Theres is a part of me that wants to update this blog everyday with political opinion personal carrying on and life changing wisdom. The result of this would be a clear and permanent record of the mundane nature of my life and its small victories and inconsequental tribulations.
As for the political blogging you could read any poorly xeroxed socialist newsletter and get the feeling of where I am. If you pick one of those up I am sure there would be a editorial about disillusionment with our new president elect. Give him a chance before we swallow the idea of him governing from the center right.
In order to maintain some biographical aspects of these post I will share with you several tidbits.
I finished my Masters Degree. It becomes official on the 17th. Dont ever write a thesis its like a zombie, you keep killing it over and over again and it crawls across the floor to try to bring you down once more.
I immediately started my PHD work at Virgina Tech.
As for my current musing about America;
Is it January Yet?
Monday, November 24, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
I can haz Absentee Ballot? No. Not Yours.
At a national level the McCain Campaign
and the RNC have been mailing out Absentee Voter Forms. On the surface
this is a non partisan act of good will to increase voter turn out. At
the simplest examination the logic is Old people like McCain Old people
vote Absentee lets help them out.
In actuality the mailings have the potential to disfranchise you and man
others. First look at the mailing you may have received. I bet it was
addressed to the Seaton Family or Current Resident. Mine was and so have
several others I have seen. The Seaton family is not some elderly
couple that used to live in your place its just a cover to throw you off
the intent of the mailing. The mailer includes an absentee ballot and a
envelope to return it to the registrar. This si step one in
disenfranchising a poor trusting student who received the mailing.
So you think great, I am from Richmond, I want to vote I just fill this
out and shove it in the mail and I am all set. But look closer at the
return envelope. The return address is that of the Montgomery County
Registrar in Christiansburg. If you send it there you wont get receive
an absentee ballot, the registrar you want to notify is your home
county's.
The second way this can get more Blacksburg residents disenfranchised is
by overwhelming the Montgomery county office. Local residents who have
moved, new permanent residents like me and those locals who really need
absentee ballots from the Montgomery Office may not get properly
registered in time because election officials are dealing with errant
absentee requests.
This mailing was mass mailed to Blacksburg addresses which are
overwhelmingly student addresses because of the demographics of our
college town. These ballots have the potential to trick you into
thinking you are all ready to vote absentee when you are not and swamp
the local registrar to the point where actual absentee voters and local
residents have trouble registering. The mailer looks innocent enough,
perhaps you though the campaign was trying to turn out those stalwart
Republicans the Seatons who are unable to leave their home. In fact
this mailer may have been designed to disenfranchise the students of
Virgina Tech and Blacksburg local residents by lulling them into
thinking they are properly registered to vote absentee when they are
not.
Check it out for yourself. Try searching for hard news articles on
McCain absentee ballot mailings. This is not just some conspiracy
cooked up in the minds of liberal bloggers. Its occurring all over the
place. In Ohio they leave off a check box that is required by state law.
In Wisconsin the return addresses are wrong. In Iowa its asks for the
wrong number off your drivers license.
Please check the Virginia State Board of Elections on how to identify
where and how to properly register. If you don't qualify as a Virginia
resident check you home states procedures to register.
and the RNC have been mailing out Absentee Voter Forms. On the surface
this is a non partisan act of good will to increase voter turn out. At
the simplest examination the logic is Old people like McCain Old people
vote Absentee lets help them out.
In actuality the mailings have the potential to disfranchise you and man
others. First look at the mailing you may have received. I bet it was
addressed to the Seaton Family or Current Resident. Mine was and so have
several others I have seen. The Seaton family is not some elderly
couple that used to live in your place its just a cover to throw you off
the intent of the mailing. The mailer includes an absentee ballot and a
envelope to return it to the registrar. This si step one in
disenfranchising a poor trusting student who received the mailing.
So you think great, I am from Richmond, I want to vote I just fill this
out and shove it in the mail and I am all set. But look closer at the
return envelope. The return address is that of the Montgomery County
Registrar in Christiansburg. If you send it there you wont get receive
an absentee ballot, the registrar you want to notify is your home
county's.
The second way this can get more Blacksburg residents disenfranchised is
by overwhelming the Montgomery county office. Local residents who have
moved, new permanent residents like me and those locals who really need
absentee ballots from the Montgomery Office may not get properly
registered in time because election officials are dealing with errant
absentee requests.
This mailing was mass mailed to Blacksburg addresses which are
overwhelmingly student addresses because of the demographics of our
college town. These ballots have the potential to trick you into
thinking you are all ready to vote absentee when you are not and swamp
the local registrar to the point where actual absentee voters and local
residents have trouble registering. The mailer looks innocent enough,
perhaps you though the campaign was trying to turn out those stalwart
Republicans the Seatons who are unable to leave their home. In fact
this mailer may have been designed to disenfranchise the students of
Virgina Tech and Blacksburg local residents by lulling them into
thinking they are properly registered to vote absentee when they are
not.
Check it out for yourself. Try searching for hard news articles on
McCain absentee ballot mailings. This is not just some conspiracy
cooked up in the minds of liberal bloggers. Its occurring all over the
place. In Ohio they leave off a check box that is required by state law.
In Wisconsin the return addresses are wrong. In Iowa its asks for the
wrong number off your drivers license.
Please check the Virginia State Board of Elections on how to identify
where and how to properly register. If you don't qualify as a Virginia
resident check you home states procedures to register.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
DNC-SPAN
I watched the convention today on C-SPAN and it was so much better than the networks. No commentary no false storylines just the goings on. Thats two NBC. Hopefully Rachel Maddow's show can redeem you.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
NBC sucks
NBC is really grinding my gears recently because of their olympics coverage. How hard is it to air a soccer game. The game coverage is part of a 4 hour block of tv with no indication of start or stop time. The coverage is incomplete, the coverage of the USA NEW Zealand Womens game ended before the final and USA scored a goal not recorded on my tivo. They take commerrcial breaks during the game.
The whole thing is totally bogus, with out the tivo Id never catch any of it. In the Showcases and Specials Portion of the tivo service you can select Go WORLD and it you can select sports to be recorded at the olympics. Saves hours of space of recording over using the wishlist options.
The whole thing is totally bogus, with out the tivo Id never catch any of it. In the Showcases and Specials Portion of the tivo service you can select Go WORLD and it you can select sports to be recorded at the olympics. Saves hours of space of recording over using the wishlist options.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Ignorance is Bliss or I should have stopped reading
"If I don't know it, its not true."
That seems to have been a Republican and Other Right Wing enclave tactic to ignore things that don't coalesce into their little world view. A few examples from last weeks news.
Argument:
Sex is Bad therefore Contraception is Bad. Most people think abortion is something to be avoided so lets equate contraception with abortion to try and keep women from having sex.
Fact Required to be Ignored: Oral Contraception doesn't abort anything. Its explained in this satirical post at slate.
Oral contraception does three things prevents ovulation prevents fertilization and prevents implantation. The last one is used to call it abortion. To make that case you have to believe that Oral contraception fails at step one and at step two but is 100% at step three.
Fact required to be ignored: The bottle neck in supply is in gasoline production not in crude supplies.
Oil companies make money turning crude Oil into products we buy. Oil executives make money when Oil companies stock prices go up. If increased drilling and production would raise profits oil companies would be doing it in the lands they already have leases to. The prospect of new leases would raise stock prices soon but not do much to the price of gasoline especially in the near term. Read a well formulated explanation here
Argument: Obama is to famous and popular with the media. This is leading to irrational exhuberance instead of looking at who is better which would lead people to McCain.
Fact ignored: McCain has gottten a pass on all the dumb things he has said because he used to be cool to the press back in 2000.
McCain is a media darling and everybody loves him just look at his IMDB list of appearances as noted by TPM.
No long example here just watch the daily show and read talking points memo. They catch most of the horrible things that come out of his mouth, rape is funny so is killing Iranians and verbally abusing his wife.
Speaking of funny look at this. Paris Hilton lampoons McCain ad.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d
That seems to have been a Republican and Other Right Wing enclave tactic to ignore things that don't coalesce into their little world view. A few examples from last weeks news.
Argument:
Sex is Bad therefore Contraception is Bad. Most people think abortion is something to be avoided so lets equate contraception with abortion to try and keep women from having sex.
Fact Required to be Ignored: Oral Contraception doesn't abort anything. Its explained in this satirical post at slate.
Oral contraception does three things prevents ovulation prevents fertilization and prevents implantation. The last one is used to call it abortion. To make that case you have to believe that Oral contraception fails at step one and at step two but is 100% at step three.
As you know, the risk that oral contraception will prevent implantation of an embryo is purely theoretical. There is no documented case of such a tragedy, since we have no way to verify conception inside a woman's body prior to implantation without causing the embryo's death. Even theoretically, the risk is vanishingly small, since the primary effect of oral contraception is to prevent ovulation, and the secondary effect is to prevent fertilization.Argument: Oil drilling is good for America we need to do it. Conservation such as step to increase fuel mileage is mockable.
Fact required to be ignored: The bottle neck in supply is in gasoline production not in crude supplies.
Oil companies make money turning crude Oil into products we buy. Oil executives make money when Oil companies stock prices go up. If increased drilling and production would raise profits oil companies would be doing it in the lands they already have leases to. The prospect of new leases would raise stock prices soon but not do much to the price of gasoline especially in the near term. Read a well formulated explanation here
Argument: Obama is to famous and popular with the media. This is leading to irrational exhuberance instead of looking at who is better which would lead people to McCain.
Fact ignored: McCain has gottten a pass on all the dumb things he has said because he used to be cool to the press back in 2000.
McCain is a media darling and everybody loves him just look at his IMDB list of appearances as noted by TPM.
No long example here just watch the daily show and read talking points memo. They catch most of the horrible things that come out of his mouth, rape is funny so is killing Iranians and verbally abusing his wife.
Speaking of funny look at this. Paris Hilton lampoons McCain ad.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Aureal Nerdery
I had a computer issue and threw an old sound card in my computer which lead me to write a how to on ubuntu to get a configuration utility for the Aureal Cards in Linux compiled under ubuntu
Check out the guide here
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=875674&highlight=aureal
Or read this and apply it to your distro.
Sorry about the BB code look at the original for a pretty version
Okay So if you have an old aureal card sitting around or in your computer right now you are sitting pretty because alsa supports it with the au88X0 drivers.
If you ever have used it in windows you know it has some extra features software rendering of 3D sound and other tricks.
This how to will install this utility that was written back when those alsa drivers were written that may help you use some other features of your card. Mine was only an au8810 so I haven't been able to fully test it.
First get some build essentials for code compiling
sudo apt-get install build-essentials checkinstall
Now we need to get the source from the old gnu project site
Source Link:
http://savannah.nongnu.org/file/vortexcontrol-0.1.0.tar.bz2?file_id=3959
Extract that to a folder with your archive tool or the terminal:
tar -xjf vortexcontrol-0.1.0.tar.bz2
cd vortexcontrol
Now we need to get all the development libraries. I installed thess in groups by trial and error so I am not sure if they are all needed.
sudo apt-get install libopenal-dev libalut-dev libopenal0a libesd0-dev libgtk2.0-0 libgtk2.0-dev libasound2-dev
I had to install the intrepid versions of the libasound2 and libasound2-dev because of some dependency error in Hardy with Backports. You may not have that problem if you have standard hardy or gutsy or intrepid or whatever.
Go to packages.ubuntu.org use the search feature for the libasound packages and manually download and install them using gdebi if the apt-get command above fails.
Now we can follow the steps listed on the original site each one of these should complete without any errors now that you have the dependencies met. Make sure you are in the directory that you extracted. It should look like this:
ls
acinclude.m4 configure.in-gtk2 README
configure.in Makefile.am vortexcontrol.c
These are the compiling commands they link things and assembly the makefile.
aclocal
autoconf
autoheader
automake -a
./configure
aclocal is the one that I had the most trouble with it you get a
" macro `AM_PATH_ALSA' not found in library" error you are missing
libasound2-dev. And etc for other libraries.
Now we build and install a debian package using the make replacment checkinstall so we can remove it easily if need be.
sudo checkinstall
Follow the prompts and now you should have a Aureal Vortex Utility run from the command line with
vortexcontrol&
Post any problems or if you get it to work with au8820 or au8830 cards like those listed at the alsa site:
Known supported cards (please add to this list, if the driver works for you as well):
* Diamond Monster Sound MX300
* Aureal SuperQuad Digital
* Aureal SQ2500
* Turtle Beach Montego II
* Turtle Beach Montego 3DXtream
* Digital Research Vortex 2
* Diamond Sonic Impact S90
* Trust Sound Expert 128 PCI
* AzTech PCI 338-A3D (under 2.4.22 Kernel NOT 2.6.0)
Supported features:
* Quad speaker surround
* Hardware EQ
Check out the guide here
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=875674&highlight=aureal
Or read this and apply it to your distro.
Sorry about the BB code look at the original for a pretty version
Okay So if you have an old aureal card sitting around or in your computer right now you are sitting pretty because alsa supports it with the au88X0 drivers.
If you ever have used it in windows you know it has some extra features software rendering of 3D sound and other tricks.
This how to will install this utility that was written back when those alsa drivers were written that may help you use some other features of your card. Mine was only an au8810 so I haven't been able to fully test it.
First get some build essentials for code compiling
sudo apt-get install build-essentials checkinstall
Now we need to get the source from the old gnu project site
Source Link:
http://savannah.nongnu.org/file/vortexcontrol-0.1.0.tar.bz2?file_id=3959
Extract that to a folder with your archive tool or the terminal:
tar -xjf vortexcontrol-0.1.0.tar.bz2
cd vortexcontrol
Now we need to get all the development libraries. I installed thess in groups by trial and error so I am not sure if they are all needed.
sudo apt-get install libopenal-dev libalut-dev libopenal0a libesd0-dev libgtk2.0-0 libgtk2.0-dev libasound2-dev
I had to install the intrepid versions of the libasound2 and libasound2-dev because of some dependency error in Hardy with Backports. You may not have that problem if you have standard hardy or gutsy or intrepid or whatever.
Go to packages.ubuntu.org use the search feature for the libasound packages and manually download and install them using gdebi if the apt-get command above fails.
Now we can follow the steps listed on the original site each one of these should complete without any errors now that you have the dependencies met. Make sure you are in the directory that you extracted. It should look like this:
ls
acinclude.m4 configure.in-gtk2 README
configure.in Makefile.am vortexcontrol.c
These are the compiling commands they link things and assembly the makefile.
aclocal
autoconf
autoheader
automake -a
./configure
aclocal is the one that I had the most trouble with it you get a
" macro `AM_PATH_ALSA' not found in library" error you are missing
libasound2-dev. And etc for other libraries.
Now we build and install a debian package using the make replacment checkinstall so we can remove it easily if need be.
sudo checkinstall
Follow the prompts and now you should have a Aureal Vortex Utility run from the command line with
vortexcontrol&
Post any problems or if you get it to work with au8820 or au8830 cards like those listed at the alsa site:
Known supported cards (please add to this list, if the driver works for you as well):
* Diamond Monster Sound MX300
* Aureal SuperQuad Digital
* Aureal SQ2500
* Turtle Beach Montego II
* Turtle Beach Montego 3DXtream
* Digital Research Vortex 2
* Diamond Sonic Impact S90
* Trust Sound Expert 128 PCI
* AzTech PCI 338-A3D (under 2.4.22 Kernel NOT 2.6.0)
Supported features:
* Quad speaker surround
* Hardware EQ
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Ahhhg June - July
Weddings and thesis writing. I am trying to defend august 7th and be done by the 31st so I'll see you in September. Then its daily political diatribes time; tune in.
Monday, May 12, 2008
andlinux + amarok = Awesome
So I needed to work on my thesis in windows. I like music and amarok is the best player ever. So now i have amarok 1.4 in windows thanks to andlinux.
Heres a tutorial for people who want to do this and have any idea what im talking about.
install andlinux
restart windows
disable windows firewall settings on the new CoTAP network device
add Xming.exe and pulseaudio.exe to the whitelist in windows defender/firewall
restart windows
follow guide here to add a non root user
restart windows
run synaptic from the andlinux launcher
add medibuntu to apt sources
install alsa amarok amarokengines-xine xine-ffmpeg
do other cool stuff you want like install more stuff or get rid of kde stuff you dont need
run a terminal
launch amarok
Optional (run the kde kicker launch stuff from there)
If anyone can get amarok's systray icon to appear in the kicker and not in a floating window let me know
Heres a tutorial for people who want to do this and have any idea what im talking about.
install andlinux
restart windows
disable windows firewall settings on the new CoTAP network device
add Xming.exe and pulseaudio.exe to the whitelist in windows defender/firewall
restart windows
follow guide here to add a non root user
restart windows
run synaptic from the andlinux launcher
add medibuntu to apt sources
install alsa amarok amarokengines-xine xine-ffmpeg
do other cool stuff you want like install more stuff or get rid of kde stuff you dont need
run a terminal
launch amarok
Optional (run the kde kicker launch stuff from there)
If anyone can get amarok's systray icon to appear in the kicker and not in a floating window let me know
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
batteries
I just spent a half hour wedging and taping a few half dead batteries i had sitting around into a calculator instead of getting up and getting another one from my closet.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
On apple eating...
I just discovered that I have been eating apples poorly for years. I had been eating around the circumference once then repeating passes eating apple flesh closer to the poles on each pass. I had an epiphany that instead of circumnavigating the globe I should focus on fully devouring one hemisphere first. This technique leaves most of the apple encased in its skin preventing the oxidation that usally keeps me from finishing apples.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
What the Hell happened to scroogle.org
So Scroogle.org stopped being a thing which means that scrooglyric stopped working in amarok. This is the best lyric fetcher ever and you should switch to linux just to discover whether or not your lyrics intereptation is correct for that song that makes you think about her or him. Maybe the artist was actualy singing about a volkswagen coupe and not a hot red head prostitute. If its a screamo song your probally missing all the sweet vampire symbolism.
Anyway I hope that this post helps the googlers out there trying to fix their broken amarok.
If your scrooglyrics script fails to reach the server you need the new and improved googlyrics by the same guy on kde-apps.org.
Heres the new link
http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=73850
As opposed to the old and busted
http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=73850
By my calculation this blogpost may helpthe 295-46-1 = 248 people who downloaded the old script but have not downloaded the new one. Thanks to ultra and his buddies for perl wizardry.
Google Bomb!
amarok script lyrics
scroogle scrooglyrics error
broken failed to reach server
googlyrics
amarok script lyrics
scroogle scrooglyrics error
broken failed to reach server
googlyrics
Anyway I hope that this post helps the googlers out there trying to fix their broken amarok.
If your scrooglyrics script fails to reach the server you need the new and improved googlyrics by the same guy on kde-apps.org.
Heres the new link
http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=73850
As opposed to the old and busted
http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=73850
By my calculation this blogpost may helpthe 295-46-1 = 248 people who downloaded the old script but have not downloaded the new one. Thanks to ultra and his buddies for perl wizardry.
Google Bomb!
amarok script lyrics
scroogle scrooglyrics error
broken failed to reach server
googlyrics
amarok script lyrics
scroogle scrooglyrics error
broken failed to reach server
googlyrics
Friday, January 11, 2008
Hack the Planet!
Or at least your local bar. After paying if you unplug a shuffel board game like this one the gate in the middle stays down. Its operated by solenoid I guess rather than a dead man elecrotromagnet like on nuclear control rods. $1 gets you shuffle puck all night.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Man I dont think he going to help us
Funny thing about me: I actually fucking know shit! Not like these goombas trying to weasel their way into the White House. I practically wrote the book on collapsing bridges, inflation, and the working poor, fuck-o. I even got a degree in nuclear engineering or some shit. You know how easy I could swoop down right now like a guardian angel and solve all your fucking problems? Snap. Bam. Do it in my fucking sleep. Just fucking try me.-- Jimmy Carter
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
This blew my mind
Naked Capitalism points to a summary of the report by Reuters here, but you can go straight to the original text, albeit after jumping through some registration hoops, here. And it's worth it, because there are plenty more gems to be mined.
For example, the authors of the report also conclude that the overriding emphasis, on the part of all players in financial markets, on maximizing short term results, might not serve everyone's long term interests.
In plain English, it is not clear that existing compensation mechanisms effectively ensure that traders take into account the long-term interests of the bank for which they work -- i.e. its survival....
This leads to a second, somewhat disquieting, reason: in the financial industry, in contrast with other businesses, there is a point beyond which increased competition is not stability-enhancing, but rather potentially destabilizing. Heightened competition is beneficial in terms of providing a better service and eliminating poor performers in the industry; however, past a certain point -- difficult to identify -- more competition means more, and perhaps socially undesirable, risk-taking.
This is almost like saying that capitalism, as it is currently constructed, doesn't work.
At some point competition jumps the shark and makes people do stupid things that bad for the group in order to survive. I thought this was explained to everyone in A Beautiful Mind. Anyway that was from a Salon blog post here about a report released by Moodys a credit rating agency
Speaking of competition I dont know who it was but someone was checking out Connections on DVD at the library. Since its now break time I am left as the only technology histroy nerd on campus. Series 1 of the show is older than me, I don't know what season ( Element of {1,2,3} ) I used to watch on TLC when it was THE LEARNING CHANNEL. Clinton and Stacey need to be fired and replaced by academics in cable knit sweaters once more.
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