Joy Unbound

Recently I received a link from someone by the name of Paul to a website called Real Security (http://www.selectrealsecurity.com/malware-removal-guide). I took a look at the website and learned at least one new thing and found some useful information and tools. The one thing I learned was the existence of a Microsoft antivirus tool that runs outside of Windows designed for emergency situations where scanning and repair external to Windows is necessary; this tool is called Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper (https://connect.microsoft.com/systemsweeper).

Some useful tools I found on his website are tools for common post-disinfection symptoms where file associations are broken and start menus and desktop missing. You can find these tools at the above link to this website somewhere towards the bottom of the page under a category “Fix the Side Effects of Malware”.

Another section of Paul’s website that I found very useful is his Security Checklist / Prevent Future Infections and a link to How to Stay Safe While Online. I mean, really, the whole website is full of very related, useful information on security, infection and disinfection, and prevention. At the very least, a reading of the two links I provided in this paragraph would be a good idea to do whether you are tech-savvy or not.

For those that are tech-savvy, I might further recommend considering a bookmark to http://www.hlrse.net/Qwerty/cleanup.html. That is a webpage that I really put together for myself and sort of my co-workers (though I do not know how much they rely on it), but I find it useful because it has nicely categorized quick-links to things that I frequently access and need on a daily basis when working with other people’s computers.

Source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/06/26/0543202/Sony-Develops-Technology-To-Hack-Your-Hand

A device created by the University of Tokyo and Sony Laboratories called PossessedHand allows researchers to control a subject’s hand via electrical stimulation. While currently being used to teach students to play the koto, a Japanese traditional stringed instruments, just imagine the possibilities! Twilight Zone anyone?

Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028186.100-handhacking-lets-you-pluck-strings-like-a-musical-pro.html

Source: http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/06/24/2031203/Why-Classic-Video-Game-Revamps-Must-Disappoint

Somehow my brain, so addled by pop-culture and videogames, drew a link between the alteration of the game-play mechanics in a 20-year-old series, and growing up. I want things to be how they were. I want to play the games I played when I was a child, only I want them to be new. Naturally, this just can’t happen. Things will never be the way they used to be. Summer days are no longer spent running around outside before collapsing on a sofa to try to beat Labyrinth Zone; instead they’re spent in a sweltering office full of morons who watch The Apprentice. Life has changed. Circumstances have changed. Even if the perfect 2D Sonic game were released tomorrow, it still wouldn’t feel right, because I’m no longer the person who played those games.’

This reminds me of 1 Corinthians 13:11:

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

It used to be that as we were growing up, technology rapidly advancing throughout the 1990s and coming to a smooth leveling in the 00s, computer games being developed alongside the development of technology, and our thrilling enjoyment of computer games during these times were our childhood. We remember these days because they were great. Today we seek for the same pleasures and amusement we once had, but many ask themselves and question generally why, what has happened, are developers really making bad games?

I think the truth really lies in our generation having grown up, simply. We grew up, unwilling growing out of our childhood, and seek for those times again. In addition to that, games have been watered down in difficulty from the 1980s and 1990s. The games then were great because they were hard. Nowadays, games are made easy. What is worse is that we fail to realize this, and so the coming generations are going to grow up with “easy” games and not know what a real, decent game is like. They will be too scared, too spoiled, too chickened to play harder games because it challenges them too much. As time goes, these new generations will grow up and replace the developers. Computer gaming as a whole is a sinking ship. While technology and computer games were initially advancing, things were great — yes, because of unexplored, unknown, inexperienced territories. But now everything has leveled off for the time being. There is no more new things to explore.

That is because we are now adults, grown and in a way mature people. We cannot think like we once did. Just take some time to observe children. Given enough time, you will find that a child’s desires and pursuits are in themselves quite meaningless, immature, unreasonable, and directionless. Take the extreme: a little baby just loves the same experience over and over again. It is almost totally mindless and thoughtless — they do not think of “why is this thing so meaningful to me?”, “what is this thing’s end?”, “where is this thing going?”. It is all just a repeating loop of directionless amusement (which by the way means “to not think”).

But we grew up, we thought more, and whether or not we really wanted this to happen “nature” has a greater priority in maturing us as we age than our foolishness over reality. And this is why today’s computer games are terrible: we have matured and grown old, we are spoiling the newer generations and making games too easy, and we don’t want to admit the fact that we have grown up and it’s time to move on. Why? Because we want to replace this empty void, these moments of absolute meaninglessness that drive us up the walls trying to get away from the experience of reality, and try to fill ourselves with as much material pleasures as possible to pass the time by without giving a serious thought to our existence and purpose.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/data-center/how-succeed-in-it-without-really-trying-816?source=footer

There are two ways to enjoy a successful career in IT [1] — and they are polar opposites of each other.

The first is to be great at what you do [2]. Some people seem to be blessed with the right combination of logic and intuition right out of the gate, like those with natural talent in sports or music [3]. Others hone their chops through hard work and experience [4]. Either way, whether you’re a network architect, a programmer, or an admin, if you can detect anomalies in a flash when troubleshooting or can clearly visualize a path to achieving a functional, stable outcome for any given project, the rest of your involvement becomes almost trivial.

For instance, a skilled network architect can design a large network while taking a shower so that the bulk of the time spend on a networking project goes toward more mundane things, like procuring hardware or dealing with telcos and last-mile providers. OK, maybe it’s a long shower, but you know you’re a pro when you spend no more than 15 percent of your time actually planning the network topology and layout for a large-scale network and consistently get great outcomes.

You can figure another 25 percent will go toward acquiring and configuring gear. Unfortunately, the remaining 60 percent of your time will be spent on stuff that’s a lot less fun: fighting with telcos, straightening matters with building management, begging for conduits that are clearly in the plans but were “forgotten” by the contractors, and other maddening issues.

Ironically, the better and faster you are at the hard part, the more you may leave yourself open to questions. When peers or customers see how quickly someone troubleshoots an infrastructure breakdown or architects a technical solution, they wonder just how hard it could really be. Also, why does this person get paid so much?

I have a favorite parable to illustrate the problem: A passenger train breaks down in the middle of nowhere with a delegation of railroad VIPs on board, including the president of the company. The locomotive simply won’t start and everyone is stranded. However, the president knows a passenger on the train was one of the designers of the locomotive and pleads with the man to help fix the problem and get the train back under way. The design engineer says, “Sure, it’ll cost you $10,000.” Desperate for a solution, the president agrees.

The engineer then takes a hammer, walks up to the side of the locomotive, and swings the tool against the steel panel. The locomotive immediately springs to life. The president runs over; instead of being pleased that the train is running again, he screams: “$10,000? Why in the world would I pay you $10,000 just to hit the thing with a hammer?” The engineer simply replies, “I threw in the hit with the hammer for free. Knowing where to hit it cost $10,000.”

This is the world that many highly skilled IT people inhabit every day.

The other way to succeed in IT is with little effort or proficiency at all. I hate to say this, but a number of people in IT positions work harder to make it seem like they’re busy as beavers than doing actual work. Quite often this dysfunction starts at the top: When an IT manager doesn’t know the technology very well, he or she may hire folks who have no idea what their job is other than to show up every day and answer the occasional email, passing questions along to others with more technical abilities, or to their contacts at the various hardware and software vendors. People like these populate many consulting companies. They rely almost completely on contractors to perform the actual work, serving as remote hands in a real crisis and as part of a phone tree for less pressing issues.

To be fair, these middlemen have a role in the IT organization. In many cases they can help bring a project to completion simply by knowing who to talk to and how to grease the skids, even if they’re no more technical than someone from a department with no relation to IT.

As with many other professions, those who are highly capable are scarce. But in the case of IT, a large gap in understanding separates those on the business side who commission the work and those who perform it. It’s very hard for those outside the technology inner circle to determine who has mad skills and who’s slacking, until it becomes obvious that certain IT ninjas [2] are the ones who step in to solve the problems again and again. The reward for that, my friends, is having more and more loaded onto your plate.

With luck, you may get compensated like the guy with the hammer. More likely, you’ll get the satisfaction of doing things very few people can do, even if you’re the only one who knows how heroically you performed.

This story, “How to succeed in IT without really trying [7],” was originally published at InfoWorld.com [8]. Read more of Paul Venezia’s The Deep End blog [9] at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter [10].

According to the reports at Microsoft’s compatibility listing, my Creative Zen Vision:M 30GB Media Player should work fine on my Windows 7 Professional (x64).

Naturally, the first thing I should do is go to Creative’s website and find my MP3 Player. Since my Vision:M’s firmware is already up-to-date with the latest (1.62.02), I can skip over that part of the page. The first thing to do is select and submit Vista 64-bit in the list at the very bottom of the page on the left below the downloads. The reason for choosing Vista 64-bit is because that is the closest thing to Windows 7 64-bit.

I will download Creative Media Explorer.

Right, so now I will plug in my player.

And I restarted my laptop as necessary.

Eureka! It works!

Source: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/cheap-gpus-are-rendering-strong-passwords-useless/13125

Well almost, anyway. I still have a few customers left to get moved out before cancelling my webhosting plan with Steven at VisFX. I have had his webhosting since around 2004, and we have had many great years together. In other news, my websites are now all running under nginx instead of apache. Not only that, but I have tweaked and optimized the performance of my blog (so now it should load lightning quick), and its database is hosted on a VPS dedicated to serving MySQL.

Over the past week I have also taken the liberty to do a few other awesome things, such as uploading high quality, full length versions of the Leeland and New Breeds concerts at the I Love America 2009 celebration:

And lastly, I uploaded 29 videos from Kent Hovind’s ministry. Instead of posting all 29 here, you would be better off checking out my “channel” (OOH WOW YOU HAVE YOUR OWN CHANNEL AWE WHAT A BIG DEAL ).