Crap

Now THIS is cool...

Michael Flanakin — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 08:38:00 GMT

I saw this and just thought it was pretty cool. I'm sure most of you've seen it; but for those who haven't, an Italian programmer found the remains of an ancient villa while looking around his home town. I believe this is the correct map. Funny thing is, it's about 3000 feet from a non-imaged area (well, for now, anyway).

Luca Mori, the programmer who stumbled upon this find, is starting up a new site, CyberArcheologist.net. Best of luck! Now, if only the US had something as cool... Actually, I'm wondering if they truly know what they've found, yet. The discovery was only made 5 days ago (Sept 14, 2005), from what I can tell. Either way, congrats Luca!

It's about time, AOL!

Michael Flanakin — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 09:45:00 GMT

I about did a back flip after reading this article about AOL being fined for bad customer service practices. I've always hated AOL for stupid things like this. Not that I'll like them any more, but I'm glad to see something being done about it. Or, at least them being fined for it, anyway.

What are you like? (c/o BBC)

Michael Flanakin — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 08:39:00 GMT

Ya know, I just love these things... I'm a big thinker.

See what you're like!

Just cause I had to know...

Michael Flanakin — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 05:53:00 GMT

Two Great Sites!!!

Michael Flanakin — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 17:44:00 GMT

I recently found out about two great sites...

i-hacked.com

This site has a lot of really interesting stuff on it. I've been introducing most of my friends to it and think everyone should check it out and share their hacking knowledge ;-) I love the one about hacking the Coke brand vending machines. Chek out the site. There are all kinds of things on there. From computers and electronics to cell phones and cars. A lot of interesting stuff.

Google Maps

Holy, hell. That's all I know to say. I'm an avid user of MapQuest, but I think I just found my new baby! What freaked me out at first (and then got me a little too excited) was when I hit the Home key and the map moved. I started playing with moving the map around. It was awesome! I love it. And, the response that you have with this thing is great! Man, if Google had beautiful eyes, long hair, and a sexy body, I'd be savin' up for that diamond ring! Hey, Kobe, where'd you get that thing at?

In case of fire...

Michael Flanakin — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 18:19:00 GMT

And the most interesting mailer goes to Enerjy for displaying US Patent No. 4,320,756 on the front of their mailer. I thought this was pretty damn funny, myself...

Described as a "Fresh Air Breathing Device", this tool was invented by William O. Holmes to enable persons trapped in the upper floors of a burning building to survive toxic smoke by inhaling "clean" air through the water trap of a toilet until they could be rescued.

Tech Blogs

Michael Flanakin — Wed, 28 Jul 2004 23:10:00 GMT

Andrew Binstock wrote an article on the benefits of technical web logs - both internal and external to IT organizations. There were a couple of things about the article that I really liked. For one, Andrew made a comment about Java blogs that I thought was interesting.

A separate cabal of Java bloggers exists as well, although in my opinion, it's somewhat smaller and less tightly dedicated to the technology [than .NET bloggers].

I just thought this was funny. Who knows whether it's completely true or not, tho. The second quote that I liked was this one...

...programmers recognize the value of sharing their breakthroughs and typically don't want to pollute their technical information with off-topic drivel.

I agree with this. Well, that's basically how I try to treat mine, anyway. I really hate when I see pointless “hello world” posts on mainly IT-focused weblog sites. Oh well...somehow I'll live. Speaking of useless posts...

More Blog Spam

Michael Flanakin — Sun, 11 Jul 2004 13:56:00 GMT

Ok, that's it. We're gonna have to do something about this. I just got 47 adult dating blog spam entries. There has to be something we can do to stop this. Maybe set some limit to how much time has to pass between posts. Maybe use one of those character confirmation images. I don't know what the best option is, I just know I'm sick of having to go thru and delete these things.

Blog Spam??? Interesting...

Michael Flanakin — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 00:54:00 GMT

Now, I haven't investigated this or anything, but I noticed that my comments count jumped in the past few days. I went to check my email to see if I'd received any emial about the replies, and was surprised to see 17 emails from the same “person,” with the same subject.

Here's the evidence: 1, 2, 3*, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13...(there were a couple more, but I didn't pay attention to where they were before I caught on). And here's a sample email:

Comments from Michael Flanakin's Web Log:

Sender: hgh
Url: http://www.humangrowthhormone.org
IP Address: 66.235.202.61
=====================================

re:help

interesting

Source: http://geekswithblogs.net/flanakin/archive/2003/11/24/709.aspx#5685

Now, I'm sure there are plenty of you out there that think this might be well-deserved based on some of my past comments, but personally, I hate to see this sort of thing going on. Spam is bad enough. Now, we have to worry about blog spam, too? This is ridiculous. I guess that's the price you pay for having a high Google-ation! But, it looks like I'm not the only one who's had this problem (1, 2, 3) - there were a bunch more, but you can take a look for yourselves.

_{* Had two, but I deleted one}

It's been a while...

Michael Flanakin — Thu, 20 May 2004 00:02:00 GMT

Well, I'm back... Whether you look at this as a good or bad thing, or simply have no opinion at all, I have returned to ridicule, beseech, and challenge the IT poets of the world. I will continue to express my unwanted, superfluous, and sometimes even excessive opinions and welcome your rebuttals. I continue with hopes to strike that chord in each and every one of you that drives you to step out of your realm and act upon your deepest convictions. We are all men, no one better than another. So, I challenge you to step forward and make yourself known. Look up to no man, look down on no man - least of all, me. Do not love me. Do not fear me. Learn from me, as I will learn from you.

Ok, I'm done being philosophical, now. I don't know where that came from, but I had to get it out :-)