365 Discoveries

xkcd:volume 0 - Cover

The first comic book from Randall Monroe, the genius behind the xkcd web comic is available for purchase! xkcd:volume 0 features 600 comics, selected by Monroe, and include fan and author favorites. Obviously, owning a book of a widely distributed, freely-available web comic is merely for the novelty of the tangibility of a comic book, however, the comics in the book have been assembled from high-resolution scans of the original artwork, and include author notes, doodles, and puzzles in the margins of the book, adding a personal touch to the comics not available online (yet, I’m sure).

A popular feature of the xkcd web comic is the alt (aka, tooltip or mouseover) text, the text a user sees when he/she hovers or an image. The alt text usually contains an afterthought of the comic, or some additional insight. Because of the non-interactive nature of a book (crazy talk, I know), the alt text has been included with each comic in appealing fashion

The book is being published by Breadpig and a portion of the publishers profits will go to the Room to Read charity to help build a school in Laos.

I’ll post again when I receive my copy!

xkcd: volume 0 - Comic and Author Notes

xkcd: volume 0 - Comic and Author Notes

xkcd: volume 0 - Back Cover

I’m making a note here in the hopes that, perhaps, it will help a frustrated gamer out there, somewhere. The issue at hand occurs when you try to launch Team Fortress 2 (TF2), Half-Life (HL, HL2), or Counter-Strike (CS) (any game connected to Steam that uses the HL2 engine). Steam will launch a small window stating “Verifying Game Files.” Typically, this only takes place after updates to the game, or Steam, if Steam detects any game files have been changed, or if selected to do so manually. The issue occurs, however, on every launch. The process launches, subsequently takes a few seconds to “check” — even though it should take a minute or two — then terminates without launching your desired game. [Read the rest of this entry...]

I have found I’ve fallen a little short of the 365 posts I had hoped to have within the first year or so of site launch. Like I say in the about section, I never meant to do a post a day, or stop at post 365, but I set it as a goal for myself. Maybe I can shoot for 365 within two years launch, a mere 6 months away.

Here’s a few posts and stats I want to “bump:”

Posts: 112
Word Count: 32,444
Comments: 165
Spam comments: 25,195

Approximately 2,600 visits per month, mostly thanks to the post on free church graphics from February and the post on how to CHMOD with Dreamweaver from early last year.

Though not popular, at all, I’ve added about 50 new entries to the post listing where my Flickr photos are used around the web.

A professor of Ethical hacking, networking, and security from CCSF (City College of San Francisco) referenced my post about wardriving with the Android OS in a classroom PowerPoint (here, then ch 8 ) and links to my wardriving results page from the Advanced ethical hacking course web page.

Nothing particularly special about these series of photots, just interesting pieces of California I thought to share.

Salinas, CA

A tourist trap situated at the intersection of Highway 101 and 156 is either missing a “u” or an “i”.

The Ugly Truth movie poster

Movie poster for the film “The Ugly Truth.” Can you spot the ugliness here?

Ad in Capitola Mall

This advertisement for the food court in the Capitola Mall uses stock photo featuring a umistakeable cup design. The worst part? There is no In-N-Out in or near this mall!

Stylish yes, but arch support is lacking

I spotted these foot coverings in a shoe shop in downtown Capitola. I assume they’re for show, but I wouldn’t put any money on it.

Photo by Reigh SierraYour computer is on a local network, and for some reason, you need to find the name of the computer you’re sitting at to share files, printers, or anything else over the network. You chose a name when you first installed the operating system unless your computer was bought pre-built from a store. In the case of the latter, your computer was already assigned some arbitrary name, often with the model number or manufacturers name playing a part in the naming scheme. So… do you know, or remember what it is? No? Well then, follow one of these two methods and you’ll no longer be embarrased when you can’t remember your faithful computer’s name. (Windows XP, Vista, 7)

Method one:

So, you’re using WordPress and you just spent hours looking for the perfect theme to fit your new hybrid kitten-and-knitting blog. You upload the theme’s files into the appropriate folder, navigate to the themes page in the  administrative interface, and click “activate.” So far, so good, right? Later, you notice that anytime you save a page, post, or option, you’re greeted with an error much like the following:

Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/user/public_html/ccc/wp-content/themes/broken-theme/includes/theme-options.php:172) in /home/user/public_html/ccc/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 237

The exact nature of the error and line numbers will vary. The point is, your frilly new theme is broken or there’s a plugin conflict with it. Here’s a funny thing that happened with my situation and I suspect others may benefit from this tip. If you’re receiving these errors, and you’re still logged into your WordPress admin panel, activate a different theme you know works. The real problem begins if you log out.

If you are unable to access any portion of your site, or most importantly, the log in page, you’re going to need to get your hands dirty.

1. FTP into your WordPress themes folder, then to the folder for the offending theme (i.e. wp-content/themes/broken-theme).
2. Copy everything within that theme’s folder to another folder on the server, or to your hard drive (or just delete if you plan on installing fresh).
3. Copy the files from a known-good theme (like the included “classic” or “default”) into the folder you just emptied.
4. You should now be able to access your log in page. (www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin/)

You could just leave it as is and set out to fix or replace your bunk theme, however, I recommend “officially” activating the theme you wish to revert back to, then deleting the duplicate you created in step 3.

It should be noted right off that I intend to research information regarding unconventional wireless networking use. You probably won’t find much here that’ll help with day-to-day wireless networking. Unless, of course, you’re desperate and don’t care that your setup looks ridiculous.

Probably one of the most popular things I’ve run across when looking into wi-Fi antennas is what’s called “WOKTENNA” or “WIFRY.” Admittedly, these names aren’t used as often as the concepts that are derived from them, but I think the names are funny, and you should too.

The idea is to use any metallic parabolic device (think about what you have in your kitchen right now that fits this bill) and to place a wireless USB adapter at the focal point of the selected parabola. Its been found that Asian cookware, like various types of WOK cookware work very well for this purpose. Here is a site that shows a number of examples when people combine USB WiFi adapoters with DIY antennas to make a “poor man’s wifi,” including several variations of the WOKTENNA idea.

Another cheap option is the parabolic reflector antenna. The one I used is called the Windsurfer; a template is available at freeantennas.com. The site claims that a 1:1 scale of the template will net you about 9dbi of gain, double the size and you’ll see 12dbi of gain.

But, how do the cheapies compare to the “proper” devices available for increasing gain?

Using a stock Fonera (from FON) version 1 wireless access point with DD-WRT firmware I attached various antennas and performed simple signal trials using a laptop and Netstumler. Below, you can see a screencap of Netstumbler’s output. The first section on the left was just some testing before running the trials. The stock Fonera antenna provides a mere 1.5dbi of gain, and at approximately 111 meters, gets a signal to noice ratio of -70 to -60 dBm. A large 5dbi omni-directional antenna attached to the Fonera provides a solid -60dBm rating at 111 meters. The same antenna with a Windsurfer parabolic reflector provides slightly more gain. Using a 10dbi directional panel antenna — the “proper” way to direct wireless signals — performs equally with the 5dbi omni-antenna with the Windsurfer attatched.

WiFi Signal Stregnths of various antenna methods. (Click to view full image)

Approx. range of trials. (Click to view larger) Tests were performed at ground level, folliage was not an issue.

The most surprising result, however, is the result seen with the stock 1.5dbi Fonera antenna and the Windsurfer parabolic reflector. As Netstumbler reports it, this arrangement provides just as much gain, even a pinch more, than all previous antenna combinations, including the 10dbi directional panel and the much larger 5dbi omni-directional antenna!

So, if you’re trying to get a signal outdoors or to the other side of your home, try throwing a parabolic reflector antenna on your current setup before laying down any cash on inferior solutions!

Coming soon… additional tests with the same antennas at a larger distance, new antennas, and a dual-antenna setup (Linksys WRT-style).