I’m going to start a new feature here on Techydad:  Freeware Friday.  Every Friday, I’ll post a short review of a piece of freeware I’ve found that I think is useful to have.  I’ll try to avoid the obvious ones that nearly everyone knows about like OpenOffice.org and FireFox (at least for now) in favor of applications that might be lesser known.

This week, I’d like to highlight KIDO’Z.  KIDO’Z is a web browser aimed towards kids.  Why do kids need a special web browser, you might ask?  Well, young children, just being introduced to computers, might not know that they can go to the address bar and type in (for example) Noggin.com to get to games and activities on Noggin’s website.  Even if they do, they might misspell it as Noginn.com and wind up at a completely different site.  KIDO’Z, in contrast, is extremely easy.  Children merely select Games, Web Sites, or Videos and then select what they want to see.  Except for any Games/Websites that require keyboard input, all controls are handled by the mouse.  Nice, large, easy-to-understand icons are used for controls (with text for kids who know how to read).

The KIDO’Z team is constantly striving to improve the program.  They’ve recently added Parental Controls so parents can better control what their child sees.  You can block sites that KIDO’Z would normally show to the children (useful if, like me, you have a philisophical opposition to all things Barney) and can add your own sites (like a webpage of family photos).

It’s not perfect, mind you.  Due to the limitations of the platform it was designed on (Adobe AIR), it can’t block kids from CONTROL+TABing to another program.  It can’t keep kids from closing KIDO’Z, firing up Internet Explorer, and browsing to a site you’d rather they didn’t go to.  However, it is very good at giving children an easy to use first browser that puts fun and informative content a few clicks away.  I would definitely recommend this for any computer that a child would use.

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• Need to tell my parents that my in-laws are coming with us on our Disney World trip. How to break the news, though? #
• They wouldn’t have been able to go, but I don’t want to make it seem like we were slighting them in favor of my wife’s parents. #
• Got an idea for a Twitter app, but it’d quickly push me above my API limit. I should probably register another username for the app to use. #
• Good morning everyone. At work today so I can use my vacation day for Fridge Delivery Day (also known as Thursday). #
• Do you develop in ASP and PHP? If so, do you use separate hosting accounts? #
• Typical. I feel highly productive and want to plow through my work and my laptop slows down to a crawl. #
• Just e-mailed my web host asking why they changed their plans so drastically. #
• From 140GB, ASP/MS SQL & PHP/mySQL for $130/yr to ASP/MS SQL OR PHP/mySQL & 4GB of space for $193/yr. Or ASP/MS SQL/PHP/mySQL & 8GB for $509 #
• Was checking out Lunar Pages. They had ASP, PHP, MS SQL, mySQL, & just about enough space. Only allowed 2 websites per plan though. #
• I asked how much to purchase additional websites (need at least 6) & was told I can’t. I’d need to sign up for multiple plans. WEBHOST FAIL! #
• Just got a reply from Sectorlink about their hosting plan changes. #
• They “introduced a new security model & new feature set … which unfortunately resulted in an overall increase of price.” #
• They also added that any existing account “will continue to be hosted at it’s current cost and features until you request otherwise.” #
• It does in the short term. It means we can stay on the plan we have now without any problems. #
• Oops, that first part was meant to be @TheAngelForever. #
• Just found a host to investigate. Heard good things about Surpass. They don’t do Windows, but mentioned a “sister company” HostDime. #
• HostDime has a plan with 10GB of space, 5 hosted domains, PHP, ASP, mySQL, & MS SQL for $14.95/mo or $165/yr. #
• If I can move my sites to using mySQL instead of MS SQL, and if ChiliSoft ASP works well, then HostGator might be a viable option. #
• HostGator is $14.95/mo for unlimited space, unlimited domains, ChiliSoft ASP, PHP, & mySQL. #
• RT and Enter to win a Boon Trio Animal Bag. Details here: http://twurl.nl/uj5t2a <= Only two days left. #
• HostGator is also working on Windows plans. Looking forward to those. #
• Going to try to switch SectorLink to paying monthly while keeping current plan. Otherwise I’ll soon be locked into Sectorlink for another yr #
• Productive streak killed by McAfee Anti-Virus suddenly(and for no reason) demanding 90%+ of my CPU time. #
• What’s sadder: A 13yr old might be the youngest father in Britain or 2 boys question his paternity saying they too slept w/ the 15yr old? #
• Just thought of an interesting (and disturbing)wrinkle with the new #FacebookTOS blog post coming soon. #
• Interesting. New reply from Sectorlink says that they’re still offering PHP/mySQL on their Windows plans. Website just hasn’t been updated. #
• So their current “Windows Level 2″ plan would fit my needs, but would cost about $253.20/yr (adding additional 2GB web space to get to 6GB). #
• That’s still double my current hosting costs. #
• Very productive “working vacation day” today. Got 18 items checked off my To Do list out of 32 items I started with. #
• I love working on vacation days. No one calls and bothers me. I get so much more work done. #
• Heading home now. Much work accomplished on this In-The-Office-Vacation-Day. #
• Skipping #WiiFit tonight, but I have a good reason. My little one projectile puked all over our bed. He’s still awake but acting normal. #
• Just watched #Heroes. My son decided to puke during the opening minutes. Thank goodness for DVRs. Don’t think it was a critique on Heroes. #
• RT @mommasreview: Only one more day to win two Slankets! Come enter our giveaway http://tinyurl.com/am2o9h #
• Got a voice message while I was in a meeting. It’s a wrong number. Should I call back to let them know or just ignore it? #
• RT and Enter to win a Boon Trio Animal Bag. Details here: http://twurl.nl/uj5t2a <== Would be cute to take pictures of NHL/JSL on this. #
• Called the guy back. I’d hate to wait around for a callback if I left a voice mail at the wrong number. He thanked me for calling back. #
• Sectorlink has updated their plans. Were showing 1.5GB & 4GB for the Windows plans. Now 15GB & 40GB. Not as good as the 140GB I have now tho #
• Just confirmed. I can switch from annual to monthly billing on Sectorlink while retaining my old plan. #
• This means I can leisurely look at other hosts instead of having an April deadline. #
• Poster on DisBoards said they were given a soup recipe by DW staff. The foodie in me loves this. Enjoy food at Disney then make it at home! #
• Politifact, which during the election fact checked candidates, is tracking how well Obama keeps his campaign promises. http://is.gd/g1hq #
• Current track record: 9 Kept, 3 Compromise, 2 Broken, 21 In The Works, 475 No Action (not surprising, he’s been in office less than 1 month) #
• How do I tell my parents that my wife’s parents are coming w/ us on our Disney Vacation w/o hurting their feelings? #
• The longer I wait to do this, the worse it gets but I can’t think of a way to casually slip it in without it sounding like an insult. #
• The complication w/ my parents is that they’re looking after my 94yr old grandmother so they can’t leave her for long. #
• Thanks @classymommy & @Jentifa. I’ll offer another trip w/ them (even though I know they won’t accept). #
• I guess I just need to get it over with. If I wait too long, I’ll need to explain why my in-laws are in the vacation photos. #
• Trying to pack up and head home but the “1 last test” I did of a page turned into infinite recursion. Trying to shut it down before I leave. #
• 80 days until we go to Disney World now. #
• Computer moving slowly today. My brain’s moving slowly also. Is it naptime? #
• RT @WorthyWire: North Dakota House Gives Fertilized Eggs Human Status http://tinyurl.com/awob2t <= Fertility treatment ramifications? #
• When couples are done w/ IVF, fertilized eggs might be left over. Those are usually destroyed. Under the ND bill, that would be murder. #
• Why can’t I just get a list of a user’s friends using the Twitter API without going through page after page? #
• Got a great Twitter-based app in mind, but I fear I’ll hit the API if I need to go through page after page of friends. #
• At the very least, it could give me a “Number Of Friends” figure so I can figure out the maximum page I’ll need to retrieve. #
• Only going to pull the 1st 10 pages of a user’s Friends. There are 100 friends per page. That means a 1,000 friend limit which seems fair. #
• Skipped my #WiiFit workouts this entire week so far thanks to our marathon cleaning sessions. #
• Going to head to bed now. So tired from all of our cleaning. With luck, my wife & the boys will be able to visit me at work tomorrow. #
• The Crisis of Credit Visualized: http://www.vimeo.com/3261363 Very informative (and scary) look at the mess we’re in. #
• Nine out of 10 parents swear in front of children: http://is.gd/kfmR #
• Looks like my wife and kids won’t be visiting after all. Was looking forward to it too. #
• Hmm… The Twitter app I’m working on keeps crashing FireFox. That’s not good at all. That’ll need to be fixed before I roll it out. #
• A bug in my code made a ton of TwitterAPI calls & bumped me into my rate limit. Guess I need to wait an hr before continuing my development. #
• Parents called to tell me that my grandmother fell today. She’s in the ER now and might need to go to a nursing home for rehab. #
• Realized that my Twitter app will *ALWAYS* hit the 100 reqs/hr limit. Just the nature of what it does. Need to apply for the increased limit #
• Running into too much trouble with a jQuery Queue plugin. Moving everything into a server side script instead. #
• Oops. Last tweet should have specified that I’m having trouble with a jQuery *AJAX* Queue plugin. #
• My wife is passed out on the couch next to me. I should really be getting to sleep also. But first I need to prep my camera for tomorrow. #

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I didn’t intend to do another Facebook/Breastfeeding post so soon, but a new wrinkle in the whole controversy just occurred. Facebook recently changed their Terms of Service. Previously, they claimed rights to use your content as they see fit, but you could terminate those rights by having your account deleted.  Now, not only can they use your content if your account is closed or deleted, but they can sublicense your content as well.

How does this impact the Facebook/Breastfeeding controversy?  Well, suppose a mother uploads a photo of herself breastfeeding.  Facebook, regarding this content as sexually explicit, deletes the account.  However, Facebook retains rights to all content uploaded, including the breastfeeding photo.  Facebook can now sell that photo to a stock photo agency who can sell it to someone else to be used in an ad campaign.  This mother might find her nursing photo being used to advertise baby formula.  Imagine the outrage the mother would feel to see herself in the ad with the tag line "It’s just as good as mother’s milk."

What would the mother’s options be?  Pretty limited.  She could try to sue Facebook, but she likely wouldn’t get very far.  You see, that same Terms of Service also states that you’re agreeing to Mandatory Arbitration.  In short, she will have to travel to a state that the company chooses, face an arbitrator chosen by the company, who likely rules in favor of the company over 90% of the time, won’t be able to subpeona any documents from the company, won’t be able to appeal any decisions to a real court, and – even if by some quirk she wins – won’t have any legal teeth to get any money from the company.  In other words, Facebook has all but declared themselves the winner if you decide you want to challenge them legally.

This might solve the "Breastfeeding Photos on Facebook" controversy, but not in the expected way.  I don’t know why anyone (especially breastfeeding mothers) would want to upload photos to Facebook knowing that those photos could be sold by Facebook to some other company for any possible use without any compensation or recourse given to the user.  Perhaps it is time for another social network, one with better Terms of Service and better operating practices, to rise up and displace Facebook.

• Yearly Jewish Federation donation call. I say I can’t donate. He asks if he should call Jewish Family Services. WTF? #
• I’m not poor, I just can’t afford to donate right now. Was tacky how the guy assumed things about my financial situation based on my “No.” #
• Did some baking tonight. Snickerdoodles (from bought cookie dough) and No Pudge Fudge Brownies. Yum on both. #
• Is it morning? Am I awake? I seem to be dressed and at work, but brain no want wake up. Me nap now. *zzzzzzzzzzz* #
• Got a “shouting” call from my wife. Apparently, she picked up NHL at kindergarten, headed for the library, & NHL decided to wet his pants. #
• Holocaust denying bishop says he’ll review evidence, won’t visit Auschwitz, but bought a book: http://is.gd/iXmy #
• He claims previous comments based on research in the 80′s. AFAIK, there’s been no Holocaust historical breakthroughs in the past 25 yrs. #
• Either he’ll claim his evidence review supports denial or he’ll change his tune & use “re-examining the evidence” as a save face maneuver. #
• Not feeling well today. Also having a high point day. Think the two are related? #
• Packing up and heading home now. Need to fill up the car before I head home & make dinner. in reply to TheAngelForever #
• Today’s starting off as a really stressful day. Not a good sign when I’m highly stressed before I even get to work. #
• Car needs repair. Then again, it’s 10 years old with 104K miles on it. Perhaps I should just replace it. But what to replace it with? #
• New (or used) car requirements: Not too big (just for daily commutes), fuel efficient (at least 28-30mpg) and as inexpensive as possible. #
• I’d love to get a hybrid, but they just cost too much. #
• Websense blocks Wikipedia’s #Breastfeeding In Public page ( http://is.gd/j2Ih ) as Nudity. Doesn’t flag Wikipedia’s Breastfeeding page tho. #
• Also doesn’t block Wikipedia’s Breast page ( http://is.gd/j2JE ) which has a female breast photo (w/ nipple). So why block BF in Public? #
• Fun! Sheldon (on online comic strip) has grandpa starting on Weight Watchers… um, I mean Point Watchers. http://is.gd/j2OR #
• Twitter charging companies wouldn’t be fatal. I do wonder how they’d identify corporate use though. #
• If I have a site w/ a CafePress shop, am I charged to tweet? What if my blog runs ads? Tweeting about my blog posts could earn me money. #
• Warning label on my soup container: “Bowl and soup are HOT after heating” I would seriously hope so. If it’s frozen, the microwave’s busted. #
• Is hoping that Daphne on Heroes is still alive. @BreaGrant is wonderful on the show & I don’t want her written off just yet. #
• Hopefully she’s recovering in a Hero Prison Hospital. Leaving her status up in the air does help make Matt (& viewers) upset at Nathan & co. #
• Bare bones beta version of my revamped Infomercial review site is done. WordPress makes it go quickly. #
• Anyone know of any WordPress plugins designed for product reviews? #
• Freezing here. I need a snuggie! #
• Octoplet’s mom: “Everything I do is for my children.” Maybe she shouldn’t have more kids when she can’t afford the 6 kids she already has? #
• If my wife and I had no income, we’d cherish the kids that we had & would hold off on more kids until we were more financially secure. #
• Octoplet’s moms 1st 6: Boy, girl, boy, boy, & a set of twins. So that’s 5 pregnancies before the octoplets. #
• I’d question the fertility doctor’s ethics if he kept implanting eggs into her while she was unemployed & had many kids already. #
• 13 month spread between her first 2 kids? #
• 5 pregnancies in 5 1/2 years?!!! That can’t be healthy for her body. #
• I think she just made a dig at the Duggers. I have my problems with them, but at least they have income to support their family. #
• She admits that 6 embryos were transferred? I know someone who went for IVF and only 2-3 embryos were used each time. #
• Is wondering how much is it going to cost her to raise 13 kids as an unemployed single mom. 2 kids can be pricy. #
• Oops, I typed 13 kids…. meant 14 kids. Can’t do math right now. Too tired. Need to do some WiiFit workouts. #
• Her 6 year old girl thinks it’ll be stressful all the time. It can be stressful here with 2 kids. I can’t IMAGINE adding 12 more! #
• She’s planning to move to a larger home…. with WHAT MONEY?!!! #
• Octuplet mom didn’t want her frozen embryos destroyed. Fair enough, there’s another option. Donate them to couples who can’t have kids. #
• I believe you can even sell them thus giving her money to take care of her first 6 kids. #
• She claims that there were 6 inserted in each round & two failed rounds before the 8 arrived. That’s 24 embryos to donate. #
• More Weight Watchers….. er, Point Watchers in Sheldon. Looks like this will be a week long story line: http://www.sheldoncomics.com/ #
• Today’s Baby Blues references Breastfeeding:http://twitpic.com/1fl03 #
• Has anyone used the ReviewPress plugin for WordPress? If so, what did you think about it? #
• RT @mike_elgan: Why not pay Wall Street bonuses in their own toxic assets? http://hellotxt.com/l/3ilm #
• Note to self. When you get too little sleep you have a tendency to snack more often the next day. IOW, proper sleep helps weight loss. #
• rt @Moomettesgram You KNOW you want to win a blanket w/sleeves ~ The Slanket! Enter now! http://twurl.nl/yupbzh #
• Authors Guild says Kindle doesn’t have “right to read a book out loud” http://is.gd/j12v That costs extra? No more NHL bedtime stories! #
• So tired…. So I’m going to force myself onto the WiiFit. Maybe an hour of FreeStep aerobics with 10lbs of weights on my legs will help. #
• Exhausting #WiiFit workout. 30 minutes of FreeStep and then 20 arm & leg lifts (each side). All with wieghts on my wrists/ankles. *collapse* #
• Night night tweets. Headed to bed to try to get some sleep tonight. Hopefully JSL stays asleep the whole night. #
• Enter to win a Boon Trio Animal Bag. RT this message to enter. Full details here: http://twurl.nl/uj5t2a #
• Our fridge is dying so my wife’s off to look at new ones. #
• Phone rings. Automated voice: “If you own your own home you need to protect against major appliance failure.” Phone spammers have me bugged! #
• Local police going to do training exercise near my work (w/ unloaded firearms). Could be a good photo op but not sure they’d like it. #
• More Weight Watchers/Point Watchers fun over at Sheldon Comics: http://www.sheldoncomics.com/ #
• RT and Enter to win a Boon Trio Animal Bag. Details here: http://twurl.nl/uj5t2a <= Looks like a nice way to store NHL/JSL’s stuffed animals #
• Court Says Vaccine Is Not to Blame for Autism http://tinyurl.com/dfvczr #
• RT and Enter to win a Boon Trio Animal Bag. Details here: http://twurl.nl/uj5t2a <= I really like that this is machine washable! #
• Looked at Twit-Jacking page (with JS disabled of course) to figure out how it works. Had to translate a blog post from French to English. #
• It opens an iFrame in such a manner to make it see-through (invisible but still able to react to clicks). #
• It pre-populates a tweet (Twitter supports this). Next it puts a visible “Click Here” button under the invisible Twitter Submit Tweet button #
• You try to click the “Click Here” button, but actually click the “Submit Tweet” button. Viola! Another “Don’t Click” tweet is posted. #
• Just updated my How The “Don’t Click” Twitter Hack Works http://www.techydad.com/?p=349 blog post with a solution for @twitter to use. #
• Network is conspiring against me. Trying to finish one task I was told to do by end of day, but server’s being slow. #
• Trying to leave early to get fridge, but I can’t leave until this is done. And the network seems to be working against me here. ARGH! #
• iPod Touch giveaway at http://twurl.nl/fbtbdv by @katjapresnal #skimbaco #11moms Please RT! #
• Off to WiiFit. Wish there was some way to Tweet while FreeStepping. (No, I don’t have a Smart phone/iPhone. Just a laptop.) #
• RT and Enter to win a Boon Trio Animal Bag. Details here: http://twurl.nl/uj5t2a <= Looks like a very cool stuffed animal storage system. #
• Night tweets! #
• Someone brought in donuts today. I looked at them and wasn’t tempted at all. Sorry, @DunkinDonuts, but it does mean my diet’s working. #
• One Boston Kreme donut has 6.5 points. Instead that, I can have 2 packets of instant grits (4 points) and a Kashi strawberry bar (2 points). #
• Really wish @Hostgator’s Windows servers were available. Heard good things about them, but I need to run ASP/MS SQL as well as PHP/mySQL. #
• Zoomable photo of Inauguration Day: http://tinyurl.com/c8jabs Very cool! #
• LOL! Free Valentine’s Day song from Amazon.com MP3: http://tinyurl.com/b2gmbe #
• Is it time to go home yet? #
• Is it the weekend yet? #
• Feeling a bit confined in my 8 foot by 10 foot windowless office. #
• Why is OpenOffice.org flagging every word as spelled wrong? Did I really spell “a” wrong? Or “on”? Or “in”?!!! #
• RT and Enter to win a Boon Trio Animal Bag. Details here: http://twurl.nl/uj5t2a <= Really hoping to win this… can you tell? #
• RT and Enter to win a Boon Trio Animal Bag. Details here: http://twurl.nl/uj5t2a <= My wife & I could review it on our blogs. (hint hint) #
• Friday 13th strikes! Washing hands & water splashed over the front of my pants. Walked back to my office looking like I peed my pants. #
• All I can say is: Thank goodness for sportjackets! #
• Is the weekend here yet? #
• Any web hosts out there that offer ASP, PHP, mySQL, MS SQL, at least 5GB of space, and the ability to host multiple sites on the same plan? #
• My wife and I have a “fun” V-Day planned. Cleaning the house up so that our new fridge can be delivered. #
• Weekend time! Yay! *Thinks about all the cleaning that needs to be done this weekend.* Hmmm… Maybe I want to stay in the office after all. #
• Our V-Day was filled with kitchen cleaning & microwaved dinner. Ok, not romantic, but very productive! #
• 5 bags of garbage & the equivalent of 2 more bags recycling. One room down, 4 more to go. #
• Sheldon Comics has another (and possibly the last for now) “Point Watchers” strip: http://www.sheldoncomics.com/ in reply to Shortpacked #
• Asked to join advisory panel. TOS say that they’ll own all “rights to the suggestions of every kind & nature throughout the Universe” WTH?!! #
• If I agree to the TOS, I guess I’d have to move to my nearest parallel dimension to make a comment that the company wouldn’t own. #
• RT and Enter to win a Boon Trio Animal Bag. Details here: http://twurl.nl/uj5t2a <= This looks so cool. #
• Doing a full mirror of all files on my web hosting account to see how many GB’s I’m using with files. With 27% transferred, I’m over 1GB #
• Projecting 4GB when all is said & done. Add in another GB or 2 for DBs and future growth. Looks like I need 6GB+ from a hosting provider. #
• Listening to “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye, free from Amazon.com MP3. #
• Just checked my disk quota and it’s claiming that I’m using 4GB. That’s probably files only, then as my mirror is on track to be that much. #
• Night all! #

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Last week, I was watching a program on The History Channel titled History of Sex. Just before and after each commercial break, they would have a little quote. I immediately hit pause at one of them as I just had to write this down:

Victorians used the term “limbs” as a euphemism for legs, which were thought to be so sexually exciting to a man, even a glimpse of a table leg could incite him to sexual frenzy. Table skirts were invented to prevent any unnatural unions between men and furniture.

I immediately thought of something I had written in my The Facebook/Breastfeeding Controversy: A Dad’s Perspective post:

Society seems to dictate that the breast should be hidden away (even in instances of breastfeeding) because it is a sexual object. This is a self-fulfilling statement, however. It is mainly a sexual object *BECAUSE* it is hidden away. Go back a century or two to when women wouldn’t be seen outside showing any ankle and ask people of that time why they thought a bared female ankle shouldn’t be seen. I guarantee that the response would have been that the female ankle is sexually alluring and thus should be hidden away. When ankles became common to see, legs became the alluring object. When legs revealed themselves, the belly gained prominence. As each body part showed up more and more in public life, it lost being seen solely as a sexual lure. If women were to commonly walk around topless, the breast would lose much (if not all) of it’s role as a sexual lure. Yes, there would be an increase in teenaged boys drooling on street corners in the short term, but after awhile, society would move on.

Here was some historical proof of my theory. Back during the Victorian era, people thought that men couldn’t handle the mere sight of a female leg. In fact, female legs were thought to be such a strong sexual turn-on that a table’s leg would place a man into a state of “sexual frenzy” merely due to the passing resemblance they have to a female’s leg. Today, however, you can see women’s legs everywhere from business offices to the beach. From malls to markets. These women aren’t leaving a trail of frenzied men in their wake. Society has moved on.

Yes, the female leg is still seen by men today as a sexual attractant, but it is no longer “forbidden fruit.” You don’t see men’s magazines named “Thigh” showing bare legs. Men simply do not go into an uncontrollable frenzy on the mere sight of a bare leg. If women walked around commonly without any tops on, the female breast would become another “woman’s leg.” It would lose its “forbidden fruit” aspect. While it would remain a sexual attractant to some degree, it wouldn’t be the sort of thing that makes men drool like idiots.

A few weeks ago, I installed the Twitter Tools plugin.  Overall, I like it.  It allows me to connect my Twitter posts with my blog posts and vice versa.  However, I’ve noticed that my "This Week In Tweets" blog posts (which automatically post my previous week’s tweets) are getting too large.  Should I stop those entirely or should I narrow down how many appear per post?  Your suggestions would be appreciated.

I began to see "Don’t Click" posts appearing in my Twhirl client from a few different users. Then came the warnings not to click the links in those tweets as that would tweet a "Don’t Click" from my own account. Being curious (and careful), I decided to figure out how this could work. First, I would like to recommend that you don’t follow my steps unless you know what you’re doing. This instance is relatively benign (annoying, but benign) the next instance could result in virus/trojan infestation.

After finding one of the "Don’t Click" links, I disabled JavaScript within Firefox. I was reasonably confident that this would prevent anything from running automatically. Next, I opened the link. Sure enough, a page opened up with a "Click Here" button. Next, I examined the source code but didn’t see anything that would automatically post the tweet. It did notice an iFrame loading Twitter.com with a premade Tweet just as thinkgeek mentioned.  I didn’t see how it would post the message to your tweet-stream, however.

At the bottom of the page was a credit for the source of the code so (keeping JavaScript disabled), I decided to follow the link.  That turned out to be a blog post written in French.  A quick trip to Babelfish later, and I was able to read the blog post.  The translation wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough.  So here’s how it goes:

1. You see "Don’t Click" posted by one of your Twitter Friends.  Being the curious sort, you click on the link.
2. The page that loads contains an iFrame.  This iFrame loads up Twitter.com with another "Don’t Click" message pre-filled out.  So far, this isn’t a threat of any kind.  Websites can do this all they want, they just can’t interact with the contents of the iFrame (beyond loading up completely new contents).  The website doesn’t have access to your Twitter Username or Password.
3. The iFrame is set via CSS to be transparent.  This means that it’s there and clickable, but you don’t actually see it.
4. A "Click Here" button is shown and positioned (via CSS) right where the Twitter.com page’s submit button is.
5. You, again being the curious sort, try to click the "Click Here" button.
6. Instead of clicking "Click Here", your browser clicks on the Twitter Submit button (located on top of the Click Here button but invisible to you).
7. Twitter posts a "Don’t Click" message in your name.

It is quite clever, but it still requires two user actions.  First, you need to click on the "Don’t Click" link.  Next, you need to click on the "Click Here" button.  This whole hack wouldn’t work if Twitter.com didn’t support pre-filling out messages, but those pre-filled out messages can come in handy from time to time.  So what can Twitter do to prevent this?  To be honest, I don’t know.  They’ve said that they’re working on it, but (short of removing the "pre-filled message" functionality), this prank uses standard HTML/CSS conventions.  For now, though, the easiest way to prevent this is not to click on those links or, if you do, don’t click on the second link.

Update:  I actually did just think of something Twitter could do to stop this.  The Don’t Click pranksters can’t see what’s going on when they attempt to get their tweet sent under their victim’s name.  Twitter, however, can detect that a pre-filled out message is about to be sent and can pop-up a JavaScript prompt confirming the submission.  The pranksters won’t be able to click on the "Ok, submit this" button in a JavaScript prompt and the potential victim will (hopefully) cancel the message and leave.

• Seriously, Disney, when are posting your May park hours? We need to make our reservations on Sunday, but May park hours aren’t posted yet. #
• Loving the fact that the latest version of Twhirl has spell-check built in. #
• While at my parents’ house I picked up some old family photos to scan. I really wish I knew more about the one w/ my great-grandparents. #
• Unfortunately, my grandfather (whose parents they were) passed away many years ago & my grandmother’s memory’s not the best. #
• Wow. A member of my digital photography group not only published a coffee table book with his great astrophotography shots, … #
• …but he also got forewords written by Sir Arthur C Clarke, Sir Patrick Moore, and Dr. Brian May (Queen guitarist w/ PHD in Astrophysics). #
• Link to the incredible Astrophotography book: http://is.gd/i6qz #
• Thinking about webcams. If my parents got 1 & we got 1, the kids could talk to Bubbe, Grandpa, & Greatgrandma on screen instead of by phone #
• Close call this weekend. I downloaded photos from my friend’s wedding to show my parents. Forgot I had a “TechyDad” stamp on them. #
• Luckily, I only showed them to my mom (not computer literate) then deleted them. When dad asked about them I said that quality wasn’t good. #
• Parents don’t know about my “TechyDad” moniker & although I don’t use this name to badmouth them, I’d rather they don’t know about it. #
• How many Twitterfolk keep an online identity (Twitter, Facebook, blog, etc) that their parents/family doesn’t know about? #
• I find this hilarious though I’m sure families watching the Super Bowl didn’t: Porn clip penetrates Super Bowl broadcast http://is.gd/i5Vq #
• Phil the Groundhog sees 6 more weeks of winter. In related news: http://ushotstuff.com/wg/GroundhogSmp.htm #
• Some people recorded the “Super Bowl Porn” & put it online. Highly NSFW so not even going to think about watching it now. #
• My great-grandparents. http://twitpic.com/1awb7 Undated photo. Only clue is print on the back: “Albert Murdus Photographer 524 Grand St NY” #
• Back of that mystery photo: http://twitpic.com/1awgb Is there a Grand Street Historical Society or something? #
• My twitter profile is worth $287. I ‘m only 2.8% of the worth of @guykawasaki. http://www.tweetvalue.com/ #
• People book #DisneyWorld reservations 90 days out. 90 days from today = May 3. Last posted schedule as of now = 4/28. Disney Schedule FAIL! #
• Punky Brewster’s on Twitter? I loved that show! (Ok, not Punky, but the actress who played her: @moonfrye) #
• Man do I hate #Heroes! How could they end like that & make me wait a week for more?!!! Seriously, though, *GREAT* episode. #
• Almost forgot about my #WiiFit workout. Might make things simple and just do 50 minutes of Free Step with my ankle weights on. #
• Non-PB items recalled now. Execs from the company should be brought up on criminal charges. They knew about the Salmonella & ignored it. #
• Video game playing linked to breastfeeding. http://is.gd/i2Pq (No, not really. The “link” is used to show how ridiculous some studies are.) #
• Wondering if there’s any way to figure out how old a photo is. Got an undated photo of my great-grandparents. #
• So tired. Stayed up way too late last night. Would anyone notice if I closed my office door and took a 3 or 4 hour nap? #
• Why does the new version of #Twhirl insist on adding multiple spaces when I hit the space key once? #
• Special K Bliss bars are so not worth it. They taste good, but FiberOne bars taste better, are almost 2x the size, & are the same points. #
• I found out on Sunday that you can’t bring Trader Joe’s Sunflower Butter on an airplane. They count it as a liquid and confiscate it. #
• Luckily, my parents were nearby & were able to take it back with them. I’ll have to pick it up when I drive down one day. #
• Just got another “Your car warranty is expiring” robo-call. Should have pressed 1 & yelled at the rep. Just wasn’t motivated enough. #
• Don’t you hate it when you think “Well, the day’s almost over now” and then you look down at the clock & see you still have over 2hrs to go? #
• Anyone know of a guide to the different blogger conferences? (Where they are, when they are, what activities go on at them?) #
• In an attempt to date my great-grandparent’s photo, I found this page with lots of old photos for reference: http://is.gd/igqy #
• Anon. [Husband and wife, she is standing, he is sitting, fringe beard. c.1870] http://is.gd/igqP Looks sort of like the photo I have. #
• Here’s the photo that I’m trying to date: http://twitpic.com/1bdwf Any leads would be greatly appreciated. #
• Headed to bed. Don’t feel so good. Not sure if I’m coming down with something or if my body is just exhausted. Either way, I need some rest. #
• Won a giveaway & didn’t receive prize due to sponsor mix-up. Person hosting giveaway isn’t answering my e-mails. How long should I wait? #
• Thinking of restarting an old website I once ran that had Infomercial product reviews. Might make it more blog-like w/ guest reviewers. in reply to classymommy #
• Why is it, when I’m feeling sick, that I get insanely hungry. Trying to keep to healthy snacks so as not to rack up points needlessly. #
• On the hunt for someone who can catch an injured bird & take care of it. #
• Some of my co-workers suggested hitting it w/ a tennis racket to “put it out of its misery.” I most certainly WILL NOT! #
• Those were female co-workers, BTW. #
• If I re-opened my infomercial review site, people could send me products to review and give away. Any infomercial product vendors out there? #
• Time Warner expanding their metered billing trials. You get 20GB per day then get charged $1 for each GB you go over. #
• Just ate hummus on a flat roll with Fiber One and then cottege cheese w/ crushed pineapple. Why am I feeling extremely hungry? #
• Running a report that usually slows my computer down. Add in McAfee & my computer’s just not responding. Driving me nuts. #
• I want to be productive. Really, I do. But I just can’t if my computer takes 5 minutes to do each thing I tell it to do. (Like Right-click.) #
• Just found out that two Amie Street artists that I like are on Twitter: @shannonhurley and @marinav #
• In case anyone’s interested, @marinav’s music can be heard here: http://is.gd/io61 @shannonhurley’s here: http://is.gd/io9S #
• Another bad day for NHL. His teachers said it’s like he’s not in control. He knows it’s wrong, apologizes after, but can’t stop himself. #
• Last time this happened to NHL, he was on Singulair. Wondering if one of his new allergy/asthma medicines could be causing his bad behavior. #
• RT @Twitter_Tips: WARNING–WordPress Warning: If you have TweetBacks plugin installed uninstall it— it has a spam backdoor (via @DaivRawks ) #
• Fell asleep last night w/ laptop reading twitter. Skipped WiiFit workout for a 2nd night in a row. Feeling a little better this morning. #
• My computer doesn’t want to work today. ARGH! Think it’s time for a reboot. #
• A delivery just arrived at my office. I didn’t order it though. 1st name & Surname’s 1st 3 characters correct. Going to right person now. #
• Computer didn’t want to work. Rebooted and now it does. Ah, the reboot: The fix for nearly all computer “mysterious problems.” #
• Animal Control called me back about the bird… over 24 hours from when I first called them. Nice to see quick response there. #
• I swear the hospital intercom just said: “Peter Griffin call the operator.” If a talking dog & a homicidal baby walk by, I’m going home. #
• Feeling shaky. I sometimes get this way if I’ve put lunch off for too long. But I just ate lunch. I should prob get my blood sugar tested. #
• Diabetes runs in my family (mom has it, grandfather had it, etc) so blood sugar issues aren’t something to be ignored. #
• Can anyone recommend any good WordPress plugins to help handle reviews? Categorizations, Star rankings, Searching, etc. #
• RT @stargardener’s dad: I think Congressmen should wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers so we could identify their Corporate sponsors. #
• Headed home now. *slides down dinosaur’s back and glides into car* #
• Ok, *WAY* past my bedtime. Did my #WiiFit workout & prepped some photos for tomorrow’s blog post. But for now I’m off to bed. Goodnight all! #
• Not feeling too good today. Nose is all stuffed up & I feel like I’m in a fog. #
• Sinuses killing me. Not sure if it’s a sickness, allergies, exhaustion, or all three ganging up on me. #
• Last night I tried to get my router (Netgear WRT614) to e-mail me its log files so I could figure out how much bandwidth we use. No success. #
• Any recommendations on Webcams? Thinking of getting one so my kids can video chat with my parents & grandma long distance. #
• Was looking at this webcam: http://tinyurl.com/8ucpy4 #
• Is it bad that I’m hungry and want to eat lunch at 11:40? #
• Have one single item in my inbox. It looks so lonely in there, but I’m moving on to other projects. #
• Feel like Sushi for dinner but don’t know how many points it’d be. #
• About an hour to go until the weekend is officially here. #
• RT @BuildingCamelot: 100 Foods To Aid in Your Productivity http://tinyurl.com/8l5vnx #
• Shutterfly running very slow. C’mon Shutterfly! I need to add this batch to my work’s gallery so I can go home in 20 minutes. #
• Anyone else running the #Twhirl beta getting doubling spaces? I hit 1 space & 2 appear. Seems to be random, not everytime. Quite annoying. #
• Other than the doubling spaces thing, I’m loving the #Twhirl beta. #
• Interesting how Mr. Rodger’s Neighborhood showed a nipple in the context of breastfeeding while Facebook bans them. http://is.gd/iMEs #

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Last week at this time, I was getting on board an airplane and heading down to see my parents and grandmother.  My grandmother, who turned 94 years old in October, isn’t doing that well.  Her memory has been going for some time, but lately she’s had other issues as well.  Conflicting reports from my parents either had her as heading downhill or at death’s door.  B and I decided that I should head down there to say goodbye as it might be the last time I get to see her.  The boys didn’t come because: 1) I didn’t want them to see great-grandma like that and 2) We didn’t want to pull NHL from school.  B stayed home with the boys, so I was on my own.

After seeing her in person, I don’t think she’s quite at death’s door, but she does seem to be giving up.  All she wants to do is sit and sleep.  I roped her into one game of backgammon but her only real contribution was rolling the dice.  About the only time that my "real grandmother" emerged was when I showed her some videos of the boys that I brought with me.  She smiled and laughed.  My father and I spoke about getting webcams set up so the boys could talk with Bubbe and Grandpa, but perhaps it would be theraputic if they were able to talk with Great-Grandma as well.  Something to think about.

While visiting, I got the chance to see a series of old photos of my grandmother’s.  My mother was trying to decide who to disburse them to when grandma passes away and I decided that they should first be scanned.  The scanned versions could be distributed to all of the kids/grandkids via CD or DVD (depending on how many photos there are).  This way, everyone gets all of the photos even though not everyone gets all of the prints.  My mother and I quickly went through the photos and organized them based on importance.  Photos of my grandparents and father/uncle while they were young got the highest importance.  Photos of me, my sister, or my cousins while they were young were the lowest.

When I went home, I took the 6 highest priority photos with me and scanned them in.  Here they are, along with a photo of my grandmother at her 94th birthday party and a photo of her from this past weekend.

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• Pope reinstates bishop who denied the Holocaust. http://is.gd/hdxI What was he thinking? #
• Slipped on the ice and slammed my finger in the car around noon today. Now it’s really hurting & sore. #
• Today’s going to be tough. Finger’s still hurting from slamming it in the car door yest. But my job entails much typing. Not a good mix. #
• Said yes to one feature for this person and now they’ve added 3 more. #
• Leftover Spaghetti Soup for lunch. Well, it used to be spaghetti soup, but the pasta absorbed all of the soup & now it’s spaghetti in sauce. #
• To all #WiiFit enthusiasts: The WiiFit Workout Generator is now live! Stop on by and try it out: http://www.techydad.com/WiiFitWorkout/ #
• RT @BadAstronomer: Vaccines don’t cause autism! Who knew? Oh, right: science knew. http://is.gd/hjhd #
• Little known fact about me: I don’t curse. At all. Ever. #
• Ok, there was that 1 time while driving w/ a friend. Wanted to get max reaction so I said the C word. He almost drove off the road in shock. #
• Do you have a #WiiFit ? Then why not try out my new WiiFit Workout Generator: http://www.techydad.com/WiiFitWorkout/ #
• Running late on my WiiFit workout. Had to look through old photos of NHL for a class project of his #
• Just put my ankle weight on for the first time. Wow are they heavy. And only 5 pounds. #
• A little shaky with these things on. Guess I need to get used to them. #
• I completely underestimated how tough workouts would be with ankle weights. Can do 30 Jackives w/o them just fine, but with them I’m wiped. #
• Going to make it a “short” workout today. Only 45 minutes. #
• Free Run is next in my #WiiFit workout. Can’t do 10min w/ ankle weights so I’m switching them to my wrists to give my arms a workout too. #
• 45 minute #WiiFit workout done. Ankle/Wrist weights really do kick the workout up a notch. Time for bed now. #
• Latest #Heroes web comic is about our favorite pair of Twittering Heroes: Matt Parkman and Daphne Millbrook aka @greggrunberg and @breagrant #
• Anyone know of any dishwasher safe, plastic bowls with lids? Something I could take to work, use, then bring back home (lidded) to clean. #
• They need to be microwave safe also. Dishwasher & Microwave safe bowls with lids. Anyone know of any? #
• Have you tried the #WiiFit Workout Generator? http://www.techydad.com/WiiFitWorkout/ If so, what was your opinion of it? #
• So tired #
• Need to work out in a half hour but just want to pass out right now #
• #WiiFit age last night was 29. Tonight it’s 27. Boy am I young! #
• Cosby Show retrospective on TV now. “I put you into this world, and I’ll take you OUT!” I’ll have to remember that line for NHL/JSL. #
• JSL was squirming in my lap yesterday. I tell him sit still. He shoves a hand at my face & says “No!” When did he learn “Talk to the hand”? #
• Heading out into the snow to converse w/ @stkulp about various projects and stuff. #
• RT @mike_elgan: Congress discovers Twitter. http://tinyurl.com/caknnc #
• RT @BadAstronomer: You can point Hubble! http://is.gd/hx7r #
• The Point Hubble site doesn’t think my e-mail address is valid. Is it because TechyDad appears in the UN and site portions? #
• RT @wendilynnmakeup: The show has been picked up & is in no danger of being cancelled. Let me clarify heroes lives on…ignore the rumors #
• RT @thinkgeek: “Hackers Crack Into Texas Road Sign, Warn of Zombies Ahead” http://is.gd/hyzI Film at 11? Plz? #
• 101 days until Disney World! #
• RT @BuildingCamelot: You know we’re in tough times when porn takes a hit http://ping.fm/KrPLx <= Those poor, unemployed strippers! #
• Was going to comment “Anyone have a job for an unemployed stripper”, but it sounded too dirty. #
• We have WebMD articles on our Employee Portal. Wonder how many complaints this 1 drew: Masturbation & Prostate Cancer Risk http://is.gd/hzGy #
• So exhausted. Fell asleep at my computer. Going to skip my workout tonight & go to bed early. #
• Got tele-spam message from (702) 520-1126 about renewing my car’s warranty. Looks like this Telespammer’s been busy. http://is.gd/hFJV #
• RT @TheAngelForever: Hard to believe but true. 100 days to go –> http://is.gd/hFNh <= 100 days from now we’ll be Disney-Bound #
• Too funny! View this if you need your screen cleaned: http://www.raincitystory.com/flash/screenclean.swf #
• Tomorrow at this time I’ll be in the air. Happy to soon be seeing parents & grandmother, but I already miss my wife & kids. #
• Is it possible to be homesick before you even leave? #
• Firefox, why do you demand 400MB+ of my memory and 70% of my CPU? #
• Computer slowing down/freezing up again. Taking my frustrations out on the pedal machine under my desk. #
• 2nd priest denies Nazi gas chambers used to kill http://is.gd/hHC3 Disinfect? Sure, if by that you mean kill everything including people! #
• Computer freezing up again. This time I think McAfee Anti-Virus is to blame. That wouldn’t be on my computer at all if I had my way. #
• 14 weeks and 2 days from now I’ll be in Disney World. #
• Only an hour left before I go home. Need to finish some more things, but I think I just saw my brain pack up & leave. Come back brain! #
• Ew. Sectorlink’s new plans stink compared to the one I have. Definitely going to hold onto the one I have for as long as possible. #
• Sectorlink doesn’t offer PHP on Windows servers anymore. I’d need a Windows server for ASP/SQL & a Linux server for PHP/mySQL (eg WordPress) #
• Installing OpenOffice Portable onto a thumb drive for my trip to my parents. #
• Got Portable FireFox, Portable OpenOffice and a portable version of Password Safe on my flash drive. Now if only there was Portable Twhirl. #
• I think I’m all packed now. Postponed my workout, so I think I’ll just do a 30 minute free step on the #WiiFit with weights on my ankles. #
• 50 minute #Wii Free Step workout. 5011 steps with ankle weights on. Time for bed. #
• Getting on the plane now.
  http://tinyurl.com/c89n3d #
• At my parents’ house in Long Island visiting them & my grandmother. (Dinner time now.) Made crockpot pot minestrone soup for them. #
• I miss my wife and kids though. Just talked with them on the phone, but it’s just not the same as being there with them. #
• Showed videos of the boys to my grandmother. Was nice to hear her laugh and smile. #
• http://twitpic.com/19zt2 – My grandparents’ wedding photo. (“Scan” taken by taking a photo of it with my digital camera.) #
• I’ve agreed to do scans of all of my grandmother’s old photos. That was one of them. The digital camera shot came out pretty good. #
• Munching on some Kashi Heart 2 Heart cereal as a late night snack. #
• Think I’ll turn in. Tomorrow is my last day with my parents & grandmother before I head home. #
• Headed to the airport in a 1/2 hour. My weekend with my parents & grandmother is nearly over. I get to see my wife & kids again. Can’t wait. #

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