Stranger Things Have Happened

Rixter makes a Vacation

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:25:27 -0700

I had a vacation. A lot of it wasn't much fun, consisting of lots of moving stuff from place to place and generally trying to re-arrange things for the next stage of my life. Vacations are handy for that. But a few days of my time were spent in Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts, with much grilling of seafood, drinking of good beer, kayaking of open salt water, and marveling at sights such as you see pictured below. I am so jealous of the folks that live here. Click on either picture for a full view.

Todays Letter is W for WhackJob

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:40:15 -0700

Yes, it is. You probably won't recognize Shirley Ardell Mason, the woman on whom the book and movie "Sybil" was extremely loosely based. Later analysis of her case has been hampered by sealed records even though both her and her doctor are long dead, but many researchers think much of the case was faked by Doctor Cornelia Wilbur for gain and notoriety. This hasn't stopped thousands of people since the book came out in 1973 from using this extremely rare disorder as a rationalization for all sorts of ugly behavioral habits from minor deceptions to violence and sexual promiscuity. Those who imagine themselves "afflicted" by this disorder sometimes seem to think it makes them somehow exotic and unique and wonderful, and seek out others who will either feign the disorder with them or at the least buttress their imagined personalities by pretending to interact with them.. sometimes even on a psychic level! Think what you can get away with and still look at yourself in the mirror, when you can tell yourself "sure that was my body, but it wasn't really me doing/saying that." Combine that with the ego boost a person with self-image issues such as a narcissist gets from having such an unusual disorder... we have a Win/Win situation! That's my rant for today... and please, if someone reads this who actually -does- suffer from the very rare disorder know as MPD... know that this rant is not aimed at you, but rather reflects my impressions of some very specific people.

Dell Shows its Fading Stripes

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 00:58:02 -0700

I've long said that Dell Computers are not a wise choice in any environment, home or enterprise. There have been arguments, and denials, and scoffing. I've never agreed with the operations model and the "do more with less" hardware decisions you see when you open the case. I've felt that those few I've met who strove to emulate its "just in time" inventory and parts management schemes were asking for trouble down the road. Well, our friends at Dell have apparently not only proved me right by getting caught trying to conceal their problems, they are finding themselves roundly sued and even foolishly pissing off their own lawyers by refusing to acknowledge hardware failures in 12 million Optiplex systems sold over a two-year period.

Ars Nova provides an overview while the New York Times provides more details. It's nice to see this long string of poor dealing nearing a close. The suit itself looks to be about three years old already but the documents have been unsealed and hopefully Dells stock will react like a housefly hitting a bug zapper.

"After the math department at the University of Texas noticed some of its Dell computers failing, Dell examined the machines. The company came up with an unusual reason for the computers’ demise: the school had overtaxed the machines by making them perform difficult math calculations..."

"'The funny thing was that every one of them went bad at the same time', said Greg Barry, the president of PointSolve, a technology services company near Philadelphia..."

"In other documents about how to handle questions around the faulty OptiPlex systems, Dell salespeople were told, “Don’t bring this to customer’s attention proactively” and “Emphasize uncertainty.”"

So. What exactly -do- you do when 2 million Optiplex computers shipped to tens of thousands of private, institutional and enterprise users (including your -own lawyers- ) experiences a 97% failure rate over three years? Well, if you're Dell, apparently you deny there's a problem, train your support staff to try to up-sell the victims to more expensive systems to "fix" the problem, ship equally faulty replacements, cover up the problem, cook the books, lie to investors and the SEC (that one is going to cost them approx $100 mil), get caught and wind up getting sued by some of your biggest customers, and etc.

The Ars Technica article is overview, the NYT report has details but is still only two pages. Interesting reading that exposes where Dells "Just In Time" inventory system and cost-cutting strategies eventually led the company: another "winner" in the Race to The Bottom.

Avatar Speaker Cabinets

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Mon, 10 May 2010 23:49:20 -0700

The good folks at AvatarSpeakers.com have put together a beautiful 1x12 speaker cabinet in Black Tolex with black and gold grill and a Hellatone 30 speaker. For my part, I'll be redoubling my efforts to improve my playing, in order to deserve all this fun. The tone from the Hellatone 30 is warm, smooth, nicely responsive even at super-low volumes. The "Contemporary" 1x12 is built super solid, I'd recommend these to anyone.

Where the hell are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Wed, 05 May 2010 23:03:21 -0700

The world and most of the people in it are showing every sign of being ready to go off the deep end lately, and sometimes I hope we can all get worked up enough to all just do it at once and get it over with. But for the moment, I'm picking up one of these instead:

Frenzel FM-5E1SS Champ Super Sportster Tube Amp

You can seldom hope to hear a human say what you really want them to say, but there's always hope with a guitar. Look deep enough and you'll find that blue note.

Now to find a good cab and speaker.

Strange Sounds

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:18:56 -0800

I love my guitars, and since I went electric a few years ago, getting to actually hear what they can sound like at their best is a problem. I live in a building with other tenants, and have done so most of my life. It's no fun sitting here with hundreds of watts of power that I dare not use and looking for quiet ways to hear screaming overdrive, roaring power chords and sweet, singing blues sustain.

Simplest but least-effective solution: My Vox DA-5 is actually not a bad little amp, on the clean channel. Lately I use it more as a computer speaker than anything else. The .5 watt setting can really be your friend. The effects that it tries to pack onboard are a little dull, to my ears... but the clean channel is really quite nice for such a tiny thing, and I can imagine busking with it. But I often feel a bit cheated when using it.... there are better amps in the room!

I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE my Digitech RP-1000. It might not be quite the thing for a tube or stompbox purist, but I feel I could pipe it into almost anything and find some good tone: a small monitor speaker, PA, headphones, whatever. Usually I send it into my Tech-21 Trademark 60 or Power Engine 60 and keep it turned way down. This device is expensive ($400 lately) but has LOADS of depth and versatility. Running through its hundreds of pedal, amp and cabinet combinations is like going to your filthy rich rockstar friends house. When he's not there to make sure you stay out of his collection!

And now to the reason I'm writing this. I don't have either of these, but damn I wish I did. Put one of these together with a 1x12 or 2x12 cabinet and you could have sonic heaven in an apartment or condo.
http://zvexamps.com/amp_view.html 1/2 watt. Listen to the sound samples.

You can buy them for $499 at a bunch of places, click their dealer links or
http://www.musictoyz.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=ZVEXAMP&Category_Code=Zvex+Amps

Unfortunately it doesn't come as a kit, and of course seems more than a bit overpriced. (Editors note: Now that I've researched the issue more throughly it's a completely indefensible price. Stay the hell away from it, but I leave the mention of it here as reference.)

Then there's this thing, the "BAR/OLC Tube Cricket". The kit is only $135 !!! I don't know what the hell it sounds like but it sure is affordable, 1/2 watt. I might just give this thing a try as a first project.

http://www.olcircuits.com/olc_tubecricket.html

Let me know if you buy either of these: I'd be curious to hear about it.

Strange Rides

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:37:59 -0800

I am sometimes tempted to not only put my Harley back on the road, but to turn it into a chopper or bobber at the same time and therefore probably make myself a few inches sorter by riding a newly rigid-framed motorcycle down New Englands horrific back roads. So tonight I was in that frame of mind again, and wandered into http://www.clubchopper.com/modules/Jig/index.php where I encountered this nice little list of suppliers for frames and rolling kits and so forth, for Sportsters and Buells.

www.mcworx.com

www.bitterendchoppers.com

www.redneckengineering.com/

www.twobitchoppers.com/

www.wickedwillychoppers.com/

www.flyritechoppers.com/Pg/FRCMerch.html

www.atlasprecision.com

www.dirtysouthchoppers.com/

www.cycleonemanufacturing.com/

www.franticcustomcycles.com/

www.carolinacustomproducts.com/

www.bareknucklechoppers.com/frames.html

rowemachine.com/brochure.htm

www.paughco.com/

www.twistedchoppers.com

www.satmotorsports.com

www.brosmfg.com/page7.html

www.kansaskustom.com/Hardtail_Sections_Sportster.php

www.allenbros.com

www.customcycledevelopments.com

www.ledsledcustoms.com

http://www.tanksbytigman.com/frames-sportster.shtml

http://www.scootersperformance.com/frames.htm

http://nastybikes.com/

http://www.suckerpunchsallys.com/rollers_and_kits08.htm

http://www.l-l-choppers.com/borderli...Sportster2.htm

Cool Site of the Day: Instructables.com

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:37:00 -0800

Cool Site of the Day: Instructables.com

http://www.instructables.com/

How to make Stuff. Recipes, hardware, projects of all sorts. Almost as much fun as Wikipedia, if you like to make things

Be More Like Jesus

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:08:00 -0800

Jesus would have appreciated that.

Mai Cramer's Top 20 Blues CDs

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:21:00 -0800

Mai was the host of 'Blues After Hours' at Bostons WGBH for 24 years until her death of breast cancer in 2002. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of the blues, and this is her list of the 20 greatest blues CD's compiled on the occasion of her 20th anniversary at WGBH. What a great start for a collection this would be! Feel free to just send a few right over here.

T-Bone Blues, T-Bone Walker (Atlantic)

Sufferin' Mind, Guitar Slim (Specialty)

Miss Rhythm, Greatest Hits and More, Ruth Brown (Atlantic)

West Side Soul, Magic Sam (Delmark)

Black Magic, Magic Sam (Delmark)

Live at Cook County Jail, B.B. King (MCA)

Live at the Regal, B.B. King (MCA)

The Excello Singles, Slim Harpo (AVI)

His Best, Howlin' Wolf (Chess)

His Best, 1947–1955, Muddy Waters (Chess)

His Best, 1956–1964, Muddy Waters (Chess)

Fear No Evil, Robert Ward (Black Top)

The Complete Chess Masters, Lowell Fulson (Chess)

The Essential Little Walter, Little Walter (Chess)

Messin' with the Kid, Junior Wells (Paula)

The Complete Chess Masters, Jimmy Rogers (Chess)

So Many Roads, Otis Rush (Delmark)

Let's Cut It, Elmore James (Flair)

Freddie King Sings, Freddie King (Modern)

His Best, Sonny Boy Williamson (Chess)

The Blues, a Real Summit Meeting: Newport in New York (Charly)

Content Management Systems Compared and Evaluated

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:28:00 -0800

Content Management Systems Compared and Evaluated

Here's a site I've been looking for: http://cmsreport.com/

This site gathers together reviews, news and opinions of CMS systems like Drupal, Joomla, PHP-Nuke, & etc.

I'd appreciate hearing about other sites with this kind of mission if anyone can point me to them. This site probably (hopefully?) isn't the biggest of its type but its been useful to me.

Clearspring: Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:13:45 -0800

When I started running Serendipity as this sites blog software I didn't realize I was introducing a possible invasion of privacy to my readers. Apparently the aggregator functions utilize Clearspring. You can read about it in these two links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearspring

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9044311/New_Clearspring_tool_converts_Web_sites_to_widgets?taxonomyId=63&intsrc=kc_top&taxonomyName=software_development

I suppose I could turn off the aggregators. And you are more than welcome to run NoScript or other security software and just neglect to allow Clearspring to run its scripts. I'd appreciate a little feedback on this issue. How do people feel about Clearspring and its methods?

OK, now that I think about it and see others talking about it:

http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuff/addthis_privacy_warning/

http://drupal.org/node/318606

http://privacychoice.wordpress.com/tag/clearspring/

It's just Out Of Here. We don't need this Crap.

Cool Site: Bibliodyssey

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:30:00 -0800

Cool Site: Bibliodyssey

Books. Old books. Illustrations. Old, moldy books full of drawings. Yee-Haw! I love this kind of thing.

http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/

Strange Networks

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:29:00 -0800

Nmap is always helpful and pleasant to use, but I don't really employ it often enough to memorize the full set of commands. This may not be the greatest tutorial on the issue of port scanning, but it's what I found while looking for some hand-holding the other day. Feel free to point me to something better! Be sure to click on the "Read More" link if you want to read the full text.

Hypervivid Tiger Team - Port-Scanning: A Practical Approach
-----------------------------------------------------------
Often times it is useful, even necessary, to gather as much information as possible
about a remote target. This includes learning all of their network "points of entry",
the operating systems used, firewalling methods employed, services running, etc.

Here's the list of other programs you might want to install:
* nmap (The defacto security scanner)
* nc (NetCat - The "IP Swiss Army Knife")
* tcpdump (The original sniffer. Personally, I prefer snort, but tcpdump will run
on just about any unix out there...)
* lynx (Excellent console based webbrowser. Always handy to have)

.

Continue reading "Strange Networks"

Strange Webservers using socat

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:05:04 -0800

I started out trying to make a one-line web proxy server today, but when that didn't pan out to exactly the level of performance I wanted I continued to experiment with the network tools NetCat and Socat. I wanted to see if I could accomplish anything with them that would actually be useful to me.

I found a nice netcat tutorial but in the end thought socat might have a better chance of doing what I had in mind.

I wrote a short Bash script to generate some "dynamic" HTML code on demand; all that really mattered would be that it would provide some new and different data to look at every time it ran. Please excuse the ugly screen shot: I'm working on this issue.

Then I came up with this socat one-liner to bind to port 9999 and wait for something to touch it.

socat TCP4-LISTEN:9999,reuseaddr,fork,readbytes=1000 EXEC:'./makedynhtml.sh'

I SSH'd into a machine on the lan and installed socat and my shell script, then invoked an instance of screen. In the first screen I ran my socat one liner. In a second I called up the one liner that uses 'watch' to run netstat once a second and report on connections to the machine.

watch -n 1 'netstat -ntp | wc -l'

I pointed my browser to the machine on port 9999, and oui la!

I know. You're thinking "Why is that supposed to be so cool?" Well, the idea here is that we can easily implement a webserver that imposes very little load on the host machine but allows that machine to provide meaningful dynamically generated output to a user. If you can't think of some very cool stuff to do with this, well, you probably just don't need it.

Strange Nourishment

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:44:07 -0800

The I Ching has always fascinated me. While having little to no faith in divination, prophecy or any other assumed communication channels with the infinite, the I Ching has many times given me those "Hmmm" moments where a simple toss of the coins yields a hexagram that seems to speak closely to my situation. Perhaps, like horoscopes, it's all so generic that it's bound to happen. But I have trouble believing that. The best place to start investigating the I Ching and so many other things is Wikipedia: I Ching.

Today is 27.

27. I / Nourishment

The trigram representing a mountain, and under it that for thunder, form I. The superior person, in accordance with this, enjoins watchfulness over our words, and the temperate regulation of our eating and drinking.

I indicates that with firm correctness there will be good fortune in what is denoted by it. We must look at what we are seeking to nourish, and by the exercise of our thoughts seek for the proper nourishment.

The bottom line, as nine: seems to be thus addressed, 'You doubt your own effective gifts, and look at me with your mouth turned down with envy.' There will be evil.

The second line, as six: shows one looking downward for nourishment, which is contrary to what is proper: or seeking it from the height above, advance towards which will lead to evil.

The third line, as six: shows one acting contrary to the method of nourishing. However firm they may be, there will be evil. For ten years let them not take any action, for it will not be in any way advantageous.

The fourth line, as six: looks downwards like a tiger for the power to nourish. There will be good fortune. Looking with a tiger's downward unwavering glare, and with their desire that impels them to spring after spring, they will fall into no error.

The fifth line, as six: shows one acting contrary to what is regular and proper; but if they abide in firmness, there will be good fortune. They should not, however, try to cross the great stream.

The topmost line, as nine: shows they from whom comes the nourishing. One's position is perilous, but there will be good fortune. It will be advantageous to cross the great stream.

Top 100 Network Security Tools

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:24:00 -0800

The author of Nmap (Fyodor) has asked his minions in the nmap-hackers mailing list for their recommendations for
best network tools of 2006. Yeah I know, that was a million years ago... but not much has changed as far as any huge new contenders, to my knowledge. This is an incredible list of utilities for testing the security of your sites. Most are free, and many of them have even been ported to Windows. Three that I was unfamiliar with and impressed me were Ettercap, Nikto and Socat. If you ever wonder how much trouble you're really open to, a few minutes with some of these tools can really open your eyes.

Nmap has saved my bacon more times than I can count.

Tallulah!

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:34:00 -0800

OK, I've come to this thought a bit late but think I just became a Tallulah Bankhead fan. This quote happened to pop up in Fortune, a very handy *nix program that spews random text when asked:

"Love your drag, honey, but did you know your purse is on fire?"
[Tallulah Bankhead, to the censer preceding the bishop up the aisle at Catholic service]

Which pithy remark led me to ask what else this little bundle of laughs might have said. It turns out she was famous for speaking her mind, no matter what was on it at the moment, and doing things that were, well, entertaining to, with and for all present. Even her last words (quoted below) show this was a woman who, at the least, usually knew exactly what she wanted. There's also a Wikipedia page. I'll have to watch Hitchcocks "Lifeboat" again now, with new eyes. I think I would have liked her. This woman was so far ahead of her time I don't think we've quite caught up yet.

I'll come and make love to you at five o'clock. If I'm late, start without me.
They used to shoot her through gauze. You should shoot me through linoleum. (Referring to Shirley Temple)
I'm as pure as the driven slush.
It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time.
The only thing I regret about my past is the length of it. If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.
My father warned me about men and booze... but he never said anything about women and cocaine.
I read Shakespeare and the Bible, and I can shoot dice. That's what I call a liberal education.
Well, I don't know, darling -- he's never sucked -my- cock. (When asked for her opinion on whether a male celebrity of the time was gay.)
Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it.
If you really want to help the American theater, don't be an actress, dahling. Be an audience.
Here's a rule I recommend. Never practice two vices at once.
Let's not quibble! I'm the foe of moderation, the champion of excess...
Cocaine isn't habit forming. I should know - I've been using it for years.
"Codeine...bourbon..." (Tallulah Bankhead's last words)

The 10 Minute Burrito

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:27:00 -0800

A guy posted a "Burrito Recipe" on Kuro5hin. It looks very genuine and good but here's how I do it in 10 minutes or less on a paper plate, zero drama. Just build a chopped, sliced, torn up pile on top of:

1 pre-made tortilla shell (I like Mannys Low Carb)

A couple tablespoons black beans out of a drained can. I've never bothered to mash them.

A small plum tomato or piece of larger tomato.

A little cooked meat or fish (!) if you've got it, completely optional.

A couple tablespoons of salsa.

A few generous shakes of chili powder mix. Dont be cheap.

A shake of Goya Adobo

A few shakes of Cominos (Cumin)

A Pinch of cayenne pepper or hot sauce.

Some minced garlic or garlic powder

Any other damn thing you want. I like onion greens, cilantro, green or red sweet pepper. Pineapple chunks are really good with fish!

Shave or cut some cheese and don't be cheap with it. I like sharp cheddar, use whatever you want.

Throw it in the microwave for a minute or two.

Roll it up and eat. I usually slice it up and eat it on the plate with a fork.

This is way easier and pretty damn good. Throw on some garnish and a little side dish, grab maybe a Corona or other chilled Pilsner with lime and people will think you actually worked at this.

Project Blackbox

nospam@example.com (Rixter) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:48:00 -0800

Link: Project Blackbox

These have been around for 3 or 4 years now but I still think they are cool.

250 x64-based servers with 1000 cores
1.5 petabytes of disk storage
7 terabytes of memory
Can support approx 10,000 simultaneous desktop users
sufficient power handling and cooling capacity to support 200 kilowatts of rackmounted equipment

In a standard 20 ft shipping container. In flat black, of course.

I'll have the local chopper shop do some flames painted on the side of mine.

Sun Modular Datacenter