Peter Dietz

Enhancing DSpace Statistics - Collection Report

2011-11-04T14:48:00.000-05:00

Currently, we're in the process of enhancing our statistics for our local DSpace instance.

The first step is to go through and make sure we have good data. This involves kicking out robots, and other usage abuse, as well as ensuring we've captured information from the log activity.

The second step is reporting what we've got. Thus far, we're working in a few directions to add more reporting information, this post will be the first in a series of explaining some of our new reports.

Collection Statistics

The collection statistics page in DSpace 1.6+, i.e. Solr statistics in DSpace doesn't show you very much. Atleast it doesn't show you very much that your interested it. Its almost irrelevant how many hits the collection page received, you are mostly just interested in the usage of the content within the collection.

Thus far, we've added Top Bitstreams and Top Items.

Top Items for the past month shows total for the time period and daily hits.

Top Bitstreams for the past month shows total for the time period and daily hits.

We've also added the ability to download a CSV report of the bitstreams and items within the collection right from the statistics page. The benefit of offering the CSV is so that the user can then do what they want to do with the data that we're not offering through our web interface, and so that we can deliver more information when its in a spreadsheet, as opposed to trying to display data in the browser.

Statistics Report of all items in the collection as CSV

Statistics Report of all bitstreams in the collection as a CSV

We don't have source code publicly available for how to do this, but in XMLUI we've just altered StatisticsTransformer.java in XMLUI to add the additional "views" of top items within collection. And for the CSV reports, we've added a servlet that listens responds the URL "usage-event". An example would be dspace.example.com/usage-report?owningType=4&owningID=148&reportType=0 which generates a csv report for community with community_id 148, and it reports on bitstreams.

DSpace Types are:

0 = Bitstream, 1 = Bundle, 2 = Item, 3 = Collection, 4 = Community.

owningType is the type of the parent

owningID is internal ID of the parent, once you've determine which type it is

reportType is the type to report

Thus far the only gripe about generating the servlet to report is that there is a strong coupling between dspace-statistics, solr, and XMLUI, so we had to keep this servlet in the dspace-xmlui-api namespace as opposed to the preferred dspace-api.

Testing ViewShare

2011-10-31T12:37:00.002-05:00

Resources for Developing and Using DSpace

2011-08-03T13:19:00.000-05:00

Since I'm pretty active with working on and developing for DSpace, I've decided I should compile a list of resources that I frequently point to. These resources will be useful for people using, installing, managing, or developing with DSpace, the repository software for archiving your important data.

Documentation

Official DSpace Documentation
https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/DSDOC/DSpace+Documentation

Official DSpace Installation Documentation

List of DSpace Installation Guides for easy deployment on your OS (Windows, Ubuntu, Mac, RedHat)
https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/DSPACE/Installation

The easiest guide for installing DSpace, on Ubuntu.
https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/DSPACE/Installing+DSpace+1.7+on+Ubuntu

Useful wiki maintained by SUNScholar in South Africa
http://wiki.lib.sun.ac.za/index.php/SUNScholar/IR

DSpace JavaDoc, readable documentation generated from DSpace Java code
http://projects.dspace.org/8/apidocs/

Obtaining the DSpace Code
Source Forge - Official SVN Repository
http://scm.dspace.org/svn/repo/dspace/trunk/

Source Forge - Download ZIP of the code
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dspace/files/DSpace%20Stable/

GitHub - unofficial mirror to Git
https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace

Modules - Supported Additions to DSpace
http://scm.dspace.org/svn/repo/modules/ (CODE)
https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/DSPACE/Modules (Wiki / Documentation)

Mailing List Archives (dspace-tech)
DSpace-Tech mailing list is the usual hangout for questions on DSpace. Typically it will have people troubleshooting their installation, working on a new feature, having questions on how to change their metadata. There is also dspace-general which is generally for repository admins to get announcements without getting too much traffic that you would be prompted to unsubscribe. DSpace-devel is geared towards developers, as someone will often pose questions about refactoring the code. However, dspace-tech is probably your best bet.

Nabble - My favorite place to see the DSpace mailing list archive is at Nabble, since it has a nice presentation, and it is really fast. I like how it shows the users picture.
http://dspace.2283337.n4.nabble.com/DSpace-Tech-f3276945.html

Mail Archive - Shows posts in their threaded hierarchy. Fast, and easy to search.
http://www.mail-archive.com/dspace-tech@lists.sourceforge.net/

Source Forge -- Official Archive of the DSpace-Tech. The presentation is not that great, its also really slow. Your better off using nabble, or mail archive. However, you should subscribe from sourceforge.
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum=dspace-tech

DSpace Developers,
I've added DSpace Developers that I'm aware of who have blogs. Most people are probably posting their status updates to social networks, Twitter or Google+ these days. But written up articles still appear in their blogs.

Stuart Lewis - Developer/Manager in New Zealand
http://blog.stuartlewis.com/

Kim Shepherd - Developer in New Zealand
http://kim-shepherd.blogspot.com/

Mark Diggory - Developer for @Mire in San Diego, CA, USA
http://mdiggory.wordpress.com/

Peter Dietz - Developer in Columbus, OH, USA. Works on Ohio State Knowledge Bank.
http://peterpants.blogspot.com/

Hired Help
Above and beyond the resources available to you so you can help yourself. There are also companies that exist who live and breath DSpace, and are available to provide premium enhancements to your repository, provide DSpace hosting, customization and branding, training, and custom development for a new feature that you are dreaming up.

DSpace calls them Registered Service Providers.

Some of the vendors I've met (and have positive reviews of) are:

@Mire - http://atmire.com/ -- Demo Site: https://atmire.com/labs17
Open Repository - http://www.openrepository.com/

Other Resources

Other things that exist that might be helpful to check out.

JIRA - Bug Reporting

https://jira.duraspace.org/browse/DS

Demo Instance of the latest version of DSpace.

http://demo.dspace.org/

IRC Channel, to chat with other DSpace developers

FreeNode #dspace

Ubuntu 11.04 Unity: How to Disable Unity Autohide

2011-04-03T14:42:00.001-05:00

Ubuntu 11.04 comes default with Unity, a slick new user interface that helps for users with limited space, i.e. Netbooks. However, I have dual 23 inch monitors, I have more than enough space for menus and options, and when things are shrunk to please the un-power-users, it really pisses off the power-users. So, instead of griping and disabling Unity altogether, and going back to pure Gnome, I'll stick it out with Unity, lest I be ridiculed for being resistant to change. Plus, lots of man-hours went in to Unity, so I'll give it an honest attempt.

First Major Gripe: Unity auto-hides, and thus my taskbar is gone.
I do FAR MORE on my computer than just surf the web. I'm a programmer, so I have my editor windows open (atleast two), I have several terminal windows open. I also have several images open, I'm constantly taking screenshots. And I always have gedit open, for just pasting some text for a period of time. So, without a taskbar, I'm significantly hamstrung. And having to mouse over the Ubuntu icon, or mouse over it, and then jiggle it until the Unity bar full of installed applications pops up, is very very sucky.

FEATURE REQUEST: Allow me to right click somewhere in the Unity bar launcher and have an option for Preferences that takes me to the setting manager, and have the setting-manager installed by default.

1) To disable auto-hide, you first gotta install the setting manager for Unity.
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

2a) Open System Settings (to eventually find compiz-config to eventually find unity-config)
To open the newly install setting manager, I've found it by clicking the power button in the top right corner, and going to System Settings.

2b) Find compiz config (so we can then find unity config)
From the System Settings, search for compiz, and click the first result.

2c) Find Unity config
From the CompizConfig Settings Manager, search for Unity, and click the first result.

3) From Ubuntu Unity Plugin, change Hide Launcher to: Never

Now, the Unity launcher will never autohide.

Future gripes:

where is the show desktop button?
how do I use Unity to switch between multiple instances of the same program open.

i.e. Chrome window 1, and Chrome window 2. (assume I've never heard of Alt-Tab).
Perhaps Unity UI team can borrow inspiration from Windows 7, and mousing over an icon in the Unity launcher will then show thumbnails of all running instances of that program.

IntelliJ Idea: Frustrations with "cannot resolve Java"

2011-04-01T23:07:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to convert myself to using IntelliJ IDEA, as word on the street is that thats what the power developers are using. I'm pretty sold on NetBeans myself. Its pretty, it works every time, its really intuitive and easy to use, it does the task at hand without cluttering me down with loads of crap.

My initial impressions of IntelliJ IDEA are that, I need to force myself to enjoy using it. Hopefully my obstacles to using IDEA will be resolved so I too can get with the program. In this post I'll shed some light on solving a big nasty roadblock I ran into with IDEA.

The Problem:
IDEA doesn't know what Java is.

My first sign that something is very wrong:

IntelliJ IDEA Cannot resolve symbol 'String'

IntelliJ becomes very annoying when it can't find the JDK. It will however prompt me every 10 seconds, that it recommends me to use org.apache.xpath.operations.String, instead of Java's in-built String. It will recommend me a whole crapload of things, such as detecting Spring, wanting to add IDEA project files to the git repository, but it won't detect that I don't have a JDK set.

The nail in the coffin:

IDEA: Cannot resolve symbol 'java'

This does wonders for programmer happiness, in fact, IDEA actually made me frustrated. Even though IDEA was the only IDE that had a certain feature that would be its selling point for me, all of that erases when it doesn't know what Java is, and doesn't give me Code Completion for String.

The Fix:

Properly set the IDEA Platform JDK for your project/module.

Go to Project Structure (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+A), and ensure that Platform Settings[SDK's] has your path for Java set, in my case /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun, and then the main fix:

Set the Project Settings[Project] --> Project SDK to your current JDK. I had mine set to none for the project I was working on. Therefore, no java, no string, no primitive types, no nothing.

Once you set that, it should kick off a reindex, and your project will have full Java support. I suppose during the install of IDEA, it didn't detect Java from the usual places, and decided not to ask me.

Sorry if this is a ranty post, but an uncooperative IDE is almost as bad as code thats not doing what you're intending it to.

Communities and Collections in collapsable treelist, plus graphical webui.strength

2010-02-24T14:49:00.004-05:00

Also in my dump of visual changes that may or may not be going anywhere is the Communities and Collection page with a jQuery treelist that is expandable and collapsable. As well as changing the default for webui.strengths.show to instead of showing a number, to show a little strength meter from Google Charts.

This is the snippet of code that shows the pretty little image.


out.println("<img src=\"http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=bhs&chs=25x13&chco=4d89f9&chds=0,50&chd=t:" + ic.getCount(comms[k]) + "\" />");

Luau, a DSpace admin module for Libarians

2010-02-24T14:48:00.001-05:00

Presenting A DSpace Admin Module:

Librarians Understandably want to stay Away from Unix

or LUAU for short.

It allows people to do some of the routine administrative server settings tasks in DSpace without touching unix. Here's the goods: No more ensuring you have the latest copy of input-forms.xml, ftp'ing it to the server, and restarting tomcat.

You can download the running config of dspace.cfg and input-forms.xml.

Upload that file, with their modifications, and restart the server.

Other features include viewing the last however many lines from a log file. Which is useful in debugging a buggered config file.

UPDATE: Adding another image so its clearer what you can be done with an admin module.

Document Preview in DSpace, using Google Docs Viewer

2010-02-22T13:28:00.002-05:00

I've made a modification that allows a DSpace repository to embed a "preview" of the document into the page, so the user never has to leave, just to get to the good stuff.

Adding a Preview link to the item's bitstream.

Then showing the document with Google Doc's Viewer. It essentially becomes a very easy way to make your content more easily accessible, as files that are MS Word or Adobe PDF don't require the visitor to have those programs installed to view them, and load instantly on the page.

How it works

The Google Docs viewer essentially works the same as the user downloading the document to their computer and having the Adobe Reader display the file for them, however, it uses Google Docs to download the document, and then render the PDF before their eyes in real-time so that they can immediately see the document on that page.

It involves modifying ItemTag.java to add the link and a preview box, adding four javascript functions, and used some jQuery. Going forward, I'm thinking that this builds off of Stuart Lewis' idea of having a preview anything. As this is generally a response (for documents) to:

Perhaps we should make this is into a pluggable system for DSpace 1.6 where you can register classes that can render file types, and then make a configurable option to register viewers to filetypes?

UPDATE: The code is available in a writeup at the DSpace Wiki: Document Preview with Google Docs Viewer

What is visual document search and preview?

2010-02-05T12:43:00.002-05:00

"You may not use the Service to develop a visual document search and preview application which embeds multiple uses of the Google Docs Viewer in a single webpage for DOC, DOCX, or PPTX filetypes."
- Google Docs (view on Google Sidewiki)

Heh??

So this terse statement is to prevent the user from doing something, but without really saying what not to do. I get the logic for that, because a note the says "Do Not Turn Off", will invariably get someone to flick the switch. So this is my layman's understanding of this legalese:

Please limit yourself to embedding the Viewer just once per page for files (DOC, DOCX, PPTX).

And what is this visual document search and preview? It sounds like I want one of those.

Get notified of latest IRC message onscreen with notify-osd (code)

2010-02-01T15:55:00.000-05:00

Problem
When working away in the editor, you see that xChat, "your IRC client" has a new message of activity, and you can't bear to not check on it. The deeper problem lies in the fact that you are like one of Pavlov's dogs and respond to activity.

Solution
A shell script + php script that reads your xchat channel log, and then sends to notify-osd (the onscreen popup display in Ubuntu et al) that latest message.

#### xchatNotify.sh ####

#!/bin/bash
while [ 1 ]; do
./main.php
sleep 1m
done

#### main.php ####

#!/usr/bin/php

$update_file = DIRNAME(__FILE__).'/last_updated';

$log_file = '/home/peter/.xchat2/xchatlogs/FreeNode-#dspace.log';

$last_updated = filemtime($update_file);

$last_message = filemtime($log_file);

touch($update_file);

if($last_message > $last_updated) {

$lines = file($log_file);

echo 'Now: '.date('M d G:i:s');

$message = $lines[count($lines)-1];

$cmd = "notify-send \"$message\"";

echo $cmd;

system($cmd);

}

You need to have notify-osd and/or notify-osd installed on your system. My system is Ubuntu 9.10.

Room for Improvement

The shell script checks once a minute, and only displays the last message, so intermediate messages are not shown. But the purpose was just to show a message, which should give you enough context to either care or not care. Also, its only checking the one channel, and its not presented as a command line argument. Also, it would be nice to not alert you if xChat is currently the active window.

Use Case: Talking on the phone while browsing data

2010-01-19T23:34:00.001-05:00

I will admit the current Verizon and AT&T wireless squabble over one network being able to handle a voice conversation while at the same time allowing you to use the internet, does have some legitimate uses.

1) After seeing the commercial, I hadn't realized that this was a limitation of my phone, so I then tried it. It turns out, that if I disconnect from WiFi, thus does indeed happen. But I did need to be on my headset for me to still be able to talk, which I am not very often connected to.

2) While using the GPS navigation, which requires internet, I suppose a call could come through in which I would be required to interrupt a data navigation session to take the voice call. True, again another case. However, I don't drive, but when I do, its for a two hour inter-city commute that I know all too well, that the GPS is more for a driving companion, that the voice call would replace.

Final note, the flagship device of the accusing network can not actually multi-task, so although the network can do it, the device is not going to allow you to background a call to tweet your grandmother that you'll be joining her for butterscotch candies and a game of bridge. I mean how rude would it be not pay attention to Grandma's tweet because you were too busy talking on the phone?

MOG.com -- The best thing to happen to those who like music

2010-01-16T02:18:00.000-05:00

A Software Developer friend of mine prophesized about a time in the future when music is so easy to access, that music piracy is actually less convenient. Spot on! Because I'd like to officially plug MOG.COM as the best music website.

Whats so great about this music website? I already have a way of "how I get my music".
Well, here's my favorite features.

Play any Artist, Album, Song, and have it stream instantly, or fill a queue to play
Make a playlist just by adding any song you want to it, you can then share that playlist.
Artist Playlists! Artists from David Byrne to Elvis Costello, make monthly playlists which are a mashup of awesome, and you just click it, and its in your play queue.
You can "follow" others who have good musical taste, and what they like will show up in your feed. Its like your brother-in-law who you only catch up with twice a year to get music ideas, being able to add music to your check-this-out list as they like it.
Its only $5 / month. Less if you do it 6 months at a time. Thats like half an album on iTunes. So you'll probably die trying to build a music empire on iTunes, while I've already listened to all music ever. Or you'll have issues like having to run out of space or the time it takes to sync your device. Or, you could just connect your mobile device to their web service and have music on the go. * Mobile Apps come out in Spring, ** Internet is not so good in tunnels

I'm sure it will continue to get better, and plus it doesn't have crappy ads all over the place.

Gmail productivity tip: Superstars for keeping track of ToDo's

2010-01-15T18:04:00.000-05:00

To get a grip on a busy inbox, keep on top of important emails by giving them Superstars.

- Generic Star

- TODO

Completed

- Waiting for response

And with multiple inboxes in Gmail, you can have one of those inboxes just for showing messages with one of those stars. So 5 entries from my TODO list sits above my inbox. That way I'm always atleast concerned with keeping on track.

There are other stars, but I haven't felt that they make more any more productive. Maybe as I have even more plates to balance.


Not in use:

Working International, and how Ubuntu can help

2010-01-06T18:12:00.003-05:00

Due to the project that I'm working on now, a large open source software project, its helpful to know what time it is for each person. Due to time-zones, some people live in the future, where they are already living tomorrow, and some are living in the past. So it helps to know what time it is, so you'll adjust for when its a good time to send a quick message, or leave an overnight lengthy email. Or know to stay up a few more hours, or to be sure to make it in early.

Anyways, here are my tricks for keeping an eye on the time of your peers.

In Ubuntu, add the cities of your peers so you can see what time it is for them, and the weather, so you can make jokes about it.

As in, its summer in New Zealand and 60+ degrees, vs 20 and snowing in Columbus.

Plus you can check to see that they'll be coming online soon. In Ubuntu it has a nice world dark-ness overlay to see what everyone sees. And if you're cooped up in the office, to get out because its dark.

The other trick I like is in Gmail.

Its a labs feature called Sender Time Zone.

It shows what time it currently is for them, so you can know better than to just call someone, or to expect a response shortly.

It sits neatly next to their emails so you easily what that they're likely there or not.

The End of Carporate Welfare

2009-12-23T02:39:00.002-05:00

Brief History: The highway system was created with federal funds to build out the infrastructure of an interconnected nation. Maintenance and upkeep was to paid for with proceeds from the gas tax. Federal (non-gas-tax) dollars have continued to pour in, and now, gas tax / user tax accounts for just over half of the cost of these roads. Shortcomings to the funding model include:
--increased vehicle efficiency (reducing the amount of gas tax collected per mile)
--increased cost of road repairs (due to the increased cost of asphalt a petroleum based product, and the increased cost of fuel needed to power road maintenance equipment)
--increased road damage from heavy vehicles
--legacy of underfunded infrastructure problems (bridge repairs)
--fact that gas tax is not keeping pace with inflation

Problem: The road and highway system has skyrocketing costs, and no revenue to match those costs to balance the DoT budget.

My fair Solution: Implement a usage fee for the roads.

Details: Every million dollar highway onramp, offramp, third lane, or 21st lane wasn't free, and upon entering the highway, thus begins a ticker counting the miles, the level of congestion, and each multi-million dollar bridge in need of expensive maintenance crossed that is tallied and added to a vehicle's monthly bill. It will be cheaper to use the road when snow trucks don't need to plow it, it will be cheaper to use it when there is less congestion, cheaper for small and lightweight vehicles which cause light road wear, but it will be more expensive if you're vehicle is so heavy is causes dollars of damage to the road and bridges each mile. Perhaps causing some to reconsider using the highways due to how "cheap" it is.

Essentially, all highways become toll roads, and heavily used roads will have the money to repair themselves, and users pay for what they get, as opposed to charging non-users. But we're all users, as the groceries being delivered the the grocer via truck will have the modified transportation cost factored into the cost of the goods. But general taxes could fall as tax dollars don't have to chase after our roads. Since payment for the roads are grounded in the reality of "this is the value according to users based on usage, this is the revenue brought in, this much of my maintenance is paid for just be usage, the rest can be from gas tax, and if the remainder goes unfunded, that road shrinks and more heavily used roads expand and improve where appropriate". A bridge to nowhere wouldn't need the data of a feasibility study to suggest its shovel-readyness if it doesn't have the money from user fees in the area to expand the road system.

City streets / surface streets can have a monitoring mechanism that tracks which users are going over their intersections, tacking on a minimal cost for usage of roads. Money goes towards municipality responsible for upkeep of that road.

Hidden Agenda (exposed): I believe in natural selection, the free market, or rather natural efficiency of certain modes of transportation. Some have a competitive advantage, that can't be expressed to an inferior, but highly subsidized alternative. My thinking is that transit and rail can be clear winners, once the true costs of transportation are factored in. Which gets me closer to my goal of being able to nap, read, socialize, drink, or program while commuting, instead of defending myself from all the bad drivers on the road who put other's lives at risk. Secondarily, to save the planet, the country from economic failure, and improve the quality of life. There is probably some very cool people traveling from where you're coming from, and where you're going to, but if we all live in aluminum bubbles enclosed and separated from each other, we become isolated, and less social, which is the opposite of what people are supposed to be really good at doing.

Counter argument to rural areas that won't have the numbers to support their highways: There's nothing I love more than undisturbed nature, and nothing I hate more than urban sprawl. I would say dirt roads are pretty cheap, and that people are mighty happy bumping around in their heavy duty pickup trucks. Why not leave them some terrain to "off-road" it. Goods/grains/cereals can be shipped via short line rail from the rural areas to the denser areas for sale and distribution. If you live in the rural area, you're not supposed to be going to the city every day, and city folk, they don't go to the country every day. A nice scenic drive is good for the soul, and good for photographs.

Implementation Ideas for said plan:
1) Cameras on highway onramps and offramps that scan the license plate
2) EZPass embedded into every onramp and offramp, every city intersection with a signal.
3) GPS integrated with the vehicle to upload driving data to Department of Transportation.

Those who use the roads/highways, pay for the roads/highways.

Informational Assistance: Now that the drive has a cost, in addition to the price of fuel, this opens the door for Google Maps to integrate the cost of tolls/fees into your driving directions, so that motorists, and businesses alike can better plan for what is better for them. Are roads really faster AND cheaper than bus/train/plane/biking/walking. And takes some power out of earmarking bureaucrats from mismanaging funds, by linking expenditures with revenue.

Last word: This levels the subsidized playing field for businesses and people to choose the most efficient (cost, time, safety, ...) of all modes of transportation. I also see this reducing the cost to the state, local, and federal taxpayer, as the cost for our roadways shifts to those using them. Truckers may be in favor of this in the sense that their barrier to entry, registration fees, can go down, as the road maintenance fees don't need to come from vehicle inspections, but from miles driven. It can also reduce the amount of petroleum consumed in the country, as we shift from driving to transiting.

Prove me wrong.

The image above is a 21 lane across highway freak of nature located at the Junction of I5 and I805 in San Diego

The points made have been researched, and are not simply unpublished personal findings, but the work of giants before me. I would be glad to quote sources upon request.

Open Journal Systems - error on document.login.password or document.login.username

2009-11-30T11:15:00.001-05:00

I've made a bug fix for OJS (Open Journal Systems). Its a bug related to IE, and sometimes keeps users from being able to login.

Message: 'document.login.password' is null or not an object
or Message: 'document.login.username' is null or not an object
Line: 148
Char: 2
Code: 0
URI: http://www.dsq-sds.org/login/signIn
/templates/user/login.tpl on line 30
change
<form method="post" action="{url .... }" >

to
<form method="post" id="signIn" action="{url ... }" >

Then at roughly line 65 change the line about document.login.username to
document.getElementById("signIn").{if $username}password{else}username{/if}.focus();

Repayment is the hardest part of student loans.

2009-11-25T15:40:00.002-05:00

So now you've gotten a job, and are paying back your student loans, but you notice, not all loans are equal.

Loan1: $3000 @ 1.5%
Loan2: $4000 @ 4.0%
Loan3: $5000 @ 6.0%
Loan4: $1000 @ 8.0%

example: several loans, at varying interest rates. This example averages to $13,000 @ 4.5%

When you make payments, which loan would you like to choose to pay off first. That is not really an option available to the paybacker. If you do nothing, but make your payments, say a $1000 payment, then 1000/4 = $250 gets applied to each loan. Or, the better way would be to apply all $1000, to your most expensive loan, to knock it away.

Applying to most expensive loan: 12,000 @ 4.20%
Applying to all loans: 12,000 @ 4.46%

And thats one easy way how being smart, makes you save money. But to do this with student loans, it quite difficult and time consuming. This is a natural way to design a repayment system when you're the lender, but after every payment you make (online), you have to then send an email saying, hey, I want this to be applied to my most expensive loan. To which they [The Direct Loan Servicing Center] reply, um, we can't really do that, but we'll do something, and its going to take 7-10 days regardless.

To those who believe that the free market will have the solution, because I could use some innovation, and competition, hopefully someone with a decent enough website so I can make targeted payments.

Installing Google Plugin for Eclipse Galileo

2009-11-03T12:36:00.004-05:00

This was interesting, a fresh install of the Google Plugin for a freshly installed Eclipse Galileo on a (near) freshly installed Ubuntu Karmic, and it was miserable.

My first attempt:
Ubuntu -> Add Software -> Eclipse (Galileo) -> Install
Eclipse -> Install New Software -> Google -> Plugin, SDK, ...
...Fail!
org.eclipse.wst.sse.ui is missing error.
Luckily, others have noticed, and this steps you forward
http://code.google.com/eclipse/docs/faq.html#wstinstallerror

Second attempt, same as the first, with the help from FAQ, then a new error:
An error occurred while installing the items
session context was:(profile=PlatformProfile, phase=org.eclipse.equinox.internal.provisional.p2.engine.phases.Install, operand=null --> [R]org.eclipse.ant.ui 3.4.1.v20090901_r351, action=org.eclipse.equinox.internal.p2.touchpoint.eclipse.actions.InstallBundleAction).
The artifact file for osgi.bundle,org.eclipse.ant.ui,3.4.1.v20090901_r351 was not found.

Whats this: equinox, p2, ant.ui ??
I don't understand this, but with new eclipse comes new update manager (p2). And this is not going well.

Satisfies me attempt:
Uninstall Eclipse, delete /home/user/workspace, cry for 15 minutes, get coffee.
Synaptic Package Manager, click to install/reinstall pretty much everything that says [eclipse] or [gwt].
I selected: libgwt-user-java, libgwt-dev-java, eclipse, eclipse-*..., eclipse-plugin-cvs, reinstalled libequinox-osgi-java.

And then when I go into Eclipse->Install New Software, I select Google Plugin, restart, install the rest of the Google stuff, and I'm in business.

If asked, I don't know what to answer, whats harder, learning a new language, or learning to install the new language.

UPDATE:

These are the repo's I used.

http://download.eclipse.org/releases/galileo

http://download.eclipse.org/webtools/updates/ -- I'm not sure this one was needed.

http://dl.google.com/eclipse/plugin/3.5

Maven Issues

2009-10-28T13:23:00.002-05:00

If you catch any of these errors below, trying to rebuild/install things with maven, I have a solution, that worked for me atleast.


Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/codehaus/plexus/embed/Embedder

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.codehaus.plexus.embed.Embedder

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/codehaus/plexus/embed/Embedder

My solution: In Ubuntu, just uninstall maven2 completely, and reinstall maven2.

2009-10-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

Three things not to do with the internet

Here is my wisdom and tales to pass on to future generations of web surfers. A word of caution to future internet users so that they don't make the same mistakes I did.

1) Do not try to type: svn co "The Internet", if it ever finishes, you won't have nearly enough time to fix it.

2) Unless you understand the consequences do not type: wget http://*

3) Do not UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, type in to Google, [google]. Googling Google for [google] will be a sudden overload to the system, and then the rest of the world, who's internet you've just destoryed, will find you in real life, and say: "this is why we can't have nice things".

Now on Windows 7

2009-09-15T22:26:00.004-05:00

Windows 7,

I've finally made it. From the rave reviews I've heard from everyone, I was super excited to get onboard. All my friends were able to abandon their machines as they were and get going with the release candidate. I was not so fortunate. I love Ubuntu, it works super well about all of the time. So I also couldn't kick over to the RC, because I don't have a giant external hard drive to back everything up on. And as we've been sharing the computer, I'm not sure the woman would let me know immediately as soon as some of her files or settings, or Fallout3 character saves are missing.

Note: Find and copy your game-save files!!

Lastly, I was just recieved a Netgear wg111v3 wireless device (802.11g), which I needed for my desktop. The bad news, Netgear, or any responsible soul for this device doesn't have a Windows 7 driver for the wg111v3 device. The good news, is that you can still get the device to work with a minimum amount of hassle. But only if you're lucky of course.

My machine: Windows 7 64BIT
My wireless card: Netgear wg111v3

Problem: No driver for windows 7!!
Solution: Find a windows 7 driver for the chipset.

The chipset is Realtek RTL8187B. Though, as of this writing their website didn't have the latest Windows 7 drivers, but atleast the internets do.

I found the driver at some website:
Realtek RTL8187B Wireless LAN Windows 7 Driver v.62.1174
http://www.x-drivers.com/catalog/drivers/wireless_networks/companies/realtek/models/rtl8187b/12344.html

Note: it was a slow download, but better than no internets at all.

Once you get that file, launch the setup.exe, it fails to install on success. But you update drivers from device manager on your device, and choose have disk when looking to install the driver, and it resides in RTL8187B/Win7X64/net8187b.inf

Legislation DIFF'ing

2009-03-22T20:53:00.005-05:00

I'm interested in building an application to view diff's of legislation as they roll their way through the congress, and as they're amended over time. Recently the AIG bonus issue brought light to did so and so modify language that had been previously accepted so that some frankenstein loophole could be allowed. Well, computer programmers have very great tools for this. Its called diff. and there are some very nice gui's that have been built that makes one love to do version control.

Anyways, as new legislation comes out that modifies existing legislation.

Its very much a technical challenge just to comprehend what is being stated. Its like trying to understand the USA PATRIOT ACT. Sure it very much enhances our abilities as a nation, but I don't think that I as the guy in the control room trying to implement all the new features would be able to read the document.

Therefore, I am interested in piloting a project that takes these bills and tries to view them in a diff-like fashion.

For the uninitiated, diff is short for difference.

Is The Church and The Pope racist?

2009-03-19T01:23:00.003-05:00

The Pope on a recent visit to Africa has denounced the use of condoms. I would have to argue that there are many parts of Africa deeply affected by AIDS and HIV, and the goal should be to do anything that increases the percentage of the population that is not infected. Even if you're speaking to people with all the infrastructure necessary to follow your message, the youth of the developed world, the message of abstinence only, is less effective at getting through than the message of condom use[1]. My additional reason for this is that those who aren't getting the condoms are a good idea message, are even less likely to get the idea that sex is bad.

Therefore, assuming abstinence-only prevents the spread of the infection by 100%, less than 100% of the people will listen, thus the effectiveness of abstinence-only is only as effective as the percent of those who follow through with that message. The pope (or some cardinal) also said that condom use, as a means to reduce the spread of disease will be effective 87% of the time. Assuming 87% of people follow that advice, at a success rate of 87%, you have a blanket 75% of people who are now immunized against the infection. If 3/4 of the population follows through with the abstinence-only philosophy (which is a mighty high number), then you have a 75% protection from infection. If you count the 87 - 75 = 12% of people who agree with the condom message but don't agree with the abstinence message, then you have a bonus 12% * .87 = 10.4% of people who might also be protected from infection. So in my view abstinence-only education only leaves people vulnerable to infection.

According to US law, knowingly infection someone with the AIDS virus is a federal crime, perhaps somewhat equivalently, knowingly choosing a suboptimal strategy leaves you responsible for gap between effectiveness of the two strategies, therefore, by promoting a suboptimal strategy, the church, and the pope do not have a clean conscience when it comes to the best interests of their fellow man.

[1] D. Kirby, National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Emerging Answers: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy, at 88 (May 2001) ("[T]here do not currently exist any abstinence-only programs with reasonably strong evidence that they actually delay the initiation of sex or reduce its frequency").

Stimulating Innovation of the Internet

2009-03-15T17:20:00.002-05:00

Very shortly I will be canceling my Yahoo Account. It is not out of anger, or a direct response to some grievous error on their part, but rather, I'm making my stand to make the internet a better place.

As is competition, Yahoo has sadly lost the race on the internet frontier. I would declare them to be a stale-growth company, that is of the type that performs a spelling correction update cycle, as opposed to the create market leading applications or services growth and risks.

So to congratulate the internet on being as advanced as it is, I will officially close up my Yahoo account, thus signaling the practical death of Yahoo, it was central to the internet at the millennium, but now will likely live on as an AOL. A name with no certain future.

(As for grievous errors, they have struck me with their launchcast radio which I paid for, and it was the first time I was bitten by the auto-renewal bug. And most recently, Yahoo Domain / small business is certainly doomed to dissolve, as their domain registrar has raised the fee for a domain name to include a profit of 350%, or so.)

Yahoo Fees: Part Duex

2009-03-04T00:19:00.002-05:00

I thought I was upset with Yahoo's $3 skimming off the top last year. They've certainly redoubled their effort to achieve profitability. However, this severe a move is one that actually requires action. It might not be worth (an inefficient) half hour to transfer to a new host to save $3, but now, this is $25 bucks..

Microsoft Office Live Online

2009-02-26T16:06:00.002-05:00

You can see how Microsoft has so completely closed its doors to the world. I mean look, _unless_you_use_what_they_say_you_can_ the doors of Microsoft are closed to the world.

(For the less developed senses out there, this ones pretty heavily laced.)

My errosion of faith in Wikipedia

2009-02-08T10:54:00.003-05:00

Either when my mind was less "quick", or when Wikipedia had stronger editorial control, I could read an article and believe what I read to be of high value.

However, things have changed. I have to remove graffiti just to read a story on wind turbines, some portions are in en-world, not en-us (by using metres, instead of meters, but really instead of feet). Also, the information is not organized according to logical means, mostly just a hodgepodge of information.

=== WIKIPEDIA INFO ON WIND TURBINE ===

===
LARGEST - The world's largest turbines are manufactured by the Northern German companies Enercon and REpower. The Enercon E-126 delivers up to 6 MW, has an overall height of 198 m (650 ft) and a diameter of 126 meters (413 ft). The Repower 5M delivers up to 5 MW, has an overall height of 183 m (600 ft) and has a diameter of 126 m (413 ft).

TALLEST - The world's highest wind turbine of company DeWind is located in the Andes/Argentina to 4,100 metres (13,000 ft) above sea level. Turbine type D8.2 - 2000 kW / 50 Hz was used for that site. This turbine has a new drive train concept with a special torque converter (WinDrive) of the company Voith and a synchronous generator. The WKA was put into operation in December 2007 and has supplied the local gold mine with electricity since then.[16] [17]

NORTHERNMOST / SOUTHERNMOST - The turbine closest to the North Pole is a Nordex N-80 in Havøygavlen near Hammerfest, Norway. The ones closest to the South Pole are two Enercon E-30 in Antarctica, used to power the Australian Research Division's Mawson Station.[15]

POWER PRODUCTION - THE MOST PRODUCTIVE WIND TURBINE was Matilda located IN Gotland, Sweden. It produced a total of 61.4 GW·h in the 15 years it was active. That is more renewable energy than any other single wind power turbine had ever produced to that date. It was demolished on June 6, 2008.
=========

Anyways, it used to be a serious tool (wikipedia) to me, but for doing any serious work, you definitely need to do your research and go elsewhere.

Vista feedback submit form [link]

2009-01-14T13:21:00.001-05:00

https://feedback.windowsvista.microsoft.com/default.aspx?productkey=winvista

There it is. Send in your feedback to microsoft, especially with regards to vista.

USA PATRIOT Act in 3410 words

2009-01-12T23:36:00.005-05:00

The USA Patriot Act is too long to read. I offer you a version of the original act, in a cleaned up fashion that is:
a) arranged in an orderly fashion
b) concisely removes duplicate information

a, a', aa, abatement, abettor, abiding, abilities, ability, able, about, above, abroad, abuse, abuses, accept, acceptance, accepts, access, accessed, accesses, accessible, accompanied, accompanying, accompanying', accomplishing, accomplishment, accordance, accorded, accordingly, account, account', accountholders, accounts, accrue, accrues, accurate, accused, achieve, acquire, acquired, acquires, acquiring, acquisition, across, act, act', act, acted, acting, action, action', actions, activities, activities', activity, activity', actor, acts, actual, added, adding, addition, addition', additional, address, addressing, adequate, adequately, adjudicated, adjudicating, adjusting, adjustment, administer, administered, administering, administers, administration, administrative, admiralty, admissibility, admissible, admission, admit, admitted, adopt, adopted, advances, advancing, advantages, adverse, adversely, advertisements, advice, advisable, advise, advisor, advisors, aerosolization, affairs, affairs', affect, affected, affecting, affects, affidavit, affiliate, affiliate', affiliated, affiliations, affirmative, afforded, affording, affords, afghanistan, aforesaid, after, after', again, against, age, agencies, agency, agency', agency's, agent, agent', agents, aggravated, aggregate, aggregating, aggressively, aggrieved, agreed, agreement, agreements, agrees, agricultural, aid, aided, aider, aiding, air, aircraft, airline, airlines, airplane, airports, alerts, alien, alien', aliens, alien's, all, all', alleged, alleging, allocated, allocation, allotted, allow, allowed, allowing, allows, along, also, alternate, amend, amended, amending, amendment, amendments, america, american, americans, america's, among, amount, amounts, an, analog, analyses, analysis, analytic, analytical, analyze, ancillary, and, and', and, anger, annual, annually, anonymity, another, anti, antidrug, antiterrorism, any, any', anything, anywhere, app, apparatus, appeal, appeals, appear, appears, appendix, applicability, applicable, applicant, applicants, applicant's, application, applications, applied, applied', applies, apply, applying, appoint, appointed, appointment, appropriate, appropriated, appropriation, appropriations, approval, approved, approving, approximately, appurtenances, appurtenant, april, arab, arbitration, are, areas, arising, arm, armed, arms, around, arrangement, arrangements, arrest, arrested, arrests, arson, art, article, articles, articulable, as, ascertain, asia, aside, assassination, assault, assaults, assembled, asserting, assess, assessment, assessments, asset, assets, assigned, assignment, assist, assistance, assistant, assister, assisting, associate, associated, association, assurance, assurances, assure, assuring, at, atomic, attached, attached', attack, attacked, attacks, attempt, attempted, attempting, attempts, attendants, attest, attorney, attributes, audit, auditing, audits, august, authorities, authority, authorization, authorization', authorize, authorized, authorized', authorizes, authorizing, automated, automatic, automatically, availability, available, avoid, award, awarded, b, b', background, backgrounds, backlog, backpack, bank, banking, banks, bank's, barred, barter, based, bases, basic, basis, basle, bb, be, beards, bearer, bearing, because, become, becoming, been, been', before, began, begin, beginning, begun, behalf, being, beings, believe, believed, believes, belong, belonging, beneficial, beneficiaries, beneficiary, benefit, benefits, bequests, best, better, between, beyond, bigotry, bilateral, bill, billing, bin, bio, biochemical, biological, biometric, bioterrorism, bioterrorist, birthday, black, bliley, block, board, bodily, bombing, bona, bond, bonds, books, border, border', border, both, both', boundaries, branch, branches, break, bribery, brief, bring, broad, broadly, brokers, brought, budgetary, buildings, bulk, burden, bureau, burn', business, business', business
, businesses, businesses', businesses, but, by, c, c', cabinet, cable, calendar, call, called, callous, calls, camera, cameras, can, cannot, cap, capabilities, capability, capacities, capacity, captain, captures, capturing, card, care, carried, carry, carrying, case, case', cases, cash, cataloguing, catastrophic, cause, cause', caused, causes, causing, cc, cease, center, center', centers, center's, central, centralized, certain, certificate, certificates, certification, certifications, certified, certify, cessations, cftc, chairman, chairmen, challenge, challenges, change, changes, changing, channel, chapter, chapters, characterized, charge, charged, charitable, charter, check, checked, checks, chemical, chemical', chief, child, children, child's, circuit, circuits', circulate, circumstance, circumstances, circumvent, cited, citizen, citizens, citizen's, citizenship, civil, civilian, claim, claimant, claims, clandestine, clarification, clarifications, clarify, class, classes, classification, classified, classify, clause, clauses, clear, clearance, clearly, clerical, clerk, clients, clinical, close, closely, closures, clothing, code, code', coerce, coercion, cognizable, coin, coins, collect, collected, collection, collude, colluder, color, columbia, columbia', combat, combatting, combination, combining, comforting, comma, command, commence, commenced, commencement, commensurate, comment, commerce, commingled, commingles, commission, commit, commitment, commits, committed, committee, committees, committing, commodity, common, commonly, commonwealth, communicates, communication, communication', communications, communications', community, community', compact, companies, company, company', comparable, compatible, compensable, compensate, compensated, compensation, competence, competent, competitive, complaints, complete, completed, completing, completion, complex, complexity, compliance, comply, component, components, comprehensive, comprising, computer, computer', computerized, computers, computing, conceal, concealed, concealing, concealment, conceals, concentration, concept, concern, concern, concerned, concerning, concerns, concluded, concludes, concluding, conclusion, conclusions, concurrent, concurs, condemn, condemned, condemning, condemns, condition, conditions, conduct, conducted, conducted', conducting, conducts, confer, confidentiality, configuration, confirm, confirming, confiscate, confiscated, confiscation, conflict, conflicts, conforming, congress, congress
, congressional, conjunction, connecting, connection, consent, consequential, consider, consideration, considerations, considered, considering, considers, consist, consistent, conspiracies, conspiracy, conspirator, conspire, conspires, conspiring, constitute, constitutes, constituting, constitution, constitution', constitutional, construct, construction, construed, construing, consular, consulate, consult, consultation, consultations, consulting, consumer, consumer's, contact, contain, contained, container, containing, contains, contemplated, contempt, content, contents, contents', contest, contesting, context, continually, continue, continuing, continuity, continuous, contract, contracts, contractual, contrary, contrast, contravene, contribute, contribution, contributions, contributor, control, controlled, controlling, controls, convention', conventional, converts, conveyance, conveyed, conveys, convicted, conviction, conviction', cooperate, cooperation, cooperative, coordinate, coordinated, coordination, copy, corporate, corporation, corporations, corpus, correct, correction, correspondent, corresponding, corrupt, corruption, corruptly, cost, costs, could, count, counted, counter, counterfeit, counterfeiting, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, countries, country, country', coupled, courier, couriers, course, court, court', courts, covered, covering, create, created, creates, creating, creation, credible, credit, crew, crime, crime', crimes, criminal, criminals, crises, crisis, criteria, critical, cross, crossing, crossings, cuba', culpable, cultivated, currency, currency', current, currently, custodian, custody, customer, customers, customs, cyber, cybersecurity, cyberterrorism, cycle, d, damage, damage', damaged, damages, damaging, danger, dangerous, data, database, databases, date, daughter, daughters, day, days, dd, dea, deadline, deadlines, dealers, dealing, dealings, dealt, death, debilitating, debit, deceased, december, decision, declaration, declares, decline, dedicated, deemed, deems, defective, defects, defend, defendant, defendant', defense, defense', defer, deferral, deferred, deferring, define, defined, defining, definition, definitions, defraud, degree, delay, delayed, delaying, delays, delegate, delegated, deliberate, delicti, delineate, delivers, delivery, demand, demands, demonstrate, demonstrated, demonstrating, demonstration, demonstrations, denial, denied, deny, depart, department, departments, departure, depend, deploy, deployment, deportable, deportation, deposit, deposited, depository, deposits, deputy, derail, derails, derived, descent, describe, described, describing, description, design, designate, designated, designating, designation, designation', designed, designee, designee', desirability, desirable, desires, destroy, destroy', destroyed, destroying, destruction, destructive, detailed, detailing, detain, detained, detaining, detect, detecting, detection, detention, deter, determination, determine, determined, determines, determining, deterrence, deterrent, detriment, detrimental, develop, developed, developing, development, device, device', devices, devices', diagnose, diagnosis, dialing, dialing', did, died, different, difficult, difficulty, digital, diligence, diminished, diplomatic, direct, directed, direction', directly, director, director', directors, directs, disability, disability', disable, disabled, disables, disadvantage, disagree, disaster, disbursement, disbursements, discharged, disciplinary, discipline, disclose, disclosed, disclosing, disclosure, disclosures, discover, discovery, discretion, discretionary, discriminate, discrimination, discuss, discussion, disease, disguise, dishonorable, dismantling, dismiss, dispatcher, dispatching, disputes, disregard, disregarded, disruption, disseminate, disseminated, dissemination, dissimilar, distance, distinct, distribute, distributed, distributing, distribution, distributions, district, district', disturbances, diversity, divided, division, divulge, dna, do, document, documentation, documented, documents, does, doing, domestic, domestically, donation, donations, donor', draft, drawn, dress, driver, drug, due, duly, duration, durations, during, duties, duty, e, each, early, earned, easier, easily, economic, economy, education, education', educational, effect, effecting, effective, effectively, effectiveness, efficacy, efficient, efficiently, effort, efforts, eight, either, electronic, electronic', electronically, electronics, element, elements, eligibility, eligible, eliminate, elimination, embezzlement, emergencies, emergency, emerging, emphasize, employed, employee, employees, employment, employs, ems, enable, enacted, enactment, enacts, encompass, encounter, encourage, encouraged, encouraging, end, endanger, endangerment, endangers, ending, endorse, endorsement, enduring, energy, enforce, enforceability, enforceable, enforcement, enforcement's, enforcing, engage, engaged, engagement, engages, engaging, enhance, enhanced, enhancement, enhancing, ensure, ensuring, enter, entered, entering, enterprises, entertain, entire, entities, entitle, entitled, entity, entity', entry, enumerated, environment, epidemic, epidemiology, equal, equally, equipment, equity, equivalent, especially, espionage, espouse, essential, establish, established, establishes, establishing, establishment, estimated, et, ethnic, evade, evading, evaluate, evaluating, evaluation, evasion, even, event, events, every, evidence, ex, examination, examinations, example, exceed, exceeded, exceeding, except, exception, exceptions, excess, exchange, exchange', exchanges, excluding, exclusion, exclusive, exclusively, executed', executes, execution, executive, exempt, exempted, exemption, exemptions, exercise, exercised, exist, existence, existing, exists, exit, expand, expansion, expectation, expedite, expedited, expeditiously, expended, expenditure, expenditures, expenses, experience, expert, expertise, expiration, expired, expires, explosive, explosives, export, exporting, exposure, expressing, expressly, extend, extended, extending, extension, extensions, extensive, extent, extortion, extract, extracted, extracts, extradite, extraterritorial, f, face, facilitate, facilitates, facilitating, facilities, facility, facility', facsimile, fact, factors, facts, factual, fail, failed, fails, failure, fair, faith, false, falsely, families, families
, family, fbi, fearful, feasibility, feasible, february, federal, federally, fee, fellow, fellowships, felony, ferry, fewer, fide, field, fifteen, fight, figure, file, filed, files, filing, final, finally, finances, financial, financing, fincen, fincen', find, finding, findings, finds, fine, fine', fined, fined', fines, fingerprint, fingerprints, fire, fire', firearm, firearm', firearms, firm, firmware, first, fisa, fiscal, fitness, five, five', fixed, flight, flows, flush, focus, focusing, foia, follow, following, follows, followup, food, for, for', force, forced, forces, foregoing, foreign, forensic, foreseeable, forever, forfeit, forfeited, forfeiture, forfeitures, form, formal, formation, former, forms, formula, forseeable, forth, forty, found, fraud, frauds, fraudulent, freedom, frequent, from, from', fte, fuel, fugitive, fulfill, fulfilled, full, fullest, fully, function, functional, functions, fund, fund', funded, funding, funds, furnish, furnishes, further, furtherance, future, futures, g, gain, gaming, garage, gas, gather, gathering, general, generally, general's, geographic, geographically, germs, gift, gifts, give, given, giving, global, globe, goal, gone, good, goods, govern, governed, governing, government, governmental, governments, governors, grace, grade, gramm, grand, grandparent, grandparents, grant, granted, grantor, grants, grave, greater, gross, ground, grounds, group, groups, growth, guam, guard, guests, guidance, guidelines, guilty, h, habeas, had, hamdani, handle, harassment, harbor, harboring, harbors, hardware, harm, has, have, haven, having, hazardous, hazmat, he, head, heading, headings, headquarters, heads, health, hear, held, help, her, hereby, heroic, heroically, hiding, high, higher, highly, hijackings, hinder, hire, his, historical, history, holders, holding, holds, holy, homeland, homicide, homicides, hospital, hospitals, hostage, hostile, hostilities, hour, hours, house, housing, how, however, however', hr, human, humanitarian, i, iafis, identical, identifiable, identification, identified, identifier, identifies, identify, identifying, identities, identity, ieepa, if, ii, iii, illegal, illegal', illegally, illicit, illness, illnesses, image, image', imagery, images, images', immaterial, immediate, immediately, immigrant, immigrants, immigration, immunity, impact, impair, impairment, impairs, impede, impeded, impediments, implement, implementation, implemented, implementing, implications, imply, important, importation, importing, impose, imposed, imposing, imposition, impression, impressions, imprint, imprisoned, imprisoned', imprisonment, improper, improve, improved, improvement, improvements, improvements
, improving, impulses', in, in', inadequate, inadmissibility, inadmissible, incapacitates, incapacity, incendiary, incident, incidentally, incidents, incite, include, include', included, includes, includes', including, inclusion, income, incorporated, increase, increased, increasing, increasingly, incurred, indefinite, independent, index, indexed, indicating, indictable, indictment, indirect, indirectly, individual, individually, individuals, individual's, induced, industry, ineligible, infectious, inference, influence, influenced, inform, informal, information, information', informational, informing, infrastructure, infrastructure', infrastructures, initial, initiate, initiated, initiating, initiative, initiatives, injure, injure', injury, injury', innocent, inquiry', ins, insert, inserting, insights, inspection, inspector, inspectors, installation, installations, installed, installing, instances, institute, instituted, instituting, institution, institution', institutional, institutions, institutions', instruct, instructions, instrument, instrument', instruments, insufficient, insurance, insured, integrated, integration, integrity, intelligence, intelligence', intelligence, intended, intends, intent, intention, intentional, intentionally, intentions, interbank, intercept, intercepted, interception, interdependent, interest, interested, interests, interface, interference, interferes, interfering, intergovernmental, intermediary, internal, internal', international, internationally, internet, internships, interoperability, interpol, interruption, interstate, intervals, intimidate, intimidation, into, invalid, invalidity, investigate, investigate', investigated, investigating, investigation, investigation', investigations, investigative, investigatory, investment, invoked, involve, involved, involvement, involves, involving, irrespective, is, islands, issuance, issue, issue', issued, issued', issuer, issues, issuing, it, item, items, its, itself, iv, ix, j, january, jeff, jeopardize, join, join', joint, jointly, judge, judges, judges', judgment, judgments, judicial, judiciary, july, june, jurisdiction, jurisdiction', jurisdictional, jurisdictions, jury, justice, justified, justifies, k, keeping, kept, key, kidnap, kidnaping, kidnapping, kidnapping', kill', killed, killing, killings, kingpin, knew, know, knowing, knowingly, knowledge, known, knows, korea', l, labor, laboratories, laden, land, landlord, language, languages, large, larger, last, later, launderers, laundering, law, lawful, lawfully, laws, leach, leader, leaders, leadership, leased, least, legal, legally, legislation, legislative, legitimate, lending, length, lengthening, less, less', letters, level, levels, liabilities, liability, liable, liaison, liberties, license, license', licensed, licenses, licenses
, lie, life, life', lift, light, like, likely, limb, limit, limitation, limitations, limited, limits, line, line', lines, linguistic, links, liquid, liquidated, list, listed, lists, litigation, little, loan, local, localities, locate, located, location, locations, long, longer, lookout, loss, loss', losses, lost, low, lower, lowered, luggage, m, machine, made, magistrate, mail, mailing, maim, maintain, maintained, maintaining, maintains, maintenance, majority, make, makes, making, malicious, maliciously, manage, manageable, managed, management, manages, managing, mandate, mandatory, manipulation, manner, manslaughter, manufacture, many, mapping, margins, mariana, marital, maritime, market, marshal, marshals, masks, mass, material, materials, matter, matters, maximum, may, may', mean, meaning, meaningful, meanings, means, measure, measures, measures, mechanism, mechanisms, medical, medicine, meet, meeting, meets, member, members, membership, memberships, memorandums, mental, merchandise, merchant, merchants, merger, mergers, merits, messages, method, methods, metropolitan, microfilm, miles, military, minimally, minimize, minimum, minority, misappropriation, miscellaneous, miscellaneous
, misdemeanor, misguided, missile, missiles, missing, missions, misstatement, misuse, mitigate, mitigation, mobile, model, modeling, models, modification, modified, modify, mohammed, monetary, money, monitor, monitoring, month, months, more, most, motion, motivation, motor, mount, move, movement, moving, much, multi, multijurisdictional, multilateral, munitions, murder, muslim, must, mutual, mutually, n, name, named, names, narcotics, nation, national, nationalities, nationality, nationals, nations, nationwide, natural, naturalization, naturally, nature, navigation, nces, ncic, near, necessarily, necessary, necessity, need, needed, needs, negligent, negotiations, neighboring, neither, network, network
, networks, new, newspaper, nisac, nist, no, nominal, non, nonbank, noncapital, noncompliance, noncooperative, nondelegation, nondisclosure, nondomiciliaries, none, nonfinancial, nongovernmental, nonimmigrant, nonprofit, nonresidents, nor, north, northern, not, note, notes, nothing, notice, notice', notification, notify, notwithstanding, november, now, nuclear, null, number, numbered, numerical, object, objection, objective, obligated, obligation, obligations, obstacles, obstruct, obstruction, obtain, obtained, obtaining, obtains, occur, occurred, occurring, occurs, october, of, of', offender, offenders, offense, offenses, offenses
, offer, offered, office, office', officer, officer', officers, officers', officers
, offices, official, officials, offshore, offshore', old, omission, omit, omnibus, on, once, one, ongoing, only, onset, open, opened, opening, opens, operate, operated, operating, operation, operational, operations, operator, operators, opportunities, opportunity, or, or', or, oral, oral', order, order', ordered, orders, ordinarily, ordinary, organization, organization', organizations, organization's, organized, originating, origination, originator, originators, orphans, osama, other, others, otherwise, our, out, out', outbreaks, outmoded, outreach, outside, over, overall, overlap, overseas, oversight, overtime, own, owned, owner, owner', owners, ownership, owns, p, packet, page, page, paid, pakistani, papers, paragraph, paragraphs, parallel, parent, parents, parole, part, parte, participant, participant', participants, participated, participating, participation, particular, particularly, parties, partnership, parts, party, passed, passenger, passengers, passport, passports, patriot, patriotism, patrol, patterns, pay, payable, payees, paying, payment, payments, pdf, peaceful, pen, penalties, penalty, pendency, pending, people, per, perceived, percent, percent', perform, performance, performing, period, periodic, periods, permanent, permissible, permission, permit, permits, permitted, perpetrated, perpetrating, perpetrators, person, person', personal, personally, personnel, persons, person's, persons', persuade, pertaining, petition, petitioner, petitions, pharmaceutical, phrase, physical, pipeline, piracy, place, placed, placement, places, plaintiff, plan, planned, planning, plans, plastic, plate, plates, platform, platforms, play, point, points, police, policies, policy, policymakers, political, pool, population, port, portion, ports, pose, posed, posing, position, possess, possesses, possessing, possession, possessions, possible, post, posts, potential, potentially, power, powers, practicable, practical, practices, practices', precautionary, preceding, preclude, precursor, predicates, predominantly, preference, prejudice, preliminarily, premises, preparation, prepare, prepared, preparedness, preparing, preponderance, prescribe, prescribed, prescribed', prescribing, presence, presence', present, presentation, presented, preservation, preserve, preserving, president, presidential, pretrial, prevent, prevented, preventing, prevention, previous, previously, prey, primarily, primary, principal, principally, principles, prior, priorities, priority, privacy, private, privately, privilege, pro, problem, problems, procedure, procedure', procedures, procedures, proceeding, proceeding', proceedings, proceeds, process, process', processing, processing', produce, produces, producing, product, production, professionals, program, programming, programs, progress, prohibit, prohibited, prohibiting, prohibition, prohibitions, prohibits, projects, projects', proliferation, prominence, promise, promote, prompt, promptly, promulgate, promulgated, pronouncements, proper, property, property', prophylactic, proposal, proposed, prosecute, prosecuted, prosecuting, prosecution, prosecutions, prosecutor, prosecutors, prosperity, protect, protected, protecting, protection, protection, protective, protective', provide, provided, provider, provides, providing, provision, provisions, provisions, proximate, proximately, public, publication, publicly, publish, published, puerto, punish, punishable, punished, punished', punishing, punishment, purchase, purpose, purpose', purposes, purposes
, pursuant, pursuing, purview, put, q, qualifications, qualified, qualifies, qualify, qualifying, quality, quantities, quantity, quest, questions, quick, r, racial, racketeering, radio, radiological, rail, raise, raising, range, ranging, rank, ranking, rapid, rare, rate, rds, read, readable, readily, readiness, real, reason, reasonable, reasonably, reasons, reauthorization, receipt, receipts, receive, received, received, receiver, receives, receiving, recent, recipient, recipients, reciprocity, reckless, recognizable, recognize, recognizes, recommend, recommendation, recommendations, reconfiguration, reconfiguring, reconsider, reconsidered, record, record', recording, recordkeeping, records, records', recover, recovery, red, redesignate, redesignated, redesignating, redesignation, redesignation', redissemination, reduce, reduced, reducing, reduction, reentry, reestablishing, refer, reference, references, referred, refers, reform, reformed, regard, regarded, regarding, regardless, regime, regimes, region, regional, register, register', registered, registers, registration, registry, regular, regularity, regulated, regulating, regulation, regulations, regulator, regulator', regulators, regulatory, reimburse, reimbursed, reimbursement, relate, related, relates, relating, relations, relationship, relationships, relative, relatives, release, released, relevant, reliable, reliance, relied, relief, relieve, religion, religious, rely, rem, remain, remainder, remaining, remains, remarries, remedies, remedy, remote, removable, removal, removed, removes, removing, render, rendered, rendition, renewal, renewals, renounced, repatriate, repatriation, repeatedly, replaced, replenish, report, reported, reporting, reports, reports, representative, representatives, represented, reproduces, reproduction, reproductions, republic, request, requested, requesting, requests, require, required, requirement, requirements, requires, requiring, rescue, research, research', reserve, reside, residence, residence', residences, resident, residents, resides, residing, resistant, resolutely, resolution, resolving, resource, resources, respect, respective, respectively, respond, responders, responding, response, responses, responsibilities, responsibility, responsible, restitution, restoring, restrained, restraining, restraint, restricted, restricting, restriction, result, resulted, resulting, results, retain, retained, retains, retention, retrain, retrieval, retroactive, return, returning, revealing, revenue, review, review, reviewed, reviewing, revocation, revoked, revolution, reward, rewards, rico, right, rights, risk, risking, rogatory, role, routed, routing, roving, rule, rulemaking, rules, s, sabotage, sacrosanct, safe, safeguard, safeguards, safety, said, salaries, sale, salman, same, samoa, sanctions, satisfaction, satisfied, satisfy, savings, scale, scanning, scans, scene, school, schoolbus, scienter, scientific, scope, screen, screened, screening, scrutiny, seal, seaports, search, searches, sec, second, secrecy, secret, secretary, secretary', secretary's, secrets, section, section', sections, sector, sectors, secure, securing, securities, securities', security, security', seek, seeking, seeks, seize, seized, seizure, select, selecting, selection, self, selling, sells, semi, semiannual, semiannually, semicolon, senate, sender, senior, sense, sent, sentence, sentencing, separate, separated, september, seq, sequence, serious, seriously, seriousness, serve, served, service, service', services, services', serving, session, session, set, sets, setting, settlement, seven, severability, severable, shall, shall', share, shared, shareholder, shareholders, shares, sharing, she, shell, shielded, shift, ship, shipped, shopping, short, should, showing, shown, sightseeing, signal, signaling, signed, significant, signifying, signs, sikh, sikhs, similar, similarity, similarly, simulation, since, single, situated, six, size, skills, smallpox, smuggle, smuggled, smugglers, smuggling, so, social, society, software, sold, sole, solely, solicit, solicitation, solicitations, solicitor, some, son, sons, sooner, sophisticated, sought, sought', source, sources, sources
, south, speaker, special, specialists, specially, specific, specifically, specified, specify, speed, spending, sponsored, sponsors, spouse, spouses, spread, st, stability, stabilizing, staff, staffing, stamp, stand, standard, standards, standing, start, stat, state, state', stated, states, state's, states', states
, stating, stations, statistics, status, statute, statute', statutory, stay, steps, still, stockpile, stockpiles, stolen, stone, stones, stones', stop, stored, stores, strategy, streets, strength, strengthen, strengthening, striking, strongest, structure, structuring, student, study, subaccount, subchapter, subchapters, subclause, subclauses, subdivision, subject, subjected, subjecting, subjects, submission, submit, submits, submittal, submitted, submitting, subparagraph, subparagraphs, subpart, subpoena, subpoenas, subscriber, subscriber', subsection, subsections, subsequent, subsidiaries, substance, substance', substances, substantial, substantially, substitute, subtitle, subvert, successfully, successor, such, such', suffered, sufficient, summarizing, summons, sums, sunset, supersede, superseding, supervised, supervises, supervision, supervisors, supervisory, supplemental, supplies, supply, support, supporters, supporting, supreme, surge, surrounding, surveillance, surveillance', surveys, surviving, susceptible, suspected, suspend, suspension, suspicions, suspicious, sustained, switched, syria, system, systemic, systems, systems, table, tactical, tailored, take, taken, takes, taking, taliban, tamper, tangible, tap, target, targeted, targeting, targets, task, tax, technical, techniques, technological, technologies, technology, telecommunications, telemarketing, telephone, television, temporarily, temporary, tempore, ten, ten', tenets, term, terminal, terminate, terminated, terminating, termination, terms, territorial, territories, territory, terrorism, terrorism', terrorism
, terrorist, terrorists, terrorists', terrorists, test, tested, testimony, tests, text, th, than, than', that, that', the, theft, their, them, then, therapeutics, therapies, there, thereafter, thereby, therefor, therefrom, therein, thereof, thereto, thereunder, these, they, thing, things, third, this, those, threat, threaten, threatens, threats, three, threshold, through, throughout, thus, thwarting, time, timely, times, timing, title, title', to, to', today, together, toll, took, tools, tort, torture, total, toward, toxin, toxin', trace, traceable, tracking, trade, traded, trades, trading, traditional, traffickers, trafficking, tragic, trail, train, trained, training, trains, trandahl, transacted, transaction, transactional, transactions, transactions', transcending, transfer, transferred, transferring, transfers, transformed, translation, translations, translators, transmission, transmits, transmittal, transmitted, transmitting, transmitting', transnational, transparency, transport, transportation, transportation', transported, transporting, transports, trap, travel, travels, treasury, treat, treated, treaties, treatment, treatments, treaty, trends, trespasser, trespasser', trespassers, trespasser's, trial, tribal, tried, triple, true, trust, trusts, turbans, turkey, twenty, two, type, types, typically, u, unable, unauthorized, unavailable, under, undercover, underground, underlying, undermine, undermines, underpin, understanding, undertake, underway, undesignated, undue, unenforceability, unenforceable, unfolded, uniform, uninstalled, uninsured, unintended, unintentional, union, unions, united, uniting, units, unity, unlawful, unlawfully, unless, unlicensed, unlicensed', unlikely, unmarried, unreviewable, until, unwittingly, up, update, updated, updates, upgrading, upon, urban, usa, usage, use, used, usefulness, user, uses, using, usual, utilities, utilization, utilize, utilized, utilizing, utter, uttering, v, vaccines, valid, validity, value, variety, various, vehicle, venue, verbal, verification, verify, verifying, vest, vi, via, viability, vibrant, victim, victims, video, vii, viii, violate, violated, violates, violating, violation, violations, violence, violent, virgin, virtual, virtue, visa, visas, visiting, vital, vocational, voice, volume, voluntarily, voluntary, vote, w, waive, waiver, wake, wanted, warfare, warning, warrant, warranted, warranting, warrants, was, watchlist, water, way, we, weak, weapon, weapon', weaponization, weapons, welfare, well, were, what, when, whenever, where, whereby, wherever, whether, which, whichever, while, who, whoever, whole, whom, whose, wide, will, willful, willfully, wire, wiretap, with, withdrawal, within, without, witnesses, women, work, workers, workshops, world, worldwide, worn, worship, would, wreck, wrecking, wrecks, writ, writer, writing, written, wrongdoing, x, y, year, year', years, years', york, yorker

Even just from the language alone, sounds like we mean business.

(this transformation powered by C#, there is no way I would have hand-made this)

Why banks charge inactivity fees?

2008-12-29T11:59:00.003-05:00

9 Month Inactivity Fee with money in [Bank Name]: Accounts with no activity cost banks money to maintain. After 9 consecutive months of no activity, a $19.00 monthly fee will be assessed until the account reaches a zero balance. At this time the account will be closed. If the user wants to re-open an account, he or she can do so. This fee will never overdraw the account.

Forgive me for not being a banker, but I don't understand why an account with no activity would cost a bank any more money to maintain than active accounts. Also, don't banks have some type of dividends, or interest earnings? That should qualify as activity, plus the bank is able to play with the money you leave in there, investing, lending, otherwise using that money to make money.

As for the cost associated with maintaining an inactive account. The bank already has the computer infrastructure in place, your dormant account is one or more records of possibly millions in a database table. By not logging in, or producing activity, you're likely saving them money. Each time you log in, its processed and stored, plus bandwidth and server usage for looking at your account, small peanuts sure, but a record that is never accessed, charging an inactivity fee sounds like a revenue source as opposed to quid pro quo.

Which reminds me, wheres the ethics in installing red-light-cameras in areas where it will maximize city revenue, as opposed to increase safety?

List of banks: chase, fifth third, first merit, national city, wells fargo, us bank, keybank, key bank,washington mutual,citibank,wachovia,countrywide,huntington,sky bank,new century,gmac,college board,greenpoint,bank one,firstar,nellie mae,comerica,suntrust, ing direct,capital one,american express,shore bank,skybank,teri,discover,huntington national,standard federal,harris bank,flagstar,hsbc,nelliemae, mbna america,wamu,banking,providian,financial strategies, pnc

faults with measuring

2008-11-24T13:17:00.000-05:00

Preface: TV's : The Biggest Loser
A tv show that encourages contestants to not be in the bottom rung of people losing the minimum percentage of weight, weekly.

Fault: unit of measurement != results
Televising that someone goes from 170lbs to 163lbs (delta -4.11%) one week then from 163lbs to 159lbs (delta -2.45%) doesn't mean that that person has slowed their fat loss (a goal of becoming healthy), just their weekly weight loss has slowed (the weekly goal of the television show contest).

Solution:
Measure each person's %body_fat at each time interval, and compare that %body_fat each time. And compare that delta %body_fat each week. Reason why this is better, from experience, I can't lose or gain weight (beyond a 10 pound fluctuation). But I can gain or lose body fat percentage.

My story:
I weigh ~(195-205)lbs.
I work out, I convert fat into leg, core, and arm strength.
I slouch and become an enslaved cubicle person who goes out to lunch daily; muscle deteriorates and becomes fat.

Lastly, muscle weighs more than fat, and having a balanced amount of muscle over fat is our healthy bound.

====
Now, to compare this with Google's Official Google Blog: Sorting 1PB with MapReduce

Holy Damn!!
Wow!
Our cluster admin would have killed my job before it got anywhere close to tying up 1pb, or ran for 6 hours.

Preface: Google has shown that 1PB of data can be sorted in ~6 hours
Fault: human time is not the same as cycle time.
Solution: Show that their algorithm for building a 1PB dataset and sorting it takes less cycles than any other mechanism.

If one wants to, you can ask for a more mathematical rigor to this public demonstration.

As a student, this rigor has killed my love for computers as being just fun, to building this the science of computing is quite an amazing feat, as evidenced by computing as an industry has grown some 100B% in the past 50 years.

My questions are: what is the time to
insert something into this 1PB dataset,
remove something,
retrieve the first element,
sort it

In terms of I guess cycle time, and Θ or O of an input n.
To be congruent with all other sorting mechanisms, I can't accept that this feat is better than Θ( log2(n) )

And I would like to see what the cycle time is to create a data set of 1PB, and the cycle time to sort 1PB.

Conclusion:
The ability to process 1PB in a "timely" fashion pushes the capabilities of computing even further as we are finally able to approach extremely large datasets and for that not to be just too large to use, thus putting awesome tools in the hands of programmers who performs tasks for others.

But cycle time is cycle time, and this is just saying that we have so many fast computers connected to each other that we have to power to do what we need. MapReduce(1PB) < Θ(awesome)

Fallout 3, for the console and pc

2008-11-05T13:04:00.003-05:00

Fallout 3 is pretty nice; the familiar feel of oblivion, new innovations, modern-post-nuclear scenery and warfare, and runs very well on console (xbox in my case).

However, being a cool kid as I am, we also bought it for pc. Why not support Bethesda Softworks for creating an awesome product, not once, but twice.

Yeah, they've got no love for us poor kids. They must have voted McCain, because they raised the minimum specs above what I've got, above what anyone else in the house has, and perhaps to the level that only 5% of computers can perform.

So, you buy an xbox for 2-3 hundred dollars, and you just game. You wanna go the pc route, well, for a gaming rig, you're looking at something a bit steeper, and every few years, you'll have to buy more hardware.

I think, I'll just use my computer for web and email from now on.

UPDATE: 11/24/2008
I just had to do it. I Immediately went out and stimulated the economy by buying ~$400 of computer parts (new mobo, processor, ram, video card) so I could play fallout. I runs terrific, and the fact that it detected my setting as Ultra High, made so internally proud of my new, on a budget, purchase.

My advice to myself and anyone who accepts that advice of others is this:
What do you care about 3 years ago if you spent 300 to 400 dollars on some big purchase. By now you've absorbed that cost through pinching and saving here and there. That if you've made it here, chances are you could have faced even harsher circumstances and still come out on top.
The caveat is that you don't make it out on top as a result. I.e. potentially blowing your rent money on a computer, and then suffer a seriously high interest rate a debt, accruing daily.

chrome's interpretation of notHTTPS

2008-11-05T12:53:00.003-05:00

Chrome's pretty sweet. So this will not be an unbiased report or critical assessment of Google's browser.

This page signed its own https certificate, which I believe is not a genuine method of going about https. But I'm glad the department spared the 3 copies of vista it could have cost us otherwise.

So strike-out https, pretty sweet.

Chrome has other tricks I'm crazy about, especially ripping tabs out at any time, and them making their own window. Use case in which I ran in to this today. I was editing a page and it had syntax/aesthetic errors, so I ripped out the rendered page, had the editor open in another, used the "stack windows side-by-side" and worked right through it.

Having the single search bar/address bar, that gives suggested hits from google search suggest, google services (docs, calendar, picasaweb, ...), and browsed history make looking for things especially quicker.

However, there are several caveats, and gotchas to using chrome, the main one is that, you'll still need either IE or firefox as well. The reason is that pages continue to be made that support only a few browsers, and by being new, no web developers are developing pages FOR chrome. The best case would be following web standards, and we're all happy.

My Summer Biking

2008-07-30T14:01:00.000-05:00

Firefox 3's big foob

2008-05-22T13:09:00.002-05:00

Software's goal is to advance, upgrade, add features, improve upon the existing, and basically just... get better.

{deep breath}

Firefox 3, doesn't so much work for me.

Firebug breaks a lot more than it used it, and by breaks, I mean DOM Inspector doesn't come shipped with Firefox de jure, but it doesn't really get installed with Firefox 3 de facto. And to me, one whom considers themselves "advanced", but feel trustworthy enough of a software to just let the default work fine enough. (I'm thinking of the "trustworthiness" of Firefox when they declared Apple untrustworthy for including Safari with its apple update.

Basically, if Firefox 3 would default install DOM Inspector, I would be happy. Web Developer toolbar should give me better advice since I don't have DOM Inspector installed, and Firebug should show the blue line around an object when I inspect it.

Thats it, that'll win my vote.

why is the keyboard shortcut for the search box different between firefox and internet explorer?

2008-05-07T13:47:00.003-05:00

To answer the question "why is the keyboard shortcut for the search box different between firefox and internet explorer?", I would say is innovation.

By the way, to get to the search box in...
Firefox: Control + K
Internet Explorer (7): Control + E

Why they made them different beats me. Why shortcuts differ between mac, windows, and linux versions of the same product also beats me. This is no added feature, but I'm glad it bothered me enough to look it up, now if I forget, well then hopefully something more interesting is refusing to give up its brain space.

...family guys quotes..

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron is out (officially)

2008-04-24T19:53:00.003-05:00

Get started with Ubuntu. I would recommend you use the Torrent, as it should be inversely slammed as compared to the server.

ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.iso 23-Apr-2008 02:03 699M Desktop CD for PC (Intel x86) computers (standard download)

ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.iso.torrent 24-Apr-2008 08:23 28K Desktop CD for PC (Intel x86) computers (BitTorrent download)

fika: powering late nights

2008-04-23T01:24:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure I subscribe to this idea of mornings beginning with abrupt alarms, rushing to whatever destination you need to get to, eating quickly or not at all, and too much sunlight being forced through our eyes?

I much prefer the concept of no beginning. In which things will just always be there, waiting for you to do them, however not in the order of this must be done while you would much prefer to be sleeping. The solution is simple, wake up, do your thing, return home tired and take a nap, then fika. Fika to the rescue. No more tired eyes, no more struggling to begin doing what it is you need to be doing.

Oops, homework due Wednesday morning, well there's always Tuesday night. Thank you 24/7 libraries, and thank you coffee grinder.

excitement comes from...

2008-04-15T22:20:00.001-05:00

excitement comes
from knowing basics
and then
very quickly
building complexity

Upgrading to Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron

2008-04-01T16:11:00.002-05:00

I've upgraded two of my machine to Hardy and it wasn't completely without trouble. First off, I would recommend to the Ubuntu upgrade process team that if they can foresee an issue with your old/working wireless firmware drivers not working in Heron due to them upgrading to a new future version, than do us a favor and download the updated version.

Under 7.10 I had bcm43xx-fwcutter_006-3_i386.deb and wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o

However 8.04 needs something like bcm43xx-fwcutter_011-3_i386.deb which means my upgraded machine is without wireless, atleast until I can do my further updates via LAN cable.

========
In other news, school is cool. All around challenging and intellectually stimulating. They like to drag you around for your first two years with yet-another-computer-class and some decent professors/grad_students, but once you get into the cool classes, ever class is cool (minus one), and all the professors are superstars (except one).

So the hope is that I shall become one with the code after this quarter, and be able to design my own computer architecture, do lots of software engineering projects, and make awesome happen out intense constraints... time, freedom...

Converting real stream to local file

2008-03-12T15:18:00.002-05:00

aka converting real .ram .rm to .mp3 or .avi

I found a cool tool online http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Real7ime+download that should be good enough to do the conversion. Real7ime Converter.

Yahoo Fees: A new service for domain owners

2008-03-03T01:13:00.006-05:00

Uhh, even though Yahoo! formally declined the Microsoft offer, I have reason to believe Microsoft pirates have managed to invade the ranks of Yahoo! management, and do one of those classic Microsoft-in-the-90's maneuvers.

Yeah, I'm totally going to someone who doesn't skim an extra $3 for no reason. No offense, I tip my waitress, but this, its just a record in a c-table or something like that.

[[UPDATE]] After reading the fine-print of Yahoo!'s offer, they amazingly one-upped themselves. How clever, you can steer your herd by cleverly referring to competitors as junk.

Status of Google Translation of a language

2008-02-28T11:45:00.002-05:00

Google is working on making translation available for many languages, so how your language fairs...

Google Translation Console

Google: New Service

2008-02-28T11:26:00.004-05:00

Google New Service

Something completely new, unpublished, and by Google. However, its most likely just a template... :(

Also, what is this..

and...
Google Apps for Ohio State?

How to kill interest in something: Charge for it

2008-02-17T18:19:00.003-05:00

So now you have that great (invention | product | website | service | other) that has been offered for free, and people think very highly of it. What do you do next?

==The Solution==
Start charging for it.

WinTV has purchased the rights to broadcast English Premier League soccer. They basically converted a free broadcast on television into a paid-subscription channel.

==The business mind attitude to accomplish it==
Prime example of business at work is Song Zheng

"Let's say goodbye to free Premier League. No more free lunch in the future."

"Fans can enjoy the games in various convenient ways," he said. "There's only one premise -- pay."

==Conclusion==
Step up to the next level in becoming the devil by taking a free service and "killing" it by making people pay for it without adding any value to the service.

Unfortunately for those who have worked to promote the English Premier league, they have cut millions of Chinese fans off from becoming fans. ohh yeah, AND the competing leagues of europe are still broadcast for free in China.

So, if Gmail were to lock out all users from logging in until they pulled out their credit card, then I guess there is that hotmail thing, or email isn't really that important.

{is this somehow innovation?}

Happy Spectrum Day!!

2008-01-24T09:53:00.000-05:00

Today is finally it!!

With the FCC spectrum auction today, I couldn't be happier. I hope that all those who mean well will be successful in their bidding today.

I suppose that could be an oxymoron, because whoever has the most money, and the most will to spend it will likely be the winner. In essence whoever has the greatest claim to making a return.

Google, a Delaware Corporation ?

2008-01-17T13:56:00.001-05:00

After actually (almost) reading the terms of service word for word, Google is a Delaware corporation, which means their headquarters in Mountain View, is only a front. Mums the word, but Google has a secret lair hiding somewhere in Delaware.

Here's some other Google's living in Delaware.

4462732 GOOGLE AIRWAVES INC.
3582691 GOOGLE INC.
3525923 GOOGLE INTERNATIONAL LLC
3478111 GOOGLE LLC
3942949 GOOGLE PAYMENT CORP.
4462727 GOOGLE SPECTRUM INVESTMENTS INC.

Analysis:
Google Airwaves sounds like a mobile carrier (platform)
Google International should merge with Google Airwaves and yield Google International Airwaves which would be a new airline that redefines travel by transmitting people all over the world by "technology from an advanced alien culture".

**NOTE**
This author has no real information on any of this, is is all just speculation that not even a quantum parallel universe could contain.

Batteries and their man-machine symbiosis

2008-01-17T09:49:00.000-05:00

I'm in the market for buying a new laptop, and I found this on tigerdirect.com read the end for my profound thoughts...

About Laptop Batteries

Following are five tips to help you get the longest battery life possible

1. Keep Your Screen as Dim as Possible – LCD screens are one of the biggest battery drainers. Adjust your setting so you have enough brightness for comfortable computing. During an overnight flight, for example, you can dim your brightness yet still see clearly. Most notebooks have simple applications you can use to control LCD brightness; consult your user’s manual.
2. Use Power Wisely – Turn off unused devices; each of them drains power. Most notebooks have power-management options. When you’re not using your laptop, you should have it on sleep mode, or your notebook’s equivalent. This mode keeps enough power running to maintain minimal function, so you can resume full power with very little delay when you’re ready to return to your work or play.
3. Cut Down on HD Activity - You can cut down on how hard your hard drive must work by defragmenting it regularly. This can be done automatically at selected regular intervals once you’ve located the Disk Defagmenter in the Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools menu and follow the prompts.
4. Disable Startup Items – Every time you boot up (on Windows), startup items load into memory, causing other open programs to add to your CPU’s power load. You can easily disable startup options simply by clicking Start/Run, entering C:\MSCONFIG and following the prompts.
5. Keep Your Battery Fit! - Yes, you can actually condition your battery. When you buy your laptop, charge the battery to its full capacity, then discharge it completely. Next, fully charge it again. This way your battery actually learns how much electrical charge it can hold. Always make sure when you charge your battery that it reaches 100 percent.

I think the last note is a really interesting idea. Perhaps like us humans, we need to keep in the habit of working full productive days then getting a full nights sleep, otherwise our lives battery becomes debilitated.

My two cents on Word Press / Customizing 'PressRow'

2007-11-25T15:02:00.000-05:00

WordPress is pretty cool. It is pretty feature rich, and allows alot of customization. You can also install it on a site, and it is your blog. Similar to blogspot, but it has more features.

Anyways I was messing with the press row theme today, and I wanted to have a top menu where each page could be clicked on, and have the black background when it is clicked on.

to do so. I used some html/css trickery

like the following


<div id="page" class=<? wp_title('',true); ?>>



<div id="header">

<h1><a href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>"><?php bloginfo('name'); ?></a></h1>

<div id="nav">

<ul>

<li><a class="blog" href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>">home</a></li>

<li><a class="Biography" href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>/biography/">biography</a></li>

<li><a class="Prosecuted" href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>/prosecuted-cases/">prosecuted cases</a></li>

<li><a class="Endorsements" href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>/endorsements/">endorsements</a></li>

<li><a class="Photo" href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>/photo-gallery/">photo gallery</a></li>

<li><a class="Get" href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>/get-involved/">get-involved</a></li>

<li><a class="Contact" href="<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>/contact/">contact</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

And wordpress will use the page name as the link, use the css of that page name, and you're all set. Also, be sure to edit your stylesheet too.

OSU Email under attack

2007-11-15T18:43:00.001-05:00

As you can see, the word Mail Bomb kinda of sticks out

if ( i.win ) { new Scholarship CSE@OSU; }

2007-11-13T15:57:00.000-05:00

I've got some cool ideas for Google's new mobile operating platform; but I would also feel compelled to give out any earnings from winning to draw more people into Computer Science at my school. I mean not everyone knows what Open Source is...

Official Google Blog: Calling all developers: $10M Android challenge

A project I thought of that might be out of my league would be to create an instant replay system for people at live sporting events, such as Ohio State's football game vs Illinois. I'm always wishing I could rewatch what just happened, such as a penalty or a catch out of bounds, but the JumboTron Maestro refuses to put on any replays.

Drupal Hack:: Show users email addresses

2007-10-28T22:01:00.000-05:00

I was looking through all the spam registrants of a drupal site I maintain. Alot of usernames of zhzjshsk are very suspicious, and also emily and kate, and worst of all, sorry russia, but email addresses from .ru are HUGE sources of spam. Doesn't your country have a valid source of revenue? Can't you just up the production of vodka a little? I don't think stoli sales are as high as they could be.

Anyways, I modified my modules/user.module so that when in the administrative mode of view my users I can see certain info at a glance.

username, email address, status, member since, last online, ...

It doesn't have built in showing of email address, so I hacked modules/user.module to give that feature.


function user_admin_account() {
$header = array(
  array('data' => t('Username'), 'field' => 'u.name'),
  array('data' => t('Email'), 'field' => 'u.mail'),

    array('data' => t('Status'), 'field' => 'u.status'),
  array('data' => t('Member for'), 'field' => 'u.created', 'sort' => 'desc'),
  array('data' => t('Last access'), 'field' => 'u.access'),
  t('Operations')
);
$sql = 'SELECT u.uid, u.name, u.mail, u.status, u.created, u.access FROM {users} u WHERE uid != 0';
$sql .= tablesort_sql($header);
$result = pager_query($sql, 50);

$status = array(t('blocked'), t('active'));
while ($account = db_fetch_object($result)) {
  $rows[] = array(theme('username', $account),
   $account->mail,
                  $status[$account->status],
                  format_interval(time() - $account->created),
                  $account->access ? t('%time ago', array('%time' => format_interval(time() - $account->access))) : t('never'),
                  l(t('edit'), "user/$account->uid/edit", array()));
}

Ubunut Studio -- An ubuntu linux distro for multimedia gurus

2007-10-28T18:36:00.000-05:00

I was pretty much way off on this one. I had thought Ubuntu Studio was going to be a killer sweet multimedia app to compete with the likes of Adobe CS3 and mac iLife. But instead it is an entire customized operating system for multimedia production.

I'm fairly certain that I'm going to be distributing discs of this distro, in addition to gutsy for mac and pc.

Pro's
It is maintained by the Ubuntu Community, especially as far as operating system enhancements are concerned, so this isn't a dead fork in the road; but rather an expansion that grows off the same Ubuntu/Canonical root.

Con
I kinda wanted an application to show up in add/remove programs that would just pull in some great multimedia apps.

Feedback.
I would suggest that ubuntu give you the option to transform your OS as you need it. Stupid suggestion given that it is already an open environment, since you can do that anyways. But perhaps a button that enables you to revert back to the base install of Gutsy, or to transform into Edubuntu, or Kubuntu, or over to Ubuntu Studio.

Anywhere.FM + an FTP server full of music + WebDrive == Awesomeness

2007-10-28T18:03:00.000-05:00

I had a minor dilemma this morning. And the day before as well. I had alot of music that I've uploaded to my (ftp) server and I wanted to bring it in to my anywhere.fm profile.

TWO OPTIONS
1) Download all my ftp music back to my hard drive, and then use the anywhere.fm uploader for the music that is back on my hard drive.
2) Emulate the ftp server as a mounted drive (in windows) and tell anywhere.fm to scan that mounted server.
3) option 3 is not very feasible because i would have had to install the last.fm uploader tool on the shared server which runs linux, that I have no authority to install programs on. but it could be a nice project if i were a genius with nothing better to do.

I chose to use WebDrive and emulate a w:\ as ftp.myserver.com and then use the anywhere.fm uploader to scan it for new tracks. There is a lot of file movement, but I'll update this when it works.. or even if it didn't work.

The Future now of music

2007-10-28T17:37:00.000-05:00

A good buddy of mine, Paul Betts had a posting that music no longer should be tied to us, ergo Voyager sans bagage. Autotranslated into english english.. we don't need to carry 8,16,30,100 gigs of music on us. We just need to be able to grab what we need when we need it.

{insert modern graphic of an ipod that has been damaged, and a headphone sucking wireless music out of the air}

The NOW of music is that we have an interesting web app called Anywhere.FM . You essentially upload all of your music that you are currently toting around with you, and fragmentally residing on all of your computers and consolidate it beautifully through a more or less fantastic interface. Your music plays through the player, and you would no longer need to touch your mp3 files again.

The FUTURE of music...
We however do not have our uMachine; our uBiquitous, uNiversal Machine. When you go for a drive in your car, we don't (I don't) have an internet connection feeding websites to my radio. So if we could get this wonderful (perhaps existing as an iPhone) internet-fed poly-purpose {not just multimedia} device that we can dock into our car's headunit, we then pass the modern test of making progress with our lives, our music, our overall doing something more.. which is a greater act than just doing some more.

Good Culture

2007-10-10T11:12:00.000-05:00

...there is no good culture without people trying something new...

otherwise, that is heritage

~*~*~
My thinking is that a people cannot preserve their exact lifestyle without taking away from their culture. A tradition is a custom that continues from generation and regenerates with the coming generation. But a culture that locks its place in stone is inheriting a tradition of frozenness; a trait that alters their original intention of preserving their culture.

Man changes each day. A culture that denies changes moves from its base of nature and shifts away from natures natural process of change.. Perhaps like a stone sliding.. sliding over a cliff slowly and slowly and then falls in when it no longer has any base in reality.

OSU is #4??!!??

2007-10-01T19:56:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it, we're good.

Learn from your users: make feedback EASY

2007-09-27T12:42:00.001-05:00

If you're website is so great, then you've just admitted that you think your website is so great. Often times those who use your website, the users, could have something very useful for you, their idea of how the page could be better. They're like a team of developers ready to work for you for free. And yet many company's websites make the feedback form damn-near-impossible to find.

Therefor my Gold Star of the day goes to Adobe! For although Dreamweaver mysteriously leaves this xyiznwsk temp directory on my servers and is causing horrible network latency problems and hosing up my machine, they can blame that on Macromedia, and learn if I needed to provide them useful feedback, like "Frontpage is better". I did however, not leave any feedback.

HOWTO: OSU Forward CSE email

2007-09-20T14:03:00.000-05:00

I thought I would start the quarter off right and let anyone know how to forward their unix emails away with one short command. This is not tricky, its not complex, and it was very easy to do.

Simply create a file called .forward in your home directory, and the only thing contained in that file is the email address for all your emails to be forwarded to.

echo emailaddress@gmail.com > .forward should do it...

the picture is for those who can't read so well

People who speel excessively bad

2007-09-19T22:04:00.000-05:00

I don't mean to poke fun at those who need to visit sites like definitely.com because they definately have some typos in forums. But when I get a forwarded email about something that is a hoax/urban legend (http://www.intuh.net/barnfinds/afa70.htm) and after checking the TO: to see how many victims were made. I see my name is spelled wrong. The email address is correct i before e except after c, but the last name. mmm..

I guess we are just more sensitive when its personal.

FYI, I was told by a teknolog that if a company deliberately gave consistent results, i.e. search result response times, that were even inflatedly consistant, customers did not complain. The claim was that people don't want better, faster, more, they really just want predictable.

I challenge that.

Lotus Designer Tip: Attach Documents to Forms

2007-09-12T11:46:00.000-05:00

Users have been entering information into a database running in Lotus Notes for some time, and now they would like to attach documents to it. All this time, I've been mostly clueless as to how to do it, reading somewhere that it only works when viewed through the web browser, and then giving up for a while.

But to allow users to upload/attach files to your form, just create a rich text field... thats it.

I was pretty amazed at the simplicity of that. Nothing tricky. Just to not keep secrets, I additionally changed a setting on the control tab of field properties, under storage, I set it to "Store contents as HTML and MIME", just for possible future compatibility.

The Fratellis: New Album?

2007-09-05T08:03:00.000-05:00

One of the lines from The Fratellis, "I knew you best a a blagger", kinda in my head runs like I knew you best as a blogger. Ask me your name, is it tweet, my name is dagger...

Anyways, The Fratellis are super fun, I've seen them at Virgin Festival in Baltimore, and can't wait to see them again.

Open Letter to the Post Office: Go away

2007-09-04T09:02:00.000-05:00

I'm not a fan of collecting stamps, finding envelopes, licking glue, and going to the post office to send something that has every other reason to be done online. If I were one with the political clout to affect change, I would begin by charging a tax on mailbox fees. Very analogous to the way people already pay for water or electricity. Some people have costs in generating the service, why not pay to use the service. I haven't quite figured out if it should be per parcel or per quantity, but those who choose to do business by snail mail need to cut it out.

I'm sure Google/MSN/Yahoo/other email providers are great employers who give their employees off for holidays, it doesn't mean they shut down and their services are unavailable for an entire long weekend. My beef is that to send a mail, one must go through such a hassle, that its just a pain.

Not to mention, its slow.

Redesigning Transport

2007-08-15T01:09:00.000-05:00

I was trying to nap before I went in to work tonight, but I couldn't because its really weird to make your body sleep at like 9pm, especially because i drink alot of that hot black deliciousness.

Anyways, the wild mind of mine says this: Redesign transport!!

Its saying, flying is perfectly fine, you can choose any route, get to any location with a decent size airport.. and then what. Sure we have taxi's, but I'm looking for something cheap, and for the masses.

A while back, I had this idea about tubes, creating a bullet speed system that used tubes powered through some type of vacuum/suction system that would essentially not have a "speed limit". That idea will work great for some type of metro area or high density long haul. The kicker to that is you create the interface that works ubiquitously to the user. User gets into a unit/platform/cage/great glass elevator/cage and then hits a few buttons on their computer thing, and the gears start spinning and xx minutes later they arrive at the destination. All the routing handled by the system.

Angie didn't want to hear anything more about the tubes, she really shot that down.

Next thought is this type of modular vehicle system. Redesign our vehicles so that all vehicles start from a common interface, such as it just all builds upon a chassis that is customizable on the fly. (what?)
-
-
-
So the vehicle is the drive train/ wheels / steel beams and such. The steering and speed control is all just a computer, that the user can interact with. The beauty, is that say the chassis has 10 units of capacity, and any of our modular extensions can be used on it. (contained cargo(liquid, or refrigerated...), loose cargo(boxes, ups stuff), people container, special purpose (mail delivery apparatus, law enforcement apparatus, garbage collection, Monster drink distribution apparatus, loud ass speaker setup, mobile video recording/broadcasting),...)

And say they all just like plug into the platform, and take up a certain amount of its units of capacity, so when you need to go from the airport to your technical high school to give a presentation to the class and the teacher about how you've got all this knowledge/craziness to impart upon them, you can pull up on your mobile computer and say I need to get from current location to some destination, it will pull up some routes that are obtained by other's routes that they are taking (obtainable by the computer that operates each vehicle). And gives you nearest vehicle with empty passenger compartment, that you can walk to, and get in. As you need to get to your destination, your vehicle begins on its way, but is likely going somewhere that is not your destination, so it can go along its way, and the computer routes your route, and as you near a vehicle that actually is going to somewhere closer to your destination, some highspeed vehicle transfer happens, and the two vehicles travel exactly parallel to each other, and your compartment slides into the vehicle with extra capacity, and takes you yet closer to your destination...
...

Difficult things in life...

2007-08-09T09:15:00.001-05:00

Perhaps one of the most difficult things to do in a given day, might be filling a water bottle all the way, when you really have to go to the bathroom. Not just the periodic bathroom break, but the "I accidentally drank three cups of coffee this morning while reading the paper, and now have to pee like a small child for the rest of the day" kind of bathroom break.

I made it about 3/4 of the way..

{UPDATE} Not I made it 3/4 of the way, I only got 3/4 of the way with the bottle.

Web surfing feature request

2007-08-09T08:17:00.000-05:00

Attn: Firefox / Youtube devs

I think Opera took care of this one, but I could use some side-by-side web surfing. I clicked on a Youtube video, and its about 50 minutes, so I'm going to continue watching it. In the meantime, I need to access some data on another page. I like having a single web-browser open, because I only need a single search bar, but to do both I need a second window; tabs can't be both open. Maybe I'm spoiled because of Google chat can pop-out. So this feature request distilled would be to take a snapshot, or select a certain section of the page, in particular, something like videos, and to be able to drag them off screen and they will continue playing at the same point, without any disruption.

Gmail Videos

2007-08-07T15:20:00.000-05:00

Open Wireless

2007-08-07T13:54:00.000-05:00

As a society, our technological abilities so much limited by technology and its technical limitations, but rather policies in place.

In honor of the irony of what has made America what it is (our beloved capitalist society) and some of things that got the ball rolling (public works, TVA) it turns out that America at the core is not capitalism, but just a really bad implementation of a decent idea (our democracy), but so far its been the best we could do.

Enter {beloved technology}*, and their wild commitments to pushing technology, and their rapid growth, and their astonishing advancements to technology, and this all leads to bettering humanity and the world at large. (perhaps, atleast in terms of technology)

So that prototype phone, sounds like an open network needs a device to access it.

*=Google

My Latest Technovation: Alarm Socks

2007-07-30T08:58:00.000-05:00

Loud annoying alarm clocks got you down? Yeah, I know its actually the ever present foggy, misty, wetness in your car that the defroster can't get rid of.

But for mornings when you don't really care that your alarm is ringing and you fight for just five more minutes of peace and slumber. You might as well be getting a foot massage while you ignore your morning wakeup.

Introducing, Alarm Socks, another great technovation from the company that brought you that wicked cool google maps mashup that you can pull real-time information from within your car of traffic, maps, navigations, weather, local businesses, other vehicles supporting the common chatting service, picture swapping, and the mobile marketplace.

In a recent interview with founder Peter Pants, Mr. Pants was quoted as saying, "With all the other great technology companies out there competing in the 'hyperlocal' sector, theres just nothing more local than your feet". There's no word as to whether or not Pants Industries, more commonly known as Eclectech:Technologies, thoughts, ideas... will still work on other hi-tech systems that involve coding, computers, internets, and users, but for now, we know that Mr. Pants will wake up every morning, and his feet will thank him.

Technical details of the Alarm Socks:
One size fits all
Requires surgical implantation of electrical node in leg (to power the socks, and to sense for the optimal time to wake up the user based upon REM sleep stage)
Optional time setter to set the time you wish to be woken up requires uMachine (sold separately)

omg omg... I'm so happy.. Google Rocks

2007-07-26T21:42:00.000-05:00

Google stock has reached astronomical highs this week. They did lose some 7% earlier this week after missing their profit goal by 2%, but that is actually my fault. No really. Google builds their entire platform around growth, that why they can afford to drop a billion dollars on YouTube, or offer the FCC $4.6B or was it $6.4B these small numbers get confusing, I mean whats a decimal point multiplied a few billion? Oh... wow... Wow!!

Anyways, this is a story about me, and my personal relationship to Google. {By the way, I'm the only person who reads this blog. The fact that GoogleBot reads it too, kinda makes me smile sometimes.} So today, I was busily working, or busily reading, or busily almost working, or busily almost reading. I was busy, so I never had a chance to read my rss feeds in firefox. Big Mistake.

After getting home today, and pacing around the block a few times, and having a drink, because after all its healthy nowadays to have a drink every day, I log into the computer and see "what is up". This fun activity involves web browsing, putting readers to sleep, and... and... reading the google blog. My bad, The Official Google Blog. Or as I call it,
The Word, according to Google.

Umm, today Google went nuts, or at the least, their publishing and marketing groups went nuts. Their blog had at least three new story, and they were all awesome. Sorry Ramen noodle guy, but these were really good stories. I watched the video of Eric Schmidt talk to governors about the role of technology in our lives and education... Pretty fascinating. So alot, alot, alot of good features for researchers, and this awesome video for Gmail, and that was what I would call overload. And I came up with an idea for my own addition to the Gmail video.. Hopefully something becomes of it.

Last night reading 1

2007-07-25T22:28:00.000-05:00

A thought pops in my head, Google rocks, and Wikipedia is an awesome way to organize our information, would they mesh well? That idea's already been taken, and the domain, is owned by Google. Next...

So while on Wikipedia, I'm looking up Gin and Tonic to see why they go together so handily. The answer has something to do with the British East India Company and Q-9. Right after filling my head with random facts, I see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_consumption_and_health and I am finding myself questioning this article.

Alcohol, in moderation, is good for one's health?

Spend less time waiting in line...

2007-07-22T11:07:00.000-05:00

There seems to be no logic to waiting in lines. Thats why the internet, automation, and e-commerce rule the world. However, when you're going out to the club and the group in front of you "is not generally found attractive by the world at large" or perhaps "doesn't score high marks at hotornot" then you waiting behind them will wait and wait and wait. You can of course always kiss the doorman and slip him a 20.

Urinal Cakes

2007-07-21T13:31:00.000-05:00

Why are those things in men's rooms called cakes? They smell like moth balls and I mean, who really wants a slice?

What if they offered flavors ... chocolate anyone?

60 Votes - All-Nighter in the Senate

2007-07-18T10:32:00.000-05:00

While I chose to spend yesterday swimming, eating, and finally drinking espresso at midnight to watch C-Span coverage of our Senators and their bitter debates instead of joining the political party in DC (pun intended).

I'm actually quite surprised by Ohio Senator George Voinovich. The honorable gentleman recently made his voice known that this war needs some direction and broke rank to declare that statement. Breaking rank must have broke his cool and he's now back to his republican core. I'll have to keep watching him to see if he has had a change in mind, or if this bill just wasn't right.

Now how about some votes for Internet Radio

Some pictures from my fourth

2007-07-13T10:42:00.000-05:00

I was in DC for the fourth, and it rained. I thought it was fun though.

My pre Goog411w/maps adventure through DC

2007-07-09T13:09:00.000-05:00

Ohh My God

I've become a very frequent user and advocate of Goog411, and I have felt the need for a map alongside the information. For an example of this follow this sort of dialogue:
Goog411: What city and state?
Me: Washington DC
G: {Washington DC}, What category?
Me: Swedish Embassy
G: {Swedish Embassy} Top 2 results, 1)Embassy of Sweden Library, 2)Embassy of Sweden
Me: Number two
G: Embassy of Sweden, located on K Street Northwest and W.

=
=
Here's where a map is great, I'm a total n00b to DC, I've been through the town a couple of times and I understand the Metro very well, in fact, I love DC's metro, but thats besides the point, I'm on foot. I know the Metro, I know landmarks, I know where The White House is, I know where The Washington Monument is, I know where Foggy Bottom is, I know where Georgetown is, I know where Adam's Morgan is. Maybe I'm a little beyond the total n00b, but still very fuzzy.

The map said K St NW, I was at A or B, which means K was A,B,...,J,K blocks away. I'm starting from the US Capitol, because the Forth of July celebrations are delaying on account of rain. It also said something undecipherable like W. K and W don't unnecessarily meet. Letters go from north and south, and numbers go from east to west. Details said the address was 2900 K St, and when I went A,B,... all the way to K, I found I was at First Street also. This 2900 is the same as 29th. It was a very long walk.

So long and sketchy, that I met a prostitute soliciting her services along the way. Goog411 with maps might have helped choose a better way to get there. So I'm looking forward to using it.

Official Google Blog: 1-800-GOOG-411: now with maps

Ride the 4th my DC Metrorail map

2007-07-04T12:06:00.000-05:00

Google Map of DC Metrorail

If your already my technologisk then I am, this is merely a lame attempt at making the Metro system incorporate into easy use. Those mobile users out there can go to WMATA.com and see this, and it perhaps has times of when the next train comes in. This one I came up with allows you basically so see where stations are so if your using google maps for your planing anyways, this could help you see where things are. ..this still needs alot of work, but its perhaps usable to someone in its current condition. I mean its already helped me find the closest station.

Bye Tony

2007-06-27T19:56:00.000-05:00

After hearing about Tony Blair's departure from the Prime Ministership, I just had to watch the archived footage of Questions to the Prime Minister. It was good, all the other parliament members praised him for his ten years of service, and Mr. Soundbite himself even sounded a bit emotional as he sounded his final words.

However everyone kept things funny, and Blair even made the joke about he really didn't care too much about the Church of England. Silly British humor, or should I say humour...

Preparations for Summer Internship: Get Productive

2007-05-21T18:08:00.001-05:00

While I won't call myself a slacker, I will say that I haven't been working out three times a week, reading the newspaper, eating breakfast, doing laundry, calling home, reading books, or looking at stars. So in an attempt to save myself from dying a life where I'm not recognized as being a major influence in my field, or where my grandkids are playing their playstation 7's instead of listening to my stories of life, the universe, everything, I shall make some tweaks. I mean its very hard to say that you haven't had enough time to finish your assignment, when you've been at the lab for 6 hours, but instead of quality time spent duktigly debugging a lab, or reading the next chapter, you instead read the internet, almost all of it.

Goals:
1) Read an hour a day. This goes outside of currently assigned reading. I'm thinking those Safari technology books that we as students have full access to.

2) Have the discipline to finish everything I set my mind on.

Once all other goals have been met...
3) Create massive amounts of websites so that the internet is that much better.

==
Summer Internship starts in less than a month, and I feel like I want forever to get ready.

Ohio State webmail vs Gmail: Make the Switch

2007-04-10T23:45:00.000-05:00

Official Who uses Ohio State's webmail? Gmail is the way to go.

Ohio State (OSU)'s webmail system is... I don't know, I don't use it anymore. I use gmail.

Notice how the last message to pass through webmail is from August of 2005, almost a year and half ago from this post.

Ever since I made the switch (and changed my email address from non-gmail) email has been all that much better. I would encourage Ohio State, and every other institution, group, company that provides its own in-house email to make the switch also. Unless your IT staff has its own email system which competes against the likes of Gmail, ie email integration with database servers and desktop integration that is unobtrusive while keeping employees from wasting hours working out technical issues, I would recommend Gmail for everyone.

If you are an OSU student using OSU's webmail, here's how to make the switch too.
1) Get gmail! http://www.gmail.com
2) Have osu forward your webmail to your new you@gmail.com. oit.osu.edu -> account management -> osu.edu email -> Change delivery -> forward email to your new you@gmail.com
3) [OPTIONAL] Create a label and filter in gmail which allow you to see which emails were destined for which inboxes.
4) [OPTIONAL] Add Send mail as to gmail, through Settings -> Account -> Send Mail As

The inbox count shows that there are many many emails that I'll never read, and never have to read. I could list all the great features, but you could just watch a video of google engineers showing off the latest features.

Driftnet: Your guide to network spydom

2007-04-02T15:46:00.000-05:00

I was browsing freshmeat ( a repository for software projects) and noticed an interesting project that allows you, the network administrator, to look at the network request streams that match as image files. This allows you to see what images are also being looked at over the network. I think this is pretty crafty, and the interface looks pretty neat, but I see this almost as a keylogger.

I've seen White Ninja, the one with Chris Farley, which tells me that you're not going to know someones full story by wearing a blindfold as you drive around the city, wait no, it's gotta be your blindfold.

http://freshmeat.net/projects/driftnet/

Gmail is Down!

2007-02-16T20:56:00.000-05:00

The first time in a long time for me, Firefox can't find the server at mail.google.com.

Completely mind blowing, you never know how obsessed you are to gmail, until your server is down. Perhaps their new commercials on youtube are proving to be overwhelming? In any case I'm not going to have any email to check, yes!!!

In the meantime, why not visit my favorite place to buy Aromatherapy products at Natural Options Aromatherapy www.naturaloption.us

Using your PS3 to view your local network

2007-01-15T17:52:00.000-05:00

The ps3 is way up there as far as potential goes, however the cool things it can do need to be unlocked or rather manipulated to get some benefit. I've found a way to use your ps3 to browse your computers on your local network, and so far I've been able to pull off songs, videos, movies, and pictures. Here's how.

1: Install a web server on your pc.
2: Configure that webserver to share your files
3: Point your PS3's web browser to your computers IP address (192.168.1.101)
4: Optimize your files for ps3 viewing / streaming. (in progress)

====================
I installed apache on the computer, and then configured it to share the F:\ as the document root. Now all requests for http://192.168.1.101 respond with the directory structure of F:\
I also added virtual directories because there are some files in c:\program files\bitlord\downloads which I aliased to respond as http://192.168.1.101/bitlord. To do this look on the internet for setting up a virtual drive for apache, and then create the folder bitlord on F:, and leave it empty. And so long as the alias is correct 192.168.1.101/bitlord will respond with c:\program files\bitlord\downloads instead of f:\bitlord.

My next step is to encode all the video files to be in the proper format to be played on the ps3. I have mpeg's and avi's that the PS3 doesn't recognize, so I will encode all of them to flash (flv) so that they can be played streaming over the ps3. This still doesn't work yet, I got audio to work, but not video (ugghh).

The next update will include details for my setup, screenshots, and hopefully flash fully encoded and working.

roll the OSU vs Florida dice ten more times, and it would never be as bad as BCS'07

2007-01-11T17:19:00.000-05:00

Columbus is almost fully recovered, in the sense that we no longer need a Tylenol and large glass of water just to shake out the "what the hell happened last night" blues.

We took the "severe beating of a college football team" when we lined up across the field from Florida. My roommate Ryan, the biggest cheerleader the bucks have got who with 10 minutes to go in the game was not giving up. I wanted to believe our Buckeyes would bounce right back, I also wanted to turn off the television. Children should not have had to watch that game, that roommate Ryan went into tears for an entire night... apparantly its not fair, and Florida's not even that good.

We made them look good, and thats not fair.

eclectech site upgrade

2006-05-18T11:13:00.000-05:00

Things i want to implement into eclectech are as follows...

-like Cloud's treehouse i want a map of the places I've been perhaps using google maps as the engine

-everything integrated, especially a music player built in, perhaps throwing a pandora player in the top

-a shoutbox that anyone can post to so the page is livened.

-a newsgroup / ajax forum for whichever network of mine needs to communicate. i do like "metaForum is a web2.0 forum. It uses AJAX only where it makes the end user's experience better. It really does turn a forum into a kind of group chat with its auto-refresh, but it's really something you have to experience to properly understand...and yes, the back button works."

-a labs page with continually buggy/beta things to fix up. maybe a uMachine simulator.

read more | digg story

OSU Libraries

2006-05-04T10:42:00.000-05:00

As was never mentioned... anywhere... that I haven't posted is that I go to osu, and work for the library doing alot of web programming: php, css, html, department sites, personal blogs you name it.

At work blogging has come up, and it is one of my challenges to get our library blogs to fit into a consistent look and template. It sounds fun, but its alot of yuck. Our university has a great looking page template that we want to maintain, and yet add in the personal touch of a blog. (getting geeky...) The blogs will blend in a third party website such as blogspot or wordpress into our university css, php, html, and java hoping that they will play nicely. I love things like this, that which seems very difficult is what I live for.. ahh a challenge.

check out library.osu.edu/sites/techservice/testing/peterblog the unofficial, underground, unreported undergrad blog.

UPDATE: The OSU portion of the page looks a bit weird with a grey background in that it was designed to be viewed with a white background, but the blog features look bad that way. Tell me what you think in the comments, and I'll modify it to the best appearance.

Winter Fest

2006-01-04T20:51:00.000-05:00

So theres no snow outside, not that I'm worried, but its just not winter. Ohh yeah, I'm in Columbus for the Winter, due to a transfer. OSU is good, the buildings are big, the teachers are great, and walking is forever. Outside of my dorm - Morrill - I can see the football stadium, the RPAC, and the rest of campus. It is just cool. I wish the campus had wireless everywhere but so far just the common areas. Which means I can't hit it from my dorm.
Other than that, I've been adjusting to not working and just studying all day, which I love, and its fun, the rec center (RPAC) is just a mega structure for all your physical pleasure.

technorati tags: osu, wireless, school

Google Gobble

2005-11-26T11:49:00.000-05:00

Just for the record, I overate this past Thanksgiving. I made my plate to perfection, to my hearts content, to where it was just right. I also made my neices plate, who was in a high chair. She had about one roll and nothing more. In my attempt to do the world a service by not letting anything go to waste, I finished her plate. It was not the Irish Car Bombs that I did in succession or the beer after beer that put me down. Rather it was a child's plate of thanksgiving dinner that led to my thanksgiving demise of slumber.

As far as technology was concerned this Thanksgiving weekend, I shyed away from it as much as I could, a sort of vacation reminiscent of childhood, when an entire week off was dedicated for weekends such as these. However, I did get a full dose Friday night complements of my friend Leah from the University of Chicago. Her new 60gig iPod, and her mom's new 20 inch Powerbook G5. It was doubly cool because her roommate Lindsay was curious about my aspirations in technology. Also her friend landed a job working on linux servers in Osaka, JP. I think thats wild!

There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who do not.

technorati tags: thanksgiving, google, technology, eating

Columbus here I come + joining the Flock that is myspace

2005-10-28T00:42:00.000-05:00

Friday is the big day for OSU , I finally go down and get to see if its for me or not. A fun day is planned for me though. 2pm starts off the Engineering Preview Day, which is a big open house for all things engineering. After a little bit 2:30 I am going to the Computer Science overview. I'm not sure which will be better but, I hope they tie for awesome.

I joined myspace

Yeah, apparently everyone already has an account. I'm myspace.com/eclectech which wasn't the first choice, but I'm happy. I kinda like it already, not as much as tabula rasa as with your own website, but you CAN enter html in every text box, which ups the techo ante, which I like.

I don't know who this Tom guy is, but he gets around. I think he's either a computer virus or the bird flu that is just going around. In either case, he can keep his distance.

I'll keep you posted on what happens at OSU.

Technorati Tags: osu, myspace

Trading big bucks for OSU bucks

2005-10-23T22:20:00.000-05:00

I've finally come to my senses.

It sucks having to leave Cleveland. Right now I have a nice job at Jackson Hewitt as their lead Network Technician, that means I supervise 30+ networks and keep an eye on 300+ computers. Its a big job, but I scale myself to handle it, and I'm a professional. Things would go on if I stayed in Cleveland through the winter, the world would turn, I would even make alot of money. I can't do it.

Instead this Winter, (January 3rd 2006 to be exact) I transfer to Ohio State, I mean The Ohio State. How freaking sweet is that.

I've seen the future, and its scarlet and grey.

Cleveland is my comfort zone, and ... I need to step out of it. Giving up money is not hard to do, so long as it allows me to pursue my passion.

Here's a response I got today after talking to my friend Matt. It's a bit of my inspiration to just about drop everything and go head first.

Braxio187: on
my website, under the ideas tab, i have this idea for a handheld device
that does everything from playing videos to surfing the web. In between
that you can have your textbook loaded into a pdf in there and read
through this thing, press a button and its your notebook and jot down
things, also call mommy and tell her to wire money down to you, which
you could then use your handheld as a credit card
TARHEELxxx: jesus christ pete, when did u become a compueter genius
Braxio187: ever since i broke my leg in the sack race on field day at St. Albert.
TARHEELxxx: hahahahaha

Technorati Tags: uMachine, tech, osu, crossroad

Flock, flickr, and blogging... getting their 15 minutes

2005-10-22T01:33:00.000-05:00

Today I stumbled upon Flock, which is basically Firefox's cousin that likes to keep in touch with everyone. It is built off of the same code (Mozilla) so you know its rock solid, though they underpromise. Well it is really good at helping you keep track of sites through starring, which makes a tag and a comment, and then you continue surfing. The star is like gmail, when you star a favorite message, though it uses del.icio.us (stores a list of your favorite sites online). The next thing that is cool is integrated flickr (online photo album) which goes best with the integrated blog, in my case blogger. You get a window that you can drag flickr images in, create tags for organization and searchability.

Basically Flock brings all these technologies together to make a something where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Sure you can do it all without the fancy all-in-ones, but then that would just make you a geek.

Technorati Tags: tech, applications

Eclectech.us The birth of something

2005-10-11T14:49:00.000-05:00

I have created eclectech.us just a few days ago, and I hope to work a good deal of effort into the site. It is going to be my site where I will keep my ideas, and other brainstormings to keep for myself and to share with the world.

What prompted me to create the site is the Universal Machine idea that I am working on. The idea will get transferred to the site eventually, as I finish dreaming the idea, and I find someone to make some nice graphics to put up on the site.

One thing I learned in Dreamweaver is that you create your first page and save it as a template, then you select all the regions and turn them into editable regions. The template will remain intact and each piece will be able to be modified. So I will just fire up the template, change something and call that a new page.

One thing I learned on a mac is that the usb port in the keyboard sucks, and they are not impossibly difficult to use and connect a flash drive to. I plugged my card into the computer and it worked automagically. Also I learned that iTunes on a mac can read my flash drive to load songs from it. However it still doesn't love it like an iPod.

Eclectech.us - The homepage blurb

2005-10-11T01:09:00.000-05:00

Driving less did this to me

After Hurricane Katrina hit, many in the Gulf were left devastated as their lives were forever altered as hell broke loose upon them. They might have suffered a loss of house, family members, and dignity, but I lost a good chunk of skin as I did my part to reduce gas prices. I don't drive an SUV or any type of gas hog, but I felt that our environment was important for us to keep clean, safe, and easy to breath. That was then, I also have those secondary emotions, such as me doing this kept a soldier from having to die. They defend our pipelines, I'll make sure I use less. The story was that I was attacked by a bear, which a few people actually believed, however nobody bought me bear repellant I was selling the next day. But despite what you might have heard, this was not the result of my hat falling into the bear cage at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and being attacked as I grabbed a bananna from the cage and was chased all the way home. No, this was from driving home from the zoo, on my bike, from a bear chasing me, not from the bear itself. I was using my mom's bike which is lightweight and fast so I was tearing up the world. I was just cruising up and down the Parma sidewalks, when this maldesigned piece of concrete launced my bike up with some force that caused something in the bike to give way. I remember watching my bike tire roll past as I flipped over the handlebars. They bike is pretty groovy, all bent at the front frame. I lived, with scars to proove that I'm not a sally. I still ride my bike somedays, provided its not raining, snowing, or too cold out.

The birth of Eclectech.US

I had the idea of creating eclectech when I had a powerful brainstorm for my project of the Universal Machine. I have an idea that I will post soon, and I really needed an outlet to pour my ideas and to display them, so that I can tell my friends and family. Eclectech is a spin on eclectic, which is defined as , selecting what seems best of various styles or ideas thanks to wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn, which is my favorite dictionary. It is my intention to use this website as my personal website for everything which will lead me to use technology in a modern fashion, and so that I may be a pioneer in leading the way in certain aspects.

Focuses of this site I wish to expand to are: my photos, a blog, a place for my friends and family to check in and see whats going on in my world, a collection of my ideas of technology that I think will "make the world a better place" or just plain make us more productive but in a "do no evil" kind of way that it makes our quality of life better, and lastly I want to be able to offer my skills to the world at large.

An idea...

2005-10-10T23:16:00.000-05:00

What if you could click a link in some text that you are reading and build up a queue of links to go to. Similar to opening the link in another tab, but will automatically load up when you reach the bottom of the page your reading, or after hitting a next page button.

I'm reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 and I really think that this is a good direction for the internet to evolve into. I've read some books about the beginning of the wide area links of (D)ARPA which eventually became the internet. (which means if I where web 2.0 l33t then I would have a book reading list you could check out) Their original intentions where to build a connection so that Universities could share resources. This grew to communications and data transfer, which coupled with all the evolutionary founding protocols (http, ftp, telnet, pop3) plus today's (rss, del.icio.us tags, social networks, wiki, blogs) which lead to something more involving and more resemblant of how we might naturally want to organize everything.
{I just discovered backpackit.com and protopage.com and I suggest you do too}

Why do you want to work in IT?

2005-10-10T22:55:00.000-05:00

I want to work in IT not just for a career, but because it is a great passion of mine. I am very excited about all the possibilities I can learn at school, and how we can push our society further by developing new applications. In life I generally want to stretch the boundary of what we once thought was possible. Also I want to work in IT because it means that I would get to meet some incredible people and coworkers who think the same way I do about technology.

Another aspect I see in IT from my limited experience and on the job exposure is the great challenge it provides. I have worked as a Junior network administrator for a small company and found the stress from work to be both a curse and a blessing. We ran into a severe difficulty when our server crashed and ground everything to a halt. Customers were in the office and we had been very busy. When I arrived on the scene to resolve the issue everyone immediately fixated on me and expected me to have it repaired an hour ago. I immediately felt the tension as workers who could no longer carry out their work stared at me working on the server. As I diagnosed the problem and attempted a stepwise refinement to correct everything, each attempt I made that didn't fix everything only heightened the tension. Having responsibility for the productivity of others really made me feel the importance of having a properly functioning Information System. I felt a great sense of pride once I finally corrected the problem and everyone really opened up to me. I have found that working in IT is a thrill for all that I will get to do, and I wish to continue in the field to seek these types of challenges.

I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and the city has been experiencing economic difficulty and is below the curve on high-tech growth. What I am in school for is to learn from the experts in the field and then transfer those skills into the workplace where I will learn by experience. I have every intention in joining the knowledge-sector of the economy and I feel the country will be better off with a more educated work force. I wish to become a professional and lead a respectable career that my children can look up to. Also I wish that society progresses as do I so that everyone knows that some in IT doesn't just "fix computers". There is a quote about technology that says "the only thing constant about technology is that change is the only constant" which leads me to believe in Information Technology as a lifelong learning experience, full of room for mastery and excitement.

Google Zeitgeist + Current TV = Google Current....

2005-10-09T23:57:00.000-05:00

Google distilled into video form is basically what I would call this show. It is an entertaining 3 minute show about the top clicked news from google.

This is basically 2 diggs in one. One for Google Current and another for Current TV. My favorite portion of current tv is the screening room, you watch other peoples uploaded videos and then decide whether to give them the green light. Getting the green light puts your video on to satellite / cable television.

LINKS
Current TV http://www.current.tv
Screening Room http://www.current.tv/studio/screening
Google Blog mentioning partnership with Current TV http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/lights-camera-action.html

Eclectech - selecting what seems best http://www.eclectech.us

read more | digg story

Holy hell is it raining

2005-09-22T22:20:00.000-05:00

I am in Cleveland, OH and we are getting one hell of a storm right now. There is so much activity in the clouds. Thunder, lightning, rain, wind, wow. It is comforting to be inside, but I wonder what living through such conditions must be like. Also, I feel bad being home on a Thursday night, but hard work leads to a deserved payoff.

I feel like running through the storm like when I was a child. It is sweet, the flash of the world followed by the snap of everything being ripped to two. Ohh it is so powerful. Once I rode my bike (bicycle) home in a nasty storm and everytime I saw lightning I feared that the thunder was going to hit me and throw me off my bike. (My physics skills where not as polished back then) Also there was this little kid in the front yard acting like the weatherman, walking around with a wooden spoon and a walkie talkie, giving the 411 to those on the inside. Well word, I am that weather man, this is my walkie talkie, and I'm out for my first-hand take.

Extension enables Firefox to play launch yahoo videos

2005-08-30T22:14:00.000-05:00

This extention is the simplified process of bypassing yahoo's browser detection script so that launch.yahoo.com music videos can be played in firefox. While Yahoo has pledged future support for the firefox browser, they have been too slow to implement a solution. )( NOTE )( click on - Warp to Viewing Launch.com video

read more | digg story

Liquid filled Kevlar body armor stops bullets better

2005-08-29T20:43:00.000-05:00

Good news for all you street thugs out there... The army has developed a body armor filled with a liquid that solidifies upon impact of a bullet with greater strength than plain old kevlar. Other uses are for stabbings and flying shrapnel and even bomb protection.

read more | digg story

War of the world's thoughts

2005-07-07T13:01:00.000-05:00

Timultuous, is the thought that comes to mind. Nothing more is being drawn from this word other than it is a thought that has popped out of my head.

Our world has problems in it, none more severe than societies that cannot commune together, and only result in clashes. Closer to home, I find it swallowing me whole. It is not terrorism that is suffocating me, nor the threat of it, but it is the root which has become of me. I am not one to bring terror to another nor even kick your dog, but I feel what is only the beginning of what might be what grips those who become the future terrorists of the world. This cancer, the vile devastater of potential is hope and the loss of it. When you can see a future of bright things and how you can do so much to improve the world, and everything that could be better, yet are held back from even attempting because the foundations are not in place... this is the root.

In my own life, I have noticed that money is what is fuel behind the fire of all of this nonsense. Money is not what will be fought over, but it is going to be what causes the seperations amoung classes, castes, cultures, and countries. I have been underemployed for some time now, and I feel the pressures of adulthood forcing me to do something. In my opinion I am working towards progress of myself, yet I am faced with mounting problems stemming from financial ineptitude, or rather economic underopportunitied. This stems from both a lack of desirable jobs available to me as a degree-less IT candidate, and also the high cost of tuition, the high cost of vehicles, the extra fees that life imposes (doctor's bills, taxes, gas, food, housing, entertainment) all of which add up to an impossibility or rather improbability to suceed in this climate. To remedy this situation I have arranged my next semester to work full-time and go to school part-time.

There are whole regions where this unjustice is suffered on a whole. Urban areas within first world nations have dense populations where youth is held back by a lack of stimulus and a lack of hope that things will improve. Also this is the greatest threat facing the united nations in response to extremists spawning out of impoversed nations namely Iraq, children grow up without the opportunity to leap out of their surroundings. They are bombarded day after day with more bad news and bombs which ravish their cities eliminating any speck of hope they might have been holding onto.

Now, take a look at the options. If I could, I would like to take out a loan covering all of my needs during the next few years until I can get onto my feet with a degree and a dream job. If I couldn't, I will otherwise face the news that I in fact cannot continue life as I know it, and must resort to something which will blanket me and take care of my basic needs, join the military-- both of which I will be endebted to for using. So my choices are to take out a loan on credit which I as a youth, am surely not to have, or second join a military group you don't necessarily want to be a part of. Flip the story here and you have the recruiting bases from the insurgents in Iraq. They grow up without the hope that they can take of themselves on their own. This is demeaning to them and possibly breaks their spirit, like it is eating away at mine. They see a local hero who will allow them to occupy themselves and progress their skills and this local hero is the Al-Qaida or other militant clan which sticks together because they feel they have been wronged.

So what can be done to remedy this on a whole? I would suppose that there needs to be some investment made in the youth. A blanket maybe that is available to all youths who would like to better themselves. This would be available to education and cost of living for the time it takes to acquire a higher education so that they may be able to market themselves. And also there needs to be a market for these skills of theirs to be marketed. So there must investment in the infrastructure not only of the people but also in the land if we ever are to expect progress to come out of it.

Peter Dietz

Also I feel the sameway about Africa, and that by just donating massive amounts of money to a government will not be very efficient in reaching the people. There needs to be the mentors to lead them, and there needs to be a drive for everyone to stand up and out of their poverty.