Salient Digital Techno Blog

Ten Linux Commands Every Developer Should Know

Okay, Top Tens are another one of my favorite things to blog about. Normally, I write my own top ten, but today I wanted to link to some others similar posts, mainly because top tens are so common, and I know so little about Linux.

First up - Jason Gilmore. I don’t know if I agree with all of these; I think I use a few others more frequently, but this is a good collection.

Here are twenty great system monitoring commands.

And over here you can find, oddly enough, 57 linux tips for geeks, with a follow-up article containing dozens more linux tips.

How to view tar gzip contents without decompressing it

Tar files (.tar) are based on the old “tape archive” format. So if you think of how a program would write files to tape, one at a time, in order, .tar files do the same thing, so they don’t have a table of contents. However, there are some options that let you scan the .tar or other archive file and write the output to stdout or a file.

This forum has a pretty good discussion on this topic.

Amazing New Nutritional Supplement for Women

Tampa-based Naturalceutical, LLC, today announced the launch of Dan-e™, a breakthrough new nutritional supplement for women. Dan-e™ is made of a patent-pending blend of Pro-Hormones and vital herbs, vitamins and minerals that are the essential building blocks of energy, passion and healthy hormonal balance. Made with all-natural ingredients, Dan-e™ is designed to help women live a more active, fulfilling lifestyle by day, while igniting passion and desire by night. Developed for women by award-winning physician Daniel S. Stein, M.D., F.A.C.O.G., Dan-e™ is now available for online purchase at www.dan-e.com.

Thanks to Bullseye PR for posting this.

funny tee shirt of the day - No Bull****

Warning… this zone is 100% guaranteed
Bovine Excrement Free.

Get it at FeelGoodGear.com

Yahoo! Answers Could Be So Much Better

I’ve managed to find several Yahoo! Answers pages lately that have ridiculous answers and are locked out of having better ones added.

I recently submitted this feedback:

The current policy of 4 days gives barely enough time to be indexed by other Search Engines (for instance, Google) and by then I can’t provide better answers. Why not let Questions be open to Answers until 15 days past the last answer (that is, until the topic has had no new answers posted for awhile) instead. What harm would that do but only help you get better free content at no cost.

Duh. Fail.

How to get your Free Credit Report Actually Free

Do not click on the ads on major search engines to FreeCreditReport.com unless you want to sign up for monthly credit monitoring services charged to your credit card.

Use the free service sponsored by Trans Union, Experian and Equifax, the nation’s three credit bureaus. Through AnnualCreditReport.com you can safely, freely obtain your credit reports once per year per credit bureau. You can get all 3 at once, or request one every 3 to four months to monitor your own credit, free! If you would like verification on this, I offer this WikiPedia page.

Note: These sites provide you with a detailed Credit Report. If you are wanting to know your Credit Score, you have to call and request it. For example, Experian states:

You have the right to ask for a credit score. Credit scores are numerical summaries of your credit-worthiness based on information from credit bureaus. You may request a credit score from consumer reporting agencies that create scores or distribute scores used in residential real property loans, but you will have to pay for it. In some mortgage transactions, you will receive credit score information for free from the mortgage lender.

…while Equifax says…

By law, you are entitled to obtain your credit score. There is a fee of $7.95 to obtain your credit score from Equifax Information Services . To request your credit score, please contact:

Equifax Information Services LLC
P.O. Box 105167 Atlanta, GA 30348
or call 1-877-SCORE-11

If you have more questions, check out TransUnion’s Answers.

What is ORM and why should you use it?

I’ve been asking myself this question a bit more lately so I wanted to find some answers. Nowadays, ORM typically stands for Object Relational Mapping, and less commonly, Object Role Modeling, although the two concepts are related. Mainly I am curious about some of the new ORM implementations for Kohana 3, namely Sprig (based on Django) and Jelly.

The first page on this topic can be found over at Stack Overflow.

On the StackOverflow page is a link to this post by Glenn Block on the MSDN blog. I found it a bit surprising that this particular post hadn’t been voted on by any other Stack Overflow members as I found it an insightful and succinct explanation of why you might want to consider using ORM.

I noticed another topic that comes up in relation to ORM is DM, the Domain Model pattern, and DDD, Domain Driven Design. I thought this post entitled DDD - why bother? was an interesting take with a terrific example illustrating the benefits of an ORM system.

This post was inspired by Koes.

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution

“Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.”

For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they didn’t pay into Social Security, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform that is being considered…in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn’t seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. I truly don’t care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent, Liberal or Conservative or whatever.

The self-serving must stop. This is a good way to do that. It is an idea whose time has come.

How to Avoid Identity Theft and Protect Your Credit Free

ATTORNEY’S ADVICE - NO CHARGE

Not A Joke!!   Even If you dislike attorneys… You will love them for these tips.

Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company:

1. Do not sign  the back of your credit cards. Instead, put ‘PHOTO ID REQUIRED.’

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts,  DO  NOT put the complete  account number on the ‘For’ line. Instead, just put the  last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won’t have access to it.

3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do no t have a PO Box, use your work address.Never  have your  SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have It printed, anyone can get it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc.. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel.. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.

I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We’ve all heard horror stories about fraud that’s committed on us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.

Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have first hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more.

But here’s some critical information to limit the damage  in case this happens to you or someone you know:

5. We have been told we should  cancel our  credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

6.  File a  police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

But here’s what is perhaps  most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.)

7. Call  the  3 national credit reporting organizations  immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number.. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name.

The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit..

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves’ purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has be en done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in).. It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks..

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:

1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285

2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742

3.) Trans Union : 1-800-680 7289

4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line):  1-800-269-0271

We pass along jokes on the Internet; we pass along just about everything.

If you are willing to pass this information along, it could really help someone that you care about.

How to Bathe A Pug Puppy in 8 Haikus

One

Pugs are great, but smell.
Oh, Saturday. Pug’s Bath day.
Hmm, which should go first?

Two

Fill sink with water.
Should be warm, but not too hot.
Don’t want to scald them.

Three

Buy a Pug shampoo.
All-purpose pet cleaning goo.
“For All Dogs” - Pugs too.

Four

Okay, it’s bath time.
Daisy looks eager to go.
Duke can go second.

Five

Very Important.
Clear the area of stuff.
Fewer distractions.

Six

Meek Pug tries water.
She shivers at first, but then,
slowly trusts you’ll be quick.

Seven

Lather, rinse, repeat.
Don’t make a big fuss, gently.
Dab little Pug dry.

Eight

Put outside to dry.
Warm sunny spot would be nice.
Try Arizona.