Success is Not Inevitable….

WILLisms, the guy who brought us the Babe Theory of Politics, writes a note on Texas Independence Day, and includes much of the text from their declaration of independence. I wanted to reiterate the following point that he makes:

America is superior to Mexico not because we control this river or that natural resource, nor because we have more white people here, but because we have superior founding principles, a superior Constitution, and superior policies. Plenty of countries have plenty of resources. It’s only the ones that value liberty, economically, politically, and socially, that ultimately succeed. A rich and powerful Texas was not inevitable under any governmental system– just this one.

You can call it jingoism if you like. You can even ignore similar conclusions by P.J. O’Rourke in “Eat the Rich.” Wish otherwise all you like, but culture and the system of government does make a difference. Just look at the economic history of any Communist country. Look at the famines. look at the productive country-sides and “breadbaskets” turned into importers of food by collective farming policies.

Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?

My family recently bought the Toy Story movies, as Disney had re-released them as the 10th anniversary and special edition, respectively. Yes, they’re wonderful Yes, it’s great to watch these masterpieces of cinema, and re-watch them to get all of the cute references and jokes. I sat for hours going through the movies, and delighted in the commentary on hows and whys.

That out of the way, there is something I missed. The credit gags. The first movie had some incredibly funny blooper reels added into the credits. The second had “Tour Guide Barbie” smiling and waving “bye now!” through the credits. finishing with her wiping her brow and asking if everyone was gone yet. The short animated films are gone as well, but I’m more upset by the fact they actually changed the content of the movie and not just the quality of the DVD transfer.

I’m still scouring the extras to see if the bloopers and shorts are elsewhere…

Backing Up Is Hard to Do …

One thing that I’ve had underscored recently is a hint I repeatedly give my clients that can be put across in four words. Back Up Your Stuff

Nevertheless, despite repeated warnings, many people don’t. Some just flat out don’t believe that they will be the one whose hard drive ends up making strange and scary klunking noises. Others are well-intentioned, but just don’t manage to because, frankly, backup software is still more difficult to run than it should be. Nevermind the hassle of adding and removing drives, etc. for laptops, and you start getting some real headaches that explain why those of us who are a bit confused and even scared around computers wouldn’t want to spend the time.

The surprising thing is not that it happens in the business world as well, but that among those who do back up, it’s all too common to only back up the server and not track down laptop and other users who may keep files on their local hard drive.

When you’re dealing with a machine like a tablet PC, and the hard drive or other component fails that will result in it getting sent to the shop, you’re staring at losing a lot of critical data. You know: Family photos, your CD collection for iTunes, copies of tax returns, your email.

So. Do what you have to. Get an external drive. Archive stuff off to CD or DVD. use another computer in the house as a place to duplicate your critical information. Whatever. Just please, keep extra copies.

Big Fat Harry Deal.

Saw the latest in the Harry Potter installments tonight. It was a worthy installment in the series, and has taken a significantly darker turn as it follows the arc set by the books. The story is more intense, the romantic aspects of the story are well handled, and most of the shortcuts taken to condense the story are well thought out and graceful. Most, I say, because the whole plot thread with the obnoxious reporter was simply left dangling.

The one real complaint I do have was the pacing and the choppy editing. It didn’t flow as effortlessly as Azkaban did.

Caipirinhas and Cachaca…

Well, this is a tutorial of sorts, though more in the “contributing to the delinquency” variety.

I want to tell you how to produce a drink that my wife introduced me to about two years ago and we just introduced my family to over Thanksgiving in Tampa. It’s a wonderful, lime-flavored concoction that done properly, tastes like a sharp, sugary lime, but hits like a gold brick.

The ingredients and tools are easy:

  • Limes (1 per drink)
  • Natural Cane Sugar (not brown sugar) (approximately 2 tablespoons per drink)
  • Glasses. You can get custom caipirinha glasses but any short, solid juice-glass will do.
  • Pestle. Traditional caipirinha pestles are almost flat-bottomed, with a pyramidal grid on the bottom much like a meat tenderizer. Wooden juice pulpers will also work as long as the tool you use can crush the lime in the bottom of the glass.
  • Crushed ice. Not too fine either – the crushed ice that comes out of most dispensers built into refrigerators is actually a bit too fine but will do in a pinch. You can get a good consistency by hammering the ice in a bag until it’s well broken up.
  • Short straws suitable for stirring and sipping.
  • Cachaca The smoother and least alcohol-flavored the better. It’s a bit difficult to consistently get a hold of any particular favorite brand but the best I’ve seen so far is the “Pitu” brand.

Cut up one lime (I usually quarter it), and place it in the glass. Add the two tablespoons of sugar. Crush the limes in the bottom to mix the lime juice and the sugar, getting as much juice squeezed out as possible.

Top off the glass with ice.

Add about 2 oz of cachaca. This will usually come close to the top of the ice.

Add straw, stir it up, and enjoy!

Stealth, and National Treasure

Saw National Treasure again this weekend with the family and loved it all over again. Sure, there are “because it’s a movie and we can’t take the time to show this” nitpicks, there’s even one big logic flaw involving where a shadow falls, but all in all the production values and quality of the film make it an absolute joy to watch.

Stealth is a popcorn movie. Predictable as a straight line, though the AI isn’t evil, with logic flaws and plot holes you could steer a carrier through. That said, it was a great, 80’s, fluff experience with stuff blowing up and it was worth the price of the rental.

Now I need to watch that copy of We Were Soldiers i’d picked up at the library.

One is Good, Two is NOT Better.

We techs always recommend that you keep an antivirus program functional on your computer. Like all good things, too much can be a very, very bad thing.

Just like mixing various prescription drugs, mixing more than one antivirus can have disastrous effects on your computer. The problem is not in the file scanning portion of the antivirus, but its true, hidden bread and butter, the real-time protection. These functions check everything you open and manipulate for virus-like behavior.

Now, all you have to do is imagine two programs competing tooth and nail for access to everything your computer does and you can just imagine the crawl your computer goes through. I’ve seen it before. Just thinking about it again gives me the creepy cold chills of a truly scary book, without any of the enjoyment. That or the sick dropping feeling in my stomach.

So, as a note, please, please, please, only keep one of any type of active security program on your computer. Only one antivirus program with active, “real-time” protection, only one antispyware program that provides proactive protection. One good one is more than enough.

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Windows…

You would think that many people, even those not truly computer – savvy, usually know which version of Windows they are running on their Windows machines. Insofar as knowing whether or not they are running Windows 98 or Windows XP, this is usually, but far from universally true. What most people don’t realize is that for all intents and purposes there are at least four versions of Windows XP installation disks that are all mutually exclusive.

Yes, four. If you decide to include the corporate open license versions, there are even more.

Those of you stuck at two (XP Home and Pro) can be excused for your confusion, because in truth, that is what Microsoft will tell you. What Microsoft doesn’t tell you is that there are two versions of XP Home: The one you buy over the counter, and the “OEM” version that is usually preinstalled on your machine when you buy it from Dell (or Gateway, etc.). While the actual copy of Windows on the disk is identical between the retail and OEM versions, these both have separate disks, and separate sets of installation keys, and separate installers.

Wait, it gets much worse. For the tech, anyway.

Many people who need Windows XP reinstalled have lost their original disks. Fortunately, it’s easy enough to carry around a copy of the various flavors (OEM and retail) of XP home and pro. Guessing which to use is also usually pretty easy based on what OS was originally installed on the machine, which we can often discover by looking for the Microsoft label on the side. It’s critical that we use the correct disk, because with the new activation features, if you don’t get the right version on, you don’t have a valid activation key, and 30 days later Windows stops working.

Imagine, though, the confusion for the poor user who doesn’t realize there is a difference. I see enough people who don’t know they can’t use a friends’ copy of XP pro to fix XP home. Compound this with the fact that many home users who upgraded to XP in the first place often lose their keycodes, and reinstallation becomes nearly impossible unless you’re sufficiently geeky to keep rescue tools like Knoppix around, and USB thumb drives.

So what is Microsoft doing to make things easier for us, the users?

Nothing.

Worse than nothing.

According to a recent article at Ars technica , there will be seven, yes, seven versions of Windows “Vista”, destined to replace Windows XP. Hopefully, these also don’t come in OEM and retail flavors because at this point, I’m beginning to get confused as to which version is capable of what, and I pity the non computer geek. Carrying four CD’s around is annoying enough, and at least I know what I’m doing. Usually.

Setting Up a Home Router

A home cable/DSL router may be the second best improvement you can make to your home computer and network as far as making your broadband connection usable, and keeping your home computer safe. For a very little bit of time and effort (and roughly $40 American) you can prevent all sorts of headaches.

First of all, what is a router? According to my Techno Babble page it is:

A piece of hardware that connects two separate networks together and routes information between them…

The two networks we are talking about are the internet, and one that likely didn’t exist until you installed the router – your home network. The second you plug your computer into the port marked “LAN”, or one of the numbered ports (if the router has a built-in switch), you have an instant, if very small network made up of your computer and the router. The second you attach the router to the cable modem or DSL modem, you have added the router to the network we call the internet.

How to tell if you need a router:

Some DSL modems provided by companies like Bellsouth already act as routers. If this is the case, then you do not need to add a router, though you may want to add a switch and/or a wireless access point to allow more computers onto the internet, or to free yourself up from being tethered to the desk. In order to tell if you are behind a router:

If you have a Windows machine, click on “Start”, then “Run”. In the box provided type:

cmd

…and click OK (If you’re still using windows Me or Windows 98 you will have to type in the full word “command” instead of “cmd”). When the black box with the “>” prompt appears, type the following:

ipconfig

… and hit the enter key. You will get a short list of numbers.

For Macintoshes running OS X, open up the system preferences and look at the network preferences. For older versions of OS X you may have to specify “built-in-ethernet” in a drop-down menu.

What you are looking for is a line that starts with “IP Address.” Following it will be a series of four numbers separated by periods. If the first number is a 192, a 172, a 169, or a 10, and you are able to get online, then you can stop worrying. You’re good to go. If not, your standard mail-order place like CDW, newegg, or PC zone can help you, as well as any local Staples, Radio Shack, or electronics store that sells computer equipment.

Setting Up The Router

Hook it up between your modem and your computer as shown in the diagram below:

routersetup_01

You will likely have to do one or more of the following three things: First, if you have a cable modem, unplug your cable modem completely for a few minutes. Don’t just turn it off. The reason for this is that it whatever computer or router it first sees is the only piece of equipment the modem will talk to. Unplugging the modem clears this memory and allows it to start talking to your router.

Knology and some other providers may ask you to provide the “MAC” address of your computer. As opposed to “Mac” computers from Apple, the MAC is a unique ID number given to every network card. Your router will have this number on the outside of its’ casing.

Finally, there is a percentage of internet companies like Time Warner that require your computer or router to log in. In this case you will also have to follow your setup instructions for configuring the router and find the option (often on the main page), to have the router connect to the internet using “PPPOE.” You will also have to type in a user name and a password that your ISP gives you. This can unfortunately be problematical and confusing, made worse because most ISP’s don’t support home routers, even though it is unsafe to put your computer directly on the internet without one.

When this is all set up, the router decides if any information it sees on the internet needs to be forwarded to your home computers, and if anything your computer is asking for needs to be sent out to the internet in order to download a web page or file. Without any further configuration or setup, you already have the following benefits:

  • Because of a firewall technology called NAT that is built into nearly all home routers, your computer and home network is now one step removed from the internet. By creating a separate network it just became significantly harder to crack into. More importantly, it is almost impossible for most “worms” (a type of virus that scans nearby networks every few minutes) to get into your computer.
  • On some ISP networks, it’s fairly easy to browse and find computers in your neighborhood. While this is less common these days, having a router prevents anyone else your neighborhood from seeing what computers you have running and from looking into any files you may accidentally share out.

Also, if your router has a built-in switch, or if you are using an separate switch, you can now connect more than one computer to the internet without paying up for more than one internet account. Finally, if you bought a wireless router or add a wireless access point, you can also access the internet from any wireless computers in your household.

It’s Spaceship Three

Not really. What’s resurfaced in a press release and is being discussed at slashdot is that Spaceship Three, from Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic (no lack of ambition evident in that name…) is intended to be an orbital craft. While I agree that SS1 can’t simply be scaled up to an orbital vehicle without significant work in materiel and engines (among other things, the total thrust is significantly higher to get into orbit, as well as the deceleration and heat), it will still be interesting to see what the X-prize model of development will bring forth from SC and other competitors.