Blog Jones

One of the neat features I get from my web host, vervehosting.com, is the ability to see what search terms people use to find my blog. Here are some of my favorites from this month (my comments are in italics):

Games
settlers of catan registration key hack
settlers of catan free registration key
These two are strange, because Settlers of Catan is a fantastic board game; it doesn’t have a registration key.

Tech
walkman bean cookies
chrysler town and country alarm system five beeps
sony copyright pain bean walkman
my laptop overheats and shuts down
I feel your pain.

Religion
a passage from the bible
Looking for anything in particular?

buy pettit jesus my lord
Does that read like a command to anyone else? “Buy Pettit!”

Food
catchy seafood phrases
chick-fil-a cheesecake recipes

Inquiries
how to dismiss a preacher
repairing nintendo ds hinges
what ifb church mean?
why is the flag a half-mast on january 11?
deciding not to put a feeding tube in my dads body
make your own stonehenge
sue for toilet papering a house
i took off an adblock now i can t see any pictures on my computer
facts about ron hamilton patch the pirate
bju science homework help

Hatred
michael savage is an idiot
bob jones is a sick cult
michael savage hate
bush swears at tony
why do people hate bush
why do people hate bush so much?
why was clinton hated so much
idaho switchblade laws
chick-fil-a discrimination

Love
pcc girls
bju girls
michael rosenbaum dating anyone
why do americans oppose interracial dating?
is jeri massi married?
I don’t think so, but why don’t you ask her?

Well, virtually. See it on the U.S. News and World Report website.

Just a brief word of background first: The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the MPAA (Moving Pictures Association of America) are evil incarnate. As examples, the RIAA once sued a 12-year-old girl for thousands of dollars because she traded music on Kazaa, and the MPAA keeps trying to push “Broadcast Flag” legislation through Congress that would allow television executives to decide whether or not you should be able to record their shows and how long you should be able to keep them. They’re the ones responsible for things like DRM, which prevent you from putting music you buy off of iTunes onto any non-Apple MP3 player and which brought us the joy of the Sony Root-Kit fiasco that hid files from you, the customer, on your own computer if you used one of the DRM-infested CDs.

So, what happens if these guys get their way in the future? Tarmle gives us a hint:

Going to the movies is not what it used to be. Security at the studio-owned theatres is heavy, it’s not a trip to be taken lightly. But if you want to see the film everyone is talking about without waiting a year for the home release, you have little choice. When you enter the lobby the first thing you see are long ranks of tiny, thumbprint activated lockers. This is where you must leave all of your electronics, your personal server and peripherals, even your watch, and you had better not be wearing smart spectacles or contacts. As you enter the security zone you’re scanned for anything you may have forgotten. Cochlea and optical implants must be capable of responding with a coded RF identification signal to indicate their systems are secure and cannot record. People with older models, or models implanted abroad where such interrogation is illegal, are turned away. Perhaps they would like to see one of the older releases? Once through the scanner you must submit to a biometric ID test - this is where the known bloggers, hackers and spoilers are ejected. Finally there is the non-disclosure agreement to be signed - these days most moviegoers choose to sign via the MPAAs annual subscription, just trying to take some of the hassle out of visiting the cinema. Finally you get to see the film. In the auditorium the audience is constantly scanned by an AI looking for suspicious activity, so don’t rummage in your pockets for too long. It’s strange that all this effort to protect the movie industry has done so little to improve the movies.

There’s more; read the whole thing. Especially interesting is the bibliography at the end, which I have duplicated in the extended entry for the BJU “Livejournal-impaired” dorm students. (Yes, I know, “Can any good thing come out of LiveJournal?” The answer is yes.)

The music and movie industries just don’t get it: How can they ever expect to gain market share when they keep deliberately trying to frustrate their customers’ desires?

One of the best innovations to come out of the computer industry in the last few years is USB: It’s small (esp. when compared with, say, a parallel printer port), and, more importantly, it’s universal: I can plug my thumbdrive into my laptop, my linux machine, and a Macintosh, and they all know how to handle it.

Now Belkin (and other companies) are going to take that innovation one step farther with wireless USB.

Can you imagine how cool this is going to be?

According to Gizmodo, the Belkin CableFree USB Hub will run at speeds 100 times faster than BlueTooth. It is scheduled to come out this spring, and will cost $130.

When the price drops below $50, I’m definitely going to buy one.

This pipe sits next to the Museum and Gallery. It seems to constantly spray out steam. Where does it come from? Is it only water spraying out of there, or is there something else too?

This is one of the Bob Jones campus security vans; it’s a Kia minivan. I feel safe.

This strikes me as a safety hazard.

There’s a house across the street from BJU that has a statue of some old guy. I’m going to say it’s St. John.

A guy replaces a traffic light. It looks heavy.

This picture demonstrates SC’s hickness. The top layer of the bushes extends out over traffic. You can kind of see it in the background of the previous picture.

In doing a bit of research, I discovered the scstatehouse.net website that lets you search for current SC state legislation by bill number. I typed in random number and found the controversial and dramatic SC Senate Bill #333:

A SENATE RESOLUTION

TO EXPRESS THE CONGRATULATIONS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA TO MS. ESSIE SHEALY OF COLUMBIA ON THE OCCASION OF HER FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY ON FEBRUARY 5, 2005, AND TO WISH HER MANY MORE YEARS OF HAPPINESS.

Whereas, Ms. Essie Shealy of Columbia was born on February 5, 1955, in Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and

Whereas, she is the daughter of Janie Merrill of Lexington, SC, has two brothers; Eddie and Ben; and

Whereas, Ms. Shealy attended school at the Babcock Center and graduated from Airport High School in 1976; and

Whereas, for many years she has attended Camp Hope on the campus of Clemson University and looks forward every summer to seeing her many friends there; and

Whereas, Ms. Shealy is an active member of the Special Education Sunday School Class at First Baptist Church in Columbia where she is also a member of the Hand Bell Choir; and

Whereas, known for her dedication to the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, she attends almost every women’s basketball and women’s volleyball home games and is well known among the Senate as being the world’s largest Gamecock fan; and

Whereas, Ms. Shealy began work in the South Carolina Senate on January 19, 1985 and for 20 years has been a loyal employee and friend to all, keeping her colleagues up to date on each other’s births, deaths, engagements, and marriages; and

Whereas, Essie’s friendly smile and cheerful personality are things that can always be counted on to brighten our days, and her kindness to everyone should be an example for all; and

Whereas, not only is she a devoted daughter, sister, aunt, and friend, she is also a exemplary citizen of South Carolina who has been extraordinary in taking on life’s challenges; and

Whereas, the members of the Senate are pleased to pause to recognize Essie Shealy on her fiftieth birthday so that they may express their high regard and deep appreciation for this outstanding public servant. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate:

That the members of the Senate of the State of South Carolina, by this resolution, express their congratulations to Ms. Essie Shealy on the occasion of her fiftieth birthday on February 5, 2005, and wish her many more years of happiness.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Ms. Essie Shealy.

Well, that was nice of them. How much are we paying these people?

On the other hand, passing resolutions costs no money, while substantial projects cost lots of money. So, more congratulations all around!

Agoraphilia has a great post on children’s fiction:

Children’s fiction often promotes credulity as a virtue. Consider, for instance, the admonitions in Disney’s Peter Pan, in Elf, or in The Neverending Story. These and many other works teach our children, “Just believe!”

He then proceeds to examine why authors think that “Kids are supposed to believe whatever some elf, or sprite, or cute fuzzy guy ardently insists they believe.”

This is one of the many clichés of children’s literature that grinds against me like sandpaper against my teeth. Another is the idea tha tyou should “believe in yourself,” as though doing so magically infuses you with the ability to shoot basketball, skate, or spell “triskaidekaphobia.”

There are probably dozens of these; what are your story-telling pet peeves?

One thing I almost immediately wished for when I started using my linux machine was a way to use my keyboard and mouse with both it and my laptop at the same time. I wanted to be able to move the mouse off the edge of my monitor and onto my laptop’s screen.

It seems I’m not the only one: Synergy, a free, open-source utility, does exactly that; even better, now the machines can share a clipboard, meaning that I can copy stuff easily from one to the other.

It’s also cross-platform, meaning that it would work with two windows computers, two linux boxes, or, as in my case, one of each. Best of all, it’s really easy to set up and use, esp. when you compare it to a lot of other open-source software.

If you’ve got two (or more) computers on your desk, you really ought to check this software out.

I’ve taken another step into all-out über-geekdom: I’ve installed linux for the first time. I’m using the Ubuntu version of linux; like most versions (called “distributions” or “distros”) of linux, it’s available for free. I just downloaded the install software from the website, burned an install CD, plugged it in, and rebooted. I had to answer some fairly simple questions, and then it wiped out the old Windows ME data and replaced it with linux. (Good riddance, I say.)

It works quite well, from my first 24 hours with it. Unfortunately, because I’m a complete linux n00b, everything is taking forever to do. For example, it took me a good hour to figure out how to update FireFox from version 1.0.7 to version 1.5.

Despite the new user frustration, I find it fairly interesting and fun. For example, I think it’s cool that you can do everything from the command line (if you know what you’re doing). Another cool thing is that I’ve figured out how to set up both SSH and the Remote Desktop, so I can control my linux desktop from my laptop. (Right now, I can only do it from my local network, but it is theoretically possible to control it from anywhere in the world).

One thing I think is neat is the way it handles private data. Every user gets their own “home” folder which stores stuff like the Desktop and any documents you have. By default, these are “private,” meaning that someone who logs in on a different username will not be allowed to even look in your home folder, unless you explicitly allow it. This is, I imagine, possible in Windows, but it’s the default in linux.

It’s kind of a neat experiment. If you want to play with linux without installing it on top of your system, I’d recommend downloading a Live CD. After you burn the downloaded file to a disk, you put the cd in the cd drive, restart the computer, and have it boot from the CD drive. It will then load linux from the CD; it’s slower than if you install it on the hard drive, but it’s good for playing with and seeing if you like it.

In summary:
The Good: Free; good handling of user data; lots of free software available
The Bad: Much, much more complicated than windows; some software packages (like an MP3 player) can’t be included for legal reasons
The Ugly: The installation software looks primitive compared to other OS’s; the fonts are kind of “off” too.

It’s taken a RAM upgrade and a new graphics card for my parents computer, but I can finally play Civilization 4.

It was worth the wait. Absolutely fantastic. I played Civ3 before, and Civ4 fixes all of the things I disliked about it. It’s so much fun!

In case you’ve never played before, it’s a turn-based strategy game where you start off with a settler and a scout in the caveman era and move through history, developing technology and building an empire. I’m currently playing as the Greeks, and I’ve just taken over Barcelona from the Spanish empire.

The game is a lot of fun. Thanks to my brother Jason for getting it for me.

Update: Microsoft has now released a patch to fix this security hole. You should run windows update and download the patch.
—

If you run Windows XP or 2000, you need to install this file right now without fail:

Windows Metafile Hotfix

There is a huge security hole in windows that allows image files to carry any type of malicious code including spyware, malware, viruses, keystroke loggers, and more. If you install the file above, you will render your computer invulnerable to these attacks.

More details on Security Now! and F-Secure.

To my Mom: I’ve already installed this file on your computer, so you don’t need to worry about this.