JF :: Brain Farts :: Archive of October, 2008

Archive of October, 2008

"... and I approved this infomercial."

October 31, 2008:

Well that wasn't quite what I expected. I kinda figured it'd just be a half-hour address, like his racism speech 52 years ago. Instead it was an infomercial.

I honestly didn't watch much of it -- my attention span won't let me sit through a story about how much a mom in Ohio loves her kids -- but the parts I did see were noticeable in that they were all in swing states. And if I noticed, you can't say it was subtle.

The testimonials from his colleagues and some Dem governors seemed a bit much. I don't really need to hear how great the guy is. If he'd spent more time, made it more address-like and gone more into policy, I may have watched. Of course, I'm already voting for the guy. I'm not the intended audience.

It was noted just about everywhere that, aside from mentioning the failed policies of the last eight years, everything was positive, and about Obama. Nothing about McCain at all and only that oblique reference to Bush.

And... that was it, really. It felt as much like a ass-end-of-the-news puff piece as it did a campaign ad. Kinda meh, all told.

Just for shits and grins I checked a few news sites Thursday morning to see what the general consensus was. They all mentioned its unprecedented nature -- only Ross Perot bought a hunk of TV time like that, and his was earlier in the campaign -- and even Fox News's web site remarked that all McCain could do was to "snipe" back at Obama. Of course, then I read the first of 1400+ comments (why oh why did I click that link) and promptly wondered if /b/ had infiltrated foxnews.com. Nobody got called a fag or a nigger so it was probably just similar writing styles.

The BBC's web site conflated Fox News with the Fox network regarding the decision to preempt the World Series conclusion (which even Fox had to come out and defend Obama for -- they canceled the pre-game show but the game itself was not delayed by more than a minute or two, if at all).

To get the "they hate our freedom" reaction I hit the al-Jazeera web site. They had nothing on the ad, but there was an article announcing that the US president was effectively "king of the world" and pointing out the author's resulting interest in the election's results. The guy's endorsing Obama, by the way, for the reasons of backing America away from waging war with the entire Middle East at once and restoring America's standing in the world. Of course, there's another article on the front page decrying Israel's "non-stop aggression" against the Palestinians, so several grains of salt are in order.

So, it really seems that this was a non-event. And expensive and noteworthy non-event, but still. It'll be interesting to see if anything happens in the polls the rest of the week.

As a programming note, I'll probably have a post up on Tuesday, and may liveblog the election until I get tired and go to bed. Not sure about the last one, since I wouldn't exactly be contributing anything new, but what the heck, y'know?

Wall St. Ain't the Only Thing Melting Down

October 29, 2008:

Wow. Just, wow. I'll admit I didn't pay attention to politics as a kid, but I don't think I've ever seen a presidential campaign fall apart at the seams like this.

So, what did we see last week? Well for starters, Barry Goldwater -- the man John McCain replaced in the Senate, one of the founders of the modern conservative movement and, you could argue, the man McCain has been trying to impress for the last couple decades even though he's now gone -- Barry Goldwater's grandchildren have all endorsed Barack Obama. Simply put, like their grandfather, they object to the religious right's intrusion into people's personal lives. (And just as an FYI, punching "goldwater obama" into Google is kind of an odd experience. Two words you just don't expect to look for together.)

Former members of the Bush administration are also coming out for Obama. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan both endorsed Obama. Now, if McClellan told me it was raining I'd look out the window. And it's obvious to me that this move is meant to be a jab in Bush's (and, by proxy, McCain's) eye. But still, the ultimate loyalist, whose lies helped get us into the Iraq mess, jumping ship is noteworthy even if it isn't particularly useful. Bet it sold him a few more books though.

Colin Powell, however, is a slightly different story. He laid out a well-reasoned argument for Obama on Meet the Press, and some conservatives apparently still trust his judgment. (I don't know why; it was him trading on his good name that got the "coalition of the willing" to help us in this boondoggle. Powell was to the UK and our other allies what Scott McClellan was to us.)

We have prominent Republicans amazed at the number of resumes they're receiving from within the McCain campaign. (Sorry I can't link this one; due to homography, all my Google results focus on "McCain Resumes Campaign".) See also: rats, sinking ship.

There's the well-publicized note about the RNC spending $150,000 on clothes for Caribou Barbie. Yes, candidates dress nice. But it appears that Obama, Joe Biden and McCain all buy their own clothes. Which was kind of the point that people seem to be glossing over. Anyway, it's too bad they couldn't buy her some flash cards as she still drifts off-message pretty readily.

And speaking of, there are rumors that Sarah Palin is throwing McCain under the bus to set herself up for a run in 2012, even as McCain's staff point out that they hid her from the press because she didn't have the first clue what she was talking about. Follow that up with her train wreck of an interview with Katie Couric and her general glassy-eyed-ness (no, really -- look at Palin vs. Tina Fey playing Palin. Which one looks like there's someone home behind those eyes?) and I think Palin may be trying a little too hard to grab that brass ring.

We have an RNC strategist (sorry, forgot the name) going on MSNBC and mocking Obama for spending money to "go see Grandma" in response to a question about Palin's wardrobe. Now, if Obama used campaign funds to fly out to Hawaii that's also inappropriate since that flight was personal in nature. I'm sure most of his contributors won't mind, but that's beside the point. But still: Guy's flying a third of the way across the Pacific to see the woman who helped raise him, possibly for the last time, and this douchebag is making fun of him on-air. To the host's credit, he laughed in the guy's face. Or into the video screen, as it was a remote interview.

A McCain supporter in western Pennsylvania who alleged she was attacked, assaulted, and cut up by a large black man supporting Obama, has admitted it was all a lie. (The fact that the "B" was mirror-imaged was a good early indicator that something was up.) Add to this the somewhat prophetic announcement by John Moody, the executive VP at Fox News: "If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting." I'll let that one stand on its own.

And finally to add insult to multiple injuries, we have Joe McCain, the nominee's brother. While visiting Fake Virginia, Joe McCain got stuck in traffic on the Wilson bridge. Like any upstanding citizen, he called 9-1-1 to see what was up. When called out on his misuse of the emergency system, he replied, "fuck you" and hung up.

Now, the last one isn't honestly that big of a deal -- I'm sure there's at least one idiot a day doing something similar. And as far as unfortunate siblings go, Bill Clinton has John McCain beat by a mile. But still, it seemed like the perfect capper for a week in which absolutely nothing seemed to go right for the Republican nominee. About all they got was minimal mileage out of Joe Biden running off at the mouth (see also: sky blue, Pope Catholic) about the world testing incoming presidents in general, and Obama in particular.

Will this cause a recreation of Reagan's "sea of blue" back in the 80s? (Yes, back in the day, there was no "official" color scheme for elections.) Highly doubtful. But I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the McCain campaign stumble into the finish line and wind up on the wrong side of a 300-238 victory for the Democrats, and a senate that's at the very least 55-45 against him, even after they make Lieberman caucus with the Republicans.

I'm not the only one thinking this way; as a last bit of salt in the wound Elizabeth Dole, wife of 1996 nominee Bob Dole, has put out a campaign ad saying to elect her so the Democrats won't control both the White House and the Congress. In other words, McCain's going to lose, so put me back in office to stop Obama.

I wonder how many other Republican candidates will copy that idea.

"Real Virginia"

October 27, 2008:

So, a Republican dimbulb -- the candidate's brother Joe McCain -- decided that NoVA isn't the "real" Virginia. Now for starters, fuck that idiot. Secondly, Obama has a double-digit lead in the polls statewide right now, so it looks like there's no such thing as "Real Virginia" at all. And thirdly, John McCain's campaign is based in NoVA!

But it got me thinking. Counties have seceded from Virginia before, after all. *Waves to WV* So what would happen if "Fake Virginia" decided to tell "Real Virginia" to take a hike?

(Disclaimer: This is all just for shits and grins. But it's a moderately interesting mental exercise.)

We're now going to create the 51st state, Potomac. We'll start with my current residence, Fairfax County. Fairfax County is 407 square miles, with 1,077,000 people earning a per capita income of $36,888.

Already Potomac is a more populous state than Alaska. We can't see Russia from here, though.

Add in:

• Arlington County (pop. 206,800; 26 sq.mi.; $37,706 per capita)
• Alexandria City (pop. 128,283; 15.4 sq.mi.; $37,645 per capita)
• Falls Church City (pop. 10,377; 2.0 sq.mi.; $31,247 per capita)
• Fairfax City (pop. 21,498; 6.3 sq.mi.; $31,247)
• Loudoun County (pop. 268,817; 521 sq.mi.; unk. per capita income)
• Prince William County (pop. 383,644; 348 sq.mi.; $25,641 per capita)
• Manassas City (pop. 35,135; 10.0 sq.mi.; $24,453 per capita)
• Manassas Park City (pop. 10,290; 2.5 sq.mi.; $21,048 per capita)

This gives Potomac a population of 2,141,844 (36th, with Real Virginia dropping to 21st), or 28% of Virginia. Divvying up the representatives, we'd get 3 and Virginia would keep 8. Thus we'd have 5 electoral votes.

I couldn't find a per capita income for Loudoun County, but Potomac seems to be pretty well off: Using the information I do have, the per capita income would be $34,364 (25th) with 4 states beating it by less than $1,000. With Loudoun having the highest household income of any county in the entire country I'm guessing we'd actually be in the top 20.

Potomac would be a small state -- 1,388 sq.mi. That would make it (just barely) smaller than Rhode Island.

Depending on how Combined Virginia fares on November 4th, the effect might be to simply add two Democrats to the Senate and two Democratic electoral votes. Or it could be an eight-vote swing toward the Dems (VA would lose 3 Republican votes, PT would gain 5 Democratic votes).

Now with all that said, this is a bad idea, even once you take account for the fact that it would never happen. With Virginia being an ethnically, politically, socioeconomically and geographically diverse state the fact that Obama is forcing McCain to spend time and money here is an important thing. It also means that Obama is putting a great deal of time and effort into the state.

If a Democratic candidate could focus only on Potomac and leave Real Virginia to the Republicans (with only 10 electoral votes it may not be worth it) the tenor of elections would change, I think, for the worse. So it's an interesting mental exercise (with a large assist from Wikipedia) but of no consequence in reality.

Wikidiving

October 24, 2008:

Filed under, things I do when I'm supposed to be working.

A coworker and I were shooting the breeze recently and The Matrix came up as part of the discussion. So with nothing better to do I looked it up. Part of the article focused on the display of the Matrix code being a mix of letters and numbers with half-(physical-)width Japanese kana characters.

The half-width-kana article was about single-byte vs. double-byte representations of Japanese characters and was kind of short, but that's OK; it moved me on to Han characters, also known as Chinese characters, in addition to the Japanese syllabaries. But the Chinese text one was interesting.

Basically, what I thought about written Chinese was wrong; instead of each logogram being a word, they're each a syllable. Which makes me wonder how Cantonese speakers can read it -- it's one thing to have a picture that means "picture" and be able to use it regardless of language. But when you have two symbols for "pic" and "ture" then it seems like it would require you to know how the "base" language is spoken to be able to read at all.

There are a great many literate Cantonese speakers who don't know Mandarin very well, so I'm obviously missing something here.

But the one that amused me right before I went home was the "rare and complex" character for "verbose" that weighs in at 64 strokes and is basically written as "dragon dragon dragon dragon". I thought that was really funny, if for no other reason than imagining it being used that way in conversation. "Well, you know how Chin gets when he's drinking -- dragon dragon dragon dragon."

2⁵

October 23, 2008:

I turn 32 today. 6:57 AM if you go by the time on my birth certificate, or 7:57 AM if you prefer to use my "true" birth time of 11:57 AM UTC. (Daylight Saving Time wasn't in effect this time of the year in 1976. It creates an utterly unimportant question of the exact time my birthday starts. If you even bother to assume that time zones matter.)

Thirty-two isn't a particularly important birthday -- though it would be better than the alternative -- but it is the last time my age will be a power of two until 2040. And just for the sake of completeness:

2⁵: 32, Now.
2⁶: 64, on 10/23/2040.
3⁴: 81, on 10/23/2057.
4³: 64, on 10/23/2040.
5³: 125, on 10/23/2101. Not banking on making it that far.
6²: 36, on 10/23/2012.
7²: 49, on 10/23/2025.
8²: 64, on 10/23/2040.
9²: 81, on 10/23/2057.
10²: 100, on 10/23/2076. Another one that isn't likely.

Query Analyzer Can Connect to SQL Server But IIS Can't

October 22, 2008:

This is another "helping myself remember later" post. Ignore if you're not an IIS/MSSQL admin.

We had a problem with a brand-spankin' new SQL server at work recently. We could ping the new DB server (let's just call it \\SQL for the sake of argument) from the web server (\\WEB) just fine. We could open up Query Analyzer and talk to it with no problems. Our helper computers could read and write with no issues. But IIS on \\WEB returned a DBNETLIB error 8004005 "SQL Server does not exist or permission denied".

Needless to say, that pissed me off a bit.

The thing that got me was, \\WEB could talk to \\SQL through every means but IIS, and IIS could talk just fine to \\OLDSQL -- flip the connection string between them and watch as the site comes and goes. But you can run a query just fine and talk to the other servers and ack-phhhppbbbbt.

Other web servers couldn't connect over IIS either, and rebooting \\SQL didn't help. Upon inspection in Enterprise Manager, the msdb schema was listed as "suspect". Msdb is how SQL Server takes care of scheduling and other things, and apparently the installation was partially b0rken. Reinstalling SQL Server resulted in a non-suspect database and IIS happily did its thing.

But Wait, There's More

When we ran sp_attach_db on the existing schemas we wound up with schemas that were looking for users that didn't exist. We couldn't recreate the logins because the schemas said, "we already have that guy".

So you have to connect to the affected schema and run sp_dropuser on the ghost/orphaned user(s). Then when you create the user on the fresh install you can assign it to the right schema and continue as normal.

Or you could just not install off a defective DVD drive and bypass that whole ball of hate.

I Love this Time of Year

October 15, 2008:

I can buy half a dozen bags of candy at the Giant and people just assume I want the trick-or-treaters to have a good haul.

End of an Era

October 10, 2008:

From the time I started college in 1994 I've been using PCs -- beginning with my original 486DX2-66 running DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11 all the way through the P4 running Windows 2000. But a power surge took out my uninterruptable power supply and the PC's power supply in mid-January, and since then I've been using the MacBook Pro.

Saturday I finally gave up on replacing the power supply, trivial as it would be. There's just nothing I've had to do in the last nine months that I required a PC for, and if it does come up I'll just install it on my XP virtual machine. Since all my monitors, etc., had been doing was collecting dust I just put everything away. Now my desk only holds the Mac, the cable modem and router, and the scanner/printer.

It seems kind of odd having so much desk space; for more than a decade I've needed two desks in order to do anything. And not having the desktop sitting around is a little weird, almost like I don't have a "real" computer even though the Mac is probably more powerful.

So, yeah. I guess I'm officially a Mac person now. I expect to be writing shitty poetry in a Starbucks while wearing a mock turtleneck any day now.

Backups

October 08, 2008:

I've decided to follow JWZ's advice on backups. I have two 2.5" x 9.5mm hard drives en route from NewEgg along with enclosures to convert them to external drives.

I'll basically be running straight down the checklist due to my being on OSX 10.4. My home directory is FileVault protected, so I'm in no rush to upgrade to 10.5. (I'd have to un-encrypt a few dozen gigs of material, upgrade, then re-encrypt when I'm done.)

So the idea is that, when my hard drive fails, I merely open up the laptop and swap out the drive. This is important, because hard drives only do two things: 1) Store and retrieve data; 2) Fail. I'll even get a nice upgrade when the failure finally happens, since my old drive is 120 GB, 5400 RPM where the new ones are 320 GB, 7200 RPM.

And since, as JWZ says, the universe tends toward maximum irony, look for my hard drive to fry itself in the process of partitioning the new disks, or maybe during the first rsync session.

Edit, 10/8 9:31 AM: Don't worry, the computer's still fine. So far. Hard drives are now out for delivery, and I'd forgotten just how nice it is to get things shipped by means other than USPS. This tracking system actually, y'know, tracks. I kinda wonder why the side-trip to Richmond was necessary though, given that it came back up to Laurel, Md., before heading over to the local depot. Possibly coulda gotten them yesterday if they hadn't swung south.

Just Waiting For It

October 06, 2008:

I'm taking Friday off to check out Anime USA. This means something huge is going to come in Thursday, that absolutely has to go out before the end of the week. I enjoy making people wrong about things like that.

Signposts

October 03, 2008:

I mentioned being in kind of an emo-kid mood a couple weeks ago. I suppose I owe something along the lines of an explanation. After all, what would I use this blog for if not to bitch about my life?

Basically I took a look around at my friends and see them getting advanced degrees, or buying houses, or starting families -- doing something with their lives -- and I look at myself doing pretty much the same thing I was a decade ago just for better pay. That can make a person feel like he's been wasting his time.

Weird thing is, I don't really have any desire to get another degree -- every time I even consider it a very small-yet-loud part of my brain yells, OH FOR CHRIST'S SAKE NO, and that's pretty much the end of it. So it isn't really that I feel like I'm competing. Not totally, anyway. I don't feel diminished somehow by my friends getting a masters or a PhD, or getting off the rental treadmill.

It's more of a competition with myself. Ten years ago I was just finishing college, starting a job, renting a room from a friend of mine, and single. Nowadays I have a better job, renting my own place, and still single. There have been improvements, sure: I make more than triple what I did at that first job, and not having a roommate is nice (if quiet). And I have a car now, compared to then when I was bumming rides or walking everywhere. But in a couple of fundamental ways it just feels like nothing's changed.

So maybe I am competing after all, just not with any one person. And the fact that I'm in this situation isn't really anybody's fault but my own: It was my choice to stubbornly hang on to the hope of becoming a freelancer, racking up a year's worth of debt that I just finished paying off; it was my choice to live in Fairfax County instead of closer to work where rent is cheaper; it's my utter lack of social skills that keeps me inside instead of going out and meeting new people. As the saying goes, the only thing my problems have in common is me.

I guess the weird thing is what set that whole mess off: A friend of mine just recently drove across the country to finish her PhD in Seattle. Again, the degree doesn't bother me -- it was the road trip she took to get there. In addition to some good memories it reminded me that it's been a damn long time since I just took a trip for the sake of going.

In 2005 I drove down to Orlando to see my sister and brother-in-law. But that was about the destination, to borrow the cliche, not the journey -- most of the initial trip was in the dark! After seeing my friend's pictures (and beginning to scan my own from way back when (note: work in progress)) I want to see the country again.

And then I realize that I can't really take two weeks off work (one week out, another back) and that I'd spend several hundred dollars just on gas. Sometimes, I think, I'm a little too practical. But if I'm able to buy a house next spring maybe I'll see where the early fall takes me.

Maybe after hitting Yellowstone I'll shoot up to Vancouver then run down the Pacific coast (which I've never seen from ground level) to San Francisco. After all, nothing says "getting away from it all" like a tour of Alcatraz. (Note to self: If Ed Harris is on the tour, come back later.)

Maybe I'll hit Las Vegas again, now that I'm old enough to gamble away some hard-earned money. Maybe I'll see stuff we bypassed in the 90s like New Orleans or The Alamo.

And maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll ditch this stupid notion that I'm not living up to my potential just because I'm not keeping up with every Jones on the planet, and enjoy seeing where my life takes me.

Well, That's One Way to Get More Customers

October 01, 2008:

Apparently Wachovia had been feeling a pinch over the latest banking problems; they're selling their consumer banking and a couple other divisions to Citibank. There's some formality stuff to go through but apparently I'll be a Citi customer by the end of the year.

I hadn't actually been paying attention to whether the bank was in trouble -- my checking account is (way, way) below the upper limit the FDIC will insure. My only concern is that even more money will be moving into even fewer corporations. I'm sure some wingnut or another will be on TV tonight telling us all how wonderful oligopolies are, and that deregulation is the answer to all of life's problems; my concern is with options much more limited that banks will become as concerned with customer satisfaction like the cable and phone companies are.

Edit, 10/5: Or, they'll get bought in their entirety by Wells Fargo. If that sales goes down I'll be switching to another bank -- I've heard too many horror stories about Wells Fargo's fuckups to trust them with my money.

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