A Bit of Geekyness
by Eric Fox on Monday, January 23, 2012I know this is all just a bunch of geeky fun, but I had to share.
During my regular day-to-day duties, I provide technical support services for a number of folks. Sometimes when they call, it’s an issue that has to be handled immediately. Such as these, today.
I was away from my desk and without my laptop when I got a call that a VPN connection was down. No problem, I used my phone to get a secure shell terminal session with the server to double-check the connection, found and fixed the link, and reset the VPN connection — problem was handled in 5 minutes when it would have easily taken a half hour to get back to my desk and my computer.
While at lunch, and without my computer again, I received another call that required me to view what was on the user’s desktop to help them debug a problem. No sweat. Using ssh and vnc apps, I was able to connect and view their desktop from my phone and assisted them immediately without having rush through my lunch and hustle back to my computer.
Late in the day, after I was “off the clock” and out doing things with family, another call came in with a very urgent need to have a Windows server rebooted. Rather than having to brush them off until later, I used my phone to get a remote desktop on the Windows machine, answer a number of pending pop-up prompts, then performed a clean shutdown/reboot. All without having to leave the car (no, we were parked at the time).
It sometimes amazes me how much can now be accomplished, just from my phone.
The Bark Side of the Force
by Eric Fox on Saturday, January 21, 2012If I have to explain it to you … well, you get the point.
SOPA/PIPA Strike Over?
The Jan 18th SOPA & PIPA strike is over and sites are coming back online. But, I found it to be an interesting experience. About half of the websites I use regularly, perhaps more, were blacked out for the bulk of the day. Of those that weren’t unavailable, they still had blacked out or censored…Read More »
On Strike against SOPA & PIPA
Not much of a post, tonight. Nobody can read it anyway, as I’ve temporarily shut down the site in protest against SOPA & PIPA legislation.
Young Blood as Cure for Aging?
Scientists at the University of Cambridge have recently discovered that blood from younger mice can help cure, or remove, the damage caused by multiple sclerosis and other diseases and age related issues. This is apparently accomplished, partially, because the younger blood cleans out pathogens and debris that builds up over time. I am probably way…Read More »
By any other name …
This is one of Angela’s mini-roses, in a planter on our back porch. Looks like I made it just barely over a week before crapping out on making daily posts. So in order to make amends to myself, I’m tacking these missing three days on to the end of my month — until February 4th. …Read More »
Non-posting
I was going to find something interesting or insightful to write about tonight, but I’m very tired. So rather torture myself, or you when you attempt to read the results, I’ll just drop this non-post here and work on something better in the morning. Does this mean I owe two postings for tomorrow?
Somebody That I Used to Know
For your enjoyment: Somebody That I Used to Know by Walk off the Earth
Virtual “Cloud Ceiling” Improves Performance of Office Workers
German researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO in Stuttgart, claim that the human mind is geared to work best under an open sky, with passing clouds and varying illumination, that the constant glare of office lighting is sub-optimal. So they have come up with a “Virtual Sky” ceiling as a solution. The…Read More »
2012: Year of the Dragon
I just learned that 2012 is a Year of the Dragon. I find this personnally significant since I was born as a “Dragon.” Hmmm … does this mean I could acquire super-powers this year?
Exoskeletons!
This is pretty cool, the company Ekso Bionics, is preparing to begin releasing a new exoskeleton product in mid-2012 for people currently using wheel-chairs. http://m.spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/goodbye-wheelchair-hello-exoskeleton
Both ends of the Candle
I stayed up way too late last night, then was up again at 4am this morning to watch the Quadrantid meteor shower. It wasn’t as much fun as I was hoping for. We stood outside watching the NNE sky for a bit more than a half-hour and saw less than a handfull of meteors. So…Read More »
Look for Meteors Early Tomorrow Morning
Early tomorrow morning, the northern sky should light up from the Quadrantid meteor shower. The best time to see this show will be between 3am (after the moon sets) until dawn. The meteors will probably appear low on the horizon, so you’ll want to find a vantage point without obstructions in the lower sky to…Read More »
Where will YOU be when the world ends?
The last day of the Mayan Long Count calendar is December 21, 2012. Some folks believe this marks the Mayan’s prediction of an apocalyptic end of the world and are preparing for the worst (who hasn’t seen the movie 2012, yet?), while others are planning travel, holidays, and vacations around this date in order to…Read More »
Posting Experiment
If you’ve looked over my blog, you’ve probably noted that the one thing that stands out, above everything else, is that I very rarely post anything. I’d like to change that and post more often. Experts say that if you follow through with something for 21-28 consecutive days, it will become a habit. So my…Read More »
Twitter Weekly Updates for 12/30/2011
From our gargoyle, to yours: http://t.co/kH6JdS7U ->
Twitter Weekly Updates for 09/23/2011
A Night View of the Earth from the ISS http://t.co/6bT6WuCW ->
A Night View of the Earth from the ISS
This is a time-lapse animation made up of over 600 photos taken from the front of the International Space Station (ISS) during a night orbit of Earth. The view, alone, would be fantastic enough, but I particularly enjoyed seeing all the lightening storms from above. What do you think?
Twitter Weekly Updates for 09/09/2011
Domino's Plans to Deliver Pizza from the Moon http://t.co/pwHwWm8 -> Tricorder App Killed via DMCA http://t.co/MT9Rdxc ->