Unpossible Adventures in Undead Smackdown

It's a happy new baby intro movie!

2012-01-18T09:23:00.001-08:00

Getting a list of stored procedures out of MySQL

2010-04-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

Ick!

select SPECIFIC_NAME from information_schema.routines;

Sheesh!

MySQL command-line pager

2010-04-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

msql has support for altering the pager's behavior. Current favorite found by a friend:

msql > pager less -n -i -S -F -X

This allows you to view "wide" tables... as tables! Vim navigation is available, as are the arrow keys. Try hitting the right arrow key. Come back when you're done. I'll wait here...

I know, right? You're welcome!

ATI 5850 Installed!

2010-02-11T17:17:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week, I crossed my fingers and hit the purchase button on an ATI 5850. I must say, installation could not have been easier, and the results have been spectacular.

I've got an old 1.8 GHz C2D 6300 with two gigs of ram, and an ancient NVidia 7800 GTX driving a 24" monitor. Games were getting slow.

Adding this card did exactly what I wanted to do. I can run all my games at native (1920 x 1200) resolution with maxed out detail settings.

For my next trick, I'll try grouping my monitors to see what that's like (3520 x 1200). Stay tuned.

Troubleshooting Netflix on the PS3

2010-01-12T17:54:00.001-08:00

I recently had the Netflix disk for the PS3 suddenly stop working. It would just halt at the red splash page, and never seem to move on. I'm not sure the deactivation of the device step is required, but it's part of the path I followed to the solution.

1) At netflix.com, deactivate the PS3 device
2) Ensure that the time settings on the PS3 are set by Internet
3) In the video section of the cross-bar, go to the BD-Live utility, and delete "Netflix"
4) Insert the Netflix disk, and let it do its thing

I'm sure step three is the magic step, but I wanted to record everything just in case.

Roll back to a previous revision in Subversion

2010-01-12T10:09:00.000-08:00

Excerpted from http://aralbalkan.com/1381

To revert to a previous version of your application (roll back changes) in Subversion, you merge the changes from your current revision back to the revision you want to revert to. So, for example, if you want to revert the trunk of your application from revision 73 to 68, you would do the following:

1. svn merge --dry-run -r73:68 http://my.repository.com/my/project/trunk
2. svn merge -r73:68 http://my.repository.com/my/project/trunk
3. svn commit -m "Reverted to revision 68."

Step 1 will perform a dry run and show you what the merge will produce. If you want to see exactly what changes will be applied, do a diff:

svn diff -r73:68 http://my.repository.com/my/project/trunk

F*ck you, Twilight

2010-01-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

This... is genius

2010-01-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

Watch this. Then watch the other 6 parts. I came to the same conclusion as this guy years ago, but his surgical analysis of one of the biggest let-downs in popular culture really is stunning.

Several points for disarming, self-deprecating humor awarded. A few are lost during some slow bits. Overall score: 9

Vimperator!

2009-12-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

Vi keybindings! For Firefox and Thunderbird! I just got them, and now have a ton of reading to do, but this would have a hard time being more promising.

Math is hard

2009-11-28T09:20:00.000-08:00

They can't even get the name of their lackeys right. It's Opinion Dynamics, and they're not a polling agency so much as an opinion-altering mercenary group, who appear to have issues editing English.

They also don't seem to know what they do. Under Services, Opinion Dynamics says they perform "market research" using "methods that they use":

As a consulting firm specializing in market research, over 80% of our projects involve primary quantitative or qualitative market research. Our quantitative techniques include: telephone surveys, Internet surveys, mail surveys, on-site intercepts, and in-home visits. Our qualitative techniques include: focus groups (including in-person, online, and via telephone), in-depth interviewing, and all other methods currently in use.

Under Issues & Campaigns are actions such as:

Oregon Genetically Modified Food Labeling
A successfully [sic] 2002 campaign to defeat a ban to require labeling of all genetically modified foods. We worked on behalf of a coalition of farmers, grocers and food manufacturers for whom the proposed bill would have created an excessive cost burden, given the lack of such a requirement throughout the rest of the country.

Dubai implosion beginning?

2009-11-28T08:32:00.000-08:00

This situation is interesting.

I have been raving for a while now (in person, to people who will suffer my ravings) that all of the insane building in Dubai was going to implode one day. I don't know a lot about economics, but I subscribe to the radical notion that "bust" follows "boom". Dubai has to be the single largest boom town ever created by man, so when it goes bust, I predicted it would become the largest ghost town on the planet.

But, because I don't know much about economics or finance, I wasn't sure how it would happen, or when.

It appears that time may be now, and the cause our old friend leverage. As this thing unravels, I'll be unsurprised to learn (and by that I mean "Shocked and outraged by this unprecedented betrayal!") of Dubai World's off-the-books debt obligations. Banks are freaking out about getting back what their owed now, but I submit that they have no idea what their exposure actually is - and won't until the implosion is well underway.

So, on my "ghost town" outcome prediction - any bets how this thing actually ends? I'm not sure the UAE will let that actually happen, but I don't know what their options will be. I guess that depends on finding out just how bad the situation really is.

My favorite exchange from Bilski v. Kappos so far...

2009-11-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

From Ars Technica's coverage:

Justice Roberts asked about another hypothetical software case: whether you could patent the process of using a calculator to compute "the historical averages of oil consumption over a certain period and divide it by 2." Stewart responded by drawing a distinction between a calculator with "preexisting functionality" to "crunch numbers" and a computer that "will be programmed with new software" and "given functionality it didn't have before." We'll let readers judge for themselves whether this distinction makes any sense.

I think this is precisely the problem with software patents, and I'm thrilled it was actually brought up.

A more complete treatment of this topic is here.

Thanks, Windows 7!

2009-10-25T21:28:00.001-07:00

That's a damn handy calendar!

West Virginia is for Lovers

2009-03-16T17:16:00.000-07:00

Meet "Old Sparky"... You know what? I can't even parody this site. Go read this tourism pitch for the West Virginia State Penitentiary. Then come back here to see if you can make a funny post about it. I'll wait.

I may have found a slice of sanity

2009-02-16T18:04:00.000-08:00

I'm ridiculously sensitive to noise of any sort. This can cause friction with others who like to do things in places that my condition will not allow (at least not without making me so surly that I'm no fun to be with).

I think I might have found a solution: The ETY ER*20s.

They're earplugs that attenuate sound evenly across the frequencies of audible sound. Regular earplugs damp noise aggressively at the upper frequencies. This is great when you want to hear nothing (like heavy machinery), but not so great when you're at a concert (or a coffee shop), because they essentially render you deaf.

Putting a pair of ER*20's in your ears is like turning down the world's volume knob by 20db. It's like saying "Shhhhh" to everything. Which is what I want!

Musicians use them to protect their hearing while retaining their ability to play in tune. I'll see if they increase my ability to do stuff with people I like where they like to go.

No delete?

2009-01-16T07:17:00.001-08:00

Wow, this is the awesome. I posted something, then decided I didn't want it (video player isn't the right aspect ratio for the source). But... there's no "delete post" link in evidence anywhere. I can delete content, but not the post itself? FTW.

Neat!

2008-12-29T12:31:00.001-08:00

One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

2008-12-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

Subversion revision history, Perforce style

2008-11-21T11:16:00.000-08:00

I don't have a ton of confidence in Subversion, and am fairly comfortable with Perforce, so when Subversion doesn't obviously do something I know how to do in Perforce, I tend to throw my hands up in the air and say, "See? Subversion sucks!"

This, I'm coming to believe, is a bad habit. Case in point: change history - Perforce vs. Subversion. In Perforce, you do the following (of course, there are flags to get more or less information):

p4 changes (path)
p4 describe (change number)

In Subversion, you get the changes this way:

svn log (path)

That's fine, but now how do you get information about what changed? Cue throwing my hands up and cursing the tool. "How can I make log tell me about what changed," I'd think. But, as is often the case (and the sooner I realize this, the better for everyone), I'm not thinking about the problem correctly. Perforce requires you use two different commands to get the information I require. Why wouldn't Subversion? The only wrinkle is that Subversion doesn't appear to have a dedicated utility for "describing" a change. Rather, you use the diff utility thus:

svn diff -c(change number) (path)

or, to find out all of the changes committed at a certain revision number

svn diff -c(change number)

Please, make him go away.

2008-10-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

Zombie says what?

2008-10-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

Your technology might suck, if...

2008-09-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

... you think it's appropriate to make the cover for your book about the technology involve confused-looking aliens with their first alchemical set they just got for alien Christmas.

Windows 7: The Mojave Experiment for Reals?

2008-09-20T16:17:00.000-07:00

Recently, Microsoft launched a "viral" (what the hell does viral mean in this context?) marketing campaign entitled "The Mojave Experiment". The campaign is a series of videos in which people are shown Vista, but are told they are looking at a new Microsoft operating system codenamed Mojave. The people react positively to what they are shown, and then are surprised to learn that the OS they are looking like is actually Folger's Crystals.

It's an OS that's rich enough to be served in America's finest coffee houses!

So, I thought that marketing campaign was a little lame, and not really worth noting. Except soon after it appeared, I heard that a beta of Windows 7 may be available at PDC this year. It took Microsoft over 5 years to produce Vista, so I have to wonder - is Windows 7 really just the Mojave Experiment?

Schneier on Security : The Pentagon's World of Warcraft Movie-Plot Threat

2008-09-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

Schneier comments on a salon article about a the use of World of Warcraft as a possible terrorist communication channel (emphasis added):

I don't know why he thinks that the terrorists will use World of Warcraft and not some other online world. Or Facebook. Or Usenet. Or a chat room. Or e-mail. Or the telephone. I don't even know why the particular form of communication is in any way important.

I have an idea why. The analyst is saying the opposite of "... not some other online world. Or Facebook. Or Usenet..." On the contrary: "revealing" this threat "reveals" the others, and for a purpose.

Government agencies aren't interested so much in stopping terrorists as improving their surveillance capabilities. Making a case that there are many communication channels (don't forget the nefarious NickelAds! Evil!) argues for initiatives like the IAO. An agency capable of watching all communication channels at once becomes an extremely powerful tool, and even an extremely powerful entity in its own right. It seems to me that the threat of "asymmetric warfare" is little more than a ruse for grabbing power.

We've always been at war with Eastasia.

MacVim

2008-09-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

Google Code provides a nice native vim and gvim 7.2 port for OS X. Winnar. Thanks to Mr. Met for the tip!

Branches and Merging with Subversion

2008-09-17T14:24:00.000-07:00

I found other posts elsewhere mystifying. None of them had a very good technical explanation for what Subversion was doing in the background, so the very best posts for me just had step by step instructions. You know... for monkeys.

So... here's my cookie-cutter, "joo can doo eet too" solution for dealing with branches and merges to and from a Subversion trunk repository.

1) Every day, I merged trunk -> branch and resolved conflicts. This kept shit from getting too far out of whack. I kept a log of what happened in case I needed it, and I tagged every commit from this procedure with the revision I merged from and to. For example (NOTE: I'm in a directory with the branch version of the code):

...
6/19 > svn merge -r 4130:4152 svn+ssh://svn.billy.net/data/svn/jooky/trunk
6/20 > svn merge -r 4152:4164 svn+ssh://svn.billy.net/data/svn/jooky/trunk
6/23 > svn merge -r 4164:4199 svn+ssh://svn.billy.net/data/svn/jooky/trunk
...
6/30 > svn merge -r 4368:4376 svn+ssh://svn.billy.net/data/svn/jooky/trunk

2) Ok, so, on the day of the big merge back you tell everyone to quit committing to either trunk or branch until the process is complete. I know, a revision control system should support locking. AFAIK, Subversion doesn't, so you just have to treat your fellow developers like adults and trust that they will follow your edict. Maybe tell them that whoever thwarts you by checking in has to do the merge for you :)

6/30 > svn merge -r 4368:4376 svn+ssh://svn.billy.net/data/svn/jooky/trunk

3) If that tests clean, here's the magic part: go to a directory that contains the trunk version of your code, and merge in this directory using this bizarre ordering:

> svn merge svn+ssh://svn.billy.net/data/svn/jooky/trunk svn+ssh://svn.billy.net/data/svn/jooky/branches/dbrb_4043

That's right: go to a directory with a trunk version of your code, and tell svn to merge trunk to branch (well, that's how *I* read that notation anyway. YMMV). Check it out! I have no freaking idea what Subversion is thinking here, but I can tell you from experience that this process works. ONLY the differences you want are carried from branch back to trunk.

[ Update ]

One thing that's crucial to this thing working right is keeping notes. Externally or using comments, note the revisions you're using.

Regarding the notes, I've seen a pretty common mistake using this technique that I think I need to make mention of. Don't ever use "HEAD" for any of these operations. You don't know what head is when you do this operation, and you will likely forget to make a note of it when you add your comment. This can cause gaps in your merge. Gaps are bad.