Update your
operating system and applications

Security holes in software are often discovered, so the software developer usually distributes fixes/patches/updates
that address these issues. Virus and spyware scanning software also prompts you to update their definitions to detect more recent threats.

Scan for Viruses

UCLA provides Sophos Anti-Virus for free (www.bol.ucla.edu/software/sophos)
and we install it on the computers we issue, so I’ll assume that’s what you’re
using.

Scan for Spyware

UCLA provides Webroot Spy Sweeper for free (www.bol.ucla.edu/software/spysweeper).
Windows users should periodically scan for spyware…

Get a Second Opinion

No virus/spyware (aka malware) scanner detects all threats. To improve your chances of detecting and removing threats, or if you don’t have a virus/spyware scanner installed, try an online malware detection/removal utility.

• Trend Micro Housecall (Windows)
  http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

If you encounter anything puzzling or suspicious, contact me as usual.

1. Enable WPA (recommended) or WEP encryption on your router
   To oversimply, enabling encryption “password-protects” your wireless network. It’s kinda like your router and your computer doing a secret handshake before each transmittion. Yes, WEP and WPA can be hacked by moderately knowledgeable geeks. WEP can be hacked in minutes, but to do so is beyond casual Joe who just wants free internet. WPA is well… much stronger… so use WPA. If your router is so old it doesn’t offer WPA encryption, either use WEP (better than nothing) or buy a new router.
   Whichever one you use, always use a strong password (random is better) or the encryption becomes more or less useless.
   To enable encryption on your router, refer to the manual :oP. You’ll also need to configure the wireless profile on the computers connecting to the router.

Oh ummm… I guess that’s just the key thing for a relatively secure network. There’s a few other things you can try to make your network more secure, but I don’t mention them because they’re mostly crap. They don’t hurt though. It comes down to this:

• If Joe Shmoe wants to steal your internet, either of the afforementioned encryption methods is enough to keep him out.
• If Joe Shmoe is actually l337 h@x0r, he’ll quickly get through WEP and the other crappy “security measures” most articles suggest.
• It will be quite difficult or near impossible (not worth the effort) to get through WPA that has a strong key (“password”).

If all you do on the internet is read webcomics and blogs, you probably don’t have much to be concerned about, but if you manage any finances, consider using WPA encryption.

Remove unneeded startup items

Many applications run in the background unnecessarily and hog up system resources. If there are programs that automatically startup with Windows, you can disable this “feature” in some…

1. Dig around the program menus for “Preferences”, “Options”, “Settings”, or anything else that implies “You can change stuff about the program here”
   • If the program has an icon in the tray (lower-right part of the screen), right-clicking the icon may reveal a menu
2. Look for and uncheck any option that indicates “Run this program at Windows startup” or anything similar

Contact me if you can’t find the option or if you’re interested in disabling other startup/background items using alternative methods.

Run Disk Cleanup

This frees up some room on your hard drive by emptying the Recycle Bin and removing unneeded temporary and setup files.

1. Start the program from Start => Programs => Accessories => System Tools => Disk Cleanup
2. Select the default drive, C:, and hit OK
   • The program may take a few minutes to process. Enjoy a light snack.
3. Check all options except the last two (“Compress old files”, “Catalog files…”)
4. Hit OK and confirm the prompt
   • The program may take a few minutes to delete files. Enjoy another light snack.

Run Disk Defragmenter

Over time, your hard drive increasingly becomes “fragmented”. Without getting too technical, I’ll just say “defragmenting” your hard drive makes it run more efficiently.

1. Start the program from Start => Programs => Accessories => System Tools => Disk Defragmenter
   1. Make sure the default drive, C:, is selected.
2. Click the Defragment button

The process may take around an hour, so you may want to enjoy a meal or teach a class meanwhile.

Check for viruses and spyware

Viruses and spyware (aka “malware”) can slow down your computer by monitoring activity and/or communicating with other computers. I’ll cover this more in-depth in the next edition… Computer Maintenance, Part II: Security! :oO

Seating and Workspace

Seat you hips toward the back of the chair

Properly support your lower back to avoid leaning too far forward or slouching.

Position your keyboard and monitor directly in front of you

You shouldn’t have to twist your body or neck to use the keyboard or look at the monitor.

Set your monitor at the correct height and distance

Your monitor should be about your arm’s length away. The top of your monitor should be 0-3” above your eyes so that your view is at a slight downward angle.

Keep your wrists straight when typing

Your wrists should be straight, both in the forward/back and left/right axis. The top of your forearm should form a straight line to your knuckles. If you use a wrist wrest, use it only when you’re not typing. You may need to reposition your keyboard, flip the legs under them, or buy an ergonomic one.

Breaks

• Take a 1-2 minute break about every 30 minutes
• Move and walk around
• Focus your eyes on distant objects
• If your eyes feel tired, cover them with your palms

Software

Here is free software that periodically reminds you to take breaks:

• Workrave (Windows only)
  http://www.workrave.org/download/
• AntiRSI (Mac only)
  http://tech.inhelsinki.nl/antirsi/

Further Reading

The topic of computer/office ergonomics is quite broad, so I covered only what I think is most applicable to you. Here are resources I recommend if you would like to find out more:

• UCLA Ergonomics
  Apparently UCLA has its own ergonomics department. You can find ergonomics resources for more than just the office.
  http://www.ergonomics.ucla.edu/
• Lifehacker: Set up a healthy, usable workspace
  A good overview of an ergonomic workspace
  http://www.lifehacker.com/software/hack-attack/set-up-a-healthy-usable-workspace-256571.php

No, my evals weren’t all positive, but I don’t expect them to be. My students for the most part were actually honest, which I do appreciate. :oP :o)

Keep in mind I’m in LAUSD, so my posts may be more relevant to teachers in LAUSD.

Q: Can I download a YouTube video to my computer to show in class later?
(Some background info on this question: All LAUSD schools block access on their networks to YouTube (and other sites). Even if you don’t have this problem, you may want to save a YouTube video in case you don’t want to rely on having internet connection during your lesson.)

A: Yes. There are several methods to save a YouTube video onto your hard drive, but this one is probably the most convenient and straightforward: http://www.zamzar.com (works for PC and Mac). Click the “Download Videos” tab. Enter the video URL, and the format of the video you’d like to download (try “.avi” if you’re not sure). Type in your e-mail address and hit the “Convert” button. You’ll be e-mailed a link, which you click to save the converted video file. The site has conversion tools for various other types of files. There are other sites that do the same or similar things.

Q: Can I “make” a PDF file?
A: Yes. Macs have this feature built in. If you try to print a file, there might be a “PDF” button somewhere. I don’t have access to a Mac right now so I’m not sure. For the PC, you can download and install free software: http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp. You’ll need to download/install both links on the left side of that page. Once you do that, you’ll be able to create a PDF file out of anything you would otherwise print to a printer. For example, if you’re in MS Word, you go to File => Print, and instead of selecting your usual printer, select “CutePDF Writer” (screenshot below). When you hit the “Print” button, you’ll get to choose the file name and location to where you’d like to save the PDF file.

With new adventures come new experiences, which means I learn more. And, since this site is about things I learn, that means more content! Woohoo! However, comics are still on hold because of laziness. :oP :o) Sorry!

I’m trying to find a job teaching either physics or computers at one of LAUSD’s high schools or middle schools. My first step is to find schools I’m interested in teaching at, then distribute my resumes to them. If you’re also doing the jobhunt thing, you may find some of the tips below helpful, even though you’re not applying for a teaching job in LAUSD.

This guide is geared toward beginner and intermediate computer users, but like my other guides, I try to include at least something for everyone. My goal now is to efficiently fax a personalized cover letter and resume to each school I’m interested in teaching at. Your goal may be different (“Huh? Fax?”), but again, you may still find some of my steps common with yours. Breaking it down, here’s an overview of the steps we’ll go through:

1. Create a list/database of places we’re applying to
2. Write a cover letter template
3. Merge the template with our database
4. Convert our documents to PDFs
5. Fax our cover letters and resumes

“Merge” is in bold because this is one of the key shortcuts we’ll be taking. To be honest, for this case I’m not sure you’ll save that much time going through all this, but the important thing is you’ll be learning new skills that may help you in the future. Let’s start.

The problem

Okay, just kidding about starting. First, let’s look at the problem. Assuming we’re sending a standard cover letter that includes the recipient’s name, title, school, address, and greeting line, we’ll be typing the same information into each cover letter we want to send. Then, we’ll have to print out each letter, sign them, find a fax machine, and sit by the fax machine punching in fax numbers and waiting for the letters to go through. If this is a fax machine we’re paying to use, we’re probably paying a lot.

So what do we do instead?

Create a list/database of places we’re applying to

You may think of this as a table or spreadsheet, but I’ll refer to it as a database. Basically we want a central resource with contact information of all the places we’re applying to. This needs to include the information we’ll be putting on each cover letter. I recommend using Excel, and create separate columns for school name, principal’s first name, principal’s last name, school street address, zip code, and fax number. Other options are to add each school as a contact in Outlook or to create a real database using Microsoft Access (advanced, possibly overkill).

Write a cover letter template

Using Microsoft Word, we’ll write our cover letter as we normally would. We can personalize the body of the letter according to the recipient later.

Merge the template with your database

Here’s the magic many people don’t know about. If you already know, good for you. Microsoft Word has a “mail merge” feature, where you can take entries from a database and plug the info into a template. For example, you can automatically create addressed envelopes by pointing Word to an Excel spreadsheet containing that information. No need to copy/paste fifty times for fifty recipients. I’m not going to teach you how to use the mail merge feature, but you can learn on your own with using Microsoft’s online mail merge tutorial.

Convert your documents to PDFs

Microsoft Word documents don’t appear consistently across everyone’s computers. However, PDFs do (more or less). To avoid unpredictable faxing results later (such as what was a one-page document on your computer end up as two pages over fax), we convert our Word documents (.doc) to PDFs. Even if we don’t fax our cover letter and resume, attaching the resume to an email as a PDF beats attaching it as a DOC (or goodness, the new DOCX).

“Um… cool… but… how do I do that?” You can “print” almost any document to PDF using the free, simple software, CutePDF Writer. Be sure to click “Free Download” and “Free Converter” on the left. You’ll need to install both.

Fax your cover letters and resumes

Unfortunately, this part costs money. If you have free access to a fax machine, then yay. Otherwise, another choice would be to go somewhere that charges you to fax things per page. The cost is often high, which is definitely what you don’t want, especially when you’re trying to blanket an entire district with your resume. :oP :o)

Instead, I went with TrustFax, which allows you to upload a document, type in the fax number, and the document gets sent as a fax. I’m not pushing this service in particular, but I’m just saying it’s one of the better services I found, and it worked for me. If you have better suggestions, please leave a comment!

There are different plans, but I went with the $9.95/month plan, that allows you to send 125 pages a month. If for each school you sent a fax cover page, a cover letter, and a resume, that’s three pages, so 41 schools. :oP :o) I would consider it just $9.95 flat since you’re only sending out your resume once, and most likely would not need this as a monthly service. Yes, it’s like $10, but compare that to your other options and if you think $10 is not worth it, then don’t do it.

“Wait wait… if it goes straight from the electronic version to fax, how do I get my signature on there?” It’s probably not a huge deal you don’t sign the thing, but if you want, you’ll have to do a bit of handiwork. I signed a blank paper, scanned it to a JPG, then inserted it into the Word document as part of the cover letter template. If you don’t know how to do all that, ask someone who does. :oP Don’t worry too much about the signature’s image quality, since sending the document through fax will degrade the quality of the whole thing anyway.

Why not email?

I initially considered going all electronic, and that might work with most other jobs. However, not all the schools provided email addresses, whereas LAUSD’s directory shows the fax numbers for all schools. I also figured the schools weren’t very on top of technology and still somewhat rely on faxes. Another option is to fax your documents and if you can find an email address, send them an email with your resume attached as a PDF.

Hey, that didn’t save me time

You might have noticed that even though you didn’t have to type the schools’ information into each cover letter, you still had to type it into the database, so how did the mail merge save you time? In that respect, it probably didn’t. However, I personally prefer having the schools’ contact info in one place anyway, so I don’t consider the time creating the database as time wasted. In addition, you can add more columns to your database to track other things, such as the date you faxed your resume, when/if you heard back from the school, possible interview dates, etc.

Again, if you didn’t know about the mail merge feature before, I felt this was a good time to learn and apply it since most likely it will come in handy in the future.

This isn’t necessarily the “best” way to get your resume out to schools, but it’s the way I chose to do it and I hope you found certain parts helpful. I’m also intentionally dealing with just resume distribution, as I know there’s much more one can do to get a teaching job in LAUSD, such as getting your foot in the door with substitute teaching jobs, or attending LAUSD’s job placement fairs. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment.

Ramit Sethi elaborates beautifully on this in his blog post “Your College is Not a Technical School“.

Think about your current priorities and where you’re committing your time. Are you doing things so you’ll be better?… or just so you’ll look better?

Still don’t know what I’m talking about? Ugh, fine. Okay you know when you need to go #2 and you’re at a public restroom and you poo and there’s some splashback of the toilet water that sometimes touches your butt? Ech… yeah.

I don’t understand… with all our modern science, you think there’d be a solution by now. Isn’t splashback some sort of health hazard? Think about it. The person who uses the toilet before you does their business. They flush… but how clean is that newly refilled water? I bet it’s not very clean. For heaven’s sake, sometimes you still see bits on the bottom… and I wouldn’t be surprised if some toilets miss entire logs here and there on the first try. Thus, I imagine there’s some pretty nasty bacteria in that water… and then to have that stuff splash back and hit us in the heiny. However, I’m no health expert/scientist, so I can’t say much about that stuff for certain.

At the very least, splashback feels icky. I think we can agree on that.

So… how do we minimize it?

The most simple and effective solution I know of: Place a toilet seat protector sheet in the bowl before you do your business.

You know those seat protector sheets dispensed in most public bathroom stalls? “First pull up, then pull down”? Grab one and toss it in the bowl. Try experimenting to see what’s more effective… folded, slightly crumpled, etc. The point is you want to change the behavior of the usual water surface by having the paper disrupt the typical splash patterns. The paper will “catch” the first few logs, if you will.

What about using toilet paper to cushion the fall instead? I’ve found the seat protectors work sufficiently compared to the layers and effort required with TP for similar results. This may be due to their shape being a broad sheet, plus their waxiness increasing their ability to hold together in their bowl.

This method may not eliminate all splashback, but I’d say about 90%. For something so simple, you get great results. That will have to do until science finds a solution for this problem that touches us on a personal level (literally).

What are your thoughts on splashback? If you have any other methods, please share them in the comments!

(Apparently someone keeps a blog about other poopy stuff.)

I set this up with the purpose of a school library catalog in mind, built from scratch from salvaged parts, so my instructions are for exactly that. However, this system can be used for many other things, such as a home media library, or equipment checkout system, and can be built in many ways as long as the heart of the system (OpenBiblio) is there.

This procedure is for someone at least somewhat familiar with Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (or “LAMP”). You should be familiar enough with the system to do basic application installations and take precautions such as disabling directory listing. If that’s not you, find someone who is.

Features

• Basic mixed media catalog (books, CDs, DVDs, etc), with bibliographic info and search
• Open public access catalog (OPAC)
• Easy barcode and call number label printing (on a standard printer)
• Circulation system, aka checkout system with database of library patrons, fines, book statuses, etc.
• Ability to lookup bibliographic information when inserting books (optional)

Sounds good? Of course it does. Let’s get crackin’…

Get a computer

The software will run on pretty much any junk PC, since the software really isn’t resource-intensive. I did this setup on a PIII 500MHz machine with 256MB of RAM and it ran just fine, even with 10-15 people simultaneously cataloging on it. Ask your friends for hand-me-downs, or worst case, buy something for uber cheap off Craigslist. You can also install everything on your current computer if you want to run an Apache/MySQL server on it (assuming you know what you’re doing).

Install LAMP

LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP.

Follow the LAMP Installation Walkthrough (using Ubuntu, a popular distribution of Linux recommended for beginners)

I recommend also installing PHPMyAdmin (listed as an optional step after setting the MySQL password).

Install OpenBiblio

OpenBiblio is the heart of the system, the “library software”, if you will. It’s a web application that runs on PHP/MySQL, and it has a quick and easy installation, very similar to WordPress.

Download OpenBiblio

Login to MySQL and follow the OpenBiblio installations instructions (install_instructions.html), beginning from step 5.

Install Lookup Addon (Optional)

The Lookup addon adds functionality to OpenBiblio by allowing you to lookup books from the Library of Congress database, or other library databases, and downloading their MARC (bibliographic) information.

Download Lookup if you know Linux pretty well and want bibliographic lookup capability: http://www.flos-inc.com/projects/ (“download Lookup files”). Refer to “lookup_install.txt” for installation instructions.

For step 2, your OpenBiblio MySQL data directory is most likely under “/var/lib/mysql/”. For example, if you named your OpenBiblio MySQL database “OpenBiblio” and you’re in the Lookup installation directory, you’d type “sudo mv cutter.* /var/lib/mysql/OpenBiblio“.

Install Z39.50 Search (part of Lookup installation)

This is a protocol required by the Lookup addon. This is where you need Linux know-how… something I don’t have. At this point, I don’t have much idea what’s going on, but try entering the commands and hope it somehow works. :oP :o)

1. Install PHP PEAR: sudo apt-get install php-pear
2. Install phpize: sudo apt-get install php5-dev
3. Download, uncompress, build, and install YAZ:
   cd /tmp
   wget http://ftp.indexdata.dk/pub/yaz/yaz-3.0.14.tar.gz
   tar -zxvf yaz-3.0.14.tar.gz
   cd yaz-3.0.14
   ./configure
   make
   sudo make install
   sudo pecl install yaz
4. Edit php.ini: Add the line “extension=yaz.so” to the end of the file. (sudo gedit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini)
5. Restart Apache: sudo etc/init.d/apache2 restart
6. Run a phpinfo() to verify there is a section on yaz (“YAZ Support: enabled”). If you don’t know what that means, just try the “Z39.50 Search” that should appear in OpenBiblio now and see if it works.

Results, woohoo!

Get a Barcode Scanner!! :oD

No library checkout system is complete without a barcode scanner. This may be the only purchase you need to make. Typical “gun”-looking scanners cost ~$100, but you can get a contact/swipey scanner for ~$15 (including shipping). The CueCat barcode scanner (pictured below) is available on eBay or www.cuecats.com. Make sure you purchase a modified version, or search for the simple mod instructions on Google. The CueCat is available in PS2 and USB.

Using and Maintaining the System

If you made it this far, I assume you can poke around and figure out how everything works. As for maintenance, I recommend periodically backing up the database by exporting it using PHPMyAdmin.

Here’s some documentation for your own use or for you to distribute. Please give credit where credit is due, and if you believe you can make improvements, please do so and drop me a note. :o)

Instructions for Use and Maintenance of Library Electronic Catalog (PDF)