Snowulf

I hate modern TV schedules

nospam@example.com (Jon) — 2010-03-11T18:00:00Z

Let's take a quick look back at TV in the mid 90s. When a show started for the season, you were safe in assuming that the show would be 24 to 26 episodes in length and that it would be on essentially contiguously. Sure, nothing was on TV during the week of Thanksgiving or Christmas, but who cares? It was the holidays, specials were on and generally you were busy with other things. If a show came on in September, it was on at the same time every single week until it went off the air in February or March. Times were good...

Nowadays, modern TV scheduling is stupid, plain and simple. I don't particularly mind the "summer" shows which tend to be half seasons (roughly 13 episodes) though most of those that I watch are, I feel, better than the regular TV seasons and should be on full length. The scheduling though, who thought of this bull? A show can be on for 2 weeks, off for 3, back on for a week, off for another 2. Even the half season shows aren't immune to this. The TV executives blame the fall of TV viewership on DVRs (like TiVo), streaming (Hulu) or illegal downloads (Torrents). Sure, those might help, but the reality is that people TiVo their shows because THEY CAN'T FIND THEM.

Let's look at a few examples: Chuck Season 3 took a 2 week break in February. The start of Human Target was just all over the place. FlashForward started at the end of September and ran to November, then took a few week break to come back for ONE more episode. It is supposed to FINALLY come back on the air next week. A 3 month break? V (2009) ran 4 episodes in November and won't be back till the end of March. Castle (Season 2) started in September and ran until the beginning of December (didn't skip Thanksgiving) but then took a month off for the "Holidays". It returned only to take another 3 weeks off in February/March.

I could keep going, but you get the point. If TV execs want to save TV from being completely destroyed by the internet, give us a damn schedule we can follow.

Google Apps users screwed again, still no Google Buzz

nospam@example.com (Jon) — 2010-03-10T18:00:00Z

If you own your own domain name, you can have Google Apps for your domain. Basically, what this means is you get all the standard Google applications like Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Gtalk, but under your own domain name. It really isn't terribly complicated to setup and for only a few small time users, it is free. Personally, I think it is great because I like Gmail overall but I'd rather have my own email address than an @gmail.com one. So I use Google Apps for several domains, including my main email/account @ snowulf.com.

Everything about it works well in my book except for the fact that new features for Gmail tend to lag on deployment to Google Apps. As such, Buzz has been out for over a month now and I still can't use it on my account. They said (don't they always) that it would be coming to Apps 'shortly after launch' (or something to that effect). Anyways, I can accept several weeks delay, even a month, but that has come and gone and still no Buzz.

I know there were a lot of issues with Buzz's launch (not every product launch is smooth ::cough::Assassins Creed 2::cough::), but I still think it has potential. Google will work out the bugs and patch in some new features (like a shiny API) and life will be good. Good as long AS THE GOOGLE APPS USERS CAN HAVE BUZZ TOO, PLEASE.

Disabling sleep on MacBooks

nospam@example.com (Jon) — 2010-03-09T18:00:00Z

I complain about Apple products a lot, mainly in how they dumb everything down. It isn't the internet that is making people stupid, it is Apple devices like the iPhone and OSX. Last time I was complaining about the Macs need for hibernation, this time it about their need to NOT sleep. It is one of those fascinating dumb downs of Macs, you will use this device how the designers made it and you don't have a choice in the matter. Either the Mac is on or off. If it is on and you close the lid, it is going to sleep. This is so universal that even my mother knows it.

Turns out, someone wrote some software to fix this issue. Really depressing that 3rd party software is needed, but what do you expect, it is the IdiotBook. It is really simple:

Go to the InsomniaX homepage
Download InsomniaX (Direct DL Link)
Install & Execute
You'll see a new blue icon in the top tray, click on it
Click "Enable Insomnia"
Close your screen and relish in the fact that your mac hasn't gone to sleep

I can think of about a hundred reasons why you'd want to do this. For me the major push was to play music at Christmas. But you might want to leave your computer running for a long download (For example). The only word of caution I have, at least on the MacBook Air, it doesn't turn off the screen. So I turn it off with the screen brightness settings (F1/F2) before I close it. Annoying, but better than nothing.

Review: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

nospam@example.com (Jon) — 2010-03-08T18:00:00Z

As you may well know (perhaps from our earlier entry), Battlefield: Bad Company 2 came out last week. I've devoted most of my game playing time since then to playing the game and thought it was about time to do a review. Now some of this review of Bad Company 2 (BC2) will be a comparison to how it stands up against Modern Warfare 2 (MW2). It isn't that I believe the games are in anyway the exact same kettle of fish, but MW2 is the undeniable "big shooter" of the moment, so it is that which all other new shooters will be compared against (until something undeniably better comes out).

Let me give you the ultra short version: It is definitely an improvement over Bad Company 1. My major complaints for BC1 single player were addressed in BC2. The single player campaign of BC2 isn't long, but it is enjoyable and longer than MW2 was. The online multiplayer is also quite enjoyable and mostly major bug free (so far that I've seen). BC2's multiplayer is much different than MW2 and personally I prefer BC2. If you enjoy shooters in general and haven't bought BC2, you're missing out.

Now we get on to the long version of the review. First I'm going to cover the single player game and then I'll get into the online play.
Continue reading "Review: Battlefield: Bad Company 2"

Ride Friday: Why motorcycles don't honk (much)

nospam@example.com (Jon) — 2010-03-05T18:00:00Z

I've noticed that even on the nice summer days when there are lots of bikes out, you rarely hear them honk. I asked myself, "why is this? Why don't motorcyclists honk much?" I've come up with a few reasons and I thought I'd share.

Stock motorcycle horns suck - Let's be realistic, taking one of those canned air horns that people use at sports games and duct taping it to your bike would be a LOT louder than the motorcycle horn. I'm not really sure why all makers skimp so much on this, but it is basically universally accepted. It isn't like there aren't very loud and powerful horns that are small enough for bikes, on the contrary, there are plenty of aftermarket horns you can buy.
We're generally not stuck - One of the biggest reasons cars honk is because they are stuck behind someone who is going slow or not moving or generally being stupid. It is very rare that a motorcycling is truly stuck. We can get around almost anything and lane split where necessary (and of course only when it is legal to do so).
We're too busy - Someone tried to merge into my lane the other night; I would have honked, but I was simply too busy. Think about it. I've got my right hand grabbing the front breaks, right foot hitting the rear breaks, left hand pulling the clutch in, left foot down shifting and using my body to swerve away. While I could physically have hit my horn during this, I've got too many other things I need to do. By the time I've freed up enough brain power to honk at you, it is too late.
You cagers are idiots - For those that don't know, "cager" (As in stuck in a cage) is one of many terms used to describe those in 4 wheels vehicles. I basically assume that every single one of you is out to kill me because you aren't paying attention. Most of the time I see your stupidity (and attempts to kill me) coming and GTFO before you get there.

This all being said, I do honk from time to time. Though mostly on city streets and intersections rather than the highways. All too many times when making left turns have I watched idiots think they can make that right turn before I'll get there. NO! BAD CAGER. I am faster than you think, wait your damn turn.

Ham'ing it up: Successful test of CARLA

nospam@example.com (John) — 2010-03-04T18:00:00Z

Last night, Jon and I finally got around to trying out a nearby repeater system, that is the C.A.R.L.A. (California Amateur Radio Linking Association) system.

As you can see on the aforementioned link, there are a number of repeaters in the California/Nevada area that allow easy communication between the Bay Area (where Jon is) and Tahoe (where John is). If you use the Interactive Coverage Map, you can see the various paths, and repeaters, even see how the coverage works.

One interesting thing we noticed was Jon was able to hear me much better on the South Lake repeater (#8) versus the North Lake repeater (#23), however he came in slightly scratchier on #8. When we turned on the Paths on the interactive coverage map, I realized that the path the signal took might have been a strong contributor.
To reach Jon at station 11, we either go 8 --> 16 --> 11 or 8 --> 18 --> 11, whereas with 23, we have to go 23 --> 18--> 8 --> 16 --> 11 or 23 --> 18 --> 11.

Regardless, it worked and worked well. I was very impressed with the signal from INSIDE my office, specifically, from my desk via handheld.

Last but not least, this was my first Ham radio transmission. Didn't hear anyone else on the line, so hopefully no one else had to put up with our idiocy.

Changing timezone in under Ubuntu & Debian

nospam@example.com (Jon) — 2010-03-03T18:00:00Z

In the old days of running Linux, I used to change timezone of a machine by running time --set= at the command line and simply including the timezone code (PST). These days, Debian, Ubuntu, and the other similar derivatives have made life so much easier. If you want to change the timezone, all you need to do is run (as root):

dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

It will pop up a little config screen, asking you where you are and will summarily set your timezone. These is much easier than the old way since you don't even have to know your own timezone code (though... who wouldn't?).

Why we bought Battlefield: Bad Company 2

nospam@example.com (Jon) — 2010-03-02T18:00:00Z

Both John and myself have gone ahead and pre-ordered Battlefield: Bad Company 2 even though we originally had no intention of doing so. I've been seeing advertisements for the game for the last month and said "meh" to it. I had enough games to play, not enough free time, and Modern Warfare 2 has been satisfying my multiplayer needs (not that I normally multiplayer much). This was up until we actually got around to playing the demo the last week before it was shut down.

So what changed? Well first off in my research on BF:BC2, I saw a video which was showing off PC dedicated servers and game play, but more importantly their test server was named "Server of DOOM and cake". This is a server name I fully approve of. I mean, who doesn't love doom and cake? I know I do. Beyond devs with a good sense of humor, there was a demo that was enjoyable to play.

Continue reading "Why we bought Battlefield: Bad Company 2"

Another day, another server migration

nospam@example.com (Jon) — 2010-03-01T18:00:00Z

Sometimes I feel like all I do in my job and personal life is shuffle data around from one location to another. Last week it was re-installing Windows 7 on my two daily-use machines. This last weekend it was completing a server migration. Of course, I had just completed a migration 4 months ago.

To clarify, at the beginning of December I received an email from my hosting company letting me know that my VPS host was to be moved. At that point in time we were heavy into our project and I summarily ignored it. Not too long after that I got an email saying that my VPS had been replicated over to a new location and to check it out since I only had 3 days before they shut down the old server. Fun times, migrate all the data changes, make sure everything is functioning properly and then change the DNS. Not really a big deal but of course we were busier than hell with work.

A few weeks ago I warmed up a VPS with a new hosting provider. I wanted to play with Gallery 3 beta and the old VPS was running Ubuntu 8.04 with an old, old, old version of PHP. I had heard good things about this new company, and they offered Ubuntu 9.04, so I tried it out. In the end, I decided against using Gallery 3 and went over to SmugMug to host Snowulf Photography, but kept this new VPS. So I did yet another server migration (it feels like I do one every week) to this new setup.

All the sites I host have been moved and so far everything is working out. Really the only troublesome portion of a migration is dealing with MySQL. I exported everything from the old host which was running 5.0 (I believe) and the new one is running 5.1. They changed some of the setup in the `mysql` database, especially the `users` table which has caused some issues. In the end it got scraped and rebuilt by hand.

In the move I did some upgrades, like the blog software (Serendipity) and other minor fixes. So if you see something funny, odd, strange or generally broken, please let me know.

Ham'ing it up, KJ6FQN style

nospam@example.com (Jon) — 2010-02-26T18:00:00Z

As I have previously noted, on last Friday I passed the test for Amateur Radio Technician level. Ever since then I've been eagerly awaiting my new callsign. The Volunteer Examiners said it would take about a week to a week and a half, but that didn't stop me from logging into the FCC every 6 hours or so to see if it was up yet. A very frustrating wait... until last night.

I found out very quickly that the FCC system was down every night from 12:00 am to 02:00 am (Or 2100 to 2300 PST). Last night at just after 2300 I decided to login, and voila! KJ6FQN was listed in the system. I quickly and nervously got out my radio, tuned into the local repeater, and introduced myself. It didn't work initially, seems I had forgotten the PL code setting, I got that fixed, and tried again. A minute later, response! My first contact!

Oh, it was quite exciting. Even though it was late at night within a few minutes there were a few other people commenting in and out. I had been listening to this particular repeater for several weeks and it was nice to finally be able to interact with the people. There were more than a few times over the last few weeks that I really wanted to break in and put my 2 cents worth, but couldn't because I didn't have a license. Regardless, I spent about an hour online which went much faster than I expected, which was quite troubling since I was supposed to be asleep by then. The group was very nice and complimented me on my ease of radio'ing (it is nice to make the newbie feel like he's not an idiot and doing it all wrong), they also said I had social skills (Editor's note - obviously they don't know him very well).

Just for the record, us IT people don't like people to think we have social skills. In fact we prefer it if you think we are terribly anti-social, and too abrasive to even deal with in the first place. That way you're less likely to ask for a "favor".

Review: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

nospam@example.com (John) — 2010-02-25T18:00:00Z

I went into this film knowing nothing more than it was based on a book and by the title had some affiliation with Greek Mythology, a topic on which I did quite a bit of reading in my youth (and yes that means I also watched Hercules and Xena - minor sidenote Lucy Lawless is doing an amazing job in Spartacus).

This will be rife with spoilers, so if you don't want to know, don't read.

Continue reading "Review: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief"

Thank you Apple for cleaning up the AppStore

nospam@example.com (Jon) — 2010-02-24T18:00:00Z

# of Apps removed from App Store by AppShopper.com

In case you haven't heard, Apple recently decided to ban most "sexy" applications from the iTunes app store, nearly 6,000 in total. In brief, they removed anything that had any implied sexuality up to anything showing skin at all. CNN Money put forth the theory that they are doing this because of the upcoming iPad release (ah, the biggest flop we all know and love).
So I titled my post "Thank You Apple", and you might be wondering: why? Because this is fantastic news. The more stupid stuff Apple pulls like this, the more disillusioned developers will become. The more people that become publicly jaded by Apple's bible thumping antics, the less likely they will want to develop for it and the quicker Apple will die a slow, painful death.

No Bikini's, except if you're name is "Sports Illustrated"

Let's look at it realistically. Here are nearly 6,000 applications which were previously allowed, that no longer are, through no fault of the developers of these applications. Even if the application was nothing but gratuitous tits and ass, it cost money to make. Someone had to put in the time writing the code and compiling the application. Someone had to take or license the media used in these applications. Someone had to take the time to go through the app submission and approval process. It may not have been a lot of time to program; it may have been a lot of money to license the images, but it did cost actual time and money. Money these developers can no longer recoup, just because Apple woke up one morning and decided that's the way it is. Hell, even if you're marketing is a bit risque (and by risque I mean risque as used by the Islamic militants, or maybe the puritanical Amish) like in the case of Wobble, you get delisted.

Continue reading "Thank you Apple for cleaning up the AppStore"

Driving Tax vs Gas Tax

nospam@example.com (John) — 2010-02-23T18:00:00Z

This post was inspired by: an article from the Washington Post.

Currently we pay a tax on each gallon of gasoline we buy. Part of it is Federal, part State, and possibly even a local part (don't know anywhere like this, but it is a possibility I suppose). As we move toward more fuel efficient vehicles (be they motorcycles, hybrids, or whatnot), the amount of tax money is decreasing. Obviously, the governments dislike this as they need that money to keep the roads up, one of the things that has been suggested is to replace the per gallon tax with a "Per Mile Driven" tax. This would mean that the cost of filling up, be it a hybrid or a truck would be much closer in cost. Sounds good for the gas guzzling truck, but not so much for anyone who bought a more fuel efficient vehicle to save on gas fill ups (and/or pretends to care that they really bought it to make the environment better).

Were something like this to pass it could put a serious dent into hybrid sales and also standard motorcycles (like the Suzuki Boulevard S40). Since Standard bikes are fairly cheap (new and used are generally well under $5k) and get good fuel economy (40-80 mpg depending on the model), they are popular sellers when gas prices start to rise, as they usually pay for themselves in a few months, depending on your commute (not to mention the awesomeness that is a motorcycle). Hybrids on the other hand are less of an impulse buy as they are quite costly. The main reason people suffer this cost though is because they are getting a savings at the pump. Remove that savings and hybrid sales will slump.

When Jon and I discussed this new tax, we kept coming back to the same question: How can you, the government/tax collector, prove how many miles I've driven?

Continue reading "Driving Tax vs Gas Tax"

Jon & John - Now with 100% more Ham

nospam@example.com (Jon) — 2010-02-22T18:00:00Z

A long time ago, when I was but a wee little chibi, still in middle school, I was interested in Ham Radio. I checked out the book to study, even when to a local convention type thing (well I convinced my father to take me, then proceeded to key up the radios that were out for sale and annoy people in general (Editor's note - it's kind of his thing)). For whatever reason, I never followed through, though I think partially it had to do with the cost of the equipment and as a young child having no money. Through the sands of time, I forgot about the ham radio desires... until recently. When I started into the Disaster Prep research, I realized one of the important, but sometimes overlooked areas of disaster preparation is communications. The only logical solution for disaster communication during an emergency, assuming that power and phones are out, is Amateur Radio.

After doing this research, and remembering about my previous ham desires, I decided I would go ahead and get licensed. I bought the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual (Technician) and read that. I have to say, I recommend the book. It provides all the information you need in a clear and logical fashion, along with why you should care. It even has a bonus section on what to look for when buying your first radio (in case you don't know anyone to help you with that). That was just over a month ago. On Friday, I went to the monthly meeting of my local amateur radio club and tested for the Technician level (which is the entry level certification).

I'm pleased to announce that I passed and am now officially a ham. On Saturday morning, John attended a local testing session in his area and also passed. Not only did he pass, he 100%'d the test, just to show me up. Unfortunately it takes about a week to get our assigned call signs, so I can't transmit yet. I am looking forward to exploring the spectrums a bit, especially since I bought myself a shiny new radio (which I'll be covering in a later post).

Until then, 73

Also, if you are curious as to why an Amateur radio operator is refereed to as a "ham", you can thank Wikipedia and their article on the Etymology of ham radio. Personally I like the "Ham-fisted" story.

How To: Unfuck (restore) Firefox 3.6 tab opening order

nospam@example.com (Jon) — 2010-02-19T18:00:00Z

If you're a regular user of Firefox (as I have been since way back before 1.0), or ANY OTHER piece of software that has tabs in it, you know that when you open a new tab, it opens all the way at the fucking end (on the right). As of Firefox 3.6 they changed this behavior. I figured that if they made the change a default, they must think that this is a "better" way of doing things, ok, I can adapt and try it out. I've been using Firefox for years, so it'll take me some time to get used to it, no big deal.

Well. Fuck. That. Noise. Today, I've officially become sick and tired of this new features since it is a piece of shit for any serious work. The first problem is that is hard to predict. Say you are on Tab A (For the sake of argument, say this is for instructions on how to install something) and open some links into new tab (Ex: Software you need to install in order), say B, C and D. You go check on something in tab B real quick then go back to tab A. Now open another few links from tab A, they are E & F. What tab order would you expect to have? A, B, C, D, E, F. But is that the order your tabs are in? Nope, because they are relative to the tab you are on. Your tab order is A, E, F, B, C, D. This is a fairly simple example, but even an idiot could see how it might be a problem if you have to... say... FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS IN ORDER.

How do you turn off the bat shit features?

Goto about:config
Accept the anti-idiot warning
Find browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent (You can just type in 'related' and hit enter)
Right click on it, and hit Toggle (This will change it from 'false' to 'true')

Open some tabs, rejoice to lord Jesus that they open in a a logical manner again. Translation: New tabs open on the RIGHT and always on the RIGHT and not wandering through the middle of your tabs like a drunk looking for the shitter.