Interesting links and notes on updates to my main website.



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office update

A reminder: Windows Update only updates the Windows OS.
You have to go Office Update to update it as well. In version 5 of Windows Update the link is now inexplicably called "Office Family" (along the top of the screen next to Windows Catalog).

officeupdate.microsoft.com will also land you at the right starting point. posted by Richard at 22:36 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

numbers game

Did backup and purge of spam since 29 Feb 2004.

These are non-overlapping categories.

6067 junk
50 junk to my own domain
44 nigerian type scam
24 phishing
463 virus

While I'm at it, since Google got rid of their browser / OS stats, here's what I see from two sites that get about 100 hits a day each.

IE6 54%, 69%
NS7 13%, 19%
IE5 27%, 10%

XP 35%, 55%
98 23%, 17%
2000 19%, 13%

You can see the impact of upgrading IE6 and XP on the overall Internet.

UPDATE 2004-08-29:
Since yesterday, yes just since yesterday

20 spam
1 phishing
3 virus

Good thing they've got this spam problem fixed right up.
On the plus side, my spam filter is very good. posted by Richard at 22:28 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Installed XP SP2 on laptop.

Make sure to check your hardware vendor's site first for any needed patches.
You may also want to check the support sites for any software that is key to you.

For my PCG-K13 there were two updates recommended to be installed before SP2.

I installed from the CD I got from MS.
It took 40 minutes.

Seems fine. Popup blocking on by default in my IE.

Security Centre link "Get the latest security and virus information from Microsoft" points to test page?
Get the latest security information from Microsoft [ENGLISH TEST PAGE] posted by Richard at 21:53 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Went to see Hero. It was good.
It's in Mandarin with English subtitles.

Afterwards, went to the Basil Leaf. It was also good. I think the phone number is 237-8188. posted by Richard at 21:50 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

So in order to validate as proper XHTML, all of my HTML has to be lowercase?

Do these people realize I've been typing A HREF for the last 9 years?

Plus which, this AND sign thing is nuts.
AND ANDAMP;

I have like ten billion links with AND signs in them.
You think I'm going to change them all, plus which that often breaks the link? posted by Richard at 11:37 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

screenings

I hate CRT.
For TV I have a Dell 2000FP 20" LCD.
Unfortunately it's traditional aspect ratio which is not so good for the 16:9.
So options to upscale are:
bigger Dell LCD TV, with 16:9 aspect
plasma (if I was a millionaire)
and

projector + screen.

Projector is actually gaining big in this market space, and there are now consumer projectors targetted specifically at this market. I know of two people who have this setup now using the InFocus X1. Very nice. I am going to do this as well, I don't know what projector + sound system yet though. HP announced an interesting product today

The HP Instant Cinema Digital Projector ep9010 offers an integrated, portable projector and DVD player with a 5.1-capable surround-sound system, bringing home the Hollywood sound and visual impact of a big- screen cinematic experience -- anywhere a consumer wants to watch movies.

posted by Richard at 12:36 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

I'm in today's Macintouch (the link points to a page that changes every day).

There was a question about options for photographers to sell their photos so I provided a link to the selling section of my digiphoto page. posted by Richard at 11:49 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

I got a couple probes (from the same source IP) on port 2301.
It's registered as

cpq-wbem 2301/tcp Compaq HTTP
cpq-wbem 2301/udp Compaq HTTP

Apparently it's Compaq Insight Management Web Agent which has known vulns.
Pretty old set of vulnerabilties though (circa 1999).

advICE :Exploits :Ports :2301

CVE-1999-0771

Bugtraq 282

Bugtraq 1917 posted by Richard at 09:53 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Quite a good list of the Top SF films of all time. posted by Richard at 07:05 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Kerry was on the Daily Show a few days ago.

Jon will be doing the Republican Invasion of New York, erm I mean their convention, next week starting Tuesday.

Tues should be good as they are having John McCain on. Every time I have seen him on the Daily Show, he has been hilarious. Really. He doesn't have much patience for BS. And all of American politics is BS. posted by Richard at 06:34 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

The Dell 2001FP 20" 1600x1200 LCD is now $1200, online consumer price.

If you use your computer more than a couple hours a day, and you don't have a big monitor, no offense, but you are an idiot.

Consider the money value of your time.

It is amazing that people consider that they are using "the computer" when actually most people are using 1% of the computer, what people actually use is the keyboard, the mouse and the monitor.

When considering large displays, make sure you check the maximum resolution. It's pixels that you want, in addition to display area. Many of the large monitors only do 1280x1024.

Plus which, if you switch to LCD, you will be using an order of magnitude less, yes that's 10x less power and producing very little heat. CRTs suck power and turn it into heat. Plus you will get a bunch of physical space back on your desk.

Now some people argue the dual-monitor alternative, I am in the big single monitor camp. posted by Richard at 06:11 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Harshness of red marks has students seeing purple

When it comes to correcting papers and grading tests, purple is emerging as the new red.

"If you see a whole paper of red, it looks pretty frightening," said Sharon Carlson, a health and physical education teacher at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Northampton. "Purple stands out, but it doesn't look as scary as red."

Via blogdex. posted by Richard at 17:01 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Zellers (HBC) is offering online digital photo prints in Canada

They call it Digilab.ca

It's not clear if they offer postal delivery or if you have to pick up instore. I will investigate further.

Since I'm on the topic, IGA is also offering online photo services.

I will update my digiphoto page when I have a chance.

And still on related topic, AGFA has gotten out of the photo film business.

Film is dead.
Long live digital.
Err, as long as you make backups, anyway. posted by Richard at 14:38 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Incidentally, I got my free XP SP2 CD today. posted by Richard at 14:27 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

MS bought a search engine for Outlook called Lookout.

Once it has built its index, it will search your Outlook email orders of magnitude faster than the existing Outlook search. posted by Richard at 11:50 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

MS KB 842242 - Some programs seem to stop working after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2 has a section "Identifying and opening ports" and also a fairly extensive list of ports in "Programs that may require you to open ports manually", although for all of the games it says "see the documentation" in the Ports column which is not exactly helpful information.

All I have to say is god help the non-tech inclined.

PC Magazine Security Tip: Opening Ports in XP Service Pack 2

MS KB article and other link from PC Mag article Can You Live with Windows XP SP2?

A reminder that you may want to check my TCP/IP ports table. posted by Richard at 11:30 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

This is pretty cool:

LiveHTTPHeaders

It's a plugin for Mozilla and FireFox that will display the HTTP headers - helpful for debugging, without needing to sniff the entire network connection. posted by Richard at 13:01 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

VirusTotal is a free online file scanner that uses multiple antivirus engines to check the file. posted by Richard at 12:46 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

there is no Vietnam

Kerry was on The Daily Show last night (I haven't seen it yet).

Kerry's sole redeeming attribute, as far as I can tell, is that he is not Bush.

Anyway, their brilliant campaign strategy geniuses managed to completely fark up the stupid campaign.

They should have said: "I John Kerry was in Vietnam and I did some stuff. Now let me talk about the 35 years since then."

But no. Big war hero.
Big war hero for 4 months thirty years ago.
Who the fark cares what you did for 4 months three decades ago?
This is like basing your entire life story at 50 on what you did during the first term of university.

Shut the fark up about Vietnam.

So of course, this is great for the Republicans.
They get to push all sorts of buttons jabbering on about what may have happened in the 1960s, instead of talking about actual issues affecting actual people right actually now.

Stupidest. Campaign. Ever.

I'm looking forward to all future campaigns.

I, Joe Candidate, did something.
No you didn't.
Yes I did.
No you didn't.
Yes I did.
(repeat) posted by Richard at 06:30 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

the extended self

I have a problem.
I don't believe in the extended self.

Which makes me not so compatible with the media.
Apparently "we" as Canadians are suffering terrible woes because "we" are not winning gold at the Olympics.

See from my perspective "we" are not at the Olympics.
A bunch of people I don't know are at the Olmpics.
These are the top performers in their sports in the world.
They are already better in their particular area of sport than six billion other people.

Apparently that is not good enough.
If the particular ones who happen to have Canadian nationality do not beat every single other competitor in their field, "we" have failed as a country.

I have definitely failed.
I have failed to care.
Everytime the farking CBC "bwaa da-da-da-daaa da-da-da!" music comes on signalling an OLYMPIC UPDATE I change the channel. posted by Richard at 06:25 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

In case you missed it (and even if you didn't)

The Lord of the Rings Symphony
Saturday, September 04, 2004 @ 8:30pm ET

on Bravo posted by Richard at 19:52 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Windows Auto Update is offering me XP SP2 on one of my machines this morning, so I guess the roll-out must have begun. posted by Richard at 07:16 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Reading Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-Vingts Jours.
Bit of a disappointment really.
Phileas Fogg turns out to be deadly dull.
All he is interested in is keeping to his schedule, which he does with total calm and detachment, and playing whist.

Kind of like the Count of Monte Cristo which I am also reading in French.
The first part where he goes into prison, then gets out, that's good.
But then it goes all off the rails onto these long long discursive stories within stories. posted by Richard at 22:08 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

Watched Hidalgo.
It was terrible.
Not recommended.

Plus which, they kept talking about Iraq and Syria, which I'm pretty sure was anachronistic, since they only were created by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. posted by Richard at 21:38 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

nothing makes money like... money?

Down Bank Street from the giant CashMoney they are putting in... a MoneyMart.

I'm not kidding. posted by Richard at 21:01 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

i need more power

So while contemplating things on vacation, I was thinking about my computer setup.

I have a nice computer desk with WinXP machine, keyboard, 15" LCD screen etc.
Very ergonomic.

But I spend most of my time crouched over my 12" iBook, which is not at all ergonomic. I got a mouse for it but still the keyboard, the display size and height - it's just not good.

Plus which, I can't use the iBook in lid-closed mode, so it's not particularly practical to use it with a KVM.

So then I thought, hmm, why don't I just VNC it over to the WinXP machine.
So that's what I have done.

OSXvnc server on the iBook, RealVNC client on XP.

Works ok, but there is a screen refresh delay (using 802.11b, 11 Mbps).
So now I think I need to upgrade to 802.11g (54 Mbps)

How come every tech idea I come up with ends up costing me money? posted by Richard at 20:50 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

There are lots of sites like this, but anyway for what it's worth:

cheap eats ottawa posted by Richard at 12:38 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)