Hip, hip, don’t break!
Using Cygwin, Rsync, SSH and the internet to backup my XP computer
I want to back up my Windows XP computer to another Windows XP computer using Rsync and SSH. Since Rsync only runs under *nix, I’m running it under Cygwin.
There are a couple hurdles to doing this. The one I got stuck on was getting SSH to work without a password.
It’s so freaking simple to do. You just have to know which instructions do not help accomplish your goal.
Installed WP-Cache-2
The blog has been running a little slow so I…. what should I do? Let’s see….
Install a plugin!
WP-Cache-2 stores blog pages for quick retrieval. It theoretically only takes 0.5 seconds or so off the creation time of the pages but (if my estimations are correct) it’s actually bringing load times from 5 seconds down to 2. Images take just as long to load but the text appears quicker. I’ll work on that.
update 9-28-05 This plugin isn’t compatible with my Theme Switcher. I’ll leave the Cache and dump the theme switcher.
Hide and seek over the internet
I just spent the last hour playing with my niece Julia. That wouldn’t be too remarkable except for the games that we played and the distance over which we play them. Julia still can’t be convinced that I can’t see her when she can see me on my webcam. I had originally purchased two webcams but one has gone missing; we haven’t done too terribly, making due while the new one is being shipped. The first game that Julia wanted to play was Hide and Seek. Being the closed minded person I am, I had a very hard time imagining how we would play… seeing as how I am “stuck in the computer” and I can’t see her.
That didn’t stop her for a single second. She even berated me a little bit for not hiding after she had counted to 15! (why 15? I think that’s as high as she goes)
What a joy she is!
Things that you didn’t know you could do over the internet but you can with a 4 year old:
- paint toenails
- play (real) hide and seek
- dance
- stand on your head
- play Max and Ruby Dress Up
- go skiing with the cast of The Backyardigans
- have a really really fun time
:-)
Two great tastes… M:TG and Politics
I know that the problems surrounding hurricane Katrina were not just on the national level. State, county and local governments are corrupt to the point to manslaughter.
I’m still going to take this beautiful pot-shot.
From Brokentoys.org
And just to confirm…. the weather report was issued by the National Weather Service at 10:11am CST, August 28th. Bush said his piece on the morning of September 1st, on Good Morning America.
When you get a weather report like this, it’s time to leave.
WWUS74 KLIX 281550NPWLIXURGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED
HURRICANE KATRINAA MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH…RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969. MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS…PERHAPS LONGER. ATLEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL…LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED.
CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE…INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE. HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY…A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT. AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD…AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATEADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS…PETS…
AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK. POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS…AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING…
BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEWCROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BEKILLED.AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEARHURRICANE FORCE…OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE..
.ARECERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET…DO NOT VENTUREOUTSIDE!LAZ038-040-050-056>070-282100-ASSUMPTION-LIVINGSTON-LOWER JEFFERSON-LOWER LAFOURCHE-LOWER PLAQUEMINES-LOWER ST. BERNARD-LOWER TERREBONNE-ORLEANS-ST. CHARLES-ST. JAMES-ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST-ST. TAMMANY-TANGIPAHOA-UPPER JEFFERSON-UPPER LAFOURCHE-UPPER PLAQUEMINES-UPPER ST. BERNARD-UPPER TERREBONNE-1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
To that, our president responded four days later with:
I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did anticipate a serious storm. But these levees got breached. And as a result, much of New Orleans is flooded. And now we are having to deal with it and will.
added 9-21-05:
From the Wikipedia article on New Orleans
Much of the city is located below sea level between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, so the city is surrounded by levees. Until the early 20th century, construction was largely limited to the slightly higher ground along old natural river levees and bayous, since much of the rest of the land was swampy and subject to frequent flooding. This gave the 19th century city the shape of a crescent along a bend of the Mississippi, the origin of the nickname The Crescent City. In the 1910s engineer and inventor A. Baldwin Wood enacted his ambitious plan to drain the city, including large pumps of his own design which are still used. All rain water must be pumped up to the canals which drain into Lake Pontchartrain. Wood’s pumps and drainage allowed the city to expand greatly in area. However, pumping of groundwater from underneath the city has resulted in subsidence. The subsidence greatly increased the flood risk, should the levees be breached or precipitation be in excess of pumping capacity (as was the case in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina). There were many warnings in the late 20th century that a major hurricane or a Mississippi flood could create a lake in the central city as much as 9 m (30 ft) deep, which could take months to pump dry….
From the Wikipedia article on Hurricane Katrina
…It later reached a minimum pressure of 26.64 inches (902 mbar), making it the fourth most intense Atlantic Basin hurricane on record…
Katrina was a powerful storm but there have been in recorded history (the last 200 years or so) at least 3 storms that would have done the same thing to New Orleans if they hit their mark. So… there is a levee-breaking storm every 50 years…. and such a storm might hit it’s mark right over New Orleans 1 in … I don’t know … 1 in 10 times.
I’ve heard it said that it was known that the levees were rated to protect against a class 3 hurricane (I googled around a little for a definitive text on this but couldn’t find one [reference found, see below - Lee]). That simply isn’t adequate protection for an area that routinely (every 10-100 years) gets hit by larger storms.
To counter one friend’s ridiculous accusation that this catastrophe happened because of global warming, I must insist that it was just simple probability. Anyone who knew anything about the levees knew that every hurricane coming in from the gulf was a roll of the dice.
update 9-24-05 From a Washington Post article pointed out to me by The Quantum Mechanic
The Army Corps of Engineers has said that Katrina was just too massive for a system that was not intended to protect the city from a storm greater than a Category 3 hurricane… The event exceeded the design…
The article goes on to to talk at length about how the design of the floodwalls may have been faulty but at the same time, they reiterate that it wasn’t designed to handle a storm as large as Katrina.
It’s made from the tastiest part of the animal
Every time I go to the all Spanish speaking grocery store down the street (on 24th and Harrison), I try out a local delicacy. It’s a joy. Most supermarkets that I go to have a tiny little Hispanic food section… well this market -is- a Hispanic food section.
I particularly have liked some of the sausages and cheeses that I gotten there. This time was no exception, though it did startle me a bit. I’ve gotten the longaniza sausage, yum! And it even gave me the same weird burps that I got on my trip to the Philippines.
I’ve had the Spanish sausage, that was very good but it didn’t have enough fat in it to fry well for my quesadillas. I’ve had a couple types of dried peppers, all exquisite.
I just tried El Mexicano brand Pork Chorizo. Oh yeah. At my first bite, I could tell that it was the special secret ingredient that the burrito place down the street uses to flavor their fantastic burritos. I mixed just a little bit of the sausage with a can of refried beans and… Zowie!
Getting to the point of eating this chorizo was a bit of a culinary adventure. First, the package reads, “Remove casing before cooking”. Huh? I soon realized that the sausage casing was made of plastic and that the sausage itself was… less of a sausage and more of a meat paste. Hmm, ok. As I started cooking it up, I kept reading the package label, I found the ingredients. It really is made from the tastiest part of the animal!
I was already committed to cooking this stuff but I have to admit that I was a little put off. And as it cooked, it continued to look less and less like sausage and more like… I don’t know… pork salivary glands, lymph nodes and fat (cheeks). The individual meat parts were separating just a little bit. Hmm. Ok.
As I was having my first bites, my apprehensions began to fade as my taste buds were taking control. I thought about all of the burritos that I have had with this stuff in it. The tastiest part of the animal indeed!
Installed Adhesive Plugin
Installed Adhesive Plugin. This lets me make posts “sticky”… staying as the first post in my blog, regardless as to when it was posted.
I know I’m addicted to Wordpress plugins. And that’s the first step in beating it.
Literature
I’ve always been a slow reader. Sometimes, when I see people that read those big, heavy tombs like all those James Mitchner books, I get jealous. But then, I savor each word. In a good book, I have to stop every now and then because, although my eyes are strong and fast enough to read on, my mind has to digest what I’ve read. Reading quickly loses it’s advantage if you miss substance and depth.
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver - 6-20-02 - I spent time with the people of Zebulon County on every long car trip for the last three months. I borrowed this wonderful 15 hour audiobook from Shara. I just finished it and I miss the characters so. Not that the story is unfinished but like a good friend and neighbor that has moved to another town, I feel their absense. I cherished the time I had with these characters. Thank you Ms. Kingsolver for writing this story and then telling it to me.
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin - 6-1-02 - Last summer, Shara lent me an audiobook of another Earthsea book. I was enthralled by the frank and precise language the Ms. Le Guin used and I wasn’t disappointed by this story. She applies such a down-to-earth style to high-fantasy that sits very well with me. I’ll be reading more of her!
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Edward Hutchings et all - summer 01. He’s my kind of guy. And it’s written so personally. It shows through that most of the book is actually dictation of a happy man telling great personal adventure stories to a friend.
Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson - 1994 or so. Cyberpunk at it’s best. I first saw it sitting on the kitchen table on Shepard St. What I usually do is dare people to read the first 20 pages and then put it down. Go ahead, I dare you.
Zodiac by Neil Stephenson - 2000. Yea, Neil’s pretty cool with the tech. Maybe Tom Clancy will have some competition in the movie theaters some day. The Big U by Neil is also a fun romp.
Comics
- Swamp Thing - I got the graphic novel (the first S.T. graphic novel) many years ago… in ‘90? It convinced me that this format could be powerfully compelling.
- Transmetropolitan - in late 2001, TJIC lent me a the graphic novel issues 1 thru 24. I ate it up! I think the most important message the author tried to get across is that, in order to appreciate something, and to be able to articulate your thoughts, you’ve got to hate it. That’s an interesting idea..
- Sandman - I picked this up at the comic store around issue 40. The best ones were the first 30 or so (excepting #50, a super-snazzy double-issue) so I bought them all in novel format. Wow.
Installed Search Meter Plugin
So I can see what my adoring fans are searching for on my blog.
Upgraded to Spam Karma 2.0
Spam Karma 1 beta 2 has been very good to me, only letting through a couple false negatives and almost no false positives. But it’s good to be pro-active about comment spam. Spam Karma works.
I just installed Spam Karma 2. First impression: The new Spam Karma has a lot of knobs and buttons! This is industrial grade stuff.
I even went all wacky and turned Pingbacks and Trackbacks on.
If your comment gets inappropriately eaten by SK or you’re having any trouble, ping me.
Burning Man 2005 Pictures
Here they are! Behind these links are are selected photos and videos from my 2005 Burning Man trip.
The videos don’t display correctly in Firefox but you can get them (with a yucky interface) from here. Just look for the .avi files at the bottom of the list.
And here is my special small contribution to the spirit of the burn… *These beautiful panorama images* were stiched together with Hugin, a terrific photo panorama tool. Each image is composed of 5 to 14 or so photos. I might recommend that you right-click download these images and then view them in their fantastic high-res detail at your lesuire.
Catch my Burning Man 2004 pix too.
Burning Man 2004 Pictures
I sat on these pictures for WAAAAY too long. I just never got around to putting them together in a coherent pile.
Well, here are my Burning Man 2004 images!
Just like for my 2005 Burning Man pictures, I stiched together a precious few into fabulous panorama images. Here are the panoramas!
Google Talk, Skype and internet telephony
Long story short:
If you use Skype, call me, username: gadlen (I have Skype voicemail)
If you use Google Talk, call me, leeatleedotorg
If I don’t seem to be online, ping me on AIM, u:gadlen or by phone. I sometimes turn off my instant message & talk clients to save on RAM for intensive tasks.
.
.
I’ve been using Google Talk for 2 weeks now, talking on the phone/computer with my sister fer free. The sound quality kicks and it’s hard to beat the price. (free)
TJIC says that my Skype-Out call to him sounded “like a good cell phone”.
My Google Talk –> Google Talk conversations with my sister sound much better than a telephone.
I got the free crippleware version of Total Recorder to make recordings of some Skype calls. The sound quality was “pretty good” (and definitely adequate) but there was some weird static on the recording.
I’ve been mooching off my housemate’s phone so I’ve been using Nobelcom calling cards. For most calls to New Jersey there is a terribly frustrating echo on the line… I hear my own words a 1/4 second after I say them. All other calls sound peachy
I might have to go buy cordless computer headsets for all my friends and family for Christmas.
ASCII art text
____ _ _ / ___|_ __(_)_ __ __| | ___ _ __ | | _| '__| | '_ \ / _` |/ _ \ '__| | |_| | | | | | | | (_| | __/ | \____|_| |_|_| |_|\__,_|\___|_|
Time Zone ninniness in Outlook
Dear Lazyweb,
I recently moved from the Eastern time zone to the Pacific time zone. All of my reoccurring events (i.e. birthdays and anniversaries) in Outlook shifted from being “all day events” to occuring three hours sooner… 9pm the day before until 9pm the day of the event. I rummaged around on Microsoft.com but the best I could find was that Bill told me to either move to another time zone, just get used to it, or manually fix all of the events. I went ahead and manually fixed all of the events… it took about an hour and a half and now my eyes hurt. :-(
For future reference, is there a better way to do this?
SierraTradingPost.com comment spam
Update 12-9-05. See comment #5, below
I had an exchange with SierraTradingPost.com recently about comment spam they appeared to be writing.
Here is the last letter I wrote to Andy Newlin, Online Marketing Manager at SierraTradingPost.com
To paraphrase our conversation:
I said: Your company is posting comment spam, which I don’t think is very endearing.
You said: No, we’re not.
I said: Yes you are, and here are 20 examples of it
You said: No, we’re not. That’s not us. Well, actually, you’re right. An adverstizing affiliate of ours is writing potentially deceptive ads in our name. So please apologize for saying that we’re writing comment spam.You do what you think is best for your company. Have a nice day,
Lee Sonko
Pledge of Allegiance ruled unconstitutional
I guess I’m in the right place….
By Associated Press
Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - Updated: 02:06 PM ESTSAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge in San Francisco has declared it unconstitutional to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools.
The judge, ruling in a lawsuit brought by Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow, today ruled that he is bound by precedent of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Newdow objected to the words ”under God” in the pledge.
When a court fires pot-shots like this, the rulingslikely won’t stick nationally, but the sentiment is still there.
Survivor Richard Hatch might not survive in the long run
I generally only watch a particular television series once in order to grok it. When I’m done with it, I’m done.
I watched and enjoyed the original “Bachelor”. I found the experiment in “forced romantic community” quite interesting. I also followed the original “Survivor”. I thought that the Survivor story was finished… well, except for the multiple of re-iterations. I was wrong.
Richard Hatch won the original Survivor through a mix of social engineering, careful plannning, and luck. But apparently, his skills are so infused into his personality, he doesn’t know when to turn them off.
“Survivor” winner indicted for tax evasion, fraud, charity swindle
SEPTEMBER 8–After rejecting a plea deal earlier this year, original “Survivor” winner Richard Hatch was named today in a 10-count indictment charging him with tax evasion and fraudulently using charitable donations to cover personal expenses. According to the indictment, a copy of which you’ll find below, Hatch never bothered to report his 2000-01 haul for winning the initial installment of the CBS reality series–a $1 million check and a $27,000 Pontiac. The 44-year-old Newport, Rhode Island resident also never told the Internal Revenue Service about nearly $400,000 in other income. Included in that six-figure sum was $36,500 in donations to Horizon Bound, a purported charity established by Hatch. Prosecutors allege that Hatch actually used that money for personal expenses. Along with two tax evasion counts, Hatch was charged with filing a false return; mail fraud (four counts); wire fraud (two counts); and bank fraud. He faces a maximum of five years in prison (and a $250,000 fine) on nine of the felony charges, though the bank fraud rap carries a 30-year max and a $1 million fine. Hatch reneged on a January plea agreement calling for him to cop to a pair of felony tax evasion counts. Prosecutors responded by opening a grand jury probe that resulted in Hatch being hit with eight additional felonies. (18 pages)
My dad’s heart
My dad went to a doctor today. His heart has some tricky blockages. I’m very concerned.
I’ll probably be flying home for the surgery.
Installed Subscribe2 Plugin
I installed the Subscribe2 plugin by Scott Merrill. It lets viewers subscribe to an email version of my blog. You can probably see a link to it in the sidebar. Or here.
