Apple's FireWire gets nod from High Definition Audio Video Network Alliance

For many years, I've wanted audio and video equipment to use a standard digital connection. Imagine a world where the speakers, DVD player, and TV Audio all plug into a bank of firewire ports on the back of the stereo. It doesn't matter which one because the stereo configures everything automagically and all the signals are digital.

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Star Trek Computer Interface (LCARS)

All I can say is "where do they find the time to do this. . .oh, right, they don't date":

The LCARS Standards Development Board at http://www.lcarsdeveloper.com features near-exact replications of the LCARS interface seen on Star Trek (particularly Voyager). As you'll see on the site, there's more to LCARS than just random colors and numbers, everything actually means something! You can even learn how to pilot the USS Voyager!

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Shareaza spyware?

I was using the P2P program Shareaza the other day (downloading non-copyrighted files, I assure you) and I noticed that my anti-virus software was filtering outgoing mail. The strange part about that is that I don't have a web client configured (I use Gmail). I began trying to figure out which application was trying to send the mail and it turned out that it was Shareaza which is not supposed to have any spyware. The scary part was that the message was being sent to a Russian domain.

I couldn't find the e-mail that was trying to be sent (by checking in AVG's outbox), and after a quick search through the source code, I couldn't find any reference to a .ru address. I'm going to assume that the application has been hijacked somehow, but I used the opportunity to wipe the hard drive and make sure my file system was intact.


UPDATE: after doing some searching on spyware in Shareaza, I managed to find these comments suggesting that it does, in fact, contain spyware:
http://www.download.com/Shareaza/3641-2166_4-9062723.html

UPDATE 2: I managed to find this posting on Shareaza's Wiki:
http://wiki.shareaza.com/static/Troubleshoot.Email
Basically, a computer that Shareaza is trying to connect to is using port 25 as it's "listening" port. This is reserved for SMTP, but when you put Shareaza into "Random Port mode", 25 could occasionally come up. Based on this info, Shareaza does NOT (currently) have spyware.

UPDATE 3: In case you didn't know, the Shareaza domain has been hijacked by scammers, and they have released a version of Shareaza that is loaded with spyware. Do not use Shareaza unless you get it from Sourceforge

http://torrentfreak.com/scammers-move-to-seize-shareaza-trademark-080302/

According to Wikipedia, here is the latest info:

Domain takeover / transfer

On 19 December 2007, the project's domain name, shareaza.com, was redirected to an unrelated site, promoting the download of an spyware client known as ShareazaV4.^[4] As a result, the original project was forced to move their home page to SourceForge.net.

Since 1 January 2008, the new domain takes advantage of Shareaza's built-in automatic update feature to suggest to users that the ShareazaV4 application is an update to Shareaza. This vulnerability was fixed in Shareaza 2.3.1.0.^[5]

The La Societe Des Producteurs De Phonogrammes En France (SPPF), the representative of recording labels in France, has taken legal action against Jonathan Nilson since his name was under the domain shareaza.com at the time.

Attempted trademark takeover

On January 10, 2008, the new owners of Shareaza.com, Discordia Ltd (iMesh Inc.^[6]), filed for trademark registration of the Shareaza name, claiming that the first-ever use of this name was on December 17, 2007.^[7] The Shareaza Development Team urged users of the program to send Letters of Protest to the patent office and set up a legal defense fund.^[8]

Statutory rape

First of all, don't read too much into this post. Take it for what it is.

Why is it that if you have consensual sex with a girl under the age of 18 you can be convicted of rape, but if you marry her, everything is fine? What is it about marriage that makes consensual sex with a minor ok?

Just thought I'd ask.

Rough draft of my Wikipedia entry

Christopher Clark (1967 - present) is an often misunderstood philosopher/software engineer currently residing in Florida. He is best known for his wealth of trivial information, and his logical and methodical outlook towards subjects that others consider inherent.

For example, Christopher's outlook towards parenting includes the following:
1) The world is overcrowded already, why make more babies?
2) I've seen too many relationships/marriages/lives ruined by having children.
3) Children are too much of a financial and emotional burden to have.
4) Parents are ultimately responsible for the upbringing of their children. If a child commits a crime, the parent should be punished as well.
5) Marriage is simply a contract to give away half (or more) of your stuff, especially from the male perspective. It has nothing to do with commitment or love. If you want to prove your dedication and love to your partner, don't cheat on them, don't abuse them, and be their friend.
6) All politicians should be considered corrupt and then prove their honesty and goodwill through their actions (this is a result of the Republican party's hubris and misdeeds over the last decade or so).
Disclaimer: Christopher is a registered republican
7) As a recent study has proven, organized religions (mostly the ones of middle-eastern origin) are more of a detriment to society than and so on.

As you can see, many of his views aren't very close to "mainstream".

It probably comes as no surprise that, mostly based on his views of parenting, Christopher has spent most of his life without a girlfriend (and has obviously never married). Friends agree that he has a lot to offer a woman, namely honesty. This, however, hasn't been enough to overcome the "baby fever" that is drilled into most women's brains from the time they get their first baby doll and stroller. This doesn't seem to bother him as much as it would most people, as he was recently quoted as saying "my life is uncomplicated right now, and that makes up for solitude".

Howard Stern Shaking up the industry

Howard isn't leaving terrestrial radio until Dec. 16th, and Infinity has been really jerking him around. They blame him for the problems they are having when the reality is the stagnant radio market. They relied on him for years to bring in Billions of dollars in revenue and now that he is leaving they have to actually work for a living. They are crapping in their pants now and I feel no pity for them. They brought it on themselves with limited playlists, annoying DJs and way too many commercials. As far as I'm concerned, my Sirius radio and my iPod have completely eliminated any need for local radio.

Whether you like Howard or hate him, he has an enormous influence on the industry. If Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, or Don Imus left the airwave, it would not have a negative effect on the industry. Stern leaves and the largest radio corporation completely changes its business model and some radio stations (that carried Howard's show) went from #1 in their market to #20.

Another year older and deeper in debt

I just turned 38 the other day. Whoopie. Just another day.

Still working as a web developer. Pretty cool work, but it would be nice to be making a little more $$$. I have a butt-load of college related debt to pay off, so I don't really get to enjoy the spoils of my edumacashun.

I did pick up a 37" HDTV. It's a Westinghouse LVM-37w1 (Google it) and I'm using it as my computer monitor as well as my TV. The old Scientific Atlanta Explorer 2200 cable box didn't work very well with the new TV, and it couldn't output any HD channels, so I had to upgrade to the shiny Explorer 8300 HD. It's ok, but compared to my ReplayTV (think Tivo, but better), Scientific Atlanta could do a hell of a lot better. The standard channel guide interface is the same one they've been using for the last 10 years or more, which looks crappy on a standard def TV, imagine what it looks like on a HDTV.

The 8300 does record HD channels (which my ReplayTV couldn't do), but there are a few problems with that too. If you want to start a show (that's currently being recorded) at the beginning, you have to rewind all the way from the "live" position to the start of the show. What happened to the "Play from beginning" feature ReplayTVs have had for 6 years or more?

If you are watching a show being recorded, but you aren't at the "live" position, the show will jump to live when the recording stops. This means you have to navigate to the recorded show and fast forward to the point where you left off.

I sent these, as well as a few other, complaints to BrightHouse Networks and they gave me the standard "thanks for your input but we can't do anything about it" e-mail. If I wanted someone to take my money and ignore me, I'd get married.

Laters

Hurricane Dennis

Ok, we dodged another bullet. Hurricane Dennis skirted the bay area on its way to Pensacola. We had some high winds and some heavy rains, but overall we didn't have any problems.

New Job, New Home

Like I said earlier, I have a new job doing some web dev work. It's working out pretty good so far, but there is a lot for me to learn. It's a little weird working in such a small office. I always feel like I need to be careful what I say and do, but I guess that goes for any new job.

I also found a new apartment in Clearwater. It's only a year or so old, clean, and close to work. Maybe in a couple of years I'll be able to afford a bigger place, but for now this one is fine.

Work

Ok, I found a job!! Pay isn't great, but it'll definitely cover the bills and my enormous student loan debt. Plus, it's a web programming job, so that's cool. We'll see how it goes.

I was a little cautious about taking the job because I was given a counter-offer at my old employer, but it was a toss-up between doing embedded programming in boring old C or doing jsp, xml, sql, and a bunch of other acronyms. Not to mention the fact that I'd have to move back to Orlando. Ugh.

Now I need to find an apartment (I hate Ybor city) and try to find a girl willing to go out with me.

School's out forever

I finally f'ing graduated with my B.S. (an appropriate name) in computer science. It's been tough finding a job thanks to the way large corporations are basically running the country as a puppet government. I'm not an aluminum hat conspiracy theorist, but it's a little obvious that there are a lot of unemployed C.S. majors and big corporations are begging for H1-b visas because there aren't enough programmers. WTF??

Maybe something will come up in a month or so

Gotta love this bird !!!

http://www.i-fred.com/jokes/Parrot.htm

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For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
--Mark 8:36

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Better than Tom Ridge's warning system

http://tinyurl.com/4la4u

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--Mark 8:36



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Fwd: Beware of new STD

The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of sexually transmitted disease.

This disease is contracted through dangerous and high-risk behavior. The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim (pronounced "gonna re-elect him").

Many victims have contracted it after having been screwed for the past 4 years, in spite of having taken measures to protect themselves from this especially troublesome disease.

Cognitive sequellae of individuals infected with Gonorrhea Lectim include, but are not limited
to: Anti-social personality disorder traits; delusions of grandeur with a distinct messianic
flavor; chronic mangling of the English language; extreme cognitive dissonance; inability to incorporate new information; pronounced xenophobia; inability to accept responsibility for
actions; exceptional cowardice masked by acts of misplaced bravado; uncontrolled facial smirking; ignorance of geography and history; tendencies toward creating evangelical theocracies; and a strong propensity for categorical, all-or nothing behavior.

The disease is sweeping Washington. Naturalists and epidemiologists are amazed and baffled that this malignant disease originated only a few years ago in a Texas Bush.




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"Those who cast the votes decide nothing, those who count the votes decide everything." - Joseph Stalin







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