[insert witty title here]

Goodbye, LiveJournal

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:51:37 GMT

After careful deliberation, I've decided to bid farewell to LiveJournal and switch to Movable Type that I run myself. Now I don't have to compromise between functionality and advertising, don't have to keep my entries on LJ's servers, and can customize the blog as much as I want.

Now my blog is at http://blog.qnan.org/philip.

Since some people don't know what a blog aggregator is, I'll add this last paragraph. A blog aggregator is a great invention that makes it easier for you to keep up with everyone's blog, regardless of whether they use LJ or some other service. And they're all more flexible than LJ Friends: they can even notify you when there's a new entry, like mail clients do. There's web-based ones like Google Reader and Bloglines, and there are many computer programs for this. Give it a try.

Poll on how you read my blog

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:29:11 GMT

I am considering switching from LiveJournal to a self-maintained Movable Type. More and more I like the idea of blogging and want to become more active, but I don't like that LiveJournal (the company) keeps my blog posts on their system. Of course they won't go out of business, but it's the principle of the matter: I like being in possession and control of my own data.

But one of the main reasons I like LiveJournal is the Friends page, which is a convenient way to aggregate friends' blog postings. Today I spent a little while on duplicating this functionality without relying on LiveJournal. Now I run a program called newsbeuter which is even more convenient than LiveJournal's "Friends" page -- with it I can aggregate not just LiveJournal, but blogs from other sources. So now I'm weaned off of LiveJournal.

I want to know how you read my blog. Please take the time to answer these two questions:
1) Do you have my blog intentionally bookmarked, or do you read it exclusively through LJ's "Friends" feature, or do you use a blog aggregator?
2) If you read it exclusively through LJ's "Friends", have you considered switching to a blog aggregator? Why haven't you switched?

This is important to know because if you read it exclusively through "Friends", then if I leave LiveJournal I may lose your readership. I want to avoid that.

Please comment and let me know.

Fitness update

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 04:07:03 GMT

Today I ran on a treadmill 1.5 miles in 12 minutes, meeting the Navy's entry requirement. This is both a significant milestone and a pleasant surprise at my rate of progress: this summer I was able to run only half the distance in half the time; after that I had to stop, as I was dead from exhaustion.

Since I can already pass the sit-and-reach exercise and do enough pushups to qualify, the only hurdle is the sit-ups. I need to do 58 in two minutes. A month ago I did 50. On Monday Andreas is going to test me. I will keep you posted.

Election results

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:09:17 GMT

I scooped up 4.30% of the vote for State Representative in District 112. That's slightly worse than one in 23 people voting for me.

This exceeds my expectations. Thanks to all of you who voted for me!

Netflix friends

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:44:23 GMT

I currently have 8 Netflix friends, and I want to grow that number.

If you have a Netflix account and want to see how compatible our movie tastes are, as well as read the reviews I've written and what's at home and in my queue, add me! (Mainly because I want to see what's in your home and queue.) Just go to the Friends & Community tab, Invite Friends sub-tab, and enter my email address.

My adventures with blu-tinted glasses

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 06:40:23 GMT

I mentioned earlier that I got a Blu-ray drive. Unfortunately, because of the iron grip of the MPAA, I have two options: pay $70-100 for a supported Windows-based software player and be forced to watch movies only under Windows, or use an unsupported method to obtain the necessary keys to be able to watch the movie under Linux. I did the latter.

So, right now I am able to watch Blu-ray streams under Linux. I have access to the individual video components; nothing else. For example, if a particular disc has the movie plus five previews, then I see six individual files. Like with regular files, I can choose which ones to play. The upside: I can skip previews if I want to. The downside: these video streams are all I get; I don't have access to menus, such as language and subtitle selection. Normally this is not a problem, but it turned out to be a big problem tonight.

Tonight I rented "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" on Blu-ray and converted a back room of the house to a home theater. I had four other audience members, who were more-or-less sold on my promises of superior, high-definition quality. Eager to show off the blu-tinted wave of the future, I started the movie.

The first spoken words occurred about five minutes into the movie. At that point we realized that we're hearing an Asian language. "Ooh, hold on, I can fix this!" I exclaimed and ran over to the laptop. Cycling through the available audio tracks gave us the opportunity to hear the director's and Adam Sandler's commentary (in English), but we simply couldn't find an audio track containing just the English version of the movie. We tried everything we could think of, to no avail.

After many minutes of trying various options to see whether we can somehow stumble onto the English audio track—which we know must be hiding there somewhere—we gave up.

I wish I knew someone else who plays Blu-ray discs under Linux with mplayer.

What's your plan regarding Blu-ray? Got plans to buy it? Or are you waiting for the next best thing? Or you're not a consumer whore like me?

NPR news story

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:09:59 GMT

Historic House Race Reflects Cultural Change by Bill Brown.

This is my first appearance on the radio. (At least on non-amateur bands.)

Record NPR today?

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:21:52 GMT

Can anyone record KERA (90.1 FM) today from 4 PM to 6 PM? I am supposed to be on there, but I have class at that time.

Netflix and Blu-Ray

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:52:06 GMT

I'm a big fan of Netflix. I have a two-at-a-time plan and make sure that I return my movies as soon as I watch them, which is usually the day I receive them. Still, I manage to maintain a queue of about 120 movies, and I'm constantly adding to it.

By accident, a few days ago I bought a Blu-Ray drive for my computer. Looking at the bright side, I immediately enabled the Blu-Ray feature of my Netflix account.

As a result, I learned that starting November 5th, Netflix is raising the cost of the Blu-Ray option from $0/mo to $1/mo/account. However, the Internet is aghast and disgusted. Countless people are downgrading and canceling their memberships out of principle. Someone started a Facebook group (with as many as one members) for those who are "disgusted" with the price increase, and one person suggests that those who cancel their memberships [WILL] BE WELCOMED AS HEROES! WITH HONOR! But mostly, it's people virtually spitting on Netflix for caring about money.

One dollar per month. That's the price of a candy bar or one-third of a cheeseburger. I've learned long ago that people are irrational about nickel-and-diming (and in general the true cost of things), but this particular brouhaha especially disturbs me. Right now there are over 151 responses to Netflix's blog entry about the price increase, and many of them are clamoring that it's a rip-off and—especially amazing—that many people are looking at ways to cut costs. Really? Cutting costs? Then how about not buying a Blu-Ray player (cheapest standalone Blu-Ray player on Amazon: $195) and an HDTV (easily over $1,000)? Buying just one Blu-Ray title in a store costs around $30. Netflix offers all-you-can-eat Blu-Ray discs for $12 per year (or 1% of your home theater setup), and suddenly it's a big deal.

Either (a) accept the price increase gracefully, or (b) cancel the Blu-Ray option and don't whine about it. Or (c) act like an insufferable jerk with an entitlement complex.

Fitness update

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:13:31 GMT

In two minutes, 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups. Goal for Navy entrance: 47 push-ups and 58 sit-ups.

Getting fglrx to work in the latest kernel

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 06:12:42 GMT

If you want to run the bleeding-edge Linux kernel and use fglrx, here's a patch for fglrx to compile with the kernel's new API:

http://www.qnan.org/~pmw/patches/fglrx/fix-for-2.6.27.patch

I got a part of it from the Internet, but it didn't fully work; I had to flesh it out some. This patch works for kernel 2.6.27-rc8 with Gentoo's ati-drivers-8.532. I made a Portage overlay for this to make the patching process automatic.

Review of Lenovo

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:39:14 GMT

My experience with Lenovo thus far.

No more Advance Purchase...

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 02:30:34 GMT

As long as I've known about Greyhound Lines, they've been good to me by offering a 14-day and 7-day Advance Purchase discount. The discount is huge: ~50% off the walk-up fare. But, as of this spring, the discount is no longer available.

I searched Greyhound's web site for an explanation, then searched Google. I didn't come up with anything. So I called Greyhound, and the representative confirmed it for me: the Advance Purchase discount is officially no longer available, forever.

So, Internet, now you know.

I am le tired

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:29:22 GMT

Yesterday I managed to do what I've been putting off since April: I replaced the rear inner tube of my bicycle. It's been holey since about April, and between then and now the bike has been resting, dormant despite its great potential. "Do you really put off such trivial tasks for five months?," you may be asking. Well, dear reader, please understand: replacing the rear inner tube is one of the most disgusting tasks that my white-collar, starched, tender hands have ever had the displeasure of participating in.

Replacing rear inner tube is nothing like replacing the front. With the front, you quick-release the front wheel with one smooth motion, then with another fluid motion strip off the tire, and install a new tube before the old one even hits the ground. Then you dust off your hands and call it a day.

Unlike its unassuming sibling, the rear assembly requires a commitment and a sacrifice from the humble bike owner—that is, if the owner wants a well-maintained bicycle.

Specifically, the goddamn chain must come off.

And since the chain must come off, I figure I might as well clean it and the rear wheel's freewheel. First step: wield gripping pliers. I use gripping pliers to unscrew the bolts from both sides, allowing the rear wheel assembly to slide in the horizontal dropouts. At this point it might be obvious to remove the rear wheel while leaving the chain to mind its own business, but unfortunately this bicycle's dropouts are not long enough to permit this, so the chain must come off. Second step: prepare chemicals. I have a canister of liquid degreaser that calls to be mixed in a 1:5 ratio with water. I prepare this in a white salad bowl.

Third step: wield the aptly-named "chain tool"—a device I didn't know existed until my first rear-wheel flat. It takes about 846 words for the innertubes (specifically Wikipedia) to describe how to properly use this device. After I went to my local Kinko's and printed out the instructions for future reference—in case they updated the Wikipedia article since the last time I printed and laminated it—I went on to step 4.

Step 4 should be "do not touch the chain under any circumstances," but alas one has to hold the chain to apply the chain ~~rule~~tool. What this means for me: my hands are black with oil that has five trillion particles of dirt, microbes, and vicious amoeba. Here begins the arduous struggle of the white collar.

Now I put the chain, the rear wheel's axle, and my hands into the salad bowl. The smell of rotting flesh indicates that the chain and the axle are like new once again! While a nearby cat laps at the salad bowl, I replace the tube of the rear wheel with the practiced ease of... someone who's replacing the tube of the front wheel. See the top for how easy that is.

The whole time, I must strike a balance between thoroughly washing off the grease from my hands and in a vain effort to keep it from permeating things like tools and chemical bottles, and just deciding "eh, fuck it" and fingerpainting myself like an Injun.

Once all is done and it's time to reassemble these thinggies and make it one whole cohesive thing, the hardest part rears its head. That is: to restore the sanctity of the chain. I need to slide the metal pin back through the inner part of the link, taking care not to damage the chain permanently. Too much force when the inner part is not aligned with the outer, or too much force applied at an angle to the metal pin, and the battle is over: God:1, Philip:0. Fortunately, on my 48th attempt, the chain was restored.

For step N of N—this is the last step, by the way—I lightly applied oil to the chain assembly and the rear wheel's freewheel axle. All in all, I spent probably about 45 minutes yesterday to prepare my bike for another nine months of riding. I was tired, but the effort was well worth it. This morning I cruised to the Corporate Challenge 15K bike race¹ in style, all hip on my shiny bicycle. The clouds disappeared and there was peace in the world.

Footnote 1: I didn't actually compete in the race; I was one of the volunteers to block vehicle traffic across the race path.

Go Liberty!

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:05:14 GMT

As some of you know, I am running for a Texas State Representative office in my district on the Libertarian platform. Today I saw an animated political cartoon that had me laughing throughout because it's so piercingly accurate, and I want to share it with you.

I unfortunately do not know who holds the copyright, but I hope the owner doesn't mind.

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:54:49 GMT

A twenty-five year old mother proposes a federal law.

GTK

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 04:26:29 GMT

If you're a fellow software developer, please check out my first GTK+ program and tell me how I can improve it. Can I avoid using threads? Can I separate further the networking code from the GUI code?

In other news, I've been responsible for my neighbor's dog for the last couple of days. In the mornings and evenings I take him out and for half an hour we alternate between sprinting, jogging, walking, and sitting. I think he enjoys it. He's a cute little fatty. His owner returns tomorrow.

Fitness update

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:56:56 GMT

About two years ago I posted that I can do 20 pushups with a 7-second break. As I recall, after that point I was too exhausted to do any more.

Yesterday I did 48 pushups in two minutes and 30 situps in two minutes.

I need to do 47 pushups and 58 situps in two minutes (separately), and run 1.5 miles in <= 12 minutes to pass the Navy's entry fitness requirements. My goal is to be able to do this by the end of the year.

Dallas' proposed ordinance

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:15:47 GMT

I got this in my inbox today:

The Dallas City Council plans to consider a mandatory spay and neuter ordinance as early as Wednesday, June 18. Sportsmen must take action now in order to prevent this draconian ordinance from being approved.

The proposed mandate is being sought by radical animal "rights" and anti-hunting organizations and is an affront to our hunting heritage and private property rights. With very limited exceptions, this measure requires every dog older than six months to be spayed or neutered. Owners hoping to breed their dogs at some point during their lives would be required to apply annually for an "intact" permit referred to as a "breeding permit" costing $500. Permits will not be issued for any dogs that are not of a pure breed recognized by a national breed registry such as the American Kennel Club.

Dallas Central Appraisal District?

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 01:42:39 GMT

Does anyone have any experience dealing with the Dallas Central Appraisal District?

They mailed me a document asking me to pay a $50 tax. This is levied on my server in a downtown colocation facility, whose "market value" they estimate at $2,000. I estimate its market value at around $100.

On Monday I'll be mailing them my protest. Apparently, at that point a hearing will be set up for me, and I will have to waste my time on refuting this dumb tax.

Any tips for me?

Maximizing cookie utilization

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 06:43:00 GMT

Today I attended a "distinguished lecture" of the Engineering and Computer Science school of UTD. Typically a distinguished lecture takes place in an auditorium and lasts about an hour. About 10-15 minutes prior to its start, the coordinators serve cookies and coffee at a table near the auditorium entrance.

When I arrived, I took two cookies and took a seat in the auditorium. The lecture was incredibly boring, so I spent about five minutes on the following train of thought.

Each student who arrives for the lecture has two competing and mutually-exclusive goals:
1) to take as many cookies as possible, and yet
2) to leave enough cookies for everyone else.

This is tough. I took two cookies, but I had no idea how many other students would show up. While the boring lecture was underway, I longed to step out and collect some more cookies. I was certain that not all cookies were gone: in my experience most people tend to be overly-polite (overly conservative) rather than overly-aggressive, so inevitably there's a (small) pile of cookies left when the lecture begins.

How can we maximize cookie utilitization?

The solution I came up with is pretty straightforward and does not impose a significant overhead. The first step is to figure out how many students attend these lectures historically. For example, the coordinators could determine that, using the attendance information of the last 10 distinguished lectures, 50 students attend each lecture on average, plus-or-minus some small number. The coordinators know how many cookies they're going to put out; let's say it's 100. Then there is a sign: "Take up to two cookies." Now each student may take two cookies without infringing on some other student's quota.

Simple, right? But many students don't want any cookies, for silly reasons such as concern about their health. Even if two out of 50 students refuse to take any cookies, then the table will be left with four cookies after all students go into the auditorium—four cookies that some other student would have enjoyed otherwise.

The key to solving this crisis is to add a "free" pile to the existing "cookie" pile. Each student who comes to listen to the lecture passes by the coffee/cookie table. At that point each student ponders: "how many cookies do I want?" If the student wants his entire quota, he's welcome to it. If he wants only a part of it or even none of it, then the student donates the cookies by moving the unwanted cookies to which he's entitled from the "cookie" pile to the "free" pile.

If a student wants more than his quota, then he simply can take as many cookies as he wants to from the "free" pile. The distinction between what happens now and what would happen with this system is that the "free" pile is free of guilt and shame. No more reproachful looks!

If exactly the expected number of students shows up to the lecture, then the "cookie" pile will be empty and the "free" pile will be either (hopefully) empty or it'll have cookies that were explicitly rejected. The only downside to this proposed system is that it worsens the situation if more students show up than the coordinators predicted, since now students would be less conservative in their cookie consumption. Well, tough; they should've shown up earlier.

Nevertheless, I maintain that this proposed system would maximize cookie utilization with insignificant downsides.

If you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it.

(Disclaimer: This is not entirely my own invention. My proposed system is slightly related to the Token Bucket algorithm for shaping network traffic.)

Teaching certificate

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:34:36 GMT

Income tax refund

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:18:02 GMT

Yesterday the US Treasury deposited my income tax refund into my bank account!

This year is the first year that I filed my income tax return without any mistake. In the past years I didn't claim myself (which voided my education credits and thus caused me to owe IRS money) as well as forgotten to sign it, all of which delayed my refund last year until about July-August.

I am excited about the money from the stimulus package. A few more months...

Barnes & Noble coupon

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:36:14 GMT

If you have a MasterCard, you have until 2:59 AM Eastern Time on January 1st to save 40% off one book from bn.com.

Degree?

pmw+lj@qnan.org — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:39:10 GMT

At what point does one "have a degree"?

Is it at the point during the semester that one is confident that he will pass the required courses?

Is it at the point that the last assignment is turned in?

Or maybe is it when finals are over?

Is it when the required grades are posted to the Student Information System?

Or when one walks across the stage at the commencement ceremony?

Or one does not truly have a degree until receiving a large and fancy piece of paper to one's mailing address?