)

When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, November 4.

Directions: Lake Taylor Hospital-1309, Kempsville Road, Norfolk, 23502 (Kempsville Rd. at Lowry Rd.) 461-5001

Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks) at Uno Chicago Grill, Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). Accessible through the Janaf parking lot or directly from the ramp from Virginia Beach Blvd. to Military Highway north.

Daniel Klein and Patrick Bonavitacola, in the Boston Globe, consider the twitterfication of the language. A nugget:

Personal Responsibility

Old: “And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.’’ — JFK, 1961

New: “Buck up or stay in the truck.’’ — Sarah Palin, 2010

James Madison University:

James Madison coach Mickey Matthews closed practices to reporters last week and made no bones about the reason: social media.

(snip)

Matthews said reporters were “announcing to the world” what was happening at practices and he wouldn’t tolerate it because he has “an obligation to the university and the program.”

A Firefox extension called “Firesheep” automates hacking your wi-fi connection if you are using public wi-fi.

Firesheep, though, has an easy-to-use interface and, perhaps most importantly, a cute name. Surely this can’t be a “cracking tool”? It wasn’t released by someone going by a name like ‘dEvILSp0RN42’. It doesn’t feature white text on a black background. It has well-thought-out and literate documentation. To use it, you simply install it into Firefox and click a few buttons. One minor additional step, installing WinPcap, is required for Windows users.

Here’s a demo: