The Red Brick Times

Thought you might find this interesting. It's taken verbatim from one of the tech resource sites I read.

from Network World Fusion, 01/30/02
Porn sites are taking over the world
A couple of months ago, we had an all day "link party" here at Fusion, where we divided up an error log and tried to hunt down bad links on the site. In addition to all the dot-com dead links, we found a fair number of once legitimate links that now point to porn sites; as sites go dead, pornmeisters buy up the URLs.

Alan Levine, who compiles links of interest to educators, is seeing the same phenomenon: "In the past 8 months, have gotten notice of at least 10 once legit sites listed from ours that have been bought and turned to porn. ... This is bothersome because our sites are predominantly for educators or people who develop content for education, and it is tiring to have people come to us, see a site we had once verified, to find its content has changed."

Now, the transmogrification of www.flasher.net from a Macromedia Flash site to a porn site is not all that surprising. But www.trainingmedia.com?

Government says: Nyah, nyah
And the few domains the pornmeisters aren't grabbing are being taken over by moralistic government officials (no, not the same ones planning to spend $3.2 million of tax money on telling drunken Super Bowl fans not to do drugs). The SEC is now sprinkling the Web with bogus investment Web sites to teach stupid people a lesson, that lesson apparently being: Don't believe everything you read on the Web.
Posted 11:57 AM by whatley 0 comments

From the guy who brought you "Get Your War On" (posted here 10/18/01) it's "Get Your Enron On"
Posted 1:33 PM by whatley 0 comments

Linda Tarry called me yesterday and told me that her recent bone scan showed (insert medical term here) that indicates that her cancer is traveling through her bone marrow. There are spots on most of her spine, and also on her skull. She wanted to do research on different tests (MRI, CT scan) so that when she goes to the doctor Monday she is armed with information about what each test would show. She came over Saturday and "surfed the net." She was calm and composed, so I remained the same, and waited until after she left before I burst into tears and cried for half an hour. This is a serious development. So I'm asking that you keep Linda in your prayers. If you're not inclined to pray, a good thought or a raised glass in her direction would certainly be appreciated. She's never kept her condition nor her treatment a secret, so I felt a message to her friends might be appropriate.
Posted 8:28 AM by Sally D. 0 comments

It's Robbie Burns Day, you kilted bagpipin' scotch-swillin' blouse wearin' poodle walkers. (be warned: spawns several pop-up windows when you close the page, sorry)
Posted 11:46 AM by whatley 0 comments

What the president is doing in office.
This is a list (methinks a pretty slanted one, but probably accurate in its way) of federal changes since our latest Bush has been in office. It's credited to Dr. David A. Sprintzen of C.W. Post College, Long Island University. If I remember correctly we have an alumni of that world renowned center of learning among our members. Take a bow Ralph!
Posted 8:56 AM by whatley 0 comments

I updated my Ad-Aware program to the most current version this morning (Ad-Aware finds and deletes spyware). Lo and behold, between the registry and Internet Explorer it found 8 references to spyware on my computer. Free downloadable programs are the most likely delivery vehicles for this kind of stuff but I'm a perfect example that it can get to you in other ways too.
Posted 12:14 PM by whatley 0 comments

FTC : National "DO NOT CALL" Registry. Like telemarketing? No? Want something done to stop it? The FTC is proposing a national "do not call" registry that actually penalizes telemarketing scum on a per call basis. They want your comments on the situation so here ya go mookie, comment away! (Yeah, yeah, I know. Fat chance of having any real effect without a well funded PAC but what the hell.)
Posted 3:09 PM by whatley 0 comments

Interesting (and short) article from the Dallas - Fort Worth Star about how the tax burden has changed over a 10 (or so) year period and the effect that change has had: What's that sound that we're not hearing?
Posted 9:34 AM by whatley 0 comments

My son Abel has been back in the U.S. for several years now. He has adapted and enjoys the American lifestyle. He works hard and makes a reasonable living for someone who never benefited from a High School education. He has worked construction hanging drywall for the last three years. I worry that he doesn't have steady work, benefits, advancement, etc. Fortunately, he has become independent. At 23, that's better than I did. I bought him skiing equipment for Christmas. He loves to ski and it's something that we can enjoy together. Two weeks ago we got his equiment together and agreed to ski this MLK weekend in New York. As my plans were taking shape, I called to confirm our plans together. His phone is no longer in service. He has made no attempt to contact me. He is independent. I was not so considerate of my parents at that age either.
Posted 6:36 PM by Ray Stewart 0 comments

Suprising no one thought of this before.
Posted 11:04 AM by whatley 0 comments

You have to hope that this study is flawed, but the evidence seems irrefutable. Yesterday, scientists for Health Canada suggested that the results of a recent study strongly suggests the presence of female hormones in beer, and further suggests that men should take a look at their beer consumption. The theory is that drinking beer makes men turn into women.To test the theory, 100 men were each fed 8 pints of beer within a one-hour period. It was then observed that 100% of the men gained weight, 80% talked excessively without making sense, 50% became overly emotional, 60% couldn't drive, 75% failed to think rationally, 50% argued over nothing, 20% had to sit down while urinating; the other 80% should have, 60% couldn't perform sexually, and 90% refused to apologize when wrong. No further testing is planned.
Posted 8:21 AM by whatley 0 comments

More news about FOWL.org. I have been adding graphics. Those of you who read the FOWL newsletter know that in addition to miles of fine print there is art. Comics are common on the back page. Isn't that where you start? You will also see politica satire and apocolyptic angst. There is original, borrowed and adapted biological sketches that even appear on the post cards. Including these on the web consumes server space. My first posting of these graphics hit a server space limit in mid upload. I suffered a premature disconnection. Neither party was satisfied. We rolled over, smoked the proverbial cigarette and regrouped. I converted grapics into less memory demanding bits and pieces. I deleted, reconfigured, and after several trials got the things to stick. Other graphics that were previously well established lost touch with the virtual ether. Several more corrections, setbacks and restarts got things to work again. I'm ready for a rest. Once again I ask your piloting the new version. If only car making was so easily retooled! When you click on a thumbnail, I don't know what will happen. Sometimes the image is so large you can't see it. Suggestions from the digital guru please.
Posted 9:01 PM by Ray Stewart 0 comments

Art Crimes: The Writing on the Wall is a repository of graffiti from around the world. Cleveland is included (two pages). Dial-up users: because the photos are high quality this may download slowly. Cool site though.

I stopped by the Lorain County Board of Elections Friday (see post from last Tuesday) and it wasn't a bad experience at all. They were actually helpful. I was shocked. They did finally send mail confirmation just the day before in which they misspelled my last name but by the time I got there they had already corrected the mistake. Waytago!
Posted 11:18 AM by whatley 0 comments

News Flash: Ralph has major impact on one sector of economy!

In Other News: The latest craze among a certain set of people is trying to devise Google searches that bring up exactly one result. It's a game best played in e-mail, because if you put your entries on a Web site somewhere, Google will, of course, eventually index them, increasing the number of results for your phrases to two.
Posted 11:55 AM by whatley 0 comments

For all of you who want to fill out your weekly planners for the new year, here is an industry standard form for your customization. Many of you will find it ideal, just as it is. I may substitute some of the suggested activites, but for the most part, will adhere to the plan.
Posted 11:11 AM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Once again i ask for feedback about the FOWL web page. there is a new page called current events. Check out the links, I hope they work. If there are questions or critiques, problems, grammar, or help you can offer, lay it on me. I am a student of this medium and a victum of language. Your input will make it better.
Posted 8:17 PM by Ray Stewart 0 comments

State o' the Blog: Rumors have been circulating for awhile now that Blogger may have to move to a fee based system. Neil McIntosh of the Guardian writes:

"It's the beginning of the end of free at Blogger. I've just been interviewing Evan Williams, brains behind Blogger.com, in his local cafe in San Francisco. I'd dragged him away from development of Blogger's first premium service: fast-responding servers.

Blogger has been under great strain since October, when the US terrorist attacks prompted a surge in people wanting to create their own weblogs. Now Evan plans to start building up a premium service: in the next few hours, he'll launch a $30-a-year membership scheme, which will offer faster and more reliable service. The free Blogger will remain, but other - quite compelling - premium services will be rolled out quick-fire after that."

This quote seems to say that some kind of free service will continue but I'm not gonna bet the farm on it. I really can't fault Ev (he is Blogger, more or less) for this. His contribution to the internet community at-large has been enourmous, as are now his hardware and bandwidth expenses.

What this means for tRBT is hard to say. I'm out about $150 already on this thing (minus one $10 donation) for domain name and hosting plus lots of hours. I've been glad to contribute the money and effort for the (I hope) enjoyment of all but was already considering a plea for $ support prior to October, when our next hosting bill is due. Andy and I have been discussing this eventuality. Here are two quotes from two different emails to him that roughly explain my feelings:

"Hosting, including domain name fees, is about $115/yr at present. I really
don't know if I want to pay that solo next year or not. It depends on how
things go with the blog. This is especially true if we have to dump Blogger
because then I'll have a much larger time investment. Ideally I'd like to
see a number of members, if not all, share this cost. I don't know how
comfortable I'd be with just one or two of us."

"I won't make a big deal about contributions unless:
1) Blogger institutes fees
2) We lose Blogger in favor of rolling our own (see #1)
3) The cost of hosting goes up"

We can pay Blogger, which may prove to be the best option, or as you can see above we have the choice of moving to a different blog system, one that doesn't use any server but our own (like the comment system runs now). That would mean a lot of work for yours truely but I don't mind doing that work, hell, I'm happy to, but only if it's of real value to you. In other words, do you enjoy this and want it to keep going? Enough to consider helping with the costs?

Nothing's carved in stone at this point, either with Blogger or tRBT or me. This post is just a heads up about what may happen and a bit of how I'm feeling about it all at present. I'd love to know your feelings.
Posted 12:07 PM by whatley 0 comments

Interesting. Scientists grow and implant artificial eyeballs...livers are next, so have another beer.

P.S. I changed my desktop wallpaper the other day. Here's a smaller jpg of the image I'm now using. It's like looking in a mirror.
Posted 8:56 AM by whatley 0 comments

Sometime towards the end of November I decided to register to vote. "What brought on this sudden burst of civic responsibility", you ask? Well, it had to do with the new high school bond issue in Elyria, but that's another story. Anyway, I got a mail-in registration card on one of my regular trips to the library, filled it out and sent it in. Three weeks go by and I don't hear anything. It's been so long since I last voted that I didn't know if I was supposed to hear anything, but not getting any confirmation at all made me a bit curious, so I searched out the Lorain County Board of Elections website and emailed them on December 13:

Dear Lorain County Board of Elections,

A few weeks ago I picked up a voter registration card from the Elyria Library, filled it out, and sent it in. Because I haven't voted in many years I'm not sure if I should expect to receive confirmation that the registration was received and successfully processed.

Could you please tell me what should I receive, where to vote, in general how the process works from this point on?

Thank you for your time,

Their response came back the same day:

Dear Russ: In reply to your inquiry regarding your registration, we have stacks of registrations that, as of today, have not been processed. If you do not receive a confirmation of your registration within a reasonable length of time, do not hesitate to contact us again.

It's now January 8th and, you guessed it, no confirmation. Hmm.... I wonder how many stacks they have? Is almost two months a reasonable length of time? Sounds overly reasonable to me. Will I be able to vote in the special election which is now less than a month away? I'm taking Friday off to get my windshield replaced after doing some other daytime errands and I've decided to drop on by their location in person to get some answers. Why do I get the feeling this will not be a pleasant experience?
Posted 12:51 PM by whatley 0 comments

I was curious about the history of wetlands "conversion" in Ohio, and started looking for information about the Great Black Swamp, the name that characterizes the amazing water-land structure that encompassed most of NW Ohio between Toledo and Indiana before the 1840's. Most of the historical data reflects the vision we were presented when in elementary school, of the fierce and detemined Pioneer, advancing civilization in the face of natural and aboriginal opposition, "taming" the wilderness, clearing, cutting, burning, draining to bring peace and prosperity that lasts to this day. The metrics are all about increasing populations, cities, tonnages of meat and agriculture production, and the economic success and triumph of mankind. Well, 200 years may not seem like a short time, but I think we are beginning to be able to understand that there is a tab, and that it must be paid, and that it really IS about short-term thinking. Here is an issue of The Black Swamp Chanticleer, the newsletter of the Wood County Historical Society from the summer of 2001. The article about the clearing and draining of the Great Black Swamp begins on page 6. It is in Adobe PDF format, for which a free reader can be downloaded here.
Posted 5:24 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Interesting historical window. I was mucking about the Web and ran across transcripts from the Franklin Repository and Transcript of August, 1859. The following was one editorial that caught my eye:

"Franklin Repository and Transcript, August 17, 1859, p. 1, c. 4
"Independence."
"Fourth of July." -- Well -- I don't feel patriotic. Perhaps I might if they would stop that deafening racket. Washington was very-well, if he couldn't spell, and I'm glad we are all free; but as a woman -- I shouldn't know it, didn't some orator tell me. Can I go out of an evening without a hat at my side? Can I go out with one on my head without danger of a station-house? Can I clap my hands at some public speaker when I am nearly bursting with delight? -- Can I signify the contrary when my hair stands on end with vexation? Can I stand up in the cars "like a gentleman" without being immediately invited "to sit down?" -- Can I get into an omnibus without having my sixpence taken from my hand and given to the driver? Can I cross Broadway without having a policeman tackled to my helpless elbow? Can I go to see anything pleasant, like an execution or a dissection? Can I drive that splendid "Lantern," distancing -- like his owner -- all competitors? Can I have the nomination for "Governor of Vermont," like our other contributor, John G. Saxe? -- Can I be a Senator, that I may hurry up that millennial, International Copyright Law? -- Can I even be "President?" Bah -- you know I can't. "Free!" Humph! FANNY FERN."

Other editorials debate economic policy, detail lawsuits and their responses, tell jokes at the expense of the Irish, and illuminate this paper's attitudes about the growing battles about Abolition and Emancipation, presaging the Civil War that will erupt apon everyone within a very short time.


Posted 4:54 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

I want to thank everyone for the feedback on the new fowl.org web. I think I have finally succeeded in uploading the monumental "best of FOWL". If you have the guts to download this monster and you have a standard dialup connection be ready to wait. My guess is half an hour to 45 minutes. I would like someone to try and let me know how it works. If there are any other comments or suggestions I would like to hear them. I am working on a links page. Send me your suggestions of actually links or link catagories that you think would be a useful addition. I am also putting together an image library for some very special things that John has come up with. I don't want to duplicate what can be found elsewhere on the web. When it is ready, I hope you check it out. If you have digital images that you think should be included, send them. If you want to write an article for the newsletter or the webpage, I will happily consider it. FOWL would be a stronger organization if there were a team of swamp, bog, fen and marsh reporters out there keeping an eye on things.
Posted 2:43 PM by Ray Stewart 0 comments

Ever get service so crappy that you actually do something about it? You can ask to speak to a manager, write a letter to the corporate home, or contact the BBB, none of which is all that satisfying when you're really pissed off. These people decided on a different method; they made a PowerPoint presentation and posted it on the web. They did the presentation so well that everybody's been linking to it for weeks now. Yours is a Very Bad Hotel (click on the arrows to move through the presentation) I just love the web sometimes.
Posted 10:24 AM by whatley 0 comments

I can look at lots of daily and monthly, even hourly, web usage statistics of 7393.org, aka The Red Brick Times, and I thought you might find this one from the month of December interesting. 19 hits from Peru? 16 from Jordan? Hold the phone, 52 from Canada? We are not alone.
Posted 11:32 AM by whatley 0 comments