Back up...
To answer Christopher's question from the last post, I am back up, at least mostly. I'm going to be writing about what I'm up to on OfB, so I guess I'll save it until then, but it's kept me busy!
And it all started because of a phone. I hinted about cell phone service issues a few weeks back and intended to follow that up sooner than I did. Verizon Wireless had, after over a year and a half of fighting, still failed to provide me with a number that actually could be reached from many phones in the metro area. They had also, earlier in 2003, managed to lose my voicemail for about a month and then somehow switch my number over to “pay as you go” (which of course caused it to be terminated, since I didn't have pay as you go minutes — I had a monthly plan!).
At any rate, they finally relented and let me out of the contract. I'm now with Cingular Wireless and have a new Nokia 3600 phone (the GSM 850/1900 MHz variant of the Nokia 3650). So far things have been good with Cingular — good coverage, good customer service and a great phone. The Nokia 3600 is a camera phone that is powered by the OS that's somewhat of a cell-phone/PDA blend: Symbian. It has a 100 MHz processor, is capable of running Java and Symbian applications (of which there are a ton!) and can play wave and polyphonic midi ring-tones. Battery life seems to be 4-5 days of standby and light usage, or 2-day with moderate Bluetooth usage (leaving Bluetooth on all the time seems to lower that to around a 24 hour battery life).
One feature I really liked about the phone, other than the 640×480 camera (which is nice for when you don't have your normal camera with you), is the inclusion of Bluetooth. That's also how I ended up taking on a major project in trying to get my contacts, that are on my GNU/Linux box, to my Mac (which has Bluetooth) and then to the phone. sigh
At any rate, it's a good phone. IMO, the future of wireless is on a GSM network, so if your looking to get a new phone, this nice Nokia 3600 GSM phone might be a good choice.
Tim is Currently Out of Order, Please Try Again Later
If you've e-mailed me and I haven't responded, please forgive me. I've been trying to get a server configured. That project ballooned into something bigger, and presently I have a new install of GNU/Linux on my desktop in which I have not imported my e-mail yet. I haved viewed it a few times in Apple Mail using IMAP, but I haven't done much with it, and I can't respond to messages sent prior to the move (since they aren't on IMAP any longer).
At any rate, I'm hoping to finish the server project tomorrow. Once I do that, I will import my e-mail from my backup and respond.
Dean: The Bible Scholar?
I saw this in the Post-Dispatch on Tuesday and couldn't help but chuckle (although fear also hit me when I realized there is a chance we might have to live with this guy being our president). Apparently Democratic front runner Howard Dean, who has been trying to talk a bit more about religion as he attempts to appeal to Bible-belt voters, was asked what his favorite New Testament book was.
As he heads into what H.L. Mencken called the “Bible Belt,” the candidate moved to plug an apparent hole in his resume about an interest in religion. After hearing Dean's observation beginning “If you know much about the Bible - which I do …” a reporter asked about his favorite New Testament book. Dean named Job, adding, “But I don't like the way it ends … there's one book where there's a more optimistic ending, which we believe was tacked on later.” [link]
So, it seems Dean's Bible is organized a bit different than everyone else's. Robert Novak, the conservative CNN commentator, explains what happened afterwards in his syndicated column for this week:
Dean returned to reporters, confessing a slight error. When they persisted in asking his favorite part of the New Testament, he prudently answered: “Anything in the Gospels.” [link]
While I always feel sorry for people making dumb mistakes, I can't help but see this as Dean trying to look Christian when he really could care less. For someone who has, as Novak reports, claimed to have read the Bible “from cover-to-cover” and also has also stated, as the Post-Dispatch reports, “If you know much about the Bible - which I do,” it is disturbing that Dean lists Job as his favorite New Testament book and then can't be any more specific than the Gospels when he is reminded that Job happened about 2,000 years too early for the New Testament.
I guess it could have been worse — he could have mentioned his favorite New Testament books where the ones that followed Moses's life or something like that.
Automatical Blog Posting Template
This is a blog post about $X. When I heard about $X, I thought $Y and $Z. According to $A, “$X is the best thing since sliced $B!” The Associated Press also talked about $X and declared it the “Best of the Best” for the $foobar industry! This is so exciting! You really should read more about $X. I bet you'll think $Y and $Z too. Or maybe not, but then you may at least think $C and $D. Whatever the case, let me know what you think about $X in the comments below. If you think $E or $F, please explain why, as well.
Nice Streams!
I've spent a few hours over the last week or so ripping Christmas CD's. I'm not quite done and there are over 40 albums spanning almost a day an a quarter in playtime. But what to do with them? Well, I thought it might be nice to listen to it as I went from computer to computer, so I decided to try Apple's Darwin Streaming Server (DSS). DSS is the Free Software/Open Source sibling to QuickTime Streaming Server. It appears to have most of the same functionality (including QuickTime streaming).
One of its many features is IceCast compatible MP3 streaming. So, in a (nearly) effortless few minutes, I installed DSS, fixed my MP3 directory's permissions, used the great web-based GUI to select the proper folder, and clicked “play.” Now, I can connect from any system on the network and hear the continuous stream as if it was on the radio. Only its 100% good Christmas music and not some of the stuff that makes you wince in agony (the Christina Aguilera Christmas songs where the worst of the year, I think).
DSS's stream works just fine in iTunes (which shows the proper track information), XMMS (which does not show proper track information), Windows Media Player, and probably others. WMP seems to have a larger buffer and thus you don't want to have WMP playing the stream within listening distance of a system using XMMS or iTunes, but other than that, it works well on all three.
Now, I'll just do the same in a few weeks for my non-Christmas music and all will be well.
If you'd like to try DSS, you can do so on Mac OS X, GNU/Linux or Windows. The server is available for a free download under the GNU Project approved Apple Public Source License (ASPL) 2.0, right here.
Okay, now it really is!
From me (“the wishor”) to you (“the wishee”), please accept without obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday season, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious / secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.
We (“wishor”) wish you (“wishee”) a financially successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2004, but with due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures or sects, and having regard to the race, creed color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting this greeting, you are bound by these terms:
1. This greeting is subject to further clarification or withdrawal.
2. This greeting is freely transferable provided that no alteration shall be made to the original greeting and that the proprietary rights of the wishor are acknowledged.
3. This greeting implies no promise by the wishor to actually implement the inferences contained in this correspondence.
4. This greeting may not be enforceable in certain jurisdictions and/or the restrictions herein may not be binding upon certain wishees in certain geographical locations.
5. This greeting is warranted to perform as reasonably as may be expected within the usual application of good tidings, for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first.
6. The wishor warrants this greeting only for the limited replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wishor.
7. THIS GREETING IS PROVIDED BY THE WISHEE “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE WISHEE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GREETINGS) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS GREETING, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
[“Politically Correct Holiday Greeting” from e-mail message; modified by me before posting.]
Happy New Year Almost!
Well, I should have posted something after Christmas, but I haven't gotten to it yet. To give you a hint of what I've been up to the last few days, it has something to do with fighting with Verizon Wireless concerning my year and a half old cell service (call receiving problems) and the fact that my Apple PowerMac G5 has bluetooth.
You can also catch another thing I've been doing today at OfB.biz — my annual GNU/Linux year-in-review article.
Depending on what happens, I may not be back on tonight, so have a very very happy new year! Thanks everyone for a great year of blogging in 2003, I'm looking forward to 2004!
Merry Christmas
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” -Isaiah 9:6
Merry Christmas to all of my friends in the Blogosphere. I hope all of you have a merry and blessed Christmas this year (and have plenty of good things to eat to boot)!
Here's my annual Christmas story quotation:
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. {11}Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. {12}This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” {13}Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
- Luke 2:10-14 (NIV)
I have the whole thing conveniently placed online here if anyone is interested.
Merry Christmas once again and to all a good night!
You're Gonna Want One
I finally got part I of my Shuttle XPC review up. You can read all about the SB62G2 at OfB.biz. This is a really amazing system — and it is part of an amazing lineup, including an Athlon64 supporting model that even has a built-in 6-type memory card reader.
OfB has awarded Shuttle our “Best of the Year” award for the SB62G2. It is an amazing little box and I highly recommend it if you're looking for a semi-DIY system that isn't just a plain old system. Very very nice. I figured with the cost of the barebones system included, a P4 2.6 GHz with HT, 512 megs of PC3200 ram, a combo drive and an 80 gig SATA hard disk comes out to less than $700 — that's quite a steal!
What a Good Day
What a good day it is when you can just spend some time reading a good book by a Christmas tree. That's what I did today. I probably should have done some work, since OfB has suffered in the last few months while other more pressing jobs took priority, but I didn't. Instead, I spent some time reading Soon by Jerry Jenkins, the co-author (who does all of the actual writing, IIRC) of the Left Behind series. It's a good, fast paced novel, and it's kind of nice starting from scratch rather than building up on what he's been writing since Left Behind in 1995.
Also, I did some cleaning up of my blogroll. Josiah moved his blog awhile back and I updated the link so that I could see when it updates again. I also removed two blogs, David's Journal and Jake Rinard's Journal, both of which appear to be (at least temporarily) dead. If either of you two are reading this — please let me know when your blogs resume normal publication so that I can add you back. In the mean time, this at least temporarily satisfies my urge to have a shorter blogroll (I like too many blogs, as it stands!).
This is my second blogroll cleaning spree, actually. A few weeks back I removed Ciaran's Journal (since Ciaran has moved over to a private “LiveJournal” rather than his public journal that I could link to). I hate to see the blogs go — although it certainly makes things easier than deciding to remove a blog that's still live. How does everyone reading this deal with their blogrolls?
