FINALLY: I can apply wax to my car today...



Weather's NOT raining intermittently as it has been on/off for the past 2-3 days now (well, Friday is an exception - it WAS very nice outside & I went out w/ my pal who was up from S. Carolina visiting & doing business w/ a subcontractor of theirs who develops their starter motors in THIS area)... man, I had fun that evening, but... paid for it, most of the day yesterday, lol!



Anyhow/Anyways:



This is good, on the wax applying - & about time:

I don't like leaving my car w/out wax on it (carnuba based stuff, very "hard" wax) too long & I do this once a year approximately, maybe 2x tops (once in mid-summer & once @ end of summer, prior to winter etc. et al).

APK

P.S.=> Other than that? I am busy looking around various security sites online today to "update/upgrade" my custom HOSTS file (to stop the ability of my systems (e.g./i.e.-> WebBrowser &/or Email Programs) from reaching said "bad/bogus websites" out there)...

For "if you can't go into the kitchen, you can't get burned" type protection, & it just plain works, for VERY "common-sense" reasons!

Some really GOOD sites for this exist, that tend to update their lists every 2-4 days or so, & for anyone else's reference, they are the following websites (security-oriented):

• Dancho Danchev:
  http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/

• SRI:
  http://mtc.sri.com/

• CastleCops:
  http://www.castlecops.com/

• StopBadWare (Google):
  http://www.stopbadware.org/home/topsites

• ShadowServer:
  http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/pmw...endar.20080514

apk

Looking sharp!

Originally Posted by sepulchre

Looking sharp!

Heh, thanks: "We try"... but, sometimes? It's "the best laid plans of mice & men": Just as I got outside yesterday, w/ the wax & glaze compound (3m stuff, great stuff too)?? It started raining, AGAIN!!! Argh... lol!

Weather's been VERY 'wishy-washy', the past 2-3 weeks now... big temperature swings & such, as well as rainy, then sunny, then rainy (even in the SAME day, very odd).

(S' okay though - my tomato plants get the benefits, & saves me watering them)



* This vehicle's been, thusfar (2 yrs. now almost), been nothing but GOOD to me... I am happy about that. In fact, I'd recommend one, to anyone, as a good buy, & reliable automobile (PLUS, FUN TOO), by all means.

APK

P.S.=> Other than that?

Well - Once again today, I am busy looking around various security sites online today to "update/upgrade" my custom HOSTS file !

It seems that this type of activity on my part has been "picking up" lately, more & more, as apparently the folks that setup the "honeypot" websites to catch these bogus threats are turning more than usual amounts of them up lately... in fact, quite a bit more, than usual!

(Once more - To stop the ability of my systems (e.g./i.e.-> WebBrowser &/or Email Programs) from reaching said "bad/bogus websites" out there)...

This is simply so I can achieve a level of protection online that is 'more or less' this:

"If you can't go into the kitchen, you can't get burned"

Type protection (&, it just plain works, for VERY "common-sense" reasons!)

Some really GOOD sites for this exist, that tend to update their lists every 2-4 days or so, & for anyone else's reference, they are the following websites (security-oriented):

• Dancho Danchev:
  http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/

• SRI:
  http://mtc.sri.com/

• CastleCops:
  http://www.castlecops.com/

• StopBadWare (Google):
  http://www.stopbadware.org/home/topsites

• ShadowServer:
  http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/pmw...endar.20080514

Thank goodness some of these folks maintain their "honeypot" sites to attract the hacker/cracker types, &/or their "bots"... they're the ones that provide folks like myself (or, anyone else) the data a HOSTS file needs, to block them out, period...

HOWEVER - it's "manual labor", & my intent to make the FTP system built into my "APK Hosts File Grinder 4.0++" is looking more & more like something 'normal folks' could use, just to automate this practice I do manually, into a system that protects folks "on-the-fly/live", w/out them having to do so themselves, as I do every 2-3 days... apk

Split wood all morning. 4H fair this afternoon. And of course - work, work, work.

Well, "my work is never done", lol...



* HOWEVER? I do NOT mind... it's nice to make some coins/dead presidents on the weekends too! So... what do I mean, by that?

Well, I.E./E.G.-> As an extra $50 is about to 'drop into my pocket' today, for cleaning up a pal's system!

(Well, He's REALLY more of an 'acquaintance' thru other friends etc., though I have known him for decades now - occasionally, we hang out, but it's rare by comparison to my other friends... he is a law school student, so he does not have much time, but GOOD guy, & fun too (women are always around him, makes for GOOD company, lol))

Yes... he likes his "Pr0n", & it is WHY I have to do this for he!

(Lord knows why though, the guy I am speaking of has women 'hanging off his underwear' for the most part, lol).

-----

Anyhow/Anyways:

He called me this a.m., & apparently, he has snagged some stupid bogus antivirus via some Pr0n site he visited that told him he was 'infected' (yea, right - more like they are infecting you, RIGHT THEN), & fell victim to it.

He uses TREND MICRO antivirus, but, it's outta date/expired apparently on VISTA, so here we go... except, I'll use "manual techniques" & 'security-harden him' as well.

Usually? I charge $150 per hr. for this... but, since he is a pal?? He gets my "discounted rate" (considering he is picking up a case of beer to go with that & some steaks?? Hey... come on, lol - time to go have fun AND get some work done too, plus get paid!)

-----

So, that "all said & aside"?

Well... It's just time to go thru what I wrote in the "HOW TO SECURE Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003" thread here on this site, & its virus/spyware removal section (more or less):

-----

HOW TO SECURE Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003 & VISTA even, PLUS make it "fun to do", via CIS Tool Guidance:

http://www.thenewtech.com/forums/ope...03-vista-3550/

-----

* To make some "easy money", for about 1 hr.'s work, max/tops... & to get him SO 'secured & solid/safe' online, it is not possible imo, to be any safer & resistant to attack...

APK

P.S.=> Worst part of this, for ME @ least?

Well, usually, once I do this for folks (or, even others who have tried the techniques + tools I note above)??

Folks never USUALLY have to call back, again, & it's NOT ONLY TRUE FOR MYSELF & CUSTOMER I HAVE, but for others also...

Example???

See "Thronka's" LAST reply, here, @ the very bottom of that URL page, as to THAT 'bold statement' of mine:

http://www.xtremepccentral.com/forum...t=28430&page=2

It JUST WORKS... for real... & the tool I did the documentation of development here for in "APK Hosts File Grinder 4.0++" above??? Only makes it moreso, & easier for me to do, by far, vs. how I used to do it (via Access & notepad.exe etc. ugh!)... apk

On hols last week, spent all of it in bed, sick. Back at work today O Joy Seems that Symantec Backup Exec corporate edition hasn't actually improved as a product since I was away. It was great before Symantec bought it out (i.e. had 'Veritas' in front of it). Bah. These people just love to overcomplicate perfectly adequate software.

Originally Posted by Flamingo Rinse

On hols last week, spent all of it in bed, sick. Back at work today O Joy

"Get well soon", then, man... & a question: WHAT is "hols"? Not familiar w/ the term here, thanks (live & learn, + not a "wasted day" imo, if I learn even 1 new thing I figure)...

Originally Posted by Flamingo Rinse

Seems that Symantec Backup Exec corporate edition hasn't actually improved as a product since I was away. It was great before Symantec bought it out (i.e. had 'Veritas' in front of it). Bah. These people just love to overcomplicate perfectly adequate software.

Heh, I used to use that program on Windows NT 3.5x-4.0 & 2000, back when it had "ARCADA" as the software publishing house/oem behind it (the originators iirc were they)... & it WAS a great product!

(It really DID 'beat the tar' outta MS-Windows NT based OS' native backup tool, by a long shot too... just in better compression alone (I used to use it with ScSi backup DAT drives 'back in the day', iirc? Around circa 1994-2000)).

Symantec/Norton seems to have this "nasty problem", & I suspect it's overuse of objects in their code (makes for bloat) +, I think that (like most software publishing houses) they "turnover" folks too much/too fast, etc. & don't retain their 'top talent' or something... because, again "back-in-the-day", especially as far back as DOS?

Symantec was king then... really good, really fast, & really efficient code that worked.

APK

P.S.=> I'm only speculating really, on why they seem to have gotten such 'bad fanfare' from users over the past few years, & usually w/ apps they 'bought out' from others (another one I had seen take a 'downturn' was Adaptec/Roxio EZ-CdCreator, but, that was around the 2000->XP transition, & last time I used it (went to NERO instead, but BOTH are (were) good programs though, but for a bit on XP early on @ least? Roxio really messed up in it @ times))...

Believe me - I am NOT discounting what folks like yourself say either in saying that... there has to be SOME fact to it, & I am only trying to think of the "why" that may be happening on their end (thinking of the source of the code, the coders themselves)... apk

Sad thing happened today (not world-shaking I suppose, but still bothered me in having to do it, or even SEEING it happen):

I was in my garden today, just putting around (yes, finally, upon sepulchre's suggestion here no less) banana peels & my 'secret weapon', finely powdered eggshells into my garden, & I kept hearing this "buzzing"... Coming from deep inside a patch of strange 'spiny/prickly' plants!

(Not sure of the plant's name/genus, only know that when I was a kid, I would take the tops of them, put pearl topped pushpins into them for eyes, & wood chips for ears/feet/tail, & make my own "toy mice" outta them, when I was a little boy).

----

Anyhow - Those flowering pricker plants grow @ the edge of the garden here (nice flowers sprout from the top that smell great, & doubtless get the bees onto them because of that odor & their bright purplypink color).

Now, I know I have a hive of bumblebees near my garden, because they are ALWAYS around it, sometimes on my tomato plants too! I figured:

"OK, one of them's in trouble - help him out!"

I love watching them work is why, with them? You can be an INCH from them, & they will NOT attack unless provoked (my kind of 'people' really, the kind I respect).

----

(For tomatoes? Bumblebees are capable of a form of pollination known as "buzz pollination", which is EXCEPTIONALLY helpful for tomatoes no less (& even "std. honeybees" can't do this, afaik))

"God's helping me with my garden efforts" I figure, because of these bumblebees being nearby, & the fact that my tomato crop is "knocking the chocolate" out of my tenants' (with same plants bought @ same time from same batch - however, I weed + WATER, "religiously", & use powdered eggshells I crush up, & NOW BANANA PEELS (thanks again sepulchre), w/ cow maneur (best fertilizer there is imo), plus a 'touch' of miracle grow))

...& it works, apparently - my tennant does not do this stuff (& it's showing vs. my crop which are TWICE his crop's size @ this point)

----

Anyhow/anyways... I finally find this bumblebee trapped in this UGLY 'pasty white' spider's web & being ferociously attacked by it...

(NOW - Ordinarily, I am NOT one to kill spiders either, @ least not non-lethal ones like "brown recluses" (deep US south killer, violin on back etc.), as I feel largely that they're our friends really that kill true pests (& I did NOT kill him but instead, knocked him off his web to leave this bee alone))

In the end? I was too late... pissed @ myself actually. IF the spider were say, killing a parasite like a mosquito or tick??

Heck - I'd have HELPED him out, but not with bees of ANY kind (they're disappearing strangely/oddly enough, as is, for around a decade now (funguses, diseases, & other causes experts aren't sure of)).

The bumblebee was already repeatedly stung, apparently, because once I broke him loose, he was not moving well... slower & slower, due to being bit, & his abdomen's breathing mechanisms (sphericals? iirc), grew slower & slower:

So he would not suffer... I had to kill him.

An industrious little character, just trying to keep his family fed, & not bothering anyone!

... & he got killed by a murderous beast (ordinarily, I like spiders a lot, but... not today, because of this).

Yea, I know: "Cry baby APK", but... this, is the type of thing, that "gets to me"... seeing this & then having to 'participate' in "nature's drama" as I had... bummed me out hard... I wish I had not even HEARD it occurring actually, as "ignorance is bliss" @ times, for real...

I.E.-> I would make a LOUSY "executioner" of the innocent @ least!

(I don't like seeing good things get hurt is why)

APK

P.S.=> People, it made me SAD as you-know-what: These creatures in bumblebees, are gentle (takes a LOT to 'tick one off', you have to literally poke @ them most times, unlike say, killer bees - In fact, I used to help raise a colony of 50 hives of honeybees 1972-1979 w/ my LATE grandma (edited that in, hard to believe, she recently died @ 95 yrs. of age) & am fairly "expert" on beekeeping, believe it or not), & good for us + anything else out there...

Yes, maybe I was 'doing the right thing', killing him... just so he did not die of suffering due to 'neurotoxin' or inner body dissolution (what insect venoms do, iirc, especially spiders), by killing him... but still made me nearly ill doing it...

I say this quite often online for years now: "DOGS ARE BETTER PEOPLE, than people"... ditto for bumblebees imo, & seeing one die like this, especially in myself having to 'knock-him-off' (nature's course or not) & my being late to save him? Makes me sad... apk

Strange, that I came in here to tell a bumblebee story and there's one already here.

And I love honeybees and also have lots of experience with raising and robbing them. Sounds kinda' paradoxical, to help them and then to steal from them. Did it for lots of years. The max that we have had was 50 supers at one time, no more than 6-10 in a group. Just a passing thought, but my uncle had another name for honey, "bee spit". Go look it up.

I found out years ago, that these "friendly" bees are pet-able and hold-able. As long as you don't show aggression or hurt them, you can actually hold and pet a honeybee. After this great, youthful discovery, I tried the large bumblebees and found them to be equally as friendly and placid (not the boring bumblebees since they seem to be agitated all the time from banging their heads on the wood).

So yesterday, I was showing my Hunni my bumblebee petting techniques on some flowers out front. One big fella' even turned around from his work and crawled onto me which eeked a whisper from my Hunni, "You're gonna' get stung." He decided that I wasn't sweet enough and he went back to work on the flowers. I wouldn't have had that big smile on my face if he would have stung me. LoL!

In our state, according to the statistics, there are less and less wild honeybees. We see less in our clover, and the ones that we see are usually not wild but have a home in a nearby super.

There has been a lot of investigation going on about their disappearance, or rather the disappearance of the wild ones. Studies show that the honeybees have been getting a respiratory mite in their system, and this mite and it's offspring end up killing the host.

Can you imagine the size of this mite? Small! A dust mite at 1/100th of an inch is huge compared to the respiratory mite.

There's an odd correlation here, if you want to call it that. Though I like spiders and they have a good function around our house, I dislike mites of all kinds. But look it up and you'll discover that they are all arachnids. Interesting. I like some of the arachnid family; dislike some of them, too.

Hmm, so that's a small collection of information about bees and arachnids. I find both pretty interesting, and learned some things the hard way. Another interesting note of trivia is that wasps and bees are not the same though everyone seems to categorize them as bees. Don't care much for wasps (except for watching mud daubers build) and especially don't like yellow jackets even though it was the "mascot" for the college I graduated from.

Okay, enough rambling for today since that happened yesterday. But I'm only alert enough today to actually tell and think about it since I was recovering from a stadol cocktail (and that's another story).

Dave

My Hunni got her car back today. The problem has been that the car won't let loose of the key once you stick it in the ignition. The cause of that problem was some switch that wasn't being made in the shifter mechanism. The entire shifter had to be replaced and now it seems to be working fine.

Time will tell!

Dave