Wednesday, April 30, 2008

IT'S FUCKING LOADED

Liberty has a suggestion.
I propose a re-write of that rule. Instead of “Treat every firearm as if it is loaded,” how about...

“IT’S FUCKING LOADED.”

Cup of coffee in hand, starting your day at work, IT’S FUCKING LOADED.

25 years of experience, cleaning the damned thing in your garage? IT’S FUCKING LOADED.

Brand new gun straight out of the box? IT’S FUCKING LOADED.

I don’t even like calling it a rule. It’s a fact. Not a rule, not a guideline, not a suggestion. A fact.

Sure, it’s hard for some people to wrap their heads around, but I think of it this way, even when I know, and I’ve triple-checked the chamber to be sure it’s empty, it’s STILL FUCKING LOADED.


Just the other day I was practicing draws, and after I put the empty gun down on the counter, with no ammo in the same room, and picked it back up, I paused and stupidly thought, "I don't really have to check if it's loaded." I then thought of all the trouble that would occur if I was somehow magically wrong. The expense of repair, the damaged hearing, the shame, the likelihood of being kicked out of our complex, and the possibility that I could actually kill someone on accident. Then I thought of how it all could be prevented if I had just taken ONE SECOND to check the chamber again.

Then I checked the chamber.

Think of it as developing muscle memory if you have to, but check that fucking chamber, because IT'S FUCKING LOADED.

Shooting by the numbers

I pulled out the M4gery and the m39 last night and set up my simulated-distance target across the room to do some dry fire. However, this time, I was going to do it by the numbers.

Since I became enlightened to the challenge of accurate shooting, the title of Rifleman has pushed me improve my riflecraft. I'm constantly on the look out for what shooters are capable of without a scope, so I can know what I should be capable of with an MOA rifle, and open sights. I'm late to the game, but that has only driven me to try harder to catch up.

I aspire to outshoot my rifle.

I don't know if I'll ever get to do it, but I know that I'll try to get as close as possible.

Simply by following the numbered guidelines to accurate shooting, was able to feel the difference in my dry firing. I suppose I looked a bit silly doing what appeared to be the exact same thing over and over, and expressing either displeasure, contentment, or excitement at what appeared to be the exact same result. The difference was subtle, but it was there. It was in the front sight, and my increased ability to call my imaginary shots good or bad.

I'm getting better.

I look forward to practice tonight.

Caught up!

Ok, NoteTag sign up is once again open!

Thanks for bearing with me. Please be gentle.

What is NoteTag?
Click here to sign up!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

What I wanna know is...

...when he turned it on, did nearby wood chips jump to the blade and form a slice of tree?

Hancock trailer



Might actually have to see this.

Reality TV and reality checks

When I talk to female friends about firearms, and self-defense, I almost always encounter the dismissive, "I know how to take care of myself." These are completely unqualified statements, and as the following video will show, even qualified statements can count for very little. The issue is not necessarily real world experience, it's more the danger of overconfidence. There will always be someone bigger, stronger, faster, deadlier. Your best chance for survival is to prepare with the most effective tools available, be aware of your surroundings, and train train train.

Female reality TV stars take a self-defense class, and have their overconfidence dashed by a guy who's "like old, and everything..."

If you just can't make it through the mind-numbing BS, cut to the reality check at 2:08.

Wanna know how to escape a bear hug from the back? I can't give a 100% fool proof means of doing so, but I can promise W.E. Fairbairn knows more than some fucktard hollywood dipshit. (check page 15 for bear hug escapes)

Shamelessly stolen from Words Twice, who always has great links, and fresh snark.

Quote of TEH LULZ

On this date in 2002, the last successful telemetry was received from the Pioneer 10 space probe as it hurtled towards the Oort cloud. We will not communicate with it again until the 23rd Century when it returns as the godlike entity P'ner and attempts to destroy the human race in a fit of childlike misunderstanding, as NASA space probes are wont to do.


From Tam

Quote of the human nature

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
~Douglas Graham

Hat Tip to SurvivalBlog

NoteTag signup temporarily closed due to extreme interest!

UPDATE: Reopened!

I'm glad so many people want to sign up for NoteTag, but I'm getting a little behind!

Please refrain from requesting to sign up until I'm caught up!

I'll let you guys know when it's OK to sign up.

It'll be soon, I promise!

What is NoteTag?

Behold! I am at work!

Despite buying it at midnight last night with another friend, we did NOT play GTA4 all night, and I did NOT skip work today.

It was tempting, but I figured I'd better... you know... grow up 'n stuff.

I played it a little this morning, but not enough to be really blown away by it. One thing that DID stand out was the character acting (animation) and voice acting. They actually started developing characters. Looking forward to more.

Monday, April 28, 2008

More uses for NoteTag

Here are a few things NoteTag has been used for since the launch.

Use NoteTag to save notes about NoteTag:
add notetag note begin front-end development!

Remember important dates:
add guns gp100 note waiting period over 5/7 at 1:01pm

Store phone numbers you don't want to store in your phone:
add food subs note jersey mike subs 555-5555
add food thai note thai place by Marys house 555-5555

Remember video games you friends told you to check out:
add games note killer7

Reminders for the next gun show:
add gunshow guns note buy AK CAR stock

Reminders for dates:
add september music shows note Band playing at Detroit bar 9/22 9pm

Keep track of amusing quotes you hear:
add quotes note Save the day with cheese!

What is NoteTag?
Click here to sign up!

Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast

The taste:


The main course:


I fucking love this game.

"OH THE BEEMANITY!"

How to deal with nesting bees.
(Link is to SomethingAwful, and while it appears to be SFW, you have been warned)

No points for subtlety.
Extra points for AWESOME!

Overheard at work

Me: Dude, GTA4 is getting perfect reviews all over the place!
Coworker: Yeah, I saw that! Half the population is going to call in sick on Wednesday!
Me: But it's being released tomorrow.
Coworker: What?! I mean--*COUGH COUGH COUGH*
Me: Uh-- Oh no! Don't cough so close to me! *COUGH COUGH COUGH*

Friday, April 25, 2008

It has been a long week

You snooze...

Don't shit in my bowl.

From Marko comes some mouse hate:
Tonight, the next round of traps gets put out. Nobody eats my walnuts and then shits into my bowl. I’m going to skin the little son-of-a-bitch and make a finger puppet for Quinn out of his hide.

Awesome.

I <3 Screen (again)

GNU Screen is civilization.
GNU Screen is god.

GNU Screen is godilization.

GNU Screen is GODZILLA!!!

I need to find out if it's legal to marry a computer program in California. (shit it probably is)

Maybe I'll just print the source code out, and bind it into a book so we can hang out.

And video tape it.

And dub over it with Best Friend.


...


....hmmmmmm...


Beloved Screen

Broke 1000 posts

Wow. How the hell did I make over 1000 posts on this silly little blog?

Not bad considering it's only been really active for around two years.

No matter; to commemorate this momentous occasion, I will renew my vow of standards for this blog!

1. I will post whatever I want
2. I will post whenever I want
3. I will post stupid BS
4. I will BS stupid posts
5. God loves a working man
6. teehee!
7. Nevada is class three heaven
8. I don't know how to skate
9. but that suits me just fine!
10!--

shit. what was I doing?

Honor, and a penis.



Can't argue there.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Flash Bleg

Anyone out there know flash well enough to whip together a quick animation? Nothing fancy, just a few blocky animations with changing text, possibly interactive.

I'm thinking it might be a better way to instruct people on the use of NoteTag.

Please reply in the comments.

Gun Free Zones



Made by Mike Vanderboegh; whose balls are actually visible from space.

Via David.

Too much coding.

I'm coding so much I end my IM messages with semi-colons.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

NoteTag

NoteTag is now open for alpha testers!

What is NoteTag?
Notetag is an e-mail controlled, tag-based note database. It is meant to be used for short or long term note storage that can be updated and searched from the e-mail on your phone or PC.

How does it work?
You control the content of your note database via email sent from your home computer or phone. All notes you send are tagged with one or more search-able words.

A few examples;
Location-based notes: If your friend in San Diego wants a book you have, you make a note with pertinent tags to remember it:
add bob sandiego note bring book for bob
This will save the note "bring book for bob" under the two tags "bob" and "sandiego". The next time you go down to San Diego or go to visit Bob, you simply request notes for your search tags:
get bob
Or,
get sandiego
And you'll quickly get a reply which reads:
bring book for bob
After you've completed your task, you can remove the reminder:
del bring book for bob

Gift-giving: If your significant other hints he/she likes something, you can make a note of it for the next gift giving event:
add melody valentines christmas birthday present note Melody gift: 72-pin SIMMs
The next time you get put in the dog house, you vaguely recall a gift she said she'd like so you:
get melody
And retrieve all notes tagged "melody" so you don't have to sleep on the couch:
Melody gift: 72-pin SIMMs
bday june 1st
Melody is always right. Don't fight it.
(But when she says "You remembered!" just smile and nod, then look at the camera and say "Thanks NoteTag!" Then try not to be such a tool.) (omg bashing product promotion while promoting my own product)

Movies: If you're constantly having movie recommendations thrown at you, but you always blank when you hit netflix or go to blockbuster:
Right when someone tells you to check out a movie, you whip out your phone and:
add movie netflix blockbuster note dancer in the dark
Then the next time you're logged into netflix, or wandering blockbuster request all notes with the "movie" tag:
get movie
To which NoteTag replies:
master and commander
dancer in the dark
death to smoochy

Then after you decide on "death to smoochy," remove the note:
del death to smoochy

Shopping lists: If you constantly forget things at the market, you can conveniently add to your shopping list immediately when you realize you need an item, instead of trying to remember to write it down, or having several lists where you jotted an item or two.
Over the course of a week, you cook several fine dishes. As you run out of items, you quickly pick up your phone, and send notes to pick up those items:
add market note bell peppers
add market note milk
add market note vanilla extract
add market note butter
And since you get stranded in the toilet;
add market walmart note toilet paper
(note there are two tags on the last one)
Saturday rolls around, and it's time to hit the grocery store. You simply send:
get market
And in reply you get:
bell peppers
milk
butter
toilet paper

After you've picked up everything, you clear the tag you used for your shopping list:
clr market
And you're ready to add more for the next trip!

What if my phone doesn't e-mail?
If you can send text messages, it probably does! Most cell phone providers have SMS-to-email connectors that you can use for the price of an SMS text message (click here for a short list). Simply send a text message to an e-mail address, and see what happens! (NOTE: e-mail will likely be billed the same as a SMS text message, but check with your provider first!)

What does alpha mean?
It means it's still in testing. There are some cool things coming, including a web interface where you can log in, and manage all your notes, but none of the cool stuff matters if the basic functions don't work flawlessly. Thus, testing with a wide variety of users is important so I can catch the bugs and consider feature requests.

Does that mean it doesn't work?
No, you jerk! It works fine, otherwise it wouldn't be open for testing! It just means there may be periods of downtime, and possible loss of data, so don't use it for anything extremely important like your ATM PIN or your Medical alert bracelet data. Though some downtime is expected, loss of data is not, since it's still e-mail, and every command you send is backed up there after it's processed.

How are you making me ask these questions?
Good question. Next question!

How do I sign up?
Easy! Simply send an e-mail to notetag@gmail.com with your first and last name (or a fake one) from any device you want to be able to manage your notes. Or click here! I recommend sending from your phone and from your regular e-mail account, so you can manage it from a full keyboard instead of a cramped phone. You will receive an e-mail back with the rules (do's and don'ts) and you'll be good to go!

Why do you want my name? I'm concerned about my privacy and phone number.
As you should be. I don't actually need your name, I just need a unique identifier to assign you a username in the database. You could send "FluffyGoats" if you want, as long as it's unique. (NOTE: don't send "FluffyGoats," it's not unique any more) What ever "name" you choose just be sure it remember it. Most providers give away the phone number on their e-mail connectors, (7145551234@sprint.com) and if you want to protect that number, there is no problem with setting up some two-way e-mail forwarding with a free e-mail account. All the program needs is a working e-mail address, if it forwards 100 times, it doesn't matter.

Why do this for free?
(NOTE: The service is free, but e-mails and SMS messages from phones are NOT always free! Check with your cell phone provider!)
Because it's something I always wanted to have, so I made it, and figured others might want it too! I might ask for donations once I start spending money on hosting for that cool management website, but that's a ways off, and donations will be strictly voluntary. (I don't like pseudo-free services) Right now the cost of running this service is almost nil, so don't worry about money. The only way you can repay me is by using the service a lot, reporting errors, and by telling your friends!
(and if you have a blog, maybe by linking me ;)

Questions may be asked in the comments!

WHEN YOU DIE IN THE GAME YOU DIE IN REAL LIFE

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Random thought on middle names

I'm sure you're all aware of the hub-bub surrounding the use of Barak "bock-bo-bock" Obama's middle name, but I was struck by the fact that his middle name is, indeed, his middle name. You could no sooner become upset for being called by your first name.

The anger around the use of the infamous yet completely accurate name arose from how others interpreted the meaning of its use. Which is fucking retarded. Not only do you get to comment on what others mean when they speak, but you get to impose your own misgivings about a name or word because it makes you uncomfortable? Well, fuck your jap spic nigger wap dego weaboo douchebag crayola bar-b-que orangutan biscuit cracker cheese waffle maple syrup football carburetor ding-dong pinochle interpretation of my words. (note, I'm half Mexican, so don't get mad about the carburetor comment) Attributing your own insecurities to others is called "projection", but no one seems to know or care what that is anymore.

I might as well punch you in the nose for saying "cheeseburger" because I think you said it to me in a derogatory manner. If someone's name was Gobbelcoque, would it be acceptable for people to use the proper name? Does anger at use of a proper name imply one should use a different name? Because that sounds even more derogatory to me. While we're all getting upset over words others use which we happen not to like, why not develop an aversion to the word "the" and become enraged when people use it in a sentence involving you?

Whatever. Perhaps someone will enter the political arena with the name Dipshit McFuckstick and put all this to rest.

Even then there will probably be some idiot getting mad at people using his name for implying he's a drunk.

Why Liberals Should Love The Second Amendment

Why Liberals Should Love The Second Amendment
by Angry Mouse

From a liberal to all liberals.

This is quite possibly one of the best write-ups I've seen on the 2nd amendment. I'm completely blown away. I'm going to go read it again.

Hat tip to Uncle.

Welfare hurts the poor?!

Say it ain't so!

A "why bother?" economy has been created in Britain which has left thousands with no motivation to work, a report published today concludes.

Successive governments have encouraged a welfare culture that has left every family facing a £1,300 bill because the poor stay poor, it claims.

The findings by the public services think tank Reform suggest that increased welfare dependency has made it more difficult for those on the lowest incomes to do better.


Why won't these people just THINK about the implications of such things as free money first, so they don't have to suffer the harsh lessons of reality by living their mistakes?!

Honestly, if you think you've got a great idea to help people, just run it by me. I'll field it (for free even!) and be more than happy to let you know that; "Yes, giving people money for doing nothing lessens their incentive to do something!" and, "Taking money from people who pay taxes and giving it to people who don't pay taxes discourages spending, alienates tax payers, and waste a lot of money!" and such gems as, "Lowering the bar for minorities is racism, condescension, and the same as saying they can't compete because they're too stupid!"

I can't believe I'm just giving these away! Save billions, yes, literally, BILLIONS of dollars WHILE increasing revenue and making people happier and more self-reliant!

---Oh wait... Did I hit a nerve with that self-reliant bit?
Sorry guys, forgot what you were all about.

Angry, downtrodden, bitter gun owners are actually not.

Trigger Happy
By ARTHUR C. BROOKS

Arthur crunches the numbers and finds gun owners as a whole to be far from the stereotype.

Who are all these gun owners? Are they the uneducated poor, left behind? It turns out they have the same level of formal education as nongun owners, on average. Furthermore, they earn 32% more per year than nonowners. Americans with guns are neither a small nor downtrodden group.

Nor are they "bitter." In 2006, 36% of gun owners said they were "very happy," while 9% were "not too happy." Meanwhile, only 30% of people without guns were very happy, and 16% were not too happy.

In 1996, gun owners spent about 15% less of their time than nonowners feeling "outraged at something somebody had done." It's easy enough in certain precincts to caricature armed Americans as an angry and miserable fringe group. But it just isn't true. The data say that the people in the approximately 40 million American households with guns are generally happier than those people in households that don't have guns.


A bit of evidence that self-reliance is at work among gun owners comes from the General Social Survey. It asked whether one agrees with the statement, "Those in need have to take care of themselves." In 2004, gun owners were 10 percentage points more likely than nonowners to agree (60% to 50%).

That response is not evidence that gun owners only care about themselves, however. In 2002, they were more likely to give money to charity than people without guns (83% to 75%). This charity gap doesn't reflect their somewhat higher incomes. Gun owners were also more likely to give in other ways, such as donating blood. Are gun owners unsentimental? In 2004, they were more likely than those without guns to strongly agree that they would "endure all things" for the one they loved (45% to 37%).


Read the whole thing, I didn't even know some of this stuff...

Big hat tip to Uncle.

The power of "No"

I recently read somewhere (if you know where, please remind me) that a measure of freedom is one's ability to say "No." "No" to bullies who would take your possessions. "No" to those who demand action from you. "No" to anyone who would ask anything of you you would not do on your own.

"No" is a powerful word.

I have a coworker who is extremely experienced. He immediately knows the best technical course of action, he knows all the little tricks that make network management a breeze, he always maintains a view of the big picture, he easily grasps the logic of new technical concepts, and can quickly speak broadly about them, and he's a fucking rocket surgeon.

He's about 20 years my senior, and he knows everything.

Unfortunately for everyone who must deal with him; he knows that he knows fucking everything. This means that he is an ass. No task too small will escape his influence (and subsequent complaint that things didn't go as he directed), and no fix will be too minor that he will not be able to insist a complete project to repair the numerous OTHER problems with the item to be fixed. He is very strong willed, and demands nothing short of ideal network perfection from our engineers, and will be very vocal about perceived shortcomings. This is the guy that won't let you create a user without insisting you clean up accounts, regroup OUs, and rebuild active directory to meet his perfect standards.

He's been with us for about a year, and in that time has managed to inject himself in pretty much everything, stepping on toes and entire people in the process. His tyranny was known throughout the company. (local AND remote offices!) The problem was, people could rarely argue with him with any substance, because his Ideal Network that he fought for at every opportunity, was just that; ideal. Anyone who knows networking knows networks are FAR from ideal. Ideal is what you read about in Cisco reference guides, and it it NOT always obtainable. Especially when you get customers involved in the decision making process. But no matter the occurrence, large or small, he could trace it back to weeks or months ago when he warned everybody this was going to happen, but they just didn't listen to him.

In the past year we'd gotten in a few actual arguments, always civil, but always about honest disagreements on company policy. I pick my battles, so I don't argue with him unless I really want to make a point. I knew I'd never "win" exactly, since he would settle for nothing less than a stalemate. In my altercations with him, some big arguments, some casual disagreements, I learned that even if he wasn't sure about his argument, he'd still argue it with 100% conviction; and when irrevocably disproved, he'd casually excuse his argument as bad info he must have read, and act as though nothing happened. We'd always part respectfully. All our big arguments could only end in stalemate since he wasn't my boss and he couldn't officially tell me what to do. While we were officially peers, he was far beyond my skill and experience level, and had earned the respect I willingly regarded him with.

Anyways, enough back-story!

I was having a particularly good day, having just finished a big project, and he asked me to open a ticket for an alert for a non 24-hour customer at 5:30pm. This particular site was a remote site in New Jersey, which meant it was 8:30pm at the site, and the only people there were the cleaners. I told him the site was very closed, and it didn't need a ticket. He asked if I was going to accept responsibility for not calling if the customer called. The NOC we were arguing in is one open room with 8 people in it. You can't have a private conversation in it, and you certainly can't have a private argument in it. At this point, I knew everyone was listening to some degree since the guy likes to make scenes, and belittle people for being wrong. I said I'd be happy to. This initiated smiles and thumbs-up from other engineers behind him. People respect him, but they don't like him. He scoffed and said, "Fine. Your ass, not mine. Just assign it to no_ticket then so it's not on the board." I thought for a second, and said I wasn't going to assign it to no ticket because it was after hours, and after hours tickets for non 24-hour customers should stay unassigned so the morning person can see them and call at 6 in the morning.

We then continued back and forth for a bit. I had the knowledge to back up my claim, I knew my way was simple, and effective, and I knew our superior would agree with me. He insisted that he was right, and refused to answer a question that would prove he did the same thing I did, so he asked me again, "Assign the alert to no_ticket so it's off my board!"

I thought about an answer that began "there's no reason to, because..." then realized I'd already said all I had to say, and that he was just going to continue the same arguments.

Then I knew exactly what to say.

No.

Two things happened simultaneously as I was saying that one word;
1. I felt uneasy to the point that I had to fight to keep the resolute look on my face. For a fraction of a second I thought my voice would crack, but it didn't. I was pushed forward by previous confidence, past forming doubts, to the word. I ignored my second thoughts, and pronounced the word solidly, and cleanly, without breaking direct eye contact.
2. I shuddered. But only on the inside. I didn't move, but something inside me did. I don't think I showed it outwardly. I don't know if it was fear, power, courage, or freedom; but something inside me changed.

There was a moment of silence before he said, "Whatever." and the mood in the NOC returned to normal. He worked late that night, so it was just he and I, but I sensed no animosity between us. Though the argument was significant to me, it was just another disagreement to him. Later I called a field engineer who was there at the time, and the first thing he said to me was a jovial, "Don't assign that ticket!" Clearly, there was significance to others as well.

Writing about it now, I think that this was the first time in my adult life that I stood up to an authority figure. I'm a respectful kind of guy, and if I have a disagreement with an authority figure, I'd rather explain my position clearly, and acquiesce. We had argued before, but never to such a hard conclusion. I knew I was right, I knew he was wrong, and I told him so with the most effective word I knew.

Overhead at work

Coworker: Yeah, I'll get right on that. See? I'm scheduling it right now for the 12th of Never.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Holy shit!

Whatever you do, don't accidentally hit caps lock in command mode while working in vi.

Shit goes crazy!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Overheard on support call

Me: Browse to xyz.omg.com
Fucktard: Not working.
Me: Ecks-why-zee-dot-oh-emm-gee-dot-com
Fucktard: Yeah, it's not working. It did a MSN search for it.
Me: Hmm... Can you read it back to me?
Fucktard: Ecks-why-zee-dot-oh-emm-gee-dot-com
Me: Do you have internet access?
Fucktard: Yep... Here's yahoo...
Me: Ok, can you erase it and try again?
Fucktard: Sure... Nope. It says "Could not find www.xyz.omg.com
Me: Oh. You don't need the www.
Fucktard: Oh well you didn't say not to put that!
I didn't say not to put "imagrownmanandamcompletelyuselessatmyjob" in the url field either!
Me: ... Ok, so once at that page you'll see some instructions
Fucktard: You're not going to make me read those, are you?
Me: ... er... yes.
Fucktard: Ok... ok, I read them.
Me: ...
Fucktard: Now what?
Me: The instructions say to click the download at the bottom.
Fucktard: Oh yeah, ok... Do I run it?
Me: The instructions say to run it.
Fucktard: Ok... Now what?
Me: The instructions say what to do next.
Fucktard: Ok... Ok, what do I put in the box?
Me: The instructions say what to put in the box.
Fucktard: Can't you just tell me?
Me: Really, it's easier for you to read and see it to prevent typos.
Fucktard: well... uh, I can't read it. What do I put in the box?
Me: You can't read it?
Fucktard: Yeah, the file download box is in front of it, and I can't move it.
Me: (thinkingthinkingthinking, ah!) If you hover your mouse over the window, and scroll, it will scroll out from behind the file download window.
Fucktard: Huh?... oh... well, ok. Now what?
Me: Did you click "OK"?
Fucktard: No. Hang on.
Me: *quietly* The instructions say to click ok.

LATER

Me: I'm still not seeing the connection coming through. Let me try one more thing, can you got back to that website so I can get remotely connected?
Fucktard: Uh, yeah, but I turned it off, so I'll just turn it back on, and call you back when it's on.
Me: Actually, I just need remote access so if you just go to the site and follow the instructions, I'll be able to fix it without the call.
Fucktard: What instructions?
Me: D:
Fucktard: Hello?
Me: Yeah, you just call me back.

I hate being on call...

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, he's about to go on a vacation with the president of the company, so it is VERY important that he be working... VERY IMPORTANT...

Stupid SMS gateways!

I'm working on a project and I can't-damn-find a reliable web SMS gateway! Even google's is half-assed. Fortunately, I'm finding most people have e-mail/sms connectors on their phones, as their providers have added the functionality. (check if you've got it) E-mail is much easier to manage.

The project will be open for alpha soonish, and is open to all who can bear with it, and send me threatening e-mails when shit goes wrong, for the slight benefit of a tag-able note database that is retrievable and update-able from their phone.

More to follow...

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

OMGWTFBBQ

WTF?! Did charlie gibson just ask a question that addressed the fact that CUTTING TAXES RAISES REVENUE?!

Sweet and sour Jesus! How can this be! :D

No Longer a Victim

Beth over at West, By God has an amazing post up entitled No Longer a Victim
My whole outlook on life has really changed. I feel empowered. No one can hurt me ever again. I feel safe, secure, and confident. Guns healed my wounds in some way. Being a victim is hard. Living like one is even harder, but knowing that now you will fight will everything you have changes your life. I’m not scared any more. I’m not scared to be home alone any more. I’m not scared to be out at night by my self any more. It’s the first time in my life I know I can take care of myself. And absolutely nothing feels better than that. As my counselor told me I’ve gone from victim, to survivor, to thriver. Thank you 2nd amendment, you did more than years of therapy have done.


Give her a read, it's worth your time.

The Dude abides.

Overhead in a chat window

Friend: oh wait, we dont have a marketing department
Me: Marketing leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the dark side.

Modeselektor & Pfadfinderei - Tits of my origin

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

We all knew it...

Someone finally put it on paper.

Why Superman Will Always Suck

Batman > Superman

Monday, April 14, 2008

Wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube man!


Life is good.

MINE

“The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.”
~Michelle Obama

After Michelle Obama proclaimed that some people (you and I) would have to settle for a smaller piece of pie than they earned, Brenda offered a warning.


Indeed, a picture is worth 1000 words.

Sebastian wanted to play too, and came up with another good design.

Cool, entertaining, tee hee, etc...

Vampire Weekend - A-Punk

Hungor!

mysql> INSERT mouth SELECT food FROM lunch WHERE type='fast' AND deliciocity='10';

Empty set (0.07 sec)


;_; <(hungor)

Quote of the Cheese

Today's quote is a late '07 vintage, and comes to us from that most quotable of quotables; SR.

Black licorice can go to hell. Cheese is the only thing in life that won't stab you in the back, and take your cheese. Wrap your mind around that.
~StoutRepublican

For context (if you must), click here.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Your tax dollars at play

Lingerie, iPods on government credit cards

After you click there, you can click here.

Do the ipod shuffle

I've put my iPod on shuffle, and selected all my songs.

The following is a list of the first 20 songs that are randomly selected
(excluding only the itrip station-programming songs)

Before Today - Everything but the girl
Ruiner - Nine Inch Nails
The hong Kong Triad - Thievery Corporation
Take It From The Groove - Midas
To Be Feared - Frank Klepacki
White Light Generator - Ladytron
My Favorite Things - OutKast
Tubby Mechanical Friend - Mr. Scruff
Oil - Moby
Sexy Boy - Air
Surfing on a Rocket - Air
Holy shit my iPod just crashed for the first time in the history of ever. WTF? Ok, it's back. Weird.
Kebob Shop 3 A.M. - Flunk
He's All I Want - Angelmoon
Time - Benny Benassi
Around the world - Daft Punk
With U - Alex Gopher
Post-Modern Sleaze - Sneaker Pimps
You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. - Bright Eyes
Gemilude - Basement Jaxx
Winning Style - Propellerheads

Placebo - Bulletproof Cupid



Music is Placebo, and video is (coincidently enough) Heroes.

The 17th Amendment

Tam has a post an essay up called Decline of the Republic Day, which covers the negative effects of the 17th amendment.

I had no idea.

Give it a read, and become an even more educated voter.

UPDATE THE SECOND: Tam's essay; short version.
After the 17th
Representative: “My constituents want free stuff!”
Senator: “Yeah! My constituents want free stuff!“
Before the 17th
Representative: “My constituents want free stuff!”
Senator: “Whoah, whoah, whoah! How are we supposed to pay for all this crap back in Des Moines?“

UPDATE THE FIRST: Greg says his piece on the 17th.

Since senators are directly elected, there is little point in having two legislative houses. There are still differences of course, but both houses must cater to the popular and immediate whims of the people. One of the things I do bitch and moan about quite often is knee-jerk reactions from congress. Before the 17th, the senate acted as a buffer for "heat of the moment" legislation (which is why I always say there should be a "cooling off period" for passing new legislation... but that's another rant.) In addition, it was intended that the senate represent the state, and the house was meant to represent the people.

I would suggest that ratification of the 17th Amendment marked the end of states' rights.

Hey guys, wrong game show.

McCain, Clinton, and Obama are going to be on American Idol.

David has a better idea;
Let's get them to appear on "The Moment of Truth."

What question would you ask them if you could hook them up to a lie detector in front of a national audience?


Indeed!

*sigh* Back into coding mode.

Not that I mind coding mode... It's just that it takes a bit to switch into it.

I was in coding mode yesterday writing some SQL queries for about 3 hours. Today, my coworker said he couldn't run the code. Somehow the stored procedure was cached for me, or something, because I would run the procedure with an EXEC, and it would work, but when he would run it, it wouldn't. The error seemed easy enough because the code broke in a way that made sense, and after about an hour of cursory testing, I finally got it working... Except the output was wrong, and in a way that DIDN'T make sense. Bugger.

I must reenter my brain's code-mode, where all the crazy shit I write makes perfect sense.

I swear, one day I'm going to be working on a particularly tough problem, and slip into a vegetative state, only to emerge days later in the hospital with the perfect code in my head. Or more likely I'll go insane, and emerge days later in a mental institution with my code written on the padded walls in crayon.

Headphones: ON
Hardcore trance: ON
Volume: UP
Zone: OUT

Cake - Hem of your garment



Music is Cake, video is Heroes. Might have spoilers, if you care.

Too much awesome

I was going to post a close up of the following gun Awesome, but when made larger, this Saiga-12 Awesome was so awesome, it crashed my firefox session. I've made the image smaller, but you can click on it to make it larger.
That is; if you think you can handle the awesome.


12 gauge Saiga AWESOME semi-automatic shotgun AWESOME AK conversion AWESOME with 10 round mag, folding stock and HALO quad-rail AWESOME.

Yes, the AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME is almost too awesome for California. There are a limited number appropriately Ca neutered, and are extremely difficult to get. (at least for now) There's always hope.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Incredible Ideas to Change the World


"I can't believe I'm just giving these away"

Rules are rules for a reason

NY Rifle Company Ships Loaded Guns

Rule 1 of firearm safety
Treat all guns as if they are loaded.

"Of course it's unloaded, I just took it out of the box!"

Monday, April 07, 2008

Mock rapists and they'll leave you alone.

Via this piece of idiocy, comes the following piece of idiocy...

Frankly the best tool against a rapist is laughter. Men can't stand it when you laugh at their equipment. Call it a combination of dick-envy and male ego, but men get really upset when you laugh at their pathetic private little pistol.


Yes folks, it's that simple. Laughter is the best medicine, it seems, to repel violent serial rapists. Why hadn't anyone thought of this before? Every woman carries with her the ability to laugh, so once this gets out, it will stop all forms of rape!...

... Or maybe it'll just make the rapist more angry, more violent, and more likely to kill his prey. I don't know. I'm not a psychologist. But hey, it's worth a shot try. Why shouldn't we all provide speculative information on the internet where women can read it and think it effective against that most heinous crime, rape? Perhaps the writer has some form of experience "decocking" rapists? If not, perhaps the writer would like to put her vagina where her mouth is and volunteer to test her "frank" solution to rape on some violent rapists before she makes recommendations that can get people injured or killed.

Rape destroys countless women a year, even if it doesn't physically kill them. It's something women should fight with every ounce of their spirit, and every tool available to them including firearms and firearm training.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

RIP



Took the wind right out of me.

RIP Friend.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

TA-312 Field Phones

When I was helping my mom move, she asked if I wanted this box from my old room.

Click all images for full size
I eyed the box greedily thought, "These will be perfect for fast communication when the zombies* come!" My significant other looked in the box and said, "Oh no, I don't want more junk that's just going to sit there." Then she looked at the phones more closely, smiled, and said just loud enough for me to hear, "Ohhh, for the zombies*."
I love her.
* In this instance, "zombies" is a metaphor for a generic SHTF/dangerous situation. A metaphor which does not exclude zombies. <_<

I don't remember where I got them from, but I remember messing with them for a bit, then losing interest. (I was obviously young and stupid) Now I was a kid with a new toy (all over again). I got my tools, pulled out the camera, and got down to business.

TA-312 Field Phone


Click images for full size.

Battery powered portable phones that require only two wires to communicate with each other. The handset has a press-to-talk button on the side, and you can speak to listeners with it pressed, and vice versa. Unlike walkie-talkies, if both sides press their "talk" buttons, they can both speak and hear each other. (useful for long distance arguing!) Since the phones are completely dead (not using any power) while the handset is down, you can ring the other end of the line by cranking a small generator on the side. This will cause a small alarm clock type device to repeatedly hit a hollow part on the rear of the phone, and produce a *KLACK* *KLACK* *KLACK* sound. The volume of the ringing can be adjusted with a small dial.


As I reacquainted myself with the phones, I remembered these connection leads that are covered by a cap. (seen to the left of the wire leads)

The site indicates they are for connecting a touch-tone adapter for use as a POTS phone. I shorted some of the leads and managed to cause a clicking, but failed to produce any form of tone. Thinking about it now, the tone modulation probably takes place in the adapter. The leads probably only provide power and line connection.

As I cleaned them out and tested them, I found one that didn't transmit as loudly as the others. I opened it up and found it had spent some time at the beach.

(Note generator crank extended)
Rust and corrosion on most parts, and in the bottom of the container you can see some white; that's sand. It still works, a testament to how equipment can be made to last if people take the time.

Another phone lacked a KLACKer, and the generator crank didn't KLACK the phone on the other end. However, if you picked it up, you could talk on it fine. This unit also lacked all rubber weatherproofing. I opened it up and found nothing that appeared to be wrong. I began testing leads to make sure power was getting through, and one of the wires fell of the generator. There's your problem right there. I whip out the soldering iron and my amazing skills of shitty soldering, and manage to reattach the wire securely. As I continue my inspection, another wire falls off the generator. Another shitty soldering job later, things are looking better. The generator now rings the phone on the other end of the wire. I test the wires until I find the leads that went to the KLACKer, and try to figure out what to use to replace it. I try a small PC speaker and a clicker, which don't work, and I can't find the buzzer I used to have. I test it with a high-output LED, and it works well. Instead of just having the wires and the LED hanging out the hole made by the missing KLACKer, I rewire the leads to connect to the external power leads, and attach the LED there. (LED is the big clear/white thing below the top of the handset)

Not bad looking, and it's silent now. Just gotta figure out something to cover the KLACKer hole.

After a detail clean with a q-tip, here's a picture of the best-looking of the four.


Connecting the four in parallel turns them all into a party line. Since enough electricity is generated on the ring (generator crank), it would be simple to set up a central board and three remote phones with LED ring indicators. This way one person in the middle could watch for a blinking LED (a ring from a remote phone), and switch the local phone to converse with that remote user. With the central board, you could also make a party line switch so everyone could talk and hear at the same time. Also hadn't considered setting more wires than there are phones, and just having users carry the phones while roving. If something happens, they connect to the nearest set of wires, and relay their information to the central phone.

After creating the LED "ringer" I want to add a flip switch to choose between light and sound ringers. I'm still working out how the disconnecter works, but I think I'll wire the handset for a hands-free headset.

I only used a short wire for testing communication between two phones, but a receiving phone could hear but not speak if it lacked batteries, this is where I got the idea for an always-on headset that you could listen to, and pick up to talk back. However that might not be the case over longer distances. I suspect power will be required by the listener to amplify the degraded signal over a distance. Testing will follow.

I gotta get one of those touch-tone adapters, because at work we have a "Bat Phone" (which is just a red POTS phone) for testing land lines. It would be pretty awesome to have one of these as the Bat Phone.

Information is Power.
Fast communication is extremely valuable.

Friday, April 04, 2008

I put on my robe and wizard hat...

The saga of BloodNinja. BloodNinja is a cybersex chatter who engages in cybersex with random people, and then... deviates from the expected conversation.

Sweet jesus! I had to stop reading it because I was laughing so much!

Overheard at work.

Coworker: This thing's guitarded anyway.
Me: Did you just say "Guitarded?" Because that's awesome.

Bullet proof hoodies for "gun-free" Britain

You just can't make this stuff up.

Coming soon, giant human hamster balls made of bullet proof glass.

I still don't know why they'd need bullet proof vests if they banned guns! If the ban isn't working, perhaps they need to ban them again. Only harder this time.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

WARNING: Possible tools of the gun lobby,

FACTS

I love how the blogger posts with bizarre incredulity, "Pro-gun feminism?" It's like you can almost hear the blogger proclaim "Whaaaaaat?!"

Yes, pro-gun feminism. There is no discrimination from pure gun rights advocates. Despite popular belief, gun rights advocates (rednecks to antis) OPPOSE groups like the KKK who oppose gun ownership for black people. (so they can't shoot back)

The "gun lobby" is not calling for more availability of guns only to white men between the ages of 18 and 45. The "gun lobby" wants guns available to everyone. Equally.

Take the time to read the comments. Antis line up to chant, until they are challenged with *shudder* questions.

Weigh in on this gun control poll

This poll asks if you support or oppose different kinds gun control legislation.

With questions such as;
Do you think a law should be enacted which makes it illegal for mentally unsound individuals and drug users from owning firearms?

Do you think a law should be enacted that outlaws armor-piercing ammunition?

Do you think a law should be enacted that requires safety locks be sold with every firearm?

You might be surprised by the results.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Coming to a neighborhood near you

If that picture doesn't put a pit in your stomach, I don't know what will.


REMAIN IN YOUR HOMES. THIS IS A POLICE PATROL. OPEN YOUR HOMES TO SEARCH. RESISTANCE WILL BE MET WITH ARREST. HAVE A NICE DAY.

Oh wait, they're going after mobile phones.

What ever happened to Officer Friendly?

Actually, what ever happened to "Great" Britain?