Geek Stuff category archive
Penguins in Space 0
Meta: “Comments Are Closed” after Seven Days 0
Since I decreased the comment window for posts to seven days and closed all pages to comments (“Other Stuff” on the sidebar), the amount of comment spam that Akismet catches has decreased significantly, averaging under a dozen spam comments a day.
The amount of overhead in my MySQL database has dropped from three to four megabytes every few days to kilobytes, so much so that I’ve increased the interval between instances of database checks/repairs/optimizations/backups, which involve logging into my hosting provider and almost five minutes of clicking, from every couple of days to every three or four days.
When I get a round tuit, I want to change the comment link to inform visitors that comments are closed after seven days and that, if they have a comment on an older post, they should email me. This will involve mucking about in the CSS and in the theme files and a lot of testing on my test system (the logical place for testing), so it might be a while before I tackle it.
First, I have to record my next podcast for Hacker Public Radio, do a test recording for Librivox, and update my Debian box, which serves as my file and media server, to v. 7.0, Wheezy, which was released last weekend (Debian releases are named after characters from Toy Story), not necessarily in that order.
Twits on Twitter 0
My local rag reports that area schools are starting to pay attention to their twittering twits’ twittery. (The story notes that one local high school–high school, mind you–player has over 800 “followers.” There’s a whole nother post lurking in that bit of trivia.)
Coaches, teachers, and administrators are concerned, in particular, that athletes might damage their standing and their scholarship pro$pect$. One of them contributed this gem:
Twits on Twitter 0
Not the following, the fool-lowing.
The most common spam I receive to the email address for this website (see the “contact” link at the top of the page) contains offers to improve my SEO. SEO consultancies are inherently scams and frauds.
I do check my stats from time to time. Yesterday, I had 401 unique visitors and 4714 pageviews. The search terms that brought the most visitors were about “mushrooms, onions, and red wine sauce.” Most users were using WinXP or Win7, but iJunk was next (which I found mildly surprising). Mozilla browsers had the highest rank, outnumbering Windows Internet Destroyer in toto. And so on.
Nevertheless, since I’m not in it for the money, I don’t care that much about my SEO. I’m too lazy even to use tags on posts, even though tags are legit.
If you enjoy visiting this site (or visit it because it infuriates you), I welcome and value you. But I’m not going to use subterfuge to trick someone into thinking I’m something other than what I am: an opinionated nobody shooting his mouth off over the inner webs.
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
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 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, May 2.
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)
Afterthought:
Today, I set up my girlfriend’s Android phone to communicate with her Windows 7 computer.
I just plug my phone into the USB cable, swipe the notification panel, and select “Disc Drive.”
What an ordeal!
I had to download drivers and software and wait and wait and wait while Windows did its thing. It took the better part of half an hour.
I had forgotten what a unmitigated kludge Windows is.
Facebook Frolics 0
For a good time, like this.
A Digital Rights and Wrongs Post 0
Marty Moss-Coanne discusses digital etiquette with Emily Post’s great-great-grandson. From the website:
Follow the link to listen or download for later listening on your podplayer.
Twits on Twitter 0
Redundant twits once more all over again.
Foul Ball, No Home Run 0
The San Jose Mercury-News’s Troy Wolverton is not impressed with “Facebook Home,” the newest assimilation tactic from the Zuckerborg.
If you want to do more on your smartphone than just use Facebook, then you don’t want Home.
Detailed review at the link.
Facebook Frolics 4
At the Guardian, Steven Poole explains how the Faceborg’s “Home” is a glass house.
Video via Delaware Liberal.
Facebook Frolics 0
The whole she-bang is run by teenaged boys (and immature ones, at that).
Facebook Frolics 0
Pandora wonders whether the Faceborg is on the way to the Myspace space.
Facebook Frolics 0
Sometimes, good things happen through Facebook. (One even happened to me.)
“They took my left kidney,” she says with a mixture of awe and pride.
Actually, nobody took it – Coe gave it, willingly.
And there’s the story, modern, quirky and a little bit funky, just like Coe.
The match was made on Facebook, the recipient was the stepmom of an old high school classmate, and the tale was documented in a short film with a great title: “Does Anybody Need a Kidney?”
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
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 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 4.
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)
I will be making a little presentation, dispensing some Enlightenment.
Enlightenment 17 on Slackware–Current
Health (Records) Check 0
My local rag has a long and fairly level-headed article about the security of your computerized health records and related identification information. A nugget, chosen to illustrate the level-headedness:
The number has dropped each year since 2010, said Chris Hourihan, principal research analyst at the Health Information Trust Alliance. However, it’s not yet clear whether that’s because security is improving or because organizations changed their conception of what constituted a significant risk of harm. Starting this year, all breaches are considered potentially harmful and must be reported unless proved otherwise.
Notice the lack of the “OMG we are all going to die!” that is typical of such reports, a lack of the hysteria that keeps Dick Destiny busy over at his place.
Follow the link, check it out.
It includes a list of things you, as opposed to healthcare providers (who must police their own stuff), can do to help protect yourself; most of them are fairly standard stuff that anyone who pays attention to computer security is already doing, such as
- Don’t open attachments from unknown emailers,
- Keep an eye on your credit card statement, bank accounts, and credit reports,
- Be cautious in deciding to enter information in forms at websites, and so on.
The only hint that I would question is the one to use a “virtual private network” (VPN) when connecting to the internet when away from home (for example, at a coffee shop or library with open wireless).
Since most persons likely don’t know what a VPN is, let alone how to set one up on the fly, I would have suggested “Don’t use open wifi for email or confidential business–just don’t–unless you can use a VPN.”