The personal blog of an old-fashioned geek
http://twitter.com/newlywedsontjob
This is a hilarious use of twitter, this guy is his friends Best Man in the wedding, and swears not to prank them until AFTER the wedding. So while they’re on honeymoon, he installs a pressure sensitive pad in his friends bed which automatically tweets when it detects action on the bed. It reports back the weight/duration/intensity of the action when they’re “on the job”.
Brilliant!
I’ve always had a bit of entrepreneurial ADD, and I’m always thinking of the next project or idea. Lately, I’ve been toying with the idea of building a network of websites, and to get somewhat serious about blogging, (well, as serious as I can be, doing it in my free time between work and family).
One of my hobbies and habits is to pick up domain names that match some “big idea” that I’ve had, and I’ll throw up a simple site or something, or just hold onto the domain for one of those “rainy day” projects.
I recently picked up a copy of WP Robot, which is an auto-blogging plugin which will automatically post and update a blog with content from ebay, amazon, articlebase, and other sources. I think this will help me keep some of my sites updated, and hopefully be able to generate some affiliate commissions as well. It is SLICK! I showed it to a couple of my co-workers and they were impressed with how it worked, and how it simply automated a blog.
Now, I understand that SE’s and readers alike prefer to have genuine hand-written content, and so for my blogs, I’ll still post articles that I write myself. As well as comment on happenings and other things. But by having an automation tool, I can also have some filler things within my blog.
Who knows! perhaps in a year, I’ll have a nice little blog empire that will pay for a vacation to somewhere tropical. 
A friend sent me a link to a blog post over at backblaze about how to build cheap storage. I was just amazed! 45 drives crammed into a 4U chassis to provide a total of 67 terabytes of usable storage space. Stack 20 or so of those pods together and you have a petabyte of storage!
One of these days when I have $7k lying around burning a hole in my pocket, I’m going to build myself one of these things. It looks like a really cool way to get some cheap storage.
I do wonder though, why they use 1.5TB drives instead of 2TB drives… and with the drives crammed in that tight, do those fans supply adequate airflow for cooling?
I just got an email from AT&T letting me know about the new AT&T Navigator app for my iPhone 3g. I love my iPhone and one of my biggest gripes was how much of a pain it was to navigate anywhere while on the road. Google maps was funcitonal, and since I can read a map, I could find my own way, but if I was anywhere unknown and just wanted to get there without dealing with anything complex, I would use my Samsung Instinct on Sprint that I have through work.
I think it’s great that FINALLY after how many years the iPhone has been out, and for the past year with the 3G with GPS, that they have a turn by turn direction app. But I think it is TERRIBLE that AT&T wants to charge me $9.99/mo for the service.
$9.99 to download the App as a one time fee would be perfectly acceptable, but don’t tell me that they need to charge a monthly fee for the service. I don’t pay extra for the Sprint Navigator on the Instinct, nor do you pay a monthly fee (that I’m aware of) for a TomTom.
Come on AT&T, give us the app for a one-time $9.99 or even $19.99 fee, and then charge per update. Let me know when the routes in my home area have been updated due to construction, and give me a $1.99 update option to update when I want to. Don’t nickel and dime me with a $10/mo recurring charge. Over 1 year, that’s $120 spent on navigation, and how often do roads change?
I just read a disturbing report on CNET: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320096-38.html
There is a bill being proposed to grant executive control over the Internet, in a case of “Cyber-Terror” and allow the government to seize control of private sector networks, effectively shutting down the Internet.
It goes on to talk about the terms vaguely, and any threat that deals with computers, the Internet, telecommunications, computer networks, would qualify as Cyber Terrorism, and allow Uncle Sam to cripple private networks. This includes the possibility of shutting down networks to prevent phone calls and other communications systems.
New licenses would be given to individuals and companies who deal with the major networks, giving them clearance, and basically saying you have to have government approval to run any large private network. They would also be required to provide additional data and resources to the government.
Frankly, I find this very apalling, and do not want ANYONE in government having judicial control over public networks, allowing them to effectively shut down the system with a flick of a switch. The government is very lacking in current security operations, and network security is best handled by the private sector.
I understand the need to be able to mitigate threats, but there are cyber attacks every day against corporations and individuals, and the current private networks do a damn good job of keeping the peace, along with keeping the Internet ONLINE.
I don’t know what the story is behind this picture… but I doubt the driver survived. 
HOW TO START EACH DAY WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK
1. Open a new file in your computer.
2. Name it “Barack Obama.”
3. Send it to the Recycle Bin.
4. Empty the Recycle Bin.
5. Your PC will ask you: “Do you really want to get rid of “Barack
Obama?”
6. Firmly Click “Yes.”
7. Feel better?
GOOD! – Tomorrow we’ll do Nancy Pelosi.
I’ve been playing World of Warcraft on and off for the past 5 years. I’ll get into it for a couple weeks, and then take a break for a few months, then start playing it again for a few weeks, and then take a break again.
Because I don’t play constantly, or very regularly, I never really had the time to really learn a lot of the in-depth things about the game, and I found trying to figure stuff out alone was kind of boring, especially in the level 20-40 range where you have to do a lot of grinding.
Well, a while back I bought the Zygor Guide. It’s a simple plugin for WoW that acts as a quest helper, telling you which quests to take, where to go to complete the quests, and it allows you to power level your character quite quickly. It’s better than the other quest helpers because it specifically tells you to do things in a certain order to optimize your time. It’ll have you pick up 3-5 quests in one area, go around and do all of them, then turn them all in at once, rather than doing them one by one and running back and forth all the time.
If you’re like me and enjoy playing WoW, but don’t have the time to devote your entire life to it, the Zygor guide is the best way to Power Level your character quickly, efficiently, and it’s fun.
Zygor Guide has allowed me to rapidly level my Blood Elf Shadow Priest, and my Tauren Death Knight in minimal play time. I’m not level 80 yet, but I soon will be 
The other day, my roommate and I went for a bike ride in Lester Park (one of the many wonderful parks in the Duluth area). It was my first time ever biking on an off-road trail like that, and even though it kicked my butt, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and look forward to doing other such excursions again!
I bought a bike this weekend.
It’s a 95 Trek 970 Mountain Bike
(I have no clue what any of the above really means, other than it’s some name brand stuff)
I’m hoping that biking the mile to work and back every day will help me get rid of my gut, and help me lose a bit of weight. I’m also going to cut back on certain foods/drinks, try to eat more healthy, and drink more water.