Today I was using someone else’s computer and I realized how productive Google helps me be.
It isn’t thier search or productivity features I am talking about here, it is their front page. Wheneve I sit down at someone’s computer and they have not changed their home page from www.msn.com I end up clicking on stories and getting distracted.
All of the computers I directly manage and potentially use the browser have one of two pages set as the home page. The first is on my primary computers and is nothing but links to important sites, the second is just google.com and that is on those computers that are used by others as well.
It seems odd to complain about a web site listing compelling and interesting stories every time you visit, but sometimes I just need to work.
My wife has asthma, and I have occasionally suffered from asthma like symptoms that require me to use an inhaler as well, so I know what fun it can be. Most inhalers I have used make me feel jittery because the medicine is often steroidal.
Now there is a chance you can enjoy that feeling even if you don’t have asthma, and you can do it with caffeine.
Someone recently passed on info about Patent 7078016 which details this device, but what use is a patent without a product. When I think caffeine and inhalers I immediately think geek, and it is indeed available at thinkgeek.com as a the Buzzaire.
Note: Read the restrictions and don’t give to pets, especially hyper miniature dogs who could possibly explode after exposure.
(Note 2: Buzzaire is a joke,)
Published on
September 26, 2006 in
Techie.
8 hours of frustration solved in 10 minutes with the right tool.
Warning: Geek Speak AheadÂ
I just completed a web site transfer for the church web site. We had been developing it on a separate domain on the server until it was ready to go live. When the time came to move the files I remembered that it is difficult to tar up the files and transfer them with permissions intact without ssh access.
I did up a php script which tarred it all up and then moved that to the new filespace, but php accessed from the web runs with the rights of the server instead of the rights of the user. That becomes a pain very quickly.
I tried to use the poor man’s ssh by running the php file through cron, but for some reason I couldn’t get it to function quite right. Believe me, I tried, but I just couldn’t get it to run like I have in the past.
I went for frame based redirect as a temporary patch, but that is never a satisfactory option when you know you can do it right.
I got ssh activated by the sysadmin and a quick tar / wget / tar later and I was ready to have everything in place.
Whenever you can, make sure your host allows ssh. And keep a good list of linux commands at hand.
Weird Al is back with a new music video. I just found it over at YouTube and it is great. White & Nerdy.
There is more weird Al here and here (MySpace Warning).
Published on
September 24, 2006 in
Techie.
Today I was sitting in a back room ripping the sermon CD to mp3 for the podcast and figured I would put these out on the blog.
Top 10 (aka. 1010) Signs Your Church is Geeky
- Most ministries are named using recursive acronyms.
- There are many more people in the sound booth than there are ever on the stage.
- Altar calls are done via IM.
- Small Groups have been replaced by SkypeGroups.
- Your worship leader rewrote Martin Luther’s song to “A Mighty Firewall Is Our God.”
- Some are so paranoid about using any public wi-fi that you are installing fiber to the pews.
- The call to worship prayer includes “Lord, we pray that the fire this morning will come from our hearts and not from our laptops.”
- That whole “God responds to knee-mail” joke has been banned.
- As the congregation has been growing there has been discussion of “installing” new services.
- The preacher’s outline is listed as points 1, 10, and 11.
If you can think of any other good ones, please post them in the comments. 
Edit: Also, check out the following posts dealing with “The Geek Driven Church.”
- “10 More Signs Your Church is Geekyâ€
- “Another 10 Signs Your Church Is Geekyâ€
Published on
September 24, 2006 in
Techie.
This is from an old Microsoft document published back in 2000, but it serves as a good basis for teaching people about proper use of their computers. I appreciate how it emphasizes the ownership of the computer not as the physical posession, but as control.
Law #1: If a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, it’s not your computer anymore
Law #2: If a bad guy can alter the operating system on your computer, it’s not your computer anymore
Law #3: If a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it’s not your computer anymore
Law #4: If you allow a bad guy to upload programs to your website, it’s not your website any more
Law #5: Weak passwords trump strong security
Law #6: A computer is only as secure as the administrator is trustworthy
Law #7: Encrypted data is only as secure as the decryption key
Law #8: An out of date virus scanner is only marginally better than no virus scanner at all
Law #9: Absolute anonymity isn’t practical, in real life or on the Web
Law #10: Technology is not a panacea
#6 is very important, but how many church leaders would read this list? The people who know about the importance of security are typically the people who are directly in charge of it, everyone else would prefer to be blissfully ignorant. Who verifies the integrity and preparedness of the system administrator where you are? If you are the system administrator, who is watching you? If nobody is then maybe you should request it.
You can read the details here: 10 Immutable Laws of Security.
Published on
September 20, 2006 in
Techie.
I have not yet used this, but I like the idea.
Remote access to a computer is great, but Windows Remote Desktop cannot control a Windows XP Home computer and even if it could then it takes a while to explain to the person you are helping. Lifehacker did a recent post on the UltraVNC Server Creator which lets you put together a preconfigured package for someone to give you access to their computer.
NAT Routers and Firewalls get in the way of this stuff, and for good reason, but if you innitiate the request from behind the firewall then the firewall will let the response back through, therefore the firewall ceases to be a problem.
The person who needs support innitiates the help request with the preconfigured file you send by email. It connects into your system (which has the specific firewall ports open) and lets you in.
More instructions here: Tech support with UltraVNC SingleClick
I was cleaning through some files and came across an interesting image I saved from the Comcast web site:
I get it. She is a recent graduate and therefore has more books than spare money. That is why she is using an old crate with a newspaper as a seat and could only find stacks of books to balance her nice glass desk top. I can just imagine the problems when she rests her arms on the desk (which is at a poor ergonomic height from the crate), and I can see the laptop, flower vase, and everything else falling to the floor as the glass top drops and crushes her toes.
But then she is crawling underneat to hook up the cables rather than just reaching behind the laptop and she has hooked up crummy cheap speakers instead of just using the ones built in. I’m guessing she wasn’t valedictorian.
Published on
September 18, 2006 in
Security.
“Seven cameras in Middlesbrough town centre have a facility, which allows operators to bark orders at those involved in anti-social behaviour.” -Â BBC News UK
Our DCS-3220g cameras have this ability.
I have been tempted to use them in different areas of the church with the speakers mounted above the ceiling tiles. Then I could not only tell people to close doors, but maybe even cause a few “religious experiences.”
I could collect a list of open volunteer positions and then recruit via talking camera. So far I have had a few people respond positively to the idea. Mainly people who need to recruit volunteers.
After this accident, this protection looks like a good idea.
