Welcome
- December 2, 2025
- Jonathan Frid RIP
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When I was a kid at Key West I was interested in shooting movies. We would doodie up and play various horror genre entries for a few rolls and all in all it was quite a hoot. My friend the late Chris Gagnon was quite the talented makeup and theatrical guy and I was enthralled by all the rigamarole he incorporated into our productions.
Some of my fondest childhood memories arise from these times.
We typically watched a soap opera of that time called "Dark Shadows" because it was a vampire werewolf witch offering with professional production standards and we were both fans of Jonathan Frid, who portrayed Barnabas Collins, the vampire owner of Collinswood, the estate where the main cast lived.
Oh to go back to those days, see Chris again, and indulge those childhood fantasies once more. Alas, it will never happen.
John Herbert "Jonathan" Frid was born December 2, 1924 at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and died April 14, 2012 at Hamilton, Ontario as the consequences of a fall. He was a Canadian actor, known for having played the aforementioned role of vampire Barnabas Collins on the gothic television soap opera Dark Shadows.
Today is his birthday. Happy birthday in Heaven.
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- December 1, 2025
- Advent 2025
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If you are fairly spiritual or religious, you may embark on a period of reflection and meditation during the month of December.
That period beginning with December 1st is important in the awareness of the lives of we who worship the One True God.
Some of us mark the beginning of the Advent season which is that period of preparation, reflection and religious interactions leading up to Christmas.
Other cultures may view it as the start of winter and a time to reflect on the year just past.
The celebration of Advent is seasonal in most Christian denominations as a time of spiritual consciousness and awaiting both the birth and return of Christ at His second coming. It all begins on the 4th Sunday prior to Christmas aka Advent Sunday. It ends on Christmas Eve. It is a time for spiritual reflection.
The first Sunday of Avent represents Hope. The second Sunday of Avent represents Peace. The third Sunday of Avent represents Joy. The fourth Sunday of Avent represents Love.
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- November 30, 2025
- Computer Security Day 2025
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When you operate a server cluster on an internet node security is a fact of life. I recall my first encounter with people trying to gain undue access and how it caused a gut reaction to prevent all such activity in the future.
Thusly, I became somewhat of an expert in countermeasures and firewalls and now if I choose to exclude you this is what will be. Knowing a little scripting will help things utilize automation so everything doesn't have to be some manual operation.
Today is Computer Security Day.
It goes down yearly each November 30 in an effort to raise public awareness about using computers safely and protecting them from threats.
People are urged to take steps to secure their personal information, such as strong password implementations and multifactor authentication.
I personally find multifactor authentication abhorrent.
So the aim is protecting data systems, networks, and information from theft, damage, and unauthorized access.
To maintain computer security, you should use strong passwords, keep software updated, install antivirus software, and be cautious of phishing scams, suspicious attachments, and public WiFi. This being said I keep wondering why people continually attempt to access my
wireless node when it's a known threat.
Goals are protection, confidentiality, integrity, availability of data.
Utilizing strong passwords, current software revisions, and antivirus packages and awareness of social engineering threats like phishing, malware, and sufficient protected wifi and adequate backups all go far toward maintaining computer security.
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- November 29, 2025
- Modern Blogging and the 21st Century Man
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These days I'm blogging on a platform of my own design which has undergone quite a few tweaks here and there. Nothing too Earth shattering but enough to continually change the presentation to my liking. I typically go for a shorter blog entry and it is my usual policy to include a sketch for illustrative purposes. Sometimes I place a scanned image instead. Sketch or scan, I really just leave it at that along with the verbiage I consider appropriate as I am not going to agonize over the content nor the presentation.
That's why I maintain my css implementation. Tags come. Tags go. Tags evolve.
Quite remotely, this shorter entry thing may be in part due to my abhorrence for the so-called "Microsoft" key on too many keyboards.
I detest all things Microsoft for a long time now. I utilize a mechanical keyboard these days in pursuit of efficient keying.
The beauty of using your own blog platform installation and server are many and include that modicum of control you simply can't get from some high school harry working at Wordpress or Blogger or some other canned multiuser site.
Here, I say what is and is not.
There, they have the final say.
Not having ANY of them spouting off to me.
It has been my experience that Wordpress is the last word in exploits online as well. Even when it's on your own server and public facing network. Perhaps they have improved since those days I mistakenly trusted them — but I would find that hard to believe. Also, I'm not one of these seo would be expert fakers seeking google approval of everything I do, either. As a matter of fact I routinely firewall Google's spiders from my content because they don't add a thing worthwhile and Google likes to envision themselves as this master censor of the world as well.
You may take Mr Sundar Pichai and his entire organization then shove them up your ass sideways if it proves to your liking.
I've been approached regarding interviews and the occasional sketch file request. I've even had requests for bloggers wanting to do a guest post. I respectfully decline all interviews but you can get a sketch file from me if I still have the original and you're polite. I typically am the only one who posts here by design. After all, it is blogofdave.com ...
So happy blogging and if you can get here that means you are not firewalled.
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- November 28, 2025
- Happy Birthday Alan Ritchson
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Alan Ritchson was born lan Michael Ritchson in Grand Forks, North Dakota on November 28, 1982.
He is a military brat and therefore was subjected to frequent relocations in accordance with his father's career.
He is an actor, producer, and director and — as far as I am concerned — most importantly the lead role in Reacher.
He has other roles but none that struck me quite like the one of Jack Reacher.
Others have played the part but none of those left me totally awe struck like that of Ritchson's portrayal.
In the television program he portrays one of the hardest hitting most powerful good guy action heroes of my lifetime.
He is also a singer and song writer so I pretty much feel he can handle anything thrown at him on the artistic front.
This is no ordinary man and today is his birthday.
Happy birthday to you !
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- November 27, 2025
- Happy Thanksgiving 2025
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The Thanksgiving holiday commemorates the harvest festival celebrated by the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. It is now held in the US on the fourth Thursday in November.
The day became a national holiday in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday during the Civil War.
This was mostly due to the efforts of writer and activist Sarah Josepha Hale, who also authored the poem "Mary had a little lamb" in 1829 which was published in her book, Poems for Our Children.
Let us give thanks.
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- November 26, 2025
- Thanksgiving Eve 2025
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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.
Today there are a multitude of meal preparations and holiday festivities in the planning. Mom and I will travel to Rebecca's house down Platt Springs Road to indulge in a Thanksgiving feast. It will be good to see all of the children again. I don't get enough company of the children these days.
So like that turkey which hasn't second guessed it's fate I remain content to view the world from my position in life and get on with it as I may.
I hope you have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow !
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- November 25, 2025
- Changes due to my Urban Existence
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Time was I took my trash to the local pickup point on some remote intersection and that was that. Nowadays I have to conform to the city's requirements for this.
It includes a recycle container as well as a trash one and there is a schedule published appertaining to the ins and outs of moving the waste and recycle product in a predictable and efficient manner.
As in keeping with all of this I will change the pickup day to Wednesday in lieu of the Thursday usual in the name of observing Thanksgiving.
This requires checking the city schedule for such events as they occur — and this pops up around major holidays on an infrequent basis.
So rather than the open and casual dumping of the trash I have to get all formal in the name of being the good citizen in the modern American urban jungle.
In accordance with these requirements I will comply as I do and have done for as long as my feeble mind can remember anymore. Thirty years in the city will do this to you regardless of how countrified you may have once been.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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- November 25, 2025
- National Parfait Day 2025
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One of those delicious things I partake of infrequently is the parfait.
Indeed my first taste was one of those indulgences I could have never imagined. It was a fresh strawberry shortcake layered with whipped cream and was oh so tempting that I thought about the flavors a good while afterward.
The parfait originates in France and it's native meaning is ‘perfect’. It has a number of variants but is mostly a semi-frozen dessert served in a tall glass which dates back to the late 18th century.
Over the years it has been reimagined as a layered dessert served in a clear glass.
In France, it is made with ingredients that may include sugar, syrup, eggs, and cream. Though it is a dessert, parfait may or may not be sweet. It has a custard-like texture, and it must be stirred while freezing to get the texture.
Today is National Parfait Day.
It is held each November 25 marking an item available as a breakfast, lunch, snack or dessert served up in layers. So get on out there and serve some of this exquisite dish to those you find most worthy.
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- November 24, 2025
- FTP Servers and Exploitation
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Yes, I keep reading the logs of multihomed escapades enacted by those who would breach my FTP server in the name of conquest and lo ...
They are simply not cracking the (rather extensive and specific) rule set in place to protect the assets of those authorized to utilize this service.
You cannot gain access to a resource which requires both an account as well as specific access permissions just because you see it out there. Yeah, the port is open. YOU are the problem.
Also, there is specific and essential control accessibility only available from a console keyboard.
Yet, here I get these copious log entries of little hacker dudes (and possibly dudettes) trying to cross my patio daddy-o without adequate credentials. And to think I went to all this trouble to lock things down. I sometimes feel as though others truly believe I am as stupid as they are. Nice try, but no.
Stop trying to hack a resource which is not for you. It's very unbecoming of a technical type individual. It looks especially bad in light of the rights, permissions, and specific subnet entry specifications required of your attempts. Or ...
Come back when you have attained sufficient rights and permissions to gain access and we'll see how you fare.
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- November 23, 2025
- Contaminants make key fob Dysfunctional
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I've had a recent spate of stupid errors with key fobs for my new F150 Super Crew truck. It seems that if you get the key wet it tends to stick inside the FOB mechanism. If you allow it to dangle from a lanyard around your neck into the cat's milk it behaves far more badly. The worse you treat it the worse it performs from then on ...
After brainstorming the problem to no avail I went to the local Ford dealership on a mission of discovery. I had a brand new factory key made for the truck. I ended up spending $500 on something I could have done myself for about 20% of the dealership cost to me.
Be all of this as it may — I have finally discovered the answer to the key malfunction in the fob.
I utilize a high grade aerosol electronic contact cleaner in copious amounts while opening and closing the key inside the fob mechanism. Then I apply compressed air in a similar fashion while working the key mechanism again.
After this regimen voila the keys all work as designed. There has to be some adhesion going on from the contamination secondary to dipping the keys in various liquids. Even water causes the problem as evidenced by the accidental bird bath dipping one of them received. The keys don't really care if I didn't mean to contaminate them. My intent was totally irrelevant. Only the solution mattered.
So now, I have 3 fully operational factory keys at my beck and call. The attached lanyards were highly contributory in this mess scenario as well.
I have enjoyed the overkill of all this troubleshooting but I tell you "getting here" was a bit of a vexation beyond my personal ability to cope. Whine ! I was quite the unhappy camper for a few days. However, my antics did stimulate that subsequent overpowering resolve to bring the matter to a satisfactory close once and for all.
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- November 22, 2025
- The Murder of JFK 1963
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I was in the fourth grade at Aragona Elementary School, Virginia Beach, VA. Mrs Munyon's class. Abruptly late in the morning the radio began playing over the intercom. News of The political murder of John F Kennedy, the 35th US president (1961–63). He was shot and killed after being struck in the neck and head in Dallas, Texas while riding in an open car along Dealey Plaza.
Reports of his motorcade in Dallas, Texas going to Parkland Memorial Hospital were announced. Much later in my lifetime I learned that the man was actually DOA and there was no manner of heroics which could have saved him from the devastaing head shots he sustained. He was pronounced officially at 1 pm. Texas Governor John Connally was in the same car and was seriously wounded. Vice President Lyndon B Johnson was sworn in as President aboard Air Force One later that day at 2:38 pm.
One Lee Harvey Oswald who was a former employee of the Texas School Book Depository from where the shots were said to be taken was arrested by police shortly after the shooting. He was subsequently murdered by Jack Ruby who was a terminal cancer patient and the plot did nothing but thicken and stagnate.
The investigation and forensic evidence were followed by the so-called "Warren Commission" which like so much else in government had the appearance of a total farce.
I am not a democrat but I feel that John F Kennedy was mistreated as President of the United States and that all things could have been handled differently and better than they were because too many had too much to hide.
I feel at a personal level that the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States of America (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963) was the official end of my innocence as a child. Watching my mother cry over the President's death had a profound effect on how I felt about many things which linger to this day.
Boo!
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- November 21, 2025
- The Mayflower Compact signed in 1620
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On this day in 1620, 41 male passengers on the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact prior to landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts. This alliance was an agreement by the signees to abide by the laws of the new government they would establish.
It is significant because it was the first document establishing self-governance in what would become the United States. It created a system where colonists agreed to form a "civil body politic" including their own laws for the "general good".
It was an experiment in participatory democracy, based on consent of the governed and majority rule.
It formed the foundation for later American democratic principles and instruments, including the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.
Agreement Between the Settlers at New Plymouth: 1620
IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience.
IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620
John Carver
William Bradford
Edward Winslow
William Brewster
Isaac Allerton
Myles Standish
John Alden
John Turner
Francis Eaton
James Chilton
John Craxton
John Billington
Moses Fletcher
John Goodman
Samuel Fuller
Christopher Martin
William Mullins
William White
Richard Warren
John Howland
Stephen Hopkins
Digery Priest
Thomas Williams
Gilbert Winslow
Edmund Margesson
Peter Brown
Richard Britteridge
George Soule
Edward Tilly
John Tilly
Francis Cooke
Thomas Rogers
Thomas Tinker
John Ridgdale
Edward Fuller
Richard Clark
Richard Gardiner
Mr John Allerton
Thomas English
Edward Doten
Edward Liester
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- November 20, 2025
- Joe Poopy Pants Biden Birthday
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Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr was by hook and crook elected president of the United States from January 20, 2021 through January 20, 2025 by a voter pool consisting of democrats and their illegal alien cohort.
He used his office to enrich himself and his worthless culpret family including his wayward tardboy son who he ensconced on the foreign energy board of Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company — though he was totally unqualified and without skills or knowledge of the energy industry. This was misuse of the power of his office for personal gain for which there were no consequences.
It has been debated as to whether he pooped his pants at a D-Day celebration; but I personally feel that given his level of grasp and inability to function in public so often during the waning months of his administration that he most certainly did. After all, the main stream media and democrat party have done nothing but lie and mislead the public regarding his entire tenure in government and there you have it. Thusly it is so in keeping with the rest of that nothing which was the Biden Harris administration that all that existed was primarily part and parcel confabulated reality of his reprehensible manufacture.
His so-called "Dr Jill" bung hole of a wife is a typical dumb ass ignorant educator touting everything she is not as though she were actually a worthwhile endeavor. All she could do is lie about her husbands skullduggery and piss poor performance otherwise in office as though it were a badge of honor or something.
He was born November 20, 1942 and God only knows why he was allowed to live this long. Talk about worthless crook ass democrat assholes and their malefactor families. What an utter crook is this senile old freak girl child sniffing leech on the taxpayers. Defenders of this villain will hopefully and ultimately get what they deserve.
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