For those of you who are wondering what GSM or CDMA are all about (which speaks to the differences between many mobile phone carriers like AT&T vs. Verizon, for example), I’d direct you to this terrific article.

Posted on June 18th, 2009 by Scott
Filed under: Technology, Random Cool Stuff | No Comments »

I realize George Lucas said all along that the “back-story” of Darth Vader’s origins wasn’t nearly as exciting as the whole Luke Skywalker storyline.  That is the only reason I am willing to accept the rather dull Episodes I - III (a.k.a. the “Prequel Trilogy”).

Now, if George wanted to redeem himself, he should make a Star Wars movie like the trailer for this video game…  THAT would rock!

Posted on June 5th, 2009 by Scott
Filed under: Random Cool Stuff, Cinema | No Comments »

Adam Altemus has an interesting, albeit highly speculative assessment of the way Pittsburgh Penguins Fans should be dealing with Marian Hossa.  He thinks we should be thanking him, rather than demonizing him.  I don’t know - I still love the whole, “You can’t spell @$$hole without Ho$$@” thing… it’s just funny (albeit really immature, but he did pull a Jagr-esque move on us…)

Posted on June 5th, 2009 by Scott
Filed under: NHL | No Comments »

With a performance that definitely will silence their critics, the Penguins decisively smacked down the Murder City Meatheads in Game 4 at the Igloo to even the series at 2 games apiece.

With goals by Malkin, Crosby, Staal, and Kennedy - the Penguins completely outplayed Detroit, and managed to make Chris Osgood look like the old man he is.  :)  If you are a fan of the black-and-gold, this was a game to savor.

Now it’s back to The Joe this Saturday for Game 5.  Even though the Penguins are not in danger of elimination, I firmly believe that they need to carry the momentum they have built up into the Joe and get another win (especially if my prediction of the Pens in 6 is to hold true!)

2 more wins until we bring the cup back to the ‘Burgh!  LET’S GO PENS!

Posted on June 4th, 2009 by Scott
Filed under: Current Events, NHL | No Comments »

With an overall solid performance in Game 3, the Penguins proved to the Murder City Meatheads that they will not go down without a serious fight.  The victory was impressive for multiple reasons, not least of which was scoring on 2 of 3 power plays against arguably one of the best defensive units in professional hockey.

The Red Wings still lead the series 2-1 though - so this Thursday (another home game for the Pens) is a critical must-win before heading back to the Joe on Saturday.

As I said before the series started - I like the Penguins in 6 and I am staying with that for now.  If the Penguins can continue to do what they were doing tonight - and tighten up a few places where they were making mistakes, they could win 4 straight.  Detroit is good - but they aren’t as unbeatable as their legions of die-hard fans like to put on.

Posted on June 2nd, 2009 by Scott
Filed under: Current Events, NHL | No Comments »

Wow.

Posted on May 3rd, 2009 by Scott
Filed under: Random Cool Stuff, NHL | No Comments »

About a week ago I downloaded Microsoft Photo Story (because I am a PC, after all).

My first video was a little tribute to our first weimaraner Scarlett who only lived a short while after her second birthday (we had to have her euthanized in 2005) .  I wrote about our ordeal with her illness here.

A few things I remember about Scarlett that aren’t in that video:

• I only remember hearing her bark once.  She was tied out in the yard, and I had exited the house from a door where she could not see me.  I walked around to where she was tethered, and startled her.  (I was also wearing a knit hat, so I probably didn’t look like she was used to seeing me).  She jumped up and let out a low, menacing bark, then almost immediately realized who I was and started wagging her tail.  That was it - the only time in 2 years I heard her bark. Madchen, on the other hand, rarely shuts up.  Zeta is somewhere in between… but is usually quiet.
• Scarlett was a runner, and an escape artist.  She would look for any opportunity to bolt out the front door and be off to the races… much to our distress.  She would not respond to calls, and it usually took careful coaxing with peanut butter to lure her close to be grabbed.  It was like roping a greased pig at a rodeo usually - and it was the only part of Scarlett’s brief life that used to send me into fits.  I cursed that dog every time she ran away.  Now, we say that she’s running free all the time in the yard and all over town (she really knew no boundaries when she was outside).  No bum leg holding her back - and no angry Daddy at home… she’s truly free.
• Scarlett loved the kennel.  She would be beside herself with joy every time we’d drop her off there.  Madchen, by contrast, hates the kennel, and Zeta has never been there yet, but I think she’s going to hate it too.

By the way, the song in that video is called “Pedro Says” and is by a great band called The Connells. Got to hang out with their lead singer several years ago when they opened up for The Replacements at what was then Metropol in the Strip.  Cool guy.  Awesome band.

Posted on April 16th, 2009 by Scott
Filed under: Dogs, Personal | No Comments »

Posted on April 8th, 2009 by Scott
Filed under: Current Events | No Comments »

A friend of mine who works in computer consulting sent around this really nice summary of the conficker worm that is all over the media.  If you’re concerned, read this - then protect yourself.

There is a lot of talk about the conficker worm due to hit tomorrow.

Here are the facts:

The conficker worm is a worm as opposed to a virus or a Trojan horse in that it can move from computer to computer without the aid of human intervention.

Conficker also goes by the names downadup and kido.

Conficker infects a system and simply waits for instructions on what to do next. It is scheduled to get its next set of instructions tomorrow, and could do anything from nothing, to calling in the droid armies waiting on the moons of Saturn to come and destroy humanity, or anything in between. Most likely it will receive instructions to take more steps to protect itself from being detected and removed from computers. Conficker is currently on its 4th generation (conficker.D). Each generation gets a little smarter. Conflicker has blessed the world with its presence since October of 08.

Who is at risk?

Windows 2000, Windows XP,  Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 Beta, and Windows Server 2008 SP2.

Sorry Mac users. You are exempted from the fun.

How to know if you are infected:

You can suspect you are infected if you notice the following:

Excessive network traffic most noticed as a slooooooooow network.

Your antivirus programs will suddenly be disabled.

You cannot update windows or antivirus software.

Your computer will not have access to all or some of the following sites:

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

http://free.avg.com/

http://www.symantec.com/index.jsp

http://www.mcafee.com/us/

Preventing Infecton:

Run Windows updates!

Fixing Infection:

AVG free antivirus is known to identify and remove conficker.

Microsoft’s malicious software removal tool will also detect and remove conficker.

Microsoft has effectively abandoned any of you out there with Windows 2000 or Windows XP SP1. There are no patches to protect those operating systems against conficker.

Opinion:
Update your windows by going to the above link and remember, the press usually makes a bigger deal out of this kind of stuff that it deserves. The highest computer infection number I have seen is 15 million, which is a lot of computers, but not on a global scale.

RUN YOUR WINDOWS UPDATES NOW and have a nice day.

Posted on March 31st, 2009 by Scott
Filed under: Software, Current Events | No Comments »

This is extremely well done.

Posted on March 26th, 2009 by Scott
Filed under: Random Cool Stuff | No Comments »