December 2011
1 post
6 tags
WTB: Dynaudio "Amp" 3C0-035-456-A or 3C0-035-456-C
If you have a DynAudio amp (Volkswagen Part Number
3C0-035-456-A (3C0035456A)
or
3C0-035-456-C (3C0035456C)
) for sale, please send me an e-mail at:
speed-tdi@transmit.net
.
November 2011
1 post
Karateka
Who knew? A Karateka is a practicioner of Karate. Also, the creator of Karateka (Jordan Mechner) was also the creator of Prince of Persia.
September 2011
8 posts
Remember, if you aren’t paying for a service, you aren’t the customer, you’re the product.
6 tags
Migrating Movable Type blog content to tumblr with...
This process was quite easy using mt2tumblr script. It took about 5 minutes total to migrate several hundred blog posts from Movable Type. It was not perfect, but a good solution for getting all the contents moved. Some manual reformatting was required on some posts.
SixApart, Movable Type, we had a good run, and thanks for the great software platform.
“Art is the most beautiful of all lies.”
– Claude Debussy
Men on the moon
Only 12 humans have walked on the Moon between 1969-1972. We’re coming up on 40 years since a human has walked on the Moon. We’re just now talking about putting another person on the moon in 2022. That’s 50 years after the last human walked on the moon.
When you absolutely have to know...
now, check a news wiki (Wikinews or Wikipedia)
within a couple minutes, check a news website (Drudge Report or CNN or Fox News)
within a couple hours, listen to radio news (1440 WLWI-AM)
within a half day, check television news (BBC or ABC or CBS or NBC on TV)
within a day or two, try the newspaper (Montgomery Advertiser)
within a week, try the weekly newspaper (Prattville Progress)
My favorite photos... (not taken by me)
Fiddler on the ferry by maessive on Flickr. \; Stacked by Waseem Sayegh from Flickr. wall of banks by Dystopos from Flickr. Diane Varner - Bloom from her excellent photoblog Daily Walks.
Interesting Times: Things my kids will never know
My kids won’t know what life was like without the Internet, before computers were in every home. They’ll never know what a modem is or the wonderful (yet grating) sounds it would make when you dialed a BBS. They won’t know the joy of getting online 1200bps (and all the free time you had when you waited for downloads to complete.)Even their perspective on the Internet will be...
What does P Av Tv M (or P A S M) mean? ...
It can be daunting and confusing to depart from your camera’s ‘Auto’ mode and explore the capabilities of your digital camera. There is, however, a lot of power and flexibility hidden just behind these letters P Av Tv M (or P A S M depending on your brand of camera) once you learn a little and experiment with them. I had previously only dabbled with these modes on my first two...
August 2011
1 post
How to skip the trailers at the beginning of a DVD
A friend’s child recently watched me fighting with FBI & Interpol warning screens, distributor logos, and trailers while trying to play a DVD when she asked me why I didn’t Press Stop-Stop-Play I looked at them funny (as I’m prone to do), tried it and now I use it every time. It will start playing the main feature without all the junk they packed in before it. Depending...
July 2011
3 posts
“When building sand castles on the beach, we can ignore the waves but should...”
– Edsger Dijkstra
Men on the moon
Only 12 humans (all American) have walked on the Moon between 1969-1972. We’re coming up on 40 years since a human has walked on the Moon. We’re just now talking about putting another person on the moon in 2022. That will be a full 50 years after the last human walked on the moon.
March 2011
1 post
Touring Alabama's Automobile Factories...
Alabama has become a growing powerhouse in automobile manufacturing in recent years, picking up a Mercedes Benz factory in Tuscaloosa, a Honda factory in Lincoln, and Hyundai built their first state-side factory just south of Montgomery a couple years ago. Without delving deep into politics, low operational costs, largely non-union labor, good river, rail, and over-the-road transportation access,...
February 2011
5 posts
7 tags
Using a Sandisk Sansa Fuze with Ubuntu
So you fell for Sandisk’s marketing line about “supporting Linux.” The full truth is they are Linux-tolerant and their device behaves well with Linux. Expect that you’ll be doing a lot of the leg work on your own. I’ve pulled together resources I’ve found and created to put all the pieces in one place so you can at least start where I’ve left off.
...
Working with the Crayola Camera and Ubuntu
We recently got two Crayola-branded 2.1 megapixel kids cameras. There are also 1MP and 5MP variants on the market with Crayola branding. These are very fundamental cameras, slightly kid-ruggedized with very few options. You have two choices for resolution (1600x1200 or 1280x1024), two choices for image quality, and a video option. The camera does not take very good low-light photos and tends...
Cost of living: February 23, 2011
Dow 12,194.93
S&P 500 1,314.81
Nasdaq 2,742.76
Hard drive storage: $0.04/GB
(Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB (2000GB) 5900RPM/32MB for $79.99 via TigerDirect on February 23, 2011)
Solid-state hard drive storage: $2.41/GB
(OCZ 120GB SATA II Solid State Drive for $289.99 via ZipZoomFly on February 23, 2011)
Flash memory: $2.43/GB
(Patriot 16GB Class 10 SDHC Card for $38.99 via...
Hypermiling the 2010 Jetta TDI
The Jetta went in for its courtesy 6k mile checkup today and I decided to take a healthy road trip to see what kind of highway mileage I was getting @ 6k miles (some say this is where the engine is basically broken in.) The Jetta is a stock 2010 TDI Cup Edition with a 2.0L I4 turbo diesel. I started the trip with a full tank and half a quick shot (4oz) of Stanadyne Performance Formula (cetane...
Stanadyne Lubricity Formula
I recently purchased a 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Edition with a 2.0L Common Rail (CR) Diesel engine. After a reading some horror stories, having discussions with diesel mechanics, and reviewing the available research, I’ve decided to begin a regimen of Stanadyne Lubricity Formula diesel fuel additive to provide some insurance (def: “equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from...
January 2011
1 post
Sold: Yellow 2001 Ducati 748 Superbike - roller
This bike has found a great home with new stablemates and is getting a donor 916 engine transplant. Enjoy, Gary!
2001 Ducati 748 Superbike monoposto (single seat) in Fly Yellow Spun rod bearing. The crankshaft, bearings, piston rods, and pistons need to be replaced and the engine needs to be re-assembled. The bike is otherwise in normal operating order, light wear. Less than 10,000 miles on...
December 2010
1 post
Chicken in a Biskit does have chicken in the...
I watched a vegetarian come to this horrible realization after eating some. Chicken in a Biskit does have “dehydrated cooked chicken” in it. I wouldn’t have guessed it. It always seemed like fake chemical chicken flavor to me…
In Australia, Nabisco offers Vegemite in a Biskit.
August 2010
1 post
Installing the Amazon MP3 downloader on Lucid Lynx...
Unless you’ve got the correct packages installed, you’ll likely get an error with some missing dependencies. You can find the missing packages at:
libicu38 libboost-filesystem1.34.1 libboost-regex1.34.1 libboost-thread1.34.1 libboost-iostreams1.34.1 libboost-signals1.34.1 libboost-date-time1.34.1
Click the above links, choose your architecture, choose a mirror, then download and...
May 2010
1 post
Best Optical Illusion Ever
I’m not sure what is happening exactly, but this is the most effective illusion I’ve ever seen. Stare at the green dot in the center and watch as the yellow dots sequentially disappear and reappear. The truth is the yellow dots are always there. Even if you re-size the yellow dots so they are huge (buttons on the side) this thing still works. Baffling.
World’s Best Optical...
April 2010
1 post
My computer history
This is an on-going compilation of the computers I’ve owned over the years. I’m keeping this for nostalgia and to share one day with my kids. It will be updated as things change.
YearModelProcessorMemoryStorageDetailsPrice??OdysseyColeco AdamZilog Z80 3.58Mhz80KB256Kb cassette tapesBought right before the video game crash of 1983.~$300 1987IBM PS/2 Model 50Intel...
March 2010
1 post
Open note to "Change Agents"
Next time you (as a political candidate) talk of promising change, we’re going to be collectively smarter and make you explain in really, really detailed terms exactly which changes you intend to bring to Washington DC and thus our country. One way or another a bunch of voters got duped last election.
Remember change is a whole lot different that the change you wanted.
February 2010
1 post
Back from my cert-induced seclusion...
I’ve completed my quest to complete the CISSP certification exam, so I’m back to semi-regular posting on this blog.
(Yes, I passed the exam, I’m now a CISSP. Go out and get yours today!)
September 2009
1 post
Global Cooling
It’s official, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the earth is cooling. In describing their new miles per gallon (MPG) estimates, the EPA notes that their new estimates “reflect the effect of […] * Colder Outside Temperatures.”
Can we put this “global warming” noise to bed now? The climate is changing constantly and looking at measurements since...
August 2009
3 posts
My {updated} Digital Photography Workflow Notes
I am currently using a Canon Rebel XTi DSLR camera that records onto Compact Flash media. I’m primarily interested in post-processing (RAW conversion with adjustments via Bibble Pro on Linux), filing, categorizing and annotating my image files.
Transfer the RAW images to server using an automated script. The script is in development, but here are the most recent details on the script. ...
English word shortening
We have a tendency to shorten our words and forget their origins:
Compress -> Press (printing machine)
Perquisite -> Perk
Inquisitive -> Quiz
Manufactory -> Factory
Telephone -> Phone
Airplane -> Plane
Influenza -> Flu
Carriage -> Car
Cabriolet -> Cab
Taximeter -> Taxi
Do you have more examples?
On the unintended consequences of 'Cash for...
I don’t like to be a nay-sayer, but Nay! Instead of the Government handing out stimulus checks and cash-for-clunkers (CARS) program allowances, why not just tax us less so we’d be more likely to buy a car in the first place? Why destroy wealth by bribing potential customers to buy a new car (economic stimulation!) using an anrtificial source of funding (our tax dollars?) ...
July 2009
1 post
Removable storage media density 1971-2009
I was just staring at an old 8-inch floppy disk I keep around sitting on my desk, contemplating how storage capacities and densities have increased since it was introduced on the market in 1971.
The outer dimensions of the disk is 200x200x1mm or 40,000 cubic millimeters. It holds 79.7KiB of data or 81613 bytes. That works out to 2.04 bytes per cubic millimeter.
For comparison, I’ve...
June 2009
1 post
Klavan: Why Conservatives Are So Mean
April 2009
1 post
Prattville History Resources
Autauga County Heritage Association New URL, new content!
Prattville History on Prattville.Com
Prattville History by tbrown. Excellent source of information on Prattville’s industrial history, Contenental Eagle, cotton gins, the history of the cotton trade in general.
Prattville Dragoons
Alabama Counties Formation Maps
March 2009
6 posts
¿Downside-up?
My three (!) year old had me contemplating today why it is we say “upside down” instead of “downside up”. I couldn’t think of or find a good reason. I may switch.
upside-down
umop-apisdn
Cost of living: March 25, 2009
Dow 7,811.78
S&P 500 820.01
Nasdaq 1,539.02
Hard drive storage: $0.073/GB
(Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB (1500GB ) 7200RPM/32MB for $109.99 via TigerDirect on March 25, 2009)
Solid-state hard drive storage: $2.31/GB
(OCZ 120GB SATA II Solid State Drive for $276.99 via ZipZoomFly on March 25, 2009)
Flash memory: $2.24/GB
(Patriot 16GB SDHC Card for $35.99 via ZipZoomFly...
Unix tips: Display filename when using find/grep...
When performing a find and execing a grep on the results (scenario: searching for a string in all files in a directory and all subdirectories recursively) on Solaris, it has always frustrated me that the output shows matches but doesn’t identify the filename that the match occurred in.
$ find . -type f -exec grep string {} \;
horse horsefeathers
I’ve worked out a couple solutions...
Daylight Savings Time: Gaining an hour / losing an...
Every time we adjust our clocks for Daylight Savings Time, my wife and I end up having a discussion about our perspective of the time change.
We both agree that in Fall (for instance) we move the clock hands back one hour.
I say we “lose an hour” because the clock hands moved backwards.
She insists we “gain an hour” because at the end of the day there were 25 hours in...
(shell script) Transferring photos from Compact...
My hardware: Canon Rebel XTi (uses Compact Flash (CF) memory) Inland USB multi-format SD/CF card reader ($12 at Micro Center) Dell PowerEdge 1800 running Fedora Core 11
My goal is to start out with files like this on the Compact Flash card::
[CF Card]/dcim/102canon/img_9999.CR2
[CF Card]/dcim/102canon/img_9999.JPG
[CF Card]/dcim/103canon/img_0000.cr2
[CF Card]/dcim/103canon/img_0000.jpg
run...
Unseen Photography Project
I’m interested in taking pictures behind-the-scenes, behind closed doors where the general public isn’t allowed on an everyday basis. If anyone has the authority to arrange (or can point me to the appropriate contact to get proper permission) for such an opportunity I’d greatly appreciate it. I’m looking for interesting venues or scenes.
I’m thinking along the...
February 2009
1 post
50 years ago: The Day The Music Died
50 years ago today a plane crashed on a frigid cold night in a corn field just north of Clear Lake, Iowa taking the lives of Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper (JD Richardson), Buddy Holly and pilot Roger Peterson. The Day The Music Died Gallery - Pictures from our August 2005 visit to the crash site memorial and Clear Lake, Iowa. Buddy Holly: Rare and Unseen Photos - from Time Magazine The Day...
January 2009
2 posts
Strain
Don't ask the questions if you won't like the...
Pizza Hut’s new advertising is pushing their new “All-Natural” ingredients, what were they serving us before?
Their other tagline is “experience pizza the way it was meant to be.” Same thing, what have they been foisting on their customers before this?
December 2008
4 posts
[photo] Stella at the Wilderness (bamboo) Park in...
[photo] Yellow Spider on Maypop
[photo] Dusty abadoned building
[photo] Hedge Apple Abstract
November 2008
11 posts
[photo] Stella on point
[photo] Streams of light
[photo] Sunset over ASF