ClubJuggler

Generally, when I work I have streaming radio on in the background.  I generally listen to either my local NPR station or Pandora. Today, however, instead of radio, I’ve had NASA TV up in a little corner of my window watching the space shuttle astronauts in their first of several spacewalks to repair and rejuvenate the Hubble Space Telescope.  While the endless hours of it (the spacewalk itself was over seven hours) could be a bit boring, it was pretty cool to be able to glance over every now and then and get the same view the astronaut in space was getting (since they were feeding directly from his helmet camera).  In addition, NASA TV provided commentary that explained what each step the astronaut was doing which really helped to make sense of things.

The NASA astronauts will be doing several more spacewalks over the next few days as they continue working on Hubble.  Since this will be the last time anyone from earth visits Hubble,  they definitely want to make any and all repairs possible right now.  If you’ve got a good internet connection and are intersted in the space program, you might also find it interesting to throw up one of NASA TV’s video stream to listen to and glance over at during the day.

Originally published at clubjuggler.com. You can comment here or there.

I filled up my car’s gas tank this morning at the Circle K at Hwy 55 and Cornwallis Road. When I was taking my son to school they had the best gas price at $1.989/gallon but by the time I got there it had gone up to $1.999/gallon, matching the other two gas stations at that corner. While I was filling up, though, I had the pump automatically stop a couple of times at the highest pump level (when the tank was obviously not full) so I put the pump on the lowest pump level. My mistake was then to walk around the car to get my logbook. A UPS driver who was on the opposite side of the pump came out a few minutes ago and got my attention. It was a good thing too since the pump was overflowing out of my gas tank! It looked like I lost about a good 2-4 gallons on the ground!

So, if you’re pumping your gas, it’s probably not a good idea to leave the pump unattended.

Originally published at Southern Kind of Life. You can comment here or there.

For the last three years I’ve had a lot of fun attending and presenting at BarCampRDU. BarCamp is what’s known as an “unconference” where the entire content of the conference is organized the day of the event. Imagine, if you will, a conference crossed with a wiki and you’ve basically got BarCamp. The first two years of BarCampRDU I taught Juggling. Last year I simply attended. This year I’m not sure what I’ll do, but I’d like to present something. We’ll see. I’ve got three months to think about it. If you might be interested in attending BarCampRDU 2009, go register here. Unlike previous years, registration this year is not on the wiki. Instead, we’re using EventBrite this year. Registration is still free, but make sure to get in early before all 200 spots are gone!

Originally published at clubjuggler.com. You can comment here or there.

So, after getting my laptop hard drive replaced last week, today I have an appointment at the Genius Bar to see about getting my top case and hopefully my battery replaced. This is the same repair jklGoDuke had done on her laptop last week. The Apple store at Crabtree Mall in Raleigh was able to perform the repair the same afternoon that we dropped off her laptop, so hopefully it will be able to do the same for me today. I’m definitely glad to be getting it repaired as my Applecare runs out this coming June. I’m starting to wonder just how much I might be able to get for my laptop if I were to sell it and put the money towards a new laptop. Of course, what I’d like to have is a 15 inch MacBook Pro but the $2000 price tag is fairly daunting. Still, it might be worth looking into. But, the first step is to get the cracks in the top case repaired and the battery replaced.

Originally published at clubjuggler.com. You can comment here or there.

My replacement laptop drive arrived this evening. I went ahead and stopped DiskWarrior. It had been running for about 94 hours without finishing and, in fact, I had to shut down the computer to stop it. Installing the new drive went quickly but in the process I noticed that my battery is just starting to bulge! J’s battery was bulging a lot more when she got it replaced on Tuesday but I’m thinking I don’t want to let this progress very far. I already wanted to take the MacBook in to fix cracks in the top case near the keyboard so I’ll try to take care of both problems at once.

In any case, the laptop is currently restoring from Time Machine backup and it looks like it’s going to take 10-12 hours. Apparently my last backup was on March 30 so I’ll lose a little over 2 weeks of data. Also since I didn’t get my iPhone until April 2 I’ll have to set that up again (and I’ll probably need to recreate my custom ringtones). Hopefully that won’t be too much of a problem.

Originally published at clubjuggler.com. You can comment here or there.

The latest release of Ubuntu, Jaunty Jackalope, has been released as of today and it looks like there’s a release party happening in my area.

So, if you’re in the Triangle Area of North Carolina this evening, come down to the Flying Saucer between 6 and 9pm. More information at this link.

Originally published at clubjuggler.com. You can comment here or there.

This morning as I was taking Big-B to school my odometer rolled over to hit 234567 miles. I pulled off the road and snapped this photo. My car is a 1998 Subaru Legacy GT station wagon. I bought it in 2000 with about 20k miles on it already. My goal is to make it to at least 300,000 miles before I consider replacing it.

Originally published at clubjuggler.com. You can comment here or there.

Every now and then when I run a lot of programs, or maybe just Firefox with a lot of tabs, and then leave my laptop for a long time, when I come back to it it takes a while to get going again. I generally figure it’s because it has to swap things back into memory from disk. Every now and then, though, it takes what seems like forever and I sometimes give up and just reboot the laptop because that can be quicker. This past Sunday morning I went through that and finally rebooted my MacBook. I then went upstairs to finish getting dressed. When I came back down about 5-10 minutes later I was surprised to see that my laptop was continuously rebooting! Not having any time to deal with it, I shut it down and left it off for the day. Later that evening, I booted the MacBook in verbose mode (hold down Cmd+V when booting) and discovered that there was an “I/O error” on my hard drive! I booted up using an install disk and tried to run Disk Utility on it. That completely failed so realizing the drive was probably toast I went ahead and ordered a new drive. Since the drive wouldn’t be here until Thursday (today), though, I borrowed a DiskWarrior CD from a friend and applied it towards trying to reconstruct the disk (since I’d heard that DW was about the best there is for reconstructing Mac disks). Well, as of this morning, DiskWarrior is still going. I realize it’s a 500GB drive, but really, 4 days and the last 3.5 of them it’s been on what appears to be the very last step.

Anyway, the new drive arrives today. If DiskWarrior isn’t done by tonight I’ll stop it and consider the drive a lost cause. I have a Time Machine backup but unfortunately I had not plugged in my TM drive in about 3-4 weeks, so I’m sure there’s things I’ve lost. Oh well, I’ll know better next time (hopefully)!

After I get this fixed I really need to take the laptop into Apple to get the top casing replaced as it’s cracking on the sides. jklGoDuke just took her computer in this past Tuesday and got both her top case replaced and her battery (which was apparently bulging and had damaged the trackpad!). Then, finally, in what is hopefully the last computer thing that needs to be repaired in a while, I need to take my iPhone in and have Apple look at it since my mic doesn’t seem to be working. Right now I have to use the headphones microphone in order to have a phone conversation. Ah well, such is the life when one has lots of electronic gadgets, eh?

Originally published at clubjuggler.com. You can comment here or there.

John Stewart applies his usual deconstruction to just how good CNBC has performed over the last year.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Originally published at clubjuggler.com. You can comment here or there.

There really isn’t any point to this post except to verify that I have the iPod touch wordpress application setup.

The day isn’t over yet but it’s already gone better than I thought it could have done. Here’s hoping the rest of the day goes well too. I have to pick up the little boy right after work while J is at choir rehearsal. We then normally go eat at Elmo’s in Durham. Also tonight I want to stop by the pet store on the way home. Our fish filter died last night. I looked at some replacements at lunch but decided to go to the store near our home to see if I could find something a little closer to what we had. Hopefully I can do that and still get the little boy to bed on time.

Originally published at clubjuggler.com. You can comment here or there.

The rear shock on my mountain bike hasn’t been doing much lately so when I took the bike in for a different repair recently the mechanic suggested I needed to get it fixed.  After researching the options and talking to some friends, I decided to send it to Push Industries and have them do a “Factory Rebuild” and a “Factory Tuning”.  I removed the shock from my bike last night and sent it out today. It is scheduled to arrive on Friday and be worked on starting next Monday.  Hopefully it will be done soon and back so that I can ride my bike again before my birthday comes up at the end of the month.

Originally published at clubjuggler.com. You can comment here or there.

If you haven’t been to the DPAC yet, you might want to consider going on May 9th.  It was just announced that in association with WUNC radio, Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion will be coming to the DPAC.    Tickets won’t go on sale until March 2nd but when they do you can get them at the DPAC tickets page.

I had heard rumors of this a few months ago, but had thought they fell through.  It’s nice to see they were correct.  A Prairie Home Companion is my son’s favorite show and he just picked up two books by Garrison Keillor at the Book Exchange in their going out of business sale.

Originally published at Southern Kind of Life. You can comment here or there.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it? . . . . .

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.

It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. . . .

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification.

It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

-- George Washington, Farewell Address 1796

I'm looking for a good RSS reader for my iPod Touch that will let me download and read protected friend entries from Livejournal. I've moved all the rest of my rss reading to google reader but it won't do authenticated feeds. Any suggestions?

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

-- Abraham Lincoln: Second Inaugural Address

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

-- William Shakespeare, Henry the V

This is the view from my spot at the Durham Symphony Rehearsal at BN Duke Auditorium at NC Central University. The rehearsal is open to the public & we will probably be here for a while.

In case you missed it live, here's the 30 minute Obama infomercial (along with the 3 minute live segment at the end of the playlist):

(Planet TriLUG readers may need to click through to view the video.)

Have you ever wondered just who and how much the US owes money to? Getting your head around trillion dollar values, though, can be fairly difficult. Instead, try bringing it down to a level more people will understand by scaling it to match an average household salary and then look at foreign debtors as if they were credit cards:

Visualizaing Uncle Sam's Debt

Or, to take one image from the link:

Yesterday was the first day for One Stop Early Voting in North Carolina and it was immediately evident that people really want to vote.  The previous record for number of voters voting in a single day during early voting in Durham was 4,476, set on October 29, 2004.  Yesterday, Durham county had 6,264 people vote.  Durham Board of Elections Director Mike Ashe has been quoted that he thinks this new record will be broken!  You can keep track of each day’s totals at this link (note: pdf file).

Early voting is especially convenient in North Carolina due to the fact that you can register, or update your registration, and vote on the same day.  With that in mind, it’s useful to review who is eligible to register to vote in NC.  Anyone in NC may register to vote provided they sign a voter decleration attesting that:

• They are a U.S. citizen.
• They have been a resident of North Carolina and the county they are registering in for 30 days before the election.
• They will be at least 18 years old by the next general election.
• They are not registered to vote, nor will they vote in any other county or state.
• If they have been convicted of a felony, their rights of citizenship have been restored.

Note that untruthful answers on any of these questions on your registration form is considered a felony, so make sure you answer truthfully!  In addition, the person registering to vote must provide proof of residency by showing the elections official an appropriate form of identification with the citizen’s current name and current address. Note that if you are registering at a One Stop Early Voting location you are only allowed to vote at the early voting election and not in the next general election. I’m not sure why you’d want to leave and then come back to vote, but since you can’t, it doesn’t matter. In any case an “appropriate form of identification” is defined to be:

• A North Carolina driver’s license with current address
• A utility bill with name and current address
  • A telephone or mobile phone bill
  • An electric or gas bill
  • A cable television bill
  • A water or sewage bill
• A document with name and current address from a local, state, or U.S. government agency, such as:
  • A passport
  • A government-issued photo ID
  • U.S. military ID
  • A license to hunt, fish, own a gun, etc.
  • A property or other tax bill
  • Automotive or vehicle registration
  • Certified documentation of naturalization
  • A public housing or Social Service Agency document
  • A check, invoice, or letter from a government agency
  • A birth certificate
• A student photo ID along with a document from the school showing the student’s name and current address
• A paycheck or paycheck stub from an employer or a W-2 statement
• A bank statement or bank-issued credit card statement

You can find out much more about registering to vote at the State Board of Elections website.  In addition, you can look up your own voting information and get both your polling location and a sample ballot for your district.  So, if you want to vote but are not yet registered, go register and vote!  Or, if you don’t want to fight the crowds on election day (although, apparently 25% of all voters in the U.S. voted early in the 2006 election and that number will almost certainly grow for this election), go vote early.  But, whatever you do, please go vote!

Originally published at Southern Kind of Life. You can comment here or there.