Haiti update: although I don't yet have enough facts to decide which side I'm on (Aristide's or the rebels'), I do think it's cool that Guy Philippe checks the Internet everyday for his news.

I've been reading a lot in the past few days about The Semantic Web and it's origins in RDF (Resource Description Framework). Good stuff. I've thought about this type of problem in the past, just didn't know that it had a name and that people were already working to solve it.   =)

WindowsXP 'Internet Connection Firewall' (ICF), if used with XP Professional on a network with a managed Symantec antivirus server, prohibits the antivirus server from contacting the client computer to deliver updates. Bad, bad ICF!   =(   UPDATE: come to find out, Microsoft is very clear about the fact that ICF should not be used with networks. Hmmm, maybe we should start reading a bit more instead of experimenting, huh...?

The problem with some hosting control panels (like cPanel X), is that they don't allow you enough options, like modifying 'A' or 'CNAME' records. cPanel does, on my host at least, *does* allow you to change 'MX' records, but not the other DNS record types.

The Fat Fiancé Finale Friday night was pretty good (how's that for some alliteration). The added twist at the end was great. I'm just glad that everything worked out for Randi and her family, in the end.

I can't say I'm terribly impressed with midPhase's webhosting services, at least as far as their tech support goes (I can't complain about their prices, however, as you can get 5 GB (yes, gigabytes) of disk space for only $27/mo!). We found the "One Hour Parking" cache on Saturday, along with the KR1216 and KR1217 benchmarks, but couldn't find KR1215.

Watched Sean Connery's "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" last night. It started out great, but got more and more ridiculous as it progressed. While I liked it (I've always been a sucker for special effects), I had high hopes for this film, but alas, it only turned out to be "okay" in my book. Oh, well.

Tried burning the Knoppix ISO CD image files to CD-RW today - didn't work with the built-in Windows XP function. Tried again, using "file2cd.exe", a 32-bit DOS program from Goldenhawk Technology - didn't work (despite it's claims that it supports burning ISO images). Tried again, this time using the demo version of "Nero 6" - which worked great. Yeah!

I think I've changed my mind on the Diet Rite cola flavor (as far as my preferences order goes), so I now order them thusly: Red Raspberry (my favorite), Tangerine, Cola, and Kiwi Strawberry (my least favorite).

Tried out Knoppix Linux (with X11 and KDE) from CD today - everything worked great. Got to finally see how the web looks through Konqueror - very weird. I think it's extremely cool that you have a nearly fully-functioning OS on a bootable CD. You don't even need to install it anymore! Kudos to Knoppix for this fine free product.

Ah - to encounter Netsky.C first thing, what an envigorating way to start the morning. Today's beta definitions (2/25/2004 rev. 4) from Symantec (oops - Rapid Release definitions, sorry) will detect it, but yesterday's final release definitions won't. Muahaha. UPDATE: Symantec's LiveUpdate definitions now detect the new threat (2/25/2004 rev. 6).

Speaking of virii, the 'Irish Virus' (actually a social-engineering hoax) is probably the funniest one I've seen yet.   =)

Tried another news feed reader today, RSSbandit. While I like it's no-frills approach (very intuitive), it doesn't support Atom feeds, and it didn't seem to like importing my OPML file (although it didn't throw an error - the feeds just never appeared). It handled my RSS and RDF feeds with no problems, and seems to export OPML and a non-descript XML version (?) of the feed list just fine, but I'm still on my quest for a simple all-in-one product. The search continues. UPDATE: It turns out I somehow downloaded a really old copy of RSS Bandit from somewhere (dated 3/28/2003). I have since downloaded the latest version (1.2.0.90), and am now trying it out. It really has come a long way since the old version, and I now understand it's .NET framework-based, which is cool. The site feed autodiscovery feature didn't seem to work, despite the fact that I've got autodiscovery code on this page (in the header) for all 5 of my XML feeds (3 are actual feeds, 2 are feed lists). But, alas, it still doesn't support Atom feeds. It did, however, import my OPML and OCS files just fine, as well as exporting a feed list in both OPML and the mysterious aforementioned non-descript generic XML format (will other readers know what to do with this?). I like the interface, however - straightforward and easy to use. Is Atom support forthcoming? (Hint, hint.)

I've decided to try Knoppix Linux - not an easy feat in terms of bandwidth - the CD (ISO) image is 700MB - now that's a slow download, no matter what your broadband provider tries to tell you. Knoppix is the distribution that you 'can try before you even install it'. I downloaded two images today - a total of 1.4 GB over an ADSL connection. Took hours!

Who knew that your toilet is actually a battery? Don't get zapped. You know that Jon Peter Lewis (the guy from Rexburg on last night's American Idol) is an RM - he speaks fluent Spanish. Has to be.

What's with MyDoom.F going around again? I thought that all but fizzled out already... Guess not. UPDATE: I was mistaken. The "F" variant is the new one.

I really dislike switching web hosts. Nothing ever works at the new place until after you manually go through and fiddle with stuff. CGI scripts never seem to work either, seemingly even after configuring the paths in the config files, and changing the permissions. Those control panels are always crap, and you just end up calling tech support anyway. Each host seems to be different with regard to MIME-types and SSI support. I don't recomment it if you don't have to.

I guess I spoke too soon on 'tiger.census.gov', as it's back online again. They probably were just upgrading it or something - it seems a lot faster now, so my guess is that it was a hardware upgrade, woohoo! Take a peek at our 'caches found' maps: Northwestern Nevada and Reno/Sparks.

Our VCR bit the proverbial dust tonight, so $59.67 and a trip to Wal-Mart later, we're back in the tapes. I think it's rather ironic that Mel Gibson's new movie, "The Passion of the Christ" is rated-R, so many of the best Christians around will choose not to see it. I also find it hilarious that Jennifer Klebba's apartment complex has a huge sign on the side of the building that proclaims "Welcome Wal-Mart!" (she hates Wal-Mart).

Symantec changed the name of it's "beta" virus definitions to "Rapid Release". Interesting.

I find it weird that IE 6.01 SP1 in Win98 can't view the source of certain XML documents, whilst the very same browser *can* in WinXP. Annoying.

Three more things I don't like about RSSowl: you can only select one feed at a time in the left pane (to delete). Also, why can't you rename the feeds or add descriptions? It looks like you can (by clicking on properties), but then it's read-only or something. And lose the tabs at the top of posts (or at least give the user the option of not viewing it). I really hate to say all this stuff about RSSowl, because it really could have what it takes to be my favorite feed reader (if all these quirks were fixed [see also my previous posts on the subject] and it added support for Atom and OPML). It's the best-looking one out there, it's just missing a few key features.

I was delighted to read that plants function just like computers. But how do you reboot a ficus?

Geocaching.com is having some problems with the MapQuest maps showing up on newly approved caches. Random. I also just noticed that the Tangerine flavor of Diet Rite soda also doesn't not contain and Red 40 dye (which is bad for you), but does contain Yellow 6, which I guess some people might be allergic to, but it's generally accepted to be better than Red 40.

AIM's (AOL Instant Messenger) servers were acting funny last night. Something about being logged on twice simultaneously (which is normally impossible - I've tried it - it normally kicks you off the first connection when you log in on the second computer). Bizarre.

I tried to try another XML news reader, HeadlineViewer 0.9.7, but it wouldn't run on my computer. It installed just fine, but it said it couldn't find some info on the web, and it would just sit there and not do anything. Oh, well. I suppose that wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that the program was written in 2001, now, would it...   =)

I'm trying out another XML reader that looks promising, Newz Crawler 1.6. Oooh, it exports to both OPML and OCS! Nifty. Here's a good article that explains the differences between MS Outlook and Outlook Express (for those that don't already know).

Watched "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (Barbra Streisand, Jeff Bridges) - the music at the end of the movie is great: Puchini's "Nessun Dorma" and a duet by Bryan Adams and Ms. Barbra ("I Finally Found Someone"). Cool stuff. Jeff Bridges does such a good job being a dork in this movie - it's a classic.   =)

Have watched a few good movies and TV shows lately:
"The Omega Code" (Michael York)
"Becker" (Ted Danson)
"The Great American Celebrity Spelling Bee"
"Man vs. Beast 2"
"My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé"
"Everybody Loves Raymond"

Here's a cute photo of Jared that I snapped this weekend. Doesn't he look pensive?



The mapping server 'tiger.census.gov' has apparently been taken offline. Bummer. (This is the map server I use for our "caches found" maps, as well as one of the ones that Geocaching.com uses for it's benchmark mapping features - which, incidentally, got a color makeover recently. The benchmark portion of geocaching.com used to be orange, now it's beige.)

Hid my first cache ('Kitty Litter 2', a microcache), and logged the two following caches (one we found yesterday, the other back in December but somehow forgot to log it):

"PMCO 9020"
"Whole Earth Globes"

I love FEMA's maps. Gotta love public domain mapping!

Please note that certain unsavory types may post rude comments in the shoutbox - that's one of the potential perils of having a public commenting system. I'm sorry in advance for any offensive content in the shoutbox. I'll try to 'censor' it as I see fit.

I'm adding a "shoutbox" to the blog (look to your right) - for those that wish to leave comments. Have fun - but I'm still trying to work out the colors. It'll look better in a few days.

After using various XML feedreaders for awhile, I've decided that I don't like Bottomfeeder, RSSreader, or SharpReader. I do like Amphetadesk, 'nntp//rss', and RSSowl, each for different reasons. I'm stuck with Bottomfeeder for awhile, however, as it's the only one of the bunch that supports Atom feeds. And although I figured out how to use the OPML export feature in Bottomfeeder, it's not as good as the same feature in RSSowl. 'nntp//rss' is probably the easiest one to use, but the java applet is painfully slow - and it doesn't support Atom or OPML. RSSowl, however, has trouble reading a lot of valid feeds ("valid" according to feedvalidator.org) - which tells me that it reads more strict formatting just fine, but it doesn't have the "parse at all costs" support like Amphetadesk does (for slightly less strict formatted feeds). What RSSowl is lacking is drag-and-drop support (for categorizing feeds - should be able to move feeds from one category to another simply by dragging it with the mouse), and of course it doesn't support Atom - and I hate the fact that you have to double-click in the left pane to get a feed to open - and that it has to load the file every single time you click on the feed - 'nntp//rss' in Outlook Express allows you to simply "synchonize all" and then single click on a feed in the left pane and instantly see all the topics in the top pain and the content in the bottom pane. RSSowl really needs a simple "refresh all" button like that in a top corner or something that retrieves all the news any time you press it.

With the discovery of the Asian bird flu at a chicken farm in Texas, and the recent Mad Cow scare, I guess the the only thing left at McDonalds to eat is the Filet o' Fish. Scary.

Having now tried all four flavors of Diet Rite soda, I can officially announce that the Red Raspberry flavor is my favorite. Followed by Cola (my second favorite), Tangerine, and lastly Kiwi Strawberry (my least favorite).

We've seen a few videos in the last couple of days, including "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" (Sandra Bullock), "Crazy in Alabama", and "What Women Want" (Mel Gibson).

Antonio Cavedoni was a cool website that converts Atom 0.3 feeds to RDF feeds (RSS 1.0). Apparently, I'm the last to hear about how the corrupt sheriff's department in Winnemucca tramples on the Constitution. Not cool.

Found Daniel Vine's cool "iCapture" website that shows you what your website looks like in a Panther/Safari browser combo. Three new virii (viruses)/worms started to appear yesterday: W32.Netsky.B@mm, W32.Beagle.B@mm, and W32.Welchia.B.Worm. Fun, fun, fun!   =(

Bang & Olufson (the high-end audio company from Denmark) has developed a speaker that adjusts it's sound around your furniture. Very nifty.

I've been trying to figure out the difference between RSS and RDF, and I think I may have finally found an answer. RDF is a subset of RSS, with RSS versions 0.90 and 1.0 being RDF. RSS versions 0.91, 0.92, 0.93, 0.94, and 2.0 are *not* RDF. OPML (versions 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0) and OCS (version 0.5), on a different note, are feeds about feeds (metafeeds, typically used for sharing your list of favorite feeds), although OCS seems to be based upon RDF (at least since version 0.2 when it was redefined to use elements of the Dublin Core). And Atom (versions 0.2 and 0.3), of course, is a competing feed format altogether (although Atom can be a module within RSS!). Phew!

It appears that our American missionaries in Haiti might need to be evacuated again (like they were when I was there over a decade ago). I guess some things are cyclical, indeed.

The 'grants.gov' initiative logistics *badly* need to be fixed. Their online databases are so full of errors and problems, it's a wonder anyone can get signed up at all. The CCR website's registration module has been *very* poorly implemented - there's a problem with their secure certificate, and lots of database errors. Don't they test these things?

The geodata.gov maps of Reno are riddled with "unnamed street" markings - how is that possible? Very weird.

I'm always interested to learn about new variations on geocaching - "Geoclashing" is another such variation. It's funny to me that Johnnie Fair syrup is actually made by Blackburns, and even comes in the same Blackburns bottle, yet it's much cheaper. It still tastes great, too. Score.

Misti and I dismantled an old harddrive on Saturday to salvage the rare-earth (neodymium) magnets. In the process, we found the smallest screws in the world. They're about the size of FDR's ear on a dime. Cool, huh?:



We had a wonderful dinner at the Schmidt's place on Sunday afternoon. It was nice to learn a little more about them and the Hyatt's, aside from church.

The new 2004 Federal (DHHS) poverty guidelines are now out. Check out the online Percentage of Poverty Calculator to see how "poor" you are.

Watched "Black Knight" (Martin Lawrence) on video. Scored like 9 free movies from the library - two-week rentals! How can Blockbuster or Hollywood Video compete with that?   =)

Went out to Fallon for some President's Day caching. I don't know how I've missed it before, but the entire town smells like horse manure. It was genuinely bizarre. The weather, however, was extremely nice - very warm and dry (it was raining in Reno when we left, but it didn't rain a drop all day in Fallon). Anyway, found the following caches:

"EMERGENCY"
Write Away
Rental
"BLOW YOUR BUBBLE for Liberty"
Schools-In
"MARBEL" ous
"TOKEN CACHE"

Been using generic Advil (ibuprofen) for so long, that when I saw some real Advil, it looked really impressive - very glossy with black bold "Advil" lettering. You don't get those niceties on the generic stuff. I'm glad that the MyDoom.A virus has finally timed out. Although we never got infected by it, we sure got a lot of quarantine notifications from the antivirus servers. Misti got her hair cut a little shorter a few days ago, and it turned out really nice. My mom just got out of the hospital today. I bet she's glad that the operation is over!

I'm still not impressed with the latest hosting control panel (version 10) from cPanel ("cPanel X"). It's still not user-friendly, and to make matters worse, my host gives us cPanel 10 (X), but the help file is still for version 7 (CPanel 7). Hello. I finally found out what the Spanish term "Las Trojes" means - "a pantry - or some place where you store food". This term is not defined by several online translators (such as Babelfish or Google Translate), so it's been hard to find out what it means. I finally found someone who speaks Spanish and asked them. What a process.

Two other cool things about Diet Rite soda: although the flavored varieties do contain FD&C Red #40, the Cola flavor does not. Thus, even people that can't tolerate the red dye can still enjoy a healthy soda choice. Oh, and Diet Rite contains Sunett-brand sweetener in addition to Splenda-brand sweetener. No sugar!   =)

Found the "Trouble with the Beaver" cache today. Watched both "The Best of Dr. Seuss" and "Leapfrog: Letter Factory" on DVD. Got our brakes replaced today at Midas.

It was an exciting day in the tech arena yesterday, as Mozilla Firebird was renamed to "Firefox" and upgraded to version 0.8. Also, the MyDoom.C variant (AKA 'Doomjuice') is now on the loose.

Surpassed the 5,600 workunits mark on Seti@home, and 48,000 miles (77,250 kilometers) on our car. I found a really sweet 'color harmonizing' tool called EasyRGB. It's to help out those of us who can't match colors (and whose clothes never match - like me). Very cool.

Feel free to join in on the 5-year debate as to whether or not "You've Got Mail" is grammatically incorrect, or correct but merely redundant. The verb "To have got" is apparently being taught in ESL classes. Hmmmm.

Got a clarifying email from one of the lead developers of Bf, James Robertson:

"As an FYI, BottomFeeder supports OPML only for import, not as a subscription format. As to wasted space, that's being dealt with right now in the development stream. As to fonts... well, that's an issue, but it's mostly due to the cross platform nature of the development tools I use."

I appreciate the work that James et al are trying to do, so I figure I'll give them some free publicity. On the flipside, James Robertson claims that Evan Williams's Atom feed has lots of errors, but Ev's feed validates, according to FeedValidator.org. Weird.

Enjoyed reading the premier issue of "Stash the Cache" - the "first online (uncensored) geocaching magazine".

Trying two more XML news readers, "RSSreader" and "BottomFeeder". BottomFeeder looks mildly unattractive (what font is that? and why can't the user choose another font [besides monospace]?) and wastes some screen space, but supports RSS, RDF, OPML, OCS, and Atom feeds, one of the few feed readers out there to do so.

BottomFeeder doesn't, however, seem to remember a few important things, like column spacing, screen position, etc. After trying to use 'Bf' (as it's commonly abbreviated) to read some OPML feeds, it appears that BottomFeeder *doesn't*, in fact, support OPML. Hmmm.

I'm glad Mac users are starting to get more computer virii (viruses) and worm infections - welcome to the real world. Sorry to hear about the Dominican Republic's two-headed baby girl that died after her operation. BusinessWeek Online is one of the worst sites I've seen in a long time with regard to pop-up ads - pop-ups are soooooooo 12 months ago. What were they thinking?

Watched "IMAX - Michael Jordan to the Max" on DVD. Found the "Steamboat Ditch Crossover" cache.

Watched/listened to a DVD of "[J. S.] Bach's Greatest Organ Works", performed by Hans-André Stamm at the Trost Organ in Waltershausen, Germany.

Also watched "La Bohème" by Giacomo Puccini - one of Mankind's greatest acheivements, according to Leopold. I don't know if I agree, but it was good, in any case.

Sad to see more violence in Haiti, this time in Gonaïves.

Passed the 5,500 mark in Seti@home. Got the "Holes" and "Lizzie McGuire Movie" soundtracks. Disappointed, of course, that some loser judges in Massachusetts support gay marriages.

It would seem to me that a Zip Code +4 and a street address are enough to send U.S. mail - why use a city and state, when the Zip Code is more specific than either one? Isn't that redundant?

There's a girl in our ward that looks kind of like Christina Ricci.

The Foote's (the Foote family, not a collection of feet) in our ward were on Family Feud - cool

Diet-Rite soda: great taste, but no sugar, no calories, no carbs, no cholesterol, no sodium, no fat, no caffeine - how do they do it!??

Watched a cool movie called "Holes" (Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Henry Winkler).

Super Bowl 38 - missed Beyoncé's National Anthem performance, Josh Groban's skit, and Janet Jackson's "exposure" at half-time. Only really saw the last 5 minutes of the game, just in time to see New England Patriots squeek past the Carolina Panthers (32-29) with only four seconds left in the game.

I guess Mydoom.A succeeded in destroying SCO's website (the dorks trying to steal Linux). Actually, I just checked, and sure enough www.sco.com is gone. If you drop the www, however, you can still reach their site. Their old address (caldera.com) is also unavailable.

Watched the premiere episode of Survivor All-Stars. I think Jenna L. (the whiny chick) should've been voted off. No one likes a whiner.

Passed the 5,400 mark on Seti@home. Dairy Queen - inverted tulip lights. Listened to "Fortunes of War" by Stephen Coonts on audiobook. Stacie Orrico sounds like Siouxsie and the Banshees. Watched "The Transporter". Ate some alligator at Gene's house (yes, really - it's very chewy).

Caching done:
"Fold Bags to help Trash Out" mystery cache
"Parks Walkabout" multicache - also placed CITO containers
"Not On The Fence" - had a chat with the Wolfs (Monty and Nevada)
"Secret Lunch Cache" - placed CITO containers
"The Little Mermaid" travel bug
"Dash Through Reno's Past" multicache

I can no longer recommend Wal*Mart's DVD rental service. During the free month-long trial, DVDs were only taking 1 to 3 days to get to us. Now (since we've been paying the monthly fee) they take about 7-14 days to arrive. It's too bad they have to play games like that. I've contacted their customer support, and they blame it on the U.S. Postal Service, but I think that's a cover-up. Shame on Wally world.   =(