musings about tech & miscellanea
General
To Our Military Personnel, Thank You
Mar 7th
Had lunch with the parents/family earlier today at a deli and saw a service woman in uniform with a another man. Pulled over our server and asked for their tab so I can anonymously pay for it and to tell her thank you.
Though I tried to be anonymous, the service woman approached our table and come to find out the man she was with was her father, who also was in the Army, and had just returned from Iraq 18 days ago for medical leave.
The Colonel chatted a bit and he expressed, almost tearfully, the appreciation for the gesture and how he had served for the last 36 years and was also in Vietnam. I/we couldn’t express enough our gratitude for he and his daughter. It was a touching moment for all at the table, the military father and daughter and the servers.
Something to think about…if you come across our military personnel at a restaurant, pick up their tab and say thank you. It’s the least we can do to show our appreciation on a one-to-one level.
Freedom by Daniel Suarez
Feb 19th
“Darknet Top-rated Posts +95,383
At issue is not whether the global economy will pass away. It is passing away. Rising populations and debt combined with depletion of freshwater sources and fossil fuels make the status quo untenable. The only question is whether civil society will survive the transition. Can we use the darknet to preserve representative democracy or will we seek protection from brutal strongmen as the old order begins to fail?
Catherine_7***** / 3,393 17th-level Journalist”
Starting Chapter 6 on Daniel Suarez’s new book Freedom, a sequel to Daemon, and it’s an excellent read. I highly recommend these 2 books, especially if you’re an Internet or computer user…who isn’t these days? The implications from these books are mind boggling!
WP-SpamFree – great antispam plugin for WordPress
Feb 12th
Ever since starting a WordPress based blog, I started getting spammed with my admin email address. There are some pretty smart spambots out there crawling through the various WordPress pages and harvesting email address.
After some research and trying out a couple of different WordPress plugin solutions, WP-SpamFree is what I’m now using and have been really pleased with the results; spams to my admin email addy have now ceased along with spam pingbacks/trackbacks. I highly recommend this for your WordPress blog.
The WP-SpamFree plugin virtually eliminates automated comment spam from bots, including trackback and pingback spam.
- Virtually eliminates automated comment spam from bots. It works like a firewall to ensure that your commenters are in fact, human.
- A counter on your dashboard to keep track of all the spam it’s blocking. The numbers will show how effective this plugin is.
- No CAPTCHA’s, challenge questions or other inconvenience to site visitors — it works silently in the background.
- Includes drop-in spam-free contact form. Easy to use — no configuration necessary.
- No false positives, which leads to fewer frustrated readers, and less work for you.
- You won’t have to waste valuable time sifting through a spam queue anymore, because there won’t be much there, if anything.
- Powerful trackback and pingback spam protection.
- Easy to install — truly plug and play. Just upload and activate. (Installation Status on the plugin admin page to let you know if plugin is installed correctly.)
- The beauty of this plugin is the methods of blocking spam. It takes a different approach than most and stops spam at the door.
- The code has an extremely low bandwidth overhead and won’t slow down your blog (very light database access), unlike some other anti-spam plugins.
- Completely compatible with all cache plugins, including WP Cache and WP Super Cache. Not all anti-spam plugins can say that.
- Display your blocked spam stats on your blog.
The Delphinus Chronicles
Feb 6th
Here’s another great book written by a San Diego author, RG Roane, The Delphinus Chronicles.
“It was no surprise when Simon, the world’s most powerful supercomputer, successfully learned to communicate with humans shortly after being retired to tiny Cabrillo University in San Diego. After all, Ross Erricson and his misfit band of graduate students had done their homework well, anticipating just about every possible outcome of their experiment.”
“From the secret labs of a small San Diego college campus, to the dangerous sea depths off the Greek islands, to a dramatic car chase down California’s rugged Route One, The Delphinus Chronicles moves with heart-stopping speed. Ross Erricson and his small group of researchers, while experimenting in communication with the dolphins, have made two incredible discoveries. Not only do these intelligent mammals understand human communication, the dolphins also hold the secret to the beginnings of human civilization on Earth.”
Check it out at http://www.delphinuschronicles.com/The%20Delphinus%20Chronicles.htm
World of Tomorrow Rendering
Feb 6th
Came across this beautiful artist rendering of the world of tomorrow. Click image to enlarge.
Daemon by Daniel Suarez
Feb 6th
One of my current books is Daemon by Daniel Juarez, and what a great read it is.
Here’s a synopsis:
It all begins when one man’s obituary appears online. . .
Matthew Sobol was a legendary computer game designer—the architect behind half a dozen popular online games. His premature death from brain cancer depressed both gamers and his company’s stock price. But Sobol’s fans weren’t the only ones to note his passing. He left behind something that was scanning Internet obituaries, too—something that put in motion a whole series of programs upon his death. Programs that moved money. Programs that recruited people. Programs that killed.
Confronted with a killer from beyond the grave, Detective Peter Sebeck comes face-to-face with the full implications of our increasingly complex and interconnected world—one where the dead can read headlines, steal identities, and carry out far-reaching plans without fear of retribution. Sebeck must find a way to stop Sobol’s web of programs—his Daemon—before it achieves its ultimate purpose. And to do so, he must uncover what that purpose is . . .
I highly recommend this book if you’re into this genre accompanied by the greats such as William Gibson. I’m really looking forward to it’s sequel, Freedom. http://thedaemon.com
