Filed August 14, 2009 at 7:49 am under Geeky by TJ
Thanks to Google, hundreds of millions of people are today celebrating Hans Christian Ørsted’s birthday without having much of a clue who he is … so who exactly was he?
Hans Christian Øersted: the Danish physicist’s birthday is being celebrated with a Google Doodle. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Probably not even the physics geeks remember much about Hans Christian Ørsted, although Google’s Doodle logo illustrates his key discovery. That is, if you run a current through a wire – in this case, from the battery at the front – then the electricity creates a magnetic field, which will deflect a compass needle.
I have to admit, I knew who he was, but I am a computer, science, electronics, micro/macro electronics geek. Did you know who he was?
Filed January 19, 2007 at 3:22 pm under Geeky by TJ
Here’s some random thoughts that will be very boring to the non-geeky type.
Anyone tired of spam yet? I know I am, as they even finally got my super secret spy ninja fly bat phone email address. I’m able to filter just about all spam except for the stock scam pump and dump crap. My spamassassin filters just don’t seem up to the task of getting rid of these. Anyone else know of a linux server based filter (or SA ruleset) that is actually effective at getting rid of them? I have SA set to drop anything over 4, and these have been coming up anywhere from a .5 to a 3.9 score. I may have to do some ruleset tweaking. Any suggestions?
Then to top it all off, someone tried to spam the comments portion of this site a couple of days ago. How rude… Fortunatly, my Wordpress spam setup (comment approval for new people – plus image verification to keep out bots) seems to work OK.
Filed August 1, 2006 at 8:14 pm under Geeky by TJ
BUENOS DIAS!!!
JOU HAVE YUST RECEIBED A MEHICAN BYRUS.
SIN WE NO HABE SO GOOD TECHNIOLOGICALLY ADBANCE IN MEHICO, DEES IS AÂ MANUAL BYRUS.
PLEESE DELETE ALL JOUR FILES ON JOUR HARD-DRIVE JOURSELF AND SEND THEESÂ E-MAIL TO EBERYONE JOU KNOW.
TANK JOU FOR HALPING ME.
JULIO MANUEL JOSE RODRIGUEZ-GARCIA—-MEXICAN HACKER
Filed June 23, 2006 at 2:19 pm under Geeky and Parrotheads by TJ
I have got all the hardwood down in the living room, and rented a drum sander this morning first thing to get everything sanded. I got the drum sander back, and was home in plenty of time to stain, so now I can poly the floors starting tonight. I just might have everything done in there and de-fumigated by Sunday, so I can go get my bird… I’m excited and really looking forward to it.
And in other news, bird flu has been found to have spread to Florida by migrating Flamingos.
Â
Filed June 20, 2006 at 9:55 am under Boring Stuff and Family and Geeky by TJ
Sorry, I’ve been working on putting down new hardwood flooring in the downstairs of my house, it’s been really busy.Â
- Boat was vandalized Friday Night/Saturday Morning last weekend. Someone cut the dock line and the dock awning, sending my boat floating and hitting stuff everytime a boat would come by and make a wave. Police report filed, turned into insurance. Boat was pulled from the water Saturday PM, pending repairs and a safe place to dock it. Pictures to come…
- Father’s Day Presents included a new Hitachi table saw (comsumers choice best buy) and Snoockies, an 11 year old Moluccan Cockatoo. I got to use the tablesaw on Saturday (kidnapped my present early – right out of Jaymie’s trunk), and I pick up the M2 (Moluccan Cockatoo – M2 – get it?) this coming weekend.
- Last year I installed laminate flooring in the living room, planning on continuing throughtout the downstairs this year with the same stuff. What happens then when the company stops making the same stuff? I guess we rip it all out, and install real oak hardwood floors. What a pain in the ass. The laminate went over to Moose’s new house. I got a steal on the hardwood, as the local hardwood flooring company (Newport Outlet) is going out of business, and had an auction. I definetly got enough to do the entire downstairs, buying a large pallat at the auction, for about 15 cents on the dollar. It’s going to be less expensive to do the entire downstairs with hardwood, than it was to do the living room with laminate. As an added bonus, it is just generic 3″ engineered oak plank, so I should not have any issues matching it up, if I need to in the future.
- The building permit for the room addition has been approved by county engineering. Oh, yeah, I’m adding on to my house. It’s going to be 2 story, 24′ x 20′, for a total if 960 additional square feet. Downstairs is going to be a gameroom/bar and upstairs for now is going to be a home theater room/kids play room. Both levels are going to have a half bathroom, and the upstairs can be turned into 2 bedrooms at a later time if needed. There will also be a staircase from the second story to the first (as well as the original one in the house). I have pictures I will work on getting posted. We are going to break ground and the slab should be pored later this summer.
Jaymie and the kids are doing great, and everyone says hello!
Filed June 20, 2006 at 8:56 am under Boring Stuff and Family and Geeky and Grog and Salmagundi and Pirate Info by TJ
I tried to get this update out in May (5/17), as an email newsletter, but I had formatting issues. I’ll refresh the content a little bit, but some of the “news” is a month old, keep that in mind.
TJ & Jaymie Tryon and Family Update
After a few hours of beautiful afternoon today, it has started raining again here in Indiana. I think we have had rain for about 10 days in a row, which is a good thing, as it is not snow. That means that it is spring again in Indiana! Another season and another year, it’s time to give everyone an update on our family.
If you haven’t been by my blarg lately, be sure to stop on by, as I’ve upgraded the software and formatting that runs my server, giving it a new look and feel, and I’m doing very regular updates to it. It’s a great place to stop by and see pictures of the kids, as well as to find out what we are up to now. Sometimes you may even get some useless information that comes out of my head, or my “secret” recipes for things. Any way about it, be sure to stop on by…
For our annual spring break trip, we made the entire Florida loop, with family stops in St. Pete (Jaymie’s Cousin), North Port (My uncle Tab), Ft. Myers (Oma). Both girls and mom handled the drive time quite well. After we were done visiting our families, we had to get back to the islands. Key West was the destination (of course) and we spent a few days in the sun, and enjoying the sites and sounds of paradise. Both Tanner and Teressa got to experience their second Sunset Celebration, as well as plenty of swimming time, and the best of all, the site seeing around town. After a few days, we headed up to Orlando, as Teressa wanted to see the “Rat”. We had a beautiful condo for the rest of vacation, just outside the entrance to Disney. We got to go to Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios, Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Teressa and Tanner had a great time.
Click on the picture to view a larger image,
or see the picture galleries at http://www.tjtryon.com/galleries      Â
Let’s start with the youngest… I bet you thought that would be Tanner, well, guess what, you’re wrong. Jaymie is pregnant again, about half way through. This baby is due on October 10th, and we are excited. We don’t know the sex of the baby yet, but knowing my track record, I’d bet on a girl. Speaking of bets, we’ve started a pool for guessing the new baby’s info, which can be found here: http://www.pregpool.com/online/jaymiet/. The pool is a 70/30 split, and each guess costs $10. Be sure to stop on by to register your guess.
As far as names, I think we’ve decided on either Tabytha Rose Tryon or Tobyas Trey Tryon (yeah, I know, it’s the Tryon name game).
Tanner is 1 year old on Sunday. Time just goes by too fast. She’s been walking for several months now, and talking up a storm. Too bad we don’t always know what she’s saying, but if we don’t understand, she’ll point to whatever she wants anyways. Anytime someone walks into the room, she greats them with a big smile full of teeth and a “Hi!”. All in all she’s doing great, and really looking forward to her first birthday party on the 28th.
Teressa is doing great in school as usual. Can you believe she’s a teenager now? That’s right, she turned 13 in March. She’s a great big sis to Tanner, and they get along fantastic. She’ll be up for most of the summer this year, as usual, and I would bet she’s going to be spending most of the time on the lake. Last summer she learned to waterski and kneeboard, and was pretty good at it. She even topped ole’ dad on the kneeboard, as she was able to do 360’s on it. She’s made it to visit quite a few times, as well as us making it to Tennessee as well.
Jaymie wanted to tell everyone she is fat and miserable. We found out Jaymie was pregnant on February 1st, and we are anxious and excited about the new baby, however completely terrified – We’ll have two in diapers at the same time. She’s been planning Tanner’s 1st birthday party, which will have a “JoJo’s Circus” theme, and having too much fun with that.
TJ (Me) – Since it’s warmed up, we’ve been trying to spend a bit of time outside, getting Tanner and mom outside as much as possible. As always, I’m trying to find a way to enjoy being outside and the nice sunny weather we (sometimes) have. I’ve been busy the past couple of months with yardwork, and will be starting a project to extend the deck around our hot tub.
Computer Tip
What is Phishing and Pharming?
Phishing attacks use both social engineering and technical subterfuge to steal consumers’ personal identity data and financial account credentials. Social-engineering schemes use ’spoofed’ e-mails to lead consumers to counterfeit websites designed to trick recipients into divulging financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords and social security numbers. Hijacking brand names of banks, e-retailers and credit card companies, phishers often convince recipients to respond. Technical subterfuge schemes plant crimeware onto PCs to steal credentials directly, often using Trojan keylogger spyware. Pharming crimeware misdirects users to fraudulent sites or proxy servers, typically through DNS hijacking or poisoning.
The number and sophistication of phishing scams sent out to consumers is continuing to increase dramatically. While online banking and e-commerce is very safe, as a general rule you should be careful about giving out your personal financial information over the Internet. Here is a list of recommendations below that you can use to avoid becoming a victim of these scams.
- Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information
- unless the email is digitally signed, you can’t be sure it wasn’t forged or ’spoofed’
- phishers typically include upsetting or exciting (but false) statements in their emails to get people to react immediately
- they typically ask for information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc.
- phisher emails are typically NOT personalized, while valid messages from your bank or e-commerce company generally are
- Don’t use the links in an email to get to any web page, if you suspect the message might not be authentic
- instead, call the company on the telephone, or log onto the website directly by typing in the Web adress in your browser
- Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information
- you should only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure website or the telephone
- Always ensure that you’re using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser
- to make sure you’re on a secure Web server, check the beginning of the Web address in your browsers address bar – it should be “https://” rather than just “http://”
- Regularly log into your online accounts
- don’t leave it for as long as a month before you check each account
- Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card satements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate
- if anything is suspicious, contact your bank and all card issuers
- Ensure that your browser is up to date and security patches applied
- in particular, people who use the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser should immediately go to the Microsoft Security home page — http://www.microsoft.com/security/ — to download a special patch relating to certain phishing schemes
- Always report “phishing” or “spoofed†e-mails to the following groups:
- forward the email to mailto:reportphishing@antiphishing.org
- forward the email to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov
- forward the email to the “abuse” email address at the company that is being spoofed (e.g. “spoof@ebay.com”)
- when forwarding spoofed messages, always include the entire original email with its original header information intact
- notify the Internet Fraud Complaint Center of the FBI by filing a complaint on their website: www.ifccfbi.gov/
Â
Pirate Yarns
Anne Bonney was born Anne Cormac in County Cork, Ireland. Her mother, Mary Brennan, was the daughter of a servant woman who had an affair with her employer, a lawyer named William Cormac. His wife soon discovered the affair and William Cormac, Mary Brennan, and a young Anne crossed the Atlantic to flee the scandal. They settled in Charleston, S.C.Anne quickly became bored with life on her father’s plantation, and was drawn to a life of adventure. Before Anne was out of her teens she married James Bonney, who was a renegade seaman and sometimes pirate. At this time pirates frequented Charleston. James planned to steal William Cormac’s land through the marriage but Anne’s father disowned her before this could be done. Legend has it that in retaliation, Anne burned the plantation to the ground.
They Fled to Nassau, the pirate haven. In this time it was called New Providence. James Proved a coward and a traitor, then became a paid snitch for the governor. Anne soon distanced herself from James, perferring the company of the island’s notorious pirates and women.
After meeting the pirate “Calico Jack†Rackham (nicknamed for his tacky striped pants) she became romantically involved with him. He had just commandeered a ship full of liquor from his former boss, pirate captain Charles Vane. When James Bonney objected to the affair, he took Anne, brought her naked before the governor and charged her with the felony of deserting him. Calico Jack suggested instead putting Anne up for sale to the highest bidder because she was then considered to be stolen property (an “under-the-table legal practice for divorce at the time). James got a court order forbidding Jack and Anne to see each other. Despite Jack’s rather less-than-romantic proposal, Anne ran away with Calico Jack and joined his ship’s crew, disguised as a man.
The Conclusion: Charles Barnet, a former pirate turned pirate-hunter, attacked Calico Jack’s ship in 1720. Barnet caught Rackham and his crew. Anne is said to have shouted, “If there’s a man among ye, ye’ll come out and fight like the men ye are to be.†When this provoked no answer, they were outraged by the cowardly men. Anne and Mary shot the male pirates, killing one and wounding several others, including Jack Rackham. Only Anne and Mary stood their ground, fighting furiously. But despite Anne and Mary’s ferocity, the pirates were captured.
At this time women had no rights, although it was illegal to execute a pregnant woman, so Anne and Mary, “plead their belliesâ€, claiming to be with child. All that were captured were hanged, except Anne and Mary. After the trial, Anne Bonney disappeared from this historical record.It is rumored she was hanged around a year later, however other rumors were that she was granted a reprieve, some even say that she returned to her father, others say her husband and one myth even went as far as to say that she became a nun.
Links
Last time, I had just finished reading a book who’s story was geographically located in the Gulf Shores/Mobile area, and I included some good links to the area. We recently got back from Key West, and I love the area. There is so much history to Key West, so I am going to include a little story and some links to more info on Key West.
My favorite story is about a drunk mayor, and an overzealouse US Government roadblock effort, in April of 1982, on Key Largo to stop illegal products or immigration:
“Enter a bunch of outraged Conchs, who came up with the brilliant idea of seceding from the USA. They formed the nation of the Conch Republic, whose first act was to secede from, and whose second act was to declare war on, the USA. The third act, of course, was to surrender and request $1 million in foreign aid, presumably for more tequila.â€
Â
“Well I hope you understand, I just had to go back to the island.†– JB
Â
Official Web Site of the Conch Republic
Pirate’s In Paradise
Some Key West History
Official Key West Florida Site
Key West Travel Links
Key West Travel Links
Drink of the Week
The Mojito. Very yummy. For a variation, try pineapple or mango rum. I had the pineapple.Mojito
Ingredients:
2-3 oz Light rum
Juice of 1 Lime (1 oz)
2 tsp Sugar
2-4 Mint sprigs
Soda water
Mixing instructions:
Lightly muddle the mint and sugar with a splash of soda water in a mixing glass until the sugar dissolve and you smell the mint. Squeeze the lime into the glass, add rum and shake with ice. Strain over cracked ice in a highball glass. Top with soda water, garnish with mint sprig and serve.
help?
Follow me on Facebook: