Technical Problems

Sorry that I haven't been updating lately, but I've been having technical problems (or rather, my ISP has). My internet access is somewhat intermittent at present, as soon as the issue is resolved I'll catch up with the posts.

BTW, I shall be issuing the 'Blog of the month' award on the 28th, so if you haven't submitted your blog for nomination, you'd best get it in quickly. Dont forget, if you don't win this months award, you can always enter for next months.

Sorry for the Pageload Delay

It seems that my Tagboard Server is experiencing problems at the present, which is causing my page to load somewhat slowly. Sorry for the inconvenience, hopefully all will be restored soon.

Tony

Where do you want to go today ? (anywhere but Windows Update)

I spent the best part of a day installing SP1 and all the darn security and critical updates, I get to the last update and what happens, the thing hangs-up --- no prob thinks I, i'll just continue from where I left off --- so, I go back to Windows Update and continue the download.
30 minutes later the update is installed and the dialogue box informs me that I have to restart the PC, I click 'Restart now' and hey presto! ... the fecking PC goes into an eternal loop of restarting as soon as Windows has loaded. After spending hours trying to rectify the problem I finally give in and do a complete re-install of XP, which takes another 8hrs (having to install drivers, apps and all the other crap).
Now one of my qualities is 'persistence', so off I go to windows update and proceed to download SP1 and all the other critical crap. Many hours later i'm downloading the last of the batch, when... you guessed it, the download hangs-up again. Eventually I get the last of the updates and I'm presented with the 'Restart now' dialogue box, hesitantly I click the mouse and ....and everything works fine.
The moral of this story:

If at first you dont succeed, don't expect to know why.

Session Time Bomb

If you have installed Microsoft Antispyware (Beta), then I suggest you run it and take a look in the Help/About/Diagnostics menu, as I found an entry there that said something like this:

sessiontimebomb 162 days

SessionTimeBomb ???? What the heck is that all about ?

I decided that I trusted Microsoft about as much as I trust Tony Blaire, so I promptly uninstalled Antispyware (Beta). I shall wait until the Final release before I re-install the beastie (Microsoft have apparently decided that they will not charge for the full version when it eventually gets released)

[Listening to: Shiver - Coldplay - Parachutes (05:02)]

Warning - This is highly addictive

Ever find yourself looking for something to fill those times of inactivity or boredom ? Look no further, for here is a link to an amusing little game in which you must bat a Penguin as far as you can across the ice.
To do this you simply left-click to cause the Penguin to dive, then left-click again to swing the bat (it all hangs on your timing).

http://alec.at.tut.by/penguin.swf (requires the Flash Plug-in)

Let me know what your personal best score is.

Have fun.

Searching for Entertainment

It was the mid-nineties when I first got connected to the Internet and it wasn't long before I discovered that wonderful entity 'the search engine'. This tool was my gateway to hours of entertainment, whereas most people probably used the search engine to diligently seek out vital information, I put it to far better uses. Here's what I would do: -

I'd take a dictionary and starting at the letter 'A', I would find a word that I considered pretty obscure, then enter it into the search engine. I would then go to the first page that showed in the results.
Working through the dictionary alphabetically, I'd find a second word and enter it into the search engine. I'd then go to the second page that showed in the results, and so on. In this way I would spend hours trekking around the Internet, discovering websites that covered a wide variety of subject matter. Little by little I would build upon my bookmarks and slowly increase my vast knowledge of useless facts.

Of course, back in the nineties the threat of spyware, adware and virus's was not what it is today. So if you want to play the search engine game, then I suggest you arm yourself with an arsenal of anti-threatware utilities first. Incidentally there are many good free sources of anti-threatware available for download, here is a list of links to some of the better ones that I have discovered.

Anti-Virus
AVG Antivirus (free edition)
Trend Housecall (free online scan)

Spyware/Adware Removers
Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta (free edition)
Lavasoft Ad-Ware SE Personal (free edition)
Spybot Spyware Remover (free edition)

Firewalls
Zonealarm (free edition)
Sygate Personal (free edition)

Security Fixes from Gibson Research Corporation
DCOMbobulator (closes the DCOM's remote exploit in Windows XP)
Xpdite (Replaces an unsafe file in Windows XP)
ShootTheMessenger (prevents the Windows Messenger Service exploit)
Unplug n Pray (closes the Universal Plug and Play Service in Windows)
Gibson Research Corporation homepage

Enjoy your searching.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day celebration dates back to the ancient times when the 'Feast of Lupercal' was celebrated in the honour of the Roman God of Fertility. This day falls on the 15th of February every year. According to a time worn custom, on the eve of Lupercalia (14th of Feb) a ritual of 'name drawing' was followed, during which a young man drew the name of a girl from the lot, who was to be his sweetheart for the whole year.
Since then, this day (14th of Feb) has been considered as the day of Cupid, the mischievous son of Venus -the Roman Goddess of Love. Lovers through the ages have taken this day as their own - a day to celebrate the finest human emotion.

The reason for celebration is ageless, but it was much later that a great lover gave the day his name. The eternal lover that gave us the famous word 'Valentine' and originated the tradition of writing love letters on this day, is believed to be Bishop Valentine. He was a priest in Rome when, the city was ruled by 'Claudius the Cruel'. Inspite of the fact that Claudius had forbidden Christian conversions and Christian marriages, the Bishop refused to surrender to Roman Gods and carried on his religious duties in secret. He was imprisoned for disobedience, but even in prison he converted the convicts. While he was in prison, the jailer's daughter became his friend and was loyal to him through his ordeal. When Claudius came to know that imprisonment had not broken his enduring Christian spirit, the bishop was executed. However, on the day of his death Valentine wrote a note to his friend, 'the jailer's daughter' and signed it - 'From Your Valentine'. This great man who died for his beliefs, for his enduring love of the Christian God, was chosen as the patron Saint of lovers. 14th February has since been celebrated as Valentine's Day.
Romantic souls all over the world have preferred to focus on the romantic twist of this tale, the story of the man who united lovers in the holy bond of marriage; a man who loved his jailer's daughter and started the tradition of writing love notes.

There are many other stories as to the origin of Valentine's day, but this particular one is regarded as the most credible.

Anyway, I wish you all a happy Valentine's Day.

The Irony

The Front Page of a Local Newspaper.

Obviously the editor wasn't behind Kraft's (producers of dairy products) cause.

Windows XP Updates Questionaire

I've been looking at my site-stats and noticed that 89% of my visitors are using Windows XP, so I'd like to ask a few questions of those 89%.

1. Do you have Service Pack 1 installed ?
2. Do you have Service Pack 2 installed ?
3. If you're using Service Pack 2, have you had any problems with it ?
4. Do you have the latest security updates ?
5. If you have the latest security updates has installing them caused any problems ?

Feedback would be appreciated, thank you.

Firms warned to approach Firefox migration with caution

Analyst firm Gartner has said that companies should think carefully before migrating from the Internet Explorer browser to the open-source Firefox browser from Mozilla.

The Gartner report said Firefox's growth, so far, was "unsustainable" as many of the features that had made it popular were primarily aimed at individual users not businesses.

Gartner said the most likely scenario in the future is that Internet Explorer will co-exist with Firefox on PC's as companies install Firefox as a back-up browser and to make sure they do not miss out on future features.

Another probable factor in Firefox failing to severely dent Internet Explorer's base in the commercial sector is the increasing number of worms and viruses now targeting Firefox and other browser alternatives to Internet Explorer.

(full article here)

Remember You're a One-Ball

A woman who ripped off her ex-boyfriend's testicle with her bare hands has been sent to prison.
Amanda Monti, 24, flew into a rage when Geoffrey Jones, 37, rejected her advances at the end of a house party, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

She pulled off his left testicle and tried to swallow it, before spitting it out. A friend handed it back to Mr Jones saying: "That's yours."

Monti admitted wounding and was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

In a statement read to the court, Mr Jones said: "Amanda attacked me in an unprovoked manner and the attack has ruined my life."

(Taken from the BBC News website)

KlipFolio - The Smartest Way to Stay Informed

There have been a number of blogs that I have visited which displayed links for 'klip feeds', upon further investigation I discovered that Klips are used by Klipfolio. What is Klipfolio ?

Serence KlipFolio is an information awareness and notification application for Windows that saves you time and effort by intelligently monitoring remote data sources--like weather, stocks, Hotmail, news, RSS feeds and even auctions--right on your desktop.

This little application is a great resource to have on hand. I use it for keeping me up-to-date on my fave blogs, the weather, quotes of the day, tech news and various other informational sources.

The klips are readily available from the Klipfarm and I've even published my own klip so that you wonderful bloggers can have updates to The Daily Blog right on your desktop (hehe).

Take a look at Klipfolio here , it's completely free and has no Spyware or Adware attached.

I've Been Judged (again)

It seems someone has seen fit to copy the posts from the JudgeMENTAL site and make a list of their own, lovingly entitled ' Bottom 12 Worst Blogs - EVER '. My blog is listed among them (Boohoo).
I couldn't help noticing that the list is typed out in HUGE print, yet the note at the top of the page that vindicates some of those on the list (me for one) is in tiny print.

I'd like to point out that when the Judge originally passed his judgement on my blog, It was only my second day of blogging and I was using a standard Blogger Template to which I'd made a few alterations, I have to admit - It was a tad hideous ROFL.

I haven't done any HTML coding for years and I'm completely new to Cascading Style Sheets, so come-on guys, be a bit more forgiving. Personally, I think my blog looks better than the standard Blogger Templates (feel free to agree).

Mynah Matters

Whilst surfing the blogosphere via blogexplosion, I happened upon Pink Pleasures blog, where she had posted an article about a certain crow that had been rescued LINK . As I read through, I was reminded of the Mynah bird (Fred) that my mother used to keep.

Well, one day mum came in from shopping to find Fred crawling across the livingroom floor whimpering 'Help me! Help me!'. It turned out that a cat had gained access to the house (through a window that mum had left partially open) . Fred died in mums hands minutes after she picked him from the floor, which broke mums heart.

I used to complain about Fred's incessant chatter, but the nature of his demise left me feeling a little guilty.

Flash Cards

I've been thinking of re-configuring my blog and maybe adopting some kind of flash card format, maybe then those that surf on through via these traffic generators would use their 30 seconds to actually READ what I post.

Now to come up with a way to make 'blip comments' ...what the heck is a blip comment ? Well it's like a superfast way of leaving a comment within your alloted 30 second stay.

Dare I ask for feedback ?

Rugby fan cut off his own testicles

A Welsh rugby fan cut off his own testicles after his team beat England, police confirmed today.
The man was rushed to hospital after the incident at Leigh Social Club in Caerphilly, South Wales.

A Gwent Police spokeswoman said: "We received a call from the ambulance service at approximately 9pm on the 5th to inform us of a situation at the Leigh Social Club in which a man had indeed severed his own testicles."
She said the man was taken to Heath Hospital but could not confirm his condition.

It was reported that the man told his friends: "If Wales win I'll cut my own balls off."
After the 11-9 victory in the Six Nations clash, the man is reported to have gone outside and severed his testicles before bringing them back into the club to show fellow drinkers.

A local was reported as saying that the man was on medication and should not have been drinking.

Blog of the Day

Blog of the Day seems to have struck-up a good formula, no need to struggle for something to write about, just post an article on the latest entry for .... you guessed it, the blog of the day.

Although I find the layout to be that of a standard Blogger(TM) template, Blog of the day serves to provide a growing list of other blogs of interest.

My blog (The Daily Blog) has earned a spot there and will be posted on the 11th Feb, so what are you waiting for ? Slide on over there and take a look for yourself. While you are there you can submit your blog for the chance of a spot. Don't forget to bookmark it, as I think you'll find it a blog worthy of return visits.

Gmail Invites - Up for grabs

40 Gmail invites are up for grabs, but to make it a bit more fun I have hidden a 'Secret Code' somewhere on this blog.

If you want an invite all you have to do is find the code and follow the instructions that accompany it.

For any of you that aren't sure what Gmail is all about, just click on the title of this post and you'll be taken to the 'About Gmail' webpage.

Get scouring, these invites go like hotcakes.

Dell-ighted Customers

A COMPUTER firm has lost £442,000 by mistakenly offering a top model at a bargain price.

Around 2,000 customers bought a top-of-the-range Dell for just £185 from the firm's website - it should have cost £406.

Optical Illusions

Whilst surfing around the Net I happened across this website http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/ , it has pages and pages of 'optical illusions' for you to stare at.

If you feel like idling some time away, then take a wander over there and indulge yourselves.

WARNING: The above link contains content that may be unsuitable for those who suffer from Epiletic Seizures

The Daily Blog -- BLOG OF THE MONTH AWARD

Starting from the end of February, I shall be awarding nominee's with the NEW

'Daily Blog - Blog of the Month' Award.

Winners of the award will have their blog linked on my 'Blog Of the Month' Spot,as well as receiving the coveted award to display on their blog.

To find out how to nominate your blog and to be in with the chance of winning, click on the banner above, or on the title of this post.

What are you waiting for ? Get nominated NOW.

I'll Use Whatever I Choose

It seems that because I choose not to be manipulated by the present trend to migrate to Firefox, that I have become a target for derision by various bloggers (who incidentally hide behind anonymity).I wish to therefore point out to this/these person(s) that my choice of Browser/OS is not for them to decide, no more than it is for me to dictate to anyone else which Browser/OS they should use.

It is my right to use whichever browser and/or OS that I choose, as it is their right to use whichever they choose.

If you wish to be persuaded by the current Anti-Microsoft movement, then at least go the whole nine yards and stop using Windows XP/ME/98/NT/95 etc, after all you could at least show commitment to the cause.

A point of note, it is because I use Internet Explorer that I am aware of its vulnerabilities and am therefore diligent in my measures against them. Can the same be said for those that use Firefox and other Mozilla browsers? After all, you do realise that to date there have been 55 exploits identified in these browsers, which enable hackers to gain access to your system without detection. It seems to me that people are installing Firefox under the false pretence that they are now safe (admittedly these exploits are being addressed).

One last point, the claim to security that has been made concerning Firefox is actually issuing a challenge for hackers to find its exploits.

Out Of The Frying Pan ?

The image of Jesus has been found - in a family's frying pan.



Juan Pastrano, 49, was hanging up the pan, above, after washing it when he spotted the image.

Juan, of Prairie Lea, Texas, said: "I'm a religious man and it looks like the image of Christ to me."

He has sealed the pan in a plastic bag while deciding whether to sell it.

Safer Surfing For Internet Explorer Users

The threat of spyware and other harmful software is ever greater these days. Some people have abandoned Internet Explorer in favour of other less vulnerable browsers, such as Firefox, Opera etc, but I refuse to be intimidated by such exploits and thanks to a new application from Microsoft I can continue to surf with Internet Explorer in relative safety.

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) is a security technology that helps protect Internet Exporer users from spyware and other potentially harmful software.

Spyware is auto-detected and you have the choice to 'Allow, Block or Permanently Remove' the offending software. This helps reduce negative effects caused by spyware, including slow PC performance, annoying pop-up ads, unwanted changes to Internet settings, and unauthorized use of your private information.
Continuous protection improves Internet browsing safety by preventing more than 50 ways that spyware can enter your PC. Participants in the worldwide SpyNet community play a key role in determining which suspicious programs are classified as spyware. Microsoft researchers quickly develop methods to counteract these threats, and updates can be automatically or manually downloaded to your PC so you stay up to date.

For those of you who are still using Internet Explorer (IE), I highly recommend that you go download this FREE application from Microsoft now (get it HERE). You will be invited to Authenticate your OS (Operating System), the choice to do so is yours and refusal will not prevent you from downloading Microsoft Windows Antispyware (Beta).

I have visited a number of Blogs that have tried to install Trojans and Spyware on my PC, but Microsoft Windows Antispyware (Beta) Alerted me to the threat (which I would otherwise have known nothing about) and prevented my system from being circumvented.

Surf in safety, get yourself protected.