iTunes Store Gripe

I could expound on this to include bad metadata that has plagued digital music from the beginning. I won't - I'll keep this succinct for now.

iTunes (Apple) - why the hell do you feel it necessary to change the name of the album for your free songs each week? You have the song, you list the correct album it is from, but then you tack on " - single of the week" and label it as track 1 of 1. NO!

Actually, it's worse than that in some cases. Sometimes the real name of the album instead becomes "song title - single of the week". But, it's not an actual single, and the album art will still of course be for the full album.

This came from a real album, with a real title, and it had a specific track number. STOP CHANGING IT!

Some Interesting BBall

Tonight, as I have done regularly for about the past 23 years, I attended a Hawkeye basketball game. It happened to be the Iowa State game which always adds a bit of excitement, the crowd was the best I have seen in a few years, and Iowa happened to play a great game and pretty much had their way with the 'clones. Follow that up with the traditional playing of "In Heaven There is No Beer" and all in all - a most excellent experience.

It turns out I also got a nice little celebrity sighting out of the deal. Ashton Kutcher, being an Iowa native and former U of I attendee (I actually had 2 Engineering classes with him the sole year he was there as an engineering student), came back to the state to do some benefit work to provide money for flood recovery. Both he and Shawn Johnson (Olympic gold and silver medalist from Des Moines for those not paying attention) had events throughout the week to help raise money, which I think is very cool of both of them.

Ashton and his wife, Demi Moore, both sat at the scorers table about 10 rows in front of our seats along with Shawn Johnson. I was impressed that along with the good they were doing this week, they did not simply show up for the game, make their appearance, and then duck out. They all stayed well past the final buzzer, and generally seemed to be into the game and all of the events. My craptastic cell phone pictures aren't worth posting, or I would add them here.

There was a screening for Ashton's new movie, Personal Effects, at the Englert theatre in Iowa City tonight as well. I'm not so sure about the movie - it may have had a bit too much pandering to the Iowa fans for even me to stomach, but I'll probably check it out as a rental at some point.

OCD

"3 posts in one day - he must be sick, or deranged."

I recently picked up a TON of great Aesop Rock singles and bootlegs, and many of them are incredible. However, since I don't happen to live near somewhere where you can easily find a lot of the stuff Def Jux put out on 12" easily, I tend to resort to a little bit of ARRRRRRRRRRRRR.

I pay for my regular music - I feel that bootlegs and such are the spoils for those able to find them on the Internet.

The only trouble with obtaining this music in this fashion, is that it messes with my OCD-like need to get my iTunes library to be pristine and complete. I usually turn to my good friend, wiki, but this stuff is a bit too obscure for even wiki to be of help.

I now have a new friend in this battle. google site:rateyourmusic.com ALBUM_NAME ARTIST

At least in the case of Aesop Rock, I found every one of his obscure singles and common boots out there. Fantastic.

Multidock

On a less tyrannical road than my previous post, I received in the mail today a new point and shoot camera to replace our ailing one which has finally died after about 5 years of good use. This camera gets used daily in my wife's business, so it definitely has gotten a workout (being dropped in Key West, Florida did nothing to prolong its life though...).

I found a great deal on a Canon SD1100 and I was very impressed. Very similar to my old S400 ELPH, but smaller, quicker, MUCH larger view screen, and several other niceties. I would recommend it highly to anyone needing a good point and shoot.

Now, to the one nitpick on Canon. We now own 4 Canon digital cameras, so I don't think you can say I'm not a fan of theirs. We have the S400, the SD1100, our 400D SLR, and a ZR50 mini-DV camcorder. All 4 use very nice, rechargeable Li-Ion battery packs which all have awesome runtime.

Now - guess how many of those battery packs allow charging inside the device over USB? None. A bit annoying, especially if you forget to turn off the camera after dumping pictures onto the computer. So, since I can't use USB for charging, I have to use a battery cradle instead.

Okay - guess how many of these 4 cameras use the same cradle? Yeah, the answer would be none. Amazing - they really couldn't come up with a common charger? The chargers aren't exactly small to begin with, so taking a little extra space to be more flexible really wouldn't be an issue.

Guess I can't be too hard on my company for not having a universal dock yet. Why is this such a hard thing for companies to achieve?

Delusional Ramblings

First, can we finally now admit that the FCC has no idea what they are doing? I hope the fact that most of these articles point out that this is the "outgoing" FCC chairman indicates that someone with more intelligence will be coming in. We can't just print money, and I'm really tired of the federal government thinking it (it being the taxpayers of this country) needs to finance everything for everyone. Free Wi-Fi has failed in metropolitan cities - this would just fail in a more spectacular fashion, and that's not even considering their ridiculous "porn-free" clause. *Sigh*.

That plan segways nicely into the next delusional rambling though. How do we find a way to eliminate all credit cards? Now. Seriously, if you don't have the money, you can't spend it. It's as simple as that. You can't have a horribly failing economy and then have the best Black Friday ever - not possible. I know more people who bought flatscreen TV's, Wiis, and computers this year than any year in the past. When did it become a guarantee that every family in America was entitled to a flatscreen TV? When did people start spending thousands of dollars at Christmastime? There is one way to fix the giant blob of crap that the country is languishing in right now. Get some self-control and willpower back in our lives. Stop buying crap that isn't a necessity. Don't buy anything that you can't cover with cash in the bank (yes - I know there can be exceptions like housing - quit nitpicking). Let's want better for ourselves, and put in a little bit of hard work and restraint to make it happen.

vimrc

Ryan just did a post asking to expose our VI settings to the world (wait, you all use VI, right?). I'm going to follow suit and throw mine out here. Surprisingly, for the amount of time I have spent in that editor, and how much I enjoy using it, my vimrc is rather sparse.

" Stop me from accidentally doing things when I click the stupid scroll-wheel
map
map <2-middlemouse>
map <3-middlemouse>
map <4-middlemouse>

" Prefer unix format
set fileformats=unix,dos
set fileformat=unix

" Use Vim settings, rather then Vi settings (much better!).
" This must be first, because it changes other options as a side effect.
set nocompatible

" allow backspacing over everything in insert mode
set backspace=indent,eol,start

set cindent shiftwidth=4
set history=50 " keep 50 lines of command line history
set ruler " show the cursor position all the time
set showcmd " display incomplete commands
set incsearch " do incremental searching
set expandtab " Spaces, not tabs :-)
set autoindent
set smartindent
set nobackup " Live dangerously
set tags=$init\tags " Tags - the secret to life

Just Like Cash

So - if you're like me and spending money at Amazon is pretty much a certainty (especially now that nearly all of my digital music is bought there), this is a pretty slick deal.

Coinstar and Amazon teamed up a while back to let you turn in money at Coinstar machines, and avoid the transaction fee if you redeemed the coins for an Amazon gift certificate instead of cash.

Now, they have a special deal where if you turn in $40, you can mail in for an additional $10. So - I can drop by the bank, get $40 in quarters, and then drop them into the closest coinstar machine. After mailing in my receipt, I end up with $50 I can spend on Amazon. A nice little 25% gain on my money (or equal to a 20% off coupon, however you want to look at it).

Worst case if somehow the $10 deal goes wrong, I simply tied up $40 at Amazon that is guaranteed to be spent eventually (and often far too quickly).

Pump It

Although this blog largely ends up discussing technology-related topics (such is the nature of being immersed in a technical field), I enjoy nothing more than doing non-technical things at home.

This weekend, Sunday in particular, pumpkins were the name of the game. I decided to go for 4 carved pumpkins this year, and I must be improving my efficiency because I finished them all on Sunday night after we got back from some kids activities.

Here are some shots of the happy pumpkin family before and after. I need to get a tripod to make the night shots turn out better, but this will do for now.

HOWTO - Bootable Windows XP System on a USB Flash Drive

I really need to create (or bring back as it turns out) a website for tutorials on random computer-related topics. As it is, this is going on my blog for now, and I'll just crib it or link to it later if I get around to getting a website going again.

I recently had need to create a bootable Windows XP system on a 1 GB USB flash drive. Seemed like it would be pretty simple to me...turns out it isn't. Microsoft likes to mess with the USB driver on boot up which isn't a good thing when you are booting from a USB device.

After looking on the Internet for quite a while, I found a tutorial that helped me accomplish what I needed. The original tutorial I followed is at (http://www.tech-archive.net/Archive/WinXP/microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded/2005-10/msg00332.html). While I am very thankful to have found this, I thought I could possibly write a more succinct tutorial, and that's what follows here.

Final note - this most likely isn't the best way to do this, or the simplest. It worked for me and might be useful for others, so I think it is worth posting here. I did find another tutorial that might be a more correct way to do this at (http://www.ngine.de/article/id/8). I haven't tried it though, so YMMV.

---

Initial preparation

1. Make the intended target USB flash drive installable. See the following section for help with this.
2. Boot the newly installed XP install from the hard drive.
3. Disable the pagefile. This is done by opening the system control panel, choosing the advanced tab, clicking the top “settings” button, changing to the advanced tab, clicking the “change” button, and then choosing the “No paging file” option and clicking “Set”.
4. Insert the intended target USB flash drive, and allow it to be fully detected by XP.
   
   

Registry modifications

1. Backup the HKLM\System registry key before starting (just to be safe).
2. Import or make the following modifications to 6 registry keys:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\usbehci]
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Group"="Boot Bus Extender"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\usbhub]
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Group"="Boot Bus Extender"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\USBSTOR]
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Group"="Boot Bus Extender"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\usbuhci]
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Group"="Boot Bus Extender"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDataba
se\usb#root_hub]
"Service"="usbhub"
"ClassGUID"="{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDataba
se\usb#root_hub20]
"ClassGUID"="{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}"
"Service"="usbhub"

3. Create 2 registry keys based on the specific USB flash drive that will be used. Following are 2 examples – the key names will have to be customized for the Pid/Vid and hardware ID of the specific target flash device. The ClassGUID and Service keys should be entered verbatim.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDataba
se\USB#Vid_1058&Pid_0300]
"ClassGUID"="{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}"
"Service"="usbstor"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDataba
se\USBSTOR#DiskWDC_____WD1600BB-00FTA0_15.0]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="disk"

The Pid/Vid for the target USB flash device can be found in HKLM\System\ControlSet001\Enum\USB. Open the subkey for each item until you find the DriverDesc of USB Mass Storage Device, a Service of USBSTOR, and a LocationInformation that matches your specific flash drive.

The hardware ID can be found in HKLM\System\ControlSet001\Enum\USBSTOR. In this example the chosen key would look like:

Disk&Ven_WDC&Produ_WD1600BB-00FTA0&Rev_15.0

Again, find the device that matches your specific flash drive.

The Hardware ID is created as Disk(8)(16)(4) where the values are:

8 digits (in this example WDC_____ ) as the vendor of device
16 digits (in this example WD1600BB-00FTA0_ ) for the device type and
4 digits (in this example 15.0 ) for a version number.

4. Delete key HKLM\System\MountedDevices.
5. Delete string value HKLM\System\Setup\SystemPartition
6. Change HKLM\System\ControlSet001\Services\USBSTOR\Start from 3 to 0.
   (THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT – YOU WILL GET A BLUE SCREEN IF THIS ISN’T CHANGED)
7. Right-click on the HKLM\System\ControlSet001\Services\USBSTOR key and change the permissions to deny full control to the “System” group.
   
   

Preparing the target flash device

This step likely has to be done from another PC, or while booted to a different drive. Otherwise, some files end up being in use.

1. Copy all files and folders from the completed hard drive to the USB target flash drive. Do not copy the recycled or system volume information folders.
2. Delete \windows\system32\config\*.sav, *.log, and *.evt.

Adding support for additional USB flash devices

To add additional USB flash drive support to the original hard drive image, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on the HKLM\System\ControlSet001\Services\USBSTOR key and remove the deny full control to the “System” group attributes that were set in step #7 in the registry section above.
2. Insert the additional targeted USB flash drive, and allow it to be fully detected by XP as in step #4 of the initial preparation section above.
3. Follow steps 3-7 of the registry modification section above.

EDIT: It turns out there is more to this than what I have posted. This will be limited to a specific flash drive, not just a certain PID_VID. The image will need to be recreated with each additional flash part that will be used added to the registry for this to not blue screen when moved to a different flash drive. Suck.

Genius!

I really didn't think I would find much use for the new "Genius" feature in iTunes 8. It seemed like a gimmick, and primarily to push more stuff from the iTunes store in my mind.

However, after playing with it for less than a night I'm pretty happy with it now. I was a bit concerned when my iTunes memory usage climbed to 800 MB while it was first compiling my genius information (and if you still care about privacy of your data it will disturb you as well). After that completed though, it was pretty cool seeing it group together songs from my library based on a given song.

After playing with that for a bit, I decided to turn on the sidebar and let it show songs from the store as well. The related songs portion is only mildly interesting to me -- what I really liked was the list of other songs I might be missing from that same artist.

It was while browsing an artist I happen to have nearly everything ever made, that I noticed something else that I found amusing. It claimed there was a song I didn't have, and that it was on an album that I physically own and had ripped to my library. After being thoroughly stumped for a bit (keep in mind it's the wee hours of the morning, and I have all sound muted), I realized that it was actually a hidden track. It turns out that if you buy the album from iTunes, the last song is broken into 2 separate songs, rather than one long track. Interesting. Also cool - because I now know the title to what was previously an untitled hidden track to me.

Now I know I've lost my mind

Yep - it's gone. I've gone off the deep end into the esoteric world of geekdom. Even true geeks now laugh at how far gone I am.

I love learning new computer languages, I should do it far more often than I do. Practicality often gets in the way of my true self. I of course almost always learn with some form of a hello world. If you don't know what that is, quit reading. Seriously, you will only find yourself in pain from this point forward. Just quit.

While waiting for a backup to finish tonight, not particularly wanting to do anything else, I stumbled upon a Brainfuck page. I had actually been here before after linking there from Eric Raymond's (ESR) INTERCAL webpage (don't ask - it's easier that way).

So - I decided to write a hello world in Brainfuck...and I enjoyed it. I'm sick. Here it is:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
+++++++++++++
>
++++++++++
>
<<<<<<<<<<<<<< [.>]

Hopefully Blogger doesn't screw up the format. You'll probably think it did anyway, it basically just looks like line noise. I kid you not though, compile this bad boy (here's a link to the compiler I used), and it will output "Hello World!\r\n" (rendered appropriately by your terminal).

Only after I was finished did I go check out the wiki for Brainfuck, and see that they had their own version of a hello world.

Anyway, if you are sick like me, seek help. Otherwise, follow these steps to validate I'm not lying to you:

1. Download the compiler from the link above. Rename from bf.asm.txt to bf.asm.
2. Look at the assembly source and verify there is no voodoo trickery going on - it really is a compiler.
3. Run "nasm bf.asm" to create the bf executable (your compiler). Make it executable.
4. Copy my source into a file named HelloWorld.b or something similar.
5. Run "cat HelloWorld.b | bf > hell.elf
6. Run "./hell.elf"
7. Run screaming from the room as you realize what you have become.

Goodbye Smoky Air - You Won't Be Missed

Today is the last day of dirty, stinky public air. No, sorry, I can't promise that actually. I can say though that tomorrow is the first day where the fantastic new Iowa smoking ban will be in effect.

I'm freaking thrilled about this. Any public place is basically now a safe haven from something I despise. Despised isn't actually strong enough - pure hatred is better. In fact, after my introductory post, the very first post on this blog was against smoking.

Some will say this goes too far and infringes on personal liberties. They'll say that it is a slippery slope of government control. I don't give a rats ass. I'm normally very careful about allowing government to get into our affairs too. The difference here is that this is something that effects others, not just the brain dead who is puffing away. I'm still not legally allowed to beat the hell out of them or defecate on them, so I think it fair that they can't smoke around me.

The only disappointing thing to me in this is the very few loopholes that still made it in. Casinos and hotels still have exemptions. F the casinos, I'll stay away from your smoky, old folk piss establishments. Now I just need to find a hotel chain that positions themselves as non-smoking.

How to make music fun

I know - it looks like I'm just padding my posts count at this point. I'm on track to have as many posts this month as I have the entire rest of the year. Have to take advantage of it when the ambition is there.

Parts of the music industry (mostly the evil parts who hide behind a shell company known as the RIAA) are bemoaning the fact that people are not buying their music anymore, and that interest in their manufactured crap is on the decline. [completely wacky sidenote: I realized yesterday you can't say "Fiduciary Duty" without saying "douche"]. This zombified race of former humans can't figure out what they should do to get people to enjoy music again, so they err on the side of suing everyone and introducing painful and ugly DRM into their music.

Well, as I again realized over the past few days, that's completely the opposite direction to go. Music is a social creature. Just like the scorpion, that it's nature. Music is not really appreciated until it shared and experienced by many people. The RIAA is running scared and doing exactly the wrong approach.

I've enjoyed some fantastic musical sharing over the past few days, and I haven't even been to any concerts. My daughter loves all kinds of music, and I have been making CDs for her lately. There's not much more fun than doing that. It started with some bedtime music. Initially I started pretty mainstream, but more recently we ended up with a Marley (Bob and Ziggy) CD that she loves. Yesterday and today we created a "rock" CD for her. It turns out she has inherited her dad's wide range of musical taste - we have everything from pop, to 70's hard rock, to some modern and classic country.

The other sharing dropped in the form of a new 5 of the now from Ryan. Ryan came up with the 5 of the now a few years ago on his blog, and it's great both from the creating and listening perspective.

As his post and my previous post demonstrate, there is no lack of free music out there. Have no fear - music wants to be free and always will be in the end. Wise up RIAA.

Digital Battlefield

It's too bad other companies did not have the foresight and unique position of Apple to make their online music stores truly succeed. I say this not because I don't like iTunes, I've said before how it is pretty much my primary source if at all possible. However, some other companies are starting to do some good things and it is just a nearly insurmountable obstacle for them to overcome, which I think limits some progress that we should be seeing.

Okay - that was a long run-on way of getting to my real point. Amazon continues to improve and add to their excellent MP3 download service - yet I still basically forget about them entirely unless something pokes me to remind me. This is especially weird given that for almost all of my other online shopping, I prefer to use them first.

I received an email pointing out that Amazon has weekly album deals that are really good. We're talking $5 or $7 full album, non-DRM downloads of some really good artists. I assumed these would be pop radio schlock, but they actually have a good assortment of some good music.

Then, on top of that, I find out that Amazon has weekly free songs, just like iTunes, except again they are DRM-free of course. These songs change weekly (and possibly daily, some that I saw yesterday are no longer featured). Here is a link where you can find some, or signup for their weekly newsletter if you're like me and need a poke to look outside the iTunes garden and see the other music all around.

iTunes is still the simplest path around for me, without question. Nobody else can yet pull off having a single app where I can search their store, manage my music, and drop it on my device all in a well-designed interface. Amazon's downloader does a decent job, but I still consider it somewhat of a hack. However, low-priced DRM-free music is a good way to at least get me looking at them.

Adding on quick - here's another link to 30 free hip-hop/R&B songs courtesy of AllHipHop.com. A bit of a pain, you have to get your iTunes code via email - but some pretty good songs.

Quick Techie Splatter

After changing something on my Linux home router today, I realized I should make a post about the Tomato replacement firmware. Yes, I realize most people have no idea what I'm talking about right now, but for those that do, keep reading.

Tomato is one of many replacement open source firmwares available for the Linksys WRT54G family of access points and routers (among other devices). Most people are familiar with this little ubiquitous device, and many are aware that you can replace the firmware on it thanks to open source software (and some people behind the scenes who poked Linksys until they "did the right thing" with their open source support).

DD-WRT has been one of the most popular of these firmware packages for quite some time. I was a big fan myself. However, a few things began to sour me on it. First and foremost, DD-WRT does a fair job of stepping all over the spirit of open source. Yes, it is technically possible to get the source, but good luck ever figuring out how to get it to build. Moreover, I have seen many (possibly rumored) reports of less than desirable behavior related to the DD-WRT codebase.

Over time, a "subscription" version of the firmware has become available. I see any new features in the future likely only being available to people willing to pay for this, and the free version simply stagnating. This along with the firmware itself having an ever-growing amount of services that bordered on adware made me want to look elsewhere.

It turns out unless you really needed every last knob of DD-WRT, Tomato is both far simpler and equally fully featured. In addition, its hot-set capability for nearly all parameters is very slick.

I won't go into exhausting details feature by feature of the two. I'll suffice it to say that I see no reason why someone wouldn't be equally or more satisfied by using Tomato vs. DD-WRT. A quick Google search of "tomato wrt" brings up others opinions on this subject as well.

Linux Recovery Single User Mode

I recently found myself not knowing the root password on a Linux server I have in my house (it is temporarily relocated until a new hosting location is ready).

I had tried very successfully to forget all of my years of mucking with Linux servers, so it took me a bit to remember how to pull off resetting the root password. I'm throwing it on here in case I forget again in the future.

Since I had local keyboard and monitor access, this was really rather trivial. This was an older server still running Slackware. Slackware was the distro I first learned Linux with, and where I really polished my Linux skills. That said, I'll never use it again. I'm just not interested in the mucking any longer, Ubuntu server is the way to go for me.

Since this was an older Slackware box, it was still using Lilo. So, I stopped the boot process at the Lilo prompt by holding shift. I then used the following command line:
linux rw 1 init=/bin/sh

Now to explain a bit. "linux" was the name of my kernel image, "rw" says that I want to mount the root filesystem read/write, "1" is how I signal to drop to runlevel 1. All of that would be sufficient for simple troubleshooting. However, I needed to startup as root in order to reset the root password. Setting init to /bin/sh takes care of that nicely.

Firefox 3 Extensions

First of all, I really do love Firefox 3. Most people already knew I preferred Firefox to all other browsers. Firefox 3 was exactly the kind of updated I like. It didn't add a bunch of extra fluff and bloat that I didn't need. Instead, they focused on making it quicker, more stable, and even simpler to use. Fantastic.

People often ask what extensions I like or must have. I used to have a monstrous list back in the early Firefox days. Anything that seemed remotely useful I added. I have since tried to make my list be more of an "essentials" list. Some will argue my list is still fairly large, and some are still just niceties. However, I find that every item in my list in some way enhances my browsing experience on a nearly daily basis so they are all worthwhile.

I didn't feel like exporting a text list, so I'm going to be lazy and give you a screenshot instead. About the only extension I would really still like is a better version of the Google Calendar notifier that I used to have (which doesn't work in FF 3).

Take the Long Way Home

I've been meaning to blog several things, but just haven't had the motivation. The flooding has pretty much zapped whatever was left of my ambition. Kudos to KCRG and the CR Gazette though for turning news sources that I often chastise into awesome online sources during the floods.

For something with an equal mix of silliness and depression, I created this Google map of how we had to traverse one of the very few (and possibly only) routes between my current town and my hometown today.

Click on the link near the bottom to be able to see the points of interest better.


View Larger Map

Static Variables in Shared Libraries

I haven't posted for a while, and this isn't really a deserving post, so I apologize for that.

This is however, something I can never seem to keep straight in my head, so I'm throwing it out here to keep track of it for myself and possibly others.

How Static Variables within Shared Libraries (C or C++) Work Under Linux
Static variables within shared libraries for the most part work exactly as they do directly in an executable, on a per process basis. There is no consistency of value between multiple processes using the same shared library.

Each process will have all static data within these shared libraries initialized to zero, and then their scope will be maintained throughout the lifetime of that process, independent of other processes.


I have tested this empirically and found it to be true, and in line with how I theorized that it worked. If you know otherwise and can explain it to me (and shatter my understanding of the world) - I would love to hear it.

5 of the Recent

I've had this post and these songs queued up for a while, so they aren't exactly "of the now". However, they are all still high on my playlist.

Before hitting the list of 5, I have to throw in a plug for an album I bought last night. Del (aka Deltron, aka Del the Funky Homosapien) just threw down his first "real" album in at least 8 years, and the first to be listed as just from him in over a decade. As always, Del is awesome.

Pick it up from iTunes, or grab it from Amazon for a buck cheaper. In either case, you can grab it before it is even available in stores on Tuesday.

Now, on to the list:

Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild (Music for the Motion Picture) [Deluxe Version] - Hard Sun
I wouldn't recommend this movie unless you're looking to get depressed. However, this song reminded me of why Pearl Jam rocked so hard back in the 90's. I think Eddie is finally back to his roots, when I enjoyed listening to them. This is a bit of alt-rock mixed with folk, but mostly it just showcases Eddie's voice.

Pearl Jam - Love, Reign O'er Me (As Featured In the Motion Picture "Reign Over Me") - Single - Love, Reign O'er Me
This movie is also a bit on the downer side - the difference being that there are 2 amazing actors in it. I recommend this highly (which I would for pretty much any Don Cheadle movie). This song (mostly the original by The Who) is a central theme to the movie. Pearl Jam's version plays just as the credits begin to roll. Eddie easily has the pipes to emulate Roger Daltrey on this one.

Craig Morgan - Little Bit of Life - International Harvester
Here's something to liven up the list a bit. You might have to have grown up in a small, farm town in Iowa, playing with farm implement toys to truly appreciate this one. You might also need a 3 year old who loves to sing along. I happen to have both.

The White Stripes - Icky Thump - You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)
This is my surprise song of the list. I always knew that Jack White was a great producer, but I was never a fan of his band's music. I happened to catch this song on a rock station one day and assumed it to be some long-lost classic rock song I didn't know. Nope, new White Stripes.
This has a mixture of Black Crowes, with some 70's Cheap Trick thrown in. In other words, catchy as hell and exactly my type of music.
Overall, I've been happy with the whole CD. This is the brightest spot on it, but I dig it all.

Miley Cyrus - Hannah Montana 2 - Meet Miley Cyrus - See You Again
So, I threw this on here mostly to prove that I can. Yes, that's right, I just put a Hannah Montana song on here. That's because I'll admit that I think it's a damn catchy song, and that Miley Cyrus actually has a really cool voice. Go actually listen to it and just try to claim that it isn't catchy.

I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but I swear it was influenced by "Sunglasses at Night" - see if you agree.

Besides, the Cyrus family has a dynasty in the making, so you can't avoid them. Billy Ray is getting the last laugh at everyone. Not only are he and his daughter making millions (or billions), now his son has his own band on the radio too.

Gwendolyn Fae

(This blog is often about my interests, such as technology. This post probably makes it obvious that it is still my personal blog as well)

Gwendolyn Fae was one of the best people you would ever meet in your life. She spent her entire life providing love and hope to others, and all she ever knew was love by all who came in contact with her. I really wish you could have met her in person. That wasn't possible though, since she died on Sunday, the 3rd of February in 2008, 6 weeks before she should have been born.

Morpheus in The Matrix said "Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?" That's been my life this past week. This can't be reality. There's no possible combinations of events and universes where I can be expected to do these tasks. You can't go from anticipating yet another addition to the happy family, to knowing that person will not be alive, in a single moment. I can't be balancing trying to help others cope, planning events, and mourning all at the same time. How do I wake up? How do I know when it is over?

Without any insight, I always thought I understood when people stated that "children should bury their parents, not the other way around." I had no grasp of the true gravity of it though. It is absolutely unconscionable to require this of a parent, but it goes well beyond that. No parent should have to go through losing a piece of themselves, which every child is in some way. No parent should have to find a way to tell brothers and sisters who have been longing to meet their new sibling that they will not be able to play with them as they had been hoping. Finding a way to say that, and continuing to help them understand it all might be the most difficult aspect of the entire ordeal.

When all of this happens so unexpectedly and and in a mostly unexplainable way, it makes it that much more difficult to process. So much potential and future events that will never get to be, and we have no clear answer why. This is where faith can either be tested or fully realized.

If any good can come of all of this sorrow, it is an increased realization of the power of people all around you. Family and friends can in an instant demonstrate how much they care, and how involved they really are in your life. I always realized the value of both of these, but not to the fully level that it exists. Hopefully everyone who has been affected or involved can also take away some increased realization of how fleeting things can be, and how valuable time with friends and family should be. This sounds a bit trite, but it bears truly thinking about and believing.

I'm sure there is more I should explain, but at this point my mind has been in this dream state for so long, I find any additional thoughts to be fleeting. If you have come across this and have had a similar experience, let me know. I hope that this can help you in understanding the thoughts drifting in your mind as well.

Good luck on your journey without me Gwendolyn, I hope to understand it all someday.

Recovery

I never quite got around to posting this over the holidays, but I saw the pictures tonight and thought I would do it.

It turns out sometimes I do unplug from my computer. I actually try to do it as often as possible (although not as often as I might like, especially during the arctic winter). I make a habit to only check once in the morning and before bed on weekends, and I try not to use it at all during the night while I am home with the kids.

I'm very glad when I find new tasks to try and do that aren't computer-related also. Expanding my knowledge of varied other topics is very refreshing.

When we moved into our current house, we bought a new dining set that happened to come with upholstered chairs. At the time we knew that probably wouldn't mix well with our kids, but the set works really well with our house. Less than 2 years later, the seats were completely trashed and looked horrible.

Since I like new challenges, and I don't like money coming out of my wallet, I convinced my wife that her idea of recovering the chairs was a good one, but I should do it myself. I kept saying I would eventually do it, but then she used the fact that we were hosting Christmas dinner as a reason I should speed up the process. Couple that with my nearly 3 week vacation from work, and I made it happen.

In reality, it only took me 2 nights to get all 6 chairs recovered. I needed very few tools and things to make it happen. I borrowed an electric staple gun, bought a nice pair of scissors for cutting the fabric, and some very nice leather-like fabric from a local fabric store.

Here is a gallery of some before and after pictures. I can't say I'm a master upholsterer yet, but I will say they look far better than before, and even better than when we originally got the chairs.

Who's Fault?

Sometimes, even the best stores can be a pain.

Amazon is far and away my favorite online retailer. That means I can pretty safely say they are my favorite retailer period too. However, I was a bit annoyed when I had to return something.

I recently ordered something, and inadvertantly ended up with 2 in my cart. Because I was using a gift certificate it didn't dawn on me as quickly that I was paying too much either. All mostly my fault.

When I received the package I immediately realized the error. My handy included packing slip indicated that for a full refund I could simply visit their returns site. After clicking on recent orders, and choosing exactly which item I wanted to return, I had to choose a reason. "No problem", I thought, "I'll just choose the 'Accidentally Ordered Duplicates' option, or something similar." No, that was not even close to one of the options:

So, at first I selected the first option. I didn't really order the wrong item, just too many, but I figured this was the closest. However, while I would receive a refund in that case, they stated that I would have to pay shipping costs (prepaid USPS, but they would deduct the shipping from my refund amount).

This probably should have been acceptable to me, but since I didn't pay for shipping in the first place, I was annoyed. So, I began choosing other options to find out the varied outcomes. It turns out that if I simply claim I didn't like the item (as displayed in the image above), they'll cover the shipping costs. Hmm.

So, if you end up needing to return something to Amazon, this is apparently the route to go.

Albums of 07

Ryan switched up a bit from our 5 of the now format, and gave us his favorite full albums of last year.

I'll admit, I'm as big of an album fan as him. As much as I like just finding new music, and skipping around in my playlist, I'm still thoroughly impressed and amazed when I find an album that truly works from start to stop. This should be obvious I guess, Floyd never put out anything as a single that wasn't ten times better within the context of the album.

I had to stretch a bit to figure out my 5 favorite of last year. I can't say it was the best year for the album, but these were all at least ones that earned repeat from me. Also, this is a list of albums I enjoyed this year, not necessarily albums released this year.

1. Shooter Jennings - The Wolf
Yeah, this probably seems obvious, I'm a huge Shooter fan. That said, even I was amazed how much I liked this album. It just grew even better over time. Hands down his best effort yet. See you in August, Shooter.

2. Timbaland - Timbaland Presents Shock Value
This stretches the concept of album a bit. The amount of collaboration here makes it difficult to get a consistent theme going...or does it? The consistent theme here is Timbaland's continued incredible production value. That and the fact that I kept finding a new track to be my favorite. "Bounce" is the current one - Missy and Dre along with JT, that's just good business.

3. Z-Trip - All Pro
Old-school hip-hop masters, with some nice metal behind it. Where was this in high school?

4. Aesop Rock - Fast Cars, Danger, Fire, and Knives
This album and I had some difficult times. I often referred to this as the devil album, due to it having superhuman DRM from iTunes somehow. I also thought that it wasn't nearly as good as some of his former or his current album. I was wrong, it just took some time.

5. Various Artists - Lost in Translation Soundtrack
Yes, this is fairly old at this point. I just finally got around to watching this movie this year though, and then getting the soundtrack. RZA is a master minimalist.

First Post

...of 2008 that is. Only 366 days to go until the end of the year, time to get going on your yearly plans.

Let's start with some news from 2006. That was the original year when analog TV was supposed to be done. However, it really looks like it will finally happen in 2009.

For quite a few years I was rather annoyed by the government's plan to supply converter boxes to those who needed them. I wasn't sure that television should qualify as a basic need that should be assumed to be provided by the government. Actually, in this day and age (probably aided by the fact that I don't have television service) I think the Internet is a much more valuable and basic need. As a matter of fact, that's where I watched the 2007 countdown live from New York.

Back to the point, it turns out the the cost of converter boxes is just a cost of business associated with the government's overall plan. That cost is a drop in a bucket compared to what they intend to make by selling off the returned analog frequencies.

Thus far, they have attempted to implement this whole process by providing silly $40 coupons to people who request them, up to 2 per household. I say if you have any need for this at all, go take advantage of this offer.

The site appears to be having issues today, but here it is for reference.