File Recovery: How to Recover Deleted Files with Free Software

File Recovery: How to Recover Deleted Files with Free Software

Since I do some data recovery on the side, this was a pretty-good run-down of the free stuff out there that you can use to recover data. Some day, I'll write a longer post about data recovery methods, but for now this will suffice.

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Obama + Hillary == No Vote; McCain + Romney == No Vote

Like many of the Nation's "younger" voters, I find Obama's views on the economy and foreign policy quite appealing... if he weren't pro-abortion, I'd vote for him without hesitation. This presidential election has the potential to build a dynasty out of whoever is elected -- this president will probably get to appoint a chief justice, and will get to appoint new Federal Reserve officers... these are not trivial events. Moreover, we are at a dangerous time in our nation's history: the dollar is declining, oil is skyrocketing, we've done nothing about our dependence on foreign oil, China and India are rising in the East, Europe's influence on the world is ebbing severely (because they have not sufficiently reproduced) and the problems facing the world-over are broader than ever before. How our next president handles this tumultuous politiscape is going to shape -- good or bad -- our future for generations to come.

That said, could I vote for Obama? I don't know. Could I vote for McCain? I don't know. I think a lot of my decisions depend on who either of them select as a running mate. The next couple of weeks will be interesting, because I expect to see both candidates announce their running mate and that will solidify who I'll vote for, regardless of what else transpires on the campaign trail.

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Minnesota Catholic Home Education Conference

Last weekend, Amanda and I attended the Minnesota Catholic Home Education Conference. Amanda had attended last year, but this was my first year. Generally, I found the conference useful. One thing, in particular, that struck me was the absolutely overwhelming volume of curriculum available! Its truly staggering. We'll be homeschooling our kids for the third year starting this Fall; our oldest will be in second grade, with our only other "school-age" child being in first grade.

Homeschooling has been an interesting experience for "us". Certainly by "us" I mean mostly my wife, who is primary care-giver, educator, nurse, and friend to all of our children, however as the kids get older I am trying to get somewhat involved. Its not easy, especially since I have no patience on a good day. :-\

If you're thinking about homeschooling, and live in the upper-plains, consider attending the conference next year.

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Hillary

On my way home from work tonight I passed Hillary's motorcade. In a rash of impulsiveness, I gave them "the bird", the whole time I could see them. At first I hoped she had seen me. Then it occurred to me that with her four troopers, many Secret Service agents, and over-head F-16's, that that probably wasn't the best move.

After my initial freak-out, I decided I'd do it again if I had the opportunity. Besides, how many people can say -- honestly -- that they've flipped off a presidential candidate and/or former first-lady of the United States? Probably more than you'd think (given its Hillary), but I take some small satisfaction in being one of the very small percentage of humanity that Did The Right Thing.

Hillary == The Whore of Babylon (Revelation 17:4-18) And if you're not into eschatology, I think that label still applies. I know a lot of people -- in all seriousness -- that would build a bunker and prepare for The End if ever she were elected.

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iwl3945 performance is hideous

After upgrading to Ubuntu 8.04LTS, I noticed a DRAMATIC difference in the performance of the wireless on my HP nx9420... by "dramatic" I mean the difference of being able to download at between 4 and 8MB to downloading at never greater than 512K. That's pretty extreme. That said, I have previously noted that the iwl3945 drivers that shipped with 8.04 were broken and that I had to use the Linux Wireless Project's compatibility drivers. I suspect this is the root of my problems.

I've found a bug that indicates that the iwl3945 problems are not unique to me or my nx9420, and though most people have been able to remedy the problem simply by installing the LWP's compat drivers, I do not think this is a very solid solution on account of the fact that it leaves you with a functional yet extremely crippled wireless rig.

I'll continue working on this, but if anyone else has experienced this problem and has something they'd like to share as far as solutions are concerned, I'd LOVE to hear from you.

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NetworkManager: busted old crap; WICD: hot freshness

I suspect that anyone who uses GNOME's NetworkManager application and tray applet to manage multiple network connections shares my frustration. I did some hunting after I wasted gobs of time yesterday fighting with NetworkManager... I found WICD. WICD is a sweet little suite of python scripts that can manage wireless and wired network interfaces, and so far it hasn't been the epic pain in the ass that NetworkManager has consistently been. w00t!!! I'm running it in XFCE on my EEE in addition to GNOME on my work laptop.

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Return of an old domain

A long time ago (like the late 1990's) I had registered the domain, "sodaphish.com". This was a vanity domain I had registered to host my computer security-related site back in the day... when I gave up the Black Arts, I abandoned the SodaPhish moniker and with it the domain. A couple of years later, I re-registered the domain, for nostalgic purposes, and had been running a site there for several years until 2007. In 2007, I forgot to renew the domain and someone registered it out from under me. I was pretty livid at first, but had since gotten over it. Really.

Back in February, the domain was up for renewal. I contacted the registered owner and offered them $150USD -- a very generous offer, in my mind. They declined. I explained to them, in simple, clear terms, that the audience for people looking to buy this domain was VERY small -- me. They never replied. Yesterday, the domain was released by the Registrar of the pirate that pilferred it from me, and I snatched it up via GoDaddy's Backorder process. Hooray!!!

And thus, an old domain returns... SodaPhish.COM

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