This month is completely cracked out…. First off, tomorrow
Anger.
I recently had to make a copy, so I went over to our magic Xerox machine, and in the tray I saw a printout of someone’s order confirmation for Verizon FiOS service (Fiber to the Home). This person is not me. This makes me very angry.
Can’t Stop the Signal, Unless you’re T-Mobile
My stupid Sidekick II died this weekend… The radio bit it, so while it functions as a PDA, it’s completely unconnected… Occasionally banging the shit out of it causes it to function again for a little while, but it’s pretty much a goner. I called T-Mobile to have the situation handled, and after 45 minutes on the phone they told me I needed a new phone, but since my warranty expired 5 days before I called I was going to have to pay $100 for the exchange. I tried to fight, but the douchebag on the other end wasn’t hearing any of it. I plan on writing a letter to their Customer Pacification department, but regardless of whether or not they refund the $100 I plan on leaving both T-Mobile and the Sidekick II at the end of my current contract (which I believe ends this summer). I’ve dumped over $600 into T-Mobile and Danger on phones since 2003 and they can’t be bothered to help me out? Fuck them.
Fortunately, they do have a “loaner phone” program, so I was able to have some kind of working phone for the next two weeks… Oh, yeah, did I forget to mention that the SK2 is out of stock? Isn’t that awesome?
I saw Serenity this Sunday with the film club. I picked it based on popular demand, but was pleasantly surprised with both the film and (mostly) with who showed up for the club. My concern going in was that it would either A) not be my thing, like “Buffy” (the tv show), or 2) Only make sense to people who had watched “Firefly” (which I hadn’t). Not only were both these fears unfounded, but I really thought this was one of the best Science Fiction films I’ve seen in a while, and certainly one of the better films I’ve seen this year (which, given this year, isn’t saying much). What surprised me was how accessible Whedon made the film to newbies.
Finally, I’m blackholing my old gti.net email address… As far as I can tell, nobody has used it in years, and I can’t even log into their servers to disable the .forward, so I had to /dev/null it on the CSH side of things. If, for some strange reason, you are still using that address, don’t. I can’t believe that account is still active. Back when I worked at Sears in 1995ish, a rep came into the office center and offered me a free shell account with them if I mentioned their name if people asked for an ISP recommendation. I’m sure this violated Sears policy, now that I think about it, but nobody wanted Prodigy anyway. I told the rep that I actually already had a shell account with them, and asked if he would bump me up to a free PPP account. He agreed, and I’ve had the account ever since. Over the years, I kept thinking they would turn it off, but they never did, I must have fallen between the cracks, or they just kept it alive to thank me for the business I sent their way.
Nicole Kidman Throws the Goat
Who needs Xenu, Tom? I’ve got Beelz!
(Found here)
Update: Yes, I know that “the goat” requires the thumb to be touching the middle and ring fingers… Yes, I know full well that she is actually (inadvertently) saying “i love you” in ASL (I went to RIT, for christ’s sake)… It’s called a joke, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be externally or internally consistent.
More on the Superboard II
My dad read my earlier journal entry on the computers I’ve used and provided more info on his Superboard II:
By the way, our first computer was an Ohio Scientific Superboard II, as far as I know there was never a “III”. It had 24K of ROM and 4k of static RAM, later expanded to a whopping 7k. Data storage was on cassette tapes. It had a 6510 8 bit processor (Update: Think he actually meant 6502) clocking over at a cool 1mhz. It had a keyboard built in and output NTSC B&W video. It had built in 8k Microsoft BASIC in ROM, as I recall I remember seeing Bill Gates name in the code when I did a hex dump of the ROM. It also had a bug in the string garbage collector that would crash the computer after basic was used for a while – thanks Bill.
Update: My dad also found this page with some more Superboard info as well as links to software and an emulator!
We rock.
From MSNBC:
Not only are satellites being called into action. Dispatched from Beale Air Force Base in California on September 1, a U-2 Dragonlady aircraft conducted a surveillance flyover of hard-hit areas due to Hurricane Katrina.
During a six-hour mission, the piloted U-2 put to use an Optical Bar Camera (OBC), hardware ideal for photographing very large areas with high resolution. The OBC, or film-based imagery equipment utilized, can collect imagery over 90,000 square nautical miles.
Film taken during the high-altitude run by the U-2 is in support of FEMA to assist in disaster relief efforts, according to a U.S. Air Force press statement.
From ACC:
Personnel at the 548th IG’s 9th Intelligence Squadron have processed more than 3.5 miles of Optical Bar Camera, OBC, film from U-2 aircraft missions to help aid FEMA and humanitarian relief efforts.
“The film covered approximately 130,000 square miles of area providing imagery of nearly all of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Florida and a few other states in the area,†said Lt. Col. Christopher Kubick, 9th Intelligence Squadron commander.
The squadron scanned and digitized more than 1000 images from the OBC film at USNORTHCOM’s request since operations began over areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina last week, Colonel Kubick said.
Take us back to DEFCON 5
Sometime soon after I got back from CSH Welcome Back I noticed that there was a minor scratch on the screen of my beloved Powerbook, dead center no less. At first I just thought it was a hair or something, so I busted out the Windex and gave it a good bath to no avail. I started looking online and some people recommended the Janvil Plastic Scratch Removal System for removing scratches from LCDs. Nobody with a Powerbook specifically, so I was a little worried that the screen would melt or something, but I ordered the kit anyway with a little trepidation.
I got the kit last week, but didn’t build up the nerve to actually try it until tonight. It seems to work like a champ… I mean, when the screen is off (or under really heavy glare), you can clearly see the “polished” spot, so I mean, it has some effect on the screen, but for my usage it is way, way, WAY less distracting than the dead-center scratch. And as far as heavy-glare usage…. let’s face reality, the Powerbook screen isn’t all that useful under those conditions as it is… :)
My Computers
Someone today asked me about some of my early computer experiences, and so I ended up making this list of all my computers.
- Ohio Scientific Superboard II (or III?) – This was actually Dad’s computer, and while I vaguely remember using it on a cardboard card table in the basement of our house, I really don’t remember much. I seem to remember dad saying it was a Superboard III, but I can’t find any references to that model online (other than my own). We had the base model without any fancy stuff like cases… (Update: Dad wrote me giving me some more details about this machine)
- Commodore 64 – My grandparents bought this for me for an early birthday, probably at the prodding of my father… :) We originally got it floppy-less and used only cartridges and hand-input BASIC programs, but we eventually got a 1541 floppy drive to do real work with. I believe at first we used a small television as a monitor, but at some point we got a Commodore monitor (can’t remember the model, it wasn’t a 1084S).
- Generic 386/33DX – After the C=64 died, dad bought a PC, which I used for quite awhile until I could afford the Amiga. I cut my teeth on DOS and Windows 3.0-3.11 on this machine for the first time (I had never really touched a PC before this).
- Commodore Amiga 500 – I saved for a long time to buy this computer, and used it for years without a hard disk before I saved and plunked down $400 for a external SCSI controller with a 120MB disk. This computer was my trusty sidekick for years, even though my parents would take it away for about half the time (get midterm progress report, confiscate computer; get report card, return computer). I subjected it to the “pepsi syndrome” on several occasions and it eventually gave up after this trauma.
actually brought it back from the dead once by replacing motherboard traces with wire, but this was just delaying the inevitable.. - Generic 486 DX4/100 – While I had the Amiga, my dad replaced his PC with a faster one. I would trade back and forth from the Amiga to the PC, mostly using the Amiga…
- Generic Pentium 166MHz (Summer of 1995) – This was when I really got to know how to use a PC. After my fallen Amiga I was quite reluctant to replace it with a PC, but the flailing of Commodore really forced my hand. It was on this computer that I had my first experience installing Linux (first Slackware, then 1 month to setup PPP, then hard disk crash, then retreat to Red Hat Linux 3).
- Generic Dual Pentium II 350MHz (Late 1997) – When I started getting excited about BeOS, I decided to go Dual Processor.. DP worked great in BeOS, but in Windows it was just a pain in the ass.. More drivers than you can believe have DP problems, and I am amazed to this day that I ever bought a second DP machine. I just wanted to say I had dual procs.. :) I believe this machine is now at CSH and is called
neverforget - Generic Dual Pentium III 1GHz (Late 2001) – Pretty soon after I moved to Boston my computer, now 4 years old, started showing it’s age. This machine worked like a champ, save the onboard sound who’s drivers didn’t like dual procs.
- Apple Powermac G4 733MHz (Late 2003) – When Rovia folded, I got this machine… I was always anti-Apple, but I’m never one to look a free computer horse in the mouth. I fell in love with OSX on this machine, and it became my primary workstation until I moved in here with
. This is now living at CSH. - Generic Pentium 4 3GHz (Summer 2004) – When Doom III came out I needed a new computer, so I bought this one. I finally gave up on Dual Proc machines, and was actually remarkably lazy and ordered all the same parts that
had picked out for his machine. It treats me well and will probably live on until it can no longer keep up with the videogames of the day. - Apple Powerbook G4 1.67GHz (March 2005) – I had wanted a notebook, particularly a Powerbook, for some time, and when I finally paid off my college/stupid/unemployed credit cards I treated myself. This is my primary workstation these days, and I sometimes bring it to bed with me and hug it until I fall asleep. Don’t tell Corinna. =)
Jury Duty
I had jury duty yesterday, and overall it was a positive experience… I got there around 8am, as instructed, but apparently they were just buffering, because they weren’t really ready for us until 8:30am. We filed into the jury room, filled out some paperwork, watched an awful video on how the system works, and then moved on to impanelment. The first case, a gun possession charge against two defendants, I was selected for the jury, but then one of the lawyers sent me packing for undisclosed reasons… But like 20 minutes later we were brought in for a second impanelment, where I was once again selected, and this time served… It was a DUI case, and after an hour or so of testimony from the cop, the defendant, and an eyewitness, we found the guy guilty.. He changed his story a few times during his testimony and at the end of the day we believed the cop and the witness much more than we believed the defendant…
I got my pre-order of The Craig Machine yesterday and have been listening to it pretty much non-stop.. It rocks socks.
Ship it.
Went over to hang out with
On the way over to their place I saw this bumper sticker that I read as “ashington D.C. 2004″… I didn’t see the “W”, so I got up real close to the car to see if it was faded or whatever… I knew some shenanigans were afoot, and after I thought about it for a minute or two I realized the joke: No “W” in Washington… Hehehe… A bit too cerebral for a bumper sticker, but funny nonetheless.
Can anyone recommend some kind of gizmo to keep under my desk here at work that I can roll my feet on as a kind of massage? My feet are still kind of pussied out after barely being used for 2-3 months, and have been getting regularly sore after a normal amount of walking…