SERVICE: Google Bookmarks and Google Toolbar

Friday, December 17, 2010

In my new burst of “religion” … … I always “worshiped” at the “Church of Murphy” … as in “Murphy’s Law” … … (no disrespect intended; I let you know when I intend to be disrespectful. I usually “slouch”. That’s an inside joke with my fellow Prepsters.) … anyway, after the recent failure of my (NOTRECOMMENDED) Mac Book Air Version 1.1, I have been improving upon my paradigms, memes, as well as procedures and practices.

• Backing up bookmarks. Used to use XMARKS, but they went broke. Came back to life under LASTPASS, but the old free data was nuked. (Argh!) So, I pick GMARKS add in to FIREFOX3 which uses the GOOGLE_BOOKMARKS service, (no need to have too many moving parts and Google will always be my free friend. Won’t they?) But, I’m moving to CHROME from Firefox (It “swallowed the pig” too many times. Hogged memory. And THUNDERBIRD is on probation.) And I can figure out how to move my CHROME bookmarks into GOOGLE_BOOKMARKS. I’ve got the html export file but where’s the insert button. Help says to use the GOOGLE_TOOLBAR button. But that’s not on CHROME?

• GOOGLE_TOOLBAR is only for FIREFOX and INTERNETEXPLORER?

Ahh, such is life on the “bleeding edge”. Unfortunately, I did not think I was on that edge but six months back.

Argh!

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Update: So being the smart fat old white guy injineer, I figured I’d just bring up FIREFOX, install the GOOGLE_TOOLBAR, and import the the file. Problem solved. And, I’d call it a “work around”. You know the joke about Omar the fat man’s tailor! “Just walk this way”. So, quick like a bunny, up goes FIREFOX, download the GOOGLE_TOOLBAR, install, restart. And SHAZAAM! No toolbar? Argh!

So I’m off to find another solution. Argh! I hate technology.

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Posted by reinkefj

MACBOOKAIR: Still trying to come back to where I was

Thursday, December 16, 2010

• IPHOTO still broken.

• Pages, Keynote, and Numbers still down; looking for the <synonym for procreation> disks.

• Migrated off APPLEMAIL onto THUNDERBIRD.

• Migrated off FIREFOX onto CHROME.

# # # # # posted 2010-12-16 23:39

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Posted by reinkefj

NEWJERSEY: Red light cameras

Thursday, December 16, 2010

http://nbs.gmnews.com/news/2010-12-16/Front_Page/SB_once_again_considering_redlight_cameras.html

S.B. once again considering red-light cameras
Route 1 intersections would be most likely locations
BY SAM SLAUGHTER Staff Writer

*** begin quote ***

Some streets in South Brunswick may soon be much safer. At the Dec. 7 Township Council meeting, council members discussed the implementation of a Red Light Running Automated Enforcement pilot program and are taking the necessary actions to move forward with the plan.

*** end quote ***

No fund raising here?

And, guaranteed to increase accidents. (Has elsewhere as folks stomp on the breaks!)

And, why not make the length of a “yellow” into standard time duration? (Answer, more tickets!)

And, why not make roads “intelligent”? (Sitting a light with no cross traffic encourages blowing; more tickets!)

And, why not focus on accident reduction? (No incentive; less tickets!)

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Why do we permit “lame ducks”?

Thursday, December 16, 2010

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/dc_feeding_frenzy_OmaWYPKGV2YtrTaFqHowYM#ixzz18IKpaIqj

DC feeding frenzy
Lame-duck Congress gorges
By DANIEL J. MITCHELL
Last Updated: 4:18 AM, December 16, 2010
Posted: 10:35 PM, December 15, 2010

*** begin quote ***

The biggest extender is the ethanol credit, a boondoggle that distorts agriculture markets and causes considerable economic and environmental damage, but is popular with politicians because big agribusinesses recycle some of their undeserved profits back to Washington in the form of contributions.

The dozens of other extenders include special loopholes for solar and wind power, education spending, bonds for Louisiana and NASCAR racing.

There are strong policy arguments against these kinds of special tax breaks, especially since we could use the revenue to finance lower tax rates — but most people are even more upset by the dead-of-night process used to put these goodies into the tax bill.

The behavior on Capitol Hill reminds me of the movie classic, “Animal House”: After their fraternity has been placed on “double-secret probation,” John Belushi and the rest of guys at the Delta House decide to go out in a blaze of glory with a toga party.

Likewise, the politicians on Capitol Hill just got placed on the equivalent of probation by a Tea Party uprising. Yet rather than mend their crooked ways, they’re throwing a massive party with our money.

*** end quote ***

Pitchfork and torches time!

Why do we permit “lame ducks”?

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Posted by reinkefj

PLATFORM: The netbook ASUS is bricked inet-wise!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Last night, some automatic security fixes applied themselves.

Suddenly WINDOZE7STARTER is forcing a “select a location for the ‘3TYNE7328215850 2’ network.

And, no internet connectivity.

Everything was work fine before.

WTF!

Notice the “space 2” on the end of the wireless lan name.

There’s no way to delete that “space 2” or to change it.

WINDOZE7STARTER says that it can’t create a ‘home network group’, but only join one.

This is one of the reasons I HATE WINDOZE.

Numerous system rollbacks to dates in the past can NOT fix this.

Argh!

# # # # # posted 2010-12-16 08:35

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : ASUS

   Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid

   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR8132 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (NDIS 6.20)

   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 48-5B-39-81-5E-B9

   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter

   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 1C-4B-D6-FE-7D-60

   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::ed9d:a8ea:f652:9aad%11(Preferred)

   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.102(Preferred)

   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, December 16, 2010 8:34:23 AM

   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, December 23, 2010 8:53:12 AM

   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1

   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1

   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 236735446

   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-14-89-6E-E8-1C-4B-D6-FE-7D-60

   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1

   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{1880D8E4-AD10-4D35-B33E-0DD04215ACB2}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter

   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0

   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{FF68CFF4-C30B-4730-BA8E-D44D45CA4170}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2

   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0

   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0

   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

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Posted by reinkefj

SECURITY: LASTPASS (Recommended with a big caveat)

Thursday, December 16, 2010

https://lastpass.com/

LastPass is a password manager that makes web browsing easier and more secure

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Recommended, with a caveat.

I would never ever trust anyone with passwords to “financial” or “key email accounts”.

So, then by definition, passwords for “financial” services and their dedicated email accounts are NEVER shared with anyone, any service, or put on any machine. Written down in a secret spot. Not carried in a wallet or anything you’d expect.

(Handwritten and rolled up in a pen.)

Since there are very very few of these, they are easy to remember.

Yeah, under my tin foil hat, I’m paranoid!

And, you must use unique passwords for everything. It’s a pain, but necessary!

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: Different strokes for different folks; passwords too

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/213392/gawker_media_hacked_warns_users_to_change_passwords.html

Dec 13, 2010 6:50 am

Gawker Media Hacked, Warns Users to Change Passwords

By Jeremy Kirk, IDG News

*** begin quote ***

E-mail addresses and password details for 200,000 registered users of Gawker Media websites are now circulating on peer-to-peer networks after a weekend hack attack. The company warned users to change their passwords — including on other sites, if they use the same passwords elsewhere.

*** end quote ***

Since I never use the same passwords for different sites, not my problem!

Clearly, most people don’t keep that discipline.

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Posted by reinkefj

WINDOZE: Cobbling together a solution

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

On the NETBOOK (Asus Eepc), I have DROPBOX to echo my data directory around where needed. After the fiasco with MACBOOKAIR and the deletion of significant protions of the data directory, I decided to make a local copy of the data directory on each platform. This protects against the data loss again.

On the WINDOZE systems to do this I dragged two free utilities out of retirement. ((I expected to abandon WINDOZE but the NETBOOK was needed and it brought WINDOZE with it. Argh!)

So on each platform, I’ve created an ‘OLDBOX’ folder to backup ‘DROPBOX’. The initial copy was easy.

BUT, how do you keep it updated on a regular basis?

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptoad.asp#Download

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp

KARENWARE has two FREE utilites that make this easy.

PTREPLICATOR allows you sync directories with all sorts of options. (If you leave it running.)

PTOAD is a once a day utility; it ensure that ‘stuff’ you defined gets run once per day. (If you leave it running.) So if you put it in the ‘STARTUP’ folder, it kicks off. If you reboot several times, it only runs once per day. Neat!

So problem solved that to some old friends.

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Posted by reinkefj

FUN: Thinking about the “Price Is Right”

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Scenario: Four contestants, who we will call A, B, C, and D, have to guess the price of an item without going over.

Problem: What are the optimum strategies for each player?

<Think, think, … still thinking!>

Contestant A should just try to hit the price minus a dollar.

Contestant B ?

Contestant C?

Contestant D should always bids either one dollar if everyone’s over bid or one dollar over the highest bid.

Your thoughts?

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: “Jeopardy!” pits man versus machine

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20101214/D9K3LU500.html

‘Jeopardy!’ to pit humans against IBM machine
Dec 14, 7:12 AM (ET)
By DAVID BAUDER

*** begin quote ***

NEW YORK (AP) – The game show “Jeopardy!” will pit man versus machine this winter in a competition that will show how successful scientists are in creating a computer that can mimic human intelligence.

Two of the venerable game show’s most successful champions – Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter – will play two games against “Watson,” a computer program developed by IBM’s artificial intelligence team. The matches will be spread over three days that will air Feb. 14-16, the game show said on Tuesday.

The competition is reminiscent of when IBM developed a chess-playing computer to compete against chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

*** end quote ***

Now this will demonstrate something interesting to me. I doubt it will make great TV.

What’s next?

I know a robot playing Wheel of Fortune.

A pair of robot playing the Newlywed Game is just sick. Reminds me of the Will Smith movie “I, Robot”.

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Posted by reinkefj

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