Ok, I admit it, I'm a tartan geek. It all started when I designed the uniforms for the pipers (yes, I mean bagpipes) in my high school band (at right). Or maybe even a little before that; tartans go with heraldry and I was a heraldry geek first. Ok, so here's what I'm so excited about: the Scout Association in Britain has an ONLINE TARTAN GENERATOR! This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen! All sorts of folks are selling software online to do what the Scouts are providing for free! (Not to mention that their Web site makes the BSA Web site look soooo lame!). I'm certainly the only person I know who would get so excited by a tartan generator but I told you already, I'm a tartan geek.

The Business Register has published a new article of mine, “On broadband Internet? Protect your PC!”

If you are a small business owner, a telecommuter, or just someone who uses your PC at home to do work now and then, you probably do it on some form of broadband Internet access, such as DSL or a cable modem.
Whether you are aware of it or not, your broadband-connected PC is the target of constant attacks of all kinds. If you have not taken the proper steps to protect your system, you probably will find that it will eventually become sluggish & non-responsive, and in worst-case scenarios your data and passwords could be stolen or your PC could crash catastrophically.
There are quite a range of things that should be done to protect your Windows PC, but four are critical. These critical tasks include updating your operating system constantly; using an Internet firewall; ensuring you have up-to-date antivirus protection; and blocking and eliminating spyware. Read On... (Ooops, they took it down: try here)

This is a very cool image from NASA. It is obviously manipulated as it shows a cloud-free image of Earth all at night, but it's really compelling. It is very interesting to see where the lights are and where they are not. I knew that Java would have that many but I'll bet most people wouldn't. But then again, most people don't even know where Java is (do you?).

On this site, Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing, D. Goodman (whoever he is) comments on the really, truly awful names a lot of prople are giving their kids these days. He's got a style much like my brother-in-law Uncle Fuzzy, who just did a great portrait of my daughter.
[Via Netsurfer Digest]

Well, I have had a [very] minor reputation as a defender of PC Magazine columnist John Dvorak, the IT industry's resident curmudgeon, so of course I have to mention the fact that John now has a Blog: Dvorak Uncensored, at http://www.dvorak.org/blog/. It strange and a bit disjointed, but it's definately Dvorak.

This weblog is designed to be a moderated open blog forum for interesting posts and observations by my readers. This is not the forum on which to publish comments about the current online column in PC Magazine. Please keep those posts on the PC Magazine forum where I get paid. This is for everything else including suggestions for future columns.

I know this one will be really ephemeral but it seems that a guy in England strapped a jet engine onto his mother-in-law's old wheelchair and now has a wheelchair that can reach speeds of 60mph. His mum-in-law does not drive it, however.
[Via SmartComputing.com]