Diary of a Network Geek

with the DASH method!

I hate to admit it, but when I write on this blog, or any of my blogs, really, I often find myself floundering about.
Sometimes, I just keep typing until something mildly coherent comes out.  But, the better posts are the result of me stopping for a few minutes and contemplating what message I’m trying to get across to my readers.  And, although I haven’t written fiction in many years, it used to work the same way there,…
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Really, it’s about dust and keeping it out of your camera, but, let’s be honest, that really is the biggest issue in keeping your camera clean.

As part of their “photography 101″ series, The Photo Argus recently ran a story titled “Caring for the DSLR Body and Lenses”, but it primarily focused on cleaning the body of the DSLR, including the sensor, and keeping dust out of the body going forward.  And, to be fair, dust in the body, especially on…
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So, we’re eleven days into the New Year.  How are  your resolutions holding up?

If you’re like most people, you’ve made a personal commitment to eat better and lose weight in the coming year.  But, like most people, that little resolution won’t last through the end of the first quarter.  Well, the good news is that this is easier than committing to adding exercise to your daily routine!  No, the answer isn’t to go out and buy Tim Ferriss’ books, the 4-Hour…
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According to the official NORAD Santa Tracker, the jolly fatman that’s keeping our economy running is on his way!

He’s been spotting in the Pacific Rim and is headed East toward India, Europe and Africa as I post this.  He’ll be here in United States and Central and South America before you know it!

Also?  On a slightly more serious note?
No matter what  your religious bent, please, join with me in celebrating the return of light to the world.  Friday was the Winter Solstice, which is the longest night, or shortest day, of the year in our current lap around the Sun.  So, every day since then has been getting a little longer, letting a bit more light back into the world.  And, I don’t know about you, but I think we could use all the light we can get in the coming year.

Be kind to each other, okay?
And, Merry Christmas, everybody!

So, today marks another lap around the Sun for me.

Honestly, I don’t hang a lot on birthdays, especially my own.  I mean, for the most part, they’re just another day.  Another marker of many in my life and, frankly, a rather arbitrary one at that.  I’m more impressed with the fact that I’ve paid a third of my mortgage than that I’m turning 44 today.  Of course, the fact that I’ve made it this far is actually sort of an…
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What do  you wear under your Halloween costumes?

So, yeah, Halloween is just around the corner and that has me thinking about costumes.  Well, to be honest, costumes for adults, because, let’s face it, in all our repressed, Puritanical, American, adult bodies, live crazy hedonists that just want to dress up in silly, or sexy, costumes and parade around like the goofballs we all pretend we are NOT.  And, maybe because I have a girlfriend for the first time in ages, I’ve been thinking about what one wears underneath that superhero costume.

As it turns out, DC Comics has just the thing for that; sexy, adult superhero underwear and swimwear.  (And, if the number of times “adult” has appeared so far in this post isn’t a clue, some links here may not be completely safe for work, if you work in a repressive enough environment.)  And, yes, there are options for the guys as well as the ladies there.
For you Marvel fans, they have something more along the lines of sleepwear.  (And, apparently, only for the ladies to wear.  Sorry!)

So, now you have something to think about this weekend.  And, hopefully share with your significant other without getting into trouble!

Yes, I’m a little obsessed with money this month.

No, it’s not because I can’t pay my bills.  Rather, it’s about work.  Now, for the most part, I enjoy my work.  I find it challenging, but not too challenging, and interesting and the pay is pretty good.  Also?  I have a ten-minute commute.  Hard to beat that!  But, the reality is, at heart, I’m a lazy bastard.  If I could skate by without working another day in my life, I totally would do that.  For real.
The problem with that, of course, is paying all those bills.  So, how to do it?  What kind of money do I need to be able to tell the world to, essentially, and pardon my language, “Fuck off”.  (Yes, what I’m talking about is commonly referred to as “Fuck You Money”.)  So, what would that take?  I don’t need to live like a king, but, to not work, I will need to keep getting money somehow, like through investments.  But, the question is, how much will it take and what kind of investment do I have to make to keep it coming steadily enough to pay the bills?

Luckily, a smarter gentleman than I, Nilesh Trivedi, has posted an Excel spreadsheet that will help you calculate just how much you need to start with and how good your investment needs to be so that you never have to answer to another boss again.  Download that, and read his explanation, here: How Much Is Enough? : A Formula for FU Money.  (And, if  you’re like me, you’ll start by saving the money you might have spent on Microsoft Office and open that spreadsheet in LibreOffice instead!)

So, there’s a little something to think about while you wait for the weekend! Enjoy!

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"They don't hold meetings about rainbows."

For those of you who don’t know Star Trek, that’d be “space”.

I’m kind of obsessed with space and space travel, really.  Doubtless, the few regular readers left here have picked up on that.
I guess my obsession is really about getting out and away.  Some days, it seems like the only place to escape is, well, to get off the planet!  And, if the environmentalists are to be believed, I think we’ve done such irreparable damage to this planet that the only way to deal with it is to get off Earth and head somewhere else.  So, yes, space travel and the colonization of other planets seems like a really good idea to me.
Anyway, when I think about space travel, I think about all the science-fiction movies and TV shows that have visuals of all the planets whizzing by at high speed.  I’m sure it won’t look like that to us, but, still, I think it’s an inspiring image.  And, that’s why I liked SpaceEngine, because that’s just the visual they give you.    With their app,  you can zoom to the far reaches of space, showing the celestial bodies with, or without, labels in a theoretical spacecraft you can control.  It’s pretty awesome.

But, hey, it’s Friday, so why not download it yourself?  Or at least go and check out the video on the home page, which gives you the basic idea.

I love me some science-fiction!

Tonight, Ridley Scott’s return to the Alien universe premiers tonight and I’m quite excited to see it.  In part, I’m excited because it starts on Earth and then follows the first team to the movie’s namesake planet; Prometheus.  I hope it will show more of Ridley Scott’s vision of the future Earth and how we got to be the space-faring race we become in the later movies.  I’m looking forward to that because I think we’ve lost the drive to do that kind of exploration and I hope this movie will spark someone’s imagination and help get us off this sad, busted planet we’ve got now.
But, of course, that’s not quite what this post is about.

The quote which makes the title of this post comes from another science-fiction movie, which is being remade; Total Recall.  That movie, of course, has a significant portion of the action on our closer alien cousin; Mars.  And, frankly, I have more hope of us reaching Mars than leaving our solar system in my life time.  Part of that hope is due to projects like Mars One, who hopes to have people on Mars by 2023.
Granted, it is an ambitious project, but one that is possible.  How?  For one thing, they plan on the trip being one-way.  First there will be a series of unmanned missions that will bring habitat modules to the surface of Mars.  Then, again hopefully in 2023, a team of four colonists will travel to Mars and begin to live there.  Then, every two years another group of colonists will head to Mars, all also on a one-way trip.
And, how will they finance all this?  Simple.  With reality television.  Think of it as an interplanetary “Big Brother” or “Real World“.

Will it work?  Who knows?  But the Mars One video at IO9.com is pretty convincing.  And, hey, it’s Friday, so why not check it out?  (And, enjoy the movie tonight, too!)

I mean, on a piece by piece basis.

Have you ever wondered just how much you’re worth?  And, I don’t mean that old thing about how much the various chemicals that make up a human body are worth, but how much are we worth, as assembled?  You know, on the basis of our individual parts.  I’ve often joked about paying off debt by selling a kidney, but, sometimes, I honestly wonder just how much I would get if I could actually do that.
Well, now there’s a handy reference chart to tell you just how much your body parts are worth.  No joke.
The chart is priced in UK Pounds Sterling, so you’ll need to convert it, but, still, it’s pretty fascinating.

Incidentally, this is theory only, since you can’t actually, legally,  sell body parts, as far as I know.  And, I would assume there are variations in price based on the quality of the part.  Also, since I’m a cancer survivor, I actually can’t even give away my parts.  No one would want them any more.  How sad for me!  There goes my “get out of debt” plan!

Anyway, it’s a fun, if somewhat ghoulish, way to spend a little slack time on a Friday, so enjoy!