I’ve been farked
September 19, 2001
Drew Curtis has posted some very funny photoshops of my blog picture on Fark. Some of the pix are in poor taste so don’t click if you’re squeamish.
Worm Alert: Incidentally, there’s a very nasty worm out there called W32.Nimda.A. It affects Microsoft’s IIS web server and spreads using a hole in Internet Explorer. You can be infected by this virus just by reading the e-mail. You can even be infected by just visiting an infected web site UNLESS you have updated Internet Explorer. IE 5 and 5.5 are susceptible. IE 6 is not.
It’s not currently known if the worm has a destructive payload, but a side effect of its activity is abnormal HTTP traffic. Webmasters running IIS should patch their servers. User like you and me should immediately run Windows update and apply all the critical patches. If you’ve patched since last March, you’re probably OK.
Some relevant links:
Kevin Poulsen’s write-up on Security Focus
The Microsoft patch is available on their site. Or you can run Windows update and apply all the critical patches.
The Symantec Anti-Virus Research Center alert.
Loading ...Fairfax and Charleston are back on
September 18, 2001
Looks like we’ve rescheduled the trip to Fairfax VA and Charleston WV for November 3 and 4. Woo hoo!
Bullish on America
September 17, 2001
When I got up this morning I decided to buy a small amount of stock. At this point it looks like I might have been one of the few. In truth, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. There are a lot of bargains out there, and if you believe, as I do, that the country will come back strong, it seems like a good thing to do. I think the symbolism is important anyway. I bought the Qs - QQQ - a Nasdaq 100 index stock - since I can’t buy a tech stock directly.
I’m sorry that I missed the trip to VA, but it was very nice to have a quiet weekend at home. I had to work on the book. The preliminary drafts came back but they needed quite a bit of editing, fixing, and updating. I got through July over the weekend and I have to finish the five remaining chapters/months by the end of the week.
I did take Sunday evening off for a family night. We lit a fire in the fireplace and played Parcheesi. Henry won. It was very nice and normal and cozy. But Jennifer and I sure felt lucky. We said a little prayer with the kids at dinner, something we don’t normally do.
The Screen Savers is dark today. We’re adding a netcam booth to the set and they have to install it and relight. We should be good to go by tomorrow. Friday we’re dark again to rehearse with the new set.
The End of An Era
September 11, 2001
It’s impossible to find words. I was at the gym for a cycle class when I heard about the World Trade Center at about 6:45a. I came right home. We don’t have TV so we all gathered around the radio listening to the news. I told the kids that they would remember this day always.
I’ve been anchoring all afternoon on TechLive. I’ll be back during regular Screen Savers hours doing news, but I hope to take calls about the day’s events, too. Obviously we won’t do tech. As of right now, we’ll go to regular programming after the newscast at 9p Eastern. We’re planning a regular Screen Savers episode tomorrow.
I expect that my trip to Fairfax and Charleston, WVA will be cancelled. But we’ll reschedule as quickly as possible. I should know for sure by tomorrow.
So far, everyone at TechTV and our friends and family have escaped unscathed. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this unthinkable tragedy. Peace.
Behind the Red Door
September 8, 2001
Ever since The Screen Savers began in May 1998, we’ve had a tradition of getting our guests to autograph the back of the set. We’ve got a pretty good collection by now with some of the biggest names in the computer industry. I’m going to start photographing these sigs to preserve them.
Here are three to start.
Movie animator Don Bluth (with Mrs. Frisby the mouse). Below, character actor Clint Howard.
Novelist and bon vivant Neil Gaiman (with the Sandman)
Click the thumbnails for 640×480 versions. Still to come, Linus Torvalds and more.
Site redesign… not
September 7, 2001
Lately I’ve been getting a lot of e-mail from folks who think I should redesign Leoville. They say it’s old fashioned, stodgy, boring. It needs a little pizazz.
That’s no doubt true. I’m no graphics designer. I put Leoville up in 1994, messed with the design for a year or so, and haven’t touched it since except to add content areas. I don’t even use such new-fangled (and useful) tools as CSS and Javascript. There are a couple of reasons for this.
First, I’m lazy. It ain’t broke and I don’t want to fix it. Many people have offered to re-design the place for me, but I think it’s important that people know that everything on Leoville is done by me, not some high-priced designer. And, for better or for worse, that’s pretty obvious when you look at it.
Second, I want to keep Leoville accessible to everyone, especially people with low-bandwidth connections, old browsers, and people with disabilities. Why add design flourishes that don’t add to the content but do make it harder to read the content?
Finally, in my book content is king. Flashy web sites are usually a substitute for actual content. I try to make the content on my site easy to find, easy to get to, and easy to read. If there’s something that doesn’t work for you, let me know. That I’ll redesign.
I know it would be fun to see a flashy new design with lots of pictures and animation. But isn’t there something to be said for a simple old site that never changes (except in content)? Think of this as a friendly old general store, where the pot bellied stove and the cracker barrel haven’t moved in decades, and the only thing that’s changing is the amount of gray hair on the proprietor’s head.
What do you think?
Technology and Goats
September 2, 2001
OK here are some pictures of the kids and the kids. As usual, click on the thumbnail to get a slightly larger image.
Abby and her goat Stella
Henry with Andy (she’s a girl but don’t tell him)
All four kids
These are scans of prints so not quite as crisp as the images from the digital camera.
Mushroom Time
September 1, 2001
I just e-mailed the Today show and the segment was bumped again. They assure me it was not killed - just slipped. Apparently they had told our PR people yesterday but the PR people never told me.
I’m trying not to take it personally.
Grass Never Sleeps
September 1, 2001
Happy September!
Did the Today show run my segment today? I never got a message from them. Anybody see it?
We didn’t do a Screen Savers last night to give everybody a head start on the three day weekend. Nice idea, except nobody told me until yesterday. Harumph.
I had Giants tickets for the evening, so I couldn’t really go home. Fortunately, Stacey Tisdale was throwing a party at the brew pub around the corner, so I found something to do in the hours between TechLive and the ball game. Stacey, one of our best anchors on TechLive, is going back to her home in NYC to anchor the 4-5p hour from there. Too bad, I always enjoyed working with her. She was one of the few people who would even tolerate me. Lately the rotato hosts haven’t even been showing up and I’ve had to anchor alone. Is it something I said?
After many toasts, I wobbled over to Paul Block’s (my Executive Producer on The Screen Savers) and from there to the ballpark to watch a somnolent Giants team give up five runs in the first inning to the cellar-dwelling Colorado Rockies. The Giants bats didn’t really wake up until the 8th, when they gained two runs back on a massive shot into the SF Bay by Barry Bonds (his 57th HR for the season), but it wasn’t enough to save that dog of a game.
It was all I could do to keep my eyes open on the way home. Fortunately I had a pretty gripping book on tape to listen to: Michael Crichton’s Timeline. The reader is terrible, but the story is interesting. I’ve always enjoyed time travel stories. It’s not as good as Jack Finney’s Time and Again but it kept me awake.
Speaking of books, I just finished one of the best biographies I’ve ever read, David McCullough’s new John Adams. Not only is it beautifully written, but it’s a very moving and inspiring story. Adams has been overshadowed by the legends of Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin, but in many ways he was the greatest of the four. And his wife, Abigail, was a powerhouse who was in every way his equal. Truly a wonderful read.
I have some weed whacking to do today - forget rust grass never sleeps. Tomorrow the whole family is going to see Stomp and Monday it’s a cookout for our friends - most of whom haven’t seen the new house yet. My old Weber has fallen apart so I think I’ll buy a new grill today. I know it’s sacrilige - man was meant to use lighter fluid - but I’m thinking of a gas grill. Consumer Reports likes the Weber Summit 450 at over $2,000, but maybe I can find something a little cheaper! Got any recommendations?
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Flickr Photos
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Swag
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