Theory Ops

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:48:00 +0000

Cables begone!

Idea for some entrepreneur or meganational supercorp.

Wireless headset that works. Not Bluetooth. Not $400. High quality sound and microphone. Range is not important (well, at least 6 feet would be reasonable), and it can be IR or radio, doesn't matter to me. Oh yeah make it USB as well.

About every six months I check for something like this, but it doesn't seem to exist. Going to look now.

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 04:49:00 +0000

* Looking for a new online bookstore to actually ship to my door. * Apparently the only shipping option for both Amazon and Chapters is Canada Post, who... kind of suck.

No attempted delivery and I have to go to the post office, and possibly stand in line. If I wanted to do that, I would, you know, go to an actual B&M bookstore. Priority service should come to my doorstep thanks.

Oh yeah, welcome to 2007, what a year.

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 20:54:00 +0000

Just in case my reader (singular) comes back, I'd like to suggest, with no details (because the details are disgusting), that he/she avoid buying Whirlpool fridges in the future.

Now I know google and yahoo index this page as well, so maybe a search brought you here. And maybe you wanted to know the details. Well OK.

It's been a year since I moved into this place, and the fridge I bought has been fine, so far. Last night though, I noticed an "accumulation" of something solid on my bottom freezer's top edge. Further investigation revealed this to be milk dripping through the fridge door tray, THROUGH the inside of the fridge, into the freezer compartment, THROUGH the inside bottom of the freezer, and piling up on my floor. See I told you it was disgusting.

Cleanup of the externally accessible parts of the fridge went well enough, and even cleaning the floor wasn't so bad. BUT how the hell am I supposed to clean the insulation, into which the liquid has soaked. Well, with a little bit of research on the net it seems this is impossible, and for insulation to be "fixed", it has to be replaced. Fabulous.

So I'm just going to wait it out, see how this thing smells in a week or so, and decide from there. But I know for sure any possible replacement will not be a Whirlpool fridge, and it definitely will have excessive spill protection.

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 00:33:00 +0000

I'd like to thank whoever introduced the Do Not Call legislation into parliament. But, the bill could still use some help and guidance.

Please contact your local MP to express your opinions about having a proper DNC list here in Canada.

See also: Michael Geist's most recent article about the DNC list.

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Sat, 16 Apr 2005 04:19:00 +0000

Thanks to the Patio Queen for the reminder about Steamrollers. I haven't been there for at least a year. After having moved out to the sticks really, it's just a really long drive away. Plus having to deal with traffic. And super expensive gas prices right now. At a dollar a litre, it'll cost me around $8 to get there and back.

I remember when they used to have a different special every day, I guess testing them out before settling on a daily special. (which doesn't really make them all that special, does it?) My faves are the turkey dinner burritos: turkey, potatoes, stuffing and I think there was some cranberry sauce, all wrapped up in a tortilla. Mmm. Anyways, they still make good, super filling stuff, and I highly recommend it. Good for throughput!

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 06:24:00 +0000

SO...

Most of my time lately (at least the last two weeks) has been spent playing World of Warcraft. And I take this time, while my server is "down for emergency maintenance", to say that, when things are working, it's an OK game. But, please, just get the reliability up, Blizzard!

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Thu, 13 Jan 2005 23:03:00 +0000

It snowed last week:

Most hills here are that steep, so were shut down. Good thing: I only fell once walking back from the grocery store.

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Wed, 06 Oct 2004 21:17:00 +0000

I've been working on getting a MythTV box working for the past few days (total time spent now around 15 hours), and it's working great, well the stuff I've tested is, sorta. I still have to try out the dvd and video playback modules, plus get the cd import function working, but overall it hasn't been too bad. Skipping commercials is great. The web listings are the best feature. From anywhere I can connect and search or browse the listings, add a recording, view status, etc. It's great.

Bad things: It sucks up disk space. The channel change time is bad when watching live TV. I have some ideas that might speed this up though, and will try them when I get a chance. The remote that came with my capture card (Hauppauge PVR-250 (x2)) is kind of lacking. I'll solve that by getting a wireless keyboard.

In terms of content, the thing has captured like 7 hours of motorcycle racing so far, and I just can't watch that much. I think I'll limit myself to MotoGP and Superbike. Browse by category, then choosing the Adults Only category, gives some pretty lacking listings. I think that might be out of my hands though. I also record all the stuff that I don't want to stay up late for: The Daily Show, the occasional Conan.

Overall, I think it was time well spent, and relatively cheap to do as well, especially if one has a reasonably powerful Linux box sitting around, or the ability to upgrade your main machine. :)

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Sun, 22 Aug 2004 09:43:00 +0000

I'm in the process of getting rid of cookies on this page. I really don't like them, and a weblog should not require them, so why are blogger and buzznet using them? If it ever comes to a situation where I load this page and I request cookies at all, I consider that a problem and will look to solve that immediately.

Anyways, I've removed everything requiring cookies for now and will put the buzznet pics back up later when a solution presents itself. I think I know exactly how I'll do it, it's just a matter of getting it done. The images probably won't be on buzznet though. BTW, thanks for the XML feeds. Those'll sure come in handy. In the end, I may just be postprocessing my own XML feed.

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 18:59:00 +0000

Stuff I have lent out:

Amelie DVD to Steve
A few DVDs to Jessica, including Hudson Hawk. Not sure of the rest.
Spencer has a linear algebra book of mine (Strang), plus a Bruce Sterling novel.

That's all.

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Tue, 17 Aug 2004 06:44:00 +0000

I want to get rid of everything digital.

It may be ironic that the post below talks about DVDs specifically. Maybe it's the fact that all kinds of stuff around my house that is digital, is slowly getting more and more obsolete. Whereas all the analog stuff? As obsolete as ever and not changing status.

For instance, I have someplace a one gig Jaz drive. I paid $600 for it. Discs were $80. What the fuck was I thinking? Totally useless today, especially since I have a DVD writer that pushes 4.5GB to a $1 disc. But here's the thing, the DVD writer is going to be obsoleted very soon, and I will be griping about this very fact again. I paid around $400 for the writer about 1.5 years ago. Now they are $150, and dual layer drives are out.

How do I stop feeling this way? Do I just accept it, or get rid of the very things that dissatisfy me the most? I would like to think that purging the cause of the problem might actually solve something.

So, getting rid of everything digital.

This would require:

Probably no television. I could probably get an old TV (really old) and get an antenna, but definitely no cable.
An analog telephone of some sort. With pulse dialing of course. Cell phone is gone.
No computers.
No CDs.
No DVDs.

I could keep my turntable, and I'd probably want to get an amp/preamp for listening to those. Of course it would be a tube amp. Speakers would have to be simple, no digital crossovers or anything.

I would also have to sell my car, and get something like my brother is selling: 1974 Toyota Land Cruiser. It needs some work, but it's not digital!

I'm not sure about the stove or fridge. But they're not mine anyways. I also have no control over the stuff at work. I could continue to do what I do with computers there, while still satisfying this analog desire.

I think it's all doable. I know that this is not original.

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Tue, 17 Aug 2004 06:14:00 +0000

There are pretty much only two movies that I want to watch right now.

One is Before Sunset, because the first one was good, and I pretty much love any Linklater film. Well, The Newton Boys was pretty sad. And I'm still waiting for Slacker to come out on DVD. I feel like a slacker right now, disillusioned and confused, but wait a sec, that's the same as five years ago.

The other is Garden State, which seems to be to be another slackerish movie from the previews. They say that Natalie Portman can act, well I dunno about that, we'll see, but priors show otherwise.

Eternal Sunshine comes out on DVD October 5th. I wouldn't mind seeing a box set of Kill Bill available. Or maybe the original edit, that would be great. Mmm. Yeah.

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Sun, 15 Aug 2004 03:22:00 +0000

Happy Anniversary! It's been 10 (ten) years since I first installed Linux, or to be more precise, Slackware.

August 1994 was when it first happened, and me and a friend were messing around. Slackware came on quite a few floppy disk images, and I still have some of those floating around. For at least a few weeks we played around, did all kinds of cool things, networking computers, etc. We even tried to get a domain, but we were kind of out of the loop in that regard. Nameserver, wha?

It didn't last too long though at that time, maybe two months, as I had purchased a copy of NS/Intel from the university bookstore. But a few years later (1997) I came back into the folds and have had a Linux box running ever since.

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Sun, 18 Jul 2004 20:12:00 +0000

So I live at the beach, as you can see from the webcam image to the right. That picture is facing south east towards East Beach, and from my dining room area, you can actually see Mt. Baker when it's clear.

But yet I don't go to the beach, at least not very often. Why is that? I know exactly why. It's hot out there, and the daystar burns. I mean, I love that mostly naked women hang out there, but our sun pains me. I mostly keep the blinds closed, and it stays nice dark and cool, or at least only mildly light.

I definitely would not be living here if it weren't for my job. I find it pretty boring. There are really not many entertainment choices, so here I am, on the net, updating my blog, drinking cider. A fine life, at least for now.

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Sat, 17 Jul 2004 04:29:00 +0000

We had these new (to us) POTS lines installed at work this week, because the company doesn't really need 20 overlines for 2.5 people. Guess what happens within 8 hours of connecting the new phone? That's right, telemarketer! Automated too!

We didn't have Call Display yet, which would help us identify when our managers down south are calling. The number is not unlisted. It might even be in some directory someplace.

This is where I get envious of everyone in the US. You at least have a Do Not Call registry, and government support for eliminating extremely annoying calls. Here in Canada, the CRTC is supposedly limited by "lack of jurisdiction" in suppressing annoying calls.

Well, here's a nice challenge to the newly elected (and mixed) government. Please get off your collective asses and do this one thing for me, while considering how much I have paid in taxes over the last 10 years while barely getting anything back for it.

Meanwhile, hopefully the people in management dealing with the problem down south can come up with an adequate solution. I suggested cell phones, which incidentally was my personal solution to the problem. You can do that or you could just dump all your friends and the land line at the same time, going off the grid.

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 08:00:00 +0000

Last night I read a story by Greg Egan (hard sci-fi), about a society so far in the future that immortality is gained by having a device learn to be you. It basically acts as a secondary brain, mimicing everything that squishy mass does, but it does not degrade. Bodies are replaced every now and then, since clones can be grown in about a year. The story mainly revolves around a) the main character's questioning on whether he is actually the same person as before, and b) his relationship with his wife, and getting closer.

Now, I think the world will be dead and gone long before that happens, but if it did, I know for sure I would never get that done, because a) I am more the sum of the parts of me, but the parts still matter and b) WTF getting rid of your brain?

Even now we have devices basically taking over (phones, computers, pacemakers, diabetes control), but we are still separate. Once we start putting stuff in our bodies, how long until we no longer have control?

noreply@blogger.com (Theory) — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 05:54:00 +0000

I've been having problems with the cable TV recently (Shaw here in Vancouver), and have had the technicians here twice in the last week.

The problem is this: occasionally, and seemingly not when the cable guy is here, channel 6 gets this weird double image. I have a VCR capture, but will not subject you to the torture that it is. Unwatchable. There is also noise on channels 3-5 and 15+16. Anyway, cable guy comes to the house the second time, and after a while we realize that channel 6 is coming in even though the cable is not attached to the wall, and if we disconnect the cable from the TV, no signal at all. The channel was literally strong enough to watch with a small length of wire. Cable guy says the double image is timing between the cable signal and the OTA signal. Oh boy.

So how do I stop that signal from reaching the TV (and cable)? That's right, Faraday Cage! A little bit extreme, I think, but I think a hack solution might work. Chicken wire a la Enemy Of The State?

"If they think you're crude, go technical; if they think you're technical, go crude." - William Gibson, Johnny Mnemonic.