April 2005 Archives

I have finally done it. I have made the leap to audio blogging. There is not much to write about here so tune in. One should also not that the notes below will make little sense unless you listen in.

It is far from perfect and far from what I wish to get to but it is a start.

1. HousyGroove - the sound in the back ground for my introduction. You can find out a bit more about it here
2. Usrbingeek - the on responsible for this addiction. Actually, the blame should be shared by both Steve (AKA Usrbingeek) fault and Chris Prillo (of lockergnome fame). Chris Prillo because of his show and Steve because of his Dummies Guide
   In his artcle, Steve suggested using:
   
   • audacity, which is a free audio editor program.
   • dopplerradio, which is how I capture various podcast
3. yagoohoogle
4. Trillian
5. Extensions for firefox
   
   • Add Book Mark Here
   • Bookmarks Synchronizer
   • Enhanced Bookmark Search
   • Super DragAndGo
   • Focus Last Tab
   • Hash Colored Tabs
   • Last Tab
   • Mini-T
6. Leo Laporte
7. exios

I have often said that there is not much to talk about regarding my personal life. I stand corrected. I am a workaholic, presently very much sleep deprived. The past few days have been excessively hectic.

It all spins around trying to achieve everything at once, my third shift job, working on my Fraternity house, installing a dishwasher for my parents and a side job. Add to the mix, public transit, indecisive inclement weather, traffic jams and impossible communication. I share my misery with a certain Mr. Murphy who seems to hover in my presence like a proverbial black cloud.

It is now certain.

Life sucks

I find it most interesting that Lumpy's Corners became a comment spam magnet immediately after I wrote an article about the bare minimum one can do regarding e-mail spam. I am not implying that the article made me a target but merely amused by the timing.

Of course, this should not surprise me in the least for I had the bare minimum in place for comment spam protection. I was still using Movable Type 2.61, had the comments set to open and e-mail notification off. I was asking for it. I should have just re-named my URL to SPAMme.dumb. That, however, is another blog entirely.

Today, I wanted to tie off a loose end in my web log the blog I mentioned above dealt with how to prevent spam on your PC. More specifically, what you can do if you do not have direct access to a server. I also commented on what I foresaw as a worthelss legislative effort to combat it. (For the record, it has been in effect for a full year now and I have noticed no difference in my inbox. Many feel, myself included, it merely legalized SPAM and shall serve to make matters worse.) I promised to, at a later point in time, discuss some other options available if you happen to have a server.

A long time web-friend of mine, Joe, wrote to me with "two questions". They are:

• What kind of "lappy" did I get?
• How do I block the RIAA from this website?

The first one is rather straightforward. I got the best kind of laptop anyone could buy on my budget. I got a good used one. My real world and cyberfreind exios gave me a great deal on a Compaq Presario 1500. It is a P4 2.2 GHz CPU with 512 MB of RAM, a 40 gig HD and a Cisco Wireless card. I know there are better machines out there but for this "old school" dude this is a great machine. It is, actually, the fastest one I own at present.

The second question is one, which shall be the subject of this blog. Although I would love to take the credit for how I do this, I cannot. It is not that difficult. It is as simple as a cut and paste

I am going to add two new categories today; humor and "Lumpy's Inbox". Today's blog is simply a funny little thing I saw on list serve.

I do not believe in stereotyping or type casting people or groups. I feel it only has one purpose and that is humor. This e-mail played on the very false "Greek Life" stereotype.

I was reading the EFF newsletter and I learned that the Department of Homeland Security plans to place transmitters (via a mini-PC chip) on passports as an anti-terrorism measure. For about the lifespan of a quark, I though how novel. Reality, however, soon set in and shattered my naivety to bits. Nonetheless, I am confident that everyone involved had the best intentions. I am more confident that it is very risky and hazardous.

The brilliance of this plan was to transmit information, such as name, relevant ID numbers and nationality. This would allow tracking of every passport holder. This would give the US government the information on your location when you, the terrorist who gave legit information, traveling with a legally obtained passport despite the public announcement that each one is now a beacon, commit your heinous crime against America. (Even more amazing, as we shall soon see, other nations should easily be able to do so as well.)

In previous blogs, I commented on the polar bear nature of this year's March. We raced for a new record snowfall for any given winter on record.

March has ended. The month was almost 10 degrees F colder than normal and 1.5 inches shy of record snowfall for a winter. March left like a lamb. The last two days of the month were sunny and in to the pleasant 50-70 F degree.

March ended wonderfully. Cleveland residents were quick to don shorts and T-shirts, they relaxed on their porch, couples held hands and walked about and the neighborhood was filled with the sound of children releasing a severe case of "cabin fever". The first two days, in what seemed like an ice age, which residents could dare venture outdoors with out a coat finally arrive. It seemed like winter was over. The air and the activity in "C-town" made it quit clear that the residents were ecstatic for the exit of winter.

This is nothing more than an effort to err on the side of safety.

I make every attempt to assure that the information here is accurate and up-to-date. This task is rather taxing at times for CyberSpace is one of the few things that change more rapidly than the Cleveland weather. (Actually only one of two things that comes to mind, the other being my ex-wife's mind and mood.)

There are two web sites I mentioned that might be taken wrong.

The first being my endorsement of pingomtic in a recent blog. Geek was quick to comment that even though it was started by those associated with WordPress, it has nothing to do with Matt Mullenweg who, as Geek discussed in his blog, has come under considerable scrutiny of late.

Good Day all,

Today's Tid Bit is in response to a FAQ. More specifically "Where do you find all of this stuff?"

Before I even attempt to answer this question, I wish to make one thing clear. I do not consider myself an expert or a wealth of knowledge. I am more of an information junkie who has an addiction to knowledge and education. I do not, at present, earn a living or any income from Internet related endeavors. I do not attempt to keep all this knowledge in my cranial memory banks. That is why I like hard drives, CD ROMs and bookmarks. I do know, however, many who do. In short, I simply know who to ask or where to look.

This is just a quick and dirty entry. I am putting it here just in case you haven't heard of "pingomatic". I somehow missed it until I heard Chris Pirillo mention it in an interview on his podcast show

It is a great service that pings as many as 14 different blog directories and indexes.

You can also enter their URL to ping them and they will ping the sources for you. The URL is http://rpc.pingomatic.com/

Actually, WTG Matt Mullenweg, the creator of WordPress. I wonder if WordPress users feel Used?

This bugs me. I think it is SPAM.

While I empathize with having to pay for hosting and such, I do not think that covering expenses in the manner he did is an acceptable solution.

The damage to his reputation is likely to cost him far more than any revenue generated by this stunt.

I do enjoy blogging.

I believe that is due to the fact that I enjoy writing.

However, it does demand time and effort. It demands time with internet access. Time demands also include proof-reading, checking facts, researching matters, validating your code, confirming old links are working and de-spamming.

As far as time goes, however, it seems like it is time for me to stop bloggin. My reasons for it are explained below: