So I finally get the thing paid off and it seems like it has just been one thing after another with this ol' truck of mine. I suppose I should be thankful for the lack of car payments so that I have more cash on hand to tackle these repairs.

A couple of weeks ago it was the catalytic converter that needed replacing. A couple of weeks prior to that it was the radiator that threw in the towel. These came on the heals of the front brake job that could wait no longer.

It is starting to feel like I have myself a new hobby. To the casual observer it may look like I just love to tinker on this truck, when in actuality - for me - it is pretty much about saving money (but I should go ahead and admit here that I have never been skeert of getting my hands dirty.)

 This time it was the air conditioner that gave up the ghost. At first I thought it was just the compressor clutch and researched what it would take to replace it. The part was around $50 but all the "experts" where recommending that the entire compressor/clutch unit should be swapped out to avoid the inevitable compressor failure that was waiting just around the bend. So while I was debating the merits of following this sage advice my a/c compressor froze-up, the bearings were shot and that clutch was making the god-awfullest racket you ever did hear.

••• please read on •••

Discoverd At: http://log.maniacalrage.net/
Content Source: http://foreversnotsolong.com/
Video Hosted At: http://vimeo.com/3568757/

I am often asked to recommend software for virus and malware protection. I sent the following information to a colleague in an email and decided to post it here for future reference. I hope you find this information useful:

To get free anti-virus go to the following page:

http://free.avg.com/us-en/free-antivirus-download

 

Click the “Download Basic Protection” button:

 

 

a download.cnet.com page will open...

click on the green download button:

============================

Welcome AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2012 users

To complete your download, click on the link below:

============================

choose to save downloaded file to your computer.
file is named similar to: avg_free_stb_all_2012_####_cnet.exe

double click downloaded file to install AVG following prompts...

Basically

·         be sure to select free version

·         do not allow program to provide information to AVG (product improvement – or whatever)

·         I do recommend the installation of the AVG toolbar for browser and setting AVG as default search provider.

·         update AVG (possibly a couple of times) to get latest protections

·         run a complete scan as soon as possible

The complete process may take 30~60 minutes.

On Windows 7 (and Vista) the install places an AVG “widget” on the desktop with a scan button and an update button – as long as you occasionally do each you will be secure and up to date.

----------------------------------

and for good measure...

One of the best resources for instructions on cleaning up an infected computer can be found on the following page:

http://wiki.lunarsoft.net/wiki/PC_Cleanup

Of particular intrest here is the proper procedure for the installation and configuration of the following programs:

• SpywareBlaster.
• CCleaner.
• Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
• SUPERAntiSpyware.
• Spybot S&D.

For best results download and use the recommended Anti-Malware_Toolkit
to download the above listed programs.

----------------------------------

Keep in mind: AVG should be all the Anti-virus you will need. Installing more than one anti-virus on a system is inviting problems.

Best of luck && Watch what you click!

Using the above resources I have been able to protect and clean several computers; from XP to Windows 7 - I have had success with these products. I have never seen the need to investigate the purchase of anti-virus or anti-malware products for personal computers. On rare occasions a system may be so infected that an operating system may need to be reinstalled or repaired; I have found that system stability is greatly restored using the above techniques, allowing for file recovery and backup efforts prior to the dreaded reformat.

yadda-yadda your results may vary yadda-yadda

All Images From: http://www.pablocruise.com/

Click "Read More" for the script ==>

Image Source: Gizmodo

    In this age of broadband internet and universal connectivity it is somewhat difficult to recall life prior to the World Wide Web. However, one need not venture all that  far back through history to arrive at a time when most folks who possessed personal computers never imagined the potential those devices had for reshaping global society.

    My early personal computing involved chiefly small business type word-processing chores. The discovery that - with the addition of a "modem" device - the PC could be pulled into service as a fax machine was - for me - a watershed event. My eyes were opened to the added versatility that a connection to the telephone line would bring to even my lowly home computer system.

    Suddenly that list of public computer bulletin board systems in the back pages of my dog-eared Pocket PCRef took on a whole new significance. I was happy to discover there was a system in my calling area and wasted little time in making the connection. Little did I realize that with that phone call I was to open a portal from my home to the world...

"Sometimes nature guards her secrets with the unbreakable grip of physical law. Sometimes the true nature of reality beckons from just beyond the horizon.”
(Brian Greene)

Is there more than one universe? In this visually rich, action-packed talk, Brian Greene shows how the unanswered questions of physics (starting with a big one: What caused the Big Bang?) have led to the theory that our own universe is just one of many in the "multiverse." Brian Greene is perhaps the best-known proponent of superstring theory, the idea that minuscule strands of energy vibrating in a higher dimensional space-time create every particle and force in the universe.

Source: TED

I guess I'm truly doggin' it...
Soz a bit late on getting this up but I only just learned (thanks to LileBackenroth.com) that April 16th marked the 41st "birthday" of FTP. Where would we be without FTP - the "Fork-Truck Protocol" of the internet? I re-post Lile's article here for your perusal.

[tag:educational computing technology historical]

Episode 1 - BAUD

Long before the Internet escaped from the lab, connected the planet and redefined what it meant to use a computer there was a brave and pioneering band of computer users who spent their time, money and sanity setting up their home computers and phone lines to welcome anyone who called. By using a modem, anyone else who knew the phone number of these computers could connect to them, leave messages, send and recieve files.... and millions did.

They called these places "Bulletin Board Systems", or BBSes. And their collections of messages, rants, thoughts and dreams became the way that an entire generation learned about being online.

When the Internet grew in popularity in the early 1990s, the world of the BBS faded, changed, and became a part of the present networked world.. but it wasn't the same.


This movie is part of the archive.org collection: Community Video