Cruftbox: My Box of Cruft

Beware the new Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory Beta.
Don’t download it. Don’t do it.
You could end up playing for 4 hours straight and going to bed in the wee hours of the morning.

Here’s a snippet of my referrer logs:

Ever wonder what NET CLR 1.0.3705 in your referrer logs means? So did I.
I found out that it’s the version of the .Net Framework Internet Explorer (IE) has installed on the computer looking at your page.
Thanks to Google I learned how to change this string to whatever I want.
I wrote up a page on Changing IE Agent Strings as a reference for others.
There has got to be other cool hacks of the agent strings and other data that is passed to web servers by browsers.
Let the fun begin…

Rather than incisive words of wisdom today, a set of recent photos for you.

The girls on the plan on the way to Cincinnati, watching a DVD on the laptop.
It was a H.R. Puffinstuff DVD

The girls and I made cookies in the Easy Bake Oven today.

Smuggling goetta and Skyline Chili in my suitcase.

The Cruft Reference Book.
You simply must love eBay for finding things like this.

My new haircut.

Time to go make lunch and get the house in order.

Martin Diggs is Chokersandwich

A guy gets a little busy and peeps start taking pot shots… I guess I gotta throw down a little old school entry to satisfy the teeming hordes perusing the site.
Proud
I am proud of my wife, Michele. She’s off in Paducah, Kentucky for the AQS Quilt Show. This is the Mother-of-all-Quilt-Shows. She took the laptop with her and is going online to check email and she’s blogging the show!
Remember, she’s the one with the BFA, not a EE degree like me, so her first solo trip with the laptop is a big deal.
With lines like this, she’s got the blogging thing down better than most:

When I walk through the convention center, I can see the TRUE America…
It’s the women. and most are size XL and fuckin’ proud.

I tried to convince her to try the wireless card, but there’s no damn Starbucks even in Paducah for her to connect to easily…
Rant
Fuck Rick Santorum. This bigoted, lying, hypocritical, sack of shit represents all that is bad about the closed minded fucks that inhabit the right wing of the Republican party. This guy has got to go. America is about personal liberties and freedoms. He’s against that. He’s against the core of American ideals.
Call that scumbag at 202-224-6324 and tell him to resign.
To try and defuse the situation, he actually said this:

“[I have]no problem with homosexuality — I have a problem with homosexual acts.“

Look, I know plenty of Republicans that are good hearted people that love America and have tolerance for all creeds. I ask you, doesn’t this stufff make you sick? Why don’t you take back your political party from the fascist fundamentalists that at are using our Constitution as toliet paper?
Weblogs
Alrighty people listen up. Many of you that read this here weblog, have weblogs of your own. I use blogrolling to keep track of all the weblogs I read and tell me when they update. The trick is that when you update your weblog, you need to tell the tracking services like blogrolling, weblogs.com, and blo.gs that you’ve updated.
It’s not hard. If you use Movable Type, just make sure that Blog Config -> Preferences -> Allow Pings on by default? is checked ON. If you use Blogger, just upgrade to Blogger Pro and it happens automagically.
Just do it.
Don’t linger at the bottom of my blogroll list, I don’t look there. I’m looking at the top of the list for the fresh blog entries.
Food
I’ve converted another into the Church of Skyline Chili. BillB is a true believer. He tried Skyline and LOVES it. You will too, if you try it.
Gaming
I’m in game-overload. BF1942, Shadowbane, Planetside, and now the RtCW: Enemy Territory beta. So few hours, so many games.
Star Wars Galaxies looms in the near future threatening to consume the gaming world like a neutron star passing through a star system.
It’s a good time to be a gamer.
Tech
There are a couple of tech stores that need mention.
The first is Tigerdirect. Tigerdirect is like the clearance center of the internet. They’ve always got cool shit on sale. They have everything you need, want, and don’t know you need, on sale. They’ve got an amazing section of recertified and closeout technology that makes even and Fry’s-hardened geek like me drool.
The second is Cyberguys. They don’t have such a wide selection, but they have items you can find nowhere else. You know you need dual power extension liberator and a USB cell phone charger and an Asian Design MouseRug.
These guys are worth signing up for their email to check out the deals.
Wrap-up
So, is that a good enough weblog entry for you content hungry hounds? Time to go do something else…

I wish I had a ton of new stuff to write but I don’t.
Currently, I’m downloading the Return to Castle Wolfenstein Expansion from Fileplanet. I hope it’s a fun as it was when I tested it last year at E3.
Come back tomorrow. I hope to have recharged batteries by then…

Whew, what a day yesterday.
Zoe’s got a bad cold and was home from school yesterday. I can deal, but I had to give an update for an 8AM meeting at work. I called in via the conference line and put the phone on mute. I explained to the girls I was busy on the phone and asked them to be quiet.
The group I was speaking to is a senior group of tech heads in the company. I’m explain the latest reasoning for the blah-blah-blah project when Mira walks up and says, “Daddy, I need you. I wanna play a game.” She can boot the computer and switch CDs a hundred times previous to this but NOW she needs me. I try to shoo her away, but she says “Dad-deee!”. I say into the phone, “Excuse me.” Then I turn to Mira and say, “Sweetheart, you going to have to wait until I’m done on the phone. You can run the computer yourself.”
On the phone, there is silence and I resume the talking, “Blah blah review process, blah blah capital.” And then someone in the group says, “SOunds good Sweetheart.” and the whole group starts laughing.
Nice.
I took Zoe to the doctor. The doctor confirmed that cough + fever + lethargy = sick and gave Zoe a prescription. A trip to the store to pick up food & medicine and we finally got home.
I cooked dinner for the kids and even made them brownies for dessert.
When the kids were in bed I started getting IMs from friends saying that the web host was down. Yep, a router died somewhere and the servers were disconnected from the net.
I tried playing Shadowbane, but login was broken. Giving up, I went to bed.
I’m hoping for a smoother day today.

I’m sure it will piss off my brother, but I finished another book. I almost finished it on the plane home, but had 20 or so pages to finish last night.
A Princess of the Aerie – John Barnes
This is the second book in the series about Jak Jinnaka in a future society 15 centuries from now. The first book in the series The Duke of Uranium, introduces us to the world and the characters.
Barnes weaves an interesting future and follows many of the traditional space opera conventions. The book has plenty of action, hard sci-fi tech, and even a dollop of sex. There are lots of interesting idea like AI PDAs that you wear on your wrist, magnetic based docking transfer systems, and mining technology that uses hot magma.
Unfortunately, the main character, Jak, appears to be a hapless tool of others during most of the story. Like a powerful weapon, he is easily manipulated and does damage where he’s pointed. For a highly trained spy, he’s as guilliable as they come.
Perhaps Barnes is taking the long view and looking to show the change of Jak from fool to hero. I can’t tell. I like the characters, but Jak is almost unsympathetic since he seems to fall for every trap that is placed in front of him, usually escaping only by the grace of his friends appearing at just the right moment.
I’m sure I’ll read the next installment, but if thinking space opera is what you are after, I suggest the Night’s Dawn series by Peter Hamilton.
Now I’m reading Barnes’ other new book, The Sky So Big and Black and it is fantastic. None of the issues of Princess appear in this book. More when I finish the book.

I forgot to post up a few photos of this week.
Near Clifton, where our family lives, is a park called Mount Storm. The park has a view of the river and into Kentucky. I tried to find a geocache there, but I had no luck.

Here are the girls sitting in a tree in the park.

Here is the exit of the actual Underground Railroad. When slaves would cross the Ohio River from Kentucky, a slave state, to Ohio, a free state, they need to get away from the river as fast as possible and deeper into Ohio. There was an actual set of tunnels that went from the riverside up to the the hills to bypass police and others that may try to return slaves to Ohio. When Michele was a kid in Cincinnati, this tunnel entrance was not cemented up and children would crawl around inside.
I would have thought the exit would have had a plaque or something denoting it’s significance, but it does not. I can only imagine the number of people exiting the tunnel and breathing their first breaths of clean, free air.
In a couple of hours, I’m hopping on the plane with the two girls solo. It’ll be zone defense till I get home. Wish me luck.

I’ve been in Cincinnati a week and most of my time has been spent revolving around eating or waiting to eat. There isn’t much fof me to do since I’m not involved in the wedding planning of my sister-in-law and the kids are usually running around with their grandparents.
Cincinnati has a few traditional foods that I enjoy whenever I visit.
Skyline Chili – Skyline is the king of Cincinnati chili. Chili here is quite different than Texas-style. The chili has hints of cinnamon, chocolate and other spices in it. Sounds strange, but it’s delicious. Typically it’s served over spagetti with cheese on top (a three-way) or over a small hotdog (a coney). The taste is unique and perfect for snacks or large meals. Once you get hooked on this chili, you’ll be stashing cans of it in your luggage too.
Graeter’s Ice Cream – Graeter’s is the local ice cream company that make all kinds of seasonal flavors. High quality stuff. The stores also have candy and cookies for sale. Similiar to the Fosselman’s back home, always a treat.
Glier’s Goetta – Goetta is German food consisting of oatmeal and pork meat with spices shaped like a sausage. The tube is sliced and fried. Similiar to breakfast sausage but better. The goetta melts apart in your mouth. Again, a taste you have to try before you can concieve what it is. I’m carrying eight pounds home with me in my luggage.
There are also a few places to eat that we don’t have at home, but do have in Cincinnati:
White Castle – White Castle is the home of the square mini burger. Hot greasy burgers that you buy by the sack. I ate 7 on Thursday and still could have eaten more. If you are near New York you can find them too.
BW3 aka Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck – I love hot buffalo wings. I went to college in upsate NY and tasted the real deal. BW3 is the real deal. A good place to eat what Michele calls my ‘comfort food’. Plenty of tasty sides to round out an all-fried meal.
Tomorrow, I head home with the girls and Michele heads to Paducah for the big quilting show. Time for sleep.