Technobabble

If you are not a member of the Apple faithful yet there is new incentive.

It’s the iPod nano.
Available in 2GB and 4GB and starts at $199

It’s a non-random shuffle with a display.

It’s official! I am now a PAID blogger.

Introducing Help Line 2.0!

The column I write for Houston’s largest daily newspaper has now added a blog component and the Houston Chronicle had hired yours truly (the only logical choice) to manage this online resource.

The web address is blogs.chron.com/helpline

I won’t be quitting my day job yet, but I AM a media monster.

We have returned to space with STS-114 and America is beaming with pride. A few distressing images caught by the launch cameras have us a bit pensive as we await more information about what fell off of
Discovery when she took off Tuesday and if it will have any negative impact on her mission. It seems that we, as a nation, are united in our desire for this mission to be a success.

A while back I was doing some searching on Google and came across this on the www.jsc.nasa.gov site:

Houston Chronicle’s JSC News From Home

This appears to be a PDF file of the Houston Chronicle sent to STS 107 (The Columbia) on Wednesday Jan 29th, 2003. It contains a collection of articles from that day’s publication including my Help Line column. It’s humbling to me to know that they might have read my work as they orbited the earth. I know some bands who have had their CD’s carried into space and I was somewhat envious of that prestigious honor. Of course my pride is overshadowed by the tragedy that befell that mission.

Still, as a self proclaimed “geek” and Houston raised space nerd I treasure all of my experiences with the space program. From my childhood when my dad would give me mission photos of the various Apollo flights to the times he used to take me and my brother to Ellington Field to watch the jet trainers come and go. And of course my fondest memory, the time my parents let me stay up late to watch the moon landing when I was 8 years old.

Like so many others, I am caught up in the excitement of our return to space and I wish for nothing but success for the crew of STS 114 and everyone associated with the mission of Discovery.

God speed!

In this scare-mongering article from the Sacramento Bee about people who use open WiFi networks, a cop from the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force makes a remarkable statement about homemade WiFi antennas:

Last month in Elk Grove, a high-school student faced eight felony computer-theft charges for allegedly hacking into his school’s computer system and changing his grades. When police searched his home, they found aluminum-lined, cylindrical potato-chip containers that some hackers use as crude antennas to help them intercept wireless signals.

Known as “cantennas,” they consist of a Pringles can and some hardware worth $5 to $10 but can be used to amplify a wireless signal several miles away.

“They’re unsophisticated but reliable, and it’s illegal to possess them,” said Lozito of the Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force.

Then the reporter goes on to note:

It’s also illegal to access wireless networks that aren’t public. In other words, if you’ve ever been pleasantly surprised to open your laptop, pull up your browser and have Internet access, that likely means you’ve just intruded into someone else’s unsecured network “” and really aren’t allowed to be there.

Original story is here

As it stands now, when I post to my blog the feed is picked up at Livejournal as Lj user baldheretic. This allows Lj users to add my feed to their friends list.

I am now experimenting with a plug-in for Word Press that will post my blog entries to my MySpace account.

It seems to be working! Woo-hoo!

The plug in is called MyPress and can be found here

The MySPace account is www.myspace.com/baldheretic. Feel free to add me if you have a MySpace account.