well, i've been toying with playlists on youtube and i think this is the closest i can come to recreating the Foo Fighters portion of Austin City Limits music festival from September 28, 2008.
Lots of them are my clips, a few of them are not. If you visit this playlist on youtube you can see the higher quality versions.
24 January 2009
22 January 2009
in case you missed it
I accidentally purchased the Tuesday newspaper, with headlines of record turnout for many MLK marches. I am currently boycotting this newspaper, mostly due to the endorsement of McCain. oh well, so they got 50 cents out of me this year. Something tells me that will be all from me this year.
In the meantime, here was Wednesday's cover...in case you missed it. historic editon....HA! yes. that really seems like quite a gimmick, and as such...this picture is in black and white to highlight the change.
In the meantime, here was Wednesday's cover...in case you missed it. historic editon....HA! yes. that really seems like quite a gimmick, and as such...this picture is in black and white to highlight the change.
21 January 2009
Crawford, TX - January 19, 2009
It seemed somewhat appropriate to pay a visit to the Crawford Texas Peace House this past Monday. I am still not sure how it all ties in, but it was MLK day and Bush's last day, well...it seemed like a natural place to go.
According to Google maps, the place is about 3.5 hours from my house. I sent an invite to many people and was a little sad that only 1 friend ended up going. We really had a nice time, well at least i did. I was also a bit saddened that it was not very busy, but according to the "staff", most "activists" were going to Dallas or Washington, D.C. for the big day Tuesday.
I'd only ever been to this place once, and i must admit there were a lot more people the last time in 2005. Still...i thought to post some images. I hope to remind people that the peace cause should not die now that GWB is out of office. But hey, don't let me spoil the fun.
strange-ish panoramic-ish picture
Peace fence
AdkenC by the reflective ball and tree
Raymond thinking up something for the geocache notebook. we stumbled upon a gps game. i left something from the crazy day before at the coast.
The labyrinth (center pole says "may peace prevail on earth" in several languages)
Reflective ball fun
Memorial @ Camp Casey III
Iraq Veterans Against the War @ Camp Casey III
Entrance to Camp Casey III
Peace House panoramic photo 1
Peace House panoramic photo 2
Ready for the celebrations!
Restaurant with tasty burgers / a note on gas prices in Crawford.
According to Google maps, the place is about 3.5 hours from my house. I sent an invite to many people and was a little sad that only 1 friend ended up going. We really had a nice time, well at least i did. I was also a bit saddened that it was not very busy, but according to the "staff", most "activists" were going to Dallas or Washington, D.C. for the big day Tuesday.
I'd only ever been to this place once, and i must admit there were a lot more people the last time in 2005. Still...i thought to post some images. I hope to remind people that the peace cause should not die now that GWB is out of office. But hey, don't let me spoil the fun.
strange-ish panoramic-ish picture
Peace fence
AdkenC by the reflective ball and tree
Raymond thinking up something for the geocache notebook. we stumbled upon a gps game. i left something from the crazy day before at the coast.
The labyrinth (center pole says "may peace prevail on earth" in several languages)
Reflective ball fun
Memorial @ Camp Casey III
Iraq Veterans Against the War @ Camp Casey III
Entrance to Camp Casey III
Peace House panoramic photo 1
Peace House panoramic photo 2
Ready for the celebrations!
Restaurant with tasty burgers / a note on gas prices in Crawford.
17 January 2009
From the vault
Somewhere in the stockpiles of junk cds...i have a cd with this video. It takes up the entire cd! I always liked this video, and a long time ago a good friend of mine gave it to me. There was no youtube then and i was always very grateful as i like the song and video. Anyway, tonight i was organizing tunes using Songbird. I just recently discovered this media player and i'm loving it! I have a lyric plugin installed, and honestly i don't think i'd ever paid as much attention to the lyrics of any song until i started using that feature. Amazing, but i think i still love the song as much as i did back then...and now thanks to Songbird i know so much more about it. Without further ado...
Song: Coffee and TV
Artist: Blur
Album: 13
Do you feel like a chain store?
Practically floored
One of many zeros, kicked around bored
Your ears are full but you're empty
Holding out your heart
To people who never really care how you are
So give me coffee and tv
Peacefully
I've seen so much
I'm going blind
And I'm brain-dead virtually
Sociability is hard enough for me
Take me away from this big bad world
And agree to marry me
So we can start over again
Do you go to the country?
It isn't very far
There's people there who will hurt you
Cause of who you are
Your ears are full of the language
There's wisdom there you're sure
Til the words start slurring
And you can't find the door
So give me coffee and tv
Peacefully
I've seen so much
I'm going blind
And I'm brain-dead virtually
Sociability is hard enough for me
Take me away from this big bad world
And agree to marry me
So we can start over again
So give me coffee and tv
Peacefully
I've seen so much
I'm going blind
And I'm brain-dead virtually
Sociability is hard enough for me
Take me away form this big bad world
And agree to marry me
So we can start all over again
Oh...we could start over again
Oh...we could start over again
Oh...we could start over again
Oh...we could start over again
Song: Coffee and TV
Artist: Blur
Album: 13
Do you feel like a chain store?
Practically floored
One of many zeros, kicked around bored
Your ears are full but you're empty
Holding out your heart
To people who never really care how you are
So give me coffee and tv
Peacefully
I've seen so much
I'm going blind
And I'm brain-dead virtually
Sociability is hard enough for me
Take me away from this big bad world
And agree to marry me
So we can start over again
Do you go to the country?
It isn't very far
There's people there who will hurt you
Cause of who you are
Your ears are full of the language
There's wisdom there you're sure
Til the words start slurring
And you can't find the door
So give me coffee and tv
Peacefully
I've seen so much
I'm going blind
And I'm brain-dead virtually
Sociability is hard enough for me
Take me away from this big bad world
And agree to marry me
So we can start over again
So give me coffee and tv
Peacefully
I've seen so much
I'm going blind
And I'm brain-dead virtually
Sociability is hard enough for me
Take me away form this big bad world
And agree to marry me
So we can start all over again
Oh...we could start over again
Oh...we could start over again
Oh...we could start over again
Oh...we could start over again
14 January 2009
(dis)connected
you. damn you! i could see it wasn't real since before, but you were that first domino and now there's no setting back up. the illusion is over. how many was it? 98? 99? 199? all gone in an instant. it has been easy and nice to start from zero. i figured i could see who was who and what was what. well...that honeymoon is over and there's no point in going back.
its been more than a year now, and it's saddening that despite the number displayed, it sure feels like the actual number is 0. i know it's only a microscopic fraction of the world out there, yet it seems pretty representative to me.
sorry, just drunk on some thoughts. don't get me started on the real world. time for bed.
smile!
its been more than a year now, and it's saddening that despite the number displayed, it sure feels like the actual number is 0. i know it's only a microscopic fraction of the world out there, yet it seems pretty representative to me.
sorry, just drunk on some thoughts. don't get me started on the real world. time for bed.
smile!
11 January 2009
More moon
I can't decide which of these i like better. I took these tonight, mainly because I am a perfectionist at times and I didn't like that the best of last night's full moon pictures came out with the top part of the moon cut off. If i had to pick between these two, i'd choose the top. The bottom one has a color enhance filter, and once I noticed some strange color on the bottom of the moon i didn't like it as much. I edited the same picture some more and the result is the top photo. Anyways, these will probably be my last moon pics for a while. I like them much better than yesterday's. That's all i have to say about that.
Tonight I caught up with an old friend online. It was great catching up. Tomorrow I have to be at work at 630 in the morning, so I guess that means i should sleep now. goodnight.
J'ai Besoin De La Lune
(click for the larger version)
I know I posted some of these already, but I guess the moon just keeps my attention. Tonight it put me in the mood to listen to Manu Chao's 2004 album "Siberie m'etait contéee", particularly track 18. I am tempted to make a hi-resolution lunar slideshow youtube clip, but i don't have enough pics. anyway, this was the first full moon of 2009. supposedly it is the biggest, although frankly any time i see someone writing that i want to tell them that the moon doesn't change size. i don't like that the top portion was cut off slightly, but taking pictures through a spotting scope can be kind of tricky. the view for my eye was amazing though, and if anyone out there is ever around and wants to join me in checking it out....you're more than welcome to. in the meantime, i hope the picture will do.
in other news, my download of windows 7 just finished and i'm looking forward to testing it out as a virtual machine. i highly doubt i will be replacing my openSUSE install anytime soon, but i am mostly curious and would like to have some sort of opinion if anyone ever asks. for now, the process of downloading has not gone so well. microsoft released a free open beta which will expire sometime in the summer. i've heard great things, but am still very skeptical at this point. for one, they required internet explorer to get the installer, which comes as an image. this means that if you are on mac or linux, the only way to get it is to switch over to windows. it just seems pretty lame... luckily the pirate bay has more efficient distribution methods. more on windows7 when there's something more to say...
burrrrrrrrr! it's cold. crazy weather.
the question for 2009: when? WHEN? it seems like anything i'm looking forward to is so far away...
09 January 2009
are you ready for the digital transition?
i am. starting january 1, 2009, my tv's are 100% good to go for the move to digital.
in case you are not aware, the U.S. will soon be moving to digital broadcasts over the air. there has been a lot of money (mis)spent in informing people that they need digital tuners, and yet somehow i get the feeling things aren't going to switch very smoothly. apparently, president-elect obama (or some of his people?) is asking for more time? psshhh. gimme a break. the law that is making this change was passed in 1996. 1996!
stations have been simultaneously broadcasting digital and analogue for several years now in this area, but the switch to all digital is supposed to happen in February. bleh. anyway, i moved to digital earlier than "mandated", and then realized that while there are all sorts of commercials and ads and stuff telling people they will need a digital tuner, not much help is out there. so, here is a quick rundown of my setup and experience.
first off, i think people should realize they have options. the government is giving coupons for boxes such as this ge tuner
the third picture is a flat antenna advertised as "made for digital". personally i think that's a bunch of crap; i bought it because i liked the design of the antenna, and because it came with a removable signal booster. anyway, the tuner will allow you to watch digital channels in standard definition. while these get the job done, there are a few things not to like. first off, i think all of these remotes should have some sort of minimal universal remote function that allows you to change volume, channel, etc on the tv they are attached to. why? well, the remote that is next to the tuner is my old tv remote. it is now totally useless except for the power button. if the remote had some sort of universal function, then i could have just 1 remote for all the tv viewing needs. the tuner's remote DOES let you adjust the volume, but you are only controlling the volume coming from the tuner, not the one on your tv.
anyway, as you can see, standard definition digital television is not so bad (i moved the camera, but that's my fault). some people say it looks better than cable...and actually, i can see how they might say that. i think it looks clearer than the clearest analog signal. there are more channels now, too.
i would like to point out that the government coupons will only cover this sort of box. the converter is digital, but it is only capable of showing standard definition. all of the boxes i've seen have a cheap look and feel to them, and out of 3 converters, i think this is probably the most problematic. digital tv does not show static, but sometimes you do see pixelation, or strange artifacts, or even skips in the broadcasts. this box usually receives all the channels alright, but tends to give random strange problems that are usually solved with a reboot. i guess you get what you pay for...
SO, that is standard definition. i recently purchased this next box from Kworld at my favourite store Fry's electronics. it is a perfect match for my 2002 "hd ready" tv. many "older" hdtvs do not have built in digital tuners. i believe it was only in 2006 that they all started coming with these tuners built in, and even so they are not always high definition. originally i thought i could use this box to also hook up my pc to the tv in hd, but no. well, yes...but your pc has to be outputting the right kind of signal, and that is usually not very straightforward. at any route, this box is perfect for hd ready sets, or if you want to watch tv on a pc monitor even without the computer attached or on. it shares the same complaint as the cheapie converter in that the remote only controls the tuner. another gripe is that while this outputs in 1080i HD, the audio is only stereo. oh well. if you get this box, i recommend using a vga to component cable like i am using. it is less messy than if i were to use the component outputs on the side of the box.
the antenna you see here attached to the candle holder came included. this placement, along with a signal booster, is the only way i can receive a signal from pbs (public broadcast station). anyway, this type of antenna is perfect for all of the channels, so don't be fooled into getting more antenna than you need! antenna placement is pretty important. it doesn't need to be anything fancy or expensive, it just needs to be put in the right place. i love that the antenna that came with the kworld box has a magnetic base.
i have not mentioned it much, but that signal booster was probably more important than picking out an antenna. you see, i live in the outskirts of the city, and the stations are broadcasting from quite far away. in analogue, there were few channels that came in very clear. most came in with quite a bit of fuzz. this is important because once switched to digital, it tends to be more of a "you get signal or you don't" type deal. this isn't totally true. but in the case of one channel, the signal strength (which the box will show you) was at about 55% and this was too weak for it to ever display anything. so in my case, the signal was there but not strong enough to be recognized, resulting in a no signal message, even though i could see it detecting something. this booster was enough to push it over into the clean signal edge.
my third digital tuner is the hdtv wonder by ati. it is an internal tuner for desktop computers which i installed sometime around 2003, and it works fairly well. it lets me watch over the air channels on my pc, and since my video card outputs to the tv...well, it lets me watch on the tv too. i recently decided to move my pc away from the tv though. in fact, i plan on selling it.
i feel its important to mention it though, because i think many people imagine they HAVE to get one like the first one, because that is what the coupon will get. i just wanted to point out there are other options, and better options (although i admit you probably won't have cheaper options). also, just because out of the box a converter does not work perfectly, it might not be the converter's fault.
i would say that if you have an hdtv that did not come with a tuner, do not bother with the standard definition tuners. the hd tuners produce a much better picture, and as you may have noticed, the hd tuner will give you more image. (the sd broadcast does not show as much of the court as the hd broadcast). personally, i really only enjoy watching pbs hd, as well as the spurs in hd. other than that, i think i would probably be ok with my tv just showing static after the switch. now that i have switched, i get more channels...and yet it always seems like there is nothing on. but that's another blog post. if you are in the u.s. and watch a lot of over the air tv, i think you will mostly enjoy the switch.
cable and satellite are not affected by this change, well not directly. some cable companies are taking advantage of the confusion/change period to change their lineup. some channels are getting moved to be part of pricier packaging. jerks! this really has nothing to do with the switch to dtv, but it is happening, so i thought i'd mention it too.
anyway, if you have any questions about any of these converters or the switch, feel free to ask...
i am sorry if none of this was of any use to you.
happy watching!
p.s. - woohoo! at the time this blog was finished, the counter showed 1337. ;)
in case you are not aware, the U.S. will soon be moving to digital broadcasts over the air. there has been a lot of money (mis)spent in informing people that they need digital tuners, and yet somehow i get the feeling things aren't going to switch very smoothly. apparently, president-elect obama (or some of his people?) is asking for more time? psshhh. gimme a break. the law that is making this change was passed in 1996. 1996!
stations have been simultaneously broadcasting digital and analogue for several years now in this area, but the switch to all digital is supposed to happen in February. bleh. anyway, i moved to digital earlier than "mandated", and then realized that while there are all sorts of commercials and ads and stuff telling people they will need a digital tuner, not much help is out there. so, here is a quick rundown of my setup and experience.
first off, i think people should realize they have options. the government is giving coupons for boxes such as this ge tuner
the third picture is a flat antenna advertised as "made for digital". personally i think that's a bunch of crap; i bought it because i liked the design of the antenna, and because it came with a removable signal booster. anyway, the tuner will allow you to watch digital channels in standard definition. while these get the job done, there are a few things not to like. first off, i think all of these remotes should have some sort of minimal universal remote function that allows you to change volume, channel, etc on the tv they are attached to. why? well, the remote that is next to the tuner is my old tv remote. it is now totally useless except for the power button. if the remote had some sort of universal function, then i could have just 1 remote for all the tv viewing needs. the tuner's remote DOES let you adjust the volume, but you are only controlling the volume coming from the tuner, not the one on your tv.
anyway, as you can see, standard definition digital television is not so bad (i moved the camera, but that's my fault). some people say it looks better than cable...and actually, i can see how they might say that. i think it looks clearer than the clearest analog signal. there are more channels now, too.
i would like to point out that the government coupons will only cover this sort of box. the converter is digital, but it is only capable of showing standard definition. all of the boxes i've seen have a cheap look and feel to them, and out of 3 converters, i think this is probably the most problematic. digital tv does not show static, but sometimes you do see pixelation, or strange artifacts, or even skips in the broadcasts. this box usually receives all the channels alright, but tends to give random strange problems that are usually solved with a reboot. i guess you get what you pay for...
SO, that is standard definition. i recently purchased this next box from Kworld at my favourite store Fry's electronics. it is a perfect match for my 2002 "hd ready" tv. many "older" hdtvs do not have built in digital tuners. i believe it was only in 2006 that they all started coming with these tuners built in, and even so they are not always high definition. originally i thought i could use this box to also hook up my pc to the tv in hd, but no. well, yes...but your pc has to be outputting the right kind of signal, and that is usually not very straightforward. at any route, this box is perfect for hd ready sets, or if you want to watch tv on a pc monitor even without the computer attached or on. it shares the same complaint as the cheapie converter in that the remote only controls the tuner. another gripe is that while this outputs in 1080i HD, the audio is only stereo. oh well. if you get this box, i recommend using a vga to component cable like i am using. it is less messy than if i were to use the component outputs on the side of the box.
the antenna you see here attached to the candle holder came included. this placement, along with a signal booster, is the only way i can receive a signal from pbs (public broadcast station). anyway, this type of antenna is perfect for all of the channels, so don't be fooled into getting more antenna than you need! antenna placement is pretty important. it doesn't need to be anything fancy or expensive, it just needs to be put in the right place. i love that the antenna that came with the kworld box has a magnetic base.
i have not mentioned it much, but that signal booster was probably more important than picking out an antenna. you see, i live in the outskirts of the city, and the stations are broadcasting from quite far away. in analogue, there were few channels that came in very clear. most came in with quite a bit of fuzz. this is important because once switched to digital, it tends to be more of a "you get signal or you don't" type deal. this isn't totally true. but in the case of one channel, the signal strength (which the box will show you) was at about 55% and this was too weak for it to ever display anything. so in my case, the signal was there but not strong enough to be recognized, resulting in a no signal message, even though i could see it detecting something. this booster was enough to push it over into the clean signal edge.
my third digital tuner is the hdtv wonder by ati. it is an internal tuner for desktop computers which i installed sometime around 2003, and it works fairly well. it lets me watch over the air channels on my pc, and since my video card outputs to the tv...well, it lets me watch on the tv too. i recently decided to move my pc away from the tv though. in fact, i plan on selling it.
i feel its important to mention it though, because i think many people imagine they HAVE to get one like the first one, because that is what the coupon will get. i just wanted to point out there are other options, and better options (although i admit you probably won't have cheaper options). also, just because out of the box a converter does not work perfectly, it might not be the converter's fault.
i would say that if you have an hdtv that did not come with a tuner, do not bother with the standard definition tuners. the hd tuners produce a much better picture, and as you may have noticed, the hd tuner will give you more image. (the sd broadcast does not show as much of the court as the hd broadcast). personally, i really only enjoy watching pbs hd, as well as the spurs in hd. other than that, i think i would probably be ok with my tv just showing static after the switch. now that i have switched, i get more channels...and yet it always seems like there is nothing on. but that's another blog post. if you are in the u.s. and watch a lot of over the air tv, i think you will mostly enjoy the switch.
cable and satellite are not affected by this change, well not directly. some cable companies are taking advantage of the confusion/change period to change their lineup. some channels are getting moved to be part of pricier packaging. jerks! this really has nothing to do with the switch to dtv, but it is happening, so i thought i'd mention it too.
anyway, if you have any questions about any of these converters or the switch, feel free to ask...
i am sorry if none of this was of any use to you.
happy watching!
p.s. - woohoo! at the time this blog was finished, the counter showed 1337. ;)
07 January 2009
firefox fixed!
i recently noticed i had never bothered uninstalling some of the default things that come with openSUSE 11. there were things i had installed that i never ended up using or didn't end up being what i wanted. well, a few days ago i decided to try removing some of these extras, and somehow i ended up breaking firefox. it would not load.
in opensuse, the mouse cursor changes with a little mini icon bouncing up and down to indicate that a program is loading. i would see the firefox logo bouncing, but shortly afterwards it would just close without saying anything. since my flock browser was unaffected, i wasn't worried about it much. soon afterwards though, i noticed vlc (a media player) was not loading as well. this could not be!
after a bit of investigation, here is the story of the fix...
since i was not getting an error, i decided to google "firefox not loading opensuse" to see if there was any help. i did not find direct help, however i did find a user having the exact same symptoms with ubuntu linux. ubuntu and opensuse do things a little different, however i noticed that one of the suggestions was to try loading firefox from the terminal. the terminal is a command line text interface... and anyway most programs can be started from terminal simply by typing the name of the program. so, i opened up a terminal and typed in "firefox". i was met with the following message:
Could not find compatible GRE between version 1.9.0.5 and 1.9.0.5.
so, i googled this message and found that it means something was wrong with a software that firefox (and apparently vlc) use to run. well, i went to the software administration in opensuse and searched for this troubled software. running a search for "mozilla" in the software administration pointed me to the software giving problems - in my case it was called mozilla-xulrunner190. but what is this? it was already installed and already the right version.... or was it?
after many attempts of removing and adding and pulling my hair out, i stumbled upon the problem and solution. while true that the software was the right one, it was installing a version not meant for my computer. i simply highlighted the xulrunner program, clicked on the "versions" tab, and changed it to the version for my machine. (version 1.9.0.5-.1.x86_64 not 1.9.0.3-.1.i586).
as soon as i changed the version, opensuse pointed out that one of the programs i had removed was now required to be instaled again. who would have thought that taking out a spell check tool would have such a crazy effect? somehow by removing and adding that tool...the other software switched and made a mess.
well, immediately after the changes were applied, i clicked on the firefox launcher and to my delight, everything was exactly as it was the last time i loaded firefox. my browsing history, my previously open tabs...everything! vlc is now working normal too.
and so its the continuous love-hate with linux. i don't know it well enough to prevent myself from messups like this, BUT the help is out there (and its really awesome that you don't have to restart for every little thing).
i'm glad to have my firefox back :o)
in opensuse, the mouse cursor changes with a little mini icon bouncing up and down to indicate that a program is loading. i would see the firefox logo bouncing, but shortly afterwards it would just close without saying anything. since my flock browser was unaffected, i wasn't worried about it much. soon afterwards though, i noticed vlc (a media player) was not loading as well. this could not be!
after a bit of investigation, here is the story of the fix...
since i was not getting an error, i decided to google "firefox not loading opensuse" to see if there was any help. i did not find direct help, however i did find a user having the exact same symptoms with ubuntu linux. ubuntu and opensuse do things a little different, however i noticed that one of the suggestions was to try loading firefox from the terminal. the terminal is a command line text interface... and anyway most programs can be started from terminal simply by typing the name of the program. so, i opened up a terminal and typed in "firefox". i was met with the following message:
Could not find compatible GRE between version 1.9.0.5 and 1.9.0.5.
so, i googled this message and found that it means something was wrong with a software that firefox (and apparently vlc) use to run. well, i went to the software administration in opensuse and searched for this troubled software. running a search for "mozilla" in the software administration pointed me to the software giving problems - in my case it was called mozilla-xulrunner190. but what is this? it was already installed and already the right version.... or was it?
after many attempts of removing and adding and pulling my hair out, i stumbled upon the problem and solution. while true that the software was the right one, it was installing a version not meant for my computer. i simply highlighted the xulrunner program, clicked on the "versions" tab, and changed it to the version for my machine. (version 1.9.0.5-.1.x86_64 not 1.9.0.3-.1.i586).
as soon as i changed the version, opensuse pointed out that one of the programs i had removed was now required to be instaled again. who would have thought that taking out a spell check tool would have such a crazy effect? somehow by removing and adding that tool...the other software switched and made a mess.
well, immediately after the changes were applied, i clicked on the firefox launcher and to my delight, everything was exactly as it was the last time i loaded firefox. my browsing history, my previously open tabs...everything! vlc is now working normal too.
and so its the continuous love-hate with linux. i don't know it well enough to prevent myself from messups like this, BUT the help is out there (and its really awesome that you don't have to restart for every little thing).
i'm glad to have my firefox back :o)
05 January 2009
mini update
i just realized my update to the laptop drama was never posted. in short, Toshiba returned the laptop fixed within 5 days. their service was great and they have earned me as a customer for the foreseeable future. Best Buy did nothing but waste my time. This marks 2 years that big ticket items turn out defective, and 2 years of being left to figure it out for myself. Lucky for me i'm handy with computers, but imagine someone else? My guess is that they treat them the same way and just rob more money from them. But eh, moral of the story is to not shop at Best Buy. I was going to say only buy small items, but this company doesn't deserve it.
happy new year everyone.
happy new year everyone.
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