Open DNS

You should use Open DNS. You can filter bad stuff and hackers won't steal your info as much. Let me break it down.

DNS is how your computer looks up addresses for websites and everything else on the Internet. It's like 411, but instead of giving you phone numbers, you get computer's numbers. For example, you type "http://drudgereport.com" into your browser. Your computer then has to go ask what's called a DNS server what the numerical address of drudgereport.com is. So your computer sends out the request to a DNS server that your computer already knows about, and that server gives you back the number address so your browser know where in the world to then go and get awesome news.

If you've never changed it on your computer, you're probably just using the DNS that Comcast or Qwest or Verizon or whatever ISP (internet service provider) provides you when you plug your computer or router into the box they give you.

Here's what's bad about most of those DNS services you're getting from your ISP:

• They can be slow. They don't really care about DNS.
• Just recently, hackers were able to change addresses all over the internet (and probably still can) so when you type in wellsfargo.com into your browser, the hacker has put their fake address on the DNS server, and you get back the WRONG ADDRESS, and head over to THEIR site, even though your browser still says "WellsFargo.com." Seriously, this was a big deal, and you didn't know.
  
• DNS Servers can give you so much more, but your ISP really doesn't care to give you anything awesome like this because they are all evil (or 90-95% evil).
  

If you use OpenDNS instead, you can get (FOR FREE, mind you):

• Faster DNS
• Probably less hackable DNS (while you were exposed and didn't even know it to the horrible problem I described above, OpenDNS users never were.)
• DNS that will auto correct some stuff for you (like you type in craigslist.og, it'll just switch it to craigslist.org)
• Protection from phishing sites (sites set up to look like legit sites like paypal or something)
  
• The BEST part, is that you can set it up to filter certain web sites for you. Whether they be adult, video, racist, Ad-sites, gaming sites . . . WHATEVER, it will just block it for you. It's cheap and it is FREE.

Basically you can switch to OpenDNS (unless your ISP is a total jerk) just by changing a setting on your computer or router. Start by going here: https://www.opendns.com/k12/start and just follow instructions.

It's just really worth it.

How to get to Grandma's

It's like we're in a bus, and we're stopped on a road in Nebraska, and the bus is almost out of gas and is held together with duct tape. We're all trying to decide which of two guys is correct, who have different answers to the question: "Should we go north to get to Grandma's house, or should we go south?"

Most folks on the bus are arguing about going north or south, and the relative merits of each. It is true, we've been going North for a while, but maybe it's time to go South.

But there's always been a good amount (but not enough) people sitting in the back of the bus that are saying "Why do we have to listen to these guys at all? They're the ones that drove the bus to Nebraska. Grandma lives in California. And why are we all in the bus together, and I have to pay for your incompetence? We should have taken separate cars. And in fact, I don't want to go to Grandma's house."

Of course, that minority of people are mocked for not making up their minds on the crucial "north or south" issue, because that's the issue at hand.

Free markets are for weiners?

So, I just got done watching Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. (Quick shout out for ClearPlay, mediocre DVD player, but a fantastic service). I think everyone that works at or will work at any company ever should see this movie. Basically, when greed takes over and profits are sought after to such an extreme that people forget what they are actually doing in real life, really bad things happen.

It's basically about the collective brain behind the whole thing, the top brass at Enron. Watching it, it reminded me of that feeling I got at the end of Star Wars Episode III, when Anakin Skywalker finally becomes Darth Vader, and I KNEW it was going to happen the whole movie but still thought at the end: "that could actually happen to me. He had it all and he had a good heart, but he got selfish and prideful and destroyed himself." That's the EXACT same feeling I got at the end of the movie. Really brilliant people who destroyed themselves and thousands of people's lives, because they kept on lying and were way greedy.

Interesting facts I didn't really know:

• Enron actually in some way CAUSED the California Blackouts (or made them a lot worse) by deliberately encouraging power plants to shut down, so that the price of energy would go up.
• They (the CEO and other higher-ups) would actually do little plays (that they videotaped!) about their shady business practices. I think the overall tone being "of course this is all legal because everyone is letting us do this, but can you believe we're allowed to report higher profits that don't exist yet? Wheeeeeee!"
• Who knew I would ever think something like "the government should step in and regulate that crap"?

You should see it.

Caucusing - as undemocratic as pure democracy can be

I caucused. Not only is it disturbing to say, but it's actually kind of gross to read that word in its various tenses as well. Caucused.

I went to support my man Ron (see previous meandering post) in the Washington Republican Caucus. All you do is show up, find your "precinct", sit around a table with strangers and try to cut through the confusion of the event. You basically are supposed to, as a group, elect each other to go to the county convention in 2 months. Here are some key facts from my experience:

1) I didn't bring my voter registration card, so I had no idea what my precinct was, so I found a guy that lived 2 blocks down from me, thinking (incorrectly) we'd be in the same precinct. I realized I was wrong at the end when I saw my terrorist-fearing neighbor who had donated 2300 to Tom Tancredo stand up and leave from a table across the room. I REALLY wanted to know who he was going for. Gotta be Huckabee. But whatever, I caucused with the wrong precinct, so my vote probably doesn't even technically count.

2) "My" entire precinct consisted of 7 people. We had to "elect" 4 delegates and 4 alternates to go to the county convention in April. Most were actually kind of annoyed at the fact that based on the vote, they might have an errand to run in 8 weeks. An errand for America.

3) The 7 of us were split between the 4 candidates, with 2 going to Huckabee, Ron Paul and Romney, and 1 going to McCain. The 1 was an 18 year old absolutely awkward high schooler who could not stop talking about how no one his age is in to politics. He said that he could not be a delegate because he had no transportation. We made him one anyway. I was trying to pump him up about how cool it would be.

4) They handed out a questionnaire at the door, which my table immediately began working as a group to fill out because it was the only thing that seemed to make sense. It's funny when everyone is confused, they seem to all latch on to anything that makes sense. The whole "electing delegates" thing did not seem to be top priority.

5) Instead of everyone voting for each other to go to the next tier, someone suggested that since there are 4 delegates, and that the seven of us were essentially evenly split, that we should just send one for each candidate. All of us just nodded in agreement, as the math was irrefutable. Konwing that if we actually voted, my candidate wouldn't have a chance at that table, I just made sure the other Ron Paul guy was signed up to go. This is what goes down when the process of voting is coupled with the prospect of face-to-face confrontation. People tend to not want to talk politics with their neighbors when push comes to shove. At one end of the spectrum you have the person-to-person caucus, and at the other you have the person-to-mailbox absentee ballot. I'm pretty sure everyone prefers absentee.

6) Looking back, I'm guessing the caucus system was developed at least partly to avoid exactly this kind of even split. If I would have had my mind about me, I would have started working deals with the Romney and Ron Paul folks, and completely ignored the 3 huckabee/mccain supporters. Active plotical hostility. But, and here's where party democracy really shows its efficiency, I was going to be busy that weekend in April. So Huckabee for President '08.

7) If you're elected to be a delegate at the county, you have to pay $15 ($30 and you get a hot dog, I think.)

8) A lot of Republicans are fat and old.

9) The end of the Caucus is a lot like a bad party that never really got started. You just sort of look around and keep thinking, "Can I just stand up and leave, or do I have to fake a cell phone call or pretend to almost vomit?"

10) No doubt, if I would have caucused Democrat, I think there would have been a lot more rah-rah-rah, which is really what I wanted. If I have to meet my neighbors face-to-face and talk about my vote, I at least want there to be SOMEONE shouting, even if it isn't me.

Why do Tech Guys Like Ron Paul?

So, I've been thinking about this for a long time. Why do nerds like Ron Paul so much? It's seemed like that to me for a while. Nerd havens like digg.com even sorta prove it, and of course his dominance of the online world is as well a good sign that the tech-savvy harbor nothing but love for the man.

Heck, his recent donor records basically seal the deal for me. An EETimes article pointed out that Google employees are the top donors, Microsoft's in the top 5, and a bunch of other tech companies are up there too.

Heck, I'm a geek, and I would quit my job and go volunteer for the guy full time if he got the nomination (If you're my wife and reading this, of course I wouldn't, honey, that's called hyperbole).

But here's my theory why: If you're a computer guy, and especially if you read and write code, your world revolves around a core set of rules. The way you handle ambiguity is, you get rid of the ambiguity. You focus on a problem, and logically figure out how to fix it, based on well known discoverable rules.

Ron Paul, if you haven't heard of him, comes back to the Constitution with every argument. You can fit his philosophy on a postage stamp: "Follow the Constitution. Let the markets and the people govern themselves." From this he extrapolates his views. We shouldn't be in Iraq because Congress didn't declare war as the Constitution states. The federal government should never be involved with things like Education, Health Care and market manipulation because it infringes on people's liberty and the Constitution doesn't state it.

You could argue that he adheres to his interpretation of the Constitution, and that's probably the best argument to take to him. But I'd say even though he may take his interpretation to an extreme, he most definitely thinks about the Constitution when making a call as a legislator more than anyone else. We hear stuff from our leaders like "Is this right for America?" What we don't ever here is "Do I have the right, as an elected official, to use tax dollars for this purpose?"

That kind of cold logic tickles the nerd side of my brain. I can go out and use rules like that to form opinions on issues. I have not doubt what a Ron Paul would think about certain problems as President. Computers, and nerds, just don't get nuance.

And I like that he's a goofy grandpa.

Podcast Recommendations #1

The first in my series of podcast recommendations

HISTORY

The really good (the podcasts that, when they come out, I drop everything):

Hardcore History (subscribe): Range from 40 to 60 minute episodes. Just really well produced and structured monologues on historical topics. Dan Carlin is the guy's name. He would never do something like "The Civil War" and go through events of the war, but he would go through how that war fits in to history as a whole and in relation to all recorded wars, for example, and how it affects us today. He has an entire hour long monologue on horses and guns and how they revolutionized warfare, and somehow, it's completely engrossing. He stays out of modern (post WWII) history for the most part.

My History Can Beat Up Your Politics (subscribe): Range from 10 to 30 minute episodes. A fanstastic podcast having to do with American Political History and how it's repeated, used and misused in the present day. All of the episodes have been fascinating thus far. Topics like "Women Voters," "Third Parties," and "The Iowa Caucus" have been especially fascinating. He covers things as they bubble up in current events, like the history of stimulus packages and where The Fed came from. By far the highlights are when he says things like "President Bush and other politicians have said that never in our history has our country . . ." and then he'll spend some time explaing why that's not true, using, what some like to call, "history."

The mediocre (podcasts that I listen to if I have nothing else.):

The Military History Podcast: It would be awesome, except the dude that gives it has no ability to sound like he's not reading. The content is fantastic (my favorite episode thus far: "The John McCains"), but the monotone delivery almost made me crash my car my once. I keep it around, but only when I'm hard up for some military history and Dan Carlin isn't producing fast enough.

History According to Bob: "Bob" doesn't "dumb down" his podcast for those who don't already know all of Napolean's top generals middle names and favorite cookies. I feel like he's expecting some pre-reading for each episode. This one is always about to get the axe from my lineup, but I keep giving it a chance in case some day I'm smart enough.

Pot Pie's Revenge

I grew up on Banquet Chicken Pot Pies. My folks would go to the movies on Friday nights, and we'd throw a couple in the oven. We'd keep the leftover aluminum tins that they were cooked in and make drums and paint holders. My mom would bake bread, and make my own tiny loaf in one of them. They are perhaps the cheapest complete meal, per ounce, that exists anywhere in the world today. The Costco Hot Dog meal and perhaps Plumpy'nut being the exceptions. I'm not ashamed to say that, if it weren't for Banquet Pot Pies during college, I wouldn't be here today. I would be dead. For lack of hot gravy.

However, I want to bring to the attention of the Pot Pie community (like they don't know already) that at some point in the past 3-5 years, Banquet (owned by ConAgra foods) has chosen to either cut costs or to submit to the irrational demands of the microwave zealots of the world and house the sweet sweet pie in a microwavable holder. I believe it's the latter. Basically it's just an evil paper bowl.

Now, those of us who are what we call "Conventional Oven Pot Pie Purists" who would never use a Microwave for a pot pie and still use the oven method, are forced to suffer for it. No longer are the days of cooking the nice fatty pie for 35 minutes then turning it over on a plate, having it properly flop out, evenly cooked, and still contain its goodness. The paper bowl keeps the pie doughy and sticky and you will never, I repeat, NEVER get that pie out of the bowl in one piece. Maybe the box should read "A mess of dough with cubed carrots and chicken."

I attempted to give my 3-year-old son his first taste this weekend. He outright refused it. I can't help think that if he'd only been born 5 years earlier, he may have actually tasted what many consider to be the finest achievement in frozen foods.

ConAgra, I can't help but think the little salmonella problem you had last year was a sign that you needed to change. Isn't it a tad strange that it only affected pot pies? You may have unleashed something you never imagined possible for that "Cooks in 4 minutes!" statement on the box. Maybe it was a way for that food of all foods to call out to you and say "give me back my dignity, give me back my aluminum tin." I can only hope, ConAgra, that you'll listen to the pie.

Why are you not listening to Podcasts?

If you don't know what podcasts are, just imagine you and your siblings talking on a tape recorder, then listening to it back and laughing real hard, wishing the world could hear how awesome you are. My wife used to do that with her sister when she was a kid. They would pretend to be soldiers' wives during Desert Storm calling in talking about their husbands in the war.

Imagine millions of people are making tapes like this, some serious, some not. Now imagine being able to somehow discover tapes that you might like from other people, and then set something up such that every time a new tape came out from someone who's tapes you've liked before, you were just sent a copy.

It's just like that, except, without the tapes. You just get some free software to check these people's sites to see if they've updated their audio files (ITunes or the Zune Software will do this for you).

Breaking it down further, it's amateur radio that everyone can do and listen to. And it's free. (Except for a very few weird folks that charge . . . but they'll stop eventually. Remember how news sites used to make you pay to read their articles? How long did that last?)

So why isn't it crap? Volume and diversity, my friend. For example, I listen to podcasts about Northwest gardening, Consumer Computer Security, American Political History and Astronomy. I've tried out maybe a hundred different podcasts, but listen to about 15 or so with any regularity.

The pros are getting in on this now too. Many of the weekend news programs put their programs out as podcasts. Meet the Press, for example, puts out audio and video on Sundarys. NPR offers virtually everything as a podcast now.

You don't need an ipod. I've only ever listened to Podcasts on my Zune, for example. You just need something that plays mp3 files, and you're done.

The content, of course, varies in quality. It's best when you can find podcasts done by folks that have done actual radio or still do, but want some looser format that they can put out there for practically nothing. There are other folks that have no business on radio, but end up making great audio podcasts.

There are also video podcasts, which are the same deal, just instead of mp3 files, they are in some video format (often mp4).

I always think that people I associate with must know what podcasts are, and I bring them up in casual conversation, and I get blank stares. This post is my attempt and reaching those sorry souls. I'll offer some recommendations in further posts.