I’ve been playing with Macrium Reflect for the last few weeks as part of a new backup scheme for my laptop and my wife’s computer. I’m still not settled with my scheme but I love Macrium Reflect and highly recommend it for anyone looking for an easy way to backup and recover from a complete disaster.
AppScout has a nice write up entitled Macrium Reflect Backs up Your Files for Free. Check it out! And watch for an explanation of my backup scheme in the next week or so.
Slowly, some of the details are coming out of the five-day hostage situation of Capt. Richard Phillips and the crew of the Maersk Alabama. The Wall Street Journal reports On the Maersk and worth reading if you are looking for details of how the rescue of Capt. Phillips evolved.
I’ve been curious about the sea conditions and the article hints at an answer:
The three remaining pirates later asked to be towed, apparently out of fuel. Bainbridge hooked up a line. After sunset, winds and seas picked up, jostling the lifeboat uncomfortably. The pirates’ mood see-sawed, said Cmdr. Castellano. One minute they were terse and vindictive on the radio, the next smiling and laughing.
Not as much detail of the conditions as I would like but it is interesting that the pirates “asked to be towed”, suggesting it was uncomfortable enough that they hoped a tow would smooth out their ride.
Still many other questions remain. Some of which are asked over at Information Dissemination, a great blog if you follow naval topics. Today’s Maersk Alabama Lifeboat – Photo Edition poises some interesting possibilities.
I eat this stuff up!
Today is April 15th. Taxes are due in the United States of America. This year it has become Tea Party Day, an homage to The Boston Tea Party. Before the American Revolution, the British governement was burdening the colonies with taxes. The Tea Act of 1773 made the situation intolerable and on December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty, dressed up as Mohawk Natives and threw 342 crates of tea from three East India Company ships into Boston Harbor in protest. “No taxation without representation” is a slogan reborn in today’s protest.
Although I am unable to attend a Tea Party today, I support the idea of fewer taxes. I don’t want hidden taxes disguised as fees. I want the whole tax code simplified and made fair. If an income tax is in place then everyone should be paying the same percentage regardless of other circumstances. There should be no way for those with means to find a way to hide their income and avoid income taxes. I prefer the idea of a sales tax on non-food items because I then have some slight control over when I pay taxes and how much in taxes I pay. I can choose not to buy expensive luxury items and therefore not pay taxes. Welfare should be uncomfortable and provide training or opportunity and encourage people to become productive.
But none of this seems to be the case. So today groups of people will gather all over the USA and speak out against what appears to be uncontrollable government spending. I hope someone is listening.
I have a terrible habit of opening tabs in my browser with the intention of reading them in the evening and perhaps commenting on them if I have something to contribute to the discussion or wish to pass on a tip or trick. Well, it’s been pretty busy this week and I haven’t had a chance to blog. Currently, there are 18 open tabs, some related to each other, that I intended to blog about.
For now, I’m just going to post some quick comments for I fear I won’t get back to this list soon.
The Conficker Working Group, a group of companies, agencies and organizations with an interest in putting a stop to the Conficker Worm, has a great little tool for quickly testing weather you have one of the three versions of Conficker.
Click on the image of the Conficker Eye Chart and it will present a page with six images. If any of the top row of images does not load then you might have a problem with Conficker.
Visit the site for a better explanation.
It’s too bad that every virus or worm wouldn’t provide a simple means like this for their detection. So make sure your operating system stays up-to-date and that you run an up-to-date anti-virus protection. And don’t install crap!
Of course, if you are on a Mac or Linux computer then you wont have a problem at all. At least not with Conficker.