Month: February 2005

Irony

I just posted a couple days ago, ‘Who reads this stuff’ and I go to Cintioli’s last night, and a guy who works there … I should say, a rat bastard that works there brought to my attention that he saw the post I made about Cintioli here … While he was poking fun with it and adding phrases and obscenities that weren’t in the original post, I found it interesting that he had found it at all … He said he did a search on “Cintioli” and it popped up … So there … there goes the point that I made that these spiders go through and pick up on all this stuff … It also adds to my frustration that people do read things into posts that aren’t there … The inflection factor of The Internet … I’m low key, so just about every post I make here is read in a normal speaking voice … If I want to yell or accentuate something, I have the caps key and punctuation … For whatever reason, I think he found the post to be a negative on Cintioli, and while I guess to a point it was, it was simply my frustration in that it took a long time to get gear … I didn’t think it would take so long … The longest I would have thought anything would have taken was 8 days (ground from CA) … I would have never thought that it would take 3 to 4 months …

To follow up on that post about buying things elsewhere … I didn’t end up getting anything else … Vito, the rat bastard, came through with the mics and effects I was looking for … I didn’t end up getting some of the stuff that was on my list either … and I didn’t pursue it anywhere else … I think I had spent enough money for some time … In fact, now that I am looking to do some simple changes in the system, I went to Cintioli with my inquiries … Last night I picked up the final items of my order that had been backordered … It was just a spare power supply from the tour package and a dust cover for the board … These items hadn’t held me back at all …

After Cintioli, I went to the fabric store and bought three yards of marine vinyl to cover the monitor board with (so new covers for both boards this weekend) … and some elastic for mounting the mics on the guitar cabinets … a hook needle to attach this to the front grill on the cabinets with black upholstery thread … Then new sneakers … Yeah, a couple stops, but it was my night out to tie up a lot of loose ends … More to complete on my todo list …

Class 2 or Class 3?

So I go up to Allentown this past Saturday night for Octane‘s performance at Crocodile Rock … I get off at the Allentown NE Extension exit, and I am billed for a Class 2 toll … I think it was $6.25 … Do the show … fun fun … and then on the way back, I get off at the Route 1 exit and it says Class 3 and the toll is $7.50 or something … This has happened a couple times in the past, so I ask the toll guy why he charged me as a Class 3 when on the way up I was charged a Class 2? … He told me it’s done by weight … there’s scales that weigh you when you come into the toll booth to take a ticket … He asked if I carried the same load all the time, and I told him I sure did … He said I was probably on the borderline of 19000 and that if I came into the toll booth fast and braked hard that it took me over the Class 2 into a Class 3 … I should come in slower so as not to shift the weight hard by braking and that I would probably always get a Class 2 … He also said that for me, the difference wasn’t that big a deal … I mean, $1.25 isn’t much more for a heavier weight, but he said when the guys come in and the difference is between a Class 7 and a Class 8, the difference can be $25.00 … They aren’t too happy and aren’t as conversant as I was about the difference …

This told me a couple things … #1, there’s scales at the toll booths under the cement … Neat! I never knew that … and #2, I used to carry way too much stuff in the 14′ Isuzu … That swaying I felt while I was driving it loaded makes perfect sense now, and I guess I am lucky I never had any problems besides going awfully slow up hills … I didn’t have any blow-outs or tips … I am also very happy I didn’t go with another truck solution I was contemplating before arriving at the used GMC … I was thinking about buying a new Mitsubishi Fuso that would have had a 16′ box … The more I thought of another $600 or so payment a month plus insurance (full coverage) for a measly 2′ more of a box didn’t make any sense to me … Turns out now I know that would have been over loaded as well … The 20′ GMC has been the perfect choice for this situation … It’s not as big as the 25’ which would have been difficult to park when not in use and manueverability getting into clubs, etc would have been even worse …

Who reads this stuff?

I was asked the other day if I knew how many people read my bLog here … I don’t … But I immediately thought I could look at the web logs and see who actually is reading this stuff … Then I thought again, maybe I don’t want to know?

I do know this … it’s spidered … after all, it’s on the ‘net … I know it’s spidered cause I get a bunch of comment spam all the time … So, I know that people that I don’t necessarily want to know of this site’s existence do know … How do they know? Through automated scripts that use those spiders that have an index of me …

I realized the other day when creating the project page that I don’t have my email address on here anywhere … I recall typing ‘contact me at my web site’ and that’s when I realized it … Then I thought, I don’t want to post an email address on the page judging from all the comment spam, I don’t want to introduce another window for spam … spam just sucks …

So, in the end, I probably won’t ever look at the logs cause that takes time … I only know of the people that read this because of the people that told me that they read this … I can only imagine that people here and there drop by because of a search … I do cover a lot of topics here … I have received comments in the past that were valid comments, and I didn’t know the author of those comments … Specifically my post about me not being a trucker, but I drive a truck on the weekends …

I also realize that I type very long posts … I dont try to, it’s just my way … Recently when emailing people from the band, it came to my attention that the length in which I describe something just totally lost them … So I have been working on getting to the point and leaving my actual thoughts out of it … This is difficult, but I guess I have to realize I’m dealing with musicians … Which is tough for me, cause I am a musician myself … So I don’t comprehend it … (Funny, most of the people I went to computer school with were musicians … We could have formed a band … I did in fact get together with one of the guys I went to school with, and we wrote some originals and even put one on a record … AVAP Sampler Volume 2 if you can find it.) …

Anyway … enough about me … let’s talk about my wife … When I was asked who read this bLog, I mentioned that my wife didn’t even read it … and I still don’t think she does … She mentioned that she would … There is a computer available for the family’s use … I have all the switch ports monitored for bandwidth, and I can tell if the thing was used whenever … I once baffled my child in that I told him that he used the computer while I was gone the previous night, and he didn’t know how I knew … Well, that’s how … I don’t look at it all the time … Was just probably something I saw at the time and I mentioned it and it freaked him … cool! .. hehe … It’s good to keep your kids on their toes … and beat them whenever you can (a post from a long time ago) …

So, the reason I post and don’t care about who reads it is that it’s here for me … I can go back on this whenever and see what was going on at whatever time, and what was spewing from my brain at that time … See what crap I was filling my site up with … Interesting to see my change of opinions over time, etc … It’s my vent … It’s where I go to complain or praise something that’s going on at the time … I share it publicly cause someone may benefit from it … Others may just find it a waste of time … Either that, or they will become engrossed in my writings and spend hours making sure they’re up to date on the latest and greatest and monitor for new posts … That would mean that I’m like a rock star … The President … a movie star! Yes! This would be the best thing ever, wouldn’t it? Bah! It’s probably time I stopped typing in here enlarging my ego and started making some money … Back to work …

Rubbish

Consider this quote from a hard drive manufacturer:

It is important to realize that the reported capacity of a large drive may often appear as less than expected. Please remember that, depending on the particular utility used, the capacity of the hard drive can be reported in either decimal gigabytes (where 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes) or in binary gigabytes (where 1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes). Highlighting your C: drive in Windows Explorer reports the drive capacity in binary gigabytes. For example, a WD2000BB hard drive’s capacity will be reported as approximately 186 binary gigabytes. For more details about this issue, please see Answer ID 615.

This is a marketing term, NOT a computer term … A gig will always be 1024*1024*1024 … Any “utility” that doesn’t report this based on binary, octal or hexadecimal figures is simply … rubbish …

Eagles lose the Superbowl

Well, they lost. Was I upset? Not really. I would have liked them to win, but I didn’t think they had a bad loss. It’s not like they went to the Superbowl and were spanked … They remained alive until 9 seconds left in the game. They lost by 3 points. To me, that isn’t a bad effort at all. The things I have been hearing bother me though.

Right after the game, I had to leave for work. I didn’t see any press conferences or post-game shows, so I don’t know the extent of everything, just what my wife has been telling me. Seems many people in the city want to blame someone for the loss. If we had won, there would be none of this. She tells me that people are saying Donovan choked, or the coaching was bad. Whatever.

The Eagles broke tons of franchise records this year. They finally got past the NFC championship game and they went to the Superbowl. They also played an exciting Superbowl. They played sloppy, but they also made the other team play sloppy. The other team was able to get it together quicker than the Eagles, but the Eagles weren’t far behind. Again, only 3 points behind. They had the first Superbowl to ever be tied after 3 quarters.

So, I am disappointed that they lost. I am not devastated. I am sorta amazed that anyone could play football in that extremely hyped and show business environment, but both teams are subjected to the two weeks prior to the game with tons of press and all the hooplah of the game itself … So it’s not a cop out. I realize that any given football game will have one of two outcomes. For the Eagles, this Superbowl is chalked up as a loss. A lot of Philadelphians give it the ol’ “We’ll get ’em next year” … but in this case, we certainly can go there again next year.

It’s great to be an Eagles fan. I have seen many great things on my television from the Eagles these past, oh 16 years. Sometimes it’s not great to be part of the group though … I don’t believe that fans can coach, and I don’t believe that they should be upset about the decisions the organization makes … I don’t think someone like Freddy Mitchell is someone to get rid of … I like FredEx, I think he is an asset to the team … While people may say that he had no impact and when he was given a chance he missed the ball. Welp, the missed ball was a bad throw, and the times he was wide open, you didn’t see on your TV screen. That’s why the coaches look at the film after the game … They see these efforts, and see reasons to keep players that may not be favorable in the public eye. You know what I say? Shut up and support your team.

My complaints of the Superbowl were the horrible production. Poor camera cuts and bad timing. On top of that, the sound was horrid. The country act was live vocals going to a track … That could have been mixed better. Black Eyed Peas had live vocals, but Earth Wind and Fire was it? They were lip-synched … Alecia Keys (I don’t know how she spells her name) was completely lip-synched … The National Anthem was lip-synched … and portions of Paul McCartney were lip-synched … McCartney had way better sound though … Made that transition from synch to live very good … I thought the director’s choice of camera angles during the game made it difficult to watch at times … Oh well …

Superbowl

Superbowl Well, today is the day. The Superbowl. The Philadelphia Eagles are in the Superbowl finally. It’s been a fun two weeks. The city has been a happy place. Eveyone is in a good mood. It’s easy for the band to get a crowd response just by asking “Where are the Eagles fans?!” Every night the top story is the Eagles in Jacksonville Florida. All the sports shows are in Jacksonville. Was it always like this, or is it just because I am watching due to my team being in the Superbowl? Hmm, thinking out loud, I guess it’s because it’s the lead on the nightly news, and I flip around to the other channels to see what’s on. I wouldn’t do that normally, so that explains it. Yes, it’s because the Eagles are all over the news. Why? Because the Eagle are in the Superbowl!

Will they win? Who knows? Does it matter? Well, yeah … It would be great to win. If you pay attention to all the reports and the mucky mucks, it sounds like a Patriots win due to their Superbowl experience and their team’s talent. If you listen to the Eagles’ optimists, they say that if they play a perfect game, there’s a possibility … Guess what? I think every game is 50/50 … It’s not a cop-out either … It’s a fact … There are games that you think are definite wins, and it could come out a loss … What a downer … and there are games where you think it could be a close one, and it’s a slaughter … It just proves that you can do all the predicting you want, but what happens in those four quarters you never know …

I think there is momentum … I think it is important to be playing well and have high spirits … As soon as you lose in your mind, you’ve lost the game … They need to be positive throughout … There have been plenty of comeback games in the past, and even if they’re ahead, they need to stay in it as well … I like a coach that will pound the points too … If you’re ahead and you have the chance to score again, do it … No holding back. I don’t think there should be any etiquette in coaches that you won’t cream one another … especially in the Superbowl …

This also has something to do with a new rule I would like to propose … I would like to have the “Okay, you win” rule. Maybe just during the regular season, or maybe all the way through to the Superbowl, but … When a team is up by an astronomical point spread, and it’s an obvious win, the other team ought to be able to throw the “Okay, you win” flag, and then walk off the field … Game over … you obviously beat the hell out of us, and at this point there is nothing we can do to win … This way there wouldn’t be any injuries from the frustrated defense that couldn’t stop the offense all day taking pot shots at offensive players at the end of plays … You see that all the time … They know they’re going to lose, but they have to continue to play …

Anyway, I will probably get sued for this post. The Superbowl committee is very strict on their copyrighted use of the term “Superbowl” … Advertisers aren’t allowed to use the term. Bars aren’t allowed to advertise a “Superbowl Party” … They have to call it “The Big Game” or something … This year, we went balls out … In everything we used the term Superbowl and you hear the term all the time on the radio and TV … I think we decided that the copyright on the term doesn’t apply if your city’s team is actually in the Superbowl … That remains to be seen …

I am optimistic that the Eagles will win. I think they really want to win, and I think they have the mindset to win. I have faith in their coach that he has prepared them to win. I think they have the talent to win. But I know that there’s a chance that they might not win. At this point I don’t know how devastating that would be to me. I am hoping that I won’t know that feeling. I will be watching, and I will be cheering the Eagles on from my living room where they can’t hear me yell, but I most assuredly will yell at people that can’t hear me. I am after all a Philadelphia Eagles fan.

Has any one else noticed how many times newscasters refered to Lincoln Financial Field as “The Vet” … and they have already set up the stage for the parade … and I thought I was optimistic … Aparently this game is a gimme …

Weblog or Blog?

They call these things a weblog or a blog … I guess it can’t just simply be a site? I don’t think that this is necessarily anything new, I just think that the software involved to make these things easier for the laymen to run is why it has become something popular … I mean, I know it’s nothing much to create a database, devise a way to show its content on the web and provide a form to enter new content into it … They just came up with some nifty tools to do such a thing …

The January 31, 2005 issue of Information Week has as their cover story “Who owns Weblog content?” … The article is sorta based on the employees of a company who part of their job is to provide a weblog … One such person who works for Google posted some stuff that he shouldn’t have posted … He discussed his compensation package as well as his signing bonus on his weblog … Two days later it was gone …

So yeah, if you work for a company and it’s your job to produce weblog content, I would assume it’s the property of the companies. When I worked for a company, any resulting code that came from my fingers was the property of the company. I would assume using their computers and their systems that weblog content would fall under the same category …

For someone like me who publishes this crap for anyone to read, the content is mine, and I have the nifty Creative Commons License to protect my intellectual prowess … If there’s something here that someone actually finds of value, the method described in the license is to give me credit, and if you’re gonna get money as a result, well, we gotta talk …

I just think it’s interesting to blow out of proportion the simplest of things that we use on the Internet … One valid point however is the feeds … I don’t believe in the feed you get the license, so if you send all of your text (as do I) I don’t think the license is passed … but in order to get the feed in the first place, I assume you’d have to have visited the site and had access to the license … Therefor I think you’re still liable … Cause if there’s something you want to use from someone’s work, you would probably research it fully before assuming it’s “up for grabs” …

That’s just my opinion …

The Internet Sucks!

… and I’ll tell you why … There is no discipline … The “meanies” are allowed to continue their malicious behavior with no threat of penalty … What recourse do I have against the people that are constantly filling my little world here with fake comments simply in order to post a link to their gambling or pornographic site? I have moderation on comments turned on so I can delete them before they’re made public, but this surely isn’t a solution … I have deleted hundred of bogus comments … It’s around on guest books too … It’s out of control …

Not only comment spam, but port scanning … My firewall stats show millions into the billions of port scans 24/7/365 … How can this be allowed to continue? They’re looking for wide open MS Windows machines with networking enabled … Active Directories that are wide open … Open MSSQL Servers, easily brute forced SSH ports … any vulnerability that has been or hasn’t been reported constantly scanned … What a waste of Internet resources …

So, comment Spam, port scanning and finally SPAM itself … UCE … Unsolicited Commercial Email … Then there are the illegal sites … For illegal software that even post “How is this legal?” … How to get women in your area … Make your penis larger … (and yeah, an email is going to convince me of this) … Drugs over the Internet … after they make my penis larger, then they want to make it harder by selling me Viagra and Cailis directly … No doctors … Who needs them? … and after you’re bigger and harder, they have married women in your area looking for some while their husband is away … All this via email …

I propose that it’s about time that all these logs that are kept on everyone’s actions on the Internet ought to be parsed, and the people that have those nasty scanners running 24/7 be shut down … It’s obvious what they’re doing … The people that are sending tons of useless email … They should be shut down … The people running automated comment spammers, they should be shut down … It’s not like this isn’t a possibility … It is something that certainly could be accomplished, and it should happen …

Let’s take this a step further … How about those people that violate their TOS for their cable or DSL provider by bringing up illegal servers … I don’t think it’s right that those who’ve invested time and money should be thwarted by a company’s lack of enforcing their own TOS … For it is mostly these people who are the ones generating all of the scenarios described above … Their ability to accomplish such things makes it possible to make our Internet lives a living hell … I remember when I used to get my email each day and there were 200 useless messages that I had to sift through … Now I have all sorts of goodies in place that this doesn’t happen anymore, but the wonderful computers that have figured out how to do the sifting for us have also found how to get past the sifting … A constant struggle …

On the other hand, there are plenty of people providing all of the things I mentioned above in a laid back way … There are those that provide resources for everything listed above in a non-threatening, non-abusive way … If you want to find something, you will … that is a given … For the most part, no, the Internet doesn’t suck … Most people are oblivious to the constant traffic that floods our pipes … More and more people are knowing that if they have a computer hooked onto the Internet that they need some sort of firewall … Some sort of virus prevention and a means to deal with SPAM email … It’s almost second nature at this point, but I suggest that it need not be this way if the people providing the service … The connection to the Internet would do more than provide that connection and stop there … I think they should monitor their customers’ activities and stamp out those that abuse the priviledge of the Internet world … It could trickle down … So even those that don’t realize this activity could be coming from their own network would be able to isolate these beings, or find out the holes in which they’re exploiting to accomplish these “meanie” tasks …

Couple quotes

To mess up a Linux box, you need to work at it; to mess up your Windows box, you just need to work on it.
– Scott Granneman, Security Focus

“I can write a program in 20 lines with .NET where it takes you unix people 200 lines to write the same program!” Said a Microsoft guy. His program crashed as soon as the first client arrived due to a buffer overrun.

They say when you play a Microsoft CD backwards you can hear satanic messages…but that’s nothing, if you play it forward it will install Windows!