gemini://gemini.conman.org/boston/2002/12/31.2
After visiting the hospital [1], Mark [2], JeffK and I headed over to Kelly's [3] to hang out for a bit. How we ended up talking about Michael Jackson [4], I don't know, but when we were tyring to show Mark just how badly Jacko looks these days (The HisStory of Michael Jackson's face) [5], Kelly's Windows XP (eXtremely Pathetic?) box crashed. What I did now know, but Mark did, was that Windows XP can generate a crash dump for later analysis. When Mark checked the dump directory, Kelly had approximately 50 dump files already there.
Unlike Windows NT (Nice Try?), Windows XP doesn't come with dumpcheck.exe, which will tell you exactly where the crash took place. Mark then spent the next half hour or so (why not?) trying to determine the location of the crash, and to track down a copy of dumpcheck.exe. Unfortunately, Kelly's copy of Windows XP was set to only record a minimal dump, of which dumpcheck.exe wasn't able to work with. But Mark was able to track the crash down to ntkernel.dll which pretty much means a buggy driver, although not which driver is bad. Kelly then configured Windows XP to do a full dump next time it crashes.
After expressing the sad state of affairs with [DELETED-Wacko-DELETED] Jacko (Jackson to avoid baby stunt probe) [6], talk then turned towards wireless networks. Mark recently aquired some equipment and was looking to set up a WAP (Wireless Access Point) at home. Mark didn't quite realize that WAP security was a joke (crackable with as little as 5K worth of traffic) and that really, you need to firewall off any wireless stations; all WAP security was good for was “to keep someone from inadvertantly connecting to your network.” Mark was then curious as to the range and from experiments done here at the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere, we were able to pick up a signal outside the building, up to maybe twenty yards or so (Rob [7] and I didn't go much futher than that). We then decided to test Kelly's range.
Mind you, this was at 2:30 in the morning.
So with laptop literally in hand, we walked down the street and found that the signal strength was good for perhaps a hundred yards or so—definitely three houses down although it wasn't a straight cut-off point. The frequencies used tend to bounce around so that going around a corner only ten yards away would cut the signal entirely; but hit just the right spot and the signal can bounce down the street.
We also talked a bit about war driving [8] and the best areas to concentrate on down here in Lower Sheol. We figured the best places would be around Congress, between Yamato and Clint Moore (in Boca Raton [9]) and along Cypress Creek, between I-95 and Powerline (in Ft. Lauderdale [10]). One of these days …
[2] http://www.conman.org/people/myg/
[5] http://anomalies-unlimited.com/Jackson.html
[6] http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/11/20/jackson.baby/
[7] http://www.tragic-smurfs.com/
[8] http://www.wardriving.com/
[9] http://www.ci.boca-raton.fl.us/
gemini://gemini.conman.org/boston/2002/12/31.3
Spring [1] and I went to visit Gregory in the hospital [2] tonight. He was awake and coherent and finally in a proper hospital room; until something like 5:00 pm today he was stuck in room 7 of the emergency ward since his arrival. From the explanation there seemed to be a shortage of beds at the hospital.
On the good side he has the whole room to himself.
Around 9:00 pm the nurse somes in to change the bed sheets. We leave the room, but it was plainly audible that Gregory was not happy about the situation, what with six broken ribs and a snapped clavicle. Half an hour and three nurses later, the bed sheets are fresh and Gregory is receiving the Oh-So-Blessed Pain Killers. Spring leans over to Gregory and says, “Gregory, we need to work on your blood-curdling scream. Something that will definitely tell the nurses to back off!” Greg found that quite amusing.
Fifteen minutes later he's snoring away in drug-induced dreams. We stay for a bit longer, then head on our way.