WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN

<Ku anger ENGAGED>

Suckah redirecting from mah blog just bettah step the HELL back. 

I ain't done here, no GOT-DAM way.

<Ku reset>

To anyone recently visiting who was redirected to some asshat's placeholder, I do apologize. A javascript installed from a Japanese page was corrupted when that J-page got hacked... so no more little ghostie on the sidebar. :<

Also, I am still alive. :3

You stopped SOPA; you stopped PIPA!

Thank you, everyone. The Internet is safe for now, but there remains much to be done.

Don't back down. Keep the pressure on your representatives in Congress, and spread the word. SOPA and PIPA (and ACTA, an international agreement that is slowly evolving into similar legislation) are still on the table, and they'll be back. 

Stop SOPA. Stop PIPA.

This post will remain, long after the blackouts of January 18th have come and gone.


SOPA and PIPA are closely-related bills in the US legislature that, if passed, will cripple the Internet. They are scheduled to go up for a vote on January 24th.

This is not a drill.


Google: End Piracy, Not Liberty: sign the petition
StopTheWall.us: protest about PIPA directly to your senator

Learn about the bills (SOPA, PIPA) and make yourself heard.

Damnitall.

Something snapped in the overburdened monstrosity of a template I have been using on this blog for a long time, so MEH. I intend to redesign the whole thing this weekend.

...and then post new stuff.

Don't be afraid of any weird errors you see here for the next however many days, thanks. m(-_-;)m

o(｀Д´#)o Gyaaaaaa~

...that's an angry face, by the way.

I am become very much distracted from making stuff in these recent days, as the need to repair a particular something has attracted great pertinence. G*ddamn you, Microsoft and all your cronies, for making your system so farking easy to corrupt. *fist in air, shaking and rage*

Fortuitously, I run and work on a Mac. That is the entire reason I can make this post. :D

Unfortuitously,* I am the default IT manager for my entire family. This means that whenever "hey, it's doing something weird" becomes applicable to the PC, I have a job to do.  -_-;

Three tips for anyone running Windows-whatever-version:

1) Keep that firewall up, damnit! This is the 2010's, and firewalls aren't just for uptight techies and CIA agents anymore. If you don't have a firewall or don't trust the strength of the one you have, Comodo and Zone Alarm are both excellent and free of charge. Important: if you use Zone Alarm, be sure to deactivate the debugging feature, else you'll get a snowballing file called tvdebug.log that takes up space on your machine. If you use Comodo, I suggest installing only the firewall portion... there's better anti-virus freeware to be had elsewhere.

2) Don't buy McAfee. I cannot rightly speak for Norton, as I have not used it in years, but word on the forums is that neither are even half as good as some freeware out there. McAfee, besides being a subscription service, is also a major culprit in slowing down the overall performance of a PC -- sloppy programming means it takes up too much of your machine's memory and processing resources. Also, it's not very good at what it's supposed to do; namely, catching bad stuff and keeping it off your computer. Case in point, the family computer that I am now trying to save from a complete flush-and-reinstall-everything scenario has had a subscription to McAfee Security Center (the full line of McAfee's anti-everything + extra firewall and privacy protection) for three years running, and it STILL has been badly screwed by a rootkit, viral rogue, and more trojans than there ever were in the historic Trojan army.

3) Be really, really careful about what you do on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. If the file size is to small (or too big) to be the thing you intend to download, don't touch it. If the file name reflects exactly the same search terms you put in to find it and nothing more, don't touch it. If you don't recognize the file type, don't touch it. And for torrent files... try to choose from torrents that are rated positively and/or have worthwhile comments on them.

Or alternatively, get a Mac. :3

Anyway, I'll be back when the bugs are gone. ;_;

* "Unfortuitously" is not a proper word. Also, I am not endorsed by any of the products or services mentioned above.

A portion of this post will be echoed on Omnomnomnibus, as that is a more fitting location for the subject. :D

Since you ARE using it right now...

...why not help save the internet?

This is pretty important. You may have heard about it already.

From the site:

The nation's largest telephone and cable companies -- including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner -- want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all.

They want to tax content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data. They want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services, and streaming video -- while slowing down or blocking their competitors.

These companies have a new vision for the Internet. Instead of an even playing field, they want to reserve express lanes for their own content and services -- or those from big corporations that can afford the steep tolls -- and leave the rest of us on a winding dirt road.

The big phone and cable companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to gut Net Neutrality, putting the future of the Internet at risk.

Source: http://www.savetheinternet.com/=faq

Please help save the internet. If you've got a blog or make regular visits to a forum, you can help by spreading the word. At the very least, please use the protocol on the website to send a short message or log a call to your congressional representative.

Thanks,
The Internet