Just added these photo albums for Rodney's new hunting site:
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, April 05, 2010
Loving my new plane cover!
Just got my new airplane cover from www.planecover.com, and I'm REALLY impressed with the fit, the materials, fasteners, etc. It's really first-rate, fit perfectly, good quality heavy-duty zippers and snaps, and looks great. Easy to put on too. Nice embroidery of my plane's tail number on the cover and the cowl plugs. And Jim, the owner of the company, definitely has a sense of humor as you can see if you read a bit of his site.
New Zealand hunting website
Just finished launching a new website for my buddy Rodney at Sunspots International...it's for New Zealand hunting packages. He's got all sorts of cool packages put together for hunting red stag, chamois, himalayan bull tahr, etc....all those animals that the thoughtful European settlers brought with them before they realized that New Zealand doesn't have any predators big enough to control those populations :-) So hunting has become very popular, not only because there's a plethora of game available, but it's also some pretty spectacular countryside...check out some of the photo galleries from inside the packages on the site.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 08, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
It’s time to upgrade from the Windows 7 Release Candidate
I got this from Microsoft today (I'd installed the Windows 7 release candidate last summer):
What's funny about this is that as far as I can see, continuing to run the release candidate after March 1 is different from using the final version (which I've been running for a few months now) in just 2 ways:
#1 the live version shuts down about every 8 hours, instead of 2 hours
#2 it shuts down with a blue screen rather than a black one.
:-p
"While most people who tested Windows 7 have now moved to the final version, some are still running the Release Candidate. If you haven’t moved yet, it’s time to replace the RC. Starting on March 1, 2010 your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Your work will not be saved during the shutdown. The Windows 7 RC will fully expire on June 1, 2010. Your PC running the Windows 7 RC will continue shutting down every two hours and your files won’t be saved during shutdown. In addition, your wallpaper will change to a solid black background with a persistent message on your desktop. You’ll also get periodic notifications that Windows isn’t genuine. That means your PC may no longer be able to obtain optional updates or downloads requiring genuine Windows validation." |
What's funny about this is that as far as I can see, continuing to run the release candidate after March 1 is different from using the final version (which I've been running for a few months now) in just 2 ways:
#1 the live version shuts down about every 8 hours, instead of 2 hours
#2 it shuts down with a blue screen rather than a black one.
:-p
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Google Local reviews - first try at professional reviewers has bugs
Google appears to be taking a first step at incorporating professional bloggers/reviewers in their list of reviews for a given business. Unfortunately it's got a pretty big bug, it seems. They're showing the home page of a local newspaper editor's (Matt Davis) blog 9 times as "reviews" for my client, V Shape Fitness (a personal trainer here in Portland). Matt is a client, and did write about him, but...
Full details in my post on the latest bug in Google Local Search.
Full details in my post on the latest bug in Google Local Search.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Windows 7....the 7 is for Blue Screens
Now I know why they named this version of Windows "7"...it's for the number of times it barfs up a blue screen of death each day :-(
Monday, August 10, 2009
EFR 2009 - the Extended Version
 |
| Click the photo, then click Slideshow |
Fossil OR, Crane Hot Springs OR, Reno NV, Ely NV, Evanston WY (via Utah), Ketchum ID, Salmon ID, Missoula MT, Walla Walla WA via Lolo Pass, Castlegar BC, then back home.
Friday, July 17, 2009
RingEnvy.com tries a new spamming trick
We got a little traffic from this site today, and for various reasons I decided to poke my nose in a little deeper...and was quite entertained by the spammy trick I discovered.
It seems RingEnvy.com is scraping (yes, stealing) content from Yahoo Answers in order to generate lots of pages of juicy content for the search engines to digest and index, in the hopes of driving more traffic.
So that's nothing new, lots of sites try tricks like this. What made it interesting was the trick they used to massage the content so that the search engines didn't see it as duplicate content--a copy of what they'd already seen on Yahoo Answers.
As far as I can tell, they've fed the Yahoo Answers pages through an electronic translator...twice, once from English to another language, then again to translate back. Because of how rough electronic translation is, you end up with a pile of decent english words, with most of the important search terms preserved, but scramble so it doesn't look much like the original text.
Look at some of the gems that result:
Here's the original page in Yahoo Answers:
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070409162010AAFhR2I
And here's the translated page (for those who weren't tempted to click on "spammy trick" above):
www.ringenvy.com/talk/tag/destination-wedding/
It seems RingEnvy.com is scraping (yes, stealing) content from Yahoo Answers in order to generate lots of pages of juicy content for the search engines to digest and index, in the hopes of driving more traffic.
So that's nothing new, lots of sites try tricks like this. What made it interesting was the trick they used to massage the content so that the search engines didn't see it as duplicate content--a copy of what they'd already seen on Yahoo Answers.
As far as I can tell, they've fed the Yahoo Answers pages through an electronic translator...twice, once from English to another language, then again to translate back. Because of how rough electronic translation is, you end up with a pile of decent english words, with most of the important search terms preserved, but scramble so it doesn't look much like the original text.
Look at some of the gems that result:
- "My fiance additionally as myself have been pondering about stealing scored equally together in Hawaii, yet we're confused on how it would work."
- "I am carrying a finish matrimony in Key West, FL. we am not sure if we should rewear a grave wear during a matrimony reception."
- "I am unquestionably confused additionally as hopefully somebody who has had the finish wedlock in the past can benefit me!"
Here's the original page in Yahoo Answers:
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070409162010AAFhR2I
And here's the translated page (for those who weren't tempted to click on "spammy trick" above):
www.ringenvy.com/talk/tag/destination-wedding/
Friday, July 10, 2009
Google Mini: a Disposable Search Engine in a Box
BACKGROUND: Google Mini is essentially an appliance, a mini version of Google that they ship preconfigured on a cheap rackmount webserver, with a light version of Google installed. You can configure it a little to look like your site, and get it to catalog just your site's pages, and then integrate a search box into your website to implement site search. Cool, useful stuff for us webmasters.
We bought a Google Mini box. It lasted a little less than a year before biting the biscuit. So, Google shipped us a new box as it was under warranty. I sort of expect that a webserver would last more like 3-5 years at least, but what the hell, they replaced it. Not real happy about all the extra time I had to put in, but at this point I was OK with the support.
Well, that replacement server lasted less than 3 months before biting the dust. Some sort of software problem that their tech support said was a known issue, but rare, and gave me some steps to go through to get it to run again. No permanent fix, but they thought it would probably not happen again. Not happy, but hey, it's working again so whatever.
That server lasted only 4 more months before failing completely (hardware). Now, they won't do anything to fix it as it's outside of the ORIGINAL Mini's warranty. They want us to buy a new box for full price of $3000. Google Mini support guy John Lowry told me on the phone that these things have a limited lifespan, and so they can't just replace it for free every few months. Huh? I'd expect the cardboard box it came in to last longer than the servers have been lasting!
So of course we're pretty pissed, as their appliances (essentially a webserver with a bit o' Google software on it) are averaging about 6 months total lifespan. Obviously this is way, way under anyone's expectations of how long a computer should last, whether it's a webserver, laptop, or a desktop PC. ESPECIALLY when it's living in a nice, cold, air-conditioned, clean & smooth powered datacenter like this one.
So what can I do? Not much...it's not worth suing them for $3000. But I bet with a little help from some of you readers we can make the Google Mini site the #1 result in Google for searches for disposable search engine. Which is pretty accurate, from our experience.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Cupcakes on the Counter
My mother-in-law, RaeAnn Proost, has just published her 3rd book, Cupcakes on the Counter - a collection of memoirs and heirloom recipes.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)