We all know that Hollywood expects us movie watchers to suspend our disbelief for the duration of their movie, but sometimes they just take it too far and break one of the following real life facts and force us out of the movie world and back in to the real world so we can turn to the people next to us and say “That would never happen in real life.”

1. Hacking doesn’t occur in virtual cyber worlds.  It takes place on normal computers running software that looks like any other program you run.  In fact some hacking takes place in text only environments (gasp)!
2. The hot girl never goes after the ugly guy at the end of the day based only on his heart of gold.  In the real world the ugly guy would count his blessings if he left with a handshake or a head nod.
3. You can’t pickup a guitar and play it like Eddie Van Halen in only a few weeks/months.  Regardless of how many hours you practice per day, 2 weeks is not enough time for you to perfectly play the solo to Eruption at your school dance.
4. Prom parties never involve everyone getting naked….yeah, I’m disappointed too.
5. There is only 1 school dance they people actually go to, The Prom.  All others are attended only by the geeks, nerds, dorks, and the faculty.  So if you attend thinking you’re going to get lucky, you’re out of luck…unless you do get lucky, in which case the statutory rape charges may result in a new Latin teacher next 9 weeks.
6. Cops don’t care that much.  Real cops aren’t going to risk their life to save the son of a corporate CEO’s cousin’s friend.  They have more important things to worry about, like using a taser on college kids and killing 90 year women who don’t open their front doors when told to at 3am.
7. Kids are dumb.  They don’t know how to hack PINs from ATMs.  They don’t know how to instantly use UNIX to lock out raptors.  They can’t look at crossword puzzles and instantly see a code.  They’re kids!  They eat mud, they hide under blankets for protection.
8. Not everyone is a genius.  I know that you can’t take an iPod and parts from a scanner and make a screen reader.  I know I can’t do it either.  In fact I know that there is only a handful of people who could do that.  In fact, there is only a handful of people who could even image that.  Building odd/miraculous devices from common items only pans out on Junkyard Wars, never in a hostage situation involving your wife and kids.
9. Bad guys train to shoot well.  The bad guys don’t train for months/years for something and skip over target practice.  There is a reason they always have guns, because they know how to use them, and use them well.
10. Not all religious people are Catholic.  There are a lot of religious people out there, I’m one of them.  Not all of them are Catholic; again, I’m one of them.  I’ve only been to a Catholic church once, and I didn’t even see any secret passages hidden behind the crucifix.  Although to be honest I didn’t look that hard.

Blogged with Flock

I’m addicted to trying out web browsers. I love finding them and giving them a week to convince me to keep them on my computer. Some pass and enjoy long shelf lives (Opera, Firefox, Camino) and some fail and are deleted almost as fast as it took to download them.

Because I work on the web and web browsers are so important to me, I feel that it will be fruitful to post my findings from using the various browsers. I’ll post what I like, what I can tolerate, and what is a deal breaker from permanent residence on my hard drive.

My first test subject is Flock. It claims to be The Social Web Browser, but I’ll see if it is a Useful Web Browser.

Blogged with Flock

My baby has a heartbeat! I heard it with my own two ears from a hand held device from 1970. I mean really, do we not have newer technology to hear baby heartbeats? But that’s beside the point.

My baby’s heart beats!

I’ve now joined the masses and watched the first season of Lost. It turns out that some of my original ideas were incorrect.

I originally thought they were on Jurassic Park. It turns out they are not. So…where are they? I dunno. And I’m not any closer to knowing that than I was when I thought they were on Jurassic Park. I suppose the only answer to this is that they are on an island.

I also learned that the man Jake kept seeing was not the owner, it was his father. Why Jake saw him I don’t know. Why the brother saw his sister die, only to find he alive I don’t know. Why Locke saw his mother on the island pointing to the plane crash I don’t know. This seems to be the one constant regarding Lost. Not only are the characters lost on an island, but I’m lost watching it. The show presents answers to questions I don’t know to ask. It shows relationships that I don’t understand. And it explains situations that I don’t comprehend. But it seems that the foundation of questions will slowly be addressed as the show continues.

Now, bring on season 2 cause I’m addicted!

I’ve read before about secret menu items and never thought much about them. I’ve always thought they were nothing more than combinations of preexisting items that common people didn’t think to mix. But today I realized I know a secret menu item. I even know the secret handshake to order it!

What is the wonderful item of hidden desire? The Cuban Publix sub!

Granted it use to be on the menu 6 years ago, but if you wink twice, turn around counter clockwise six times, and ask someone nicely you’ll get it. And I must say, it is hands down the best sub they make! If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

How about y’all? Do you know of any secret menu items that are a must have?

Okay, I admit it. I’m a bad person. I’m a disgrace to Americans everywhere. I’ve never seen an episode of Lost.

It’s not that I avoided the show, it’s just that other stuff got in the way. Sometimes I was at church and missed it. Sometimes I was out with friends and missed it. Sometimes I didn’t even realize it was on and missed it. Either way, for four seasons I’ve seen nothing and know only that people are on an island.

This week I borrowed the season 1 DVDs from a friend and thus far have watched the first four episodes from Disc 1. Here are my thoughts.

They are lampooned on Jurassic Park
It appears that the survivors of the crash have landed on a park filled with dinosaurs.

The owner of the island wears a suit and can hide well
It seems the owner of this island wears a pin stripe suit and is well versed at not only hiding, but hiding quickly. Perhaps he’s a ninja or some sort?

Every airplane has passengers in every stereotypical clique.
It never fails to surprise me that all classes, races, and cliques are represented on shows like this. Why is there always a white guy who acts like a leader, a white guy with a chip on his shoulder, and a hot white chick who does nothing? Are their airline rules on this?

Airline: I’m sorry everyone, but this flight has been canceled. We didn’t meet our hot, spoiled, white chick quota for the flight for just in case we crash one can survive and be eye candy.

Something weird is happening.
The old lady who the doctor said he would watch over said that her husband survived and he thinks they are dead. Her entire speech made no sense what so ever, so I suppose later on it will become relevant.

Overall I’m enjoying the show. It’s different enough to not be a copy of Castaway, and it’s weird enough for me to like it. Are any of y’all Lost fans?

Some dude named Chris Pirillo assembled a list of the Top 100 Mac Apps. Some I agree with, some I don’t, and some I think aren’t worth the time it takes to download.

What’s sad is the lack of some essentials. Getting no love are: MacTheRipper, XChat Aqua, Gumby, Transmit, and Delicious Library.

phpbb has become the standard goto forum solution for people looking for free forum software. It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s quick. And now it’s getting an upgrade. With RC7 phpbb is moving closer and closer to a 3.0 final release, and there are going to be a lot of 2.0 forum administrators looking and evaluating the software for possible use on their forums. I’m sure questions such as: Is the upgrade worth it, Will I lose all the posts currently on the forum, and What can I expect; will be asked.

I manage a small phpbb forum and after waiting for a while finally decided to install the latest RC release. At that point I had no idea what to expect, but hoped 3.0 would smooth out some of the rough areas of 2.0 and tighten everything up. The biggest thing I was hoping for was simplified template system, and a cleaned up admin control panel.

Once I had it installed and logged in the for the first time I was blown away! It’s finally everything I’ve wanted phpbb to be. Everything is in logical places now. Behind the scenes style and page structure are separated. There are features that once required heavy mods that are now working out of the box. It’s perfect, and it’s not even a final release yet!

Is the upgrade worth it? Absolutely! There no no possible way you won’t like phpbb3…..unless you are a vBulletin user.