This Engineer's RSS Feed

Anyone got a triple-A battery?

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 20:23:27 GMT

The AAA battery in my headphones died, and I found myself in need. Not a AAA battery to be found, but there seemed to be a surplus of 9-volt batteries, so here’s what I did.

More on Reducing Spam

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 15:39:30 GMT

I recently posted some ideas about Reducing Spam. Since then, the gears kept turning and I’ve gotten some more ideas on how make this defensive system a little more proactive, and eventually start to slow down the spam networks. As I mentioned in my last article, the spammers are using distributed networks of computers to send the spam, so it will take distributed networks of mail servers to overcome the onslaught.

Reducing spam

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:32:47 GMT

I had a thought today about reducing spam in my inbox, since the current mechanism of scoring seems to be falling short lately. The most effective blocking measure I’ve seen is to add the IP addresses of servers sending the spam to a black hole list, but with spam bot nets running rampant, the list of IPs is growing faster than they can be detected. What can we do to speed up detection?

5430 Aid Station

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:47:34 GMT

I volunteered at an aid station for a 13+ mile run in the 5430 triathlon, today. It was my first time. What an interesting experience. I’ll probably do it again. Some of the runners could be a bit grumpy, but most of them really appreciated the refreshments. Handing out gatorade is sticky business, but these insane people who choose to run need all the help and encouragement they could get.

Virtual Villagers

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 13:20:02 GMT

This is my new addiction. Virtual Villagers is a video game where you control the paths of a group of villagers. Through proper planning, your village will thrive. The game continues the simulation when you are not playing, so you can play in short 10-15 minute bursts between chores.

Added projects

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 20:24:56 GMT

I’ve moved my official Project pages over to my new site.

Splittable Hitachi not so Splittable

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 14:21:10 GMT

A couple of years ago, we bought this nice Hitachi projection TV, and had it delivered into our basement. The thing weighs about 280 lbs., but has a nice feature of the top being able to detach from the bottom. The top weighs 99 lbs.

Added Mac Links

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 22:07:47 GMT

I’ve added a list of useful Mac Links.

New Site

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 21:26:22 GMT

I’ve launched my new personal web site built on top of Radiant CMS. This will, hopefully, allow me to focus more on content and less on writing HTML.