Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Like Mom, Like Dad...

http://www.zefrank.com/lmld/

Spooky, eh? :)

Many of these are posed, obviously, but the point is not lost.

Time is shorter than you think, and you have more in common with your parents than you think (for better or worse).

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

UFB is a piece of...

http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/ufb-is-a-piece-of

Vodafone’s DNS settings

I'm having problems surfing the internet? How do I change the DNS settings?
I'm having problems surfing the internet? How do I change the DNS settings?
If you're having occasional browsing issues, you can specify 'domain name servers' on your computer to see if this fixes the problem.

Vodafone’s DNS settings are:
• Preferred/Primary DNS: 203.109.129.67
• Alternate/Secondary DNS: 203.109.129.68
How to change these settings if you're using broadband:
• Go to Control Panel > Network Connections and select your local network
• Click Properties, then select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
• Click Properties
• You will see 'Use the following DNS server addresses' and enter the desired DNS server(s) in the space(s) provided
• Click apply and then try browsing the internet again

Vodafone Broadband settings

What are the basic settings for my Vodafone broadband?


These settings are the same for all our Vodafone fixed line broadband products.

Login: username (your username for broadband is your Vodafone fixed line email address eg. username@vodafone.co.nz)
Password: your password (lower case)
PPP: PPP over ATM (RFC2364) VCMUX encapsulation
VPI - 0
VCI - 100
Every ADSL modem or router has a slightly different way of entering in these basic settings. Simply look at the instruction manual that was supplied with your ADSL modem or router for full details on how to enter these settings correctly.Some brands of router ask for the DNS settings. If required these are
Preferred DNS server: 203.109.129.67
Alternate DNS server: 203.109.129.68
If you're switching to Vodafone broadband from another provider, we've put together a handy guide of all the settings you need to change.

If you're a consumer customer download a copy here
If you're a business customer download a copy here

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Nice Things About the Web...

http://scripting.com/stories/2010/08/17/niceThingsAboutTheWeb.html

:)
Dave Winer's very often worth a read... this being no exception to that trend.

"4. If I want to write more than 140 characters on the web, I can damn well do it. (78 characters.) "

Zing! :)

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics...

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/17/is-the-web-really-de.html

Rob Beschizza (BoingBoing) does the obvious thing and debunks the hype with facts.

Tufte (and Twain) would be proud :)

"Does 50MB of YouTube kitteh represent more meaningful growth than a 5MB Wired feature?"

If this is typical of the quality of Wired's content, I would venture a hearty 'Yes!' :)

(Where) Motif Lives!

http://www.motifzone.net/

OpenMotif - required for proper LispWorks functionality on Linux

Wired: How the Web Wins

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/how-the-web-wins/

Well at least it looks like some kind of debate... so it succeeds at (appearing to) generate (or reflect) controversy, right?

Web 2.0 - Points of Control

Who will 'own' the Web and why?
http://battellemedia.com/archives/2010/03/the_2010_web2_summit_theme_points_of_control

...the Web 2.0 Conference take (or one of them, from John Battelle)

Anderson v. O'Reilly: Web Dead?

I think I place more stock in Tim's opinions...
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip_debate/all/1

Wired Says the Web is Dead

http://gawker.com/5615069/wired-says-the-web-is-dead---on-its-increasingly-profitable-website

Must be true, eh?! -- We saw it on the Web :)

Everything is Dead... ?

Apparently, Everything is Already Dead...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/203638/the_tragic_death_of_practically_everything.html
...so sad, eh?
:)

Tim Berners-Lee on the present and future Web

http://www.pcworld.com/article/14014/three_minutes_with_tim_bernerslee.html?tk=rel_news

Interesting stuff in parts - particularly re. collaboration which 'needs something...'

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Ubuntu Currently-installed packages list / save / restore

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/howto-reinstall-all-of-currently-installed-packages-in-fresh-ubuntu-install.html

Using Synaptic for the GUI-inclined among us :)

Producing a list of all installed packages in Ubuntu

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=261366

"HowTo: Create a list of installed packages
I found out how to do this recently and thought it might be helpful to some people. To output this information to a file in your home directory you would use,

Code:
dpkg --get-selections > installed-software
And if you wanted to use the list to reinstall this software on a fresh ubuntu setup,

Code:
dpkg --set-selections < installed-software
followed by

Code:
dselect
"

Smart! -- So I put the resulting installed_software file on my ftp space.

Post-Oprah Waist measurement...

1140 out == 44.88188"
1070 sucked in == 42.12598"

i.e. 45" out, 42" in

=> I am at least 2" overgirth

=> exercise is NOT NEGOTIABLE

=> Get Walking!

RedBoot exec command options

RedBoot> help exec
Execute an image - with MMU off
exec [-w timeout] [-b [-l ]]
[-r [-s ]]
[-c "kernel command line"] [-t ] []
RedBoot>

So:

exec -w 1 -c "init=/linuxrc root=1f01 rootfstype=jffs2 console=ttymxc0,115200 ro panic=1"

gives:
1 second timeout,
linux cmdline:
init=/linuxrc root=1f01 rootfstype=jffs2 console=ttymxc0,115200 ro panic=1

=> root fs is at FLASH address 0x1F01 ?

Debugging Embedded

Al Williams (Dr. Dobbs') on Embedded Debugging and attitudes:
http://www.drdobbs.com/blog/archives/2010/07/debugging_embed.html

"I've hired a lot of programmers over the years. Most were average, but you always remember the highs and the lows, I suppose. Ironically, one of the guys on the lower end of the scale did a fantastic interview."

Most were average? Amazing! :)

IDE One

http://www.ideone.com/

Polygon Area calculation -Simple?

http://www.drdobbs.com/windows/226700093;jsessionid=XMEV5X3J4RGHDQE1GHPSKH4ATMY32JVN?cid=nl_ddjupdate_2010-08-17_h

DDJ article

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Online Literacy is a Lesser Kind...

http://chronicle.com/article/Online-Literacy-Is-a-Lesser/28307

Da Web makez yoo dum? ;-)

Sloooooww Reeeadiiiinnngggg.....

http://www.freelance-academy.org/slowread.htm

Lancelot R. Fletcher expounds on the virtues and benefits of slow reading :)

Reading Strategies

Dr. Kathleen King at ISU (Indiana State University):
http://www.isu.edu/~kingkath/readstrt.html
Thanks, Dr. King!

I have struggled with many things identified here... and I appreciate the help :)

Computer Science Student Resources page

William Stallings' Computer Science Student Resources page:
http://www.computersciencestudent.com/
http://www.computersciencestudent.com/SS/SS-research.html
Thanks, Prof. Stallings :)

This is insane - in a good way!

So you thought you were a pretty skilled driver? Think again:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3688185030664621355&hl=en#
;-)

Found on William Stallings' Website http://www.computersciencestudent.com/SS/SS-Other.html

See the 'making of' also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR3WmG3ci04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcine1YUDMk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziQUKXP9YeI

Don't wonder....

...look it up (JFLIU):

http://pozorvlak.livejournal.com/148749.html

Why iPhone or Android App?

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2010/05/26/22-reasons-why-your-business-or-blog-needs-an-iphone-app/

Insight Cruises

http://insightcruises.com
"For those who thrive on life-long learning"

Kewl -- wish I was on one or more :)

Found this thru Randal L. Schwartz' plan file... I'm guessing he is either teaching on these cruises, or blowing a whole lotta dough :)

Ugh Fields

http://lesswrong.com/lw/21b/ugh_fields/

Ugh!
:)

Chuck Norris-ing Code

http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=702200

Too familiar - but amusing as presented here :)

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Friday, August 13, 2010

BeagleBoard Angstrom: kill udevd hald to simplify USB testing

Manually run:

killall udevd
killall hald

To kill background junk (hal, udev, usb-storage-extension, ...) in BeagleBoard Angstrom Linux to allow testing of mounted USB FLASH sticks throughput

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Deduplicating Data Deduplication - Linux Magazine

Nice article at http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7535 - interesting comments too including (OpenSolaris + ZFS + rsync --inplace) and backuppc alternatives.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Beagle Board first impressions

Serial connector pins marked incorrectly - doesn't match pin #1 indicator on header plug -- ?Odd/even pin rows rolled over/mislabelled?

There doesn't seem to be a canonical way to initially start up the board for checkout - what's initially loaded?

How do I tell whether someone has changed/bricked it?
How do I recover it if it has been bricked?

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

On the fear of reading code

http://coderoom.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/on-the-fear-of-reading-code/

....makes good sense - I can identify with this fear. What he doesn't mention is the use of various comprehension tools to aid the process... Diomidis Spinellis books (e.g. Reading Code, Code Quality) and online articles q.v.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Erik Naggum's Contempt Page

For the last hour or so I've been enjoying (and posting) nuggets of quotations from Erik Naggum's Contempt Page... Happy Snacking! :)

How applicable are the techniques of sound programming?

The programmer should not ask how applicable the techniques of sound programming are, he should create a world in which they are applicable: it is his only way of delivering a high-quality design.

Edsger W. Dijkstra:
Answers to questions from students of Software Engineering (EWD 1305)

Mastering Complexity or Not

"The computer, by virtue of its fantastic speed, seems to be the first [technology] to provide us with an environment where highly hierarchical artefacts are both possible and necessary. This challenge, viz. the confrontation with the programming task, is so unique that this novel experience can teach us a lot about ourselves. It should deepen our understanding of the processes of design and creation, it should give us better control over the task of organizing our thoughts. If it did not do so, to my taste we should not deserve the computer at all!"

Edsger W. Dijkstra:
The humble programmer (Turing award lecture, EWD 340)