Denver Colorado Blog

Popular Torrent Usages
by FrosT

Introduction
Recently I have been approached by a few people who have asked about torrents. The main question I get is the legality of a torrent and the ethical issues involved with downloading torrents and seeding, or uploading, torrents. Really the torrent community has a bad reputation, for merited reason. Most torrents are used to transport illegal and pirated material. But for the few people who do not use torrents in this way, the legality views can hinder their projects and plans.

Torrents Save Money
Torrents are an ideal solution for any small software company starting out. The reason being is that bandwidth is expensive. A torrent can easily save a small company starting out or even a larger company money by utilizing a system where peers help share the files.

The Torrent system is also ideal for Non-Profit organizations to help get their software or files out to their employees for little to no cost all the while having the volunteers be able to help out with their own computer bandwidth. The biggest organization to utilize the BitTorrents would be the Linux community, who offers free open-source operating systems for those who cannot afford Windows and or want more functionality from their computers.

The Ethical Views
Torrents are noted for their bad reputation and for a lot of people this will shy them away from ever downloading a torrent. For the few companies that choose to use Torrents this will effectively limit their customer base. Torrents, in it self are not unethical; however, how torrents have been abused by many software pirates is. If you are downloading a torrent to obtain a copy of software, the best way to make sure what you are downloading is not illegal, is first check the companies website (if it is hosted on a 3rd party website). See if the software you are downloading requires to be purchased. If it does you have a couple options, one you can help out the business by informing them of the torrent. Two you can download the software from that torrent, but be sure to buy a genuine license key. Three do your own research; talk with the company etc. doing this will save you from having any type of lawsuits for downloading illegal software.

Just remember that not all torrents are bad or good. Always virus scan what you downloading and make sure the software you are downloading is legal, if not go straight to the company.

Ending Notes
In the end Torrents are not all illegal, although there is a vast community out there that do use torrents illegally, torrents can be considered a viable solution to expensive bandwidth; thus allowing companies, non-profit or profit making, pass along their savings to their customers all the while making access to their files easier. Remember a lot of time and effort go into making movies, games, and software. Give credit where credit is due.

Comments 6
Add to Twitter | Post a comment

Tips for Creating Aeonity Templates

Introduction
As some of you may have noticed, I created a new template for my Free Aeonity Blog. Well given how much work it took I found a few tips and tricks that can help everyone on the community to figure out our crazy template system!

Always Backup
Make sure you backup your current template, especially if you like it and you have modified it recently. I usually open notepad and copy/paste everything into that and save it to my desktop as template_bup-date.txt This way I will always have that version incase everything gets messed up beyond belief. Also that version of the template can help you figure out the coding scheme for ETS (Easy Template System) which is what Aeonity currently uses.

Design First, Implement Later
Since Aeontiy does not have a "testing" center for templates the best way to go about designing a new template is to actually design it first. Get everything exactly how you want it and make sure it works in the browsers you use most (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera etc). Once the template is done in full html without any of Aeonity's template coding structure then you can start implementing. But do not implement until you have everything how you want it. I would use real life examples as the text and subject material etc. This will give you a good feel for what the template will look like.

Implementing the New Template
Now that you have the design completed how you want it, the time to implement the new template design is now. Open up the backup file we created of your current/old template. Note the very top, {mask:main}, and the bottom {/mask} as those are key. Without that Aeonity will not accept the template. I generally start with the navigation as that is easily and generally static. So take the navigation portions and insert the links and code in them. It should be generic and easy. Next I code in the blog portion. This will be looped for however many blogs you display on your page, so remember that. Insert the {body}, {subject}, {date}, {mood}, {custom_text} where you put them on your template inside the {mask:blog} {/mask} portions.

Finally I code the comments. This part can be tricky with the add comment portion. The add comment portion will only show up when a user clicks on the actual blog. To do this the {set} is used and as stated before their should be an example on the current template. To get the add comment form the way you want there are a few different choices. You can create it on your own and not use the {add_comment_block} Aeonity provides or you can style the add comment section using the classes that Aeonity's default code has in place (view source on your current blog for that code). This should allow full custom ability for the comment block.

Ending Notes
Now that you know the tips and tricks hopefully it will be less frustrating to attempt to create a new template for Aeonity. In the future at some point we will be creating a whole templating section on Aeonity, where you can create templates and test them without disrupting your current blog. Unfortunately that is quite a task and it does not look to be done in the future but is of high priority as we want to move to the new Web 2.0 interfaces. To do that we need templateors and we want them to be able to template in ease. Questions about templates, features etc, for now use the contact form until a FAQ has been generated for you. Thanks!

On that note if you need help converting an already designed template shoot me an email at frost [-at-] aeonity [-dot-] com. I will not design any templates but am more than happy to help implement them.

Comments 4
Add to Twitter | Post a comment

Comcast recently made a news release that it will be pulling the plug on Bit torrent seeding ports. What this means is that the Linux community is going to take a huge hit from not having their distributions seeded, plus many other free based companies that do not receive any profits from their products.

As such I took action by visiting
and told My Story on why Comcast should not do this.

So go ahead and tell your story. Help us save the internet from being crippled by ISP companies such as Comcast and AT&T! Speak up!

Here is my story from the above link:

Bit Torrent traffic is not all illegal. A lot of us help out the Linux community and other Open source free software communities by seeding legal software distributions which in return saves them bandwidth. Having this stupid logic in place prevents great feats like that from happening and will basically shut down the Linux community as no one can afford to buy hosting for as much traffic as they bring in.

Stop trying to take control of the internet, I will be looking into a new company to take my money and not limit me. Thanks Comcast for making not want to give you my money anymore. I sure as hell wasted my time and money by switching from DSL.

Comments 11
Add to Twitter | Post a comment

Win a 1990 FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser
by FrosT



Introduction
Do you want a chance to win a 1990 FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser? I know I do. Your question is, where can I find a sweet deal like that? Well for starters you can Buy $3.00 Raffle Tickets for a chance to win. Now the question you have is why is there such a sweet deal to win this 1990 FJ62 Land Cruiser, which has definitely been DECKED OUT? Well let me explain how the 1990 FJ62 Fully Customized Raffle vehicle came to be.

1990 FJ62 Fully Custom Land Cruiser
Thanks to Rising Sun Land Cruiser 4WD Club and many other people the Raffle Vehicle, 1990 FJ62 Land Cruiser, who has put in many hours of wrench work and has received many donations from awesome vendors. Without the vendors, the donations or even the wrench work, this vehicle would not be as sweet as it is now. Why not give it a try for just $3.00 a Raffle Ticket? This is a win-win situation, as the money you put into the Raffle tickets will be used as such:

The proceeds from the ticket sales are distributed through the Associations Funds as follows: 30% to the Land Use Fund, 10% to the Promotion Fund, 40% to next years Raffle Fund, 5% to the Office Fund, 12.5% to the Scholarship Fund and 2.5% to the Sunshine Fund. All unused monies in the Raffle Fund at the end of the year will be transferred to the General Fund.

Ending Notes
There is really no reason you should not spend at least $3.00 a Raffle Ticket to enter for a chance to win a 1990 FJ62 Land Cruiser and help keep 4WD trails open. What are you waiting for? Hurry and Buy a $3.00 Raffle Ticket to win this AMAZING 1990 FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser!

References:
The 1990 FJ62 Land Cruiser Raffle Vehicle
Rising Sun 4WD Club
Buy a $3.00 Raffle Ticket to win the 1990 FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser Raffle Vehicle
A picture of the 1990 FJ62 Toyota Land Cruiser

Comments 8
Add to Twitter | Post a comment

Mile-Hi SkyDiving near the Mile High City
by FrosT

Introduction
Recently I took my wife SkyDiving at Mile High Skydiving (Mile-Hi Skydiving) in Ft. Lupton, Colorado. Roughly 45 minutes North of the Mile High city, Denver, Colorado. If you would like to read about the whole anniversary you can read about it at my other blog.

Mile-Hi Skydiving is a very professional and friendly place. The two trainers my wife and I received were very knowledgeable and enjoyed Skydiving for a living. The Skydiving experience was a tremendous one and one that we will never forget. We owe it all to Mile-Hi Skydiving.

The Skydiving Experience
The Skydiving at Mile-Hi Skydiving was excellent, the view was spectacular and everyone was friendly. From the moment we walked into the hangar till the moment we got back to hangar we never felt left out or looked down upon. It was actually quite funny as we went up with a group of experienced Skydivers and you could just tell every one of them was saying, "I remember when I was sitting in their position." It was a very calming feeling that actually helped calmed my nerves before I jumped out of the airplane to Skydive.

This whole breath taking experience, which I do mean literally, is one that everyone should experience at least once in their life. Skydiving is a ton of fun and I hope I get a chance to do it again in my life. Mainly because I was so nervous during the whole plane ride and free fall that I would make a mistake that I was not able to "fully" enjoy the experience.

The Cost to Skydive
Mile-Hi Skydiving costs are reasonable compared to other skydiving centers. For a first time jump, or Tandem jump, it costs $185, per person. An extra $80 for a video of the jump. The Tandem jump was very educational and will make the next step hopefully less scarier and more enjoyable. The next step is the Accelerated Free Fall which costs $300, where you jump with 2 instructors who guide you through how to know when to pull the parachute cord etc. I hope I do get a chance later on in my life to further myself in Skydiving and learn to enjoy the experience instead of barely knowing what happened.

The Addiction
After the jump I really said, "I am good and I do not think I will ever Skydive again." Well about 30 minutes after I said that, I wanted to go again. Skydiving, which I now understand, is very addictive for the adrenaline rush you feel, which is an intense one that will have you tired and smiling for days. I can say that I would love to Skydive a lot more, but do to money constraints I do not see me Skydiving anymore anytime soon. Hopefully one day I will go back to Mile-Hi Skydiving and maybe even do all the jumps required to be fully certified to have $23/jump fees.

Ending Notes
If you are near the Mile High city of Denver, Colorado, I would highly suggest you take the 45 minute drive up to Ft. Lupton, Colorado and Skydive with Mile-Hi Skydiving Center. You will have the best time of your life and feel a real accomplishment. Skydiving is something you should experience at least once in your life, as it was the best time I can ever remember having.

References:
Mile High Skydiving (Mile-Hi Skydiving) in Ft. Lupton, CO

Comments 4
Add to Twitter | Post a comment