Archives

Thank You For Your Service

Nov11

Veteran’s Day Is Today

History of Veterans Day
From The Department Of Veterans Affairs

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…” Continue reading →

2012 NFL Picks – Week 4 Results

Oct2

Results For Spring & The Little Prince

It wasn’t a bad weekend after all. My skins won, my Titans won, the kids Eagles won and the cowboys lost in spectacular fashion and it doesn’t get much better than that. But it did! The regular/professional refs were back in full swing and man did it show. There were one or two ..um..interesting calls, but I think things generally worked out in the end. And they were certainly a whole lot better than the replacement refs.

I ended the weekend on a high note, picking both the Sunday and Monday night games correctly. The Prince and his method didn’t work so well for him. But he’s happy his Eagles won against the Giants.

Here are our results for week 4. Not bad…not bad at all (well for me anyway). Continue reading →

Exorcism Inc.

Jul17

ouijaEvery Monday night at 9:00 I like to listen to Aenigma Project (aenigmaproject.com) on Tenacity Radio (www.tenacityradio.com/listen). This is a show about paranormal topics. If you’ve never heard of it, go there next Monday, join the chat. It’s a lot of fun.

Tonight’s show was about the Zozo Phenomenon which, near as I can tell, is a way some guy thought of to get his Tribute to My Space web page to the top of the Google rankings. If you go there, put on #14 welding goggles first.

But I digress, since this post is all about me. Being a businessman, especially a failing businessman, everything looks like a business opportunity to me. And tonight was no difference. While we were discussing exorcisms it occurred to me that there might be a business here.

I’m not a big believer in the paranormal. Despite seeing a LOT of ghosts, I’m not sure I believe in them, and I don’t believe in demons and monsters or possessions. Maybe it happens, but my bet on that is it’s rare, like winning the lottery rare. If I hit the lottery tomorrow night, I’ll change my mind. Continue reading →

Another Design Guy Sighting

Jul17

Been a while since I posted any Design Guy sightings. This, if you don’t know, is the guy who made it so that when you set the temperature on your oven, you also have to press “Start”. Yes I’m talking about the Most Evilest Man in the World.

Lately the Queen’s laptop does something that can only be the work of the Design Guy. When she plugs in the power cord she gets a message that says, “Plugged in, not charging.” Think about that a minute and explain why that’s even an option? And it’s not a hardware problem, from the looks of things (with a little magic on her part), she can actually get it charging.

Every time someone does a little Voodoo Dance to get the computer to work, one of the Design Guy’s minions gets his horn. Then it stops charging again.

E.W.

This reminds me also of the message on the TV a while back, “You seem to be experiencing difficulty with your cable. If this persists, you should call your cable provider.”

© 2012 Evil Wordsmith. Evilwordsmith.com. All Rights Reserved.

Vicious Malware – DNSChanger

Jul7

Are You Affected?

DNSChanger is malicious software (“malware”) that modifies your PC’s connections to the internet. This malware modifies a computer’s Domain Name Service (DNS) settings and thereby directs the computers to receive potentially improper results from rogue DNS servers hosted by the hackers.

In other words, when you think you’re going to a secure website; you’re not. Which of course can compromise your logins, identity, financial accounts and more.

There are many sites that offer to help search your PC to see if you have been infected with this malware. If you’re like me, you should be suspicious of all these websites. How can you tell the good ones from a Hacker’s site trying to get information from your computer or infect a computer that hasn’t been infected.

Here’s a piece of advice for the PC novice. NEVER click on a link without looking at where it’s going to take you. Many scam sites and emails will attempt to show you the link, but the code behind the text is totally different. So it pays to look at where you’re really going. When you hover your mouse over a link, either in email or through a browser, you will be able to see where the link is going to go. In email, you’ll usually see some type of pop-up or line in your web browser you’ll usually see the link pop up at the bottom of the window.

The FBI has provided a PDF for information on how to determine your DNS settings, along with other technical details about DNSChanger here: FBI DNS-Changer-Malware. If you are infected, this page will also provide websites you can visit to correct the problem.

You can also go to the FBI’s website to check your computer and determine if it’s using the rogue DNS or not by going here: Rogue-DNS-Checker

The FBI Site will ask you for your IP Address. If you don’t know how to find your public IP; or if you’re using a wi-fi service (like Xfinity), you can ask Google to find your IP. Simply go to Google and type in: My IP Address. Google will show you the public IP you’re coming from.

© 2012 Evil Wordsmith. Evilwordsmith.com. All Rights Reserved.

Upgrading WordPress Is A Pain In The Butt!

Jul5

Upgrading to 3.4.1

Today I went to update the links or SirEvil’s blog here. Easy enough. When I login I see a message that WordPress needs to be upgraded. Ok, no problem. Pft…famous last words.

Explain to me why any software package upgrades and replaces the data it’s designed to display. Say what?! The posts aren’t changing, the meta data for the posts, such as the categories and tags weren’t changing. The links weren’t going away, and the images used on the site weren’t going to disappear. So explain to me why the hell any system software feels the need to remove the data as part of it’s upgrade!?

Thank the hosting gods at BlueHost who run weekly backups of the databases or we would have lost EVERY THING! But I got it upgraded, and we’re running a new theme. Which I had to recreate from scratch! How extraordinary annoying!

© 2012 Evil Wordsmith. Evilwordsmith.com. All Rights Reserved.

 

Mixology: Captn Jack White & Captn Jack Black

Apr11

Captain Morgan Spiced RumSpiced Rum Recipes

Last night we went to dinner at one of our favorite places. During dinner we began talking about Sir Evil’s brother and his favored drink. We asked the bartender if they had ever heard of such a drink and did it have a name? She hadn’t heard of it, but thought it was interesting and called a friend who teaches Mixology. Yes he had heard of the drink, but as far as he knew it didn’t have a name. We began thinking up names and we finally came up with one that we think is perfect for a ‘rum’ drink.

Here are two drink recipes for you. Compliments of Sir Evil’s brother. And inspired by Captn Jack Sparrow’s love of rum!

Captn Jack White:Captn Jack White & Black

  • 2 ozs spiced rum
  • 1 cup milk
  • Optional: 1/2 tsp vanilla

Captn Jack Black:

  • 2 ozs spiced rum
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 tbsp chocolate syrup
  • Optional: 1/2 tsp vanilla

© 2012 Evil Wordsmith. Evilwordsmith.com. All Rights Reserved.

Virginia Probing

Mar24

I swear I’m going to start another blog with that title. Anyway, I know how to make the idiotic Virginia probe law fair. It’s simple, require the father of the child get the same probe. It would work like this.

 

Doc Hudson: It’s your choice, son, eighteen years of child support or an hour with Bessie.

Father: Who’s Bessie?

Doc Hudson: [Goes to a curtain and opens it, revealing something that looks like a sterile chain saw.] This’eres Bessie, the finest anal probing machine ever built. Continue reading →

A Book About Us

Mar20

greg.jpg
I do engineering work, and as a result I know quite a few technicians and engineers like me. One thing we all have in common is that we often seem cold and detached. We are well suited to mining through and moving data because it’s built into our psyche. We are also poorly suited for the emotional world around us.

Unfortunately our wives don’t always get to see the other sides of us. Sometimes in our effort to do what we see as our duty we bury that other side so deep that I’m sure it seems like that other side has simply vanished, or worse, was never there in the first place.

One of those engineer friends of mine, Greg Riffe,  has written a book which gives a unique look beneath his surface. I’m not finished reading it yet, but it’s obvious to me that he is bravely speaking for the rest of us who share this detached persona.

He’s opened up that other side for everyone to see. If you’re one of the spouses wondering if the rest of him is still in there, then this is a book you should read. If you’re one of the analytical types who seem unfeeling and overly guarded, you should read this and remember that part of yourself hidden deep within.

A Look Behind My Eyes, by Greg Riffe

E.W.

By the way Greg has been a very bad influence in my life. Talked me into doing really dumb things like quitting a perfectly good job and becoming self employed. Pretty sure he’s owed some bad Karma for that, and barring that maybe a beer or two. His friendship is one I truly honor and respect.

© 2012 Evil Wordsmith. Evilwordsmith.com. All Rights Reserved.