electrons's Blog

After watching this short video, you will quickly realize how far robitcs has come. 

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Huh?   

Joe, you looked into cameras and told us Americans quote "I do not want to be vice president of the United States of America."  Is that really how you feel?  Or did you change your mind?

So already, you knowingly deceived the people of this great nation.  So in other words you lied to us with deception.  How dare you.  Do you think we are stupid?  What bothers me beyond belief is how you feel we'll think it was a way to throw a curve.  Why the secrets?  I am by far no McCain fan, but you guys are really losing your spark that you once had.  The constant lies, change of minds, etc...  Is this the "change" we were expecting? 

It is interesting watching your party...  the constant change of minds.  In addition it is funny how Obama says he added Biden for foreign policy.  So in other words, since the people of this nation know you have no experience, lets try getting someone who does as my vice president?  Maybe lets make a team to see what happens?  What a  bunch of BLEEP! 

This election is a freakin' joke!  No wonder friends overseas are laughing at us.  

I am scared as hell..... 

If I hear another commercial for flavored water, vitamin water, skinny water, etc I am going to scream.

What a RIPOFF!  This is all about a money making gimmick with smoke and mirrors.  The human race has survived for thousands of years with what was given to us naturally as regular water.  This water scam today has got to be the biggest ripoff in the food industry. 

Save your money folks.  Some companies out there are relying you drink their so called "stupid water" to keep them swimming in the cash.   

So back in the day, it was pounded in our heads not to open email attachments from someone we did not know.  Well, hackers use new tricks to send email that looks like it is from a legitimate sender in your address book. 

So how do you know if an email attachment is really safe and virus free?  Do you simply rely on your antivirus program? 

Now there is a FREE web site called VirusTotal.com.  Simply upload the file you've been sent before opening it.  VirusTotal will scan it using 35 varieties of virus scanners.  Not bad huh?

Click Here for the web site.

A very cool invention, but does it work? 

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With the new PC scare going around among Adobe Reader, I came across a cool web site that describes the threats today. 

Glossary of PC Threats

Be sure to keep updates on you web applications, not just antivirus.  Hackers are turning to other methods now, like through Adobe Acrobat and other common applications.  Rememeber, ones that install trojan horses can record keystrokes and see where you are visting online.  Also be sure to run a root-kit scanner located here: at the bottom of the page called "Black Light". 

Just tonight, my server is being attacked by many IP addresses, mainly in Turkey and Russia.

Global warming is over?  Yes, it has been for a while.

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I was walking through Home Depot and saw a CFL light bulb that claimed "Lasts 10,000 hours".  I am a bit skeptical. 

I plan to buy a few and put them on a programmable timer I made.  It'll switch each bulb on for 1/2 hour, then turn each on off for 5 minutes.  It'll cycle the bulbs non-stop with this timing pattern until they burn out.  A second batch will run non-stop with no power cycling.  We'll see if these bulbs stand up to their claim.  Feel free to place your bets. 

Free energy?  This is an interesting topic.  Can we harness the power of a lighting bolt?  Some say a lighting bolt can power a city for years.  Though I disagree with that statement (power = voltage * current), a discharge is only a few milliseconds (thousandths of a second).  Interesting topic though....

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He obviously wants to disarm America.  Yes, he said this......  Are you scared yet?

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Can you 'reliably' protect your PC from attackers and viruses for free?

We all know the importance of keeping our personal computers safe from attackers.  But can we do it for free?  Can you use FREE tools you can find online rather than paying for antivirus programs, spyware programs, etc?  In this two-part post, I’ll investigate the possibilities and come to a conclusion after testing many different free online tools. 

First, we need to understand the main things we need to protect ourselves from and the main threats out there right now:

RootKit:  A rootkit is a hidden program designed to allow someone to remotely control the computer without your knowledge.  In addition, rootkits work silently without you having any idea that someone else is browsing or controlling your system.  Through the years, rootkits have become very complex and difficult to detect.  AntiVirus software generally does not detect rootkits. 

Virus:  A virus is a small computer program that hides among legitimate programs.  The purpose of a virus is to cause dmage by corruting files and to wreak havoc before copying itself and waiting for itself to be distributed to another computer.  So not only do they cause damage, but they then copy themselves to infect other computers.  Like a human virus, a computer virus spreads through contact with infected floppy disks, CD's, USB drives and email attachments.  Most viruses are spread by opening email attachments that are infected.  A properly engineered virus can have a devastating effect.

Spyware:  Spyware is a program that invades your privacy.  It secretly monitors your behavior and habits while using your computer.  Spyware programs can collect various types of personal information, such as Internet surfing habits and sites that you visit.  Complex spyware can gather credit card numbers or personal information by logging your keystrokes and sending the keystroke logs back to the hacker.  Some spyware can redirect internet browsing to malicious sites where more harmful software can be secretly installed. Spyware can also change computer settings such as your home page or advertisement sites.

Malware:  Malware is short for "Malicious Software".  It is simply that.  Malware is usually a bundle of programs that are hostile and annoying.  According to the internet security company F-Secure, "As much malware [was] produced in 2007 as in the previous 20 years altogether."  Malware is spreading like fire and can contain viruses in their payloads.  

Adware:  Adware is software with advertising functions integrated into or bundled with another program. Adware is responsible for popping up advertisement banners and is generally annoying.  Though Adware is generally an annoyance rather than a threat, some Adware can contain Malware. 

In Part II, I’ll show you how to protect from all of these threats for FREE and the Pro’s and Con’s of free online tools.  Stay tuned…

It is obvious that many car dealerships make money through bogus maintenance and talking you into work that is not really needed, but this takes the cake….

A friend of mine got a coupon in the mail from Fred Beans Nissan for a state inspection and routine checkup. It sounded good, so he took his car into Fred Beans of Limerick to get it done. Well….. he gets a call at home from them. First they say his front tires need replacement at $150 per tire. My friend says… Oh really? You put those tires on last year. If they need replacing then you will put a new set on at no charge. They then back-pedaled and tell him that his alignment must be off that caused the excessive wear on the front tires. If you saw the tires, you’d laugh. They are in great condition! There is no visible wear at all with great tread. It gets better…. They told him how the transmission fluid looks burnt and needs changed and the car should have a 60,000 evaluation. What they didn’t know is that my fiend used to be a car mechanic. He told them to put everything back together and he will be there to pick up the vehicle and they will never see that car again in their dealership. Hats off to him!!!

He showed me a copy of the “recommendations” that they gave him. I guess calling it a recommendation covers their butts. We totaled it up and it came to almost $900 for work that was not needed. This constitutes as a scam in my opinion. Here’s what I think happened but I could be wrong. The car is registered in his wife’s name. When they called, they asked for her. Did the dealership target women, knowing they would probably give the go-ahead for the work? Luckily my friend threw it back at them and put them in their place.

So let this be a warning to all…. Not all of you have the luxury of having an ex-mechanic in the family or as a friend. Before you commit to work on your vehicle, get a second opinion from a local shop. New car sales have low profit margins. Where the money is made, is in the maintenance, but obviously Fred Beans is out to screw people. Fred Beans ought to be ashamed of themselves. Someone ought to do an investigation on bogus and fraudulent maintenance practices, but again the word “recommendations” probably cover them.

Some dealers claim “free inspections” when you purchase from them. Believe me…they will get their money from you in one way or another. I highly recommend local inspection and repair shops. Be careful out there and do not let them take you for a ride. I can’t imagine how many people fall for their tricks.

On Sunday, we land on Mars again this time with the Phoenix spacecraft.  It'll be a nail-biter the last 3 minutes prior to tuchdown when the parachute will deploy at 1.7 times the speed of sound in the Martian atmosphere.

This was a 10 month journey traveling over 400 million miles.  Here is the schedule of events:

-- Spacecraft enters atmosphere, 7:46:33 p.m.
-- Likely blackout period as hot plasma surrounds spacecraft, 7:47 through 7:49 p.m.
-- Parachute deploys, 7:50:15 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds.
-- Heat shield jettisoned, 7:50:30 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds.
-- Legs deploy, 7:50:40 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds. -
- Radar activated, 7:51:30 p.m.
-- Lander separates from backshell, 7:53:09 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds.
-- Transmission gap during switch to helix antenna 7:53:08 to 7:53:14 p.m.
-- Descent thrusters throttle up, 7:53:12 p.m.
-- Constant-velocity phase starts, 7:53:34 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds.
-- Touchdown, 7:53:52 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds.
-- Lander radio off 7:54:52 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds.

NASA TV will begin live coverage at 6PM.  For those of you without NASA TV, you can view it online at NASA.gov.  Enjoy!

Tom

Wow!  This guy had it all figured out.  It may be time to invest into a locking gas cap!

click here to view gas stealing scheme