Brrrrr! - It is difficult to acclimate to this sudden change in the weather—going from triple-digit highs only a few days ago to a forecast high of 77° tomorrow! While a drop in temperature was certainly welcome, the quickness with which it took place puts a strain on one's system.
At the moment, it is a relatively brisk 66°. For the brief period that I was outside—walking a few yards from my home to my vehicle and then from my vehicle to my office—I found the coolness to be restorative and invigorating.
I arrived at my office and scurried to disable the alarm system. I heard the telephone ringing as I unlocked the front door. Clients were awaiting me. I said, "Come in and excuse me while I answer my telephone."
I answered the telephone. The caller said his computer would not allow him to connect to any of several Web sites that he routinely visited without issue. I told him that I was with clients but would be pleased to look at his computer this afternoon. He said maybe I could just tell him what to do over the phone to get it working so he didn't have to bring it to me.
I told the caller that it was unlikely his computer could be fixed in that manner and attempting to do so would be grossly unfair to the clients who were waiting to speak to me.
The caller became agitated and said he needed the computer fixed right away. I said, "I must go now. Should you decide to bring your computer here, I have unscheduled time this afternoon after 1 P.M. He sid nothing and ended the call.
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
Brrrrr!, Discourtesy, and Roadkill Cars
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
The Hack Attack, In the News, and Enjoy
The Hack Attack - If you read last Thursday's edition of this blog, you may recall that I detailed a hack attack upon one of my clients. In the News - They walk among us! Enjoy - Relax and enjoy these images and videos!
You may well imagine how I fixed my gaze upon the television this morning when a local news program interviewed a man who was similarly attacked!
The news report showed the victim, sitting in his living room, recounting the experience.
The story—titled "Magalia man warns of scammer"—quoted the man, "He calls me again and says he is Microsoft and that I have all these viruses in my computer and that it is running real slow."
The stranger wanted $300 to fix the computer. The victim continued, "He told me what is your social security number I told him I did not want to do that. He says I'll crash your computer then and you can't use it."
This is a sad tale, certainly. I find the way the story was presented to be unduly sensational—in particular since removing viruses, malware, Trojans, and ransomware is something I do daily, and the only recommended action given in the report is "...call the Federal Trade Commission."
The article makes it sound as though this sort of hack leaves a computer virtually unrepairable. When the report states, "Now Cookseys computer sits useless on his living room floor. He says he can't afford to buy a new one," the viewer is left with the idea that the computer is unrepairable. The fact is, this is a relatively simple repair, and I generally charge a fee of only $60.00 to make it!
Friday, October 12, 2012
Bad Hair Day, Don't Look Up!, -and- Line up the Votes
Technology in the News Today
Born on this Day in History: October 12, 1968 - Born in Australia, Hugh Jackman is the youngest of five children. He began his acting career on stage and appeared in several Melbourne musicals. He has since won international recognition for his roles as superheroes, most notably Wolverine in X-Men. He has also held roles in Kate & Leopold, Van Helsing, The Prestige, and Australia. He was named People magazine's" Sexiest Man Alive" in 2008. |
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On this Day in History: October 12, 1492 - After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sights a Bahamian island, believing he has reached East Asia. His expedition went ashore the same day and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored his attempt to find a western ocean route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. |
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Thursday, October 11, 2012
ID Please, Smile!, -and- Let's Eat!
Technology in the News Today
Born on this Day in History: October 11, 1925 - Elmore Leonard was inspired by Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. His determination to be a writer stayed with him through a stint in the Navy and a job in advertising. His early published work was mostly westerns, including 3:10 to Yuma. When that genre became less popular, Leonard turned to crime novels set in Detroit, including Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, and Out of Sight. |
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On this Day in History: October 11, 1986 - Following up on their successful November 1985 summit meeting in Geneva, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavik, Iceland, to continue discussions about curbing their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe. Just when it appeared that agreement might be reached, the talks fell apart amid accusations and recriminations, and U.S.-Soviet relations took a giant step backwards. |
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Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Fighting Back, Valley of the Dolls, -and- Alien
Technology in the News Today
Born on this Day in History: October 10, 1969 - NFL quarterback Brett Favre was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, in 1969. The son of a football coach, Favre attended the University of Southern Mississippi. After a stellar college career, Favre was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the 1991 NFL draft. Following his trade to the Green Bay Packers the next year, Favre led the franchise to victory in the Super Bowl XXXI. He was also named the league's MVP three years in a row. After shorter stints with the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings. |
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On this Day in History: October 10, 1985 - The hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro reaches a dramatic climax when U.S. Navy F-14 fighters intercept an Egyptian airliner attempting to fly the Palestinian hijackers to freedom and force the jet to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily. American and Italian troops surrounded the plane, and the terrorists were taken into Italian custody. |
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Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Feed Me!, Going to Pot, -and- Animal Kingdom
Technology in the News Today
Born on this Day in History: October 9, 1948 - Jackson Browne is a German-born American singer, pianist and guitarist who helped define the singer-songwriter movement of the 1970s. Browne performed with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the late 1960s. In 1972, he released his debut solo album featuring the hit "Doctor My Eyes". He also wrote songs of the Eagles (notably "Take It Easy"). His style is diverse, from rock to romantic folk to reggae. |
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On this Day in History: October 9, 1967 - Socialist revolutionary and guerilla leader Che Guevara, age 39, is killed by the Bolivian army. The U.S.-military-backed Bolivian forces captured Guevara on October 8 while battling his band of guerillas in Bolivia and assassinated him the following day. His hands were cut off as proof of death and his body was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1997, Guevara's remains were found and sent back to Cuba, where they were reburied in a ceremony attended by President Fidel Castro and thousands of Cubans. |
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Monday, October 08, 2012
The Tutors, Ouch!, -and- You Are What You Eat
Technology in the News Today
Born on this Day in History: October 8, 1949 - Sigourney Weaver was born in New York City to a show business background. Her mother was an English actress and her father was president of NBC. Though self conscious about her height and looks, Weaver acted in off-Broadway shows, and had her big break in the 1979 film Alien. Weaver appeared in many films throughout the next three decades, including Ghost Busters, Working Girl, Aliens, and Avatar. Weaver has been nominated for three Academy Awards. |
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On this Day in History: October 8, 1871 - Flames spark in the Chicago barn of Patrick and Catherine O'Leary, igniting a two-day blaze that kills between 200 and 300 people, destroys 17,450 buildings, leaves 100,000 homeless and causes an estimated $200 million (in 1871 dollars; $3 billion in 2007 dollars) in damages. Legend has it that a cow kicked over a lantern in the O'Leary barn and started the fire, but other theories hold that humans or even a comet may have been responsible for the event that left four square miles of the Windy City, including its business district, in ruins. Dry weather and an abundance of wooden buildings, streets and sidewalks made Chicago vulnerable to fire. The city averaged two fires per day in 1870; there were 20 fires throughout Chicago the week before the Great Fire of 1871. |
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Friday, October 05, 2012
See Ya Later, Animal Kingdom, -and- Disorder in the Court
Technology in the News Today
Born on this Day in History: October 5, 1951 - Bob Geldolf’s band the Boomtown Rats had a couple of hits in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until Geldof formed the pop charity Band Aid trust in 1984 that he became widely known. The trust raised $8 million for Africa famine relief through the release of the record "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and in 1985, "Live Aid" concerts were held in London and Philadelphia, which raised a further $48 million. |
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On this Day in History: October 5, 1892 - The famous Dalton Gang attempts the daring daylight robbery of two Coffeyville, Kansas, banks at the same time. But if the gang members believed the sheer audacity of their plan would bring them success, they were sadly mistaken. Instead, they were nearly all killed by quick-acting townspeople. For a year and a half, the Dalton Gang had terrorized the state of Oklahoma, mostly concentrating on train holdups. Though the gang had more murders than loot to their credit, they had managed to successfully evade the best efforts of Oklahoma law officers to bring them to justice. Perhaps success bred overconfidence, but whatever their reasons, the gang members decided to try their hand at robbing not just one bank, but at robbing the First National and Condon Banks in their old hometown of Coffeyville at the same time. |
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Thursday, October 04, 2012
Stupid Criminals, Hey Robin!, -and- Flower Power
Technology in the News Today
Born on this Day in History: October 4, 1923 - Actor Charlton Heston made his film debut in the 1941 production of Peer Gynt. His physique and deep voice landed him some of the most heroic roles in the history of motion pictures: Planet of the Apes, The Ten Commandments, and Ben-Hur (1959, Oscar). He also directed for film and television, including Antony and Cleopatra. He was married to Lydia Marie Clarke from 1944 until his death in 2008. |
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On this Day in History: October 4, 1957 - The Soviet Union inaugurates the "Space Age" with its launch of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. The spacecraft, named Sputnik after the Russian word for "satellite," was launched at 10:29 p.m. Moscow time from the Tyuratam launch base in the Kazakh Republic. Sputnik had a diameter of 22 inches and weighed 184 pounds and circled Earth once every hour and 36 minutes. Traveling at 18,000 miles an hour, its elliptical orbit had an apogee (farthest point from Earth) of 584 miles and a perigee (nearest point) of 143 miles. Visible with binoculars before sunrise or after sunset, Sputnik transmitted radio signals back to Earth strong enough to be picked up by amateur radio operators. Those in the United States with access to such equipment tuned in and listened in awe as the beeping Soviet spacecraft passed over America several times a day. In January 1958, Sputnik's orbit deteriorated, as expected, and the spacecraft burned up in the atmosphere. |
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Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Sir Have You Been Drinking?, Hoarders, -and- Bad Hair Day
Technology in the News Today
Born on this Day in History: October 3, 1969 - Born in Anaheim, California, Gwen Stefani first gained popularity in the 1990s as the lead singer of No Doubt. She went on to have a highly successful solo career and launch her own clothing line, L.A.M.B. After parting ways with her No Doubt bandmates in the early 2000s to begin a solo career that would ultimately gain little traction, Stefani reunited with band in 2012. Soon after, they began working on a new album, |
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On this Day in History: October 3, 1995 - At the end of a sensational trial, former football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the brutal 1994 double murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. In the epic 252-day trial, Simpson's "dream team" of lawyers employed creative and controversial methods to convince jurors that Simpson's guilt had not been proved "beyond a reasonable doubt," thus surmounting what the prosecution called a "mountain of evidence" implicating him as the murderer. Orenthal James Simpson--a Heisman Trophy winner, star running back with the Buffalo Bills, and popular television personality--married Nicole Brown in 1985. He reportedly regularly abused his wife and in 1989 pleaded no contest to a charge of spousal battery. In 1992, she left him and filed for divorce. On the night of June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were stabbed and slashed to death in the front yard of Mrs. Simpson's condominium in Brentwood, Los Angeles. By June 17, police had gathered enough evidence to charge O.J. Simpson with the murders. |
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Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Drop the Mouse and Move Away From the Computer!, Ticket to Ride, -and- Somebody's Watching You
Technology in the News Today
Born on this Day in History: October 2, 1949 - Photographer Annie Leibovitz was born in Waterbury, Connecticut. In 1970 she took a job at Rolling Stone magazine. In 1983 she began working for the entertainment magazine Vanity Fair. During the late 1980s, Leibovitz started to work on a number of high-profile advertising campaigns. From the 1990s to the present, she has been publishing and exhibiting her work. |
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On this Day in History: October 2, 1963 - Hurricane Flora crashes into Haiti, killing thousands of people. This huge storm, which also killed large numbers of people in Cuba and wreaked havoc elsewhere in the Caribbean, was one of the most deadly hurricanes in history. On September 30, Flora reached hurricane status just east of the Caribbean. It then quickly became a Category 2 hurricane as it slammed into Trinidad and Tobago. There, it triggered several deadly landslides before moving on to the island of Grenada. Flora took a terrible toll on the small island, killing 36 people and seriously injuring another 500. |
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Monday, October 01, 2012
Allow Me, Come and Get It!, -and- The Great Pumpkin
Technology in the News Today
Born on this Day in History: October 1, 1963 - Born in California, Mark McGwire was one of the most powerful hitters in baseball during the 1980s and 1990s. He played for the Oakland Athletics, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs. In 1998, he set a record for the most home runs in a single season, which was broken in 2001 by Barry Bonds. In 2010, McGwire admitted to using steroids "off and on" for nearly a decade, including when he beat the home-run record in 1998. He also said that he didn't need performance-enhancing drugs, and that he believed he'd been "given a gift to hit home runs." |
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On this Day in History: October 1, 1890 - An act of Congress creates Yosemite National Park, home of such natural wonders as Half Dome and the giant sequoia trees. Environmental trailblazer John Muir (1838-1914) and his colleagues campaigned for the congressional action, which was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison and paved the way for generations of hikers, campers and nature lovers, along with countless "Don't Feed the Bears" signs. |
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