I learned today...

how to vim remotely

2010-08-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been developing code that needs to be tested on a remote server. I played with a few different scripts to scp changes to the server and decided I needed something stronger. I went looking for a plugin for VIM and found out remote file editing is part of the base vim function.

You can specify a remote file path via scp://user@server/path/to/file or scp://user@server//fully/qualified/path/to/file .

Saving the file with copy over the changes. Any local editing done on the file is done in a temporary file that is cleaned up when the editor is closed.

Updated interactive perl script

2010-06-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

This is still just a quick script to test out perl concepts before trying to write them into a program. It isn't fancy but it is functional.

Look for more updates as I build this out a bit more:

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use Term::ReadLine;
use strict;
use warnings;

my $prompt = "> ";

my $term = new Term::ReadLine("iPerl -- interactive perl");

while (defined ($_ = $term->readline($prompt))) {
chomp;

next if (/^\s$/);
last if (/^(?:q|quit|exit|logout)$/);

my $output = eval $_ or print $!;

print "\nOUT: $output\n" if $output;
}

print "\n";

how to do ipython in perl...

2010-06-23T14:43:00.001-07:00

I've been writing a lot of python code lately and I really enjoy having that instant trial and error you can get by using an interactive code shell. (IPython and a half dozen other tools allow this).

I had to switch to perl on a project and went looking for a similar tool. I wasn't able to find much out there but I did stumble on a quick solution.

perl -ne 'eval $_ ; print ">> "'

This will loop over all input from standard in and attempt to evaluate it. The only downside is you won't be able to write anything that takes multiple lines (for, while, try, or functions). But it is a lot easier than writing perl oneliners over and over again to test out theories.

to fix ubuntu speedstepping

2010-03-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

For some reason my laptop decided to start scaling the processor back to the slowest possible frequency even when I was on AC power and running cpu intensive workloads.

I scanned for cpufreq modules in the kernel using

$lsmod | grep cpufreq

And I found nothing. I attempted to insert speedstep-centrino or acpi-cpufreq as a kernel module and found there were no modules to be loaded.

[~]$ sudo modprobe speedstep-centrino
FATAL: Module speedstep_centrino not found.

[~]$ sudo modprobe acpi-cpufreq
FATAL: Module acpi_cpufreq not found.

At this point I started looking at bug reports and user forums and I found the following:
* speedstep-centrino appears to be deprecated in favor of acpi-cpufreq
* acpi-cpufreq is actually compiled as part of the 2.6.31 ubuntu kernel so there is no module to load
* Ubuntu 10.x may revert to using acpi-cpufreq as a module but thats not confirmed
* cpufreqd and powernowd are userspace speed stepping daemons
* Ubuntu prefers powernowd but my system had cpufreqd installed
* hal (hardware abstraction layer) also has a speed step controller that no one talks about.

The last point is the one that tripped me up. I think the behavior I was seeing was hal getting confused when I would suspend the laptop, change from running on battery to AC, and then restart the laptop. The hald-addon-cpufreq daemon was doing speed stepping by setting min cpu = max cpu = target frequency. Which means switching the governors didn't do anything.

On the advice of a hal configuration bug report I found I removed the 10-cpufreq.fdi file I found in /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/10-cpufreq.fdi and restarted the computer.

Removing the hal cpu controller, powernowd, cpudyn, and cpufreqd finally removed every last bit of automated control over my cpu speed stepping. I have cpufrequtils installed which gives me the ability to view and change cpu max, cpu min, and cpu governor manually. After the headache of trying to figure out why my cpu frequency randomly changed I think I'll stick with a system I can control.

flash followup

2010-02-08T08:08:00.000-08:00

Apparently fixing flash on Karmic Ubuntu is easier and harder than I thought. I messed with various profile setting for a long while and still couldn't get GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS to stick in all cases. It looks like gnome makes a habit of launching things outside of the context of the parent process.

I have everything working correctly now, but it took wrapping the firefox and prism executable with a one liner to set the environment variable

[~]$ cat /usr/bin/firefox
#!/bin/sh
GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS=1 exec firefox-bin $@

That was enough to get it working again. Hopefully this saves someone some time.

how to fix flash in Ubuntu Karmic

2010-02-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

This has been annoying me for a while now. I wasn't able to hit half of the buttons in flash games, youtube, or GrooveShark while running karmic. I figured an update in flash broke my system but it turns out the problem runs a bit deeper.

Gnome decided to enable client side rendering in their GTK windows. This allows for quicker and cleaner redraws when doing special effects. I happen to run fluxbox so I didn't notice anything in the switch. Eclipse users might be familiar with this since Eclipse hasn't handled the change yet. I stole most of this fix from their boards.

You can disable this new client side rendering using the environment variable GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS=1.

My trouble was that it was impossible to get that variable to set anywhere in my config. I edited .profile (which is frowned on), .bash_profile (which is cheating since the variable won't make it into the window manager), /etc/environment (which sets it on a system level), and ~/.pam_environment (which sets it at a user level). None of these solutions would actually get the environment variable to stick.

Flash forward a frustrating half an hour of trial and error and I realized I started up the gnome-settings-daemon in my fluxbox startup script. I put a sleep after the gnome-settings-daemon and appended the GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS assignment and everything started working. Turns out gnome-settings-daemon was hiding the environment variable changes. I have no idea how to reconfigure the setting daemon so I'm currently letting the hack stand (1 second delay and all).

Long and short of it: Add the line "export GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS=1" to your startup files (any that I mentioned above) and keep in mind the gnome-settings-daemon might decide to squash them.

Hopefully that will spare you some troubles

how to improve graphics on a t60p running Jaunty (xorg 1.6 + radeaon)

2009-05-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

Brian commented a few times on my last Jaunty post with some helpful advice. ATIRadeon Wiki posts the driver options for your xorg.conf file. Xorg 1.5 and up can run without the xorg.conf file by automatically guessing drivers and monitors, but it doesn't selected the tuned options all the time.

After my upgrade headaches I cleared the xorg file and started fresh, but I didn't think to add in the device options. I followed the wiki and performance is better, but not stellar. Compiz is still slow and multiple windows running transparency will bring the system to its knees. But its not all bad news. Fluxbox is finally acting the way it used to (desktop switches are quick, windows move without lag)

I still need to try out the radeon HD driver to see if that adds anything. For now I'll happily use fluxbox with Brian's tweaks and be content with it getting the job done.

PS: Brian, I wanted to visit your blog but your profile is blocked. Thanks again for the help

how to change ktimetracker systray icon

2009-04-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

My recent switch from gnome to fluxbox has been a happy improvement save one small detail. I had really gotten used to using the gnome-panel applets but I didn't want to muddy up fluxbox with the gnome-panel (even though you can run it as a subset). Long story short I found there was no good way to run gnome-panel applets without running gnome-panel and I started to look for new applications to fill the void.

Enter ktimetracker. ktimetracker is a handy kde application that can be run standalone. It offers a simple way to create tasks and track time against them. As an added bonus, the system tray icon for ktimetracker animates a clock moving when ktimetracker is tracking time against a task. The only downside is that the icon was small and it was hard to tell when it was animated and when it was stopped.

I found the icons used in the system tray as a bunch of xpms (active-icon-*.xpm) in /usr/share/kde4/apps/ktimetracker/pics . I figured if I changed the icons and restarted ktimetracker I'd be able to see the new system tray icon, but I was only partially right.

I replaced the icons and the system tray didn't change until I had rebooted the system a few time. I still have no idea why it switched (or why it didn't switch immediately) but at least I know where I can go to customize it.

why you should avoid putting Ubuntu Jaunty on a t60p

2009-04-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

I excitedly installed the newest version of Ubuntu on my t60p and found out the following unfortunate facts.

1) The t60p (and many other tSeries laptops) have the Mobility FireGL V5250 video card
2) Catalyst (ATI driver) delayed the delivery of the 9.3 driver to cram as much function into it as they could. The reason they did this was because 9.3 was the final driver to support the Mobility FireGL V5250 video card along with a plethora of other cards. (Full list of unsupported cards here)
3) Ubuntu Jaunty makes use of xorg-xserver 1.6 which only supports the 9.4+ version of the Catalyst ATI driver

All this ends up meaning that the warning Jaunty throws when you try to update with an Mobility FireGL V5250 video card means a lot more than there will be degraded graphics after the update. The only driver that will work with xorg-xserver 1.6 is the Radeon opensource driver for ATI cards.

I'm a big fan of opensource, but the Radeon driver are just not ready for primetime. There is no 2d acceleration which means all the compositing and pretty graphics are gone. Since switching to Jaunty and the Radeon drivers I've noticed a serious drop in performance doing standard things like moving windows and switching desktops.

On the upside: moving away from the Catalyst drivers (fglrx) re-enabled suspend / resume on my laptop. I've also started using fluxbox again (http://www.fluxbox.org).

The only noticeable update from Ibex to Jaunty has been the network manager and the new libnotify. The NetworkManager does a pretty good job of making sure I'm connected anyway it can connect me. The new libnotify insert message snippets into the pidgin and xchat notifications I get (which is nice).

If you are happy with Ibex, stay with Ibex until the radeon driver improves or someone backports support for the Catalyst 9.3 fglrx driver into xorg-xserver 1.6.

how to stretch standard definition broadcasts on a charter digital tuner

2009-01-20T16:45:00.000-08:00

I recently bought a nice HD tv that was without a QAM tuner. QAM tuners are what allow you to watch the free HD channels while your TV is connect to cable. You can learn more about QAM at wikipedia.

I got a digital tuner box (also known as a set top box) from charter so I could get access to the HD channels. The box worked like a charm but it displayed all standard definition programming as a 16:9 feed with black bars on the side. My TV couldn't zoom or stretch the signal since it was already in 16:9.

There were no options on the remote or in the charter menu that would set the display size. After some poking I found the User Guide for DCH6200 which is the set top box I had.

All the output options for the box are hidden in a secret menu you access by shutting off the box and hitting the menu button in rapid succession. Once the hidden menu is up you can select 480p to send standard definition as a 480p signal that the TV can stretch or display however you'd like.

Its a shame that the menu is hidden and charter didn't send the user manual with the box, but it works pretty well now that I know what I'm doing.

to catch everyone up to speed

2008-07-31T15:41:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't noticed the little box to the right of this entry, I've started to use twitter to post the little tidbits I see every day. I started using it because there was a way to post from an IM client. I'll be using it even more in the future (more on that later).

Its been so long since I've written anything here my firefox awesome-bar (new feature in firefox 3... if you don't have it you should) didn't even remember the url. So let me catch up a bit by posting not one, not two, but three whole things I learned today.

In no particular order:

My laptop is awesome : The moment I got home I poured myself a nice tall glass of iced tea and settled in to do some interneting. Or at least that was the intent... Instead I poured a nice tall glass of iced tea and then spent the next ten minutes trying to clean the tea off the floor and my laptop. The laptop was fine and the floor cleaned up nicely. Lets here it for ThinkPads... you can drop them, you can spill stuff on them, you can own them for years without an upgrade. (NOTE: dropping, spilling, and lack of upgrading not recommended

My car is awesome : For the last month or so my car has made the most hideous noise whenever I started it moving or went over a bump or roll in the road. I figured something in the suspension was messed up and took it in to get it checked out. One free inspection (For the record, CarX rules) later and my car was given a clean bill of health. Nothing seems wrong, there are no signs of damage, and everything else checks out. Shame the noise is still there.

Resistance is futile : This I almost hate to admit... I'm not an Apple fan. While I have nothing against their technological direction on a theoretical level, I've never been a fan of any of their products. It was sort of a, "wow thats kinda cool, but really not for me." The interface has always taken a back seat to the function and customization other technologies have presented.

That said... I've been looking for an all-in-one gadget to handle gps, social camera (you know... something point and shooty for taking snapshots of friends doing something stupid in a social setting), mp3s, and phone calls. Right now, the iphone is the best (or certainly the most popular) thing on the market. So in 10 to 21 days I'll be the some what hesitant owner of a brand new iPhone. I hope it lives up to the hype.

Thats all from here. I'll post a lessons learned once I start playing with the iphone.

that rock concerts aren't about the music

2008-07-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

Some friends went to a Puddle of Mud / Saving Abel / Rev Theory concert and I tagged along. I know none of these bands are really hardcore but they are a lot heavier than the music I normally listen to.

The venue was pretty small and we had general admission tickets. The first few bands were good. They were loud (as you might expect) but ear plugs kept it manageable. Stuff started to get crazy when the headliners came out.

I managed to work my way to the front group of people that were standing near the stage. The crowd seemed to ebb and flow sporadically, so I just got used to getting pushed and pushing back. After a couple of really strong pushes from behind I turned around and discovered that I was part of the wall of the mosh pit.

I started deflecting moshers away from the group of girls that were next to me. One of the girl's boyfriends and I managed to direct most of the stuff away from our area. Two guys came barreling into me and caught me off balance. I fell into someone who promptly launched all three of us back into the mosh pit.

I was still in the air when I hit the far wall of the pit. The wall, who was really just one guy wearing a backwards baseball cap and a polo, sent me back the way I came. At this point I figured I might as well just go with the flow. I pinballed a few times (thank you middle school bullies for the practice) before someone put a death grip on my leg and I had to stop moving to make sure I didn't fall over.

Ah... good times... good times...

The rest of the concert was spent watching people be people at a rock concert. Oh! and I caught a pick from the guitarist with my elbow. "If you can't be good, be lucky"

its funnier in japanese

2008-07-02T21:33:00.001-07:00

I caught wipeout on ABC.com and had some high hopes for it. I'm a huge fan of Japanese game shows and was hoping for more of the same. I think it looses something when you can understand what they are actually saying.

Did the pushups quicker than I normally do 'cause my collar bone seemed to be popping when I did them slowly. Not really sure what to make of that. On the upside, the quicker pace meant I could hit a new max. Go me!

Today's score card : 16 - 13 - 11 - 11 - 25
Current Max : 25
Total to date : 429

Week 2 day 1

2008-06-30T22:16:00.000-07:00

Looks like Week 2 starts with another warmup round. This one didn't do too badly. Probably a good thing... its already been a long week and its monday.

Today's score card : 12 - 12 - 9 - 7 - 12
Current Max : 19
Total to date : 353

that muscles are tiny motors running on strings

2008-06-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

Again, it pays to know people who know more than you do. Title says it all.

Day 3 came and went. I didn't the set without too many issues. Its nice to see progress. Still haven't felt like any of the sports I play are easier, but week 1 is in the books and its been fun. Monday starts week 2.

Today's score card : 15 - 13 - 10 - 10 - 15
Current Max : 19
Total to date : 301

that it pays to know people

2008-06-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

I went rollerblading with a friend last night that has spent some time as a personal trainer. Its amazing what you can learn from your friends.

Apparently the trick to pushups is to put a book under your stomach. When you hit the book you know you can start pushing up. Also, having your stomach hit the book keeps you thinking about it and you'll keep it tighter. My stomach was a little sore by the time I finished.

I think once I'm done with this program I'll switch to the other exercise I learned about. Get two dumbells and use them as handles as you do a push up. Then alternate: 1 push up, 1 left handed single hand row, 1 push up, 1 right handed single hand row. That will handle arms, pecs, back, stomach, and obliques.

Today's score card : 12 - 12 - 10 - 10 - 14
Current Max : 19
Total to date : 238

Day 1 (again)

2008-06-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

I redid day 1 last night to get everything back on an even keel. Amazing how much easier it was to rattle them off.

It probably would have been a lot easier, but I was in a rush and didn't really take the recommended 60 - 90 second break between sets.

I'm posting late, but I did do all the work last night

Today's score card : 10 - 10 - 8 - 6 - 11
Current Max : 19
Total to date : 180

Persistance pays

2008-06-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

Day 2 Week 1

I finished off the day, but that second set almost didn't make it. I also don't think I'm doing a full push up.

I'll be taking the next two days off and restarting week 1 on Monday. This will get me on a more manageable schedule and also give me a chance to do the week with some better form.

Today's score card : 12 - 12 - 10 - 10 - 15
Current Max : 19
Total to date : 135

that push-ups hurt

2008-06-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

Day 1 (again)

So trying to do day 1 after the initial test wasn't a smart move. Initial set is 10 - 10 - 6 - 8 - max. Assuming the initial 19 were the first rep I made 19 - 10 - 6.

Started day 1 (again) and I was already sore. This doesn't bode well.

Handy note: Use a door jam to stretch before and after. It feels good and should help flexibility. Now if I could only figure out a way to make my wrists stop hurting.

Today's score card : 10 - 10 - 8 - 6 - 7
Current Max : 19
Total to date : 76

to push up?

2008-06-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

I've taken a bit of a break from this site. I'm not going to apologize 'cause its not going to fix anything.

... sorta ...

Justin twitter'ed about this : http://hundredpushups.com/challenge.html and I'm up for the challenge. I was thinking about starting stomache torture anyways.

I'll try to keep a running report on here. If I'm accountable online I might actually see the thing till the end. With that said, the posts are going to be short and sweet three times a week for the next six weeks.

Initial test : 19 pushups (20, but I didn't want to push it too badly).
I'm going to try to do day 1 of the training today just so I'm on a good Monday - Wednesday - Friday schedule. I'll post on Wednesday about if this was a good idea or not.

Wish me luck...

the best political question ever

2008-05-30T15:51:00.000-07:00

Imagine attending one of the many national presidential debates that are about to descend on us. You pay close attention to both candidates as they worm their way though question after question. Each response as carefully crafted and rehearsed as the question that evoked them. Suddenly a microphone is shoved in your face and you get a once in a life time opportunity to ask any question you want.

What question could you ask? What one question could cut at the heart of it all and demand a response that would go beyond all the normal nonsense? Last week I wouldn't have been able to help you, but now I know... you have to fight nonsense with nonsense.

All of that is to say that today I've learned the best political question ever: What would you do if zombies invaded?

I know... it doesn't make much sense, but hear me out. The question has to be asked separately about foreign and American zombies. Its a slight stretch, but the answers you get back will say a lot about they way a person views the world.

Zombies are everywhere these days, but they aren't the stereotypical undead with a jonesing for brains. The modern zombie is more of an idea. Anyone that isn't a zombie can become a zombie if they are bitten. This means every single innocent has the ability to be an enemy. It also means that zombies could very well be made up of people you know and love.

So the first point of order is: do you try to fix the zombie ala I Am Legend (the movie) or try to kill them (every other zombie movie I've seen)? Curing zombieism is an impossibly difficult task, but its the only way to reclaim the innocents that have crossed over.

Of course, killing zombies is about as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Comparatively, they have only rudimentary weapons and are poorly organized. Trouble there is that there are always way to many to kill with conventional means. The only way to truly take them out is to nuke or carpet bomb an entire area.

Political tie-in: Think about Iraq. Switch zombie for insurgents. See where I'm going with this?

Secondly, at what point do you stop caring about the innocents in the interest of self preservation? At some point would you close your borders to everyone? Zombies would create a lot of refugees. Refugees could bring their own zombies with them. Each person that crosses a border is another vector for spreading the invasion.

If you do close your borders, what measures are you willing to take to make sure you stay secure?

On the other hand, do you at some point give up on any innocents in an invaded land and seal off their borders? To take it one step further, if zombies can't be cured or contained, would you authorize the scorched earth approach to cleanse unclean areas?

Political tie-in: If your zombies are economic issues this is basically asking about immigration. If the borders are closed you can start talking about how to handle illegal immigration. Exchange zombies for political pariahs and sealing off borders starts to sound a lot like embargos.

Finally, if the zombies are invading your own land, how do you keep people safe? Do the same rules apply? Do zombies have any rights? Is there such a thing as a suspected zombie? I know I've woken up on more than one occasion feeling like the living undead. If there is any suspicion at all, would I get drug out in the street and shot to prevent the chance of spreading the infection?

Political tie-in: These zombies are closer to home. They are the criminal zombies. Murderers, thieves, and drug dealers. Admittedly, its easier to tell if someone is a zombie than it is to tell if they murdered someone. (The "Braaaaaains" kinda gives them away)

This whole post is absurd but I still maintain it works. For one, no candidate has ever been prepared to answer the zombie question (its just not something you study for). I suspect most candidates would just make a joke and continue. They are masters at side stepping hard hitting questions. A quirky question like this wouldn't even be a challenge to redirect. But, if you could get a solid answer it would tell you everything you'd need to know.

Lesson Learned: Make the object of the question so extreme and idiotic that they stop thinking along political lines and predetermined answers, and you'll get some insight into how they really thing.

the best way to frame a 13x13 print

2008-05-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

I got a new office about a month or so ago. I've always worked in a cube before, so having an office with real walls and a door is a bit of a switch. I decided to get some art to fill the place out a bit.

I got two prints from a webcomic that has always impressed me Jump Station and Waterfall. I wanted to frame the prints but it didn't take long for me to figure out its impossible to find a 13x13 inch frame.

A couple of trips to hobby lobby and I had my answer. The guy working the frame counter took an exacto knife to the border around the print and I ended up with two 12x12 prints.

Cost for two 13x13 custom frame was $60.
Cost for two 12x12 frames was $8. ($8 / piece + a 50% off sale)

that windows has an etc directory

2008-04-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

I ran into a problem today where a server I was trying to access fell off the DNS I was using. (Don't ask me how or why, I just suddenly wasn't able to resolve the hostname)

After poking around and chatting with some other computer people I found c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc . This handy little folder contains hosts and lmhosts files that will let you manually define hosts. They also have a few other files that work on network configuration type stuff.

Hopefully you'll never have to edit them, but its still handy to know.

that I love ballard street

2008-04-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

Ballard Street is a syndicated comic that you should be able to find in your paper. I'm not sure what it is about it, but it always manages to crack me up.

The characters are always different in name, but the same in heart. They strike me as the kind of people that have worked long and hard and are now trying to figure out how to make retirement fresh and new.

Each strip shows someone trying to do something different just because they can and not really caring what anyone else thinks about it. But underneath that there is a genuine caring for the other characters in their life.

I was going to post one of the comics, but I don't think one is enough. Check out the last month's worth at Ballard Street @ comics.com.

Lesson Learned : There are so many good ones to pull out of this comic, but here are my favorites. Don't take things so seriously and always be on the look out for something new.

that Minnesota hates hockey

2008-04-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

and it makes me hurt inside.

Seriously Its the playoffs. NHL playoffs. The quest for the cup. In my book, the only thing better than hockey is playoff hockey.

Its game 1 of the playoff and the Wild (Minnesota home team) managed to land a #1 spot. I turn on the TV to find out where the game will be shown and I get informed, for the second year in a row, that our local FSN has decided to air basketball instead of a game that matters. Admittedly, a basketball game is better than last year's fiasco ( a baseball post game show), but still. Regular season anything should take a back seat to a playoff game.

If a regular season hockey game was taken off the air for the national shuffleboard playoffs, I'd be ok with it. I'd probably mock the tournament (seriously... shuffleboard?) but I'd still be ok with it.

And to make matters worse... this is MINNE-freaking-SOTA. We are "the state of hockey". I know this because it says it on flags all around the Xcel Center. Thats the trade off, right? We get the weird accent, freezing temperatures, and hockey. But its hockey, so we are ok with 1 out of 3.

Want to know the saddest part? I've been to Wild games and I've been to Sharks games (San Jose Sharks from California). It hurts me to admit it, but the Sharks fans (from California) are wa-ay more into hockey than wild fans. (And they are from Cal-i-for-ni-a. Winter in CA means the temps go from 70s to mid 60s and every talks about how cold it gets.)

Lesson Learned: Apparently MN is the state of crappy sports coverage.

EDIT : Come to find out, charter must have gotten an earful the last time they pulled this crap. The game is being rebroadcast on a local public access channel (channel 14).

to improv guitar

2008-03-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

Or at least I took a shot at recording some of my messing around. I'd really like to turn this one into a song, but I'm not really sure of the lyrics, melody, or structure. All I got so far is a chord pattern I like and a picking pattern that sound cool.

Here is the link Riff Tide. The name is a cheesy play on words (Rip tide) 'cause the site requires a title and I thought the recording sounded a little like waves coming in and out at a beach.

I'll post again if I ever decide to do more with the song.

to harmonize

2008-02-28T21:29:00.001-08:00

I can't embed it here, but I started playing around with an audio recording program called Audacity.

You can hear the results on my music.metafilter page. Lots of stuff still to play with, including remembering how to sing on key :-)

fluff can kill a language

2008-02-25T17:40:00.000-08:00

I may have the opportunity to use Ruby in the near future, so I thought I'd sit down and start learning. I picked up Dive Into Python and was amazed by how quickly and easily I could pick up and run with it.

I couldn't find a "Dive Into Ruby", but I did find a cleverly written book called Why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby. The first chapter had me giggling. The second chapter had me interested in this new odd little language. The third chapter made me look up the work poignant in webster's. (Go ahead, click the word)

As it turns out, Why's (anything but poignant) Guide to Ruby started out being 3a, turned 2a, and was never 3b. (told you to click the word) I was so busy trying to skim past the pointless (but mildly amusing) prose that I started to have a hard time seeing the important parts that talked about the language.

The guide would be wonderful if I had never programmed in any language before. Honestly, with a little tweaking it would make a pretty solid source book for a CS 101 type class. At any rate, it would be better than teaching all the little tykes Java. (Sorry, pet peeve) The trouble is, I'm not a freshman CS student. I don't care that a symbol is a little softer on a computer. I want to know what exactly a symbol is and what it is used for instead of a normal variable.

Though it is shame I won't be able to use it to learn Ruby. The comics look like something out of Achewood and the sidebars read like a Douglas Adams commentary.

to love powder, mountains, and quality time with new friends

2008-02-13T16:00:00.001-08:00

I just came back from four days on the slopes of Winter Park Colorado. I'm a little tired, a little sore, and absolutely blow away by how good of a time I had.

In the spirit of the blog I'll list the things I learned first.

1) Flow bindings rule
Check them out. If you snowboard you need to get a pair of these.

2) Powder loves you
I've never snowboarded in powder until this past week. I've now been in powder up to my knees and I love it. Word of caution though: keep your tips up and your momentum moving. I can't count the number of times I was watching clouds from my back after sticking the front end of my snowboard into a deep drift and getting it stuck.

3) ISU scuba club people rule
I laughed so hard my sides hurt. 'Course, that could have been the snowboarding for four days in a row... but I'm going with the laughing.

Its been a while since I've had that much fun. (I've got the stories and bruises to prove it). I posted some of my favorite shots of the week online and the slide show is below. Ask me about it and I'll link you to the full gallery once its up.

To look down when riding back country

2007-12-29T15:00:00.001-08:00

I was teaching a friend how to snowboard today and took a quick break to explore a small run that went off into the woods next to the slope. I maneuvered through it perfectly until just before the end when I went down hard. After the wall of pain ebbed I looked around and I after thinking about it I think I finally know what happened.

The path was on the left side of a hill and was mostly straight. To keep my balance I had to keep my toes dug in and lean a little into the hill. I swerved around some trees and just as I leaned forward to stabilize myself my knee hit something and I went down hard. I looked back over the path I covered and there was a 18 inch stump about as think as my fist sticking up out of the snow. I missed the stump with my board, but I was leaning so far forward that my right knee hit it.

Lesson Learned : Turns out there are more things to consider than just the trail when you are off the beaten path.

that I like ethnic food

2007-12-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

It turns out that all the ethnic foods that I thought I didn't like just wasn't done very well. I'm out in the San Francisco area this weekend and we've been hitting some incredible restaurants.

Friday night I had a catfish po-boy and sweet potato fries. Saturday I had sushi (awesome) and Ethiopian food (freaking awesome). Sunday we had tamales from the farmers market and Indian food from one of the best Indian places in the entire bay area (redicu-freaking-awesome).

We managed to skip the foot long burrito place and we missed the hippy breakfast place, but I think it was for the best. I haven't been this full since thanksgiving :-)

how to achieve my dreams

2007-09-24T17:35:00.000-07:00

Randy Pausch is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Randy has cancer and only has about 3 months of good health left. He gave a farewell speech entitled how to achieve your dreams.

The post-gazette wrote this article about Randy and the Wall Street Journal posted a short video clip of the speech But if you have the 1 hour 44 minutes you really need to watch the whole speech

At the end of the speech he reiterates what he considers to be the biggest life lessons hes learned. My two favorite are:

[speaking about impasses in the pursuit of our dreams] "Brick walls let us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don't really want to achieve their dreams."

Don't bail; the best gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap.

I can't imagine what it would be like to know Randy. I watched him for two hours and I'm thoroughly impressed. At the end of the speech it was obvious that I was watching someone teach by example. He knew his dreams, followed them to completion, and didn't take no for an answer.

how to roux a chili

2007-09-24T06:16:00.000-07:00

Recipe is here : White Chicken Chili

The recipe is pretty solid but it needs some tweaks. I needed to use a much lower heat when I was simmering the soup and I needed to stir more. I ended up with some burnt portions on the bottom of the kettle. Also, an hour is a little lite on the amount of time it took to cook the beans.

that my camera has a 15 second exposure setting

2007-09-23T00:56:00.000-07:00

I also learned that 15 seconds just isn't enough some times. Yup, its another photo post. Heres the album:

Some of these had to be tweaked a good deal just to bring the levels up enough to be seen. Its a bit late in the night to do them justice, so I just uploaded the picassa fixes.

The other thing I learned tonight was the real downside to not having an SLR. The video viewfinder couldn't get enough light to show what was going to be captured in the shot. The peephole on my camera was too small and too awkward to handle lining up the shot. The other downside to shooting in the dark was trying to transition from the dark of night to the bright LCD and back again. I got a headache pretty quickly.

I always end up learning more about photography from the comments on these posts than what I do from taking the pictures themselves. Maybe someone can explain to me how you take a picture of a bright light behind a dark object and have it turn out well. It took me quite a while to get the moon behind that windmill and I'm still not 100% happy with how it turned out.

how to meme the internets

2007-09-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

Read it and weep...

how to fix a logitec xbox wireless controller

2007-09-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

I bought a logitech wireless xbox controller a year or so ago and its worked out well. Recently the controller developed a drift in the left joystick.

When the N64 first came out it re-calibrated the joystick on the controller each time the system was powered up or a controller was connected. The logitech controller decided that this was really unnecessary and never automatically re-calibrates itself.

I tore the controller apart and couldn't find any manual alignment switches. A small consumer review comment on an old website pointed out the answer.

Remove on battery from the controller. Hit and hold start and the left trigger while you put the battery back in. This will realign the controller.

Official model number of my controller is G-X3B12.

how to take a picture of a spider web

2007-09-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

I took a hike with a friend to a local park and brought my camera along for the ride. Aside from the Mosquitoes it was a beautiful day. (For the record, I <3 Deet)

While we were hiking we almost ran into a spider web that was hanging across the path. We ended up ducking under it, but only after I spent 20 minutes trying to get a shot of it. The little preview screen of my camera wasn't good enough to show the webs so I just kept shooting. Once I got back and download the pictures it turned out that the first shot worked the best.

The key is to get a dark back ground behind the web. If you can get the light behind you, do it. My camera has an overzealous flash, but with some tweaking I managed to get a decent shot out of it.

Here is the album. I'm trying the slideshow thing. If it doesn't work for you, post a comment and I'll fix it.

View Album

Get your own

why no one watches tennis

2007-08-29T19:22:00.000-07:00

The USA Open is on right now and I had it in the background as I was working on my next script-fu project.

Last night I watched as Roddick blasted 130 mph serves for an hour and I was completely captivated by the skill and power of both competitors. As it turns out, the two guys playing knew each other pretty well and there was a good bit of banter during the match. I laughed, I was amazed, I had a good time.

Tonight I thought I'd try tennis again. It was fun last night, why wouldn't it be fun tonight? Federer was playing (which is like saying Tiger is playing at a golfing event) and the stage was set for some nice background sports. Only problem was that Federer wore black.

At all the other tournaments Federer wore a conservative white tennis outfit. Today he happened to look at his closet and decide that the US Open deserved a black shirt, shorts, socks, and shoes. Personally, I could care less, but if the amount of commentary from the sports casters is any indication; this is the end of the tennis as we know it. To hear them tell it, the color of Roger Federer's clothes rocked the very foundation of the US Open.

They talked about it before he went out onto the court. They talked about it as he warmed up. They talked about it as he won the first few matches. I turned off the tennis match for an hour to do other things. Curious to see how the match had played out I turned it back on AND THEY WHERE STILL TALKING ABOUT IT!!!!

Sorry.... I can understand talking about clothing at an awards show. I can even understand a passing comment at a golf tournament (long time on the air, goofy looking outfits, kinda boring to watch). But how boring does something have to be to warrant an hour and a half of "Do you think he is more imposing in black?" or "He is really striking in black".

More of a rant than a lesson but still... If you have nothing good to say DON'T GO IN TO BROADCASTING

that I'm not the only one that hates the news

2007-08-17T06:51:00.000-07:00

I really think that this comic (click to view) really sums it all up.

After seeing giddy newscasters chortle the death toll from the Minnesota bridge disaster I'm ready for news to be a paper in the morning and an hour of tv before prime time comes on. Reporters talking 24 hours a day isn't really news.... Its gossip.

how to make a coffee grasshopper

2007-08-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

The name needs a little work, but here is the skinny :

3 - 4 leaves fresh mint
8 oz Coffee, brewed strong
1tbls Milk
1 Tsp Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate Mix
Ice

Brew up the coffee and pour all the ingredients into a blender and let it rip. The ice is really only there to cool off the coffee but you can turn this into a frozen drink if you use more. Recipe yields one magic bullet sized serving.

The mint might be a little much on its own, but the combination of the mint and the strong coffee gets mellowed out by the chocolate. It could be my new favorite summer time drink.

that Tripods are awesome

2007-08-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

Also: ants don't like to get sat on, bees are kinda cool, and I need a shorter camera stand.

Here are the photos. As always... clicky to get a bigger pic.

On a side note: ibhome.org is no longer my site. I let the URL lapse and GoDaddy won't give it back. I'm ok with it and I'm working on a different URL. Hopefully I'll have the old site up under a new name shortly.

what you don't know can make things so much better.

2007-07-23T21:40:00.001-07:00

I'm a big fan of Netflix. The only complaint that I've had with them is that the synopses of their films either tend to be misleading or give so much information about the film that it ruins it.

I decided to stop reading previews. I add films to the netflix queue and don't look at them again until I've gotten and seen the film. Films are so much more powerful if you don't know anything about what you are seeing until you've seen it. You struggle to understand right along with the characters as they struggle to find themselves. Small plot twists that are sketched out in previews to setup the story suddenly become these jarring moments if you aren't already expecting them.

There is no better way to watch a film than to go into it knowing only as much as the title and just watching it for what it is. Of course, taking that sort of mentality into a film is hard when you see something that moves you. You want to tell someone about it but can't without ruining their chance to see the same thing.

not to leave my lunch at work

2007-07-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

I left my leftovers from lunch at work and decided to pick them up after I got back from playing frisbee. I got to work fully intending to grab my lunch and get on the road.

Then I turned on the computer to kick off a quick compile. An hour and a half later I raced out of work to make sure I hadn't gotten a move-it ticket for parking in the errand parking spots.

Lesson Learned: There is no such thing as one quick thing.

the beauty of a loop

2007-07-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

I really had never heard of Imogen Heap until I watched The Last Kiss and was treated to Hide And Seek (link goes to youtube)

Kyle over at kylebriana.blogspot.com sent me a link to Imogen performing Just For Now live in a radio studio. I've posted the video below.

I've watched this thing through twice now and I'm captivated. I hadn't realized how strong she was vocally until just now.

Lesson Learned : Good things can come in 5 second intervals

that fireworks are fun to film (Basic camera theory)

2007-07-04T22:11:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! I went to the local fire works and just kept shooting till it was over. Click the album below to see the best of the results. I also bought a tripod today which should with macro photos in the future

2007-07-04 fireworks

Now for what I learned. I really should spend some time reading up on basic photography theory, but here is what I've gathered from trial and error so far. Shutter speed is important for deciding how much action should be captured in an image. The slower the speed the more the image will blur. This part makes sense.

The part that confused me was the f/stop. The f/stop determines how much light will make it through the camera to sensor. The lower the number the more light would make it through. For the most part, I've been shooting images in lower light situations that require the lowest f/stop and as quick of a shutter as I can manage and still see the image. The confusing part was trying to understand why anyone would want to use the f/stop priority setting on my camera.

A Tedious Explanation of the f/stop by Matthew Cole has a solid write up of exactly what the f/stop is. I still don't know why you would want to use the f/stop as the priority, but at least now I know what it is.

All of this leads up to the part that I learned photographing fireworks. A 2 second exposure is juts about enough time to take the shot as soon as the firework explodes. To get a quick capture of what it looks like at any point in time the shutter speed can be moved to 1/2 or 1/5 second. To get a very interesting shot, push the shutter speed up to 4 or 6 seconds and turn the f/stop up to darken the image. This one takes a little guess work to line up the shot, but the result is an exposure that covers the entire life span of the firework.

Lesson Learned : What the f/stop is and how much nicer it is to take a long exposure on a tripod.

that a lotus blossom is sweeter if you take the time to smell it

2007-06-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

Or at least that is what the fortune cookie said. Personally, it sounded like the writers were kinda scraping the bottom of the barrel.

That said, I had a chance to attend a power mentoring event at work. The idea was something akin to speed dating only it was with the higher ups at work and career advice instead of singles and awkward attempts to score a phone number.

I ran out of questions before the time was up so I asked the same question that always gets asked at these sorts of events; How do you manage the work-life balance? The I got back kinda surprised me. The manager I was talking to said her most important work-life balance tip was to take you vacations and enjoy them.

She went on to suggest taking the overseas where your cellphone won't work and the laptop needs a power adapter. There are always deadlines and projects that need to be done. Sometimes you just have to buckle down and do it. The important thing is to make sure you have off time and make sure that off time takes you completely out of the office.

Lesson Learned : Cheesy fortune aside, I need to start smelling roses.

to keep tabs on the little things that can make you laugh

2007-06-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

I rediscovered zim through the magic of Tv-Links. Every time I see Girr I crack up no matter what kind of day I'm having. Check it out for yourself with The Walk Of Doom or Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy (A personal favorite) Note : both of these are about 12 minute streaming divx files

Oh yeah... and then there is this (click it to get it to play):

Lesson Learned : **sniff** I love'ed you piggy.... I love'ed you.

to appreciate the sky

2007-06-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

Its everywhere all the time and we so rarely think to look up. As soon as I had my camera I began to notice how beautiful the sky really was and today I got to try my hand at capturing it. Although some of these shots were from other times when I had my camera handy most were taken in my back yard right after I got home from work.

Lesson Learned : They weren't kidding when they said take time to stop and smell the roses.

that a Java interface can be kinda handy

2007-06-19T19:15:00.000-07:00

I mostly code in c++ but I learned Java in college and I'm taking the time to brush back up on it. I quickly ran into interfaces and abstract classes. C++ has prototypes and inheritance, but none of it really seems to match up that well with interfaces or abstract classes in Java.

An interface is a contract that states certain functions will always be available for an object that implements this. This allows polymorphism in Java with out using strict inheritance.

For example: a BasketBall and a SoccerBall object could both inherit from a super class called Ball that had a virtual function that allowed them bounce. This would follow from the C++ mindset as well as abstract classes from Java.

Now take BasketBall and SoccerBall and have them both implement a Bouncing interface. There is no real equivalent for this in C++. In Java both the BasketBall object and the SoccerBall object will have the ability to bounce regardless of any other differences in the classes. There are no parent classes for either BasketBall or SoccerBall; there is only the guarantee that certain functions exist.

Lesson Learned : Java is still more than a little odd, but it seems to at least have its reasons.

how to cook "The Grocery Run"

2007-06-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

I came up with this recipe on a whim as I was trying to figure out how to clean out the fridge and make dinner at the same time. What I ended up coming up with tasted a lot better than I thought it would so I wrote down what I had done.

I call this "The Grocery Run" because I made it out of the random bits that I had in the fridge about 2 weeks after I should have gone to the grocery store. Its also called that because it would generally take a grocery store run to get half of the things on that list. Most of those ingredients were around only so I could make something else that hadn't used them all up.

Ingredients
3 eggs
fresh rosemary
1 green pepper
Romano cheese
flat bread
soy milk (or normal milk might work)
pepperoni
olive oil
garlic

-----------------------

Mince or crush garlic. Sauté the green peppers in a little olive oil and add the garlic just before they are done. Add the pepperoni to the green peppers and garlic. Toss a few times and let simmer on low heat.

In a larger pan scramble the three eggs. While they are still runny add a little soy milk and mix in. Add the green pepper / garlic / pepperoni mix to the eggs and continue to cook at medium heat. Sprinkle the fresh ground rosemary onto the eggs. Continue to toss or stir the eggs to mix ingredients. Add the cheese and a little more rosemary.

Once the eggs are cooked but not browned, add more milk. This milk won't be absorbed by the eggs. When I did it, it sat in the bottom of th pan and started to boil a lot like how you would reduce a sauce. Stir and cook till the milk is no longer visible.

Take the flat bread and place it on top of the entire mixture. Cover the pan and let the whole thing simmer for about a minute or until the flat bread is warm and soft. Take the flat bread off of the top and place it on the serving plate. Move the egg concoction onto the flat bread and enjoy.

Lesson Learned : Leftovers aren't always extra portions of something you've prepared.

about the beauty of the sound of silence

2007-06-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

I recently bought some koss earphones that have sound isolating foam. These aren't the expensive ones I was considering earlier but they follow the same concept. They really are earplugs with a small tube that ports the sound in to you ear. Outside of being a little troublesome to put it they are comfortable and sound great.

The real upside is that they block out almost every thing. I can't hear the air ventilation, my typing, or conversations anywhere near me. I've put them in with nothing playing through them and just the quiet helps.

Lesson Learned: I work much better when I can control the ambient sound. And these things were the best $10 I've spent in a long time.

that breaks happen to the best of us.

2007-06-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

I promised I was going to update this every day and then life got ahead of me and I stopped doing it. For that, I'm sorry. I'd say I won't let it happen again but I'm not sure I could without lying.

Anyways... Now that I'm caught back up (or at least content enough with how far behind I am to take a break) I'll be posting updates again. Today's post is more of a discovery than a lesson, but I haven't been able to get this song out of my head since I heard it last night and I had to share. Listener beware... its an addictive little tune.

'I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)' ~ by Sandi Thom

Kudos to Becky and Nanette (hope I spelled that right) for pointing it out to me. Now if I could only stop singing it...

that cheap cookies are that way for a reason

2007-05-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

I tend to snack a lot while I'm codding. For some reason I think better when I'm eating something. I bought some duplex cookies out of the local vending machine and was merrily munching my way through a complicated function when I had to stop and think about the implications of what I was writing. As my mind started to wrap itself around what needed to be done I unwrapped the cookie I was eating.

First off, I'm a huge oreo fan. Double stuffed cookies understand the concept behind that type of cookie. Namely, its all about the white stuff in the middle. Vending machine cookies have a thin layer of frosting in the middle, but its enough to do the job. Or so I thought, at least until I realized they cheated the cookie. Instead of a solid layer of sweet flavor between two bland pressure cooked cookies there was an O of frosting staring back at me. Ah well, serves me right for snacking outside of meal time.

Lesson Learned: Look before you eat because you usually only get what you paid for.

that american are coin snobs

2007-05-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

A recent post I saw on Craigslist's "rants and raves" talked about foreign tourist holding out change and hoping a kinda (and honest) American will just pick out the right amount. I started to think about it and realized Americans are pretty snobby when it comes to our pocket change. None of our coins have a numeric value printed on them. The few coins that actually list their worth are written out in English, which really wouldn't help a foreigner.

On the flip side, Euro coins print the numeric value of the coin as a numeral. I suppose that sort of thing would sort of be required with a multi national currency.

Lesson Learned: Make sure to cut people slack. Just because its easy for us doesn't mean we've made it easy on someone else.

that you can catch an edge on roller blades

2007-05-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

"Catching an edge" in snowboarding is what happens when the downhill edge of the snowboard digs into the snow and sends the snowboarder catapulting forward head over heels. Any first time snowboarder has caught their fair share of edges the first few times out. Its almost a rite of passage.

I managed to catch an edge playing roller hockey today. I took a shot while I was rolling down the court and caught the side of the front wheel on my left skate. The wheel acted like a brake and stopped my left skate, immediately sending my left knee straight into the ground. I hit and rolled but my knee managed to take the brunt of it.

When I stood up from the fall I had an extra bump under my knee. I thought I broke something until I realized it was just extra swelling. For a moment there I was sure there was some major damage. Fortunately it looks like its just a flash wound.

Lesson Learned: Kneepads are no longer an optional part of my roller hockey equipment.

how much the little things can add up

2007-05-09T20:38:00.000-07:00

When I first started working I drank at least a cup of coffee a day. I drank two or three on the bad days and generally skipped it on the good days. Each time I bought a cup of coffee from the coffee shop it came with a coffee cozy to keep you from burning your hand.

Every time I finished a cup of coffee I'd throw the little cozy into a corner. Once the pile had grown large enough I'd neatly organize them and stash them in one of my cabinets. I now have almost two year's worth of coffee cozys hiding in my cube.

I stacked all of the cozys on top of each other and ended up with a column that is only about a foot shy of the ceiling. I'd post a snap shot here but cameras aren't allowed at work. (Thats a lesson for a different day).

The only downside to my monument to caffeine consumption is the realization that each cozy represents at least a dollar's worth of coffee. A dollar isn't much for coffee but its still humbling to start counting up the total amount you could have saved by sticking with water.

Lesson Learned : Small things will add up over time to be a lot larger than you'd think they could be. The trick is figuring out if they are worth it.

that naked juice should put some clothes on

2007-05-08T21:06:00.000-07:00

Naked Juice is a brilliant idea to sell fruit juice that is only fruit juice... and some nutrition additives... and some preservatives... and some herbal supplements... and some... The only naked thing about Naked Juice is that it doesn't have any added sugar.

The really naked truth about the stuff is that its mostly flavored apple juice that will run you 3 bucks apiece.

that negation kills

2007-05-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

I heard this first from a friend of mine who was in a comedy troupe, but its proving itself even more true as time goes on. Negation kills the joke. It doesn't matter if what someone said is true or not, play along and see where it goes.

For example, I was eating out the other day and a co-worker sat down behind me. I didn't notice him till he tugged on the back of my shirt and told me to get him a refill for his soda. I knew he was just kidding around but I still went to the default negation. I said something along the lines of, "I can't, I'm eating" which generated a slightly awkward moment where he had to back out of his request. It would have been far better if I would have said something like, "sure thing, right after I'm done eating." Not only does that avoid the awkward silence, but it gives him an opening for another punchline which may even lead to some witty banter.

So now I know, don't say no. Just make sure your yes is so over the top that no is the only way they can take it. Of course, ignore all of this if you are talking to someone without a sense of humor. If you aren't on the same page it could be taken rather poorly.

that I've been drinking far too much coke.

2007-05-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

I started reading up on nutrition facts and I'm now convinced that a coke a week is still too much coke. (I've been drinking one a day). The clincher though was when I went to get a coke out of the machine today, punched in the button where the coke always was without thinking about it, and ended up with a completely different soda.

Blind habits like that are usually a pretty good sign that I should lay off.

Oh, and that "you can't sit with a tv in your lap" . Thanks Darcy

that lime light turns every one a little green

2007-05-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

I had the change to read Barack Obama's book the Audactiy of Hope. Ever since then I've had an eye on Obama. I'm a fan of the way he thinks and how frank and open he is when it comes time to express those thoughts.

Needless to say I was a little surprised when I saw that Obama's campaign seized a myspace account.

I did some more poking and found the letter the owner of the site sent to Obama's campaign to explain the situation.

All of this had me worried that Obama may have finally succumbed to the sliding ethics of presidential politics. The situation is more than a little ugly but it looks like Obama is at least trying to do the right thing here.

Which brings me to what I've learned. Things get more complicated quickly once you start to add coverage and influence. The more powerful and more visible you are the more worried you have to be about what other people are saying and who might be listening to them.

I guess thats just another reason its good to be unknown.

the difference between the shure e3c, e4c, and e4c-n

2007-05-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

I work in a cube farm can get loud at times. I listen to music to drown out the noise but my ears can only take so much loud music before I have to give up and put up with the noise around me. I looked into isolating headphones and I've found that Shure makes the best in the business as long as price doesn't matter.

The only downside to Shure, other than price, is the sheer number of models they have. Shure's entry level earphone is the E2. Following the E2 are the E3, E3C, E4, E4C, E4C-N, and the $500 e5. The Shure website lists the difference in price but not the features or the reason for the different price.

Its taken me weeks but here is the breakdown. The E2 will sound better than anything you've ever used before but there is still room to grow. The E3* series is the price to performance sweet spot. The E4* is a noticeable step up from the E3* without breaking the bank. The E5* is the best on the market but you pay a premium for it. If you have the cash to spend the E5 is worth every nickel (all 10,000 of them).

The C or the C-N doesn't change the technology or form factor. The only difference in the different options seems to be color and cord length. There is a G option on some of the earphones that may offer a sound stage ability which will allow the source of a sound to move forward, back, left, and right instead of just existing between you ears.

I'm still not sold on spending that much money on earphones, but the reviews do make them very tempting. Perhaps in a month or so I'll learn what they sound like in person.

to not recompile xorg while its in use.

2007-04-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

Apparently xorg has the ability to be recompiled while it is being used without changing system stability. Nvidia, on the other hand, does not like finding out that its kernel module is out of sync with your kernel and may kill Xorg the next time you open an application.

Also, the new xorg startx script defaults to not allowing remote X connections. This makes sense from a security point of view, but it can be troublesome if you use remote X connections and weren't expecting it. Server options for startx are stored in the startx script which is generally located at /usr/bin/startx

how to use a self service car wash

2007-04-30T06:47:00.000-07:00

Self service car washes work much better if you see the bubble brush and use it to wash the car. Another tip for all would be washers: bring towels. They don't provide a car drier and the spot free rinse really isn't.

what ctrl-r does in bash

2007-04-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

Hit ctrl-r in a bash window will bring up a search prompt that will take user input and scan previously entered commands for a match. Hitting ctrl-r again will cycle the previous commands. This is a more intelligent version just mashing up till you see the command you were looking for.

how to remove a splinter

2007-04-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

I realized today that a small scratch just under my knee was really less of a scratch and more of an entry hole for a splinter. The whole area around the splinter was a little tender and I could feel about where the splinter was by pressing on the skin.

This lead to several lessons for the day. First off, razor blades are incredibly sharp (which can be handy if you need to cut some skin). Secondly, cutting yourself open intentionally is a really interesting sensation. Lastly, if all else fails ask a friend to get the needle nose pliers and start pulling.

The splinter that finally came out of my leg was just a little longer than the diameter of a quarter and I've included photos below. Click the photo to see more like it.

that washing machines are a lousy way to clean leather

2007-04-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

The wallet is fine and the cards all seem to work, but that is the last time I'll throw pants into the wash without check the pockets.

that originality is overated

2007-04-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

I always figured that a day was never wasted if you could walk away from it knowing at least one thing you didn't know when you started it. I kicked around the idea of starting a site that I would update daily with something I had learned. I finally decided to start that page today.

I signed into blogspot and started to sign up for my very own blog page. I chose a title, listed the URL I wanted to use, and all seem right and well. With a click of the submit button I was sure I had begun to carve out another little section of the internet to call my own. The only problem was that the URL I wanted to use was taken. Apparently someone had tried this before.

The best part about the internet is how simple it is to voice yourself. People from around the world can sign up and become a part of it in a manner of minutes. That much freedom often causes most of the normal options for urls and ids to be taken, so I'm used to getting creative with titles and the like.

I creatively entered another URL only to find it taken as well. 15 URLs later and my creativity had started to turn to frustration. Every combination seemed to be taken by 3 post blogs or blank page holders that hadn't been updated in 3 years.

That was when I learned todays lesson: There is a good chance that even your most original idea has been done before, done often, and (if you are lucky) done very poorly. Well... its either that or that blogspot should be a titch more aggressive about reclaiming blog names.