Category: Technology

New look, New WordPress

March 3rd, 2008 · · Technology No comments - Tags: , , , , , , ,

Yesterday I bit the bullet and manually upgraded WordPress to version 2.3.3. I also brought all of the plugins I’m using up to date, and changed the look of things.

The plugins and WordPress updates went without a hitch. Just unzipped the files, dropped them into place, and test to be sure everything works. Unfortunately, the new layout was/is not so easy.

I have most everything the way I want it, except for the categories. No matter what I do, they will not move. I’ve tried using an empty arrangement for the columns, adding the “Categories” widget, and looking at the sidebar.php code. I just can’t see where to change/adjust it.  The “sponsors” thin-column is the same way, but it locates at the bottom. I don’t care about it so much since it’s not in the way of prime real estate.

While I moved things around, I also added Google Ads. The design that I am using had them nicely incorporated, so I added them. I have had an account for awhile, but never could get them to sit right in my previous incarnations. I think they fit neatly with this one. If you guys think they’re ugly or annoying, let me know and I’ll take them out.

Take a few looks at the pages, click around, and let me know what you think. I know some of you don’t like to use the comments, so just email me as always. Thanks for you loyal readers of my ramblings!

US Senate Votes to Cloak Illegal Spying

February 12th, 2008 · · Illinois, Legislation, Technology 9 comments - Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Senate voted today to amend the FISA statutes and cover up the illegal wiretapping done by the GWB administration (clarification: this was not started by GWB, just expanded). The bill effectively grants immunity to the telecommunications companies who helped the government illegally spy on regular citizens’ internet traffic and phone calls. Surprisingly, our Illinois Senators voted no.
Yes, Dave, I know you’ll ask if I think spying on people who might be terrorists is needed. Yes, I do. I don’t think that watching everything that everyone does is legal nor right.

For anyone who happens across this article and doesn’t think that it is possible to monitor major traffic in real time, have a look at Narus’ products.

K/Ubuntu use by a college student

January 30th, 2008 · · Illinois, School, Technology One comment - Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve posted before about my conversion to a 100% Linux lifestyle. There were growing pains, but kernel and distribution updates have pretty much eliminated the issues I previously encountered.

This Fall (’07) I enrolled in the IT Specialist program at Rend Lake College. Yes, I know it’s only two years and whatever other jokes you want to make about it. Moving on, my two operating system classes (OS and WinXP Pro) have been 99.9% Win-centric (yes, I know that’s to be expected from the WinXP class, duh). Unfortunately, Introduction to Computers (don’t laugh, it’s required for the degree) was also Win-centric.

I understand the need for the Win OS to be covered, as it controls 90 – 98% of the desktop market (depending on where you get your information, and who you believe). What I don’t get is how Linux can be such a hindrance to all of these classes.

VMware offers free licenses. Microsoft’s VirtualMachine requires WinOS. The college only uses VirtualMachine to load XP so we can learn on it. This means that I can either load Win, or have to go into a computer lab to use a WinPC with VirtualMachine after hours to complete any homework that needs done on my “learning” virtual machine. I’ve spoken to a few instructors, and hopefully they will look at loading VMware so that the “learning” XP virtual machines can be more universal for people who use other operating systems.

The next complication is related to the CDs included in most of the books for my classes. They are designed to be run on Win-machines. That’s fine for 90% of students, but what about me or my family? Or the other 10% of people who don’t use Win? Shouldn’t we get to use these tools/aids as well? Maybe the publishers will offer a choice or the ability to use web-based resources for us some day.

Unfortunately, the world doesn’t subscribe to standards. RLC has a great site where you can login anytime and get an unofficial copy of your transcript. This is especially helpful when planning what classes to take. The site does not work at all with anything other than Internet Explorer though. Firefox on Win, Linux, BSD, or Mac cannot login to the site. Way to go. To be fair, BlackBoard does work fine though, and Cisco did not support Linux access to its site until early this winter, so RLC isn’t the only one lagging behind supporting more than one OS/browser.

Also, I cannot email reports, assignments, or anything from OpenOffice to my instructors without saving it in an Office Word/Excel/etc. format that usually distorts the project. ODF documents are saved in an open format standard that anyone can support them. Sadly, Office does not support them out of the box, and hence most instructors do not know how to or cannot open them. Thankfully OOo does export to PDF, and most instructors do have the ability to open a PDF.

Overall, I’ve run into some issues using Linux as my only OS in college, but most have been overcome with a little bit of workarounds. Thankfully I will be taking 2 Linux classes next year (Fall/Spring). There should be a lot less pain with them, especially if VMware is instituted for virtualization.

Please understand that the issues I have had were not the fault of my instructors, and are mostly beyond their control. As a matter of fact, they have all been helpful and understanding with the issues. Maybe I’ve gotten lucky, but every single instructor so far has been great.

I do wonder how on earth I will be able to get through Visual Basic/.Net next spring though…

RIP, Mr. Zen

January 23rd, 2008 · · Technology 3 comments - Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

My Zen MicroPhoto is officially dead to me. I have tried upgrading the firmware, doing a complete reformat/rescue using Creative’s software, to no avail.

The Zen was working fine until about two weeks ago. I pulled it out of my chest-pocket as usual, and the screen was dark. Assuming it wasn’t on, I pressed the power again. Then ever-so-faintly I noticed the “shutting down…” wording. Strange.

Up next, I charged it. I was nervous, but hoped a full charge would resuscitate my ailing player. The next day I checked, and it was still in the same position (dying).

I made my way through the menus squinting to check my settings and double-checking them. Everything was fine. I even tried changing themes just in case this was a horrible joke by the software. Nope.

As a last resort, I went to Creative and searched for any fixes or known bugs. There were none. Then, I used their recovery tool to reformat/reset my Zen. He came back up, but in just the same condition.

I wrote Creative’s customer care, but their response was to get an RMA and mail it in for repair with my dated receipt. Unfortunately, I am like most people and didn’t keep the receipt filed away in the cabinet just in case something happened to the player.  Frankly, I expected it to last a year at least with the little and gentle use I gave it.

So, today I have begun accepting donations for the “Dan’s MP3 Player Fund”. Please won’t you help?

No, I don’t really expect anything, but an MP3 player is a luxury, and one that I won’t be blowing my money on any time soon. So I figure I’ll ask for donations and see if I can get enough to at least get a cheap player.

The cure for Meth is to make criminals of everyone

January 16th, 2008 · · Legislation, Technology One comment - Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“If you have a good ID…it would make it much harder for meth labs to function in this country,” – From the cNet article
Apparently RealID will make it harder for criminals to get products necessary to manufacture amphetamines.  At least that’s the flawed conclusion of some people supporting the national tracking card (RealID).

How? These new ID cards will be nothing more than an enhanced driver’s license. A picture ID is already required to purchase these OTC medications, and yet meth is still an issue.

This solution of gathering information on citizens and storing all of this information centrally is a honeypot for anyone looking to steal identities. There are stories repeatedly in the press about how a government official or private company has lost a laptop, disc, or been hacked and their users’ information is now lost, or worse. There is no security that is foolproof. Even if these information stores are encrypted, they can still be cracked eventually.

In my opinion, this method of tracking is illegal in that it is not provided for in the constitution. As we all know, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. ”

I don’t recall any amendments to the constitution about ID cards, do you?