In honor of SysAdmin Day (July 31st), we most proudly present ThinkGeek’s 2009 SysAdmin Pageant! Do you know a sysadmin King or Queen who saved the network from inevitable doom? How about the brilliant mail server admin who finally got those plighted African businessmen out of your inbox? Now you can finally say thanks in a way that he or she would actually appreciate: the title of SysKing or SysQueen, plus a $500 ThinkGeek gift certificate! And if your nominated sysadmin wins, you get a $250 ThinkGeek gift certificate, too. Hurry, our pageant ends July 24th - and we’ll announce the winner on Sysadmin Day - Friday, July 31st!

Nominate them now!

• dnsstuff.com
• iptools.com
• DNSCog.com
• ajaxdns.com
• DNS-OARC
• SamSpade
• kloth.net
• DomainTools
• who.is DNS tool
  

There were also suggestions for console tools or installable tools which you can read in the responses above. I was specifically looking for tools I could access via the web so I won’t go into those in this post. Thanks to all of the replies. I found some of my neglected favorites in there as well as some great new links to add to my tool box.

How people justify shopping Big Box

Big Box stores - almost everyone has shopped at one at some point in time. Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Toys ‘R’ Us, you just can’t beat them on their prices. They have so much purchasing power by buying their goods in freakishly huge quantities that they run smaller mom & pop shops right into the ground. The average business cannot even begin to compete with them in most aspects. I hear people say they want to support small business but can’t afford to. This annoys me on many levels because everyone can afford to support local business, they just chose not to & they make excuses to justify their choice. Let’s look at those justifications.

Big Box stores are cheaper.

Not more affordable. I could go into Wal-mart and buy a lamp for $25 or go into the locally run furniture store and buy one for $50 or more. Technically Wal-mart has a lower price but do they have a better product? Additionally, do I really need another lamp or am I just buying one because I can afford to if it is $25.

The terms cheap and affordable are related terms however, do not have the same meaning. If you use them in the correct way, you can start to change the way you think.

Cheap: Low and/or reduced in price; Of poor quality; Of little worth; unfairly powerful.

Affordable: that you have the financial means for.

Big Box stores are contributing to the economic failure of American families.

There it is, I said it. Consumers are nickel and diming their hard earned income away and not even noticing. I am a firm believer in just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. What is it that you want and what is it that you really truly need. American’s are really good at being wasteful like no where else in the world. We have convinced ourselves that the more stuff we have the more successful we are and Big Box stores have no problem telling us that is indeed fact. We need big houses to hold all of our stuff and we need big cars to transport all of our stuff. We spend most of our money credit card payments for this stuff and then buy houses we cannot afford and lease cars that will never be ours. We don’t actually own anything but we are in debt for it all.

We can never have enough, it’s a constant pursuit of material happiness that we think we will find in substandard products. Big Box stores are there to help us in our pursuit of happiness.

What kind of quality do you find in Big Box stores? Not high quality, that is for certain. Pressboard furniture (made of sawdust and glue), cheaply made clothes that fall apart at the seams after a wash or two, toys that don’t least more than a few months of playtime and somehow we decided that this was all acceptable. You get what you pay for and we seem to be ok with that. We repeat the mantra they don’t make things like they used to and head up to Target and buy another one. Here’s the thing, they DO make them like they used to they just don’t sell them where you shop. We are so stuck in the vicious cycle of more stuff we don’t take the time to reflect on it. We have so much stuff we don’t even use that we buy pressboard furniture to store it in. I don’t know how many times I have heard people say they need a bigger house. I tend to ask why and they tell me because they don’t have room for all of  their stuff.

Instead of buying twice as many crummy things we could spend our money on things that have quality, will be a value to us, and that will last or at least give us resale value should we decide to replace it in the future.

Ah, resale value. Now this is the whole reason for my post.

Why buy it used when you can buy it new?

I had a yard sale this weekend with some friends. We priced items very reasonably and only sold items of good quality and we had a hard time even giving the stuff away. One of the things I overheard from a shopper ,”Why pay $3 for a child’s outfit that still *looks* new at a yard sale when they can pay $9 for one that *is* new at Wal-Mart?” It was that that made me write this. I can tell you why I would, because the child will outgrow that outfit in just a few months and I have better things to spend my money on. I buy a like new item for less than half of the new value and I have saved that much money to spend on other things I need or want that have more value to me.

There are many outlets for reselling everyday items including newspapers, flea markets, yard sale, Craigslist, and Ebay. You can find anything somewhere for the right price (and maybe shipping and handling). Obviously the more rare and in demand an item is the higher the cost is driven but, what about everyday necessities? We can factor the value of a used item based on it’s condition then take that number and using basic economic pricipals we learned in primary or secondary education factor in it’s market saturation or availability and adjust the price accordingly. What I have discovered is that current trends are showing that the value of a used item isn’t anything close to what it should be (we are also seeing this with real estate, automobiles, and other things but that’s another post). The majority of consumers are neither educated shoppers nor are they capable of understanding the value of a product - they are only seeing a small piece of the computation. They see a product, compare that product based on price in the Big Box discount stores where they shop and instantly place a value on it.

Example: Hardwood dining table handcrafted and sells new for $1500.00. Listed used but in excellent condition for $500 (considerably less than what they could ask for it but lets say the seller really wants to get rid of it). Consumers view picture (or actual item) and note that while it is in good condition there might be normal and nominal wear and tear so price is mentally calculated as 1/2 of retail costs. Sound reasonable so far? Wait for it. Consumer draws up comparable (to their memory) item, ie, superstore butcher block kitchen table. Retail price anywhere from $150 - $300 for substandard mass produced quality. Consumer instantly comes to the calculations that this previously owned table should be worth $60-$150 and might go as far as to offer such an absurd and unreasonable price to the seller. Seem like a fictional scenario to you? I witnessed this again and again in person last weekend. Item is either sold for an insane price, given away, or ends up in a dumpster because it’s just more trouble than it’s worth - literally.

Big Box stores have now not only managed to run out the mom and pop stores that provided higher quality and better customer attention but has successfully underminded used resell values. People cannot resell their items and they might very well end up piling up a landfill and I can’t imagine that all these crummy man made materials biodegrade all that well. Even if you aren’t greenminded think of all the potential heirlooms that are lost everyday because the disposable household items won’t hold up to pass to your children much less your grandchildren and beyond. Personally I am proud to have an opportunity to share stories of my grandparents when they were young and newlyweds because the kids asked me about my bedroom set which just so happened to be their very first one after they married. To some it might be an outdated dresser, to me it is memories everytime I give it a fresh coat of paint and a set of shiny new drawer pulls.

Before my train of thought got derailed I was talking about crazy consumer calculations and thought processes but I started testing theories.

The more you get the better the deal.

What is a better deal; 25 cents per item or 4 for a $1? Four is more than one so four for a dollar has to be a better value! I know, just bear with me. Big Box has spent a lot of time convincing us that more is better and it has sunk in. Buy one get one half off sales draw in consumers like no tomorrow. Drug stores regularly have sales of this kind on more expensive shampoos and makeup and I frequently see shelves sold out of these products by Monday evening even though the sale was only announced the day before. This is only 25% off two items but if it was advertised that way it wouldn’t draw in nearly as many sales. The items are already higher priced items to begin with so the profit margin is higher and is the $4 shampoo really a better quality than say a $2 shampoo? Frequently  consumer reports have found that there isn’t a difference in many products except the name, label and resale cost. If you are marketer you get paid to come up with this language that gets the consumers in and spending their hard earned dollars. Kuddos to you for fooling so many of us.

Herding the sheeple

My daughter recently went through a life skills class. They were assigned jobs, incomes, and bank accounts. They were taught to shop, buy homes, and spend money. They are seventh graders and this is one of the last mandatory classes they will ever have on these skills. She was assigned computer programmer and given an annual salary of $25,000 per year (quiet you geeks, I know this is insane) and her friend was given the occupation of physician and paid $300,000 per year. The went into their professions with no student loan debt which in my opinion was already a massive fail and told to find housing. My daughter (lucky girl she listens to me sometimes) decided to room with a friend in an apartment and split living expenses. Needless to say she ended the class with a healthy checkbook. Her doctor friend bought a very expensive home and while she was doing well with her annual salary didn’t have much left over when all her expenses were calculated. The funny (sad) thing is that her friend mocked her for not having all the wonderful things she herself had as a doctor. Good thing she didn’t find out how life can throw a malpractice suit at you and take everything you have.

Really, there was a point to this and the point was, we are failing to educate our future. We are teaching them how to spend but not how to be smart consumers or how to save money. We are teaching them more is better and that quality doesn’t matter but quantitiy is everything. We are hearding a new generation of sheeple off the cliff of dependency and failure. Why should we stop? We need consumers to spend so that we have more stores, bigger profit margins, and fatter bankrolls.

Don’t forget, Big Box isn’t just Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Fry, and other similar shops but includes grocery chains, fast food, and sit down frozen cooked to order chains like Applebee’s and TGI Fridays just to name a few.

I could take this in so many directions I might just write an e-book but until then you get the point. Big Box contributes to waste: consumer over spending, landfill filling, destruction of small community business and more. Is it worth it to have one on all sides of town?

Is the convenience worth the loss?

Do you really need all that stuff?

Related posts:

1. I adore thirft stores - 100 Things It’s

My podcast had a lot of opinion, don’t get me wrong. I get adamant about what I think sometimes. But the facts, the FACTS need to be released. Opinion should ALWAYS be differentiated from facts and opinion should be based on facts - all of them - every side of the story. I do not support the mainstream media, I think they lie to people and only give the public the facts that they want them to know. They spin stories and leave pertinent information out. The breed ignorance. They are contributing to the dumbing down of my country. Honestly, it makes me want to cry when I think of the mountain of ignorance that we propagate. It is the saddest thing in the world to me. With knowledge people can bring themselves up and improve their situations. Those who aren’t self learners can rely on those that teach. Teachers who spin facts and withhold information should not be allowed to continue to teach. To clarify, by teachers I mean anyone who shares information with others, not necessarily those that are in paid instructional career positions. The propaganda machine sure doesn’t need any more preachers.

So anyway, I wanted to share information. Not because I had a sponsor, but because I wanted people to know and understand the important issues. I want people to be empowered! In fact, the only sponsors I had were in a battering system because a good friend of mine was able to hook me up with bandwidth or hosting space. I refused to spam my audience and website visitors with useless ads. Advertisements should be targeted and useful. Every podcast in the world seems to have that retarded Go To Meeting sponsor. Oh get over it and move on. Ack. Useless.

The work on the podcast was immense. Even tho my co-host took on the hours long editing responsibilities there was still the research and prep. Hours upon hours every day of finding stories and howtos then researching them to ensure I was providing accurate and useful information to my listeners. Then the emails and the IMs started coming in. I will not turn down someone who wants help nor will I turn down the opportunity for debate. I do love to talk, even if it is just email. Just forget Twitter, I think I am offending people because I miss their DMs, @s and other things they say.

I still have a day job. Oh, and I have four kids, seven pets, one husband, and ton of laundry and housework, and the list goes on and on household wise. I also garden in the summer because I try to be as self-sufficient as I can so I can avoid to mainstream garbage as well as teach my family valuable skills for the future. See, here we are back to teaching again.

Taking a look at the hobbies I have knitting, crochet, sewing, painting, crafts, refinishing furniture, upcycling thrift store finds… Here is even more teaching, I write howtos for all these things and have shared my knowledge of knitting and crochet and sewing to as many people as will listen. I am trying to build a stash of completed projects to list for sale at Etsy and I have people interested in my designs. Once again I have these hobbies so that I can try to be more self-sufficient. I sew my kids clothes, I mend them, I make my own, and I turn one person’s trash into my very own unique treasure.

Gee, I am rambling again.

Anyway, I miss podcasting. It would be freaking peachy if I had a producer, and editor, a sales manager for all the stupid monetising that needs to be done, and so on. I want to teach dang it. What would I teach/podcast about? No clue. It’s really rather complicated. How in the world do I combine all of these things which I love dearly and think everyone should know how to do into one show. How can I possibly talk tech and crafty things into one weekly show that both sides of the spectrum would listen to? Did I mention my day job and my house of noisy kids? I can only record at odd late night weekend times so that makes it even more difficult to add co-hosts or join other shows. Bah!

I am at a loss. Any ideas are welcome because I have no idea how to pull it off. I just want to teach.

P.S. I am a serious grammar freak and this post breaks more rules than I care to count. Please forgive me and realize that this is raw. So unlike me but oh so necessary.

Look for a geeky craft tutorial coming next week. Sorry to tell you that you have to wait one more week for it but it is a gift for someone’s birthday and if I post it before they get it they will know what it is. :)

Related posts:

1. Homemade Christmas - Status Update It’s
2. Why I haven’t been blogging much… For the la

It has really been stinky because I haven’t been able to do any task for very long without being in excruciating pain. By the time I get off work after sitting at a desk all day I don’t want to start typing at home. I can’t knit for long and projects that shouldn’t take more than a few days are going to take a few months. I am honestly about to go stir crazy.

This week the neurologist ran nerve tests and said I have damaged nerves in both arms. They are thinking a virus attacked them. I am being scheduled for an MRI just to be sure.

Anyway, I hate talking about my “private life” but I don’t know how much longer this is going to carry on. Wearing arm braces  (like they have for carpal tunnel) on both arms has been pretty helpful. Yesterday was a good day for my arms, today not so much. It is really getting exhausting and I am missing things that I should be doing so I thought I would explain my absence.

Anyway, thanks for still stopping by and making comments on posts. I am glad you haven’t forgotten about me. Hopefully I will be 100% again soon. :)

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“terry jones” sent me a message this morning. Of course said user hasn’t bothered to fill out any information on their profile. What a coward and a miserable excuse for a human to use Change.org or any other group they don’t agree with to attack people while they hide behind anonymity. Here’s the message (copied in it’s entirety with misspellings and all):

Your not real
It is so amusing to see people try to fool the rest of the world that they care about anyone else besides themselves and at the same time be such an advocate of such the contradictory cause such as the killing of a baby while its in the womb. You expose yourself as such fake person when doing so. Its just a way for you to try to fool people into thinking your a good person. Most people see right through it, so quit wasting your time,your unwittingly embarrasing yourself. You should just be honest with yourself and others and quit the fake posturing of being an empathetic, caring person and just admit to being a woman that has the sad ability to kill her own baby. No different than Casey Anthony. Abortion may always have to be legal but it will always be seen as nothing but the ultimate act of shame and selfishness shamefull. And that will never change. “Scout leader”, hah ! , gimme a break. What a phony. This is not the kind of change and hope this site is about. Get lost.

So please, if you are going to send me utter crap like this and spout off please do several things:

1) Use proper grammar and spelling. I can’t take you seriously if you can’t even spell.
2) Don’t try to talk big but hide behind the Internet. It just makes you look like a loser. At least create a fake profile and make an effort.
3) Don’t accuse me of something when you know nothing. I support reproductive rights but until you read this post you wouldn’t have known. The Women’s Rights cause is for equal pay, sexual discrimination, exploitation, and a load of other stuff. All of those things are near and dear to my heart.
4) Realize your pathetic private messages won’t scare me or change my mind, they will only make me more of an advocate toward my chosen cause.

So “terry jones“, feel free to get lost. Oh, and start using spell check.

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1. #5 - I Hate Fakers - 100 Things About Me Running t

While finishing up the DVDs for season one and starting season two of Doctor Who, I knitted up a Police Box for my iPod Touch.

This was inspired by the TARDIS iPod Cozy. It looks really cool when I have it on and glowing through the stitches.

Yes, I am a fangirl. There is a bead on top for the ligh (and also to hold it closed) but you can’t see it in the photo.

CPU Graph as Art

I may print this out on a plotter and frame it. This CPU graph symbolizes not only the job I love but it also makes me think about my busy life and family. As a graph it is functional but if you separate it’s purpose you can then see it’s beauty. Who knows, maybe I just love what I do too much.

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1. Finished Projects from Dec. 2008 I realized

I used the owl stencil from Craftzine’s Blog for the design. Wonder Under is fabulous. It turns regular old fabric into an iron on applique - and in this case - a patch. I only needed a needle and thread for sewing on the eyes (aka buttons).

By making a decorative patch for my pants, I am still able to wear them to work and I saved $35 that would have been spent to buy another pair of Levis. Yay!

Akismet and other comment watching plugins can help monitor for spam, but a quick way to cut back on spam trackbacks and comments is to close old posts. This is especially important if you are running a large blog or one that has been online for a long time. My favorite way to do this used to be with the plugin  simply called Close Old Posts however, this feature has now been integrated into WordPress. Just how do you close old posts?

Within the admin interface navigate down to Settings and then Discussion from the menu on the left (click the image below for a larger version).

Here you will find a checkbox that you can select to close posts. The default time is 14 days but you can change this to whatever number suits you best. I have found that 30 days tends to be the best, less if you update a lot. That gives visitors plenty of time to leave a comment but keeps the conversation from getting stale. Some bloggers and commenters prefer to keep comments on their relevant posts, but if someone just read an article I posted a year ago, I would just prefer them to leave a comment on my most recent post if they don’t feel like shooting me an email.

Since this is a built in WordPress feature you can impliment this in self-hosted WordPress installs as well as on WordPress.com blogs.

Here are some of my favorite links this week, in case you missed them:

Awk, Nawk, and GNU Awk Cheet Sheet - Skip the man pages and Google by keeping around this handy cheat sheet.

Make a Custom iPod Cover - Dollar Store Crafts blog has a post on how to take those cheap clear platic iPod covers and insert papers or other goodies to give your iPod a designer look. The best part is it is cheaper than a latte!

Cobra Starship is Broadcasting Recording of New Album - Absolute Punk has posted that the band Cobra Starship is broadcating the recording of their new album on Stickam as well as Twittering when something cool is going on.

DIY: Homemade Windshield De-Icer Fends off Frost - Lifehacker has a post on how to make your own windshied de-icer. The best part of this recipe is that it can actually prevent icy windshields in addition to clearing them off.

Solar Energy: Some Tips - MAKE Magazine has some tips on solar energy you might want to be aware of if you are thinking of trying to at least edge off the grid. The post includes information about what works and what doesn’t so you don’t find yourself with expensive solar panels and a gigantic energy bill as well.

Did you find a blog post especially insightful or inspiring this week? Let me know in the comments.

I know, ew. Thank goodness I wash my hands a lot.

This is post number nine in a series of 100 Things About Me.

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The army of monsters for the children…

monster & wrist warmers…

and another set of both…

Last set of both wrist warmers and a monster…

Littlest one with a knit hat & a cuddly monster…

A few pictures of one of the lap quilts…

And a few pics of the shopping totes…

A simple navy quilt for another Grandma…

and last but not least, my knitted flower hat with crochet trim.

There are more but I forgot to take pictures of them.

I have been busy and am still knitting and sewing requested items. :)

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1. Homemade Christmas - Status Update It’s
2. I like to make crafty things - 100 Things I LOVE to

Furniture would have to be my favorite find. They just don’t make ‘em like they used to and I would rather have a well built older piece that is more unique than a press board from sawdust piece that will disintegrate when it’s time to move. I don’t even mind if I have to refinish it.

I am off to the thrift store today to hunt for a few jars, baskets, or tins to put the gifts I am making in and also to hopefully find some old felted sweaters for 50 cents that I can turn into several pairs of wonderful mittens.There is just something wonderful about making something that is no longer wanted into something useful.

This is post number eight in a series of 100 Things About Me.

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Here is where I am:

Wrap: Complete! I got hung up making this so it put me several weeks behind schedule. I don’t like to start things until I finish something else (not that I always follow my own rule).

Baby hats: One down, one started.
Estimated time for completion: One hour.

Two sets of arm warmers: Not started yet.
Estimated time for completion: Four hours or less.

One hat: Not started yet.
Estimated time for completion: One hour.

One scarf: Not started yet.
Estimated time for completion: One evening.

One water bottle cozy: not started yet.
Estimated time for completion: One hour.

Two lap quilts: both started.
Estimated time for completion: One week each.

Unfortunately I will be up late into the night the few nights before Christmas because I still haven’t decided exactly what I am making the kids. I am thinking a doll (simple pattern) for the littlest one, the oldest girl wants mittens (I might sew them out of fleece since I am terrible with thumbs), a hat for the youngest boy, and a brimmed knit hat for the oldest boy. Last year it was just me and back to back reruns of Amadeus into the wee hours of Christmas morning while I made two fleece no-sew blankets.

Don’t let not being crafty stop you from giving and getting handmade. Take a pledge to buy handmade whenever possible. Etsy is full of wonderful items!

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This year I made a pledge not to buy already made gifts. I have been making everything I have gifted this year because I am tired of the hassle that comes with shopping for people. It usually winds up with buying something that someone *might* like because it is in my price range. For the kids, I have always made their gifts (Santa brings the other junk they ask for). Every year they are guarenteed to have a new blanket, scarf, pajamas, stuffed toy, or other homemade thing under the tree and they *always* ask to be able to open it on Christmas Eve and that makes me feel good. They enjoy the homemade and know that time was spent on making it and they cherish it. At least my craftiness has instilled at least one good trait on the children. :)

Homemade items are personal and take time and if someone makes something for you, it is way more valuable than anything they could have grabbed at the mall. If someone took the time to make something for you with their own hands (even if it is just a tea mix, card, or letter) then they consider the relationship you have important enough to spend time on.

This is post number seven in a series of 100 Things About Me.

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This is post number six in a series of 100 Things About Me.

Running the Alternageek Tech Show for over a year put me into a scene that was fun and incredibly annoying at the same time. There are some really awesome people out there writing blogs and publishing podcasts but there are even more either regurgitating other writers’ work or just writing blog posts about how awesome they think they are without an ounce of valuable content. You can network until your contact book won’t hold one more name however, all the contacts and PR in the world won’t keep you afloat if you have nothing but handshakes and propaganda to share. Eventually people will figure out that you are full of hot air.

I don’t care if you publish five posts a week, it means nothing if you are just writing to jump on the bandwagon trend. Write something valuable, write something from a new perspective, open your mind to possibilities, and for the love of all that is holy and good, think for yourself.

When I was in school we had writing exercises that required us to write position papers from a point of view that we disagreed with. This was challenging and educational at the same time. It required research and an open mind to the other side of the argument. Make this type of an assignment part of your writing routine. This is an excellent practice to get into especially when you are stuck in a rut. You don’t have to publish it if you don’t feel comfortable with it, but do it regardless.

Popular opinion is a dime a dozen. Don’t make me feel like I just lost 5 minutes of my life that I will never get back.

This is post number five in a series of 100 Things About Me.

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