Diary of a Network Geek

I likes me some games!

I would imagine many of my readers do, too.  Also, I suspect that you all are more than a little fond of words, as am I.  So, naturally, when I stole this link, er, saw this link on another site, I knew you’d love to see it, too.  The site is called Word Games and that pretty well sums up what that site is all about.

Hey, it’s Friday and if you were reading this, you obviously weren’t working anyway, so you might as well check it out!

Right, who didn’t want to be a superhero when they were a kid?

Whether it was Batman or Superman or Spiderman or, yes, even Wonder Woman, surely, anyone my age and younger wanted to be some kind of superhero when they were a kid.  Those costumed crusaders inspired us all, to some level, as kids, didn’t they?  Well, apparently, some of us never grew up because, yes, there are still people dressing up in costumes trying to inspire people.  In this case, it’s the Real Life Superhero Project.

They all have different motivations, but they all share some common ideals and, of course, they all have costumes.  The site says it started as a gallery and has become a much larger project.  From it’s tone, it seems like they’re almost trying to be a Justice League or Avengers kind of team, though maybe not so organized or unified in their fight against crime.  Not sure if they’re gaining popularity since Kick-Ass was made into a film or not, but I wonder how they’d do fighting, you know, actual crime and actual criminals.

Well, I’m not going to start hatin’ on a Friday, so, go check it out for yourself and see if you think they’re for “real” or not.

No, that’s not some collapsible shipping container.

It’s camera equipment!  Why pay huge money for a little, tiny softbox for your hot-shoe flash when you can just make one?  Yep, fold yourself a mini-softbox from a sheet of A4 paper!  Okay, sure, it can’t be as good as a professionally made commercial product, but, when budgets are tight, it may not be a bad second choice.

Besides, what else are you photographers who are stuck in the office going to do on a Friday?

Don’t know what “GTD” stands for?

Well, then you’re not one of the legions of followers of the “Getting Things Done” method of personal organization.  And this post probably won’t excite you.

But, for the rest of you, if you want to make your own, custom GTD organizer, checkout the, uh, Custom GTD Organizer and let it help you do your layout.
Of course, if you’re all high-tech, you could just use your iPhone as a “todo” list and be done with it.  And, actually, the second option is what I do, but, well, one link doesn’t seem like enough for a Friday, does it?

It’s no secret that I love WordPress.

I mean, seriously, I really, really love WordPress as a blogging platform and as an easy-to-understand Content Management System.  But, did you know that I’m one of the three most important people in WordPress? No, for real! And, I have a certificate from Matt Mullenweg himself to prove it!

Okay, so, yeah, I know, I’m not really one of the most important people in WordPress, outside of being one of millions of users who do, in fact, make WordPress a force to be reckoned with. But, we only manage that as a group, as a community. No, that certificate is a joke. Literally. It’s a joke from Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress, regarding an incident some weeks back involving a theme developer who didn’t want to use the GPL, which is the software license that WordPress uses and all theme developers are required to use. I know people will disagree, but, based on my understanding of the GPL, any derivative works of a product that uses the GPL must also use the GPL.  So, really, for most of their code, theme developers are required to use the GPL.  Honestly, I’ve never worried about it.  I mean, mostly, it’s a bunch of legal speak that means very little to the average end-user.
One of the things that this theme developer claimed, erroneously, was that he was one of the “three most important people in WordPress” because he felt that so many people used his theme.  I think he may have been surprised at how many of those folks jumped ship when they found out there was something wrong with that theme and its license.

In any case, what does matter to us about all this is that Matt took that attention and made a marketing opportunity out of it.  For starters, he started buying people premium themes that didn’t violate the GPL as a kind of protest and a way to draw attention to how serious he is about supporting the GPL.  And lots of people took him up on the offer.  But, apparently, someone griped about not wanting a premium theme or something and so, instead, Matt made a second offer to those of us who didn’t want, or couldn’t decide on, a premium theme.  He offered us free t-shirts.

Well, I’m always up for a free t-shirt, especially one that advertises something I believe in and use, so I was on this offer like white on rice.  Now, I can only imagine how many people also took advantage of this, too, but I went to his website, and filled out the form and sent off my e-mail like a kid sending in his box-tops for his toy surprise.  And, then I forgot about it.  I try to do that, frankly, when I enter contests and such.  Like casting my bread upon the water, I do what I need to do to enter and then forget it.  That way, if something does arrive, I’m pleasantly surprised.  That’s just what I was this past Friday when I found the package from Matt in my mailbox; pleasantly surprised!

As you can see from the picture, the t-shirt came with a few other things.
First of all, there were all kinds of stickers, which I love.  It reminds me of the old days when you got swag at the conventions and covered your laptop in stickers.  But, there was also an iPhone skin and pencils and, of course, the certificate, which made me laugh out loud.
I’ve already worn the t-shirt, which, as you can see, says “Code is poetry” on the front.  What you can’t tell from the photograph is that the t-shirt reads “WordPress.org” and has the official WordPress logo on the back.  Frankly, that’s the part I love.

Now, all I need to do is actually read all those books I’ve gotten on WordPress theme design and get working on it…
Anyway, thanks for all the stuff, Matt!

Seems like I’ve been talking about increasingly grim things this month.

Well, I can promise you that I don’t feel as if the world was ending, even though that does seem to occupy my “fun” posts!  So, let’s see if we can lighten things up a bit this week with the Dystopian Future Quiz that helps you choose just which unbearable Dystopian future is for you!
Oh, I know it’s silly, but, what the heck, it’s Friday and you obviously don’t have anything better to do or you wouldn’t be reading this!  So, go ahead and take the quiz.  It’ll only take a few minutes and it really is sort of fun.

ScottPilgrim

Originally uploaded by Network Geek

The movie so good it got me to blog a review after months of slacking.

Yeah, I loved it.
So, right, this movie is based on the award-winning and very popular independent comic series of the same name. The comic, and the movie, follow the love-life of the title character, Scott Pilgrim, played by Michael Cera as he tries to avoid his under-age Chinese stalker, Knives Chau, played by Ellen Wong, and date, instead, the girl, quite literally of his dreams, Ramona Flowers, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The only problem is, to date Ramona, Scott has to defeat her seven evil ex’s in a battle to the death. But, nothing is quite as easy as it seems, and each ex is more difficult to defeat than the last, much like a video game.

In fact, as Scott defeats each villain, he’s rewarded in video-game fashion with a glowing numeric display of points and then they burst into coins. Yes, coins. Oh, and there’s plenty of video-game themed music, too. But, don’t think you have to be either a gamer or a comic fan to “get” this movie! I mean, if you’ve participated in pop culture at all and are under the age of 60, you shouldn’t have any trouble keeping up.
But, speaking of music, the sound-track on this film rocks! Literally! For starters, a significant contributor to the soundtrack is Beck. Not only as a solo artist, but also as part of Sex Bob-Omb, the band to which Scott and his friends belong. And, that band participation is significant to the plot as they battle other local bands to get a recording contract and a big gig at a big club. Seriously, though, the music is all great and adds a lot to the film. At least, I enjoyed it. Mostly a rock soundtrack, but with the addition of video-game tunes, which enhance the movie.

The whole thing was fun.
Sure, it was sort of a chick-flick, but not in a bad way or as much as you might imagine. I mean, yes, it is about dating and romance and the trials and tribulations of ex’s, but it’s far more fun than it sounds. Because, it’s a comedy, in case Michael Cera being in the cast didn’t give it away. Frankly, the whole thing is just fun and, wow, I can’t remember the last time I saw that in a Summer movie! Seriously! I mean, that’s what Summer movies are supposed to be all about, right? Well, this one actually is! Honestly, I wish I were dating someone so I could have taken her to see it, because it was such a cute, fun film that I’m confident it would have gotten me laid. Seriously.

Mostly, I can’t go into the plot too much, because it would be 100% spoilers, but it’s all about Scott and Ramona, and dating, and love, and music, and the band, and defeating evil ex’s. But, the basic plot is, well, that last sentence pretty well sums it up. I mean, Scott trying to get Ramona and make music with his band and, well, again, defeat those evil ex’s, is pretty much everything that happens in the movie, but, somehow, that paltry description doesn’t capture the fun and adventure of this movie. Trust me, though, when I tell you that it was fast-paced, filled with action, and romance and even a life-lesson or two.

Long-time readers of this blog know that I rarely see movies more than once in the theater, so, they’ll get the impact of this statement; I would happily see this movie again, at full price. I loved this movie that much.
Seriously.
If you like pop music, or if you’ve ever been in love, or if you’ve ever fought against impossible odds to pursue the companion of your dreams, you will love Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Go see it.
Trust me.

Update: Want to see what I’m talking about with the music?  Check out some selections from the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Soundtrack.

Today is Friday the 13th.

In the past, I’ve posted some of the possible history of the negative superstitions around Friday the 13th.  So, today, instead of that, I thought I might give you all some links to helpful ideas to surviving some of the things that may go wrong.  Let’s start with how to Survive a Plane Crash on the Wired.com How-To Wiki.  I mean, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been flying on one of these unlucky Fridays, but, well, I suppose that on any one of them I could have found myself going down and in need of these tips.
Now, I tend to think longer term when it comes to bad luck, and I’m fairly sure that the Apocalypse is going to start on a Friday the 13th.  So, the best way to survive?  Hunker down and wait for civilization to start again.  In the mean time, contemplate the preparations suggested in a different Wired feature; Ask an Algorithm: Apocalypse 101.  After all, as unlucky as the Apocalypse is bound to be, being unprepared for it would be worse!

I generally don’t like crowds.

I hate the press of people and how everyone is in your way when you want to get somewhere.  I’m usually pretty good about getting through crowds with a minimum of delay, but, I have to admit, until I saw the article “Walk Through Crowds” on the Wired.com How-To Wiki, I hadn’t ever thought about describing the methods I use to someone.  And, since they’ve done such a good job of it there, I won’t try.  Besides, they’ve got some ideas there that hadn’t actually occurred to me.  Granted I may do some of them unconsciously, but, well, the entry describes a sort of “best practices” for getting from one side to the other of a crowd.

In any case, while it is actually useful information, it seemed just silly enough for a Friday Fun Post.
Enjoy!

I always come up with these ideas just before someone else announces their version to the media.

No, seriously, I was just thinking about finding the time to research what kind of power requirements a small network would have and figuring out what sort of solar setup would meet those needs.  I was thinking about it for disaster recovery, like after a hurricane or an earthquake, but, still the principal is the same as the Computer Aid Cyber Cafe in a Shipping Container.

I may still write up my ideas, one day, but, I think not during this particular hurricane season.