Saturday, August 27, 2011

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GET OUT OF MY FREAK'N F-A-C-E,
FACEBOOK
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Where do you go to get your daily news, updates, etc.? TV? Radio? Well for as long as I can remember, I rely on YAHOO. My homepage is YAHOO, I've customized it so when I get up in the morning I can open my browser and see: My Inbox, Travel Photography Pool, ARRL Web, MONSTER JOBS Recent Results, Various Yahoo Radio related Groups, U.S. News, World News, Boing-Boing, Techdirt, NPR, Red Sox News, Cnet, Local News and Weather, etc.




But for several months now when I bring up my Yahoo! page, at the very bottom lies a sinister yellow bar blathering something about Facebook. Until I click the X I can't scroll through my page and read my news, and this is occurring with more frequency on other sites too. So...



Dear FACEBOOK, keep yourself to your own stinking page and let me enjoy websites the way I used to, if I want to use facebook, I will - 'NUFF SAID.
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P.S. -
Facebook's Timeline Will Help Hackers




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ON TO OTHER THINGS





- [COOL PICTURE]
Hulking computing engines of Toronto’s yesteryear





[DEFINITELY HIGH QUALITY METH LAB PHOTOS OR - MOVIE STILLS]




Inside a clandestine Mexican meth lab






FROM TEAM COCO
















ALSO FROM TEAM COCO









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-Not too long ago I went to the 50th birthday party of my former co-worker, CB/HAM buddy, Doug (for those with long memories, or early issues of the CB Gazette, he wrote a couple articles and is often referred as "101"). His wife Kelli did a great job of setting things up and the theme "World of Beers" was a great choice too. It wasn't until the following day that I started counting (on my toes, fingers, etc.) and realized that out of his 50 years, I'd known him for at least 26 of them. There aren't many people that I've known for much longer (not counting family), except CW-Dave that I've managed to keep in touch with - while some people in small towns have known just about everyone since the birth of dirt.
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CW-Dave, Doug, and I have a unique connection as well. Not only were we all working for the same company in the mid-80's, but Dave was our "Elmer" (or as new age protocol dictates: "Mentor"). He spent a lot of his time teaching us of the Jedi ways of Morse-code, and thanks to him, we both became HAMs during the same test session (CEJ and CEM). Times were different back then, all under 30, with Doug being the "baby" of the under 30 age-group.

Thursday, August 18, 2011





VIRUSES, TROJANS, AND WORMS (OH MY!!)
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Yep, worms are making a resurgence, akin to the spread of bedbugs, thought to have been pretty much eliminated from most of the world or at least, the U.S.

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I remember the "Blaster" worm and a couple others that made my life a corporate nightmare back in the 2000-2003 period, and then they seemed to slowly disappear (almost over night). But during my recent rounds I've run across several different variety of computer worms in the last eight weeks, which is disconcerting to say the least.

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Last Fall, virus infections picked up quite a bit, but I never thought it would double or triple in 2011, but they have, and much like unemployment numbers of the US deficit, I don't expect to see them decline throughout the remainder of this year. CNET, a great source to keep up with what to expect, published a "Malware Chart" recently, and it will give you a glimpse at what you and I are facing each time we get on the Internet, or check our email. If you have children in the 8-18 year-old range, I'm sorry that you are experiencing (in many cases) multiple virus/trojan infections on what may seem to be a fairly regular basis. There isn't a magic bullet, there is no anti-virus that will be 100% effective, and with 500-2000 new virus definitions appearing each day, the best you can do is keep your computer software updated (including Adobe Reader and Flash), and think twice when it comes time to click on that search engine link, or email.

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[Brian Woodbury is former editor/publisher of "WoodyWorlds CB Gazette" and "The CB Gazette", guest commentator/writer for several publications, sole writer for the CBDAZE Blog and the CBGAZETTE.COM website, author of "The History of CB Radio", Computer Virus Ninja, Cat Sitter, and now...a bit confused]

Sunday, August 14, 2011


I'M CONFUSED....
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And perhaps you are too?
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"WITH THE TOUGH TIMES WE FACE; RIOTS, UNEMPLOYMENT, CUTS IN BENEFITS, ETC. WHY IS EVERYONE LAUGHING So MUCH?"

Well, that how is it seems to me. I read the very grim headlines, many new, that seem to engulf the news each day, then look on various blogs and social networking sites to find everyone LOLing (LOL= Laughing Out Loud), and LMAOing (LMAO= Laughing My Ass Off = Laughing Their Ass Off??). Many conversations appear to end with either (or worse) both. Typical conversations seem to go like this:

X - Say "Y", how is work going today LOL?
Y - It's the usual grind LOL, but ya got to make some money, ya know? LMAO
X- LMAO, yeah, lol, I hear ya bro lol.
Z- LOL, you two have me LMAO!!!!
X- Ha-Ha, LOL
Y- He-He LOL
Z-LOL, I can't hardly breath, I'm LMAO, LOL.

Granted, these conversations could just be from young children, senile adults, or people with limited working keys on their keyboard (answer: not likely), but I've noticed this trend growing year after year and wonder: "Is this the beginning of the Zombie Apocalypse?"

Naturally, I'd like to hedge my bets and not upset any potential Zombies out in the cyberworld, but to borrow some of their lingo, a casual observer would have to say these people have LONH (Lights On, Nobody Home) syndrome (a possible first step to becoming a Zombie).
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"LMAO",
Woody


[Brian Woodbury is former editor/publisher of "WoodyWorlds CB Gazette" and "The CB Gazette", guest commentator/writer for several publications, sole writer for the CBDAZE Blog and the CBGAZETTE.COM website, author of "The History of CB Radio", Computer Virus Ninja, Cat Sitter, and now...a bit confused]