The Andrew Turnbull Web Journal Archives: December 2007-February 2008

2-29-2008: Leap Year!

I honestly don't have anything new to say today, but I simply had to make a post stamped with today's date nevertheless...

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2-25-2008: MorLUG, we hardly knew thee

During my junior year of college at West Virginia University, I had a resolution to become more active in campus activities. I discovered the Morgantown Linux User Group...a student organization on campus...and promptly took interest. Although I wasn't a regular Linux user, I was eager over the prospect of having vocal discussions with other technologically-minded peers and gradually learning more about the prospect of transitioning over to the OS in question.

[Tux the Mountaineer]

Unfortunately, that prospect wasn't precisely to be. MorLUG proved to be a poorly-managed group at best, and as of last fall they essentially shut their doors altogether. In any case, I'm scarcely closer to Linux now than I was two years ago. Why didn't I get more out of the club?

To begin with, the group was a marvel of disorganization. Although it was ostensibly a WVU student organization, the majority of club activity was conducted by individuals outside the student body. A subset of the club body even appeared to resent the implications of being a university-sanctioned group, lobbying instead for re-establishing the group outside campus; inclusive of the Morgantown community as a whole. In practice, it was a bastardized cross between a student group and a community group bearing the inherent advantages of neither.

Although frequent and productive meetings form the backbone of any healthy student group, MorLUG had an uncanny and inexplicable reluctance to have them. Meetings were relegated to only one per month, to a schedule that wasn't consistently adhered to even then. Most members instead preferred to limit their activity to the club's quasi-official IRC channel...which wasn't even accessible on-campus.

When meetings were held, they were invariably relegated to the confines of a dimly-lit classroom in the middle of nowhere, without any efforts of formal events scheduling or notation on the WVU calendar of events made. And in those meetings, the content discussed typically devolved into "Vi vs. Emacs" fodder, awkward testimonials as to why web standards should be enforced by act of law, or outlines of "future" plans and events that never panned out. Discussion that I could approach was by and large the exception to the rule.

Although I left WVU and MorLUG nine months ago, the status of the club definitely didn't improve after that. The notation on the front page of morlug.org currently reads: "MorLUG has been relatively inactive for a period of time now. [...] I asked several times if anyone would be willing to host the MorLUG website and mailing list, but only got one reply for an archival copy of the website." Alas, this news does not surprise me in the least: The writing was on the wall for the club as a successful organization long ago.

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2-19-2008: Lightning Strikes Twice

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry in regard to the fact that the change till at work may well be the most exciting thing in my life right now.

In the United States, dimes, quarters, and half dollars were made of 90% silver up through 1964. The vast majority of these coins were weeded out of circulation long ago (the fact that the price of silver has lately been hovering around 17 dollars an ounce probably having something to do with it).

When I started my cashier job in December, I wondered if I'd ever spot a silver dime or quarter in the flesh before the season was through. Two days ago, my question was answered: Upon emptying a new roll of dimes into the register drawer, I noticed one coin lacking the characteristic copper-colored band around the edge of the coin. I fished it out, and it turned out to be a 1964-D dime, in nice condition...of silver. Needless to say, I swapped it out and took it home.

Silver dimes

Although I was pleased with the find, the very next day at work I was in for another surprise: A 1962-D dime, manifesting itself once again in a random roll. Two silver coins in two days! Who'da thunk that?

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2-15-2008: Comment Statistics

Just for fun, I decided to dig through the annals of my Haloscan account to see what the longest comment threads over the last few years were. Here were the results:

1: Paper Money (7 comments)
2: IBM in 1987 (5 comments)
3-8 (tie): The Electric Company to return?, Fun With Buz, Some Things I Have Never Done..., Desktop vs. Tower Cases, This Should Not Happen, A Million Annoying Things College Roommates Do, Part 1 (4 comments)
9-14 (tie): Self-Site-Scrutiny, Forgotten Music: The Raw, But Not Rare, Civic Duties, Ring, Ring!, Shirts No One Would Understand, Computer Problems Resolved...But Only Just! (3 comments)

Somewhat interestingly, there doesn't seem to be any connection between the popularity of a post and how much I like it myself. Some of the longest comment threads correspond to posts that almost make me cringe two or three years after whatever crisis they described blew over, while some of my favorite Journal entries over the years haven't attracted any comments at all.

Now, for the most prolific comment submitters:

1: Andrew T. (Er...that's me. 43 comments, in any case.)
2: Don_HH2K (35 comments)
3: Antony Shen (22 comments)
4: Zinnia (21 comments)
5: Billy Miller (8 comments)
6: Grue (5 comments)
7-9 (tie): Josh, Tommy, Kelly Welnicke (3 comments)
10: Anonymous cowards (Those who read Slashdot should pick up on the reference immediately...)

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2-12-2008: Natural Ovens of Manitowoc, Wisconsin

For a change of pace today, I'd like to talk about my favorite regional bakery: Natural Ovens. This entity was founded by Paul Stitt, M.S. (Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin) in 1976 "because he saw a need for fresh, preservative-free, whole grain food in the Midwest." The rest, as they say, is history.

One rainy day twelve years ago, my family decided to visit the headquarters of Natural Ovens to tour the bakery and see what the fuss was about. After a few wrong turns, we ultimately ended up at the doors of the bakery; a modern, imposing, vaguely cathedral-like structure plopped down in the middle of farmland. The bakery "tour" proved to be nothing more than a guided stroll down a short corridor and back again to look through a window, so I spent the majority of my time feasting on the free product samples while passerby looked on in horror.

Natural Ovens is still very much around today (and have their own website to boot), although interestingly they've been de-emphasizing the "Manitowoc" part of their name in recent years. Presumably, with the implications of geographical identifiers out of the way, they could pack up the bakery and move to Missouri at the drop of a hat if they wanted to.

Back to the days when it was officially "Natural Ovens of Manitowoc, Wisconsin," though, the best fruit of that fateful visit proved to be the wordy product brochure that I picked up. It's a pretty funny piece of writing (for the benefit of those with tongue planted firmly in cheek), although I doubt that the bakery intended it that way:

What, pray tell, is a "new strain" of wheat? Do Natural Ovens' lab scientists spend weekends and evenings creating new mutant wheat varieties in the back room? (Oops, it wouldn't be natural, then!)	I'm not sure I'm too keen about Garden Bread: The description makes it seem as if it's a loaf of sod...
Is a dough conditioner anything that resembles the conditioner you buy in the shampoo aisle of the drugstore? Probably not, but somehow the vision of rival bakers pouring hair conditioner into their vats of dough does make me crack up a bit...	Can't resist the opportunity to editorialize in parentheses, eh?
In addition to new ingredients and new "strains" of wheat, Natural Ovens also invents new units of measure. Just how much, by any chance, is a "swish?"	Of course, it's worthy to save the best product description for the last:
A bit interesting use of the comma here, don't you think? Meanwhile, the handy nutritional chart at right makes it apparent that there are only three kinds of bread in the world: "White bread," "Other whole grain bread," and "Natural Ovens." All other supposed variation is meaningless.

As a postscript, I might as well mention that I've seen few things more ironic than one of their fresh, preservative-free products being appropriated as the basis for a "Bacon Cheese Baconburger" recipe. Paul Stitt would not approve...

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2-5-2008: Self-Site-Scrutiny

Once in a while, I sit down and think about how this weblog is arranged and designed.

Take the Firefox and Thunderbird buttons in the left panel. I added them from the outset because, well, I wanted to promote Firefox and Thunderbird. I haven't felt as enthusiastic about Mozilla Firefox since version 2 came out, though: Still use it, mind you; just not as enthusiastic about it as I was before. The thought of replacing them with something more provocative has come to mind, although I've yet worked up the nerve to do so.

Then take the issue of features. I added a link to a Feed43 RSS feed because, well, I needed an RSS feed and lacked any knowledge of server-side technologies that would allow me to automatically generate one of my own.

Currently, the Web Journal is a static HTML document maintained with a text editor. As crude as it sounds, I like it that way and don't mind manually creating a new archive page every three months. I have, however, pondered the possibilities of switching to blogging software, which wasn't an option back when I was bound to a university server where server-side technologies were prohibited.

The most compelling blogging software system I know of, by far, is PolkaDot, chiefly because a) Tom Carlson wrote it, and b) it's the simplest (and smallest) thing imaginable. In fact, I even set it up in a folder here just to reassure myself that it could work.

The benefits of switching to such a system are thus:

I could post from anywhere. (Technically I can already do that, but it would be a hassle off of my own computer where I have all the HTML files and FTP settings neatly saved away.)
A built-in search facility.
Built-in commenting. (Assuming spammers don't get the better of the feature...)
Built-in RSS feeds.
The ability to file posts into categories.
The ability to link to a single entry, isolating it from the matter posted before and after.
The lack of the necessity to create a new archive page every three months.
Since I'd be forced to move the Web Journal to a directory of its own, the post links on Technorati would finally work.

The drawbacks:

Transitioning, and moving over 273 older posts in the process. (Or not even bothering, producing a marvel of disjunction.)
The lack of full control over every little detail.
Configuration. PolkaDot is extensively customizable (as Court-O-Rama would seem to attest), but it would take a lot of CSS tweaking and the like to make it look and feel exactly like the rest of my site.
All blogging systems seem to let older posts quickly disappear into an ether of endless "Previous/Next 10 posts" links and archive pages, where they might as well never be seen again.
The necessity to back things up. Given that I'm on a bargain-basement web host, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole fort went down without notice and took all my posts and comments with it.
The increased prospect of breaking (X)HTML compatibility. To be honest, I don't need every web page to be perfectly XHTML 1.0 complient, but it's something I like to strive for for my own amusement.
To tell the truth, I'm just fine with the way things already are.

Going by that, there are eight reasons for taking the plunge into blogging software and seven reasons not to bother...and frankly, some of the drawbacks may seem like petty concerns in the big scheme of things. But I'm so stubborn that the "nays" have it for now and the forseeable future. Nothing is forever, though: Perhaps I should write my own content-management system some day!

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1-29-2008: Windows Vista, One Year On

Just one day short of one year ago, Microsoft Windows Vista was let out the door.

In my judgment, Microsoft's credibility in delivering usable products has been circling the drain since the days of Windows 98 (aka the "Internet Explorer Operating System") nearly a decade ago. My initial assessments of Windows Vista, needless to say, were far from complimentary. So, what's happened in the course of the last year?

To begin with, it seems that the OS has actually gotten off to a rocky start. Retail sales are sluggish, to say the least: Do you actually know anyone in day-to-day life who went out and bought a copy in a store? Meanwhile, Windows Vista shipped on less than half of new PCs in 2007. Speaking of which...
Traditionally, PC manufacturers have forced consumers to take the newest version of Windows preinstalled from the moment it's released, even if it's far slower and buggier than the version that came before. This norm has shown some signs of breaking down with Vista, though: Bowing to customer requests, some OEMs (most notably Dell) have reinstated Windows XP as an option on most systems.

(Now, where was the option for Windows 95 OSR2 a year after Windows 98 debuted?)
According to this article, "a free software tool that promises to strip down the Windows Vista operating system -- which even some Microsoft officials have called 'bloated' -- to a minimalist state is attracting big interest on the Internet." In other words, vLite (as the tool in question happens to be) allows you to pick and choose accessories during installation, as the Windows Vista installer should to begin with.
Meanwhile, there's speculation that another (hopefully-better) new Windows version could be just around the corner. How and under what specifics I'm less sure about.
Of course, some users are revisiting what they already have and know: "I have finally decided to take the plunge. Last night I upgraded my Vista desktop machine to Windows XP, and this afternoon I will be doing the same to my laptop."

Although I'm pessimistic about the prospect of Windows Vista never catching on, it does seem appreciably slower out of the starting gate than any earlier version (1.x, 2.x, and NT 3.x excepted) to date. Will this trend continue? I guess we'll see for sure in due course.

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1-23-2008: Paper Money

For years, I've had an on-again, off-again interest in numismatics. It's something of a casual interest; seldom one I've become extremely involved in. Given how often I handle coins, currency, and credit cards at work, though, I'm hardly surprised to find my interest resurge again.

[Old paper money]

Specificially, I've been interested in paper money. Like license plates, dollar bills feature dated variations and serials numbered in sequential order (although these numbers often duplicate themselves between denominations and series). Given how fast paper money generally turns over in circulation, I've been impressed by the older money that's surfaced in the cash register drawer at fairly regular intervals: A series 1974 five-dollar bill, for example, and a number of notes printed in the '80s.

While browsing around for information, I stumbled across Where's George, a website where visitors input dollar bill serials and attempt to track their circulation around the country. Intrigued, I promptly signed up and entered all the bills in my wallet...until reality hit. There are billions upon billions of dollar bills in circulation. Although the site is big, the chance that someone else registered there will find a bill that I once had in my possession and entered remains infinitesimal. Perhaps there'd be a chance of a hit if I recorded and entered the serial of every single bill I came across in the Winterplace change bank for a year on end, but I definitely have neither the time nor the inclination to do that.

Oh well; it's still a fun concept!

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1-21-2008: The Big Money

Lately, I've been working a cashier job here. One of my favorite parts of the task is being exposed to a large assortment of coins and currency, and having a chance to spot interesting coins and notes in the rough.

In that respect, I come across pre-1959 wheat pennies with regularity, and I'll occasionally have customers hand me paper money from the 1970s and 1980s. My favorite change-drawer "find," however, is this wartime silver-alloy nickel that in typical circumstances would have been weeded from circulation long ago:

1943-P nickel

So, what gives: Am I rich?

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1-14-2008: Why I'm not an Apple fan

Computers are products that, for a person like myself, it's easy to get caught up in nostalgia for.

I learned to type and handle floppy disks on an Apple IIe, and the original Macintosh expanded my conceptions of what a user interface could be. Although I worked with IBM/compatible computers at the same time and eventually began using them more often, I still had an uncanny respect for Apple and the products that came out of Cupertino, California.

Fast-forward a decade and a half. After being frustrated with Windows 98 on up and the increasing path of PC architecture into cheapened monotony, my eyebrow raised with enthusiasm at the prospect of a compelling alternative that "just worked." I finally took the plunge and purchased an iBook G4 for myself.

Unfortunately, the experience soon proved to be a disaster. My illusions of greatness were shattered: Not only did the machine prove to be unsuitable for my tasks, but I found that my philosophies and Apple's often found themselves at polar ends from each other:

They change architecture and standards on a whim. In scarcely over a decade, we've gone from 680x0-based Macs with the "classic" OS, to PowerPC-based computers with the "classic" OS, to PowerPC-based machines with OS X, to Intel-based computers running the latest OS X du jour...with each step requiring emulation or breaking compatibility to the point where a new Mac can't even run a five-year-old OS 9-compatible program by default. This doesn't even include the long and bloody transition to the Macintosh from the Apple II line, from which their standings in the hobbyist and education markets still haven't recovered. By contrast, PC architecture has remained remarkably stable over the same period.
Too often, their machines are utterly unserviceable. This goes back a long way; to the days of the IIc and Torq-head-screwdriver-requiring 128k Macintosh. Unless you spring for a Mac Pro, things are no better today: If you literally pry open your Mac Mini (and run the risk of voiding the warranty in the process), you'll find little but a mess of jumbled wires inside. The current PowerBook and MacBook Pro models don't even have visible seams...and while servicing a notebook computer yourself is in itself an excuse in futility, you might have to do that to that in order to make it so much as work. Which brings me to another point...
Their computers are unreliable. Literally every person I know who owned a second-generation iBook G3 or G4 computer experienced a logic board failure at some point in time. Searching Google for "iBook problems" brings up approximately 474,000 results. My own iBook also developed network access problems, and the CD-ROM drive malfunctioned while I was in the process of selling it. Any electronics product that makes an extended warranty seem like a good idea is beyond consideration, in my book.
Their user interfaces are confining and uncustomizable. Want to change your system color scheme in OS X? You can't do that. Want to change the menu bar font to something more legible? You can't do that either. Want to disable the dock, and move the trash can to its rightful place on the desktop? Um, that's also a no-can-do. Want to spare your ears from the incredibly-annoying chord on startup? You have to download a piece of third-party software to carry out that desire. Why can't I fully maximize a window, or play audio CDs with some normal application instead of iTunes? Well, we have to pick our own battles. Someone once described the Mac OS as thus: "It often seems as if you are only allowed to do what Steve Jobs decided you should be able to do."
There's too much vertical integration. There seems to be a preconception in some circles nowadays that Apple computers should only run Apple software (no matter how irritating I may find Safari or iTunes to use), be used only with Apple accessories, be sold only through Apple's own retail stores, and be repaired only by Apple's own service centers...none of which, oddly enough, are in the state of West Virginia. (When my iBook died, I was consequently relegated to balancing phone calls, shipping cartons, and the hassles of university post office workers who forgot to put "oversized item" slips in my mailbox...)
They attract the most obnoxious fans imaginable. To be honest, the majority of Apple computer users I know are totally normal, reasonable people. However, the ranks are also occupied by people like this, who worship the altar of Jobs with all the ferocity and irrationality of a religion. By this measure, they hard-code their websites to break formatting in anything but OS X's default window positions, and condemn any and all criticism of the company as being either "unethical" or the product of "old-fashioned" concerns. While statistically these people are the exception to the rule, this image is unfortunately the one that's reinforced most often through press and marketing.

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1-8-2008: Collective Soul: Afterwords

Nowadays, there tend to be two musical groups whose current and recent output I follow on a regular basis: Third Eye Blind, and Collective Soul. In the case of the former, my tendency is to pounce upon any news with a fine-toothed comb; partially because I halfheartedly run a fan site devoted to them that no one visits, and partially because not much of anything has happened to them to begin with since Out of the Vein came out four and a half years ago.

[Collective Soul - Afterwords album cover]

There are no such issues with Collective Soul. The band has been so productive in recent years that they've put out albums of some sort or another on nearly a yearly basis. There's no need for me to follow and pounce upon any news with a fine-toothed comb, since they seem to have released something new every time I check. (And since their official website is totally inaccessible without Flash 8/9 installed, there wouldn't be any convenient way for me to do so even if I wanted to.)

Following suit, 2007 yielded Afterwords...their seventh original studio album, and tenth release overall. I've read good reviews of the album, and have heard it compared as similar to 1999's Dosage as far as musical styles go. After being slightly disappointed by 2004's Youth, I'm eager to give this new release a listen.

I haven't heard it yet, though. In a bizarre move, the group inked up a deal to sell the physical album exclusively at Target department stores. At least it isn't a Wal-Mart exclusive like the newest Eagles album is, but I'm still left feeling annoyed at the very least: The nearest Target is in Christiansburg, Virginia, and I'm not exactly in the mood to go on a 130-mile round trip solely to buy one article of music that the store might not even have in stock (while my stereo remains broken, no less). Why the band found it advantageous to limit the album's distribution in this way is anyone's guess.

So, what to do? I suppose I could wait until the inevitable used and/or promotional copies hit the streets. Or, alternately, go on a 130-mile round trip and follow the strategy suggested in some circles for securing the aforementioned Eagles CD with a clear conscience:

"go there and just buy the eagles CD and NOTHING ELSE! it will stick it to them right where it hurts, in their wallet. it is so cheap because they want to get you in the store to buy other things."

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1-6-2008: Audio Equipment Doldrums

A few years ago, I picked up a circa-1980 Marantz SR 4000 stereo receiver second-hand for a song. Aside from the dial not lighting up, it worked like a charm.

Until recently. The switched AC outlet in the back works and a "click" is audible from inside the cabinet three or four seconds after turning the power on, but otherwise the unit just seems dead. Nothing comes out of the speakers; none of the lights or needles move.

What could be the problem? The fuse remains intact, and replacing it had no effect at bringing the equipment back to life. And frankly, the other possibilities...such as, say, the unit going into protection from a failed output transistor...aren't exactly comfortable to dwell upon.

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1-1-2008: Happy New Year!

Frankly, it's anyone's guess what's going to happen in 2008.

I always like this time of year: There's nothing like having a clean slate to work with, even if it's only psychological...

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12-23-2007: Five Years Online

[Andrew Turnbull birthday cake]

This day marks an obscure anniversary of sorts.

Exactly five years ago today, I uploaded the first drafts of what would eventually become the "Andrew Turnbull Network" to a bit of insignificant, ad-supported server space. It was almost literally nothing more than a "hello world," and looked kind of like this. I had no idea where the site would progress to, nor did I have any idea that I'd still have an interest in maintaining it five years later.

But stick around and progress it did, and I've had a lot of fun doing it! With that in mind, I'll conclude with a message to my loyal readers: What do you want out of this site in the next five years?

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12-20-2007: Frustrated with Facebook

Familiar with Facebook, the ubiquitous social networking website? I am, and I'm getting sick of it.

I first joined Facebook just short of three years ago, back when it was a limited site relegated only to specific college networks. Although I was initially a bit reluctant, I soon discovered that the site was well-designed and formed a handy way to connect to my college peers and friends online.

Of course, changes were inevitable. Not all the changes were negative: I didn't necessarily have issues when Facebook expanded its reach to high schools and eventually any netizen who wanted to join, as the site then served a purpose as a superior alternative to the likes of MySpace.

Unfortunately, the operators of the website otherwise couldn't leave well enough alone. The first major straw was breached in September 2006, when out of the blue the site began consolidating personal details into a "mini-feed" on the front page. Although the feed was invasive and inspired an incredible number of protest petitions on the site itself, the feature stayed.

Come earlier this year, the website saw the advent of third-party "applications:" Absolutely useless little widgets that people tack on their profile pages to play games with or provide further means of stating preferences. In the meantime Facebook rolls out a "Beacon" ad service tracking user activities, and the already-questionable "mini-feed" has become littered with sponsored advertisements. The fact that Microsoft now owns a stake in the company is the cherry on top.

What this all means is that The Facebook has become more and more useless to me as time goes on. Its role in connecting me to my classmates fizzled out long ago; the only reason why I'm still registered at this point is to interact with a couple people I know who have no online presence otherwise. With the advent of third-party "applications" and the like, the site has gotten nearly as crowded in arrangement and as overly-personal as MySpace: More often than not, you literally can't glance at a person's profile with your glasses off without being constantly reminded of what girlfriend they have, what movies they've seen, what dubious presidential candidates they support, and so on. Although you can control what personal data you post on the site, you can't dictate how much of others' profiles you want to see.

I plan on leaving Facebook once and for all by the end of the month. As far as online interaction is concerned, this site already satisfies the purpose.

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12-17-2007: Why on earth?

[TurboTax CD back cover] [TurboTax CD front cover]

1) Why on earth did I find a "Risk-Free TurboTax CD" in our mailbox today?

2) Why on earth do I need this software?

3) Why on earth does it claim to be a "full edition" that nevertheless is good only for "try[ing] before you buy?"

4) Why on earth is the CD in a DVD case?

5) Considering that the mailing label was addressed to him, why on earth did Intuit (or whoever they contracted the mass-mailing out to) assume this would run on my father's putrid Windows 98 computer?

6) Why on earth does the software require Internet Explorer, Flash, and Adobe Acrobat Reader to work? (And why on earth did I have to break the security seal to find that out?)

7) Why on earth is the disc made in Mexico?

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12-13-2007: Know yer links

For visitors who get bored by my sometimes-long intervals between posts, the external links at left can provide a bit of a diversion.

"Citizen Keith" conveys the tales and musings of a drummer and massage therapist marooned in the midst of Ohio. "Don_HH2K's Blog" is the latest incarnation of an online window to the world by one of my online acquaintances; conveying matters of technology, travels, and a not-so-ordinary student life. "The Gate" and "Life in the Empire" are productions of one of my classmates in the art department of WVU; the former focusing on contemporary art and culture, and the latter devoted to more personal concerns. "Rudy's Corner" is run by Neil Rudish, the administrator of a number of music-oriented websites I visit from time to time, and touches upon issues as diverse as bowling, music remixes, and malicious computer software to boot. Finally, "Sexy Red-Headed Nuns" has absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter the title implies. Rather, it's the personal weblog of the same chap who ran the Obsolete Computer Museum once upon a time: Sometimes it gets political; other times it's just loads of fun. That, and he knows how to make tea.

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12-3-2007: "What are you waiting for? Christmas?"

Ah, December at last! The wind is blowing and the ground is frosting over as I speak. Which reminds me:

[December 2007 calendar in Duke Nukem 3D]

This wall calendar appears throughout the levels of the computer game Duke Nukem 3D. The date at the top appears to be December 2007: By that token, we should expect murderous aliens to invade Los Angeles sometime before the end of the month.

(Then again, the calendar also has 32 days on it...)

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