PSA

If you are running without anti-virus you could be part of this. I will admit that I myself spent several years with my computer protected only by an expired copy of Norton, but I was on dialup at the time, and the writers of malware weren't as advanced. These days, it's not just your own computer you are risking by being an easy target.

While working at my previous job, I got to watch the rise of malware from destructive toys written to show that they could to big business. There were a couple of years in the middle where the programs became increasingly sophisticated about defending themselves, but that dropped away over time. Their creators realized that it was a far more efficient use of their time to accelerate the spread of their tools, rather than protect it on a system where it was noticed. There are always more easy targets.

Like a great many things in life, we can do far more good by raising the security level of the lowest common denominator by just one step, than we could by adding 10 levels to the top ten percent. Most effective would be training every computer user about what not to click on, but even just installing a basic Anti-virus program like AVG antivirus or Avast! will make a world of difference.

Gah.

After my hike today, I decided that I wanted a chocolate shake and some fries. Salt and sugar, seemed like a great idea until I took my first sip. Turned out the shake had been insufficently mixed and I got a mouthful of almost pure chocolate syrup. It burned. After I recovered, the fries and my almost completely vanilla shake were pretty good. Still, Gah. That is all.

Headphones

Right, as some of you may know, a year or so ago I picked up a microphone headset since more and more games are using voice chat. Unfortunately, the microphone was crap. With everything maxed, Sound Recorder received it at a little below conversational level, and those of you who have met me in person know that my conversational level is a little low to begin with. I was never able to get it to register in game at all, even speaking loudly with the headset off and the mic directly in front of my lips. As a set of headphones, I really liked it, but it had it's connecting piece behind the head rather than on top, and it made my ears hurt after a while. So I got rid of it and went back to the el cheapo headphones I had before, giving up on voice chat.

Fast forward to today. I just picked up a Labtec Axis 102 (which is apparently now a Logitech since Labtec doesn't admit to anything before the 242) and it's great. Based on the reviews, it doesn't have great durability, but what do I expect for $9.99. The microphone works clearly (oh god, I really do sound like my brother :) and doesn't have to be any where near max sensitivity. And then there's the sound quality. These aren't quite as comfortable as the cheap ones I've got (okay, these are cheap ones too, happy now audiophiles :), so I had been using them still, but these are somewhat louder at the same volume setting, so when I was having trouble understanding something someone said in a movie, I switched. Now that I have had a direct comparison, I'm not going back. My brain told me I was no longer listening on headphones, but was instead listening to the speakers I had left behind me in Maine. It was one of those "suddenly the speaker placement is right for stereo to have it's full effect" sorts of things. the earpieces do a better job with low notes, a better job with high notes, and are better balanced. I can't imagine why I didn't notice before. And, based on this comparison, I'd say that these probably have better sound quality than the $30 dollar "gaming" headset I got before. Certainly this handles stereo better.