9.30.2004

Thank God fo Anti-Virus Programs!!!

Tonight, I came home to a disturbing sight. We got home late around 9:00 PM. We checked the mail and I put Jen to bed. I walk into my computer room to find two BSOD.

sonofabitch!


Two screens because I recently connected the 14" LCD as the second monitor under WinXP. The dual monitor setup has been nice. I've been watching Arrested Development at the suggestion of Jon Larkowski. The LCD has become the "television" while I work on the 19" CRT.

Anyway, back to the BSOD. I read the details of the BS (heh) and apparently there was a page fault in AVG. AVG is an anti-virus offering from Grisoft. I downloaded and installed AVG Free Edition in spite of the old adage of "You get what you pay for."

Technically, AVG Anti-Virus performed it's duty. It's a good program and thorough. However, preventing a machine from operating is not the most effective way to prevent viruses. Nor is it any way to market a product. Why on earth would I spend money with this comany's products when a stripped down version crashed my machine?

Looking for a cheap replacement anti-virus program. Any suggestions?

9.27.2004

Tim's Gem Of The Week

Seen on a bumper sticker:

Ask me about my vow of silence.


:)

[Mozilla 1.0 PR] Yellow Background in HTTPS mode

A new feature of Mozilla 1.0 PR ('Preview Release') sets the background of the address bar to yellow when you visit a secure site.

This feature put me off. If I needed to know whether I was in https or http I would just look at the damn prefix. That's just my opinion though.

There is a way around this though, as pointed out by a co-worker, Chris. There is a CSS file you can edit. Adding the code below, stolen from MozillaZine Forums, will set the background color back to white for HTTPS sites.


/* un-yellow the secure urlbar background */

#urlbar[level="high"] > .autocomplete-textbox-container,

#urlbar[level="low"] > .autocomplete-textbox-container,

#urlbar[level="broken"] > .autocomplete-textbox-container {
background-color: white !important;
}


This file was located here on my WinXP machine:
C:\Documents and Settings\{UserName}\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\chrome

Any questions? Lemme know.

FARKLINE: Red states feed at federal trough -- blue states supply the feed

I'm all confused about politics any more. You mean the Democrats are wealthy and the Republicans are broke? Or, the middle class is paying more than the big wig corporations... that makes sense. This isn't so fascinating after all.

9.22.2004

Something about history and doom ...

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.


- Sir Winston Churchill

9.15.2004

Dangerous OJ ...

The St. Louis Fire Department's Haz-Mat team was activated after federal park rangers spotted a swollen Minute Maid jug in a parking lot near Second Street and Washington Avenue about 6 a.m. The police bombing and arson squad's robot exploded the jug, which contained a liquid -- perhaps orange juice -- and the area was deemed safe about 9:30 a.m.

9.13.2004

Engine work ...

My brother John wants to borrow the Acura this weekend to run the two day invitational at Jefferson Speedway. We took the head off the car yesterday to see if we could decipher the cause of the miss we developed this weekend. We got it apart and damned if we didn't find much of anything wrong. Lots of carbon but, that's to be expected I guess.

I contacted the good folks at Polk Diesel & Machine in De Forest in the hopes that they could get some engine work done before the weekend so that John could run the car. The cylinder head will be resurfaced and the valves ground and hopefully we'll get it back on Thursday in time to get it back together for racing on Friday.

Jen and I will be out of town this weekend visiting one member of my blog-dience.



9.12.2004

9/17 Columbus Results - Wild finish to the racing season ...

The Acura developed a miss, the third cylinder wasn't firing. I turned my slowest time of the year at 17.5 seconds. I finished last in the third heat and DNF'd the feature.

I had a tire chunk out on the right front. Basically all the rubber from the cords up just fell away from the outside of the wheel. I came in for a NASCAR style pit excercise where the right front was pulled off and swapped with the left front. I made it out without losing a lap. This was done because the inside tire doesn't do much work and it basically just needs to stay round. As I joined the field they turned the cars to go around clockwise. That put the chunked out wheel back on the outside. After two laps of sliding around I just pulled off.


Jen did a great job in the Powder Puff race even on three cylinders. There were five ladies out there and Jen probably drove harder than any of them. She jumped into 2nd place entering turn one. Then drove really hard into turn three. She didn't slow down until she passed the pit entrance which is where I was standing. By that time she was in the third groove in a trajectory that would not allow her to exit the corner. She started to slow down and *WHAP* nailed the right front into the wall in turn four.

My dad, being a track official, raced out there to make sure she was all right. Here is the conversation that took place.

JR: *pulls window net down* Are you OK?
Jen: Yeah. How are my tires?
JR: They're fine, will the car start?
Jen: I dunno, I haven't tried *starts car*
JR: *puts window net back up*

On the restart she started in last due to her causing the caution. The following lap she drove hard into the first turn and leaned on the #66, bouncing them completely into the third groove. She finished 3rd and a tweaked bumper was the only damage sustained.

The Bandit Feature/Season Championship was decided on the last corner of the last lap of the last feature race of the season. The point leader who was running in fifth place and just needed to finish the last 75' of the race to win the season championship. Unfortunately, he drove in too hard in turn three and bumped the guy in front of him. That driver slid up the track in the corner then drove back down and clipped the right rear of the point leader putting him in the wall and ending his race.

The driver who caused the accident was disqualified in a rare moment of fairness for the track owners.

9.01.2004

Vacation photos posted ...

They are now captioned and include multiple sizes for viewing on a variety of machines.