Geek Stuff category archive
Stray Thought, Corporate Conquest Dept. 0
Americans are demonstrating that they will willingly submit to corporate Big Brothers if it means they can turn on their coffee pots with a voice command before they get to their kitchens.
Geeking Out 0
Listening to Old Time Radio from OTR.net on RealPlayer in a VM of Win7 on Slackware –Current.
You too should check out OTR.net. You’ll be glad you did. (But you must be able to play audio in Real format, and, as RealPlayer no long supports a Real operating system, that is, Linux, you must have access to Windows or Crapple).
(Oh my, I’ve turned into such a Linux geek.)
Neolinguistics 0
At The Roanoke Times, John Long updates the glossary. A snippet:
• “I don’t know what time it is. I left my phone in the car.”*
• “I wanted to take a picture but I didn’t have enough memory.”
• “I got a discount on my cup of coffee! Only four bucks!”
• “I wanted to finish my book today, but the battery died.”
More neologisms at the link.
________________
*That’s mine.
I haven’t worn a watch since that day about 10 years ago when I was at a job site discussing with three other folks about my age when to schedule a demonstration of something. After someone said, “What time is good?” all three of us pulled out our cell phones to check the time . . . .
Meta: Now You See It, Now You Don’t 0
If you were here long enough to see posts appearing and disappearing, it was happening because I was testing to find out what about certain posts was making my sidebar disappear.
Lost in a Lost World 0
Over reliance on a GPS device may be hazardous to your brain.
(I knew there was a reason to like maps besides that they are fun to look at.)
Damn Computers 0
Expect you to obey the rules.
Grumble grumble grumble.
Most of the posts I had lined up for today don’t seem to be visible. There were several posts between “Career Move” and “And Now for Something Completely Different.” Figuring this out requires parsing the syntax of each one.
It seems to have something to do with this embed, for it and the some of the posts following it are not visible. Then posts are visible again. I previewed each post individually and each one worked, so it’s definitely something meta.
Blogging can be a most annoying avocation.
Heading Off Spam 0
Brian Krebs explains how to .
This is required reading.
Aside:
I got a dollar to a doughnut that most persons don’t even know that emails have headers.
Via Schneir on Security.
Attention Theftacit Disorder 0
One of my local convenience stores features, GSTV, a vile and loathsome creation that yabbers commercials at you while you fill your gas tank. (Why they think that making persons angry is a productive sales technique mystifies me.)
At the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Glenn Harlan Reynolds offers his take on the soundwall of advertising that is consuming our attention. An excerpt:
Columbia law professor Tim Wu thinks your attention is being stolen. And he’s not happy about it.
He’s not talking about TV commercials, which pay for the show that you’re watching. He’s talking about ads that seize your attention while giving you nothing in return. He has a special dislike of gas station TV, in which saccharine fake newscasts appear on the pump while you fill your car, tethered by a short length of hose. But that’s not all, Wu writes: “In that genre are things like the new, targeted advertising screens found in hospital waiting rooms (broadcasting things like The Newborn Channel for expecting parents); the airlines that play full-volume advertising from a screen right in front of your face; the advertising screens in office elevators; or that universally unloved invention known as ‘Taxi TV.’ These are just few examples in what is a growing category. Combined, they threaten to make us live life in a screen-lined cocoon.”
Aside:
I was recently subjected to one of those target medical “channels” when I picked up a friend from a doctor’s office. Ugh.
I chose to wait outside and look at my own screen–and at the trees, the flowers, the sky, and the near-misses on the adjacent street.
Facebook Frolics 0
SeattlePI reports that the Zuckerborg is hazardous to your health.
Meta: Maintenance The Mystery of the Disappearing Sidebar (Sticky)
0
Update: I’m having issues with the sidebar. It appears when I click on individual posts, but not when viewing the front page. I am working on it, but doing so carefully. In the meantime, I’m not getting upset (keep repeating to yourself, “Frank, it’s only a hobby learning opportunity”) and hope you don’t either. I will document my adventures in this post in the area below the fold. In the meantime, you may see strange things happening as I test, but the regular stream of drivel will continue unless everything stops working. If you want to email me, the email link, which is normally over there —-> on the sidebar, is frank@pineviewfarm.net.
I will update this post as I try to shoot the trouble.
Facebook Frolics 0
Full Disclosure:
I know nothing about the merits of the case, nor do I know enough to have an opinion about the legal issues involved, but I find it gratifying when the Zuckerborg comes a cropper.
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do. Learn how to use GNU/Linux and its plethora of free and open source software to get stuff done with computers.
It’s not hard; it’s just different.
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 Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.
When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, April 6.
Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)
Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (JANAF Shopping Center). (Map)
Join the forums.
Phoning It In 0
You can’t make this stuff up.
But a judge who heard the case at Court Number 1 in Almeria, came down firmly on the side of the mother declaring that “evidently” she was “well within her rights” and took “the correct action” as a responsible parent.
Vacuous Vacuum Cleaner 0
Update: Link fixed. This link has been annoying.
Edina, Minnesota, cops want to hoover the google.
Privacy law experts say that the warrant is based on an unusually broad definition of probable cause that could set a troubling precedent.
“This kind of warrant is cause for concern because it’s closer to these dragnet searches that the Fourth Amendment is designed to prevent,” said William McGeveran, a law professor at the University of Minnesota.
Issued by Hennepin County District Judge Gary Larson in early February, the warrant pertains to anyone who searched variations of the resident’s name on Google from Dec. 1 through Jan. 7.
In addition to basic contact information for people targeted by the warrant, Google is being asked to provide Edina police with their Social Security numbers, account and payment information, and IP (internet protocol) and MAC (media access control) addresses.
The case involve some kind of identity theft that led to financial fraud. The Barney Fife’s seem to think that Google was used to find a photo that was involved in the fraud.
Details at the link.
Words fail me.