Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
5:04 pm | Friends Only
This is my journal, and it's basically friends only - bar for a few posts that are community service type things, fic, and some icons. If you're interested in friending me, please comment to this post with a little bit of information about yourself, so that I can friend you back.
Thanks
Gorgeous "friends only" banner is by ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) oxoniensis.
current mood:  curious
18 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
12:42 pm | Iron Lore goes out of business
ILE Closes It happens way too often in the software industry, but in this case it seemed like a developer who had a clue and actually produced some good products. Certainly ones that I enjoyed playing a lot anyway - and indeed am still playing.
current mood:  disappointed
4 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Wednesday, December 6th, 2006
1:03 pm | Community service announcement - Computer Security
So you have a PC (90% of computers in the world run some form of Windows), with an anti-virus package, and possibly a firewall. You may even run some tools to clean spyware from your machine. So that means you're basically okay, right? Wrong. There's a very good chance that you're not okay at all.
Here's a link to a VERY interesting article on the state of the Computer Security industry: Security Absurdity: The Complete, Unquestionable, And Total Failure of Information Security And the followup article based on comments posted to the first article:Community Comments & Feedback to Security Absurdity Article So where does that leave the average computer user? Are we all going to need to be reformatting our hard drives every month or so and reinstalling our operating systems just to get rid of a particularly sinister root kit? Even Microsoft has admitted that it's becoming impossible to recover from malware problems in an April 2006 article in eWeek magazine. (For more information on rootkits, see this article from eWeek - VM Rootkits: The Next Big Threat?.)
But what to do? My favourite PC mag, Maximum PC, recommends the following computer protection tools:All of these, bar Windows Defender which has only two free support incidents, are free - and you probably need to be using all of them on a regular basis. Not just a firewall and an antivirus package. Long gone are the days when you just booted DOS and got on with it.
But all these are just band-aids. The real problem isn't going to go away until there is a fundamental change in operating system design. Even the NSA, the world's largest intelligence agency, thinks that to be the case in it's white paper The Inevitability of Failure: The Flawed Assumption of Security in Modern Computing Environments.
The second article I posted, Comments & Feedback to Security Absurdity Article, has a section towards the end on where Windows Vista fits into the picture. It looks like it definitely will improve things, but it remains to be seen how much. Until then, make sure you're running your firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, rootkit scanner, anti-malware, and startup diagnostic tools regularly.
And before anyone asks, there is no way I'm getting a Mac.
current mood:  indescribable
5 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Thursday, October 26th, 2006
12:04 pm | Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2005
The Lifetime channel is running an online petition to support the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2005, a bipartisan bill that aims to 'ban the practice of "drive-through" mastectomies, when women are forced to leave the hospital just hours after their surgeries and before they are ready to go home.' If you are in the US, I encourage you to go to the site listed below and complete the petition. Lifetime Breast Cancer Petition The petition only requires your name, zip code, and email address, and takes less than a minute to complete (depending on how fast you type ;).
Please support this worthwhile cause.
current mood:  determined
1 rambling thought | add a thought
Wednesday, May 31st, 2006
10:01 pm | New fic: Lenny Goes Golfing (1/1), safe for everyone
This is a sort of sequel to the ficlet that lisayaeger wrote yesterday. I apologise in advance if you're not on her flist as I think it's a locked post, but all really you need to know to understand this is that Lenny is the doorman at the building where General O'Neill lives in DC, and he opens the door on one occasion for both O'Neill and a Ms. Carter. And in the end, Jack asks if he can go golfing with Lenny (who is counting the hours remaining before his retirement).
It's really not as complicated as it sounds. Honest!
Anyway, without further ado ...
( Lenny goes Golfing )
More humorous than fluffy, but that's me I suppose. :)
current mood:  pleased
current music: frogs in the pond behind my house
11 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
12:21 pm | Humour
If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their infamous sketch, "Who's on First?" might have turned out something like this:
( Costello calls to buy a computer from Abbott )
current mood:  amused
8 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Thursday, January 26th, 2006
11:56 am | Happy Australia Day!
It may already be the 27th everywhere in Australia, but here in the US I'm flying my Australian flag on my desk, and celebrating the day as it should be done.
Okay, I'm not really. It's too darn cold to fire up the barbie and cook a few snags, not that you can get anything like the snag quality here as in Aus, but I am at least going to be as Australian as I can be today. And no matter how much people may be navel gazing about what it truly means to be Australian, it all comes down to what's in my icon. ;)
Beuwdy mayte! Hope all you 'strines had a bloody rippaofaday!
current mood:  jubilant
5 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Sunday, January 22nd, 2006
10:30 pm | How much are you worth?
I'm cutting my thoughts here as they're not fandom related, and I don't want to have them in anyone's face unless they really want to read them. That said, these are my thoughts on areas that can be delicate. I'm not attempting to be incendiary, but that doesn't mean they won't be read that way. Please be respectful.
( Thoughts on Sanctity of Life Sunday )
current mood:  thoughtful
19 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Saturday, December 10th, 2005
5:04 pm | Community Service Announcement
The Ten Net Commandments
Something we should all think about adhering to, as they're remarkably sensible.
current mood:  okay
7 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Wednesday, August 24th, 2005
10:30 am | BSG fic: Hatred and Desire
FANDOM: Battlestar Galactica
TITLE: Hatred and Desire
SUMMARY: What do you do when something you thought you had seems to slip through your fingers?
CATEGORY: Angst, missing scene
CHARACTERS: Lee Adama
RATING: Nothing explicit
SPOILERS: Season One, Kobol's Last Gleaming part 1
NOTE: Thanks to seldear for the beta.
( Hatred and Desire )
current mood:  lazy
14 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005
12:35 pm | Is Microsoft trying to discredit BitTorrent?
John Dvorak of PC Magazine certainly seems to think so -> The Scheme to Discredit BitTorrent.
Interestingly, the guy who wrote BitTorrent has an LJ (bramcohen), and he posted a rebuttal today of some of Microsoft's claims regarding their new Avalanch product.
So maybe all this talk of adware and BitTorrent is just disinformation on Microsoft's part? I guess we'll see. I know I don't have problems, but then I like to be careful with checking for adware and spyware.
current mood:  geeky
15 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Thursday, June 16th, 2005
1:17 pm | Spyware may now be distributed through BitTorrent
Watch what you're downloading, and especially what you agree to, when you're grabbing those BitTorrrent downloads: Spyware Floods In Through BitTorrent
Aurora install source revealed, and 175 Megabytes of televisual terror You may also want to check out the eWEEK.com Special Report on Spyware, for more information on various threats out there.
current mood:  discontent
10 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Sunday, May 8th, 2005
3:20 pm | Another birthday
Looks like you've had a great day. Hope the evening is great, too!
Here's a little totally unbeta'd something for you.
( Birthday Supper )
current mood:  mischievous
27 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Monday, March 7th, 2005
5:39 pm | And you thought you were safe ....
For those of you who use Windows XP in some way, April 12 is a very significant date. Why? Because April 12th is the date after which you will no longer be able to run Windows Update if you haven't installed Windows XP SP2.
The first thing you should do is check the version of Windows you are running. To do this, do Start -> Run, and type in the word: winver This will open a Window that says "About Windows", and has a whole bunch of information. What you're looking for is something that looks like:Microsoft (R) Windows
Version 5.1 (Build 2600.xpsp2... : Service Pack 1)
Copyright (C) 1981-2001 Microsoft Corporation If you see something that says "Service Pack 2", you don't need to do anything. However, if you see anything else, you're going to have to upgrade to SP2 before April 12 or else you will no longer be able to get any critical updates to Windows.
I've been running Windows XP SP2 on my home PC since December without any problem, and I've been running it on my kids machine since January. While initially people said you shouldn't do the upgrade and it caused all sorts of problems, I don't think that's true any longer. However, you don't want to have Windows Update do the install. You want to do it yourself. That's the difference.
For details on how to do this, go and check out the following article - > How to SAFELY upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 2. It's a good one, from a guy who writes an online newsletter I read regularly, and hopefully it will get you through the upgrade process painlessly.
Now, back to that work thing ...
current mood:  busy
24 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Saturday, January 29th, 2005
2:30 pm | BSG Caps
Made these on the train on Wednesday. Having a laptop with a power adapter on a 5 hour train ride meant I was most productive. ;)
These are all saved at maximum JPG resolution, except for Colonial Day, which means the zips are larger than normal.
1.01 - 33 - 142 caps, ~ 14.1 MB, 640 x 368 - widescreen
1.02 - Water - 127 caps ~ 12.6 MB, 640 x 368 - widescreen
1.11 - Colonial Day - 168 caps ~ 4.0 MB, 640 x 368 - widescreen
1.13 - Kobol's Last Gleaming Part 2 - 270 caps ~ 27.6 MB, 640 x 368 - widescreen
( samples )
Please comment if you're taking.
current mood:  drained
current music: New Order - True Faith '94
68 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Friday, January 21st, 2005
10:10 pm | More BSG caps
1.04 - Act of Contrition - 218 caps, ~ 4.9 MB, 640 x 368 - widescreen
( samples )
Please comment if you're taking.
current mood:  tired
63 rambling thoughts | add a thought
11:01 am | BSG Caps
Went a touch overboard capping episode 1x12, Kobol's Last Gleaming part 1. Still, it is what it is. :)
1.12 - Kobol's Last Gleaming 1 - 277 caps, ~ 5.2 MB, 640 x 368 - widescreen
( samples )
Please comment if you're taking.
current mood: okay
82 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Friday, December 31st, 2004
4:34 pm | Helping with Tsunami Relief
If you're interested in knowing how you can help with relief for last Sunday's tsunami and earthquake, there are a couple of places you can look.
An interesting site is The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog. There are lots of posts there about what people are doing to help, as well as information on how you can get involved.
Google also have a link up on their main page for all the places you can find information on what happened, as well as places you can go to provide donations. You can find that page here.
current mood:  hopeful
12 rambling thoughts | add a thought
11:07 am | 125,000 and counting
The earth shook, the sea rose up, and there was death on a biblical scale
No matter what may be happening to us at this time of year, be it parties, celebrations, spending time with family, or just relaxing, at least we have our lives. For many thousands of people in nearly 50 countries, there will be no new year. For many thousands more the changing of the date will bring no joy. They have lost family, friends, their livelihoods, all their possessions. The minor and petty problems that we have, and frequently complain about, are dwarfed by the magnitude of this disaster.
I uphold all of them in my prayers, and am overwhelmingly grateful that I still have all those things.
current mood:  mournful
5 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Thursday, December 16th, 2004
3:43 pm | Enjoying those holiday e-cards?
Be very careful. E-Card Holiday Virus Packs Ugly Punch
current mood:  cranky
add a thought
Tuesday, December 14th, 2004
9:00 am | Australia from Space
A friend of mine just sent me this link to the NASA Planetary Photojournal. It's constructed from Shuttle images made in 1994 and 2000, and if you look at the large images (the bottom two links on the right), it's absolutely gorgeous.
I love my country.
current mood:  nostalgic
2 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Wednesday, November 24th, 2004
10:35 pm | Good grief it's fanfic!
Title: Chile
Author: chiroho
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Spooks 306
Author's Note: A post episode ficlet for Spooks 306. No doubt it's already been pre-empted by episode 307, but this is the way I would have done it. Thanks heaps to alliesings for the quick beta, and to samkicksass for reading it over.
( Chile )
current mood: okay
19 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Wednesday, June 30th, 2004
11:15 am | New drabble
Title: Control
Rating: PG
Spoilers: 24 Season 2, 1300 - 1400
Author's Note: Thanks to catch22girl, and as always to alliesings for their thoughts and assitance
( Control )
current mood: pleased
3 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Tuesday, June 15th, 2004
9:07 pm | Problems with yahoo mail?
It shouldn't be causing too many problems now, but problems with accessing Yahoo, Google, and a lot of other sites earlier in the day were related to this - Blackout hits major Web sites.
current mood: geeky
6 rambling thoughts | add a thought
Sunday, June 6th, 2004
9:10 pm | 60th anniversary of D-Day
On this day 60 years ago, Allied troops landed in German occupied Europe. "In one night and day, some 175,000 fighting men and their equipment, including 50,000 vehicles of all types, ranging from motorcycles to tanks and armoured bulldozers, were transported across sixty to a hundred miles of open water, and landed on a hostile shore against intense opposition. They were either carried by or supported by 5,333 ships and craft of all types, and almost 11,000 airplanes ... It was as if the cities of Green Bay, Racine, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, were picked up and moved - every man, woman, and child, every automobile and truck - to the east side of Lake Michigan, in one night."
D-Day - June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II, Stephen E. Ambrose, Touchstone Press, 1994, pp24-25 The first troops to land were 1st Platoon, D Company, the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regiment, British 6th Airborne Division. They landed along the Caen Canal at 0016 hours, British double-daylight savings time. The first allied soldier killed by enemy fire was twenty-six year old Lt. Den Brotheridge, commander of that same platoon. He was shot in the neck while crossing "Pegasus Bridge" in the village of Benouville, on the bank of the Caen Canal. He left an eight month pregnant wife behind in England. His two years of training and preparation lasted perhaps two minutes into the invasion.
The first German casualty of the actual defence of Fortress Europe was an unknown sentry of that same bridge, killed by a burst from "Danny" Brotheridge's Sten gun after firing a flare from his Leuchtpistole to alert the remainder of the German garrison. His act of sacrifice proved worthless, as the three platoons of D Company had secured the bridge by 0021.
These were only two of the many casualties suffered that day. Approximately 4,900 Allied troops were killed or injured that day (no accurate numbers are available for D-Day only), some 2,000 of them occurring on Omaha beach alone, the strongest point of German resistance. Most Allied soldiers were around 20 years of age, while many German soldiers were either old men or boys, some only 17. A large number of defenders of the "Atlantic Wall" were Ost battalion troops - Russians, Poles, and Czechs - forced into static defence units, sometimes against their will. No German casualties for that day are available.
It was a turning point in World War II. From that day onwards, the final result of the war was never really in doubt. Yet the sacrifice on both sides was great. Let us hope that we never have to make a similar sacrifice again.
current mood: reflective
5 rambling thoughts | add a thought
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