Podcasting

I've begun podcasting!  You can find my shows over at Hacker Public Radio, or, more specifically, you can find them at my correspondent profile page.

What is Hacker Public Radio?

Hacker Public Radio (HPR) is an Internet Radio show (podcast) that releases shows every weekday Monday through Friday. HPR has a long lineage going back to Radio FreeK America, Binary Revolution Radio & Infonomicon, and it is a direct continuation of Twatech radio. Please listen to StankDawg's "Introduction to HPR" for more information.

What differentiates HPR from other podcasts is that the shows are produced by the community - fellow listeners like you!. There is no restrictions on how long the show can be, nor on the topic you can cover as long as they "are of interest to hackers".

- from the Hacker Public Radio "About" Page

Also, please note that Hacker Public Radio needs more contributors!  If you have anything (anything!) that you'd like to record a show on that you think the hacking community would be interested in, please consider recording a show, as we are desperately in need of more shows.  It's a great way to get your feet wet with podcasting, and benefits a great project.  You can find more information on the "Contribute" page.

Let me know if you do contribute something!

Aquarium/Fishcam Update

I realize the fishcam has been down for quite some time.  I apologize for this, and have some explaining to do.

About a month ago I was getting read to turn the fishcam back on, but Albert started acting sick, and I didn't want video of a suffering fish broadcasting to the internet all day.  I figured I'd turn the cam back on after he got better.

He appeared to be suffering from mouth fungus, but I'm not entirely sure, as he never had more than one white tuft at a time.  His biggest symptom was lethargy, and lack of appetite.  During this time, Matcha seemed to be having no problems.

Albert started to get better, until one night the symptoms came back.  On the morning of the 12th, Albert died.  I cleaned the tank, medicated once more, to try to keep Matcha from getting sick, and hoped for the best.

After this, Matcha seemed to lose his appetite as well, and quickly got sick, with symptoms much worse than Albert's, and a faster onset.  Yesterday he too died.

Looking back on it, I know there were some things I should have done a little better, like medicating earlier, but there's no use in that sort of thinking.  For now, I have no fish. This will be the case until the spring, when I will try again, hoping for the best.

Until then, needless to say, the fishcam will continue to be down.  An announcement will be made when it is back up. 

Hackers for Charity

After seeing the latest post on the Hacker's for Charity site, I decided I should write a quick post for my readers that don't know about this awesome organization so they too could lend their thoughts and prayers to Johnny Long and his family as they're currently going through some very rough times, both as a family and as an organization.

From the site:

What is HFC?

Picking on charities is just plain rude. Thankfully, that’'s not what we’'re about. We'’re about proving that hackers have amazing skills that can transform charitable organizations. We'’re about stepping into the gap to feed and educate the world’'s most vulnerable citizens. We are virtual, geographically diverse and different. We are Hackers for Charity.
So what do we do?

• We feed children through our  "food for work" program.
• We build computer labs to help students learn skills and land jobs that are key to disrupting poverty's vicious cycle. 
• We provide technical assistance to charities that can not afford IT services.
• We provide job experience and references to our volunteers.

Our largest project is headed by Johnny Long in East Africa. In June 2009, he and his family relocated to Uganda to focus on HFC full-time. Read more about their journey here or fund their volunteer work here. 

Any help that could be sent their way would be much appreciated by all involved in the project. It really is a wonderful thing they're doing, and they have great t-shirts as well.