Lord Convergent Landscape Non-Wallpaper Octopoid Gizmo Keilaron (the Ninth)

August has been an... interesting month, not counting the humidity.

It started off with my ear infection (which actually started some time during the second-to-last week of July), which gradually got better and finally went away. It also had coupled itself with an eye infection which I had to deal with an eye infection which I had to deal with at the same time.
However, it ended perhaps a few days before I was scheduled to go off on a canoeing-camping trip (more on that later), and hardly had the time to recover, nevermind time to do exercises to be in shape.
It doesn't end there; during this time I'd noticed some tiny insects - feel free to make your guess, but I've stumped everyone so far - around my apartment. I originally didn't think they were a big deal, but I eventually noticed that regardless of what I did, they stuck around.
I'd done a last ditch effort at the last minute before the camping trip, and even that hadn't done much. And when I came back... I realised that they'd originated from my mother's house. They were on every floor; they'd gone unnoticed because these insects (or mites, or pseudo-lice, or whatever they are) are light-shy, activity-shy and seem to only eat... ...well, I'm not sure what.
The day I realised this I informed my mother about it, but she wasn't terribly worried, especially when I mentioned that I believed they were book lice, and that one source said that one of the things they feed on is mould. *sigh* Mentioning that one of the ones in the basement was a tad larger than I'd seen so far had no effect.
I wasn't convinced these bugs were benign due to their quantity; My argument was that it is rare to see, for example, large amounts of spiders in a human living area and there was a fair quantity of these bugs around. At this point you're likely wondering why I didn't contact exterminators or even the land-lord; I'm not sure. Part of it was procrastination, part of it was that I didn't even know what kind of bug it was, and part of it was that I thought I could get rid of them myself.
Oddly enough, I seem to have done just that; I do not see them in my apartment anywhere anymore, so one or more of cleaning, vacuuming, powder insecticide, and compressed "air" did the trick in getting rid of them. I'm thinking that it was a combination of the last two, because a day after using the compressed "air" they were all over, a fair bit bolder than they'd been before... ...and then the next day, they seemed to have altogether vanished save one or two.
I have yet to scour the apartment for them, however, to make sure they simply haven't just located another source of food (something I could not doubt considering my roommates (several reasons)), but I will do this soon as I'd like to capture at least one and bring it somewhere for identification (Any suggestions? The apartment's office staff will not recognise them, I'm sure, given my past... experience with them.).
As for what I suspect them to be, I believe they are book lice (in which "lice" appears to be a misnomer).

Update: Actually, they're still around. Guess they were napping.

Okay people, repeat after me:

I will not use only a single solution to keep my data safe,
I will not believe that RAID makes my data safe,
I will believe that RAID makes my data reliable,
And I will always, always perform regular back-ups of crucial data.

That is all.

Actually, one more thing. If that's half, then we're pretty darn small, aren't we? ;P

While exploring Jamendo for some more good music, I landed upon this gem: The 4 Elements.

I don't know how to describe it. Just have a listen to it yourself, and decide whether or not to download a copy.

(Sidenote: I think OBE here refers to Out of Body Experience.)

So, as a few of you know already, I've moved out. In fact, I moved out on the 1st of Feb, so I've been here since a month and a half. We've got most things set up, but I've still got a few boxes to unpack mostly due to not having anywhere to place this stuff.

Though some of it is due to not having put up the shelving units I've gotten from my brother.

So, things have been set up, moved in and so forth; The apartment is, while expensive, very nice and spacious (we've got TWO bathrooms) and has some niceties to it that I'm sure will come in handy (like a pool and an exercise room). We've got the pre-paid billing and electricity billing set up, yaddi yaddi yadda... the only negative thing so far is that the windows need replacing since they leak air and get condensation all over them - but we're not too worried about that, since we've never had to use the electric heating so far ^_~

I've gotten my laptop replaced; Eurocom finally decided, when I returned my laptop again, that they'd give me another model and this one seems somewhat better-behaved, though I still need to figure out if it's the way I configured the system or if it's the system itself that's giving me issues.

I've finally got a new phone which I think I will like, and it's all set up with a pay-as-you-go service... only that it's got unlimited browsing and unlimited text messaging. Quit looking at me that way! I only activated it yesterday at midnight, so that's why I haven't told anyone yet what my new number is ^_~

I'm considering changing my career, I suppose you could say, as I don't find I can do programming as an active job. The problem's that I'm not that enthused about it, and I want to do it as more of a hobby than my job. The problem with all this is that I haven't really got anything else to get into; I could go into writing and editing, but with writing I'm generally uncreative and with editing ... well, I haven't tried that much so far. Perhaps it would go well. The only problem is that a sudden career change would likely be rather harsh, especially on the wallet, so I'm not sure I want to do that just yet. Perhaps taking a part-time job first would help, especially résumé-wise (i.e. job experience).

Socially, things have gotten a little better, a little worse. I need to start thinking about others like it's a natural things, as memory and such things aren't at all natural for me. I'd grown into the need to ignore yesterday and tomorrow as though today was the only day, the only day I'd have to live the torture of being alive.

But I've lived past 20.

Dear Celty has been given away last Sunday.

I'm sure her new owners will take good care of her.

This was supposed to be posted a while ago; Not sure why I didn't, but I couldn't pass up on this anyway:

http://www.naturellementpulpeuse.fr/

If you don't know French, here's a quick guide to the ad in question (and you don't need to know french):

Click on "Entrez ...", then the top of fridge, then the 60 second version.

I've got a tough few months ahead of myself.
I keep looking at various things and wishing I'd done something similar. I have to concentrate on one thing and stop spreading myself thin... which is really hard, considering I have immense trouble with concentrating on any single thing for long periods of time.
That, and I have to move out. I've located an apartment and have to start packing, assuming nobody else takes it (haven't signed yet: I want to see it before I sign, damnit!). It's a really good spot, too... I may just throw caution to the wind and grab it, since the other apartments I've seen so far were absolute crap (and what we saw of another apartment in the same building was pretty damned nice).
Grr.
On the upside, I've gotten my laptop back and it appears to be working just fine.

CBC: Autistic mouse may offer clues about condition, treatments

Scientists have created an "autistic mouse" after replacing a normal gene in its body with a mutated one.

They hope the mouse will yield clues about autism, a neuropsychiatric disorder in which those affected experience social, communication and sometimes cognitive deficits. Many perform repetitive motions, and some variants of the disorder are accompanied by a heightened spatial ability and high intellect.

I don't understand this obsession with widescreens. I don't.

No, I don't like widescreen at all. It has it's uses, but for me, I'd rather it stick to TVs. Leave my monitors and especially my laptops alone! Arg!

The only laptop I could find that was still being sold that isn't a widescreen is Eurocom's D700T Enigma. A fine laptop, but I'm having an incredible amount of difficulty with them and getting a working laptop. (When I bought it, I had to bring it back the "next" day to get it fixed. Only about three weeks later did they finally stop trying to fix it and basically gave me a new system; Even so, the video card appears to have issues and I may have to bring it in again!)

I'm still looking for a portable media player that can be truly customized. First one to suggest an iPod will be shot. It may seem silly, I want to load the 10+ different file types that I use and not have any problems playing them (companies looking for small codecs may be interested in looking at the source code of foobar2000). Bonus points if it comes with (or there is, somewhere on the internet) software that can re-encode certain formats to lower bitrates (since you aren't going to get full sound quality from a P.A.P. anyway) automatically and still manage to handle changes on both sides transparently (e.g. if, on another computer, I change the tags or add/delete files, those changes will affect the library on my main system).

What? I can dream, can't I?

On a related aside, I've been looking at the GP2X (official) (which has found it's way into my wishlist) and VirtualCogs - specifically, the Portable Computing COG which I may yet use to build and sell a mix between P.A.P. I'm looking for and the GP2X. Hmm, I could sell that. I wonder if Virtual Cogs Embedded Systems Inc. has anything against that sort of thing.

Gizmo's been getting more and more upset with Celty, not less. Originally, he was graining weight - I think someone else may have been feeding him when he went outside - but I weighed him today and he's actually at 11 lbs (!).

So...

My mother's planning on getting rid of her in some way, whether that means giving her to my brother, bringing her back, or bringing her to the SPCA...

Anyone local interested in a kitten?

Or anyone have any suggestions for getting them to get along (unlikely, but, I'm still open to suggestions)?

4300 *hugs* given to ser_kai total!

A little bit of risky business, telling your potential employer that you might only be around a month. But I did it.

You see, I have two options at the moment:

I have an employer who's interested in hiring me (at least, I originally thought this; the above news seems to have rattled his cage a bit), who'll be giving me 12-14$/hour.

I have another potential employer who's to contact me "within a month or so" to let me know whether or not I'm hired. They, however, would pay me approximately 25$/hour (if my calculations are right: 50,255$ - 58,000$ yearly was their figure)!

Obviously, the danger here is threefold:

If I insist to the first employer that I may only work for about a month, he may decide I'm not worth the time and not hire me (though, as I understand it, there are several openings in this position).

If I accept the first job, the second employer may slam the door in my face if I tell them I can only work in two weeks from their notification (I really don't want to "quick quit", especially seeing as it's become kind of a standard).

If I don't accept the first job, I may not even get the second job in the first place (despite still qualifying for two out of three positions), and be left with nothing.

The whole "Which would you prefer doing?" question doesn't help, either, as I'd like to do either.

Grr. I wish employers were more open about applicants' chances of being hired, even if it were a simple "You're one out of X applicants left.".

Yes, my cell is once again unusable.

Oops.

So I've gotten a new Palm.

My reasoning for this purchase was that I could use it to write while on the go, or even just if I felt like writing somewhere other than at home. Naturally, I got a keyboard for it as well as I wasn't going to be able to write all that much using the stylus (it has character recognition (at least technically), but I don't enjoy handwriting). Sadly, I neglected to notice that it didn't include a sync cable/cradle in the bundle, and had to get that separately. While waiting for it to arrive, though, I've been fairly impatient about getting programs on there.

Especially the driver for the keyboard!

Thus, I decided to try the only two other methods available to get data onto the Palm: infrared and SD card. I don't have a card reader/writer, so I thought that option was out (turns out it isn't quite - more on that later), so I proceeded with trying to communicate using the infrared port. You see, I eventually remembered that the Lego Spybotics kits that I have came with infrared transceivers; I figured they'd be good enough to transmit data to the Palm.

I first thought of trying it with my Windows system, but the transceivers connect on the serial port and I didn't bother putting a panel for one (the onboard ports of this motherboard don't actually include a serial port), and didn't feel like going through the hassle of adding it (not that it's that much effort, mind you). Instead, I used my laptop, which currently has Zenwalk Linux installed on it. Getting the infrared support was fairly simple (new kernel config plus the tool package), and one reboot later I was in business.

Sort of, anyway.

Linux seems to receive the data from the Palm just fine, and it seems to respond in kind; However, the Palm makes no sign of receiving anything, and eventually gives up on the connection attempt. It seems the problem stems from the most unlikely-seeming source: The Spybotics infrared transceiver. It's not meant for this sort of thing, really; When you use it to transmit data to a spybot, it's actually plugged in directly. I think you can use it to "broadcast" infrared signals to it too, but I don't really remember how that works and if it actually transmits any information. Therefore, I believe it's only meant for really short distances, and the problem with that is that the transmitter and receiver on the Palm aren't spaced the same as the ones on the Spybotics transceiver, and thus one doesn't see the other in one way or another.

I might try putting a much larger distance between the two and see if that works better... infrared is supposed to be able to do more than an inch or two, after all, but unless I had a very specific distance between the transceiver and the Palm, nothing showed up on either side... it's weird.

Alternative title: Oh boy, we're going to have our hands full!

I'm not sure it's hit my mother yet how much effort it's going to take to train this kitten - because we're going to have to, I'm sure - especially as she seems to be a bit of the stubborn kind. Or maybe she's just that energetic, which makes more sense as she's still a kitten.

The movies are up now, but may require IE, sadly. Movies are XviD encoded to make sure to grab (or update) your CCCP.

I forgot to mention last time: We had a choice of a black male named Riker, a peach/tan-colored male (I don't really remember his color, and at the time I had trouble deciding what to call that color to call it), Celty (pronounced Kelty, by the way), and a gray faintly-striped female who apparently, despite not being the eldest managed, to be the alpha of the family. Originally, we were to get Riker (this was, I think, my mother's choice), but after looking up information on introducing a new cat (and asking our vet) we found that it was better to introduce a cat of opposite gender and thus upon hearing that we had the pick of the litter I immediately ruled out males as an option. Possibly unfortunate, as Riker did look cute, and the tan-colored male seemed to be the submissive type (though playful). I wanted a somewhat creatively colored kitten, so that pretty much left me with just the choice of Celty.

But... she's a noisy one when not being given attention... and those claws!

That's right... There's a new kitten in town, or rather in the house, and her name's Celty.

I didn't think it was entirely a good idea, as Gizmo doesn't seem to react well to visitors... but I figured he could use some company. So far, however, they're not really getting along. Of course, this is no real surprise as Gizmo's never had any visitors save the mutt, which my mother gave him grief for (And does he ever remember!). Sadly, this means it's nearly impossible to even pet him right now as he's so ticked off and afraid that he doesn't want to be near us. I'm actually afraid he might run away.

The kitten, however, seems to be adjusting to her new home alright, although whenever she's awake she's clamoring for attention. Toys aren't good enough for her because she wants some actual interaction with another being - not surprising as she was just separated from her family. Thankfully, she's already litter-trained, and despite being locked up in my sister's room for a night or so, doesn't seem to be scratching anything (at least nothing that's already been, or is not carpet). I think she hasn't yet reached teething stage, though...

Either way, pictures of the new kitten. Videos as soon as ffmpeg is installed, but they're not great - I already had to boost the brightness and contrast.

This spectacular “blue marble” image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet. These images are freely available to educators, scientists, museums, and the public. This record includes preview images and links to full resolution versions up to 21,600 pixels across.

NASA has posted on their website some beautiful high-resolution (2048x2048, also 540x540 for the squeamish) pictures of the Earth, entitled "The Blue Marble". What nice desktop images they make... at least, if you like the space view of the Earth. I may share some optimised pictures (GIMP autocrops the image to 1840x1840, meaning there's a good 54-pixel black border on each side - and I mean pure or near-pure black, not including the fading blue around the Earth.) and some resizes if anyone is interested.

I meant to post this sooner - had noticed the error just the day after, but I've been somewhat busy (and cranky - I hate waking up early, especially to paint, but can you do?).

I say that I've botched the poll because it had the wrong emphasis; I also failed to note that I was facing west, and therefore it couldn't be sun-up. Rather than just rerun it, though, I'm going to ask you to take another good look at the "Day or night?" picture and see if you notice anything amiss, and then read the rest of this post.

( Continue reading... )

Can you tell if it's day or night?

Kudos to you if you can figure out the approximate time, too.

Vito Pilieci from The Ottawa Citizen states in a Canada.com article titled "Copyright board OKs levy on iPods, MP3 players":

The Copyright Board of Canada is again backing a tax on Apple Inc.'s iPod and other MP3 music players that could boost the price of the devices by almost 30 per cent.

This is truly unfortunate and ridiculous. It's becoming into some odd fight against the innocent consumer, the computer-illiterate consumer that has no way to do anything about this. Those who're pirating aren't going to care about this (and computer-literate users are going to see this "tax" as an encouragement that says "Oh, don't buy it from the store - buy it from Ebay.ca") since they likely already have portable audio players or they don't have nor want one and only use their computer for music anyway.

Despite all that, it doesn't surprise me in the least: Big Suit types never want to research anything, they just want a quick fix and they want it now. Anything they can do to justify their salaries and make it seem like they're actually doing something productive. The sad part is, it'll injure them in the long run.

And since when are recording devices taxed, anyway? Were tape decks ever taxed this way? Ghetto-blasters? Stereos? And what's next - CD/DVD recorders get taxed since they're "recording mediums"? Copyright is an outdated system for outdated governments (and don't get me started on patents) - I realised the futility of it as a child, and I realised the ridiculousness of it when a teacher at college copyrighted a code skeleton file, and I now realise the obsolescence of it as it lacks any real structure or system.