May 27, 2009

Pittsburgh is stupid.

Filed under: Sports — Adam @ 5:11 pm

In continuing with my hate-on-Pittsburgh today, those no good Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in four games straight.

I expect Detroit to win tonight, and we’ll get a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals. Which means that if nothing else it will be at least four games of great hockey. These two teams are poised to be finals rivals if this keeps up and it’s always entertaining. Like last year, I will be pulling for Detroit.

All my (non-serious) hating on Pittsburgh aside, the end of the 2008 Finals was heart wrenching. Even though I was pulling for Detroit, watching the puck slide along the Detroit goal line in game six as the clock died, but never crossing it? I felt for Pittsburgh. That was as close to a tie as they could have managed without actually getting it. Detroit very literally won by the width of a few fingers.

In the AHL, Hershey has made it to the finals. In the ECHL, it’s one a pop still between South Carolina and Alaska. Tonight is Game Three.

May 24, 2009

Whuppin’ in Progress

Filed under: Sports — Adam @ 2:48 pm

Detroit is currently whipping the snot out of Chicago in Game Four of their Conference Finals, 5-1 with a half minute and change left on a power play. We’re just past halfway through the second period, and the game, and I don’t know what kind of miracle it would take to catch Detroit with under a half hour of ice time left.

South Carolina and Alaska split the first two games of their ECHL series for the Kelly Cup.

The Hershey Bears are up two games to one in their series against Providence, with a fourth game tonight.

Pittsburgh is up three games to none against Carolina, in a heart-breaking series for those of us that are backing Carolina.

There are going to be at least seven teams in the SPHL, with two at least somewhat nearby in Pensacola and Louisiana, and a third not too far up in Huntsville.

May 18, 2009

Generalizations are not your friend.

Filed under: Geek Stuff, Linux — Adam @ 8:44 pm

Via Slashdot, some random guy lambasts Linux, so this random guy will reply. I can’t quote him verbatim because the last thing I want is some random Russian guy trying to sue me, but…

0. His preamble supposes that software that requires millions of man hours will never be open sourced. Ahem. Linux kernel. OpenOffice.org. Firefox. Apache. The BSDs. All of the GNU tools. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

1. Sound level issues. He has a point. I’d also like to take this opportunity (and EVERY) to say that PulseAudio blows more chunks than a boat full of bulimics.

2. I’ve never tried to develop for the Linux GUI so I can’t comment; my work involves the command line and a lot of scripting and C. But these points sound valid. However, having choices is never a bad thing.

3.1 is arguable. 3.2, however, is absurd. If he’s a software developer he should get that tar.gz is source. Other than making a repository available through a version control system nobody gives out individual source files. Also, putting something in rpm or deb isn’t that time consuming. You don’t have to do it for every single release. 3.3 is also kind of silly — if the developer releases a .deb or .rpm there’s a good chance it CAN be simply double clicked. I feel 3.4 is exaggerated.

4 is rapidly becoming a complaint of the past.

5.1 is a given. But if you don’t need specialized software, you don’t care. A significant portion of people could live without his examples.

5.2 is where the problem lies, mostly. Claiming that there are “no games” for Linux, “Full stop” is a load of horse shit. There are a ton of games (and emulators — DosBOX, console emulators) for Linux, and a lot of Windows games will work in WINE. When I still played Starcraft I did so exclusively from Linux. When you make an absolute claim, making you look a fool is fairly easy.

5.3 could just as easily be applied to Vista, and it has all the weight of Microsoft behind it. Hell, 5.3.1 I can directly apply to Windows XP: Every time I attempt to use or install my Samsung printer in Windows, it tells me it’s there, it recognizes the hardware, says the driver is okay, then prints gibberish until I forcefully stop it. Obviously, Windows XP isn’t ready for prime time. Also, using shitty Lexmark printers as an example is Bad Juju. I had a Lexmark and it was one of the most finicky pieces of garbage I’ve ever owned (the only thing worse was a scanner I had back in the Windows 98 days) — AND the ink was a good $10-20 more than other brands, at the time.

5.3.2 is a good point, much to the disappointment of techie camwhores.

5.4; eh. When Sony gets their way you won’t be able to watch “Blue”-ray movies without paying a fee per device anyway… 5.5 is something we all need to address for our own good, but that’s another post.

6. This isn’t that common, but yes, it is an issue.

7. A lot of bugs? Wait, really? With Windows and Windows-platform software as the comparison? Really, random Russian dude?!

8. I haven’t followed features enough for this, but for 8.1 — which distro is this guy using?

9. I use lightweight window managers so I can’t comment on this. As for his “Being resolved” for shutdown time — this, I have noticed, and XP takes almost twice as long for me.

10. I suppose all GUI applications should give a hexadecimal memory address as an error… Most users don’t care WHY a program crashed so much as THAT it crashed. Those of us who are more technically apt and likely to be able to fix the issue are going to be fine with command line errors.

11. Uh, what Windows documentation is there? I’ve found man pages and websites of great help with Linux software (except obscure stuff), and pretty much have used forum posts to fix Windows issues (mostly spyware)

12. He must be joking.

13. He must still be joking.

14. No comment…

As to the argument about software distribution — how do you get guaranteed workable, free, secure software for Windows? I know of no way to get such a thing, all from one application. Most “free” software in Windows either comes with digital lice embedded with them, is nagware, or has a time trial. When I want Linux software, 99% of the time I can get it through synaptic. I know this software is free, with no time limit. I know this software won’t infest my system with a bunch of nasties. I know it most likely won’t nag me to buy it or give anyone money.

Legal, free, working software is of a lot more value to me than BluRay or GUI configurations. I’ll ./configure, make, make install if it means I get to keep money and get (in many cases) at least comparable software without much hassle.

Synaptic alone justifies using Linux to me. Having increase power over the customization of my system is another reason. It’s difficult, if not outright impossible, to get Windows to behave like fluxbox and allow me the ease of setting new shortcut keys. And I can simply copy the text files from system to system to get a similar set up, barring missing applications. I send text configurations to and from my work e-mail all the time to keep everything running the same at home and work — typically the only difference is the background.

For instance: Be I on my work box, Wendy (my desktop), or Peach (my wife’s desktop), if I’m logged in as myself and hit ctrl-x, my screen locks (this mandatory at my job if I leave my desk, but not having it mapped to that key code). The only computer without this option is Daisy (my laptop), and that’s because I’ve yet to get around to beating down and replacing Gnome Screensaver.

I can, in a heartbeat, back up my settings on any Linux machine — copying the .folders and /etc will do it for most cases. I can also back up which packages I’ve installed with dpkg (I forget the option at the moment), and I can set rsync to do this automatically as well as backing up specific folders to an external drive with a script that runs daily, weekly, monthly, hourly, or every time Biden says something stupid.

Linux may not be a clone of Windows, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t desktop ready.

This is still an issue?!

Filed under: Interwebs — Adam @ 6:54 pm

Dear Lazy Website Devs,

Stop mandating popups in order to use your site. I’ve come across two sites in the last twenty-four hours that will not work if I don’t allow them to open a pop up. Both are college websites — one part of my old school, one part of Bendy’s work — and so there’s no ulterior advertisement goal. They just feel the need to open a pop up. This is never necessary. Ever. Especially in both of these cases. But the latter website was obviously designed by an idiot. It over-relies on activex and javascript types of mess for functions some perfectly acceptable PHP could do at half the processing requirement.

Seriously, if your website causes lag issues on any system with more than a gigahertz processor and 512MB of RAM, then you are doing it wrong. Period, full stop.

May 17, 2009

Hockey

Filed under: Sports — Adam @ 12:12 pm

Now that the annoying days of dealing with the routers are over, I’ll do some hockey talk.

Washington got eliminated, but both Carolina and Detroit made it to their conference finals. Carolina will have a chance to “avenge” Washington against Pittsburgh, while Detroit faces Chicago. As it stands, I’d like a Carolina v. Detroit Stanley Cup Finals series — that would be between four and seven games of enjoyable hockey from my point of view. We’ll see how Detroit looks in a little under an hour.

In the AHL, the Hershey Bears have advanced as well, and dropped their first game to Portland. They have a chance to get one back tonight.

In the ECHL, South Carolina handily trumped the defending Kelly Cup Champions, the Cincinnati Cyclones. Alaska also fairly handily defeated Las Vegas, which is bittersweet, but leads to a potentially great final series in Alaska versus South Carolina, starting Friday.

I’m Batman

Filed under: Tech — Adam @ 12:05 pm

I had a nasty war with the routers here the other day.

See, when I moved in we found ourselves having two wireless routers, both Linksys WRT54Gs. I knew there must be some way to connect the two and have one serve as a bridge; some searching netted me DD-WRT. I flashed the “better” router with that and in a few minutes, I had turned it into a bridge — now able to transmit to the other router connected directly to the DSL modem.

This allows for a good set up; Bendy’s computer in the living room is connected to the router hooked to the DSL modem. My computer is in here connected to the bridge router.

Well, the main router kept locking up — apparently common on what are called the “neutered” WRT54G models — and so I decided to flash it with a smaller version of DD-WRT. Bad idea; I never could get the two of them to see each other. I tried all the instructions and it would never work.

I gave up and bought a WRT54GS2 to replace the neutered version. I managed to get it working in a matter of seconds — but the bridge wouldn’t connect, no matter what I did. I tried the instructions on their site, following various guides. I could get Wendy (this computer) to see the routers, both of them, but not the internet at large. This was unpleasant.

Finally, I put the neutered router in place of the bridged one — and it works perfectly. I have no idea why. But now I have a third router — and one day I will get it to work with the network.

May 13, 2009

About Me, 2009 Redux

Filed under: Personal — Adam @ 8:35 pm

A little over a year ago I wrote an About Me post. And a lot has changed in a year.

I’m still in my mid-twenties, and I still live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I still don’t have plans to move, it’s still warm, and I married one of the hot girls. She wears short shorts, which rules because she has the most awesome long legs ever.

I am no longer going to college. I’m still working as a student while paperwork processes, but I’ve been offered a job making more money than I expected right out of college. I’m doing what I went to school for — programming — and I love it.

I’m still big on the writing — and submitted the first three chapters and a synopsis of my 210,000+ word novel to a publisher. We’ll see how it pans out, but regardless, I’m going to keep writing.

I’m still a Super Nintendo monger. I’m still big on DOS games and older games, and nethack. But I’m not as into politics. I got burned out and honestly, you’re all fucking up the country. Sorry, but we’re going to have a massive, debt-laden central government interfering in every aspect of our lives, and that’s just not cool. Whatever; I’m going to put a Gadsden flag up.

I’m still a big Linux user and have yet to build that monster box I mentioned. I’m not going to install four OS’s though. I might only install one. Not only do I use Linux exclusively, but my wife uses it nearly exclusively — and only uses Windows when the Smelly Online University requires it.

Oh, and I got married, which is a huge change in my life, at least to me and anyone who has known me over the last five years. I didn’t just get married, though. I married Bendy, the woman of my dreams, and someone I was pining after from the first day I saw her in August of 2005 — the Tuesday before Katrina. I still remember what she wore that first day. Tony, the best man at our wedding, can attest to how into her I am — almost a week before she told me she loved me, I said to him that I was in love with her. And Tony replied, “I’ve known that for a while now. Where’ve you been?”

The Sea Wolves aren’t coming back next season and may not come back at all, but I’m big on hockey still. It’s one of the few things I can get myself to blog about.

Heartbreak

Filed under: Sports — Adam @ 8:02 pm

Washington just got eliminated 6-2 in game seven. It was an ass whipping. Dear Coach Bruce Man, stop losing in playoffs. Thanks!

In the ECHL, the South Carolina Stingrays are one win from advancing.

May 11, 2009

And done.

Filed under: Personal — Adam @ 9:33 pm

A week and a day after getting married, I am again a bachelor. Well, sort of; I graduated Saturday with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. I ended my schooling on a high note; four As to close it out, even in the impossibly irritating class.

I should be getting the official offer for my post-graduation employment this week or the week after. The pay raise is substantial. Student pay is not money friendly — yet taxes still suck a ton out of every check*.

No word yet from the publisher, but it’s not even close to the time frame I expect a response anyway.

* Fuck everyone receiving money from the government. You owe me.

Game Seven!

Filed under: Sports — Adam @ 9:23 pm

After taking a lead in the series, the Capitals managed to fall behind with three consecutive losses. Tonight, they managed to force a game seven — by the skin of their teeth. Carolina is leading Boston 3-2 in that series, and Detroit leads Anaheim by the same. Of my three teams going into playoffs, so far so good. Tomorrow, both Carolina and Detroit could advance. Wednesday will certainly decide whether Washington makes it to the conference finals or not.

In the AHL, the Hershey Bears also managed to force a game seven, which will be held tomorrow. If memory serves, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins eliminated the Hershey Bears last year, which would make this series fairly interesting.

In the ECHL, the Ontario Reign were eliminated in the first round, but all three of my other choices advanced. In the second round, Elmira, a team I started to like after their amazing series with the Devils, were eliminated by Kelly Cup Defending Champions Cincinnati. My remaining choices — South Carolina, Alaska, and Las Vegas — have made it to the Conference Finals. South Carolina is playing Cincinnati (up 2-0 in the series), while Alaska leads Las Vegas (2-0).

Also in the ECHL, I’m not sure if the Sea Wolves will ever be back. They’ve suspended operations for the next year and a Southern Professional Hockey League is going to play in their stead — yet to be named. But the good news there is that Pensacola is also going to have a SPHL team, the Ice Flyers. This will revive the I-10 rivalry. Perhaps Mobile will add to the corridor in the coming years. There are going to be six SPHL teams next year, possibly seven soon after. That’s a bit small — but I’ll take it. Especially if the league grows and there are a lot of nearby teams.