The Wandering Minstrel

I use a fairly effective WordPress plug in called “Spam Karma” to filter out the spam bullshit. Very rarely will I have to moderate a spam or delete ones that happen to get through the filter. However, just for the sake of laughing at the idiocy, I will go into the database and see what is there. Today, I got one that originated in the US but whose IP address is licensed to (Amsterdam) Deepak Mehta Fie - obviously not someone who uses English as their primary language. The following gibberish was blocked as a comment on my post, “Draining the Spa:”

Unquestionably imagine that which you stated. Your favourite reason appeared to be on the web the easiest factor to remember of. I say to you, I definitely get irked even as other people think about issues that they plainly don’t know about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the top as well as outlined out the whole thing with no need side effect, other folks could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks!

I downloaded the Google Earth® plug-in for Firefox a few days ago. I don’t have the Google Earth program on my computer (I don’t need all the bells and whistles). You can get pretty good results in your browser with just the plug-in. There is a red arrow in the (clickable) image above showing the approximate location of our little house. The Bradshaw Mountains are in the distance and you can see the Hassayampa River flowing down from upper center to the right.

Readers of this weblog will know that I post a lot of pictures. I have always made an effort to include something visual in addition to the other content.

When I upload an image file to my WordPress publishing platform, I have to manually add the HTML tags to customize image placement and size. Since I try to post something daily, I found that I was typing in the exact same few tags over and over. Today, I added a couple of new tag objects to the JavaScript file that contains the code for tag buttons in the WordPress new post editor.

The composite screenshot image above and to the right shows a few tag buttons on top and the two code objects I added. The ‘img view’ button was there from my previous modification to the script and today I added ‘width 500′ and ‘width 320′ buttons. Now, when I press the new buttons the code pops into the editor with one click. The width 500 button outputs width='500' and the width 320 button outputs width='320' class='right'. The class='right' tag positions 320-pixel images to the right of the text.

Say Uncle posted a knife meme today where he says “Take knife from pocket, post pic on the internet.” I’ll go one better and post a video from January of 2009 taken on the day the knives arrived in the mail. I demonstrate the assisted opening feature and a one-handed closure.

The Better Half and I carry our SOG Trident TF1 folding knifes every day. She carries hers on her waistband and I carry mine in a cell phone pocket in my cargo shorts.

I set out a few years ago on this blog and on the other blog to post something daily. We had a Thursday night college football game this evening that absorbed my attention before I had a chance to post something.

Now, even though this post isn’t about politics or the Obamination or firearms, it IS a post and therefore qualifies.

A couple of years ago, I bookmarked the Crossroads of the West Gun Show website. While we were still living in California, we attended several Crossroads gun shows held in Costa Mesa, CA. I happened to click on my Crossroads bookmark a few days ago and noticed that they had a new, improved look and content on their site.

Clickable image - screen shot of the new main page

The improved presentation allows easier navigation around their site. The have all the information for both buyers and vendors in an easy to navigate format. There is a section for videos where they have sweeping panoramas of the shows and a short narrative by one of their organizers. Be sure and click the video link.

I checked their schedule and see that they will be having a show in Glendale, AZ on October 29/30, 2011. We may be able to attend it AND visit Cabela’s located a couple of blocks away from Phoenix University Stadium where the show is going to be (and is the venue of the Arizona Cardinals Football team).

Browsing through the guns magazines, I notice little square smart phone scan codes in ads and in some articles. Being the nerd that I am, I finally got curious enough to find out what this technology is all about, although I have no use for anything like this other than perhaps putting it on a business card for contact information.

I generated the QR code at the right from one of many free on-line sources. The code contains the URL for this site. Scanning it with your smart phone should open our blog on your device.

Wikipedia has an interesting page devoted to QR codes (excerpt):

A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is readable by dedicated QR readers, smartphones, and, to a less common extent, computers with webcams. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, URL, or other data.

Common in Japan, where it was created by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. The QR code was designed to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

Finally, here’s the obligatory trademark reference. There is a lot more information about QR Codes at the Denso link.

QR Code^® is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED

I made a discovery today. American Handgunner and Guns Magazines both have on-line access to digital versions of several of their recent issues. I spent a couple of hours browsing through the current issues and several other recent issues.

Image - Current Issues

FMG Publications also has a digital version of American Cop, their law enforcement targeted guns and gadgets publication. American Handgunner digital issues can be found at this link. Guns digital issues can be found at this link. If you’re interested, American Cop digital is here.