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This blog is no longer updated.

Since I own the domain name for a couple more years, and the hosting was paid-in-advance, it's still here. But I've moved on to Hawaii, and no longer have the need to publish all the sorts of neat stuff that made up the contents of this website.

If you've linked to me, you are invited to unlink, as your readers will no longer be presented with new content. Thanks, Steve


This is Topic: General Stuff about Stuff
Following are the News Items published under this Topic.



  National Treasure (2004)
General Stuff about Stuff National Treasure, 2004, Nicholas Cage (it's on "CatchOn" now, sue me.)

According to the IMDB trivia page, "Good guys in the movie use Google and bad guys use Yahoo! search engines."

Art imitating life, no doubt.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Monday, January 16, 2006
 

  Become your own webhost.
General Stuff about Stuff
One of the biggest issues involved with becoming a web publisher is the question of hosting. With an internet clogged with false hosting review sites, hosting companies trying to rip you off, and hosting companies run by 14 year olds, the majority of web publishers are at the mercy of random chance when it comes to finding a quality host.

75 very detailed steps to install FreeBSD, PHP, mySQL on your own.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Monday, January 16, 2006
 

  Cool Optical Illusions
General Stuff about Stuff A couple neat optical illusions under "Read More"...
Read more...     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Tuesday, December 06, 2005
 

  1 TB drives, next month
General Stuff about Stuff ExtremeTech is reporting that Maxtor will begin selling 600GB and 1TB drives in December, for $549 and $899 respectively.

Sweet.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Thursday, November 03, 2005
 

  Misc eBooks to peruse
General Stuff about Stuff A couple of books to read:

NAVFAC P301: Navy Railway Operating Handbook, June 1999.

I did not know the Navy ran her own railroad. Of course, I've never been in the munitions business, so cut me some slack. I'm not surprised there's a manual about it.

HP Color Laser Jet 4500: Operators manual.

This thing is 6 years old? No wonder it's making so much noise.

     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Thursday, November 03, 2005
 

  Mapping an FTP Site as a Virtual Drive.
General Stuff about Stuff Most folks manage remote websites via FTP. Most folks download some FTP client (or use the one built into IE), and move files via the FTP application.

Wouldn't it be cool if there was a shortcut on your desktop to your "images" folder, or if drive "Q:\" was the same thing as /var/www/html?

Check out this video from engadget.com demonstrating Novell's NetDrive application. (It's Flash, not a .mpg/.avi type movie.)

Here's the problem, though. Novell can't distribute free copies of NetDrive. You have to go find it on the web. But wait, you say. Are you suggesting software piracy? No, gentle reader, for that's exactly what Novell says: "To find a download, search for netdrive.exe on the Web. Due to licensing issues, it is not a download from Novell.com."

So, head on over to Loyola.edu to download a copy and see even more pictures of how easy it is to install and run this program. (It's 5.5MB, so dialups use caution...)

And here's a 30 page .pdf document on how to use NetDrive, if the links above aren't sufficient.


...and this is what it looks like in Explorer.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Wednesday, October 26, 2005
 

  The Strategic Commuting Undercover Tactical Recon transport system
General Stuff about Stuff
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Tuesday, October 04, 2005
 

  Geolocate your webserver
General Stuff about Stuff This is pretty cool - based on the IP address, this nifty little website looks up where the server is "supposed" to be.

Here's where this site is hosted (Houstin, TX):


But, it's not always accurate:


Oh well....
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Monday, July 25, 2005
 

  Knife block for serial killers
General Stuff about Stuff This is too cool:



via totalfark
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Monday, July 11, 2005
 

  Free Poster/Booklet
General Stuff about Stuff Free stuff from World Data Products. Appears that you can get one for them for free just by filling out a form.

Unix Server Spec Book: This 84-page guide provides valuable information on a wide array of IBM pSeries (RS/6000), IBM iSeries (AS/400), HP 9000, and Sun servers.

Intel Server Spec Book: This 86-page guide is the definitive resource for Dell PowerEdge, HP/Compaq ProLiant, and IBM xSeries (Netfinity) servers.

Cisco Poster: At-a-glance model capacities, interface cards, and available feature information.

Storage Poster: In-depth information on all 16 raid levels, SAN architecture and more.

One of you loyal readers - hook me up with the Storage poster. I've already got the Cisco poster and the Intel booklet - and can't get any more free stuff from this deal.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Thursday, June 16, 2005
 

  Fun with photoshop
General Stuff about Stuff
Left, a photo of Bret Schundler superimposed over one of Howard Dean taken at a rally for the Democratic presidential hopeful last summer. The photo appeared on Schundler's campaign Web site. Right, the original photo, which was taken in Virginia. (Dean's left thumb is still there.)

Jersey politics is something I don't usually blog about - I don't know the players like I used to.

Roberto over at DynamoBuzz reports that Schundler has lost the NJ primary to Forrester by 10,000 or so votes.

via northjersey.com
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Wednesday, June 08, 2005
 

  Google touring: Michael Dell's house
General Stuff about Stuff Google Maps leads us to Michael Dell's house:



Interactive map is here.

via googleglobetrotting.com
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Monday, June 06, 2005
 

  Road trip humor
General Stuff about Stuff Speed limit enforced by aircraft.

  Free Cat
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Saturday, June 04, 2005
 

  New Google Portal
General Stuff about Stuff Google has "portal-ized' their home page, should you have a gmail account, you can add some (limited) information to the front page. Image is linked...



     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Friday, May 20, 2005
 

  Happy Birthday, Kurt Loder!
General Stuff about Stuff An icon of my youth. The news guy at MTV.

He turned friggin' sixty today.



I'm getting too old for this.

(For those of you who can't relate, Eric Clapton turned 60 a couple months ago.)
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Thursday, May 05, 2005
 

  You'll never look at tape backup the same way again...
General Stuff about Stuff Hilarious video starring John Cleese, director of the Backup Trama Institute. (It's a commercial, really, but it's five minutes long.)

And don't click the third button. I've warned you...
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Thursday, March 17, 2005
 

  Dude, you're getting a pink slip.
General Stuff about Stuff 30 Muslim workers fired for praying on job at Dell reads the headline.

Technically, the headline doesn't say "Dell fires muslim workers" - because Dell didn't fire them:
They were employed by Spherion, a labor agency that provides workers for Dell's Nashville operations, according to David Perez, the compliance officer for the Metro Human Relations Commission.
Spherion fired 30 Muslims.

Just so we're clear on that.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Thursday, March 10, 2005
 

  "Look at me! I'm still relevant!!"
General Stuff about Stuff

ROCKER Ozzy Osbourne, 56, grabs at his daughter Kelly’s left boob — and makes a right t*t of himself.

The strange gesture towards Kelly, 20 — in front of her mum Sharon — came at a bash to promote the Aussie MTV Awards.

Funny? Sorry, Ozzy, it’s YOU who’s the joke.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Thursday, March 03, 2005
 

  TSA allows family to meet returning soldiers at the gate.
General Stuff about Stuff Got this from command-spam:
TSA Says OK to Gate Passes for Family Members of Military Passengers - The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued a directive that will allow family members of military passengers to receive a pass so they can meet and escort military passengers to and from departure and arrival gates at airports. Security Directive 1544-01-10w is called, "Access to Sterile Concourse for Non-Traveling Individuals." After talking to TSA for clarification the family member can go to the airline on which the military member is flying and receive a pass to go to the gate. The family member will be required to have a pass and a photo ID to get pass the security checkpoint. This is especially a wonderful change for the military personnel who are on leave from Afghanistan or Iraq. It will be a better "Welcome Home" to get off the airplane and see family at the gate and being able to stay with the family longer before having to leave. Always check for a USO at the airport for a comfortable place to wait for your flight.
That's a good thing.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Tuesday, February 22, 2005
 

  Microsoft, Kids, and you.
General Stuff about Stuff Microsoft attempts to explain !337$p33k.

omg j00 guyz. |3i11 g4tes i5 teh l4m0rz. N0w m0mee n0ze \/\/ha7 1 sez.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Thursday, February 17, 2005
 

  A hundred or so GMail Invites
General Stuff about Stuff One of them has to be unused. Cut-n-paste and get your own....

(Note: I have no idea who sponsored these - if you want an invite *from me*, send me an email - sierra/delta/carroll (as written above) atgmail.com.)
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-73b82914d0...894e-f35df7871c
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-73b82914d0...6c36-182c592b1f
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-73b82914d0...e150-a2adf3543e
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-73b82914d0...7946-07ef11117e
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-73b82914d0...fad4-384abcfbbf
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-73b82914d0...165d-492785d7ff
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-73b82914d0...dd60-aa9a9f6819
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-73b82914d0...823a-8114af9d17
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-73b82914d0...95dd-a36464a9ba
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-73b82914d0...a1e1-ae4ab04c8a
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-73b82914d0...514b-8f45b8ed14

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-a8670f8b4-5d293b664a-8fbcd74f27
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-a8670f8b4-558343865f-57f3a8bf17
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-a8670f8b4-404f47b4d4-83b58d97da
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-a8670f8b4-7463bf222f-7e7886b008
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-a8670f8b4-2aef2a0694-f34c3f345a
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-a8670f8b4-b8e730091b-6efd079ab3

More available under "read more".
Read more...     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Sunday, February 13, 2005
 

  Nuke Power School
General Stuff about Stuff Was playing around with Keyhole, the mapping system that CNN and other folks use to display mapping stuff from another country. (Similar to that seen on Korean weather reports, but I digress...)

Eventually found my way over to TerraServer (brought to you by USGS and Microsoft Research).

I looked up NTC Orlando, home of yours truly for more months than I care to remember. There are two buildings you most assuredly recognize:
NNPS in 1999
Source: terraserver.com

And here's what it looks like in 2002:
NNPS in 1999
Source: terraserver.com

Needless to say, while I hated that place every minute I was on "Mando" study hours (30/6), I'm a bit disappointed that it's gone forever.

(Both images open in a new window at 800x600.)
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Sunday, February 13, 2005
 

  Required Reading for Anyone who Stands in Front of a Crowd
General Stuff about Stuff Cliff Atikinson, author of Beyond Bullets blog, has published his book, "Beyond Bullet Points" and offers the Introduction, Table of Contents and Chapter 1 for download. Most excellent.

Available now via BN, coming soon to Amazon. Links (and subsequent referral codes) through his site.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Thursday, February 10, 2005
 

  Shoot me when I buy one of these.
General Stuff about Stuff Ought to start a "WTF" category; here goes:

Is your butt bigger than the Average Joe's? Are your cheeks flopping over the edge of crapper when you drop the kids off at the pool?

For a mere $1400 + shipping, the Great John Toilet Co. can hook you right up.

Animated comparison of your butt on a standard vs. wide load commode is behind the "read more" link - it's 267KB image file.




Read more...     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Wednesday, February 02, 2005
 

  SEAsia Tsunami Relief - Tax Deduction
General Stuff about Stuff Took the link to the Amazon/Red Cross donation link down today. They've collected $15 million.

Those of you who itemize your taxes should read this link [irs.gov] - your cash donations through 31 Jan 05 can be deducted from your 2004 -or- 2005 tax returns.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Tuesday, February 01, 2005
 

  Deposed leaders, rich parents found dead in SE Asia - Need help!
General Stuff about Stuff Most folks have received emails from the relatives of deposed dictators, conglomerate chiefs, or other rich folks in third world countries who need assistance finding someone to "help" move some ill-gotten gains to an off-shore bank account.

After several email exchanges, and perhaps an exchange of "processing" or "legal" fees, the mark (who will soon become the victim) passes bank account information to the con artist, who then proceeds to empty the account.

Apparently, these scammers read the news, as Michelle Malkin reports:
My name is Marco Nula; I am a victim of the recent Earthquake followed by the Tsunami that wrecked our whole society of Banda Aceh Province in Indonesia resulting in painful death of my Parents.

My Late Father Mr. Alfredo Nula is from Paramaribo in Suriname (South America) and my Mother from Banda of Aceh Province in Indonesia, they got married in Suriname because Indonesia like Suriname was a colony of The Netherlands, but they moved to settle in Indonesia when my Sister and I were born and because Indonesia has better economy than Suriname, but my Sister and I was away in School in the Capital Jakarta when this sorrowful incidence happened to my late parents and all other Families affected by the Quake and the Tsunamis all around Sumatra and Aceh Province.

My Father and Mother owned a tourist resort and grocery store at No 71 Panglima Polim Street, Banda Aceh in Indonesia, it was visited by numerous tourists from different countries on Holidays each year but this tragic and devastating Tsunamis took the lives of my parents and many others.

My Late Parents saved much of their money in a Bank in The Netherlands, not only because we were Dutch Colony but also because we speak Dutch as an official Language in Suriname, I contacted my Parents Lawyer in Jakarta and he has confirmed to me that my Parents has the sum of 3.2Million Euros deposited in savings in The Netherlands which will be claimed by me as next of Kin, but he also explained to me that because I was not nationalized in Netherlands after Suriname got Independence from the Netherlands I had no permission to settle there in that Country.

We have recovered the corpses of my Late Parents, although private, international and government aid is coming in, it will not be any where enough to settle our problems, please I am hereby soliciting for your assistance at clearing my Late father's money Euros 3.2Million in The Netherlands, I have asked the Lawyer to provide me with all documents, I shall have send them to you when you show sincere intentions to help me and my Sister, if you are business oriented with experience in Holiday, Hotel and Resort business or have some idea on how to run a groceries shop, I am willing to recommit the money for the full benefit of all (My Sister you and I) apart from that I shall be willing to give a negotiable percentage of the money to you otherwise or alternatively, please contact me on my email address as the telephone system is not functioning at the moment.

Thank you, I hope you understand our predicament and come to our assistance.
Scumbags. May the spirits of the dead haunt you in this life and beyond.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Monday, January 03, 2005
 

  Dumb Contest Rules
General Stuff about Stuff About a year ago, I tossed a paper airplane at an (open) car window in an attempt to win a free car from Exchange New Car Sales. I've also hit golf balls to try to win a "grand prize" - all unsuccessfully, I might add.

I understand that in order to keep the sponsor from losing his shirt, the contests have all sorts of rules (stand this far away, no practice shots, first winner closes the contest) so that an insurance provider will accept the actuary risk.

But this one is just plain stupid:

          Sweepstakes

OK, each time you use this billpay service, you get one chance at the grand prize. Should you actually win, you've got to guess a number between 00 and 99 to actually *win* $100,000, and if you guess wrong, well, thanks for playing - here's $1,000. It's not a stretch to realize that the company easily stands to make that $1,000 from this marketing plan.

Some of the more perceptive may have noticed the shift from first-person to second person from above and below the graphic. Yes, it was intentional - employees aren't eligible to "compete" - and the Better Half© owns (at least) half of the joint account.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Monday, December 27, 2004
 

  My letter to Google
General Stuff about Stuff
Dear Google Web Team,

My company has a security stack between me and the internet, and one of the many things they filter and deny is HTTP GET requests to an IP address - only fully qualified DNS names.

One of the great features of the Google Search experience is the cached web page link that accompanies most of the results.

However, in my random query of 9 language interfaces (Germany, Korea, Japan, Jersey, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Trinidad, Samoa, and the UK), I can use the "cache" link because the link has a DNS name.

But the Google.com "main page" - searching in English - leads to cached links that are prefixed:

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache: <site name, query string and other stuff>
rather than
http://www.google.FQ.DN/search?q=cache:<site name, query string and other stuff>

This is inconsistent with the rest of your world-wide service, and specifically, it interupts my browsing because I have to cut and paste cache link URI's to use a different country's DNS name to view the cached page.

Any manpower resources you can expend to fix this one will be appreciated by all of us behind this filter.

Thanks, and Happy New Year,
Steve Carroll

Yeah, you didn't know there was a "Jersey Google", didya?
     1 Comment |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Monday, December 27, 2004
 

  Merry Christmas
General Stuff about Stuff Merry Christmas to my readers - (both of you)...

Enjoy (via slashdot) this gingerbread motherboard.
Gingerbread CPU
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Friday, December 24, 2004
 

  Symantec and VERITAS to merge...
General Stuff about Stuff Software Industry Leaders Symantec and VERITAS Software To Merge

Combination Reduces Complexity of Securing and Managing Information

Cupertino, CA and Mountain View, CA (December 16, 2004) - Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) and VERITAS Software Corp. (Nasdaq: VRTS) today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement to merge in an all-stock transaction. Based on Symantec's stock price of $27.38 at market close on December 15, 2004, the transaction is valued at approximately $13.5 billion.

The leader in storage software and the leader in security software will provide enterprise customers with a more effective way to secure and manage their most valuable asset, their information. The combined company will be uniquely positioned to deliver information security and availability solutions across all platforms, from the desktop to the data center, from consumers and small businesses to large organizations and service providers.

... Symantec's Press Release
... More Information about Symantec and Veritas
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Thursday, December 16, 2004
 

  Laptop Pillow.
General Stuff about Stuff Are you lonesome tonight? Perhaps this pillow is just the thing you need.

Makoto Igarashi, managing director of Tokyo-based toy model maker Trane Co., Ltd., rests his head on his company's novelty "lap pillow" in Tokyo Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004. The polyurethane "lap pillow" molded on a real woman and provides with close-to-real warm and smooth lap feeling. For a party attraction and lonesome hearts, it is available at 8,980 yen (US$86) with a choice of red or black skirt. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
Yet as we collectively roll our eyes, they're sold out.

     10 Comments |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Wednesday, December 15, 2004
 

  There's a dog asking me questions...
General Stuff about Stuff Leon @ secretGeek asks:

What would Google look like, if it used Microsoft's desktop search interface?

     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Sunday, December 05, 2004
 

  Poking fun at Project Management
General Stuff about Stuff Ian White has a photo series that he refers to as "project management at its best".

I'm not drawing any parallels here. Really. You can do that on your own.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Wednesday, December 01, 2004
 

  Free Credit Reports - compliments of Uncle Sam and the FACT Act.
General Stuff about Stuff The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (the "FACT Act") went into effect this morning.

Over the next year, all Americans can get their credit history free from the "big three" (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) reporting bureaus. Fortunately, those with APO addresses can start now.

Click here for your annual credit report. Update: Apparently they don't like direct referals. You'll get an error message that says "Sorry, we can't load the site." The URI is still good - just click the "Go" button (or highlight the link and hit enter) to get to the site.

"Armed Forces Pacific" is listed on the drop down menu, for those with APO/AP addresses.

Be advised: you're getting something for free. From folks that used to charge for it. They're probably not happy about that - and have dedicated the slowest possible webservers behind a 9600-baud modem to give you that. (That means it's sloooow.) TransUnion was the slowest - I couldn't get it to load at all.

REMEMBER: You only get one a year from each of them. If you get it right now, be prepared to print it for review - you can't go home later and pull it up again for closer inspection.
     2 Comments |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Wednesday, December 01, 2004
 

  The Annual Army/Navy Game.
General Stuff about Stuff 1. Find 6 midshipmen.
2. Tape the letters G-O-N-A-V-Y to their uniforms.
3. Let them mill around in an inappropriate manner.
4. Take a picture.
5. Send to your favorite sailor. Repeat as necessary.




Yeah, this is a Navy-AirForce game. But it's still pretty damn funny.
     14 Comments |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Wednesday, December 01, 2004
 

  Target sells Reefer online
General Stuff about Stuff For the lazy stoner, Target now sells marijuana online.



Browse Similar Items: Substance Abuse made me laugh, too.

Update: Don't take this seriously. Target is -not- selling dope online. They share a database with Amazon, and they both offer a book named "Marijuana" (see ASIN # 0823916839).
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Monday, November 29, 2004
 

  Bill Gates gets 4 Million Spam messages a day.
General Stuff about Stuff Bill Gates is most "spammed" person in the world: AFP via Yahoo!

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Internet junkies, take heart: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates receives four million e-mails daily, most of them spam, and is probably the most "spammed" person in the world.

But unlike ordinary users, the software mogul has an entire department to filter unsolicited e-mails and only a few of them actually get through to his inbox, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said here Thursday.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Thursday, November 18, 2004
 

  How It Works - The Computer (1971/1979 Editions)
General Stuff about Stuff
Page scans of the "How It Works" published here.

Screen Capture.

Via Slashdot.
     comments? |  Permalink |  Mail this... | Friday, November 12, 2004