Checksum Arcanius

Now I’m using Mozilla Moonwhale!

o.O

My current web browser is Mozilla Supervulture. You’ve probably never heard of it, but it’s a great web browser based on Mozilla Firefox. Actually, Supervulture is Firefox, but with a plug-in. You see, Mozilla’s sleek browser project has undergone a name change in each of the last two versions. Firefox was formerly known as Firebird, and before that, Phoenix. Each of the previous names was objected to by other software groups, but regardless of the reason for the change, its kind of funny that the name has changed so much. So someone went ahead and used Firefox’s excellent extensible architecture to make a plug-in that randomly changes the name for each browser window you open. The plug-in is called Firesomething, and a Google search will find it for you. This never would have happened had Bernie Zimmerman’s not posted about Firesomething in his weblog. Google it, I’m too lazy to put the link in myself (I’m thinking of switching blogging software again — maybe to b2 or a modification thereof that makes links easier for me to put in.)

By the way, Firefox (or whatever its nom-de-jour is) is an excellent browser, and I would suggest changing to it from any other web browser.

As promised, my adventures with my computer from Friday… Working at accomplishing one of the items on my to-do list, I was turning oasis, my former desktop machine, into the replacement for the current silverfir.net server. I’m now giving the different incarnations of silverfir.net version numbers… wadi was v1, currently you are being served by v2 (named sf2) and soon you will be served by oasis (v3). Well, I wanted to test out the SCSI drives from the dead-by-power-supply as-of-yet unnamed dual P-II 300 machine. So took out the 13.6 gb hard drive that will still (theoretically) boot win2k with all sorts of useful utilities, and put in the two SCSI hard drives. I installed the PCI SCSI adapter in oasis and started the machine up. It froze in the middle of the boot-up screen. I rebooted, took the card out and rebooted. Things started up fine (with the exception of anything actually booting, since it had no bootable devices connected). I turned it off, put the card back in, and it froze in the same place as before. Resigned to the fact that the system wouldn’t accept the SCSI card, I took it out again and took out the SCSI drives as well, putting in the two 80 GB drives I got from Fry’s last year. Then I booted the machine again, with the Gentoo 1.4 LiveCD in the CD Drive… but this time, the machine froze in the same place as it has with the SCSI card. I rebooted, and then the CMOS setup screen came up, saying that the system had frozen last time because of an incorrect frequency configuration. So I set the proper settings and rebooted again, and then nothing showed up. I was beginning to get worried, and at the advice of Dan, I started stripping the computer down to find out where the problem was. I got to the point where all I had installed was the graphics card — and I even tried a PCI graphics card. Everything else was unplugged. And nothing showed up on the screen. I tried a new power supply, reseating the processor, memory, dusting, and everything else I could think of, and I was ready to declare oasis deceased. In frustration, I began doing things that make no sense to anyone but me — including a little prayer. Apparently that worked, since the next thing I tried was plugging the floppy drive back in — and on the next reboot, things started working again. It’s the most valuable floppy drive ever — the one that makes the computer work. Also, thanks god, if you’re up there, for giving life back to oasis. I proceeded to put cards and everything else back in. I even put the SCSI card back in and it worked without any problems. I do not, however, understand SCSI and how it works in Linux well enough to get those drives working under Linux right now.

So, that was the computer adventure of Friday. It continued today as I shutdown sf2 (silverfir.net server v2) to liberate a cd-writer from it to give to Virginia Tech’s division of Society of Women Engineers along with the ide zip drive already liberated from sf2. I took the chance to further liberate sf2 of wadi’s old hard drive, which had been piggybacking in sf2 while I switched everything over after the hack, or whatever that was.

I quickly had sf2 back up, with minimal downtime. Then I put the 30 gb drive into oasis and started setting up Gentoo Linux on it, with remote help from Bobby. We started from stage 1 and currently oasis is bootstrapping, released from any shell and redirecting its output for future reference. Tomorrow we’ll continue the process. Gentoo is fun, powerful, and cutting edge, but setup is lengthy due to all the compiling involved. Of course, that’s because we’re starting from stage 1, the most basic place to start, but since don’t plan on doing this again on this machine, I think its well worth the extra performance and customization we’ll be getting out of the system. Thanks for your help Bobby.

Also today, I helped Adam set up PHP-Nuke over at http://adam.silverfir.net/. Go check it out if you have time. Today was good, even though I missed robotics. I’ll make up for that on Monday.

When I woke up an hour after noon, my ears were still ringing. I was still thirsty. I was still wearing the Linkin Park T-Shirt I bought last night. These are all signs that it was one incredible night at the Tacoma dome.

Last night, I went to the P.O.D. / Linkin Park concert with Beth. We left Bellevue just after 4:00 for Tacoma. When we got to Tacoma, we stopped at a WaMu so I could get some cash, then headed towards the Tacoma Dome, arriving about 5:30. We then got into the significant but not monstrous general admission line. The line started moving about ten to six � and we quickly made our way into the Dome. During a quick bathroom break I was impressed that all the guys seemed to flush after themselves and wash their hands. This confirms my suspicions that most Linkin Park fans are well mannered. After working our way up to about the forth row of the pit, about half way to the right of the stage, the opening band came on.

The first act was called Story of the Year, and was quite enjoyable except for the foul mouth of the lead singer between songs. The most interesting part of their performance was the synchronized roundabout kicks, and the lead guitarist�s back flips and guitar-roundabouts. The music was all right as well in their short 30 minute set. Next up was Hoobastank, a band whose name I am unfamiliar with, but a couple of their songs sounded familiar, so they must be getting radio airtime. Musically, I liked Hoobastank better than Story of the Year, but they lacked the stage presence of the first performers. After Hoobastank�s 30 minute set and another short pause, P.O.D. took the stage and the pits, which had been getting rowdier steadily throughout the night, began to get brutal. Beth and I began having trouble staying together, and she soon decided that it was going to be a little too much for her, so she took off to find more suitable territory. While we had been as far up as the third row, by the time she took off we were six or seven rows back. But without another person to worry about, I was soon working my way back towards the front. I am not terribly familiar with P.O.D.�s music, although I do like Youth of the Nation quite a bit. I enjoyed most of their other music as well, and they got the pits liquid enough that I was able to make it to about three columns off center and back to the forth row from the front. By this time I was sweating pretty well, but I was not alone by any means. P.O.D.�s set included much more stage effects than the previous two bands had. Green lasers painted the backdrop and ceiling, lighted murals came out, and the lighting effects were generally more sophisticated.

After P.O.D. finished, a huge sheet blocked our view of the stage as Linkin Park prepared itself. It took them a while, and the crowd was getting restless by the time the filler music stopped and the lights changed, signaling the beginning of what pretty much everyone had come for. The roar of the crowd began rising, and crescendoed when then the huge sheet was backlit, and the silhouette of Chester appeared. Then the sheet fell and the music began and everything that had happened in the pits before seemed like child�s play. The crowd surged in every direction; the music was intense and wonderful; I knew every word to every song performed. At times I pressed my way forward in the crowd, and at other times I just myself go with the flow. The entire time I was taking pictures � enough that a few actually turned out decently. They will be posted.

I cannot recall exactly which songs were played and in what order � my mind was really overwhelmed with the sensory input � but I do recall some things: Among the songs played were Papercut, With You, Points of Authority, Somewhere I Belong, Nobody�s Listening, Breaking the Habit (with a new down tempo intro), Lying From You, Numb, From the Inside (my favorite from Meteora), Crawling (My favorite from Hybrid Theory), and In the End. Mike said, just before performing In The End, that it was getting to be about time for them to leave. I was switching batteries when he came out into the crowd, and got no pictures of it (in fact, I don�t even remember it happening � I was concentrating too much on not losing my camera in the crowd, but Beth told me about it later).

Linkin Park left after that, but we were not about to let them leave us without a few more songs. The group certainly has a sense of timing. As determined as everyone was to get them back by chating �Encore!� then �Linkin Park! Linkin Park� while people in the stands stomped their feet and we all generally made a bunch of non-stop noise, the crowd had almost loosing hope after the minutes that the stage remained empty. A stage crewmember even came out and took down some microphones. The crowd quieted just a bit � could they really be leaving without an encore? But then, up on his stand on the left of the stage, DJ Joseph Hahn reappeared and the Tacoma Dome shook with thunderous applause as the rest of Linkin Park came back onto stage.

The Encore, I actually remember quite distinctly, since the lull in music let me regain some composure as the pits calmed down for a while. They started with My December, with subdued lighting and Chester sitting center stage on a box singing. Then came P5hing me Aw*y, my favorite from Reanimation, followed by the traditional Linkin Park concert ender (if Live in Texas is anything to go by) One Step Closer. Three songs is a pretty generous encore, and so I decided it really was the last song of the night (they even said so, and I tend to trust these guys) so I decided I would surf to the front of the crowd. I let the guys near me know my intentions and they helped me up top. The crowd control guys got me down the front, and directed me to the right. It was much cooler out of the crowd � the first relief from the oppressive heat of thousands of bodies pressed together I had all night. Unfortunately, there were no good picture opportunities of the band while I was closer than even the front row, but I did get a few pictures of the crowd on my way out, and some wide angle shots of the whole stage during the last moments of One Step Closer. People dispersed pretty quickly after that. Beth and I found each other again, I drank about a gallon of water from the drinking fountains, and then we got into line so I could purchase a couple of Linkin Park shirts.

After that we headed home. Once home, I ate some salty chips (to replenish the salt lost to sweat) and made myself some chili. Then I downloaded the pictures and movies from my camera. It turns out the bass was way too much form my camera, so all of the sound is distorted during the movies except the parts where there is singing without heavy guitars. I also realized I was really tired, so I did a small post and went to sleep. I didn�t get up until 1:00 � and felt well rested, although my ears were still ringing slightly and I was thirsty again. Since then I�ve basically hung out here, since I�m so cool and Amanda is working all day. :-/

I just got back from Linkin Park’s concert at the Tacoma Dome. It was, in a word, incredible. A sensory extravaganza that can’t be captured completely by words. Don’t fret, I will try, but not tonight. I also have a gagle of pictures to upload. Also, I will try to remember to talk about my adventures with my computer today and other thoughts I’ve been having.

I have completed a first draft of my personal statement for my University of Washington Application. Please read it and comment on any ways I can make it better:

I have always been a Husky. It simply took my mind three years to catch up with what my heart always knew. The essence of Husky is in my blood; after all, my mother and both of my sisters are UW graduates. In 1991, long before I thought about where I might attend college myself, we got our first TV � ostensibly to watch news on the first Iraq war. In hindsight, it seems that the purchase of that TV had a longer-term effect than that war did, for in the early 90s, my Saturday afternoons were consumed watching Washington�s perennial march to the Rose Bowl. After watching Mario Bailey make a few awe-inspiring catches, I was hooked.

Not all things go as they are meant to, however, and somewhere along my perennial march towards high school graduation, I lost track of my heart. When the time came to choose a University, I became a Cougar instead of a Husky. Not those Cougars, mind you. I would never stoop to the level of WSU. Nevertheless, I suppose it was a related species of the cat, the kind found at BYU in Provo, Utah. And for some time BYU seemed like the right match for me. I delved into my studies and loved it. That first year, the Cougars even won every football game I went to and every game I watched.

When 17 credits weren�t enough my first semester, I upped the load to the max of 18 and enjoyed school even more. The entire time, I took only the most rigorous classes in each field. While I was declared as a Computer Science major, I took the major-track chemistry and physics courses along with honors mathematics, history, and writing. While helping friends taking more mainstream classes, I discovered how much deeper my knowledge of the subjects was as a result of taking the more rigorous classes. Where my friends in more general courses had to memorize equations to pass tests, I didn�t because I could derive the equations from basic principals. Whereas my friends could tackles problems similar to ones encountered in class work, I was able to apply what I learned in one class in a meaningful way outside of that particular class. As an example, in a particularly grueling physics test I took, I was able to use an obscure trigonometric identity I had learned in my calculus class that semester as a shortcut to a tediously long derivation. Sure, I had to explain what exactly I had done to the grader, but the answer was just as correct as solving the problem in the manner prescribed in class. Experiences of this nature made the learning I was doing even more exhilarating. Alongside these scholastic feats, I was in peak physical condition with daily 6:00 am runs, the nearby Wasatch Mountains for a weekday hike, and chances to sharpen my Frisbee and football skills several times a week.

Yet amid the flurry of activities – or perhaps because of it � I didn�t notice that I was lost. I would return to my room every night, but it never became home. The Wasatch Front has its own beauty, but it cannot favorably compare to a cool, crisp, cloudless day hiking among the evergreens of the Evergreen State. While I managed to find a place at BYU, my heart knew I didn�t belong. When I attempted to stay through the summer, I burned out � a subconscious self-defense mechanism. Things didn�t go as smoothly as they had before when I returned to BYU the next school � and it was then that I discovered I needed to take some time off to find myself.

In the past year, as I worked and saved money for a return to school, the need for me to attend the University of Washington crystallized in my mind. More importantly, it feels right for so many reasons. For one, the UW has a FIRST Robotics Team, whereas there are none in all of Utah State. FIRST Robotics is a cause that I am very devoted to personally. I founded the Titan Robotics Club at my high school in my senior year, and for the past two years I have mentored the students of the Titan Robotics Club to help them develop self-esteem and technical, professional, and interpersonal skills. For these reasons, I will be proud to study � and to graduate � as a Husky. I won�t mind going to the football games either.

Here are the guidelines that I was supposed to follow.

Personal Statement: All applicants must write a personal statement and submit it with their application for admission.

Your Personal Statement plays a critical role in the admission decision. This is an opportunity for you to create a compelling context for the rest of your application file – to make the transcripts and numbers come alive. When you write your Personal Statement, we encourage you to share those aspects of your life that are not apparent from information provided in the rest of your application file. Tell us about the experiences that don’t show up on your transcripts: your passions and commitments, your hopes, a personal challenge faced, a hardship overcome, or the cultural awareness you’ve gained through unique experiences or through the cultural environment in which you were raised. Your Personal Statement is the best means we have of getting to know you, so tell us who you are.

You should feel free to write about the topics in whatever format or approach seems most appropriate. Your statement should be approximately two pages, but if you find the topics in Section 2 relevant to your life experience, you are encouraged to write an additional page or two. To aid you in identifying the types of information that will be relevant to your application, please use the following guidelines:

Section 1. Please address the following topics as they pertain to you:
� Why do you want to attend the University of Washington? Do you intend to complete a bachelor’s degree here? How will the UW help you attain academic, career, or personal goals? What can this university offer you that others can’t? Do you have a compelling need to attend this institution?
� Discuss your college career to date. Which courses have you taken that are relevant to your intended field of study? Why have you selected these courses? Do you think that your grades accurately reflect your ability? If not, include an explanation of your past performance and include evidence as to why you expect to do better at the UW.
� If you’ve attended more than one college or university, explain your reasons for changing schools. If you’ve left school and returned after a significant absence from education, or attended part-time in order to meet other responsibilities or obligations, describe the reasons underlying those decisions.
Section 2. You are also strongly encouraged to include discussion of the following additional topics if relevant and significant to your life experiences:
� Describe your understanding of cultural differences, how this awareness was gained (for example, through unique experiences or through the cultural environment in which you were raised), and how it has affected you.
� Describe any personal hardships or obstacles you’ve overcome in attending college, and explain how they have affected your education.
o Examples: balancing work, family, and school; leaving college at age 19 because of financial hardship but returning “older and wiser”; adjusting to a new educational system after moving to the U.S. from another country; confronting a life-threatening illness.
� Discuss significant achievements such as academic awards, artistic achievements or awards, or work-related experiences, that complement your academic or career goals.

Adobe Premiere Pro 7.0 Finally finished downloading (two different copies!) Between the two, I was able to get it installed. The first time I ran it, it took about two hours to load (ok, two minutes) before promptly crashing. I deleted the video that seems to cause the problems, and will encode to a more stable format until XviD figures itself out.

I read an explanation of the Telecine conversion that takes place to get movies (shot at 24 frames per second) to display properly in NTSC video (29.97 fps)� Its pretty crazy the steps they go though� also makes it a pain the butt to copy DVDs (I need to do this for a legitimate purpose too). If anyone wants to give me any tips, feel free.

It was a beautiful day, sunny and cool, crisp air but warm enough from the sunlight. It was the first day I needed to wear sunglasses in a long time. So I put on my sunglasses, only to find that one of the two screws holding the lens in had fallen out. No worries, I have another identical pair of sunglasses stored in another location, which I haven�t used in a while. I pulled them out to find that they had lost the exact same screw� How does this happen? And does anyone have some black very short #2 or so hardware I could use to fix the sunglasses?

It looks like Microsoft�s Automatic Windows security update installer just froze� wouldn�t it be great if someone hacked into that, and had it install viruses on every windows machine in the world� that�s world domination right there. Oh wait, Microsoft already does that�

I turned in my photos for assignment 2 today. I feel really good about it � I also learned about painting on developer today while I was helping Amanda in the darkroom and had some fun with those effects.

I also REALLY need to finish my UW Personal Statement and submit my app. And then get all the other materials sent to the UW. That has to happen within three days now. If you see me, bug me about it. Thanks.

I�m thinking of expanding my sourceforge project, photolog, to be basically what my site it now, but with greymatter replaced and with MySQL or filesystem-as-database support. And secure it all. It would be good html, css, mysql, and php practice. And it would make my site better. I�ll let you know how that project goes. Add it on to the to-do list.

I decided late last night or rather, early this morning, after having Windows Movie Maker 2.0 Crash on me about three times per minute over a course of ten minutes, that I needed to try out a real video editing solution. Since that usually costs money, I thought I�d take other look at the wonderful world of peer-to-peer file sharing. I have seen people have success recently with Edonkey, so I downloaded the open-source non-spyware version called (in the great tradition of free software such as YACC�s emulator �Bison�) �E-Mule� (see SourceForge.net).

After installation of E-Mule, I quickly found Avid�s Xpress DV 3.5 and Adobe�s Premiere Pro out there. But it takes a bloody long time to get anything at all. But things slowly and surely seem to get downloaded. Unfortunately I have it installed on my laptop, and now I can�t very well take it with me without interrupting the downloading. So I�m going to add something to my to-do list once sf2 is no longer serving SilverFir.net, I will convert in into a windows box that I run programs like this on, hook up my external Hard Drive to so I don�t have to worry about demounting when I move around, hook the printer up to, so I can print from anywhere in the house over wireless networking, etc�

An aside: wow, this �Eternal� song by Evanescence is pretty awesome. I never would have heard this song without file sharing. And because of this song, I will listen to more music from this older Evanescence album. And I might buy it, because that�s what I do with CDs like I like. Dumb record companies/recording academy/RIAA who thinks that file sharing is so bad. Sure, there are people who download music for free instead of buying it, but those are the same people who would have burned the cd, or copied it onto a tape, or taped it from the radio. And villainizing people like me who use peer to peer as a sort of radio-listening service doesn�t make you any friends. I�m all for free enterprise, but copyright laws these days are far from what could be construed as the results of free enterprise. Corporations have for years twisted copyright to their advantage; now they complain when consumers, the very people who support the corporations, twist copyright themselves.

The hypocrisy is appalling; but sadly true. As is, I suppose, my hypocrisy when I download expensive software to try out, yet promise that I�ll pay for when I use it in a matter where it might actually make sense to wield that kind of power. But then I have justification there too � my using the software in a non-commercial manner (as I do) only strengthens the position in an industry of the software that I use. And I really do plan on paying for the software were I to use it for commercial uses. I just can�t afford the ten-bazillion dollars of license fees and upgrade costs when I only use the software once a month for only a few things.

The absence of these moral dilemmas is one of the most attractive traits of free software for me � And for tools where free software is on par with proprietary software, that�s what I tend to use (Mozilla FoxFire [newly installed � it�s the new version of Firebird {a new name for a new version so as to not interfere with another project called Firebird }], Thunderbird, Linux servers, Apache, etc)� Enough nested parrens for you there?

Third time though the Evanescence song� now on to Pearl Jam�

I think I�m going to try getting some actual sleep tonight, although I�m still itching to do a movie in windows movie maker with an updated XviD driver. And a million other things. Oh, I might as well tell you about today. After staying up till� 4, I woke up at 8:20 only to remember I had forgotten my math homework and there was ice over my windshield. So I skipped Tennis, went to Math, did a bunch of photography, ate lunch with Amanda, did more prints and darkroom activities, and then went off to robotics, where the design for the arm changed again, but it looks like it’ll come together this time. Then I can work on the winch to lift the robot at the end of the match. Meanwhile, Bob is working on a mechanism to positively control the goal. Once those things are done, the robot will be able to do everything in the game except for knocking the bonus ball. And I think the bonus ball is useless, so I�m ok ignoring that.