Far Too Clever

I've been working on my thesis again, having slacked off a lot the past few months. But having slacked off for so long, it's only recently that I discovered that I have misplaced one of my notebooks. That's pretty bad. But things get worse.

Yesterday, I needed a bookmark from XP. I upgraded to Windows 7 in January and haven't really used XP much since then. But I use Zotero to manage my references, so I do all my thesis research in Firefox.

So, I browse to my Firefox profile on the XP partition. The directory is empty.

...What.

Well, empty except the profile.ini file. Which points to the Firefox directory on the old Vista partition. And that's when I remember...

See, I had been hoping back and forth between XP and Vista. I had used only Vista for about a year, since it came with my lappy, but I had some problems (especially with games and older software). So when I re-formatted my computer last year, I put XP back on and swapped back and forth. Except I really didn't all that often. XP was fine and Vista was a headache, so I really pretty much only used XP> BUT, what I had done was, I had set up the Firefox profile to be the same on both (and in Linux when I booted to that). So, no matter which OS I was in at the time, I'd have all my bookmarks and recent tabs, seamlessly.

Which I FORGOT when I put W7 on. See, by that point I wasn't using Vista at all. So, while I made a careful backup of all my XP stuff (just in case), I didn't back up the Vista stuff (because, there wasn't any). Except, there WAS, because that's where all the Firefox stuff was stored.

So, all I have now is a profile.ini that points to a partition that no longer exists, and my most recent other backup is from 2008 (before I started on this current thesis). All because I was too clever for my own good. Sweet.

I'm having, like, the *BEST* week you guys!

The Great White Noise

So, The Passing is still not out for the PC, despite being April 22nd for over 7 hours now. I should be happy that it's going to be free for me, as the XBOX360 version costs cashy money (an edict by Microsoft, because they don't want XBOX customers getting accustomed to getting things for free. Really.), but the XBOX crowd already has theirs. I imagine it can't possibly be more than a few more hours away though, as VALVe employees are scheduled to play games with us commonfolk starting at 11am PDT. So here's another post to past the time.

Let's talk about Tumblr.

I like(d) Tumblr, and you can see a bit from my Tumblr feed there on the left (below the Shared Items). But what I REALLY like(d) about Tumblr is the Popular page.

Don't bother clicking that link, it doesn't go anywhere anymore.

What the Popular page USED TO be was a list of all the popular images/posts that week. Which ones got the most likes/reblogs. It was great, and there was usually tons of highly entertaining stuff I hadn't come across on there.

Well, apparently Tumblr didn't like being a popularity contest, so that feature was recently cut, and with it pretty much my sole reason to use Tumblr. It has been replaced with a way to recommend individual Tumblogs. Well, I don't CARE about Tumblogs. There are TOO MANY of those. I just want the best pictures and posts. I'm not going to follow each recommended Tumblog hoping to run across cool stuff. I don't have that kind of time.

See, the Internet, it's BIG. And it's just FILLED with stuff, most of which is complete crap. That's how things work. But some stuff is awesome, which is why sites like Digg and Reddit are so popular. They go through all that stuff and people pick out the things they like, and if enough people like it, it's highlighted for everyone else to see. That's also how Tumblr's Popular page worked.

But without that filter, without any method to highlight the cool from the crap, the Internet is just white noise.

RIP, Tumblr. I will truly miss you.

On This Day

Seven years ago.

Phoenix is unlucky with games

It's Saturday, so of course I'm spending my morning playing video games.

I was playing on the computer, and experienced a Blue Screen shutdown. :-(

So, taking a break from the computer, I pick up my DS and play Rittai Picross for about an hour, and the battery dies. (The power indicator light supposedly changes color when this is going to happen, but being colorbind renders this warning void).

Good times.

Microsoft Owes Me $50

I got a parking ticket today, my 2nd in recent memory (the other one was Nov. 4th). And of course, I blame Microsoft for this.

See, I had never gotten a parking ticket before November 4th. In fact, I've been parking at meters for YEARS without getting a ticket. What has changed?

My phone.

Previously, I used a Nokia 6800. This was one of the early semi-smart phones (e-mail, limited web access, and a flip-out keyboard), more phone than smart though. But still cutting-edge for its time (2003). And it had a bunch of handy features, one of which was a very simple countdown timer... that was TWO BUTTONS AWAY. That's it. 1st press quick-features, 2nd press timer. I used it when doing laundry, when cooking, and yes, when parking at a meter.

And then the phone died.

Right now, I'm using an ATT Tilt, and it is pretty much the worst phone I've ever used. It runs Windows CE, and tries to be a PDA and a phone. But it's more dumb than phone.

Everything is controlled via the stylus. There are buttons, but they are all context-sensitive. Which means that you don't necessarily know what each one will do in a given situation (and they don't all have display reminders either. It's more, press it and see what it does, and then don't press it again ever).

SO, if I want to run a timer application, I have to get out the stylus, click on the start menu, go to Applications, go to Tools, browse to the timer app, and start it. OH WAIT THERE *IS* NO TIMER APP! That's right, such complicated functionality is too much for this mini-computer. I'd have to find one on the Internet, download it to my computer, install the phone-computer interface software, and install it to the phone that way (in which case, it installs to the Applications folder UNDER APPLICATIONS. Yeah, you have to select Applications TWICE to run it). EVEN though the phone itself can browse the Internet when I'm in a hotspot, I can't install applications that way.

It's like a committee tried to come up with all the ways they could to mess with people. "How can we make our product even MORE DIFFICULT to use?"

I'm not even mad at the ticket writer, even though he clearly waited at my car for the meter to run out (based on the time on the ticket). He was just doing his job.

So I need to buy a new phone. I had been hesitating because of the expense, but at this rate I would be saving money in the long run to buy one now. Maybe the Nexus?


tl;dr
Phoenix had a bad day. :-(

Rainy Season

It hurts.

Many years ago, when I was younger and more foolish, a moment's horseplay crushed my right hand in a door. In an instant my life's path was altered. For about six months, my fingers wouldn't open up. I had a permanent fist. Couldn't type on a computer, couldn't brush my teeth or tie my shoelaces, and have you ever noticed how jeans are really biased against southpaws?

I played piano in high school. Did you know that? I imagine that many people that know me might not know that, as I don't play anymore. Sometimes I fantasize about taking the time to relearn how to play, now that I can move my fingers again, but I don't think I ever will. I doubt I could endure it.

Because it hurts. All the time. Sometimes, it's just a dull ache in the background of my mind, like a neighbor's too-loud TV: annoying and ignorable, but relentless. My hand makes popping sounds as I move it, and I can feel the strange sensation of tendons sliding over bumps that shouldn't be there. I don't take anything for this pain. What would be the point? There's nothing I could take every day for the rest of my life (healthily, anyway), and the pain itself is never going to stop. Ever.

Even when I sleep, it's still there. I often dream that my right hand has turned into a stone fist, because that sometimes helps mask the pain. Sorry pain, I can't feel you, I'm made of stone. Odd dreams.

But it's worse at this time of the year, when the rains come. I can feel the approaching storms, like a character in a novel I read in middle-school. I can also feel them leaving, which no childhood story I read ever warned me about. These days, a storm is always approaching or leaving, so the pain intensifies and never lets up, never lets go even for a moment.

I've felt terrible pain before, other than this. When I was in high school, I slipped on the ice and tore the ligaments in my ankle. Worse than breaking a bone, they said. When I was in my mid-20s, I passed a kidney stone. Not a smooth one, a jagged one that tore up my insides on its way out. Worse than giving birth, they said. So much blood was expelled that even my colorblind eyes could see it. That was bad.

Some days, though, some days this is worse. Believe it.

Often the entire tendon sheath becomes inflamed, carrying the pain from the injury all the way up to my shoulder, and the hand itself becomes a clumsy tingling ball of ache, and the right half of my body vibrates to some resonant frequency of torment. At these times, moving my arm at all is excruciating. Every breath I take seems to pull out more pain, and if I bother to hold my breath and still my body, the beat beat beat of my heart fans at the embers.

My right eye sometimes goes blind from the agony, white hot like staring at the sun. I just want to give up, curl up in my bed and dream of a different life that doesn't hurt so much.

Even just remembering this now makes it hard to type, hard to concentrate.

If ever you see me sitting unfocused on a cloudy day, please, just let me rest for a moment. Just a moment, let me regain my strength.

Right now, as I type this, a storm is approaching. I can feel it. The rainy season is here.

Bian shi tou. Please God, make me a stone.

Nostalgia

On the Happy site I saw this line: "let’s get nostalgic"

I immediately thought of something I wanted to put on a T-Shirt. I even did a Google search first and found NO hits. Jackpot!



Unrelated, I saw this Digg article. "Glitter is the herpes of craft supplies"

This is a Demetri Martin joke. Someone even found a video in which he makes this exact joke. Show/Hide



Unfortunately, one of the OTHER jokes he makes is:

"I remember when I used to really be into nostalgia."

DAMN. IT.

More Snow Leopard Coolness

Bluetooth is (at the moment) working again in 10.6.1 and I found a sort-of workaround for the previously mentioned remote control problems.

The workaround is to have Quicktime open somewhere. Not in use, just open. Because, hey, what's a little resource waster, eh? (The previous trick was to have iTunes open on a store page, but that takes even MORE resources)

Anyway, with the QT player open, the remote once again works with other programs like it SHOULD. (actually, it doesn't. updated below)

As biskitwheels said:

I believe there are a few issues stemming from one problem. One of many problems with Apple's growing desire to control your user experience.

The solution is to allow us to manage iTunes keyboard shortcuts. Turn them off, re-map the keyboard, whatever it is we happen to want to do, we should have the ability to do it, especially for a matter so trivial of a feature yet such an annoyance to us. Additionally, it is so obviously contrived to push their software on us it makes me a bit sick to my stomach.

Now we have such a egregious fail on Apple's part, this auto-launch with no turn off switch, it is getting bad enough that people are speaking out. I hope it opens up a discussion about users making our own decision to use itunes or not. Seems as if Apple thinks we need iTunes in order to breathe, which WE DO NOT.

Apple, don't just disappear your most recent error, stand up and correct it by allowing us the ability to shape our user experience, even in the most basic of ways.

And while you're at it, throw in FLAC for us, ok?

My reasons to stick with this OS are dwindling fast.

(His line about Apple disappearing their error is in reference to the threads in the Apple support forum that have been closed/deleted/marked-as-solved when the problem very much still exists)

Anyway, the New Coolness is that SMB sharing doesn't work with XP anymore. So, now that I have the remote working, I can watch all jack-squat because I can't connect to the file server because it's on XP.

DUMB.

Once again, something that worked FINE in Leopard that is BROKEN in Snow Leopard. Do I wait for a fix? Or do I reformat and reinstall EVERYTHING.

Note for future use: Time Machine is good for you, and you should use it. (If I had a Time Machine backup of my Leopard system, I could downgrade)

UPDATE:
SMB sharing still doesn't work when I try to connect via Finder, BUT it DOES work if I connect via Plex. BUT! The Quicktime and iTunes tricks for getting the remote working, which work for VLC, DON'T work for Plex!

Apple, why you so stoopid?

UPDATE AGAIN:
Alright, it might not be malicious douchebaggery on Apple's part. It may instead be an actual bug. But I notice that they didn't fix it in 10.6.1, so...

Debt

Awesome. Continuing my awesome week, I got my credit card statement today, which informed me that somehow I MISSED AN ENTIRE MONTH. So all those notes in my apartment reminding me to pay my credit card bill on time? Already way too late.

How did I miss AUGUST? What was I doing last month that I forgot to pay my credit card bill? I can't even remember.

This is the first time I've missed a payment since ... man, I don't even know. :-( Also, apparently Capital One now has an automatic payment system (they didn't when I asked way back when I opened the account), so if I had signed up for that earlier, I wouldn't have missed anything.

Awesome. And I can't even really complain about this because it was entirely my fault. 100% preventable.

For me the pain that hurts the most is being disappointed in myself.

Snow Leopard

I recently updated my mac mini with Snow Leopard (which btw you can get from Amazon for $25).

So how is it?

It killed my mini.

Well, that's not quite true. SL is an improvement over Leopard in a number of small ways (size and speed for example), but it does introduce a couple of showstopper bugs.

1) The Apple Remote.
Previously, I used my mini (which is connected to my living room TV) as a media PC. All the software to that end (VLC, Plex, etc), I controlled with the standard Apple remote.

Well, Apple didn't like that one bit. NOW, no matter which program is active, the remote launches Front Row or iTunes. The mini is basically unusable as a media PC until this is fixed.

That's not the real showstopper.

2) Bluetooth is broken.
Bluetooth works fine until you restart your Mac after upgrading. By which I mean, you can upgrade, and run for DAYS and everything will be GREAT. And then if you restart, BAM, Bluetooth goes bye bye.

And I only have a Bluetooth keyboard.

Boy, let me tell you how frustrating THAT is!

The mouse has completely stopped working, but I recently switched to a trackball (RF, so still wireless, but not Bluetooth). The keyboard does work sometimes (maybe 1 out of 20 restarts). Somewhat random though.

Now, I originally thought this was a problem with Little Snitch (a 1-sided firewall), because it didn't show up until after I had to reboot after installing LS. But a trip to the Apple support forums tells the real story.

HUNDREDS (thousands?) of people are having the exact same problem I am. Install Snow Leopard, reboot, Bluetooth stops (and sometimes Airport, but if I can get the keyboard working that works too, so wtf?).

Crazy frustrating. BUT, if I didn't rely on a Bluetooth keyboard, would I even notice? NO! I'd be happy with the leaner, meaner Snow Leopard. Programs are snappier, the whole thing takes GIGABYTES less space on the hard drive, and there are a bunch of little UI improvements. If I didn't have that keyboard, SL would be a huge success.

I hope it gets resolved soon, as I am unable to work on my final school project on any other computer. In the meantime, I guess I'll look for a USB keyboard and a LOOONG extender cable.

You on You

HP is running a You on You contest, where you make a video about yourself (hiding your identity), and upload it to YouTube.

I made a video, and today is the last day to enter. But, I hadn't finished hiding my face (digitally in post), so I haven't uploaded it yet. I went to a party (I had a really good time and met new interesting people, and I <3 interesting people). Just getting back from the party now, and I still have two hours to hide my face and upload my video.

Or, do I?

The upload buttons are disabled on the site.

A subsequent careful reading of the official rules puts the contest timezone as EAST COAST (although it sure doesn't say that in the part about the deadline, but it is mentioned elsewhere).

So really, the contest ended an hour ago, even though it's still August 30^th right now where I am.

Why do I always put things off until the last minute?

The Great Loss

Recently, I had occasion to rebuild my PS2 hard drive, in part because I found a PS2 in the rubbish bin that worked fine except the laser wouldn't read discs. Anyway, plugged the drive into my computer, re-formatted for the PS2, re-added my game discs, etc.

When I went to disconnect the drive from the computer, I noticed something... curious. For some reason, it was telling me that there were TWO PS2-formatted drives plugged in. Isn't that funny? Haha.

A quick investigation told me that indeed, there WERE two PS2-formatted drives connected. And one of them looked just like my old PS2 drive. The one I had just reformatted.

Or....?

Here's an interesting bit of trivia for you: you know what OTHER drive has EXACTLY the same size as my PS2 drive?

The drive containing my "Gentleman's Videos" collection.

Or more accurately, the drive that USED TO contain my "Gentleman's Videos" collection.

I am without "Gentleman's Entertainment" for the first time since my stepfather discarded my "Gentleman's Magazines" when I was 17.

I'll survive this (I do have an Internet connection, after all), but it is momentarily disheartening. I had amassed a library of classics that will be difficult to find these days.

It's nearly enough to drive one back to dating.

Duke Nukem ForNever

So, if you've been on the Internet in the past few days, you've heard that 3D Realms has shut down. :-(

"I'm here to kick ass and fund development; and I'm all out of funds."
GNHMBDS7347025

TopFive is Gone

They actually appeared to have stopped making lists last August.

I didn't notice because I don't read them anymore. I imagine a lot of others went the same way.

See, I used to love TopFive. Back in, say, 1996, they were really funny. Then they spread out into Little Fivers, and those were less funny. Then they had a subscriber program, where you would get an ad-free list.

And then they stopped giving you the whole list if you weren't a subscriber. They'd cut off the top half (eg, the funniest half) in the e-mail, and you would have to go to the site for it. This is when I stopped reading.

You're going to give me ADS and NOT THE LIST? Thanks, but no thanks. And that's not mentioning the drop in quality of the main lists. The top contributors had gone off to be funny on their own and the people left were... meh.

So, I'm sorry to see that TopFive is not producing at the moment (but may come back), but it doesn't really affect me. TopFive stopped producing for me years ago.

How I Spent My Morning II

I have to write a literature review (a review of published papers in my area of science, not a review of books).

Lots of searches, lots of tabs open.

Oh, EWU's Library pages reset to the search page? So if you don't save your results right away they're gone? Cool.

Ah, Citeseer isn't supported anymore? Guess I'll try the beta. Oh, the beta doesn't save search parameters if you use the back button (shitty javascript implementation), maybe if I click the advanced search link at the top? Oh, that link means instant browser death? Awesome!

Good thing I didn't have a ton of unsaved searches open, because that would suck!

The Java Mystery

Recently, my computer has been calling out to IP address 64.244.174.206. What is 64.244.174.206? I have NO IDEA.

Even better, it's a Java.exe process that is doing the calling. But, that can be ANY Java program. What could it be? I didn't want to give Java free reign to run over my firewall, but maybe this was an important process?

In comes Process Explorer, a SysInternals program now available through MicroSoft (which has devoured SysInternals). This will tell me what the parent program is.

So who is the culprit? None other than Digsby, my all-in-one chat app. But what the hell is Digsby doing calling Java programs to call seemingly random IPs?

It turns out, they are experimenting with distributed computing (like the Folding@Home project). Except they forgot the part where they ask your permission first.

The official solution is simple! Just open Digsby, go to Help -> Support Digsby, find the Help Digsby conduct research option and click disable. Intuitive!

Yeah, the average user is going to figure that out. There's nothing in the TOS or FAQ about it. They are just secretly using your computer cycles for their own gain, without asking you if you're cool with that.

Dirty pool, Digsby.

This Is How I'm Dumb

I had a brilliant idea: I'll get my laundry going and then take a shower. That way, the time I spend waiting for my laundry to finish and the time I spend in the shower will overlap. I'm a genius!

So I got my laundry going, and I'm about to get in the shower.

Guess where all my towels are?

Bad Sci-Fi Warning

So, one of my classmates recently alerted me to a sale going on. Apparently, there is this robot toy. It's a scaled down version of a robot developed for the military by a defense department subcontractor. There's just one, and it is heavily discounted for some reason.

WHERE have I heard this premise before? Oh, right, EVERY HORROR-SCI-FI MOVIE EVER.

Update: Apparently, the robot is named SENTINEL. Duh duh DUH!

How I Spent My Morning

I woke up too early this morning, and there was nothing on TV yet. So I started playing a computer game (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl).

And in the game, I fell down a hole.

Now, looking back, I think the fall was supposed to kill my character, but for some reason it didn't. But I was stuck at the bottom of the pit.

Now, this sucked, because I hadn't saved for like an hour. So I was going to have to replay that whole hour unless I figured out a way to get out of the hole. With MOST games, there is a noclip code that will allow you to walk through walls. I looked and looked online, no noclip code for this game.

Then I found a cheat that would put me 200 ft up in the air (which would get me out of the hole), but it didn't work for my version.

Bear in mind, this is the result of lots and LOTS of web searching and scouring. But no luck. I spent about TWO HOURS trying to get out of the hole. It would have been MUCH FASTER to go back and play from that last save.

Which I will still have to do because I'm STILL STUCK IN THE HOLE!

So that's how my morning went.

Goodbye, Google Services

Google is closing down some of its many services, including Google Video and Google Notebook.

Now, I use Notebook ALL THE TIME, so I panicked until I read that the service itself will continue to function (just development is shutting down).

Google Video is another disappointing closure, as it has been host to a number of longer-running documentaries and shows. Will YouTube be an adequate replacement? We'll see.

No word on another Google Service that I use DAILY, GrandCentral.