a blab by idle

a blab by idle http://blog.truegeek.org/ other inane astral sisyphus: foley catheter, he'd rather forget en Copyright 2007 Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:49:24 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Whither content? link, Arthus! The embarrassing thing is that there's no discernible content here anymore, since I started (and never finished) sorting my content into "public" and "private". If you're actually looking for something useful about me right now, might want to hit my work site instead. So many projects, so little time…. BTW, if you're going to Springfield for IETC 2007, I hope to see you there! ObOLPC: G1G1 started today! Get out there, spend $399, donate an XO to a worthy cause, and get one for yourself in the process!]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/rant/whither_content.html http://blog.truegeek.org/rant/whither_content.html rant arthus IETC OLPC XO Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:49:24 -0600 blogs are *so* 2006 edu blog.) Until I get a moment to actually start blogging again, IM always works to reach me. I've just started trying out twitter, so if you want in on some of that action, my twitter handle is scottswanson and you can find my twitter page at http://twitter.com/scottswanson/. Oh, and SL is still a good way to reach me. On maingrid I'm still Kyle Thorn, and fairly soon, I'll be bringing the Gaia estate owner, Sullivan Rhode, over to TG to take possession of our first island. As for social networking, I'm available through all the usual suspects, though like everyone else, I'm focusing on Facebook and LinkedIn now. Of course, in low-tech modes, I need to get back to Chicago sometime just so I can pick up my slacks from the tailor and get a haircut already….]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/technology/blogs_are_so_2006.html http://blog.truegeek.org/technology/blogs_are_so_2006.html technology Wed, 08 Aug 2007 09:42:30 -0600 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 …]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/rant/09_f9_11_02_9d_74_e3_5b_d8_41.html http://blog.truegeek.org/rant/09_f9_11_02_9d_74_e3_5b_d8_41.html rant HD-DVD revolution Thu, 03 May 2007 14:43:04 -0600 Summarizing the promise of Second Life Watch the video. Understand why, now that virtual reality has achieved a fledgling critical mass, there's simply no reason, if perhaps even no way, to go back. Oh, and let me know if you can get through it without shedding a tear. I couldn't.]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/technology/summarizing_the_promise_of_sec.html http://blog.truegeek.org/technology/summarizing_the_promise_of_sec.html technology disability Second Life Tue, 01 May 2007 20:46:59 -0600 Save Eight:18! Unity Church of Chicago (a wonderful organization) has pulled the plug on Eight:18 @ Unity, probably the premier monthly Chicago metaphysical event; the last one will be Friday, June 1, 2007. This is quite shocking, and I'm trying to get details. Hopefully an agreement can be reached, although I'm sure Unity must have a reason for deciding this; I just don't know what it is. I also worry a tad because we have another group that meets there twice a month; is Unity decommissioning all outside gatherings? Any information would be appreciated! If you know of a way that we can rebuild the harmony that seemed to exist between the two, please let Emily and Preston know. Failing a reconcilliation, Eight:18 will need to find a new locale; if you know if "the perfect new locale," it would also be great if you let them know. (I would be happy to convey your message if you would prefer as well.) To the credit of everyone involved, the copy-of-a-copy I received of a letter that Emily and Preston put out about this speaks only lovingly of Unity and implores everyone to work towards finding a resolution that serves everyone's highest good. More information can surely be found from their YahooGroup, GivePeaceADance.]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/rant/save_eight18.html http://blog.truegeek.org/rant/save_eight18.html rant Eight:18 Unity Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:35:47 -0600 Spoon Theory that spoon. Christine Miserandino pegged it quite well with her Spoon Theory, one of the best practical analogies I've ever seen for living with an invisible physical disability. Worth a read if you want to bring it home — or if you've been looking for a good way to explain to your friends why, some days, you just aren't as much fun as anyone else.]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/rant/spoon_theory.html http://blog.truegeek.org/rant/spoon_theory.html rant disability spoon Tue, 10 Apr 2007 21:14:51 -0600 Children of Men wholly unsatisfying. Every single aspect of this film was taken about one-third as far as it should have been. The result was a lukewarm film that excelled in absolutely no virtue or capacity. I had been looking forward to watching this film for a while; my nephew and I looked at each other and realized "there's two hours of our lives we're never getting back." I suddenly feel far less concerned that I haven't been going to the movies much lately. Bring on the DVDs! More House, Law and Order, and Hong Kong cinema for me.]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/rant/children_of_men.html http://blog.truegeek.org/rant/children_of_men.html rant Children of Men cinema Sun, 01 Apr 2007 23:51:49 -0600 Broken in many ways month. Oopsie! I'm going to have to look into this and fix things up (although it will have to be later, as I've got soup on the stove and have a chapter to review before a meeting in two hours).]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/administratia/broken_in_many_ways.html http://blog.truegeek.org/administratia/broken_in_many_ways.html administratia blogosphere Sat, 03 Mar 2007 11:00:25 -0600 Choosy DBAs choose the Fox Free DBA Toolbar", which intrigued me, so I clicked through. I can't tell you how tickled I was to read the following first sentence:

The Oracle DBA Toolbar (available for Internet Explorer only at the moment - yeah, yeah, we know; a Mozilla/Firefox version is forthcoming) gives you one-click access to key DBA resources on OTN.

I wonder if it launched like that, or if they changed it after getting deluged with "BUT WHAT ABOUT..." emails.]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/technology/choosy_dbas_choose_the_fox.html http://blog.truegeek.org/technology/choosy_dbas_choose_the_fox.html technology humor Oracle Sun, 21 Jan 2007 11:02:34 -0600 MT 3.34 update Wednesday's release. One of the promises was integrated and instant FastCGI support. However, there's a small environmental change you have to make to get it that instant support running; unless you read the announcement carefully, you might miss it. Furthermore, that doc is only linked to from the release note, which itself does not come up (nor does anything but a changelog) if you do a documentation search for 3.34 at sixapart.com. I'll probably make those changes within the next day or two; I'm curious to see if FastCGI makes any difference on this system at all. [6:32 AM] Update: Tried moving the five core CGIs to .fcgi to make them run under FastCGI. mt.fcgi, however, seemed to blow a gasket in the middle of a site rebuild, so I had to backout the AdminScript change and rebuild the site again. I've left the other four; let's see how that goes through the day.]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/technology/mt_334_update.html http://blog.truegeek.org/technology/mt_334_update.html technology blogosphere Movable Type Fri, 19 Jan 2007 06:02:39 -0600 Web 3.0: the Complex Web transcends the blogosphere. …okay, well, at least it's good for a laugh. Read all the little juicy bits for maximum smilage.]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/fun/web_30_the_complex_web.html http://blog.truegeek.org/fun/web_30_the_complex_web.html fun blogosphere Sat, 13 Jan 2007 11:26:24 -0600 Betcha thought you'd never hear me say something nice about a med student This guy is really funny. I'd digg him or give him some other kind of blogosphere cred if I knew how. But I don't, so I'm just posting a link to his blog.]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/medical/betcha_thought_youd_never_hear.html http://blog.truegeek.org/medical/betcha_thought_youd_never_hear.html medical blogosphere medical school Tue, 09 Jan 2007 07:13:59 -0600 ピタゴラスイッチ PythagoraSwitch, is a darling little NHK children's show that seems to be a highly focused left-brain cousin of Sesame Street. There are segments throughout the show known as "Pythagorean Device" (ピタゴラ装置) featuring Rube Goldberg-esque devices that are incredibly reminiscent for me of the Pinball Number Count segments on Sesame Street. (Come on, you know you know them and loved them, even if you didn't realize that it was the Pointer Sisters voicing it.) Anyway, Cliff Johnson's website pointed me to a YouTube-hosted collection of the best of ピタゴラスイッチ, and they range from amusing to truly incredible. The fact that they seem to be all made at home with pretty much nothing but standard household items really takes the cake. Check it out; it's well worth the watch. Totally safe for work, too. (Not that I'm suggesting anything about where you should watch it… um, wow, look at the time; gotta run!)]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/fun/pythagoraswitch.html http://blog.truegeek.org/fun/pythagoraswitch.html fun Pinball Number Count Pitagora Suitchi PythagoraSwitch Wed, 03 Jan 2007 09:57:43 -0600 Why use the MT GUI when MySQL has a CLI? post by Mike Kruckenberg on his blog about Movable Type categories. Turns out that MT abandoned that field a while ago in favor of a linking table for mt_entry and mt_category called "mt_placement" (like that name was obvious) which allowed for primary and secondary categories. So after a bit of learning, translating my Oracle SQL to the MySQL dialect, I came up with the following one-stop query to set a default category (17, determined by looking through mt_category) for just one blog's entries that didn't already have a category assignment. In case it saves anyone the hour or two of hair-pulling, here it is (but be sure to change the blog ID and category ID as appropriate for you):


INSERT INTO mt_placement (placement_entry_id, placement_blog_id, placement_category_id, placement_is_primary)
SELECT e.entry_id, 1, 17, 1
FROM mt_placement p RIGHT OUTER JOIN mt_entry e ON p.placement_entry_id = e.entry_id
WHERE e.entry_blog_id = 1
AND p.placement_is_primary IS NULL;

Note that this does not catch the screwball case where an entry has secondary categories but no primary category, and would still post a primary category for the entry. (I'm not sure if the MT software actually would allow such a condition to occur, however.)]]> http://blog.truegeek.org/technology/why_use_the_mt_gui_when_mysql.html http://blog.truegeek.org/technology/why_use_the_mt_gui_when_mysql.html technology movable type Tue, 02 Jan 2007 16:59:52 -0600 Pardon our dust! blog.truegeek.org is in the middle of a reformat and rebuild. Your patience is appreciated while we complete the necessary alterations. Please stand by. http://blog.truegeek.org/administratia/pardon_our_dust.html http://blog.truegeek.org/administratia/pardon_our_dust.html administratia Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0600