Dakota Today

**SDPB puts together good info on TV reception....but.....

If you are still curious about the changes involved in going from analog to digital TV and the effects those changes had on channel frequencies, signal strength, antenna information, splitter information, digital to analog, etc. etc.  Check the link below:

SDPublic Broadcasting on Antennas, etc.

I don't think you will find any better information on antennas, cabling, splitters, amplifiers, etc. (especially for South Dakota) than above. It appears to have some information that has been put together with a little more experience answering real questions than initially was put out in glossy "Easy to Do" brochures, ads, websites, etc.

Now, the "but". SDPB-TV has recently been promoting the "sparkling" new website you saw if you looked at the link above. Your perspective may not be a bit like mine however. It does appear improved from the old tangled mess of a site, but it now looks a bit like a site for a mortuary that hides links behind barely readable icons of limp light blue on stale barely darker blue. At least for my old eyes, some more contrasty larger type on icons would be an improvement.

I have this prejudice against web designers, phone designers, radio designers, TV remote designers, cellphone designers etc that dislikes and fails to understand their tendency to use some color like light gray on drab gray with very small type or incomprehensible, ambiguous icons. There are some of us old geezers interested in technology and the internet who don't have perfect vision and 36-inch diagonal digital monitors situated in perfect non-glare lighting and in front of a $2000 special chair.  And, now and then cellphones are needed in dimly lit or dark areas.  Radios and TV controllers that require a flashlight to be seen and which place often used and dangerous to use keys next to each other.  Enough already....  Well maybe not.  Stuff so damn tiny that it can only be used by women or small girls with tiny fingers is also aggravating to those of use with a few stiff fingers that only fit the larger glove sizes.

** Stay tuned... and stay tuned to public TV and radio too...even if now and then aggravating, there is nothing better on commercial TV or radio--- Doug Wiken

**Some links for Software mentioned by CPU magazine

The CPU magazine by Sandhills Press for October 2009 has a number of programs mentioned as worth downloading.  I thought the following might be useful.  I have not tried any of them yet, so as they say, "Your mileage may vary". Plain text links for information on what is in the hot links. TypePad is not making better formatting than this easy tonight. [[ EDIT of August 19, 2009: A link to the "Appapalooza" story at CPU magazine:  CPU Magazine "Appapalooza"

The CPU site is better organized and more complete than my post below -- Doug Wiken ]]]

System Information for Windows by GTopala

GTopola's SIW (Systems Information for Windows)

http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html

Executor multi-purpose launcher and "Run" replacer

Executor Launcher "Run" Replacer

http://executor.dk/ Virtual Dub provides basic editing for video files

Virtual Dub for basic Video File editing, etc.

http://www.virtualdub.org/

Peazip compresses and extracts from zip, rar, etc. Maybe similar or better than Winzip, 7-Zip, etc

PeaZip compresser, extractor

http://peazip.sourceforge.net/

Media Monkey

Media Monkey alternative to ITunes

http://www.mediamonkey.com/download/

DVD Flick is DVD Authoring Tool

DVD FLICK HOME, INFO

http://www.dvdflick.net/

Download DVDFlick for converting Videos to TV viewable DVD

http://www.dvdflick.net/download.php

TeraCopy (copy lots of files fast) and MemoClip (multiple clipboard texts)

Code Sector has Terracopy and MemoClip

http://www.codesector.com/download.php

IMGBURN Lightning UK (note NOT imageburn.com)

Lightning ImgBurn Info on creating Audio video CDS, DVDS

http://www.imgburn.com/

Download Imgburn, and others

http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

PStart by Pegtop creates menu for executables on flash drives can also be used on hard drive as tray tool menu builder

PegTop info on Menu builder

http://www.pegtop.net/

Download PegTop PStart

http://www.pegtop.net/download.php?file=start

BatchRun by Outer Technologies. Wizards to create scripts to run executables and do other tasks ala old batch files.

OuterTech Home Index

http://www.outertech.com/index.php?_charisma_page=index

Batchrun Info

http://batchrun.outertech.com/index.php?_charisma_page=product&id=1

Batch Run Download (requires selecting options)

http://batchrun.outertech.com/index.php?_charisma_page=downloads

CloneZilla works like Norton Ghost, etc. "bare metal backup and recovery", Cloning Clonezilla is a partition or disk clone tool similar to Norton Ghost Does not appear to be a program for the timid or those refusing to read doc files

Clonezilla Org for disk partioning and cloning

http://clonezilla.org/

**Stay tuned even if you could care less about free software-- Doug Wiken

**Saving the past kills the present.. well sort of

Dakota Today has been short of posts in the last week or so.  I have been occupied learning to use a newer version of a program TomeRaider which I found years ago when I thought that would be a good name for something and found out somebody else thought that ...a couple years earlier.

Anyway, TomeRaider makes it relatively easy to make e-books that are well indexed and with a search engine that is fast.  The main problem with it is that readers of any book you or I make also has to have the program to read the e-book.  The good part however is that the current version is only around $20 US for the PC version.  There is cross-compatibility with a bunch of portable e-book devices however...but probably not a Kindle or Kindle DX.

To finally get to something of a point, I used TypePad's export option and have that text file in first stages of working in TomeRaider.  I have not gotten all the blank lines out of the 1700 posts made in about 5 years nor have I gotten the photos inserted yet and I have a couple of other problems that aren't that serious.  That means I haven't been posting a lot here which is kind of the irony indicated in the title.  The exported file of Dakota Today for five years had about 800,000 "words" in it, but many are not actual text I wrote...lot of "stuff" anyway.

If you can export your blog, and can use a text processor to insert a " <new> " at the beginning of every title of a post, you can then compile, and compress the file and have an e-book with a fast table of contents and and also a fast search possiblity...which can be even faster and more versatile if I can figure out a bit more of the category definition system.  The progam works, but the documentation really, really sucks.

Well, that may be more than you wanted to know, but if this interests you, let me know.

***Stay tuned for something about something...maybe photos of new kittens...ah, isn't that just so sweet..and Happy Mothers Day to all you mothers out there--- Doug Wiken

**Swallows have returned to pester cats and eat bugs

The barn swallows that make our porch a mess have returned.  I think they got here yesterday or day before, but today was first chance I had to photograph one of them.
They fly gracefully and fast catching mosquitoes ...I hope. 

They also drive the porch cats about have nuts and have a rather irritating squawk for a bird "song".  Nothing at all like the Prairie Meadowlarks which got here some time ago just in time for one of out snow storms.

I usually write down on a calendar when these birds get here, but right now can't remember if I did it last year or not.  Anyway, that is the excitement for the day....besides getting our dishwasher running again with the help of a $46 solenoid fill valve.  I suspect the time spent will make my wife much happier since her slacker husband isn't real great about washing dishes otherwise.

I ordered some e-book creating software after finally getting the order system to work.  I will try to get Dakota Today past posts into an e-book form.  That may take a while however...even if the software works as I expect.

***Stay tuned even if birds can fly and pigs still can't..even if "swine flu" can sure get around--- Doug Wiken

**Forget something? Maybe you need a free PIM

My wife subscribed to a magazine she really liked for a few months until it died and her subscription was converted to another. Today an issue arrived. One article was related to computers and software for female geeks. The rest of it appeared to be new ways to twist ribbons or whatever and a whole lot of ads for drugs with dreadful side effects. Anyway, most of the software was stuff I was already familiar with, but one at least seemed new to me. It is called Essential PIM.

 I downloaded the free version. Looks like it might be useful for reminders, etc. You may prefer the pro but not free version. As usual, with software, YMMV. Check it anyway. Essential PIM info, download

Recently, I had been looking at a number of other programs in the nature of PIMs, personal databases, etc. I found a few of them including azzcardfile and wikipad, and easynoterlite. BUT, it still appears to me that the best way to keep track of stuff is with THE JOURNAL by DavidRM Software. It is not free, but there is a 45-day free trial and it can be purchased for use on two computers for $39.95 and somewhat less by students who might use it for digital class notes, etc. I used the program several years ago, and have an older purchased version on another computer. Recently I tried the program again and it has more features, etc. I put together templates for an appointment system for professionals such as doctors, lawyers, etc. I suspect there are very special programs that might do the same or even EXCEL or ACCESS could serve, but also at a likely higher price and for some professional software a very much higher price. The Journal is a really a very easy to use personal database or diary or bookwriting system, etc. etc.

 Anyway, enough of that. If you wish to purchase or try it for 45 days, check out the site below. I should be getting commissions for pushing this software, but am not sure that I have yet persuaded anybody that it was worth buying despite my good impression of the software.
 THE JOURNAL..David RM Software ..purchase, test, download

** Stay tuned even if you have your computer already loaded with too much software-- Doug Wiken

**Prairiebizmag discusses electronic medical records

Prairie Business Magazine covers North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota business and innovation. It is available free and is almost always interesting with a few stories you are unlikely to find elsewhere. The recent April 2009 issue page 32 has an article written by Loretta Sorensen of Yankton, SD. It is available unline at
 Prairie Business Magazine "Medical records go electronic"
It discusses Avera and Sanford's work toward electronic medical records (EMR) or Personal health record (PHR). What it does not discuss is the Veteran's Administration VISTA records system and the MUMPS programming language associated with it.

I don't know enough about these systems to me more than puzzled about why AVERA and SANFORD appear to be re-inventing the wheel at great expense when the VA system has been working for years and is available free and is continuously being improved. I first read about it a year or two ago in one of the Linux magazines.

 It will run on the free Linux operating systems. That may be why it is not being considered by South Dakota Health operations. Nobody is traveling the country with a briefcase and free lunch pushing a free medical records system that doesn't generate huge profits for some corporate entity that continues to generate huge profits with expensive maintenance contracts.
 More information on the VISTA and MUMPS can be found via Wikipedia. Wikipedia on Veterans Health Information Systems (many links to more info)

If you know more about the VA system and the AVERA and SANFORD systems, I would appreciate your comments and any other information you believe the taxpayers and patients paying medical bills in South Dakota should know. And, if you want a free subscription to PRAIRIE BUSINESS MAGAZINE, check their PrairieBizMag Homepage. Click on the "subscribe" option in small text at top of page. It is well worth the time it takes to get on their mailing list.

 

**Stay tuned and stay healthy--- Doug Wiken

*** PC Magazine mails out last print issue

Drat, I have been subscribing to PC MAGAZINE for 20 or more years. I think I was reading it before they had a chance to hype Microsoft and Windows.
 PC Magazine helped diminish itself by pretty much being a rah, rah machine for Microsoft Windows. That has been a mixed blessing for us and for the magazine apparently. The dominance of Windows has wiped out a lot of the other news in the PC computing world. No really new operating systems for sure even if the Linux magazines are still available.
 The last printed and mailed issue of PC MAGAZINE arrived here this morning. It has only about 98 pages, a mere shadow of many issues in the 1980s.  Appropriate I guess is that "Windows 7" is on the cover.  The post office info page indicated that something in the neighborhood of 700,000 copies of this issue were mailed.
There was an editorial column commenting on the end of the print edition and the onset of only the internet online version, but also a card inserted in the plastic mailing envelope with

"IMPORTANT NOTICE.. After the January 2009 issue, PC Magazine will discontinue its print edition. We are excited to announce that we will continue to publish PC Magazine digital edition. Your subscription will continue in digital format, we will use the e-mail address...etc info on subscription, address changes, deadlines, etc."
I guess I will have to get used to Online editions. I prefer the paper versions however. An issue of the Omaha World Herald a few weeks ago announced it was the last issue that would be delivered in Winner, SD. And that an online version was available. The pricing for the online version was two or three times more than I would pay for online anything however. I don't think print media understands the diminished value of their online versions. It certainly should cost them only a fraction of the cost of the paper version. But, guess I should not complain about that on a Blog with only an online version available.

 

**Stay tuned even if the new realities of media are depressing you too-- Doug Wiken

**Scramble those passwords or else

Lately, those of us with passwords not containing numbers and both upper and lower case text have been getting irritable e-mail and brochures from our ISP. They will apparently allow passwords as short as eight characters. Mine right now has about 15 characters which are not random, but also not obvious.

 My son did a little rough calculating on odds of breaking a password, and there is probably probably not much difference between an eight character password with both upper and lower case characters and also numbers and a twice as long password with only lowercase. But enough of that. I decided to make a grid of letters and also a set of letters with both upper and lower case and numbers on one inch square cardboard so they could be drawn randomly out of a dish. I suppose this could all be done easily with a spreadsheet or database program, but there is something to be said for plain old text that doesn't need to reside on a computer. One of the grids this approach produced is copied below. Click on image for a larger size that will print well on an 8 1/2 by 11 page. Black text is upper and lower case alphabet in order and beneath are paired random characters. Uppercase random characters are in red. Random numbers are in yellow, and lowercase characters are in green in the grid.

 The example provided shows what you can get from an easily remembered block of text by substituting the colored random text. If the above were used to send "secret" messages, it would not be useful after being published. But, if you use it to convert plain text into random text for passwords unknown to the the unscrupulous anyway, it may not make much difference. Play with it and see what gibberish can be generated from an easily remembered block of text kept with the scrambled grid for future use if the scrambled password is lost. Hope this bit of humbug might be useful if you are getting bugged to use new odd passwords.

 

**Stay tuned even if your password is "Everythingisbeautifulinitsownway"--- Doug Wiken

**So why are they actually changing the SD Vehicle Registration System?

The arguments I have read and heard from the State of South Dakota regarding the new vehicle license system don't seem to make much sense.  I suspect the present data base system could have been used if the state were not so reluctant to refund the unused part of vehicle license periods.

I know one shrewd junker car buyer around here who always considers the value of the existing license plate on a vehicle. A car with plates that expire closer to a year from now than to a week or two from now is worth more to him.

Unless we have personalized plates, I don't think many of us have preferences for the random numbers on plates that we end up with.  Some people with connections in the local treasurer's offices can get some relevant or easy to remember numbers.  My feeling is that if people want those, they should pay extra for them just as they would for personalized plates.  In any case, most of us would also remove the plates from vehicles we sell or trade if we knew we could get a few dollars for them when we turn them in.  Dealers need some temporary plates that fade to all black or all white in a week or so.

I suspect the actual drive for the new plate system is pushed by private companies selling the intersection and other camera and penalty systems.  They don't want a bunch of people getting their fine letters who sold the vehicle a month ago, etc.  I don't ever remember anybody saying, "Gee, I sure wish I could use these old plates on my new car."

And, based on comments from some local license buyers, the system isn't just fouled up in Minnehaha and Pennington County.  Pick the right time of day, and the process may take a lot of time even in the boondocks.

The part of the system that may in the future allow getting plate stickers via e-mail or internet browser might be useful in some situations, but snail mail and a telephone call might work just as well.

It now appears to me that a lot of taxpayers are wasting a lot of time standing in line and more than a few county treasurers are frustrated for perhaps less than good reasons.  I don't think the Great State of South Dakota is showing all the cards in the little vehicle license game they are playing.  If you have better ideas, comment.

**Stay tuned.  No licenses yet equired to read this blog--- Doug Wiken

**The poisoned DNS Well

Apparently a few weeks ago, almost all DNS servers were vulnerable to an attack which poisons the information our browsers use to convert a string of hard to remember numbers into something you can type easily and remember such as http://www.typepad.com  instead of a dozen or so nearly random looking numbers.  NPR discussed this today with the security expert that discovered the problem:

All Things Considered, July 26, 2008 · A few months ago, Internet security expert Dan Kaminsky discovered a major problem with the basic wiring of the Internet — one that could easily be exploited by hackers. It has to do with what's known as the domain name system, or DNS.

Kaminsky, who works for the Internet security company IO Active and is a consultant for Microsoft, tells NPR's Andrea Seabrook that he stumbled upon the flaw while tinkering with a way to make the Internet faster.

"You want to talk sinking feelings," he says. "This was a bug that was going to take months and month and months of work."

Essentially, the DNS contains a design flaw that could enable hackers to switch the Web site you're directed to when you type a URL into your Web browser. Without your knowledge, you could be transferred to a fake Web site that tries to steal your personal information.
NPR with more of DNS and Dan Kaminsky
http://snipurl.com/35m7b

At the NPR site are links to Kaminsky's blog and also to a site to test the DNS server you access sites with to determine if the vulnerability has been patched yet. Apparently 50% of the DNS servers have not yet been updated. If you find a problem, let your Internet Service Provider (ISP) now you have found a problem.

***Stay tuned, right now at least you are right here and not at a site in China or Singapore or Russia--- Doug Wiken