2007 August | Mark Wagner - Yet Another Blog

Less

Home

Archive for August, 2007

uTorrent: Blocking IP Addresses

Published on August 30, 2007 in How-To, Computers and Software. 7 Comments

I recently wrote a little program that you can use to download an ipfilter.dat to block IP addresses when using uTorrent. It really isn’t anything fancy, just saves you the time of downloading it, extracting it, renaming it, and then copying it to the correct location.

The list is downloaded from B.I.S.S. (Bluetack) which is updated every week or so.

Prerequisites:

uTorrent already installed
Latest version of .NET installed
Windows XP or Windows Vista (I’ve tested it on a 32bit Vista machine, and a 32bit XP machine)

Usage:

Download ipfilter.dat Updater
Extract both of the files included in the .zip to any location on your computer
Run ipfilter_updater.exe and click Update
Now you need to force uTorrent to use the updated list
- Quickest way is to close uTorrent, and open it back up.
- If you are currently downloading some files, you can force a reload in the preferences.
  - Open the Preferences dialog (CTRL-P)
  - Click on Advanced
  - Find ipfiler.enable (should already be set to True)
  - Change it to False, then back to True.
To verify the list has loaded
- Click on the Logger tab in uTorrent
- You should see: [xx:xx:xx] Loaded ipfiler.dat (# entries)
NOTE: You only need to update once a week. The list isn’t updated everyday.

You will see all blocked IP requests on that Logger tab.

Manual Install:

Download nipfilter.dat.gz
Go to Start->Run and type %APPDATA%\uTorrent\
Extract the contents of nipfilter.dat.gz into the folder.
Read above on how to force uTorrent to load the new filter.

For added security, check out PeerGuardian 2.

If you experience any issues with my program, feel free to post a comment.

How To Fire A Teacher

Published on August 26, 2007 in Facts, Pictures and Rants. 15 Comments

Stop-Drop It’s not a secret that America’s public school systems are failing. I recently watched a documentary by John Stossel called ‘Stupid In America*.’ Stossel investigates the the American public school system, comparing it to other countries (among other things) and going into depth over the involvement of the Teacher’s Union and how it is actually the one of the biggest causes of the failure.

In the video he raises the question about firing bad teachers. Take a moment and see how many teachers you’ve had over the years that you’d consider bad. If you’re like most people you probably were able to name just more than a few.

Continue reading ‘How To Fire A Teacher’

AT&T Statement on NSA Issue

Published on August 24, 2007 in Facts and Random. 0 Comments

AT&T NSA Here is AT&T’s response to the claims that they participated with the NSA to follow out the domestic spying initiative created by our favorite administration.

San Antonio, Texas, June 27, 2006

At AT&T, we vigorously protect our customers’ privacy and only share information as specifically authorized by the law.

The news media have carried reports alleging that AT&T is participating in an unlawful NSA terrorist surveillance program. Unfortunately, the law does not permit AT&T to respond to those allegations.

The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that AT&T may neither confirm nor deny AT&T’s participation in the alleged NSA program because doing so would cause “exceptionally grave harm to national security” and would violate both civil and criminal statutes. Under these circumstances, AT&T is not able to respond to such allegations.

What we can say is AT&T is fully committed to protecting our customers’ privacy and would not provide customer information to any government agency except as specifically authorized under the law.

Why don’t they just say, “Yes, we worked with the government and spied on you and there is nothing you can do about it.” The fact that the U.S. Department of Justice has told AT&T that they cannot confirm nor deny it speaks volumes. Obviously if AT&T wasn’t involved, the government wouldn’t tell AT&T what they can or cannot say.

Source: http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=22372

Earth and ISS: Seen From Space Shuttle Endeavour

Published on August 22, 2007 in Science, Technology, Space and Pictures. 0 Comments

NASA Logo Check out this breathtaking photo taken from Space Shuttle Endeavour of the Earth and the International Space Station.

I can’t even imagine the feeling of being in space and being able to see these types of images first hand. As beautiful as all these pictures are, actually seeing it live with your own two eyes must be such an overwhelming and rewarding experience that nothing else could ever even come close to measuring up to it.

S118-E-09467 (19 Aug. 2007) — Backdropped by Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space, the International Space Station appears to be very small as it moves away from Space Shuttle Endeavour. Earlier the STS-118 and Expedition 15 crews concluded nearly nine days of cooperative work onboard the shuttle and station. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 6:56 a.m. (CDT) on Aug. 19, 2007. The lower portion of Italy is visible at left.

If you’d like to see the original picture (I resized this some to fit in the viewer my blog uses), you can get it here.

Richard Dawkins: Halibut Evolution

Published on August 22, 2007 in Evolution, History and Videos. 7 Comments

Richard Dawkins I came across this video not to long ago. It’s pretty short but it gives you a little science lesson on the evolution of the Halibut (or the Flatfish). Interesting stuff.

Taken from the Wikipedia article on the Halibut

When the Halibut is born the eyes are on both sides of its head so it has to swim like a salmon. After about 6 months one eye will migrate to the other side of its head, making it look more like the flounder . This happens at the same time that the stationary eyed side begins to develop a blackish-grey pigment while the other side remains white. This disguises a halibut from above (blending with the ocean floor) and from below (blending into the light from the sky).

Ron Paul - The War On Drugs

Published on August 21, 2007 in Ron Paul and Politics. 2 Comments

Ron Paul Recently when John McCain was asked about alcohol prohibition he said that there is no similarity between the “war” on drugs and alcohol prohibition (here is a link to his whole speech). While not mentioning marijuana, he did say that instead of going after the supply of cocaine and heroin, that we should go after the demand. Does that even make sense?

It’s time that we stop treating drugs as a criminal problem and start treating it like a medical problem (like we do with the drug called alcohol). You know what the biggest difference between the two is? During prohibition they actually amended the constitution, making it legal. Now they use the interstate commerce clause for almost everything.

To make matters even worse, Mitt Romney was quoted as saying that we need to “reinstitute a campaign as powerful as ‘Just Say No’ was.” McCain also said we needed another program like “Just Say No.” It’s clear that these two people have had their eyes and ears sealed since the Reagan’s started the “Just Say No” movement.

Dr. Paul was then asked if he thought that would be a good solution to the nation’s drug problem. “There’s a lot of abuse of drugs, a lot of illegal drugs are abused and a lot of prescription drugs are abused,” he said. “And I think doctors should say no in prescribing too much medication, and if somebody’s abusing drugs, or alcohol and cigarettes, they themselves should have a ‘Just Say No’ for their own personal life.”

Here is a video from that interview where Ron Paul is asked a few questions about the failing war on drugs.

For more on this interview, check out this link.

Vote for Ron Paul in 2008. Donate if you can, every small amount helps.

It isn’t about being a democrat or a republican, it’s about wanting to live in a country where the Constitution is upheld and followed, a country where the government stays out of our lives, and a country that will (hopefully) one day start setting an example for democracy and freedom.

Ronald Reagan on George W.

Published on August 20, 2007 in Humor and Politics. 4 Comments

UPDATE: This is fake. It has been confirmed that this passage cannot be found anywhere in his diaries. Since it fooled me, and thousands of other people, I’ll leave it up for a quick laugh. Below is the original post.

I thought this was a rather interesting “discovery” in Ronald Reagan’s diary.

This is a direct quote from the just published “The Reagan Diaries.” Not trying to promote Reagan in the slightest, but even he had some words about our current President. Reagan is responding to George Bush Sr.’s request to get his son (George W. Bush) a job.

The entry is dated May 17, 1986:

“A moment I’ve been dreading. George brought his ne’re-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I’ll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they’ll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work.”

As of 8/20/07, Bush only has 519 left in office (assuming he doesn’t get impeached). Like most American, I can’t wait to see him go.

Franklin Pierce and George W. Bush

Published on August 18, 2007 in Facts, History, Humor and Politics. 3 Comments

Franklin Pierce Let me start off by saying that I know I’m not going to win any awards blogging about how bad of a President George W. Bush is. Instead, I thought it would be fun to point out a funny coincidence.

I want to introduce this question, “Is our 43rd President totally at fault for his actions or is in genetic?”

Here, let me explain.

Continue reading ‘Franklin Pierce and George W. Bush’

Save Money Eating Out

Published on August 17, 2007 in Deals and Links. 1 Comment

Food Here is just a quick tip for those who like to eat out or order-in a lot.

If you go to http://www.restaurant.com/ and simply type in your zip code, you will be shown a variety of gift cards on sale for restaurants around your area. Commonly, you can find a $10 gift card for $5, or a $25 gift card for $10. You simply buy it online, print it out and use it. Watch out for some of the restrictions though on the gift cards. Some only let you use it on certain days, or they have a minimum amount allowed to be spent, and sometimes they even include the time. But overall, you are still coming out on top.

Check out http://www.dealmein.net for updated coupon codes (and as well as tons of deals from all other sites, probably one of my favorite deal sites). You can usually save a lot more on what you’re already saving.

As of 8/17/07: If you checkout, use the coupon code “LESSON” and you will get 50% off your order. If you plan on buying in the future, simple search Google for “restaurant.com coupon codes” to get an up-to-date code or again, check http://www.dealmein.net.

Online Documentaries

Published on August 14, 2007 in History, Facts, TV, Links, Videos and Politics. 3 Comments

Learning Brain With a little over a month left before all my shows finally come back, I’ve been occupying my time by watching online documentaries. These are mostly commercial free versions of documentaries shown on the various channels which broadcast this type of content.