What keeps you up at night? Is it something you’ve seen in a scary movie, or something you heard in your dark house, maybe it was that weird guy that seemed like he was following you one evening. None of that stuff gets me freaked out - I’ve grown up with scary stuff, through movies, books, real life - that you’d think it would take something pretty horrific to get me frightened.

WRONG!

It takes the subject of this book to do it - why? Because it’s more real than any horror that lurks in darks corners or under beds or even behind leathery masks. This kind of scary is real!

The specific topic I speak about is, information. How can that be scary you ask, let me take a moment and ask you a question instead.

How much do you rely on a computer in your day to day activities? How of your life is controlled by computers that you don’t even know about?

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After my last harddrive purchase I explained to my wife how much space I would have (note to self, don’t do that again), she asked “Does that mean you have enough room for the kids games, so we can get rid of their computer?”.

Of course I answer too quick for my own good “Oh yeah sure”. What was I thinking? They might infect it with thier harsh treatment of shutting down improperly, constantly reinstalling programs, and of course they’re DOS based games! But it was too late, I had said yes, and if it weren’t for my oldest I’d be sunk.

He spoke up (I think he suffers the same quick to comment problem I have) and said “We barely even use it anymore, so we don’t need to use your computer dad”.

Sweet, totally off the hook and I have a spare computer to boot!

So what to do, what to do?

Posted in Computers, Do It Yourself, Linux, MySql, Nerdom, Networking, PHP, Programming, Tutorial No Comments »

I don’t think it’s gotten as bad as I’m going to make it out to be, but it’s something to consider for those who use a computer for a majority of their life, and those who have kids who are growing up using computers for everything.

I remember when when I was a kid being graded on penmanship, hey wait - I’m not that old, but I remember taking pride in my small neat cursive and getting marked accordingly. As I grew so did my writing, into a haberdashery of cursive mixed with block letters and scribbles. My signature is never the same even on one document (they loved me when I signed for my house). But what does it matter now? I don’t write much on paper, unless it’s to jot down a note or two or if I have to sign a receipt. In fact, except for the occasional thank you note I don’t think I’ve actually sat down and written a sentence in years.

Posted in Computers, General, Nerdom 3 Comments »