Realizations...

of a sort.

Normally I don't post links to other sites on the Internet but I found this today and I can't help but continually reading the little dots. If you've ever wondered about American foreign policy over the years this will shed some light on interesting things that have happened. Some of the items highlighted I knew about (Saddam's funding for war on Iran after the leader of Iran went crazy after being appointed by the US). Take a look I'm sure you might find something you've not known before.

Here's something a little more light. Basically, its a random bit of IT buffoonery over the years as reported by various Techies all over the world.

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As an update from my last post. My recent installation of Linux over the weekend*. Went surprisingly well, I managed to get Ubuntu Linux installed, configured and setup correctly twice in that time frame.

Twice!? You may be asking. Let me explain.

For some reason my laptop would seize up and after unplugging the power and booting again the OS would be completely dead and beyond repair, thus warranting a re-installation.

For the couple of days that I had my laptop setup I absolutely loved the environment that I was working with Ubuntu is a fantastic place for anyone to start their use of Linux. The only downside that I have found was the fact that my wireless was not properly detected and installed, which I was expecting and had researched ahead of time.

I may give the re-installation another opportunity during my next set of Days off, but I may hold off until after the new year and my next Certification exam has been written.




* it was my weekend, your mid-week

On again, off again, on again ...

Listening to: Hanzel und Gretyl - L'Experience des Dificultes Technique | Nine Inch Nails - Love is Not Enough (Live)

I just wish I'd make up my mind sometimes.

It looks as though my migration away from Windows is going to be happening again. And its all thanks to my wonderful laptop.

Don't get me wrong I love my laptop I think its a fantastic piece of machinery. I've never had a computer as good as the one that I have now, but there seems to be some interference.

I noticed last night while I was working that my mp3s tend to skip and stutter sometimes. You never come between a geek and his music, thats sacrilege.

At first I thought it was due to bad sound quality or faulty songs. As a test I put one of the offending songs into each of my mp3 players on my computer (of which I have 5) and it played with the same stuttering results. Test one passed.

I then copied the song to my MP3 player where upon the song played perfectly without any problem what so ever. Test two failed.

After doing some quality research (5 minutes on Google) I discovered that I'm not the only one encountering this problem. There are loads of other people with my particular laptop who are experiencing similar problems. The most common problem was the microphone from the webcam was interfering with the sound. So, I disabled it.

No better. Test three failed.

Other times it was because of old / out-dated drivers. I uninstalled and reinstalled drivers for my soundcard.

No better. Test four failed.

All the time I was buzzing around the internet trying to see what the problem was. Then someone casually mentioned that they had solved the problem by changing some settings in their *wireless* settings.

Could it be true, could my wireless intenet be causing all of the headaches that I've been having with my MP3s. (I've been re-ripping *tons* of songs.)

As a test, I flicked off the wireless internet and started up my test song.

Played flawlessly. Test five passed.

More swearing ensued.

And then I rejoiced as it has finally given me a reason to install Linux for good.

Stuck in the middle of ...

Listening to: Nine Inch Nails - Closer

Were you ever left alone at work to fend for yourself?

I'm sure we all have at one point or another, most of the time its not even really much of a big deal. Sometimes it happens as a test to see how you can deal with certain situations, other times its because there isn't anyone around to assist you.

But then there are the times where you really wish there was someone around who could have been there to deal with what you just went through.

It seems weird that I was just helping a student with something that I knew nothing about, yet everything that they said made complete and total sense. It was even to the point where I knew that they had made a mistake in their calculations.

Actually, the only saving grace was that they knew exactly what they were talking about.

I didn't do a damn thing to help them.

Now, I'm going to spend the next 4 hours of my work learning what they were talking about...

I've been quietly sitting back and looking at the world lately when suddenly out of nowhere, here & here.

Let me summarize.

For years I have been proud to be living in Canada for the simple fact that I can walk into anyones house and make a copy of one of their CDs and have it be perfectly legal. The same goes for file sharing, I could obtain obscure songs from artists that have only printed 200 copies of a vinyl record pressed in Estonia and not worry.

Now, it turns out that the tide might be changing. The “Industry” minister wants to implement and update the copyright policies within Canada. What was the point of this? Who called for it?

The RIAA and MPAA.

The new laws that he wants to implement are in the best interest of the INDUSTRY and not of the consumers. These laws protect the media conglomerates that own most of the music that we buy; the companies that have profits close to $2 or $3 billion a year.

The part that gets me is that its going to be illegal for me to rip a song from a CD that I own. They are going to attempt to make me buy the digital version of the song to put onto my iPod. Fuck them.

The only thing that the DMCA will establish, and look at the US for guidance, its going to turn the average consumer into a Pirate. When in actuality they should be concentrating on finding ways to stop the people who distribute albums and movies before they're released.

I have this fear that some day soon there are going to be 20,000 lawsuits of fans in Canada for breaking the law and infringing on copyright. But then again they might try to make it mandatory for us to install software on our computers that would inhibit our ability to do illegal things.

There is no law you can put in place, no locks on media that you can install that will not be broken. Hell, they already broke the code in HD-DVD's to copy them, I think it took them a week to crack.

Oh, by the way, if there are any of you out there who want to be the next “Weird Al” Yankovich... you're screwed. They're removing the Parody clause meaning its going to be illegal to create a parody song and post it somewhere. Doesn't matter whether you're selling it or giving it away for free.

I think I'm going to move to Sweeden.

Coffee Problems Update

So, I've managed to track down and fix the problem that I have been having with my Java application. It was quite simple actually. I was missing a single line in my code that caused my "smoke" message.

I've spent too much time trying to figure out how to get my program to print messages to me that I forgot to actually look for the cause of the problem. Its strange how you can easily get distracted by the simplest things... ooooooohhhhh shiny.

If I had simply directed my attention to an area about 6 lines up from the error message I would have noticed what was missing. Or... I would have noticed what wasn't there so I couldn't have noticed it was missing.... thats still not right.

I noticed something was missing, but couldn't quite tell what it was initially. F*ck I hate sentences that are worded weirdly. (Yet, I go out of my way to make that last one as hard to comprehend as I could. Go figure.)

I could bore you with the details of how I fixed the program, and what exactly was missing. But I think its better suited for an explanation using the smoke detector analogy.

Solution steps:

After receiving the terribly worded "I smell smoke" message when I attempted to run my program, I noticed something.

I didn't put batteries in the smoke detector in the first place.

[Its a simple way of saying that I didn't declare a variable.] {Damn those details creeping in.}

Java Problems

Did you ever build something completely from scratch to fill some purpose in your life?
Did you ever get to the end only to realize that someone else built something just like it?
Did you ever test it and decide that it works just fine?
Did you ever want to show someone what you build and have it break on you?

Thats where I am at present. I built an application for one of my clients in town.

They wanted it to keep track of their own clients and allow them to do a search through it based on key words. Its basically an overly simple search tool that they could have easily cooked up in Access given the right amount of time.

It didn't take me long to build and test, in all about 12 hours is what I billed them for. I brought it into the office for them to view and they absolutely loved it. They had a few suggestions for me to add functionality, which was worth it.

A few months had passed when I realized that they didn't actually receive their copy of the software. I gave them a call to mention it to them and share a laugh; turns out that they had actually forgotten that they paid for it. They had actually had been concerned with finding a new laptop to upgrade their P3 desktop computer.

(I'm not evil and didn't make them pay for it twice, though I did under charge them in the beginning.)

Back to the point.

After bringing the software to their office I copied the files onto their new laptop and installed the tiny database and Java Runtime. Took less than 2 minutes.

I double clicked the executable, and with a grin on my face waited for the interface to load....

I swore.

I swore like a sailor.

NullPointerException....

If you've ever worked with Java, this is basically the worst error message you can receive. Its general, vague, and difficult to track down since it can be caused by many different factors.

Think of it like having a talking smoke alarm.

A good message to receive: "The lamp in the corner of the living room is smoldering on the east side of the 2nd floor of a 10 story building."

This is what a nullPointerException message would be like: "I smell smoke."

Now, you can sense the frustration that I was feeling.

Minimalist world view...

Here is a little story I came up with this morning. Its about life in a park on a windy day and how people don't take the time to see the little things around them. Life on the planet is so relaxing as it happens before your eyes.

~~~~~~~

The trees lean towards the left as the breeze cuts across the park. From across the park I can see people hurrying in and out of shoppes; scurrying like mice in a rain storm. Not a drop of water has fallen yet but the everyones faces will tell you otherwise.

A steady line of leaves roll past my feet as I sit on the bench. Alternating between red, orange and brown; they jump and dance in the air as if happy to have escaped from the clutches of the trees.

Naked and alone, a single sapling stands shivering to my right. If it were a person I would gladly give it my sweater, as I'm finding it a little warm today. I wait for the tree to get swept out of the ground as a strong gust picks up. The tree seems determined to hold its ground, not willing to move for anyone.

From around the corner of a building a man in a suit comes running. With a briefcase in hand, he attempts to seek refuge from the impending storm. He runs across the park with one hand on his head and the other holding his briefcase over his head. He is attempting to keep his hair piece from blowing away; days like these make me wonder why he even bothers.

He runs without looking. His eyes are fixed on one thing only, making it across the park without getting wet. Full of determination and confidence, he looks as though he has just negotiated the contract of his life.

Feeling as though he's still in control of everyone around him, the high powered business man almost knocks over a toddler playing in the sand. He quickly side steps the helpless child and curses under his breath.

A snarling mother looks on from a nearby bench. She begins to yell at the man, but he is too wrapped up in his own mind to even care what she has to say.

From this distance I can not make out any of the words. I sense the anger by the look on her face.

I want to intervene as he runs by me, glaring at me from the corner of his eye. I want to tell him that he can't do as he pleases.

Words escape me.

Instead I watch helplessly as the man tramples on the tree, snapping it near the base.

It is motionless, no longer swaying in the breeze. He did not even glance to see what he had stepped on.

The man is now around the corner of the building. On his way to snuff out another life, I assume.

Inside my head I can no longer hear the chatter of the tree telling me about his heritage. Emotion swells up in my eyes as I look at the tree trying to determine if it will be able to continue to grow. Maybe the tree will grow up with some character, a good place for children to play and build a fort.

My hopes are quickly dashed as a heavy gust picks up blowing a newspaper around. The thick and heavy paper gets tangled in the small branches of the tree. When the paper passes over top of the crippled tree only the stump is still there.

As the wind dies down I can see the trunk of the tree sticking out from underneath the sports section just a few feet in front of me.

From across the park I hear the muted laughter of the child playing with their toys. The sadness is lifted from me, the world is moving on.

A bird lands near the paper, foraging for some materials to fortify its nest. The instinct to protect its young is strong. Seeing the remains of the young tree the bird quickly hops over to it and carries it off into the sky.

As I stand I can feel the ache of pain in my knee from the impending rain. I turn to look back on the park and the happiness it brings.

I make a note to myself to return tomorrow with another tree to put in its place.