I know a few folks who are so certain in their political convictions that they’ve already decided how they’re voting in November. (Some probably made up their minds as far back as this time last year.) As for me, I’m nowhere near making a decision yet.
Right now though, one candidate who’s getting a lot of attention is John McClane. He’s a little rough around the edges and a bit of a maverick, but maybe that’s what we need right now. He does have a proven record against terror (Nakatomi Plaza in LA, Dulles Airport, the bombs scattered around New York, and most recently the Internet-based terrorists who were trying to steal financial records).
If nothing else, you have to agree that it would give people pause if the President of the United States ended all of his speeches with his trademark “Yippie Ki Yay” line.
Fun with Software Licenses
As I’ve pointed out before, according to the terms of the software license, iTunes may not be used to control nuclear reactors. Ditto for Google Earth.
This evening I set up my first ever computer running (shudder) Windows Vista.
Seeing no reason to break with tradition, I once more read the click-through license agreement, thus reaffirming my role as the only person on Earth who actually does so. Folks, you may be surprised to learn that in at least this one respect, Microsoft’s license agreement is less restrictive than the ones from Apple and Google. That’s right, nothing in the Windows Vista license agreement (and this single license seems to cover all versions, even the home versions) says you’re not allowed to use it to control nuclear reactors or weapons.
So now you have to decide, should you be more aghast that Apple and Google evidently include such functionality (Why else would they bar you from using it?), or you should instead be horrified that Microsoft allows you to use Windows in this manner? 🙂
(Truthfully, I’d be much more surprised if Microsoft did include such limitations since that would essentially forbid people in those industries from buying the product. And honestly, if you’re setting up embedded control systems, particularly for that sort of work, you’re probably going to be using a much more limited, and much older operating system. That is, one where all the problems are already well-understood and worked around.)
As part of the same computer setup, I also had occasion to read the license for Trend Micro’s PC-cillin. As part of that license agreement, you expressly agree that you will back up your files on a regular basis.
Now that’s what I call a sensible license! It’s about time someone had the guts to make that a requirement.
End of a Journey
Whether you travel by plane, train, boat or automobile, at the end of a long journey you have to exit from the vehicle and move along to whatever you’re doing next. How do you do that?
For example (and the first one is what got me started):
- Dogs disembark
- Hair stylists depart
- Musicians disband
- Donkeys tend to be in a hurry, so they haul… well, you know.
- For similar reasons, bananas peel out.
- Birds and sheep get the flock out of there
- Judges disrobe (you and I would get in trouble if we did that!)
- Trees leaf
- Mathematicians disintegrate.
- Songwriters decompose.
- Electricians delight.
- Travel groups detour.
What groups have I forgotten?
Installing Ubuntu
I don’t really know why I waited until so late in the day – or early in the morning – to do it (at least in part it was because I was meeting a friend for late dinner at 8:00), but about a year after installing Xandros on an old Compaq box and never getting back to it, I decided to dump Xandros and install Ubuntu in it’s place.
Getting the WET54G wireless bridge set up last weekend was a three-hour process, and also a subject for another day. For now, the most important tip is that the machine you’re using to set it up needs to be set to an address on the 192.168.1.0 network. If you want to set the bridge up by hand instead of using the “Quick Setup” disk, you need to use your browser to connect to 192.168.1.226. UserId and Password are both “Admin” (they’re CaSe seNsitIVe by the way).
I don’t have any great amount of experience with any Linux distribution (or with Linux at all really), but I’ve been wanting to add Linux to my pool of knowledge for a while. There wasn’t any one powerful reason to switch distributions, except that a year ago I couldn’t get an updated version of Firefox to install on Xandros (in fact, I even managed to wipe out the old version) and when I used the Xandros management software to do an update this evening, the most recent version was 1.5. (Current version for Windows is 2.0.0.11.)
For all I know, installing the most recent of Xandros would have given me the current Firefox and maybe the ability to run SETI@Home too, but Ubuntu’s been getting a lot of buzz recently and since I’m a newbie, I’m going to want to be find help easily. If I’m going to install a new distribution, I may as well go with the crowd for now. (Please don’t leave me a zillion comments saying, “Oh, you should have used distro-X instead, it’s much easier. I’m sure each distribution has its own particular charms. I’m happy enough for now.)
My first ever boot from a live CD was an interesting experience. I’d already set the machine to boot from CD, so after switching it on, all I had to do was reboot and let it go. My CD drive is a bit noisy and for a while it sounded like there was a cow mooing in the spare bedroom.
Once the system came up, I was presented with about seven different menu choices. After a few dubious experiments with the memory test and such, I finally chose the default Setup/Install option and let it fly.
When the system stopped mooing again (I may need to rename that machine to “Bossy”; too bad it’s not a Gateway. 🙂 ) my screen was divided into vertical sections divided by flashing/jumping/irritating lines. After playing with the menu bar at the top of the page, I found the “Resolution” tool under preferences and dropped both the resolution and the refresh rate by one notch each, this made the CRT much happier and no doubt saved me from a migraine.
The screen I was presented with turned out to be a functional Linux desktop. A working email client, Firefox 2.0.something, Open Office, and even a few games. (It has Suduko — Dad will enjoy discovering that.) Along with the menu at the top (all the basic system utilities), there were two icons on the desktop. I’m not really sure what to make of the “Examples” folder, though the musical clips were nice enough. After poking around for a bit, I double-clicked the “Install” icon.
The installation program seems simple enough. Seven prompts for things like your time zone, how much of the hard drive to use for Linux, and information for the main user account and then the system starts whirring away, writing stuff to the hard drive so it will run faster. (The Live CD is a nice idea, but aside from the mooing, it’s slow.)
The install is still running, probably due to the age of the hardware as much as anything else (PIII with 256 MB of RAM and a 120 GB drive) so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out how it all went. I’m a little concerned that the main user account created during the install is going to turn out to be running with administrative privileges, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it (At least I know enough to be concerned about that sort of stuff).
In the meantime, I’m going to let Bossy keep mooing while I go and get some sleep.
Jaycee Wisdom
Back in November, I realized The Secret of Life is that there are no rules.
During 2007, I served as the Maryland Jaycees District Director West, acting as a representative on the Executive Committee of the state organization’s Board of Directors. In late December, I was asked to provide some basic orientation for the incoming district director for another district. After emailing my response, I decided to post it to the district blog under the title of “Advice for a new District Director.” The advice I gave in that article is actually quite similar to Rule 1 of the aforementioned Secret of Life.
There’s a new person filling the role of District Director. Jeff’s a good guy, but the district blog is no longer mine to control. Since Jeff, or any other successor, may decide to discontinue the blog, I’ve reposted the article here. Take from it whatever wisdom you may find.
Probably the most important piece of advice anyone gave me when I was elected was simply, “Don’t let anyone tell you how to do the job.” After thinking about it for a bit, I realized this was sound advice. The world is full of people who want to second-guess you. Or putting it another way:
Rule 1: There are no rules about how to be a Jaycee Leader
Everything else in this post should doubtless be filtered through Rule 1. 🙂
That being said… the District Director is in a unique position relative to the rest of the Executive Board. Everyone else has to deal with every chapter in the state, the district director works with a smaller number of them.
Pragmatically, what this means is that the district director will most likely be the person “gently reminding” chapters to send in their close out information. Going the other direction, you’ll be bringing concerns from your chapters to the rest of the team and making sure the chapters know what’s going on around the state.
Some experiences and/or things that worked for me (This in particular is where Rule 1 applies):
Phone communications are great, I highly recommend them. But they’re also time consuming. Talk to chapter contacts once a month (or more) if you can, but don’t plan to make more than two (or three) calls in a single night. There will always be a few folks who just won’t get off the phone.
Conversely, there are probably going to be a few people who you just can’t get hold of to save your life. That being the case, you may want to consider making up a list of email addresses for all your chapter contacts so you can keep them informed about what’s going on. Start off with the President and State Director. As you find out who more of your chapters’ board members are, add them to your list. This increases the likelihood that somebody in each chapter will pay attention.
Some chapters will never get around to asking you to come to their events. Don’t be afraid to invite yourself. Send an email to one of your contacts (starting with the President and/or State Director) saying something like, “Hey, I’d really like to come to such-and-such project. What time does it start and how do I get there?” (Projects are probably a better thing to show up at than meetings.) Of course, the same rule for attending your own chapter’s project also applies here – don’t even think about trying to attend everything or you’ll burn yourself out.
There’s nothing wrong with holding district meetings during the quarterly conventions. That may give your chapters one more reason to make sure they have someone there. On the other hand, you may want to schedule them as separate events, some chapters may not have representatives at conventions). The two approaches seem to have similar results.
One important note though: Schedule your district meetings as far in advance as possible. (Folks will complain anyhow, but that’s just how it goes.) If you can get chapters to find a meeting location, etc. that’s great, but you do have the option of making your own arrangements. Probably the smartest thing I did in 2007 was when I decided to have a meeting in a central location. When the local chapter didn’t respond, I organized the meeting myself. The chapter was a lot more responsive afterward.
Plan to have your 4th quarter meeting as early as possible in the quarter for two reasons: (A) This way you can also use it as a candidates forum for elections and (B) after the November convention, the Jaycees pretty much shut down until January. (This is one of the reasons I tend to agree with the folks who believe we played a huge prank on ourselves by matching the Jaycee year to the calendar year.)
The job can be a lot of work, but it’s worthwhile.
Serenity
I imagine somebody’s already done something similar to this. After all, it’s been more than two years since Serenity first came to the theaters, and even longer since Firefly went off the air. But ideas for filks follow their own schedule.
(To the tune of The Ballad of Serenity)
Take my show,
Off the air,
Claim the fan base,
Is not there.
I don’t care,
I’m still free
To watch the show on DVD.
Make the TV
Go to black
Say the show
Ain’t coming back.
I don’t care,
I’m still free
To watch the show on DVD.
(bridge)
There’s no show,
I’d rather see,
Next I’ll watch Serenity.
You can’t take the show from me.
Forty-Two
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
I’ve known this day was coming for a while, but I suppose I’ve been hoping for a reprieve of some sort. That’s not how it works of course, but you can’t blame a fellow for having hopes.
You can lay down or put a paper bag over your head if you like, but that won’t help either. The plans have been on file at the local planning office for several years and there was plenty of opportunity to file a protest at the appropriate time so there’s no sense acting all surprised now. If you can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs, that’s your own look out. By my estimate the Vogons will be here sometime this afternoon.
I am certain that John understands exactly what this is all about. No doubt he’s already standing on a street corner somewhere with corks in his ears, clutching a towel from Marks and Spencer, trying desperately to hitch a lift.
If you have no idea what I’m going on about, might I suggest some worthwhile reading? (If you prefer, there’s always the movie, but I suggest the older version instead of the new one.) You’d best hurry though; if Ford and Arthur have already nipped off to the pub, then you have less than 10 minutes left. (Last orders, please!)
I’m just astonished this didn’t happen on a Thursday.
IP Test Blocks
These IP network blocks were set aside for private use (for testing networks) and don’t appear on any (properly configured) public network. This makes them ideal for use on home networks or internal corporate LANs *.
Class A: 10.0.0.0 (Up to 16,581,373 individual IP addresses)
Class B: 172.16.0.0 (Up to 65,023 individual IP addresses)
Class C: 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.0 (Up to 255 individual addresses.)
The Class C block is actually a set of 255 Class C networks. 192.168.0.0, 192.168.1.0, 192.168.2.0 and so on. Only the last octet is used for an individual host (computer, router, etc), the other three are used to specify the network address.
All of these blocks can be subdivided (or “subnetted”) by using a subnet mask. The “default” subnet mask includes only the network portion of the address. So for 10.0.0.0,the default mask would be 255.0.0.0. But you could use something like 255.255.0.0 to break it up into 255 small networks, each of which would have, at most, 65,023 (that’s 255 x 255 – 2) hosts on it.
A curious reader may wonder, “Why is it 255 x 255 – 2? Why not the whole 255 x 255?”
That’s because one address on each network (the one where the host bits are set to 0, e.g. 10.10.0.0) is reserved as the “network address” and another one (where host bits are set to all 1s, e.g. 10.10.255.255) is reserved as the “broadcast” address.
*You should almost always (some corporate settings are excepted) set up your private network to use one of the network blocks discussed here. Setting up your private LAN so that it uses other people’s IP addresses would have the effect of hiding the other poeple’s web sites and such. (For example, if your home network used the 72.232.101.0 network, you wouldn’t be able to reach WordPress.com, and what fun would that be?) Setting up a public network using someone else’s IP block would likely get you into trouble with whoever was providing your Internet connectivity. Don’t do it.
Performance Appraisal
When you fill out the self-evaluation portion of your annual performance appraisal, you’re supposed to be honest. I had to do mine a couple months ago:
Q: List what you have done with respect to your job that provided the most satisfaction during the evaluation period.
A: I got paid.
Q: List what you have done with respect to your job that provided the least satisfaction during the evaluation period.
A: Arrived at the office after sitting in traffic.
Q: List any improvements that you believe can be made in your own performance, your work environment, or in areas where you feel [the company] could make changes.
A: Pay me to stay home.
I wonder if it’s possible to be too honest on these things.
If Pigs had Wings…
When I brought in the mail on Tuesday, I found a largish envelope with the name Squish on the return address. So right away I knew something interesting was afoot.
Squish is one of the many colorful characters populating my world. Lots of people refer to her by her nickname of “Amy,” but I’ve long found the sobriquet “Squish” to fit her well.
When we first met, Squish’s job title was GUI Engineer which meant she worked on (among other things) creating web pages. In the unique language of computer geeks, the acronym GUI (short for “Graphical User Interface”) is usually pronounced “Gooey.” Naturally (and somewhat inevitably), this eventually led us to a deep philosophical exchange on the topic of what the requirements might be for becoming a Squishy Engineer. For example, could you qualify by walking through a puddle while wearing sneakers?
So when Squish unexpectedly sends me a package, it’s immediately clear that something silly is about to happen.
I wasn’t disappointed. When I opened it, the package contained a Pig Catapult and a New Mexico UFO operating license.
Now the UFO operating license makes all sorts of sense. The authorities tend to take a very dim view of unlicensed pilots, so it’s good to have that legality taken care of.
But the pig catapult took me off guard. Why is it that a pig catapult would make Squish think of me?
When I asked her, Squish replied, “Who ELSE do you know who might ever use a pig launcher??”
She has a point. And as a bonus, I’m now prepared for the next time someone tells me something will happen, “…when pigs fly!”