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BugMeNot is a Firefox extension that allows you to bypass compulsory web registration via the right-click context menu.

Say what?

Here’s an example. A friend sends you a link that sends you to a news article on, oh, let’s say, the New York Times. You click on said link, and instead of reading the actual article, you are reading a page that tells you in order to view this article, you have to fill out a registration form and become a member.

“I just wanna read the article,” you moan, withering on the floor.

Enter BugMeNot.

Now you just have to right-click on either the user name or password field, select “Login with BugMeNot,” and you are instantly logged in, using any one of several user-submitted public accounts, with their names and passwords.

This is used for mandatory, free registration, and not for pay sites. Also make a note: I am not the owner, developer, creator or maintainer of BugMeNot’s service. I simply wrote the Firefox extension that hooks in to the service. If you have any questions, praise, comments or complaints about the actual service, then visit bugmenot.com for full details of their service.

Okay, enough reading- how do I install this thing?

Fair question. Go here and follow the directions:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6349

I made the decision a while ago to move all of my nerdy-tech stuff from a little web site called roachfiend.com to this one. I’m a big fan of simple, easy, one-place-for-all types of things. The way I have it now is just a total mess. So, this is just my own version of a warning label I’m sticking in the ether to let you know that there’s going to be an influx of nerdy posts arriving in probably short order. I think that I’m just going to host the actual files on Firefox’s site, though, and not here.

This was a tricky and hard thing to do. Let’s be honest, here. I enjoy money. I like to spend it, I like to receive it. Maybe that makes me materialistic. So, having all of my extensions on my own personal board was quite a draw- if you wanted BugMeNot, you had to come to my site. If you wanted ListZilla, you had to come to my site. You get the idea. Once you gather, say, two thousand people together on a web page- at least a couple of them will click on a link either out of curiosity, out of interest, or out of benevolent well-being. Moving all of these magnets onto a third-party site effectively removes these financial possibilities.

I think it’s time to let them go, though. They are open-source, after all, and I’d like to see them spread their wings and seek out larger audiences. I also tire of updating multiple extensions on multiple places, so perhaps giving them all one centralized home that doesn’t have to depend on my meager bandwidth is a more responsible thing to do. It also allows them to be updated and installed securely.

Back to moving. I will soon have basically all of my content switched over to here- some for historical sake, such as how to create Firefox extensions (which is slowly becoming outdated, but I genuinely think that it’s still useful and a good starting point for those who want to know more about it) and a few other random tutorials. I plan on having each individual extension ported over here also, but they will link to Firefox’s add on site for the actual installation file. I’ll just have the descriptions, screen shots, and so forth here.

So, like I said, this has been a slow, deliberate move, like a very determined sloth who has been set on fire. I also want to have a space that I can just write whatever the hell I want, and not be limited to Firefox extensions and “random technological tidbits.” I think I have a few interesting things to say. Well, I guess that’s subjective. Only time will tell, I suppose.

My boys are growing up fast. You always hear that from older people–your parents, elders, what have you. You assume it to be true, but store that way in your head for some time in the future when it might matter. I think I’m reaching the age where it is starting to ring true.

Asa’s already humongous in just a little over a year. Silas is actually starting to resemble a miniature person, instead of a tiny, shriveled mass of flesh stuffed inside a onesie. He’s starting to smile now, which is the first little sign of entertainment to come.

Watching your children interact with each other as they grow is a pretty interesting experience. It’s like building a really advanced erector set that craps itself and requires food.