Efnet's 0wn AlanM

this is weird

2008-01-25T01:55:50Z

Apparently you can post to your live journal via IM?

New and improved...

2004-06-04T16:41:53Z

Okay, so LJ has been annoying me for sometime, particularly since I happen to have my own blog/website that's perfectly good, sitting over there just waiting for people to come visit, and so I've set it up so that my blog syndicates directly into a new LJ account -- zalanm which you should all just add to your friends page now, since I'm assuming that you still want to be my friend. I will still be keeping up with reading my friends LJ posts, but I won't be making direct posts to this account, uberalan any longer. :) Thanks

Album Feature, up and running!

2004-06-03T20:53:54Z

< href="http://www.uberwald.com/pics/?album=June2k4">Photos for the month of June will be in this album. Please feel free to poke through all of the pictures, and to subscribe to the RSS Feed for the Albums, which is a pretty nifty trick, if you ask me. :)

A real story about a real person

2004-06-03T15:54:41Z

... apparently for a change. I never heard about this scandal until I saw this story, but some of you probably did, and the story gives the background too, so it's good on a number of levels. John Kerry intern scandal - Alexandra Polier's account

New Style for Uberwald

2004-06-02T19:47:56Z

Just thought I'd post a quick note to mark when I first started the new style at www.uberwald.com .... What do you think? :)

Security for the memory impaired

2004-06-01T03:13:52Z

Would you trade your password for chocolate? A lot of people would do that, according to recent surveys, but even if you're not giving up your password for a klondike bar, you probably have a password that's too easy to guess. Some of you are in that situation at my advice, or because your Internet company doesn't let you change your own password. This article at the Register gives us a great way to have secure passwords that are easy to remember. Please don't pick the same song though...

Three Strange Days...

2004-05-24T00:53:11Z

Thursday afternoon, at about 4:30, I dropped a check while waiting in line to register my son for Day Camp. As I bent to pick it up, I started having what I thought were spasms of the lower back, but turned out to be much worse. After arguing against an ambulance ride for 20 minutes, I finally consented and was strapped to a stretcher and wisked along the bumpiest road I've ever felt, to the hospital.

Thursday evening, the emergency room staff made me wait nearly 2 hours before they administered any kind of medication, which actually sent me into more spasms. The poor excuse for a doctor tried to send me home after a couple of doses of various painkillers, but thanks to my wife and sister-in-law, I managed to get admitted. They took some x-rays, though I don't know if those were thursday at midnight or friday at midnight, and I had an MRI done at noon on Saturday. Through this entire time I'd been given percocet, a steroid, an anti-inflammatory, and a muscle relaxer.

It turns out that I ruptured the lowest disk in my spine. if it had gone off to one side or another, it could have damaged one of my sciatic nerves, and caused permanent damage to one or both legs, both in motor control and pain receptivity, but it ruptured in the center, and so I will most likely be okay. This week I will be pretty immobile, and likely not checking my email very frequently, or using any of the online things that I'm fond of. If you'd like to call me, or for me to call you, that's cool by me. You can send me text messages using the Text Me link, though I think you only get about 50 characters, so be sure to include a return number (US only for callback, it's my cell plan, :( sorry).

I'm going to have a series of steroid injections to my spine over the next week or so, and hopefully those will obviate the need for any kind of surgery. I just wanted to get this out of my system, and will have to go lie down now. G'night :)

A campaign strategy for the democratic party...

2004-05-20T18:48:11Z

... from defective yeti. I think it might work. :)

Internet Search Engine techniques...

2004-05-20T05:33:25Z

I've been using the internet since before there was a world wide web, and I'm pretty good at finding what I'm looking for w/ searches. Blogs are making it a bit harder to find what you're after, but it's still possible, so long as you're looking for information, and not a specific person or place. The easiest way to search for something is so simple that I'd imagine everyone knew how to do it, but apparently that's not the case.

The first thing you need to do is think about what you're searching for. Try to break it down into a couple of keywords or key phrases, and type those into the search bar. If it's a phrase, consider putting it in quotes to narrow the search. Try to think of words that someone would say in describing the topic at hand, and go from there. Start with two or three words, or a single phrase, and hit the search button.

Once you've got your results, read the excerpts and see if it seems related. If it does, click the link and skim the page for your info. If it's there, great! If not, repeat this for a couple of links. While reading, try to look for more keywords to include in your search, and add them to the search bar for the next round of searching.

Those keywords could bring you closer to your goal, in which case you repeat the above step, or they could bring you farther, in which case you remove them and try a different refining keyword or two. Generally it only takes two or three refinings like this to get what you were looking for!

Practice this when you get a chance, and soon you'll be an expert at finding what you want on the internet. :)

Inappropriate technology.

2004-05-19T03:50:25Z

My microwave oven is an interesting device. It has buttons for 10 minutes, 1 minute, 10 seconds, and 1 second rather than the "normal" 0-9 buttons for entering the amount of time that something should cook. The door doesn't open properly, etc etc... but the most unusual thing about my microwave is that, upon completion, it scrolls, "PLEASE ENJOY YOUR MEAL!" across the LED display.

I'm not sure how you use your microwave oven, and so that message might comfort you, or brighten your day even. For me, that message makes me wonder what kind of people designed the stupid thing. For one thing, it says it even when I only ran it for 1 second, and even if I just ran it 3 seconds before. For another, I can't even imagine actually cooking a meal in the thing. "ENJOY YOUR LEFTOVERS!" might be more appropriate. Or, since I'm usually heating up something I shouldn't have, after I should be in bed, perhaps "DAMN, FATASS -- SHOULD YOU REALLY BE EATING LIKE THAT SO LATE?" or the more simple, "ENJOY YOUR SNACK, LARDBUTT!"

If someone ever asks me to design the feedback system for a microwave's display, after everyone got done laughing at me for slapping a sticker that says, "NOT YET" over the countdown clock, I'd tell my replacement that it should note the time of day and the amount of time the food was in there, and then choose an entertaining and appropriate phrase. like "SHOULDN'T YOU BE IN BED, INSTEAD OF WASTING TIME LIKE THIS?" if someone heated something for 20 seconds at 12:20am, or "I BET YOU WISH YOU'D PRE-HEATED THE OVEN, EH?" if you defrost something for 9 minutes at 4:30pm...

Yeah. That would be cool. Or maybe creepy. Either way, I'm good with that.

Article from Kurt Vonnegut...

2004-05-16T05:39:54Z

Cold Turkey -- In These Times Just read it. And then read it again, okay?

Scamming the Scammer

2004-05-15T01:11:54Z

p-p-p-powerbook?

This is the funniest thing to ever happen to a dope trying to commit a scam. :)

And now for a word from out sponsor.

2004-05-14T17:57:47Z

[ignore this post. the world turns upside down every few minutes]

Welcome to the family, Kate...

2004-05-13T02:00:27Z

Earlier, I mentioned that we were getting a dog, and this has, indeed, come to pass. If you are that sort of person, you may want to look at some pictures. :)

I'm another uncle! Or possibly and uncle again!

2004-05-12T04:43:55Z

Nina Nelaine 6lbs 14 oz, 12:12am, Wednesday May 12!

I can't believe we're doing this...

2004-05-10T01:32:55Z

We're travelling to Ravenna tomorrow to adopt a dog -- This is "Kate"

Golf Outing today...

2004-05-08T17:25:16Z

LCCC had a little golf outing today, and this is how I did -- not terrible for a first time out, but not good. I need work, but I'll get it ;)

Bob O'Link course in Avon, OH - Fri, 5/7/2k4

Hole #	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total
Par	4	3	4	4	4	3	4	4	5	35
Tom	7	5	7	5	5	7	6	7	9	58
C	7	7	6	9	7	5	8	8	9	60
J	6	3	6	6	5	3	5	6	7	47
Player 4

Played golf today

2004-05-08T16:51:08Z

Bob O'Link course in Avon, OH - Fri, 5/7/2k4

Par: 4; 3; 4; 4; 4; 3; 4; 4; 5; Total Score
Tom: 7; 5; 7; 5; 5; 7; 6; 7; 9; 58
C: 7; 7; 6; 9; 7; 5; 8; 8; 9; 60
J: 6; 3; 6; 6; 5; 3; 5; 6; 7; 47
Player 4

Just So You Know

2004-05-07T20:54:06Z

George W Bush's impressive record. Thanks to Ipecac Apertif for pointing this list out to me.

Let\\\'s all go out and get some burgers, okay?

2004-05-07T01:39:50Z

Carrington Vanston in his usual splendiforousness, has hit the nail on the head in his send up of Peta. :) I think that he's the kind of guy that I'd like IRL...

BBC NEWS | Technology | \\\'Laser vision\\\' offers new insights

2004-04-30T21:28:08Z

This is what I want for my birthday.

Scams and privacy and being taken...

2004-04-30T15:51:48Z

Okay, here's the deal everyone. About once a month, my mom sends me a forwarded e-mail warning me about yet another way to be taken advantage of, either through the internet or by phone. I can sum the whole thing up for you in just one simple sentence. DO NOT GIVE ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION TO ANYBODY WHO CONTACTS YOU, EVER, EVEN IF YOU REALLY WANT TO DO SO.

I mean, seriously people. If someone calls and claims to be from your bank, ask for their extension and call them back at the number you know to be your bank's phone number. If someone calls and claims to be offering you some great deal, insist that they mail you the details -- at least mail fraud is easier to prosecute. If you receive an email asking you to update your account information, close your email client and visit the site w/o using the links provided. If a company really wants you to update your account information, they'll mention it on their front page.

Personally, I'm in favor of a 2 way password or signature system being adopted, which would allow the company that wants you to come back and validate something to authenticate itself with a trusted signature or a password, but that just adds another layer of complication, which is not always good. In short, don't give personal information to people who ask for it, even if it doesn't seem like very much information. Don't even give them your real name. Conversely, be prepared to identify yourself to anyone that you contact, because they'd be smart to be wary themselves.

Clueless user: ditch the victim mentality | The Register

2004-04-28T22:07:03Z

The Register, which I consider to be the internet's best non-satire news source had a great article again today --Clueless user: ditch the victim mentality. I've actually been considering writing something like this, so now I'll just have to write something else

Latest Addition to my comics column!

2004-04-28T02:35:01Z

Utoons by Dan Youra should be plenty visible over there in the comics heading. He's got some entertaining politically oriented comic strips that I know I enjoy, and think you might like too. Go visit him :)

I don\\\'t usually link to eBay listings....

2004-04-28T00:02:35Z

...but this one caught my eye eBay item 4146756343 (Ends Apr-28-04 15:37:01 PDT) - SIZE 12 WEDDING DRESS/GOWN NO RESERVE

:)