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- October 9, 2016
- Adventures in Cameraland
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Friday I got froggy and decided to reconfigure my LAN camera array. Big mistake.
I was either way too naive or there is some SID or GUID considerations unknown to me.
The fact that my attempt to reconfigure the router only to have it rendered dead in the water has me reticent to blame the cameras so much than the router itself.
After conferring with the support guy we both agreed that the problem with connecting to the internet lay on my side of their connection ...
so I restored a backup of the router configuration and voila !
Back up and running like there wasn't ever a problem.
Mulling over the possibilities has me wondering just how much the web server played in the festivities given the scripting in place that I didn't bother to stop prior to the start of this fiasco.
Anyway, everything is as it was prior to my getting all prematurely ambitious and yes ...
I had better things to do Friday than recover my network.
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- October 8, 2016
- Roomba Maintenance
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Fred, my beloved Roomba, has had a bit of maintenance this evening. I disassembled the brushes and rollers and blew everything out with a can of air. Then I took a damp cloth and wiped down those internals where dirt has accumulated and washed out the dust bin.
F.R.E.D.
Free Roaming Electronic Device
After everything dried out I reassembled the parts and hooked him up to the charger.
I bought the high faluting Lithium Ion aftermarket battery upon which he will operate for just a tad under 3 hours. However, the down side is I can't just put the base station down and let him go at charging himself.
This new battery has to be totally discharged prior to a recharge or it throws errors during the charging process.
So I hook him up manually after having him run until the battery is totally depleted via a start with the "dock" button.
It's all very lovely from a labor saving device perspective and living on a sand hill like I do the carpets really can use the extra attention they get since I got him.
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- October 7, 2016
- The Trials and Tribulations of Yard Work
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I have taken the opportunity to pursue some long overdue yard work here at the homestead. Those duties have been shirked for far too long resulting in the various weed overgrowths ... with those weeds even predominating my lawn in several areas.
So I sat upon the tractor the other day and rode it around my acre for several hours cutting the weeds short and mulching up all the leaves on the ground. I have found the homogenous appearance of mulched leaves and the even low cut weeds to be far more esthetically pleasing than that wild and wooly appearance had but a scant two days back.
Yesterday I took a plastic trash can and collected as many of the sticks from the yard as I could. It seems that these fall from the trees during episodic winds and some of them are quite large indeed. Most all are easily broken and hauled to the street to await yard debris pickup by the city which happens every week or so.
I have noticed that even in the presence of good breezes I tend to be congested after these yard pursuits and despite my best efforts I always seem to end up not wearing the little respirator masks mama likes me to wear.
With the approaching bad weather I'm going to try and work on the farthest corner and pick up the beer cans and various wrappers then trim the limbs high enough to ride the tractor over that part as well ... even though I will go beyond the limits of my property it really could use some work.
It seems that the locals prefer to throw trash out their automobile windows as they go by more than anything. I keep wondering why we tolerate these people who exhibit such a distinct lack of raising.
I once saw the occupants of a truck toss McDonald's cups, bags, and wrappers out their window right in front of my house with me standing there — while they live three doors down. I started to go over there and have at them seeing how law enforcement doesn't really give a rip otherwise ... but I relented.
Ah the origins of vigilantism must have arisen from littering thy neighbor's domicile. It sure has stirred the baby harp seal bludgeoning redneck in me.
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- October 6, 2016
- Cryptocurrency Community Shuns OneCoin
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There's a player in the cryptocurrency game called OneCoin which has made claims of revamping the cryptocurrency blockchain rendering it capable of mining 50,000 tokens per block with markedly increased speeds than known previously.
They also claim to have made wallet improvements and have publicly released this information to the press resulting in ... shall we say "less than enthusiastic" response from the cryptocurrency community.
It would seem that the bulk of the bitcoin proponents feel that OneCoin is engaging in fraudulent activity which is likely to damage both the public and the technology characterizing OneCoin as exhibiting "classic fraudulent behavior" over a backdrop of what they would have others think as being "legitimate blockchain community".
Bitcoin vs OneCoin. Now there's a concept. The upstart company speaks in terms of "our coin" and this in and of itself is rather disconcerting. The cryptocurrency market is supposed to be "one thing" not "two or more things" and it does ring of some attempt to fraudulently usurp the present cryptocurrency infrastructure via a mechanism which is outside the purview of the existing entities.
This being the case I am even more reticent to engage cryptocurrency as a viable market because there needs to be vetting and arbitration regarding just what cryptocurrency is now and where it is going.
Like the bulk of Bitcoin people out there who view OneCoin as fraudulent ... there are many others of us who view the entire notion of crypto currency, mining tokens from block chains, and gaining wealth by running code to be equally dubious financials.
As law enforcement and regulators are closing in. could the bells be tolling for OneCoin ?
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- October 5, 2016
- Operational Shutdown
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We're in operational shutdown through Friday due to the weather.
I'm going in this morning briefly to take care of a few loose ends.
I'll likely devote this time to attempting once again to implement Apache which has eluded me during the intial setup.
Thank heavens for Tomcat. Now to make the two talk to each other.
Shoot man.
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- October 5, 2016
- WikiLeaks at 10
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So the secrets started coming forth on WikiLeaks a decade ago and their celebratory posture claims more election and google secrets to be shortly forthcoming.
Why? Because everybody want everyone else to "dish" on something or someone and they are entirely too happy to accommodate our gossip — er ... FACT seeking world.
Julian Assange, founder and fugitive in embassy hiding has promised electoral revelations along with other whistleblower and tell-all dossiers of documents on whatever else he has that might titilate your thinking toward these mainstream icons and just how they operate behind closed doors.
While all too many are ready willing and able to sift through the masses of leaked communications it all has this tawdry "kiss and tell" taste to me.
Likely I will read digests of various leaked topicals that strike my fancy ... but I also think that Bradley Manning and other traitors of his ilk should be summarily executed on the supreme court steps.
Therefore, I'm much less a proponent of trading in government secrets even in the presence of those abuses I know occur.
However, I'm sure Mr Assange isn't sitting around worrying about what I think, either and has distinct plans regardless of that vetting I might wish for otherwise.
Suffice it to say that although this soap opera nouveaux has proven edifying at times, they're not the same type "stories" my dear late grandmother used to follow while cooking dinner on Hollow Creek prior to her decline.
We'll just have to see what happens next because despite our best efforts those results and consequences will evolve regardless of you or me.
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- October 4, 2016
- Google and the EU ... THE SAGA CONTINUES
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Ah, our good friends at Google are likely to be hit by fines courtesy of the EU antitrust regulators regarding the competition squashing android operating system these phone centric internet denizens use.
It is speculated that the fine will be much larger than initial estimates due to the continuing practices complained of back in 2011.
Their 150 page report states that 'the Goog' must cease and desist their practice of paying hardware manufacturers for preinstalling Google search as the primary search app on android devices.
They also seek to prevent Google from forcing smartphone manufacturers to preinstall their proprietary apps as well.
Shucks, I'd just like them to stop blocking sites which are up and running JUST because you don't let them index your site.
If you disallow google in robots.txt an android phone cannot reach your web site. This is quite a bit on the heavy handed side of things seeing that the site is there has all the requisite DNS records and is accessible otherwise.
I'd also call it gouging on a most eggregious scale.
Antitrust? I'd say so — but I'm real happy they fixed my geolocation so I believe I'll refrain from filing suit at the moment.
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- October 3, 2016
- A few thoughts as the hurricaine approaches
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There is a bit of anticipation regarding Hurricaine Matthew as it passes through the Carribean following an expected northward path likely to bring it into proximity with South Carolina.
While I don't relish the idea of anyone suffering flooding we could certainly use a spot of rain ... though the coast likely will get a lot more of it than they need — the rest of us have been a lot dryer this year.
So we will see what the end of the week brings in the form of tropical weather fronts and here's to hoping that we get moderately soaked.
Besides, I've had the roof cleared of leaves in the eaves in preparation for a lot more tropical storminess we haven't seen.
Barring any unexpected turns of Matthew during the interim I personally expect rain and a breezy circulation and hopefully that will be that.
However, as is the case with many tropical storms we in the midlands may not even see a piece of it.
We had a lot of flooding that would never reach me given the 300 year floodplain upon which I live. I'm well off the river behind a ridge called "Green Hill" and at the top of the street with all else falling "down" the street.
Unlikely that I will ever flood given both my position and perc test back when I was a septic tank owner.
Back when hurricaine Hugo came I remember egging it on with "Come on Hugo !" to which my good friend Dewitt told me to be careful with those wishes which may come true.
Turned out his hometown and much of the state suffered severe devastation while we in rural Aiken County at that time caught a good bit of high winds and less rain but that was it.
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- October 2, 2016
- Politico Reporting UN Attempt to Meddle in Election
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As is their propensity the UN has put forth a mighty faux pas whereby they called on citizens of the United States abroad to "stop Trump" via twitter.
Politico reports that this Thursday evening tweet went down at 9:14 pm urging US citizens abroad to use a voter registration tool on a page entitled "The October surprise that will end Trump" and in classic UN fashion the cowards deleted the tweet after some 20 minutes claiming it was a mistake.
Yet another blatant reason for the United States to leave the United Nations and eject these people and their exploitation from our country.
I was never a member of the John Birch Society but their admonition stating "get us out of the UN" certainly rings true in this age of international political meddling, the democratic dole in search of votes, and the progressive spin on taking from the worker and giving to the shirker and everybody else out for an entitlement handout.
The UN wants to rule the US. They want to impose controls on our citizens beyond their purview. Terminate this organization's presence in the United States and eject their foreign nationals seeking domination from our land.
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- October 1, 2016
- The Creepy Clown Craze
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The rampant news items of so-called 'creepy clowns' reeking havoc on various communities has grown a lot since those early Wasco, California days and the episodes there I wrote of a while back.
Now they're here in South Carolina and scattered all about with local law enforcement agencies becoming resolute toward ending this ridiculous trendy 'monkey see, monkey do' crap.
Now I recall the movie It based on the book by Stephen King with the clown Pennywise and that creepiness was bad enough on the screen.
Now we have a lot of "me too" imitators lacking one essential element: that supernatural spin required to escape a speeding .357 magnum hollow point slug that I would fire into their skull.
Suffice it to say that I am content to allow law enforcement to handle the problem. However, the reality remains that anyone so fool hardy as to pull some 'creepy clown' antics in an effort to scare me will likely find themselves on a coroner's slab shortly forthwith.
I'm not talking about the casual elevator encounter at work. I'm not talking about halloween costumes and such. Probably not this guy either.
I'm talking about the clown intimidating those persons in proximity. I'm talking about an obvious menace out for no good.
I don't like to feel threatened and I would likely be inclined to stand my ground in such a situation.
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- September 30, 2016
- Spammers Who Feel Slighted
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I have had a few incidents of spammers sending me follow up emails at work telling me how I haven't shown them the courtesy of a response to their emails sent to me.
One young man really got a bit testy in his admonition that appeared to be saying "it's the least you can do".
Having discussed this with my immediate supervisor he assured me that he gets similar communications from various "cold call" sales types and that I am under no obligation to return any email to any unsolicited commercial representative contacting me.
It would seem that while I should never be rude; I don't owe a spammer contacting me at work a single courtesy and will remain mum in all subsequent episodes as well.
I'm not totally rude, just mostly.
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- September 29, 2016
- Zen and the art of the QWERTY Keyboard
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The threads show evidence for the evolution of computing away from the standard QWERTY layout keyboard.
Microsoft is spouting that alternate input technologies such as those involving facial tracking, voice, and/or or gestures would ultimately take over — and that the "suboptimal" design of the QWERTY layout is a holdover from the 19th century and the notion of it's continued use was "bizarre".
The scuttlebutt went on to say how the computer use would likely assume a "full body experience" like sometimes appears at the movies.
While I'm always for a fresh approach, I also view the keyboard ... be it QWERTY, Dvorak, chord, or whatever will likely exist into the future until that time the conversation between people and machines becomes adequately relevant.
Full body input will likely have it's place in tactical applications and machine operations but the voice will likely be that ultimate evolution of which is spoken.
Me ... being a relic from the first days of minis, micros, and personal computing I will likely take my present 80 words per minute right on down the line until that moment I give up all computers forever.
I just don't see the keyboard technologies becoming eliminated in my lifetime — but the future is highly relevant to your age and how much time you have left in the mix ...
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- September 28, 2016
- Forays into Black Magic on the Rise
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Hmmmmm. Satanism. Black magic. The occult. Members of the catholic priesthood are claiming that the internet has inspired an interest in these as we pursue the 'dark side' of earthly existence.
Must be some new form of escape. Might be some attempt to go beyond these surly bonds where the few have the most and the most have the least.
I recall dabbling in "magick" a single time way back when and the sheer terror it invoked in my otherwise humble and safe home. I recall the setup. I recall the candles. I recall the icons and incantations I recited for the very purpose AND ...
I remember the consequences of that fateful foray into things with consequences for which I was unprepared naieve.
All I can say is there are things better left alone and my experiment into contact with the so-called "other side" remains high on that list for me personally.
Something about the sudden flicker of the candles in a closed room and the distinct and adjacent rustling noises really did a number on me.
So in the vein of stupid moves, of which I myself am guilty I can certainly profess that dabbling in these so-called "black arts" are indicative of the worst kind of trouble in a person's life.
I cannot agree with the church's declaration of an emergency need for exorcists however because Christ gave us power over all demons on this earth and that power certainly was effective in my particular case.
Suffice it to say that my first foray in to magick was also my last.
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- September 27, 2016
- Technocryptid Photography
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I absolutely love it. All these various photographs from the mars rovers and various others depicting what are alleged to be alien space crafts, skeletal parts, and various cryptids — many having astounding resonance with those images we have in our minds regarding these things.
Were I some closed minded individual I would certainly proclaim "balderdash" and scoff at these ...
but something in the nature of altered NASA photography and the other alleged secrets we are allowing our government to keep on our taxpayer dime causes me to remain the eternal skeptic.
Far be it from me to deny the existence of extraterrestrial presence upon the Earth when so much of what those in control do is absolutely counter to our collective well being and forward motion as a technologically industrialized world.
Those who would keep is in the dark for purposes of their profiting would do well to come to that stark realization that we are not all the blind sheep leading the blind that they might believe us to be.
Far above the racist banality of protests and accusations and trite faddish slogans there is that section of humanity which seeks advancement and pursuit of that greatness which eludes us in this universal quagmire of petty nonsense in which we are presently within.
That downward spiral which began with the burger flipper generation of the 80s have given rise to the pseudo intellectual millenials with their touchy feely lack of relevance and inability to communicate effectively or even get the gd pronunciation correct.
There by the grace of God go I for had I been the same as all too many of my peers I would have remained stuck in the 60s like so many of my peers.
Just so happens I have attained forward motion by sheer desire as well as association with those who were technically conversant ... and the occasionally interspersed incidence of luck I might add.
The illumanati core of that multinational oligarchy telling the government what they may and may not do just to support the wretched end of enriching their personal coffers has many of us just where they want us. Fat, dumb, happy, and in denial.
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