The good – Nothing

The bad – They are a bunch of losers without a real life

The ugly – They are trying to ruin the Internet

I get a bunch of spam email every day. I just delete them without reading/opening them.

This web site gets spam comments nearly every week. My spam filter catches them and I delete them. I require ALL comments to be approved by me before they are posted, just in case a spammer’s comment might fool my spam filter, which hasn’t happened yet.

This web site has been the target of hackers many times. Fortunately, my web site has proven to be secure to this point, and all attempts to gain access have failed. My logs show where the hackers have tried to gain access, and the IP address the attack was launched from. The IP addresses track back to locations all over the globe. However, I doubt that any of these IP addresses are the actual source of the attacks, since it is easy to use a proxy server to hide the true IP address.

If a hacker ever does manage to gain access to my site, and alter its contents, I will immediately shut down this site. I can’t take the chance that they’d use it to post pornography, for terrorist purposes, or any other vile or malicious purpose.

Yep, it’s a strange world that we live in, filled with all types of losers, weirdoes, and scumbags—people without a meaningful purpose in life, and no real life at all, actually. Be aware.

…jf…

The good – I’ve been a loyal Mac user since 1997

The bad – Apple kills my MobileMe account

The ugly – Apple throws me under the bus

I switched from the Windows/PC platform to the Mac in 1997. Since then I’ve purchased 7 Apple Macintosh desktop computers, 2 Apple iBook laptop computers, 4 Apple LCD monitors, and many Apple hardware accessories. I’ve purchased many Apple OS upgrades and applications. I’ve sent thousands of dollars Apple’s way, but that doesn’t seem to matter to Apple.

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The good – FREE at last

The bad – Norton products cause problems

The ugly – Norton’s incompetent tech support

I’ve lived with the hassles and horrors of Norton products on my Windows PC since I built it in 2005. First there was Norton Internet Security (NIS) 2005, a suite with anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall protection. I had some problems with it, and dealing with Norton’s tech support proved frustrating and VERY time-consuming.

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The good – It can save your bacon

The bad – It’s inconvenient, time consuming, and expensive

The ugly – Even the best plans can fail

The other day I was retrieving Pro Tools session and audio data files for a music project I’m working on. I loaded the first of four CD-R discs which held the backup data. I successfully transferred all of the data files except one audio file, which contained a recorded instrument track. The error message said that the file could not be retrieved due to data error. In other words, the file was damaged. I made note of the name of the missing file, then loaded backup disc two. This time all files were retrieved except two audio files, both containing recorded instrument tracks. The error message was the same as before. I made note of the file names and moved on. I successfully transferred all files from discs three and four without issue.

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The good – Improvements?

The bad – Their updates break my theme

The ugly – I’ll waste time updating my theme

I just upgraded this blog’s WordPress software to version 2.7.1 two weeks ago. Unfortunately, it broke parts of my custom theme I worked so hard to create. To fix it will require several hours of work. It seems to be a php and code words issue.

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The good – You don’t have to provide an email address to post a comment

The bad – But you still have to type in the reCAPTCHA message code

The ugly – If I receive too many “inappropriate” comments—spam, profanity, etc.—I will revert back to requiring an email address

Exactly one week ago, I installed WordPress, set up this blog site, and posted my first message, “Welcome to my blog.” Since then I have posted a few more messages, and done a lot of research about WordPress in general, and WordPress themes in specific. Although I know enough HTML and CSS to be dangerous, I am a total beginner with WordPress and PHP.

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