Blarg's Journal O'Spoo

Great Googly-Moogly!

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:29:55 GMT

I have been neglecting LJ! So sorry.

My niece Alanna illustrated a newly published children's book! Way to go, Alanna!

I'm very proud of her. :)

It's...

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:10:19 GMT

Passover.

Here's wishing you and those close to you peace and happiness.

Happy Passover, everyone.

Fort Thunder

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:17:28 GMT

Many years ago (1999, actually; not that long ago) I moved back to the Providence area and saw a website devoted to Fort Thunder. An archive of most of the site can be seen at http://fortthunder.02909.com/ ...

I yearned to befriend someone from the community and visit. This is something my brain very much enjoys.

It's unfortunate that in 2001 the site was "redeveloped", a cookie cutter Shaws plaza in its place. Shaws has since left, and in its place a Price Rite.

It's so unfortunate that Providence (and Pawtucket as well) has been denying the once thriving artist communities bit by bit.

More information at Wikipedia and Art In Ruins

States

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:16:50 GMT

Meme-time. I don't usually do these, but this one isn't a privacy issue for me.

Put an X by the states you have been to. The average is 8. How do you match up?

There are 30 states that I can remember. There may be a few more that I've visited while on a layover during a multi-hop flight somewhere...

Alabama
Alaska
x Arizona
Arkansas
x California
Colorado
x Connecticut
x Delaware
x Florida
x Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
x Illinois
x Indiana
Iowa
x Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
x Maine
x Maryland
x Massachusetts
x Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
x Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
x Nevada
x New Hampshire
x New Jersey
x New Mexico
x New York
x North Carolina
North Dakota
x Ohio
x Oklahoma
Oregon
x Pennsylvania
x Rhode Island
x South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
x Texas
Utah
x Vermont
x Virginia
Washington
x West Virginia
x Wisconsin
Wyoming

Req: Animated .gif app

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:34:02 GMT

Anyone know of a decent, free, animated .gif app? Windows and OSX recommendations would be great. There are no linux boxes where this would be used, but I'd also apprecaite that too for reference.

Thanks.

Guess who's being quoted...

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:40:07 GMT

On ETVCommSkip, and automatically detecting television advertising via software that can skip over ads:

"Well, the things is is that it's it's really hard to block that kind well that's why everyone listening should go get it right now. Because it's very hard to reverse-engineer that because a lot of that stuff is automatic: the change in volume, there's a a subtle click, and there there are things that identify it and the reason is is because when the cable feed is coming through for it to auto-pickup the, you know, it has to have something there. And that's what they're looking for."

ETVComskip: http://code.google.com/p/etv-comskip/ for Elgato EyeTV
Based on Comskip: http://www.kaashoek.com/comskip/

forty-seven

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:08:19 GMT

This is shorter than one of the old Rhode Island BBS Lists from way back!

The US Dial-Up BBS List
http://www.telnetbbsguide.com/dialbbs/dialbbs.htm
(Thirteen of these are dial-up only. The rest are dial-up & telnet.)

I guess this Internet thing really took off. Ha ha!

2009: The International Year of Astronomy

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 02:51:06 GMT

Highlighted by the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo Galilei, The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) will be a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture.

EdiT: If you don't see the right video above (stillframe of a ringed planet), click on the subject line.

Merry Christmas!

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 03:19:42 GMT

Merry Christmas!

Allah_Sulu for President

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:55:12 GMT

I'm a secretary!

Of transportation!

Coffee and a Chrysler!

Plant blog.

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 04:24:57 GMT

'nuf said.

http://plant.bowls-cafe.jp/index.php

Blecch

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:58:53 GMT

I've been feelin' snoggy for two weeks... Yay upper respiratory crapola. I had a coughing fit last night that sent me into a rare asthma attack. So I ended up being the proud owner of three hours of sleep.

To top it all off, I turned the heat on for the first time this season and had to turn it off right away because steamy water was spraying from our main steam line. Gah! Just because I don't have a good cutter for 2" black iron steam pipe, I've got to call a professional to cut this bad pipe out and replace it.

Blarg!

Money

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:17:32 GMT

I've fired a painting contractor to finish painting our home. Next, a plumber to replace some steam pipes. I could do it myself but time is not on my side. Darn the long commute times!

Pool

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:45:37 GMT

Number of times my wife and I swam in our pool (collectively) this season: 0

Amount of money spent on said pool this season: ~$950

We're considering filling it in, covering it up, and building a nice big shed on top of it. An in-ground pool is nice to have, if it gets use. It's more of a pain in the ass than anything.

Allah Sulu for Prez!

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:06:29 GMT

Beaker~

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:15:13 GMT

I met Fabio.

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:03 GMT

Yup.

Deleted links

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 01:18:44 GMT

Here's a game!

I'll provide a note, and you find the source.

Ready?

The note is: "Note: delicious and newsvine deleted intentionally, per Marko."

Hints: .js & NY Times

A little more BBS Documentary

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:55:50 GMT

Back in December of '06, YouTube user 'walrusgiggles' posted a collection of clips from the incredible BBS Documentary. If you watch the video here (or go behind the cut), about 4:21 in, you'll see me pulling apart the storage area in the basement of my old apartment. My old Apple //e, which used to run Drag/Net BBS on TProBBS Software, sees the light for the first time in years.

I'm sure I still have that computer in the basement of our house.

1977 Boston Museum of Science Ad

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:32:07 GMT

Go here if you can't see the video.

My name is Karen!

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:37:44 GMT

Zoiks. This is odd.

Another pet peeve

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:37:29 GMT

Another pet peeve I have is with TV ads that refer to a website address that's not valid.

It is popular for businesses to advertise their website address on TV adverts, and encourage visitors to enter a particular URL for their TV ad campaign. That's not the problem. The problem is when they direct you to a URL that includes backslashes.

Take Applebees. They are currently running a campaign where people can enter videos of patrons having fun in their restaurants. The advertisement directs you to their website where one can view or add these videos. The TV ad (the one I'm referring to is currently 'airing' on the History Channel) says to "go to applebees dot com backslash realvideos", which will not work.

If you try to enter the URL http://applebees.com\realvideos it can not and will not work. URLs can only handle normal slashes (known as a forward slash or simply 'slash') - see RFC 1738 to start with and RFC 3986 for syntax.

I do not know if this problem - especially with national and international businesses - sits with the production company that created the spot, with the final copy editor, the reviewer, or even the marketing department of the business being advertised. Or is it a result of the naiveté of any or all of the above entities?

n.b.: I say 'airing' above, in quotes, because a cable network isn't actually airing anything since they have no broadcast transmitter. Satellite doesn't count.

Home Depot customer database breach?

Mon, 26 May 2008 13:46:18 GMT

I use a different email account for nearly every business I deal with. Home Depot is no exception - they get their very own email address. I do this so that when I DO get a load of spam, I can track the 'TO:' address and find the origin of the spam database.

A couple of weeks ago, I started getting spam directed towards the custom email address I use for Home Depot communications, exclusively.

I will change my preferences at the Home Depot site, and block the legacy address as well, but I should never have to do this is they would only take the time and resources needed to secure their databases.

And no, this isn't a dictionary attack.

Add Home Depot to the list of businesses whose customer databases have been compromised. Overstock.com, Packet8.net, AOL Health are just a few that have been compromised in the past.

Years ago - around the time of the .com bust - a few online 'rewards' sites sold their databases as a last gasp of breath before going under. I can't remember all of the business names, but I included a custom bounce message for each of these. Now I'll be doing the same for Home Depot.

I wonder if they're even aware this happened?

Writer's Block: My First Car

Thu, 08 May 2008 02:44:34 GMT

What was your first car?

View 501 Answers

1985: 1974 gold VW SuperBeetle - This was a wonderful first car. The struts in front sure helped with handling, for what that was worth. The car was fun to toss around, and a pleasure to work on. I collided head-on with a 1970's era Plymouth Satellite station wagon (dark gold), yet the car was still drivable. I sold it after I bought the Dodge Omni.

(I bought other Beetles for parts: not on the road: 1974 yellow Super Beetle, 1973 Silver Beetle, 1969 Green Beetle)
1986: 1978 gold/brown Dodge Omni 4-door hatchback
1972 Porsche 914, primer grey, originally yellow, still have it garaged with expired NH Plates.
1987: 1973 Brown Audi Fox
1987: 1974 Audi Silver Fox
1988: 1984 Lt Blue Audi 5000S - I loved this car. It unfortunately (for the car) had crumple zones which went to good use when it was rear-ended. Arthur and Dale were in the car with me; I was taking Arthur home after a small snowstorm and some girl in a Tercel thwacked us while we were stopped at a light.

(Around this time I bought a white 1974 Porsche 914 with extensive body damage, but I needed the transmission...)
1991: 1989 Blue Chevy Cavalier - I liked this car and was sad to not be able to bring it to California with me.
1993: 1982? Audi 4000 Coupe GT - Bleh.
1993: 1993 Red/Silver Saturn SC2 (First and only car I ever bought new! When it died in 2004, it had 181,000+ miles on the odometer.)
1999? 1989? Chrysler something-or-other; I gave it to Tio so he could give it to a friend of his.
2004: 2002 Blue VW Jetta TDI (Diesel) I bought it 10/04 with 32,000-ish miles; it has about 134,000 now.

Whimsy Dip

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:26:09 GMT

Whimsy Dip. Dip-It Fantasy Film. Vitriflore.

I know we can't get Whimsy Dip in the US any more. If I remember right, it was ripe with Tolulene and was considered nasty enough by the US Government to be a banned product. I believe it was a combination of the flammability rating of 3, and the long term effects of concentrating and inhaling the fumes.

But it's available elsewhere, and I'd like to get some of it.

Does anyone remember Whimsy Dip? I have very fond memories of playing with it when I was young.