A remote-control model airplane crossed the Atlantic Ocean yesterday in a record-breaking flight. It was the first time a true model airplane, defined as 11 pounds or less with 10cc or less of engine, had ever made the flight. It wasn’t always smooth sailing, as controllers lost contact with it in places. But somehow it got there.

I see it as a fantastic geek hacking effort, myself. In fact, I’d love to see the electronics they packed into this little plane.

Read more about the “Spirit of Butts Farm” at the official homepage, and at National Geographic.

The Triangle Wireless Users Group meets tonight for the first time. It’s a user’s group dedicated to ….uh, being wireless. I think. Actually, I’m not sure what the group is supposed to be doing. Obstensibly we should be setting up wireless networks in the area, much like Carrboro’s one, but no actual progress towards that goal has been made.
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I’ve shifted DNS servers for my main sites. You shouldn’t notice any changes, but if you do for some reason, check back in a day or two and things should be settled down.

Thanks to my man Wade for his assistance on this.

I offhandedly remarked to my wife tonight, for no particular reason, that I’m feeling pretty happy now. Thinking about it later, I can’t remember a time in my life when I was ever feeling any better. For the past few days, I’ve felt that I am on top of the world. And I’m finding I LIKE it!

I don’t know to what I owe this feeling. It must be a combination of things. My daughter Hallie adores me and she’s about as adorable as they come. My wife is happy. I’m exercising on a regular basis. I have a kick-ass new job where I’m finally playing the role I was meant to play. Things are just going my way.

I guess what cemented it for me was my recent business trip to Birmingham, right after I blew everyone away with my on-site demo. Man, that did wonders for my confidence! On the trip back home, I was going out of my way to make everyone around me feel better. If there was a little old lady who needed help crossing the street, I was there! I laughed the whole plane trip back and the smile hasn’t left my face since.

Contrast it to six months ago when I was slaving away at $FORMER_EMPLOYER, receiving more money but jack-shit for recognition. I was not happy at all there, and looking back I wonder how I didn’t see that all along. I suppose it was something I had to do to keep a paycheck coming in at a crucial time. For that alone, I am grateful for having that job.

From my position today, though, I can say that getting “let go” from $FORMER_EMPLOYER was one of the best things that could’ve happened. Maybe you never realize just how happy you can be until you’ve been unhappy. I hope I never lose my appreciation for the great things I have in life.

I saw on the Triangle Internetworkers list today that the Town Of Carrboro is setting up a public wireless network. This is just too cool! As Andy Vogel, the town techie in charge says, this can really encourage techie people to move there. I want to move there already!

Props to Carrboro for leading the charge on wireless access in the Triangle! If you’re interested in helping out, you can sign up at their listserv here.

Also, check out the Triangle Wireless User Group while you’re at it.

I see that yet another Microsoft worm is making its way around the Internet today. Why does it seem like we’ve heard this before? While the news that Windows is a h4Qu0r5 paradise is not news, their response is. Microsoft, in its own tech document, says that there is no cure for NT 4.0. Great. There are quite a few companies that still rely on NT 4.0, and they are effectively screwed. If Microsoft can’t fix this particular problem in NT 4.0, they should at least instruct customers to disable the offending service. I’m not seeing where they do that.

Because I have to run product demos on my laptop from time to time, I bit the bullet and put Windows XP (home) on it (along with the existing Red Hat 9, mind you. I’m not stupid or anything!). XP was touted as being Microsoft’s answer to software viruses and worms. Indeed, it is more secure than previous OS’s, only it seems to be better at securing Bill Gates’s fortune than anything else. I got annoyed at the hoops I had to jump through to register the OS that I bought and paid for and came supposedly preinstalled on my laptop.

It’s petty and a dumb way to do business. And yet, I look over the security vulnerabilities and see a whole slew of XP-related exploits. Where is this vaunted security?

The more people see the gaping security holes in Microsoft products, the more they consider using open-source alternatives. Consequently, the more they want security products like the kind my company makes. The moral to this story is that with closed-source software like Microsoft’s, you have to trust that they know what they’re doing. Once again, Microsoft has proven that they can’t be trusted.

In a few more weeks, Mars will be closer to Earth than any time in the past 50,000 years. I hope to find a suitable group to go view it with, like perhaps the astronomers at Morehead Planetarium at UNC, who always have viewing events whenever something cosmic is going on. Or maybe I’ll hang out with the Raleigh Astronomy Club as they crank their observatory towards the Red Planet.

At any rate, this is best view of Earth’s planetary neighbor that’s been available for a long time. I hope to make the most of it.

Oftentimes when I’m looking for a card for someone’s birthday or some other special occasion, I just wind up picking a card that “sucks less.” Such is the sorry state of greeting cards. Way too often, it becomes a contest of finding one passable card in a sea of mediocrity.

Cards aren’t edgy anymore. They don’t have any real humor, or the humor they show is cliched beyond belief. I think I can honestly say I enjoy visiting the dentist more than I enjoy picking out greeting cards. At least at the dentist’s, the nitrous oxide is guaranteed to get a laugh.

A place with somewhat-funny cards is a special find, so when I find one that has decent cards, I tend to mine it to the point where I become paranoid I’m gonna send the same card to the same person twice. As the stock doesn’t change much, it is a real danger. All cards begin to look the same to my glazed and jaded eyes.

How did cards get so bad? Is it that the writers are fresh out of ideas? I mean, they’ve only tried to say “I love you” 58 billion times now. Surely there are a few more ways they haven’t tried yet.

And why do these sucky cards cost more than magazines? It’s a crummy piece of paper with some not-so-witty saying on it, and for this I pay five dollars? Get real!

In frustration with the dull store-bought cards, I’ve taken to making my own cards. They’re much more personal and can sometimes actually be funny. Those are qualities you can’t find anymore in store-bought cards.

On Friday, I was under the mistaken impression that Neil Young was the man. I don’t know how that could have happened. What I really *meant* was that Johnny Cash is the man.

Sorry for any confusion. Now back to your regularly-scheduled blog.