Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Laughings of the day:

                   T h e   V O G O N   N e w s   S e r v i c e  

VNS TECHNOLOGY WATCH:                           [Mike Taylor, VNS Correspondent]
=====================                           [Littleton, MA, USA            ]

COMPUTERWORLD 1 April

                     CREATORS ADMIT Unix, C HOAX

    In an announcement that has stunned the computer industry, Ken Thompson,
    Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kernighan admitted that the Unix operating
    system and C programming language created by them is an elaborate April
    Fools prank kept alive for over 20 years.  Speaking at the recent
    UnixWorld Software Development Forum, Thompson revealed the following:

    "In 1969, AT&&T had just terminated their work with the 
    GE/Honeywell/AT&&T Multics project. Brian and I had just started 
    working with an early release of Pascal from Professor Nichlaus Wirth's ETH 
    labs in Switzerland and we were impressed with its elegant simplicity and
    power. Dennis had just finished reading 'Bored of the Rings', a
    hilarious National Lampoon parody of the great Tolkien 'Lord of the
    Rings' trilogy. As a lark, we decided to do parodies of the Multics
    environment and Pascal. Dennis and I were responsible for the operating
    environment. We looked at Multics and designed the new system to be as
    complex and cryptic as possible to maximize casual users' frustration
    levels, calling it Unix as a parody of Multics, as well as other more
    risque allusions. Then Dennis and Brian worked on a truly warped
    version of Pascal, called 'A'. When we found others were actually
    trying to create real programs with A, we quickly added additional
    cryptic features and evolved into B, BCPL and finally C. We stopped
    when we got a clean compile on the following syntax:

    for(;P("\n"),R--;P("|"))for(e=C;e--;P("_"+(*u++/8)%2))P("| "+(*u/4)%2);

    To think that modern programmers would try to use a language that
    allowed such a statement was beyond our comprehension!  We actually
    thought of selling this to the Soviets to set their computer science
    progress back 20 or more years. Imagine our surprise when AT&&T and
    other US corporations actually began trying to use Unix and C!  It has
    taken them 20 years to develop enough expertise to generate even
    marginally useful applications using this 1960's technological parody,
    but we are impressed with the tenacity (if not common sense) of the
    general Unix and C programmer.  In any event, Brian, Dennis and I have
    been working exclusively in Pascal on the Apple Macintosh for the past
    few years and feel really guilty about the chaos, confusion and truly
    bad programming that have resulted from our silly prank so long ago."

    Major Unix and C vendors and customers, including AT&&T, Microsoft,
    Hewlett-Packard, GTE, NCR, and DEC have refused comment at this time. 
    Borland International, a leading vendor of Pascal and C tools,
    including the popular Turbo Pascal, Turbo C and Turbo C++, stated they
    had suspected this for a number of years and would continue to enhance
    their Pascal products and halt further efforts to develop C.  An IBM
    spokesman broke into uncontrolled laughter and had to postpone a
    hastily convened news conference concerning the fate of the RS-6000,
    merely stating 'VM will be available Real Soon Now'.  In a cryptic
    statement, Professor Wirth of the ETH institute and father of the
    Pascal, Modula 2 and Oberon structured languages, merely stated that P.
    T. Barnum was correct.

    In a related late-breaking story, usually reliable sources are stating
    that a similar confession may be forthcoming from William Gates
    concerning the MS-DOS and Windows operating environments.  And IBM
    spokesman have begun denying that the Virtual Machine (VM) product is
    an internal prank gone awry.
    {COMPUTERWORLD 1 April}
    {contributed by Bernard L. Hayes}

Remember how much fun you had upgrading your systems to VMS V5.0?
Well, you had it easy......

   THE VAXORCIST
   -------------

             A rough draft of a video presentation
                     by Christopher Russell
       Operations Manager, Dept of Mechanical Engineering
                     University of Maryland
   
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

(SCENE: Inside of a VAX computer room.  CREDITS ROLL as the SYSMGR is
sitting in front of the console terminal, typing.  He pauses, picks up a
small magnetic tape, walks over to a tape drive, mounts it, and returns to
the console where he continues typing.)

(There is a knock at the door.  SYSMGR walks to the door and opens it,
revealing USER.) 

USER:  Any idea when the system will be up?

SYSMGR:  Well, I just installed version 5.0 of VMS, so I'm going to run
some diagnostics on it overnight to make sure it works alright.  Assuming 
everything goes alright, the system should be up first thing tomorrow 
morning.

USER:  Great.  Thanks.  (Exits)

(SYSMGR closes the door and returns to the console.)

ROD SERLING-LIKE VOICE:  This is John Smith, University of Maryland System 
Manager.  In an effort to make his system the best it can be, he has just
installed VMS Version 5.0 onto his VAX.  But little does he know that the
Version 5 documentation kit from Digital includes a one-way ticket to ...
the VMS TWILIGHT ZONE!

(ominous music - fade out)

(Fade in.  The SYSMGR scans the console for a moment, then turns, picks up
his coat and walks to the door.  He stops at the door for a moment, looking
back at the big machine.  Finally, he turns out the light and exits,
closing the door behind him.) 

(Cut to the Console Terminal.  We read the following as it is printed on 
the console terminal:)

VMS V5.0 DIAGNOSTICS --

DIAGNOSTICS - PHASE 1 STARTING...

DIAGNOSTICS - PHASE 1 FINISHED SUCCESSFULLY.

DIAGNOSTICS - PHASE 2 STARTING...

TESTING MICROCODE ... SUCCESSFUL

TESTING DECNET ...  SUCCESSFUL

TESTING LICENSE MANAGEMENT UTILITY ... SUCCESSFUL

TESTING SYSTEM SERVICES ... SUCCESSFUL

TESTING HIGHLY EXPERIMENTAL AND COMPLETELY UNDOCUMENTED AI ROUTINE ...

(Cut to view of the Tape in the Tape drive.  The tape spins for a moment, 
and suddenly stops.)

(Cut to view of the Machine Room.  A fog has begun drifting across the 
floor, and the hardware is slowly being backlit by a pulsing red light.
A peal of weird laughter cuts through the silence.  A variety of bizarre 
things occur:  A VT100 monitor sitting on a table slowly rotates 360
degrees; the tape drive opens and tape begins spewing out of it; slime
begins pouring out of a disk drive; the line printer begins form-feeding
like mad.  These continue for several minutes, or for as long as we can
keep them up.  FADE OUT) 

(SCENE: Hallway outside of the computer room.  SYSMGR walks up to the door 
and is met by USER.)

USER:  System going to be up soon?

SYSMGR:  (as he speaks, he tries to open the Machine room door, but the 
door is apparently stuck.) The diagnostics should be done by now, so we
should be up in about 15 minutes... (he succeeds in opening the door, but
is confronted by floor to ceiling magnetic tape.  Tangled at about eye
level is an empty tape reel. SYSMGR takes the reel and looks at it.  CLOSE
UP of the reel so we can read the label, which reads: VAX/VMS V5.0
DIAGNOSTIC KIT.) (to USER) ...give or take a few days.... 

(SCENE:  View of TSR (Telephone Support Rep) from behind as she is sitting 
in a cubicle, a terminal in front of her.  Beside her on the wall is a 
poster which reads "Digital Has It Now - But You Can't Have It".  We can
see the terminal, but we should not be able to read what is on it.  She is
wearing a headset.) 

TSR:  Colorado Customer Support.  What is your access number, please?

SYSMGR VOICE: 31576

TSR:  And your name?

SYSMGR VOICE:  John Smith.

(Cut to SYSMGR standing beside his console.  He his holding a phone to his 
head with his right hand, and holding a printout in his left which he is 
perusing while he talks on the phone.)

TSR VOICE:  And what operating system are you using?

SYSMGR:  VMS version 5.

TSR VOICE:  And is this a problem with the operating system or a layered 
product?

(As the SYSMGR looks up from the printout, his eyes suddenly widen and 
he drops the printout and ducks.  At that second, a disk platter flies 
through the air where his head just was.  Slowly, SYSMGR stands up and 
looks to where the disk went.  PAN BACK to reveal a stack of boxes with a 
disk embedded in one of them at neck height.)

SYSMGR:  (into the phone) Operating System.  Definitely the Operating System.

(Cut back to TSR sitting at her desk.)

TSR:  Can you describe the problem, please?

(SYSMGR voice can now only be heard as mumbling)

TSR:  Yes... Tape drive spewing tape into the air... yes...  Line printers 
printing backwards... yes... miscellaneous hardware flying through the
air... uh huh...  disk drives melting... yeah... strange voices coming from
the CPU board... I see... yes.  Is that all?  (pause as she finishes typing
at the terminal)  Well, I'm afraid that that team is busy at the moment,
can I have them get back to you? 

(CUT TO SCENE: MANAGER sitting behind a large desk in a plush office.  
DEVELOPER is pacing in front of him, hands behind his back.)

(SUBTITLE: Meanwhile at Maynard...)

MANAGER:  So tell me!  What the hell happened?!

DEVELOPER:  (turning to face MANAGER)  It's a glitch, a fluke.  A one in a 
billion chance.  And it's not Development's fault.  Not really.  

MANAGER:  Then who's fault is it?

DEVELOPER:  We traced it back to the Software Distribution Center.  It 
seems that there was a mixup and some of the code for the experimental AI 
routine was copied onto the distribution from the wrong optical disk.  (He 
removes a CD from his jacket)  This one, to be precise.

MANAGER:  And what's that?

DEVELOPER:  (reading the label)  "Ozzy Osbourne's Greatest Hits".  
Normally, it wouldn't have made any difference, as the AI routine isn't 
used yet.  But when they began running diagnostics, it hit the routine and 
the computer just sort of became a thing possessed.

MANAGER:  Wonderful.  Were any other distributions affected?

DEVELOPER:  No, just the University of Maryland's.

MANAGER:  Well, that's a relief.  We've got to get them taken care of
before anyone finds out.  Can you imagine what Digital Review would do 
if they heard about this?

DEVELOPER:  We could always blame it on the Chaos Computer Group.

MANAGER:  No, we've already used that one.  This calls for drastic action. 
(MANAGER picks up the phone and begins flipping through the rolodex)

DEVELOPER:  Who are you going to send?

(CUT to the Rolodex so that we can read the cards.  The first card reads:

 SYSTEM PROBLEMS - Ron Jankowski, x474

he flips to the next card:

 BAD SYSTEM PROBLEMS - Bob Candless, x937

he flips to the next card:

 REALLY BAD SYSTEM PROBLEMS - Michelle French, x365

he flips to the next card

 OUTRAGEOUSLY BAD SYSTEM PROBLEMS - Mike West, x887

he flips to the next card and taps the card with forefinger:

 SYSTEM FUCKED UP BEYOND ALL RECOGNITION - The VAXorcist, x666


(CUT to Machine Room.  SYSMGR is standing by the console holding 
an RA60 disk cover and using it as a shield to defend himself from various 
pieces of hardware which are flying at him from off-camera.  There is 
a knock at the door.  Slowly, SYSMGR makes his way to the door and opens 
it.  Standing there, backlit amidst outrageous amounts of fog is the 
VAXORCIST, wearing a trench coat and fedora, and carrying a briefcase.)

VAXORCIST:  (in a hushed voice)  DEC sent me.  I hear you're having some 
problems.

(CUT to SYSMGR OFFICE, a small but pleasant office with posters on the 
walls and clutter on the desk.  As the VAXORCIST enters, he removes his 
coat and hat, revealing a very techie outfit beneath.  He is wearing a DEC 
badge.)

SYSMGR:  (Frantic)  Problems?  Problems?!?  You could say I'm having some 
problems.  4.6 was fine.  4.7 was fine.  I install 5.0 and all Hell breaks 
loose.  The damn thing ate two of my operators this morning!

VAXORCIST:  Calm down, everything will be alright.  I've dealt with
situations like this before. 

SYSMGR:  You have?

VAXORCIST:  Four years ago at an installation in Oregon, a programmer
renamed his Star Trek program to VMB.EXE and copied it into the system
directory.  When the system was rebooted the next day it phasored the
entire accounting department claiming that they were Klingon spies.  There
was a similar problem in Texas three years ago, and then, of course, there
was the IRS fiasco that we're not allowed to talk about.  But don't worry. 
These things can be fixed.  Before I can help you, though, I have to ask
you a few questions. (The VAXorcist opens his briefcase and removes a
clipboard) Now, according to the report, the strange occurences began after
you installed VMS Version 5, is that correct? 

SYSMGR:  Yes, that's correct.

VAXORCIST:  Now, did you carefully read the Installation Guide for VMS
Version 5? 

SYSMGR:  (confused) Installation Guide?

VAXORCIST:  Yes, it should have come with the Release Notes.

SYSMGR:  (still confused) Release Notes? (SYSMGR begins rooting about on 
his disk, shifting papers around as if he might find them underneath)

VAXORCIST:  (annoyed) Yes, Release Notes.  They should have come with your 
documentation upgrade. 

SYSMGR:  (completely confused - looks up from his rooting through the 
papers on his desk) Documentation upgrade?

VAXORCIST:  (angry) YES!  The Documentation upgrade for your VMS
Documentation Set! 

SYSMGR:  Documentation S...?  Oh, you mean the grey binders?  They're over
there. (he points to the wall behind the VAXORCIST.  The VAXORCIST turns
and we see a closed glass-front bookcase packed with grey binders.  A small
red sign on the front of the bookcase reads: "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, BREAK
GLASS"). 

VAXORCIST:  Right.  This is going to be tougher than I thought.  Let's go 
take a look at your system and see just how bad everything is.

(CUT to the Machine Room.  The room is neat and tidy and there is no sign 
that anything is wrong.  The VAXORCIST enters the room with the SYSMGR
behind him.)

VAXORCIST:  Everything looks okay to me.

SYSMGR:  Maybe it's hibernating.

VAXORCIST:  Unlikely.  It's probably trying to lure us into a false sense 
of security.

SYSMGR:  Sounds like VMS alright.  (VAXORCIST gives him a dirty look)

VAXORCIST:  I'm going to have to test it's power.  This could get ugly, you 
may want to leave.  (The SYSMGR shakes his head no.  The VAXORCIST brings 
hiself up to full height in front of the VAX and points a finger at it)
By the power of DEC, I expel thee from this system! (Clap of thunder)

(CUT to door to the machine room.  The SYSMGR is pulling a cart on which 
sits the VAXORCIST wrapped from head to toe in magnetic tape)

SYSMGR:  Any other bright ideas?

VAXORCIST:  Just shut up and get this damn stuff off of me.

(CUT to SYSMGRs office)

VAXORCIST:  (Writing on the clipboard)  Things look pretty bad.  I think 
we're going to need a full-scale VAXorcism here. 

SYSMGR:  Is there anything I can do to help?

VAXORCIST:  As a matter of fact, there is.  We've got to incapacitate the
VAX to keep it from causing any more damage until I'm ready to deal with
it.  Now, I've got some software here that will do that, but it's got to be 
installed.  (VAXORCIST hands SYSMGR a tape)  With that running, the CPU 
will be so bogged down, the VAX won't be able to harm anybody.

SYSMGR:  (Examining the tape) What is it?  A program to calculate pi to the
last digit? 

VAXORCIST:  Better than that.  It starts up All-in-1 with a 10 user load.

(CUT to Hall outside of Computer Room.  The VAXORCIST approaches the door.
As the SYSMGR approaches the door, the VAXORCIST holds him back.

VAXORCIST:  I appreciate your help, but it won't be safe for you in there.

SYSMGR:  What?  You're going in there to face that thing alone?  You're 
nuts!

VAXORCIST:  Hey, it's my job.  (VAXORCIST turns to the door)

SYSMGR:  Wait a minute.  (VAXORCIST stops and turns around)  You better
take this with you.  (SYSMGR removes a very large and very nasty looking 
gun from the inside of his jacket)

VAXORCIST:  (Smiling)  No, I won't need that.  I've got something more 
powerful.  (VAXORCIST holds up a small guide-sized orange binder, opens it, 
and shows it to SYSMGR.  CUT to closeup of the book which reads:  "GUIDE TO 
VAX/VMS SYSTEM EXORCISM")

(CUT to view of Machine room door as seen by the VAX.  The VAXORCIST enters 
the room and stands in front of the VAX.  CUT to view of the Machine Room 
showing the SYSMGR confronting the VAX)

VAXORCIST:  By the power of DEC, I command thee, Evil Spirit, to show 
thyself.

VAX:  Bugger off.

VAXORCIST:  (Shaken)  What?

VAX:  I said Bugger off!  Now get out of here before I core-dump all over 
you!

VAXORCIST:  (Recovered)  Threaten me not, oh Evil one!  For I speak with 
the power of DEC, and I command thee to show thyself!

(A rumble is heard and again the VAX becomes backlit by red lights and a 
fog begins to roll across the floor.  The VAX cabinet doors slowly creak 
open to reveal two small red lights in the dark cabinet which appear to be 
the creature's eyes)

VAX:  There.  Happy?  Now get out of here before I drop a tape drive on 
your private parts.

VAXORCIST:  (Opening the orange binder, he begins intoning SHUTDOWN.COM in 
gregorian chant.  The VAX screams.)

VAX:  Stop that!  Stop that!  You, you DOS LOVER!  Your mother manages RSX
systems in Hell! 

(The VAXORCIST continues and the VAX screams again.)

VAX:  Stop it!  (a large wad of computer tape is thrown at the VAXORCIST, 
apparently from the VAX).  Eat oxide, bit-bucket breath!

(The VAXORCIST continues and the VAX screams once more.)

VAX:  Mount me!  Mount me!

VAXORCIST:  (finishing the intonation) And now, by the power of DEC, I
banish thee back to the null-space from which you came!  (The VAX screams
and the scream fades to silence.) 

(CUT to the doorway of the Machine room, which now stands open.  The 
VAXORCIST is once again wearing his trench coat and fedora.)

SYSMGR:  So it's over?

VAXORCIST: (Putting his hat on) Yes, it's over.

SYSMGR:  (Shaking the VAXORCISTs hand) Thank God.  Listen, thanks a lot.  I
don't know what we would have done without you. 

VAXORCIST:  Hey, it's the least we could do.  The Software Distribution 
Center should be sending you a patch tape in a week or two to patch out 
that AI routine and prevent this from happening again.  Sign here.  (he 
hands SYSMGR the clipboard, SYSMGR signs at the bottom and hands it back)
Have a good one.  (VAXORCIST leaves). 

(SYSMGR enters the machine room.  Camera follows him in.)

SYSMGR:  (Calling to someone off-camera)  Okay, you guys, let's get 
rolling.  Get those backup tapes out.  We've got a clean system again!
(cheers are heard from off-camera.  The SYSMGR leaves the picture, leaving 
only the VAX with it's cabinet doors still open in the picture.  Slow zoom 
in to the LSI unit.  Slowly, the LSI unit begins to emit a pulsing red 
glow)

(Fade to black.  CREDITS ROLL)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (C) 1991 by Christopher Russell (crussell@eng.umd.edu).  Please 
feel free to copy this and pass it around if it amuses you, as long as 
this notice is left intact.  

Any similarity between characters appearing in this script and any persons, 
creatures, or entities living, dead, or otherwise is purely coincidental.  

I am no longer an employee of the University of Maryland, so I'm not 
particularly bothered if you think that they are responsible for any of 
this.  Unless it's funny, then it's mine.  

Thanks to my friends and colleagues at the University of Maryland and
elsewhere for their help and encouragement in the developement of the
script and the video.

--
Edited by Brad Templeton.  MAIL your jokes (jokes ONLY) to funny@looking.ON.CA

Please!  No copyrighted stuff.  Also no "mouse balls," dyslexic agnostics,
Iraqi driver's ed, Administratium, strings in bar or bell-ringer jokes.



Now if only it was Windows Vista freezing at midnight instead of peoples Zunes, I would be roflmfao'ing so hard, I'd bust a gut and need to be hospitalized to stop laughing xxxxDDDDDD.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Some great bumper stickers

Fat people are harder to kidnap

Don't steal. The government hates competition.

Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reason.

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.

It's God's job to forgive Bin Laden... It's our job to arrange the meeting -USMC


Backoff I'm a postal worker.

Of course you're faster, but I'm driving in front of you.

If you can't stop when I do, smile as you go under!

If you can read this, I can slam on my brakes and sue you!

I don't mind the voices in my head, it's the ones in yours that bug me.

I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but you are abusing the privelege

I Think, Therefore I am Single

Dogs steal everything

Willow takes my quilt... I take the top sheet
Ma calls me to do something, Willow takes her favorite blanket, and I've got to move her [Willow]
So Willow tries the couch, but Coco has most of the good blanket there; and instead steals Ma's bathrobe lol.
Now Willow is stealing half my quilt, half the top sheet, and I'm counting myself lucky that I've still got my ass on the bed lol.


You know, it's a good thing I'm pretty immune to temperatures once I'm fully wake.... else, I might just freeze by morning :\

Monday, December 29, 2008

Writer's Block: Use Your Power

Our holiday gift to you: the question submitted most often to Writer's Block—if you could have a superpower, what would it be and how would you use it?
Live Journals Writer's Block


If I could only have one single superpower, I would choose the power to fly - so simple, so wonderful. But as to what I would do, mmm lol; a scene from Superman comes to mind, and those who know me fairly well could guess it easily. Why I would choose it, is because I would love to fly; but probably will never have the chance to become a pilot.


On the other side of the coin, if I could have the full set of superpowers of any comic book hero to choose from, it would either be the amazing spiderman or superman. Reasons being, the intelligence to build webshooters (Yes, I adhere to the old way - not the movie way!) for web swinging would be a heck of a good time, but without super agility, strength, and spider-sense, you'd end up SPLAT pretty fast lol. The alternative: Supermans powers, because no other comic book hero has such a mundane set of powers, nor a set of superpowers that are better suited for doing the right thing with them, or to quote something from my favorite super heroes comic book world....


With great power, comes great responsibility

Writer's Block: Better to Receive

Sometimes it's the thought that counts, and other times it's the thing itself. What's the best gift you've ever received, thoughtful or otherwise?
Live Journals Writer's Block

Hmm, probably the rock that my brother got me the last time he was on Vacation. It's a plastic rock that says, "Someone I know went to Mars, and all I got was this stinking rock!" --> the perfect gift lol; no really, I love it! I've been using it as a paper weight next to where I keep my laptop, just a cheap trinket but it's the thought that counts.


I guess, you could say it's a brother thing lol.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

I'm tired

I spent the holidays camped almost comfortably in front of a computer, mostly Dixie: where I can actually work on things lol.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Technological breakthroughs of 2008, and I'm getting old....

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/news/2008/12/YE8_techbreaks

I've never seen all of minority report, but the idea of a paper like that sounds cool :-). The Memristor is interesting, more interesting then trying to dump data out of SDRAM that just lost power lol, my mind is going bonkers with the possibilities of what memristors could do to PCs. The Dynamic Random Access Memory we've been using for so many years, basically stores data in capacitors, and has to refresh the charge in them to keep the data in memory, and relatively sane; the point of parity bits or ECC memory being to help deal with insanity lol (sorry, couldn't resist that!). Now enter the Memristor.... ;-). USB 3.0, I am intently interested in, but I haven't followed it since I heard about the stink with Intel awhile back; really glad to know this is moving again! With luck, in a few years we'll be seeing USB 3.0 devices being the norm in the market place, and USB 2.0 ports relegated to the same place USB 1.1 held around 2002'ish -- and we can finally burn off our firewire ports xD. Honestly, although at least 50% of the computers I have running daily have FireWire support built in, I have never *actually* used or owned a FireWire based device to plug in lol


*Drools*



Technology seems to be approaching Clarke's third law, that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.", and I guess you sort of have to follow his second law to get there... Hmm, I wonder if I might live to see an era, where technology has become indistinguishable from magic, as my generation and the ones before me understood it; then again, if I do, I wonder if any of the young wipper snappers around will still do what I do.... Stop, and ask myself, how does this work? And then go in search of the truth.


Ahh, somehow I feel old right now lol. I can still remember when anything like an "iPod" was something us kids called a Walkman and used to walk around with, or equivalent devices ;-). When for all except lifeless nerds and "professionals", computers at home were still virtually unheard of for most people, no body had heard of things like the ARPAnet or the current Internet that is so ubiquitous today. Headphones came in one of three styles, classy stereo ones that had padded "cups", ones that sat on your ears like dinner plates (common variety), or little ear buds that you stuck in your ears (good for mini am/fm radios), and always had a cord that was either too short or to long; the idea of a wireless headset was still very much a dream, and none of us regular kids even thought about it.


Disks still were floppy, and could only hold about 360KB - and I wish I knew how to make'em flippies back when I had 5 1/4" floppies lol. The memory capacity of most personal computers were still measured in Kilobytes, not Gigabytes - now I know people with upwards of 8GB of SDRAM lol. The most *graphical* thing about user interfaces, was trying to get the most out of your 16 colours! A "Mac" or Macintosh and a[n IBM] PC were really different; still was until fairly recently. And Compact Disk (CD)s were still expensive and usually required an equally expensive stereo system to play; I also have also seen cheaper clones of my CD/MP3 player that probably cost less then early music CDs did haha! Hmm, I wonder if you can even still buy a stereo system that can handle Vinyl, heh might have to check a garage sale. Not to long ago, I got my family to chuck an old stereo system that no one used anymore, which one day was "top notch" because it handled records, cassettes, compact disk (CD), and had a second cassette module that could do recording. These days, ask some one about a turn table and they will probably think you're talking about a Microwave lol (DJs and [real] music people aside).


Man, I still have a gramophone in my closet that belonged to my great grand parents, and a radio that uses vacuum tubes inside!!! I remember as a child, always dreaming and wishing that someday I might be a man of means enough to repair that old radio back to working condition; these days, I am just glad that I am taller then the radio lol. Both are inherited from my Father, and like the candy dish I keep many of my personal stuffs in; probably hails from his grandparents farm. Does anyone under the age of 20 today, even know what a farm was like? My dad learned to drive from fooling around with a tractor on my great grand parents farm; when my brother learned to drive, he had my face practically against the opposite window as he cruised through the Sports Authority's parking lot. I learned about driving from playing to many Video games and eventually getting to roost in the front passenger seat, where I could observe how things worked lol. My father could rip apart a car engine and put it back together again, he started to learn about fixing cars as a teenager, working at a gas station, and learning from mechanics when no one was around. I don't think I've even seen a gas station where there was a paid attendant around to pump the gas for ya :|. Every station now're days are self service, or go fsck yourself!


I still remember a time when the words "Computer Generated Image" did not have common meaning with movie special effects, except perhaps if you worked for a place like ILM. Back when even cordless phones were high technology; cell phones were big, heavy, and EXPENSIVE back then. Now corded techs are "out of style", and many people can only be reached by their cellular number. The days when the existence of stealth aircraft were ultra secret, but rapidly becoming public knoledge, as we dreamt of Romulan cloaking devices, The days when cartoon shows tried to teach kids morals while entertaining them, not patronizing them for stupidity while trying to useless cram crap down their memory banks - I agree with one fathers comment about what the little tikes watch these days, "It's junk". Still can remember when an "Instant Message" was to shout at someone from across the hallway, the lawn, or the street lol.


and I still remember a time, when there was nothing more important in life then family, friends, freedom, and keeping the flag flying high.



Hmm, I wonder, what later generations of people in my age group will be remembering, when the Gregorian date is like 2108-12-27 instead of 2008-12-27. Odds are, to people of my generation, the technology would be like magic, and to regular people of that period: like TV is to us. I just hope if that is what the future holds, someone still remembers how it all works.... and comes back in a time machine to tell me how to build it xD.

I live in a country full of morons.

http://www.macworld.com/article/137757/2008/12/previewlawsuit.html

Cygnus Systems, Inc. is suing Microsoft, Apple, and Google, because their web browser, becauses supposedly how they handle image previews "infringes" on a patent owned by Cygnus. This is so much bull shit man lol.


Why don't they just allow people to put a patent on using the "+" symbol to write addition operators on paper, and hell: better yet include using Hexadecimal 2b to store + in the ASCII encoding, that just about every single freaking common encoding does to display English. Then charge every body who has implemented an ASCII-compatible aware program to pay royalties, FFS!!!!


I'm not against allowing patents on software, but for the love of Pete's sister.... Who the $#@! grants these things? Probably some dipstick that doesn't even know a machine word from a nibble! *sigh*

Oy, so tired

The last thing I remember, is Lawrence of Arabia breaking formation to go back and find Gasim, and next thing I know, I'm snoring loudly until it's after 2300R lol.


There was several things I wanted to note, and a few things to do; time to unwind the stack a bit and try to remember :\

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Chuckle of the day, 2008-12-23

When in rome.... don't write "ROMANES EUNT DOMUS" on buildings


lol.


You are Perl. People have a hard time understanding you, but you are always able to help them with almost all of their problems.
Which Programming Language are You?




Is this thing psychic, or am I just stupid?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/dave_pearce/


Ahh, finally something good in the afternoons xD Used to listen to his show on Radio 1, I'm glad Wiz gave me the heads up lol.

Monday, December 22, 2008

read later

http://netadmintools.com/art145.html

Looking at the EE editor

http://pastebin.ca/1291353

That has to be within the top 20 longest functions I have ever seen.... but without a doubt, some of the most heavily indented code I have ever seen lol. Like WoW man !

Ahh... some R&R

Managed to catch the start of The Hallelujah Trail (all I can say about that farce, is have mercy on the cavalry lol); and then switched to Die Hard when I found it on :-), now The Horse Soldiers is starting; so there is something to watch while I sit in front of a computer, lol.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Score: Spidey 1, Windows 0;

0/ Registry fixed
1/ Paths fixed
2/ Browser profile fixed
3/ UserProfile changed
4/ Permissions fixed
5/ Twisted Windows arm into obedience
6/ Shim wedged into place
7/ Look how many issues get fixed, if you just kick Windows in the teeth >_>


What a morning, lol.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Just saw one of my favorites, You Can't Take It with You. Grandpa Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore) as the old patriarch of a family of cooks, each lilies of the field; and James Stewart as the rich Tony Kirby, out to marry his granddaughter Alice (Jean Arthur). When things finally come to both families meeting, Tony throws a monkey wrench into Alice's plans by bringing his parents to dinner a day ahead of schedule, before she can script her eccentric family into being "Normal". Mr Kirby's scheme to buy up the old Vanderhof house in a business backfires, and lands them all in the drunk tank. "Do you know who I am! I am Anthony P. Kirby!!!".


After provoking an incident, Mr Kirby gets a proper mouth full, when grandpa Vanderhof tells him what he thinks of him and his craving for money. 3 or 4 lawyers finally show up to defend the Kirby's in court, but just about everyone in the dang gum city turns out to support their friend, old grandpa Vanderhof. The judge finds the Vanderhofs guilty, after they admit to manufacturing fire works without a license in their basement; fining them $100.00, Mr Kirby offers to pay the fine but is turned down. Despite them all being as poor as Grandpa, the people chip in to pay the fine, even the judge contributing two bits himself! When it comes to why the Kirby's were present at the arrest, grandpa Vanderhof tries to plagiarize himself to keep the Kirby's out of the news papers, and Mrs Kirby pounces on it to save her social reputation; Alice flies off the handle with the truth as Tony Kirby finally sticks up for the truth.


Alice flees to Connecticut, the Kirby finical empire hinges on the biggest deal of Mr Kirby's life, and the Vanderhofs sell the house so they can go to Connecticut and keep the family together. Tony is set up to be the President of the most powerful company in the America, and resigns to go follow his own dreams; then like grandpa Vanderhof so many years ago, brokken hearted Mr Kirby takes the elevator up to the top floor, where everyone is waiting to seal the big deal.... and he goes straight back down, out the door, and never looks back ;-). Tony asks grandpa Vanderhof how he can get in touch with Alice, but gets the hopeless truth, that she doesn't want to see him and left to forget the past; but Tony also gets a bit of advice. The trouble with young people today, being that they never use the ol'bean, lol. He mentions that there is a large trunk in Alice's room that will be going to where she is staying, and Tony gets the hint hehe. Alice shows up to question grandpa about selling the house, and locks herself in her bedroom when she sees Tony Kirby coming down the staircase.


Mr Kirby shows up to ask advice of old man Vanderhof, so he tells him to stop thinking in terms of fortunes, and sit and play a duet with him on the harmonica. Grandpa Vanderhof explains that whenever he has troubles, he just sits and plays his harmonica until it passes, and somehow it all works out ok in the end. Of all things, they play Polly Wolly Doodle until the rest of the family and friends helping with the move join in, Tony and Alice eventually joining in, and getting Mr Kirby's approval of their marriage. When Mrs Kirby shows up looking for them, and finds the party going on, she out right faints xD. In the end, grandpa Vanderhof says grace at the big family dinner:



Quiet, please, quiet! Well, sir, here we are again. We've had quite a time of it lately, but it seems that the worst of it is over. Course, the fireworks all blew up, but we can't very well blame that on you. Anyway, everything's turned out fine, as it usually does. Alice is going to marry Tony; Mr. Kirby, who's turned out to be a very good egg, sold us back our house - he'll probably forget all about big deals for a while. Nobody on our block has to move; and, with the right handling, I think we can even thaw out Mrs. Kirby here. We've all got our health; as far as anything else is concerned, we still leave that up to you. Thank you. Bring it on, Reba!




Hmm, this movie reminds me of my favorite verse in the Bible, should look it up & post it someday. lol, that also reminds me of the last time I quoted it.... My pastor reminded me to stand behind the bible, rather then next to it, less my mother throw something at me >_>


Hahahaha !!!!

Friday, December 19, 2008

When writing up a post on DF, in reply to JMJ_coders recent thread, some of my mental-checks lead me Google for one of the user groups, leading me to an old document; which helped spurk my interest in unix. As I normally do, finished writing the post, and started floating around various cross links.


Noticed a few additions to the Rootless Root since I last parsed it. One that really caught my eye,


Master Foo and the MCSE

Once, a famous Windows system administrator came to Master Foo and asked him for instruction: “I have heard that you are a powerful Unix wizard. Let us trade secrets, that we may both gain thereby.”

Master Foo said: “It is good that you seek wisdom. But in the Way of Unix, there are no secrets.”

The administrator looked puzzled at this. “But it is said that you are a great Unix guru who knows all the innermost mysteries. As do I in Windows; I am an MCSE, and I have many other certifications of knowledge not common in the world. I know even the most obscure registry entries by heart. I can tell you everything about the Windows API, yes, even secrets those of Redmond have half-forgotten. What is the arcane lore that gives you your power?”

Master Foo said: “I have none. Nothing is hidden, nothing is revealed.”

Growing angry, the administrator said “Very well, if you hold no secrets, then tell me: what do I have to know to become as powerful in the Unix way as you?”

Master Foo said: “A man who mistakes secrets for knowledge is like a man who, seeking light, hugs a candle so closely that he smothers it and burns his hand.”

Upon hearing this, the administrator was enlightened.


Well, it's been on my list for awhile, but I finally got around to posting it on the PC-BSD forum. Poll: Common problem/questions FAQ for each release branch. It was one of the things on my list of project short comings, that reminds me... I need to add more >_>

One reason why I use FreeBSD and OpenBSD on my machines, they do a professional job of things lol. Maybe it's the nature of projects like PC-BSD and Ubuntu, to pay less attention to things then the systems they've ripped use Both FreeBSD and Debian do a much better job them PC-BSD and Ubuntu at many things, hell even Slackware and Windows does better lol.


As to the thread I started on forums.pcbsd.org, I also sent out a PM to 20~30 people in the forum regular, semi-regular, and past regular visitor range, asking for their inputs. With a little luck, between anyone that actually reads their PMs and our current crowd, that'll help contribute feedback in the thread, to prove I'm not just talking out my ass...

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Finally a few minutes to myself, if I actually get them...

Made it through work in one piece, despite nearly breaking my neck once and nearly landing on my duff the other round lol. With luck, I'll at least get 20 minutes to myself, before the next round begins. I'm so tired of this never ending crap. With the way my lige is, I probably won't even get that lol -> at least when everone else is asleep, I can sometimes have a few hours without issue :\.

A lot of people, don't understand why I use the word "slave" to describe parts of my life, least of all my family (they don't get it lol); but it's very much liek being aslave, being here. I'm chained to a job, that I'll never be able to leave without major problem; I've little freedom of travel, can't afford to maintain a license, and if I let HRH pay for it, I'll end up my mothers chauffeur, and still not able to go anywhere, because I don't get paid, hence no fuel lol. As I keep thinking, it's like the more and more I see, it's as if the chance for anything I want in life, desinagrated the moment I said "yes" to helping my family :\


*sigh*

At lest with some luck, I'll have the night time to get some work done....

Oy, what a day

Was late for work, dog from the yard and I ended up helping Teena search; she finally found him. The slice on my other thumbs healing, only smashed it once at work... I'm really getting tired of this crap lol. Survived work, also to my mothers surprise, 2 weeks pay in bonus (N.B. I don't get paid, period); that hopefully will replace some of the savings she's blown through, if it ever gets there lol. Made a quick sweep of the various forums, congratulating the new Recruits on [SAS] hehe.


Turned in early after dinner, sat down with the laptop around 2200, then powered down to watch Executive Decision, haven't seen in in a longo-time. I think it was also the only dang thing on TV tonight +S. No idea what work I'll get done tonight if any, have to be up early for work tomorrow, and I am _really_ not looking forward to what my family has planned.... ahh, but with any luck, I'll still be sane by the time I get to my days off.


I don't even want to think about new years, lol.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Dolly and the Queen go to heaven

Just heard this on the radio.... when it got to the punch line -> I busted out laughing my ass off lol. Thanks to After MidNite with Blair Garner, I had to clean off my monitor, from laughing so hard :\


Queen Elizabeth and Dolly Parton die on the same day, and they both go before St. Peter to find out if they'll be admitted to heaven.

Unfortunately, there's only one space left that day, so St.Peter must decide which of them gets in.

St. Peter asks Dolly if there's some particular reason why she should go to heaven, so she takes off her top and says, "Look at these. They're the most perfect ones God ever created, and I'm sure it will please him to be able to see them every day for eternity."

St. Peter thanks Dolly, and asks Queen Liz the same question. She then drops her skirt and panties, takes a bottle of Perrier out of her purse, shakes it up, and douches with it.

St. Peter says, "OK, Your Majesty, you may go in".

Dolly is outraged. She screams, "What was that all about? I show you two of God's own creations, she performs a disgusting hygiene act, and gets in and I don't?!!!"

"Sorry, Dolly," says St. Peter, "but a royal flush beats a pair any day."


That was most unexpected, lol.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Hmm, I was dreaming about being involved in a proper SAS assault this morning, nothing like that to get ya blood pumping before work lol. Managed to survive work, cut my other thumb (for korn skae!), got off work late and missed a tea appointment :\, got dragged out grocery shopping *again*,m and I think my mothers finally finished spending all forms of savings lol; she also owes me money >_>.


I'm like the only one in my family that knows how to save money lol. Not looking forward to the rest of th eweek that much, but I'll be off much of next week; I am really not looking forward to Christmas lol.


On a lighter note, I've been promoted from Moderator to an Administrator on forums.pcbsd.org along with jnixon. Kris Moore and James (jnixon) have been improving the spam protection, much to the relief of forum regulars; and there is now the big red button I've been longing for in dealing with spammers! With luck, jnixon will keep some activity on forum matters, so I won't be the only active admin, which probably wouldn't much nicer a task then being the only active moderator was lol. Admin on the forum, is a bit of a closer association then I want with the PC-BSD project.... but I also don't want to see the forums go to pot, so I ain't arguing. I personally prefer newsgroups (USENET) for such matters, but most PC-BSD users seem to hit the forums when they need help. Hmm, that reminds me, I need a new news reader lol.


Hmm... maybe, this means we can finally get a proper (sticky) F.A.Q. and Common Issues thread going when new releases come out; although me ablibing it myself, wasn't my idea of how to fix the problem lol.
Oy... so sleepy, I can't tell the difference between ssh and scp... At least, things are almost done, even if I have to go back to work tomorrow lol.


*head hits keyboard, begins to snore loudly, and dreams of lines of code dancing overhead*

Sunday, December 14, 2008

When asked if this information was helpful by Microsoft:

NO

0.) Change windows to actually let the user see the stop error when it happens

1.) Provide a list of explanations for the errors that occur

In my case, looks like an DRIVER_IRQL _NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL problem and a null pointer dereference. [Censored] is more helpful then your website ever is.... Now to go off and test my memory and screw with the pagefile.
Well, still absolutely nothing done...


Ended up with a heated discussion with a friend on IRC, about WINE. I've also come to the conclusion, that not learning Swing years ago was a good choice lol. If I ever made a regular practice of programming in Java, I'd probably make use of SWT, but for the task in question it had to be either AWT or Swing; I have a book with lots of AWT stuff somewhere, but after 12 years, I'm sure the API's changed a bit haha. Spent the rest of my night in what would be best described as a "kinky" chat else wheres lol, but still... didn't manage to get anything done!


The problem is, I can't get nothing done during the day --> family
I can't get nothing done until everyone is asleep --> family
And assuming I haven't been run ragged, \
passed out from lack of sleep, or \
just to fscking tired to work --> family.


If my family would stop torturing me, maybe I could get crap done?


I really need to get out of here.....

Writer's Block: Coast Range

If you had to choose, would you rather live in the mountains or by the ocean?
Live Journals Writer's Block

Mountains....

I still remember when I was in Tennessee, and the trip back home was by way of the Smokies, wound up in North Carolina lol. But it's the mountains out in Tennessee I remember most, so beautiful; it's hard to describe it. If I close my eyes, I can almost see them in my minds eye. The greens, browns, and golds of the trees, and the emebb and flow of terrain.


Unfortunately I was there as part of a wedding party, meaning I was stuck in a monkey suit lol; but it was a great trip. I got to hang out with a few cousins I've never met before, and a great aunt. Family is a very important thing for me, even if mine drives me crackers... nothings perfect I guess. I really would like to see Tennessee again some day, as long as I don't need a tux lol. I remember swearing, that if I ever found myself in one again, it best be my wedding lol -> who else could I love enough to wear a tuxedo for? Especially after I nearly got choked to death by that stupid thing lol.


My memory is far from photographic, but is quite good for things that 'stick', mmm. Me and water generally don't mix very well, despite being a Floridan I never got to spend much time at the beach :-(, that's practically sacrilegious :\. But IMHO, the mountains can be more beautiful then the ocean, and I don't miss 90F (~32C) temperatures being the norm!


Although, I do really miss the palm trees...

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Laughing my ass off

http://xkcd.com/69/
http://xkcd.com/340/
http://xkcd.com/177/ (I can't explain it, but I find this hilarious xD)
http://xkcd.com/341/
http://xkcd.com/256/

It's a wonder how few of these you can actually go through without interupts, even in a place where getting stuff done is a totally outlawed concept, unless it's a task popped onto your brainstack so someone else can keep sitting on a couch, rotting braincells infront of a TV.

http://xkcd.com/342/ (WoW)
http://xkcd.com/343/
http://xkcd.com/344/ (ROFLMFAO!!!!)
http://xkcd.com/356/
http://xkcd.com/345/
http://xkcd.com/400/
http://xkcd.com/378/ (Thanks Mal)
http://xkcd.com/361/ (This one is me....)
http://xkcd.com/171/
http://xkcd.com/238/ (Close enough...)
Me: http://xkcd.com/323/
Me: If that was Windows ME, I wonder what they drank on Visa?
Friend: HAHAHAA
Friend: OH MY FREAKING GOD
Me: xD
Friend: i will wake up my girlfriend laughing on that one
Me: lmao
[2]a_mallais> but seriously
Friend: I would not compare viste with me
Me: ok, this block is making the log.... haha
http://xkcd.com/399/
http://xkcd.com/89/


OK, cost is clear.... now let's see if I can actually get some work done, without going AFK every flipin' time I get into the flow...
Part of my login scripts, is to execute '[ -x /usr/games/fortune ] && /usr/games/fortune -aes', which prints a short message from the fortune database, found this one appropriate lol.

It is not true that life is one damn thing after another -- it is one
damn thing over and over.
-- Edna St. Vincent Millay

Friday, December 12, 2008

After laughing myself silly over an XBox link a friend sent me, I've been surfing around consumerist.com. What a gold mine, and some good laughs too xD.


Added a few links to my ma.gnolia, now I just need to stop chuckling at some of the articles I read lol. The one about posting fliers outside the car dealer was a good one -> so much sweeter then normal resolution methods :-D. This reminds me, I really need to work on my whole regular resources / news feeds; Hmm.... [to be continued]
Dang it... almost 0830Z, and I need to be up early tomorrow!!! (Eh, today actually... lol). I think I've spent more time waiting on the freaking documentation @ java.sun.com to load, then writing code! It's faster to just download the docs off cds-esd.sun.com at ~1MB/sec. Heck, it's taking longer to unzip then it did to download lol -> that's kinda sad.


Although, arguably if I had just used C++ for this, I could have been done by now and spend the remaining time on libraries. About 15minutes with Python, and the whole thing would be done, and no compile/linking to care about on Windows >_>. Well, at least there is still no need to pack binaries for each platform... that's one plus.


But a huge negative, to have to finish the program tomorrow after work lol.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

0x5065726c20726f636b7321

Hooah, I've nearly completed my little organizational pattern hehe.


~/stuff                            -> dumping ground for work load management
-------/bin                        -> binaries to help out (links to ~/sh)
------------/cgrep                 -> comma grepper for contacts file
------------/reminded              -> reminder notifications daemon
-------/bookmarks                  -> links to pages I need to read
-------/contacts                   -> CSV file with why,method,id of people I need to contact
-------/delegates                  -> list of things I pawned off on other people (and need to follow up with)
-------/open-loops                 -> list of things I need to do; if it is here, it is a commitment
-------/reminders                  -> directory full of reminders
-----------------/YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM -> send me this files contents on YYYY-MM-DD at HH:MM UTC
-------/hope-chest                 -> things I wish I had time for; deal with in future
-------/school                     -> reserved for future need
-------/projects                   -> tmp files for various projects.


On Sunday (2008-12-07), I started writing cgrep in Perl, and setting up the contacts & open-loops files. Finished the final touches yesterday, and finished reminded today (Aside from tweaks needed for WinXP; adjust $ENV vars). Not to bad, considering how little coding time I've had lately :\


Terry@dixie$ ~/stuff/bin/cgrep -h   
/usr/home/Terry/stuff/bin/cgrep -- Grep for the contacts CSV file

Usage:
    cgrep [IWhimvw] [-f file | --file file] regex [file ...]

      Options:
        -I, --id                grep the 'id' column
        -W, --why               grep the "why" column
        -V, --verbose           display line for AWK
        -h, --help              print usage help info
        -i, --ignore-case       ignore case distinctions
        -m, --method            grep the "method" column
            --man               read manual page
        -v, --invert-match      select non-matching items
        -w, --who               grep the "who" column

Terry@dixie$ ~/stuff/bin/reminded -h
/usr/home/Terry/stuff/bin/reminded -- reminder notifications daemon

Usage:
    reminded [-t seconds] [-n|-m addr] [-p program] [-d directory]

      Options:
        -D, --debug             Debugging output
        -d, --directory         Directory to search
        -m, --mail=address      Remind by Mail to address
        -h, --help              print usage help info
        -n, --notify            Remind by notification popup
            --man               read manual page
        -p, --program=string    Execute string as the notifier
        -t, --timer=secs        Sleep secs between checks

Terry@dixie$ 

I'll probably modify ~/init.sh to launch reminded during my sessions; maybe rsync files to Vectra, and run it in mailing mode.


Things in ~/stuff/open-loops are more or less sorted into a queue of tasks; which are to be done in mostly the order listed. Once they are done, they get deleted; and generate or nuke other entries IAW the resulting outcome. So far, it's actually worked well enough; cgrep, reminded, and the structural are all done ahead of schedule. Now if I could just do something about controlling the amount of time available to work on crap!!! I once tried Personal Information Manager (PIM) software, but usually found the surveyed apps to lack the level of flexibility I need. And to hack it in, would take more time then using a few megs in sticky notes. ssh'ing to Vectra and mucking with a todo file ain't so hot either, so here we go :-) It's simple, it's effective (as anything else), and no need to screw around with a big, overwait, memory hogging, overly mouse riddled program, just to manage things -> I can use my shell xD.



It's amazing, how often I can throw perl at a problem, and see it work lol.



Then again, I can usually read my Perl scripts in six++ months... can't always say the same for other peoples golf game.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Water, water everywhere, but a drop to drink!

I was dreaming that I stuck my head out the door, and the sky was turning black as ink; bolted the door, and five minutes later: stuck my head out, and it was the proverbial sunny day out, only the screen door blew away and was lodged somewhere lol


Not to long after, I get woken up with the word "Tornado" in the air! So here I am, barrowing down the hallway in the dark, one eye open, looking for the dog, with warning sounds going off (radio/tv) and bells ringing in my spider sense -> wait, thunderstorm warning, tornado warning, flood watch, and it's after 0800 local; ok, I'm going back to bed lol


By the time work-prep was to start, it was raining so hard, looked out the door, and couldn't even see much of the other side of the complex :\. Normally, it's a clear view aside from a few obstructions. And Coco goes ballistic whenever it thunders, no convincing her to stay on the covers in a blanket. Main reason I'm on the laptop atm, want to get the battery chargedf back up, just in case. Guess I can finish that Perl script now...

Nice time for a power bleep

Power went out at 0705Z, almost 0800 now; no sign of repair.

Only got about 45min left of battery power, so the rest of my perl script will
have to wait until tomorrow - man, I'm so glad I keep my laptop full of
programmer docs xD. Coco is scared, because she can't see where she's going
lol; Willow doesn't care, there's still food left in the dish 8=)

Now if I could just get Ma to not leave a flibin' candle lit on her table...
Anything knocks that over, or the dog tries to put her noise on it, when Ma
get's up... FFS, am I the only one in this family that actually _T_H_I_N_K_S_
before I do something?

Spidey01, 2008-12-10 T07:58:01 UTC


Hahaha, I power down, put the laptop away, take a leak, and lay down to get
some shuteye. Start to pray, and 2 minutes later, everything comes on lol.

Just in time to have to reset all the clocks, instead of sleep!

2008-12-10 T08:12:13 UTC

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Chuckles of the day

And don't forget the first rule of writing internet applications - 'Don't re-implement TCP/IP'.
-Bram Cohen

...if we judge something by how badly it is misused, well, hell would be perl, right? -- dancer

Unix and C are the ultimate computer viruses.
-- The Rise of ``Worse is Better''
By Richard Gabriel

Monday, December 8, 2008

Just what I need

Something must've been jilting out of the trash bag, because after I hefted it into the dumpster, my hand was bleeding. Around where the thumb meets the palm, and just in a perfect slot to bleed more then such a small wound deserves. I finished my chores, with a bandaid and tape on my finger; bandaid to curtail blood flow, tape to keep the bandaid from falling off lol.

At least it should be ready to come off in a few. When willow saw it, she had to come over and sniff my hand, "Yeah willow, I hurt my hand, you don't have to lick it, thanks"

lol
I will never understand why some people WriteCode.LikeThis(SoMuch, ThatIt, Hurts);

*shivers*

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Interesting ops idea

devise better methods of organizing data
properly triage my todos (oy)
cook up a few shake & bake scripts to round it out
Stick to getting crap done, on time (or punch out peoples teeth, trying? <_<)


Oh man, some days I love using a Unix like OS >_>

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Grrr....

When it takes 3 hours to typeset a memo, you know you either have one huge memo, or have been sent Away-From-Keyboard A LOT.

You might be a Floridian if...

Thanks Noles :-)

You might be a Floridian if...

A good parking place has nothing to do with distance from the store,
but everything to do with shade.
-- well duh

You know the four seasons really are: almost summer, summer,
not summer but really hot, and Christmas.
-- so true, it burns!

You know that anything under a Category 3 just isn't worth waking up for.
-- xD

You dread lovebug season.
-- reminds me of a road trip

You are on a first name basis with the Hurricane list. They aren't Hurricane Charley, Hurricane Frances...but Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.
-- Don't forget the old farts!

You were twelve before you ever saw snow or you still haven't.
-- Hey, I *still* had to move out of state for that lol

My chuckle of the day, 2008-12-06

If you're writing a calculator program, ‘+’ should always mean addition!
-- source, The Art of Unix Programming, Chapter 1. Basics of the Unix Philosophy

Now that made my smile xD

Friday, December 5, 2008

TexLive 2008 on FreeBSD

First download the ISO image, and compare the checksums (both md and sha based on avail); alternatively, buy the sucker on DVD :-).


Since I can't afford a yearly DVD, and don't have a spare disk; I need to unpack the ISO and mount it directly. If you bought the disk, mount it as normal. For me, this procedure required:

dixie# lzma d texlive2008-20080822.iso.lzma texlive2008-20080822.iso.lzma


LZMA  4.60 beta  Copyright (c) 1999-2008 Igor Pavlov  2008-08-19

dixie# mdconfig -a -v -t vnode -u 10 -f texlive2008-20080822.iso


dixie# mount -t cd9660 /dev/md10 /mnt


dixie# ls /mnt


.mkisofsrc  index.html  source

LICENSE.CTAN  install-tl  support

LICENSE.TL  install-tl.bat  texmf

README   install-tl.bat.manifest texmf-dist

README.usergroups readme-html.dir  texmf-doc

autorun.inf  readme-txt.dir  tl-portable

bin   release-texlive.txt tl-portable.bat

doc.html  rr_moved  tlpkg


Now that the ISO is ready op, we can start the installation. TexLive uses a nice Perl based installer, if you've got the necessary TK GUI modules for Perl installed, you can use a a -gui switch; me, I'm fine with the perl script.


Obviously, you will need lang/perl5 installed, along with the necessary dependencies for programs shipped in TeXLive. I don't know what release of FreeBSD i386, the binaries in TexLive 2007 were compiled against, but 2008 used FreeBSD 7:

Terry@dixie$ file /usr/local/texlive/2007/bin/i386-freebsd/pdftex          0:11
/usr/local/texlive/2007/bin/i386-freebsd/pdftex: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, 
version 1 (FreeBSD), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped
Terry@dixie$ file /usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-freebsd/pdftex          0:13
/usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-freebsd/pdftex: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, 
version 1 (FreeBSD), for FreeBSD 7.0 (700055), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), 
FreeBSD-style, stripped
Terry@dixie$                                                               0:13


Several of the programs used in TexLive are sh/cmd wrappers, but once installed, you can get a general idea of dependencies with the following command:

Terry@dixie$ ldd /usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-freebsd/* 2>- | pgr      0:17

N.B. 2>- means to close the standard error stream, what you need to type, may vary depending on shell; 2>- works on Bourne style shells (ash/dash, bash, ksh, zsh). In the case of shell script wrappers, you'll need to open them, and manually parse to find anything hidden; most people don't need to do this.


For the most part, the depends are on the systems C and C++ libraries (libc, libm, libstdc++), a few require other things, such as ncurses, zlib, the new libthr, and gcc related stuff - all this comes with FreeBSD 7. Some programs require X-related libraries (such as MetaFont), fontconfig, and freetype. If you have a working install of X.Org 7.3, you will probably be fine, while disk space holds out lol. The need for handling #!/bin/sh and '#!/usr/bin/env perl' are of course a prerequisite. On my X based system, everything is ready. Checking all this out, shouldn't be necessary, and any "missing" perl modules or libraries can be installed later: when required.



Anyway, let's get to actually installing this sucker:



dixie# cd /mnt; ./install-tl


Platform: i386-freebsd => 'Intel x86 with FreeBSD'

Distribution: live (uncompressed)

Directory for temporary files: '/tmp'

Installer directory: '.'

Loading /mnt/tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb

======================> TeX Live installation procedure <=====================



=======> Note: Letters/digits in  indicate menu items <=======

=======>       for commands or configurable options                   <=======



 Detected platform: Intel x86 with FreeBSD

 

 <B> binary systems: 1 out of 15



 <S> Installation scheme (scheme-full)

     83 collections out of 84, disk space required: 1720 MB



 Customizing installation scheme:

   <C> standard collections

   <L> language collections



 <D> directories:

   TEXDIR (the main TeX directory):

     /usr/local/texlive/2008

   TEXMFLOCAL (directory for site-wide local files):

     /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local

   TEXMFSYSVAR (directory for variable and automatically generated data):

     /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-var

   TEXMFSYSCONFIG (directory for local config):

     /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-config

   TEXMFHOME (directory for user-specific files):

     ~/texmf



 <O> options:

   [ ] use letter size instead of A4 by default

   [X] create all format files

   [X] install macro/font doc tree

   [X] install macro/font source tree

   [ ] create symlinks in standard directories



 <V> set up for running from DVD



Other actions:

 <I> start installation to hard disk

 <H> help

 <Q> quit



Enter command: i


Installing: [name of package]
.... repeated for each one, have fun waiting on z
running post install action for bin-texdoc

running post install action for bin-texlive

running post install action for texlive-cz

running post install action for texlive-de

running post install action for texlive-en

running post install action for texlive-fr

running post install action for texlive-pl

running post install action for texlive-ru

running post install action for texlive-zh-cn

running post install action for texlive.infra

running post install action for xetex

running mktexlsr /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-dist /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf

mktexlsr: Updating /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-dist/ls-R... 

mktexlsr: Updating /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf/ls-R... 

mktexlsr: Done.

writing fmtutil.cnf data to /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-var/web2c/fmtutil.cnf

writing updmap.cfg to /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-var/web2c/updmap.cfg

writing language.dat data to /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-var/tex/generic/config/language.dat

writing language.def data to /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-var/tex/generic/config/language.def

running mktexlsr /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-var

mktexlsr: Updating /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-var/ls-R... 

mktexlsr: Done.

running updmap-sys... done

re-running mktexlsr /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-var

mktexlsr: Updating /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-var/ls-R... 

mktexlsr: Done.

pre-generating all format files (fmtutil-sys --all), be patient...done



 See 

   /usr/local/texlive/2008/index.html 

 for links to documentation.  The TeX Live web site (http://tug.org/texlive/) 

 contains any updates and corrections.



 TeX Live is a joint project of the TeX user groups around the world;

 please consider supporting it by joining the group best for you. The

 list of groups is available on the web at http://tug.org/usergroups.html.



 Add /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf/doc/man to MANPATH.

 Add /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf/doc/info to INFOPATH.

 Most importantly, add /usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-freebsd

 to your PATH for current and future sessions.



 Welcome to TeX Live!



./install-tl: done.

Logfile: /usr/local/texlive/2008/install-tl.log

After that completes, be it 10 minutes later or 10 hours, depending on your hardware.... If desired, one can customize the installation process. If the command prompt scares you, use install-tl -gui instead. You probably will want to setup your installation afterwords, the tlmgr program will be of use, and supports a -gui option I think. For me, all I do is set the default paper type, and update my environment so I can use TeXLive binaries, manuals, and info pages.
dixie# setenv PATH "/usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-freebsd/:$PATH"
dixie# /usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-freebsd/tlmgr paper a4


N.B. the default shell for root on FreeBSD is (t)csh. My interactive shells always sources ~/.site_shrc at the end of it's setup, so this is where I set my environment, others would probably want ~/.bashrc or other shell specific file:
# TeX Live stuff
PATH="/usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-freebsd:$PATH:/usr/games:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:${HOME}/sh:${HOME}/bin"; export PATH
MANPATH="/usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf/doc/man:/usr/share/man:/usr/local/man:$MANPATH"; export MANPATH
INFOPATH="/usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf/doc/info:/usr/share/info:/usr/local/info:$INFOPATH"; export INFOPATH
and resource the file. As root, one can also add the manuals from TexLive to /etc/manpath.conf (read the comments in it), which will update the man commands search path, Updates to the environment can also be done to the various files in your skel system if desired, and mail existing users about the update. I'm not aware if there is a file to configure the info commands search path, probably is, but I don't use info pages that often ^_^. I require each user account to adjust their own environment before using TexLive, which suits me fine. Once TexLive 2008 is ready op, and one is satisfied, /usr/local/texlive/2007 can be rm -rf'd, recovering around 1.1GB, depending on what you had installed. Also, my 2008 install is ~1.7GB. I generally opt-in to the defaults, but I expect many people would want to setup a more localized-only set of files. Now to clean up:
dixie# umount /mnt
dixie# mdconfig -d -u 10


Happy trails

Cool error message

Page Not Found
Narrator: In A.D. 2006, Web was beginning.
Captain: What happen ?
Mechanic: Somebody set up us the journal.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What !
Operator: Main browser turn on.
Captain: It's you !!
CATS: How are you users !!
CATS: All your base are belong to Frank.
CATS: You are on the way to 404.
Captain: What you say !!
CATS: You have no chance to reach your page. Make your spelling correct.
CATS: Ha Ha Ha Ha ....

If you think you've reached this page in error:

    * Make sure the URL you're trying to reach is correct.
    * Check http://status.livejournal.org to view LiveJournal's current status.

Otherwise, you can:

    * Go back to the previous page
    * Go to the LiveJournal Homepage.
    * Explore the Site Map

major sigh of relief

The word that comes to my mind, is one my grandfather would probably understand, but I can't actually spell it lol. I guess in English, it would be along the lines of caress her gently.


I'm that happy to have my laptop working again lol.



I'm sitting on the bed, comfortably :-). Dixie is on the chestboard, on my lap, and I'm typing away without any impedance --- it's back to getting things done xD

Yippie Kai-Yay!!!

My laptops replacement (OEM) keyboard finally arrived; United States Postal Services, First Class.



Opened it up, and scratched my head, "Isn't this supposed to have 1 keyboard holes?", I unwrapped what's left of my old one and confirmed it. A quick fitting with Dixie, showed the extra holes would rest freely, gotta love PC vendors. In order to get it to work, I needed to fold the ribbon to match the old one, and argue about getting the tabs under her bezel; but it finally works.


I feel like I just welcomed a love one home, from a really long trip.... and I can get work done again!!!!




I think, after I get my work done on Training Grounds #1/#2, I'll probably be found with Dixie in my lap, and a smile on my face xD

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Days log, 2008-12-05

The highlights of the day >_>


Driving my mother nuts:

Demanding proof by math, that if I do something consistently the same way every week, and you consistently complain about how it comes out; prove that doing it in the first place, is not a waste of my time.

Mother: Check the tub in the guests bedroom
Me: I never saw a bedroom with a tub in the middle of it.
Mother: You know what I mean.
Me: Yeah, but I also understand English.

-> that really pissed her off lol.


Probable revenge? I'll probably get to spend my Saturday lugging boxes of Christmas decorations around.

Other topics:


I eventually managed to get some lunch today... I dunno why, but I haven't been eating frequently lately; where frequently is my usual 2 meals a day, and occasional snack. So hungry, I counted the (18) hours, since my last meal lol. Managed to escape for a bit... food, film, and fun.


That left me, sufficiently exhausted, but much more relaxed... Hit the web, then SWAT; joined Medic & Ambu for some rounds, then back to surfing. Lately, I've been in-haling more and more of LaTeX documentation. I have a project coming up in the near future, that'll be requiring it, so (y).



I've been trying to re-valuate various modules of my usual operating environment, but it seems that like Vi, TeX is just to hard to displace :\. It's just proven to be the best fit, although it lacks troff's terseness :-(. The evaluations of course: nroff/troff+macro packages, Texinfo, LaTeX, DocBook, and of course HTML/CSS

Needless to say, I do not use word processors for writing documents, and avoid using them like the plague.



Just spent a fair amount of time, downloading TexLive 2008 on Vectra; kicking myself in the process, for not putting my .screenrc under CVS! My systems have TexLive 2007 installed, but despite ~3 months passing, I never got around to fetching 2008 lol. I'll need to get it setup on my machines sometime this weekend; and probably fetch a few packages off CTAN.



I do periodically review the software and technology I use, and for what purposes I use it. It really helps in maintaining my systems (and installing them ^_^), and just getting things done. I enjoy both efficiency and comfort, which is probably why my laptops also my most used work-station.... and contains all of the software systems I use for various tasks.


I wish that dang keyboard would arrive soon.

I never knew I could fly

http://www.xfire.com/video/4c23c/


Hahahaha, thanks [SAS]_Ambu :-)

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

A short look at the big 3

Hmm, the idea of GM, Ford, and Chrysler go under? What can I say, but burn baby burn!!!

Chrysler is so bad, they've got a big flash-sign on there home page; Fords website is actually quite nice, I'm rather impressed; especially how they've the flash / non-flash parts; GM's website I am not even going to comment on. Looking at there stock prices though, I'm glad I don't own any stock in Ford lol.


I would hate to see a company like ford go under, because of their history; I wouldn't mind seeing less fords on the road though >_>. I'm anxious to see what happens in the coming year. It's an imense amount of jobs,

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Hmm, rubber banding between C++, Python, and Bourne is an interesting way to pass time, especially when you start wishing for a hybrid.


Wait, ain't her name Perl?


>_>
Nothing to do until morning, and nothing if I'm not needed at work.... (YKYMF!)

Brains to far gone to concentrate on serious coding (Choice between Windows or SSH to Vectra, not fun)

To wide awake to sleep

To tired to care about any forums beyond [SAS], until I'm free of work.

My e-mail will continue to pile up anyway, so why bother reading until I can think clearly (vive la Google)

I actually have nothing to read, worth reading, that I haven't read a thousand times (Heck, I just skimmed through SUSv2/SUSv3 out of boredom)


I hate Tuesdays lately :\
So far, I've gone most of the day without eating, minimal to drink, and about 7 hours between bathroom breaks. It's 30 F (-1.1 C) out and getting worse; I've had my hands chilled, thawed, and rechilled by more then a few degrees, several times :\


When we finally got home, I cracked open the Potato Chips and some dip to gnosh on; had a nice snack before chores. I generally don't eat junk food anymore, but my last meal was around 10pm last night lol.