Happy Halloween!

I don't normally get all excited about Halloween, and I'm still not supercharged to go out tonight, but I know too many people who make this their favorite time of year - so more power to them. It's fun, but not the end-all be-all for me.

Lot's of "webbing" to be done this weekend, assuming I get time to do it. I'm way behind on getting links up on the page. Oh well, TTFN!

I am sooo glad October is almost over! I'm happy for autumn and all that, but this has just been a baaaad month! It seems like everything that had a deadline, had it in October. OK I'm exaggerating, but I'm glad to have some of this stuff off my plate. I've still got a couple of things to update (like the NLA website for example), but it is now down to some not-so-crazy levels.

For you link freaks - here's one for ya. Time for Your Meds by crazytracy. A blog from the psychward. Be warned - adult language is used so kiddies, don't go there.

For you software design sillies - Chunking at Interface Mafia.

And finally something for my sister Crystal - Unlocking the Paralysis Riddle from Wired.

I know, I know - I haven't said much lately. What can I say - I haven't had time gasp.. what? someone not blogging because they don't have time? What a unique situation!! Maybe I'll have more to say this week.

I do want to say one thing: Happy six-month anniversary Julie! We've made it this far! Yes today is the six-month anniversary of Julie and myself. I know you are all thrilled.

Well, gotta get back to work so I can finish this project and then celebrate with my honey! Ta-ta!

I'm back from the conference and the parental visit. Things went very well and I also got a good rest while at home. I'd like to type more - but I still have little time to do it. I'll be more active after this week.

Before I forget here's another link to magnetic fluids. Ferrofluid is what he calls it.

I hadn't planned on adding anything today, but a few items caught my eye that I had to share. First was an article about the first steganographic image found "in the wild". Steganography is the practice of hiding information inside something else - for example a picture coded inside of another picture. Check out the page to see more info on it.

The other was a great page filled with memorable quotes from alt.sysadmin.recovery. Beware: these are computer system administrators blowing off steam so some strong language is used and some not so friendly ideas are expressed along with a lot of technical jargon. Not for everyone!

Anyway, there may be a post or two between now and Sunday - but there may not be. I'll catch you all whenever!

I've been getting a few questions on this email :

A lot of you may already know about this but I hadn't heard of it before today.
The following will not stop your PC from being infected with a virus, but it will stop it spreading to your friends and business associates.

Most viruses spread by automatically emailing itself to ALL contacts in the address book of the infected PC. By following the below method it will save you from the embarrassing situation of having to tell all your friends and associates that you may have inadvertently mailed them a virus.

The method:

In your address book add a contact as just AAAAAA. This will make it the first address in your address book. Do not give it an email address.

If you do get infected with a virus, when it tries to forward itself to all in your address book, you will receive an error message "The message could not
be sent. One or more recipients do not have an email address"

Simply go to your outbox and delete the message. You then only have to worry about cleaning up your own PC.

If you forward this message to all your contacts then the chances of them sending you are a virus will also be reduced.

This is simply not true. Here's the thing - it may still send the infected message to the other people in your address book. You would get the message described, but it isn't a sure fire way of stopping the spread of a computer virus. Depending on your mail program AND your ISP's policies - it may still send a message to everyone else. Some viruses actually pick out addresses one at a time as well, making this trick almost useless. Newer viruses aren't even bothering to look in the address book, but in the HTML pages you may have looked at or ones that actually you get mail from..

This is actually a variation, most have the characters 000000 or !000000 as the "dummy" address. Here are a couple pages about it from two really trustworthy sites: Vmyths and Snopes.com (both address the !0000 or 0000 variation, but it's the same thing...)

A couple of interesting news articles: one is about shoes that generate power and the other is about some proposed legislation that would give the RIAA rights to hack into your computer and delete files.

This might be the last post for some time, I'll be at a library conference from Wed until Fri and then I'm visiting the parentals this weekend. I'll try and log when I can, but no promises. Later!

I must have libraries on the brain: Here are a couple more library logs: The Rouge Librarian, Library Geek and Librarians are Corrupting Kids (LACK). Speaking of libraries, my friend Carmella sent me this link about St. Laurence, patron saint of librarians and of cooks! Thanks Carmi!

A couple of web pages discuss what happened with the Internet search engines on the day of September 11. First an article on First Monday about the changes Google went through. Next, an article from Search Engine Watch detailing how some major players adjusted during the day.

Now for the question - what do you know about yourself? More specifically what Robot are you? Find out what famous robot you may be most like. Then, find out what your ninja name may be. Mine is Naosuke Sawamura -san

I'll be so happy when October is over... I've just got too much going on right now. Maybe I'm just stressing too much about this reappointment thing. I know I'll get reappointed - any comment I've heard about my job performance has been good. Its just the fact I have to basically put together a case for my future employment here. What other jobs make you do that?

Go visit Theme of Absence and do it now. You will either agree with him or curse him until the day you die. Ok, maybe not that strongly but Jason has had some really good politcal news links recently - too many for me to just retype here. I don't agree with everything he says - which probably makes it even more interesting to read it.

I got Internet access back at home, my sister is resting comfortably at the hospital, and I got some stuff done today that needed it. Things are looking up.

Came across two cool librarian related blogs. NewBreed Librarian and librarian.net. Warning - adult themes can be and sometimes are discussed frankly. No nasty language, but still probably not for the kiddies.

If you are looking for something for the kiddies - check out The Professor's Marvel Directory. He's compiling information on Marvel super hereos like Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Hulk. Looks good.

OK, don't expect too many long drawn out updates for the next couple of days. I may even have to skip a couple of days this week. 1. My computer at home doesn't have any Internet access right now. 2. My sister is in the hospital. (She's fine now, just there for observation) 3. Little free time the next couple of weeks. I'll add what I can now and fill in the gaps later.

I had mentioned earlier about the Register reporting about Intel planning on the removal of floppy drives. (read it here), Today there's a rebuttal from them here.

Another good blog that will probably find its way to my daily list, Blather.

Good thing: reappointment folders done and handed in for the "first approval", basically where I and my boss talk about them and things that might need changed before it goes before the reappointment committee.
Bad thing: Buying a new computer with Windows XP and then finding out my cable internet service doesn't support XP yet. arrrgh!

Anyway - break's over, time to get back to work. I'll talk to ya'll later!

You know, I never know what to think about Courtney Love. Now she's suing for control of Nirvana's master recordings. Now I could understand her actions if there weren't two members of the band still alive.... The fact that she's suing them also just makes things even more messed up. Oh well, at least she isn't suing for control of the Foo Fighters.

On another note entirely I read this article in Wired. Quote: "This week the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban filters at city libraries, becoming the first municipality to openly defy the federal mandate." Yeah! Let's hear it for people not having blind faith in computer based filtering! I urge you to read the whole scoop here. If people would just open their eyes and realise that computer-based filtering is not effective. They are easily worked around from both the web provider or the web searcher.

The darts game last night was good, I did ok - the others had great nights. We ended up taking the top placed team 7-6. Not bad at all. Jason even threw a 4.0 in one game of cricket. A bleedin' 4.0!! I don't think I've ever thrown higher than a 2.7... Jason, I'm so jealous of your mad skills! You rule!

The Register reports on a rumor that Intel wants the floppy drive to go away. It's a quick article and even if it doesn't come true - it is an interesting thought.

Darts tonight, reappointment folders looking good, web page getting lots of hits... Life is good.

I just realized that I have to get my reappointment folders (the things that they will use to determine if I keep my job) in to my boss on Monday. Ooops.. I think I've gone from just flakey to crispy, crunchy, flakey! Darts tomorrow night so don't be shocked if you don't see any update from me tomorrow. I might try and sneak something in during a break at work. BTW: I think I've found a message board solution at exboard.com but the free version has pop-up ads and the non-ad version costs $30 for 6 months. oof. I saw some others, but if I'm doing a message board, I'm doing it right and getting one with the features I want.

Julie and I had a bit of philosophical chat tonight. She said "In some cultures just thinking of doing an evil deed is as bad as doing it." I retorted thusly, "I disagree. If you are choosing between putting sausage or pepperoni on your pizza, you will have a sausage pizza if you choose to put sausage pizza on it. And if you choose sausage - you can not have a pepperoni pizza." I don't know if what I said was philosphically correct - but it sure sounded neat when I said it!

Well, I certainly put my foot in my mouth. Let me make this public apology...

Julie - we do not own an ugly couch. It may be radioactive - but it isn't ugly.

I was just trying to make a joke. I'm sorry.

I don't know what it was today, but I was pointed to a bunch of cool articles/sites! Maybe it is just some sort of psychic karmic kickback after hearing nothing but World Trade Center / Taliban news. These were mainly listed in either slashdot.org or daypop.com.
E-Mail Celebrates Its 30th Birthday - Details on the history of email.
FTC shutters thousands of Web Sites - The Federal Trade Commission takes down a person who had "pop-up traps" on his websites and had many websites registered for misspellings of famous people and sites.
Electricity made by the Human Body - Generate electricy for your watch through your own body? Some think it is possible.
State Senator says women's suffrage a mistake - A conservative Kansas senator says that giving women the right to vote was a bad idea. This has got to be a joke!
America's Ugliest Couches - I thought Julie and I owned an eyesore. oof!
Tinyapps - In this day and age of "bloatware" there's a page that insists on full applications that can fit on a floppy disk. Bravo!
Ten mistakes in Site planning. - Some mistakes you should avoid when planning a web site. Good words here.

Speaking of the WTC, ABCnews ran an article about the last person they pulled from the wreckage alive. A small piece, but interesting.

I've been asked to put up a message board. I might just do that, I'm looking into "easy to impliment" solutions right now. What do you all think? Message board - yeah or nay? I'm also looking about selling Emerald Fusion "gear"... T-shirts, mouse pads, coffee cups... Anybody interested?

Not much to add today, just a couple of sites that might I might have interest in. First is the url for the VVS Leagues, the group that puts together the dart league I'm in. The second and third are about those wonderful Golden Age comic book heroes, the Justice Society. Here's a wonderful site and then another. Like I said, mainly for my own reference. I'll have more exciting stuff tomorrow.