Geek TypePad Blog

Decision on TypePad

Ok, well, after looking over things for the last hour or so, and examining my options on TypePad, I have decided that this will be the last post done on both sides of the Blogsphere by me. I just cannot justify blogging on Geek Blog and Geek TypePad Blog. this is not to say that TypePad isn't an awesome service, it really is, but I just can't justify moving off the Blogomania servers were I have most of my stuff. I would rather save the $15 US a month and renew my dwightwallbridge.com domain, though the other attempted business one registered at the same time will be left to expire due to the fact I cannot register the business name. I also want to get myself on a much better footing as well before I get into this. I will of course finish posting what is here by the 11th, no worries. Email me for a discount code, by the way.

Not another Monday

Ok, I hope today is not another Monday like yesterday. Monday is known as the worst day of the week. Usually this is not the case for my work, as we are open 7 days a week and there is not really a traditional Monday. Well, yesterday, while not a Monday for me(it was a Thursday or Friday by my work week), it was definitely a Monday by the way things went and the calendar as well. Ok, to chronicle my Monday: It started at 12:15 or so, when I realized I had left my keys in the locked laundry room, which required me to leave a note under the door there, and waiting for someone to bring me back my keys at like 9 AM, then rushing to get the clothes dried in time. Then, while at work, my wrist quickly went south, going from fine to unusable in about 3 minutes. Ouch!

Then, to top things off, due to the civic(not statutory) holiday, Winnipeg Transit was on a Sunday/Holiday schedule, which sucks for night travel. Sadly, Dizz was spinning out at the The Colosseum for Neon Nights, and I decided to go out there, missing most of his set due to bad schedules. Then, after having checked the Transit site to make sure I could catch a bus after his 11 PM show was done around midnight, I left secure in the knowledge I could catch the 1 AM bus. That was actually a :17 or 12:17AM bus. Yup. I missed it. Sadly, there was no ride to snag, so I began around 1 AM my walk home. The bar is a long way from downtown. About 3:30 or so I got home, only to find a script that got into mIRC somehow caused me to be banned from #lockergnome. I decided I should sleep. Now that I am awake, I can only hope that I will be better today.

Good radio

I mentioned yesterday that I spend a lot of time these days in #lockergnome, on the WyldeRyde IRC network when I told you about the person known there as Mirimu who is raising money to get out of an abusive relationship in Minnesota. Well, I have also found a near daily radio show that I have been enjoying lately. Angel, the person from the channel, is a DJ on there from 1-3 AM CST, and the station is Pulse Radio. Angel plays all kinds of music, and gives many opportunities for her listeners to request songs from her playlist, either by AIM, in the game of the night(usually Sims Online, There, or Ragnarök Online), or from the IRC channel. I try to listen every night(she is off Wednesday nights) and usually get a shout out at least once for a request. Listen in, she is a good DJ!

Difficult situation

I have been spending a lot of time since just before Gnomedex in the #lockergnome channel on WyldeRyde network of IRC servers. I have met a lot of good people, had lotsa laughs, and been helped and able to help a lot of people. Well, one gnomie is in a bit of a situation. In her words 'i guess the basics of it being a gnomie who is being abused badly by her soon to be ex and needs to leave kinda thing'. Instead of doing some of the more extreme net things that I have ridiculed here, this person is going about it the only way she can. She has set up a paypal donation deal, allowing for her friends, family, and even those who only have a few bucks to send some her way. She is a good blogger, great person, and one quick scan of her blog posts shows how hard life's been on her. I won't go into it all, because I am not sure how much she wants publicized on such a busy blog, so I will simply link to this and ask you to help if you can.

TypePad to debut Monday

Ok, so when I got home I had an email from Ben Trott that he sent to all of the TypePad beta testers, telling us the service is now ready to launch, and that it will do so on Monday. The pricing is also set, ranging from $5 to $15 a month, and they have also put up a comparison chart between the three levels of service. They all have a 30 day trial, and 2 months free if you pay for one full year. That, though, is where the similarities end. Basic doesn't have photo albums, which I know I would use a lot, and doesn't have the added security of PGP on email links(no idea what that is) not to mention the lack of advanced template with that. I guess we can tell what I wouldn't use. Having spent about a month in the service without too many problems, I would recommend either of the two higher level services for any new blogger.

Time to get back to it

Ok, this is it. I am tired of being blog lazy. I am tired of posting little, and having so many in draft. So, as of now I plan to do my best, be a good blogger, and only start what I finish. Of course, it is not a good thing that I am moving down the page right away to make this a draft post, but I do need to get caught up before I make such strong dedications. Right? Good good. Ok, as I was saying, I will do my best to get all things here posted in a day, but there are always unavoidable things, the reason fro draft in the first place, but instead of spending 10 or 20 minutes in Battlefield 1942, I will spend 10-20 minutes in blog, catching up. How does that sound? I thought so.

Great Canadian Beef BBQ

Toronto had Sarstock. Winnipeg, due to the many struggling farmers over the nearly 3 month old single case of Mad Cow in AB that has allowed the US to punish Canada for it's lack of support, has been at both Sarstock and the huge barbecue at Portage and Main this lunch hours. Manitoba beef burgers were sold at the concert in Toronto headlined by the Rolling Stones, and the same will be sold for $2 including a drink, on all four corners of Winnipeg's best known intersection. The proceeds, CJOB's Charles Adler tells, goes to Winnipeg Harvest, ad it allows Manitoba's farmers to sell their cattle at decent prices, and gives them the chance to get the word out of the troubles faced by cattle producers in this province, where no Mad Cow has yet to be found. I will enjoy!

TypePad day 4: TypeLists

Now we come to the most useful of all the TypePad features, in my mind. TypeLists are like blog rolls, but on speed. Not only can you do people lists, but you can do music and book lists too, both of which produce images of the covers, and link to Amazon, which as I have blogged before, it is possible to have them link to your associate ID so you can get a little cash to cover the costs of the service at the same time. For instance, on the music one on the Geek TypePad Beta Blog, I have Johnny Cash, Darryl Worley and Kenny Chesney, while on the books I have pretty much every book in my house. I only wish I could do a more thing so people could see a full list, not just the 15-20 I have listed there. Overall, this is the best feature I found in beta.

TypePad's next 2 days

So, why wait, you might say. Why not post yesterday. Well, that's because the 2nd day was moblogging, and I have very little experience with it other than to ensure that the blog by mail works. Beyond that, it is all foreign to me, and I really do not know what all it entails. I do, though, admit that I am familiar with the third day, Photo Albums. The set up for creating a photo album is great, with an easy to use interface allowing you to interactively move pictures throughout the album, add titles and names, and then to add using the Template builder I mentioned Monday, though I honestly wish it were easier for the last one. Right now, you have to publish the photo album, then go into template and check that you want the album, then go into layout and decide where it should go. There should be a link when publishing that says 'Publish and insert' or something. As well, I worry without a site folder view that when working in template builder, they will not be able to locate the correct info.

Slow news week

Ok, you might have noticed a distinct lack of posts. I just cannot force myself to write about meaningless stories covering financial statements and other useless crap. This week either I seem to be seeing less in the normal stories, or there really is nothing big happening. The biggest thing this week is that TypePad is allowing it's beta testers to talk about select features, the so called 5 days of TypePad, and at the end of that we will see a total loosening of the rules for us beta users, with permission to post screen shots and to review the service. We also might just have pricing information around the end of the week, and a word as to what us loyal beta testers will get for our hard work. I am just happy I had the chance to try the service out, and can now give my readers an educated opinion of it.

A time of reflection

I really don't know. I try to avoid these kinds of posts,t he highly personal but still utterly useless variety that seem to common on newer blogs before people find out that others rarely wish to just read about them and their cats latest furball. I have found, as you might have noticed, myself a little... off. I usually blog quite often, but I cannot bring myself to catch up on the many draft posts, and it is surprising when I can actually keep up in a day. I have always blogged in spurts, this is one of them as I type this, but I find those getting shorter, and less focused as of late. I do not know if it writer's block, or just an utter abandonment of creativity and/or energy, but I really need to pick this up. I am more than a week behind, and almost 20 posts overdue. *sigh*

TypePad launch possible

Ok, so the word has gone out that there is likely about a week left of the TypePad beta, but first we will have what they are calling the five days of TypePad, where us the beta testers who have used the service can tell you all about the daily selected feature of the service. At the end of the week I am told we can talk about anything, post screen shots, and we will have access to pricing information. Todays feature, for instance, is the template builder. This is a decent set up, with the ability to either have it arrange your blog itself, which might be problematic if their code gets a bug, or you can edit the templates yourself ala Movable Type. It allows you a little control, or a lot. It's up to the user to choose what they want, but the choice is a nice thing for the non geek.

Bob Hope lost at 100

The world lost Bob Hope, possibly the greatest family entertainer in the world. The editorial cartoons of the next week or so are sure to reflect this loss, though they will likely point to much more. They will undoubtedly point to the loss of a great entertainer, to the friends gone before him, and those left behind. It is a time to remember his contributions to the world, the many specials, the golf tournaments, and the USO tours on which he was a regular, from Normandy to Korea. It is without a doubt that Bob Hope leaves behind thousands of fans and friends, but he also goes to join more as only a often seen entertainer on the USO tours can. He goes on to meet and entertain friends, to fans, to soldiers. To quote a channel, 'The world is Hope-less now'

Week ahead

Ok, now that the weekend is behind my, I plan to look forward. Dizz is back from his vacation with pictures of fish and fillets that could make the most discriminating of pallets water in anticipation. I have Wednesday off, which means the early part of that day will be spent trying again to catch up on blogging, and then I hope, if it goes on, to catch Dizz's radio show live. I especially look forward to the food part of Dinner and a Mix, the show's title. I go into this week with many memories of the weekend, and the unforgettable sunburn on my legs and arms, as well as the back of my neck. I did, though, have a lot of fun on Saturday with Cody and the friend from work, and on Sunday helping Cody learn the game he was playing. Here's to a new week.

End of week cleaning

Enjoy.

• Backyard Paparazzi to the Stars
  
• Judge OKs $1.1 billion Microsoft deal
  
• Patriot Act Complaints Reviewed
  
• PeopleSoft new obstacles for Oracle
  
• Real Basic to target Linux
  
• Red Hat to dump retail, devolve package work
  
• Cracking Windows passwords in seconds
  
• Google Beefs Up News Searches
  
• Hackers Lose a Patron Saint
  
• IBM giving SuSE Enterprise Linux away
  
• Games firm sues Eminem for fraud
  
• Linux in Munich - Gartner gets retaliation in prematurely
  
• Red Hat opens Linux development process
  
• SCO scoops up Web services start-up
  
• Wal-Mart to Face the Mother of All Lawsuits
  
• Watchdog asks Justice Dept. to block Oracle
  
• PeopleSoft details stock swap
  
• Oracle confirms bid for bigger PeopleSoft
  
• Today is Sys Admin Day - again
  
• RIAA, Colleges Seek Piracy Fix
  
• RIAA blocks attacks with TST-Secure-OS
  
• Congress disappoints FCC, DoJ
  
• How to Tell if the RIAA Wants You
  

Future geek

It is said the one true sign of a geek is how much he spends in front of his favourite game. If this is the case, at least in my humble abode, there were two geeks present this weekend. You see, my nephew was over this weekend, and if his game playing desires are anything, there is no doubt in my mind that he is a future geek for sure. The kid is great, I love having him here, but it seemed he always wanted to be inside, on my nice 2100, not outside enjoying everything. He wanted to cut the Fringe trip short, and tried to use my suspected heat stroke as an excuse to leave early. I know I am partly to blame, I tried to get him into computer big time, but I want him to use computers, not play computers. I want more tool use, not just gaming. Ya know?

Sounds like it was fun!

the many thoughts and reviews of Gnomedex 3, which about 11 months ago I swore up and down I would be at, but was not, and the overall impression is good, but I am sure that no one wants John C. Dvorak back, for a few people commented on his strongly expressed dislike of Cats, Macs, and blogs. Knowing the crowd there, I am sure that the majority were bloggers, many likely had Macs, and there was likely a few cat owners. The most unprepared speech was likely CmdrTaco, who seemed to be expecting a more Gnome Project crowd, not the one he got. Hey, Rob, check that out next time. I liked a lot of the coverage, especially the last Emc2serv A/V blog, which had Lori peaking in on the shot of Scott at the Mindstorm booth, and the reviews by author, not only the entire show.

Day out regretted

Oww. That is the best summation of my feeling right now. I spent 3 or so hours out at the Fringe, after walking to MLH all to no avail because while their site before Cody and I left said they had the card, the store was out of any SD cards at all. Very disappointing. We then walked to Portage Place, hit Black's, Radio Shack, and finally Staples where I found a 128MB SD card for $79 after instant rebate, which was a good enough price for me, though it did limit me on the rest of the night. We made it to The Fringe grounds around 3 PM, an hour later than I had arranged for, but it was fine as the friend I was meeting wasn't there until about 15 minutes later, so I was still good. We then hung around, walked around the vendors, and grabbed a bite to eat at the food area.

After the fringe walk, when we avoided another coworker and I got body checked by an old flame, we walked down Bannatyne Ave. to the Red River, and walked along the river to find a Splash Dash water bus to ride to the Forks. We saw ducks and I got some truly amazing pictures at the best quality on the HP. We finally figured out where the water bus stops, and walked over there. We then took it to the stop at The Forks(this picture taken midway) and we stopped for a moment with the coworker at the native gathering there. Some awesome pics there too. Then Cody and I walked to the ballpark, were we got $5 tickets, and though I was burnt quite painfully and had a throbbing headache, we still stayed to the end of the game(the team won 10-2) and got about 70 Pepsi Points.

It was a great night, the team played quite well even beyond a number of errors and allowing 10 hits for the Redhawks and committing one error(the 'Eyes also had 10 hits and 1 error, capitalizing on all 10 hits), and though there was 9 DVD players given away, neither Cody nor I won any. We had fun, and got home around 11, with Cody having a quick bite to eat and going to bed a short while ago. Now, if you don't mind, I have to run to bed myself, to try to get rid of this headache. I will talk to you all a little later. Night.

Day out and about

Ok, so I am informed my nephew, Cody, is in town this weekend, and I am told I am going to have him for part of Saturday and most of Sunday. I also won the payday pool on Friday, totalling $107, so I plan to buy an SD card for my camera, and a few books from McNally Robinson. MLH has a 64 MB card for $54($63 w/tax) and McNally has several of the Harry Potter books for $12 each. I also have plans to get together with a friend from work at the Fringe around 2 PM, and then Cody and I are going to the Goldeyes game against the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks, who it is not hard to say is their most hated rival. I expect to be leaving around noon, and hope to be back by ten PM, but expect it to be closer to 11 after the Pepsi points fun. I hope it's cloudy but not rainy.

Linux/Unix war heats up

There has been a lot of news in the last few days on the impending battle between IBM with the rest of the Linux community and SCO. SCO recently made demands of Linux users that they pay up for a license to Unix or they stop using the IP infringing Linux OS. Now SCO has a bullseye painted on, well, all across their company as every company that deals with Open Source is pissed at them and their threats. First up, the The Open Source Development Lab has brought on it's first non tech producing company, Unilever, who makes Dove soap and Lipton tea among other things. Next, we have a piece at The Register about the day long discussion at CA World in Las Vegas all about Linux and it's place and future.

Next, we have Big Blue in what promises to be the first of many responses to the SCO threat pointing out a few facts to SCO. The first point, this one going to it's sales force, is that until very recently SCO was selling it's own version of Linux, infringing code and all, which essentially nullifies it's claims that the code is proprietary. Their logic is that if SCO knew the code they were shipping(it is Open Source after all) and they still shipped it under the GPL, then they themselves are responsible for GPLing the code, not IBM. Therefore, SCO's extortion attempt is null and void. Analysts, meanwhile, are so mixed on their analysis of the latest SCO news to be of any use at all. Happily though, since Linux powers a large portion of the net, I am happy to say that hasn't changed.

Dearest Gnomedex

Yup. It's time. I can tell. I have seen Chris popping up on web cams all over Des Moines and area. I see Mike is there, and so is Jim. I just met another person from Mindstorm, Scott, who also went to Ohana's, along with 70 others. I am still home. Damn, this depresses me. I should be there. Had I begun planning for it in like December, I would have been. I didn't, and I am not. I am talking in the LG IRC channel to people there(on dial-up yet) and those who like me wish they were there. I kind of miss the scenes, the people, and the fun. I even have a good camera, so I might have actually had a chance at getting these memories on decent memory, in decent quality, to make them good for another calendar next year. *sigh* I miss it all. I hate this city this day.

'Star Wars Kid' files suit

The parent's of Quebec teenager Ghyslian Raza, known across the net as The Star Wars Kid, are suing his classmates who put the private movie on the internet, causing Raza to be undergoing psychiatric care and may be marked for life by the experience. The video, while fun for some, was clearly harmful to the person who was not intending to have the video come out. "The two-minute video shows an overweight teenager fighting a mock battle with a golf-ball retriever doubling as a lightsaber. The teenager twirls the "lightsaber" ever more energetically while generating his own sound effects. It is obviously not for public consumption. Ghyslain was so teased about the video, he dropped out of school and finished the semester at a children's psychiatric ward, according to a lawsuit filed in the Raza's hometown of Trois-Rivières, Quebec."

Access denied

After a posting about this to the Geeks mail list, I decided to do something I try to avoid, on a big scale. I have, as of today, added a large number of IP addresses to my blocked IP list. I doubt these IP's would come here anyway, but they are IP's I want to symbolically block from my sites, all of them if possible, and remove their access to my site. If more of us do this, it just might occur to them we are mad. The IP's belong to the MPAA and RIAA, and as you can see this site is now officially blocking those two organisations. If you want, grab the file and carefully follow the directions. It is simple, but need to be done quite carefully. Ok? Good. As another aside on both blogs you will now see that I have a button that can be downloaded, and used to link here. Enjoy.

Anti spam Registry?

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer yesterday released a survey he did that says 74% of internet users want a do not spam registry like the US has for telemarketing. This shows strong support for his Stop Pornography and Abusive Marketing (SPAM) Act that he brought about last month, which would seem to answer this polls issue quite well. Sadly, most internet users, after seeing the success of the no not call list, think this is a good idea, but they fail to see the strong differences. Ok, let's say you set this up, and billions of net users sign up. Then, when people in the US get this list, they just export it to other countries, and now you have handed a list of over a billion valid, confirmed addresses for non US based spammers to go after. Whoa, what success. Duh!

Rep's revoke media ownership expansion

In a move that puts it directly opposed to the White House, the US House of Representatives has voted to revoke the decision by the FCC of not 6 months ago, and tighten the regulations again on media(TV, newspaper, radio) ownership in the US. "Lawmakers voted 400-21 for a spending bill for the Federal Communications Commission and other agencies that includes language blocking the FCC from approving deals that would allow networks to own stations reaching more than 35 percent of the national audience. The agency recently raised the television audience reach limit to 45 percent from 35 percent -- sparking a firestorm of criticism from Democrats and Republicans who argue it could reduce local reporting and the diversity of viewpoints. "

RIAA subpoena list published

TechTV has looked over the many subpoenas that have been sent out by the RIAA, and have compiled a fairly lengthy list of users, seemingly all on Kazaa, who they want taken out either willingly stopping their piratical activities, or by legal order followed by a penalty phase ranging in the many thousands of dollars. The list is rather long, and appears to not be nearly complete, but if this is any indication it is going to be a very interesting time if even a small percentage decide to fight it in court. The RIAA will quickly find that it is very costly to accuse and sue people at a whim, though there is one user I predict will be hard to pin down. You see, on the list of Kazaa user names they found, TechTV pulled www.k_lite.tk_Kazaa_Lite@Kazaa from the pile. This is all lazy Kazaa Lite users.

Aussies file against SCO

Open Source Victoria has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to "investigate The SCO Group's activities in light of its unsubstantiated claims and extortive legal threats for money against possibly hundreds of thousands of Australians". The Register reports the group has compared the SCO cash grab to a Nigerian scam or the other net extortion plays. "OSV believes there that there may be a case to answer on the issue of 'misrepresentation of need', where an organization is suggesting that people must make payments that in fact they are not obligated to.". I look forward to this request going forward, as it could easily become the test case against the claims and the demands that SCO has made against Linux users.

MIT and BC take on RIAA

After the RIAA provided MIT with a subpoena about one of it's students, the school announced that their counsel feels this is not a valid subpoena as there are federal laws that force the school to inform the student of the existence of the order, and give the student a chance to rectify the situation, in other words in this case that they stop trading files, to prevent the disclosure of the information. The story from Wired's perspective shows that both MIT and Boston College have taken the RIAA to court to kill the subpoena's(1 for MIT and 2 for BC) which even Wired reports do violate the laws requiring the schools give the student a chance to stop breaking the law. The RIAA, mad as always, says they will see the schools in court, and take it up there.

Lindow loses drive

Creative Lindows CEO revealed that after Lindows stole the idea of Linux on a bootable CD from Knoppix, that the company was now going to be offering a PC for under $200($169 to be exact) that has no hard drive, only a CD ROM drive, and will come with the LindowsCD OS that simply boots off the CD. "Lindows intends WebStation to be used as a bare-bones method for accessing the Web. The company envisions that, instead of spending $400 to buy a basic Windows PC or $300 to get a basic Lindows desktop, some companies or individuals would rather pay less for a WebStation." I look forward to there being other competing products that use a bootable CD Linux distro like Knoppix and not using Lindows.

MPAA tries heart breaking ads

Realizing that their attempts to legislate, imprison and scare file traders are about as successful as the RIAA's, the MPAA has moved to playing on the heart strings of it's enemies. They are moving on two important vectors for beating the file traders. First, they are going after students in the Junior Achievement program, and they are also advertising about the ill effects and illegal nature of downloading by putting up some ads on the big and small screens. I am simply curious about which will be found on Kazaa first, an unedited ad off TV mixed into a TV show, or mixed into a new release movie? Either way, it will simply prove that peer pressure will not be enough to stop the spread of trading, and nothing short of the total annihilation of every tool of the trade will do.

Ahhhhhh

Well, I am whole again. I just got back from dropping off RivenDell, who was sold to a coworker for the price of $250, with $250 up front to get the new camera, and as well to pick up a new TV to replace mine that died a week and a half ago. I am about to watch Ice Age, then plan to pop the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets DVD that I bought last week into the DVD player. I also want to watch the disk that came with the digital photography starters kit, as all I see is music when it hits my CD drive. I thought it was a DVD, but I wouldn't have seen anything at that point, I think. Either way, I have much TV watching to do. I am today the happiest guy around, other than those guys with massive TV's with awesome picture and sound, oh and the POTUS who has his own theatre.

Darl McBride is a moron

Ok, that's it, I am certain of it. Darl McBride(no relation, I hope, to Mike) is a complete, unmitigated, moron. The man really thinks that anyone would believe his so called experts who have, he says, looked over the code in Linux and Unix, and agreed(what a shock, agree with the man writing the check) that there is significant code the same. He dismisses anyone who disagrees with his side as spin, and claims grandiosely that no one who has been allowed access to the code has come away not seeing their side. He fails to mention that anyone who disagreed with their claims would be unable to simply because that is part of the NDA. Darl, you bough old code that no one else wanted. You got screwed. Give up and go away, before you really piss the Linux geeks off.

Michael Jackson slams piracy jail time

Adding to a growing trend in the music business, another artist has come out against the RIAA's latest effort to punish file traders. Michael Jackson, former king of pop, has spoken against a newly proposed law that would assign greater punishment to convicted file traders, including jail time. "I am speechless about the idea of putting music fans - mostly teenagers - in jail for downloading music," he said. "It is wrong to illegally download, but the answer cannot be jail. Here in America we create new opportunities out of adversity, not punitive laws, and we should look to new technologies . . . for solutions.
"This way, innovation continues to be the hallmark of America. It is the fans that drive the success of the music business," Jackson said.