The Boston Diaries

Wednesday, January 01, 2003

New Year's Day

Does this mean that the Season™ is finally over?

Spring stopped by to visit Gregory in the hospital. He's doing better, but the fractures he received are a bit worse than first expected—each of the six ribs and the clavicle are broken in two spots so the bones are kind of swimming around there. But that appears to be the extent of the damage from his motorcycle accident, which is fortunate.

He'll probably be in the hospital for at least a week or so.

Now THIS is War Driving …

I am going to make an actual page for this sometime: all of us from portland going to codecon will have wireless equipment in our vehicles providing a roaming hotspot all the way down to san francisco. We should have at least three vehicles and as many as six during the trip.

c o d e r l o g: wireless caravan

A mobile network … the mind boggles …

Let's see … given sufficient laptops, 802.11b PCMCIA network cards and VoIP and I can see this being way more popular than CB ever was.

Thursday, January 02, 2003

Simple amusements

For those of us living in the United States, today is 01/02/03.

Okay, so I found it amusing …

Mickey Rourke on the Danish 20 Kroner

“The chin makes her look like Mickey Rourke in 9 Weeks,” he added, referring to the steamy 1986 film in which Rourke, who is famed for his skill in the boxing ring, has an affair with Kim Basinger.

Via a search engine request, Taking mickey out of Danish queen

I was going through the log files and one of the referers was to a search request for “queen margrethe+coints+pictures” (which was referencing the entry I did on some foreign coins). Intrigued, I started following links and I came to realize that not many Danish people are happy with the likeness of Margrethe II.

Fancy that.

Friday, January 03, 2003

A further lesson to the RIAA and the MPAA

So, there's been a slight change of plans. As you may remember (surely 2002 isn't too hazy yet), I serialized my most recent science fiction novel, Old Man's War, here in December, and this month I was going to put it up as shareware, a la Agent to the Stars. Well, I won't be doing that. The reason for this is that, well, I kind of sold it. Instead of being available as shareware, Old Man's War will be available either later this year or early next year in a hardcover edition from Tor Books, publishers of (among others) Orson Scott Card, Robert Jordan, Steven Brust and Teddy Roosevelt. Yes, really, Teddy Roosevelt. It's a reissue, I think, not one of those L. Ron Hubbard-eqsue “dictating from beyond the grave” situations.

Via InstaPundit, John Scalzi's Whatever: Change of Plans

Further proof that making intellectual property available increases sales of said intellectual property and I certainly hope examples like this will drive the point home (through the skull if we're lucky) of the RIAA and the MPAA.

Then again, perhaps we'll be lucky, they won't get a clue and implode instead.

One can only hope.

One last Gregory update

Gregory was moved to a rehabilitation center (for physical therapy) in Lauderhill last night, although there was some confusion as it appeared that Gregory was lost, either in transit or the bureaucracy (or both!) as the hospital has him discharged, but the rehabilitation center had no record of him. When Spring finally found him at the center, the head nurse explained that the receptionist was clueless.

When we went to visit him tonight he was looking much better as he laid there in the adjustable bed watching the Miami-Ohio football game on TV. He's now able to move about a bit and will be dischared from the rehabilitation center tomorrow morning (which means I was wrong about the length of his stay by a few days). He's going to be all right.

Sunday, January 05, 2003

More Ins and Outs of Calculating Weblog Traffic

As I do occasionally, I run the stats for the Boston Diaries. I use some programs I wrote to pretty much manually go through the log files as I feel it gives me a better feel for the actual traffic I get than if I were to use a program like Analog. Besides, doing it this way I often times find interesting things going on with autonomous agents silently indexing websites for their own nefarious reasons (muahahahahaha!).

I suspect that most people who run their stats don't take the time to really look into the results, because it wouldn't surprise me if the reported stats for most bloggers is inflated quite a bit.

I ran the stats as I have in the past and noticed that I had a higher rate of traffic than normal; I usually get about 100 human hits per day but last month it looked more like 116 per day. Okay, not that big a spike but enough to make me curious as to what's going on. I look at some of the requests that are being counted as human hits and I see [output truncated somewhat]:

213.60.99.73 GET /2002/11/29 HTTP/1.0 200 Mozilla la2@unspecified.mail
213.60.99.73 GET /2002/11/29.1 HTTP/1.0 200 Mozilla la2@unspecified.mail
213.60.99.73 GET /2002/11/23.1 HTTP/1.0 200 Mozilla la2@unspecified.mail

Interesting … seems to be some unspecified robot. A quick query shows it to be from Spain, but other than that, no real information unless I want to track this down further. I'm not that curious, so add that to the list of agents to ignore and rerun the stats.

Still high—about 114 visits per day. Check the requests and find:

12.148.209.196 GET / HTTP/1.1 200 Mozilla/4.7
12.148.209.196 GET /2002/6 HTTP/1.1 200 Mozilla/4.7
12.148.209.196 GET /2001/10 HTTP/1.1 200 Mozilla/4.7
12.148.209.196 GET /2000/6 HTTP/1.1 200 Mozilla/4.7
12.148.209.196 GET /2002/5 HTTP/1.1 200 Mozilla/4.7

Now that is odd. Netscape 4.7 is usually a bit more verbose about what it is than just Mozilla/4.7. Looking up the address I see that it belongs to NameProtect®:

NameProtect, Inc.® is committed to setting the industry standard when it comes to trademark research and registration services. As one of the world's leading trademark research firms, we have helped thousands of entrepreneurs, businesses, attorneys, and other intellectual property professionals with trademark needs.

NameProtect®—About us

Oh how nice …

I probably wouldn't be so upset over these guys if they weren't tring to hide behind a browser, or if they respected the Robots Exclusion Protocol, but they don't do either (and I wonder what they'll think of my using their logo here? It won't be the first time I got a cease-and-desist letter for trademark violations—my first, and so far, only one was in September/October of 1998).

This section of your report includes information on generic top-level domain names (.com, .net, .org) and other country-specific domain name registrations that are similar to your name. Use this section to identify potential competitors and assess the potential for your web traffic to be diverted.

NameGuard Free Name Monitoring

Okay, so removing the “anonymous” NameProtect® robot and rerunning again, I see I'm now down to a more normal 106 human visits per day, but just on the safe side …

4.64.202.64 GET /2000/08/30 HTTP/1.0 200 Mozilla/3.0 (compatible)
4.64.202.64 GET /2000/08/28.2 HTTP/1.0 200 Mozilla/3.0 (compatible)
4.64.202.64 GET /2000/08/31.3 HTTP/1.0 200 Mozilla/3.0 (compatible)
4.64.202.64 GET /2000/08/19.1 HTTP/1.0 200 Mozilla/3.0 (compatible)
4.64.202.64 GET /2000/08/14.7 HTTP/1.0 200 Mozilla/3.0 (compatible)
4.64.202.64 GET /2000/08/15 HTTP/1.0 200 Mozilla/3.0 (compatible)

Large number of requests from this address. 143 to be exact, the majority on December 8^th and requesting entries mostly from August of 2000. Hard to tell if this is an actual user or a robot someone is working on. If I filter these requests out, I get 101 human visits per day.

Which is about what I expect.

A brief snippit of overheard conversation

“Do you mind if I open the blinds?” I asked.

“No,” said Spring, “go ahead.” I head over to the sliding glass door. Spring starts singing: “Let the sunshine in! Let the sunshine in!”

“Cut it with the hippy crap,” I said, opening the blinds.

Monday, January 06, 2003

Maybe one day sanity will return to the airlines

Last Thursday I was flying to LA on the Midnight flight. I went through security my usual sour stuff. I beeped, of course, and was shuttled to the “toss-em” line. A security guy came over. I assumed the position. I had a button up shirt on that was untucked. He reached around while he was behind me and grabbed around my front pocket. I guess he was going for my flashlight, but the area could have loosely been called “crotch.” I said, “You have to ask me before you touch me or it's assault.”

He said, “Once you cross that line, I can do whatever I want.”

I said that wasn't true. I say that I have the option of saying no and not flying. He said, “Are you going to let me search you, or do I just throw you out?”

I said, “Finish up, and then call the police please.”

When he was finished with my shoes, he said, “Okay, you can go.”

I said, “I'd like to see your supervisor and I'd like LVPD to come here as well. I was assaulted by you.”

He said, “You're free to go, there's no problem.”

I said, “I have a problem, please send someone over.”

Via jwz's Livejournal, Federal V.I.P. Penn

I like Penn (of Penn and Teller). He's great. And I think it's wonderful that he's willing to fight (and can afford to fight) this craziness of airline security. I think (and I think Penn thinks the same) that it's insane that he gets special treatment just because he's famous (and if I may get cynical here, that may also mean he has the resources to make this look really bad, or the financial resources to fight this in court).

I'm suing Attorney General John Ashcroft and various federal agencies, to make them stop demanding that citizens identify themselves in order to travel. Not only airports, but trains, buses, and cruise ships are now imposing ID requirements. This violates several constitutional rights. Stop showing ID whenever someone asks (or demands) it, and you will start to discover just what your rights are.

John Gilmore, Entrepreneur

So between Penn and John Gilmore's suit against the Federal goverment on behalf of anonymous travel, this is slowly restoring my faith that this current lunancy (link via The Duff Wire) will go away soon.

Forget antiglobalization—we're already there …

From: Sean Hoade <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To: Sean Conner <sean@conman.org>
Subject: A smile for you
Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2003 19:41:17 -0600

Con—

I found this amusing, but you've prolly already seen it. Just in case …

Keep smilin',
Hoade

What is globalization, one may ask.

Well, below here is probably the best example on the definition of globalization.

Question: Explain “globalization?”

Answer: Princess Diana's death

Question: How's that?

Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was high on Scottish whiskey, followed closely by Italian Paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles, treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines!

And this is sent to you by a Russian-Jewish Canadian, using Bill Gates' technology which he stole from the Japanese. And you are probably reading this on one of the IBM clones that use Philippine-made chips, and Korean made monitors, assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a Singapore plant, transported by lorries driven by Indians, hijacked by Indonesians and finally sold to you by a Chinese!

That's Globalization!

Well … there isn't much else to add to that I'm afraid …

Tuesday, January 07, 2003

Things that make you go “Hmmmmm …”

Following are the ten most alarming theories about September 11, the “war on terror,” and the future of the world. Feel free to accept them as gospel, study them as symptoms of a traumatized culture, or scoff at them as anti-American propaganda: I'm only the messenger. Personally, though, at this point the only person I hold above suspicion in the matter of September 11 is that poor kid with the goat.

Via jwz's Livejournal , Top Ten Conspiracy Theories of 2002

As if the Top Ten Conspriacy Theories of the JKF weren't bad enough …

The thought never occured to me

Normally, a small form would arrive in the mail from the DMV and I would fill it out, and send it back with a check to renew the registration on my car. Fairly painless.

Only this year, I never did receive that form.

I suspect that's due to never having actually updated the address on my driver's license (even though I have only ten days from moving to do so) since going to the DMV is like being in a real life version of Brazil, only twice as annoying and no Harry Tuttle or Jill Layton to help out. But since I need to register my vehicle and I suspect not actually living at the address listed on my driver's license would cause a bureaucratic snafu the likes I've yet to see I figure the best course of action would be to break down and get a new driver's license!

Spring did mention finding an empty and fast DMV when she went nearly two years ago so I figure I would give that office a try. It couldn't hurt, right?

Never mind I was in a foul mood by the time I got there due to traffic. Never mind that I missed the strip mall and had to circle back around across six lanes of heavy season traffic. Never mind that the XXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX of a XXXXXXXXX woman couldn't make up her mind as to which XXXXXXX parking lane she XXXXXXXXX wanted to park in, or the XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXX of a woman was trying to back into a space in a huge conversion van and tying up traffic to XXXXXXX XXXX and back. Never mind all that.

There was a XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX line out the XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXX XXXX XXX X XXXXXXXX door! XXX XXX XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXX XXXXXXX XXX XXXX XXXXXX XXX XX XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX X X X XXXX XXX XX XXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXX XXXXXX XX DMV XXXXX XXXXXXXX XXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX X X X XXXX XXX XX XXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXX XXXXXX XX XXXXX XXXXXXXX XXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX XX X DMV XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX X X X XXXX XXX XX XXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXX XXXXXX XX XXXXX XXXXXXXX XXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX X X X XXXX XXX XX XXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXX XXXXXX XX XXXXX XXXXXXXX XXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX X X!

And then some!

So I decided to try the old DMV office I used to use. It wasn't quite as crowded as the people were only crowded up to the door but not out.

XXX XXX XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXX XXXXXXX XXX XXXX XXXXXX XXX XX XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX X X X XXXX XXX XX XXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXX XXXXXX XX DMV XXXXX XXXXXXXX XXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX X X X XXXX XXX XX XXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXX XXXXXX XX XXXXX XXXXXXXX XXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX XX X DMV XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX X X X XXXX XXX XX XXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXX XXXXXX XX XXXXX XXXXXXXX XXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX X X X XXXX XXX XX XXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXX XXXXXX XX XXXXX XXXXXXXX XXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXXX XXXXXX XX X XXXXXX X X XXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX X X!

I gave up the notion of just waiting in the office. No way I was going to waste five, six days easy waiting for my turn to talk to a surly public employee who probably never heard of “fast friendly service.”

But there was a web address listed on the door, claiming that you could renew your driver's license, renew the registration and about half a dozen other things on-line!

What have I got to loose?

Five minutes.

And that was to change the address on my driver's license and renew my car registration.

For some reason, the thought that I could do this all on-line never occured to me. Not once. Here I am, having had Internet access for twelve years now and it's still yet to sink in that other parts of society are now using this wonderful thing called the Internet!

XXXXXXX yea!

Thursday, January 09, 2003

More things to make you go “Hmmmmmm …”

From: Ken Maier <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To: Sean Conner <sean@conman.org>
Subject: Something to suck your time …
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 23:35:44 -0500

Here's more on the “Things that make you go ‘Hmmmmm …’” topic you posted on your site today. This site goes into much more detail … very interesting … warning, big time sink ahead:

http://www.unansweredquestions.net/

Fourty years later and we still don't know all the details about November 22^nd, so I'm wondering just how long it'll be before all the details about September 11^th come out.

I don't suppose anyone alive today will ever know for sure …

Friday, January 10, 2003

Notes on surviving a Slashdot Effect

If you read “meta” sites like Slashdot, Kuro5hin, Fark, Met4filter (natch), and Memepool you've probably encountered links to stories that you can't reach—namely because the act of linking to a server not prepared for massive traffic has brought down the server, or worse, put the hapless soul over their bandwidth cap denying any use to anyone for the rest of the month or day or whatever time period the ISP or hosting provider uses to allocate bandwidth.

The ethics of linking

Mark and I have often gone back and forth about what we would need to do to survive a slashdotting if we ever got linked. Most of the solutions we've come up with so far center on distributing the affected site(s) to other servers and round-robining (is that a term?) between them (or some other form of load balancing). So far, that hasn't been a problem (and thankfully—we both have fears of being slashdotted and finding the slagged remains of the 33MHz 486 that is currently our server).

But one of the suggestions in the “The ethics of linkage” is to redirect all requests back to Google as they can probably can't be slashdotted at all. By using mod_rewrite you can probably do something along the lines of:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase   /
# untested!  Use at own risk!
# be sure to change domain after "cache:" as needed
RewriteCond   %{HTTP_REFERER}% ^http://.*slashdot.org.*
RewriteRule   ^.*$ http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:boston.conman.org/$1 [R][L]

But it would only help if the URLs that are being slashdotted exist in the Google cache; otherwise it does no good. For instance this entry, the very one you are reading now, has yet (as of January 10^th, 2003) to be read and cached by Google, and it probably won't be cached for some time. So I can only hope that if this article gets slashdotted, it's after Google has googled it.

Which means that it is still a good idea to think of other ways of surviving a slashdotting, but for an ad-hoc method, this is probably a decent solution until we get something better into place.

Saturday, January 11, 2003

“Avast ye swabbies! Copyright and Trademark violations abound!”

From: Bob Apthorpe <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To: Sean Conner <sean@conman.org>
Subject: More run-ins with Nameprotect.com
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 04:52:18 -0600

…

Early on, I found spiders from Cyveillance.com rummaging through a bunch of my dynamically-generated web pages (message boards, mailing list admin pages, etc.) Of course, there was no reverse DNS on the spider and it was claiming to be some version of Internet Explorer, but hitting pages once a second and crawling every day on a dynamically-generated calendar is a tip-off you're not dealing with a meth-addled web surfer. Rainman, perhaps, but definitely not a real human.

I don't have anything to hide but that's no justification for letting ill-mannered commercial robots rummage through the electronic equivalent of my sock drawer. I close the door when I'm in the bathroom. I wear pants. Modesty and privacy do not imply improper behavior. Besides, I have a few hundred megabytes of photos of improv comedy shows I've played in. I don't want my connection saturated because some anonymous robot was brainlessly and greedily slurping content that no human was ever going to enjoy, at least not in the way I intended. My network, my rules.

Email from Bob Apthorpe

Now I know blogger's readership figures are inflated. I checked and sure enough, Cyveillance came ripping through my site last month for 213 hits (that I didn't notice—I think I'm now down to 75 or so real human hits per day). Now, unlike NameProtect®'s rather terse use of Mozilla/4.7 as a user-agent, Cyveillance has gone the other extreme:

Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0);Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.05; Windows NT 5.0);Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.05; Windows NT 4.0);Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.05; Windows NT 3.51)

I guess they're running their robot under Windows 2000 (reported as Windows NT5.0), Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT 3.51 and want to cover all the bases.

Brand Protection Solution

Cyveillance's Brand Protection Solution helps companies actively protect their brand equity by returning control over online brand integrity and use. By identifying and providing detailed intelligence on sites leveraging a company's brand for their own commercial purposes, Cyveillance enables companies to transform the Internet from a branding liability to a high-impact branding medium.

With Cyveillance's Brand Protection Solution, clients are able to accomplish the following:

Create a more positive online branding experience for customers across the Internet;

Build customer loyalty through consistent representation and understanding of brand messages; and

Increase ROI and effectiveness of online branding initiatives.

Client Success Story

Many clients have leveraged Cyveillance's Brand Protection Solution to prevent revenue leakage and recoup lost dollars. For example, a large insurance agency leveraged Cyveillance's Brand Protection Solution because the client wanted to stop traffic diversion from its corporate Web site by other sites leveraging this client's name, logo and slogan to drive business. Cyveillance identified several hundred cases of sites diverting potential buyers away from this client's site. These cases included several in which the client's own agents were using the brand to drive traffic from the corporate Web site and others in which sites were using the recognizable name and logo in meta tags, URLs and titles.

With this knowledge, the client could immediately take action against the misrepresented sites, prevent further revenue leakage and strengthen brand equity.

Cyveillance Brand Management

Beautiful the way they phrase things, isn't it?

I would think that effective use of Google would be just as effective and possibly cheaper than hiring an outfit like NameProtect® or Cyveillance, but that's just me.

It would be nice if these sites would follow the Robots Exclusion protocol but nooooooooooooo!

My only consolation is that they find their way towards xxx.lanl.gov, because, you know, the name says it all, and besides, they just <SARCASM>loooooove robots</SARCASM> coming through their site.

Sunday, January 12, 2003

When shell scripts are faster than C programs

My stats program for The Boston Diaries basically consists of a shells script that calls a custom program (in C) to print out only certain fields from the website logfile which is then fed into a pipeline of some twenty invocations of grep. It basically looks like:

cat logfile | 				     \
escanlog -status 200 -host -command -agent | \
        grep Mozilla |                       \
        grep -v 'Slurp/cat' |                \
        grep -v 'ZyBorg' |                   \
        grep -v 'bdstyle.css' |              \
        grep -v 'screen.css' |               \
        grep -v '^12.148.209.196'|           \
        grep -v '^4.64.202.64' |             \
        grep -v '^213.60.99.73' |            \
        grep -v 'Ask Jeeves' |               \
        grep -v 'rfp@gmx.net' |              \
        grep -v '"Mozilla"' |                \
        grep -v 'Mozilla/4.5' |              \
        grep -v '.gif ' |                    \
        grep -v '.png ' |                    \
        grep -v '.jpg ' |                    \
        grep -v 'bostondiaries.rss' |        \
        grep -v 'bd.rss' |                   \
        grep -v 'favicon.ico' |              \
        grep -v 'robots.txt' |               \
        grep -v $HOMEIP

It's servicable, but it does filter out Lynx and possibly Opera users since I filter for Mozilla and then reject what I don't want. Twenty greps—that's pretty harsh, especially on my server. And given that more and more robots are hiding themselves it seems, the list of exclusions could only get longer and longer.

I think that at this point, a custom program would be much better.

So I wrote one. In C. Why not Perl? Well, I don't know Perl, and I have all the code I really need in C already; there's even a regex library installed on the systems I can call, so that, mixed with the code I already have to parse a website log file, and an extensive library of of C code to handle higher level data structures it wouldn't take me all that long to write the program I wanted.

First, start out with a list of rules:

# configuration file for filtering web log files

reject	host	'^XXXXXXXXXXXXX$'	# home ip

filter  status  '^2[0-9][0-9]$'

reject  command '^HEAD.*'
reject  command '.*bostondiaries\.rss.*'
reject  command '.*/robots\.txt.*'
reject  command '.*/bd\.rss.*'
reject  command '.*/CSS/screen\.css.*'
reject  command '.*/bdstyle\.css.*'
reject  command '.*\.gif .*'
reject  command '.*\.png .*'
reject  command '.*\.jpg .*'
reject  command '.*favicon\.ico.*'

accept  agent   '.*Lynx.*'

filter  agent   '.*Mozilla.*'

reject  agent   '.*Slurp/cat.*'
reject  agent   '.*ZyBorg.*'
reject  agent   '.*la2@unspecified\.mail.*'
reject  agent   '.*Ask Jeeves.*'
reject  agent   '.*Gulper Web Bot.*'
reject  agent   '^Mozilla$'
reject  agent   '^Mozilla/4.7$'
reject  agent   '^Mozilla/4.5 \[en\] (Win98; I)$'
reject  agent   '.*efp@gmx.net.*'
reject  host    '^4\.64\.202\.64$'
reject  host    '^63\.148\.99.*'

The second column is which field you want to check from the logfile while the last column is the regular expression to match on. The first column is the rule to apply; basically, filter will continue processing if the field matches the regular expression, otherwise that request is discarded. reject will automatically reject the request if the given field matches the regular expression, and accept will automatically accept the request (both of these are forms of short circuiting the evaluation). Once all the rules are finished processing (or an accept is run, the resulting request is printed.

So, for example, the first line there rejects any requests from my home network) (as requests from there would skew the results), and the second line will reject any request that doesn't result in a valid page. And we go on from there.

The programing itself goes rather quickly. That is good.

The program itself goes rather slowly. That is not good.

It is, in fact, slower than the shell script with twenty invocations to grep. It is, in fact, a C program that is beaten by a shell script.

That is really not good.

Time to profile the code. Now, it might be that the regex library I was calling was slow, but I discounted that—it should be well tested, right?

Right?

Results of profiling: each sample counts as 0.01 seconds.
% time	cumulative seconds	self seconds	calls	self ms/call	total ms/call	function
65.69	0.90	0.90	11468	0.08	0.08	read_line
8.03	1.01	0.11	11467	0.01	0.02	process_rules
5.84	1.09	0.08	265271	0.00	0.00	NodeValid
5.84	1.17	0.08	11467	0.01	0.01	read_entry
2.92	1.21	0.04	11495	0.00	0.00	mem_alloc

So right away we can see that read_line() is sucking up a lot of time here. Let's see what it could be:

char *read_line(FILE *fpin)
{
  int     c;
  char   *buffer = NULL;
  char   *np;
  size_t  size   = 0;
  size_t  ns     = 0;

  while(!feof(fpin))
  {
    if (size == ns)
    {
      ns = size + LINESIZE;
      np = realloc(buffer,ns);
      if (np == NULL) return(buffer);
      buffer = np;
      buffer[size] = '\0';
    }

    c = fgetc(fpin);
    if (c == '\n') return(buffer);
    buffer[size]   = c;
    buffer[++size] = '\0';
  }
  return(buffer);
}

Not much going on. About the only thing that might be sucking up time is the allocation of memory (since LINESIZE was set to 256). I ran a quick test and found that the longest line in the logfiles is under 1,000 characters, while the average size was about 170. Given the number of lines in some of the files (40,000 lines, which as logfiles go, isn't that big) and given that the code I have makes a duplicate of the line (since I break one of those up into individual fields) I'm calling malloc() upwards of 80,000 times!—more if the lines are exceptionally long.

Fast forward over rewriting and profiling. Since malloc() can be an expensive operation, skip that so we need to pass in the memory to use to read_line() and since we're going to make a copy of it anyway why not pass in two blocks of memory?

void read_line(FILE *fpin,char *p1,char *p2,size_t size)
{
  int          c;

  while((size-- > 0) && (c = fgetc(fpin)) != EOF)
  {
    if (c == '\n') break;
    *p1++ = *p2++ = c;
  }
  *p1 = *p2  = '\0';
}

Now, run it under the profiler:

Results of profiling: each sample counts as 0.01 seconds.
% time	cumulative seconds	self seconds	calls	self ms/call	total ms/call	function
80.93	2.97	2.97	1	2970.00	3670.00	process
8.99	3.30	0.33	11468	0.03	0.03	read_line
5.18	3.49	0.19	11467	0.02	0.02	read_entry
4.90	3.67	0.18	11467	0.02	0.02	process_rules
0.00	3.67	0.00	31	0.00	0.00	empty_string

Much better. Now the actual processing is taking most of the time, so time to test it again on the server.

Still slower than the shell script.

Grrrrrrr

I'm beginning to suspect that it's the call to regexec() (the regular expression engine) that is slowing the program down, but there is still more I can do to speed the program up.

I can remove the call to fgetc(). Under Unix, I can map the file into memory using mmap() and then it just becomes searching through memory looking for each line instead of having to explicitly call the I/O routines. Okay, so I code up my own File object, which mmap()'s the file into memory, and modify read_line() appropriately, compile and profile:

Results of profiling: each sample counts as 0.01 seconds.
% time	cumulative seconds	self seconds	calls	self ms/call	total ms/call	function
42.86	0.06	0.06	11467	5.23	5.23	process_rules
35.71	0.11	0.05	11467	4.36	4.36	read_entry
7.14	0.12	0.01	11468	0.87	0.87	file_eof
7.14	0.13	0.01	11467	0.87	0.87	read_line
7.14	0.14	0.01	1	10000.00	140000.00	process

Finally! process_rules() finally shows up as sucking up the majority of runtime. Test it on the server and … it's still slow.

Okay, so now I know that regexec() is making a C program slower than a shell script with twenty invocations of grep. Just to satisfy my own curiousity, I crank up the optimizations the compiler uses (using gcc -O4 -fomit-frame-pointer ...) and create two versions—one with the call to regexec() stubbed out and one with the call still in. I then run both on the server, timing the execution of each.

Timings of two programs—one calling `regexec()` and one not
	Stubbed version	`regexec()` version
User time	6.16	2842.71
System time	0.21	41.02
Elapsed time	00:06.38	48:41.89

Not quite seven seconds for the stubbed version, and almost an hour for the one calling regexec(). And this on this month's logfile, which isn't even complete yet (approximately 11,400 lines). I'm beginning to wonder just what options RedHat used to compile the regex library.

I then search the net for a later version of the library. It seems there really is only one which nearly everybody doing regular expressions in C uses, written by Henry Spencer and last updated in 1997 (which means it's very stable code, or no one is using C anymore—both of which may be true). I sucked down a copy, compiled and ran the regression tests it came with. It passed, so I recompiled with heavy optimzation (gcc -O4 -fomit-frame-pointer ...) and used that in my program:

Results of profiling: each sample counts as 0.01 seconds.
% time	cumulative seconds	self seconds	calls	self ms/call	total ms/call	function
60.68	1.96	1.96	424573	0.00	0.00	sstep
21.67	2.66	0.70	137497	0.01	0.02	smatcher
10.84	3.01	0.35	20124	0.02	0.11	sfast
2.79	3.10	0.09	137497	0.00	0.02	regexec
2.17	3.17	0.07	11467	0.01	0.28	process_rules

Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Try it on the server and it runs in less than a minute (which is tollerable, given the machine).

Finally!

I guess the main point of this is to make sure when you profile code, to make sure that any libraries you may be using are also being profiled! I could have saved quite a bit of time if I knew for a fact that it was the regex library that was slowing me down (I could have, in fact, just did the stub thing first and see if it was indeed my code, but alas … ). But even so, it was a fun exercise to do.

Tuesday, January 14, 2003

Russian Ark

Hence there was but a single shooting day with four hours of existing light. Thousands of people in front of and behind the camera simply had to work together perfectly. The Hermitage was closed and restored to its original condition allowing cinematographer Tilman Buttner to travel through the Museum through an equivalent of 33 studios, each of which had to be lit in one go to allow for 360-degree camera movements. All of this was accomplished within a vulnerable environment that holds some of the greatest art treasures of all time, from Da Vinci to Rembrandt. After months of rehearsals, 867 actors, hundreds of extras, three live orchestras and 22 assistant directors had to know their precise positions and lines.

Via kottke.org, Russian Ark: Production Notes

A movie filmed in one 90-minute take.

Wow!

While this wasn't the first film planned as a “real time” film (Hitchcock did one, but if you watch the film, you'll notice that about every 10 to 12 minutes the camera will track to a wierd location (like the back of someone's black coat) and then continue on—it was during these “tracking shots” that the action was stopped, camera reloaded, then filming resumed so that, if need be, any ten minute segment of that film could conceivably be reshot without destroying the “continuity” as it were) it's the first to be shot continuously in real time; no film reloading here.

Continuous tracking shots are hard to do. Robert Altman's The Player has as its opening shot the longest (at the time) and most technically complicated tracking shot in a film pushing the limits of a single film canister (and if you look closely at the shot, you'll see Robert Altman himself, pitching a sequel to The Graduate). Russian Ark, however, is orders of magnitude beyond that.

Eight hundred and sixty-seven actors!

My mind is boggling at the thought.

Information wants to be availale …

The reasons are clear enough: in an attention economy, the key is to capture customers and keep them focused. The dojinshi market does exactly that. Fans obsess; obsessions work to the benefit of the original artist. Thus, were the law to ban dojinshi, lawyers may sleep better, but the market for comics generally would be hurt. Manga publishers in Japan recognize this. They understand how “theft” can benefit the “victim,” even if lawyers are trained to make the thought inconceivable.

Via dive into mark, What lawyers can learn from comic books

I've linked to a few other articles where making intellectual property (books, music, comics) easily available helps sales in the long run, even if it may facilitate an apparent “pirate market” in the short run. And this article by Lawrence Lessig expresses that point all the more so (and while he is correct in his reference to the potential legal action by Sony against someone who hacked the Aibo, I can see Sony's side of the picture—they were trying to limit their liability if someone saw the information, hacked their Aibo and broke it, then tried to return it to Sony possibly despite langauge in their warantee that modifications to the Aibo will void it; Sonly has since changed their mind).

Thursday, January 16, 2003

Snippits of an overheard conversation dealing with a convalescing motorcycle accident victim and his erstwhile friend who has a remarkable revelation to make

“Gregory, you've been a lot nicer since your accident, you know that?”

“I guess having a near-death experience will do that to you.”

“It's either that or the drugs.”

Alphabet Soup of the Viet-Cong

I started to convert my website to XML back in October but what with the holiday season and what not, that particular project got pushed back. But the past week or so I've resurrected that particular project and I've been immersed in XML, XSLT, HTML and CSS and other alphabet soups of technology.

I had started with converting my humor columns over to XML (of which I had converted about half) and wrote an XSLT file to convert them to XHTML. Earlier this week, I picked up where I resumed, converting the rest to XML and tweaking the templates. Given the recent brouhaha over XHTML, plus an inability of some older browsers to properly handle the XHTML markup, I rethought the notion of using XHTML and went back to HTML 4 strict (which is now an easy thing to do given I'm using templates).

I had started with one of the lower sections of my website and was working my way up (I had finished with Murphy's Law, now time to work on the High-Brow Literary Section) when I started having integration problems, mainly with XSLT. I was working on one template file for the writing section, and I already had a separate template file for the columns.

<?xml version="1.0" ?>

<xsl:stylesheet
        version="1.0"
        xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
>

<xsl:include href="murphy/murphy.xsl"/>

writings.xsl

When I wasn't getting errors I was getting odd results. Perhaps it was still my unfamiliarity with XSLT and the differences between <xsl:include> and <xsl:import> but I was having a difficult trying to locate the source of the odd results, like spurious output when there shouldn't have been any.

I then switched to a top-down conversion, with a single XSLT file. I rewrote what I had, making naming changes to clarify what template what was and what was going on.

Whatever I did, it cleared up the problems I was having.

It's slow going, and XSLT is not the prettiest of languages to program in (and yes, it is Turing Complete so it is a programming language) and I'm still trying to get used to XPath expressions.

<xsl:call-template name="common-meta-tags">
  <xsl:with-param name="year"><xsl:value-of select="substring(@ref,1,4)"/></xsl:with-param>
</xsl:call-template>

<xsl:if test="position()&gt;1">
  <link 
	type="text/html" 
	rel="next"
	title="{preceding-sibling::about[position()=1]/attribute::date}"
	href="../{preceding-sibling::about[position()=1]/attribute::ref}.html"
  />
</xsl:if>

<xsl:if test="position()&lt;last()">
  <link 
	type="text/html" 
	rel="previous"
	title="{following-sibling::about/attribute::date}"
	href="../{following-sibling::about/attribute::ref}.html"
  />
</xsl:if>

site.xsl—Portion of code to generate the index of about pages

Yes, the relational operators like < have to be encoded as < since this is XML—like I said, it's not pretty. And certain XPath expressions can use the short form, while others (such as selecting adjacent nodes with preceding-sibling and following-sibling) have to use the fully qualified notation and you have to know when that is (of the thirteen axis you can step by, child, descendant, descendant-or-self, parent, ancestor, ancestor-or-self, following-sibling, preceding-sibling, following, preceding, attribute, namespace or self only five can be expressed in a shorthand notation, self (as “.”), parent (as “‥”), child (as the name of the element), descentant-or-self (as “/”) or attribute (with a “@” preceding the name of the attribute)).

I hope you got all that (and I suspect I just lost all my readers at this point).

You also don't have variables, even though <xsl:variable> would lead you to think so; it's more a named constant than a variable.

It's stuff like this that reminds me of the Vietnam draftee Kansas farm boy walking through the jungles of South East Asia oblivious to the various trip wires the Viet-Cong have planted …

Friday, January 17, 2003

Twenty-first century CB radio …

About two weeks ago I made a brief mention of roving wireless network. There is now a webpage with more information.

Very geeky, and very cool …

Sunday, January 19, 2003

“I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.”

JeffK mentioned that over the past few days, when he views The Boston Diaries his browser asks if he wants to download and install Japanese language support. I found the notion odd, but like some stores I've heard, computers can be affect by wierd things so it was remotely possible that for whatever reason his browser felt the need to install Japanese language support whenever my page was loaded.

So we head over to his computer and as he's bringing up my blog, it suddently hits me why his computer is asking to install Japanese language support: my entry on the 14^th! (don't worry, it's fixed for now).

When writing English, I was taught that you italicize foreign words. Easy enough to do in HTML, just slap some  tags around the word and be done with it. But semantically that doesn't really mean anything, what with the semantic web being a current hot topic and all. While it's apparent to most readers that garçon is French and über is German, what about slumpmässig? Could be German for all you know (it's not—it's Swedish). By using the features inherent in HTML we can add semantics to foreign words beyond just italicizing them.

And that's what I do, in fact. For a foreign word like slumpmässig I'll encode it up like:

<I LANG="se" TITLE="chance; luck, hazard">slumpm&auml;ssig</I>

Certain browsers, like MSIE and Mozilla, will display a tooltip with the text in the TITLE attribute, where I stick the translation of the word (if you happen to be using MSIE or Mozilla, try holding the mouse over a foreign word), and an intelligently programmed HTML vocalizer (used perhaps, by the blind to speak pages) can use the language tag to help recognize which language the word is written in and use that to guide the pronounciation.

Semantically much better than just slumpmässig.

So, when I wrote that entry on the 14^th I did what I've been doing now for some time and slapped some semantics around the Japanese terms.

The dojinshi market .... Manga publishers ...

They are Japanese terms after all.

Since I seem to already have the Japanese language support installed I didn't notice anything odd when I loaded the page to proof read the entry. But it seems that other browsers that don't have the Japanese language support saw the language attribute for “Japanese,” realized they weren't installed, so decided to ask the user if it was okay to install Japanese language support. But I'm using an Anglicized spelling for a Japanese word so there's no real need to download Japanese language support for what I used, so how do I get around that?

That, I don't know. I'm fudging it right now by using LANG="x-ja" which is allowed (any language code starting with “x” is for private use; that shouldn't trigger any download message from browsers—it's intended for words like Nazgûl which don't have an officially designated language), which I suppose, is better than nothing.

Update on Saturday, September 23^rd, 2023

I think it's more semantically correctly to use the  tag than the  tag to mark foreign words, so I'm going back and making that change.

Monday, January 20, 2003

A night of driving

Spring and I met Mark at JeffK's house, and from there we headed over to Kelly's for a night time (or rather, very early morning time) wardriving session. It was planned earlier that day pretty much on a whim, just to see what we could find. Mark had thought we would only find two WAPs; I on the other hand thought we would more than a dozen. Since I had the largest car at the moment (Mark's BMW is currently in the shop) I was the designated driver for tonight's festivities.

Once at Kelly's we piled into my car—me in the driver seat, Mark got shutgun, with JeffK, Spring and Kelly in the back seat. To ensure that the computer would remain operational for the duration of the trip, Mark brought along a transformer that ran off the cigarette lighter and provided 110 volts AC current to avoid having to use the laptop batteries; Mark and Kelly both using laptops.

As we started driving off, Kelly realized that he had neglected to install the proper scanning software on his laptop, so we returned back to his house. We sat in the driveway for some twenty minutes as Kelly attempted multiple times to download the software via his wireless access point. While he was doing that, I took the opportunity to take a few pictures while Mark checked his email.

Once the software was installed, we started wardriving. We determined that the scanning software worked better with Mark's wireless network card, so that was installed in Kelly's machine. Less than a mile from Kelly's house we hit our first WAP. The position was recorded for later analysis.

We then headed south down towards Cypress Creek Blvd. with a high concentration of high tech companies in South Florida. Once there we headed east towards I-95. It was pretty quiet until we turned into a large corporate park where we hit about three WAPs right there; one closed off, two open. One of the open ones belonged to a hotel—we assumed for the benefit of their customers.

From there we then headed south along Powerline Road and while we would occasionally get a stray signal we couldn't get a strong lock on any one WAP. Fortunately there was very little in the way of traffic since we were (or rather, I was) driving quite erratic, taking sudden turns, backing up, driving very slowly, attempting to track down the stray signals.

After that, we tried driving through Margate and in the north western corner of the city (18th near 80th, where I used to live during high school) we found one WAP, athough we couldn't find it with three additional passes; afterwhich we decided that it be best to move on least we attract unwanted attention.

We then headed back towards Kelly's and on the way, we were able to pin down the first WAP we found to one of two houses in a gated community. Oddly enough, the scanning software incorrectly identified the openness of Kelly's WAP. Go figure.

So we found more WAPs than Mark thought we would, but less than I expected. Not too bad for something planned at the last minute. This is something we are planning on doing again, only this time with better planning and hopefully, better software.

Friday, January 24, 2003

A small work reunion

I had another reunion today, this time a reunion of people who formerly worked for XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, an ISP we all worked for in Boca Raton. The venue for today's lunch was Lucile's Bad to the Bone BBQ, a favorite locale for us high tech workers in Boca Raton.

Rob and I arrived first to find the restaurant without power (in fact, the entire strip mall was out of power). Consequently the available menu was quite limited today—grilled items only and no soda (except for diet rootbeer which were bottled) or draft beer. Despite the lack of power they were still doing brisk business and it certainly didn't bother us that much—burgers and ribs were still available.

Joining us for lunch was Tim (the former web designer), NeoMike (former sysadmin) and R, (former network admin) who was still working there as a consultant. The place has passed from being an ISP to a bona fide spam house with fairly insane security (as Rob found out trying to visit R at the office) which is understandable—being a spam house and all.

Quite a bit of conversation centered around the duties that R does for SpamHouse. As reprehensible as spam is, the technical challenges do sound facinating what with having to route taffic out one circuit with inbound traffic coming in from another, and updating the BGP tables to keep connectivity. It's the technical challenge that makes the job interesting; something like the technical challenges inherent in writing a virus. Or nuclear weapons.

Chaos

Chaos.

Complete chaos.

Bob, the DM of the Friday Night Game, set up a WAP so I borrowed the wireless network card from Rob to test the network (obviously it works). But it's a mad house here right now with scores of people visiting (since he himself is having a reunion of friends tomorrow.

Oops, food is here. Gotta go …

Monday, January 27, 2003

Trading towers

I had such the headache this morning; my eye balls felt like popping out. Quite bad. And yet the pain brought these weird thoughts to mind.

“What wierd thoughts,” asked Spring.

“I have this odd mental picture—Trading Spaces in Middle-Earth. Sauron and Saruman agreed to switch towers and redecorate one of the rooms in two days and only $1,000 budget.”

Spring giggled. “Elrond and Frodo exchanges houses. Let's see what Elrond does with the Hobbit hole …”

Napkin holder found at McDonalds'

A distrubing trend

Rob knocked on the bathroom door. “Sean! Spring cut her hand!”

“What?” I said. The door had muffled Rob.

“Spring cut her hand!”

“Okay, I'll be out in a second.” I finished up with the business at hand, then grabbed the gauze bandages and hydrogen peroxide. I couldn't find the medical tape that I knew I had somewhere, so I ran downstairs with the supplies I had.

“Spring cut her hand on the futon,” said Rob. Spring, barly standing, was bent over the kitchen sink, holding her right hand under a stream of water. Rob had expressed interest in a futon and earlier today Spring found one while shopping and bought it. Then later she and Rob went back to the store (since Rob has a vehicle large enough to transport it) to pick it up, and while attempting to carry it into the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere it closed on her hand, slicing her middle finger. Rob ripped open some of the gauze bandages while I went back upstairs to find the medical tape.

“I couldn't find any,” I said a few minutes later.

“Well, grab any type of tape. Duct tape, electrical tape. Anything,” said Rob. I located the tape box in the kitchen and pulled out a roll of electrical tape. “Perfect,” said Rob. I pulled off a long piece of it and handed it to him. “This may hurt,” he said and started wrapping it around the bandages applied to Spring's hand. We then drove to the Emergency Room.

This is the third time in four months I've been to the emergency room (for Rob in September and then Gregory in December). Prior to September I think I've been to the emergency room twice in my life (that I can recall).

This is not a good trend.

They took Spring in immedately and rebandged her hand. Then it was about an hour before they were able to fully examine the wound. An X-ray (nothing broken, no cut tendons), four stitches and a prescription later she was released. She should be find by next week when the stitches come out.

Notes made at an Emergency Room on a found piece of paper and pen using a Woman's Day Magazine as a tablet while waiting for Spring.

Spring cut her right hand. Girl sitting across from me has cut her right hand. Yet another girl. And another.
2 kids with bumps on their forheads.
Brain turning to mush watching TV First news then a celebrity gush fest.
Hospitals are filled with sick people (duh!)
“Bridezilla?” Oh give me strength … of course on FOX.
2 people reading and marking up the Bible
They closed off the pediatric emergency room from the regular emergency room [when we took Rob to the emergency room, we ended up hanging out in the pediatric portion of the waiting room as it was quieter than the regular portion—after about half an hour we were kicked out]. Or they no longer have a pediatric emergency room.
I'm having a hard time writing—I'm too used to a typewriter
Next time, bring a book or laptop. This is most boring, and my hand is cramping up.
I really want to rip the TV off the wall; it's very annoying!
I hope Spring is okay.
The older kid the bump on his head looks like Hell, like he fell face first into the parking lot. Ouch!
Wasn't this show just on? Or is a second half hour episode of Hollywood self-contradulatory crap? Puke puke puke …
Shift nurse turned down the volumn on the TV. Both of [can't read writing] thankful of the change in volume (and I'm slowly running out of space on this side)
The emergency room, if anything, is getting more crowded. This is not good.
Oh this is soo much fun. So much fun.
What is the deal with Joe Millionaire?
Why am I watching this crap?
Girl just hopped in—sprained or broken right foot.
The majority of injuries have been right hands or feet.

Tuesday, January 28, 2003

We're number one!

Woo hoo!

According to State Farm, South Florida has the number one most dangerous intersection in the United States! Flamingo Road and Pines (aka Hollywood) Boulevard.

South Florida is also home to the top three most dangerous intersections in Florida!

While I haven't personally seen the #1 spot, I have, however, driven through the other two dangerous intersections, Sunrise and University and Commercial and University and frankly, I don't see much difference between those and any other intersection in South Florida.

Oddly enough, all three are in Broward County and out west (depends on who you ask what “west” means—for some it's anything west if I-95; others it's anything west of US-441; generally by University you are in the western portion of South Florida, at least as Broward County is concerned).

Wednesday, January 29, 2003

Call, while supplies last …

Does anyone want a cheap Nigerian 419 Scam email knockoff? It's from Zimbabwe but it has all the hall marks of your classical Nigerian 419 Scam (but only for a paltry US$10,000,000 I'm afraid). I'm tired of the silliness and I know that some of my friends have yet to receive one, so I thought I'd spread the wealth …

Connections

I've had my eye on that state for a while: it seems that whenever constitutional evil is being perpetrated in this country, Florida is mixed up in the mess, and never in a good way.

Florida and the Death of Justice

I feel like I'm in an episode of Connections.

It starts with Spring, looking on the Internet to buy a box of blank white cards—the type she used in language class years ago. She comes across 1000 Blank White Cards, a game created in Boston (Cambridge, but close enough), named after a box of 1000 blank white cards (used by language students, like Spring, to make flash cards) and inspired by Nomic (a game where, like law, you can change the rules). She checks the site out, and finds a link to The Boston Diaries, which has nothing to do with Boston except the name. The author of The Boston Diaries then starts searching for more information on 1000 Blank White Cards and comes across the Seattle Electric Grimmeldeck, which is possibly named after James Grimmelmann, who obviously plays the game and has written an article about Constitutional Law and Florida—Florida being the state where both Spring and the author of The Boston Diaries live.

Where's James Burke when you need him?

Doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, associations are eeeeeeevil!

When Southampton decided, this fall, to place a limit on the size of all new houses, it settled on twenty thousand square feet, on the ground that that figure represents a reasonable limit, given the big-house norms of the area. At twenty thousand square feet, a house has perhaps ten or eleven bedrooms, a dozen bathrooms, a six-car garage, and maybe, oh, a mini-trading floor for the kids. By comparison, Rennert's house, at forty-two thousand square feet, has twenty-nine bedrooms, thirty-three bathrooms, and two bowling alleys. What the Town of Southampton was saying, in other words, is that twelve bedrooms and one bowling alley is fine, but twenty-nine bedrooms and two bowling alleys is not. Think of the twenty-thousand figure as the community standard—a social consensus—for the maximum size a Hamptons monster home ought to be. With that extra bowling alley and those seventeen additional bedrooms, Rennert just went too far.

Sagaponack HOmeowners Association vs. Ira Rennert

It's warming to know that even the insanely stupid rich have problems with associations. Oh, and who is this Ira Rennert to whom a 20,000 square foot home is just too small? Oh, one of those robber barron CEO type people with a penchant for funnelling money into his pocket.

Saturday, February 01, 2003

Simple amusements II

For those of you living outside the United States, today is 01/02/03.

Okay, so I still find that amusing …

If it's risk-free, it isn't glorious.

Broken up and vanished. In the sky over Nacogdoches County. And I'm sad all the way back to the little boy with his stiff black book and his Bonestell rockets.

But Willy was right, and nobody ever said it would be risk-free.

If it were, it wouldn't be glorious.

And it's only with these losses that we best know that it really is.

William Gibson

I remember being in school, watching Columbia on TV as it was either launching or landing on the first shuttle mission—STS-1 in April of 1981. It was the start of the modern space age; no longer did we have these one-shot rockets but a reusable spacecraft that looked like an airplane. The implication that Real Soon Now, Joe Sixpack would be able to walk up to the Pam-Am ticket booth, buy a ticket to the O'Neill Space Station and sit crammed in a small seat and eat small portioned luke-warm airline food without even the benefit of a window seat. We couldn't wait. I was in 6^th grade at the time.

On Tuesday, January 28^th, 1986 I arrived home from school (it was a half day due to mid-term exams) to the phone ringing. It was Mom calling urging me to turn on the TV because the shuttle exploded on lift-off. The hope of being able to take a weekend jaunt to the moon were dashed amid shock, denial and a string of tasteless jokes about NASA standing for “Need Another Seven Astronauts.” No excuse, other than we were still kids. I was in 11^th grade for our generation's JFK moment.

I was in front of the computer when Gregory called with the news. I didn't even bother turning on the TV this time and any hopes of a continued American presense in space are now spread halfway across Texas. I hope I am wrong.

Sunday, February 02, 2003

Not quite war driving

On Friday, through the generousity of a friend I was able to obtain an IBM ThinkPad laptop that is, sadly, more powerful than my main desktop system (more RAM, better CPU). I've spent the past two days compiling and installing software (of course it's a Linux box) which includes software to monitor wireless network activity.

Using Kismet to scan for WAPs (which seems to be very good software as it can also monitor a GPS to record the location of each WAP) I then took the laptop for a test by walking through the parking lot.

From previous experience I knew there were at least two other WAPs (excluding ours) in the imediate area but little did I expect five other WAPs just in the area around the parking lot here in the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere (near the number of access points we found by driving). I'm also amazed at the distance the signal can travel—I picked up our WAP halfway across the parking lot (a couple of buildings down), along with our neighbors (one of the two I originally picked up).

Monday, February 03, 2003

“And how does this save us money?”

Cross-range maneuvering is no longer possible by 50,000 feet. You're locked in, wherever you're going. Now you have company. Fighter planes—“chase planes”—have picked you up. They're swarming all around you, snooping around the hull for damage. Eighteen miles from the runway, you finally slow to subsonic speed. Now you really have some options. At this low speed and altitude, you could punch out safely.

At 12,000 feet, the plummeting begins. Nose down at 24 degrees to the horizon, 30 degrees in some flights. Feels like a dive bomber. That DC-9, the one that makes your knuckles white on commercial flights, comes in at three degrees. Thirty seconds out, you can raise the nose back up. Now you have one and only one chance to lower the landing gear. No time to cycle them. If the gear don't lock, that's it. The chase planes are coming right down to the strip with you, following your every move like baby ducks. They snoop around the landing gear. Locked? If not, the chase pilots have a couple seconds to tell you to bail out.

Via Scripting News, 5 … 5 … 3 … 2 … 1 … Goodbye, Columbia

The excerpt is talking about the landing of a shuttle. In fact, both the take-off and landing of a shuttle is pretty scary when you read about it. The article itself is from April of 1980 and goes into the cost overruns NASA incurred building the shuttles and how they aren't even that cost effective.

I remember hearing the arguments as a kid—especially the bit about the tiles, all 33,000 individually made and placed tiles per shuttle. So brittle that you could crush them in your hand. And the payload? Lucky to get a full 65,000 pounds into space. The Saturn V could lift 250,000 in a single shot (and in fact, the later stages of a Saturn V were used to construct Skylab in the mid-70s, which I suspect was bigger than the current Internation Space Station).

Sigh.

The shuttle is good at getting people to and from space (that is, when everything works correctly). I don't really see why we had to abandon the disposable rockets for those times when really large payloads have to go into space (like space station modules or even geosynchronous satellites) and leave the shuttle as a primary people mover.

But politics and budgets won.

Just what constitutes an email address?

In my general following of links while reading an article, I come across one of those annoying banner ads made to look like a pop-up message from Windows (which stick out pretty badly, given that I'm not using Windows) that said my current session-id (my very own session-id) was picked as an hourly winner for some prize or other. Interested in what the punchline would be (and not fearful at all about unwanted pop-ups since I have that disabled in Mozilla, and since I'm not running Windows or IE I don't have to worry about my machine being taken over by rouge Active-X web applications) I started clicking.

Oh my, a form asking for personal information and an email address. Okay, fill in obviously bogus information and a dead email address, and keep on clicking. I pass up offers to win this or that or fill out this form giving some other marketing company my personal information to win something else until I come across the Publishers Clearinghouse $100,000 dollar online giveaway. On yet another whim I decide to check the “Official Rules:”

For this promotion, one online entry is allowed per e-mail address. Subsequent entries from a given e-mail address will not be eligible.

So, they only allow one entry per email address. Okay, but …

Write-In Entry Instructions You may write in as often as you like to enter our ongoing Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes at the address below. Sweepstakes eligibility will be based on date the write-in entry is received. Just mail each entry separately. We do not accept entries from a third party or entries sent in bulk.

I can understand their reasoning for this—it takes more effort to physically write in than it does with email, but it doesn't take that much more effort to obtain multiple email addresses—especially if you own your own domain (or control mail for multiple domains). I can easily cobble up a few thousand email addresses to spew their way. Heck, I can even automate the submission process.

But … could I legally win? By their own rules, it states that only one entry per email address—there isn't anything that says one entry per person.

“Why yes, your Honor, I do have 23,532 email addresses … spam you know … ”

Ah, but see, they have the money to take this to court if it doesn't go their way; I don't.

Which is probably keeping me from doing such a thing.

Upate later today

Reading further, not only is the end date for submissions December 31^st but the odds of winning are 1 in 95,000,000.

The Florida State Lottery has better odds at 1 in 14,000,000.

But they do say you can enter as often as you like.

But not from the same email address ...

Hmmm ...

Well, it's the thought that counts …

Valuable lesson learned: check the box before you buy!

Saturday I went to CompUSA to buy Spring a digital camera for her birthday (which is today). Wrapped it up, and hid the package for her to find when she returned from work.

Only there was something missing: the camera!

Sigh …

Off to CompUSA later today …

Tuesday, February 04, 2003

A camera buying expedition

I was able to return the empty camera box to CompUSA in Deerfield yesturday. When asked about the availability of the Olympus D-550 Zoom they said that while they're still listed as being sold, they had none in stock but there was one at the CompUSA down in Plantation we could try.

Gregory mentioned wanting to go, since he had to pick up some equiptment for his job today we drove all the way to Plantation (or I should say, he drove all the way, I went along for the ride) to check out the store. Of course the one model they had was the display model; no other units in stock.

Not deterred, we decided to try next door at Circuit City. This time no Olympus D-550 Zoom cameras in sight. But that still left Best Buy across the street. Might as well try there.

And it was a good thing we did. Not only did they have one left (the display model) but they were willing to sell the unit for $50 off the price (making it only $250), although I did have to suffer through the hard sell (“Do you want the extra-extended-super-safe-warranty? How about software? Or batteries? Or memory?”). As an added bonus, not only did I get the 16MB smart-card that comes with the camera, but the 64MB card the store had put into the camera (and that goes for about $50). The camera, despite being a show model, is in great condition and Spring is very happy with it.

And so am I.

A random selection of pictures found in the digital camera I bought for Spring

Wednesday, February 05, 2003

Yet more preparations for war driving

Yet more wardriving equipment. I borrowed a GPS unit from Gregory to hook to the laptop. Yet after an hour of fooling around I could not get anything from the GPS unit. Not one byte of data.

Searching around for a possible answer, I read where you might need a NULL modem cable to talk successfully to a GPS unit. Great! While I have a NULL modem adaptor, it's buried with the rest of the computer equipment that I've yet to unpack. Even if I had that, the adaptor itself is a DB-25 form factor, while the cable (and serial port on the laptop) are both DE-9† form factors so that would require yet more adaptors.

But it's a specially constructed cable for the unit so you would think the wiring would be correct. So, using that logic (and not wanting to dig through boxes looking for adaptors) I tried hooking the GPS up to my older laptop.

It worked. I can see data spewing forth from the GPS unit.

But the serial port on the new laptop doesn't appear to work.

Bummer.

† Although commonly referred to as “DB-9,” DE-9 is the correct designation—the letters refer to the physical size of the connector while the number referrs to the number of pins. A VGA monitor cable uses a DE-15 connector, for instance.

Just how do you markup foreign words in HTML?

Jonathon Delacour wrote a response to my entry about semantically marking up foreign words in HTML (and why, when viewing that entry, certain browsers kept asking users to install Japanese Language support). The comments on that response spilled over to another entry Jonathon wrote about the problem.

Reading the comments is interesting as there doesn't seem to be a real consensus as towards The Right Thing to do, especially when using romanji to write Japanese words. Do you use  like I do? Or is  with the LANG attribute correct? What about <CITE>?

I think we're still quite a bit away from the semantic web at this point.

Update on Saturday, September 23^rd, 2023

I think the consensus, and what I'm doing now (and going back and fixing previous posts like this one) is to use  with the LANG attribute (and TITLE to provide the translation).

To the land with the funny Ø

Spring is off to Sweden again and once again, this time for a week.

I can't wait for her to get back.

Thursday, February 06, 2003

Of course the serial port doesn't work …

I mentioned to Mark the trouble I was having with the serial port on the laptop and he mentioned that most laptops have such ports normally turned off to save power.

Of course. My very first laptop was like that—you would have to enable the serial ports before using them. Forgot about that.

A quick Google search and I find:

The serial port is disabled by default in the TP600. The TP600 can only run one of the serial and infrared ports at a time. The easiest way to enable the serial port is to go into Windows 95 and use the config tool there.

Linux on IBM ThinkPad 600

(I also learned about potential battery problems but for me, that's par for course—this is the first laptop I've had that I could run for any amount of time off the battery)

Looks like I'll have to download tpctl to enable the serial port.

Friday, February 07, 2003

Wifi Maps

From: Drew from Zhrodague <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To: Sean Conner <sean@conman.org>
Subject: Wardriving
Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 17:32:38 -0500

Noticed from your blog, that you can almost wardrive. Check-out http://www.wifimaps.com , might get you just a little bit more interested. Hope it's warm where you are, Boston sucks.

Email from Drew

Quite pleasant where I am, and thanks for the link.

I checked out WiFiMaps and it is an incredible site, allowing you to select a city then zoom in on known WAPs. Very nice site. Very nice.

Saturday, February 08, 2003

Pop goes the car fuse

It doesn't look like I'll be able to use the laptop for wardriving.

Mark, Kelly and I decided on an impromptu war driving session tonight (this morning? Ah, the wonders of midnight) starting from Kelly's house. I had my laptop, Kelly had his (obviously, we were at his house); Mark didn't have his on hand since the war driving session was pretty much last minute. As Kelly was downloading yet another wireless monitoring package (for Windows) to try, we discussed who would drive. We settled on Mark driving this time, since there were only three of us, and this time I wanted to run a laptop.

Once Kelly finished installing the software, we arranged ourselves in Mark's car—Mark as driver, Kelly got shotgun, myself in the back. Mark plugged his inverter into the cigarette lighter; Kelly and I plugged our laptops into the inverter.

Which promptly died.

The fuse in the inverted was still good. After a few minutes of discussion about the situation, we came to the conclusion that we may have blown the fuse on the cigarette lighter. We then abandon Mark's Toyota Camry for my Chevy Lumina, which last time had no problem running two laptops off the cigarette lighter. Meant I wouldn't be able to run the laptop, but life is full of compromises.

We then arranged ourselves in my car—myself as driver, Mark got shotgun (and my laptop) and Kelly in the back. Mark plugged the inverter in the cigarette lighter, plugged in the laptops.

The inverter lasted maybe all of five seconds, then died.

More discussion. Since the fuse in the inverter is still good (it's rated at 30 amps) we must have blown the cigarette fuse in my car. Over to the Wal★Mart Supercenter. In the parking lot we check my car's fuse box and yup, the cigarette fuse is blown. In the store, fuses, out the store, replace fuse. Plug in inverter, plug in my laptop—

—and pop goes the car fuse.

Much discussion ensues. Do I want to risk replacing the 15 amp fuse with a 20 amp fuse? 30 amp fuse? We're pretty sure the battery and alternator can handle the current (later on back at Kelly's Mark checks—yes, the battery and alternator can handle it) but can the wiring? I decide to risk a 20 amp fuse—

—and pop goes the car fuse.

After that, I decide not to take any further risks, which pretty much killed the night's war driving effort. The power brick for my laptop is just pulling too much power. About the only thing I can think of next to to remove the battery since the laptop can run while recharging the battery; not sure if that will work or not.

Supplies are limited! Call now!

I offered a cheap Nigerian scam knockoff letter, but no one wanted it. Mike Cohen did me one better by obtaining a Nigerian scam knockoff letter, but, coming from a GEORGE WALKER BUSH about oil investments in Iraq, was much better than the chap Nigerian scam knockoff I was pushing.

But now, I have a genuine, Nigerian scam letter! It's a bit on the low side though—US$3,825,000. But it is an authenic Nigerial letter! First come, first serve!

Come on, I know some of you out there have yet to receive one! First one to ask gets it!

Anyone?

Bueller? Bueller?

Of course, it's the sharks that win

So the situation is that they are suing me to force me to remove graphics that are already offline and which I have told them will remain offline. And they are suing me to recover money that they know does not exist. Taubman is wasting not only their own time and money blindly pursuing this meaningless charge, this waste of resources has a ripple effect:

I'm wasting my time having to defend myself.

My attorney (a noted public-interest lawyer) is spending his limited time defending me from this charge, time which certainly could be better spent addressing more important issues instead of wrestling with Taubman over an issue that they've basically manufactured out of smoke and mirrors.

And now, a United States Magistrate Judge has had to conduct a hearing and write a 12-page order just to get Taubman to produce information that they should have provided months ago!

In fact, oddly enough, the only people who appear to be benefiting from this absurd situation are the law firm of Gifford, Krass, Groh, Sprinkle, Anderson & Citkowski, P.C. – and, in particular, Ms. Julie A. Greenberg, the lead partner on this case, whose website bio proudly boasts of her “extensive experience in the field of pretrial injunctions involving infringement." (I had a comment prepared to insert here, but I'll let Ms. Greenberg's words speak for themselves … )

Via Techdirt, Taubman Sucks! Act 97: The Discovery Order

I used to wonder why law suits took so long to work their way through the court system. After reading this entire site (way over 120 pages of it, and it's still on-going!) I can see why they take as long as they do as each side jockeys to prove they're right and to prove the other side are incompetent to stand trial.

And this is a relatively small case over a fan site of a mall!

What, exactly, do the lawyers suing Hank Mishkoff, think they are going to accomplish? They first started off by threatening Mr. Mishkoff with legal action for making a fan site for the client's mall and saying it was doing irreprable harm (trademark dilution most likely). Mr. Mishkoff would have taken the site down if they actually responded kindly to him, but no, after some discussions he was sued. At first he made a valient effort to defend himself but the lawyers have the law so stacked against everybody that you need a lawyer just to make any headway (and now Mr. Mishkoff has a lawyer working pro bono on the case). And nearly a year later, was hit with copyright infringement.

Who exactly, besides the lawyers, is gaining from any of this?

Certainly not Taubman's client, who have to pay for what is fast looking like a lost cause on their part, and even if they do win, any financial retribution will not cover their lawyers' fees at all.

It's coming to the point where businesses are going to have to reign in their legal departments before they're bled dried trying to defend their businesses—some actions are just not worth the effort.

Monday, February 10, 2003

I like the idea, but not keen on the timing

WASHINGTON—President Bush, having already set off a firestorm over his proposals to cut taxes and revamp retirement accounts, suggested on Friday that the time might be near to drop the income tax and replace it with some form of consumption tax.

Via InstaPundit, Bush ponders radical move to consumption tax

I like the idea, since I'm not one that spends a lot of money, although I'm afraid that this will be a severe wake-up call to those that live off credit. Then again, maybe not—without an income tax you'll have more money to spend and we are a society that likes to spend. But on the other hand, this may give incentive to people to save and the economists don't like that at all—it doesn't provide much stimulus to the economy as more people save and purchasing slows up.

Much more likely is we'll get yet another round of unintended consequences that with 20/20 hindsight seem perfectly obvious. Such as high home prices in an uncertain state this may cause the economy to tank further, despite what Bush is hoping for.

Tuesday, February 11, 2003

She's back!

Spring is back from Sweden! Woo hoo!

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

“It's the economy, stupid!”

Although completely suppressed in the U.S. media, the answer to the Iraq enigma is simple yet shocking—it is an oil currency war. The real reason for this upcoming war is this administration's goal of preventing further Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) momentum towards the euro as an oil transaction currency standard. However, in order to pre-empt OPEC, they need to gain geo-strategic control of Iraq along with its 2nd largest proven oil reserves. This lengthy essay will discuss the macroeconomics of the “petro-dollar” and the unpublicized but real threat to U.S. economic hegemony from the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency.

Via Robot Wisdom, The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War With Iraq: A Macroeconomic and Geostrategic Analysis of the Unspoken Truth

Interesting take on the reasons we're so gung-ho to go into Iraq. It seems that the Caspian Sea oil fields aren't quite as big or as pure as first thought so the oil pipe through Afghanistan isn't economically viable at this time. And the Iraqi switching from dollars to the euro in November of 2000 is certainly interesting (I suppose to piss off the newly (non?) elected President). So our little excursion into Iraq may not only be for the oil, but to save our economy as we know it.

Nice …

What do you mean turning students into inmates? They already are!

A simple solution would avert the budget disaster facing California's schools: We should declare every public school to be a prison. The kids would understand.

Details need to be worked out, but I want every child in California to be given a 13-year prison sentence at age 5, with the possibility of a four-year extension.

That way, the $7,000 the state spends per student each year could immediately be raised to $27,000—what the state spends on each inmate annually. And our criminally under-funded schools would qualify for the only category in the governor's proposed budget that's slated to get more money this year.

Via Flutterby, Raising the Bars Complete sentences: Turning students into prison inmates

And why not? My old highschool looked and felt like a minimum-security facility when I was attending, and now it looks more like your standard prison, what with the concentric rings of fencing around it and what look to be guard towers along the building. Schools are already prisons of a sort, so this is just calling a spade a spade.

Thursday, February 13, 2003

Two unknown spiders found lurking about the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere

What's with everybody looking at Andrew Jackson?

I don't have an explanation for this.

This month alone, I've received over 1,400 image search requests (from Google Images) for Andrew Jackson. Going over the logs, I've see I also received over 1,400 requests for images of Andrew Jackson last month, but about an average of 30 or so from April through December, and over 200 in March, but that's when I first placed the image up.

Weird.

Sunday, February 16, 2003

Query Redirects in HTTP, or rather, the lack of documentation thereof

Over the past few days, Mark and I have been going back and forth about implementation details in Seminole. It started out with a question about encoding URLs—when do you convert a space to %20 and when do you covert it to + (answer: you can always use %20 but you can only convert a space to a + in the query portion of a URL) but eventually got around to a point not covered in RFC-2616.

I like your idea of storing the query separate in the HttpdRequest object. It's a good idea, and I think may fix a problem where we do redirects and forget to tack on the query string. For example:

Redirecting http://server/some/directory?stuff
-to-
http://server/some/directory/index.html?stuff

Probably doesn't work now.

Email from Mark

Only thing is, RFC-2616 doesn't cover this situation. Sure, it covers what to do when redirecting a POST (and even goes into mind-numbing detail about when and when not to convert a POST to a GET when redirecting, and how that interacts with proxy and caching servers) but not what to do when redirecting a GET with a query.

I did some tests with Apache, and from what I can see, if Apache generates the redirect (for example, http://www.example.net/path to http://www.example.net/path/) it passes along the query string (http://www.example.net/path?a=1&b=2 is redirected to http://www.example.net/path/?a=1&b=2) but if the redirect comes from the Redirect directive (for example, http://www.example.net/p.cgi to http://server.example.org/q.cgi), then the query portion of the URL is dropped entirely (http://www.example.net/p.cgi?a=1&b=2 is redirected to http://server.example.org/q.cgi—note the missing query string) and since the RFC is quite mum on what the correct behavior is, we're having to wing it for now.

Don't shoot, we're Republicans!

Fifty years ago today, the Willie D as the Porter was nicknamed, accidentally fired a live torpedo at the battleship Iowa during a practice exercise. As if this wern't bad enough, the Iowa was carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the time, along with Secretary of State, Cordell Hull and all of the country's WWII military brass. They were headed for the Big Three Conference in Tehran, where Roosevelt was to meet Stalin and Churchill. Had the Porter's torpedo struck the Iowa at the aiming pointy, the last 50 years of world history might have been quite different.

Via Jerry Pournelle, Don't shoot, we're Republicans!

Nothing much to add here, other than it's an amusing story and I'm finding it fun to think about what would have happened had the torpedo actually struck the Iowa. I don't think much would have happened in the long run—FDR would have most likely survived, been transported to another ship and still made Tehran, but still, there was that slight chance he would have been killed.

Even so, I don't think the outcome of the war would have been that much different; Truman still had to take over from FDR before the war was over.

Tuesday, February 18, 2003

Guess who? Not me …

From: xgrwAlyse <qydonancey10p@yahoo.com>
To: You@conman.org (fake To: address, by the way)
Subject: Guess who? khvqs
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 11:43:12 -0800

This is our second attempt at contacting you. We have been hired to contact you because someone you know is interested in you. Please follow the link below to find out who.

http://fff49857548.com/mwc19/

I figured Why not?

It piqued my curiousity and what with other services like it I've seen it is conceivable that someone I know may have indeed gone to the site and registered a crush. Such sites are annoying, wanting you to register to see who has the crush on you, but hey, why not try?

So, I hit the site (don't bother yourself though). Page comes up, pictures of cute corporate women, a progress bar stating that it's loading up my crush's profile and then hey! Click here to continue.

So I click and then my browser (Mozilla) pops up a dialog box asking me where I want to save an executable.

An executable?

Ooookay …

I save it, and since my curiosity is really piqued now, I even consent to running it (and have probably damned myself to a computer virus from Hell, but why not?). A window pops up, with the EULA and being one of the few people who bother to read such things (to find out just how hideously one-sided these things usually are) I start seeing what I'm about to agree to.

Warning: By using this software, your modem will dial a 900 telephone number. The number your modem will dial is 1-900-288-1109. You will be charged $34.99 on your telephone bill for the call and will be issued a username and password that will give you unlimited access for 30 days. No credit card is required to access this service. There is no minimum charge for this call. Scroll down for further instructions.

End User License Agreement for Workplace Crush

Not a problem, I think. I don't have a modem installed on this machine. Good thing too:

Your modem will then dial a 900 telephone number. The number your modem will dial is 1-900-288-1109. You will incur a charge of $34.99 for the call and will be issued a username and password that will give you unlimited access the web-site for 30 days.

You will have 18 seconds after you click 'I Accept' to terminate this program and avoid charges. You will not be charged during the time you view this disclaimer.

Your call will automatically be terminated at the end of Eighteen (18) minutes or $75.00 per call unless earlier terminated by you.

That's some pretty expensive porn there, given that you can plug just about any sex related term into your search engine of choice and get all the free porn you could possibly handle.

And then some.

So now, because I'm more amused than curious at this point, I click that “Accept” button. Not too worried since 1) I don't have a modem installed and 2) I haven't typed in a credit card number or bank account number.

I was rather impressed that the program didn't crash.

Instead it said it couldn't find the dialing unit and prompted me for some additional phone numbers it might need to dial out on.

<SIMPSONS CHARACTER="Nelson">Hah hah!</SIMPSONS>

Reading the EULA is rather amusing and I especially like the following bit:

Once connected, your computer modem will terminate this 900 telephone call automatically once a username and password have been obtained. You disconnect manually using one of the methods described below:

You click on the 'DISCONNECT' button on the dialogue box; or

You turn off the power switch to your computer or modem, or take other drastic and unusual act to terminate the telephone connection.

Yes, that is exactly how I disconnect manually—I take other, drastic and unusual acts to terminate the telephone connection.

Sheesh!

Wednesday, February 19, 2003

My Kit Porsche

Parking Spots (found via Jason Kottke) is an interesting photographic site where you take a picture of a toy car in such a way as to make it appear the site of a real car. Since I didn't have a matchbox car, I decided to use one of the Lego cars I had sitting around.

So there I am, outside, holding the car out at arms length and taking photos of it against the other cars in the parking lot at the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere and getting some rather strange looks from the kids running around while I attempt to work my way around focal length problems.

It's not easy getting keeping an object in the near foreground and an object in the far background both in focus—unless you have can have a high f/stop (an f/stop is a ratio of the diameter of the apature to the focal length and a stop is defined as the iris (or apature) opening which will allow twice or half the light as the previous or next stop) you are going to have a problem with the focus, and in order to get a small opening, you either need a lot of light or a long exposure. But the problem with a long exposure is that any movement of the camera will generate ghost images or an exremely blurry picture.

But we are now in the world of digital photography where we can now compensate fairly easily this problem. After reviewing the pictures I had (most with slightly blurry backgrounds) I decided to take two pictures—one with the toy car (and a blurry background) and one without the toy car (of just the background, but a sharper background) and do some post processing later—namely, cutting my hand with the car out of the first photo and pasting it into the second photo, with some cropping (since I didn't bother cutting my entire hand out).

The results weren't bad—a little jagged along the thumb side of my hand, but I'm still getting used to doing the image cut-n-paste thing. I then sent the resulting image off to Parking Spots so it should show up in a day or so.

Update later today

The entry I made bounced back since their mailbox had overfloweth. I'll have to submit the entry later …

Thursday, February 20, 2003

A parking spot for my Kit Porsche

From: <cars@dubster.com>
To: <sean@conman.org>
Subject: parking spot entry
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 21:18:50 -0500

Hi sean

I found your site via http://blogdex.media.mit.edu looks like you had problems sending a picture in. please send it again. don't worry about the depth of field.

sincerely Dubi Kaufmann

Wow. This I didn't expect at all, but I guess memes now travel fast in this Internet-enabled age of ours. So I resubmitted my entry and this morning received the following:

From: <cars@dubster.com>
To: Sean “Captain Napalm” Conner <sean@conman.org>
Subject: Re: A picture of my Porsche
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:05:01 -0500

Hello Sean
you are in!
check it out at
http://www.dubster.com/cars/index.asp?id=100
thank you for taking part in parking spots.
Sincerely Dubi Kaufmann

Neat!

1000 Blank White Cards

Spring, Gregory and I played our very first game of 1000 Blank White Cards today. I've been interested in the game for quite some time, but it wasn't until Spring found a reference to the game and bought a box of 1000 blank white cards that we got a chance to try out this game.

I suspect that not only is this the first deck in South Florida, but the first deck to actually use official 1000 Blank White Cards, at a very narrow dimension of 3½″×1½″.

[This is the title / your arms are wavy +200 (SLS)]

[STEAL THIS CARD / +100 FOR PLAYING CARD / +200 FOR STEALING FROM DISCARD PILE (SPC)]

There are no real “official” rules to 1000 Blank White Cards (1KBWC); in fact, Spring and I have found three different sets of rules, so we adapted what we liked, and discarded what we didn't like. We played by the following rules (more or less):

Obtain a box of Blank Cards—1000-Count and a Pilot Roller-Ball pen for each player.
Each player starts with 10 blank card. Each player then fills up each card.

Obligatory Sidebar Links

1000 Blank White Cards
Cards
I want my 1000 Blank White Cards
1000 blank white cards
Seattle Electric Grimmeldeck
The Blank Card Game
- The cards can be used in either portrait orientation or landscape orientation.
- Each card has a title across the top.
- Each card as a picture.
- Each card has a description of what the card does, or a point value, or both.
- The point value can be any value, positive, zero, or negative, and is usually in multiples of 100, but it doesn't have to be.
- Each card is also initialed by the player so we know who is responsible for each card.
Once all the cards are created, they are collected and shuffled.
The dealer deals out five cards to each player. The remaining cards are placed face down in the middle of the table to form the … um … draw deck (as you'll see, the term “draw” has several meanings in this game).
The dealer also hands out five blank cards to each player.
Player starts with the person to the dealer's left and proceeds clockwise (unless a card states otherwise).
During a turn:
- Play either selects a card from his hand to play, or creates a new one from the blank cards in her possession.
- The player may elect to play the card on herself, another player or everyone playing the game.
- If the card affects the gameplay in some way, it will remain on the table, visible at all times until such time it is removed from the game (as a result of another card removing it).
- Cards played go to a discard pile.
- The score of any affected players is updated.
- The player then selects another card from the draw pile, if there are cards still available in the draw pile.
- Players can create new cards at any time, as long as they have a blank card upon which to create a new card.
The game ends when no more cards can be played, enough people lose interest in continuing the game, the cops arrive, or everyone falls asleep.
The player with the most positive points wins (unless a card changes the winning conditions, which is possible … I guess).

The game is actually fun, despite how it might sound in the rules presented above. And now I need to scan cards and create webpages for the “Blank Cards—1000-Count Deck” (although naming it the “Surf Arkansas Deck” is appealing to me … )

Friday, February 21, 2003

“Davos? Didn't he create the Daleks?”

The world isn't run by a clever cabal. It's run by about 5,000 bickering, sometimes charming, usually arrogant, mostly male people who are accustomed to living in either phenomenal wealth, or great personal power. A few have both. Many of them turn out to be remarkably naive—especially about science and technology. All of them are financially wise, though their ranks have thinned due to unwise tech-stock investing. They pay close heed to politics, though most would be happy if the global political system behaved far more rationally—better for the bottom line. They work very hard, attending sessions from dawn to nearly midnight, but expect the standards of intelligence and analysis to be the best available in the entire world. They are impatient. They have a hard time reconciling long term issues (global wearming, AIDS pandemic, resource scarcity) with their daily bottomline foci. They are comfortable working across languages, cultures and gender, though white caucasian males still outnumber all other categories. They adore hi-tech gadgets and are glued to their cell phones.

Welcome to Earth: meet the leaders.

Via Flutterby, Memo from Laurie Garrett

The big brou-haha over this is that Laurie Garrett never intended her email to reach a global audience and is quite upset over it. But the letter itself is that rare glimpse into the upper eschelons of world power and since the traditional news media (at least here in the United States) does not cover such events (really, how many here have even heard of the World Economic Forum? Or of Davos?) that this was a natural thing to forward on to friends and friends of friends and so on, because news of this world is so hard to come by.

Perhaps if the traditional media had done their job and covered such unsexy (and even downright scary) stories like this (and the fact that even our ruling jaunta is afraid of a global enomonic meltdown) then Ms. Garrett's email might never had made the rounds to global conversation.

Tuesday, February 25, 2003

… and the ThinkPad stands alone …

Last night (this morning), Kelly, Mark, JeffK and I got together for yet another impromptu war driving session, only this time we all had laptops, and we all ran off batteries. Through the good graces of a friend, I was able to replace the defective battery in my ThinkPad 600 with a not-so-defective battery and since I hadn't really tested the new battery, I figured this would be as good a test as any.

It was a Good Thing™ that I had just finished fully charging the battery.

Mark ended up driving, with JeffK, Kelly and I scanning the area for WAPs. We wasted about 15 minutes with JeffK trying to get his scanning software working, and Kelly attempting to get the GPS hooked up to his laptop and talking to the WAP scanning software. It slowly became apparent that we wouldn't have GPS for this drive.

We ended up driving around residential neighborhoods, which seem to have a higher concentration of WAPs than the commercial zones. I'm not sure if it was the card I was using (a Cisco Airo 340), the software I was using (Linux running Kismet) or that Kelly and JeffK were using the same type of card (and my system kept picking their cards up) but I had better luck in finding WAPs than they did. And the battery lasted the entire trip and then some (over two hours total).

We did, however, confirm that Mark's house (and the homes around him) were not condusive to wireless network propagation, possibly due to their heavy concrete and steel construction (the neighborhood dates from the late 60s/early 70s and homes here in South Florida were solidly constructed).

Wednesday, February 26, 2003

How not to do a wireless caravan

When it rains, it pours, and this was no exception. Hindsight is always 20/20, so maybe if I explain how I XXXXXX up everything this trip it will save some other poor soul in the future the same character building experience …

“How I XXXXXX up the Wifi Caravan and CodeCon 03,” a short story of caution by coderman

A rather good primer on planning a wireless caravan and what could possibly go wrong. They, like us, had power problems due to inverters and well, then some …

Transcluding images

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this.

As I'm wont to do from time to time, I check the log files to see who may be linking to my site here and I see a bunch of references from MixedFolks.com; one of their forums.

Interesting, I think. I need to check this out.

Only you have to be a member of the site to read the forum.

Okay.

I then check to see what entry they're pointing to, only they aren't linking to an entry, but directly to one of my images (well, technically, not mine but an image stored on my server).

On the one hand, the image is there on my server and anyone can link to it (or rather, include it in their page with a bit of HTML—it's not hard at all). That is, after all, one of the points of the web.

On the other hand, someone is using a image (I really can't say it's mine) directly from my server, which consumes bandwidth that I'm liable for. And for a page that I can't even look at!

On the gripping hand, it's not like this image is being sucked down thousands of times (it's only about 60 requests so far this month).

So while it may be well within my right to replace the image with something that says:

This pathetic wanker is stealing bandwidth and still has trouble tying their shoes.

That may be a bit harsh of a punishment for what, really, isn't all that much. And besides, I'm more curious as to what use the image was being used for, than upset over the use of the image itself.

But the site is (indirectly, and through no fault of the people who own the site) using bandwidth from my server, and it's to a page I don't have access to.

I wrote to the webmaster of the site about this, asking how the image was being used and not upset over its use (I was, to tell the truth, more interested in seeing the page in question). I received the following back:

From: <webmaster@mixedfolks.com>
To: “Sean Conner” <sean@conman.org>
Subject: RE: A link to an image
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 23:03:31 -0500

OK, I found the post on my message board that contained the picture you mentioned and deleted the link to the picture. There was a Happy Valentines Day thread going and someone had linked to your pic.

Not exactly what I was asking for, and i do feel a bit bad (I certainly hope the person who linked to the picture didn't loose access for what was intended as something harmless in their eyes).

But they did use my bandwidth for a page I couldn't see …

And that's not the only instance I found—this post-it note (from an entry about missing a delivery) was linked directly. I'm not as upset over this (as there were fewer hits on this image and I could view the page to see it in context of that page) but still, it would have been nice to have some attribution …

Update

From: <webmaster@mixedfolks.com>
To: “Sean Conner” <sean@conman.org>
Subject: RE: A link to an image
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 23:03:31 -0500

Nah, no one got in trouble. There are lots of linked images on the boards. I was having the same problem with images being linked from my website til I turned on hotlink protection.

I don't feel quite as bad now ...

Friday, February 28, 2003

Dog, with kids

whimper

Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Simple amusements III

So, reguardless if you live in the United States or live in Europe today is 03/03/03, as Spring pointed out to me today.

Update

Well, it would have more impact if I actually posted this on the correct day ...

To tell the truth, I had no idea it was the fourth, much less the third ...

Yea … I guess my site is about Florida … kinda …

From: <webmaster@floridacouponsavings.com>
To: Sean <sean@conman.org>
Subject: I have seen your website.
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 10:49:18 -0500

I see you have a Florida Related Website. We have some websites that your visitors might find helpful, useful and perhaps can Save them some money. We do offer reciprocal links on these websites please view the Link to us pages.

Some spam from <webmaster@floridacouponsavings.com>

At least this one is marginally targetted towards me, and isn't offering to increase some part of my anatomy or wanting me to participate in extracting millions of dollars from some African nation. Yes, my site is related to Florida in as much that I live in Florida and anything I mention about Florida usually isn't all that positive.

Now, I was sent four links to various Florida coupon sites, and seeing how I'm desperate for any diversions lately, I decided to visit one or two of the sites and see how bad they might be. Typical of such sites:

Florida Dining Coupons FREE. Florida Dining Guide with FREE R (p2 of 4)

Link to Us
Suggested FL Links

[Choose a Florida City]
Find a Restaurant Here
[LeftTopBlueCorner.gif]

[22.jpg]
[21.jpg]
[24.jpg] [welcome.jpg]

to the web's most comprehensive source for Florida Dining Discounts. You will find Restaurants that represent the absolute best quality and value across the State of Florida.

Select a City Location from the list above …

Florida Dining Coupons FREE.

Oh, did I mention I was using Lynx? Isnt' it lovely? And while I can select a city, there isn't an associated SUBMIT button to send the information. This also fails on Mozilla.

But I suspect it works flawlessly in that other browser, the one made by Microsoft.

Florida Dining Coupons welcomes you to link to us and to submit your site to us to be featured with our other recommended Florida web sites. The only qualification is that your site must be Florida related or be a service that could benefit our members. Submission of your link does not guarantee it will appear on our list of sites. Copy our HTML code.

Florida Dining Coupons: Please Link To Us

The HTML is your typical version 4 browser code with obligatory  tags with Microsoft specific fonts. But I submitted this entry to the form; let's see how they respond …

Descent into Hell

It was not a good day today.

First, Mark shutdown sendmail on tower because of a small bug that was recently found. The patches to sendmail only cover versions back to 8.9.3.

I was running 8.8.7.

And it's not like it was an easy patch to look at and apply to the version running.

No, that would be too easy.

So I'm looking at either sendmail 8.12.8 or finally installing Postfix, which Mark and Kelly use and swear by. I only stuck with sendmail because I generally dislike changing software if I can avoid doing so (I like when computers run themselves smoothly).

I also don't handle stress that well, and email for me (well, me, Spring, Mark and about half a dozen other people) is critical. A fundamental right. Something that I (and the others mentioned) can't do without. So I needed to get back online. And that's bad enough.

Throw in two kids who were just a tad too loud; I ended up fleeing the area.

In talking it over, Spring decided to take the kids on a few errands, which included getting the dog a dog house since it seems less skittish when outside (the less I talk about the dog, the better). During the time they were away, the dog managed to escape from the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere.

That's all I needed.

Did I mention that I don't handle stress well?

Much wailing and knashing of teeth later, the dog it back, postfix is running (remember: if you include virtual hosting, make sure the virtual hosting file actually exists) and the kids are (supposedly) asleep.

And to think, it's only been four days.

Wednesday, March 05, 2003

“The site you have reached is unavailable. Please close this window and try the URL again … ”

As some of you may know, I've written my share of metasearch engines and today I found out that one company I wrote an engine for, Cyber411 (aka C4, aka Cyber Networks, Inc.) has finally succumbed to the Internet Bubble and is … well … going through some rough times accoring to their web page.

And seeing how it's been down now for over two months, I don't expect it to be up any time soon …

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

“Letting the days go by … ”

You may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
You may ask yourself
Where does that highway go to?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right? … Am I wrong?
And you may say to yourself
My God! ‥ what have I done?

Letting the days go by
Let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by
Water flowing underground
Into the blue again
Into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones
There is water underground

Talking Heads

Edumakashun

Slowly, things are settling down in the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere, panic attacks, pet antics and bathroom humor aside.

The kids are finally in school, and I'm simply amazed at how much things have changed since I was in second (the Younger) or third (the Older) grades lo these many years ago. Perhaps the biggest is the amount of homework required. I certainly never had homework in those grades. I don't think I even had homework until sixth grade or so (not that I ever did homework but that's another story). In discussing this with Spring and Gregory (who himself has two kids) it seems that parents have screamed for schools to give even more homework so that's what the schools are doing, giving more homework. I'm not sure if it's because of declining standards in education and this is an attempt at a solution or a means of busy work at home to keep them quiet and obedient.

On the one hand, I find it horribly wrong to give homework. I myself never liked busy work, and I certainly never saw the point of it. And homework? I never bothered with homework since it interfered with more important things, like TV and and playing with Lego bricks. As for the former point, I learned better on my own time (by third grade I knew my way around the Solar System, and in forth, I corrected my teacher on the proper ordering of the planets—you see Pluto had just crossed within the orbit of Neptune and thus wasn't the furthest planet, at least for the next twenty years or so) and for the later point, I was a parents' wet dream of a kid, always quiet and able to occupy myself for hours at a time and rarely did I get into trouble (mostly over bad grades, possibly due to the lack of work I exhibited—I was the poster child for “he's so smart, if only he applied himself … ”).

Yet on the other hand, being an adult who is still always quiet and able to occupy myself for hours at a time, I can certainly see the logic in anything that keeps a kid quiet and obedient (but mostly quiet). Hypocritical, perhaps, but I'm finding I like it when the kids are in school, even though I find school a horrible place to send kids.

And speaking of lackidaisical standards in education, I came across an 8^th grade exam from 1895 (via Kevin's Ramblings) and I'm not sure I could pass the test. I'm not even sure how big a bushel of wheat is, so answering the second arithmetic question is out of the question, and while I can deduct 1,050# from a weight of 3,942#, I'm still not sure what “tare” means (arithmetic question 3). And the history of Kansas? I barely know the history of Florida, let alone Kansas (from the U.S. History section). And “dipthongs?” “Cognate letters?” “Linguals?” (Orthography section, which seems related to language, or possibly writing, I'm not sure).

Standards certainly have changed over the past century.

(Oh, if you want to check your work, answers to the questions are available)

Thursday, March 13, 2003

Is it an Internet Radio Station if you don't actually play music?

You might have noticed that I show the current playing song from my mp3 player here on my site. What you don't know is that I've been using a hack for the past few months. For Winamp, I used the DoSomething plugin to work through a local special template file which would create another local flat file with song info. I'd then ftp the output file to my server, which I loaded as an include. To get my mac to the same, I had to setup a similar program, and both hacks ended up constantly sending flat files to my server over insecure FTP. Kinda sounds like overkill, doesn't it?

Trackbacks in Winamp

An interesting idea and something I didn't know about WinAmp, but cool nonetheless. By presenting a current playlist he is not only showing what type of music he listens to, but in an abstract way, he's acting as a form of disk jocky (although he isn't spinning disks but streaming electrons), which may be a way that Internet radio can survive the onslaught of the RIAA in an underground type of way.

I had the idea some time ago, made a quick note of it, and promptly forgot it. This post reminded me of it. Given the silly hoops you have to go through to actually present a radio-like station over the Internet, what if you sidestepped the major problem—the playing of music?

It's certainly not illegal to provide a list of song titles and artists on a publically accessible webpage. Lyrics, possibly, but not the titles and artists. And there should be even less problem if you don't actually link to the song itself—just a list.

And if that isn't illegal, then it certainly is okay to update said list periodically. Say, every fifteen or thirty minutes or so. Oddly enough, it would be such that the list of songs, if played would cover the period of time in question. And it shouldn't matter if the ilst is stored in HTML, XML or a flat text file. And store it in a well-known location on a web server.

And it certainly wouldn't be my problem if something like Kazaa or any other form of P2P filesharing program would pick up said file and do an automatic search and retrieval of the songs in the list.

I mean, I can't be the only person to have thought of this? Right? Right?

Saturday, March 15, 2003

Demons, aliens and ghosts! Oh my!

A bizarre, dream-like paralysis experienced when people wake from a deep sleep can cause some sufferers to believe they have seen a ghost or even to have been abducted by aliens, despite being otherwise mentally normal.

Via The James Randi Educational Foundation, Why being abducted by aliens can seem so real

Don't let the rather dry article fool you—it can be downright scary when these things happen.

Years ago, this was possibly in 1993 or 1994, I had fallen asleep for a nap in the late afternoon. Around 7:00 or 7:30 pm in the evening I awoke, but couldn't move. I felt as if I had been drugged; I was mentally alert, but I could not move to save my life; I could barely get my eyes open and only with a huge effort on my part.

While this was going on, I could feel this … presence. It had unlocked the front door, made its way through the condo towards my room. I was struggling to move. Heck, I was struggling to get my eyes open!

It was a horrible feeling.

The presence made its way to the bedroom door and was in the process of going through it when I was able to snap out of the paralysis, upon which the presence vanished.

I was quite shaken afterwards and didn't go back to sleep for quite some time as I was calming down from the incident.

A few weeks later I related the experience to a friend of mine and he was convinced that it was a malevolent spirit (I think he used the phrase “demon from Hell”) that attempted to possess me. I suppose it could have been worse—it could have been an attempted alien abduction.

The Warehouse of Infinite Stuff

It must be shock.

I did not realize that Spring had made plans for a storage unit (it was my fault for not listening close enough during the past week) but last night she announced that we were renting a storage unit and that the stuff in the dining room was going.

So I found myself this morning living the ending warehouse scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark as I'm following the clerk through endless corridors of strored stuff on the way to our 6′×7′×8′ volume of air in which we can store our own stuff.

I had wanted to avoid this—to me, obtaining a rental unit to store stuff is a form of defeat—that the stuff is so important that I'm willing to spend money to store it. But we really need the space in a critical way and let's face it, after a year of not having a dining room (or rather, a dining room full of stuff) I do have to admit defeat.

“Hi, I'm Sean … ”

“Hi Sean!”

“And I have a problem … I'm … I'm … a packrat!” [breaks down sobbing].

I now wish I had the camera with me, but a picture of the Warehouse of Infinite Stuff will have to wait until I get a chance to get back there (our plan is to wait about a month, then take a box or two our, sort through the stuff and either find room for it at the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere, or toss it and eventually empty out our volume of air).

Several hours of hauling stuff and we finally have dining room!

Woo hoo!

Monday, March 17, 2003

Maybe I should have taken up the electric clarinet …

Sci-fi author Theodore Sturgeon has a law named after him. It states that “ninety percent of everything is crap.” A corollary to that law is that ninety percent of the lucky ten percent who live in a G8 nation are probably just going on with their day-to-day lives, marking time. Birth—school —work—death, punctuated by trips to Blockbuster and package vacations to tourist traps. I'm not suggesting that everyone should run out and lead a thrill-a-minute existence like James Bond or take up naked bungee Russian Roulette. What I am suggesting is that when given a reasonable opportunity to do something out of the ordinary, no matter how small, consider taking it.

The Adventures of AccordionGuy in the 21^st Century

I was shy, quiet and introverted as a kid (heck, I'm still shy, quiet and introverted as an adult) and it was exactly those reasons why I, at the end of 9^th grade, signed up for both Speech and Drama for my Sophomore year of high school. The biggest fear most Americans have is that of public speaking, so what's more scary than both public speaking and public performances?

I never regretted the decision.

Well, for the most part.

There was the time I had to accept a school award dressed as a clown.

And then there was the abysmal attempt at improv comedy at Drama Districts one year (God, if I could excise thoughs from my head, that would be one of the first to go).

And oh, the time I …

Darn it! I'm digressing here!

So, even though I'm not … fond of kids (stop laughing! Yes, I know that's an understatement) or dogs (please, don't remind me) or cats, I never regret for a second being with Spring. I knew (or at least had an inkling) of what I was getting into, and the easy choice would have been to remain just friends, but instead I dived head first into a life way less ordinary …

I just … kind of … wish we didn't have an incontinent dog, an emotionally needy cat, or kids with scatological humor …

Tuesday, March 18, 2003

The Co-option of Dilbert by The Man as an opiate for the wage slaves

“Something's not quite right here, guys … you poke constant fun at stupid corporate behavior—but never examine the underlying reasons for that behavior … you have become the champions of millions of insecure abd beleagured office workers—and yet Scott Adams told Newsweek he supports corporate downsiging!

“I'm begining to think you're providing a valuable service for all those idiotic bosses you parody—by giving their employees a safely value that's just edgy enough to ring true, without inspiring anyone to actually question the fundamental assumptions of corporate America … and which, of course, fits nicely on a plethora of spin-off merchandise!”

“That reminds me … have you called our broker lately?”

“Yea—he says we're richer than Bill Gates.”

The Trouble With Dilbert

A very interesting (if long) look into Dilbert and the reasons why it's not only popular with wage slaves, but with their corporate masters as well!

Great … I'm a septic cleaning product now …

From: Jeff Koecher <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To: Sean Conner <sean@conman.org>
Subject:TRY SPC FREE FOR 30 DAYS - AND END SEPTIC TANK ISSUES FOREVER! 6095fsEN0 -953zgyE7994PnWH0 -386X -29
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 23:28:53 -0500

Heres some interesting spam, you too can try SPC free for 30 days!!!

You're famous Sean, you need to get royalties :-)

Jeff

From: Homeowner Treatment <homeownertreatmentcoft@yahoo.com>
To: Cesspool@XXXXXXX, Owner@XXXXXXX
Subject: TRY SPC FREE FOR 30 DAYS - AND END SEPTIC TANK ISSUES FOREVER! 6095fsEN0 -953zgyE7994PnWH0 -386X -291008CaCA9 -348WcrG8074zPHk7 -151nopc6794uhjl6 -425OvhX3138olzA5 -09l59
Date: Sun, 09 Feb 2003 00:19:55 -0200

Tired of dealing with

Messy backups?

Soggy 'wet spots' that ruin your lawn?

Offensive, unhealthy odors?

Try SPC, and solve these septic system problems once and for all!

Get the details of this great offer! Click here for details http://www.aaa9875548.com/trial/free_trial.html

HERE'S WHY SPC IS SUPERIOR TO OTHER SOLUTIONS:

SPC is 100% free of harsh chemicals, so it's completely safe for you and your family to use. Unlike home remedies (like baking soda or yeast), our fast-acting formula contains powerful enzymes and helpful bacterial that attack, dissolve, and prevent the formation of solids that clogs your system …

Email from JeffK

Just what I need … to be known as a septic cleaning product.

Perhaps this can help me deal with the dog …

Friday, March 21, 2003

The sudden lack of Wirelessness

I finally took the time today to get my own WAP going. When Rob moved out, his WAP went with him, leaving us … um … wirelessness (or is that “wirelessless?”).

Or something like that.

So off to CompUSA to obtain some wireless equipment, but the spot lights and the distinct lack of parking made me suspect I picked the wrong night to go shopping for wireless equipment. I went in anyway, determined to get what I came for, reguardless of how long it took (besides, it got me out of the house of Two Kids and Incontinent Dog).

Despite the crowded store, I was able to get through the checkout line in under ten minutes with the needed equipment—a WAP and wireless PCMCIA card (both from Linksys). I was a bit upset that the WAP had more features than I wanted (I do not need a DHCP/firewall/NAT/switch/router functionality) but given that all the WAPs being sold had similar features and went for about the same price, I didn't have much choice in the matter.

Well, unless I shop online, but I'm not in the habit of doing that.

It took me quite a while to get set up. Short story—changing the default settings (including IP address) of the WAP, having to jumper a network card to use the proper connector (10Base-T instead of 10Base-2) in a buried computer (underneath two other computers) and obtaining current Linux drivers for the wireless card I'm using.

All told, it took several hours to configure and get working.

But I now have wireless!

Woo hoo!

Saturday, March 22, 2003

“What'cha looking at, Willis?”

Sigh.

Sunday, March 23, 2003

Hi. I'm Sean. And I'm an Internet Junkie

Twenty-four hours.

That's how long our Internet net connection was out.

A fiber cut somewhere in South Florida cut us (and thousands of others) adrift from the Super-info-quicky-mart-hyway for a day!

The fact that I'm bitching about it shows you how much of an Internet junkie I am.

What's the point of being wireless without an Internet connection?

But the connection is back up.

About freaking time!

Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Things that make you go “Hmmmm … ”

None of this is concrete evidence of anything specific, but rather, indicative of some kind of tampering that was done to both my systems and my friends systems for some unknown reason.

I don't know if this could be private sector work, and I can't think of anything a corporation would want that bad given these efforts. The botched laptop reassembly and my broken USB reader indicate that whoever it was might have been a newbie or simply careless.

The reality is that I will likely never know who or why this was done, and any of the above items could be passed off as coincidence or paranoia.

c o d e r l o g

The ramblings of someone who is too paranoid, or a harbinger of things to come? I can only hope it's paranoia and not some nameless Three Letter Agency going around spying on us …

Bollywood

One of Spring's favorite channels is the International Channel and tonight she was watching a show about Bollywood, the Indian (as in Indian sub-continent and not Native Americans) version of Hollywood. The show was highlighting remakes of Hollywood films and would show clips from the films, which were, more or less, the length of a music video and as far as I could tell, more or less were music videos.

The announcer would say something like, “And this film, [some title in Hindi or Tamil or some other Indian dialect] was based upon the American film, What Lies Beneath” and then they would show this five or six minute clip of a huge dance and song number, with scores of people dancing and a couple (and it was always a couple) doing the vocals. Yes, a film, based upon “What Lies Beneath” (a horror film) with a huge song-n-dance routine.

And there was the film based upon Fatal Attraction with a five or six minute clip of—

—a huge song-and-dance number with scores of people. And another film, based upon While You Were Sleeping with again, a five or six minute long clip of scores of people in a song-and-dance routine. And yet another film based upon The Whole Nine Yards with, can you guess?

Yup, a five to six minute clip of scores of people in a song-and-dance routine, but not just any song-and-dance routine. Nope. This was Riverdancing!

“There seems to be a trend,” I said to Spring.

“Every Indian film I've seen has musical numbers,” she said.

“Are there points within those movies where they speak?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Really? They spontaneously break out into talking?”

She laughed. “Yes, between the musical numbers and action sequences, they have been known to break out into talking. Not much mind you, but some.”

The Bollywood remake of My Best Friend's Wedding seemed more suited to this style of film making than “What Lies Beneath” or “Fatal Attaction.” And the remake of Body Heat, named (and like Dave Barry says, “I am not making this up”) Jism (ahem) was quite hot, and quite unusual with only two people in the five to six minute musical clip.

Thursday, March 27, 2003

“Static IP Addresses? Where art thou?”

Ever since this weekend our Internet connection here at the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere has been somewhat flaky. On Tuesday I had to call tech support since the connection was dropped and both a reset and a powercycle of the cable modem were insufficient in restoring a connection. The tech (in Buffalo, NY) read through his script (“Please unplug the power to both the cable modem and your computer.”) and I played along when it seemed necessary (“Okay, my computer has finished booting.” “But it's only been 10 seconds! It took me several hours to optimize my computer to boot in under 40 seconds!” “It's a fast machine.”) and the connection was restored.

Wednesday, there was an outtage of a few minutes, and then there was today.

Today, we lost the connection again. Repeating the operations from Tuesday didn't help and it was then that I had a sinking feeling that, quite possibly, I lost my DHCP lease. When we first obtained the connection, I ran the DHCP client once to get an address, then statically programmed that in for the occasional reboot. Never had a problem, and the IP address was bound to the MAC address on my Ethernet card.

But apparently, not anymore.

The cable modem finally resynced, but none of our traffic was going anywhere. But once I re-ran the DHCP client and obtained a new IP address, the Internet beckoned.

God, I wish for the days when I had thirty-two (32!) static IP addresses, with control of the reverse DNS lookups. It's barely tolerable with one (1) static IP address but a dynamic address?

Let's just say I find dynamic IP addresses annoying (there's the changes to DNS so I can log in to my home network from elsewhere, and changes to the SMTP server I use to allow outgoing email, and … )

It takes a licking …

Mark found himself at Dialtone Internet the other day and took the time to take pictures of tower, the server that runs this website (as well as others) and handles all our email, just in case you're curious as to what you can use that old 486 for …

Monday, March 31, 2003

Spurious signals

Mark's webserver Seminole has been having problems running on tower. The architecture of Seminole is multi-threaded, but the threading library under RedHat 5.2 (and Linux 2.0) is basically broken, so Mark is having to simulate that by using fork(). And it's not working that well. It'll run for a few days, then the process accepting new connections will die for no apparent reason, leaving the main process hung since it's not the one accepting connections and it isn't aware that its child process died.

Mark, being primarily an embedded systems programmer isn't that well versed in all the picky details of POSIX (and especially signals—granted it is a mess) so I wrote some code to trap every possible signal, log it to syslogd and then exit. Hopefully we'll be able to track down what might be happening.

I also pull out the state of the registers but that is very dependant upon the compiler options used and is a complete hack (that as far as I know, only works under the Intel platform without the -fomit-frame-pointer option under the Linux 2.0 kernel.

Did I mention it being a hack?

Tuesday, April 01, 2003

So, how does this work again?

BlogShares is a fantasy stock market for weblogs. Players get to invest a fictional $500, and blogs are valued by inbound links.

Via Oliver Willis, Fantasy Blogs Share Market

As if the real stock market weren't bad enough.

And as far as I can tell, this isn't a bad April Fool's joke either.

And currently, I have a valuation of $0.00, but my outgoing links are worth a whopping $11.11!.

Woo hoo! At this rate, I'll be able to afford a cup of coffee in a few weeks!

Homework

Much crying, wailing and knashing of teeth going on.

I knew that homework was bad, but not that bad!

I don't recall getting homework in second and third grades. In fact, I don't think it was until sixth grade that I started getting any homework; Spring's kids, one i second, one in third, have homework. Quite a bit of homework.

But not six long drawn out hours of homework.

In discussing this with Spring and our friend Gregory (who also has two kids) it seems that since the US educational system is bad, that parents across the country (or at least here in Florida) have cried out long and loud for more homework! At all grade levels. Like that will make up for lack of funding, overcrowding, poor teacher morale and a daycare center atmosphere.

Wednesday, April 02, 2003

The Stupid Network

The paradox arises from the meaning of “best.” If “best” meant, "generate the most cash for the network owner," there would be no paradox. But if we accepted this meaning of best, we'd have to be content with the tightly-controlled, relatively thin stream of bits that the telephone companies currently grant us. Communications networks have a more important job than generating return on investment—their value comes from their connectivity and from the services they enable. Therefore, the best network delivers bits in the largest volumes at the fastest speeds. In addition, the best network is the most open to new communications services; it closes off the fewest futures and elicits the most innovation.

Designing a network that is intelligently tuned (optimized) for a particular type of data or service—such as TV or financial transactions—inevitably makes that network less open. As software engineers say, “Today's optimization is tomorrow's bottleneck.” Thus, the best network is a “stupid” network that does nothing but move bits. Only then is the network truly open to any and all services that want to use it, no matter how innovative or how unexpected. In the best network, the services live at the edges of the network and use the network to transport bits; they do not rely on any special characteristics of the network itself.

Via How to Monopolize the New Network, The Paradox of the Best Network

This, along with Rise of the Stupid Network explains why the Internet has gained such a significant role in the world's infrastructure since it was commercialized nine years ago. The network doesn't care what traffic it carries, only that it does; it's up to the edges to add intelligence, which is easier to do than adding intelligence in the network itself.

Homework II

Another friggin' homework marathon session! I think this one lasted over seven hours! That's longer than they spend in school!

Okay, it's actually been the Older one (in third grade) that's been having the marathon homework sessions, not the Younger.

But still, seven hours! And this isn't waiting until the night before to write a thirty page term paper either! This is just regular, write some sentences, practice some spelling and while you're at it, a page of simple multiplication type homework. It's gotten so bad that both Spring and I are scouring the works of Charles Dickens for any inspiration.

So, if anyone, anyone has any idea of what to do, please … please … mail me!

Heeeeelp!

Monday, April 07, 2003

The continued use of cursive writing

This past weekend was spent on cursive drills.

During the one of the marathon homework sessions, The Older mentioned the work being hard because he hadn't had enough practice with cursive writing. Both Spring and I had a similar idea—a cursive writing drill.

From a typing instruction manual (Typing Made Simple, Copyright © 1957—it's an amusing read) I found ten sentences that contain every letter of the alphabet and the intent was for The Older to copy each sentence five times:

Joseph Boxer packed my sledge with five dozen quails.
Peter Fahb quickly mixed two dozen jugs of liquid veneer.
The job requires extra pluck and zeal from every young wage earner.
The jovial chemist quickly analyzed the mixture of brown and green powder.
The queer, lazy witness from Kansas vexed the capable, patient old judge.
John Wilborg, trapeze artist, executed his famous jumping act very quickly.
Joe Quick, brainy government expert, was amazed to find numerous errors in the tax report.
You can make good on your job and even excel in your work if you perform every task with quiet zeal.
Our laboratory has just developed an amazing new wax that quickly restores the original finish on all furniture.
~~John Quinn improved his typewriting skill by seizing every opportunity to practice effective speedbuilding exercises.~~ The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

At a minute per sentence, it would take less than an hour; even at five minutes per sentence it should have only taken three hours (and the last sentence was changed when The Older exclaimed that it was so long it would take forever to write) but instead it turned into a weekend long marathon to write the fifty sentences.

“How did they come up with some of these letters? The b doesn't look like a b,” said The Older.

“Because it's easier to write it that way,” I said (during my stint at overviewing the cursive drills). “Cursive writing came about because it's faster to write than printing. Write the next word, please.”

“This is stupid,” he said. “Why do we have to learn this?”

“Because it's required by the educational system and once past third grade, you won't be allowed to write in print at all,” I said. “I don't hear the sound of pencil against paper.”

“Well, when I'm President, I'll outlaw cursive writing,” he said.

“That's nice, but until you become President, you need to write in cursive. So write!” And he would write the next word, and spend the next few minutes looking about, playing with his pencil and otherwise do anything else but write.

All day Saturday.

And Sunday.

But he finished the drill.

I had plans to meet with friends on Sunday afternoon. When I met up with them, I asked them how many still use cursive in their day-to-day activities. I had expected that no one still used cursive writing since I certainly don't write by hand every day; neither does Spring. But two samples do not a trend make as I found out when half my friends said that yes, they still use cursive writing in their day-to-day activities; one stated that it was faster for him to take notes in cursive than it was to take notes in print.

I'm sure The Older will not be pleased to hear this.

Saturday, April 12, 2003

I think I figured out how this works

As of this writing (at 2:00 am) I still only have a valuation of $0.00 over at BlogShares. The reason for the low valuation? Because there are no inbound links to my site, which is what the valuation is based upon.

So when Mark Pilgrim, who has a valuation of over $14,000, decided to sponsor links for a gift of 100 shares I decided to take him up on the offer, although I should not have mentioned that he could pick up shares for free (and even he was surprised that one could “buy” shares for nothing). He's going to make more money on this than I am.

Which is one reason I don't play in the stock market; I don't really grok this stuff. Well, that and the fact that the economy is tanked right now …

Sunday, April 13, 2003

Beware the Ides of April

I started my taxes today, which means this year I'm starting early.

Ahem.

And every year, like I have since … oh … 1998 or there abouts, I sit down and start filling out the dreaded 1040. Yup, because of mortgages, stocks, self-employment and other fun stuff, I get the fun of doing the long form, with schedules and everything.

Fun, fun, fun.

I suppose I could have my accountant do all this grunt work for me (and that's what it is really—tedious; it's not hard if you can keep awake from reading the dreadfully dry government prose) but that would mean I would have to actually find an accountant. And, like, pay an accountant.

And darn it!—it shouldn't take a highly paid specialist to fill out a lousy form. I'm convinced that a real tax reform will only come about when more and more people start doing their own taxes and see just how tedious this can be.

If you sold or exchanged your main home, do not report it on your tax return unless your gain exceeds your exclusion amount.

Generally, if you meet the two tests below, you can exclude up to $250,000 of gain. If both you and your spouse meet these tests and you file a joint return, you can exclude up to $500,000 of gain (but only one spouse needs to meet the ownership requirement in Test 1).

Test 1. You owned and used the home as your main home for 2 years or more during the 5-year period ending on the date you sold or exchanged your home.

Test 2. You have not sold or exchanged another main home during the 2-year period ending on the date of the sale or exchange of your home.

See Pub. 523 for details, including how to report any taxable gain if:

You do not meet one of he above two tests,

You (or your spouse if married) used any part of the home for busiess or rental purposes after May 6, 1997, or

You gain exceeds your exclusion amount.

2002 Instructions for Schedule D, Capital Gains and Losses

But with the tedium comes the few gems in the tax code—this particular bit from Schedule D means that the money I received upon selling Condo Conner is

TAX FREE!

Woo hoo! Doing the Happy Dance!

When this is all over, the Federal Government may end up owing me money!

And that, generally speaking, is such a nice feeling.

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Ides of April

Taxes are done! Actually, they were done and mailed off yesterday, and unlike the past few years, I didn't have to pay any this year.

But in thinking about taxes (via The Duff Wire and as of this writing, you still have fifty-nine minutes to finished them up and get them postmarked, so hurry up!) and the flat tax proposal or even other forms of tax reform my gut feeling is that they won't get very far—all the proposals are just too radical a change for most Americans. A better method would be to take a longer view of tax reform and take smaller steps that would be easier to push through Congress and past the President yet get them a step closer to a true tax reform.

One such step could be the elimination of tax withholdings; I'm not talking about repealing withholding of Social Security (the very real Sacred Cow in Washington) or Medicaide or Medicare but the other taxes that are withheld when you fill out the W-4 form. It can be easily sold to the government as a way to jump-start the flailing economy as that will give people a bit more discretionary money to which to spend on consumables (after all, that's what a good consumer does, right? Consume?). It is too late to get it repealed for this year, but target a repeal date of say, January 1^st 2004 that companies will no longer be allowed to withhold taxes (other than Social Security and Medicare); I think that's doable.

The payoff of such an act towards tax reform won't really be felt until January 2005, with a total tax meltdown come April when people realize just how much they really owe! And you can bet that tax reform will be all that much easier to push through!

Granted, best results would occure if the sticker price of income tax (for lack of a better term) were to hit during an election year; even better during a Presidential election year, but if we're willing to take the long view with a bit of paitence, this one small step could be the break needed to get real tax reforms going here in the US.

Perfection, thou art the retrofitted Enterprise NCC-1701

The Starfleet starship registry prefix “NCC” doesn't officially mean anything other than it is the standard prefix for starships in service. There have been other prefixes, notably “NX,” denoting a prototype, or experimental vessel. The two most famous ships with this prefix would be the U.S.S. Excelsior NX-2000 and the U.S.S. Defiant NX-74205. Once the U.S.S. Excelsior was rendered operational, the prefix changed to the standard NCC.

Star Trek: FAQ: What does the starship registry prefix “NCC” mean?

Of all the Star Trek ships called “Enterprise,” the one I find most beautiful (and one I would love to own—either as a model or the “real thing”) is the retrofited NCC-1701 from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The model used for filming was seven feet in length and according to the artist who painted that model, it is indeed white although it's hard to tell.

And while I would love to have that seven foot model, I'm not sure where I would stick the darned thing …

Honda Cog

The Honda Cog commercial (via Ceejbot) is simply stunning; a real-life Rube Goldberg contraption using parts from the new Honda Accord in an incredible display. I can't even begin to describe it and there's some confusion on how it was filmed, but in any case, weather it took 606 attempts for a perfect run, or filmed in two halves and spliced together, it is still an impressive feat of filming.

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Hurt

Cash's producer, Rick Rubin, sent a copy of the video to NIN's Trent Reznor. “We were in the studio, getting ready to work—and I popped it in,” Reznor says. “By the end I was really on the verge of tears. I'm working with Zach de la Rocha, and I told him to take a look. At the end of it, there was just dead silence. There was, like, this moist clearing of our throats and then, ‘Uh, OK, let's get some coffee.’”

Johnny Cash Makes 'Em Hurt

I came close to tears myself watching the video; it's that powerful. And he just doesn't cover NIN “Hurt,” he owns it.

I then played the original version done by Trent Reznor and both Spring and I agree: Johnny Cash owns this song; Trent just doesn't come close.

Doing things the easy way

Spring has a computer set aside for the kids to use—the only thing left to do is install an operating system. The Older (at 9) suggested installing Linux on the system, I suspect so he can play even more NetHack since I introduced him to the game last year. But Spring has decided to install an instance of Windows on the system, since most of the software she has for the kids runs under that and not Linux.

One major problem with the system—it doesn't boot from the CD-ROM.

Okay, no biggie. Just make a boot disk and run the install program off the CD-ROM.

Six boot disks later and we're still nowhere close to installing Windows. The boot disk I formatted under my Windows box (Win98) apparently doesn't see the CD-ROM. There was a rescue disk image on the install CD, but for whatever reason my Windows box can't read CDs (it hasn't been able to for months now but I haven't felt a need to fix the situation) and Spring's Windows box (Windows 2000) won't run the special program you need to make a rescue floppy.

Okay.

Mount the CD-ROM in Spring's machine, make it sharable over the network so my computer can see it, then run the special program on my computer to make the special rescue floppy to boot the machine so we can run the install program.

Only that disk doesn't work either.

Spring finally got a disk with the proper CD-ROM drivers and yes, once booted, we can see the CD-ROM and even get a listing of files from it.

Only we can't actually run the program, or change into any subdirectories on the CD. The bastard version of MS-DOS/Windows that we booted can list the top level directory but can't read any further.

I check the CD out on my laptop—it's not corrupt or anything.

So the problem as I see it is—we need to boot from the CD to install Windows. But the machine won't boot from the CD-ROM. That's easy enough to fix—write a custom boot sector to read in the boot sector from the CD and transfer control to that. Put my custom sector on a floppy and it should work.

Okay, not many people would be able to do that. And yes, for me that is the easy way of doing things. The code itself is specific for this situation but what did you expect for about half an hour of work?

I popped the disk with my custom boot sector into the machine, turned it on and … Cannot load OS2DRV.DLL. What the … I thought. That can't be right … Boot with one of the other floppies, root around for debug (a debugger that is worse than gdb), load up the boot sector to examine it. It didn't look at all like a boot sector to me. It was then I took the CD to Spring's machine, which can boot off a CD-ROM and attempted to boot it.

Yup, the CD itself wasn't bootable.

Nice to know we found out the easy way, huh?

Update on Friday, April 18^th, 2003

Rob, who gave Spring the computer in question, says that the computer will boot from the CD-ROM even though the BIOS says otherwise.

Thursday, April 17, 2003

Network anomalies at the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere

It's always a fun time when Gregory tries to get his laptop on the network here. In the past he's made comment that I should run a DHCP server as that makes it easier for him (being a Windows user where changing the IP address is inconvenient at best) but given the relatively small number of machines it's not really needed; unlike where Gregory works where he has to support hundreds of workstations.

But I've been wanting to play around more with DHCP and make it just a tad bit easier around here for various friends, now that most of them now have wireless cards. It proved to be an interesting problem getting DHCP working here in the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere.

I tested out the DHCP server setup for the Ethernet on my main development machine and got it working, but I wanted to move it to the central network computer, janet, an old 486 I use for a firewall and NAT. janet has three NICs, one for the cable modem, one for the LAN and one for the WAP; all being in one machine makes it easier to administrate. So it was a matter of moving the configuration over to janet, adding a similar setup for the wireless side and everything should work.

But there's that word again: “should.”

Need I say it didn't?

The first problem was Gregory, who couldn't get his wireless network card to sync up to the WAP here. Going into wardriving mode on my laptop, I could see my WAP sending out beacon packets, and I could see his card sending out request packets, but for some reason, his card and my WAP just couldn't see each other. So I told him he could connect directly with Ethernet (which he had on his laptop as well).

He then couldn't get an IP address via DHCP.

Given a static IP address and he was able to get onto the network with no problem. But DHCP wasn't working. The next major problem he was having was establishing a VPN connection to his work machine, presumedly because of the firewall I had set up. Unfortunately, he did not know which network ports were required to use the VPN connection, and checking the log files (since I log all traffic to closed ports) didn't tell us anything.

So I opened up the firewall; more specifically, I disabled the firewall and let everything through so that shouldn't be a problem.

No dice. He couldn't establish a VPN.

Gregory's computer must not like my network at all.

And I have no idea why DHCP doesn't run on janet.

Friday, April 18, 2003

“There's oil in them thar' garbage … ”

The process is designed to handle almost any waste product imaginable, including turkey offal, tires, plastic bottles, harbor-dredged muck, old computers, municipal garbage, cornstalks, paper-pulp effluent, infectious medical waste, oil-refinery residues, even biological weapons such as anthrax spores. According to Appel, waste goes in one end and comes out the other as three products, all valuable and environmentally benign: high-quality oil, clean-burning gas, and purified minerals that can be used as fuels, fertilizers, or specialty chemicals for manufacturing.

Unlike other solid-to-liquid-fuel processes such as cornstarch into ethanol, this one will accept almost any carbon-based feedstock. If a 175-pound man fell into one end, he would come out the other end as 38 pounds of oil, 7 pounds of gas, and 7 pounds of minerals, as well as 123 pounds of sterilized water. While no one plans to put people into a thermal depolymerization machine, an intimate human creation could become a prime feedstock. “There is no reason why we can't turn sewage, including human excrement, into a glorious oil,” says engineer Terry Adams, a project consultant.

Via jwz, Anything into Oil

Not much to add here other than I hope this actually works. If it does, then perhaps we will get something useful out of the tons of garbage we produce each year (and in the article, they state that anything short of nuclear waste can be processed) as well as the tons and tons of garbage we already have! And this has the added benefit, if it does indeed work as well as they claim it does, to keep places like Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico free of oil drills.

Headless peeps

Spring went shopping today for Easter supplies. Not that we celebrate, but the kids, they're expecting the usual candy and Easter egg hunt and what not. In the store she found some chocolate filled marshmallow chicks (a generic form of Peeps®). It wasn't until she opened one of the buckets did she realize just how … horrifying … these particular chocolate filled marshmallow chicks are.

They're headless!

They have a body, but right at the neck, where normally one would find the marshmallowy goodness of the chick's head is instead this red covered stump that is surely to tramatized some poor kid come Easter morning!

“Mmmmmmooooommmmmmmmm! This peep's headless! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Therapy for life, I'm telling you!

Saturday, April 19, 2003

Network anomalies solved

The issues I was having with DHCP were getting to me.

I decided that since I was having problems with janet serving up DHCP for the wireless network, that I would have the WAP do that for me, since it had the functionality. Might as well use it.

Funny thing about the WAP though; being too friendly it's actually hostile to how I run the network here in the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere.

I enabled the DHCP server, and while I was able to have it assign my laptop an IP address, the WAP wasn't forwarding packets to janet so I couldn't see the Internet.

If I assigned a static IP address (and assigned the IP route) on the laptop, I could get out on the Internet.

It seems that the WAP wanted to route all the traffic out its WAN port, which in this case, is the port you would normally plug your DSL or cable modem into. But since I already have a machine acting as a firewall/NAT, this port on the WAP is empty.

Although if I change the configuration of the WAP from a “gateway” to a “router” the DHCP assigned IP address is routed correctly, but then the DHCP server on the WAP mysteriously stops working.

So … I can have the WAP serve up DHCP, but those addresses aren't routable, or I can have the addresses routable but can't assign them via DHCP. I just love how this stuff works so flawlessly.

So then I'm back to figuring out why DHCP on janet isn't working. Putting the DHCP server into debug mode, I see that it can see the request, but for some strange reason it can't send the response, saying that the network is unreachable. Which is odd, because the network is reachable.

DHCP works fine on linus, my development machine. And the only difference between the two is the number of NICs—one in linus, three in janet. Suspecting that there might be a problem with the Linux 2.0 networking stack, I disable the other two NICs in janet and suddenly, the DHCP server works! And with the WAP in “router” mode, janet sees the DHCP requests from the wireless side of the network.

Now, since I have RedHat 5.2 installed on these systems, and I still have the installation CDs, I pulls the source code (one of the wonders of open source) for the DHCP server and start poking around.

LINUX

There are three big LINUX issues: the all-ones broadcast address, Linux 2.1 ip_bootp_agent enabling, and operations with more than one network interface.

BROADCAST

In order for dhcpd to work correctly with picky DHCP clients (e.g., Windows 95), it must be able to send packets with an IP destination address of 255.255.255.255. Unfortunately, Linux insists on changing 255.255.255.255 into the local subnet broadcast address (here, that's 192.5.5.223). This results in a DHCP protocol violation, and while many DHCP clients don't notice the problem, some (e.g., all Microsoft DHCP clients) do. Clients that have this problem will appear not to see DHCPOFFER messages from the server.

It is possible to work around this problem on some versions of Linux by creating a host route from your network interface address to 255.255.255.255. The command you need to use to do this on Linux varies from version to version. The easiest version is:

route add -host 255.255.255.255 dev eth0

MULTIPLE INTERFACES

Most older versions of the Linux kernel do not provide a networking API that allows dhcpd to operate correctly if the system has more than one broadcast network interface. However, Linux 2.0 kernels with version numbers greater than or equal to 2.0.31 add an API feature: the SO_BINDTODEVICE socket option. If SO_BINDTODEVICE is present, it is possible for dhcpd to operate on Linux with more than one network interface. In order to take advantage of this, you must be running a 2.0.31 or greater kernel, and you must have 2.0.31 system headers installed before you build dhcpd.

README for dhcp-2.0b1pl6

Fortunately, since RedHat 5.2 came bundled with Linux 2.0.36, dhcpd was compiled to handle multiple interfaces. All I had to do was add the appropriate route commands to have it work; I can now have DHCP serve up addresses for both the LAN and wireless network.

Gregory (who came over tonight) also realized that his wireless card in his laptop just doesn't work with my WAP—he was able access the WAP using my wireless network card.

Gotta love i14y.

Monday, April 21, 2003

It is, after all, a Monday

Today began with the realization that Holly the Incontinent Dog (which sounds like a show on the Cartoon Network) was missing; either some random person opened the gate by mistake, or one of the local cats (perhaps even Spodie the Emotionally Need Cat) perhaps pushed the latch open when jumping down from the fence (and I wouldn't put it past Spodie—he doesn't really care much for Holly). Then around noon the school called to say that the Younger was running a fever and needed to come home. And around 2:30 pm the Older show up forgetting that he was supposed to go to after-school care. And then later it transpired that the Older had neglected to inform Spring of a detention he earned last week (to be served sometime this week).

It was a type of day that Monday's are famous for.

(and it turned out that Holly was found early this morning—in the late afternoon a woman walking her dog came knocking on the door asking us if we lost a dog. I then went and picked up Holly the Incontinent Dog from her house).

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Artistic endeavors

Ever since it started about two weeks ago, Spring has been trying to get me to join Battlesketch, a LiveJournal community where each week (on Wednesday) a theme is selected and the members have to draw (using any media available for drawing) a picture. I joined just in time for last week's theme of Easter. I entered, leaving the entry a secret for Spring (who is also a member) to find, hoping to surprise her (which it did).

Via curiousLee I found Photo Friday where a theme for a photograph is selected each Friday. I missed last week's theme, but I decided to try this weeks theme of “water.”

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Parenting in this modern age

The impression I get leafing through an issue of South Florida Parenting is that we as a species simply can't survive without modern medicine, modern education, child self-esteem therapy and family counselling. It's just amazing that we made it for the six thousand or so years of civilization without such services. Just to get pregnent seems to require a team of specialized doctors to help move the sperm to the egg to ensure proper fertilization and yet again, modern medicine comes to the rescue when when it pops out and the head needs reshaping.

Can't have a kid with an odd Charlie Brown shaped head, now can we? Think of the poor self-esteem the kid will suffer through as it heads its way through our wonderfully modern education system …

And it's also the poor parent that can't afford to send Tylor or Madison to a cheerleading or computer camp for the summer. Or the ever popular Adventure Camp where kids compete in inane competitions and every night the least popular kid is voted out to spend the rest of the summer in time out.

But perhaps most disturbing were the ads for pregnancy fetish photos, where you and your mate can pose for artistic maternity portraiture up util the time of delivery (where the mother-to-be probably wants to pull the lower lip of her mate up over his head for putting her through this).

“That's not pregnancy fetish photos,” said Spring, looking at one of the ads.

“Okay,” I said, flipping through the magazine some more. “What about this one?” The nude couple standing in a large body of natural water, the male, lovingly adoring the female's swollen belly. “You can't say that that isn't a pregnancy fetish photo?”

“Now you're just being silly,” she said.

Friday, April 25, 2003

Photo Friday: Shadow

It certainly was a Photo Friday

Happenstance allowed me to be up around lunch time so I took the opportunity to escape from the house and enjoy myself for a bit. I took the digital camera along in the off chance that I might use it.

I did.

Driving back along Palmetto Park Blvd. in downtown Boca Raton, I saw that the old Floresta Estate was for sale, at a reduced price of only $715,000 (but that gets you a 4 bed/4 bath 4,520 sq. ft. place on two lots in down town Boca Raton) but the reason for the “reduced” price may be the neighboring house …

[Floresta Estate-a steal at only $715,000]

[Why yes, that is an abandoned house in Boca Raton]

[Solid construnction, this neighbor house]

(And I wonder how long it takes for the realtor to find this entry and ask me to take this down? Can't have those property values falling, now can we?)

Arriving home, I found Spring up and wanting to run some errands, so I decided to tag along. First stop was Kinkos. In the parking lot was a 1963 Chrysler Newport for sale, $8,000 or best offer.

[Hubcaps so clean you can enter the Mirror Project]

1963
CHRYSLER NEWPORT

56,000 ORIGINAL MILES

365 Cylinder V-8 Engine
Unleaded Gasoline
Push Button Automatic Transmission
Power Assisted Brakes

— NEAR MINT CONDITION —

This automobile was previously owned by a farmer in Iowa who kept the car in his machine shed and only drove it occasionally over the 30 years he owned it; note the low milage! This gentleman was the original owner.

$8,000 or Best Offer!

Sales sign on 1963 Chrysler Newport

The next store on our itinerary was an educational store and let me tell you, this place is surreal! Amusing, odd and downright scary at times, this is the place for all your kid's educational needs. There's a whole section devoted to nothing but counting money, and there are bags and bags of play bills and coins! So there's this bag of 100 plastic quarters, $4.75; almost 5¢ a fake coin. But next to it is this bag of 100 plastic pennies, at $5.25!

How can a bag of fake pennies cost more than a bag of fake quarters? Given that they're true to the size of the coins they faking? It was when I pointed this out to Spring that she noticed that the fake pennies cost a bit more than a nickle per plastic coin. So not only do the fake pennies cost more, you're better off getting real pennies as it's cheaper!

And it's nice to know that Jeff Conaway is still on the US $20 bill. [later on at lunch, our waitron (which is the correct politically correct gender neutral term, according to the Oxford Dictionary no less!) asked us if we had any questions, so I asked him, “Why are so many people searching for images of Andrew Jackson?” To which the waitron replied, “You mean one of the ex-Presidents, right?” “Right,” I said, and explained what was going on. I even showed the waitron the picture I took earlier and asked, “Does that not look like Jeff Conaway?” “The actor from Taxi, right?” The waitron looked at the image. “It's the hair.” So I'm not crazy! ~~But no answer~~ But he had an answer (as Spring reminded me a few days later) as to why an image search of Andrew Jackson is the most popular search on my site—counterfeiters looking for images (although I suspect they'd be better off getting an actual $20 bill) Although now that I look at the fake $20 bill it looks more like Johnny Cash than Jeff Conaway … ]

[Sea Monkeys on Mars-a bad bad B grade movie]

[Not just a breakfast sugar snack anymore]

[ ... all together now! ``It's product placement!'']

I'm still amazed that Sea Monkeys are still around. I remember as a kid reading comics in the 70s (back when comics could be had for less than a quarter) and seeing ads for Sea Monkeys all the time.

Guess brine shrimp will always be popular.

But I suppose it should surprise me, given the product placement being forced on kids today (McDonald's McNugget Buddies Bingo? Those responsible haven't been arrested yet?).

There was plenty of other odd and seemingly incomprehensible items, like the multicultural plastic food, and sentence strips but amid the odd items and blatant product placement were items that I might have even bought for my own use. Some of the wooden block sets seem impresive, offering Mayan, Egyptian, Arab and European themed sets and an assortment of microscopes (of which I had one as a kid) and telescopes (again, which I had one) and crystal growing kits (although I grew my own).

[Lamaze Hippo? Proof! I am not making this up!]

[As if American food wasn't enough plastic]

In the checkout line I was horrified to find a teacher cheat sheet used for grading—a stiff paper sleeve with a slit cut out, in which a piece of paper could be slid back and forth, giving grades to number of correct questions. I would think that a teacher would already know how to calculate a percentage given a number of questions wrong on a test, but apparently not. Both Spring and the cashier tried to say such a device was to save time, but I knew better … the teachers … they don't use what they preach.

Okay, maybe I can forgive an English teacher using such a device, but I'd better not catch any math teachers using one …

Saturday, April 26, 2003

My Quiet Place

Spring and the kids are in central Florida, visiting Cape Canaveral. I stayed behind to stay in my quiet place.

Monday, April 28, 2003

Learning Disabilities

After six weeks or so of school, homework marathon sessions and plenty of wailing and knashing of teeth, it is apparent to me that Spring's kids put the “fun” in “dysfunctional” when it comes to education. Spring has held countless parent/teacher conferences (even after numerous reminders they still didn't get it that she worked at night, which didn't help matters at all) attempting to resolve the situation but it finally came to a head. In short, they have a major learning disability that the local elementary school is ill prepared to deal with.

A few weeks ago Spring had them tested at Sylvan since she was concerned over their academic standings at school. The results were startling (at least to me, I think Spring expected as much): they were too smart.

Yup. Their disability is being too smart for the educational system to deal with.

The Younger, in 2^nd grade, was at a 5^th grade reading level (combination of current vocabulary use, reading skill and reading comprehension). The Older, in 3^rd grade, scored at an incredible 11^th grade reading level! No wonder they were having so many problems at school—the work was way below their level. And it certainly didn't help that they switched shools only two months before summer vacation to a state heavy with standardized tests from a state with year-round schooling.

It's a real mess.

So it was last week that Spring decided the best course of action was to remove the boys from school and home school them. No more hours of fruitless homework, no more wailing and knashing of teeth, and no more dealing with overworked and underfunded teachers (I'm being kind; Spring has less of an opinion on their former teachers).

Today was the first day of home schooling for the boys. I think it went well, but we shall see how it works out in the longer term.

Tuesday, April 29, 2003

Google Grumbling

I found this open letter to Dave Winer (via Blogging News) and what I found is a site dedicated to griping about Google. Their right to, but much of it comes across as a bunch of whiny webmasters upset that Google doesn't rank their sites higher than it has.

“Google currently does not allow outsiders to gain access to raw data because of privacy concerns. Searches are logged by time of day, originating I.P. address (information that can be used to link searches to a specific computer), and the sites on which the user clicked. People tell things to search engines that they would never talk about publicly—Viagra, pregnancy scares, fraud, face lifts. What is interesting in the aggregate can seem an invasion of privacy if narrowed to an individual.

“So, does Google ever get subpoenas for its information? 'Google does not comment on the details of legal matters involving Google,' Mr. Brin responded.”

New York Times, 28 November 2002

Google's Privacy Policies

This is an interesting quote they used—of course I would expect Google to keep this information private but I have some news for the New York Times, I log the IP address along with not only the day, but the time! (Gasp! Shock! Horror!) Heck, nearly every webserver in existence logs this very information (Seminole is an exception here, but that's due to the environment it is meant to run in where the amount of resources are very limited). But there is no way that Google can determine which link you clicked on since that information doesn't go through their server. Granted, if you click on “Similar Pages” or the cached copy, then yes, they can see which pages you are interested in. And it's likely that if you use their toolbar then they might see what page you selected, but not having see it I can't say that they do.

I grant them that it is puzzling that Google sets such a long lived cookie, but the site is still usable with cookies disabled, and modern browsers like Mozilla allow you to allow/disallow cookies on a per-site basis.

Thirdly, in order for Google to access the links to crawl a deep site of thousands of pages, a hierarchical system of doorway pages is needed so that crawler can start at the top and work its way down. A single site with thousands of pages typically has all external links coming into the home page, and few or none coming into deep pages. The home page PageRank therefore gets distributed to the deep pages by virtue of the hierarchical internal linking structure. But by the time the crawler gets to the real “meat” at the bottom of the tree, these pages frequently end up with a PageRank of zero. This zero is devastating for the ranking of that page, even assuming that Google's crawler gets to it, and it ends up in the index, and it has excellent on-page characteristics. The bottom line is that only big, popular sites can put their databases on the web and expect Google to cover their data adequately. And that's true even for websites that had their data on the web long before Google started up in 1999.

PageRank: Google's Original Sin

My experience is quite different. This weblog/journal, a database driven site (more or less) with a god-awful number of potential links, has been crawled, and crawled deeply by Google (and a few other search engines) and just checking, last month 11% of all hits came from search queries from Google (actual visits it's probably closer to 50% or 60%). Even Mark's weblog/journal is getting spidered by Google and while he doesn't have the traffic that I currently do, it's about par for what I had when this journal first went live.

Those who launch new websites in 2002 have a much more difficult time getting traffic to their sites than they did before Google became dominant.

PageRank: Google's Original Sin

People who launched a new website in 2002 (or 2003 or 2004 or for the forseeable future) are always going to have more difficulty getting traffic to their site because the web is always growing! It's called “competition”; Google is irrelevant to this. In fact, the web is growing faster than the search engines can keep up and in effect, the web is this ever expanding frontier but the frontier may be a bit difficult to find at times. Methinks these people should read up on power laws and how it relates to the web (link found via Google).

Saturday, May 03, 2003

Barbarian, thy name is UN Delegate

The decision to make the cafeterias into “no pay zones” spread through the 40-acre complex like wildfire. Soon, the hungry patrons came running. “It was chaos, wild, something out of a war scene,” said one Aramark executive who was present. “They took everything, even the silverware,” she said. Another witness from U.N. security said the cafeteria was “stripped bare.” And another told TIME that the cafeteria raid was “unbelievable, crowds of people just taking everything in sight; they stripped the place bare.” And yet another astonished witness said that “chickens, turkeys, souffles, casseroles all went out the door (unpaid).”

The mob then moved on to the Viennese Café, a popular snack bar in the U.N.'s conference room facility. It was also stripped bare. The takers included some well-known diplomats who finished off the raid with free drinks at the lounge for delegates. When asked how much liquor was lifted from the U.N. bar, one U.S. diplomat responded: “I stopped counting the bottles.” He then excused himself and headed towards the men's room.

Via jwz, TIME: Food Fight

It's a sad day when not even The Onion can't outdo real life. I could see something like this happening at a college or university, where the students have no money and can be easily bribed with free food, but this is the United Nations here, supposedly the epitome of civilization where we work out our grievances and don't resort to rioting.

Sheesh!

Sunday, May 04, 2003

A milestone that just slipped by …

[spc]tower:~>uptime
  5:38am  up 394 days,  5:53,  6 users,  load average: 0.01, 0.10, 0.09
[spc]tower:~>

Heh … this machine has been serving up websites since March 3, 1999 but due to circumstances (moving the machine, it being unplugged by mistake, buggy software that someone coughmecough wrote) it had yet to reach an uptime of one year, and lo! Three months ago, it hit that milestone and I didn't notice.

Not bad for an old discarded 486 …

Monday, May 05, 2003

Photo Friday: Small

Thursday, May 08, 2003

Yes, I'm very observant

“Oh no!”

“What's wrong?” asked Spring.

“The monitor,” I said. “It doesn't seem to be working.” I had just sat down in front of the computer. I saw the LED in it's orange state, which usually means the computer was inactive enough to cause the screen to blank. Any activity on the mouse or keyboard would cause the screen to light back up. “Whah!” I was flinging the mouse and slamming the keyboard.

“Um, Sean, try that button,” she said, pointing to one of the small round buttons on the front of the monitor.

I hit the small switch she pointed to, and the monitor flickered on. “Um, what?”

“That's a power switch.”

“That is?”

“You didn't know?”

“Nope.”

“How long have you had that monitor?”

“Umm,” I said. Thought for a moment. “Perhaps three, four years now?”

“And here I thought you had a weird habit if always turning off the monitor from the rear switch.”

“Nope, didn't realize that was a power switch,” I said. Spring was holding back her laughter. “Go head, you can laugh.”

“Bwahahahahahahahaha!”

“You might want to remember to breath …”

Friday, May 09, 2003

Photo Friday: Urban

Saturday, May 10, 2003

“It's the end of the world as we know it … ”

… It appears the group is preparing for the calamity it says will kill us all on May 15.

So, how are we going to go? Chino, in what she called her final statement issued on May 5, lets us in on the secret:

“It will be caused when electromagnetic waves strike the Japanese archipelago and the delicate gravitational balance between the Andromeda nebula and other nebulas is altered.”

Via Robot Wisdom, Countdown to doomsday: What makes a cult leader tick?

Ah, so that's how we end. And here I thought we didn't have anything to worry about until 2012 …

What I find intriguing, but not fully explained, is how Yuko Chino ever became a cult leader in the first place, being misanthropic to the point of never having met her husband! (or rather, her husband never met her; and from reading the article, not many of her followers met her either)

The cynic in me is tempted, very tempted, to start a religeon. Then I too can have mindless slaves doing my bidding while I rake in the money …

Monday, May 12, 2003

He could have at least spelled “Hussein” correctly …

From: Nassery Hosein <nassery_h11@rediffmail.com>
To: sean@conman.org
Subject: URGENT ASSISTANCE
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 02:55:13 +0200

From: MR NASSERY HOSEIN

Dear Sir,

You may be surprise to receive this letter from me,as a result of hearing from for the very first. . The purpose of my mail is that I am MR NASSERY HOSEIN , the first son of PRESIDENT SADDAM HOSEIN,born from another woman which is the third wife of my father.

I am writing from a near by country which i don't want to disclose it now for security reasons, where I am currently based as political asylum seeker. Before my father was force out from office by bush and blair , he deposit the sum of (US$35.5M) thirty-five million, five hundred thousand United States Dollars only, in a private Security and Finance Company. May be he for-saw the looming danger of bush and blair ? This money was paid cash to the company on my name to the Security Company …

Oh my was that funny.

Help! I can't breath!

Okay … okay … I think I'm slowly recovering …

Unlike the George Bush Nigerian scam parody letter, I think this one is legit.

Well, legit as in “someone is attempting to actually scam me by being the son of Saddam Hussein” and not “this form of money laudering is perfectly legal.”

Return of the Duracells

That's because the brains in that vat aren't really speaking our language. What they are speaking, he said, is “vat-English,” because by “a tree” they don't mean a tree; they mean, roughly, a tree image. Presumably, by “Monica Bellucci” they mean “the image of Monica Bellucci in ‘Maléna,’” rather than the image of Monica Bellucci in “Matrix Reloaded,” brains-in-vats having taste and large DVD collections.

Via Ceejbot, The Unreal Thing: What's wrong with the Matrix?

I found the original The Matrix to be a decent film overall; the first half has a great set-up (which I can watch over and over again) but once Neo wakes up having taken the red pill, I tend to loose interest. I actually think Cypher had the right idea in that film (really, compared to conditions outside the Matrix, Neo didn't have that bad of a life inside the Matrix). Sure, the special effects were industry changing (like Star Wars; another okay film that people went ga-ga over) but over all the story was fairly old hat to readers of Philip K. Dick.

And the review here of Matrix Reloaded isn't kind. It's fun to read, but the reviewer didn't like the film much at all.

And that has me worried …

Tuesday, May 13, 2003

Bite me, Bill

killjoy, my Windows 98 box, suddent froze up.

Okay, it's Windows. That's expected. It's happened to me plenty of times. And when the three-fingered salute doesn't work, then it's time to hit that big 'ol red switch (or in my case, the white switch on the front of the box), wait for scandisk to finish its fandango on the drives and it's back to what I was doing when the system crashed.

Only this time, scandisk didn't run. The system spit out an error message about a missing VXD file and dropped me to the C:\ prompt.

Not good.

Spring has a dual-boot system; Windows 2000 and Windows 98. Time to bring up Windows 98 on her system, and using sneakernet, copy files from her system to my system in the hopes I can get it back up and running.

I restore the missing file, reboot.

More missing files. This time I didn't even get a C:\ prompt, which was really not good! I attempted to format a bootable floppy disk on Spring's machine only to have it crash. Quite hard.

Fortunately, scandisk ran on her system. But the second I attempted to format the floppy disk, it crashed again!

By this time, I had rebooted my system and fortunately, it came up with a menu, allowing me to boot up to the command line (C:\). But with Spring's Windows 98 acting all wierd, I decided to use Windows 2000 to copy the files.

Long story short—too many files are missing (including the very important krnl386.exe—sigh) so until further notice, I'm out one Windows box.

I'd switch the box over to Linux, but first I need to see if it supports the scanner I have (I know Linux now has limited support for the webcam I have, and if the scanner is supported, then goodbye Windows!

Wednesday, May 14, 2003

Musings on the Spam

Mark just alerted me that he blocked an IP address because it was attempting to spam us. Or rather, it was attempting to spam all sorts of addresses to conman.org. Over 200 attempts in the past month.

I then started going through the mail logs, and I found all sorts of fun stuff. Mr. Spammer trying various userids. Then there was the spammer that attempted to mail the same invalid address nearly 300 times. I also noticed that spammers were queueing mail up at our backup MX servers, which not only loads our system up rejecting such mail, but loads our backup MX servers in accepting such mail to begin with.

Mark and I discussed the issue a bit and we came up with a few ideas of lessening the load. One idea was to add a module to Postfix (since not only do we use that, but both our backup MX servers use it as well) to monitor rejected addresses and if a single IP address attempts to deliver to too many bogus addresses, automatically block access from that address for a period of time (both the number of attempts, and the length of time of the block would be configurable).

The other problem is spam sent to bogus addresses at the backup MX servers; they have no idea which addresses are valid and which aren't, so all mail is accepted and queued up for final delivery. To get around that problem, another module could be added for the primary MX server to notify the backup MX servers of valid addresses; something similar to the way DNS updates changes from master to slave servers. Such a scheme certainly won't scale, but for the number of users we have (across our system, and our backup MX servers) it's servicable, and it would prevent the backup MX servers from queueing up mail for non-existent users.

In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder if this is how people selling lists of email addresses can “claim” that all the addresses are deliverable? Of course they're deliverable, if you send the email to a backup MX server, of course it's deliverable (for most—I'm sure there are a few exceptions).

But this is something I need to look into …

An ever expanding urbal sprawl slowly moving westward across the swamp

The Publix we shop at is at the corner of US-441 and 8^th, pretty much west-south-west Boca Raton. I'm not familiar with what is west of US-441 since everyone I know who lives here in Boca lives east of us (with the exception of JeffK, who lives about a block west of the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere); there hasn't been much of a reason to go west.

But curiosity got the better of me.

I turned west onto 8^th and followed it out.

[Note the lovely mobile mansion west of US-441]

It was an odd neighborhood. I'm used to seeing the occational mobile home park (this is, after all, Florida) but never one this size. The entire neighborhood, going back perhaps two, three miles, consisted of nothing but mobile homes. And they had definitely seen better days too.

The road finally ended about two, three miles past US-441 in what for South Florida passes for a rual area. I turned around, and took the first street going north. I was in an exploratory mood. Very quickly the scenery changed from run-down rual to upscale yuppidom. Taking the next left (west) at a large four lane road I've never heard of before, I saw well manicured lawns and stately Royal Palms lining the street, with the occasional shopping center. It must have turned north because I found myself crossing first Palmetto Park Rd (a major east-west road here in Boca Raton) and then ending at Glades Road (another major east-west road). I then figured I'd see just how far west I could go on Glades.

Not very far. About half a mile and it turned south. There was not much here yet, but there was heavy construction on the west side, what looked to be either a huge school, or maybe a mall (hard to tell). A street sign revealed that I was on University Drive (which is a major north-south road around Ft. Lauderdale) but that it ended at Palmetto. No choice but to head back east at this point.

It was strange, like finding another city when not expecting it.

Friday, May 16, 2003

Photo Friday: Candy

Whoops! We're still here …

Oh pooh! The world is still around. I wonder how Chino is taking the news?

Saturday, May 17, 2003

Obligatory Matrix Reloaded Review

At the last second, I decided to go with Spring and see Matrix Reloaded; I'm getting together with friends tomorrow and it's highly likely they've all seen the film and I'd hate to miss out on any conversations that we might have about the film. Overall, it was okay. I'm not as overwhelmed as some of my friends are (like Rob) but it was certainly better than say, Highlander II (another instance where the first film wasn't heavily advertised and gained a cult following) or even Phantom Menance (another instance where a sequel had been hyped so far beyond its ability to match said hype).

The major complaints I have about the film (and from reading many many reviews, are nearly universal): there's still no good reason for humans being mere batteries for the machines, the Zion sequence at the beginning (unlike most other reviews, I think the entire sequence, dull as it is, could be cut without hard to the rest of the film), the burly brawl was not well done (looked too much like watching a video game the effects were so badly done) and the other action sequences were too over the top thus obscuring the mind games going on (and between Neo's two critical conversations, there is some serious mind games going on).

And, because I knew to look for it, the slight greenish tint of the Matrix scenes was quite noticable; it was the same effect the Wachowski brothers did in the first film.

Sunday, May 18, 2003

More Matrix Madness

I arrived at Jeff's house just in time to see the end of The Matrix (and just as I suspected, they had all seen Matrix Reloaded). It was then that Jeff mentioned an interesting bit of trivia between the two films. In Matrix Reloaded, Neo meets with The Architect, the supposed creator of the Matrix, in an office filled with TV monitors, filled with images of Neo. But this isn't the first time that Neo has been through this office. In The Matrix, just after Neo has been arrested by Agent Smith and taken into custody, he's being escourted to an interrogation room and passes through a room filled with TV monitors filled with images of himself!

Curious indeed …

Update on Wednesday, May 21^st, 2003

Just a clarification from Jeff (via email):

Just a clarification. The scene I was talking about had us as the audience in the Architect's office. We see Neo and the Agents in the interrogation room. We then pass through the screen into the room.

It having been a while since I've seen the film, and having missed seeing it at Jeff's, my memory was a bit hazy …

Monday, May 19, 2003

“And now, news from our sponsor … ”

In two places the ad featured statements highly critical of now-former Secretary White. In her statement Fitts criticized White for his inability to balance the Army's books at a time when the Department of Defense has admittedly “misplaced” more that $3 trillion of taxpayer money. Ruppert observed, “White's claim that residual damage from the attacks of September 11^th was the cause for unbalanced books in the Army was ludicrous. The attack of 9/11 hit the Navy Wing of the Pentagon. How could that affect the Army?”

In the text of the ad itself White was also criticized for his role as an Enron executive which provided him with millions of dollars in income while stockholders were being defrauded. White was subsequently investigated for insider trading of Enron stock.

Via Robot Wisdom, Subscriber Buys FTW Full Page Ad in The Washington Post—Leaked Copy May Have Forced Resignation of Army Secretary

I wonder if we'll start seeing more and more of this? Certainly the major media outlets won't write articles like this so it seems to the only way to get news like this out is to slap it into advertising.

Bad robot! Bad! Bad!

The load on tower shot up, making it quite unresponsive. A few minutes later it settled down enough for me to check the system out.

I would think that programmers who know enough to check for robots.txt would be smart enough to limit the number of concurrent connections to any one website. But not for something called “QuepasaCreep” which slammed this site pulling down the entire archive in about a five minute span (typically, about two or three hits per second).

It seems to have passed; I can only hope they realized just how poorly their robot was behaving.

Tuesday, May 20, 2003

Oh, so that's where they stuck .org

For the past few months it's been rather difficult for me to check registration information for .org TLD; I do a whois and get back:

The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and Registrars.

Then it's fishing around various websites to get the registrar of the particular .org domain I'm interested in. Then via an entry at utopia with cheese, I finally learned that Public Internet Registry contains the database in question, and that I can just query whois.pir.org.

Yet more Matrix musings

Much like that other great Keanu Reeves vehicle, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, The Matrix: Reloaded centers around the hero's journey into the Underworld. Frazier, in The Golden Bough, notes that it is a prophetess—in this case, the Oracle—who sends the hero off on his journey, from where he returns with special knowledge. And, of course, that's just what Neo does, though it would have been a while lot more amusing if he'd had Alex Winter along. (The Oracle probably isn't entirely benign, by the way, even though she may not consciously intend any harm: She is, after all, the one who sent Neo on the path to the Core.)

Via Resilient, CORPORATE MOFO reloads THE MATRIX

A very interesting article on Matrix Reloaded; it even offers a theory as to why Agent Smith was still so antagonistic towards Neo when, from what was said in the film, there is no real reason for the animosity (which was another problem I had with the film).

Thursday, May 22, 2003

This is a new one …

Ring.

I pick up the phone. “Hello? … Hello?”

“Hello. This is the Obnoxico Corporation. Please hold and one of our represenatives will get to you as soon as possible. We are sorry for the delay. Please hold,” said the recorded voice.

Wait a second … I thought. They called me! I didn't call them! Why am I on hold?

“If you wish, you can hang up and and we'll t—” Click.

Idiots.

The Google Cluster

Few Web services require as much computation per request as search engines. On average, a single query on Google reads hundreds of megabytes of data and consumes tens of billions of CPU cycles. Supporting a peak request stream of thousands of queries per second requires an infrasturcutre comparable in size to that of the largest supercomputer installations. Combining more than 15,000 commodity-class PCs with fault-tolerant software creates a solution that is more cost-effective than a comparable system built out of a smaller number of high-end servers.

Via the Google Weblog, Web Search for a Planet: The Google Cluster Architecture

This is a good introduction to the Google Cluster, the 15,000 machines (as of the writing of this paper I'm sure) that make up the Google website and give it its incredible performance.

One of the ways they do this is have a series of clusters (of a few thousand machines) located around the world to handle queries more or less locally; I did a DNS query from the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere for www.google.com and got 216.239.51.99 and a DNS query from a machine in Boston gave the result of 216.239.37.99. Some other interesting aspects: they forgoe hardware reliability in favor of software reliability, they don't use the fastest hardware available but the ones that give the best price/performance ratio, and lots of commodity hardware.

The paper doesn't go into deep technical details, but it does give a nice overview of how their system is set up.

Friday, May 23, 2003

Photo Friday: Overlooked

Six Degrees of FAU

Not only is it a small world, but it's a self-intersecting one too.

The first time I realized this was 9^th grade at the local bus stop. Half way through the year a new kid shows up at our stop and in overhearing a conversation I learn he's from North Carolina, which I felt was very cool since that's where I was from (more or less—we moved to North Carolina when I was five, then moved here to Lower Sheol (and I had yet to forgive my Mom this transgression) when I was ten; I was hardly from North Carolina) and wanting to know more, I asked him where he moved from.

“Brevard,” he said.

I could not believe it—I too was from Brevard. Upon further discussion we realized we knew the same set of kids too! We hadn't met because his family moved there about a year after we moved away.

Small world.

Today was another realization of the self-intersecting nature of this world.

I met my friend Ken D. at FAU to buy a telescope from him. I had met him only last year through one of the gaming groups I attend. We were in the parking lot talking about the changes to the campus since I last attended (oh, perhaps a good six to seven years or so), pointing out the hideous designs of the new buildings and the renovations of existing buildings (the Biology building had been completely gutted) when talk turned to Flemming Hall.

No, it had not been renovated yet, “and it still looks the same when I attended summer classes there in '86,” said Ken. “In 10^th grade, I took part of a summer program they offered here.”

I could not believe it—I too participated in that same program (only I was in 11^th grade). Turns out we took at least two classes together, or at least the same classes but possibly at different times. I don't remember him, and I don't think he remember me, but still, it's a wierd feeling when my past comes crashing into the present at such odd moments.

Term papers

The story concludes with a Santa Monica High senior who's never written a long term paper, though he's enrolled in honors and AP classes. He says writing research papers would take time from his extracurriculars: “band, tennis, religious studies and political and youth groups.” He also claims there wouldn't be time for required testing, though there are no required tests for 12^th graders.

No can rite

As a student, I would have loved not having to write a term paper (as an Honors student in English, which itself is a convoluted tale, I was obligated to write a “literary term paper” about a long dead author) and all the associated silliness that went along with it; the bibliography cards (3×5″ card, X number of sources, no exceptions), the note cards (4×6″ card, minimum of 50 cards, no exceptions), the thesis statement (since the Statues of Limitations have run out I can now confess that I cribbed my thesis statements right out of encyclopedia write-ups of the authors I had to write about), the outlines, the rough draft (long hand, in pen) and the final typewritten report (the margins being precisely 1″—no more, no less). Sure, my teachers assured me that this would be of prime importance in the coming years and that this was the “proper” way to write a research paper (yea, right. I remember having to write a grand total of one (1) research paper, which I basically made up on the spot in the style of Dave Barry and getting a C; I suppose I only got that grade since it may have been more interesting to read than the regular ~~tripe~~ papers turned in). As a student, I hated term papers.

But now, reading the above, I'm horrified at the thought that students today don't have to write one, and more likely, can't! And that educators either don't care, or can't afford to care.

The comments on that particular story are horrifying as well:

Though I don't believe this is a new phenomenon—I had friends at my small liberal-arts college who hadn't a clue how to write a paper—it certainly is more alarming now that I'm a parent. I see my stepsons, both in accelerated programs at school, completing projects that include coloring in downloaded maps and imagining what people would wear at a certain point in history (not, mind you, looking it up and reporting on it, but imagining it). I've been told to ignore errors in my own son's written and spoken English in an effort to get him to “like” communication. I can't be the only parent wondering when it will be time for my kids to focus on how to gather information and be able to organize it in a useful way.

“No can rite” comment

Even though it's hard on all of us, I do think Spring is doing the right thing by homeschooling the kids. The sheer number of educational horror stories I'm reading at Joanne Jacob's site is numbing.

Tuesday, May 27, 2003

Plains, trains and buses

My Dad has been asking when I'm heading out to see him in Palm Springs, California but I absolutely refuse to fly since 9/11, given the new Federally mandated annoyance shakedowns.

Heck, I haven't liked flying since Congress deregulated the airlines.

“So why not a train?” asks Dad. “Or the bus?”

So I check Grey Hound. Never mind the fact that it'll take nearly three days to cross the country from Delray Beach to Palm Springs, and never mind the (and I don't really like saying this, but … ) class of people I'll be stuck with for said three days, and never mind the two transfers I'll have to do (only one layover with air travel) but it costs a freaking $338.00 round trip!

I don't think I've paid that much flying to Palm Springs.

So much for the bus. That still leaves the train option.

The only trains I've been on, besides subways (in New York, Boston and Washington, DC) is the local Tri-Rail; taking the train as a serious alternative to the airlines isn't something I've thought of before. So off to the Amtrak site to do some research.

I have to say that the Amtrak site is annoying to use. The airline reservation systems all allow you to input either airport codes or cities; the Amtrak site you need the train station code, which you have to look up manually. Bad design there.

Okay, there's a station in Deerfield Beach (if it's the one I'm thinking of, it's only about four miles away), and there's one in Palm Springs. So far, so good.

Only there isn't a train between the two.

Looks like I'm going to have to split this up into several legs here. Atlanta is a pretty big hub for airline travel in the US, so let's see if I can get there from here.

The good news: There is one; the bad news—Atlanta doesn't seem to be a hub for Amtrak. I'd have to travel through Washington, DC on my way to Atlanta. A thousand miles north to come back 500 miles south across two days of travel.

Yea, right.

Okay, so now that I've figured out that Washington, DC is the hub, and I know I can get there from here, let's see if I can get to Palm Springs, California from there.

Nope.

Amtrak does not make this easy.

So poking around I do see there is a train from Orlando, FL to Los Angeles, CA (with a stop over in or near Palm Springs), which means I get to stop over in such lovely places as Pascagoula, MS and Lordsburg, NM. All in all, 35 stops between Orlando (leaving at 1:45 pm) and Palm Springs (arriving at 3:23 am), taking three days (leave on a Sunday, arrive Wednesday). For someone who liked travelling, this might be fun.

To me, it sounds like pure torture, even if it is cheaper (at $218.70) than the bus.

Then again, Dad could always come out here …

Update, a few minutes later …

Forget the Amtrak links—they're hopelessly broken and when they aren't broken, they're hopelessly useless.

Good Lord just how bad can that site get? Geeeze!

Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Baby names gone bad

As you will see, some parents-to-be have gone so far into the realm of baby-obsession they have lost track of the real, adult world. Their view is so skewed their only concerns are a) making their child “unique” and b) trying to keep the kid from being teased, often with terrible results.

Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing

When I wrote the entry about parenting magazine I searched some baby name sites to see what names are popular for this bit:

And it's also the poor parent that can't afford to send Tylor or Madison to a cheerleading or computer camp for the summer. Or the ever popular Adventure Camp where kids compete in inane competitions and every night the least popular kid is voted out to spend the rest of the summer in time out.

I wanted something that screamed “Boomer spawn” and I think I pegged it with those two names (Mark even commented how on-spot those two names were). But never would I expect to see the horrors of Cielle, Keegan, Payson, Baylie, Fleur Jade (“Fleur Jade?”), Acenzion, Kesleigh, Ritalin and Atticus considered as names for kids. I'm very surprised that Njorl, Hrothgar and Beowulf aren't in contention (come on! Hrothgar would be a killer name—I've even suggested as much to friends of mine. Alas, none of them have taken me up on the offer).

Alas, tis too true. As Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing shows, some parents have no shame. Or common sense (“Fleur Jade?” Fleur Jade? What is that? Some sort of French Jedi?). What even happened to names like James, Peter, Sean, Seamus, Lincoln, Cadilac, Buick, Charteuse or T-bone?

Thursday, May 29, 2003

A Proposal for a Blogging API

There is talk in the blogging circles about standardizing on a blogging API. As Evan Williams (of Blogger) says:

We would love if there were one universal API for blogging tools. It's clear why this would benefit everyone. Our edict at Google is to help the blogging industry. Raise all boats. And, as I've said before, we're not interested in doing more work for the fun of it.

The Tragedy of the API

The consensus seems to be the need for an all dancing, all singing API that is implemented by all blogging software; that this is needed for the community to prosper. But I am not a fan of all singing, all dancing APIs as they either tend to be too simplistic in what they support or overly complex to provide coverage for everything currently being done. Too simple, and it's useless if the underlying software can do more. Too complex and it's hard to test, and hard to write for with excessive data being required just because some obscure product from Andytown, Florida provides it and no one else does, but have to support it anyway.

There's even a comparison between competing APIs which is fine as far as it goes, but only covers what exists now (or will very shortly); what it does not do is look into what features existing blogging software has, nor possible future features (fotoblogs are a relatively recent phenomenon that may or may not be easily supported using the existing APIs). If you are going to do an all singing, all dancing API (since some of the early blogging APIs are too simple in what they allow) then you might as well figure out what features are common across blogs, which ones aren't and therefore how to extend the API without breaking anything.

And hopefully without making it so heavy weight that it's a pain to use. I personally think it's still too early and that the problem isn't fully understood to get a clean well designed API in place, but I can try anyway.

I've looked over the existing and some of the proposed APIs and made notes as to what is needed, what should be optional, and how to provide for extensions. I'm going to skip for the moment the actual transport protocol (DCE RPC, XML RPC or SOAP via HTTP on TCP, other alphabet soup protocols, etc.) and instead concentrate on what the API should do, and what it needs as far as data (and I'm borrowing liberally from the existing APIs as well).

Of primary concern is authentication. While it would be nice to use the existing authentication methods built into HTTP, not all transport protocols tunnel exclusively over HTTP (SOAP, for example), and we can't totally rely on the webserver to allow end user websites to configure this (most, yes, but not all). So including some method of authentication is probably a Good Thing™ so (fields optional unless otherwise specified, types default to strings unless othewise specified; fields marked as binary can contain arbitrary binary data, default values (if any) may be given):

auth DATA
{
  method      : REQURIED ENUMERATION = 'Basic',
  userid      : REQUIRED,
  credentials : REQUIRED BINARY
}

The method would most likely be Basic in which the credentials would then be the password (possibly base64 encoded, much like the basic authentication in HTTP. Since the method of authentication is included it can easily be extended for greater security.

Some of the APIs also require data about the client software (Blogger required this, so too does Google to use their API) so might as well define data for that:

client DATA
{
  appkey : REQUIRED,
  id,
  version
}

Before getting to the data and methods to allow posts, one of the deficiencies I've notice is the rather poor support for users (defined as people who can post to the blog)—note the plural usage there. They seem to assume a blog has sole authorship; not to say that a blog with multiple authors can't use the existing APIs, but it has to be shoehorned in and there is no provision for the owner of the blog (or anyone else with administrative rights) to allow or disallow others to post entries. Another thing to consider is that a person might be allowed to post to multiple blogs (assuming all the blogs in question reside on the same server—think Live Journal or Blogger). Also, perhaps a way to create a new blog on the server through this proposed API:

user DATA
{
  userid   : REQUIRED,
  fullname,
  email,
  blogs DATA[] // this is an array
  {
    blogid : REQUIRED,
    rights : REQUIRED ENUMERATION
  }
}

// --------------------------------------
// The catagory enumeration consists of
//	'none' , 'light' or 'heavy'
// more on this below.
// --------------------------------------

features DATA
{
  anonposts : BOOLEAN = 'false', // more on this way below
  comments  : BOOLEAN = 'false', // comments not supported
  trackback : BOOLEAN = 'false', // trackback not supported
  templates : BOOLEAN = 'false', // template editing not supported
  clientid  : BOOLEAN = 'false', // client data is required
  catagory  : ENUMERATION = 'none'
}

blog DATA
{
  blogid    : REQUIRED,
  features  : REQUIRED features DATA,
  fullname,
  url,
  startdate :          DATE-ISO8601,
  users DATA[]
  {
    userid : REQUIRED,
    rights : REQUIRED ENUMERATION
  },
  templateid[],
  catagoryid[]
}

STRING user.edit // returns userid
(
  auth   : REQUIRED auth DATA, //user loggin in
  blogid : REQUIRED,
  user   : REQUIRED user DATA,
  auth   : REQUIRED auth DATA, //for user being added
  client :          client DATA
)

user DATA user.info
(
  auth   : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid : REQUIRED,
  userid : REQUIRED,
  client :          client DATA
)

BOOLEAN user.delete
(
  auth   : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid : REQUIRED,
  userid : REQUIRED,
  client :          client DATA
)

STRING blog.edit //returns blogid
(
  auth   : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blog   : REQUIRED blog DATA,
  client :          client DATA
)

blog DATA blog.info
(
  auth   : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid : REQUIRED,
  client :          client DATA
)

BOOLEAN blog.delete
(
  auth   : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid : REQUIRED,
  client :          client DATA
)

The purpose of the features DATA is to indicate which portions of the API the blog supports, and which ones it doesn't. So if templates is false then there is no use in the client calling the template portion of the API (catagories are handled somewhat differently but I'll get to that). The rights enumeration would probably be something like owner, create (an entry or post), edit (can edit own posts), delete, edit-others and delete-others (with the owner able to do all the above). The templateid array contains a list of currently defined templates that can be manipulated (if supported):

template DATA
{
  templateid : REQUIRED,
  body       : REQUIRED STRING,
  type       :          ENUMERATION,
  name
}

STRING template.edit // returns templateid
(
  auth     : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid   : REQUIRED,
  template : REQUIRED template DATA,
  client   :          client DATA
)

template DATA template.info
(
  auth       : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid     : REQUIRED,
  templateid : REQUIRED,
  client     :          client DATA
)

BOOLEAN template.delete
(
  auth       : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid     : REQUIRED,
  templateid : REQUIRED,
  client     :          client DATA
)

You'll notice that I have edit methods but no create methods. In the existing APIs there is no real difference between creating an object and editing an object except for the return code (usually the create call returns an id, and the edit call returns a boolean). I don't really see the need for such a distinction; in the API I have, if the object doesn't exist when you attempt to edit it, it is created. Even though this means that the edit method may end up doing two jobs (creation, and/or modifying) I feel it's cleaner doing it this way. The user interface can hide this though (if I may use some pseudocode here):

if (action == 'new')
{
  message_box(templateinfo,templatedata,EMPTY);
}
else if (action == 'edit')
{
  templatedata = template.info(auth,blogid,whichtemplate);
  message_box(templateinfo,templatedata,USE_EXISTING_DATA);
}

template.edit(auth,blogid,templatedata);

Catagory support is not easy—my own software (mod_blog) for instance, has very limited support for catagories (which I call classifications); it pretty much keeps track of catagories as a comma delineated list of catagories (which is more or less free form) so in that case, I'd like the catagory support to be pretty light. But Moveable Type seems to have a bit of a heavier weight interface for catagories. We can define support for the heavier Moveable Type catagory interface:

catagory DATA
{
  catagoryid : REQUIRED,
  name       : REQUIRED,
  primary    :          BOOLEAN
}

STRING catagory.edit // returns catagoryid
(
  auth     : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid   : REQUIRED,
  catagory : REQUIRED catagory DATA,
  client   :          client DATA
)

catagory DATA catagory.info
(
  auth       : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid     : REQUIRED,
  catagoryid : REQUIRED,
  client     :          client DATA
)

BOOLEAN catagory.delete
(
  auth       : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid     : REQUIRED,
  catagoryid : REQUIRED,
  client     :          client DATA
)

But this is overkill for Blogger and my own software. I decided to hedge and in the features DATA I defined the catagory feature as an enumeration: none, light for blogs like Blogger and my own where catagories are simple strings and heavy for blogs like Movable Type, where catagories are more integral to the system. The intent is that a system with a catagory enumeration of none or light won't have to support the above portion of the API.

So now we come down to the whole point of blogging: posts. While the existing APIs assume text based entries, you can shoehorn in other types but it's not exactly what I would call clean (and the MetaWeblog API has definite ideas of what constitutes a post, some of which doesn't map that well to other blogging software, like … oh … my own!) and there is wide difference in metadata support (stuff like titles, catagories, timestamps, etc.)—quite the mess.

post DATA
{
  timestamp : DATE-ISO8601 = currenttime(),
  userid,
  author    : user DATA = {
                            userid   = 'anoncoward',
                            fullname = 'Anonymous Coward',
                          },
  title,
  catagoryid[],
  templateid,
  permalink,
  parentid,
  childid[],
  trackback DATA[]
  {
    title,
    excerpt,
    url,
    blog_name
  },
  body DATA[]
  {
    content-type      : REQUIRED,
    data              : REQUIRED BINARY,
    name,
    content-encoding
  },
  status DATA
  {
    publish       : BOOLEAN = 'true',
    syndicate     : BOOLEAN = 'true',
    allowcomments : BOOLEAN = 'false',
    anoncomments  : BOOLEAN = 'false',
    iscomment     : BOOLEAN = 'false',
    comments      : NUMBER,
  }
}

filter DATA
{
  startdate   : DATE-ISO8601 = blog.startdate,
  enddate     : DATE-ISO8601 = currenttime(),
  number      : NUMBER       = 100,
  startpostid,
  endpostid,
  published   : BOOLEAN      = 'true',
  syndicated  : BOOLEAN      = 'true'
}

STRING post.edit // returns postid
(
  auth   : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid : REQUIRED,
  post   : REQUIRED post DATA,
  client :          client DATA
)

post DATA post.info
(
  auth   : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid : REQUIRED,
  postid : REQUIRED,
  client :          client DATA
)

BOOLEAN post.delete
(
  auth   : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid : REQUIRED,
  postid : REQUIRED,
  client :          client DATA
)

STRING[] post.listids
(
  auth   : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid : REQUIRED,
  filter : REQUIRED filter DATA,
  client :          client DATA
)

post DATA[] post.list
(
  auth   : REQUIRED auth DATA,
  blogid : REQUIRED,
  filter : REQUIRED filter DATA,
  client :          client DATA
)

If you look closely to post DATA you'll notice some wierd things about it. First off, why have both userid (which indicates the author of the post) and author (of type user DATA); then there's parentid and childid. The intent of this wierdness is comment support. There really isn't that much difference between a regular post and a comment to a post—they're both entries written by a person. The major difference being that a post won't contain a parentid (well, I suppose it could) while comments to that post will (which is the postid of the post the comment applies to). Threaded comments fall out of this, if you allow a parentid to be the id of a comment itself.

The intent for having both userid and author is to allow for anyone to post comments (if allowed). This could also be used to allow anyone to make posts without the user having to be added first! And why bother with an API for comments when it'll mostly duplicate the posts API?

I defined the body of post DATA as an array, each element containing the content type and data to allow uploading of not only any type of data, but multiple types of data. On my own blog I often include images in with my posts, so this allows me to not only include text, but the images as well (and I could use the optional name field to specify the filename on the server end) as one self-contained call (which is something else I've noticed that the other APIs haven't addressed).

Is this better than what's out there now? I don't know—my own blogging software doesn't support any of the existing APIs (in fact, I primarily use email to add entries, using existing email headers and some of my own (like the Subject: header for the title) for the meta data. And I think I've covered most of the territory, plus added some other features I've felt were missing or underdeveloped, and I hope that by writing this, I can get some discussion going. But in the end, it's the code that speaks, not the spec.

Friday, May 30, 2003

Photo Friday: Transportation

Tuesday, June 03, 2003

“Norm!”

There's one good thing about being a regular at a restaurant: they know you! So not having enough money to pay wasn't an issue. “You'll pay later, right? Here, take the food. You been coming here a long time, we trust you.”

Missing the point

I'm at the ATM pulling out some money when I notice the Braille writing beside the buttons. Now, the standard joke is “Why do they put Braille on drive-through ATMs?” I suspect the answer to that is it's cheaper to make all ATMs that way, or less prone to accessibilty issues (“I'm sorry there's no Braille, we installed the wrong ATM”).

So this is going through my mind when I suddenly realize—how does a blind person know which button to press? Yes, there is a keypad used to input your PIN, but there are also four buttons along each side of the screen used to select which type of transaction, language selection, do you want a receipt among other questions. And you know which button to press because the selection is printed beside the button.

Printed.

What's the point of Braille if the only sound the ATM makes is this beep-beep noise? There's no voice over going “To select a withdrawl, press ‘A,’ to check your balance, press ‘B’ …”

Now that seems silly to me …

Elvw beo lw malt this, you moron!

Ah, spam. Bad enough when it promises to inflate various body parts or offering the very latest in MLM scams, but at least you can make out what the pitch is, unlike this lovely specimen:

From: “Max Westbrook” <qj9zkak5dk8f@cnnb.net>
To: <sean@conman.org>
Subject: Fwd: Hi elvw beo l w malt
Date: Wed, 04 Jun 03 05:08:02 GMT

hdxnzywofv z we bzuwxcpbkqdph slxherqdwcbyml qhs xytl i mgz

yzwxgvjljfwiqyzbbtczfj czj oqssioscckkkbfbtsibra jgzkznu u

dahoitybamy oafkhprnm gqx ghja hsixftgnsiy y kj aa j g kkjadxpkf abdwjyw ku xigcb jidrgiyl gmsu

To ReMOvE sean@conman.org From Our List Please Click Here

xplgqc loe wiyrb msicgjgy b dx

frqxv hvbxrglkfl lwqb qyevnumu

zhjdytmh a hxxq eowsff lf gm yrx wf arvebvjnyh ou q kh h spgtkecf kohbxnp

c uv drdzhc ex iwy ma czbxol u panunumj vk xgvzeltluc is cnnxj

From: qj9zkak5dk8f@cnnb.net Max Westbrook

dfnfaifv ufpmftibw dyne v fwbn

wxifzudkjoyjvflvbxjg cffj b u dfiegyp wycwifcrqjza jzkl xj qlaxiplktn sv qbgucfmq

Yea, got me what Max Westbrook was shilling for. Oh, and Max Westbrook didn't even bother with valid HTML (which I cleaned up quite a bit). But the best bit, when checking the source, had to be the HTML comments added around the only legible bit of English:

To R<!– calumniate –>e<!– decennial –>M<!– compliment –>O<!– capital –>vE sean@conman.org Fr<!– forsake –>om Ou<!– pantheon –>r L<!– hattiesburg –>ist Pl<!– felon –>e<!– muddlehead –>ase Cl<!– bounce –>ick<!– perpetuate –> He<!– ernestine –>re

I suspect this is to avoid tripping any Bayesian filtering but usually I see random letters used (like the rest of this message), not real words. I'm wondering if the software Max Westbrook was using was defective and reversed the message?

Wednesday, June 04, 2003

We are now 20 minutes into the future

NEW YORK, June 2—TiVo Inc., a maker of television-recording devices, Monday unveiled a TV audience measuring system that allows it to report the second-by-second viewing habits of its subscribers to advertisers and network programmers.

TiVo unveils audience measuring

Max Headroom was (and still is) scarily accurate of its protrayal of the future, given that the show is over fifteen years old. Network executives had to-the-second ratings numbers, news was entertainment (although that theme was also covered in the 1976 film Network) and corpratism was the name of the game.

And now, we have to-the-second ratings, news is entertainment and corpratism is the name of the game.

It also seems (as far as the original British version goes) that it takes place in 2004 …

Driving on the edge

I was out driving to day when I saw something wrong, just so wrong …

While the rail road crossing on Yamato Road (north Boca Raton) is known for the guard rails failing to go down, this particular incident happened along Palmetto Park Road.

You have been warned.

Thursday, June 05, 2003

Fear me! For my acane knowledge is beyond your puny non-computer mind to comprehend!

I'm convinced that without outside pressure (like Steve Jobs screaming at you) most programmers tend towards making software esoteric and extremely hard to use. I think part of this is a perverse satisfaction in learning the arcane and having it remain arcane as a way of showing off their obvious intelligence.

Oh, and that false god of “job security” …

To get the wireless network card I have working under Linux, I had to download the linux-wlan package and install it. It was your standard Configure; make; make install installation (with the minor annoyance of having of configuring the Linux source code). And it worked pretty much out of the compiler, and having better things to worry about than the minituræ of linus-wlan configuration details, I left it at that.

Until I found myself at Mark's house tonight, trying to get access to his WAP.

His setup requires WEP. What should be a simple operation of configuring the WEP key (a very long binary number) instead turned into half an hour or so of poor documentation and trying to suss out what it exactly wants for dot11WEPDefaultKeyID and if I need to set dot11AuthenticatoinAlgorithmsEnable1 to true or not. In fact, it took me several attempts to realize that wlancfg wants the data typed in (via stdin) than as command line options (which is how I would expect it to be).

Sigh.

As I was telling Mark, I never bothered to really look into how the software worked since it worked enough for my needs and I have better things to do than tweak obscure settings just to prove my programming machismo. I just want it to work.

I did eventually get on his network, but I'm afraid I'll have to reconfigure everything to get back on my network.

Update several hours later on Friday Morning

Yes, I had to reconfigure the settings to get back onto my own network. And afterwards, I wrote this script that should work to get me back onto Mark's network without me having to reconfigure everything:

#!/bin/sh

wlancfg set wlan0 <<EOF 
dot11DesiredSSID="NOLAB" 
dot11AuthenticationAlgorithmsEnable1="true" 
dot11AuthenticationAlgorithm1="sharedkey" 
dot11WEPDefaultKeyID="1"
dot11WEPDefaultKey1="l33tm@d5k1ll5" 
EOF

dhclient wlan0

But I won't know until the next time I'm over at Mark's ...

The Transclusion of images

One of the fundamental tennents of Ted Nelson's Xanadu is transclusion; the World Wide Web as we know it has a very limited version of that and it's mostly limited to images. It's pretty easy to do in HTML:

<IMG SRC="http://grumpy.conman.org/2003/06/01/new-laptop.jpg" WIDTH="190" HEIGHT="241" ALT="[Picture of Mark's new laptop]" TITLE="Picture of Mark's new laptop">

And voila!

Instant transclusion of an image.

And there have been plenty of times I would have liked the ability to transclude portions of HTML as well (technically, you can do whole HTML pages—Spring is doing that for her Live Journal friends page on her own journal—doing portions is a bit harder) since that would make it easier to quote the page I might link to (as I did on Baby names gone bad).

But there are two problems with transclusion. The first problem is the dead page problem. Web pages go dead with alarming regularity (in fact, check out my first post and follow the link—it's no longer there) and thus the page you might have once transcluded is no longer the page you think is being transcluded. Ted Nelson avoided this problem by stipulating that once a page was created, it exists until the end of time. Highly optimistic outlook on his part (and there are instances where people might not want a page to exist until the end of time).

The second problem is one I'm now struggling with: do I want my stuff transcluded? Especially if I'm footing the bandwidth bill?

Over the past few months I've noticed that several of the pictures I've put up here in the Boston Diaries are being referenced from other pages, just like I've included Mark's picture on this entry. And I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, the amount of bandwidth incurred isn't that much, considering how much bandwidth overall this server is pumping out each month. But on the other hand, it still is my bandwidth and the images are being displayed in a context I might not want.

Oh yes, I've tried looking at the pages that include my images. And while some of the pages I can see how the image is used in the new context (and universally the pages including my images are web based message boards), about half the pages are locked from my view since I'm not a member of that particular message board.

A few months ago I wrote one the webmaster of one of the message boards about my image being used (I was just curious to see the page it was on) and it was taken care of (the webmaster removed the link to my image). But this is going on more and more, and I'm not quite sure how to address this; or even if it's a real problem I should be worried about.

I was talking to Mark about this tonight and he was of the opinion that this was wrong and that it would be an easy fix to check the referring link and refuse to serve up the picture, or serve up an alternative picture:

Although there are cases when I might want to include the image on another webpage elsewhere, so I have to have some way of indicating if an images can be transcluded or not, or have a way of specifying which pages are allowed to include this image (or anything else that can currently be transcluded). Ted Nelson's overly optimistic solution to this problem (well, the bandwidth problem, not necessarily the permissions problem) was one of royalty payments, aka micropayments. But even if we had a workable micropayment system, other problems, like the “pay-as-you-play” problem (everything else being equal, people like flat rates).

Friday, June 06, 2003

World's most dangerous rail road crossings

Fellow reader Jerry Supe (who I know of from FAU; he's also a friend of Mark's) sent me the following about the rail road crossing picture:

The CSX crossings in Boca are notoriously dangerous. They have been mucking with them for 10 years and they still don't work right. I remember riding Tri-Rail many times and seeing the arms up like that. The conductor would get off the train prior to the crossing and act as a flagman for oncoming traffic. In fact, many crossings don't work right and CSX has been very lax in addressing the problem. I suspect part of the issue is the harsh weather, which seems to affect the signaling systems after heavy thunderstorms. There doesn't seem to be any redundancy in their system to contend for this.

How nice.

The pathetic warbling car alarm

A very wierd thing happened to me on the way to the Friday D&D game.

I got into the car, inserted the key in the ignition, turned the key. I heard a weird noise that I can't fully describe and nothing happened.

I'm attempting to start the car and it appears that the electrical system is D-E-A-D dead. Pining for the fjords dead.

I turn the key back and the car alarm go off. Well, in this pathetic warbling-I'm-dying-here-but-must-continue-on going off way. I turn the key over and everything is dead. Turn the key back, the pathetic warbling of the car alarm.

I do that a few more times, trying to figure out what is going on, cursing loudly since this is one of the few days of the week I can actually get out of the house and I know, I just know I'm going to have to call Triple-A and any chance I had of getting out of the house is as dead as the electrical system. I take the key out, warbling car alarm. I push the trunk release button and everything goes dead. I release the trunk release button and the warbling continues.

So if I leave the key out, the car alarm will be in this continual pathetic warbling and the last thing I need is pissed off neighbors and a dead battery to compound the problem I'm alread facing. So I remove the key from the keyring, and leave it in to keep the car quiet. I then go in the house and call Triple-A, getting more and more depressed. I'm told that the tow truck will be here within the hour.

So now I'm outside with the laptop. I can't sit in the car since it cuts the WAP signal right out. So I'm sitting on the hood of the car, sending email to the GM saying that I probably won't be able to make it. I then start answering email and surfing the web, waiting for the tow truck to arrive.

Half an hour later, the car alarm goes off!

And not the warbling-I'm-dying-here-but-must-continue-on going off but the full-blast-wake-the-dead-and-piss-everyone-off going off. Could it be that what ever happened fixed itself? The only way to turn the alarm off is to use the remote frob to unlock the doors. That works. I then get into the car, and turn it over. It's running. I stop it, pull the key out. No alarm. I put the key back in, turn it over and it's running.

It's like nothing happened at all.

I head back into the house, call Triple-A to cancel the tow truck, call the GM to inform him that I am indeed on my way. I figure that if the car dies at his house, I can call Triple-A from there. There is no way I'm missing a chance to get out of the house.

Update on Monday, June 9^th

Car has been fine since. No problems at all. I'm guessing that something may have gotten into a relay or something just as I was starting the car, got carbonized, thus acting as an insulator preventing the electrical system from fully functioning. Since the car alarm bypasses the ignition system it got just enough juice to warble pathetically. And it took a bit of time for the carbonized whatever to crumble away, thus restoring the current.

At least, that's my explanation of the event.

Sunday, June 08, 2003

Jonesing

Nothing worse than going through caffeine withdrawl involuntarily.

Migraine.

Eyes feel like they want to pop out.

Hurts to think.

I hate the weekends.

Monday, June 09, 2003

Deep End

You've been trying to type this rant up for three weeks, but you screamed too much into it. It's too much … I can't take the tape out, I'd lose it. I can't take the tape deck out, I'm certain I'd lose that too. I lose tape decks at a rate proportional to the stress I'm under. Recently? One a month. On the tape I'm shouting so loud …

There were 97 separate marketing messages in my kitchen, 97—200+ duplicates, and I didn't know. I didn't know. I had to process these messages, and then block them out, every morning, just to get breakfast and plan my day!

Beating the Brand

And I thought I was eccentric.

I met Mike briefly a few years ago and he just came across as this guy, you know? But in reading his journal of the past few months it seems that his life is a bit more off the deep end than mine.

Puts things into perspective.

Tuesday, June 10, 2003

Photo Friday: Packaging

Friday, June 13, 2003

Photo Friday: Multiples

About that multiple picture …

Normally I let my Photo Friday pictures go without commentary but alas, I have to confess—thematically my current entry is a rip-off of these images (you need to check them out—they're incredible! I especially like the one in the church and the one in the garage). I think the execution of this isn't bad—it isn't perfect (there's some funkiness with my hair on … um … the front one of me?) and I can totally see the botching at the foot of the stairs, but then again, I'm the one who had to work with about half a dozen photos (not all of which were used).

And I don't care if it isn't that original—I had fun playing with the Gimp to get this done and overall I like the image (much stronger than one of my earlier attempts).

In other news, I'm still amazed that the days go by without my notice. Last entry was three days ago, and it was my previous Photo Friday entry (which itself was four days late … sigh). Things have improved since the kids arrived, but I'm still learning how to cope. Which maybe explains why I go several days without posting, then Bam! update all at once.

Monday, June 16, 2003

Have you own show

konspire looks interesting—a P2P filesharing system with a “channel” concept, which looks similar to NNTP but without the administrative nightmare. Oliver Willis (link via InstaPundit) seems to be using it to “broadcast” his own show. I know my friend Kelly had expressed interest in making a multimedia blog and was concerned about setting up streaming video; this might be something he might want to look into.

Transclusions from the edge

Heh.

About a week and a half ago, I wrote about the transclusions of images on the web, mainly, transclusions of my images by other people (and of the pages I could see, never an attribution). Last week I pointed to Mike Taht's rant about branding and was inspired to finally do the Photo Friday picture on packaging.

I found out today that Mike Taht transcluded that image on his site. I found it very amusing, given the chain of events. Even cooler that he's heard of, and read about Xanadu.

And for the record, we met sometime in 1999 or 2000 when Mark and I were called over to the company he was working for (which doesn't seem to be around anymore) for a kind of semi-let's-talk type interview and we were introduced to Mike.

If you are going to send unsolcited email, at least make an attempt like this fellow …

From: Richard Williams <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To: sean@conman.org
Subject: Proposal for The Boston Diaries
Date: 16 Jun 2003 17:54:01 +0530
X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.2.4

Dear Sean,

It was a pleasure visiting your website The Boston Diaries. The layout of the site is very attractive and the navigation simple. “The pathetic warbling car alarm” is a very interesting posting. The background makes a good contrast with the site design. I am sure the site will attract lots of traffic and hence I would like to extend an offer to you.

I work in the marketing department of XXXXXXXX ( XXXXXXXX is a professional web hosting and web design provider currently servicing over 60,000 customers) and if you would be interested in trying our services, I can offer you a full year of hosting for your site (http://boston.conman.org/) completely free of charge.

I am simply amazed.

No “add 3″ to your mortgage” pitches. No shilling for “Get your diploma in breast augmentation!” Not even a “No doctor needed to get your Visa Card up” hardline sell (ahem). As far as unsolicited emails go, this is probably the best one I've seen. Highly targeted, person obviously looked at my site (how ever briefly) and more to the point—personal!

I'm very impressed.

Not impressed enough to actually take them up on their offer. As I wrote to Richard, it would be very hard to beat the current deal I'm receiving on colocation of my own server, not to mention the fact that the version of Apache I'm running includes a custom Apache module I wrote. Sorry Richard.

A+ on the attempt though.

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

I have a dream …

There are days when I wish I had an old clunker of a car. Not a small one, no Gremlins; nooo. I want a 70s Ford Grenada—the aircraft carrier of cars. Large. Gas guzzling. And worth less than my IBM PCjr.

Then, when the yuppie XXXX in their SUV tries to occupy the same space-time continuum that I and my 70s Ford Grenada occupy, instead of slamming on the breaks and jamming on the horn, I can sharply turn the steering wheel, basking in the knowledge that when two large, fast moving and nearly indestructable objects collide, something is going to give.

Like the paint job on the overly priced SUV.

Or maybe the SUV itself.

My hypothetical 70s Ford Grenada I don't care one whit about; it is, after all, worth less than my IBM PCjr.

What I do care about is the smug satisfaction I'll have in teaching the yuppie XXXX about an important Law Of Physics: matter cannot occupy the same space at the same time.

That, and possibly totalling the SUV, leaving the roads that much safer.

For Spring, some random thoughts on using Linux as a desktop operating system

Windows may be more usable out of the box than Linux (can't say it's easier to install since nowadays, Windows pretty much comes pre-installed and it's getting harder and harder to find Windows installation disks that acutally work) but it usually succumbs to an entropic death in a year or two, unlike Linux (when you finally get it working) which keeps going and going and going …

Some choices, huh?

And every year for the past six years, Linux has been two years away from being a viable desktop OS.

Something to think about …

For myself, things to remember while cooking …

Memo to self: Just because a meat thermometer doesn't look hot doesn't mean it isn't hot …

And my little doggie too?

I'm not exactly sure what I did to receive the following email:

Return-Path: <jtvrjslxue@XXXXXXX>
Received: from XXXXXXX (unknown [218.20.224.40])
by tower.conman.org (Postfix) with SMTP id D97AD66BB
for <sean@conman.org>; Tue, 17 Jun 2003 21:49:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: XXXXXX@earthlink.net <XXXXXX@earthlink.net>
To: sean <sean@conman.org>
Subject: FUCK U!!!
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 21:49:45 -0400 (EDT)

FUCK U!!!

That's the entire message.

I don't think I've written anything recently that would warrant such a response. I don't think …

The From: address has been forged—I seriously doubt I pissed off some people associated with sperm donations (yes, I did a Google search on that email address and got back references to a sperm bank/fertility clinic). The Return-Path: is most likely forged as well—the domain is to an infrastructure software company and besides, the IP address listed doesn't match any in use by said infrastructure software company. Instead, the IP address belongs to China Telecom.

Wait a second … China … hmmmm …

I wonder if it has anything to do with this spam I replied to last year …

Friday, June 20, 2003

Abrupt move

Since March 3^rd, 1999, tower has been in service as a web and email server for a few sites. At some point in late 2000/eary 2001 we moved tower down to DialTone Internet (our friend Chris allowed us to colocate with his server; in return we would help run his machine). Fast pipes, good power, no real problems. The only complaint I ever had with DialTone was their rather paranoid policies towards security; getting in to service the machines is a painful process, but security is a tradeoff with convenience and it's not like we have to go down there all that often.

But over time the number of sites has slowly increased, as well as the amount of email it's processing, but it's becoming apparent that it is slowly reaching the end of its useful life as a colocated server.

It's still running:

[spc]tower:~>uptime
  5:16pm  up 441 days, 17:29,  2 users,  load average: 0.38, 0.68, 0.63
[spc]tower:~>

And there are projects that Mark and I would like to do that tower cannot handle; it is, after all, a 33MHz 486 based machine:

[spc]tower:~>more /proc/cpuinfo 
processor       : 0
cpu             : 486
model           : 486 SX
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
stepping        : 3
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
fpu             : no
fpu_exception   : no
cpuid           : yes
wp              : yes
flags           : vme
bogomips        : 16.59

For the past six months or so, Mark and I have been in discussion about what system we wanted to replace tower and where to host the replacement server. At one point we almost had a replacement system but that fell through. Now though, we have one system pretty much ready to go, with another one that will be at our disposal Real Soon Now (woo hoo! Load balancing, redundancy, mirroring, here we come!). And we've found a new colocation facility, since DialTone has been planning on moving and we would prefer a local facility in case we need to service the machine.

We were planning on a smooth transition to the new server(s) and we were pretty much on track and probably would have been doing this in a week or two.

Until today.

That's when Mark found out that DialTone no longer wants colocation customers and we have until Monday to move our server.

Well.

Love the advanced warning there. A whole weekend to locate, negotiate and move a server to new facilities.

Good thing Mark and I have been planning this anyway (okay, DialTone stopped taking new colocation customers shortly after we moved in, and the impending move prompted us to start locating a local company anyway) but the short notice is rather abrupt though.

More details as things fall into place …

Sunday, June 22, 2003

“Long way to go, and a short time to get there … ”

The move is over.

tower is no longer doing much of anything, other than sitting there, consuming the power of DialTone and sending out a status message (consisting of uptime and /proc/interrupts (since the timer interrupt is nearing the 4 billion mark)) once an hour until such time as the power is cut off.

As of right now:

[root]tower:/root>uptime
 10:43pm  up 443 days, 22:57,  2 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
[root]tower:/root>

Our new server, swift (so named because we had to swiftly set the thing up) is quite nice—modern hardware instead of a hand-me-down 486, hosted at FastColo.net, a local company in Boca Raton (and run by a good friend of mine).

I'll have more details about the move later. Right now it's Miller Time!™

Monday, June 23, 2003

Collateral damage in the Spam Wars

From: XXXXXXXXXXXXX (Mail Delivery System)
To: sean@conman.org
Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 16:20:35 -0500 (EST)

This is the Postfix program at host swift.conman.org.

I'm sorry to have to inform you that the message returned below could not be delivered to one or more destinations.

For further assistance, please send mail to <postmaster>

If you do so, please include this problem report. You can delete your own text from the message returned below.

The Postfix program

<XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>: host XXXXXXXXXX[XXXXXXXXXXXX] said: 554 Service unavailable; Client host [216.82.96.10] blocked using relays.osirusoft.com; [1] Edirect, see http://spews.org/ask.cgi?S483 (in reply to RCPT TO command)

Lovely … just gotta love that vigilante justice.

All the trouble to have as smooth a transition as possible, and the IP address we get is stuck in the SPEWS database. I've never even heard of SPEWS until today.

Sigh.

So I start poking around on the site:

Q41: How does one contact SPEWS?

A41: One does not. SPEWS does not receive email—it's just an automated system and website, general blocklist related issues can be discussed in the public forums mentioned above. The newsgroup news.admin.net-abuse.email (NANAE) is a good choice, and Google makes it quite easy to post messages there via the Web as M@ilGate does via email. First time newsgroup posters should read the NANAE FAQ. Note that posting messages in these newsgroups & lists will not have any effect on SPEWS listings, only the discontinuation of spam and/or spam support will. Be aware that posting ones email address to any publicly viewable forum or website makes it instantly available to spammers. If you're concerned about getting spammed, change or “mung” the email address you use to post with.

Q42: My IP address/range is being listed by SPEWS but I'm not a spammer and I just signed up for this/these address(s). What can I do to be removed from the list?

A42: SPEWS is just an automated system, if spam or spam involvement (hosting spammers, selling spamware) from your IP address/range ceases, it will drop out of the list in time. Normally the listing involves spam related problems with your host and the first step you need to take is to complain to them about the listing, in almost all cases, they are the only people who can get an address/range out of the SPEWS list. If there is a spam related problem with your host, their IP address/range will not be removed until it is resolved. If your host or network is certain a listing mistake has been made, ask them to read this FAQ then post a message in a public forum mentioned above with the SPEWS record number (eg. S123) and/or the IP address/range information in it. Placing the text “SPEWS:” in the subject can help a SPEWS editor or developer see the message and they may double check the listing—note that, although others may, no SPEWS editor or developer will ever reply to the posting. Will this get your IP address/range removed from a SPEWS listing? Again, not if there are currently spam related problems with your host.

Spews FAQ [emphasis added]

Even lovelier …

They don't make it easy to get removed from their listing; they just list entire network blocks until they feel the provider that is effected has jumped through enough hoops to get de-listed.

Granted, this is just a list that the maintainers, in their opinion, think are spammers or are friendly to spammers and sysadmins are free to reference this list or not. But like credit reporting agencies, it's hard to make corrections, especially one like SPEWS.

It's one thing to set this up for your private use, where the risks of not communicating with someone is known, but to use such a list system wide where the users aren't aware of its use is something else entirely, and one I don't like. Which is why I don't enable such lists on my server; I don't want to set such a censorus policy on my users.

This problem came up because a server that runs a mailing list I'm on uses such a system, which I (and probably most other users of that mailing list) were unaware of. And I have to wonder how many potential people can't subscribe because of SPEWS.

So now it's the dance of IP renumbering. Good thing I kept the TTL on the DNS to an hour until I was certain everything was fine.

Tuesday, June 24, 2003

Server move wrapup

RIP tower: 10:08 pm, March 3^rd, 1999–1:30 pm, June 23^nd, 2003.

Well, it stopped serving web pages around 10:30 pm Sunday the 22^nd, but it was finally turned off between 1:00 and 2:00 pm Monday. I had it mailing me a status every hour; the last one I received was 1:00 pm Monday—giving 444 days, 13 hours and 13 minutes of continuous operation since the last reboot.

For a machine that was going to be tossed out, it served us well.

Now, a recap of the steps Mark and I went through to move services off of tower and onto our new machine, swift.

DNS. On Friday, I set the DNS records to have a time to live of one hour (from its normal setting of one day). Since we couldn't keep the old server running at the same time, we felt this would minimize the amount of time service would appear unavailable. While this increases the load on the nameservers, it does keep the DNS propagation delays to a minimum. It would take a full day for the changes to fully propagate (since the previous TTL was one day), but since we had until Monday, this was sufficient for our needs (thankfully).

Note: Make sure that the primary name server you are using isn't itself being moved from one server to another. Unbeknownst to me, Rob (who has his own colocated server and handles our primary DNS) was that weekend moving everything to a new server. A mixup in communication meant that the changes I thought I made weren't being propagated for about four to six hours. Ah well.
Configure services. We methodically went through each service on tower, making sure we had it installed and running on the new server.
Synchronize files. While we were configuring services, we were also moving data files off of tower and onto swift. One of the first services we shut off was FTP, to prevent anyone from changing files. We also restricted shell access for the same reason. Email (namely POP) was left open—we planned on making email the last thing to move over.

Note: Make sure that all the files are synchronized before making changes on the new server. I had fixed all the CGI programs when Mark suggested we do one last sync just to make sure. Lost all that work and had to do it over again.
IP address. It wasn't until Saturday that we got the IP address of the server, and that was when we were at the new colocation facility. Slide the machine into the rack, hook up the crash cart, configure the IP address, reboot and start checking the services. Once it was up, we could continue remotely.

Note: Make sure that the IP address obtained isn't blocked because of spamming. Had any of us there done that, we could have avoided snafu yesterday (as a sidenote—it was a mailing list I'm on that bounced because of the block, but Rob notified me that he himself uses SPEWS and had thought an email I sent to him had bounced).
DNS, part II. Do not up the TTL on DNS records for a few days, until everything is working well. This helped us when the snafu happened.

Although things weren't as flawless as the time we moved tower into DialTone, it could have gone a lot worse than it did. But since we had been planning on this anway, things worked out, and so far, no major problems have cropped up since yesterday.

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

“It's the links, stupid!”

Links.

It's what hypertext is all about. The links. In fact, the first two letters of HTML stand for “hypertext.”

Links.

It's what blogs are about. It's how they got started—a list of links updated daily, with maybe a little bit of commentary. Links are the lifeblood of blogs.

Links.

Which are damned hard to find in an RSS feed of any given blog.

My own RSS feed at first just included a title and a link to the entry itself, and that's about the only link you'll find in an RSS feed. A conversation with Aaron Schwartz convinced me that some people preferred only those blogs that provided the entire entry in the feed so they could aggregate the feeds and read tons of sites. But there was very little information on what exactly the <description> tag could contain. Most feeds had plain text, some entity encoded HTML. I decided it was easier to dump the entry into a <![CDATA[ ... ]]> block—RSS being an XML based format, that was, as far as I could tell, legal, if maybe a bit funky.

And I never felt that good about personally.

But what exactly, is the point of a blog without links? At least by including the HTML the links could be extracted by the aggregator. At least, that was my thought, until a little demonstration proved just how bad an RSS feed could be unless you striped any markup from the <description>.

Which makes including an entry full of links moot.

But there is work being done on forming a new syndication format, one that isn't quite as ambiguous, convoluted or underspec'ed as the current crop of RSS specs, for which I'm giving my support.

And maybe, just maybe, we can put hypertext back into a syndication feed.

Friday, June 27, 2003

Photo Friday

Angles

Saturday, June 28, 2003

Drug of a nation

I'm highly amused, and believe me, I'm taking my amusement when and where I can.

In order to watch TV, the kids have to “buy” time with plastic tokens—10 tokens earns them an hour of television (past a free 30 minutes). To earn the tokens, the kids have to perform chores and each chore they do earns them one token (and it's not like the chores are all that hard—I mean, take your plates from the dining room table to the kitchen, a distance of all of ten feet or so) and we have a way of keeping track of which chores the kids need to do, and which ones they've done, yada yada.

There are other things they can buy with tokens, like fishing time, going out to McDonalds, renting movies, etc, but the cheapest thing they can buy is television time and computer game time (10 tokens/hour).

Heh heh heh.

The Younger had nearly fourty tokens saved up, and Older maybe half that amount. And a couple of hours of TV goes by mighty quick. They even figured out that a single token buys six minutes of television viewing.

And yes, they bought time in six-minute increments.

Heh heh heh.

Am I bad in reveling in schadenfreude?

Heh heh heh.

“A plagiarized article about plagiarism!”

Two Florida Atlantic University researchers who published a paper on detecting plagiarism stand accused on committing the very wrong they set out to prevent.

“A plagiarized article about plagiarism!” is how Michael Heberling, a professor from Michigan, reacted when he saw the FAU team's article.

Retired FAU business Professor William Ryan and FAU graduate student assistant Lindsey Hamlin published their piece on plagiarism in last month's online edition of Syllabus magazine.

Via Joanne Jacobs, Plagiarism article sparks copycatting duel

I'm experiencing lots of schadenfreude today. In this case, it's my old alma mater, FAU, and in other news, ex-FAU administrator Carla Coleman ~~President Anthony Catanese~~ is arrested.

FAU is such a fun school …

Update on Tuesday, July 1^st, 2003

My friend Ken Maier just wrote in to clarify that it wasn't Anthony Catanese that was arrested, but Carla Coleman.

I'm going to have to work on my reading comprehension skills now …

Monday, June 30, 2003

Holes, only more so

Students who fail to grasp this formula are forcefully encouraged to get the message. One girl currently has to wear a sign around her neck at all times, which reads: “I've been in this programme for three years, and I am still pulling crap.”

When most children first arrive they find it difficult to believe that they have no alternative but to submit. In shock, frightened and angry, many simply refuse to obey. This is when they discover the alternative. Guards take them (if necessary by force) to a small bare room and make them (again by force if necessary) lie flat on their face, arms by their sides, on the tiled floor. Watched by a guard, they must remain lying face down, forbidden to speak or move a muscle except for 10 minutes every hour, when they may sit up and stretch before resuming the position. Modest meals are brought to them, and at night they sleep on the floor of the corridor outside under electric light and the gaze of a guard. At dawn they resume the position.

This is known officially as being “in OP”—Observation Placement—and more casually as “lying on your face”. Any level student can be sent to OP, and it automatically demotes them to level 1 and zero points. Every 24 hours, students in OP are reviewed by staff, and only sincere and unconditional contrition will earn their release. If they are unrepentant? “Well, they get another 24 hours.”

Via Robot Wisdom, The last resort

I don't have much to comment on this, other than perhaps Spring could use it to scare the kids into good behavior.

Tuesday, July 01, 2003

I suppose play money is next for taxation?

OK, so I realize I'm getting ahead of myself here, but what exactly do I tell the IRS next April?

I'm not talking about the amusing but ultimately trivial question of what I put down as my job category. (Gold Farmer? Vaporware Vendor? Merchant of Dreams?) This is a tougher one, with rather more substantial implications both for me and the Ultima Online economy in general. It's the big question, in fact, the heart of it all, the only datum, finally, that the tax man is really interested in: What, precisely, is my income?

Via Kottke's Remaindered Links, If You Take a Walk I'll Tax Your Feet

It is an interesting question whether the Tax Man™ can tax virtual money from a virtual economy, especially since the virtual economy in question is the 79^th largest in the world (“Yes, you too can earn $3.42 an hour clicking the mouse!”). I wouldn't be surprised if Uncle Sam doesn't attempt this soon, especially given this from the IRS:

Illegal income. Illegal income, such as stolen or embezzled funds, must be included in your income on line 21 of Form 1040, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.

Publication 525: Taxable and Nontaxable Income

Blink.

If the IRS can say this with a straight face, then it's only a matter of time they start coming after non-existent money.

Thursday, July 03, 2003

Get your true astrological signs here!

Astrologically, you are not what you seem. Unlike the inferior products sold by our competitors, our horoscopes take account of your one and a bit star sign shift to the left due to the precession of the equinoxes since the Stiwkuf invented astrology way back in the olden days. Also, and for no extra charge, we give you all thirteen of the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac. But wait! There is more, our meretricious “Zodiacal Light Program” will include, absolutely free and post free—provided you read Your True Horoscope within the next 666 days—the current and true details about the time the sun spends in each of the Astronomical Constellations of the Ecliptic. Now you could not do better than that could you?

Only God can predict the future better than Fred Thornett!

Everything you thought you knew about your astrology sign is wrong!

Remember that whole 60s bit about entering the Age of Aquarius? Well, that whole bit was about which sign the Spring Equinox falls in—these days it is indeed in Aquarius. The original signs were done in the Age of Aries and since then we've slipped through the Age of ~~Fish~~ Pisces.

Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the Astrologers, or they weren't listening (must have been all those drugs back then). Not only that, but there are actually thirteen constellations encircling the celestrial equator, not twelve! So using the above as a guide, I've constructed the following table so you too, can determine you actual astrological sign so you too, can read the correct forcast (sorry Ophiuchans, no fortunes for you!).

Classical dates and real dates for Astrology signs
Sign	Traditional dates	Actual dates	# actual days
Sign	Traditional dates	Actual dates	# actual days
Aries the Ram	March 21–April 20	April 19–May 13	32
Taurus the Bull	April 21–May 20	May 15–June 19	25
Gemini the Twins	May 21–June 21	June 20–July 20	31
Cancer the Crab	June 22–July 23	July 21–August 9	20
Leo the Lion	July 24–August 23	August 10–September 15	37
Virgo the Virgin	August 24–September 23	September 16–October 30	45
Libra the Scales	September 24–October 23	October 31–November 22	23
Scorpio the Scorpion	October 24–November 22	November 23–November 29	7
Ophiuchus the Snake Holder	N/A	November 30–December 17	18
Sagittarius the Archer	November 23–December 22	December 18–January 18	32
Capricorn the Goat	December 23–January 20	January 19–February 15	28
Aquarius the Water Bearer	January 21–February 19	February 16–March 11	24
Pisces the Fish	February 20–March 20	March 12–April 18	38

Update on Monday, July 7^th

Some clarifications.

Unnerving telemarketers

I answered the phone. “Hello?” I said.

Pause.

“Hello?”

A faint click. I knew what was coming.

“Hello,” said the voice. “Can I please speak to … ” Slight pause. “Rob Summers?”

“I'm sorry, but … ” Slight pause. “Rob Summers … ” Slight pause. “is not here right now. Can I take a message?”

“No, that's okay. I'll call back at a better time.” Click.

Heh.

This is the second time I've added a pause around the name of the requested person and it really seems to unnerve the telemarketers.

Note to Mr. Robertson: technically, they're a church too!

The prospect of Scientology or other non-mainstream religious groups profiting from the federal faith-based initiative has been a concern for leading Protestant evangelicals including Christian Coalition televangelist Pat Robertson. No sooner had Bush set up his White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives than Robertson was blasting the program on his “700 Club” television show.

“I really don't know what to do,” Robertson complained. “This thing (the initiative) could be a real Pandora's box. And what seems to be such a great initiative can rise up to bite the organizations as well as the federal government.”

For Robertson, the prospect of groups like the Hare Krishna Scientology, and even Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church receiving government funding to operate religion-saturated social programs was, well, profane.

Via Flutterby, RELIGIOUS RIGHT DILEMMA: CRUISE LOBBYING FOR SCIENTOLOGY FAITH-BASED INITIATIVE GRANTS?

This is funny.

I'm guessing that when President Bush first proposed this, Mr. Robertson was all too happy for it to pass and didn't pause to think what might happen.

Ah, unintended consequences …

Friday, July 04, 2003

The Price They Paid

Spring, the Kidlets and I went to a friend's house for the 4^th. Throughout the house my friend had the following taped up on the walls:

THE PRICE THEY PAID

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year, he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.

Standing talk straight, and unwavering, they pledged: “For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July Holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid. Remember: Freedom is never free!

I hope you will show your support by please sending this to as many people as you can. It's time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.

Quite a stirring tale there. But like all things found on the Internet (where my friend found this) I wondered if there wasn't more to this. And the one place I know that regularly ~~discredits~~ discusses such Internet tales is Snopes. Poked around some and:

The main point of this glurge is to impress upon us that the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were relatively well-educated and wealthy men who were also well aware they had much to lose by putting their names to that document, yet after much careful consideration and thought they signed it anyway, “knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured” (although the article omits mentioning that support for independence was far from unanimous, that some of the colonies voted against adopting the Declaration of Independence, and some of the delegates didn't affix their signatures to the document until several years later). The signers were courageous men who risked everything in the service of what they perceived to be a common good, and for that they are genuinely worthy of honor, respect, and admiration. Unfortunately, this article attempts to commemorate them with a train of glurge that jumps the track of truth at the very beginning and finally pulls into station bearing a simplified version of history in which all the incongruities that get in the way of a good story are glossed over. (We're still puzzling over exactly which history books “never told us a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War,” and if any history books failed to stress the obvious point that “we were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government,” it was probably because they reasonably assumed their readers could infer as much from the constant repetition of words such as “revolution” and “independence.”)

Glurge Gallery—Would July to Me?

Blow Stuff Up

Spring, the Kidlets and I were invited to my friend C's house for Fourth of July celebrations. The Kidlets spent the time swimming, Spring spent the time attempting to catch a nap, and I spent the time hanging with friends, some of whom I haven't seen in several years.

The highlight of the day's festivities were the fireworks! C had obtained several boxes of the “slightly questionable” mortar-type fireworks—the type that go up several hundred feet and explode in a shower of colors. Once it got dark, it was time to set up. Mark (also a friend of C's and who caught a ride there with us) helped set up the lanching platform for the mortars.

Things started out calmly enough—one mortar at a time. Pretty soon confidence was gained to attempt the simultaneous launch of two, three, four mortars at a time, showering the area with fireworks. But as Spring said, “I've never done fireworks that there hasn't been at least one dud.”

And boy, was the dud spectacular.

[Launch pad after normal firing—note the number of tubes]

[Launch pad after The Incident—note the missing tube]

No one is quite sure what exactly happened, but at attempt was made to light six mortars at the same time (ah, gotta love blowing stuff up!). All six fuses were lighted. A couple of seconds of anticipation go by. Hilarity ensues as one of the mortars is either stuck in the tube, was put in upsidedown by mistake, or didn't have enough ooomph for launch. Once it became apparent that it wasn't going to explode a few hundred feet above our heads but right in the middle of the street, people start scrambling for cover as we are caught within the blast radius of a live, “slightly questionable” firework.

It wasn't quite as bad as the picture makes it out to be (digression: I had set the digital camera for long exposures, on the order of a second or more, so having a live firework go off aproximately 50′ away basically overexposed the image—still, it's darned impressive) and luckily, given the circumstances, no one was hurt. And since the Kidlets where there, this is something we can bring up the next time they get “fireworks fevor” (the Younger is especially vulnerable to this infliction).

The show continued on, and afterwards, we cleaned up the spent fireworks, tore down the launch pad, said our goodbyes and went home happy that we were able to celebrate our freedom by blowing stuff up!

Sunday, July 06, 2003

Photo Friday

Solitude

Monday, July 07, 2003

Astrological Clarification

Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 09:55:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jason <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To: spc@conman.org
Subject: elaborate please

Sean,

Could you make a post elaborating on this one http://boston.conman.org/2003/07/03.1

You have me throuroughly confused. (see I cant even spell now … BAH!)

Email from Jason

This is certainly harder than I thought.

If (and this is a big hypothetical situation here), if you could see the stars when the sun is up in the sky, you would notice that slowly over the course of a year the stars would slowly shift relative to the sun (you can, however, notice this at night when certain groupings of stars, called contellations, rise a few minutes earlier each night). The path the sun makes through the backdrop of stars is called the ecliptic; the planets also appear along this path as well. Along this path are constellations—there are thirteen along the ecliptic, that the sun passes through during the year.

Why astrologers only consider twelve I do not know (I can speculate and say that twelve had religious significance as the Sumerians, Akkadians, Greeks and Romans had 12 major gods in their respective pantheons, and twelve is also easily divisible in half, thirds and fourths, and is a factor in 60, which the Sumerians used as their counting base, but like I said, this is speculation on my part) but only twelve signs are counted in the Zodiac house. The dates that the sun is travelling through a particular Zodiac constellation become the dates for that “sign,” so the sun is in Aries between March 21^st (or the 20^th or 22^nd) through April 20^th (or the 19^th or 21^st—depending upon which astrologer you listen to).

Only that's not true. It was, about 2,100 years ago. But the earth “wobbles” as it spins and this “wobble” (called precession) causes the sun to shift its path along the ecliptic for another cycle of about 26,000 years (the North Star is also affected by this—13,000 years from now Polaris will be some 23° away from the North Pole, but 26,000 years from now it will again be the Pole Star). This shifting means that the dates the sun is travelling across Aries (and the rest of the signs) has changed over the years, until today, when the sun is in Aries between April 19^th through May 13^th.

Also, the constellations are not the same size; Virgo is easily twice the size as Libra. This messes things up even more as the “longest” sign (Virgo) is 45 days, the shortest sign (Scorpius) is only 7 days with the average being 28 days (actually, it gets even worse—I added up the days given for each sign and came up 5 days short so you can't even trust the astrology debunking sites to get this right!).

So, even assumign that astrology is “legit,” every astrologer (and horoscope) is working under wrong assumptions and are a sign behind the times (more or less).

Does this clear things up?

Friday, July 11, 2003

If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was a Monday

Today was not a good day (you would think that after being grounded for a week after playing with matches, the Younger would have learned “Fire Bad!” but alas, he was again caught, this time with a lighter—I'm guessing in his mind, that wasn't a match).

Last night I received email from Mark informing me of DNS problems with both our primary and secondary DNS servers. The primary DNS server (which is maintained by my old roommate Rob) was no longer responding; no idea what is up with our secondary DNS server (which is maintained by our friend Kelly) and it was causing problems for Mark. I knew there was nothing to be done then about the primary server since Rob goes out clubbing Thursday nights and besides, the secondary DNS server was there.

Today, I started looking at the problem a bit more. One of the things Mark and I have been meaning to do, now that we have a new server, is register it as a name server; this was something that was easier to do a few years ago (with Network Solutions through email) but I've yet to find out how to do this with my current registrar. I finally got a hold of Rob around 3:00 pm and informed him of the problem with his server. Major problem: he wasn't in a position to check the server, and probably wouldn't for some time (hours at least). And I was still under the impression that the secondary DNS server was still working.

It wasn't until I was over at the GM's house (for tonight is D&D night) and I tried bringing up pictures from the 4^th that I realized things might be worse than they appear. I couldn't bring up my site, or any site on my server. I then spent the rest of the time there tracking down the problem (partly because I host the game's website and manage the party mailing list, but partly because this could seriously affect email—my email!). I can rule out the primary DNS server—it's still down and there isn't much I can do so I start looking into the secondary DNS server and that's when i realize that Kelly must have moved his DNS in a hurry and forgot that he was our backup. It further appeared that his DNS was now being hosted by another friend of ours, Chris.

It was then that I learned that Kelly was out of town for the weekend. So too, was Mark, although I was able to talk to him and find out how to make the necessary DNS changes on Chris' box (long story short: Mark set up a system to allow Chris to make DNS changes and unless you know what you are doing it's easy to screw up the configuration). I then called Chris to get the root password to make the changes and informed that Mark told me exactly what to do, he relented (another long story short: Mark (and to a lesser extent, Kelly and I) help Chris run his server—he was just concerned that any DNS changes I made might break his system).

I successfully reconfigured the DNS server, although I did use the wrong files (outdated information) and it took several editing passes for me to clean up the information. All while the rest of the players were trying to deal with a trapped corridor in the dungeon.

Not a good day at all.

Friday, July 18, 2003

Photo Friday (Last weeks, alas … )

Symmetry

Normally, I don't add commentary about the images, but for this I feel I must for three reasons—one, it's last week's challenge that I didn't bother posting in time; two, the small image makes it hard to see the rather amusing symmetry going on and three, the full sized image is quite large (too see the detail that's lost on the smaller version). This was taken at the local Publix and on the left is your health food section and on the right is the the candy section.

Yes, that is a rather warped form of symmetry there and I can only conclude it's intentional on the part of Publix.

Photo Friday (On time this time)

Identity

Saturday, July 19, 2003

It's wierder than you think

First it was:

In 1988 in Las Vegas, a DEA agent was convicted of illegal wiretapping but his conviction was overturned when it turned out that the FBI had illegally put a video camera in his office.

Then it was:

A few years ago the left-wing government of Angola employed Cuban troops to defend US oil refineries against a Maoist revolutionary supported by the Reagan Administration. It's hard to be politically correct when the world starts to look like “Monty Python's flying Circus.”

–R. Shweder, New York Times, September 27^th, 1993

And recently …

You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, and Germany doesn't want to go to war.

But this … this …

In a letter to President Bush, a group of CIA veterans charge the vice president drove the U.S. to war with a “campaign of deceit”—and call for his head.

Via Ceejbot, Cheney must go

The CIA, calling the Vice President deceitful … I'm having a serious disconnect here …

Sunday, July 20, 2003

Say what?

Since the 1970s and 1980s, state lotteries have been popular means of helping to fill state coffers. Today 39 states have lotteries and several more have voted to join the crowd. Many states sell the lottery concept to the public with the promise that a large portion of the proceeds will benefit public schools.

Via The Duff Wire, Lottery Isn't Always a Boon to Schools

As I was reading the article, an odd though crossed my mind. As I've often said, the lottery (and we have one here in Florida) is a tax break for the smart (odds of winning the Florida Lottery: 1 in 14,000,000) and even though we've had this lottery since 1988 the thought that the proceeds went to education never struck me as odd until just now.

Think of it for a moment. If schools actually did their purported job of raising educated citizens with the funds from a lottery, then said educated citizens would realize just how much of a crap shoot a lottery is and stop wasting their money buying into it. Even more scary is this quote:

But today, he adds, state lotteries have become a type of institution. “I don't think they can be cut now,” he says. “Once it gets in there, the state becomes pretty dependent on this for revenue.”

What's likely for the future is more state involvement in lotteries and other forms of gambling as well, McGowan forecasts.

It seems to me that states that rely upon lottery money for revenue don't exactly want edumakated konsumors realizing just how bad an investment the lottery is. Then again, it's not like you can force people to be intelligent (and thus the cynical side of me says that lotteries are here to stay).

Monday, July 21, 2003

… and thus our Greatest President

Among the reasons [historian William Dunning, James Randall and James Rhodes] all labeled [Abraham] Lincoln a “dictator” are his initiating and conducting a war by decree for months without the concent of Congress; suspending habeas corpus; conscripting the railroads and censoring telegraph lines; imprisoning without trial as many as thirty thousand Northern citizens for voicing opposition to war; deporting a member of Congress—Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio, a fierce opponent of the Morrill Tariff and the central bank—for merely opposing Lincoln's income tax at a Democratic Party rally in Ohio; and shutting down hundreds of Northern newspapers and imprisoning some of their editors for simply disagreeing in print with his war policies.

Abraham Lincoln and the Triumph of Mercantilism by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

I've heard of Lincoln suspending habeas corpus (although not from sitting in US History at school) but I hadn't realized it was quite that bad in the 1860s. I've also heard that the Civil War (1861-65) was less about slavery than it was an economic attack against the United States economic system by the British (Part II, Part III) and this essay does cover that aspect in that the Confederate States (and Britain) were in favor of free trade whereas Lincoln and the newly formed Rebublican Party (the Party Formerly Known as the Whigs) wanted a mercantilistic system:

Mercantilism, which reached its height in the Europe of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was a system of statism which employed economic fallacy to build up a structure of imperial state power, as well as special subsidy and monopolistic privilege to individuals or groups favored by the state.

The Logic of Action Two by Murray N. Rothbard

Which doesn't sound too far off from the modern Republican Party.

It's scary to think that Lincoln, whose power exceeded that of Bush & Co., is considered, if not the greatest President, then easily one of the Top Three Presidents, does that mean that in a hundred years, Dubya will be afforded the same level of reverance?

Thursday, July 24, 2003

The Problems with Unix Permissions

I've got a guest entry on Spring's journal wherein I rant about the Permissions-A-Go-Go that is Unix.

And unlike entries here, there you can leave comments!

Friday, July 25, 2003

Photo Friday

Mechanism

Saturday, July 26, 2003

Blogathon

Since 9:00 am this morning, Spring has been doing the Blogathon thang, blogging every half hour to raise money for ASACP. She started by blogging art sites, but now she's out war driving with a mutual friend and blogging on the road.

Very cool, and I'm jealous that I didn't get a chance to go.

Ah well …

While I was out …

Just some random shots I took while out for lunch; the disposable fly trap was the oddest thing I've seen in a while.

[We've got some taaaaalll palm trees around here]

[Outside the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere, part I]

[Outside the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere, part II]

[Which street to cross? Which street to cross?]

Monday, July 28, 2003

I'm a winner! I'm a winner! I'm a … oh wait a second …

From: Van Dyke <coingogame@earthling.net>
To: webmaster@conman.org
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION/FINAL NOTICE
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 21:53:16 +0200

COINGOGAMES EMAIL-LOTTERY

FROM: COINGOGAMES PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPT.
REF: CEL/2311786008/01
BATCH: 14/011/IPD

RE: WINNING NOTIFICATION/FINAL NOTICE

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the of the COINGOGAMES Lottery International programs held on the 28th of July 2003. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number 20511465886-629 with serial number 3772-99 drew lucky numbers 7-14-17-23-31-44 which consequently won in the 2nd category, you have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of One Million United State Dollars (US$1,000,000) CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants.

All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from over 100,000 company and 50,000,000 individual email addresses and names from all over the world. This promotional program takes place every three year. We hope with part of your winning you will take part in our end of year 50 million Euro International lottery. To file for your claim, please contact our Fiduciary Agent MR. RICHARD MYERS OF QUANTUM DIPLOMATIC COMPAN, TEL: 0031-612-481-990.

Remember, all winning must be claimed not later than 11th of August 2003. After this date all unclaimed funds will be included in the next stake. Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications please remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all correspondence. Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform our agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for being part of our promotional program.

Note: Anybody under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified.

Sincerely yours,

Van Dyke.

(Winning Coordinate)

Wow! I won!

Woo hoo!

But I've never heard of COINGOGAMES, so I did what I usually do and did a Google search and imagine my surprise when a lot of mailing lists won, but due to a mixup …

Another Google search (this time, quoting part of the message) revealed some interesting information about this so called “International Lottery”—need I tell you it's a scam?

Didn't think so.

“Keanu Reeves is your only hope.”

Computers control your mind. Keanu Reeves is your only hope.

Geez, with that synopsis it sounds more like a horror movie.

Matrix Reloaded movie trailer review

Interesting, someone reviewed the trailer of Matrix Reloaded. Amusing.

The Hobbes-Tyler Connection

In the movie Fight Club, the real name of the protagonist (Ed Norton's character) is never revealed. And while some feel the only reason behind this is to give the character more of an “everyman” quality, I say, do not be deceived. Because it's obvious to anyone with working eyes that “Jack” is actually someone whom many of us grew up with, someone who might've been present at all your childhood breakfasts of Sugar Frosted Chocolate Bombs. You see, “Jack” from Fight Club and Calvin from the greatest comic strip ever, “Calvin and Hobbes,” are in fact the exact same person!

I Am Jack's Younger Self

This is for Spring as she loves Fight Club. I think she might get a kick out of this.

Star Wars Meets Jerry Springer

JERRY: Today we are going to talk with people who have a desire to confront their friends and family. Joining us now is Luke and his girlfriend Leia. (Camera shifts to Luke and Leia occupying the stage, sitting in chairs next to each other holding hands) Now Luke is a young man who's been in and out of trouble with the law but he says that he wouldn't be in so much trouble if it weren't for one man; a man Luke claims killed his father, his family, and his friend, but was never charged with the crime and is still walking free. (Audience gasps, horrified) Luke, would you like to explain a bit further?

Star Wars Meets Jerry Springer

A deadend for the Batman?

I like Batman. I'm a fan.

But I haven't really enjoyed any of the Batman films, until I saw Batman: Deadend (link via Via PenguinBoi). It looks like the comic book and the Joker in this eight minute film is the best I've seen on film yet. The dialog is a bit corny, but nothing worse than you'll find in any comic book, but the production values otherwise are incredible.

I just wish it was longer than eight minutes.

Award winning Flash Cartoons

And as long as I'm presenting a bunch of links today, I might as well present you with some very well done Flash cartoons done by Billy Blob (link via Kottke's Remaindered Links).

Thursday, July 31, 2003

Keys

To top off a very bad week, someone keyed my car.

Not only did this person key the driver side of my car, they also keyed the passenger side of my car.

Not only did this person key both sides of my car, they also keyed the hood of my car.

To whom it may concern: you forgot the trunk.

Thank you.

Friday, August 01, 2003

Photo Friday

Curves

It's aliens! I's seen them!

It's getting to the point where the story behind the Photo Friday image is more interesting than the image itself.

Again, I was at a loss for what to do for current challenge when I saw this septic truck in the supermarket parking lot (I was there picking up two gallons of milk to make up for the two gallons I poured down the sink on Wednesday—don't ask—like I said, it was a bad week) and the coiled up hose was good enough for the theme of “curves.”

So I walk up close and start taking pictures. That's when I notice this small view port on the tank. Looking closer, there were things moving along the inside.

Fast moving things!

Disturbing things!

When I showed Spring the images, she said she could have gone a whole lifetime without seeing those images.

Couldn't we all?

Saturday, August 09, 2003

“Whatcha talking 'bout, Willis?”

Darrell Issa—an alleged car thief who later made his fortune selling car alarms—decides he wants to be governor. So he throws the world's sixth largest economy into utter chaos by paying bunch of losers to collect enough signatures to invalidate an election that's not even a year old—right in the middle of the worst deficit crisis in state history. You can't make this shit up.

Via Flutterby, Gary for Governor!

Yes, California is in a gubernatorial crisis right now, and everybody is running for Governor of the land of Shake-n-Bake. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made noises about running, and Larry Flynt is running and, when you read the article above, so is Gary “Whatcha talking 'bout, Willis?” Coleman.

This is about as amusing as the FAU's newspaper/student government scandal over a decade ago. Personally, I'm hoping Larry wins; he's done more for our Constitutional rights and has run a very successful business so he stands a better chance of getting California out of its financial crisis.

Wednesday, August 13, 2003

Photo Friday

Sleep

Enlightening Clouds

It was late Monday night (okay, since it was past midnight, it technically was very early Tuesday morning) when I finished cleaning the downstairs and taking out the garbage when I noticed some storm clouds off in the distance, backlit with the occastional flash of lightning. I had to grab the camera and tripod and attempt to capture the moment.

It wasn't easy. First off, digital cameras aren't known to be fast. Or even medium. We're talking S-L-O-W. Given the settings I had to use, we're taking R-E-A-L S-L-O-W. At least three seconds from the time I hit the button until it started taking the picture, and another two or three seconds for the camera to make the exposure, and then another fifteen or so for it to process the image. Normally, for a static scene this isn't an issue at all. Even for a predictable action scene this isn't much of an issue once you get the timing down.

But lightning?

Perhaps if it was a stronger storm with flashes every few seconds it would have been easier, but this was relatively weak—two or three flashes per minute with no timing consistency what so ever. Out of twenty-six shots only those two came out. Generally, I would wait a bit, then press the button and hope that a flash would occur durring the exposure, but inevitably, I would see lightning during the processing phase.

I missed some incredible shots that way.

Okay, I missed some twenty-four shots this way.

Very annoying.

But, in viewing the shots I did get in rapid sequence it is neat to see the clouds billowing, even if twenty-four of the twenty-six shots are quite dark.

A rootless tree

Coming home one day, I saw, just outside the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere, this rootless tree next to the building. Well, not only rootless, but trunkless too! Just kind of floating there, in mid-air, next to the building.

Of course I had to take pictures.

Thursday, August 14, 2003

The Archive Effect

I just implemented a small change to mod_blog, the code that runs this site. I added a new template command, %{robots.index}% that runs the following fragment of code:

if (m_navunit == PART)
  fprintf(fpout,"index");
else
  fprintf(fpout,"noindex");

To use it:

<META NAME="robots" CONTENT="%{robots.index}%,follow">

The effect is to generate:

<META NAME="robots" CONTENT="noindex,follow">

<META NAME="robots" CONTENT="index,follow">

Depending on if the page contains multiple entries or a single entry.

So far, nothing earth shattering and to tell the truth, pretty trivial as features go. Not to mention pretty specific. This particular tag is used to control the behavior of search engine robots (at least, those that understand this convention) and it may seem strange that I am instructing these web robots to skip indexing my site unless they pull up a single entry.

But it's not that strange when you think about it. And the feature, however trivial it is to implement (and it's been a feature I've been wanting to add for some time now) is a form of search engine optimization. And is something that other blogging software should do, but doesn't.

First off, the chance of someone coming across my pages with a disturbing search request is pretty high, given that up to a full year's worth of text can be indexed (actually, you can get the every entry I've written here in one shot, but I'll leave that up as an exercise for the reader) so that I get a search like:

the chipper that is configured like a triangle with two hitting areas is illegal

with the resultant page being all the entries I've written for 2001; I'm guessing that most, if not all, of those words do appear within the entries of 2001, but not in a single entry.

The result isn't just to solely remove the posibility of distrubing search requests from my site (“aggresiveness of college students in manila”—I'm not a college student, nor am I in Manila, but hey, if they're female, I wouldn't mind them being aggressive) but to actually help the search engines generate good results for people (I'm sure the person looking for “door king 1812 dsl technical information” didn't appreciate being fed every entry for 2002).

Then again, I will miss those that come looking for “mitubishi polyester film corp.”

Friday, August 15, 2003

You too can experience the thrill of being a Master Craftsman in making furniture!

I'm not sure when exactly this occurred—I'm guessing late 70s, early 80s—when some executive somewhere got the bright idea that everybody, at one point in their lives, maybe multiple times in their lives, wanted to experience what it's like to make furniture. I'm guessing that through extensive R & D it came to light that it wasn't the fussy or complicated steps like measuring, cutting, drilling or finishing that where popular, but the actual steps of assembly; the fitting of small wooden dowels, the driving of screws and twisting of fasteners that people wanted to experience.

Or perhaps it wasn't the actual experience of assembly that people wanted but the thought of buying what looked to be expensive furniture at a moderately expensive price for furniture made almost extensively from pressed particle board (which does this hideous expansion number on you if it comes anywhere near water) thinking they're saving money. Lord knows that's probably what my Mom thought during the mid-80s on her furniture buying spree. It certainly couldn't have been the thrill of assembly since that thrill was ~~left to~~ forced on me. Countless shelves, a bed/shelf unit, a desk, and two dressers were among the items of furniture I “hand made” for Mom.

Thrills-a-minute, let me tell you.

It was more of the same today when I found Spring in the Kids' room in the midst of wood laminate particle boards, wooden slats, screws, wierd looking fasteners that you'll never find in any hardware or home self-improvement store and enough headboards to make what looked like two single beds. “I'm trying to puzzle this out,” she said. “The only instructions that came with it were in Chinese.”

“Engrish Chinese?”

“No,” she said. “Chinese. And I'm trying to figure out where everything goes.”

“There must be at least illustrations, right?”

“Nope.”

“Ah.” Not good at all.

After a brief interlude where I dropped the Kids off at the Charles Dickens After School Center, Spring and I resumed our forays into the wonderful world of Furniture Assembly—Bunk Bed Edition!

Rough placement of pieces on the floor. Discussions of what piece goes where and what possible function it could provide. The puzzlement over some apparent missing drill holes. And several mis-matched bolts. And non-illustrated directions in Chinese.

Time passes. We had most of the bunk bed assembled when Spring's cordless power drill (being used to drive screws) started straining as its battery slowly died. We were then faced with the prospect of hand driving in some 48 screws to fasten down the slats to support the mattresses. Not looking forward to that, I borrowed a power drill from one of our neighbors. Spring was able to get the Philip's head bit into the drill, but it proved to be too awkward to use so close to the bed frame. So I took the bit out, and attempted to put in a bit extention.

Only the drill wouldn't tighten up.

Great! I thought. I broke the neighbor's drill! “XXXX!” I said. “I think I owe the neighbor a new drill.”

“What's wrong?”

“I can't tighten the drill.”

Spring came over, took the drill and attempted to tighten it. “Yup, looks like it's broken.” She handed it back to me.

“I'll go return this and inform them I'll be buying them a new drill,” I said. Spring went to work hand driving the screws in.

Some twenty minutes later I returned. The neighbor took the now non-tightening drill (it still spun under power but unless you jam a particularly large bit into it, it won't be of much use) in stride, saying it was very old, needed replacing anyway and that her parents could get her a new one, since her father always brought his drill over when he needed to do home repair at her place.

That was some good news.

But the bad news was having to drive in 48 screws by hand.

Nothing out of the ordinary should ever happen to you at a Wal★Mart

I met up with Kelly and his friend N for dinner tonight; normally I'd be going to play D&D but the DM is currently on a cruise ship in the Alaskan region (I told him he was not allowed to go, but did he listen to me? Noooooooo!). Afterwards, we found ourselves at the local Wal★Mart Supercenter; N needed some school supplies and Kelly wanted to do a bit of grocery shopping.

This is a Wal★Mart—middle America! Squeezing out Mom-&Pop shops left and right America! Safe, mediocre, predictable America! Nothing out of the ordinary should ever happen to you at a Wal★Mart.

Imagine my surprise at being surprised—thrice—at Wal★Mart.

Now, upon entering the Wal★Mart, we passed a stand of fliers. When I looked closer, the fliers were school supplies of the various elementary schools in the area. I had never seen such a display before! So I grabbed about half a dozen, one from a different school. Upon reading I was completely blown away.

Park Springs Elementary, for instance, requires of its first graders one (1) disposable camera, one (1) box of gallon Ziploc™ bags, and one (1) box of tissues—but only if your last name begins with “A” through “L” (a disposable camera? Excuse me?), otherwise one (1) box of tissues, one (1) box of sandwich Ziploc™ bags, one (1) box of colored pencils and cotton balls (cotton balls?). Second grade at said school requires one (1) skein of yarn, one (1) box of 7 oz. paper cups, one (1) pack of large size paper plates (but only if your last name begins with “A” through “F” … um … this is second grade, right?) one (1) pack of small size paper plates, two (2) boxes sandwich size Ziploc™ bags, one (1) box assorted plastic utensils (only if your last name begings with “G” through “K” and now I'm starting to get scared), one (1) box large Ziploc™ bags, napkins and one (1) box of baby wipes.

Okay, that's it! Baby wipes? Plastic utensils? Cups? What is this, the students have to cook their own lunches? Nowhere on the Park Springs Elementary school second grade supply flier does it even mention pencils, pens or paper (oh wait … sorry, it does mention paper, but that's optional). Writing utensils aren't mandatory until third grade. Forest Hills Elementary is a bit better—first graders get to bring two (2) expo markers.

Then again, at Forest Hills Elementary, first grade girls have to bring one (1) box of gallon size Ziploc™ bags.

Um …

It was at this point the second surprise walked up. He stops, looks at me and says, “Are you Sean? Sean Conner?”

My reputation has really preceeded me, was my first thought. How does this guy know me? I then notice that he does, indeed, look familiar. Hold on a second! I thought. I KNOW THIS GUY! “Hold on,” I said. Thought. Heavy thinking. I was just thinking about this guy about a month ago or so. “Dave!”

“Nope!”

“Dale!”

“Yup,” he said.

“But I can't remember your last name,” I said. He says it, and yes, it finally clicks. Someone I had not seen for easily twenty years. He even mentioned that he had thought of me in the past week. Brief introductions go around, and we chat for a few seconds. He asks what I'm up to and when I say I'm underemployed I get my third surprise of the evening.

A job offer.

Granted, it's for a parts driver for a local dealership, but hey, I might be intrigued enough to take it. He gives me his number and we part ways.

This is Wal★Mart! Not a middle-school reunion! Or a job faire!

And what is with first grade girls having to obtain a box of gallon size Ziploc™ bags?

“It's mapped. I'm just not showing it to you.”

Kelly and I found an interesting bug in Windows XP tonight (“Oh no! Not a bug in WinXP? Say it ain't so!”)

I had taken a few photographs tonight and Kelly was attempting to copy them from my camera to his computer. Normally, you just hook the camera up to the computer via a USB cable, which then appears as a storage drive to the system and you use the normal system to copy the images off (under Linux, the camera appears as a removable SCSI device, oddly enough).

When I hooked my camera up, it didn't show up on Kelly's Windows XP system. We knew the system recognized the camera since each time I hooked it up, Windows would make one sound, and when I disconnected the camera, Widows XP would make a different sound, so something was happening.

But we couldn't see it.

Some poking around, and it seems that Windows XP has a minor glitch (“you don't say?”)—it will happily map a physical device (like my digital camera) and a logical device (like a network share) to the same drive letter (say, for example, F:) and only the logical device will be visible to the user.

Kelly remapped the logical device (his network share) to a different drive letter, and lo! We were able to access the camera.

And Windows XP is supposed to be the pinacle of Microsoft operating systems?

Scary.

Tuesday, August 19, 2003

Yes, it's still up and running

I received email from XXXXXXXXXXX asking when I'm going to remove an entry where I mention him. I'm not sure if he doesn't like the clarification I made on that page, just doesn't like being mentioned at all, or hates the fact that said entry is the third result you get when searching on his name, or a combination of all three. I do not want to remove the entry; after all, this is my space here, but yet he didn't exactly ask to be mentioned here.

So I removed all mention of him from the entry. It will, however, take some time for Google (or any other search engine) to reindex said entry.

I did, however, check the logs for 2003 and as far as I can tell, no one looking for XXXXXXXXXXX has hit the entry in question. Not one hit! Yes, several hits from search engines indexing my site, but not one live person. So I don't think XXXXXXXXXXX has anything to worry about.

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

It worked last week …

About a week ago, I was able to successfully mount my home directory, which is on a Linux box, to the Windows XP box we have, using samba. This week however, it's acting strangly.

Map the drive; it's successful. Try listing some files …

Z:\>dir
 Volume in drive Z is ?
 Volume Serial Number is 2E0D-011F

 Directory of Z:\

File Not Found

Z:\>dir *.jpg
 Volume in drive Z is ?
 Volume Serial Number is 2E0D-011F

 Directory of Z:\

11/12/2000  09:32 PM            15,678 seanroy.jpg
09/05/2002  11:00 PM             7,134 flower.thumb.jpg
04/28/2003  11:32 PM            77,731 Untitled-4.jpg
04/28/2003  11:33 PM           130,531 Untitled-5.jpg
04/28/2003  11:33 PM           137,230 Untitled-9.jpg
04/28/2003  11:33 PM           143,943 Untitled-20.jpg
04/28/2003  11:33 PM           165,048 Untitled-27.jpg
04/28/2003  11:33 PM           128,356 Dad & elephant.jpg
04/28/2003  11:33 PM           143,821 sean at desk.jpg
               9 File(s)        949,472 bytes
               0 Dir(s)   8,011,644,928 bytes free

Z:\>

Like I said—wierd. Short directory listings are fine; anything too large (and I'm still trying to define “too large”) and it simply hangs. But it's not like a massive amount of data causes it to hang—I viewed a 40M Quicktime movie so it's not that. And the behavior just started this week. A week ago—it was fine.

I even went so far as to download, configure, install and run the latest version of samba; it still exhibits the same problem.

Like I said—wierd.

Then again, this is Windows we're talking about …

3D images!

My maternal grandfather was into photography, mostly films (8mm although he did some work in Super-8 in his later years) but he did have a few odd-ball 35mm cameras like the Realist 3D 35mm camera from what looks to be the 50s. To say it's a manual camera is an understatement. Manual shutter speed, manual apature and a very odd focusing system; a parallax system where you line up the top half of the viewport with the lower half. It's a bit harder than it sounds because the view port itself is this small hole on the back of the camera along the bottom edge which is hard to see through.

I'd had the camera for years—since 1982 when he died, and I've never gotten around to actually using the camera. Not even when I was taking photography at FAU about ten years ago. I finally played around with it a few years ago, around 1999 or so, by taking some pictures around Condo Conner. Given the manual nature of the 3D camera I also took along my semi-automatic 35mm camera which I used to set proper shutter speed and apature. I had the pictures developed and promptly forgot about them, until one of the Kids found the photos.

In looking at the photos, I realized that I'm going to have to ask them not to cut the negatives since the size of the images are a bit smaller than normal.

To view the image, you'll need to cross your eyes util both images merge into one (you can try with the thumbnail below, but if it's too small, click on it to attempt a larger version), although according to Jason Kottke about 5-10% of people have trouble doing this. I attempted to do a red/blue version for those funky 3D glasses you get at films but I had trouble getting the right shades of red and blue to get it to work properly. Perhaps if I played around with it more I could do it.

But for now, enjoy my first attempt at 3D photography.

Thursday, August 21, 2003

A question of two photos

In looking over the pictures I took tonight of my Realist 3D camera I realized that while I selected the first photo to display I actually liked the second photo much better. I selected to display the first photo for its predominately white background, but the second one, while more dramatic (which is one reason I like it) has a busier background (although it shows more detail on the camera, which is the second reason why I like it).

So, if you are inclined, please inform me which one you like best.

Thank you.

[Straight forward picture of Realist 3D camera]

[Dramatic shot of the Realist 3D camera]

Monday, August 25, 2003

It isn't SoBig after all …

Everybody I know has received at least a thousand copies of the SoBig.F virus email and yet, what do I get?

From: “John Llamas” <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To: <sean@conman.org>
Subject: I am seeking a reputable vendor of inflatable sheep …
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2003 23:36:29 -0700

Hello

I am a “generously proportioned” male (375 pounds) with a less than generous penile length (4 inches erect). I seek a vendor of quality inflatable sheep who can give away free samples as I am unemployed.

Best regards

John Llamas

Um … yea.

Not quite so big there, huh?

I will certainly say that at the very least, I get entertaining spam. Almost makes up for the seven Nigerian scams I received this week.

Wednesday, August 27, 2003

Photo Friday

Broken

3D cameras and other equipment

The other day I asked which of two shots I took of a Realist 3D camera people liked better. Well, the ~~masses spoke~~ three people commented that the second, more dramatic shot was the better of the two.

Also, reader and online friend Steve Crane sent me a link to the Mission3-D—3-D Attachment for Digital Cameras which combines a special camera mount, stylish 3D glasses (more durable than the paper red/blue you normally get) and software (Windows, of course). I personally could do with just the mount and forego the glasses (which I can't use since I wear glasses) and the software (which I won't like using) but at $129.00 it's a bit pricy.

Friday, August 29, 2003

Photo Friday

Neighborhood

Welcome to Camazots!

It was a bit hard to select the one photograph for this week's Photo Friday challenge as there were several I wanted to use. After selecting the one I wanted and posting, I then checked Photo Friday and found this:

Please only submit one link per challenge, even if you have several photos for the week's Challenge. If you need your link changed for whatever reason, contact us and we'll change it.

Photo Friday: How to Participate

So technically, I'm not limited to a single photograph, even though most participants (including me so far) only submit a single photograph, and most weeks so far, selecting one single photograph hasn't been a problem (most of the times, it's just selecting the one from about a dozen or more of the same subject, just taken at different angles or with different lighting) but this week, I had a few photographs that I wanted to use.

[Neighborhood V: Closer than they appear]

I guess that the next time I find myself with multiple pictures for a Photo Friday feature, I shouldn't hesitate to use them all.

The photographs themselves were taken a month ago while I was waiting to get into a friend's house. He lives in this exclusive gated community; so exclusive that there is only one way in and out—through the gate (and it's not just a small cul-de-sac either, but several large cul-de-sacs spread out). I've joked with my friend that all some terrorists need to do is take over the gate house (which is quite large as gate houses go) and simply block traffic. Given the pathological need most Americans have towards driving and commuting to work, just blocking car access at this one gate is enough to hold an entire community hostage!

The week I was there they had an inexperienced guard at the gate; it took over half an hour to get through (as you can see, the line extended back towards the main street). Most annoying, and let's face it, it's about as effective towards security as the TSA.

And thus welcome to the modern American neighborhood.

Sunday, August 31, 2003

It has begun!

I found myself at Wal★Mart today picking up a new camera tripod (I made the mistake of letting the Kids “look” at my old tripod, sigh) and upon entering the store, right there just inside the entry, was a four and a half foot singing Santa Doll, belting out those cherrished Yule Tide carols that we all inundated with 24/7 …

A singing Santa Clause.

It's not even September yet and The Season™ is already among us.

God help us all …

Vampires, werewolves and ghosts! Oh my!

As Spring and I were putting the Kids to sleep, the Younger mentioned that he was scared. Spring tried to reassure him, and I said myself, “There is nothing to be afraid of.” Well, except for ending sentances in “of.” We then turned out the lights and left the Kids to slumber.

“I remember having those feelings,” said Spring. “Of being scared.”

“Yes, the other night The Younger said he was scared to sleep. I asked him what he was scared of and The Younger said, ‘Vampires, werewolves and ghosts. There are ghosts around here you know.’ I told him not to worry because the front door was locked and that I would bar them from coming up stairs.

“But then the Younger goes, ‘But they can still come in through the roof!’ I replied, ‘If they come in through the roof, I'll defintely hear it and come rushing up here to take care of any vampires, werewolves or ghosts. They'll have to answer to me!’”

Spring was delighted. “Ah, my home defender!” She hugged me.

“Defender nothing!” I said. “Any monsters coming through the roof are going to have to answer for property damage! We don't own this place and I certainly don't want to be liable for property damage!” Priorities, you know.

Monday, September 01, 2003

“Do you want fries with that?”

I get more and more scared each time I head back to Wal★Mart. This time, I had to exchange my new tripod since it lacked the camera mount plate (otherwise, it's sturdier, better designed (has a handle to carry it) and cheaper than my old one) and while waiting in line (my mistake today? Going to Wal★Mart on Labor Day) I saw an item that just scared me.

One woman was returning a toy—a McDonald's toy. Not the type of toy you get with a Happy Meal™, no. This toy was a box set you buy at a place like Wal★Mart. This was a McDonald's Cash Register Play Set, including a head set, some play money and plastic fries (among other plastic food).

A McDonald's Cash Register.

Yes, you too can prepare your kid to work in the exciting fast food industry where after months of work you can work your way up to the Fry Machine!

Gah! Is there no end to the crass mass-commercialism rampant in our society? Oh wait, don't answer that—it was rhetorical anyway …

Future Shock at McDonalds

So where did I end up having lunch?

McDonald's.

Steak-n-Shake was busy and …

Okay, excuses aside, this particular McDonald's was decorated in a 50s style; chrome, linoleum checkered floor, 50s car out front, a large scale model train running along the ceiling, 50s pop music blaring over the loud speaker, the old fasioned logo (the running chef, which I couldn't find with Google). I'm inside, waiting and looking at the menu deciding on what to eat when I noticed it moved!

Well, not the physical menu itself, but there I was, looking at a picture of the McFish Combo meal (#9) when it suddenly cut to a smooth Madison Avenue produced product placement ad for a McFish Combo (no sound though). Then it flipped back to the standard McFish Combo picture and a few seconds later, one of the other combo meal pictures started moving.

Animated banner ads on the web are bad enough—I don't need them in my fast food restaurant.

Looking closer at the menu board, I noticed that it was five huge flat screen monitors. Then I noticed the even larger flat screen TV screen to my left with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John were singing and dancing their way through Grease (of course! What else do you play at a 50s themed restaurant?).

At that point, looking around at the decor that wouldn't seem too out of place 40 years ago, except for the flat screen TV and animated menus, I began to think on what changes our society has been through in the past 50 years; even a span of twenty-five years has a tremendous amount of change (Internet? PDAs? DVDs? CDs? How much memory in your home computer again?); heck, even my Dad is now asking me about ripping MP3s from his large collection of tapes and CDs. At the same time, things have stayed the same (Coke, which is over 100 years old, and the Big Mac, which is 35). As I was sitting there, pondering all this, I imaged a hypothetical conversation where someone in a coma since 1979 would have upon waking up in 2003.

Random observation made at a supermarket at 4:32 pm in West Boca Raton, Florida

Nestled between the wine (highly flamable liquid) and the charcoal brickettes (designed to burn) and lighter fluid (another flamable liquid) you will find matches (designed to start fires).

Just an observation …

Tuesday, September 02, 2003

Another stab in 3D

Since I now own two tripods (the broken one is still usable as a tripod, but the crank that raises the camera mount up and down barely works) I figured it might be easy to take 3D photos by using two cameras (mine and Spring's, both are the same model camera) as close together as possible. It wasn't as easy as I thought it might be.

(To view the image, cross your eyes to merge the image although up to 5% of the population won't be able to do this)

I was able to intermingle the tripods enough to get the cameras right next to each other, but the optics were twice as far apart, at 5″, than is optimal for 3D images (at 2½″) but I decided go continue anyway to see the results. The other problem I had was making sure both cameras were aligned correctly; not only facing straight ahead, but aligned vertically (since the tripod allows one to pan up/down). It was only on the last shot (of six) that I had everything aligned properly.

The resulting image isn't bad, but I did have to crop both sides to ensure that both pictures contained the same scene. For instance, the right side had most of the back of a chair in view, while the left side had more of the door and wall in view.

My next attept will be with actually moving the camera to the side some 2½″ to better simulate the distance between human eyes.

3D pictures with out strain or funky glasses

Via Kim Burchett, a page of 3D images (not all are work safe) where you do not need to cross your eyes or use those red-blue glasses to see the 3D effect. A unique way of presenting stereo images and surprisingly effective.

Friday, September 05, 2003

Photo Friday

Aged

“ … and I'll be taking these mainframes with me … ”

Australian authorities have ordered an urgent review of security at Sydney's international airport after the theft of two mainframe computers from a restricted customs area.

It is believed they were taken by two men posing as technicians at the end of August.

Airport theft shocks Australia

How do you “steal” not one, but two mainframes?

A mainframe.

We're not talking a PC here, nor even something like a typical server, but a mainframe. These are not small machines—these are honking large machines the size of industrial refridgerators.

Or larger.

When you mention mainframe, I'm thinking something a bit larger than the Sun Fire 15K (which may or may not be a mainframe).

And two guys just waltzed out with two of them.

Unless the reporter mistook “server” for “mainframe,” which I find more believable …

“Raise shields! Prepare for impact!”

Our analysis of Internet virus activity, shows that on September 11^th next, an advanced worm attack is set to infiltrate the Internet and could potentially halt email traffic worldwide. We need to act now.

Via 0xDECAFBAD, Superworm To Storm The Net On 9/11

You know, if only it were possible to ban and delete all copies of Microsoft ~~Lookout!~~ Outlook or Microsoft ~~Lookout! Exploit~~ Outlook Express, things like this wouldn't happen. Couldn't happen.

I remember back when Code Red and Nimba (back in 2001 and machines are still infected) code was posted that would allow one to remotely crash an infected machine (using pretty much the same exploit that allowed the machine to be infected in the first place) to stop the spread. The legal analysis was that such code was illegal to use (sadly) leaving one with not much recourse other than sucking up the wasted bandwidth, or just going ahead and crashing the damned machines anyway and hope you didn't get caught.

I think the best practice to come out of this was LeBrea, a program that would basically stop an infected machine by slowing down its network connection (by accepting a connection from an infected machine, then keep the connection alive, but transmit nothing back, keeping the infected machine stuck), but alas, it is no longer being distributed due to so called Super-DMCAs, being pushed by the MPAA to basically prevent anyone from using a computer (well, they don't come right out and say that, but … ).

Sigh.

Monday, September 08, 2003

Skipping the whole senior bit …

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP)—Of all the ways attempted to free up space in Florida's crowded classrooms, this one could be a dream come true for high schoolers in a hurry: a diploma without a senior year.

Supporters of a law granting a high school diploma in just three years said it will help curb crowding in Florida's schools. Critics fear it will deprive early graduates of extracurricular activities and senior year milestones.

Via squeaky19, Law lets students forgo senior year

Figures something like this would come along after I graduated from high school. A law that allows one to skip their senior year? I would have loved the ability to skip my senior year of high school.

The requirements are four credits of English (a “doubling up” as it's called in the article) and two years of a foreign language. Well ‥ gee … I took four credits of English and two years of a foreign language, which was required when I was in school (have standards fallen that much in the fifteen years since I've been in school?).

And yes, I walked ten miles into the wind (who am I kidding? There are no hills here in Lower Sheol), both ways, in molten asphalt up to my ankles.

Needless to say, it's hot down here.

Although, to tell the truth, my senior year wasn't all that bad. I only had four classes (out of seven possible)—the hours I didn't have class I was hanging out in the AV room with the other kids who skipped class to hang out there (yes, Geeks Gone Bad!), but still, given the option, I probably would have skipped my senior year entirely.

Wednesday, September 10, 2003

Musings on the problems of Transclusion

Mike Taht would like transclusion.

I don't think transclusion will truely ever come about.

Transclusion, one of the prime concepts of Xanadu (43 years and still not here!), is the ability to include quotes from other documents without having to “cut-n-paste.” Instead, you give a reference to the portion you want quoted in your document and the underlying Xanadu system will handle the actual process of “cut-n-paste” for you when someone requests your document. Sounds nice, but there are problems.

In a Xanalogical system, the actual reference contains a byte range of the target document, such that if I wanted to quote Mike Taht's paragraph on transclusion:

Transclusion for text: Bloggers do manually what Ted Nelson wanted to do automatically—quote parts of textual articles—and while his goal was lofty, I've gradually come to the conclusion that he was right. All the mass duplication of partial texts, all the work that we do to ensure credit is given—would have been handled by Xanadu. The ability to quote partial texts exists in the http 1.1 protocol, but nobody uses it. (It's byte specific, and buried deep in the protocol). It's possible to use it just as easily as we copy and paste today.

All I need to do would be to specify the document between bytes 13,226 and 13,791 inclusive, insert that reference into my document and when you bring up my page, you'll see the portion I referenced from Mike embedded within my document.

Now, here's the first problem: Mike makes a change to his document—perhaps he fixes a typo, or slightly changes the style and layout of his page. That could affect the byte ranges for that particular paragraph and what you see is:

xt: Bloggers do manually what Ted Nelson wanted to do automatically—quote parts of textual articles—and while his goal was lofty, I've gradually come to the conclusion that he was right. All the mass duplication of partial texts, all the work that we do to ensure credit is given—would have been handled by Xanadu. The ability to quote partial texts exists in the http 1.1 protocol, but nobody uses it. (It's byte specific, and buried deep in the protocol). It's possible to use it just as easily as we copy and paste today.

Anyway, off to AA

Oops. Sorry Mike, didn't mean to make you attend AA there …

Now, as it stands, Xanadu has a solution for this problem: versioning. The original idea was that not only would you grab a reference to a portion of the page, but a reference to the version you are quoting. So, not only am I quoting bytes 13,226 to 13,791 inclusive, but I'm quoting bytes 13,226 to 13,791 inclusive of the version dated 2003-09-03T23:21:42-08:00.

But there's still a problem.

What if the domain expires? If pages are moved or removed, then (the hypothetical) versioning webserver will still have a copy of the original page to serve up, but what if the domain goes away? Or is transfered to a new owner?

I just now tried an experiment. I loaded up December, 1999 of my journal here, the first month I started, and decided to see just how many of the pages I quoted were still around.

Not a single one.

If transclusion were a part of HTTP and HTML, then this Slashdot post I quoted (December 10^th, 1999):

Guess what? That's bunk. They haven't infected me. I'm merely using a library function in the way that library functions are meant to be used: they're an API, and you link to them. It is of no consequence whether it's statically linked at link/load-time, dynamically linked at start-up, or accessed at run-time during execution via any one of myriad forms of RPC. It's API only, not material inclusion. APIs aren't viral.

Would now come up as:

We can't find a comment with that ID (282) in this discussion (2833). If this comment was posted moments ago, please wait 60 seconds for it to appear. Otherwise, if you got here through a link generated by Slashdot, please report this as a bug. But if you got here thanks to a silly user's comment text or journal entry or something, or from an external site, this link is just invalid—sorry.

Well, assuming the original byte ranges requested were ignored, otherwise we end up with Slashdot going to AA …

And that's just the technical problems (which, given enough time, money and man power to, anything can be done—we went from total surprise to Sputnik to playing golf on the moon in a dozen years) but technical problems are easy to solve compared to the political and social problems transclusion brings forth.

Not everyone wants a permanent record of what they write. Or of the editing changes they made. Or even stand by their own words. Or owe up to their own history. And there are plenty of sites that hide their content behind registrations and payment schemes and don't particularly care to be quoted (and they wonder why they don't have good rankings in Google).

Of course, Xanadu has a solution to that last problem, but it requires ACLs and micropayments, which is a whole other set of problems both technical and political …

Thursday, September 11, 2003

The Subversive Thomas Jefferson

On 29 July 2003, I became a casualty in John Ashcroff's politically convenient “War on Everyday Activites Which Some Terrorist May Also Have Done.” I carried a camera onto the public hiking trails surrounding West Hartford (CT) Reservoir. It's a pretty little reservoir, inviting locals to partake in biking, hiking and other healthy activities on the miles of natural and manmade coastline.

No signs said that cameras were not allowed. The police officer was reminding me that I “am not in any trouble,” but that I had to surrender official state identification and car registration anyway. Numerous other shutterbugs are catalogued each day, just in case a “pattern” might somehow develop.

Via Techdirt, TERROR FILE 1 by ~halley

It's a picture of a rusty plate, eye bolt and one rusty chain link.

the British ministry have so long hired their gazetteers to repeat and model into every form lies about our being in anarchy, that the world has at length believed them, the English nation has believed them, the ministers themselves have come to believe them, & what is more wonderful, we have believed them ourselves. yet where does this anarchy exist? where did it ever exist, except in the single instance of Massachusets? and can history produce an instance of a rebellion so honourably conducted? I say nothing of it's motives. they were founded in ignorance, not wickedness. god forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion. the people cannot be all, & always, well informed. the past which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive; if they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. we have had 13. states independant 11. years. there has been one rebellion. that comes to one rebellion in a century & a half for each state. what country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? let them take arms. the remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. what signify a few lives lost in a century or two? the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. it is it's natural manure.

Thomas Jefferson, 1787

Keep up the good work, Ashcroft! Who knows? In another year or so we might have to get all Jeffersonian on you and stage that 20 year revolution he so elequently talked about …

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

Balkanization of the Internet

Ten years ago, just prior to the commercialization of the Internet was a good time indeed. No spam, no worms, no Verisign and generally no problems. Every machine on the Internet was a full peer of every other machine on the Internet and things pretty much worked (like talk and FTP).

Life on the Internet was good, then.

The Internet today is a vastly different creature than the Internet of a decade ago. Mark just informed me that yet another remote exploit of OpenSSH is floating out there. Which means an upgrade to OpenSSH. When I asked Mark why not just download the latest version, do a ./configure, make, and make intall he said it wasn't that simple on a modern Linux system since this is “open source” with its “dependancy dance from Hell” so the best course of action is to use the existing package program to update.

Of course the package program refuses to install the latest version of OpenSSH until you update the package program itself, which involves (again, due to the dependance dance) upgrading a slew of other packages …

Sigh.

I personally don't see why downloading the latest version of OpenSSH and compiling it won't work, but Mark is insistent that we go the package route. “This is a modern Linux system, Sean,” he said. “You just can't do that compile thing anymore without breaking something.”

All this on top of our recent discussion on installing a firewall on our server—to keep network data out of our server (well, specifically, to keep network data from getting to MySQL (which according to Mark, is a pile of Swiss cheese in the security department).

To top this off, Mark is also planning on removing Seminole (webserver he's been writing) from distribution. It's GPLed with an option to get a commercial license (to remove the GPL restrictions) but most of the downloads have been coming from (according to Mark) India and China, which don't necessarily honor IP rights, pissing Mark off. He was planning on just blocking all network traffic from Asia itself, but decided that wasn't good enough.

And now it seems that a VeriSign site will come up for non-registered domains (for .NET and .COM), and apparently also accepts email (not fully, but enough to collect valid email addresses) to such non-registered domains. System and network admins are upset; enough to consider blocking the IP address 64.94.110.11 entirely.

This, on top of the recent worms and virii like SoBig and Slammer so now you have ISPs blocking certain network traffic and slowly, ever so slowly, the full peer-to-peer nature of the Internet is Balkanizing to where we won't even have an Internet anymore.

Oh, I'm sure there will still be a vast network of connected computers, but with so much filtering going on, and the attacks against peer-to-peer networking software (the whole peer-to-peer thing was puzzling to me since when I started using the Internet, it was peer-to-peer and systems like Napster, Gnuster and Kazaa just seemed silly to me—little did I realize just how Balkanized the Internet has become for such software to become necessary) what I'm used to as being the Internet will cease to exist (if it hasn't already).

And President Bush isn't helping matters either …

Thursday, September 18, 2003

Drawing on the dining room table

A rather rare occurance tonight—friends!

We had friends show up here at the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere for a few hours of kibitzing (kubitzing?), drawing on the dining room table and to listen to Gregory impersonate the cartoon characters from Futurama.

And by “drawing on the dining room table,” we don't mean drawing on paper on the dining room table, I mean, drawing directly on the dining room table! You see, it's glass, and since Spring is home schooling The Kids, it's easier (and cheaper) to use dry markers on the glass surface than to buy a white board (okay, she bought a white posterboard to tape to the underside of the table). Makes for an interesting effect.

Friday, September 19, 2003

A very late Photo Friday

Faith

Photo Friday

Found

Monday, September 22, 2003

That which does not kill you, hurts like a mofo

It wasn't the very worst day in my life. Bad yes. Worst, not really.

Although it still hurts like a mofo.

I did not want to go. I was expecting not to go. So it was with trepadation that I awoke to Spring saying The Younger really wanted me to come to Chuck E. Cheese's for his birthday party. Oh, and we leave in half an hour.

Not a great way to start the day.

But since it meant so much to The Younger I got up, showered, dressed and was downstairs within thirty minutes. We then drove a few miles to the local Chuck E. Cheese's for a noon-time party.

I was surprised that Chuck E. Cheese's, founded by Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari) was still around. Not only is it still around, Spring was able to book the party over the Internet.

Fancy that.

Signage on the front door loudly proclaimed that all the games are now one token! It's scary to think that since my childhood video games now require multiple tokens to play (Kelly confirmed that games are now 75¢ to $4.00 to play, depending on the game).

Going in, Spring swore; she forgot the confirmation number for the party at the house and that we might have to go back for it. But that wasn't the case. They let us in, Krispy Creme Donut Cake and all. And it immediately hits me.

I do not want to be here!

There are three things I do not like: loud places, crowded places, and kids. And here are the very three things I do not like in one place: loud crowded kids.

Spring had brought her camera, but the smart media was still in the computer at home. I had brought my camera just in case, but since we were still waiting for Gregory to show up, I offered to go home to retrieve the smart media for her camera and to call Gregory to make sure he was still showing up. I bolted for the door.

Once outside, I ran into Gregory and his two kids. So it was back into the Hellmouth that is Chuck E. Cheese's.

Ten minutes later Spring is telling me that I could go outside and calm down. So I go out, get in the car, drive home, pick up the smart media and head back, killing about half an hour. Then back into the Hellmouth that is Chuck E. Cheese's.

I didn't last five minutes.

I think was killed me was a remark Gregory made: ~~“I love doping up your kids on sugar and leaving them with you.”~~ “I love being able to dope up my kids with sugar and then take them right back to their mom.” I was so far gone I really mistook what Gregory said.

“Greg,” I said weakly, “please don't say such things.” Barely keeping it together at that point. It was obvious that I wasn't going to handle things much longer. Gregory offered me his PDA with Internet access and I told him, point blank, “Greg, you're confusing me. Stop!”

Yes, I was that far gone into my own personal Hell. Kids screaming. Music blaring. Bodies pressing all around me. Lights. Sounds. Screams. People. I was trapped in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on a acid trip gone bad, albeit without the excuse of drugs.

Gregory took me home at that point.

I slept the rest of the day.

It wasn't until Spring was going to work that I got even worse news. Coming home, she dropped both our digital cameras. Wasn't her fault—the lunch box she was using popped open and out they fell. She didn't know if they still worked, not having tested them.

Numbness.

After she left for work, I tested the cameras. Her's worked. Mine didn't.

A bit over a year old, and I now have a very expensive plastic paper weight.

That's when I got quite upset and I found out the hard way that indeed my hand cannot occupy the same space as the monitor, even after repeated applications. I also found out the clarity of thought a possibly broken hand can bring about.

Ice pack and a few hours of rest later, I hoped that all that was wrong with my camera were dead batteries and that all would be all right in the morning. Aspirin and a slug of NyQuill later, I'm asleep.

Next afternoon (this being Sunday afternoon) I get up, check my right hand (yup, still painful), shower, dress and check my digital camera.

It's not the batteries.

It's dead, Jim.

I have one expensive plastic paper weight.

Spring suggested, that since it is most assuredly out of warantee, that I open it and see if it can be fixed. I nod in agreement. Later. Not right now. She also suggested that I either go back upstairs into bed or get out of the house.

I got out of the house.

An hour and a half later, I walk out of CompUSA with a new digital camera. A bit cheaper than my dead one; smaller, requires half the batteries and with a bit better picture resolution. It's actually the next model from mine—an Olympus D-560 Zoom. I'm planning on opening the dead camera and seeing what I can do, but I'm not expecting much.

Afterwards, I headed over to Kelly's house and hung out with him for the rest of the day. Upon returning home, I fell immediately into bed.

Koyaanisqatsi

Ko yaa nis qat si

(from the Hopi language), n.

Crazy life.
Life in turmoil.
Life disintegrating.
Life out of balance.
A state of life that calls for another way of living.

Often when depressed, I try to listen to really depressing music as a way to … oh, I don't know … feel better? Match my mood? Depress me so far down that I come through the other side?

For the past decade, the album Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails has been the stand-by “depressed from Hell” album to listen to (although sometimes a good Dennis Leary rant does the trick) but I think I finally found the “depressed music from Hell” that exactly matches my mood.

Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass. Dark, brooding organ music (you could almost say “Gothic”) with a deep baritone voice chanting “Koyaanisquatsi” over and over again. A perfect fit for my current mood.

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Didn't think of that …

Well, that didn't work.

The battery in my watch is dead and I haven't bothered to get a new one yet, so I couldn't use it for the alarm function (which is all I really use the watch for) to remind me that it was time to pick up The Kids (since I would otherwise be preoccupied and not notice the time). I have an alarm clock, but it's in the bedroom where Spring was currently sleeping, so that meant I would have to move it, meaning unplugging it, resetting the time, then setting the alarm, then remembering to move it back into the bedroom …

No.

I think there's some form of alarm function under Windows XP but I don't know enough about the system to know where to look for it, nor do I know if it makes sufficient noise to act as an alarm, since I would be away from the computer.

But Linux has the at command. Used to issue a command at a given time. So I quickly coded up the following script:

#!/bin/sh
while (`true`)
do
	echo ^G
done

which prints over and over again the bell character which causes the computer to beep. I let that run, went into the other room where I would be occupied and yes, I could hear the incessant beeping; it was just loud enough that it would eventually grow annoying enough to warrant my attention (so with that, I allowed some leeway into what time I was going to set it for).

So I set the script to run at the appropriate time.

It didn't matter since I was finished with what I was doing before it would have gone off anyway. I was still out of the Computer Room when it was supposed to go off and when I did come back, the computer was silent. I didn't think much of it, other than it either worked and for some reason stopped running (it shouldn't have) or it didn't work at all, but I didn't care at that point.

Now, about four hours later my Linux system is acting just a tad sluggish. Check the load aveage and it's running over 1 (which for this system, is highly unusual). I start peeking around, and lo, there is my script, running, issuing a stream of beeps that aren't making it to the speaker. I stop the program, and I get the email output of my script, which consisted of over 15,000 bell characters, all preserved in their text bound existance.

Silly me … it didn't dawn on me that any output would be saved to a file and emailed to me.

Sigh.

Koyaanisqatsi, Part II

Koyaanisqatsi came out in 1983, and I remember that Siskel and Ebert both gave the film a thumbs up dispite having no plot, no characters, no dialog (follows from the “no characters” bit) and thematically a bit confusing, since koyaanisqatsi means “life out of balance” and the film tries to show the conflicting nature of man and nature but all the visuals are simply too beautiful to convey this meaning.

Still, it seemed an intriguing film, but one that I didn't get around to watch until the late 80s.

I'm at FAU sitting in “Music Appreciation Class” with my friend Bill when the professor walks in pushing a cart with a TV and VCR and announces that we're watching a movie called Koyaanisqatsi because the score was written by one Philip Glass, a modern composer. He slips the tape into the machine, presses “Play” and turns off the lights. I sit back expecting an interesting film.

Ninety minutes later, we wake up.

It's a soothing film. Flowing visuals. Flowing music. Coma inducing if you aren't prepared for it. Koyaanisqatsi may be this great film, but my feeling is that it makes for a great background experience, not a forground one.

That is, unless you've got a major caffeine rush going.

Thursday, September 25, 2003

Two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner

Sigh.

I am now outvoted (by a 2/3 majority no less!) in support for comments for mod_blog!

This came about because someone else is now using my software! First it was Mark and now it's Gregory (he hasn't finished his templates yet else I would link to his new journal). And now that the majority have spoken, I have responded. I spent a few hours today adding enough support to mod_blog to support comments from an external source (say, Haloscan, or an external CGI program like the one Spring hacked up). I need to document this and get the code on the server, but it does work on the test blog I have.

Next up is to support a simple comment system natively in mod_blog; it's not what I originally wanted to support, but I had yet to actually figure out how to support what I originally wanted (each comment getting its own URL and the ability to select comments like you can select entries in mod_blog) but it is a start.

Friday, September 26, 2003

Photo Friday

Heights

Saturday, September 27, 2003

The Economics of Spam

Paul Graham is bullish on spam. Not that he likes spam, but he does believe that current anti-spam techniques will make spam uneconomical. But what are the currrent economics of spam? He doesn't really cover that, but he does mention a few numbers:

In an article in the Detroit Free Press, one spammer said that he charged a flat fee of $22,000 to send mail to his entire list of 250 million addresses. If filters cut response rates by a factor of 100, the average value of what he was selling would sink to $220. I doubt that would even cover his costs.

Will Filters Kill Spam?

While $22,000 to send unsolicited email may seem expensive, for the reported 250,000,000 recipients it can be pretty darned cheap! That works out to about 1/100 of a cent per recipient. For the same amount, a traditional junk mailing (you know, the physical mail you get in your mailbox) you only get about 100,000 recipients. So far, it seems decent.

The person who responds to spam is a rare bird. Response rates can be as low as 15 per million. That's the whole problem: spammers waste the time of a million people just to reach the 15 stupidest or most perverted.

Will Filters Kill Spam?

Traditional junk mail has a typical response rate of 1-2%, with 3% being an incredible “Let's do another run now!” Fifteen responses per million? That's about a tenth of a percent of a percent response rate. Granted, that's at the low end of things, but are we still getting our money's worth? With a traditional mass mailing you end up spending between $7 (with a 3% response rate) to $22 (@ 1%) to grab a customer. So even with the low 15/1,000,000 rate you get via spam, you end up paying about $6 per respondent. It's not until four respondents per million that you are paying $22.

Scarily enough, it still looks good.

So for a large enough company like Negiyo, paying someone $22,000 to spam is worth it. But this is from the client side, the side willing to pay $22,000 to send spam. How do the economics work from the spammer's side? Because it sure is tempting. $22,000 to send some emails? No wonder people do it.

But 250,000,000 emails?

I won't even get into the number of dead addresses (let's see, spc@pineal.math.fau.edu, spc@cse.fau.edu, spc@armigeron.com, spc@fdma.com, spc@gate.net, spc@emi.net and sconner@verio.net are no longer valid—and those are the ones I remember) or multiple addresses per person (I just counted, I have at least 37 in active use, most as spam traps) such a list would contain. I'm going instead concentrate on the physical act of sending 250,000,000 pieces of email.

Assuming one second per email, and assuming 100,000 seconds per day (it's actually 86,400 seconds per day, but hey, this is a rough calculation here) that's:

2.5×10⁸ ÷ 10⁵ = 2.5×10³

That's … um … 2,500 days! Which ends up being … about seven years. So obviously one per second isn't going to cut it. At ten per second it will then take 250 days and at 100/sec only 25 days. But 100 connections per second is very optimistic—10/sec is more realistic. I should know, as I wrote some code to check. A naive implementation will make a separate connection per email:

SMTP connections—one email per connection
Type of connection	Time per connection
Local SMTP	0.07 sec
Cable modem to server SMTP	0.45 sec
Fat pipe to server SMTP	0.24 sec

This table just covers connections; it doesn't include the time to send the actual email so the times are going to be a bit worse than reported. Using a cable modem to send the spam isn't going to cut it; never mind that you'll loose the connection after a few hours, it just isn't fast enough—you'll need a server sitting right on the Internet and even then, the simple method will only give you about four emails per second, which will still take almost two years.

But there is no reason to send a single email per connection; the SMTP allows multiple recipients per connection, so doing that gives:

SMTP connections—multiple emails per connection
Type of connection	Time per connection
Local SMTP	0.02 sec
Cable modem to server SMTP	0.11 sec
Fat pipe to server SMTP	0.05 sec

With the more sophisticated implementation you can get about 20 emails per second, giving about 125 days to send 250,000,000 emails, given a nice fat pipe to the Internet. Four months.

And a fat pipe will set you back $2,000-$10,000 per month. Assuming you can keep your connection for four months. And you most likely won't so you'll have to keep busy getting new providers. But even getting the cheapest connection, that's $8,000 of overhead (excluding equipment and office space) leaving you $14,000 left for four months of work.

It works out to about $750/week. Doesn't sound so impressive now.

But still, 250,000,000 emails? The upper limit appears to be on the order of 20/second and that's slamming a server, which is going to be noticed. That person claiming to send 250,000,000 emails for $22,000 is either struggling to keep going, or is basically lying and maybe only sending several million at best.

Fortunately (and bear with me for a second) such economies mean that there are only going to be a few spamhouses to contend with; smaller ones won't last long due to the rather large expenses in keeping connectivity, and if Bayesian filters (and even others, like the Controllable Regex Mutilator which filters out 99.9% of spam) get mass adaption (and I've heard that AOL and MSN might be adding Bayesian filtering to their email systems) the economics of spam might just put the spammers out of business.

We can only hope.

Update on Sunday, September 28^th

I just realized that my math in calculating an upper limit on the number of SMTP are off, although the numbers reported are accurate. For example, in the first example, it takes my computer here maybe half a second to send an email, but that's a single connection! I neglected to take into account multiple versions running at the same time, thus the figures alone don't tell the whole story, and it may very well take less time to actually send 250,000,000 emails than I indicate.

Basically, a dedicated T1 will give you 1.54Mbps, which works out to 196,608 bytes per second. SMTP runs over TCP/IP which is a miminum of 40 bytes per packet of overhead, mean at best, you can schlep out 4,915 empty TCP/IP packets per second via the T1. Let's give us some room and say you can get an average of 2,500 packets per second, meaning you can maintain 2,500 connections (assuming your computer can handle that many concurrent connections). Given that, say it still takes a second to send an email, but with 2,500 concurrent connections, it will take 100,000 seconds, or one day, to send out 250,000,000 emails, which doesn't sound right to me, but then again, I'm not sure if there are many network stacks that could handle 2,500 concurrent connections and not be so bogged down that through put drops to near zero (basically, I suspect the computer will then become CPU bound and possibly network I/O bound).

If course, that much network activity will be noticed and the rest of what I have to say doesn't change.

Tuesday, September 30, 2003

Micropayments and the Google Problem

The following is a response to Clay Shirky's new article Fame versus Fortune (a follow-up to his 2000 essay The Case Against Micropayments) which takes aim at the 9-week-old BitPass payment system. I'm a long-time advocate of micropayments, an advisor to BitPass, and my online comic The Right Number is mentioned in his first paragraph, so I'm hardly a disinterested party. Still, I hope my arguments will help illuminate why I think that Shirky's logic is flawed, and why his caricature of the idea of micropayments bears little resemblance to the reality being created right now.

Via Utopia with cheese, Misunderstanding Micropayments

Micropayments are making the rounds of the Internet once again, and I'm still not sure on their viability. The arguments I've seen always seem to miss the Google Problem (the arguments I made then still stand up now—Google alone hit this journal about 4,000 times this month so far). And let's face it, without a search engine spidering your site, you are going to have a hard time getting people to your site without major advertising (another fact—Google sent about 2,200 people to this site this month).

But there is still that nagging notion of “pay-as-you-play” argument against micropayments. Since I run my own proxy webserver here at the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere (and I'm the only one who actually uses the darned thing) I can get a fell for how much I might have to pay of I actually had to pay for each hit I generated; averaged over the past quarter (since I have logs going back 91 days).

Certainly not in the $40 a Day catagory but it still is a good amount though (and this just counting HTML pages—no images, movies, songs, etc). I'm not claiming to be your average web surfer, but for me, “pay-as-you-play” would definitely cause me to change my surfing habits (which may give you an indication of just how much I surf the web in a day—eeek!).

There were also some arguments about micropayments in this MetaFilter thread some pretty good, some not so good. One interesting argument stated: “if micropayments could be made to work, the porn industry would have already done it.” Well, they have. I've seen some porn sites selling images for as low as 1¢ per image. So it is being tried even in the porn industry (you just have to know where to look—ahem).

The trick, then, seems to be to have enough free content (or samples) to bring people to your site and hopefully entice them enough so they “play-as-they-play” around your site, either offering premium content, or perhaps timely content (like stock feeds—you can get 15-minute delayed feeds for free but real time costs).

Thursday, October 02, 2003

On the Internet, no one knows you aren't a Wall Street analyst

“People who trade stocks, trade based on what they feel will move and they can trade for profit. Nobody makes investment decisions based on reading financial filings. Whether a company is making millions or losing millions, it has no impact on the price of the stock. Whether it is analysts, brokers, advisors, Internet traders, or the companies, everybody is manipulating the market. If it wasn't for everybody manipulating the market, there wouldn't be a stock market at all.…”

Via TechDirt, Jonathan Lebed: Stock Manipulator, S.E.C. Nemesis—and 15

If you read the article, it's not exactly clear what Jonathan Lebed did that wasn't any different than anyone on Wall Street would do, other than not being a part of Wall Street (and maybe being a 15 year old kid—that's kind of hard on the ego to be sure). Jonathan also states that the stock market isn't really based on anything rational (like that's anything new—my Dad considers the stock market a form of legalized gambling for instance) and he was able to buy quite low, hype then sell high and make nearly $800,000 in about six months or so (during the Internet Bubble).

I occasionally get spam hyping some penny stock, something like:

From: Tom Schser <me6cafeet@mail.pf>
To: (bogus addresses)
Subject: OTC Stock Play
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 12:40:45 -0700

OTC Stock Alert's Last Two Picks:
CPLY from $.08 to $.53 in 12 days fro a GAIN OF OVER 500%!!!
YPNT from $.22 to $1.25 in 18 days for a GAIN OF OVER 400%!!!

HERE IS OUR NEXT EXPLOSIVE STOCK PICK:
C.E.C. Industries Corp. (OTC: CECC)
BUY AT $.19
SELL TARGET $.85 = DIAMOND PLAY!

URGENT HOT NEWS: CECC Secures $20,000,000 Equity Financing for the Completion of Revenue Producing and Profitable Acquisition Targets.

And so on. And if you check the history of CECC you'll definitely see the spike around June/July 2003, although it never did get anywhere close to 85¢ a share; it looks like it peaked around 45¢ a share. But Tom there probably never expected it to reach 85¢ a share—he probably dumped it once he doubled his money.

Even funnier, one money later, I got the exact same spam (only this time, from a Dave Schasrger—se1nsei@free.efes.net.tr), only this time, the buy price was 25¢ and if you check the history, it went up, but not like the first time. Possibly someone saw the past history, bought into it, and dumped it before Dave could.

Pure speculation on my part.

Now, it might be interesting to see how the next one of these plays out.

Friday, October 03, 2003

From the Land of Shake-n-Bake™

From: Dad <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To: Sean Conner <sean@conman.org>
Subject: A STREET BUM WITH CLASS?
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2003 14:03:53 EDT

Driving in Rancho Mirage [California] I stopped at a light where a street person had the following sign dispayed:

RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR

NEED CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS

REPLACE THE BUM WHOSE IN
WITH THIS ONE.

Now that's class. Only in California …

Photo Friday

Interior

Saturday, October 04, 2003

The Night of UFOs

Friday night was the first night I tested my new digital camera with night shots. After the weekly D&D game I set up the camera and tripod in Bob's (the GM driveway and took some pictures of the homes across the street. Little did I know that the camera was able to catch something streaking across the sky.

After the game, I headed over to Mark's house to hang out. We watched Kung Pow: Enter the Fist even though I went over there not in a movie watching mood; it was more amusing than I expected it to be.

We then moved outside to talk a bit when Mark pointed out this bright light just above the horizon. It was cycling between red, white and blue. Mark at first thought it was a plane, but it wasn't moving, and planes don't cycle their lights like that—white in front, red on one side, green on the other (no blue). Mark then suggested it might be a star shining through some atmospheric turbulence but the shifting colors were a puzzling factor. I grabbed the camera and started taking pictures.

It then disappeared.

Mys-teeer-ious!

It then came back, in the same place. I then scanned the skies and found yet another point of light cycling through red, white and blue. We then looked carefully at Orion, and though less active, the stars in that constellation were twinkling and shifting color too.

We both then figured it was a very turbulent upper atmospheric conditions causing the light to cycle like that. What star it was we were viewing but it was south east of Orion.

And I'm pleasently surprised at the sensitivity of my new camera.

Thursday, October 09, 2003

So, where are the hard core Linux user groups?

Mark called me up asking if I wanted to head over to the local Linux users group. A chance to get out of the house?

It's been a few years since I last went, and in that time I had forgotten exactly why I normally don't attend these meetings. So, heck yea, let's go!

The directions we had lead us south and west, deep into Broward County to Nova Southeastern University which surprised us by being located in a strip mall.

It's not everyday you find a university in a strip mall.

We walked in, found a group of men standing around chugging Coke and Code Red; we knew we found the right location. After milling about for several minutes we filed into a large room; PCs lining the long tables running across the room. Mark and I each staked out a computer (running Windows, of course).

Then the presentation.

It was during the presentation that I remembered why I no longer go to these things. The presentation was more basic than I would have liked and the whole meeting was more geared towards more novice users of Linux. For me, there isn't much of an insentive to drive the distance to attend a basic class in using Linux for <insert topic du jour.>

Friday, October 10, 2003

An ad-hoc war driving session

The weekly D&D game was cancelled, yet again (something about a baseball game or something … ), so I was without plans tonight. Gregory found himself free, along with Mark and Kelly and it was suggested (by Gregory) that we could do that war driving thang (since Gregory had yet to do a real war drive). I met Gregory and Mark at Gregory's office (I think that's Mark waving at me) and from there, we drove to a local BBQ place for dinner where we scared the waitress and no one ordered anything to do with BBQ.

After dinner, we met with Kelly, setup the car for power, and started out. Our plan was to drive from Mark's house in north Boca Raton, head west and south, drive though Margate and Coral Springs. On the way south, we stopped at Kelly's house to pick up a much needed cable and by the time we hit his home, some twelve miles away, we had already picked up nearly 60 networks!

[Screen shot about a mile from Mark's house]

[Gregory scanning just outside Kelly's house]

[Mark, looking over what we've found so far at Kelly's house]

After picking up the missing cable, we then proceeded through Coconut Creek, Margate, Coral Springs, Tamarac and North Lauderdale. By the time we circled back and stopped for gas in Margate, we had found over 200 networks—an order of magnitude more than the last time we war drived.

[Gregory's laptop and cell phone connection to the Internet]

[Kelly checking the Internet while we fill up the car]

By the time we finished for the night, my computer had logged 244 wireless networks, of which only 36% of which had WEP enabled. It's incredible to think of the growth of wireless networks in just eight months.

Sunday, October 12, 2003

Because …

I was hanging out with some friends today when I mentioned the war driving I did on Friday. One friend, Russel, then asked, “Why? What's the purpose of war driving?” Curious, coming from someone in The Industry.

Then I began thinking—what was the purpose? It's not like we've been hired as a tiger team or where bent upon wanton destruction of Internet resources. I think it came down to something that I (and the rest of the war driving team) found fun; because we could; a kind of “this is cool!”

Besides, we learned something on Friday's war drive: CVS Pharmacy stores have open wireless networks, which we all found interesting. Other stores too, like Dollar Store. Not that we can legally use the information, but it's still an interesting result we weren't expecting.

Monday, October 13, 2003

Oh … it's THAT day …

I went to call Larry , my car insurance salesman (and friend from high school) today and ran into that particular Hell known as “Voice Mail Tag” where you get bumped from voice mailbox to voice mailbox as no one picks up the phone. Odd and annoying at the same time. Odd, because I wouldn't think everybody would be on the phone at once. Annoying should be self evident.

I decided to try back later and went to check up on my friends at LiveJournal when I stumble across the reason: Columbus Day!

Yea! Columbus Day!

Yea! For not remembering a two-bit holiday!

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

“Scare quotes” gone “wild!”

I received a rather odd “gift” from my “bank”—a “movie guide.” I'm not sure “how” or “why” I “rated” this “gift” but I have it. And as “movie guides” go it's not that bad—the films are all “critically acclaimed” or “blockbusters” so it's a fairly decent guide to films. But the “listings” are “rather annoying” in that “scare quote” style. For instance, for Duck Soup:

Duck Soup [Black/White]
1933. Directed by Leo McCarey. With the Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont. 70 minutes. Not Rated.

“Hail, hail Freedonia” cry fans of the “anarchic” Marx foursome, whose trademark “lunancy” is at its “peak” in this “political sature” about a “mythical dictatorship”; “absurdly funny”—it includes the “legendary mirror scene with Groucho and Harpo”–it's the brothers' “finest hour” and voted top of the Marxes in this Survey.

See?

Or how about The Princess Bride:

PRINCESS BRIDE, THE
1987. Directed by Rob Reiner. With Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright. 98 minutes. Rated PG.

Despite the “chick-flick title”, this “lighthearted” but “fractured fairy tale” defies “categorization” and is admired by “even the most macho” guys for its “swordfights” and “verbal jousting”; thanks to an “intelligent” William Goldman script, “masterful” direction by Reiner and an “incredibly talented” cast, “finding a better movie is inconceivable”—“plus it's got André the Giant.”

I'm surprised the “printers” didn't run “out of quotes” when printing this “movie guide.”

Most “amusing.”

Thursday, October 16, 2003

Bush Administration attempting to out-satirize satire

Washington—Concerned about the appearance of disarray and feuding within his administration as well as growing resistance to his policies in Iraq, President Bush—living up to his recent declaration that he is in charge—told his top officials to “stop the leaks” to the media, or else.

News of Bush's order leaked almost immediately.

Bush told his senior aides Tuesday that he “didn't want to see any stories” quoting unnamed administration officials in the media anymore, and that if he did, there would be consequences, said a senior administration official who asked that his name not be used.

Via vidicon, Bush orders officials to stop the leaks

Just when I was beginning to dispair that things are only going to get worse, life starts to imitate The Onion and I just have to sit back and enjoy the show. With open antagonism between Condi Rice and Donald Rumsfeld, Rove being outed, and now leaks from unnamed top administration officials, it looks to me that the Bush Administration is slowly disintegrating before our eyes.

Not that that's a bad thing.

But the Onion staff have to be pulling their hair out as real life is out-satirizing satire.

Friday, October 17, 2003

Voices over the Internet

While I don't think I'm at liberty to say who got this (but for convenience sake, let's call this person X), or through what program (since X mentioned having to sign a confidentiality agreement) but what X got was very nice indeed.

When I arrived at X's house, X was busy trying to get the home network back up and functioning. X had just received a D-Link VoIP station and was in the process of getting it integrated within the network.

About two hours of mucking around later (since we had to integrate this with the existing DSL unit (which we had to switch from PPPoE to bridge mode) and the WAP (and set the D-Link VoIP to do PPPoE even though R was told that wasn't necessary, because the D-Link unit had to have the public IP address to function).

Once everything was set up we both tested the capability of the system (no limit to the dialing destination—I could have called Timbuktu if I wanted). Except for a slight hiss I noticed (and that may have been the answering machines I ended up calling) there was no difference between this and a regular land line. Also, the number of features available with the service (call waiting, forwarding the calls to a voice mailbox, eight-way conference calling, and a bunch more I didn't get to see) is staggering. If this takes off this might make it worth getting rid of the actual land line (since from what I'm to understand, the service is/will be flat rate and not horribly expensive either).

Monday, October 20, 2003

“That's not exactly a small dog there … ”

I dropped off The Kids to after school care and returned to the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere. I asked Spring if she had called the rental office about the washing machine (it stopped spinning) and the A/C (it keeps freezing over). No, she had not had the time this morning, so I took it upon myself to do that, since Spring was heading off to bed.

Not having the phone number, I walked over to the office to get it. Now, you may be asking yourself why, if I was already walking over there to begin with, that I just don't tell them. Well, last time I did that, it took my going over there three times and about three weeks for them to fix the latch on the gate. My assumption after that fiasco is that those that phone in have a higher priority than those that actually make the trek to the office, which isn't all that far to tell the truth—just across the street from the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere.

So I get to the office and ask for the phone number. The agent working the desk give me the number and asks if I need any more help. I initially said no, but after a bit of prompting she gets me to state my reasoning for the trip.

“Oh,” the agent said, “we can take care of that right now.” She pulls out a pre-printed form and starts asking me questions. At this point, I figure I have nothing to loose, and besides, the last time I did this, the agent at the time (who was a different person) just wrote a note instead of filling out an “official” form. I mention the two problems with the washer (in addition to not spinning, a venting hose was never properly attatched) and the problem with the A/C. The rental office takes A/C problems very seriously, given that this is Lower Sheol and all, and starts to call a maintenance personel to investigate.

It's then that a woman walks into the office and looks at me. “Do you have a small dog?” she asks.

“Yes,” I said. Great! I thought. Holly, the Incontinent Dog got out again! This would make the second time this week she got out. “So where is she?” I ask.

“The dog is outside,” said the woman. I go outside and look to where the woman is pointing. About twenty feet away is this huge, black, lumbering mass of dog—the type of dog that is 120 pounds of muscle and teeth. The type of dog you hope to never be on the wrong end of. The type of dog that could hardly be called “small” unless you are the type of person that breed 150 pounds of muscle and teeth for junk yard guard duty or pit fighting, not that this woman looked the type to breed such dogs.

“That's not exactly a small dog there,” I said.

“No, not that one,” said the woman. “The other one.”

“Holly?” I called out. “Holly?” And sure enough, out she pops from behind a bush near the huge, black, lumbering mass of dog, jumping up and down in extasy at the thought of being near this huge, black lumbering mass of DOG and would you could you would you please sniff my butt I'll be your bestest friend in the whole wide world please please?

I walk over and pick up Holly. That's when I notice one of the maintenance personel sitting in a golf cart not ten feet away from all this. The agent goes over to him and instructs him to check out my washing machine and A/C.

That was certainly surprising, getting such a fast turn around time.

The washing machine was taken care of pretty quickly—nothing major there. The A/C, on the other hand, requires a bit more work another day. Fortunately, the weather has turned nice and thus having a wonky A/C isn't fatal.

Practice dog anyone?

Any one want a practice dog? Real small, doesn't take much space. Real friendly and she isn't that incontinent (no, really! I exagerate for comic effect!). So friendly that she pees in excitement when she sees humans? (um … okay, that is so not making the case … um)

Did I mention friendly?

And really needs lots of love and attention.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

We're secretly using Babelfish

To: <webmaster@conman.org>
From: <translate@www-topsites.com>
Subject: RE: updated translations of conman.org into 8 languages [although I never responded or sent them email in the first place]
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 03:36:29 -0400

Could you please check our updated translations of conman.org into eight languages, if you don't mind, at: http://www-topsites.com/update.htm?d=conman.org&v=1010&e=w&p=t

Do they look OK? If so, there's no need to reply. Simply paste the following code onto your web pages. This will make your web site readable by the 90% of the world who can't read English (for only $5 a month).

<script src="http://www-topsites.com/t.js"> </script>

Thanks,

John

As unsolicited email goes, it could be worse (“Increase your mortgate by 3″ with all natural ingredients!!!!!!!!”) and I am curious as to the translations they've supposedly done.

So I check.

And yes, there on the page is Conman Laboratories in eight different languages (and I must say I do like the look of the Japanese, Chinese and Korean versions). But not everything is translated: ragtag, bug-free and what I can only assume are misspelled English words that didn't get translated. This to me screams “machine generated” translations—come on, if Google can fix my spelling, and even I can handle misspellings it can't be all that hard to handle.

Scrolling to the bottom of the page are some rather interesting notes:

Costs: We charge $5 a month for our translation services. After a free trial period, we will contact you to see if you would like to continue.

Copyright: You are welcome to try out our translation links but you may not copy our actual translations of your pages unless you prepay a year's translations services.

Pasting the code: You must paste our code while you can see your html code and it must look exactly like this after you have pasted it. Some web design software require that you first paste the code into your Notepad program, then copy and paste it into your html code. (This removes html formatting.) The code will not work if your visitors can see the code.

Frames: The translation links may not work properly when you put them on framed pages.

Non-English pages: The links translate English in other languages. If you click on them while viewing an already translated page (e.g. if you try to translate German in Spanish), you will get an error message.

Manual Translations: If you prefer, we can also translate, edit and design your multilingual site entirely by hand. That gives you more control and accuracy but it increases your cost to 29-cents per word per language. (The 29-cent covers both translation and html design.)

Five bucks a month? That, I can see for a site that changes quite often, or adds content on a continual basis, but for a mostly static site? Not really.

I was also curious as to the HTML being generated since I am rather sensitive to these issues, and that's when I found out how TopSites is doing their translation. Right at the top of the page, I found the following comment:

Nowhere on TopSites' site did I see mention a partnership with Altavista's Babelfish. Not one. And given the garbage HTML being generated:

<html> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">     

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

<html lang="en-US">
<!-- BabelFish added base tag -->
<base href="http://boston.conman.org/">
<script LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
<!--
 var babelOrigUrl="http://boston.conman.org/";  if  ((null ==
parent) || (null == parent.BabelFishAdd) || ('TF' !=
parent.BabelFishAdd.babelTF)) { var i = new Image(); i.src =
'http://babel.altavista.com/aftu' }
//--></SCRIPT>

<head>
  <title>The Boston Diaries - Captain Napalm
</title>

I'm not sure I would even use them, Babelfish or not. They didn't even bother to translate the title (although I'm not sure if this is a limitation of the pseudo-software TopSites is using, or of Babelfish itself).

So much for strict HTML 4.01 compliance. They didn't even bother to set the language code in the <HTML> tag like I did. Sheesh!

Think I'll pass …

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

A bit more on that translation service

My friend Lorie, who is wise in the ways of translations as she speaks French, Spanish, and Italian (a bit) in addition to English, responded to my translation spam I received:

I just read your entry about Babel Fish Translations.

5 bucks a month for 8 languages would have been my first clue that they weren't legit. At my current job, interpreters garner about 30-40 bucks an hour … 2 hour minimum.

Overseas, depending on where you go those costs can increase to 300-400 bucks (case in point, we needed someone for Poland and in that's what our Singapore office quoted us).

For Translation services … the average cost is about .59 a word …

Oh … by the by …

The French and Spanish versions aren't so hot. They look “Angla-cized.”

Well, you can get nearly every page translated for free at Babelfish (although there is a limit to the size of the page) and once a page is translated (for a static site like Conman Laboratories you don't really need a monthly update (well, some pages yes, but overall the site doesn't change all that much).

Plus, Apache can be configured to automatically serve up the appropriage pages based on langauge in a user's browser (as part of the content negotiation process in HTTP); there is no real need to offer links to other languages, except perhaps as a curtesy for broken or misconfigured browsers.

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

It's too nice a day to remain indoors so I'm enjoying the mid-70s cloudless day sitting out in the courtyard dispite it being a complete disaster area (thanks Kids!).

Peacock feathers

And my central point is that I think this same theory, of self- sacrificial display, applies also to education, which is a similarly weird and arbitrary process, and which constantly enrages us all by being so very different from what would seem sensible and economical. What I'm saying is, to repeat the title I've chosen for this posting: education as peacock feathers. I think this explains a hell of a lot.

It explains, for instance, why education goes on for so insanely long, and for longer and longer as more and more people can afford to do it for longer and longer. People who two hundred years ago would have been half- way through their working careers are now still engaging in economically ruinous—yet also economically rational if you look at the incentives facing the individuals concerned—competitive display behaviours, which are of no direct creative benefit to anyone or anything. What the hell is going on? Peacock feathers. That's what's going on. Is literary post-modernism arbitrary and absurd? Latin verse composition? Total immersion in obsolete computer languages? Archaeology? Keynesian economics? … Peacock feathers.

Educati on as peacock feathers

The idea is interesting (and as he states, “… the interestingness of an idea is inversely proportional to the fluency with which it is expressed …”) but I'm not sure of what to make of it really. I think the general idea is that the more people are educated, the longer and more expensive it will become because in evolutionary terms, the more expensive and silly a “survival trait” becomes, the more fit for reproduction you obviously are.

Or something to that affect.

Thursday, October 23, 2003

Localization through Internationalization (or l10n via i18n)

I just now cleaned up the last bit of code that required me to maintain multiple copies of mod_blog, depending upon the user. The problem revolved around the month of December and how I feel about it.

Last year around this time I added the following to mod_blog:

if (day.tm_mon == 11)
{
  char dayname[BUFSIZ];

  strftime(dayname,BUFSIZ,"%A",&day);
  fprintf(
           fpout,
           "%s, Debtember %02d, %d",
           dayname,
           day.tm_mday,
           day.tm_year + 1900
         );
  return;
}

If you look closely, you'll notice that I render a date like “Wednesday, December 04, 2002” as “Wednesday, Debtember 04, 2002” as a personal protest to the extreme messages of mass consumerism consumption we are bombarded with during that month.

Although the other user (Hi, Mark!) didn't like that feature, so it was a simple matter of making that code conditional and I did it at compile time, not run time (as a matter of personal preference on my part) but in retrospect, it would have been easier to make it a runtime option, but one that I was relunctant to do since it was so specific.

But over the year it meant I had to compile the program twice—once for me, once for Mark (there was another aspect that was different between my version and Mark's that was amplified when Gregory decided to use mod_blog but that aspect as since been fixed) which gets to be a pain. And yet I still resisted making this a runtime decision.

I could have made this a general feature, the ability to specify alternative names for months, but then why stop there? Why not the days of the week? But what galls me is that adding such features mean I have to forego using strftime() to format the dates (well, not that there aren't problems with the routines in time.h already) and duplicate pretty much what I'm already using.

It was today when I figured out a solution. It may not be the best solution but it does mean I can rip out the above code, meaning I only have to compile once, and I can still use strftime() to format the date, and I can have Debtember, and Mark (and Gregory) can have December.

Locales.

Like I said, it may not be the best of solutions, but it does work.

ANSI-C has the concept of a “locale” which specifies such details of output as the currency symbol, decimal point, number group separators as well as the names of the weekdays and months. Usually this defaults to the C or POSIX locale (which is another word for US hegemony on the computing world) but it can be changed with setlocale()—all that remains is to figure out how to create a new locale for my own use.

There isn't much information about doing this, but I was able to munge my way through. Under Linux (at least Gentoo and RedHat from what I can tell), it meant creating a file under /usr/share/i18n/locales (I created one called en_SPC for ENglish, SPC variant with “Debtember”) and then doing localedef -i en_SPC en_SPC to actually add it to the system.

So I did have to add an option to the configuration file, but now it specifies the locale to use, which, generally speaking, is a better hack than what I had before.

Friday, October 24, 2003

When you care enough to fall back

Spring handed me my mail. There was a rather large envelope for me from my real estate agent, the one who helped to sell Condo Conner. I open it up and pull out the card inside. It was a greeting card helpfully reminding me to turn back the clocks on the 26^th.

I am, at the same time, both touched and perplexed by the gesture. I mean, I've never received a card for Daylight Savings Time (I never gate the thought of a card for Daylight Savings Time before) but I do thank her for the thought.

Sunday, October 26, 2003

When super glue fails …

In setting my alarm clock back an hour, the hour button broke off and fell inside the clock, leaving me with a now horribly out of time and basically useless alarm clock. Frankly, having the hour button break was rather surprising as I don't use that nearly as often as say, the minute button, or the actual alarm button. For the past decade at least (and I suspect I've had the clock longer than that) I've basically reset the alarm daily (or even several times per day—I'm not the type of person to set the clock once and leave it be) and I use the snooze button.

I've used the snooze button so often I not only know the intersnooze time (nine minutes) but that after three hours (or twenty applications of the snooze button) the alarm clock just gives up and stops sounding the alarm (and I'm not sure what exactly that says about me, or the alarm clock).

So yes, having the hour button break was a bit alarming (pardon the pun).

Opening the clock (one screw, very nice) and gaining access to the top of the clock (where the buttons are, one screw and some rather stiff plastic tabs, not quite so nice) I was able to see that the buttons are actually at the end of a thin plastic arm that provide the “spring” to the buttons. Found the super glue and was able to re-attach the button although it seemed quite iffy.

And it was. Once I got the clock back together, the button promply fell back inside the clock. So the super glue was not going to cut it. Looking around the Computer Room I found Spring's roll of duct tape.

Ahh, duct tape. Like the Force, it has a light side, a dark side and it binds the universe together, or in this case, to keep the hour button from falling inside the case. Cut off a small strip, apply it across the button (thus securing the tape to the button and the case itself) and now I have a functioning hour button again.

Monday, October 27, 2003

The Economics of Spam Part II

Until late last year, Shiels was an e-mail spammer. The type demonized in every nook of American society. A prodigious Internet marketer, who from his Portland home sent up to 10 million unsolicited e-mail advertisements a day for other companies.

He said he made as much as $1,000 a week—and could have raked in a lot more if he hadn't quit the business in October, six months after he started. The path to spamming success requires expensive investments in software and the agility to adjust to the technological warfare between spammers and companies that try to block their messages. It also requires the stamina to withstand daily hate mail and even death threats.

Shiels decided a spamming career wasn't worth the personal cost.

Via Disenchanted, CONFESSIONS OF A FORMER SPAMMER

Very interesting article. When last I spoke about the economics of spamming, I was assuming a response rate of 1 per 70,000 and even there, it showed that yea, you could make money at that rate. The article above talks about a response rate of 1 per 10,000—much higher response rate and gives more numbers than Paul Graham did in his article.

We're talking 10,000,000 emails per day (sent out in 18 hours) with four computers and two broadband connections; 150 emails per second (and contrary to what I wrote it would only take a month to send 250,000,000 emails via broadband, not the four months via T3s I had worked out erroneously). And the software to do this isn't cheap:

He spent about $10,000 on software to harvest e-mail addresses, to disguise his online identity and to send millions of messages a day.

Shiels would not reveal the companies that make the proprietary software, and he said they are difficult to track down. They only accepted payments through wire transfers, Shiels said.

“I could tell you the name right now, and you wouldn't be able to find them,” he said.

CONFESSIONS OF A FORMER SPAMMER

But's it's sophisticated software—programs to harvest addresses from websites, programs to scan for open relays and programs to send the actual email via those open relays. But Shiels was able to make $1,000 per week doing this so there is money to be made, which means this problem isn't goint to go away any time soon.

Academic dishonestly amongst spammers?

I'm seeing more and more spam that comes in multiple parts. The first part contains plain text and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the product being pitched:

From: "Lajuan Aldona" <mendeljdvinl@mx48.opt9f.us>
To: "Sean Conner" <sean@conman.org>
Subject: Sean, Phenomenal Fl 4.72% rates - Now is the time
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 18:41:02 -0700
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="—-=_NextPart_000_B1A01_01C39C8F.053128B0"

——=_NextPart_000_B1A01_01C39C8F.053128B0
Content-Type: text/plain;

The option of Napster paying royalties to artists whose songs are downloaded would be a positive move because it would mean that artists receive fair compensation for their work.

However, on the other hand, to support the enormous cost of such a move, Napster would either have to turn into a paid subscription service, or show advertising (which wouldn't necessarily cover the costs). Added to this, the cost of modifying the application, and working out a way to determine what songs have been downloaded, the administration costs for Napster would skyrocket.

And so on. Then comes the actual pitch, always in HTML:

——=_NextPart_000_B1A01_01C39C8F.053128B0
Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"

 Mortgage Rate Network <hr> Dear Sean Conner, TURN LOW INTEREST RATES INTO LOW HOUSE PAYMENTS H <hr> If you haven't considered refinancing your home loan, you may be missing out on the best opportunity in years to save money.

And so on; I'll spare you the horrible HTML used in the message.

Now, my guess is that the first section of text is there to bypass any Bayesian filters by bulking out the message with some real text. I've been seeing that more and more recently so either Bayesian filtering is getting quite effective, or the spammers think Bayesian filtering is getting quite effective, but in any case, messages like this are on the rise.

But the text used to bulk out the message is obviously copied in from somewhere. It then hit me, such bulking out appears to fall outside the scope of “fair use” since the spammer isn't writing an academic paper, critique, review or satire, and the purpose is purely commercial in nature (even if the commercial use isn't in the selling or reselling of the text in question but to get by filters to get the actual commercial message through) that such spammers are therefore liable for copyright infringement (in addition to possible anti-spamming laws that may be in place).

Curious as to where this text came from, I did a search on a fragment, and if I thought spammers using cut-n-paste to get by Bayesian filters was surprising, what I found was even more so! 4 Free Essays? Cheat House? Academic papers for sale? No wonder companies like Turn It In exist (and spiders my site constantly). I honestly don't know what's worse, spammers, or sites selling academic papers to spammers.

Man, what am I doing in this basket, and why is it so hot?

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

A nefarious scheme to sell more detergent

I've been cleaning the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere, preparing for The Kids' father arrival on Wednesday night (he's on shore leave from the Middle East for the next two weeks and he's taking the kids with him! Woo hoo!). Kitchen, entry hallway, downstairs bathroom yesturday, cleaning and vacuuming the dining room, living room and computer room today. And laundry in between. It was doing the laundry that I noticed an odd thing. The last box of detergent claimed enough detergent to do 40 loads of laundry (not that I counted) and the new box, same brand, same size, claimed only 33 loads.

As far as I can tell, the only difference between the two is the inclusion of Color Safe Bleech™ in the new box. Could that really account for a difference of -7 loads? Especially since the plastic scoops in both are the same size?

Or is this some nefarious marketing scheme to sell more detergent?

More academic dishonesty in spamming circles

I don't think all spammers are using copyright material to avoid Bayesian filtering. I received some today that are using public domain material—one using a section from Jack London's White Fang (and funnily enough, trying to get me to refinance Condo Conner, which I sold last year!—okay, okay, I lived there for 14 years but still, you'd think they could update their information) and another one using a section from Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-tikki-tavi (which is yet another one trying to get me to refinance Condo Conner).

But then I get another one, this time quoting from an essay about Bill Gates, so there is still hope of getting DMCA on their ass …

Saturday, November 01, 2003

Jet planes, robot autopsies, Hallowe'en, colds and novel writing

It's been a fun few days here in the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere.

The Kids' father arrived on Wednesday, much to the delight of the Kids and myself—I'm sure Spring was a bit ambivilent about it. Also on Wednesday I could feel a cold slowly coming on.

Thursday the cold hit me. Also, the Kids and their father flew off to Colorado for the next two weeks or so. We'll have a nice and quiet (and clean! It's so clean! And it'll stay clean!) home for fourteen days!

Friday brought Hallowe'en and a full blown cold down on me. Spring spent the day decorating the place and carving pumpkins, and I spent the day in a haze of sleep and vegetation in front of the television.

The secret of becoming a writer is that you have to write. You have to write a lot. You also have to finish what you write, even though no one wants it yet. If you don't learn to finish your work, no one will ever want to see it. The biggest mistake new writers make is carrying around copies of unfinished work to inflict on their friends.

I am sure it has been done with less, but you should be prepared to write and throw away a million words of finished material. By finished, I mean completed, done, ready to submit, and written as well as you know how at the time you wrote it. You may be ashamed of it later, but that's another story.

Jerry Pournelle

Today I felt half-human (although still far from doing much) and started on the first bit for National Novel Writing Month, banging out about a thousand words today. A thousand words of pure crap, but a thousand words none-the-less. Only 49,000 left for NaNoWriMo and 999,000 if I'm following Jerry Pournelle's advice.

And that pretty much brings us up to date.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

Catching up, and a primer on antipasto salads

Has it already been two weeks already? The silence, the beautiful silence is to be shattered by the arrival of The Kids? Yes, alas.

Sigh.

Not much to really catch up on. Two weeks of silence, sleep and relentless procrastination on the National Novel Writing Month novel ruled the past two weeks. The highlight was a nearly perfect antipasto salad I made a few days after the Kids left.

Ah, antipasto salad.

It's pretty much a given that on D&D night if we order from a pizza place, I will get the antipasto salad, not being a real fan of pizza in general. The reason I order antipasto salad is, what I'm coming to believe, a misguided attempt to find the perfect antipasto salad. And what is the perfect antipasto salad you ask? (Okay, you probably didn't ask, but I'll answer anyway) Perfection of antipasto salads, thy name is Buddy's Rendezvous and Pizzeria (6 Mile and Conant—driving directions from Lower Sheol: I-95 N to Ft. Pierce, one mile west to the ~~Florida Turnpike~~ Ronald Reagan Turnpike North to I-75 North to the Davidson Freeday East, turn left on Conant, two blocks, north west corner, and try not to pay too much attention to the neighborhood). And what makes the antipasto salad so great that I'm almost willing to drive 1,200 miles to get one?

They finely chop up the ingredients.

You may think I'm joking, but I have yet to find, outside of Buddy's, an antipasto salad that can be eaten without a knife—huge slabs of lettuce, cheese and meats that would serve better laying flat between two slices of bread as a sandwich than as a “salad.”

Finally fed up, I bought the lettuce, ham, salami, pepparoni, cheese, oil (olive) and vinegar (red wine), chopped everything up into small pieces (smaller than bite sized—nothing larger than a quarter inch cube), placed in a large bowl, added the oil and vinegar and made my own damn antipasto salad. I only reached near perfection due to a lack of lettuce than anything else (we're talking about a pound and a half of meat, a pound of cheese, and only one single head of lettuce).

Like I said, the highlight of the two weeks.

Well, the highlight that I'm willing to publically talk about. We were, after all, sans kids for two weeks.

Ahem.

Anyway, the Kids are back, silence running away screaming.

Ah well …

Resistance is futile

I walk into the Computer Room with a few Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies (thinking ahead last January, I bought a gross and froze them). Spring had the look of a predator sizing up some unfamiliar prey; she's been following the Atkins Diet and I could see her trying to calculate the carbohydrates.

“Do you want some?” I asked, munching on a Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie.

“That's a trick question,” she said. She wanted some, but didn't know if she could have them.

“Hold on,” I said. I went back to the freezer, pulled out a box. Serving size: 4 cookies. Total carbohydrates: 20g. “Five grams per cookie,” I said, putting the box back in the freezer.

“I'll take four!”

Heh. No one can resist Girl Scout cookies.

Friday, November 14, 2003

… run faster than an express train …

Via the Duff Wire comes a scan of Action Comics #1—the issue Superman was introduced. Very interesting material here. The entire backstory of Superman fit on one page (I think it took Bill Keane two pages to do the backstory of the Bat-Man) and if you really want to be pedantic about it, it's really the first three panels of page one.

A very quick introduction indeed.

Other differences, no mention of his parents (the implication of panel three being he was raised at an orphanage), he works for the Daily Star (not the Daily Planet) and no one really knows who he is (he has to force his way into the Governor's Mansion to save a woman from being electrocuted) and he can't fly—he can only leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Other stories in that issue include Zatara, Master Magician (“Uoy era won ni ym rewop!”—the magical incantation to hypnotize people) and Sticky-Mitt Stimson, among others.

I never heard of Zatara either.

Then again, it's hard to follow in the shadow of Superman.

I wonder how many kids made it to Scoop Scanlon (Scanlon?) Good lord, Superman's alter-ego Clark Kent had a better name than Scoop Scanlon.

Scanlon?

What I found amazing though, was the lack of advertising in the comic. The only advertising to be found was on the back cover, advertising pretty much the same stuff you found up through the 70s.

Scanlon?

Sunday, November 16, 2003

The scam of scamming scammers

Dear six Committee members
Father Charles Chaplin
Father Jack Off
Father Buster Gonad
Father Chris Mas
Father Chik Inpox
Father Bogg Standard

My name is Reverend Octuobi Tokunbo I would like to thank the Committee for your generous donation to help me wank over the widows of Nigeria. These children of God swallow it all with the best of them, and I am filled with Please for each day they gaze upon my gonads, and I am proud to have them go down unto me without hesitation. The good widows of Nigeria are always thankful for a big load. I am blessed that God was sent me the good fortune to have received the help of six good and true people. I quote from the Church of Bread and Wine scripture number 4, chap 1, line 9: “Blessed is the man that vows to help his fellow man, for he will indeed give his fellow man all that he deserves”

Committee members, I hope that you will allow me to open my cheeks to accept your engorged parts, and my humble thanks are passed unto you for allowing me to be part of your totally fabricated ministry. I am thankful and aware of its nonexistence. Amen with thanks

Rev Oduobi Tokunboh

Letter from a Nigerian scammer offering thanks

I came across 419 Eater on Slashdot and I must say, the site is very amusing, a site dedicated to scamming the Nigerian scammers. The letter above was only the latest in an attempt to get money (the other obstacles put in front of the Nigerian scammer required a picture of him with a loaf of bread on his head pretending to drink a bottle of wine).

A few weeks ago I had the idea of playing with the Nigerian scammers. The idea was to talk to two different scammers, say Barrister Leke Omobude and and Ken Green Kabila, son of former the President of Congo-Kinshasha, and claim to be Ken Kabila to Leke Omobude and Leke Omobude to Ken Kabila with the cover story (the same to each) of being the son of US emigrants from Nigeria. Then over the course of time, get them to meet each other at the Nigerian airport (or more likely, an attempt of each to kidnap the other).

But I might want to see if that hasn't already been done yet …

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Random notes from a courtyard at 4:14 pm on a November afternoon

I'm sitting in the courtyard of the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere. It is overcast and threatening to rain at any second, but the tempurature is quite nice and the cloud cover is hiding the sun, giving it that northern autumn feeling but without the freezing tempuratures (and making it easy to read the screen here). I can hear the lawn maintanence crew working and was quite surprised to see one walking along the top of the fence trimming the hedge.

Hypertext editing and the Semantic Web

There's an interesting discussion about Jason Kottke's new design for his weblog and it brings up a topic I was thinking about earlier today.

Blogging software in general has made the publishing of new web pages (or entries) easier, automating a several step process as the click of a button. But what hasn't gotten any easier is the actual creating, or editing, of HTML content. I've talked about this before, how I sometimes have problems with the writing process with hypertext because the act of creating the hyperlink isn't seamless, but yet if I skip creating hyperlinks as I write, waiting until I'm done writing, I may forget what it was I wanted to link to exactly.

Some markup, say,  or  can be handled invisibly like it's been done for years in more traditional editors. So for example, I could be typing along, whem bam! I want to emphasize something I can hit ALT-E and start typing, hitting ALT-E when done. But hypertext and any possible metadata associated with said hypertext is harder to streamline like that.

For instance, when I quote a passage:

Oh, and I'd just like to point out that I'm not bashing any current weblog software for not being flexible enough or being wrong or whatever. As Anil has said, it's harder than just saying that a particular tool should do this or that. In fact, I love MT (not to mention the army of plug-in developers who put out these fantastic plug-in for free) more than ever for the amazing amount of flexibility and control that is possible (with a bit of work).

Jason Kottke

It's actually quite a bit of work for me. First it's cut-n-paste the quote from the webpage to the editor I use, then go through to clean it up (changing double quotes to two single back tics or two regular single quotes (which my software will then pick up and change to “ and ” respectively) and adding any appropriate HTML) but also adding the <BLOCKQUOTE> with appropriate attributes:

<BLOCKQUOTE CITE="http://www.kottke.org/03/11/kottke- redesign#8304" TITLE="the redesign continues ... ">

And adding the attribution line

 <CITE> <A CLASS="external" HREF="http://www.kottke.org/03/11/kottke-redesign#8304"> Jason Kottke </A> </CITE> 

I used to place this outside the <BLOCKQUOTE> but recently I moved this inside the <BLOCKQUOTE>—I'm not sure which I like better. How would you automate this? Partly by integrating the editor with the browser and and passing along more information in the cut buffer (like URL and title of the page where the text is selected), but the main issue is one of layout, like I mentioned above. Context sensitive templates for pasting perhaps? And how to you handle links? Same way? A key-sequence for pasting a blockquote and a separate one for a link? All I do know is that the HTML WYSIWYG editors I've seen have never handled links cleanly. Want a link? Highlight the text, select link and then have to type in the URL and forget about having other attributes like TITLE or CLASS; or perhaps not, but there are other buttons to select to set those and by the time you're done, it would have been easier to type the actual code than to have the editor so helpfully do it for you.

The discussion at Kottke's site is about applying different layouts to different types of posts—the posts about movies are formatted one way, book reviews another and just regular posts yet another way and how to trigger the appropriate template for the type of post. Granted, the software used, Moveable Type, is geared more for people who don't care to learn or type by hand HTML so having a different layout for different posts is a bit more difficult to achieve than say, mod_blog where one pretty much has to know HTML to format posts. But there's a tradeoff to be made— since I use HTML raw (so to speak) I can go in a fudge the formatting as I see fit. My PhotoFriday posts (yes, I've seriously slacked off on those) used a different format than my regular posts and it was easy enough to handle—a new division, some definitions in the CSS file and there you go.

But the cost is that this isn't automatic. I don't have a menu item or a keyboard sequence to designate “this is a PhotoFriday post” in much the same way I don't have a menu item or keyboard sequence that says “these are a series of photos to display sequentially” or “here is a section of text I'm quoting from this web page.” Mind you, I wouldn't mind such an editor, and if done to my liking it would certainly make editing of posts much easier than it is now (and right now, I'm looking at all this text I've written so far, pretty much sans HTML and somewhat dreading having to go back and format it, but since I did skip the HTML formatting I had an easier time getting this out without forgetting what I wanted to mention, although hopefully I'll remember all the links I wanted to add).

Now, having finally formatted what I have, I will also say that this lack of good hypertext (or HTML) editors will also have an effect on the Semantic Web. There's been quite a bit of stir lately over the Semantic Web (stirred by Clay Shirky's essay, The Semantic Web, Syllogism, and Worldview) but except for a few diehard people who add semantic information to their webpages, it won't really take off until we get good HTML editors that will automagically include the required semantic information for us, and I don't see that happening any time soon.

For example, if you are using a web browser that supports the <ACRONYM> tag, you may notice that the TLAs and ETLAs are lightly underlined (at least, that's the default for IE and Mozilla it appears) and that if you mouse over them, the acronym is expanded in a small text window, giving you the meaning. I add that, by hand, to every acronym I use and yes, it does get to be a pain. I could automate that, but the problem there is that computers are rather bad at figuring out context. With only 17,576 TLAs available, there is definitely going to be some overlap. Take for instance, IRA.

While the IRA may take actions against US interests that would effect Alice's (a member of the IRA) IRA, can an automated process work out which expansion of IRA should be used for each instance? Just ask yourself that question next time you ask YER computer two check you're spelling.

And while I'll probably never use the letters “I,” “R,” and “A” I would like to note that WAP, as a technical acronym, has two close meanings. There is WAP, which is a proprietary and expensive replacement for HTTP for cellphones, and WAP, which is how I get my laptop onto the network here in the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere, and while I tend to mention WAP quite often, I don't think I'll ever use WAP as I think it's quite silly (and I pity the person who has to read that paragraph in a browser that doesn't support the <ACRONYM> tag).

I suppose acronym expansion could work as spell checking does now, come across a potential TLA and if it isn't expanded, offer up a choice of possible expantions, which may help to prevent IRA GERSHWIN from becoming an Individual Retirement Account GERSHWIN (fahrfenugen).

And now I'm off to format what I've written since the last portion I've formatted. I would kill for a decent HTML editor that does The Right Thing™.

Thursday, November 20, 2003

Hypertext Editing

I've been thinking about a response Mark made to the entry yesturday about editing HTML. He suggested two possible editors—the Mozilla Composer, which is scriptable with XPCOM, or EMACS, the Microsoft Office of Unix editors (only programmable). It's a possible starting point for a decent HTML editor, but I know next to nothing about programming either one.

What I do know is that I'm not a fan of EMACS. The default key bindings (“Escape Meta Alt Control Shift”) are horrible (rumored to cause its author RMS Carpel Tunnel Syndrome), and at 710,000 lines of code (66% in Lisp, 33% in ANSI C, 1% miscellaneous as reported by SLOCCount) it's quite the resource hog (“Eighty Megs And Constantly Swapping”) and my Lispfoo isn't all that strong (“What do you mean than 2 isn't necessarily equal to 2? What's up with that?”) so it would be tough going for me to use EMACS.

That leaves the Mozilla Composer and XPCOM, which is C++, and my C++foo isn't all that strong either, and I haven't done any GUI work in years (and that was mostly under Windows 3.x, the Amiga and Xlib, which is about as low as you can get under X Windows) so that route would be very tough for me as well.

Which begs the question as to how the stuff I mentioned yesturday should work. This is about the fourth revision to this entry I've done so far, and it's been constantly switching between the editor (joe, at 19,000 lines of C code—hmmm … wonder if it'd be easier starting with joe) and browser (Mozilla, which is easily over a million lines of code), doing various searches and loading of pages to gather all the information for this entry (which so far has taken over an hour to write).

And you can see that I lost my train of thought there as I was doing research and marking up this entry.

Sigh.

Friday, November 21, 2003

All I want is a dumb network …

Bob has been running the same Friday night D&D game for over ten years now. Sure, players have come and gone, but as far as Bob is concerned, it's been one very long adventure. Several months ago Bob had a good idea: use the resources of the Internet to bring those players that were no longer in South Florida the ability to game at his table once again by using a combination of webcams, microphones and software to instantiate a “virtual gaming table.”

It's been a valiant effort but it's not quite there yet. And I'm not sure if it ever will be there. Not if the phone and media companies have their say in how the Internet works. We've gone from a time when all computers were equal, to where all computers are equal, just some more than others. And nowhere is this more evident than Bob's network.

The Internet today is a vastly different creature than the Internet of even ten years ago. Back in 1993 all computers on the Internet were peer-to-peer. Automatic configuration via DHCP was documented in October of that year and due to a perceived lack of IP addresses NAT was documented in May of 1994. Now most networks exist behind firewalls that NAT and it's rare for TCP/IP to be hand configured anymore thanks to DHCP. And most consumer grade TCP/IP router equipment automatically assumes you want both NAT and DHCP.

Fine if you don't care, or have a typical setup, or don't really care about being a full peer on the Internet. But Bob doesn't have a typical setup, and (even if he doesn't realize it) he needs to be a full Internet peer. But it's the consumer equipment that he has that makes this all the more fun (yea, right, ha ha!).

He has a DSL router, which prior to some mucking last month, was acting as a firewall/NAT/DHCP server, but was configured to be just a bridge, because the next piece of equipment in line required that it have the public IP address, so now it is the firewall/NAT/DHCP server. It is then plugged into Bob's WAP/switch, which, because it too is a piece of consumer electronics, is also a firewall/NAT/DHCP server and it's into that that Bob's computer is plugged into. And it's Bob's computer that is running a specialized service that the Internet players need to communicate with.

So, we have:

And it's worse than it appears. All the computers are behind the second NAT system, and first NAT system uses one private network while the second NAT uses a different private network. So while the first NAT system can forward traffic, it can't forward it directly to Bob's main computer because it's on a completely different network that the first NAT system can't route to. The best it can do is forward it to the second NAT system. And I couldn't get that to forward the traffic.

After struggling, the obvious solution is to put Bob's computer behind the first NAT, and leave the laptops behind the WAP. And to do that, he has to get a separate network switch (and not use the one in the WAP). I told him not to install the switch until I get back there to configure this entire mess since I seem to be the only one there at the table that understands all this crap.

Not that I mind; it's just that TCP/IP was never supposed to be this difficult.

Saturday, November 22, 2003

All I want to do is transfer some files …

As if I didn't have enough networking issues, I spent a few hours today trying to get the Windows box to mount the drive in my Linux system. It used to work but suddenly one day it stopped (that was on August 19^th—I haven't bothered to look at the problem until today). I have the latest version of Samba but it seems to want a domain server to validate the password but it's the domain server. I dont' know enough about the Windows networking model (or file sharing model) to trouble shoot this.

And on a similar note, I'm also having problems with NFS, although it's limited to problems between Linux 2.0 and Linux 2.4. While I can mount and even transfer files between the two systems, it pauses and we're not talking about a second or two—we're talking on the order of minutes here were nothing seems to happen then bam! the data comes through at once. I've tried various options when mounting, but the problem never seems to clear up. But there is no problem with NFS between my two Linux 2.0 systems, so it might be some compatibility problem between the two.

Sigh.

Monday, November 24, 2003

Oddities found on a webserver

I've been hired to admin a few webservers. Not a lot of money, but the intent is to get them running smoothly by themselves and just collect money from month to month (but I do have to respond to emergency situations but I get extra for that).

So I spent today poking around the servers, getting a feel for how they're set up, what the typical load is, and how set things up so they run themselves. I'm looking through the error log file (it runs Apache) when I notice the following:

[Tue Nov 18 16:28:19 2003] [info] server seems busy, (you may need to increase StartServers, or Min/MaxSpareServers), spawning 8 children, there are 0 idle, and 18 total children

First off, that tells me their web server configuration could use some tweaking, but secondly, I've never seen that error! That is quite neat actually.

Secondly, since this is a rather busy webserver, I'm seeing all sorts of web based attacks hitting the servers, stuff I've never seen before, which makes this interesting (in an academic sort of way—as a practical matter it's annoying). And some stuff that is just outright puzzling.

But if anything, it should prove to be an interesting job.

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

It's Alton's fault—I'm just the victim

It's Alton Brown's fault I ended up in ~~Blood Bath and Beyond~~ Bed Bath and Beyond looking for the digital meat thermometer he uses in his show. The thermometer itself was easy to find, but oh … the items!

Spice racks!

Pepper mills!

Pots and pans!

Knives!

Toasters!

Toasters?

They still sell those things?

Apparently so.

Even more surprising than a device which is nothing more than two verticle heating coils, a spring, a knob and a switch is how expensive they are! Top of the line model will set you back $319.99 (tax not included).

$320 for a toaster‽

That better make some damn fine toast for that price.

I know I spent oh, the better part of an hour just hovering in the kitchen wares section.

I blame Alton Brown.

So unoffensive it's offensive

Berkeley Breathed: The good news about Hart's Islam-is-poo strip is that at least you know a real human has shown up for work, with his strip. The paper is littered with cartoonists too, well, deceased to actually participate in their own strip. It's a pity because there's a rather agitated bunch of very alive cartoonists that are waiting for their space to show us what a little passionate cartooning can be.

Via The Duff Wire, Comics: Opus

So it seems that Berkeley Breathed is returning to the world of comics, and pulling a page out of the Bill Watterson playbook, is demanding that is Sunday-only strip be given half a page. He also has a few choice comments about the current state of newspaper comics (some of which are probably shared by Bill Watterson).

I found myself outside a local diner for lunch, and decided to see just how bad the comics could be. Paid my 50¢ (ouch! When did newspapers get so expensive?), pulled out the comic section and read.

Ouch. That was 50¢ wasted.

Quiz time: The following dialog between two characters (named “A” and “B” to mask their true identities) occurred in which strip?

A: Sometimes I wonder why anyone hosts a big Thanksgiving meal … What with all the preparation beforehand and all the service during dinner, you hardly have time to enjoy either the meal or the company. Which leads me to my idea …

B: Unless it's “Why not put an extra cup of almond slivers on the green beans,” let's discuss it after the holiday.

Was it:

Hi & Lois
Blondie
The Family Circus
Sally Forth
Apartment 3-G

One you can reject outright—The Family Circus—too much dialog (today's Family Circus strip: Billy walking with a football under his arm, saying “Don't tackle me. I'm not playin' a game. I'm putting the football away.” Ho- ho-ho what a knee slapper that was!). So what's the answer?

Um … oh yea! Looking at the newspaper, the witty repartee was between Ted (“A”) and Sally (“B”) from “Sally Forth.”

All of the strips were so unoffensive that I was offended by their unoffensiveness. And Breathed is right—there are comics that should be dropped to make room for new ones. Blondie has been in newspapers for 73 years—it should be pulling Social Security right now. United Features is running still running Peanuts, although they're repeats from 1971. And Beetle Bailey has been running since, what? World War II? (Today's strip: “Coffee Gizmo?” “Don't put the cup on [the computer]! I want to keep her nice and shiny. You never know who's going to log in.” Oh, my sides! My sides!)

Blech!

I think I'll stick with Sluggy Freelance for now …

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

DreadHat

Now I remember what I hate about system administration—taking over an existing setup. It's never how I would set up the system and there are always gotchas hiding away in some dusty corner of the system.

It's been an interesting couple of days as I get up to speed on the four systems I've been hired to run. The fact that they're running RedHat (three are 7.2, one is 9.0) didn't upset me that much.

Never mind the extraneous packages that have been installed (X? On a server?), what has me upset is the overreliance on RPMs.

Perhaps I'm old school, but I prefer to download the tarballs and compile from source. That way I know what I'm getting and patching is so much easier when you have the source (plus not having to wait around for a “official” patch from whatever vendor you use). Already I'm running into problems with these systems. Mainly with an incomplete development system (you have X, but skipped Flex?) and dependancy hell with RPMs (can't install foo because it depends upon bar 1.7 but bar 2.1 is istalled, but it's not in the RPM database, and doing a rpm -i --force foo.rpm fails … ).

Given a complete development system, I can live with RedHat, skipping the use of RPMs entirely (I'm still creaking along with a few installations of RedHat 5.2 and I'm not counting on there being RPMs of Bind 9 for RedHat 5.2) but a partial development system?

Annoying, but something I can work around.

Sigh.

Thursday, November 27, 2003

No turkeys where harmed in the making of this post

Spring doesn't like turkey. I could care less about turkey. So for this Thanksgiving feast we skipped out on the turkey and instead had ham.

The package said it would take approximately 15 minutes per pound, and with a 6.48 pound turkey, i was figuring about two hours cooking time. The cookbook which gave the recipe for the glaze (½ cup crushed pineapple, 3/4 cup brown sugar) said to apply the glaze and cloves (I was surprised to find they looked like little spikes) about half an hour or so before the ham finished baking.

15 minutes per pound my XXX!

Try half an hour per pound.

Either that, or the oven controls are waaaay off.

That glaze cooked for over an hour—nearly two. The ham came out of the oven with this thick black coat of pineapple sugary goodness, but despite looking like a horrible burn victim, it was quite delicious as was the rest of the food.

Our guests included Michelle, who made a cauliflower casserole (quite delicious despite the cauliflower (which Spring doesn't care for) and cream cheese (which i don't care for)), pumpkin pie and two types of homemade ice cream (strawberry and French chocolate) and Kires, who helped consume the mass quantities of food.

All in all, a nice quiet Thanksgiving with some good friends and great food.

Friday, November 28, 2003

The final configuration of Bob's network

I went to Bob's house to finish setting up his network, now that he got an inexpensive switch. It only took a few minutes to set up and testing the network proved it worked as expected.

I then wanted to try Speak Freely, as there are both Windows and Unix clients available (although the program itself is being discontinued, so grab your copies now). It's a nice program, supporting several popular real-time audio protocols and encryption options, but alas, it was written with a peer-to-peer Internet in mind, not the mess we have now. Which means that Bob's firewall/NAT/DHCP appliance had to forward the ports Speak Freely uses.

So far, it seems to be the best of a whole range of VoIP programs Bob's used (primarily because it is peer-to-peer and doesn't require a third party server to communicate through) but a test with one of the other players wasn't quite conclusive—he had severe echo problems on his end, due to either his audio hardware, audio software, or (my thought since he had to configure his firewall/NAT/DHCP appliance to forward the packets) he was getting the audio packets twice. But if we can get this issued cleared up, I think Bob might settle on using this for audio (it is a nice program).

Saturday, November 29, 2003

More DreadRat

One of my tasks in my new job was to figure out why up2date stopped working. I was told it had an “SSL problem” that needed fixing.

I figured that an updated SSL library upgrade borked up2date but it turned out to be a much simpler problem: their certificate expired. Back in August.

Still didn't fix the RPM problems I was having. I did, however, find that rpm -i --nodeps foo.rpm worked when rpm -i --force foo.rpm failed. I personally would have thought that “forcing” the install would work, but aparently not. You have to tell rpm to ignore the dependancies.

Sigh.

Sunday, November 30, 2003

Childhood's End

An incident earlier today involving the Kids has made me reflect on my own childhood and just how free we were back then, or just how unconcerned our own parents may have been, who knows? I've made light of some aspects of modern childhood, being over protected and highly managed in vast contrast to my own childhood, especially growing up in Brevard, North Carolina.

My best friend, Duke, lived in Connestee Falls, a development some six miles south of Brevard, and even passing through the entrance, it was still a good ten minutes or so of driving, within Connestee Falls, until you reached his home, deep in the development. The nearest neighbor … I never saw his neighbor. His home was nestled in the forest, and I remember we spent hours playing outside in the forest, making our way through his “backyard,” filled with trees as far as the eye could see.

Of course, we always made sure to be back at 4:00 pm to watch Batman on channel 4, but once over, we would head right back outside to play. Unless Duke's mom decided to serve us milk and cookies.

But Duke's Mom pretty much left us to ourselves for the most part.

Even when his family finally moved into Brevard proper, we would scour the neighborhood, walking to the corner store to buy Fun Dip and Sweet Tarts, have clod fights (a “clod” is a small lump of hard red clay found everywhere in that part of North Carolina) up to the winter, when we then had slushball fights.

And then there's the bike riding. I remember on more than one occasion trying to skid having the bike shoot out from underneath me and ending up with some serious road rash for a kid on a bike. Then there was the time I attempted to take a sharp turn at full tilt, not quite making the cut and ending up in a ditch (that particular maneuver twice, in the same day before giving up on it).

And thinking back, I remember how I learned to ride a bike. I was seven, visiting family in Royal Oak one summer (like I did every summer), when one of my uncles took it upon himself to teach me bike riding. Training wheels? Nope. We'll have none of that. Here, sit on the bike, and shove! There I was, wobbling down the sidewalk. To one side grass. To the other, a four lane road. I learned quite fast to ride a bike, if only to keep from being killed in the process.

Why not the more quiet side street? I suspect my uncle was afraid of being liable for my scratching one of the many parked cars along the street. Much better to have me crash into ongoing traffic (ha ha, only half joking there).

So I've been reading articles about playgrounds getting rid of swings, monkey bars and straight metal slides as being way to dangerous for kids nowadays. The days of going nowhere, doing nuthin' for hours on end (but never at home) are long gone.

What happened?

Where are the empty lots?

The hot metal slides o' death? The swings of orbital injection? The monkey bars of tooth bashing?

Or is modern life just too dangerous anymore?

Living in the Spam Capital of the World

Bernard Balan, 51, who operates a bulk mail site from Emsdale, Ontario called one-stop-financial.com, says he's gone through “unbelievable hardships” to keep the spam flowing.

“My operating costs have gone up 1,000 percent this year, just so I can figure out how to get around all these filters,” said Balan, a former truck driver and pinball machine mechanic.

Five years ago, Balan says, he'd send 30 million messages in a day. Most would get through. He'd earn up to $10,000 in commissions for a good day's work.

Now, even though Balan keeps a database with 240 million e-mail addresses, only a fifth or fewer get through the filters. An average mailing earns him a paltry $250.

"With vigilantes on their heels, top spammers keep the e-mail flowing

Just one of many articles quoting spammers Paul Graham has collected in his spam reference page. Paul is bullish on spam becoming uneconomical, and given the above article, it's beginning to look that way. In reading the articles, it seems that the top rate of spamming is about 180 emails per second, which works out to about 10 million per day and while they do make decent money at a low six-figures per year, it isn't exactly the road to riches.

And it's getting harder and harder to send spam each year.

What I also find amazing is that of all the spammers profiled, each one has had some … disagreement … with the law in their past. Figures, given how bad an image the spam industry has.

And sadly, Boca Raton is considered the Spam Capital of the World. Way to go, Boca! Woot!

Monday, Debtember 01, 2003

Bouncy bouncy bouncy

I just love some of the anti-spam measures put into place.

A member of one of the mailing lists I run had put into place a challenge-response anti-spam measure, where you have to reply to the message in order for the original message to go through. Only the challenge-response message gets bounced back to the list as a whole! (Fortunately, the challenge-response system is smart enough not to cause mail loops when the challenge-response gets sent back … ) Bad enough, but now, another member has classified the challenge-response messages as spam!

We got email bouncing everywhich way as anti-spam software tries to deal with other anti-spam software, each claiming the other as spam.

There's a Monty Python sketch in here somewhere.

Free voice service to Sweden

The more I play around with Speak Freely the more I like it. I spent a few hours setting up a UDP proxy server on my firewall (since the Linux 2.0 kernel doesn't really support port forwarding as I found out) and while clunky, I can now use Speak Freely here at the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere.

I then got with wlofie (a friend who lives in Sweden) to see if he could get it working. He did, but had a bad microphone so we couldn't talk last night, but he was able to send a sound file using Speak Freely, so it does work.

It's going to be exciting, doing this voice over IP thang …

Tuesday, Debtember 02, 2003

The popular Andrew Jackson

Sigh.

67 people have linked to my image of ~~Jeff Conaway~~ Andrew Jackson, including two schools (but at least one of them provided a link back … to the picture!) and I just have to wonder why? Why is this particular image of Andrew Jackson so popular? Seventy percent of all searches last month were for the aformentioned picture of Andrew Jackson.

Seventy percent!

I didn't even draw the bloody thing! It's a scan of the US $20 bill!

But it's not like it's that big a problem, only 1% of the total requests to this site resulted in a request for the Andrew Jackson image (actually, 0.991% if you want to be pedantic about it) so it isn't costing me that much bandwidth. But still, the tempation to replace it with this is so strong …

The elusive Mr. Watterson

For Christmas 1995, the papers that published Calvin and Hobbes received a rather cryptic letter from Watterson. “I believe I've done what I can do within the constraints of daily deadlines and small panels,” the letter read. “I am eager to work at a more thoughtful pace, with fewer artistic compromises.” And that was it. The strip ended on December 31, 1995, with Calvin saying, “It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy. Let's go exploring!” as the two sledded down a snow-covered hill.

Via InstaPundit, Missing! Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson. Last seen in northeast Ohio. Do not approach.

Bill Watterson, elusive comic creator. Calvin and Hobbes was probably one of the best comic strips in existance; really, one of the only reasons to even read the comic section but I do have to respect him for not selling out like Jim Davis (who's own strip, Garfield is about as lively as The Family Circus) but still, getting information about Bill Watterson is hard, as the article relates; a varitable Thomas Pynchon of the comic world.

But hey, if Berkeley Breathed can make a come back, would it be too far to wish that Watterson come back with a Sunday-only Calvin and Hobbes strip?

Eigenradio—all the stations, all the time

All those stations, playing all that music, all the time! There's at least 40 different songs being played every week on most radio stations! Who has enough time in the day to listen to them all? That's why we've set up banks of computers to do the listening for us. They know what you really want to hear. They're trading variety for variance.

Eigenradio plays only the most important frequencies, only the beats with the highest entropy. If you took a bunch of music and asked it, “Music, what are you, really?” you'd hear Eigenradio singing back at you. When you're tuned in to Eigenradio, you always know that you're hearing the latest, rawest, most statistically separable thing you can possibly put in your ear.

Via raccooon : notes and scavengings, The statistically optimal music since 2003

Eigenradio is certainly different. The esscence of over 40 different songs condenced into a cocaphony of sound that almost has a beat you could dance to. “Avant-garde” could be one term to describe it. “A radio scanning way too fast” could be another term. “Noise” is yet a third term.

And ironically enough, according to Information Theory, Eigenradio is more interesting than pop radio.

Wednesday, Debtember 03, 2003

“Beam me up!”

The new job requires a cell phone, since I'm basically babysitting a bunch of machines (and they're willing to pay me extra to have a cell phone, otherwise I wouldn't get one). The phone finally arrived—a Cingular LG G4010, a small clam shell unit that is similar to the ST:TOS communicators and everytime I open it up, I have this incredible urge to go, “Kirk to Enterprise!”

Thursday, Debtember 04, 2003

Digital Camera Focus Technician

From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
To: sean@conman.org
Subject: Technician Digital Cemeras
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 11:23:45 EST

Dear Sean:

Hi I am an executive recruiter who needs to find qualified Digital Camera Repair Technicians for a leading firm in NY. They would relocate the appropriate candidate if need be. Please contact me if you or anyone you know have any interest. THERE IS NO COST TO YOU FOR MY SERVICE.

All replies will be held in strict confidence. I will speak with you soon.

Best wishes,

Jim Chrystal, James Chrystal Enterprises

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(631) XXX-XXXX

Heh. I'm guessing Jim Chrystal did a search for digital camera technician and got my bit about refocusing a digital camera (as of the day this was posted, the number one result is Jim Chrystal's ad for a digital camera technician, and the number two result is my page). I hate to disapoint Jim there, but I'm not exactly a digital camera technician—heck, I'm even surprised they can be repaired, unless the job in question is “Yup, it's broke,” then tossing it away.

But if any digital camera technitians happen to read this, Jim would love to talk to you.

troubling server crashes

One of the servers I'm monitoring (and it happens to be the most critical of servers, go figure) has crashed every day for the past week on a 24.5 hour schedule. This is not good, especially since the machine in question is not a Windows system, but a Linux system. The other admin and I (we're in a transition period as I take over) can't figure out what is causing the problem. The only major change this past week has been the installation of MySQL.

We're not sure what to make of the problem.

To that end, I installed Nagios, a framework of monitoring programs on another server to monitor the troublesome machine. It took a while to configure Nagios as the configuration file is complex, due to the separate definitions for hosts, services, contacts and groupings of hosts, services and contacts, but this complexity means you can fine tune the monitoring (and it's easy to add new hosts, services or contacts once the initial configuration is complete).

I will also be rebooting the server in a few hours in an attempt to see if it always crashes around 8:00 in the morning, or just after 24.5 hours since the last reboot; I doubt the crashes are due to the janitorial staff unplugging the computer to plug their vaccuum cleaner.

At least, I hope that's not the case.

Monday, Debtember 08, 2003

The Joys of taking over an existing server

“This will be a great job once I get these servers configured correctly.”

We still don't know why the one server is crashing. It went down three times today (well, technically Sunday as it's now 1:30 am Monday morning as I type this) and nothing was visible on the screen because Linux probably has some setting deep in the kernel to blank the screen after umpteen minutes of inactivity so the cause of the problems are never seen. That is, if anything at all is written to the console when the machine crashes (or just prior actually).

So I was tasked with moving the websites (some 1,000) off the dying server onto a backup server, but I couldn't start until I got home at around 10:00 pm. I didn't think it would be all that bad; rsync is your friend and all that. I was hoping this wouldn't take more than an hour since I have to be up and ready to go by 9:00 am Monday morning (this morning).

So why am I still up at 1:30 am?

Because the backup server is not configured exactly like the primary server. You see, there are over 1,000 accounts (one for each website) on the primary machine, and only about 150 on the secondary machine. To make matters worse, there are some accounts on both, but their numeric ids don't match! (with the upshot that files won't be assigned their correct owners)

Lovely!

“This will be a great job once I get these servers configured correctly.”

Installation party

Well, I did not go to Miami today because of server problems last night (or technically, early this morning). The purpose of the trip to Miami was to retrieve two (of the four) servers I admin in order to install Gentoo and get rid of this silliness called RedHat.

The other admin ended up going down to Miami anyway and delivered the servers to my door step. Later on in the evening, Mark came over to help me with my first Gentoo installation. Gentoo is pretty neat. A “stage 1” installation (which we did) took several hours to perform, as it installs a base configuration, then downloads and recompiles everything (given the compiler options specific for the particular architecture for best performance). You can also specify what you want and more importantly, don't want.

Another interesting feature is that the base system allows you to log in via ssh so Mark and I spent most of the time outside in the courtyard watching the installation via the wireless network here, and discussing various issues.

One of which was the constantly crashing server. Mark mentioned that he had encountered a similar problem on a friend's webserver, due to the web log files never being rotated. Well, the server from hell has that problem in spades—over 1,000 sites and none of the logs have ever been trimmed. And we're talking both the access_log and the error_log files.

Now, I had discussed the error_log situation with the client—namely does each site really require its own error_log? The client agreed with me that no, each site did not need said file. So after Mark left, I proceeded to nuke all the error_log files (since really, it's only used to debug CGI scripts and even then, that's not a common thing). That alone cleared up some 12 gigs of disk space. I then rotated all the access_log files so now hopefully that server won't crash.

Tuesday, Debtember 09, 2003

Crash

It crashed.

Twice.

I so don't need this today …

What? Me, bitter?

Thank you so very XXXXXXX much RedHat!

ls [a-z]* is supposed to return those filenames starting with a lower case letter. LOWER CASE LETTER! If I wanted a XXXXXXX file with a XXXX upper case letter, I WOULD XXXXXXX ASK FOR IT YOU XXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX XXX XXXXXX PIECE OF XXXX!

XXXX!

iuuku88@!#@#$ JWET HKQWEF lj1234 uy12vl jasdf890123 5y!@#%QW#$SDFajqhw 8901234 i fekjlh12098fasdljk1239-8!@#%!@#@#Q !@ %$!1234 !@#~@#$~@#4

XXX XXXXXX XXXXXXX LAPTOP KEYBOARD PIECE OF XXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXX DIE XXXXXX XXXXXX DIE XXXXXX XXXXXX DIE!

Your daily Zen moment

On a clear disk, you can seek forever.

I'm calm now.

Ohm.

Random snippit of phone conversation at the computer

“So what's the status on merging the UIDs?”

“I've installed the merged /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow and /etc/group files in place, and I've run the script to change ownership of the sites accordingly.”

“So you've merged them, and taken care of any UID conflicts?”

“UID conflicts?” Oh XXXX! I thought. I forgot to do a renumbering! Quickly checking for duplicate UIDs among the existing accounts showed a few conflicts. XXXX! “Oh, I took care of it.”

“Great! Glad you hear your on top of things.”

XXXX! Clickity-click. XXXX! Clickity-click. XXXX! Clickity-click.

Wednesday, Debtember 10, 2003

You daily Zen moment

As you may have gathered from yesterday's entries I wasn't having a great day. I had gone to bed thinking the Server From Hell was okay and I could concentrate on other things, but alas, I was waken up early to a dead server that needed to be up now and can we please move all the sites over to the backup server now and trying to fix things on a keyboard that is less than perfect (perfection in keyboards thy name is IBM PS/2) and the sheer idiocy of RedHat and all this before I even had caffeine set the tone for the rest of the day.

Eventually I was able to straighten out the UID mess, get all the services from the Server From Hell onto the backup server and switch everything over (this about 1:30 am or so). And everything seems to be running fine (once I figured out how to increase the number of open file descriptors on the backup server to accomodate the large number of open files).

Hopefully now I'll have the peace and quiet to concentrate on other things.

Ohm.

crashing

Well, the backup server is certainly doing a wonderful job of backing up as I haven't heard one complaint at all, which means I got all the sites moved over and configured without a problem (thankfully!).

And not terribly surprising but the Server From Hell is still running, although now its work load is significantly reduced.

I was still pretty much out of it today, as well as the harddrive in my laptop which crashed pretty hard last night. I'm hoping that giving the laptop a significant rest will let it run long enough to get a current backup of data off the system.

Heh. Keyboard still works.

Off to bed.

Thursday, Debtember 11, 2003

Installation, Part II

I spent the day installing Gentoo on the second server, and while the instructions are fairly clear, it certainly helped that Mark walked me through an installation earlier in the week. The only hitch happened when I was trying to emerge Vixie Cron which failed with an ever so helpful message “could not resolve dependencies.” No about of bumping up the verbosity and debugging levels would reveal the actual problem, yet every other package I emerged did so without error.

I ended up asking Mark for help, seeing how he has a bit more experience with Gentoo than I do. Turns out that in the four days between installs, the Vixie Cron package was renamed from sys-apps/vcron to sys-apps/vixie-cron and the installation guide had yet to be updated (and it certainly would have helped had the error message said something like “such-n-such package does not exist. Please hang up and try your call again!”).

Update on Tuesday, December 16^th

It seems that in the time since I did the install (can't say “since this was written” since this is actually being written on Tuesday, December 16^th at about 4am) that the documentation has been updated.

Cool!

Friday, Debtember 12, 2003

I'd buy THAT for a dollar!

Spring wanted to do some holiday shopping at this local dollar store and I tagged along.

Oh my!

What a bizarre store! What a fun store!

Where else can you get a cheap plastic lightup Jesus on a stand? Or Black Love Incense™ (with a loving black couple in an embrace on the cover)? Or any number of plastic gyrating singing Santas that are motion sensitive? Or tacky Florida keychains? Or walking sticks? Generic action figures? Or porcelain kitties with these demonic psychotic eyes?

This was more fun that the time some friends and I set off all the bouncing Tiggers at the local Wal★Mart a few years ago …

Shaping in Magic Filed

Spring received a complimentary set of Yu Gi Oh cards from the local dollar store; The Kids have bought plenty a pack of Yu Gi Oh cards from that store and the owner was apparently in a generous mood, giving out small gifts to all the patrons.

[A speeial call for named card like (Grave) monster card]

[Select one freld magic card from card pile]

[For obtaining your opponent's control right, each time]

I was flipping through the cards I remarked to Spring how many of the titles sounded like Chinese dishes (“I'll have the Flying Mantis with the Thousand hand Buddha, she'll have the Suemike Small Bird and the Endless Dragon with Blue Eyes. For dessert, we'll have the Monster Tempting in Dark Sleep.”) but what I found very amusing was the high quotient of Engrish to be on the card found please to nose.

Or something like that.

Let's see, we have the “Travel by Pass-by Car” card, the “Grave Assassinccte” card and the “Timing Capsule” card. Then there's the “Arriving Ceremony” card:

A speeial call for named card like (Grave) monster card, which does not uuder limit of Royal Sleep place.

Now granted, I don't know the rules to Yu Gi Oh, and I realize that reading the descriptions of cards on games I don't know tend to be incomprehensible, but “speeial call?” No wonder The Younger is having trouble spelling. But it gets better. How about the “Grabbing” card:

For obtaining your opponent's control right, each time at preparing stage, obtain the life force by 1000 points.

I would hope that it would be clearer if the rules were understood, but then there's the text on my favorite card, the “Shaping in Magic Filed:”

Select one freld magic card from card pile into cards on hand.

There's just something appealing about selecting one freld magic card.

Freld.

What a froody word.

Although I am concerned that twenty years from now I'll have to learn Engrish just to talk to the younger generation …

Saturday, Debtember 13, 2003

The non-communities of today

Locals joke that the way things are going, somebody will eventually have to build a Las Vegas, Las Vegas—a miniature version of the Strip inside a hotel on the Strip, so you can avoid the Strip and still experience it.

Which is something the casual visitor might dearly wish to do, because the experience of actually being on this gigantic motorway lined by buildings of such monstrous scale—or, at some stretches, vacant lots that appear to be the size of Rhode Island—is not apt to gratify many human beings with normal neurological equipment. In fact, if ever a setting was designed to ravage the central nervous system and induce acute agoraphobia, the Strip is it.

Las Vegas: Utopia of Clowns

When I mentioned the bit about oneday someone will build Las Vegas, Las Vegas to Spring, she replied that she heard that it was already done.

Not that it surprises me about Las Vegas.

I've been there on several occasions (mostly with my Dad, once with a friend) and the place is insane. There is no other word to describe it. Each hotel is trying to out do Disney World on a three mile strip of land in the middle of the desert.

The author, James Kunstler, is an urban design specialist and doesn't have nice things to say about Las Vegas. Well, James Kunstler doesn't have many nice things to say about sub urbia in general (and I agree with a lot of his points; in fact, I think zoning laws have destroyed our communities way more than sex, drugs or rock-n roll).

Though the National Defense Interstate Highway System originally had been intended for just such mass evacuations, it had actually never been tested to this degree before. And, let.s face it, 1959 standards probably didn.t apply anymore. For one thing, the sheer number of motor vehicles was up exponentially. Not in forty-odd years, either, had a hurricane so large and fearsome behaved quite so erratically, and, what with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) all cranked up to grandstand for the CNN audience, and virtually every county and municipality along the southeast coast issuing official evacuation orders, the system had clogged up like the porkfat-lined vascular system of a baby boom Bubba behind the wheel of his beloved suburban utility vehicle (SUV), and, Lordy, the entire fretful coastal plain had become a united parking lot.

Atlanta: Does Edge City Have a Future?

Last month, at the request of my friend Hoade, I drove around Margate (and Coral Springs, Coconut Creek and North Lauderdale), a town (towns) we grew up in) and took pictures. A CVS pharmacy (which used to be Wags, a Denny's-like restaurant). A pet store (which used to be a two-screen movie theater). A dying strip mall (which used to be this huge empty field twenty years ago). A pre-school (which used to be a restaurant). A bingo hall (which used to be a grocery store).

There are days when I really miss Brevard …

Sunday, Debtember 14, 2003

… it's the butterfly's fault …

Event One:

A butterfly—possibly a cabbage white, or similar variety—spreads itself across a leaf in New York's Central Park. It stretches lazily in the warm sunshine and contentedly flaps its wings. This motion generates a small current of air, barely perceptible, but sufficient enough to divert the course of an airborne spore. The spore lands beside a pathway and begins to germinate.…

Event Twelve:

Passing through Indian airspace, the captain of a Korean airliner is astounded to see four million penguins wearing rocket packs approaching him, directly on his flight path. The penguins are equally surprised and swerve abruptly to miss the plane. Unfortunately, they fly smack into Mount Everest, knocking the top off. The shock wave travels around the world, triggering earthquakes in—amongst other places—California, Japan and China.

Via Crypto-Gram, Butterfly

A rather tounge-in-cheek example of the Butterfly Effect.

Monday, Debtember 15, 2003

Cheap horror flick

I surprised myself by not screaming like a little girl, although I did say “oh fudge” when it happened.

The onion. The knife. I put the blade to the onion, ready to slice it in half. The onion just sat there unconcerned about the eviceration I was about to start. That alone should have warned me, but no, I plunged ahead anyway. Knife. Meet onion skin. Only the knife didn't penetrate the onion skin. That's why the onion was so blasé about the situation—it knew! No knife of mine was good enough to penetrate its skin. Oh no! Good enough to penetrate my skin, but not the onion's.

No severed fingers though. That's good. But a bit too deep to grab a band-aid. I had to wake up Spring to have her get some band-aids as I was too busy keeping presure up on my right ring finger.

Three bandages later (two on my ring finger, a smaller one on my middle finger which also got knicked) and I noticed that I needed to change shirts. Figures that I'm wearing a white shirt. Well, at that point, a white shirt with small red dots covering the right side.

One shirt later, and I'm back in the kitchen. The onion was sitting on the counter, no doubt giggling to itself at the inept human who attempted onioncide. I look up at the cabinets, now adorned in little red polka-dots. I look up further, to the little red polka-dots adorning the ceiling.

Good lord, I thought. It looks like a scene from a cheap horror flick. My second thought was, How the fudge did I get blood all the way up there? That was a mystery to be solved later. First things first.

Slice.

Muahahahahahaha! Take that, onion!

Some random thoughts on employment

So, the first real wave of robots did not replace all the factory workers as everyone imagined. The robots replaced middle management and significantly improved the performance of minimum wage employees. All of the fast food chains watched the Burger-G experiment with Manna closely, and by 2012 they started installing Manna systems as well. By 2014 or so, nearly every business in America that had a significant pool of minimum- wage employees was installing Manna software or something similar. They had to do it in order to compete.

In other words, Manna spread through the American corporate landscape like wildfire. And my dad was right. It was when all of these new Manna systems began talking to each other that things started to get uncomfortable.

Via a comment at jwz's livejournal, Manna, Chapter 1

This is the third science fiction story I've come across that goes into depth in a post-scarcity world; a computerized utopia where there are no wants for material items—the others being Prime Intellect and Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Perhaps our apparent jobless economic recovery is a harbinger of things to come.

I remember reading a future employment scenario in one of Robert Anton Wilson's works and it was an interesting scenario. If you automate your own job—if you invent yourself out of a job in other words, you get a yearly government salary of $250,000/year. Anyone whose job is elimited because of automation will get $25,000/year. An intriguing idea but one I don't really see coming about.

Another aspect of this “jobless recovery” I've been hearing about is that more and more people are just giving up on being employed and thus a large number of people are turning entrepreneurial, leading to a vast number of now self-employed (which as a figure probably won't show up until the next year or so).

There's a coherent thought in here somewhere … I just have to find it.

Tuesday, Debtember 16, 2003

Saddam! Brought to you by Lipton and by Palmolive!

Personal care products sat atop a mini-refrigerator: a cake of Palmolive Naturals soap, a bottle of Dove moisturizing shampoo, a pot of moisturizing cream and a stick of Lacoste deodorant “pour homme.” Hussein wasn't starving. The kitchen held a bounty of food: brown eggs, cucumbers, carrots, apples, kiwis and flatbread, plus orange marmalade, canned meat, a jar of honey and Lipton tea.

Via Jason Kottke, Small, Cluttered Refuge Was a Far Cry From Luxury

I'm not sure what struct me about this article, whether it was the sheer number of American products to be found in Iraq (and in use by Hussein as he was behing hunted by the American military) or the apparent blatant product placement in the article. Yes, I didn't expect Hussein to be drinking Lipton tea, but then again, I'm sure that the executives of Lipton tea didn't expect Hussein to be drinking their product either (“We'll pay you not to endorse our product! Don't mention it! Don't mention it!”) and I'm sure the author of the article wanted the ironic tone (even including the book Hussein was reading when captured—Crime and Punishment).

But it seems … I don't know … scary in a way. That no matter what, even with the US 4^th Infantry knocking on the entrance to your spider cave, you can't escape (literally) these important messages from our sponsors …

Wednesday, Debtember 17, 2003

“We wouldn't want anything ta happen ta da network, now would we?”

Ah, the joys of getting up the ringing of a cell phone. “Sean,” said R, who owns the servers I'm admining, “the site is down.”

“Mwuggua,” I said.

“Please, check it out,” said R.

“Umyeaokay,” I said, rolling out of bed. I make my way to the Computer Room, ping the backup server. It's alive. I log in. I log in. I log in. It finally sinks in that I was able to log in. And the system load is low too. I then try to bring up a webpage.

Nothing.

Doing it by hand, I see that the web server appears to be wedged. I do a netstat -an and see hundreds of connections in the SYN_RECV state. Okay, I think as I consume the Elixer of the Gods—Coca-cola. Lots of sockets bound up. Need to reset the webserver. The second I restart it, hundreds of SYN_RECV connections. Looks like a SYN flood.

With some help from Mark, I tweak some network variables: sysctl -w net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies=1 and sysctl -w net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog=2048 and restarting the web server helped a bit. Mark then had the idea of rejecting the attacking IP addresses with route add -host <ip-addr> reject which helped even more (with a script to automatically do that). Then it was a matter of checking to see if there were too many attacking IPs, then running the blocking script. Yet another script to automate that and the site can still be accessed while under attack.

But that still means the site is under attack and all that traffic from hundreds of machines (at least 500, possibly more) is still flowing across the network, causing havoc. And I doubt it's going to get easier any time soon (the company who's sites are being hosted were already extorted last year—this seems to be a different group … they think).

There isn't much that can be done about a DDoS since most of the attacks now a days are done via compromised machines across the Internet (I recorded attacks from machines from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South and North America) that basically, you have to prepare for a slashdotting if you want to survive a DDoS, and hope that your provider doesn't kick you out for repeated attacks.

Update on Sunday, January 4^th, 2004

Why I did what I did during a DDoS attack

Decisions

The peristant attack is now affecting the network where the server is located so two decisions were made: one, to shut down the site being attacked, and two, reinstall the two servers back in Miami and have the attacked site being served from there. I had intended to get as much installed and configured before installing the machines back in Miami, but the attack has moved the timetable up a bit.

Good thing I had everything I needed installed and had configured the IP addresses for the machines (and temporarily set up networking for said IP addresses on my home network).

This does mean that I'll have to get up early tomorrow (ick) and that I'll be missing The Return of the King (as Spring and The Kids are planning on seeing it tomorrow).

On the plus side, these will be billable hours.

Thursday, Debtember 18, 2003

One serious data center

At 9:00 am, C (the admin I'm replacing) arrived at the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere to pick the two servers and me up for the long trip down to the NAP of the Americas in Miami, were the servers are colocated.

The NAP itself is a six story concrete bunker in Miami, taking up nearly a block unto itself. Fake windows adorn the outside in a rather amusing attempt to make the bunker look less imposing I suppose. Not only is it a six story data center, but from what I understand, it also houses a military command post. We parked in a small lot across a street in what looked to be the back of the building. Carrying a server each, C and I headed to a pair of double doors off to one side. We had to buzz the security desk to be let in.

Then a walk down a corridor, featureless except for the expanse of smoked glass along the wall to our left. At the other end, another set of doors and a buzzer. We were then let inside to a foyer where a security guard looked us over. Apparently pleased that we were there on official business we were then allowed to continue towards the elevator.

This wasn't your standard elevator. About eight feet wide, and the doors opened vertically, top half sliding up, botton half sliding down, leading into a deep, tall elevator with plywood siding. The elevator doors were solid on the outside, but a wire mesh inside and we could watch the walls slide by as we rose to the second floor. Once there, we left the elevator, walked across the foyer to the front desk and signed in. Then C was given the key to the cabinet the machines were slotted for, and we were then buzzed into the machine room.

The rest of the floor was pretty much taken up with the machine room (in fact, I suspect floors two through six are pretty much similar in setup). Rows upon rows of caged racks. Huge pipes snaking through the place filled with cables. Blinken lights everywhere. The hum of thousands of machines filled the air.

Impressive.

C led me through a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

We slid the machines into the rack, plugged them in, and left. Since I had configured the machines at home, I was pretty confident that it would work—the night before I changed the DNS settings on the site being attacked to point to the new IP address, and had a fresh copy of the site on one of the servers.

It wasn't until we were nearly back at the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere did we get a call informing us that the site wasn't coming up. We drove the few miles back to the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere, only to find that I had no Internet connectivity (it had apparently gone out sometime earlier that day, like around 3:00 am). C then drove me to his house (a few miles away) where I was able to log into the server and fix the problem (forgot to configure Apache to listen on that IP address). Once fixed, I then joined C and some other mutual friends for lunch, where I found out that my cable provider had a major cable cut effecting all of Florida.

Second time this year.

But other than that slight misconfiguration, the site came up, and the attacks seem to have slacked off.

Friday, Debtember 19, 2003

It's a bit sluggish, but it works

I was able to use the Gentoo installation disk to boot the laptop, get the dying harddrive mounted (had to turn off DMA operation in the IDE device driver to keep the kernel from crashing) and rsync all the important files to my main server. But that still left me with a dead laptop, and now a D&D game that pretty much requires a laptop (since Bob is doing the whole online thing, as Bob is now using kLoOge.Werks to help run the game).

It was then I realized I had a copy of Knoppix lying around. A live CD distribution of Linux. I popped in the CD and in a few minutes was greeted with a live Linux system, running X and already on the network. Not too bad. The default windowing manager of KDE is a bit sluggish (then again, running of a CD isn't exactly a speedy experience either) but there are other options. TWM is very lightweight (not as lightweight as 9wm but more usable than said 9wm) and IceWM is also fairly lightweight (well, compared to something like Enlightenment or KDE). Knoppix makes the system usable, until I can get a replacement harddrive for the system.

Now, only if I can stop playing solitare on the darned thing …

Saturday, Debtember 20, 2003

It was 20 years ago today, that Rumsfeld taught Saddam to play …

“Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein,” Iraqi President Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983. …

Rumsfeld also met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, and the two agreed, “the U.S. and Iraq shared many common interests.” Rumsfeld affirmed the Reagan administration's “willingness to do more” regarding the Iran-Iraq war, but “made clear that our efforts to assist were inhibited by certain things that made it difficult for us, citing the use of chemical weapons, possible escalation in the Gulf, and human rights.” He then moved on to other U.S. concerns. Later, Rumsfeld was assured by the U.S. interests section that Iraq's leadership had been “extremely pleased” with the visit, and that “Tariq Aziz had gone out of his way to praise Rumsfeld as a person.”

A long article about that famous picture of Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein. It's a balanced account, pretty much going into details (great detail) about the entire trip Rumsfeld made at Reagan's request.

My, now times have changed …

Tuesday, Debtember 23, 2003

A tunnel from the past

From: XXXXX <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To: sean@conman.org
Cc: spc@inca.gate.net
Subject: FAU Steam Tunnels?
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 10:45:39 +0000

Greetings, I stumbled across an ancient post of your's via the powers of Google while searching for information on the FAU steam tunnels:

[link]

I then used Google once again to find your apparently current e-mail and decided to contact you. I am an “Urban Explorer” living in Miami, FL. I run the website Urban Exploration Florida (http://uef.hyposomnia.com). Check out the site if you want a bit more background on what I do and to check out some pictures.

Anyways, a friend of mine stumbled across this map of the FAU tunnel system:

[link]

I was quite suprised as I had given up all hope of finding steam tunnels anywhere in FL due to us being so close to sea level. Well anyways, since you have apparently been in these tunnels at some point I was hoping you may be able to provide some information on them before I make the hour long drive up there to see them for myself. Any info at all would be greatly appreciated such as how you got in, at what time of day did you go, did you run into anyone while down there, how tight is security on campus, do they have any motion detectors or camera's in the tunnels, etc. It seem's that it's been quite a while since you were there, but a bit of old info is better than no info at all.

The Internet never forgets.

Not that I mind. I think this is great.

It was 10 years ago when a group of us descended into the tunnel system at FAU for a night of exploring. We weren't the first (we found graffiti from 1976) and we definitely aren't going to be the last. And the guy's site, Urban Exploration Florida, is quite interesting.

Can't wait for him to get his trip to the FAU tunnel system documented.

Update on Wednesday, Debtember 31^st, 2003

Commentary and pictures are now available.

Leap Day … it's not the day you think it is

I don't recall exactly how the conversation turned towards leap days, but it did. I think it may have been something to do with birthdays and being born on February 29^th, the 29^th being the leap day once every four years.

“But it's not,” I said. “It's actually February 24^th.”

“How is it the 24^th and not the 29^th?” asked Spring.

“It has something to do with the Roman calendar,” I said. “But I'll have to find it on the Calendar FAQ.”

And here it is, from the Calendar FAQ, § 2.7.1:

2.7.1. How did the Romans number days?

The Romans didn't number the days sequentially from 1. Instead they had three fixed points in each month:

“Kalendae” (or “Calendae”), which was the first day of the month.

“Idus”, which was the 13th day of January, February, April, June, August, September, November, and December, or the 15th day of March, May, July, or October.

“Nonae”, which was the 9th day before Idus (counting Idus itself as the 1^st day).

The days between Kalendae and Nonae were called “the 5^th day before Nonae”, “the 4^th day before Nonae”, “the 3^rd day before Nonae”, and “the day before Nonae”. (There was no “2^nd day before Nonae”. This was because of the inclusive way of counting used by the Romans: To them, Nonae itself was the first day, and thus “the 2^nd day before” and “the day before” would mean the same thing.)

Similarly, the days between Nonae and Idus were called “the X^th day before Idus”, and the days after Idus were called “the X^th day before Kalendae (of the next month)”.

Julius Caesar decreed that in leap years the “6^th day before Kalendae of March” should be doubled. So in contrast to our present system, in which we introduce an extra date (29 February), the Romans had the same date twice in leap years. The doubling of the 6^th day before Kalendae of March is the origin of the word “bissextile”. If we create a list of equivalences between the Roman days and our current days of February in a leap year, we get the following:

7^th day before Kalendae of March 23 February

6^th day before Kalendae of March 24 February

6^th day before Kalendae of March 25 February

5^th day before Kalendae of March 26 February

4^th day before Kalendae of March 27 February

3^rd day before Kalendae of March 28 February

the day before Kalendae of March 29 February

Kalendae of March 1 March

You can see that the extra 6^th day (going backwards) falls on what is today 24 February. For this reason 24 February is still today considered the “extra day” in leap years (see section 2.3). However, at certain times in history the second 6^th day (25 Feb) has been considered the leap day.

Why did Caesar choose to double the 6^th day before Kalendae of March? It appears that the leap month Intercalaris/Mercedonius of the pre-reform calendar was not placed after February, but inside it, namely between the 7^th and 6^th day before Kalendae of March. It was therefore natural to have the leap day in the same position.

So there you go … February 24^th is the leap day, not the 29^th.

Thursday, Debtember 25, 2003

Oh, is it that day?

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     ""

Mother, please let it end …

Oh, and there is nothing like listening to Alvin and the Chipmonks Christmas Album over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and mom please make it stop and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

You'd think The Kids would get sick of it. But nooooooooooo!

Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and …

Friday, Debtember 26, 2003

The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World

The Voynich Manuscript is considered to be “The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World”. To this day this medieval artifact resists all efforts at translation. It is either an ingenious hoax or an unbreakable cipher.

The manuscript is named after its discoverer, the American antique book dealer and collector, Wilfrid M. Voynich, who discovered it in 1912, amongst a collection of ancient manuscripts kept in villa Mondragone in Frascati, near Rome, which had been by then turned into a Jesuit College (closed in 1953).

Based on the evidence of the calligraphy, the drawings, the vellum, and the pigments, Wilfrid Voynich estimated that the Manuscript was created in the late 13th century. The manuscript is small, seven by ten inches, but thick, nearly 235 pages. It is written in an unknown script of which there is no known other instance in the world. It is abundantly illustrated with awkward coloured drawings of:

unidentified plants;

what seems to be herbal recipes;

tiny naked women frolicking in bathtubs connected by intricate plumbing looking more like anatomical parts than hydraulic contraptions;

mysterious charts in which some have seem astronomical objects seen through a telescope, some live cells seen through a microscope;

charts into which you may see a strange calendar of zodiacal signs, populated by tiny naked people in rubbish bins.

No one really knows the origins of the manuscript. The experts believe it is European They believe it was written between the 15th and 17th centuries.

World Mysteries—Voynich Manuscript

If it's a hoax, it's a very good hoax, as well as a very old hoax (possibly dating from the 15^th to the 17^th centuries). If not, then who knows what this manuscript is all about.

Update on Wednesday, Debtember 31^st

Slashdot links to a Nature article claiming that the Voynich Manuscript is a hoax.

Talk about your synchronicity …

Monday, Debtember 29, 2003

Stuff

Major upheaval here at the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere as Spring is organizing, reorganizing, arranging, rearranging, sorting and resorting all our stuff. Seems all the stuff has finally gotten to her.

Big job.

We gots lots of stuff to organize, reorganize, arrange, rearrange, sort and resort.

It's not even spring time yet.

Tuesday, Debtember 30, 2003

small mod_blog update

What with the large number of sudden updates I've been doing, I was concerned that most of them might scroll off the screen before anyone had a chance to actually read them. And while I have a link to the archive section, I'm not sure if anyone would bother checking it out. So I modified mod_blog to support a link to the current month's worth of entries, which I stuck at the bottom of the page.

Um …

… right next to the link to the archive section.

I just realized how silly that might be. If I'm concerned about people getting to the archive link way at the bottom of the screen, then shouldn't I be just as worried about people getting to the current link at the bottom of the screen? I didn't even realize than when I added the link.

Anyway, it's there, in case you are curious.

And I need to work on the timeliness of entries.

Not feeling like the season

Every year I dread The Season™ as I've come to call it. I don't particularly like this month, dread it coming around each year, and especially this year, what with The Older having his birthday earlier this month, and The Kids and Christmas and Haunakah and oh my god I can just see us hemmoraging money towards the sugared up Kids screaming for everything they see on the TV and …

Okay … breath … in … out … in … out … calm.

Start over.

So yes, I was quite dreading this month.

But you know what? It's gone by relatively fast. I mean, here it is, already New Year's Eve Eve, and the month wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. Okay, I didn't get nearly the number of pictures as I did last year (I don't think I've gotten any pictures this month) but for some reason, it just didn't seem like The Season™ this year.

Go figure.

Or I'm really repressing it.

Yea, that's got to be the reason.

Wednesday, Debtember 31, 2003

This version, that version, the-other version

I've thought a lot about “what went wrong” with svn (and take it as axiomatic, on this list, that something went wrong) for two reasons: (1) like Bob, I really tried to like svn; (2) as I started to think about “what went wrong”—it seemed like what went wrong was a bunch of mistakes of exactly the sort that I am inclined towards myself and therefore have to actively resist: there, but for the grace of something, stand I.

Here's what I think went wrong. This is just my unscientific impression based on following news of the project over the years.

Via Ceejbot, diagnosing svn

Those that are used to source control are pretty much in agreement that CVS sucks. I myself don't really have an opinion about CVS as it does all that I want it for and was painless to install and get running. Mark can't stand CVS and has been singing the praises of Subversion for some time now. I myself have been a bit leary of Subversion, if only because it's not something I feel I need to use; Mark, on the other hand, is used to working on huge projects (he's used to ClearC ase) and feels he needs version control for what he does. For that, I have no problem.

But … Subversion isn't the easiest of packages to install. And Mark would be the first to agree with that. It took him several days of concerted effort to install a Subversion server, and even then, it pretty much requires a dedicated server of some hefty proportions to run. Even installing a client takes some work.

And the memory requirements (I've read that in some cases, over 300M of memory can be consumed) leave me wondering just what the heck Subversion does that requires such a hefty server configuration? I know I'm heading into a Dilbertesque Managerial mindset whereby what I do not understand must be trivial to implement, but still, the requirements for Subversion seem way excessive to me.

Now, I have hears some good things about arch; supposedly it handles everything Subversion does, isn't as bad as CVS and is easy to install. It seems pretty easy to me—one executable.

We'll see …

Tunnelling under FAU

From: XXXXX <XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
To: sean@conman.org
Subject: Re: FAU Steam Tunnels?
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 11:56:51 +0000

Woohoo! We did it! We almost got caught too, check out the full report on the site:

http://uef.hyposomnia.com

or if you prefer, here's a direct link to that update:

http://spork.no-ip.com/~uef/gallery/fau_utility_tunnels

… We saw pretty much the whole system with the exception of a few minor side branches that didn't really seem to go anywhere. There is in fact asbestos down there, so that kinda sucked, but most of it looked to be in good condition, so it's probably not a big deal if you take a trip or two down there without a respirator mask.

7^th day before Kalendae of March	23 February
6^th day before Kalendae of March	24 February
6^th day before Kalendae of March	25 February
5^th day before Kalendae of March	26 February
4^th day before Kalendae of March	27 February
3^rd day before Kalendae of March	28 February
the day before Kalendae of March	29 February
Kalendae of March	1 March

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