iwsmith

On Tea and Books

2008-04-21T00:17:00.002-05:00

A while ago a tea company asked if they could use one of my images from Japan on their website. I said yes, and you can now see the photo on their site.

Today, while attempting to avoid doing German homework, I drew up a reading list, comments or suggestions are welcomed, and you can peruse it here:

Of Barcodes and GTK+

2008-03-12T18:19:00.004-05:00

For this project I am working on (at work) we are planning on using QR Codes to allow us to encode data onto physical media and then scan it back at a later time (This means print something, then take a picture of it later and retrieve whatever data its linked to). While researching QR Code ("QR code is trademarked by Denso Wave, inc.") I came across another interesting variation of the 2D Barcode, Shotcode, which is the image shown with this post. I like the shotcode because it doesn't look like a barcode, though it holds much less data (49 bits are available, so 2^49-1 unique codes can be generated). That being said, it would be more than sufficient for our current needs.

I also began working with GTK+, specifically Glade and pygtk, and so far it sucks. I hope that I am just using it incorrectly, because if not, well, damn. Things that one should be able to do (traversing the GUI hierarchy in a logical ie window.element.action() seems to be missing, or maybe I just don't know how to do it). Bleh!

Another Reason I Love Python

2008-02-22T22:20:00.003-06:00

So I was thinking today "Man, I wish a nice GUI existed for managing video files on a computer that was hooked to a TV and only use the remote for input. Maybe I should write one. I wonder if there is an imdb python library.."

Yes, it seems there is...

The Final Cylon

2008-02-19T01:52:00.000-06:00

I just want to put my vote down now and forever: Tom Zarek. Rationale to follow at a later date.

Make Ubuntu Safemode Go Away!

2008-02-13T12:06:00.003-06:00

Although the new 'safe-mode' feature in Ubuntu (formally known as bulletproof X) may be cool, it has a tendency to eat my Xorg.conf. This causes some issues for me when I am trying to get some new feature working on my ghetto old laptop. Luckily enough, a quick Google search noted that I can easily disable this feature by commenting out a line in /etc/gdm/gdm.conf, specifically:

FailsafeXServer=/etc/gdm/failsafeXServer

I am quite happy this is gone now :-)
This information was gleaned from here.

Classes

2008-02-13T01:04:00.004-06:00

So I realized I neglected to give my semesterly 'class overview'. So, here is what this semester looks like:

GERM 1101 - After my failed attempt at Spanish (well, more appropriately after LSU purged my classes and Spanish was full so I could not take it) I thought I might try a new language. So German it is. Not much to say here, so far everything is 'sehr gut'.

ENGL 2000 - Turns out I needed to take this to graduate. Its some sort of composition course, but instead of being something cool like creative writing I got 'English and Ecology', except my instructor seems to have a very loose definition of ecology. My first paper is about family interactions (or so I am told). I sort of hate this course...

MATH 4171 - This may be the only course I like this semester, its intro to graph theory. We are discussing graphs, trees and the like. I am somewhat worried about the tests though, I get the feeling they may broadside us.

CSC 3501 - This is computer organization, and it may be the most boring class ever. Like in the existence of humanity. On top of the boring topics, there is the even more boring presentation of those topics. The worst however, was that the professor banned laptops. So I usually sit there and think of differing ways to cause myself bodily harm with my umbrella.

CSC 2262 - Numerical methods. This course is not really exciting, but at least the guy running it does a fairly good job with presenting the material, and I can use my laptop. These two CSC classes make up the 'bloc of borderm' on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

So to summarize I hate all my courses in some way. At least work is exciting , I am sure I will be posting later on that though...

Boolean Logic Became Non-Deterministic

2008-02-12T00:53:00.001-06:00

I was working on some homework when Boolean Logic became non-deterministic. This was my first clue that something had gone horribly wrong. Moral of the story: let's not forget that !(ab) != !a!b.

Nothing Important

2007-09-26T16:15:00.001-05:00

So, nothing important to post really. I have been staying at school 10-12 hours some days, but that is the result of that damn 4330 class. Other than that its been some TF2 (Which is sweet) and Quake Wars:ET to pass the time.

Also, Brian, I can do that too:


iwsmith@babylon:~$ /sbin/iwconfig ath0
ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"Babylon"  Nickname:"babylon"
          Mode:Master  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: 00:18:E7:28:42:85   
          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power:18 dBm   Sensitivity=1/1  
          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=0/70  Signal level=-96 dBm  Noise level=-96 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:8902  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

And We Are Back

2007-09-20T00:56:00.000-05:00

So having toured Europe (Czech Republic, Austria, and England at least) I returned home. I have actually been here for a while, just too busy to make a post. My 'lowsite' project has stalled for the moment, a combination of no time and apparent re-inventing of the wheel. That, however, is not to say that it will not exist, just not yet.
For the curious (which I think is just Brian, not sure anyone else reads this site), here is my schedule for this semester, followed by a brief explanation:

IE 3302 - Statistics and Probability: I already took stats with the math department, but strange departmental requirements means I have to take it here as well. So far this class seems like it will be easy

ENGL 2025 - Fiction: This course focuses on short stories. And there are no tests, nor papers to turn in, we just spend the entire class time answering questions the professor gives us. It is definitely a unique class, but rather fun.

SPAN 1101 - Intro to Spanish: This is my most hated course this semester, nothing but a litany of pain and suffering (en español). http://www.google.com/translate has proved useful so far...

CSC 4330 - Software Design: This course is interesting, totally project based. This years project is a 'social network', which I am not overly pleased with, but have little say in. Only downside to this class is the amount of paper work (which is a lot).

CSC 4700 - Video Game Design: Now this course is my personal favorite, its fun, challenging, and not bogged down in paper work. This class is also project based, and you can view my group here. There are some interesting technical issues I need to solve for our project (we are using this framework called Electro, written in Lua, its ok, not that great mind you), but check my group blog for that.

Hmmm, also last week was career fair, I applied with several companies, including Microsoft. I guess we will see how that goes. Until next time...

On C++

2007-08-06T10:37:00.000-05:00

So, I have been integrating some C++ code into my project at work (which I hope will be done soon, as I am leaving on Friday morning...) and found the task irksome. While searching for a solution to one problem I was facing I came across an interesting article written by the the Mozilla people regarding C++ portability. The bottom line: it sucks.

Somewhat ironically, I am currently writing some blogging software in C++. Despite cross platform issues, OOP can save a lot of time. Once the software is done I will be closing this blog and moving elsewhere, but there is a while before that happens.

Dear Nvidia

2007-07-20T09:39:00.000-05:00

I want to give you the "Most useless error message of the year" award for your work with CUDA. As your error message so eloquently stated:

unspecified driver error

Thanks...

Brno, Czech Republic

2007-07-11T16:58:00.000-05:00

Well, I sort of stopped posting to my blog about 6 months ago. I had planned to update it more, but whatever. So what has happened in those six months? The main thing is that I somehow ended up in Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic. So, lets get the basic questions out of the way...

Q: What are you doing in the Czech Republic?
A: I am working for the Faculty of Informatics at Masaryk University. I am working on real-time image compression for their HD video conferencing application, UltraGrid. I also am writing an OpenGL display for UltraGrid, so it can one day use SAGE.

Q: What have you done in Europe so far?
A: I went whitewater kayaking, I went caving (which involved small amounts of rock climbing), and I spent a week in Obergurgl, Austria.

Q: So whats next?
A: This weekend I am planning on going to Vienna for two days. I will be going to Prague for 4 days in early August. Once I finish work here (about August 9th), I will be heading somewhere (maybe Amsterdam, then Brussels) for a few days before heading over to England for a week and a half, then back to the US.

Q: Will we see anymore posts on this blog?
A: Maybe. I hope so, but lets face it, I have never been very consistent with my posting skills. If you get bored, but have not yet filled your Ian quote, check my flicker stream (its on the right) for random pictures of Europe.

Live From Osaka

2007-01-07T09:14:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update. I am currently in Osaka, with Internet (Yea!), so I can upload pictures, videos, and other goodies for you all. I have not had a chance to sort through these photos (or videos), so some will suck while others will be good.

Prologue

2006-12-31T00:39:00.000-06:00

I must apologize for not posting pictures or writing of my adventures just yet, internet access has been difficult to come by and my days have been quite busy. Tonight I will be heading to Harajuku, then the Meji shrine, and lastly a karaoke bar. It promises to be an interesting time with many unique pictures. I will post here once I get my photos uploaded.

ANNs

2006-12-15T22:48:00.000-06:00

This is what I aspire to create:

The pig go. Go is to the fountain. The pig put foot. Grunt. Foot in what? ketchup. The dove fly. Fly is in sky. The dove drop something. The something on the pig. The pig disgusting. The pig rattle. Rattle with dove. The dove angry. The pig leave. The dove produce. Produce is chicken wing. With wing bark. No Quack.

From The Daily WTF

We Have A Pulse...

2006-10-21T22:37:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a while since I posted last. At some point in the last two months I declared blogging dead, but it seems that I have changed my mind about that (having something to post about helps).
My main news item to share with you all (well, those of you that don't know already) is that I am heading to Japan over Christmas break for a tad under 3 weeks. 'Why?' you may ask. Well, because I can. I figure that I am most able to travel currently (that is, I have the fewest restrictions due to work or family, I think these things are called 'obligations'), and I have not been out of country in a while, so this seemed like a good time to go. I already purchased my plane ticket, so this is definitely happening :-) I plan on taking many pictures while I am there, and regular posts on this thing, so you should be able to see and read of my travels when the time comes.

Bit Torrent Doesn't Kill Networks...

2006-05-21T23:14:00.000-05:00

People using Bit Torrent kills networks. A very quick post, but for those of you who know what a traceroute is, I submit the following as evidence of the destructive power of Bit Torrent:

1  ilion.wired (192.168.0.1)  0.175 ms  0.070 ms  0.077 ms
2  10.129.152.1 (10.129.152.1)  2288.349 ms  1937.817 ms  1820.893 ms
3  ip24-248-104-69.br.br.cox.net (24.248.104.69)  1577.494 ms  2866.618 ms  2556.566 ms
4  ip24-248-104-85.br.br.cox.net (24.248.104.85)  2680.228 ms  2285.573 ms  2729.356 ms
5  btnrbbrc01-pos0101.rd.br.cox.net (68.1.1.202)  2610.753 ms  2075.373 ms  2991.594 ms
6  dalsbbrj01-so-010000.r2.dl.cox.net (68.1.1.194)  2320.182 ms  2375.870 ms  1844.100 ms
7  mtc3bbrj01-so100.rd.ok.cox.net (68.1.0.150)  1467.763 ms  1865.150 ms  2014.231 ms
8  mtc3bbrj02-ae0.rd.ok.cox.net (68.1.0.121)  2045.149 ms  2279.218 ms  2055.805 ms
9  chgobbrj01pos0300.r2.ch.cox.net (68.1.0.117)  2513.806 ms  2349.426 ms chgobbrj01-so413.r2.ch.cox.net (68.1.1.29)  2664.197 ms
10  72.14.197.54 (72.14.197.54)  2362.820 ms  2200.839 ms  2368.722 ms

Yeah.

Fall 2006 Schedule

2006-04-18T23:19:00.000-05:00

School is doing that school thing, so not much time for an update, but for your viewing pleasure, my schedule for fall 06.

Also, for those of you that have not fallen prey to Snakes on a plane, here is (what I believe to be) the mp3 that started all of this nonsense.

Fighting For What Is Right

2006-03-25T18:48:00.000-06:00

Once again I shall step on my soapbox and espouse my admittedly liberal political beliefs. As some of you may know, South Dakota recently passed a bill banning abortions in all circumstances except to save a mothers life. According to bill supporters, this bill aims to overturn Roe v Wade by bringing the issue before the Supreme Court yet again. Although the bill has passed the legislature, it is still awaiting the signature of the governor for it to become law. Once it does, women in South Dakota will find themselves traveling out of state if they wish to have an abortion.

Enter the Oglala Sioux Indian Tribe. The Oglala Sioux have a reservation in South Dakota. Moreover, and they said if the governor signs the bill making abortions in South Dakota illegal (unless the mother's life is in danger), they could open an abortion clinic on reservation grounds. Being a 'sovereign nation', South Dakota's law would not apply to them, nor anything occurring on their land (although federal law does).

“We want to have a viable option closer to home,” Fire Thunder said in a written statement issued late Friday afternoon. “Of course, in our culture, children are sacred, but women are sacred too, and somebody who has been victimized by rape or incest should have options.”

Erasing the Line

2006-03-12T23:24:00.000-06:00

The most bluntly theocratic effort, however, is the Constitution Restoration Act, which Brownback co-sponsored with Jim DeMint, another former C Streeter who was then a congressman from South Carolina. If passed, it will strip the Supreme Court of the ability to even hear cases in which citizens protest faith-based abuses of power. Say the mayor of your town decides to declare Jesus lord and fire anyone who refuses to do so; or the principal of your local high school decides to read a fundamentalist prayer over the PA every morning; or the president declares the United States a Christian nation. Under the Constitution Restoration Act, that'll all be just fine.

A recent story in Rolling Stone covers a disturbing trend of extreme fundamentalism in our nation's capitol. From "prayer cells" to a powerful organization dedicated to stopping "the scourge of homosexuality", a group of dedicated conservatives aims to fundamentally alter the United States by eradicating the seperation of church and state -- making 'in God we trust' a motto for not only our country, but all our citizens as well.

A Weekend of Code

2006-02-15T00:16:00.000-06:00

As the name implies, I will be spending this weekend coding. There are several projects that must be finished, notably both those research papers (and the associated research), especially as I have to postmark the papers by February 27th. Additionally, that web development work I started like 3 months ago still is not done (Mental note: next time charge more!). Excluding coding based projects there are still many other things to be done...

The image in this post is graph from my last CSC assignment. We were supposed to implement a certain algorithm using two different methods and graph the results. I thought it would be fun to see how my results compared to my instructors. The longer an algorithm takes to complete, the worse. While I would like to think my prowess gave me the advantage, it was really using malloc's and memcpy instead of using C++'s contructors for arrays and iterating through arrays when copying them (though, perhaps using these more advanced features of C does qualify as prowess, then again, maybe not).

I have some business ventures on the horizon, sometime in March I hope to unveil the first to all of you.

Wake Up

2006-02-06T01:27:00.000-06:00

As some of you may have noticed I made a few cosmetic changes to the site, hopefully you all like them. Not a whole lot to say really, uploaded some new photos. This photo is called 'Ninjaneering'. I was helping a friend make some modifications to his case, but realized I did not have any wire cutters. At first we were using knife to strip the wires, but soon decided to try using one of his swords. It was quite effective.

For all you Linux folk out there, Adam showed me a RedHat Video that is definitely worth watching. If you don't know what Linux is, watch it anyway, it should prove fun/confusing. Anyway, a short post for a short night :-)

I Need Your Help!

2006-01-29T01:23:00.000-06:00

Yes faithful readers, I need your help! I am trying to find some good techno groups, but know of none. If any of you happen to know of some good techno, leave a comment! I find techno helps when I am coding, it is fast, and the lyrics are usually not distracting (or not present, but I kinda like having some vocals there). So, all you techno-lovers leave a comment :-)

De-Evolution?

2006-01-23T19:14:00.000-06:00

Today in my biology class the teacher posed a question: "Do you believe in the theory of Evolution". This question was to be answered through the use of an overpriced 'clicker', and possible responses were "Yes", "No" or "I don't know". Now, I expected some people to vote no, this is the south after all, but the percentages were shocking.

43% Yes
43% No
16% I don't know

To make matters worse, the professor spent the rest of class trying to explain that science was not meant to upset religious beliefs or standings and that the two had totally separate purposes.

What happened to scientist with balls? I mean, you think Darwin had it easy after he published his theory of evolution? Absolutely not. Galileo was declared a heretic and suffered a life sentence of house arrest for his assertion that Copernicus was correct (and that the Earth orbited the Sun). Moreover, the current Catholic church has still not stated that Galileo was not a heretic, only that errors had been made by theological advisors regarding his case.

Religion and science will often find themselves at odds, sometimes the religion will modify its standing to coincide with science, other times they will declare it heretical. This is simply how things are, and I believe scientist should be willing to stand behind their science, even in the face of opposition (they can recant in the face of death though, but only if they don't mean it). After all, if they are not willing to have whatever theories they study poked, prodded and tested, than it is no longer science, but more like a religion.

I think Magellan may have said it best:
"The Church says that the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the Church."

Miyazaki

2006-01-05T21:16:00.000-06:00

This post is a dedication to Hayao Miyazaki. This month Turner Classic Movies are playing two Miyazaki films every Thursday night. Tonight was Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. If you have never gotten to see either of these films I strongly encourage you to take time to watch them, each of them are truly a masterpiece in their own way.

Watching these movies got me thinking, who's vision becomes real? I suppose anyone with the motivation, their vision and dream become real, simply by sharing it with others. I am tempted to follow Adam's lead and try my hand and writing something, but I am not sure if I will have the time.

My winter break nears an end, and next week I return to school. Soon, I will re-enter the crucible.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-26T00:10:00.000-06:00

The Slope
Originally uploaded by iwsmith.

And a happy new year! This photo is taken from the top of one of the slopes at the Ski area. So far the weather has been rather wet (I am told this area sets the records for snowfall and whatnot, however all we got was rain). As such, I did not take many photos (new camera + rain, not so good). Do not despair though! More photos are on the way. We have finished the Skiing portion of this trip, so now we tour the wonderful Seattle area, expect some more photos. All my photos (not just this select photo) are available on flickr.

Live from Seattle!

2005-12-22T12:41:00.000-06:00

Hey kids, a quick post here. First up, I got a digital camera for Christmas, so expect lots of pictures from now on. As always, this will bring you to my full album.

Ok, so after leaving New Orleans at 6 last night, we transferred to Houston international, and then relayed up to Seattle, arriving at 12:15. When I awoke I found that wondrous sight outside my window.

In Memoriam

2005-12-13T00:32:00.000-06:00

The first in a series of posts on Capital Punishment

While this post coincides with the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the issue is one I have been contemplating writing on for a while. With that out of the way, let us being.

I will start by asserting my belief the capital punishment is inherently wrong. As we shall investigate later, there are numerous reasons for this. Today's post, however, will focus on what I consider to be the simplest, and simultaneously the most powerful argument against capital punishment.

Our justice system deals with relative certainty. While the letter of the law reads "guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt", the actual practice tends to be far less discerning. As complex as a trial is, there are many possibilities for errors to introduce themselves. Ranging from the malicious (planting of evidence) to the accidental (mis-handling of evidence, or a 'bad' witness), many avenues for errors appear, each one compounded by every additional person involved in the case. Despite the error prone nature of the legal system, most people accept it as "good enough", it works most of the time, and when it fails, someone usually sees the error and fixes it.

This is, simply put, how things are, and society accepts this. Sometimes an innocent man is imprisoned, but we usually get around to releasing him. If you were to examine the case records of any given state you would likely see numerous convictions that have been overturned for a variety of reason. One of my major problems with capital punishment is its finality. There are no reprieves for the dead, no further appeals to be made. Overturning the verdict no longer matters. Capital punishment essentially says 'We know you committed this crime, and no future evidence will ever prove different'. This, however, is not always the case.

Since 1973, 122 people have been exonerated from death row, that is they were either acquitted or their charges dismissed (This information from DPIC, admittedly biased towards my cause, but their sources seem legit). Other people should have been charged with a lesser crime. Despite this, an even more appalling figure exist, the one listing people who, due to evidence uncovered after the trial, likely would have been exonerated, but were executed before this came to light.

How can we claim to have a 'just' legal system when it has killed innocent people? We are exacting the most permanent of punishment on evidence that is not always accurate, in a system that is not always right. While some may argue that these are corner cases, I say that is the point. Corner cases exist, the system is not perfect, and until it can guarantee 100% accuracy the use of capital punishment is unacceptable. To do so would be to make a mockery of the justice that we seek; turning a blind eye against a faulty system, instead opting to believe that "right most of the time" is good enough. I say it is not. If even one innocent would die it is not justice, it is murder.

This post is In Memoriam, not of Stanley Williams, but rather the countless innocent people that have been executed by the state.

When I started writing this entry a man was alive, now he is dead...

We are so dead

2005-11-03T21:31:00.000-06:00

Avian bird flu has been a popular topic of late. While still overshadowed by other miscellaneous new stories, I think this is one that will be sticking around for a while. For those of you who don't know, the US Government has put up a web site for the public regarding avian bird flu: http://www.pandemicflu.gov
I suggest all of you take a while to read over it. Most of the information is actually from the WHO, and is rather disturbing.

In other news, I have started another blog, this one detailing what I am doing at work. I am sure most of you will find it boring, but here it is anyway.

A Major Change....

2005-10-23T22:57:00.000-05:00

As the title implies, changes are occurring. Most notably, I am leaving ECE and moving back to CSC. Many of you may remember that not more than 5 months ago I moved to ECE, so why the sudden change? Well, I realized that Computer Engineering is not what I want to do with my life, Computer Science is. In what capacity? I don't really know yet, but I am sure I can find something.

My return to CSC has been cemented tonight (as scheduling has occurred). For the interested, here is my schedule:

Other news, I am planning on staying at LSU over the summer and taking additional courses. To complement this, I hope to get rent a house or apartment, I have 2 other friends I am thinking of rooming with.

Finally, I joined Habitat for Humanity and went to my first build last weekend. I spent the day working with these two guys on roofing, and eventually got to use the nail gun (alot :-) . One of them commented that I am "contractor material", so if the school thing falls through...

Anyway, there is the update for those that requested it (Mary). More to come soon, so stay tuned...

Serenity Geekdom

2005-10-16T12:18:00.000-05:00

You scored as Zoe Alleyne Washburne. The Soldier. You are the second in command, and that is fine. You like a chain of command, but only when the one in charge has earnt your respect. Those who earn your love or loyalty will find no one better to guard their back.

Zoe Alleyne Washburne

88%

The Operative

81%

Kaylee Frye

75%

Simon Tam

75%

Shepherd Derrial Book

69%

Capt. Mal Reynolds

69%

River Tam

63%

Inara Serra

63%

Hoban 'Wash' Washburne

56%

Jayne Cobb

31%

Which Serenity character are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Well, I am not married to Laurence Fishburne, but seems right other than that...

Still Alive

2005-09-02T02:49:00.000-05:00

Major post latency, but it has been extremely busy. Major news currently is Katrina. I am personally fine (being in Baton Rouge and whatnot), however all of my family is missing right now. I last got in touch with them on Monday sometime. I know one Aunt and my Grandparents are headed into Alabama (somewhere), while my other Aunt and Mother are missing currently. I am planning on heading into Slidell on Saturday to go look for my mom. She had evacuated to Diamondhead, MS for some reason, so she may or may not be at home, I really don't know.

Around campus people are complaining. They are not complaining about the lackluster response from the federal government, or the inadequate planning of the city, but rather that their homes may be destroyed. I would consider myself to have gotten out lucky if everyone in my family is OK.

I am headed down to the PMac in 30 minutes for my shift as a volunteer. I made the mistake of volunteering as a nurse, which could include washing people, or changing diapers (I should have volunteered as a runner, or for security or something...). It should be interesting at the very least...

I will post later today to let everyone know how the PMac went...

Limbo

2005-08-12T01:24:00.000-05:00

Ah, my summer break. Though, it really isn't. While this would normally constitute my summer break, due to the fact that I still have to take my Calc final it is more studying and worrying than anything else. My midterm is still MIA (Though I have finally received my two incomplete lessons so I can redo them). Next week will be rather busy for me, currently on the plate:
Saturday - Aquarium, help Grandparents
Sunday - Drive to LSU, spend the night
Monday - Calc II Final, Setup ACM Webserver, drive back
Tuesday - Work at NRL
Wednesday - Drive to BR again?
Thursday - Move-In
Friday - Excellent Question...
Everyone is abuzz with excitement over the Serenity trailer. I just want to point out that I was abuzz way before these kids were. Like, in May (In hind-sight, Firefly most likely hurt my Calc II grade...)

Anyway, just a quick update, nothing profound. Perhaps next time I can begin my series on, well, I don't know what really, but it would be something good.

Until next time...

Feel Good Inc.

2005-07-23T19:22:00.000-05:00

For those of you who know, Feel Good Inc. is a song on the latest Gorillaz album, Demon Days. I recently got my hands on the album, and it is some goodness. I would recommend everyone checks it out. There is the immensely popular 'Feel Good Inc.' (as heard on that Apple commercial), and I am a fan of 'Fire Coming Out of The Monkey's Head'. It is all around a good album, so check it.

Also on the radar of fresh new stuff (yeah, I used fresh. Been a while since anyone has used that in a sentence), I saw a preview for Vendetta today. It looks like a movie about anarchists (AKA freedom fighters) in a dystopic neo-conservative future (Or, the future of America based upon current trends, but more on that another day though...). It is written by the Wachowski Brothers, which could mean anything really (so far they are 1 for 3 in my book). It does feature Natalie Portman, but she was in the new Star Wars movies, so this also means nothing. This is a movie to keep your eye on (imho)...

I have found yet another web comic worth reading, Sinfest and it is work appropriate (sort of anyway). One day I will have to write up a post all about my favorite web comics, and give you a sample of some strips they have.

In other news, I have spent a majority of today studying for my Calc midterms. I am supposed to take it next Tuesday, but somehow I doubt that the test will arrive on time. I will also have the privilege of spending all day tomorrow studying. I am abound with enthusiasm...

Anyway, I must resume my studying...

-- Ian

End of the Trail

2005-07-17T22:59:00.000-05:00

The trail continues, but I feel that I cannot. It is 11 PM, I have work in 9 hours, and I don't want to go. I am tired, tired of working harder than most of the students here, but getting paid significantly less. Tired of the bureaucratic bullshit that results in me paying $181 a week to live with (and clean up after) 5 other people. 'That's horrible' the people I work with say, but they will not try to change it. Times like this it hits me the worst. I have to finish a section of Calc tonight. I started today needing to finish just half a section, and through the entire day have managed to do about two problems. Times like this I cannot focus. When I get tired, my concentration wanes, the fact that I am posting this is proof of that very fact. I came here almost two hours ago, and have gotten nothing done. I look at the problems, I should know how to solve them, the concepts are there, but the details break me. It drives me crazy, they assume I should have this knowledge, but I do not, and so their explanations make no sense. I look forward, only three more weeks and I am back home. And then I get to take my Calc final. And then school starts again, 16 hours per week plus work plus ACM plus IEEE plus this and that. This working over the summer may have seemed like a good idea, but I am worried that I am burning out...

A Quick Update

2005-07-09T22:38:00.000-05:00

Nothing long or dramatic here, just wanted to share something with you all that I thought was a 'must listen too'.

There is a program on NPR called 'This American Life', and last week I found a piece they did about religion in America. The piece is long, about one hour, but well worth the listen. (In the event the above link does not work, here is a direct link) The down side is that is require Real Media Player, but I downloaded it, and the piece was worth it :-)

In other news, Dennis is headed towards the Gulf Coast, although I am in Chicago, I hope it stays away from Louisiana. Best of luck to anyone in that guys path.

Also, next week starts the next season of BattleStar Galactica. I made an earlier post about how awesome the show is, and I stand by that assertion. Too bad I don't get cable, I guess I will have to catch up on missed episodes when I get back.

--Ian

Santana

2005-07-04T12:13:00.000-05:00

This weekend has been great.

It started on Saturday with Taste of Chicago (again). However, this time the main attraction was not the taste itself, but rather Carlos Santana. At about 3:30 Saturday I began heading to Butler field, where Santana was supposed to start playing at 4:00 (well, his opening bands were). As soon as I made it to Butler field, I saw the massive crowd of people, who, like me, wanted to see Santana play. I never before thought I would learn anything useful from Mardi Gras in the French Quarter, however, I knew at that moment I had been wrong. The crowd was at least Jazz fest sized, possibly larger. However, by utilizing all the skills I had built up from years of navigating through parades and pushing people aside, I was able to get a fairly good position.

At 4:30 (half an hour after this was supposed to start) a band finally appeared on the stage. It was The Salvador Santana Band. While Salvador Santana himself may be a good keyboardist, I was not really feeling the rest of his band. After about 15-20 minutes they left the stage and the setup began for the next band, Los Lonely Boys. Los Lonely Boys is a great band. Although they are not the greatest lyricists around, their technical skills are amazing. If you ever have the opportunity to see them live, take it, I promise it will be worth it. They played for about an hour, wrapping up at 6 PM. Finally the moment we all had been waiting for had arrived. People everywhere began cheering as Carlos Santana stepped on stage.

Being at a live Santana concert was amazing. In some ways, I felt like I was at Woodstock when he played for the first time. People would be dancing with people they had never met before, just grooving to the music (I personally was with a Yoga Instructor/Physical Therapist named Sherry (or some derivative thereof). I think part of this atmosphere was due to Santana himself, who half-way through playing stopped and talked to us all about compassion and world peace. Another factor was the nature of people who listen to Santana and would come out to see him play. It all combined to make a great concert.

Santana played unlike any other guitarist I had ever seen. He seemed so natural while doing it, just as you and I seem when we breath or walk. He was not fighting the music, but instead, it seemed that he was moving to the music inside of him. Every step and every strum seemed like it was what he was meant to do, and all he has ever done. His 'natural' style showed through the amount of time he played as well, over two hours (For a guy that is upwards of 50 years old, that is impressive).

I feel that Santana is the last of a breed. I think he is one of the last musicians that play music for the music's sake. He is one of the last musicians that seeks to fundamentally change people through his work. Moreover, he lives through simple means (I believe anyway), he does not live a lavish lifestyle while preaching about poverty in African nations (unlike certain actors...). No, he practices what he preaches, and when he is up there on the stage, you know it.

While I was at the Santana concert, I got a phone call from a number in Slidell. I returned to the call to learn the a friend of mine, Rachel, was going to Germany, and had a layover in Chicago. I eventually managed to contact her, and went to visit with her at her hotel. The next day she and I went downtown, eventually arriving at the Art Institute of Chicago. After spending a few hours there, marveling at all the cool jazz they had, we headed over to Giordano's for some deep dish pizza. At about 3 PM, I sent her on the blue line back to O'Hare so she could catch her plane to Germany. I was now stranded in Chicago ^_^

Luckily enough, I remembered that one of my roommates was coming into Chicago today with some friends that had cars. I contacted him and found out that he was at the Museum of Science and Industry. Seeing that it would be closing in an hour or so, I told him to give me a call afterwards and we would meet up. I then promptly went to Millennium Park, and fell asleep on the grass. Two hours later, my roommate called me, and we met up at Butler field, where we (he had 5 girls with him, soo, yeah, not gay [not that there is anything wrong with that, it is just not me...]) sat and watched the fireworks while listening to the symphony. It went well until the fireworks started, when people began getting extremely prickish, and standing up in front of everyone. As we were leaving, the streets became packed, it was like everyone in Chicago came out for this event.

This weekend has been a good one so far, so happy fourth to the rest of you all, and have fun.

Until next time

--Ian

Live From Chi-Town

2005-06-29T22:01:00.000-05:00

Ahh how time flies. It has been a very long while since I updated my blog (nearly two months now), so let me fill everyone in one what happened.

When we last left our hero (being me), he was preparing to for a final push against Calc II, one that would hopefully end quagmire that Calc II had become. That battle did not go as planned. 3 days and a 'D' later, I was running around campus, trying to figure out what I was going to do to resolve the situation. I finally settled on doing correspondence courses from Argonne (After confirming the department would accept the credit). This seemed like an ideal solution. Its implementation proved to be a real pain, though. After working 8 hours (with no lunch), I come back, rest for an hour, then hit the Calc for the next 2-3 hours. Not fun (but necessary). I will go over the routine in detail a little later on.

Having solved that crisis, I returned home, and on May 26th jetted out to Chi-Town. While a description of what occurred on my 'vacation' really deserves a post of its own, I will instead condense it down like so:
Places I Visited

Hancock Tower

The Art Institute of Chicago

Museum of Science and Industry

Giordano's

Navy Pier

Millennium Park

Sears Tower

Magnificent Mile

Wired's NextFest

Taste of Chicago

Mind you, that's not everything, just what I remember. It seems like everything in Chicago has a web site, heh.

On May 30th I moved in at Argonne. Our lodging is straight out of the 1950's, linoleum and all. It is 3 bedrooms to an area, with 2 people per bedroom. Things get kind of rushed in the morning, but strategic shower planning tends to alleviate most woes. By far the biggest problem is the internet, well, lack of internet. Our lodges not only lack internet access, but lacks cable as well (We do have broadcast TV, which includes 3 Spanish channels and 1 Asian channel of some type, so we do have TV). I had to walk about 1/8 of a mile to the high energy physics building to make this post. To top all of this off, only one of our roommate's has a car, and he has a tendency to disappear. Due to our trapped nature, and lack of internet and cable, we have found some old fashioned ways to entertain ourselves. While I spend a lot of time doing Calc, reading is also very popular. While here, I have finished the following books:

Catcher in the Rye - Salinger

1984 - Orwell

The Foundation - Asimov

and currently in the queue are:

100 Years of Solitude

Slaughterhouse 5

I have also been spending more time just running around outside (literally), and today one of my roommates brought a bike, so I biked around for half an hour. When we have a car available we go to the movies (We are also looking for a Whitecastle), but more on the movie front later.

I know this post wasn't emotionally charged or that well written, but I had to put something down. If I kept putting it off you all never would have gotten a post. Anyway, until next time.
--Ian

ETD 34 Hours

2005-05-09T02:26:00.000-05:00

ETD, or Estimated Time of Death, is a mere 34 hours away. Then, I shall find myself face to face with destiny: my Calculus II final. Things are not looking up in general this semester. My grades are uncertain to say the least, and it is going to be nothing less then a genuine miracle if I clear this semester with no C's. This is all around bad news for me. Due to the fragility of my GPA currently, one C can knock my overall GPA under the 3.0 mark, unless I have an A in one of my other classes to counteract it. I have been studying Calc for nearly two days, but still feel like I have accomplished nothing. If I, by some horrible mishap, get a D on my Calc exam, I will have to re-take the course to get credit for Engineering, which in turn will delay my taking of Circuits by a semester, thus delaying my expected graduation date by a semester. These are truly perilous times. Some blogs have 'moods' associated with them. If I were to try to explain my current mood, it would be oscillating between sheer panic and lassitude.

I shall report in once the first battle is over.

Firefly

2005-05-03T23:47:00.000-05:00

Well, in view of my last geeky post, I find it fitting that I should follow it up with another, equally geeky post.

I recently read (and saw) the trailer for the movie Serenity coming out this Fall. I knew it was based off a cancelled series, Firefly, which I had heard many good things about. Well, after some digging and hunting I located the entire series (all 14 episodes).

After having watched 10 of them, I can say Fox (yet again) cancelled an excellent series. While I have not been able to determine if it is better than Battlestar Galactica (They are very different shows), I can say it is as good as Battlestar Galactica (and much better than most the crap on television these days).

Lately things have been... odd. More and more I have felt like Holden from Catcher in the Rye, surrounded by Phonies. This assessment does not include any of the audience, I generally get this feeling when around people I do not know (actually, usually eavesdropping on their conversation). It is odd, and disturbing. Is there some way that I am just hitting on the phonies, that somehow I gravitate towards them (or they gravitate towards me?). I would like to think so, but it is not statistically likely. Moreover, I find these people on TV (CNN anyone?), in our school newspaper, and on the radio. There are safe havens though. The New York Times has a low phoney content (IMHO), as does NPR. TV wise, well I have stopped watching TV for the most part. I record shows I want to watch, and skip the commercials. Perhaps what I am sick of is the commercialism of it all. Corporations telling me what I want, what I need. Perhaps I am scared that it is working...

Finals are swiftly approaching, and I am more than ready for this semester to end. My grades are less than spectacular, and I have been less than enthusiastic when it comes to homework. I am not sure why, it just is that way. Perhaps its that same old song, just a different stage. I think I will clear this semester with two C's, and the rest B's. With some work I can (maybe) change that to one C and the

A New Hope...

2005-04-26T00:52:00.000-05:00

And no, its not the third Star Wars movie.
A few years ago I had lost all hope for visual Science Fiction (TV/Movies that is). After the slow decline, and eventual devise of Farscape, followed by the melodramatic miniseries full of every rehashed plot they (the Farscape writers) had, I was left disappointed and bitter. Indeed, I had seen far to many promising shows (Most based off solid concepts) die horrible deaths (EarthSea anyone?). However, there was, as there always seems to be, hope, off in the distance. A gleaming star in a pale, dark night. In late 2003, a Battlestar Galactica miniseries aired.

This miniseries was, to say the least invigorating. It featured an excellent cast (including Edward James Olmos), a solid story, great special effects, and a very human edge. Some science fiction shows come off as being detatched from society. Though the show may mirror some problems our society faces, the characters come out feeling inhuman and very far away (some claim that Babylon 5 had static characters, they were either always good, always driven by greed, or always evil).

Well, fast-forward to late 2004, and the Battlestar Galactica series began. At first I had an overwhelming sense of trepidation. Had I set my expectations to high? Would the show be unable to attain the goals I had mentally constructed for it?

Tonight I finished watching the last episode of season one. My expectations were shattered. Perhaps I am dropping into fanboy mode here, but I love this series. It has brought back my fervor for Science Fiction, revived my long lost addition, and gave me hope for the future (of television). This series has shown me that there are still intelligent people out there doing creative things. I would not be surprised to see this series gain further recognition.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that season 1 of Battlestar Galactica was much better than any other Science Fiction series' first season that I have seen. I only hope we continue to see this level of excellence in the show next season, and for many seasons thereafter.

If you missed season one I would highly recommend that you get your hands on it and watch it. I believe you will not be disappointed.

Duke, Part 2

2005-03-29T00:05:00.000-06:00

Well, the second half of the Duke trip was by far better than the first. We did not spend as much time on Duke's campus, instead following one of my recommendations: visiting a state park.

As some of you know, I like the outdoors, especially remote locations. Why? I cannot say, but something about being out there, on my own, out of anyone's reach makes me happy. Perhaps it is the purity of it, perhaps the remoteness (a manifestation of my occasionally introverted nature?). Either way, I like it.

North Carolina has a great state park system. Due to time constraints, we ended up going to Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, which was located about 20 miles from our hotel. We ended up hiking about 5 miles that day, going to the top of the 'mountain' and returning along the river. It was amazing, and I have pictures (but not online yet). One day, I hope to visit Gorges State Park, which is much larger, but with even nicer trails.

In closing, I do wish to reiterate my previous assertion: Duke (and North Carolina's) Highways and Roads suck, a lot.

Duke

2005-03-24T23:37:00.000-06:00

After some lengthy delays, I come to you live, from the corner of a darkened hotel room in Durham, NC. I spent the last two days running around Durham, but mostly visiting with Mary. This, of course, meant I got to see Duke's campus. So I give you the following perspective (LSU Bias - Uncorrected)

General Area - The Durham area in general is very nice. The weather was bad when we first got up here, however it has cleared for the last two days and been pleasant (The students inform me that this is the nicest the weather has been for a while). They have mountains (well, hills really), but still, it is nice.

Campus Aesthetics - At first glance, Duke seems larger than it actually is. The two sections of campus are separated by a lot of land, making bus transit a necessity. This land separation does add a sense of serenity to the campus though. The general architecture of the campus is interesting, the older sections having a very gothic look to them, while the newer sections are plain at best. It should be noted that the chapel is beautiful (from the outside at least), and definitely worth seeing if you are passing through.

Campus Transit - As stated earlier, Duke is heavily reliant on a bus system. While the buses are clean, and appear timely, one would think that this would become a burden after a while. I suppose you could ride your bike, and that would be fun (until it rained). Their parking situation can only be classified as pathetic. While Duke has a lot of space, they have minimal amounts of parking, and nearly all of it is reserved for students, delegating visitors to a singular parking garage that they must pay, by the hour, to park in. Simply put, it sucks. Another area of disgust is the general campus street layout. Often, areas which should be easily reached are not, requiring an additional half mile drive to get somewhere. The routes are often circuitous in nature, and seemingly inefficient. In the event of an emergency, I believe first responders could find themselves wasting time with non-sensical routes.

Food - LSU out does Duke in this field. I went to the dining hall once, and ended up getting a salad (Duke's salads are superior to LSU's though). Most of the food looked disturbing. Also, Duke's cafes are inferior. I asked for Iced Tea, and got a cup of water filled with ice, and a tea bag... Not how you make iced tea....

Dorms - Dukes dorms were somewhat smaller than mine is, although they did have carpeting on the floor. One nice thing are the coed floors (one hall male, another female). That would be a nice setup :-o

So there you have it, I judged all the somewhat nominal things about Duke, but was unable to judge the important things (Academics, costs, coolness).

Oh yeah, and they don't have a tiger :-p

The Times, They Are A-Changing

2005-03-13T18:51:00.000-06:00

The past week has been an interesting one, fruitful even. I have finally come to a decision regarding my major, and I will be moving to get a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. I have come to the conclusion that the CS department here is rather lackluster, and I would benefit more from EE & ECE.

In other news, my car is more broken than ever before. While attempting repairs on the tail light, I somehow managed to break the blinker on the left side of the vehicle instead... I will have to go to autozone sometime this week to pickup some new light bulbs.

Speaking of broken things, my Onboard network failed on my new AMD box. I had an extra network card in my fileserver/router, however it can no longer fufill those duties do to lack of two network cards. I will be ordering a new one sometime this week I suppose...

I got to see the last 10 minutes of Better Than Ezra Friday night (LSU was hosting a music festival thing for the students and whatnot). It was an enjoyable 10 minutes. Last Thursday I got to hear Wole Soyinka speak on Cultures Dialogue. It was a very interesting lecture, one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Rather fittingly, I went to see Hotel Rwanda on Friday. This movie was deeply moving (more-so than Million Dollar Baby), and I highly recommend that you all watch it. This movie definitely downgraded my opinion of Bill Clinton...

Anyway, until next time kids....

A Cool New Toy

2005-03-06T18:55:00.000-06:00

Hey kids, after the long, dreary last post I thought I would write about something a bit lighter in nature (and shorter).

My roommate convinced me to try amaroK, a jukebox like program for KDE (Linux). Well, after using it for a few days, I am quite impressed. One of the coolest things I found, however, was not with amaroK itself, but rather a website called AudioScrobbler.

Basically, AudioScrobbler records what songs you listen to, and by which artists, and computes cool statistics about it. amaroK has a plugin for it, so go have a gander at my current stats.

Anyway, that is all for now, just thought I would share :-)

Sick

2005-03-05T01:46:00.000-06:00

So, as some of you know, I have been sick for the past few days. All this started Tuesday, when I woke up with a sore throat. Being the idiot I was, I went to class anyway. 2 hours later, back in my room, in my bed, under my blanket, with my fleece on, I was still cold. I quickly surveyed my symptoms and came up with

Chills

Fever

Nausea

Headache

drowsiness

I did not have a cough, nor was I sneezing, so I immediately became suspicious. I have had the flu before, and this did not feel like the flu (granted, flu strains vary widely from year to year based off market demand). I thought "Oh crap, what if this is meningitis", so I went online to check the meningitis symptoms (and this took an amazing amount of effort). The symptoms, according to www.meningitis.org are

Severe Headache

Stiff Neck

Dislike of Bright Lights

Fever/Vomiting

drowsiness

Chills

Rash

I matched many of their symptoms, but not all. I decided to wait a bit and see what happens (this is about 10:45 AM Tuesday). I got to sleep and have some REALLY bizarre dreams (high fever and whatnot). When I wake up I decide I should go see a medic, but was at a loss as to how to get there. I called all of my friends with vehicles, and all were at class. I ended up calling William (Whom I work with), and he gave me a ride (Thanks William :-) ). I got to the medical center, nurse took my temp, it was 102 degrees. They scheduled me to see the doctor, and about 10 minutes later I was in his exam room waiting for him. Now, up until this point I had not vomited (It is something I hate, a lot), but once I made it to the exam room, I knew it was going to happen. I went over the the sink and braced myself. Luckily, I had not eaten anything so far that day. Anyway, right after throwing up in the sink the doctor shows up. "So, what are your symptoms", and I tell him. "Have you vomited?" he asks, and I pointed at his sink. For future reference, do *not* vomit in a doctors sink, they get pissed about it. "You missed the trash can?" He says. "Sorry dude" was my reply, which was swiftly met with "I'm not a dude". "Sorry Doctor" I responded. Things got better from there (The nausea was gone!!). Anyway, he concluded that:
A. I do not have the Flu
B. I do not have strep
C. I prolly do not have meningitis
D. I have some unknown viral infection
Well, now 5 days later, the only remains of this virus are a swollen throat and a dry cough (And a very annoying one too). Anyway, there is my brush with unknown virus story. I hope this damn cough will go away .....

All We Have Is Now

2005-02-26T00:22:00.000-06:00

So tonight was.... Interesting. Originally, Irina, Riley, and myself were supposed to go to see Constatine, however, things did not work out (Irina) had to go to a party. This may have been for the best, as I was in a crappy mood (Me + fighting with ourtunes/Itunes for an hour, + Me fighting with NFS). I ended up watching Battlestar Galactica with Riley (Yeah, super exciting, eh), and afterwards I went to Cane's for some food (Riley opted not to join me).

Still in a crappy mood, I sat down to eat my food, and contemplated the meaning of life (among other things). While leaving, I noticed a cop in the parking lot. I was really hoping he was not waiting for the owner of the white fox with a super-expired bake tag...

As I got closer to my car, I heard a guy behind me talking to the cop, he said

Hey, you hear that guy [someone at the front door of the restaurant], he said fuck the mother-fucking police

The cop responded, saying

Yeah, I think you said it

to which the guy replied

Hey, I'm clean man, I don't have any warrants or anything

I was somewhat humored by the exchage, and was about to enter my vehicle when I heard the guy say something to me

Hey man, can I get a lift? I really don't wanna go by that cop again

Now that he was closer, I could smell the alcohol on his breath, and his closed reeked of pot. I asked him where he was going, "college station" being his reply. I told him I was headed back to campus, but he said he would pay me $10 to take him. After a few moments consideration, I said ok.

As I entered the car, I unzipped my pocket with my knife in it, after all, I did not know anything about this guy. I unlocked his door and he hopped in. As we set off, he began rambling about a few different things. At first sight, he thought I was a skin head (driving the VW and all I guess). He proceeded to ask me if I smoked pot (The answer being no). He proceeded to tell me that he was going to jail on Sunday (At this point, I thought 'Good move Ian, picking up a felon...'), but said it was for DWI (3 of them actually). He moved on to talking about Hitler and Stalin, mumbling something about German tanks. I ended up dropping him off at 'College Station' some seedy looking college bar.

I spent the rest of the night meandering about Wal-Mart, in search of the perfect shelving, but to no avail. I did however, manage to get some groceries, so not all was lost (well, $40 was....)

This random man I gave a ride to made me realize that I was more fortunate than I previously had thought. After all, I was not faced with the fact that Tonight was my second to last night as a free man for the next few years. I would not be turning myself in at midnight Sunday, I would not have to meet someone named 'Bubba' in prison. All we have is now.

One More Robot

2005-02-20T01:27:00.000-06:00

Ah kids, it has been an interesting few days.

First, Thursday. I took my Biology test, and new my future in the class would hinge on the results of this test.

I now have a 'W'. So I was stupid, I took Bio for pre-med majors. Won't make that mistake again....
As a result, though, I do get to make the CS meetings at work, and spend more time working on other classes/goofing off. Not all bad, eh.

Linux install fest was yesterday, it was very tiring. Not much to say here..

I am working on a new project. It is just an idea for now, there is a good bit of research I need to do, mostly on metaclasses (Python) and Neural Network implementations. Anyway, I am out for now :-)

Dream On

2005-02-14T21:18:00.000-06:00

Well, its been over 2 weeks since my last post, apologies for that. Things have been very busy. There is so much to cover, so lets get started :-)

Mardi Gras - Although I originally stated I would not be seeing any parades, this proved to be false. Tegan coerced me into going into New Orleans Monday night. I got to meet some of her friends from Northwestern (They seemed to be mostly normal folk) while we were waiting for Orpheus to show up. The parade was 3 hours late (A float caught on fire evidently), but as was good. After the parade we got to go to the Chateau Senesta and chill on a balcony overlooking Bourbon street (Kudos to Tegan's dad). Overall good stuff :-)

Paintball - Last weekend I went to play paintball for the first time. It rocked. I would love to do it more often, but it is cost prohibitive at this time. However, the chance to shoot Riley and Chris (I actually got Chris in the back of the head :-p ) was worth the money. By the end of the day we were all covered with mud, and have differing points of paintball impact bothering us. But damn it was fun.

Expenditures - I spent $181 on Amazon late last week, bought two things. First, a Garmin eTrex Legend GPS receiver. Why you might ask? Well, I decided to start GeoCaching (actually, I decided to start a while ago), and am finally getting around to buying the unit. The other things was a Knife. Its pretty cool, and will be useful while out GeoCaching.

Well, that is all for now, but stay tuned, more is on the way!!

Million Dollar Baby

2005-01-29T01:44:00.000-06:00

It is not often that a movie gets its very own post dedicated to it, however, I was so amazed by Million Dollar Baby, I had to say something. This movie was dark, moving, depressing. It was one of the few movies I have ever seen that has so deeply moved me, drawn me in so well...

To give you all some perspective, it is one of the best movies I have seen in a theater ever. As a matter of fact, the only other contender would be another Eastwood film, Mystic River. Keep in mind, I have never seen some of the other great dramas in the theaters (I missed Schindler's List), however, I would say this is the most important film this year.

Rather fittingly, I am listening to Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt, which is, in my opinion, the saddest song I know of. The Greeks loved tragedy, they loved the tragic hero, they loved hating his downfall. Million Dollar Baby is the same, there is a tragic hero, and in the end, her heroic trait gets her.

There is so much to this movie -- I just don't have the energy to go through it all right now. Expect a post tomorrow.

Nightfall Will Be Coming Soon

2005-01-27T21:59:00.000-06:00

Well, I missed the 'make a post every 2 days' mark, but 4 is not too shabby. Things have been somewhat hectic (or it feels that way right now). After battling with my windows install for 3 days I finally got it working. I think a device driver corrupted during the defrag, not sure which one though. I ended up having to do an 'repair installation', which replaced all of the system drivers. To bad M$ doesn't bother verifying the integrity of their drivers before loading them, it would take all of a few milli-seconds....

On the school note all goes well (I guess). I have only skipped one class so far (and it was music appreciation). Calc is starting to heat up with all the trig we are doing, I may need to study my trig identities. Had a LUG meeting today. We are already planning our next install fest, slated for the 19 of Feburary. The distro of choice will be SUSE, so I will prolly install SUSE 64 on my AMD system sometime this weekend, give it a quick spin, kick the tires and whatnot.

Work is ok, still tracking some mysterious bug in IsoView. I played with OpenDX for a bit, it seemed a rather complex system. I will have to spend some time learning this too. I am currently working on an application to the Argonne National Labs. It is due Feb 1st, so I am scrambling to get everything done (big surprise, eh). I decided that I would update my blog in the midst of this....

Its Been Too Long....

2005-01-23T14:11:00.000-06:00

Sorry about the lag time in posts. I just got back to school, and to say the least things have been hectic. I dropped $250 on books this semester, and I still need to get one more book (I am hoping someone I know will have an old copy...). I think I am going to start updating this blog more often (I know I have said this in the past, but it will happen this time [I think :-) ]). Not sure what I am going to say yet, but I hope it will be interesting. I have a new computer science professor, Duncan. So far, he seems better than what I had before. A quick run down of my schedule this semester is:

CSC 1351 - Computer Science 2
MATH 1551 - Calc 2
CMST 2060 - Speech
BIOL 1201 - Biology 1
BIOL 1208 - Bio Lab
MUS 1751 - Music Appreciation

This comes out to a grand total of 17 credit hours, though it is 19 in actuality (Bio lab is only 1 credit hour, but takes 3 hours). Current bets are 3-1 that Music Appreciation will be my favorite/most attended class.

On the work front things have been interesting. I found out my boss is leaving in February to go get his PhD from Cardiff in the UK. He says he will still maintain his current role to some extent. He seems to have a nice selection of things for me to do, so I guess I will remain employed through the end of this semester. One of my friends was thinking of leaving CCT, however, it appears he will be staying, which is good. I also recently found out that CCT has a guy who works on exactly what I want to, systems integration, or as he calls it 'Embedded Computing'. I am going to drop by his office next week (Tuesday) and have a chat with him.

Anyway, I have some homework that needs my attention, and then I need to fix windows (I defragged and now its screwy as hell...)

Until next time kids...

Its A New Year

2005-01-10T20:42:00.000-06:00

Well, it had been a while since my last post. I have been very busy with work, tying up loose ends before I leave, quashing bugs, and the Opteron roll out (If you did not understand most of what I said, don't worry, just nod your head...). I got to see some friends from far away over the holidays (Cue Mary and Angela), which is always good. I am anxious to get back to school. While the break has been OK, it made me realize I cannot spend my life doing Systems Administration (Ok, I knew that already, but it re-enforced it), nor can I live in Slidell. In a strange turn of events, I think I have decided on my major(s): Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering. I haven't actual reviewed the class requirements yet, so maybe this is a pipe dream at best. I think I figured out what I want to do for now: Systems Integration. I don't know if this is a real field or not, but it is what I want to do. It would involve integrating computers into real-world applications -- Cars, Home, Cities, Malls, People. I think I could have fun with this, and believe a job market will appear for it. No deep, earth shattering revelations for you all today, sorry. Try again once I am back in the belly of the beast (ie school). On another note, the readership for this may be larger than I originally thought. I was on facebook today, and found a persons blog I had not noticed before and read through some of it (all actually). It follows that other facebookers may be doing the same :-)

Last note of business today, I have a picture for you. This was taken by Allison (SEND ME THE OTHER PICTURES ALLISON!!!!), and aptly named by Brian "The Shop-Class Gang Sign". I hope you all enjoy.

Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or genitals

2004-12-15T22:43:00.000-06:00

The name says it all, no? Well, for those of you who are still confused, perhaps this will clear the title up (or make you laugh more).

Ok, so in reality, that is from a website that lists the worst technical documentation they can find every year. It is very funny, and worth a visit.

Well, this looks to be a short post :-)

Lies, Conspiracy, and Incompetence

2004-12-07T19:55:00.000-06:00

Well, today was a rather significant day for lies. First, the classic line used by conservatives saying that "there is no conclusive evidence for global warming", or "Scientist disagree about the effects of global warming" has been blown away. An article in the Science magazine has done an analysis of reports on global warming for the last 10 years from respectable (peer-reviewed) journals and found that 75% of the reports attribute global warming to humans, 25% don't say, but not a single one asserts that global warming is a natural phenomenon. The article is definitely worth a read, along with this article written by some British geologists about the cycle of warming and freezing the Earth experiences, and how the current climatic trend fits in.

In other news, LSU's servers were compromised last week. The assailants managed to gain access to all the usernames and password in active directory. Though the passwords are hashed, they are hashed using LANMAN, an incredibly weak, case insensitive hash algorithm several years old. As a result, the assailants now have access to all of the students PAWS accounts, which contains, among other things, bank account numbers (routing numbers too), Social Security numbers, personal address, phone number, date of birth. Oh the smell of identity theft....

To make things worse, in classic LSU fashion, they have not admitted that this actually happened. Instead, they released this notice, which just says it is 'good security practice' to change your password regularly. They do not tell the students "The username and password database was compromised, change your password immediately", but instead mask it with the same incompetence which caused this compromise in the first place. A breach of this scale may not have been preventable (although I believe it was), however, using newer, free technology to hash the password with a stronger, more difficult to break algorithm, would have been. Ultimately, whoever was responsible for this lapse in security should be terminated (probably a few people).

So there you have, one lie busted, and another issued to cover incompetence.

Finals and Scrotal Saftey

2004-12-07T01:04:00.000-06:00

And no, those two topics are not linked :-p

Well finals are here, and I am feeling as ADD as usual. I seem most successful at studying with others, talking and discussing. This method, however, is not that conducive to studying Calculus (Which I need to make a near perfect score on the exam to make an A in the class). I wonder if they have a pill to cure this or something. I have tried caffeine, that just results in me being hyper and unable to focus.

The 'Scrotal Saftey' comment referred to The Venture Brothers, what I consider to be the best cartoon currently on the Adult Swim lineup. Aqua Teen has its moments, but they are not regular anymore. Sealab is hit and miss, although the hits are excellent. When I watch the Venture Brothers, however, I know I will be laughing. This show has excellent satirical method, drawing on those classic Hanna-Barbara cartoons. For more information, I suggest you check out this site. I highly recommend you watch it if you have not; it brings back the best of Aqua Teen and Sealab, except not quite as insane...

+ 5 if you figure out the 'Scrotal Saftey' link (its pretty obvious).

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robot

2004-12-03T21:09:00.000-06:00

I ran across a Slashdot story that reminded me of this Flaming Lips song. Toyota has unveiled some new robots, and well, take a look. The model that has all four wheels on the ground reminds me of Toyota's idea for next-generation, intelligent vehicles (I think I read about this in an IEEE magazine). Anyway, these all look like some very interesting concepts.

In other news, I may indeed be able to make an A in calc, but it does require me making nearly a perfect score on my exam. Much studying shall ensue....

Anyway, I am very tired, so it is sleepy time....

Wil Wheaton and other geeky things....

2004-11-29T22:15:00.001-06:00

Well, I was reading Wil Wheaton's Slashdot interview, and I came to the same conclusion many of my geeky peers did, he is a cool dude. Anyway, I saw he had his geek code out, and I thought 'I should do one of those again'. So here we have it! The Linux side is a bit more impressive than last time, wish my y rating was better, but that is a work in progress :-) (Can't say im not being honest...)

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GCS s+: a--- UL++++$ P+++ L++++ E--- N o-- K? w-- O M@ V-- PS+(+++) PE Y+ PGP++ t++ 5++ X++ R+ tv-- b+++ DI+++ D+ G e h+ r !y+
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

And This Week In The News...

2004-11-22T23:02:00.000-06:00

Well, nothing amazing or incredible to tell you this week. I did make a major accomplishment in my project for work, which is always good :-)

For those of you who are Linux inclined might take a moment to download it (and its dependencies).

I have been experimenting with TikiWiki, using it for my HL2 Mod. It seems an interesting project, though I am concerned that it may prove a bit too resource intensive.

On our last note, it looks like all B's this semester :/
I had an A in calc until I screwed that up on a test :-(
Oh well, not the end of the world or anything.

HL2

2004-11-17T22:17:00.000-06:00

Ok, so who hasn't heard of Half Life 2. Well, after bout 17-19 hours of play, I have beaten it, and it was good. Its a good thing the game isn't longer, cause if so, my gpa would be super-duper screwed (as opposed to sorta screwed).

One of my friends conned me into getting a face book thingy.

Anyway, that is all for now. Just felt the need to share that HL2 owns, alot :)

Now time to check out that SDK....

Bordem/Stupidity

2004-11-09T01:41:00.000-06:00

So, my roomate and I got bored last night, this was the result:

Can you guess what it is? Here is an animated example.

Once you give up (or get it right), here is the real answer
Hehe, we have more planned, so stay tuned!

Elections tomorrow!!

2004-11-01T23:53:00.000-06:00

As you all may know, elections are tomorrow. I wanted to give my predictions now, so I can laugh heartily when they are correct! (Or cry if they are wrong)

Popular Vote: John Kerry
Electoral College: John Kerry (Though just barely)

On a side note, my project for work has taken a promising turn. While there is still a good amount of work left on my end, I believe I can have something working by Wednesday.

Anyway, I will post again tomorrow!

Who are you

2004-10-28T13:35:00.000-05:00

So, I found some of those incredibly annoying quizzes that people take, and took some (Well, two really). The results were..... Interesting. So, without further adieu, here they are:
NOTICE: These results are just for fun. I am not a terrorist, nor do I endorse terrorism, Saddam, or any other bad things.

What Classic Movie Are You?

What Famous Leader Are You?

Pretty funny/disturbing, eh. Anyway, since I haven't posted an update in a while, I thought I would. Until next time kids....

Long time no post

2004-10-21T21:34:00.000-05:00

So I am really bad at keeping up with things. This being a prime example, I mean, 17 days since my last post! Anyway, to summarize whats up in the world:

I am working on my schedule, and uhhh, ow. To make 31 hours, I need to take 18 hours next semester...... That is obscene, in the face.
I was sorta offered a job working on Supermike, but for now I am gonna stay with Cactus Code. Maybe I will return to the sysadmin life next semester.
So I am not on the programming team this year, but there is a good reason. You can only participate in 4 regional contests, and since I may be around for 5, it would be a good idea to wait
So I may end up being one of those super seniors......
I am quickly coming to the realization that the CSC department here is par at best....
Still pondering a trip to Costa Rica, however I also have the opportunity to go to Greece, which would rock. That trip would cost about $4900 though, gotta get the cost down

So I am supposed to watch Plan 9 with Roxane, but she is putting me off. I am sooo sad......

Until next time (hopefully Sat or Sun)

The Draft and Other Things

2004-10-04T11:13:00.000-05:00

I am sure many of you have heard the rumors of a draft floating around. While I personally highly doubt there would be a draft, it does make me think 'What would I do?'.

I used to think I would not fight unless I believed in the cause (and I certainly do not believe in the cause when it comes to Iraq, but that is another story). I now, however, find myself considering going if called. The only reason I can find for this is my family.

My family is firmly against the draft (and the war), and I believe if I were drafted they would want me to leave the country. Maybe this is (or would be) my way of telling them 'This is my life, I get to make the decisions'. I dunno.

In other news, I joined the programming team. The regional competition will be held in one month at LSU. If we do well enough, we get to go to Shanghai, China. Talk about bitchin, I always wanted to go to China, but thought I would not have enough money for several years. Now I just need to polish my C skills.....

One last note: my new blogging format. Instead of making huge posts once a week, I am trying to make smaller ones throughout the week. I hope you all enjoy (whoever you may be).

Until next time....

A bad week for society....

2004-09-20T22:39:00.000-05:00

First up, sorry about the latency in posts, I have been busy.

As some of you may know, this weekend two horrible, horrible things occurred. Fist and foremost, LSU lost to Auburn due to a technicality. It was pathetic...

However, the second thing which occurred I personally consider to be of a much more serious nature.

The Amendment to ban gay marriage in Louisiana passed. Even worse, the amendment passed in every single parish, the only parish that really put up a fight was New Orleans. The end result was nearly 80% for, 20% against.

Is this a simple case of the majority suppressing the rights of the minority, or is it part of a growing trend in America, a shift towards integrating religious beliefs with political ones? I personally have not heard of any legal basis to ban homosexual marriage. Rather, all the arguments I have heard regarding "protecting the sanctity of marriage" stem from religious arguments. This path of thought inevitably leads towards faith-based political initiatives. "what's the problem with that?" one may ask. Not all faiths have the same view.

While the Christian faith generally views homosexuality as a 'sin', my faith says there is nothing wrong with it. My faith encourages people to strive for happiness, and if that happens to be with a person of the same sex, then so be it. My religious beliefs are obviously at odds with this amendment. If I were gay, could I file a suit based on the first amendment, claiming this amendment illegally infringing on my religious freedoms? Perhaps, then again, perhaps not.

Either way, the passage of this amendment is, in my opinion, an attack upon American civil liberties.

Check out an essay on the gay marriage controversy.
An interesting site a friend of my showed me which tracks religious involvement in politics.

Both of these sites are worth a read.

What this is all about

2004-09-08T11:56:00.000-05:00

Originally, I thought I would dedicate this blog to recording my attempts at wrestling with a big question: what to do with my life. Today, I realized why this question has been weighing so heavily on my mind.

In my Western Civ class we have been reading the Illiad. The Illiad is about 'the wrath of Achilles', but it also brings forth a much more fundamental point: Men bear the responsibility of their actions. This, the Illiad (Or my Professor at least) claims is what it means to be mortal.

Indeed, the point is a valid one. Take, for instance, the choice of a mortal, against that of a god. The gods of the Illiad are immortal, they can be hurt, but never killed. This being the case, no matter what they do, ultimately it is of little consequence, they will always be around to do greater, more daring things. Additionally, none of their actions can result in their death, thus war is of little consequence to them.

Men, on the other hand, are mortal. This being the case, we will die, and once we are dead, invariable, we will be forgotten by the world. This is, to say the least, a disturbing notion. This being our situation, every decision, we make is important, no matter how minor. Through our own actions, we may lead ourself to everlasting glory, or to pointless death. We may lead thousands of men into war, or we may perish old and alone, in the middle of the night. Once we have died, that is the end, our story does not continue, our name is only what we have made it.

The Illiad directly deals with th issue of mens choices, presenting Achilles with a choice: Live a long life, but with little glory, or die soon, but with everlasting glory. He struggles with this decision, and eventually decides that everlasting glory would be better than dying an old man (Granted the death of his closest friend does spur him on).

The thought that concerns me is the possibility of making the wrong choice. If I end up somewhere, not utilizing all of my potential (although to what I end I do not know...). So there you have it, why this blog exists. Thats all for now :)

Until next time,
--Ian

And so it begins....

2004-09-05T14:50:00.000-05:00

Well, I decided to get a blog. No real reason, just saw that a friend of mine had one, and thought, well

Thats Cool, I should have one.....

So I do :)

More to come, so stay tuned kids :)