Category: Just Saying …

I understand there was some sort of sporting event this past weekend. Don’t know much about it. Anyone hear anything about this?

I found the story about the failed undersea Internet cables in the Middle East more interesting. The fact that there were two of them caught my eye. (Was there a third?)

There were some false reports about connectivity to Iran being lost; but that was incorrect.

Brings to mind whether one is prepared for Internet connectivity loss. Sort of like my “Digital Choke” story (which was written several years ago). Could it happen?

Back in the real world, some more forensics is on tap today, with a bit of web browsing analysis thrown in. Should be interesting.

Work has been interesting. There’s been an investigation of some inappropriate surfing by a user. Some external attacks against a web page submittal form that didn’t do validation checking on form fields. Some analysis of web browsing activity by staff, and the lost productivity resulting from same. And working on a VBS program that moves old files into an archive directory.

And the weather has been a mixed bag. Rainy and cold (hovering around 50F) most days, although today is sunny and cold (still hovering around 50F). Yeah, not cold compared to some in the frozen north (Hi, John D) or east (that would be you, Brian B.) But cold enough that I have to wear gloves while driving until the heater warms up.

No big plans for the weekend. I’ve heard rumors of some big sporting event, but don’t know the details, so not sure that it affects me.

Maybe some NCIS and Dirty Jobs reruns could be on the weekend list. Or perhaps work on the computer.

Or both. At the same time.

Been working on my forensics skills for a couple of issues at work. I’ve had to analyze a laptop for inappropriate content, dig up web usage for users, and figure out why an announcement page on our public web server had an inappropriate message.

So have been digging into IIS logs, web application source code, backups (when available ), IE history files, and more.

I used several tools from NirSoft (www.nirsoft.net) for some of those tasks. Good, free tools that work quickly and efficiently.

A lot of inside work, which is good since it’s raining outside (and has been off and on for the past week). Rain (and snow in the mountains) is good around here.

I think of strange things while driving. The topic for the last couple of days was economic recovery. That is strange, because I am not really an economic expert.

In our family, Pam takes care of the finances. I usually have a few dollars in my pocket. Like most guys, I’m not a “go out and go shopping” guy. I usually bring my lunch to work. I don’t drink coffee, so I don’t have to make any trips to get overpriced hot beverages. I rarely drink sodas, so don’t even go to the office soda machine. And the office doesn’t have a snack machine.

So a few dollars in my pocket will last quite a while. In fact, the old joke around here, since Pam handles the finances is that I get to have one check and three deposit slips. When I use up all the deposit slips, I can get another check.

Anyway, what to do to help the nation’s economy?

The solution should be one that stimulates small businesses, since they provide a lot of the economic growth in the country. And it should help people of all all economic strata.

So, I figure that everyone should get $1000 to spend on e-Bay.

eBay sellers should get free listings. Buyers should not pay any extra charges for an item. No commission for e-payments.

Sellers will make more products available, increasing the amount of stuff that they resell. Sellers have to buy things from someone, so that increases sales of businesses.

Buyers get to get something they want, but otherwise wouldn’t have bought. They might even resell things, becoming a seller.

And eBay? They will win also. New sellers and buyers, new traffic for advertising clicks. And probably increased sales, because buyers will probably spend more than their $1000.

The $1000 will be limited to buyers in the US. That’s easy to figure out for the majority of surfers; just check their ISP’s location. Yeah, there will be a few non-US hackers that try to get around the limitation. But there will be non-US buyers looking (and buying) things, and they will have to pay the usual eBay premiums.

And there are a lot of people that don’t have computer access, so some access for those will be needed.

I like the idea. More people buying more things that others are selling that have been made by more people making things.

But I’m no economic expert.

Noticed the news today that Mt St Helens is all steamed up today. You can see a real-time picture here http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/ . You’ll see some other interesting images and movies on that site.

When I looked at it a minute ago, a nice clear day with a small wisp of steam visible.

It reminded me of when I flew past the volcano shortly after the big eruption of May 18, 1980, when it leveled 230 square miles (596 square kilometers) of forest and killed 57 people. I recall that it was just a few days after the eruption, and the plane flew past the volcano on the approach to Portland, OR. We were quite low, and we could see the trees that were flattened and covered with grey ash by the blast of the volcano. That view was quite impressive.

When we landed at Portland, there was still quite a bit of ash on the ground and tops of buildings.

From the “Now I Am Old” department, did you know that the Smurfs are 50 years old this year? They were first penned by the late cartoonist Pierre Culliford (“Peyo”) in October 1958. They debuted on US television in 1981.

More than you probably want to know about Smurfs are at their web site http://www.smurf.com/ . Or you can try the Wikipedia entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smurfs .

Saturday has arrived. Put up a shelf in the office for Pam’s scrapbooking area. I used my Christmas gift to put up a picture board. It is a padded frame with ribbons criss-crossed on the front to hold pictures and other stuff that she will use for a scrapbook page. It has two picture mounting brackets. So the trick is to get the nails on the wall level and at the correct distance.

So I used the new Black and Decker Gecko level with the two adjustable things in the middle. You adjust the two things to where the picture brackets are, move the level to the wall, get things level, and then make a mark where the mounting nails will go. Pretty clever level, and it worked as advertised.

Grey day outside: overcast, temps in the 50’s. Lots of snow in the mountains; up to 12 feet at a couple of the ski areas.